Where Old Meets New

One of the most fascinating things about Japan for me thus far has been the fusion of both old and new elements of culture. Here, wearing a traditional kimono on a subway while simultaneously listening to an iPod and eating a Big Mac is considered far from a cultural contradiction. In Japan, the land of contradictions, it's quite normal. Before arriving in the Land of the Rising Sun, I had thought that such opposite aspects of culture would be more like oil and water—completely ceasing to mix. As each day passes here, parts of Japan's old and new culture (such as this photo I took of a woman in formal dress on a subway—yes, I know I'm creepy) continually flash in front of me and I have only come to realize that this intricate balance is what makes Japan's culture so unique. Instead of seeing the country's old and new culture as oil and water, I now see it as spilled gas on wet pavement—it's a rainbow and the beauty can only be appreciated if it’s seen at a precise angle.

After a long debate about what to do on our day off (a trip to the hot springs in Wakayama or a historic castle tour), Scott and I decided to make the trek to the famous Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture. About an hour west of Osaka by train, the castle, also known as "The White Heron" because of its pristine and white exterior, is nestled in the small city of Himeji and gets billions of visitors each year. If you've seen "The Last Samurai," you probably recognize the castle from the movie. Portions of the movie were actually shot on location using artificial snow (and I only know this because of Wikipedia). It's also the most famous castle in Japan!

The elaborate plans for Himeji's constructed date back to 1331 whereas the actual construction began in 1333-46. During the Battle of Sekigahara, the structure was completely demolished and was rebuilt in 1580. In 1601, the castle went through an elaborate nine-year expansion because it had been badly demolished in various wars of the Muromachi period. When the expansion was complete, Himeji included eighty-two wooden buildings and was the size it is today. Good old Wikipedia also informed me that the castle was bombed during the Second World War and while the surrounding area was burnt to a crisp, the castle remained untouched. I kind of feel like I'm back in university writing a history paper or something...so I'll stop rambling with the boring stuff!

It took me and Scott about two hours to walk through the entire castle and it was quite the labyrinth, but very beautiful and kept in tip-top shape nonetheless. We later found out that it was purposefully constructed this way to confuse attackers—makes sense! You would have never guessed the wooden floors were as ancient as they were because there wasn't a scratch in sight. As you may already know, the Japanese take their shoes off when entering certain buildings. We had to remove our footwear and carry our shoes around in plastic bags while we toured the castle. Most of you know I hate wearing socks, but I just happened to be wearing them that day (probably a good thing)! Lots of artefacts were displayed throughout the interior including warrior apparel, weapons, and even ancient flip-flops! They looked just like a pair that I had a couple of summers ago (remember our beat-up straw flip-flops that we refused to throw away, Kristin?) When we were finished going through the interior, we had to put our shoes back on and return the plastic bags to a bin. The staff promptly re-folded them and placed them in a neat pile, ready for the next visitors.

While I was at the castle, I didn't really feel like I was in Japan. I kept telling Scott "I feel like I'm in Greece or something" because the white exterior reminded me of stucco and ornate details on the roof reminded me of something else un-Japanese. Anyway, we got lots of pictures to share, so enjoy!

We're pretty excited about our upcoming adventures. This Friday is a national holiday so we're going to Universal Studios Japan with two of our friends and are really looking forward to it. Some good theme park action is just what I need. Every Thursday, I pass a theme park on my way to work. I always look out the train window and the endless string of roller coasters and rides seem to be coaxing me to get off a stop early and buy an admission pass instead of going to work. A nice thought, isn’t it? This week, I’ll hopefully get my fill of thrill at Universal Studios! We've also been talking about a weekend trip to Tokyo in January and a six-day trip to Thailand in February. We'll keep you posted!

Hope all is well. We miss you!

xoxo

Jo & Scott

Pizza Hut, Shopping, Shopping, and More Shopping!

Hey Everyone!

Today is a joyous occasion for us—it's pay day! This is the first time we've seen money appear in our newly-opened Japanese bank accounts since we've arrived and is undoubtedly a reason to celebrate!

