Kyoto in September Days 2 and 3!

Second and last day in Kyoto! I'm too lazy to write a blog with the videos... so here are the videos... not very quality but I didn't try that hard.. just for fun.

Kyoto in September-Day 1

I made a video blog post!!!! Yay, so here I thought I would fill in some extra info on the places we visited!

First right after we arrived and checked into our hotel we walked to Nanzen-ji temple to start the walk on the Path of Philosophy. Along the path were many little resturaunts and tea shops, of which we stopped at one to get some maccha.

Nanzen-ji Temple

On the Path of Philosophy

Maccha at a tea shop on the Path of Philosophy!

Then we continued the walk, which was absolutely beautiful, it was along a small river and was a narrow old stone path, and at the end we reached the main street to Ginkaku-ji, or the Silver Temple. The temple is not actually silver because the shogun that had it built died before they were able to cover it with silver leaf, so they just left it without. So while this temple may not be as stunning as Kinkaku-ji(golden temple) the gardens definitely make up for it- they are amazingly beautiful.

Ginkaku-ji

Ginkaku-ji

Ginkaku-ji

Then in the evening we walked around Gion- the old Geisha district, and all the traditional buildings were very beautiful, and there were many people wearing Kimonos that looked beautiful among the historical buildings. Then we had a bit of a hard time finding a restaurant to eat at because it was still a bit early so not many were open yet, but we were really hungry, so we ended up finding this okonomiyaki shop that was open and had some leak okonomiyaki and I got a glass of some plum wine which was delicious!

Gion

Couple in Kimono's in Gion

Okonomiyaki and Plum Wine!

After eating we then went to the main modern shopping area of Kyoto that was really busy(well everywhere was crowded, but here especially).  Stopped at Baskin Robbins for Courtney, then returned to our hotel thus ending our first day....... so to be continued!

Along the river at night in Kyoto

P.S. Here is a pick of the sweets I got from the adorable old lady on the train, they are like block jellies that you just slice and eat, one is just plain, than there is red bean, and green tea flavored!

It's Typhooning Outside

So... sometimes life is just not very exciting... especially on a day where you were originally planning on going to an awesome beach, but instead are stuck in your apartment due to a big typhoon. So, I thought I would take this time to write about some of the smaller more everyday things about life in Tsu.

For awhile due to the extremely hot and humid weather everyday consisted of the apartment, then work. When we were at work, we pretty much would stay in our office the whole day for the air conditioning, only venturing out when in need of food. We have started to become regulars at some food places around, my number one favorite place to get lunch is called Coco Kitchen, which is a small bento(lunch box) shop a few buildings down from school. It is run by this adorable woman, and one other woman helper, and when you walk inside it pretty much looks like you just stepped into her home kitchen, and she dishes up a bento for you, everyday there is only one bento, and her bento's are a lot healthier than the average bento, with many vegetable dishes a part of them, and so far everyone I have had has been absolutely delicious, even when I don't actually know what it is I am eating.

Another place we have become regulars at is Karakata, which is an Indian/Napali curry resturant near work. This one is more of an OBC teacher legacy because the teachers before us also would go every Wednesday night, and so we have carried on the tradition. For all of us Wednesday is the day with the most classes, so after making it through all them sitting down to a bowl of curry and a big piece of naan is the best! And because OBC teachers in the past have always been such regulars, and now we are too, all the workers know us very well and always wait for us to arrive at 9 pm every Wednesday.

Then of course, roller sushi, we don't necessarily go every week, but pretty close... it is just so cheap and delicious!! We have only tried two different restaurants, but we keep going back to Sushiro.... because of its EBI AVOCADO! (shrimp avocado) Its seriously super delicious... and we know its California sushi, and not very Japanese, but we just can't help being American, cause it is our favorite hands down! We went to Kappa Sushi and they also had an ebi avocado... but it just wasn't the same... so now we are starting to be regulars at Sushiro, however there are many roller sushi resturants around, so we will probably branch out more soon... but for now... Sushiro with there awesome ebi avacado it is!

Other than those resturants we haven't been to any others more than once really.... so next is grocery stores... we have one near work(Maruyasu) that we pretty much go to everyday except days I go to Coco's for lunch... and its always fun just browsing their salads and lunch options, and I usually get something different everytime... and don't always know what it is necessarily... so its always a mini adventure, but also at Maruyasu, they sell the good brand of soy milk that has an apricot flavor... that is the BEST! I could seriously just drink that for the rest of my life and be pretty content(except not really cause I love maccha!... and coffee...)  

Lastly, the grocery store right by our apartment, Price Cut, which we go to every day pretty much... and it's pretty awesome. We usually always go after work at night, so we recognize all the night workers, and we have a favorite cashier, we always try to be in his line, and the main reason why he is our favorite is because it is protocol for cashiers in Japan to say the price of each item they scan out loud, and when he does he always laughs to himself the whole time... and we kinda think its because he assumes we just don't know what he is saying but he says it anyways and finds it funny... so he is always smiling and laughing... and therefore our favorite, but the other night employees are also awesome too! Its just a great place for food... and late night ice cream runs!(seriously ice cream here is awesome!)

