久しぶり！(Long Time No Blog.)

I've been really bad at keeping everyone updated with everything that has happened in Japan. I'll try to sum up everything in one little blog. Yes, I am still alive and I do miss my friends in America. I'm not ready to come home yet so, I guess you can say I'm not home sick. This is I guess what you can say the first time that I've lived and had an apartment all to myself. It's a really good feeling and all but sometimes I get bored that I run out of Internet articles to read and I stare at my ケータイ and hope someone messages me. In Japan, cell phone calls are kind of expensive compared to America. There's no such thing as free nights and weekends. There's also no free network to network calls.

One thing that has really made my Japanese a lot better is the fact that Kanae is back in Japan. She's been back since June and it's been fun trying to juggle our work schedules with her families schedule. For the most part we can see each other at least twice a week. Pretty nice! Now back to the subject of cell phones, I wanted to put Kanae on my family plan so we could call each other for free. The problem was my foreign card had my name written as Ramsey Wade C. and my Drivers License said Wade C. Ramsey. They absolutely couldn't let that slip. I finally was able to trick them because my Passport has my last name first. Japanese are pretty strict about rules.

As you know I love my bicycle right. Well I like to travel to different towns using my bike. It's really good exercise and going from one town to the next isn't that far. At least I don't think so. It's about 3 miles to Kanae's town from mine. Unfortunately one night while I was taking Kanae to the train station on my bike. The back wheel spokes broke. Damn cheap Chinese made bike. At least I think it's Chinese made. I had to send my bike to a shop for about three weeks. It cost me about $30 to fix. While it was being fixed though, the place I bought my bike lent me a bike. It was a little rusty but it had six gears which made climbing hills a little easier. My bike only has three gears. The bad thing was the basket on the borrowed bike had such a small basket so I could buy more than one grocery bag full of food.

My PS3 broke at the beginning of the month while I was installing GTA4 to the HDD. I was really excited to play the game because of all the good reviews it's recieved from various websites. Sony Japan sad that it was impossible for them to fix my Sony PS3. I'm pretty sure the guts of the machines are pretty much the same. Oh well. I decided it would be cheap and a better idea to buy a Japanese PS3. I got a 40Gb White PS3 with no PS2 backwards capablilty. I kind of down graded but I swapped my 80GB HDD from my broken PS3 to my new one. I'm somewhat satisfied now with the switch. To let everyone know I don't think GTA4 deseerved the perfect scores it got. The game is far from perfect. I hate car chases in this one. The camera doesn't work in your favor in these scenerios.

I saw the Dark Knight too but I lost my wallet and my original tickets on my way to the theater. Japan isn't as honest as it claims to be. Four weeks no wallet. I lost my Gaijin card, drivers license, American Bank card, and all my little membership cards for various shops in Japan. Oh well I applied for most of my cards. I'm not sure if I can get a new license or not. I don't drive a car but I think one day I would like to buy a car if I stay in Japan for a long time. The Dark Knight was awesome. I'm sure you guys got to see it a lot sooner than I did but I liked it so much I bought Batman Begins on Blu Ray.

I went to Hiroshima recently. I was really happy to see my best friend Shaggy. We went sight seeing and went to an Izakaya. Hiroshima was so beautiful. I like mountains and Hiroshima had plenty of them. I played some deer in Miyajima and ate some momiji manju. The last night in Hiroshima Shaggy took Kanae and I to a Karaoke box. I love Karaoke boxes. There's some pictures posted within the picture link above on the site. Look in the folder labeled Hiroshima. I'll see you a few more months. LOL.

I really try to do a better job of writing interesting things but when school starts and I get into rutine life gets kind of basic. I'm not the type to pour my feelings on a blog site. Too personal. Later.

花見と温泉(Flower Viewing and Hot Springs)

Towards the end of April the Japanese Cherry Blossoms bloom. During that time on the weekend people go to various places to look at the cherry blossoms. Most of the time it's a temple. The best part about 'hanami'(flower viewing)there's usually people setting up food stands near the temple so people can eat various types of Japanese fast food. My favorite of course is tako-yaki. They're little balls that have cooked octopus in the middle of them. They are topped with ginger, spicy mayo, and takoyaki sauce. In America, I tried some tako-yaki but it was a little different. One of the major differences is the texture. Here in Japan they're normally squishier. I like the squishier texture because everything just melts in your mouth while you chew on the octopus. Some of the other wonderful foods are yaki-tori(chicken pieces on a stick), bananas coated with chocolate or strawberry type shell, carmel pop-corn??, sometimes okonomiyaki, and ice cream. The Japanese cherry blossoms are worth seeing. They're amazingly beautiful and as quickly as they bloom they disappear. Now most of the cherry blossom trees have grown their green leaves and leaving most of the people in Japan wanting another chance to see their beauty.