We officially started our celebration a little prematurely. On Saturday night after a long week of work, we invited our training group to our house and ordered Pizza Hut with the last bit of cash we had. It was worth every penny! One of our friends found out that we could get a plain cheese pizza for only 1000 yen and 200 yen for each extra topping. In addition to that great news, we got 400 yen off each pizza for going to pick it up. Usually it's about 3000 yen (about $30) for a large pizza to be delivered here—absolutely ludicrous! The types of pizzas they have here are even more far-fetched with names like "Mayo King" (imagine a pizza covered in cheese, mayonnaise, seaweed and last but not least, a raw egg to top it all off...yum!). Luckily, we decided to order what we knew we liked and it was so fabulous to have a taste of home, even if it was just for a night. It was great to spend some time with friends, play cards, have some drinks, and celebrate together.

On Sunday, Scott and I decided to do something fun (well, for me at least). I was ecstatic when Scott agreed to come shopping with me. Last week, one of my students was telling me about a great outlet mall near the airport, called Rinku Premium Outlets. We left in the early afternoon and six long hours later, Scott was complaining that he was sick of shopping. The outlet mall was absolutely unreal, with stores like Banana Republic (Jess...you would go crazzzzzy!), Gap, Coach, Juicy Couture, Furla, and over 150 others. The deals were just as amazing as the selection of stores and I ended up getting some really nice work clothes for 70 per cent off. Scott also had some shopping success. Everyone here is so fashionable. Rumour has it that Japan is one of the trendiest countries. The women here are ALWAYS decked out to the nines and ALWAYS wear heels. I swear to God, they would even climb a mountain in heels. Our credit cards were pretty worn out at the end of the day, but our little adventure was well worth all the money we spent! At least we actually have a paycheque in our bank accounts to make us feel less guilty. We also had a nice dinner at an American-style restaurant before we left to go back home.

On Saturday, I also met with another private student for the first time and I was absolutely shocked at his English ability. After I got home, I kept telling Scott that it was like talking to one of my friends! He works for a news company and hopes to become a foreign correspondent someday, but he wants to improve his listening ability first. What’s even cooler is that he has a British accent! When I heard him speak I told him that he had a British accent and he replied, “I aspire to be like John Lennon.” So cute!

Work is going well, although we find the classes a little menial at times. Even though this opinion is based largely on how good the students are and how willing they are to learn, the Free Time Lessons (FTLS), which I think Scott already touched on a bit, are what drive us crazy. These lessons focus on rote vocabulary, repetitive dialogue practise, and anything else that involves drilling or repeating. So you can imagine how boring it would be to do six forty-minute classes a day. Although a straight FTL shift is somewhat rare, I ended up with one last Monday and today as well. Last week Scott even caught me talking in my sleep. I was teaching an FTL...haha.

Don’t get us wrong, we do enjoy work, but like every job, there are the inevitable ups and downs!

Write us! We’d love to hear from you. Miss you all!

Jo & Scott

On Feeling the Ground Shake...

First I want to warn everyone that everything's okay. Yesterday morning, Scott and I felt out first earthquake here in Osaka for about 20 seconds and it was pretty scary. We weren't sure what to do and just hoped that it would stop. Luckily, it did. Apparently, these minor tremors happen quite frequently and can be felt somewhere throughout Japan almost every day. The city of Osaka is also very prepared and has extensive evacuation plans for more severe earthquakes.
We were a little shaken, but we're okay now. We're very thankful to live in Canada where we don't have to worry about these unexpected occurences on a daily basis!

We miss you all! xoxo

Dirty Deer and Even Dirtier Students

Hello to Everyone!

So, it's been a fairly eventful week! Saturday was Culture Day here, so we (FINALLY) had a full weekend to enjoy! Plus, since I have Friday off I did a 'lil OT to make some extra coin! My day consisted of working for a total of 2.5 hours, and the rest of it was folding papers (definitely using my degree there!!!) and getting pictures taken for the school's website. If you want to check it out, here's the link: http://www.ecc.jp/school/kinki_area/kishiwada/kishiwada.php

Saturday was quite lovely! We went to Nara for the day, which is home to the Todaiji Temple. It has the world's largest Buddha and a few of his friends. It was really quite the beautiful site to see. Nara's also the home of thousands of deer... small, tame deer that roam the steps up to the Todaiji Temple and surrounding areas. However, these aren't your ordinary deer, these deer are dirty and smelly... and for some reason Japanese people, the same people who are ridiculously anal about cleanliness and the whatnot LOVE these deer. They seemed to love petting them, feeding them and getting right in there with them! There were some cute ones, though and we got some pics with them (of course!)