So, that is all I have for our daily life at the moment, if you are wondering how we have been spending our day stuck inside, we have a huge bag of yarn in our apartment from past teachers that I have used to teach Courtney how to knit with, and now we are both working on our own knitting project... we watched a movie.... and now probably back to more knitting...

Our knitting projects!

(I don't have pictures of all the restaurants now but I'll take some this week and update this post!)

Edit: added photos of coco kitchen and karakatta!

First Tsu Adventures!

This weekend was so exciting!

So first on Saturday we went to an art gallery where one of Courtney's students had a painting on display. It was really cute! It was just a small little gallery on the third floor of a building about a block from our school. Shortly after we walked in the ladies running the gallery brought us out some tea to drink as we looked at the paintings... and it was just so adorable... I am sure that a group of three foreigners were the last thing they were expecting to walk into their gallery, but it was a really nice gallery, with all oil paintings(mostly impressionist styled) on display for this week.

After we decided to bike to a temple that Courtney remembered seeing on the map that was very close to the gallery we were at, so we went, and first thing we saw was a man walking his cat!!!! Probably one of the best things I have ever seen in my life....

Then we entered the temple, and it was so beautiful inside!

The main gate

Shitennoji Temple

While we were walking around taking pictures, a man who we assume is a monk at the temple told us in Japanese that it was okay if we went inside, so we did and the inside was stunning! We walked around a bit inside, then didn't know what else to do, so we walked out of the temple, but just as we did the monk came back with a tray that had two cups of tea, and he looked surprised that we were already leaving, and again in Japanese asked if we wanted to stay and have some tea.... we said okay and went back inside and he laid out little mats for us to sit on and set the tea in front of us, then he brought out some little Japanese sweets for us to have and sat down and started a short simple conversation in Japanese! He just asked where we were from, what we were doing in Mie, how we came there, then he got up and left.

Where we sat and had tea and the Japanese sweet with the monks

Shortly after another monk came out, he was much older and we assume was the head monk of the temple. He knew some English and explained a little about the temple to us, how one of the Buddha statues inside was a Doctor Buddha, and how the statues on each side of the room were of Buddha's apostles. He spoke really slowly and was a bit hard to understand, and he also took many long pauses so many moments we all sat in silence, and just admired the inside of the temple. He then got up and left and the younger monk came back and spoke some more with us(again only in Japanese-he did not know any English) asking where we were staying, and he thought it was amazing how well we could understand him... but if anything our conversation pointed out how bad my Japanese is... but it was exciting that we were able to get meaning across and have a conversation, even if it was really basic and short! We than left and said thank you and he invited us to visit again, and to try Zazen with them sometime.

The garden on the way to the Shrine

Then today we decided to go to a Shrine that we saw labeled on the map, being right by our apartment across from Price Cut(the grocery store that is next to our place). On the short bike there we passed some rice fields and gardens that farmers were working in, then we saw the Tori gate to the shrine, which was very small but so beautiful!

Kantachi Shrine

We walked in and it was very small, and right next to it was a house, that we guess the family who run the shrine might live in since it is almost directly in the shrine, but we are not sure, but it was really beautiful!!!

We then walked around the back of the shrine (there was a little road and pathway that had stone walls on the side) and found a big open area in the forest, and found it was the top of the cliff opposite price cut!

Price Cut! (we go there pretty much everyday)

Looking out over Tsu

Then we left the Shrine, and on our way back passing the farmers they shouted "Hello!" to us so we said "Hello!" back, then they asked, "げんき？(genki?)" which directly translated means "Healthy?" but it is the Japanese equivalent to "How are you?" and Courtney replied, "Genki desu!" Which is like saying "Good!" and they laughed, probably surprised that we understood, and we continued to bike, this weekend was probably the most Japanese I had to use since I got here! Since almost everyday I am at work where I can only speak English! So this weekend was really fun! I can't wait to find more of these awesome little temple and shrines in our area!

Kumano 8/17/13

This post is really late, but better late than never right ???

So, August 16, around 11:30 pm we left for Kumano, where every August 17th they have a famous fireworks show. Kumano is a very small town, and since the fireworks show is so famous, traffic, trains, and buses are always really busy, so that is why the strange traveling schedule. We arrived in Kumano around 2 am and slept in the car until morning.

Then we woke up, and walked to the beach to reserve our spot for watching fireworks... which was no easy task....

We finally found a small sliver of space on the edge of an isle near the front of the beach to lay down our own tarps, then we walked to the swimming beach (due to how busy it was we could not drive-not to lose our parking and just because the streets were all very crowded)

The beach was very beautiful! and we spent the whole day here waiting until the fireworks started, we brought many snacks to eat, and for lunch I tried my first eel!! It was really delicious

Around 5 we walked back to the other beach for the fireworks show, and found our small sliver to squeeze into. But then the people next to us were very nice and let us spread out onto their tarp some! So we ended up having a really nice space to watch fireworks!

The lady on our left is one of the really nice people who let us share their tarp, then on our right one of the many security guards

One of the places they shoot the fireworks off from

All the food stands lit up along the beach

Then it was time for fireworks starting at 7pm until 9! The very beginning of the show started with a boat going across the water parallel to the beach dropping fireworks in the water as it went... it was so cool!