One of my favorite new things in Japan is to go to a hot spring. They're very relaxing and you feel so clean after going to one. When you stay at one over night it's so cool. You're treated like royalty and all you have to worry about is relaxing. The first thing my friends and I did was we took a bath. The bad thing about hot springs for most Americans is you have to get naked. Naked naked. I quickly grabbed a small towel and covered my front. It was the first time I met one of my companions and we both just walked around bare assed. Before you can get into the hot springs you have to completely scrub your self down at a little shower. My friend I sat there and scrubbed away. He thought it would be less awkward if we talked so he started to talk to me while I was showering. After that we went to the bath. It's really cool there's an inside bath and an outside bath. We preferred going to the outside bath so we stayed out there. We just sat and talked out there for a good 4o minutes. It was pretty nice and relaxing. One thing I forgot to mention is that when you stay at a Onsen you're suppose to wear a japanese yukata. It's a night kimono. It's really comfortable. After that we were escorted to a room where we got fed a meal for a king. I didn't bring my Camera for this so I don't have a picture. It was a 8 course meal. It started off with some sushi, miso, rice, and pickled vegetables. Next the server came in and lit some candles under each of our pots. This type of meal is called shabu shabu. Basically you take various vegetables; mushrooms, cabbage, onions, and etc, let it boil in the pot for a while and eventually you throw in some thinly sliced pieces of beef into the pot. You pull out the beef after about a few seconds and you did it into a ginger and pepper type sauce. It had the right amount of zing for my mouth. Then we eat more rice that was cooked with various vegetables like bamboo shoots, carrots and something else I'm not to sure what it was. Finally we had desert that was a strawberry cake with some plum pudding with a very sweet plum in the middle. While you eat all this food you are served all the sake and beer you can drink. I down about two bottles of sake myself. While my friends decided to stick with beer. About two hours later our Japanese friend recommended that we go take another bath before going to sleep. When I woke up she recommended that we take another bath before eating breakfast. I've never felt so relaxed at one hotel in my life. It felt really really good. I totally recommend going to a hot spring and taking three baths for the day that your there.

First Week of School

First week of a Japanese High School is kind of boring for ALTs. The first day only some of the students come to school and the teachers just spend their whole day in the teachers office. I was bored out of my wits. 3:30 did not come fast enough for me.
The second day was a little better because we had morning assembly where they introduce the new teachers. Of course I'm the last teacher to be introduced because I'm the foreign guy that's there to be the jester in English classes. I didn't get to speak about myself because the principal introduced all the new teachers. To make myself a little different when he introduced me I bowed like the other teachers but afterwards I waved to all the students. Students got a kick out of that. Waving isn't that normal in Japan. For the next couple of days I didn't have any real classes. I was given plenty of time to just plan, plan, and plan. I did manage to sneak in some time to study some Japanese. Wednesday was a little interesting because all the second and third year students of certain clubs got on stage and tried to convince students to join their club. The coolest demonstration was the boys 弓道(Japanese Archery) club. It was very elegant how the boy shot his bow. The crowd was so silent waiting for him to shoot his arrow. When he finally shot his arrow the crowd went wild. Some of the girl's clubs did a song and dance routine which was funny and a little impressive. It's very interesting to observe another cultures school.
Alright so my first lesson with every class is to give my self introduction. I devised a little plan where I would play an original song on my guitar for the students before telling them my name. They really got a kick out of the song. After I was done playing I would tell them that the person who the wrote the song his name is Wade Ramsey. I would make them repeat my name several times. Finally I would start my introduction with Good morning/ afternoon my name is Wade Ramsey. Half the class would tilt their heads and the other half realized oh my god the teacher wrote that song. After that I had the attention of the class for the rest of the day. Some that didn't smile before I started the lesson were smiling. I guess you can say it's one of those moments that I will remember for a lifetime.

