Jutaku living

ENGLISH VERSION further down…. but don't miss the fotos on the way!

(Jutaku- grupo de departamentos en que viven los profesores)

Buenas tardes… tal vez es la mañana en este momento. Está loco que puedo despertarme, vivir todo el dia en trabajar y jugar y despues te escribo (tipar- “to type”?!) en la noche… y si estuviera ordenado, podería tener articulos cada mañana… sobre el día que irías a vivir… que raro a vivir 16 horas en el futuro.

(Bienvenidos a mi dept! Welcome to my apt! Pon tus zapatos al frente al lado mios! Leave your shoes at the door next to mine!)


Intentaba un proyecto a las diez anoche… y limpiar el baño no debe estar dificil… pero a veces está… y el cuarto de la ducha… y por fin, tuve una negociacíon/ guerra pequeña con la cucaracha mas grande en todo el mundo! Puedo admitar, grité cuando nos encontramos… era un boludo rapido… Pero, en final no habíia sangre de nadie, estamos viviendo más tranquilo y entendemos nuestras fronteras, y mis baños son limpios!

Así que me sentí más comodo en sacar fotos esta mañana (como terminaste con trabajo ayer!) y las puse acá.

Que aburrido: (ver la descripcíon en inglés sobre las dimensiones del apartamento). En realidad, la majoridad de mis amigos que hablan castellano o español, no le importa los numeros o descripciones como así… las fotos hablan mas fuerte que palabras fomes sobre esto… tambien no tenía la paciencia a explicar en Castellano!

(Lo mismo, pero con una "puerta" abierta! The same, but with an open "door!")

Ves?! El refrigerador mas tarde? Que aburrido! Mándame fotos para poner en la puerta!

Mi departamento es simple, porque el hombre antes de yo me regalo pocas cosas solo. Él continuará a viver en Kurume (Q’-Ru-Me) -mi ciudad, de 300,000 personas- así que sacó más o menos todo. Esto es fantastico, porque el dept es casi vacio- todavía hay un “aura” de paz. Tal vez hay otras personas quien le gusta espacios simples y “vacio” (a mi, pienso que le significa lleno!). Me parece que yo había estado obteniendo hasta el vuelo a Japon. Despues de boté mis cosas en California, salvo fotos y papeles, llegué en Japon con todo que necesito ahora. La verdad, tengo mas cosas que necesito. Así que, tengo ganas de botar más y tener control de la consumpcíon. Decidé que las velas y los flores estaba mandatarios en cada cuarto.

(El cuarto de la ducha LIMPIA! Clean shower room!)

Todavia no tengo clases o estudiantes porque estan en vacaciones. Voy a la Oficina de La Educacion del Kitachikugo (area local) y estudio japones todo el dia. Comienzo a enseñar inglés en tres semanas y poco.

No tengo más por ahora… espero que entendiste mis ideas!

(la proxima en Japones tambien! Estoy chistoso yo… la idioma es imposible!)
Ahora en ingles, pero no olvides a ver las fotos siguientes hasta al final...

(El trono del palacio! The throne of the palace!)

Ma-ta-né (Pronto, en japones),
Dave

(La cocina...lugar bueno para cocinar! The kitchen... great place to cook!)

ENGLISH VERSION

(Jutaku- aparment complex in which teachers live)

Good evening… or perhaps morning by the time you read this. It’s nuts that I can wake up, live a whole day of work and play and then type it to you at night… and if it were organized, then you could have new articles every morning when you wake up… and they would be about the “current” day that you are about to experience... such a weird thing… 16 hour time difference from California.

(La oficina... me encanta la silla! My office... I dig the chair!)

Any-who… I started a project at 10pm last night… and I have to say that cleaning a bathroom shouldn’t take too long… but then it does… and then the shower room… and it turned into an ordeal and a discussion/ minor battle with the world’s biggest cockroach. I can say it, I yelped when I saw him… fast-moving bastard… more of shock than anything else… but in the end no blood was drawn on either side, we are both living more peacefully and understand our respective boundaries, and my bathrooms are clean!

(El living! The living!)

So, then I felt comfortable taking pictures this morning (as you finished yesterday’s work day!) and I have posted them here.
Some boring stats for you: The average tatami mat is 2X1 meters… (Roughly 6X3 feet). I have two 4 ½ - tatami mat rooms (which I have designated as, “bedroom” and “office”) and a 6-tatami mat room (namely the “living room”). There is a kitchen that separates the office from the other living quarters and the bathrooms (one for the shower and sink, one for the toilet) are adjacent to the kitchen and the bedroom, as you enter the apartment. The rooms are all separate-able, based on how I slide the sliding wooden doors. Most of the time everything is open, I just love the feeling of space… this also helps keep it light all the time… it also helps me deal with the intense humidity. And, the rooms change during the day too based on the air flows I want….