The boat trailing fireworks

The fireworks were huge!! And shot off from different directions, so many times we were surrounded by fireworks! And because of the cliff on the side of the beach, we felt the vibrations and heard the booms twice!! It was really exciting!

One of the most exciting fireworks was one that a boat dropped in the water, then hurried away, then over the intercom the announcer had everyone count down from ten... when we hit one the firework exploded extremely large and right in front of the beach! It was so powerful the wind from it pushed us back!!! It was so amazing! There was also a segment in the fireworks where they had firework messages, so with each firework there was a message from someone who paid for it, and most of them were proposals! It was so cute!

Lastly, at the end everyone waved their cellphone lights in the air as a way to say thank you! It was really beautiful!

Here is my video of the fireworks! It is kind of long, a little over 13 minutes (short considering the show was 2 hours!) and doesn't really compare to the real thing, but you can kinda get the idea. And if you want to see the firework that blew us back, skip to 12:30! Its awesome! (Also sorry for the bad film job, I have yet to get a tripod, and I was too focused on the fireworks to pay attention to the camera lol)

                           

Then after the show, we walked back to our car, took a nap for a few hours and around 1 am headed out to return to Tsu.... which we arrived at around 6am due to all the traffic!! Despite the long traveling though, it was well worth it, one of the most amazing fireworks shows I have ever seen in my life!

My First Month on the Job

Well, I have been here for a month and things finally seem to be settling down.
Here is a brief overview of what happened these last weeks->

We started work, first just observing the different types of classes OBC offers. Then we taught half lessons and the old teachers taught the other half. Lastly, we taught full lessons with the old teachers observing. Then starting August 1st we taught alone! I was nervous at first, but now I have taught a week of lessons, and I am starting to get the hang of it. My students are all wonderful, a few trouble makers in my elementary classes, but still very good students. 

Probably the most strenuous event was moving into the apartment after the old teachers. First, we had to place everything we wanted to keep in the entry way of Freddy's apartment... and anything that didn't fit we had to label in the apartment, which made us feel like the IRS... then OBC went through and threw out all the excess objects and we were able to move in with only a few casualties of objects we forgot to put labels on. Right now we are still working on fixing up our apartment, so once all those are complete I hope to make a video tour for you guys to watch!

All our stuff in the entry way

Moving on to fun things, one weekend we went to Magotaro beach in Kiinagashima town, and it was absolutely gorgeous! We went with other foreigners that live in this area, and we were able to met many people from many different backgrounds brought together by living in Japan. Also, at the beach Courtney and Madison got to try out some spear fishing, but sadly caught nothing.

Magotaro Beach

Courtney with her Spear

 Then on July 27th was Tsu's fireworks festival, and let me tell you... Japanese fireworks are AMAZING! They were all huge and covered the whole sky, and the reflection on the ocean was just absolutely beautiful, nothing like anything I have ever seen in the states or Canada... and Tsu fireworks are considered small in Japan!

It was a hour long... and looked like this most of the time

Now, these last couple weekends have been filled with cleaning and settling into the apartment. We looked like silly foreigners biking to the home store, buying tons of pots and pans along with a huge rolled up mat for under our kotatsu table and piled it all into our backpacks and on our bikes.... we were definitely a site to see. Also, in this heat looking nice is impossible, so shorts and t-shirts with hair tied up and out of the way, with little to no makeup has been the trend.  Once the weather becomes nicer outside we will probably go exploring more and I will have more exciting things to blog about, in the meantime, here is another picture outside my front door...

Arrived

So, I have arrived in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. After long flights, and a hold up in Tokyo (its a long story but basically we missed our flight and had to be pushed back to the later one). We took a high speed boat ride from Nagoya to Tsu where we were picked up by the owners of our school we will be working at. My first impressions are that this is surreal (which is probably fueled by the jet lag), right now it still hasn't fully set in that I am here and going to be here for a full year.

For the time being Courtney and I are sharing an extra room in our apartment for the first three weeks while the teachers that have been here stay and train us in. After they leave we will move into their rooms for the rest of the year. Hopefully after we are more settled in, and I know my schedule I will be able to make a video of our apartment for you to see.

This first weekend we are here Monday is a holiday, so we will be starting work on Tuesday. So, this weekend has just be relaxing and fun. The first day we went down to the beach, and went to our closest grocery store, and met the workers of the beauty salon our apartment is on top of.

The next day we went to the Nagashima Spa Land amusement park, water park, and shopping mall.  It was HUGE, and so much fun. It was a great place to go during such hot and humid weather.

2nd tallest and 2nd fastest roller coaster in the world

Then Monday, others went to a beach and went snorkeling. I decided to stay back, get more rest, and relax before my first day of work. Overall, its been a good start to my time in Japan, Tsu is beautiful, with the ocean on one side and mountains on the other, I am looking forward to my experiences I will have here.

The view from the door of my apartment

(Haven't brought by DSLR around with me yet, so sorry for low quality pictures, I'll start bringing it around soon)