Training and a Trip to Kyoto

Hello from Osaka! It's been awhile since our last post, which means we've been busy. I'll do my best to give you a brief rundown on what's been happening in our lives!

Scott and I began training last Wednesday at company headquarters, which is only about three subway stops from our place. Although we've only completed four days of training (out of a 14-day total), it's already been so much fun--and that's honestly the best way I can describe it. We have four other people in our training group--Laura and Colin (the other couple) from Oshawa, Naomi, from Toronto, and Marcus, who's from Australia. They're all really cool people and we've had fun getting to know them! Our trainers are also really fun. This past week, we've been learning from an ECC veteran, Andrew, who's been working there for quite awhile. Although he's originally from Southampton, Ontario (near Owen Sound for those of you who don't know), he now resides in Kyoto with his Japanese wife and he's been giving us "newbies" some very helpful advice about living and working in Japan.

Going through training has really made me and Scott feel more confident about our decision to work for ECC and we've been learning so much more about it along the way. ECC is a very well-established company and has been in business since 1962. Since then, the company has flourished and is not only an ESL school, but has several different sectors. The company offers lessons in many different languages, contrary to what I had previously thought and not only do they have standard in-class teaching, but they also conduct web lessons, business lessons (where teachers visit the place of business and do a custom lesson), and multi-lingual lessons. Basically, the company is far from sketchy, like many of its counterparts (ahem....Nova).

In a country where learning the English language is a desirable skill, many companies revolve around this specific industry. When Scott and I were researching for this adventure way back in September 2006, we learned that there were many large companies (also referred to as the "Big Four"--ECC, Geos, Nova, Aeon), that focus particularly on second-language instruction. While few seemed legit after a brief glance at some online literature, most definitely didn't--and this is why we immediately avoided companies like Nova. Let's just say we're glad we didn't even go to an interview with this company because last week, the company was forced to shut down due to bankruptcy. Nova can't even pay its current employees and as a result, the former Nova employees will have to go job-hunting in hopes of scoring a position in another language company, or go home because they don't have a steady income. One of our friends in Japan right now is in this exact position. Anyway, the Nova stuff has really rattled the foundations of all the foreign language schools because it's all over the media. Naturally, everyone in the industry is worried, and rightly so. This won't be happening to ECC anytime soon and everyone has assured us things will be fine. After all, we're in training, right?
Last Friday after training, our group went out for dinner at an English pub we found in Namba called "The Hub" (an Andrew recommendation!). It was just one of those days where no amount of sushi could satisfy our hunger--we wanted some good old fashioned grease. The pub was a really neat spot because there were not only a lot of other "gaijins" but they also played English music and had a great selection of food--fish and chips being their claim to fame. They were so good! :) The guys were also elated when they saw "1L of beer" on the menu--and of course, proceeded to order it. It was hilarious to watch them attempt to drink out of the massive cylinder the beer came in. And hey, they even made friends with a Japanese guy from the table beside us because they all had the 1L beer!

Getting out of bed was a little hard for Scott the next day, but we still managed to make it to Kyoto with Laura, Colin, and Naomi by noon. Kyoto is a gorgeous area of Japan and is an intricate mix of old, ingrained culture--with geisha and shrines and temples scattered throughout the city, as well as newer culture--with Love Hotels, karaoke bars, massive ads and department stores all over the place.

We took the JR (Japan Rail) train to Kyoto, which was about 25 minutes from Osaka, and then got an all-day bus pass from the tourist information centre. We immediately hopped on the bus and grabbed a quick bite to eat at a traditional Japanese restaurant before scouting out the shrines and temples.

We went to Ninnaji Temple first, which is in the Northwest part of Kyoto and were amazed that anything could be so beautiful. Plenty of pictures were taken...haha. On our way to the next temple, we stopped at a Japanese graveyard and then made our way to the entrance of Ryoanji Temple, which has one of the most famous Zen rock gardens or “karesansui” in Japanese as well as lavish ponds, statues, and greenery. The rock garden itself is quite “Zen”, to say the least, and is about 10 by 30 meters with 15 irregularly shaped rocks within a shallow sandbox containing perfectly raked pebbles. There are no plants whatsoever. Beside the garden, there are planks where people can sit and ponder the meaning of the garden. Although it was quite relaxing, Scott and I were both stumped for answers about the potential meaning. Many people say the garden is supposed to be a representation of Japan itself—the raked stones represent the rippling ocean, whereas the rocks are supposed to be the islands.

After our Zen experience, we rushed back down to Gion, a district in central Kyoto, to see if we could spot some geisha. Laura was reading about them before our trip and told us they are more apt to appear at dusk, because that’s when they travel to their next shifts. Geisha are traditional female entertainers whose skills range from serving tea to playing music and dancing. Although they do not engage in prostitution as part of their job, many people confuse geisha with “oiran”, or high-class court entertainers, who are known to engage in prostitution. Geisha and oiran can be distinguished from each other in a simple way—whereas oiran prostitutes wear their “obis” (the tie around the kimono) at the front (to allow for easy untying); the geisha have them at the back. Anyway, when we got to Gion, there were groups of people (and even more cameras) standing outside a geisha house and although we didn’t know what it was at the time, put two and two together. After patiently waiting for about forty minutes, the first geisha appeared and walked into the house. Everyone was crowding around to take pictures (yep, we were too—after all, is a trip to Kyoto really complete without solid evidence of a geisha sighting?). It was something like I’ve never seen before—these ancient Japanese traditions are still a profound part of the nation’s culture even in the 21^st century. The geisha experience really made me want to learn more—perhaps I’ll see the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha” or read the book. Until then, I’ll just have to be satisfied with Wikipedia! Hey, it’s a start!

By that time, we were pretty famished and made our way to an American restaurant called “Shakey’s,” which was an all-you-can-eat pizza and spaghetti house. Everyone was pretty much in heaven after a long day of walking. After dinner, we did some shopping in the covered arcades and then decided to go to a karaoke place. For all of us, the singing was a combination of hilarity and utter brutality. Just ask Scott! He was having a great time singing “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey (horribly) and likewise, the girls and I enjoyed our Backstreet Boys medley! Haha. Good times, good times!

Our group originally intended on staying in Kyoto the night, but we changed our minds after finding no suitable accommodations. We were hoping to stay at a Love Hotel for the night, which is a cheap hotel people can rent out for the hour or night to do...uhhh...you know what. Although Love Hotels have a not-so-nice connotation, they are actually quite clean and entertaining. We took a cab to one called “La Peche” in Kyoto, browsed at the available rooms on the board (they’re thematic—for example: puppies, Disney princesses, leather, etc.), took a quick glance at the prices, and decided our money would be better spent elsewhere. All the cheap rooms were taken and the only rooms left were 9900 yen (about $99.00) per night—eek! So, we went back to the train station and caught the last train back to Osaka. In retrospect, it was probably a smart choice because it rained the next day—like ALL day.

We’re planning to go back to Kyoto when the leaves start changing colour. We also want to see the Kiyomizu-dera temple that was almost chosen as one of the seven recent Wonders of the World. In the meantime, we’ll probably do some other day trips around Osaka. Work starts the day after we’re done training and we’re both pretty pumped for that. In the meantime, we still have ten more days of training to get through before we sign our contracts. Yay!

Thanks to everyone who wrote comments on our blog and don’t forget to keep sending us emails/Facebook posts and/or messages. If you want to see more pictures from our adventures so far, Scott made some albums on Facebook and I will too (soon, I promise). We miss everyone! Take care!

Until next time,

Jo & Scott