(El living del "bedroom(?)"! Living room from the bedroom!)

Gosh, how boring! There are some of the descriptions in words. I am a huge fan of writing-based communication and story-telling, but I’ll let pictures tell most of this situation.

You’ll noticed a mostly bare fridge… you can make your way on it if you mail me pictures!

(Lo mismo, sin flash, la cocina a la derecha! Same shot, without flash, kitchen to the right!)

The apartment is simple; my predecessor left me few things. He will continue living in Kurume, so he took most of his things with him. This is fantastic, as my apartment is mostly “empty” but it is a feeling of peace. Maybe there are more people who value simple space and “emptiness” (which, to me, is rather full!). It seems as if I had been cluttering up my life until my recent move. After botar-ing (my version of Spanglish for “getting rid of”) my things in the California, less some fotos and files, I came to Japan with all that I need now. In fact, I even have more than I need. So I am now excited to minimize even more and control consumption and material-collection. I did decide however, that candles and flowers in each room were rather mandatory.

Still I have no classes or students because they are on vacation. I go to the Kitachikugo Board of Education and study Japanese all day. I start teaching English classes in three more weeks and a bit.

(Duermo alla- Hay mucho espacio y el piso es muy comodo! I sleep over there- There is a lot of space and it's super comfy!)

That’s it for now. See you soon. Next time in Japanese… just kidding! It is impossible... I have LOTS of work to do!

Matane,
Dave

PS- You’ll notice random flags… from my time in Italy (PACE means peace)

PPS- I have a balcony extending the length of the kitchen, office and living rooms and a small one outside the shower room… what a steal for: …a family of cockroaches, no air conditioning (mine is the only one of seven apartments without it… cheaper electric bill and lots of sweating!), and ¥12,600/month ($110 on a bad exchange rate day)…

Crazy weather and straw floors

I am writing this from the floor in my apartment... one of the three rooms where i can rest and be at peace. I am on the floor, of straw... very well-put-together straw, in the form of mats... they are called Tatami mats. I have tatami mats as the floors of my apartment and they are amazing, they allows me to sleep on the floor comfortably (but the cockroach that just crawled by might be in the back of my head all night... I just hope it's more figuratively than literally!)

My language reflects a guy who is very tired. He left the 100-yen store (dollar store) today with a bag of goodies for his new apartment and heard a thunder crack and a little sprinkle. Turning onto his street, the sky opened up and a monsoon hit him.... in his work clothes and all! (Looks like a new tie for tomorrow!) This is a guy who rode around Kurume City today... in the blazing heat and humidity, in the aforementioned shirt and tie and dockers, to the junior high schools at which he will be teaching... the same guy who then met the principals and fellow teachers of those schools... with sweat dripping down his everything!

(Wendy and I just wanted to run errands on the way home from work and the rain came!)

Gosh, where to start? Well, I already did... so where to continue (I am already so out of chronological order... ahh- this is difficult for a history major!)

I had a first impression at the Board of Education of Kitachiguko... this means north (kita) of the chiguko (river port, maybe) area. I am an civil servant, a public employee for the BoE of Fukuoka prefecture (county), and this particular municipality has "contracted" me out to two junior high schools at which I will be teaching during the year... I spend a week or two at one and then go to the other. Occasionally, they throw me out to a random prefectural (county) elementary school to teach. Anyways, my first impression, which are HUGE in Japan, went as follows: My two co-workers said hello as they were presented to the office. One speaks much Japanese and the other said the customary formalities... not me... I said my name, "nice to meet you" ... and then i froze and stated (in Japanese) "I don't understand Japanese..." I heard someone hit the "awkward button" when I didn't get the same applause that the two others did. I said "thank you," and didn't use the formal tense either. Needless to say, I felt like a schmenderick after messing up one of the most important parts of my job. Great way to start! But I think it's OK; When I introduce sake bombing to the office staff, maybe things will change.

(One shot of the parade and the on-lookers)

wow, that was a long recollection. here is another:

I have friends in Japan, South Korea, the United States, Fiji, New Zealand, China, France, Chile, Argentina, and I am sure to be missing others... the thought came across my mind. Wow, we travel a lot! Some people have never left, but others are speaking different language and driving on left sides of the street in opposite seasons... are you confused? I am too, I am going to end this thought-flow with, "This world is huge and I am happy to know that so many people are spreading peace around it!"