新しい自転車とギター(New Bicycle and Guitar)

Introducing my all new pimped out Japanese ride. Yes, yes it is a bike with a basket and yes it totally rocks. I love my new bicycle, I want to ride my bicycle. It flat out rocks. It's got three speeds that changes in a simple click. It has a front basket and back rack. The back tire has a lock that requires a key. It's sort of like having a car. Except I don't have to pay for gas and it takes me longer to get to places but that's quite alright. It's been so long since I've ridden a bike that I'm just filled with so much joy. Please admire it's beauty with me when you look at the pimp picture. Most of the pictures that you can now see thanks to photo bucket(on the very top of this little blog there's a link you can click to see all of my pictures I've taken thus far.) Were taken while I was on little adventures with my bike. Everyone in Rifu has a silver bike but I got a black one because well they didn't have white. That's besides the point. This bicycle is a tool for adventure in this foreign land. I've already ridden my bike to next town over and my next trip is going to be all the way to Izumi-chou where there's a Electronics store and izukaiya. Next on my list for me to talk about is my new Guitar that I bought it for $68 that's about 6800 yen. It sounds great. When the video finishes decoding I'll post it for everyone to check out my guitar.

松島(Matsushima)

The second day I was in my apartment I went and checked out Matsushima. I was able to catch a ferry ride to see most of the different islands off of the coast of the town. What was really interesting about the boat ride is that we were allowed to feed the seagulls, behind the ship, shrimp fries. I did monkey see monkey do type of thing and fed the seagulls. Seagull in Japanese is "umineko" which translates into sea-cat. Japanese call them sea-cats because the sound they make is very similar to a cats meow. At least that's what they tell me. In all honesty I can see how they relate to each. Nyaa and Myaa sound kind of the same. There was someone announcing all the different island names but I could only catch a few like Inushima. It was a very enjoyable experience to see the various islands. Afterwards I walked across the docks to Seiryuzan Zuigan-ji it's the temple located in Matsushima. The pathway to the temple was just awesome. It was a row of pine trees that seemed to be tickling the sky. I've never seen anything so relaxing and peaceful in my life. When I saw this path a child like smile came across my face and probably never left me throughout the rest of the day. The temple itself was amazing but unfortunately I was only able to take pictures outside. There was some awesome wood carvings inside and a room covered in golden wall paper. The temple itself was just amazing to see. You can see all the weathering that was done to the temple over time but it still remains beautiful. What I thought was really cool is that I had to take off my shoes off before going inside. The slipper guy felt bad when he realized my feet didn't fit in normal size slippers and got me a pair of larger ones. After I left the temple I went to a local shop and roasted some kamaboko. It's basically a fish paste solidified. It was really tasty. Basically a group of us sat around a table that had some burning coals in the center and roasted our sticks of kamaboko. I've eaten more fish in the two weeks of being in Japan than I have in one month in the states. After eating kamaboko I returned to Rifu.

利府町(Rifu Town)

Last Friday March 21st was the last day of training for me. The next day I took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Sendai. At Sendai Station I met up with my IC. An IC is a Japanese person that Interac hires to help the new ALT adjust to their new city. My IC took me to get my Apt. keys and helped me buy a futon for my room. Shopping in Japan is quite an interesting experience. In the malls they have these small shopping carts that's wheels turn 360 degrees. So if you want to drag your cart side ways while following you it's very possible in Japan. The funny thing is that nobody has respect for other people when shopping. If I'm pulling my cart sideways and your in my way you better just get out of the way or suffer being run over by my cart. I was trying my best to avoid people while my IC was plowing through them. It was quite funny. Rifu's grocery store is really interesting it's about the size of a really small publix but it has everything you want Japanese. Meat portions in Japan are very small and kind of expensive compared to American meat. Thankfully I'm living by myself and can conserve food more easily. The most interesting thing about buying anything in Japan is that after you pay for your food you have to bag your own groceries. I think it's genius because the lines can move a lot faster and this promotes the idea that you can't be lazy in Japan. Okay, let me tell you about my apartment. It's small but it's freaking awesome. There's so much storage space and it came with a heater/AC and a 22" HDTV. The sad new is the kitchen is the size of a shoe closet in America. I love cooking but in this Apartment I really have to plan everything out in order to make food quickly. The first thing I made in my Apartment is Yaki Niku which is basically cooked meat. The sauce is a kind of teriyaki with garlic chunks in it. It was quite delicious. The next meal I ate was Curry but this time my IC made it for me because she thinks I don't know how to cook. It was very nice of her but it's hard for me to refuse someone from being kind to me. Alright the bathroom is really interesting. The toilet is one of those wonderful toilets with a heated seat and bidet. On top of the toilet is a sink that only turns on when you flush the toilet. It's kind of a smart way to save water but it can get messy because water splashes everywhere in the room. Across from the toilet room there's a shower, tub, and sink. All three are separate units but the sink and tube use the same faucet, you just have to move it over like a normal kitchen sink from one sink to another. It feels good to be out of my suitcase because I can finally call this little apt my home.

