Long time no post...

First of all, I apologize to everyone that has been anticipating updates for the past week or so. For those of you who don’t know, the Internet isn’t exactly the same here in Takko as it is back home. For the first few days after I arrived in Takko, I stayed with my Japanese family, Morimoto san. I used their computer a couple times to check email but since all of their settings are in Japanese, it would have been difficult to blog coherently (the keyboard on Japanese computers are different as well).

The trip so far as been a whirlwind, but it has finally slowed down since the GTSEP group has moved on to the next leg of the trip: Tokyo. I stayed back in Takko to settle in and begin work on Thursday. But like I said, up to this point, it has been a little crazy. The kids have pretty much seen everything in Takko and the surrounding areas: they visited the yochien (kindergarten), the junior high, Takko High School, and one of the elementary schools. They also paid a visit to Yakuba (town hall) and met with the school board director and a couple of city council members. Garlic Center hosted a welcome party in their honor (with all the delish GC foods I had been craving) along with the sayonara party at the traditional Japanese home in Takko (again, with all the GC foods I love). In between, the students left their mark on Takko by planting flowers by a plaque commemorating the sister city relationship between Takko and Gilroy which, by the way, is surrounded by two trees, each one being native to one of the cities. Needless to say, Takko certainly left its mark on the girls. They constantly praised the people on their persistent hospitality and it was apparent at the sayonara party that each girl had developed a strong relationship with their host family. The trip was a true success overall, much to the satisfaction of Phil, Wendy and Patrick. I, too, am very pleased with the way everything worked out and I look forward to helping organize the trip for next year.

So it is officially day three in the apartment and I am finally unpacked. I moved in on Sunday afternoon and being typical me, became overwhelmed with the thought of having to unpack, organize and settle in so it took me awhile to go through with it. I also took a trip to Sun Mall (a small outdoor shopping area with the local grocery store) and brought a “food interpreter” with me (Sachiko). We walked the entire store and she pointed out the foods she liked and identified foods that I had no idea what they were. I came away with some cup of noodle (which is over a dollar here!), ramen, cereal, crackers and cheese, more noodles and apples. I brought along that jar of peanut butter so my diet is pretty much complete. People keep asking when/what I eat, so it’s clear that people are and will be concerned about my eating habits. Don’t worry, Mom, people are looking out for me here.

As most of you know, this is my first time living completely alone. Yup, so on top of moving out of the country for a year, it is my first time living by myself. Go big or go home, right? It truly has been the greatest adjustment for me, especially since I haven’t had Internet and therefore, no communication with my people in America. And, as you ALL know, I’m definitely a people person, so I’ve been pushing people here to go out and make plans so I don’t have to be in the apartment all the time. So far that plan has been a success, which is part of the reason why I just finished unpacking.

So I’m developing another list of items I need from home when I return for the Garlic trip in July and one of the necessities is TV on DVD!! The channels here are, of course, all Japanese. Japanese TV shows, while colorful, funny and entertaining are still in another language I have yet to master so I resort to the Friends DVDs I brought. I only brought two seasons soooo I’ll need to add to that collection.

Many of you may be wondering how the language thing is coming along and I am pleased to report that it’s going well. People are awesome and most importantly, patient when it comes to communicating and I’m lucky that a great deal of people here know English at some level. Most of the conversations I have been having with people have dealt with language and the differences, similarities and challenges with English and Japanese. I’ve noticed (and have been told by the English speakers here that know Japanese) that when broken down, Japanese is easy to learn as a spoken language. Reading and writing, of course, are two completely different situations. I’m thrilled when I can understand bits and pieces of conversation (which hasn’t happened TOO often quite yet) or when I use my very very very broken Japanese to convey what I’m trying to say and they understand! I will, of course, be reporting back on my language development throughout my time here. So far the phrase I’ve been using the most here is “diajobu”, which means “it’s okay”. It’s pretty much the most useful phrase I’ve learned so far.

In addition, Takko is very lenient on new words being added to the dictionary. Therefore, in the process of me learning new words, I ended up inventing words that will from here on out be known as “Jeshka-ben” (Jessica dialect). The most recent addition was made while trying to learn the word “honto”, meaning “really?”. I mispronounced it and said “monto” which developed into “monto monto” which now translates to “go with the flow”. It’s spreading like wildfire.

Speaking of language, in the past week, I’ve developed a new way of speaking English and I want to take a moment right now to apologize if this in any way reflects on my writing in this blog.

So I’ve been told that everyone experiences his or her first Japanese language “mix-up” and mine happened this past weekend in Hachinohe. We were walking through a section with many ramen bars and all the ladies working there were yelling out a phrase in Japanese that translates to “Can I help you?” (but I didn’t know that). Since I didn’t know what they were saying and I REALLY didn’t want to be rude, I yelled back “Konbonwa!”, which means “Good evening!”. They looked at me with excitement first (because I said something in Japanese) and then in confusion because I just walked away. I didn’t realize my mistake until Patrick brought it to my attention that I just confused the hell out of all of them. Hmm…maybe this was a “You just had to be there” moment?

Overall, this past week has been pretty amazing. I’m preparing for my first day of work tomorrow followed by an AWEsome weekend. I apologize for the super long post…I’m going to try to do it more regularly so it isn’t so overwhelming! I miss everyone in the States…don’t forget to Skype me! Also, check out facebook for a more complete set of pictures.

Mata ne!