Sunday was really fun too. Jo's students from the summer at Queen's School of English invited us to their University Festival. So we hopped on a train and went to a nice little town in between Osaka and Kobe where the University was. The campus was gorgeous and very... uniform. The buildings were all made of a stucco type material (think Mediterranean architecture). The festival consisted of all the different groups and clubs from the school having little food stands with many different Asian cuisine options. Jo and I opted for a fried rice dish, which was absolutely fantastic, ice cream (obviously Jo made that decision), and a Japanese "cookie" which was a flat rice pancake thing, coated in a brown sauce, tempura batter that looked like Rice Krispies, all topped with mayonnaise... I was pretty upset that we asked what it was to tell the truth.

I was given another weekly shift this past week, so I know where I'm going three days of the week. Yay! My first day at the school, I was in the elevator with this woman... heavy makeup, terrible teeth and you could see every bone in her body... anyways, she realizes I'm white, therefore must be going to ECC and starts (trying to) talk to me... and of course it gets weird pretty fast, door opens at my floor and lo and behold, she gets off too.
It turned out she was an ex-Nova student and was here to look into French and English classes, so she disappeared for about an hour to do her French testing stuff and the staff start making smart-aleck comments like "So your girlfriend from the elevator is a hotty!" and "Woah, I thought her makeup was a Halloween costume... she scared me!" Anyways, we laughed about her pretty much all day (which was when I knew I had to work with these people, I fit right in!) Later in the day, I had to do a placement test for her English courses, where she was hitting on me... I was a little scared for myself. Thankfully though she left and I thought I was rid of the scariest student I've had yet.

Unfortunately I was wrong. A few days later I was back at the school and guess who walks in? Yup, in all her glory and makeup! Apparently she wasn't very happy with the fact that I placed her in level three of five. So after some talking and schedule flipping, she re-did the test with another teacher. Of course this concluded with her being placed in the exact same level and, like an episode of Harvey Birdman, everyone standing around laughing at the end... except for her, since that wouldn't have been very nice. (I really miss Harvey Birdman).

So yeah, those are the tales of Japan from the week. We miss everyone and think about you daily!

Cheers,

Scott & Jo

Happy Halloween: Japan-Style!

Happy Halloween from Osaka! Yes, it’s a big occasion here!

I think this post might be a little more interesting than usual, so brace yourselves! The past week has been a whirlwind of adventures. Some highlights include a random business trip, some crazy Halloween festivities, and attempting to learn katakana, just to name a few. While I’m on the topic of the blog, is it just me or does it seem increasingly Jo-centred? I know you’re all craving a little bit of Scott too, so I’ll get him to dish about his life next time!

Well, we’re finally getting into the good old swing of things at work—to a point where we more-often-than-not have things to complain about the instant we get home. Most of our complaints provide us with comic relief after a long day at work, so I’d like to think that it’s all in good humour. I’m sure our students would be laughing at us if they heard us try to speak Japanese. Last December, I began a self-study of Japanese and it just made me even more aware of how challenging it can be to learn something totally foreign. Since we’ve been here, we’ve found that there’s not really a huge need to know the language well—I mean, we’re functional and can ask basic questions like “Eki wa doko desu ka?”—but most people can communicate in English and get by. Our co-workers are mainly English-speakers and the natives we work with know English better than the average Joe. I don’t know if this is a good thing though, because it’s kind of made me less motivated to learn the language and stray from taking Japanese lessons. Even though I originally intended to when I arrived, now I’m finding it’s a classic case of “there’s just not enough time in the day.” Scott, on the other hand, has had an inquiring mind lately. After our friends, Colin and Laura, decided to learn katakana, which are the main sound combination symbols of the Japanese language like “na” “ga” etc., he found a great site on the net and followed their lead.

Speaking of new things, I began the search for private students about a week ago and have heard back from several people already. When I got home today, there was an email waiting in my inbox from a doctor who want to have a lesson for two hours on my day off—what could be more perfect?! I’m also meeting my first student tomorrow. She’s an English teacher, but because the English teachers here focus strictly on grammar, reading, and writing, she seeking some conversation practise. We’re meeting at a Starbucks tomorrow before my shift.