(It wasn't even completely dark when the festivities started)

Another sharing experience. There was a typhoon that hit Japan last week- the day after I arrived in Kurume. I am alright, there was no damage to my area and the typhoon passed over a bit to the east. Did you even know that there was a storm here? Do you even know what a typhoon is? It is the same as a hurricane, but in the Indian ocean/ western pacific region. I have a picture of five of us leaving a restaurant right before the worst of the storm hit us... it is blurry... but you can tell how windy it is, no?

(Me, Allison, Wendy, Kendra, Johnathan bracing against the wind)

On Saturday night I celebrated with the city of Kurume in its annual "Water Festival" I have some pictures of that... it reminded me of "El Gran Poder" in La Paz, Bolivia a couple months ago, but this was clean, organized and in Japanese instead of Spanish... and with Japanese folks in the place of Bolivians... it isn't fair to even contrast or compare these two festivals... but lots of dancing was going on and I ate as much as I could from local stands. Teriyaki (yes, chicken on a stick), fried chicken, missed the squid- maybe next time, shaved ice... you name it, it might have been there.

(another look at the Water Festival)

Japanese food is wonderful. Considering I would eat fried food every second of the day if it were available, (I am in heaven... it is pretty accessible most of the time!). Gyoza (dumplings), ramen (noodles), rice, miso soup, sushi, fried goodies, ohh man, my poor stomach has a lot of work to do... just gotta make sure my arteries can handle the pressure too.

My apartment is wonderful, more to come with that in the next post... with some pix too!

Congrats to my friends Marc and Hedi Wolpoff who were married last weekend. Congrats to Jared and Nicole Hersh who were married a couple weeks back. Congrats to my cousin Sarabeth who just had her second beautiful son. Congrats to Malinda who just got engaged. (Hmm, now, who did I forget?) Congrats to you for making it this far!

On Sunday night I went to the biggest fireworks (hanabi) show in western Japan. Period. The 4th of July in the States is great, but this was an hour and a half of madness... down by the river. Always a superlative, biggest this or best that, but this was impressive.

(ooooh, pretty)

What else? Wow, I have been firing away hundreds of pictures and emails recently and getting my apartment together... i think by this weekend, i will only have a couple of small pieces to place and my puzzle for Japan will be ready to present. And I can focus completely on the language I am trying to learn.

I had the following thought today, as I was getting sunburned, bothered by mosquitoes, riding my bike back to the office in humid, sticky heat: "I am earning money to be here and to teach. I will know very soon if I will be staying here for a while." Coming from the guy with the itch to travel, this is weird...

My office is great, coworkers are cool, schools at which I'll be teaching are friendly, my apartment is a sanctuary of peace... I just have to see about the kids. I met a couple today and they seem awesome. Granted I don't speak Japanese, but after a year, two years, three... five... I might be able to communicate more than my current pantomime.

(From Sunday again!)

Wow, I have to take a shower (yes, its true, i said it, quote me on it!)

If you haven't had a chance to read this to Grandma Lily yet, then I know she'd be happy to hear from you about this, or even the previous one!

More to come...

(Very) Soon,

First week in Japan and societal commentary (careful)

Reut reminded me that i have been here a week. It's just so weird because it involved "losing" a day on a plane; three days of speaking in English in one of the nicest hotels in Tokyo (in Shinjuku across from the government building); more plane time and the past three days in my new apartment in Kurume.

I will take this moment to ask anyone who is setting up a Fantasy Football league to please include me... I always win while I am abroad! send an invite to my d.strich(at)gmail.com address, onegaishimas (japanese for thanks... sort of)

Some people train for marathons by running. Some people practice yoga to help them meditate. There are all sorts of cross-training and preparation that people do to help them get ready for excursions, vacations and living. I should have been more prepared for my arrival in Japan. I know that the language barrier will be huge, but that's something for which I was prepared to be unprepared. The humidity as I stepped out of the airport upon my arrival in Fukuoka, after the Tokyo Orientation. was something else. I was in a suit, shirt and tie... a nice suit, a hot suit. What I should have done, in order to prepare for this experience, was to go to the local steam room, fully-clothed in jeans and sweatshirts. And I should have done this multiple times a day. And for a couple of weeks. Then maybe I would have been better prepared to be unprepared regarding a foreign language.


