I spent five days in Hiroshima as part of my Assistant Language Teacher training. Hiroshima made me feel strange; for a city that has witnessed such sadness and tragedy, it exudes so much peace. The Peace Memorial Museum and Park took my breath away. I went to see the A-Bomb dome one night and it was lit up so beautifully. There is a really curious paradox in the dome; it looks so fragile yet it is a symbol of such strength.
The majority of time spent in Hiroshima was taken up with training. I enjoyed training to an extent; I think I am going to enjoy using my mind in a different way through teaching. At many points throughout the week however,I felt so doubtful of my capabilities. I am not an extrovert by any means and I am so frightened that my quieter nature will be mistaken by both my students and colleagues as aloofness. I want to do the best job that I can, I really do.
Here are some snaps of my training group, they were nights I will remember forever.
So now, here I am in my new home. Marugame city is a teeny tiny city in the north east of a prefecture called Kagawa (the smallest prefecture in Japan) on Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands. Marugame's status as a city is somewhat deceptive; on my first day, I followed the signs to Marugame City Center which led me to a small train station and a handful of shops. Feeling puzzled, I cycled a little further in the hope of stumbling upon the neon lights of Marugame city. No neon lights appeared. It was later confirmed to me that the train station is the city centre...
For the first few days, I felt so alone. It was a feeling I have never experienced before and it was not a pleasant one. Here I was in a tiny city nestled in the mountain. The little proficiency I thought I had in Japanese had been drowned by the feeling of complete and utter helplessness and I missed home and longed for the familiar so terribly. To make it worse, there was a problem with the internet connection at my apartment so I was spending a lot of money visiting the local internet cafe. Incidentally, the internet cafe in Marugame is called 'Funky Time' so I'm sure the Marugame folk were amused by the new foreigner in town bumbling around asking 'Funky Time doko desu ka?' From one comedic incident to the next....I was cycling around town a few days ago when I was stopped by a very wizened old Japanese man. People here are very quiet and reserved; I get a lot of curious looks here and so I was really happy that someone wanted to talk to me. We managed a few sentences (I need to study more) at which point, the man produced a camera and asked if he could take a picture of me whilst yelling to his friends 'Kate Mossu! Kate Mossu!' I didn't know what to do other than grin inanely...he seemed pleased with that. I wish I could have taken a picture of him too, he had a cheeky glint in his eye.
I also had an experience which really did warm my heart; I made a phonecall from a payphone on Tuesday and when I got back to my apartment, realised that I had left my notebook behind and it was too dark for me to make my way back to the phonebox. The next afternoon, I located the phonebox and there was my notebook in the same place with the book mark placed on the exact page I had been reading from. :-)
Since then, life is getting easier for me, mostly thanks to my wonderful mentor Kayo Minami. Kayo has helped me with getting a phone, setting up a bank account and getting my alien registration card. She has been so patient with me; every time we go to register for something, I usually forget one document or another. Kayo just chuckles,drives me back to the apartment and we start over again. Every day since I've arrived, she has insisted on buying me lunch and she explains things about her culture so clearly and well; I've learnt so much this week. Kayo is married but has no children and the other night, she said that to her, I was now like family. It brought tears to my eyes. We are supposed to have our mentors for just one week so yesterday should have been the last day. I truly think I have found a friend in Kayo however; tomorrow she is taking me to Ritsurin Koen which is a beautiful landscaped garden in Takamatsu city (the largest city in Kagawa) and next week, we are going to go to the hot springs together. Kayo is wonderful. <3
I've also been really lucky and have met some other ALTs living here in Marugame. It feels nice to have company already. One of the things that I've realised since moving to Japan is just how little I know about life. On the first day, Kayo took me to a 100 yen store. 100 yen stores are amazing - they sell everything imaginable and most items are 100 yen. That's the equivalent of about 60p. I love them. Anyhow, rather than stocking up on cleaning things for my home, I spent most of my time looking at rabbit shaped teapots and pretty stationary. Kayo had to eventually give me a gentle nudge in the direction of the kitchen cleaning products.
I start teaching on Tuesday. I will be teaching at two high schools here in Marugame. I am so excited to meet my students but incredibly anxious. I hope that I can do a good job and I hope that they like me.
My departure from the schools really made me laugh. It took me about fifteen minutes after saying goodbye to actually leave the building. Everyone was bowing,over and over again. Every step backwards was followed by a bow and a 'yoroshiku onegai shimasu!' Japanese people are extraordinarily polite. When I bought my phone today, the shop assistant walked Kayo and I to the car, opened the car door for me and waited until I had fastened my seat belt before handing me the bag. Even the waiters and waitresses in the restaurants appear so happy to serve you, they say hello with such gusto...well actually,it is more like giddy yelling but I like it.
All this typing is making me tired so I'll finish up for now with some more pictures The picture below is the view from the Seto Ohashi bridge; it is the bridge that connects Honshu island to Shikoku island. It was so beautiful to see so many little islands peppering the Inland Sea. I am looking forward to taking that train ride again soon.
This is a shrine about two minutes walk from my house. It was so peaceful there. A man took my camera from me and took a picture before bowing and handing it back, hence my slightly bemused expression.
Finally, this is the view as I come out of my apartment. I love the city but there is nothing more peaceful than having my iPod on and cycling on my lovely sky blue bike past rice paddies and mountains like this. :-) This mountain is a famous mountain in Marugame; the locals call it Sanuki Fuji.
lovelove
xo