On to more exciting news! On Monday, as I was getting ready for work, I got a call from the office asking me for a huge favour. At first, I was a little bit reluctant because I wasn’t sure what it would entail, but everything worked out. A teacher who works at a school about two-and-a-half hours away had just found out his father had passed away and had to go back home very suddenly. I willingly accepted the favour—partly because it meant an all-expenses paid business trip to Fukuoka, which is located on the island of Kyushu. As soon as I got off the phone, I had to rush out the door and catch a “shinkansen” or bullet train. Almost three hours later, over 500 kilometres travelled, and close to $300 spent, I arrived in Fukuoka! The bullet train was quite the experience, although way too overpriced. It’s almost like being on an airplane—they have everything from washrooms on board to attendants who walk up and down the aisle serving snacks. Anyway, it was a great way to see Japan’s landscape. Even though it whizzed by, I still snapped some pictures! Originally, I had been given an allowance to stay in a hotel overnight, but realized it was worth my while to catch the last shinkansen home so I could fully appreciate my day off the next day and not have to worry about commuting. It was a cool experience and I’m glad I did it!

Today is a pretty big day here because it’s Halloween! For the past week, it’s been “Halloween week” at all the schools, which means the teachers get to (more like HAVE to) dress up (which explains the ears I'm wearing in the picture above) and teach the students about Halloween customs. Some of the classes Scott and I have taught this past week have included everything from carving pumpkins to making masks and paper lanterns to handing out candy. Japan goes all out for Halloween I tell ya! I walked into my class of two-year-olds today and nearly died—they were just SO adorable. I, however, was not so adorable in my cat ears even though everyone was convincing me that I was “kawaii” or “cute.” This is why I’m glad Halloween’s over—I secretly couldn’t wait to take them off and hide them. Forever.

While I’m on the topic of Halloween, Scott and I had a great time celebrating on Saturday night at a club called “Balabushka” where all the white people in Osaka go! We all met at Laura and Colin’s, enjoyed some drinks, got our costumes ready and headed out. We ran into some of our friends and co-workers and had a great time...well, at least until the cab ride home burned a deeper hole in our already burnt pockets. We’re counting down the days until we get our first paycheque! It will be a glorious day—complete with a trip to Pizza Hut! For the past month, we’ve been walking by the Pizza Hut conveniently located up the road from our place and have practically drooled every single time.

This Saturday is a national holiday in Japan, which means we don’t have to work and even better—two days off in a row! Yay! On Saturday, we’re going to be going to Nara, an area about 30 minutes from here (picture deer, trees, and mountains all within a stone’s throw from the big city). On Sunday, I’m meeting up with some old students of mine from the summer. They’ve invited Scott and me to their university’s festival and we’re both looking forward to it.

We miss you!

Jo & Scott

Getting Ready for Hallowe'en!

Hello everyone!

I just got back from a long walk to Namba in search of an English bookstore. Today’s my day off, so I wanted to get some exercise and check out this bookstore that I'd heard about. After roaming around one of the busiest parts of the city for a few hours, I couldn’t find it, so I gave up, went grocery shopping, and took the subway home. Besides, blogging is way better than reading a book!

Scott and I have officially been in Japan for a month now and although there have been several things to adjust to, we feel like they’re becoming easier as the days pass. We’re slowly starting to get our schedules for work and know our way around the city like natives—it sure doesn’t take long to get used to when you commute every day! We both had good first weeks of work too—despite some problem children. If anyone thinks all Japanese children are well-behaved, you are so incredibly wrong.

To celebrate our new beginnings, we went out with Colin, Laura, and Marcus on Saturday night to a district in central Osaka called Shinsaibashi, which is basically a great spot for shopping and evening entertainment. There are many American, Australian, and Canadian bars too. We’d all been talking to other teachers we work with and they had several bar recommendations for us...so we decided to try one out! We ended up at a bar called “Scorpion” which is a tiny Western bar that plays English music and has many kinds of international beer. They even let their guests pick the songs they want to hear from the computer and let me tell you—Scott was pretty much in heaven! After a night of good company and festivities, we walked home (a whole 45 minutes) because the subways stop running around 12 am.

