Green Acres is the place for me!
Funny, I am back from the city and a bit happy I am. I feel like a country bumpkin because there were several times during my stay in the city that I thought to myself how I longed to return home to the quiet fishing village I call home. Cristina claims to have felt the same way at times, but you know how she persistantly disagrees with me on (almost) everything. However, do not get me wrong, Kagoshima City was a lot of fun and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. So without any further adieu, this is what has happened to me these past few days.
Well, on Tuesday, I came to the office, clocked in and picked up my company car. I went back to my house where I was to meet Cristina. She arrived late (big surprise) and we were on our way to meet Kaz in Koyama and Laura from Osaki (also a new ALT in the town next to Cristina) to head to Tarumizu, the port town on our peninsula that has a ferry that crosses the bay to Kagoshima City. It was about 1 hour there by car and 40 minutes on the ferry. On the ferry we met others from Kanoya (about 4 people I think). Once in the city, we checked into our hotels, and had to attend meetings. My hotel was nice. It was new and the same hotel as the conference. Cristina's was ok and about a block away. After the meetings were over, the 50 new ALTs in Kagoshima prefecture went out with some of the 2nd and 3rd year ALTs to a beer garden at the top of a department store in the shopping district. I was surprised that the shopping district looked just like Milan's Palazzo, I bet you it was modeled after it. The district had everything from Tiffany & Co. to Louis Vuitton. The beer garden was god fun. It was all you can eat and drink for about $25. We drank alot and made alot of new friends. Once the four hours were over and we were asked to leave, we all went to Big Echo Karaoke and rented about 5 booths. That was also alot of fun and people were pissed (british for drunk) out of their minds. It was also all you can drink but I switched to water after 1 glass of beer. We left to the hotels at around midnight (we had been out drinking since 6) because some of our friends (and Cristina?) were really drink and really tired. One of our friends in particular kept on passing out. He also kept on saying how lucky I was to be marrying Cristina (yeah, I know, HE WAS REALLY DRUNK). Then when we tried to get a cab, it was a little difficult. There were about 20 parked cabs outside but no one wanted to take us for fear someone would throw up (i think) considering the condition of one of our friends. We finally got a cab and made it to the hotels. Furthermore, we had to get the really drunk friend's key to take him into his hotel room and set his alarm for 8 a.m.
The next day, we went to more meetings. Then some of us decided to just go to the shopping district again and go to the arcades rather than go drinking with everyone else. So we did and had tons of fun. Some of us actually got addicted to some of these machines that pick things up and drop it on a moving platform to knock these plastic rain drops with faces out (I really dont know how to explain it, but we spent a decent amount of money on it). It was pretty hilarious. I got about 9 or 10 of the little things. We also did some puri kura (or print club). They are these booths that you take pictures in and they put backgrounds on it and add things to it. They come on sticker sheets and you can take several different shots for 4 bucks. It was about 6 of us in the pictures. You should see them, they are so funny, I will try to post them soon but I still dont have internet at home. Then at the end of the night we went to Mister Donut and had a few doughnuts and milkshakes before heading back to the hotel. Sadly enough, I accidentally put my pexiglass winnings that I worked so hard for and spent so much money on, on the tray that got thrown away.
The last day we went to meetings from 9am to about 1045am. Then we decided to go shopping. So we went with Laura from Osaki (the village next to Cristina's) to Ten Mon Kan, the shopping district, again. We bought creme filled biscuits as omiyage for our offices and walked into several stores. We bought lots of stuff in the 100 yen (or dollar stores) AGAIN and I bought a much needed map of Kagoshima considering I am a space cadet when it comes to driving directions. Later we met up with Kaz who went with us to visit her boyfriend who lives in the city and took the ferry to the our side of the prefecture. Once there, we got in our cars and started driving. The temperature of my car was almost at the H so I was getting a little nervous. Then, the battery light turned on. Then 2 blocks short of making it to Kaz's house, the engine stops. A lady that Kaz knows came up to us and called these old 2 Japanese men to help jumpstart the car. We realized that I still should not drive it because the fan belt had ripped. (I still do not know if it was something I did, if somebody thinks so, let me know). They said that it would be very dangerous to drive it to my town since I had to go over mountains. Therefore, we parked it at Kaz's and she took us to my house.
This morning, my office was excited that I had brought the omiyage, but they quickly took me to go pick up the car. Knowing me, I could not find it even with the map that Kaz drew for me. Finally, I saw a landmark I recognized and we found it. My section chief drove it about halfway up the mountain until the car overheated again. Then, they tied it with a rope to the car we drove to get it in and we dragged it in neutral with my section chief keeping his foot on the break. VERY DANGEROUS! but I guess thats the only way to do it. I would have been afraid of hitting the other cars or losing control. Other cool things about today . . . I got paid today, more than I made in a semester teaching and more than I made at Starbucks in 2 months, I had to introduce myself in Japanse in front of 45 teachers, and my welcome party is tonight. Well, I would like to write some more and I did leave out some details but it's a lot of info and I have to write an article for my town's newspaper. Have a good weekend.
