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.