On Sunday, Scott and I went searching for Hallowe’en costumes. Believe it or not, Hallowe’en is a popular occasion here and stores began displaying their Hallowe’en paraphernalia shortly after we landed in Japan. The first time we saw it we kind of had to look twice, as it doesn’t really seem particularly Japanese. Anyway, everyone loves dressing up here and going to parties. Unfortunately, there’s no trick-or-treating, but I’ve heard it’s a tradition for the “gaijins” like us to ride the train loop line in Osaka and drink (yep...completely legal). I’ll keep you posted about our Hallowe’en plans. For work, we have to dress up because it’s part of “Western culture and traditions” according to our company. So, I’m going to be a cat and Scott’s going to be Dracula. The costume selection was somewhat limited—even at the giant department store we went to! I’m looking forward to seeing all our students dress up too—it’ll be so cute!

Sunday evening was especially exciting for me because I had arranged to meet one of my students, Tomoko, from the Queen’s School of English. She came to Canada in August to study at the School with her university for a month. I’ve been keeping in touch with some of the students who live in Osaka and I’ll actually be seeing all of them at their university’s festival in November. Anyway, it was really great to see a familiar face. Scott and I went to dinner at the restaurant she works at just a few train stops from our apartment. The food was absolutely amazing and she treated us like royalty—complete with a visit to the restaurant’s kitchen!

Well, I hope everything’s fine back home! We miss you and we’d LOVE to hear from you!

Take care!

Jo & Scott

The Joys of Teaching... from Scott's Perspective

Hello Everyone!!!

First off, I know I know... I've been letting Jo do all the posting and you've all missed my creative prose... But here I am!

So, training's done which is awesome and we've been in the teaching world for about a week now... There have been some ups, downs and a wasted guy outside one of my schools.

At our company, we have lessons called Free Time Lessons (FTLs) where up to four people come in and we go through some vocab, I get them to chat and yadda yadda yadda... Well, there are lots of people who come in that are good speakers. I love these people. Even though I've only been doing them for about a week, I've gotten kinda cocky with them (imagine that, me being cocky about something). So, when I get some higher level people coming in, I like to not do a lesson at all, and just bring up a topic and let them go with it... I obviously tend to stray towards topics that get the best conversations... and are kinda rough around the edges. Just today, I had two women and a man, all great speakers so I decided to just say "So, Japan is pretty male chauvinistic, isn't it? What do you guys think about this?" Lucky for me (and probably the male student) he agreed with it and they just went on and on for forty minutes about it. I felt kinda sorry for the guy for the first bit, but in the end it was quite lovely. However, with FTLs you can get some people that are pretty low level... these classes make me wish I'm at home... digging out my eyeballs. These are so bloody boring, and so unsatisfying that you just want to die. Think of saying "Burger... watch my mouth... B B Burger"..."No, not vooga... burger" about 30 times... and getting nowhere. Thankfully they're only 40 minutes long.

Kids classes are a mixture of both worlds too. Sometimes the kids are up, having fun, speaking and make you look like the God of English Teaching... then there's the kids where you're trying so bloody hard, making new games and activities on the fly and they just don't do anything... sure they'll say the words but it feels like they just don't care... like when we were 4-9 and taking French classes... hmmmmm... but French teachers get paid more!

Then there's the randomness that ensues. Yesterday I was on a break so I decided to go to the local Family Mart (convenience store) and get a drink, when I walk by a random door into a staircase that led up to what I later found out to be a karaoke bar. Well, just as I walk out of the building, I see the door fly open and a pile of Japanese businessmen come falling out (literally), all carrying this one guy. He was unable to walk, talk and by the looks of it, know where in the world he was. The guy was shittered. Just think of your froshweek... that guy that never really drank before and just finished his 12th beer... yeah him. So I obviously slow my walk down so I can enjoy as much of this debacle as possible and I'll be honest, they had a great system. Two guys for the arms, one holding his head and the other pushing his legs along... great teamwork! Needless to say after I got my drink and was walking back, they were pushing him into a cab and that was the last of it... good for him! Oh yeah... this was all at 5:30 in the afternoon. What a trooper.

Well, I guess that's about it... plus Heroes just finished downloading. So hopefully I'll get on here more often and let you know what's up. Miss everyone and I definitely missed Homecoming. Hope everyone's having a great time back home.

Cheers,

Scott & Jo

The Joys of Teaching!

Hello from Osaka!

A lot has been going on here, so I’ll do my best to update you.