Well, on Tuesday, I came to the office, clocked in and picked up my company car. I went back to my house where I was to meet Cristina. She arrived late (big surprise) and we were on our way to meet Kaz in Koyama and Laura from Osaki (also a new ALT in the town next to Cristina) to head to Tarumizu, the port town on our peninsula that has a ferry that crosses the bay to Kagoshima City. It was about 1 hour there by car and 40 minutes on the ferry. On the ferry we met others from Kanoya (about 4 people I think). Once in the city, we checked into our hotels, and had to attend meetings. My hotel was nice. It was new and the same hotel as the conference. Cristina's was ok and about a block away. After the meetings were over, the 50 new ALTs in Kagoshima prefecture went out with some of the 2nd and 3rd year ALTs to a beer garden at the top of a department store in the shopping district. I was surprised that the shopping district looked just like Milan's Palazzo, I bet you it was modeled after it. The district had everything from Tiffany & Co. to Louis Vuitton. The beer garden was god fun. It was all you can eat and drink for about $25. We drank alot and made alot of new friends. Once the four hours were over and we were asked to leave, we all went to Big Echo Karaoke and rented about 5 booths. That was also alot of fun and people were pissed (british for drunk) out of their minds. It was also all you can drink but I switched to water after 1 glass of beer. We left to the hotels at around midnight (we had been out drinking since 6) because some of our friends (and Cristina?) were really drink and really tired. One of our friends in particular kept on passing out. He also kept on saying how lucky I was to be marrying Cristina (yeah, I know, HE WAS REALLY DRUNK). Then when we tried to get a cab, it was a little difficult. There were about 20 parked cabs outside but no one wanted to take us for fear someone would throw up (i think) considering the condition of one of our friends. We finally got a cab and made it to the hotels. Furthermore, we had to get the really drunk friend's key to take him into his hotel room and set his alarm for 8 a.m.
The next day, we went to more meetings. Then some of us decided to just go to the shopping district again and go to the arcades rather than go drinking with everyone else. So we did and had tons of fun. Some of us actually got addicted to some of these machines that pick things up and drop it on a moving platform to knock these plastic rain drops with faces out (I really dont know how to explain it, but we spent a decent amount of money on it). It was pretty hilarious. I got about 9 or 10 of the little things. We also did some puri kura (or print club). They are these booths that you take pictures in and they put backgrounds on it and add things to it. They come on sticker sheets and you can take several different shots for 4 bucks. It was about 6 of us in the pictures. You should see them, they are so funny, I will try to post them soon but I still dont have internet at home. Then at the end of the night we went to Mister Donut and had a few doughnuts and milkshakes before heading back to the hotel. Sadly enough, I accidentally put my pexiglass winnings that I worked so hard for and spent so much money on, on the tray that got thrown away.
The last day we went to meetings from 9am to about 1045am. Then we decided to go shopping. So we went with Laura from Osaki (the village next to Cristina's) to Ten Mon Kan, the shopping district, again. We bought creme filled biscuits as omiyage for our offices and walked into several stores. We bought lots of stuff in the 100 yen (or dollar stores) AGAIN and I bought a much needed map of Kagoshima considering I am a space cadet when it comes to driving directions. Later we met up with Kaz who went with us to visit her boyfriend who lives in the city and took the ferry to the our side of the prefecture. Once there, we got in our cars and started driving. The temperature of my car was almost at the H so I was getting a little nervous. Then, the battery light turned on. Then 2 blocks short of making it to Kaz's house, the engine stops. A lady that Kaz knows came up to us and called these old 2 Japanese men to help jumpstart the car. We realized that I still should not drive it because the fan belt had ripped. (I still do not know if it was something I did, if somebody thinks so, let me know). They said that it would be very dangerous to drive it to my town since I had to go over mountains. Therefore, we parked it at Kaz's and she took us to my house.
This morning, my office was excited that I had brought the omiyage, but they quickly took me to go pick up the car. Knowing me, I could not find it even with the map that Kaz drew for me. Finally, I saw a landmark I recognized and we found it. My section chief drove it about halfway up the mountain until the car overheated again. Then, they tied it with a rope to the car we drove to get it in and we dragged it in neutral with my section chief keeping his foot on the break. VERY DANGEROUS! but I guess thats the only way to do it. I would have been afraid of hitting the other cars or losing control. Other cool things about today . . . I got paid today, more than I made in a semester teaching and more than I made at Starbucks in 2 months, I had to introduce myself in Japanse in front of 45 teachers, and my welcome party is tonight. Well, I would like to write some more and I did leave out some details but it's a lot of info and I have to write an article for my town's newspaper. Have a good weekend.
posted by Jesse Montano at
11:42 AM
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