Narita View

I get into Japan and everything is good. Plane ride was great because I sat next to this older Canadian that was quite friendly that had a similar horror about United. Anyways I get to Narita Airport I find my group and everything has been going smoothly since I got here. I've only taken a small amount of pictures and I'll upload them as soon as they become relevant to this wonderful story. I arrive at my hotel room at around maybe 9:00 PM Saturday Japan time.(everything I say time wise for now will be Japan time.) I meet my roommate that I will share my room with for the remainder of my training after that I live all by my lonesome. We talked a little about where we both came from, where will be teaching, why we came to Japan, and etc.
One of the small sad things about this trip is that this is the first the might dollar is smaller than the Japanese 100 yen which use to be the equivalent of $1.11. We discussed that because not many people came here as prepared as I was. One funny thing though about Japan is that most everything is smaller. For example, all the employees had to take a urine test. We didn't use a cup we had to pee into a tube including girls. Let's just say it was a very messy experience. The room itself is bigger than most Japanese Hotel rooms from what I hear but they are pretty small. See the above picture.
Alright let me tell you about one amazing thing about the hotel room. We have an awesome bathroom. In particular the toilet. The toilet is preheated so on cold nights the seat feels quite nice I think it actually helps me use the bathroom a lot quicker because I'm so comfortable. Next thing I tried which when I was younger I thought it was quite silly but it has a built in bidet. Bidets are awesome. For two reason they really clean the shit out of you pun intended and it doesn't feel like you're being raped by water which is why I was kind of scared when I first tried it. I like to say to everyone here is "When in Rome do as the Romans do." Well apparently the Japaese like to shoot nice warm water up their but so I think I should try it. I'm glad I did I use every time I use the number two. Well anyways I miss you all and don't worry Jordan I will tell you about the food later.

On my way to Japan

Arrived in Japan on Saturday at around 6:00PM Japanese time. I should have been there three hours before that time but I ran into some difficulties with shitty air line that rhymes with United. If you guessed United you are well on your way to succeed in this crazy world. So let's start with that part of the story first and then I can elaborate the experiences I've been having for the past day or so.

Alright so I arrive at the United Kiosk one hour and forty-five minutes before my scheduled and 2 month in advanced pre-booked flight. The kiosk says there something wrong and I need assistance from one of the United employees. One comes and tries to help but says I need some other guy with more authority and I should sit put until one comes. Alright I sit like a good patient man but don't even get help from a dude until one and five minutes before my flight leaves. The schmuck was helping regular customers put tags on their baggage when they had like five regular employees to do that job compared to the one guy that had the power to help me. I finally had to start yelling, "Hey,hey I really need your help." When he gets there he finally tells me that they sold my seat and so my sister and I got angry started yelling had to wait another 20 minutes so the guy above him told us that he couldn't help us so we have to wait in line to go to customer service. We waited in that line for another 20 min so that lady could tell us she couldn't help us. I told we'll wait right here until you get someone who has the ability to help me. They went and got the same guy that told us to go to customer service. That guy again told us he couldn't so I said, "get someone who fucking can." My original flight was already on it's way off for take off incase you were wondering. Lady came out and let's just say a lot yelling took place and it took this woman 40 min to get me another ticket to Japan. But before that they were trying to get me and my sister to admit that we didn't come early enough to the airport to get on an international flight and I pretty much told them that's bull shit. So I get a flight on Singapore air and everything is day light on their side of the airport. As soon as I walk-in people were trying to help me. I love Singapore I'm never taking an American airline outside of domestic use. The service and attitude so crappy that I'm willing to pay a couple of extra hundred dollars to get what seems 100x better service. Next thing I'm worried about is my schedule arrival has changed and I need to somehow contact my bosses at 4:00 in the morning Japan time and tell them that United really screwed up my flight and I'll be late. Got a phone card and I had to leave two of them messages and kind of pray to all sorts of higher authorities( God, Jesus, Allah, Muhammad[can you actually pray to muhammad?] Buddah[the happy asian god], Vishnu and Freddy Mercury for good luck. Flight was awesome I had two free full meals, lots of snacks, and juice whenever I so desired.(I'm from my fellow co-workers that the American flights gave them one meal, two snacks, and none of the movies of games were free. sounds like crap.) I kind of lucked out flying with Singapore Air. It was a curse and a blessing that United screwed me over. Anyways more stories to come but I have to get ready for training and expect some pictures to start popping up soon.