Last Friday marked the day that Scott and I finished training—finally! It felt like a gruelling process sometimes, but fortunately, we were with a great group of people so in reality, the 14 days didn’t seem so bad. On our last day, we received our schedules and the trainers also took us to observe some classes at two local schools near Tennoji station (about ten minutes from the company headquarters). We saw classes of all levels and really got a feel for where we’d be working. While we were at the Kids Tennoji school, I was introduced to the school director, who I’d be working with. On Fridays, I have a shift at the school and will be teaching at a kindergarten and also a private class!

In terms of our schedules, we work five days a week and have two days off as well as seven weeks of paid vacation. Scott and I decided to have one day off together and one day off to ourselves (I have Tuesday, he has Friday, and we both have Sundays). This was the only arrangement available unless we wanted to teach web classes—something we weren’t too keen on. Because we’re new teachers, we don’t have full schedules yet. Right now, we both have three full days of classes at various schools around Osaka and two “sub” days, which means we have to call the headquarters the morning we work and find out which school we’re supposed to go to. Basically, a sub shift is when a teacher travels to a school to temporarily replace a teacher who is sick or has taken time off—it’s like supply teaching. Sub shifts can be great, as Scott and I found out on Monday, but also very stressful, as we found out on Saturday—our first day of work!

Lucky for us, the trainers let us know on Friday night which schools we would be at. I was scheduled to be at Kids Tennoji, so I was pretty happy about that. Scott was scheduled to be at some school about 40 minutes away from our place. So when the alarm went off early Saturday morning, we rolled out of bed, got ready, ate breakfast, reviewed our lesson plans and did all the prepping that we could. Just as I was heading out the door, my cell rang and it was a trainer from ECC telling me that she screwed up my schedule and I would have to race to a school near the airport (about an hour from here). At this point, I was pretty flustered and didn’t really know where to go. Let’s just say it was an adventure. Anyway, when I finally got to the school around 12:15, I immediately had to teach two classes in a row of three year-olds. I had no idea what I was supposed to do because I didn’t prep for that lesson, so I winged it. After the two classes, I just had one more class—a free conversation class of teens and adults and it went really well. I left the school around 3:45 and headed home on the train. Although the day started off on a not-so-good note, I left feeling more confident and actually felt pretty good on the train ride home.

Scott arrived home shortly after I got in and we made dinner and concluded that we were too drained to go out with our training group. We were also pretty thrilled that Sunday was our day off!

Since we've arrived, we’ve both been talking about going to the Kaiyukan Aquarium—so we figured our day off would be the perfect time to do it! We got up early and made our way to the west side of Osaka, stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, and made our way into the aquarium as eager as the thousands of little kids around us. Apparently, the aquarium is one of the largest in the world. It boasts 15 large tanks containing over 11,000 tons of water and shows species that are part of the Ring of Fire and the Ring of Life—from birds and reptiles to fish and mammals and the infamous whale shark! The Japanese word “kaiyukan” translates to “playing in the sea pavilion” and the architectural layout definitely allows visitors to feel as though they’re at one with the creatures. Too bad the thick sheets of glass get in the way! We had a fabulous time, learned a lot, and took more pictures than we know what to do with.

After the aquarium, we headed next door to the Suntory Museum—home of the IMAX theatre and famous art gallery. Scott and I had free tickets to see the “Toulouse-Lautrec et la vie parisienne” art exhibit because our company sponsored it. Although it was a small exhibit, we enjoyed learning about 19^th century post-impressionist art. Personally, it made me think of home and brought me back to the days of art history class and life at 32 Wellington (where we had Toulouse prints all over the walls). Oh, the memories!

Scott and I ended up getting a deal when we were at the aquarium, which allowed us to see the latest IMAX film at a discounted price, so naturally, we did just that! The film, “Deep Sea 3D” complimented our visit to the aquarium and luckily, we were able to listen to it in English. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet (the narrators) just didn’t seem to sound the same in Japanese. We also got to sport some wicked 3D shades!

On our way back to the subway station, Scott and I stopped at a little kimono shop where I bought a kimono for 3,000 yen. It’s not a real kimono—more like a casual one that’s made of brushed cotton and is shorter. Anyway, it’s pretty cool!