(Lisa and I at a bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo)

Fukuoka is in western Japan... it is on the northern tip of the southern island of Kyushu. And I am 30 minutes south of this biggest city in southern Japan. In fact, I am closer to Seoul, the capital of South Korea, than I am to Tokyo! I am somewhat in the mountains and the beaches are a short train ride away... and the hot springs are all nearby. Tokyo was wonderful... seeing Dan and Lisa (friends from different times in my life) on different nights; exploring Shinjuku (nice area) and Shibuya (Lost in Translation); and meeting cool folks at Orientation. This Jet Programme is very well organized and a great thing to be a part of. [I am listening to the song, "Lost For Words" by Pink Floyd right now and it's awesome... and it's awesome to have ADD too!] Anyhow, this program is set up through the Japanese Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) and they have really gotten this thing down to a science... the orientation ran like clockwork. Quite impressive and makes me look forward to having a steady job that they help set up for me. The JET community- participants (rookies and veterans), support staff, VOLUNTEERS!, and just about anyone who gets involved is awesome... it perpetuates a really good cultural exchange program. I will volunteer for something too, as I have already been helped by so many.

(City government building... uhh, huge)

I arrived with Wendy and Allison (also from my LA flight coincidentally) to Kurume and Johnathan and Kendra, who were here last year, made us dinner... they have been my informal guides/translator/ source of information.. and they have made me quite comfortable in this unfamiliar terrain. They are awesome. My supervisor, Shintani-sensei picked us up from the airport, took us out to lunch and has been taking us around town to get all the stuff done... It is amazing how efficient things have been here. When I feel down or overwhelmed, I just stop and realize that it is a fantastic place to be... because things are so clean and organized... and folks are helpful if I ask!

(Toyko at night, from the 42nd floor)

On a side note: "Shocking" is defined as "going from 1200 (maybe more) rookie teachers speaking English in one of the nicest hotels in one of the world's most expensive cities to three of us arriving in the burbs in western Japan where 'McDonald's' is the only word in English. A "trip" is a pretty good synonym for this word.

So much more to write... i'll get 'er done now... ahh

This is the first day since I arrived that there are blue skies. In about 30 minutes, I am going to ride my bike to the Kurume water festival... considering we have been getting so much rain, this seems like overkill, but it will be something entirely different probably... or it won't. I have no idea... and this is the main thing I got from Orientation... "Try everything." Such a good motto... no hesitation; try different foods; go out when invited; get out there and get active. This is my mantra now, and though difficult at times, especially post-afternoon-nap, I just have to go for it.

Another important motto is: "Ganbate" -- Do your best. Everyone makes fun of "your best" when they quote Sean Connery in The Rock. But this isn't complaining or worrying about trying your best. This is doing your best.... There is no try, there is just do! And this is the point of this paragraph. Perhaps semantic minutia, but to me it is the different between passing through a passive/victim/kvetching life (like many ignorant, rich Americans) versus one that is active /hard-working/exploring.

(Tokyo, imperial palace/gardens in green)

Drew wrote a great blog in which he made some direct observations and commentaries. It was a great reminder that I have to be the outspoken critic that I've been for 25 years. I will not stand on a soapbox, because I don't know what one is (and they are somewhat outdated even though the cliche isn't.) I have to tell things how they are... I want peace in the world and I am done trying to make. I just will do it. Or be it. Don't you try to do it either... simply, "Do It!" I would thank Nike for the use of 'their' motto... but I don't need your 'Just' while you are "Just(ly)" enslaving southeast Asians to make shoes for you at $1 a pair. And corpoorations have trademarked such common and everyday phrases and words that soon we won't even be able to speak because we'll be infringing on someone's licensing/copyright/patent... funny because they didn't even make up this language. Now I can also use this opportunity to thank American lawyers for their rush to make money by creating this gobbolly-gook... Good Ole lawyers and business execs... you have created a mess... why dont you use your millions to clean it up?

(Saved this "Lost in Translation" picture for you if you've made it to the end!- Shibuya plaza)

This blog got out of control, wow. I guess it's a waste of time to hide my passion and feelings and knowledge. And this is the only soapbox I've got, so I will stand on it and preach. Take it or leave it.

More stories and some declarations to come...

Jaane,

Address in Japan

send me whatever, looking forward to getting it!

David Strich
2069-2-23 Kamitsu-machi
Kurume-shi, Fukuoka-ken
JAPAN 830-0052

Jaane,
Dave

ps- I have been mixing up 'Jaane' and 'Maatane' with "Jamaate" in my past emails... apparently this is ok, but I wanted to make a grammatical note!