By the time we got back into central Osaka, it was packed and most of the streets were closed because there was a huge parade happening—the Midosuji Parade. Although we weren’t sure what the celebration was about, we accepted the fans people were passing out on the streets and took some cool pictures of the floats. After making our way through the crowds, it was pretty close to dinner and since we were in a good area to eat, we figured we would stop at a nice restaurant and celebrate a belated Thanksgiving. Our friends had told us about an American restaurant that they had been to, but when we finally found it, it was booked for a wedding, so we ended up eating at a cute little Italian place across the street. Japanese Italian food is hardly comparable to Canada, but it was still pretty tasty!

On Monday, Scott and I worked again. Scott was at a new school and I was scheduled to go to the same school as Saturday. I was pretty relieved that I didn’t have to figure out new directions in the morning and jeopardize being late on my second day of work. On Monday, we both had a full schedule and worked from 2:45 to 8:45—yes, it’s a late day, I know, but that’s what our typical schedule will be like from now on. We have about 10-15 minutes in between each class to prep for the next one or to grab a bite to eat, so it’s not too bad. Scott and I both had really great days and had a few laughs over the things that happened—from little kids eating their boogers to singing songs like “Make a Pizza.” It’s weird how those catchy little tunes get stuck in your head...I caught myself singing it a few times during the rest of the night! I also taught two private classes on Monday—one student was six and was extremely gifted. She could not only speak English fluently, but also listen, read, and write accurately. I was blown away! My other student was an older business man and he had a great time telling me about the cosmetic company he works for as well as the Hanshin Tigers!

So, tomorrow it’s back to work for me and I’m really looking forward to it! I’m sure Scott will get on here and talk about his first few days of teaching.

Hope all is well back home! We miss you!

xoxo

Jo & Scott

Missing Thanksgiving (and Turkey Dinner)

Hello Everyone!

We hope you’re all enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend—whatever that might entail. Just thinking about family and eating turkey makes me want to come home—even if it’s just for the night. Of course, eating miso soup and a salad is hardly comparable to Mom’s Thanksgiving dinner, but I guess it’s the closest we’ll get. We scaled the supermarkets for a turkey, but no such luck! Oh well!

Scott and I have been extremely busy the past week with training. We went for a full six days this week (Monday to Saturday—yuck) and we were absolutely drained after we got home on Saturday night. That didn’t stop us from having a party at our house, though! We were especially tired this week because we were doing kids training, which involved singing songs, reading “The Hungry Caterpillar,” sitting cross-legged on the floor, and basically, pretending to be five to twelve-year-olds in every way possible (I know you’re jealous). Anyway, the training was a blast despite all the energy it took from us. The kids’ trainer, Dave, was also a really great guy to work with—he’s from Wales, so you can imagine the fun we had!

Throughout kids training, Dave’s goal was to put us in the kids’ shoes and make us experience exactly how it felt to be learning a second language. So, guess what he did? He taught us a whole lesson in Swahili! It was both challenging and rewarding, but mostly funny. I now know how to speak a bit of Swahili and I can say “Jambo! Ulifanya ni ni leo?” which translates to: “Hello! What did you do today?”

Since our training group starts work next Saturday (after another four full days of training), we thought ahead and figured it would be the perfect opportunity to engage in some debauchery. Our friends came to our place shortly after work on Saturday and we stayed here for a bit before going to karaoke. One of Laura and Colin’s good friends, Ben, who worked for Nova, joined in on the festivities for the evening. He lives south of Nagoya and came in to Osaka for the weekend. He is also pretty fluent in Japanese, so it made getting around a hell of a lot easier. We karaoked the night away and then came back to our place and went to sleep. Thankfully, we had the day to rest on Sunday. Today (Monday) is a national holiday here. It’s Sports Day! Haha. They have the most random holidays here, but if it means a day off, I can’t complain.

Today, Scott and I will probably explore central Osaka a bit. We want to visit an area called Nipponbashi that’s basically electronics heaven (and also full of porn). I need to get a microphone for my computer so I can talk on Skype. Time permitting; we might also go to Osaka Castle, which is more North. We’ll probably end up dining out tonight and treat ourselves to a Japanese style Thanksgiving dinner. We also have to prepare another teaching demo for tomorrow for the really little kids (age one-and-a-half to four) so we’ll probably be busy with that as well.

Hope all is well back home and we’ll blog again soon!

xoxo

Jo & Scott

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