kamakura + yokohama

so... i have so much to say about my day today.

first we started off at our train station where we caught the rush hour people traffic into tokyo on an express train. good idea cause it was fast, very bad idea cause it was so stuffed. i have literally never been smooshed like i was this morning. see, all the japanese people file in and face the same direction, so you are smooshed but at least you aren't face to face with a stranger, you just end up all on top of someone else's back. well... we didn't quite realize that and i ended up going in kinda sideways. lets just say that at one point, i counted myself touching 6 other bodies at once. after one rearrangement (cause at each stop, you get a little different spacing) i

 was face to face (well, more like my chin over this older guys face) and our bellies were touching and i could feel him breathing. see, i wasn't joking about being smashed in

 there. literally like zero room left and then shove 9 more people in each doorway, that's what it's like!

we were off to kamakura to see some of the many temples. the highlight for me was the great buddha! he is so big, it was awesome!!! i geeked out and of course snapped tons of photos. we also got to the beach about midday. this is where my fear of birds has escalated to a new all time high. first, there aren't any harmless seagulls at this beach, only full on humongous black crows and hawks. my friends warned me that the hawks were coming down and going for food but i thought it wouldn't be that serious. well... the hawks were serious and one of them swiped my half of sandwich right from my hand. i screamed like 4 seconds after it happened cause i was so shocked and couldn't quite realize what happened. so yes, i had been leery of birds before but now i think i have a full blown fear. i was jumpy the rest of the day, even when pigeons were flying about.

the day ended with a quick stop over in yokohama at the chinatown. we just walked around for a bit and checked out the bay area and called it a day and headed back to chiba. we started at 6:30 am and finally made it back about 7:30 pm so it was a long but fun adventurous day in japan! tomorrow is a recovery, sleep day though ;)

peep pix HERE

ikea + first japanese friend

this week, we trekked to ikea to pick up some things for our new apartments. i got two plates, two bowls, a towel, two little pillows and a regular pillow. my new things have been working quite nicely. the ikea here was exactly like the one in portland, of course so it kind of felt familiar except for there only being japanese people there besides my group. i had swedish meatballs for lunch. i've never had them before at an ikea but it just seemed like the thing to do... after ikea we headed to a discount store called don quixote where i got a little hair dryer for 12 dollars and some various groceries for very cheap. it was a load home to say the least. but good news, we found a shortcut through the park and up some stairs that saves a good five minutes off the walk so that's been a nice change!

kim and i were wandering around the area snapping photos earlier this evening near the park and a friendly japanese lady introduced herself to us. she was very outgoing and after seeing that we were trying to capture some sunset photos she offered showed us a cool view point on a little bridge near her apartment a couple blocks away. (the view even can include mt. fuji on a clear day which i hope to catch in the future). her name was kako and she was maybe 50-ish and spoke very clear english. she works translating english books into japanese, freelancing for USA today and a japanese news paper, teaches english, works at an organic store; seemed like she did a little bit of everything! after we got some photos she invited us up to see her apartment and accepted her offer.

we got to get a glimpse of how a real japanese person lives. she offered us tea and crackers. then we started talking and getting to know a little about her. she seems quite progressive, eats all organic, studied at a prestigious university in tokyo and spent a year in seattle during the 70's when she was 20 working on her english. she showed us her shinto religion area in a traditional room with tatami mat floors. the whole place was very interesting, cozy and inviting. then she offered us some snacks and we had some seaweed, sautéed carrots with rice, and miso soup; a typical assortment of what one might eat for breakfast here. it was very japanese. the whole meeting was totally random and totally awesome. then she asked if we would surprise some of the people she teaches english to and come to their lesson this week to help them practice. we are happy to be invited and i can't wait to see how it goes and meet some more japanese people. it is a great way for us to see some japanese culture first hand.

after that, we headed to the drug store and supermarket. kako came along for the walk and helped us translate some food products. it felt like we had a guide. it was awesome! maybe we will have her over to our apartment for some american dinner or something... we'll see. this was a great little surprise to my week. it is for this sort of thing that i really wanted to come to japan!
above: me at the park near our apartment at sunset.
above: cute little flowers at the neighbors house.
above: the view from kako's window showing tokyo's skyline in the distance.

as always, photos... HERE

chiba apt vid + cooking

here is where i, for the time-being, hang my hat. lol.

so far its going well. i don't really mind it being small, i like the efficiency of it. i do however, wish i had a more comfortable sleeping situation. i think i may have to supplement the "futon" if my permanent place has the same kind as here. i can't handle that uncomfortableness for a whole year but for a couple weeks it should be okay.

with the apartment comes cooking! i was actually really aching to make some of my regular favorites; potatoes, eggs, PBJ, sandwiches, etc. nothing too fancy but it wasn't really possible to do it at the hotel room. i bought very, very minimal kitchen things; one pot, one spatula, knife-fork-spoon set (from my granddads camping things), chopsticks, 2 sharper knives and one container. i just made some potatoes and eggs but it isn't tasting too good because i have no seasonings at all and i am addicted to salt! each bite i just think, "man, i need salt". so that's on my list now.

check my photos :: HERE

excellent news + nagoya city

i got placed!!! today as i was getting my bank account set up i found out that there is a placement for me in nagoya city starting mid may. my coordinator just came over and said they had good news for me and it was a place in nagoya city! a couple weeks ago, they placed about 15 people in the area, with the nagoya branch of the company, i was kind of jealous and even emailed my company to show my interest in the region. i didn't realize it at the time, but the first positions were for suburban areas near nagoya but managed by the nagoya branch. i actually got placed in nagoya city, the biggest urban area in the prefecture. i am soooooo sooooo soooo excited! i don't know all the details of the position yet but it is a big city (2 million people), public transportation and way more affordable housing than tokyo area. it is a bit more southern, near to kyoto and osaka (score! since i want to visit both of those cities for sure). there is an int'l airport, there is an awesome looking old castle, it's located on the pacific coast and is a sister city to LA. the photos i have seen make it look pretty cool, i cannot wait to see it for myself and get officially settled in. visitors, start your planning!!! i think this should be a great jump off point for some other great japanese sight seeing!

i will be teaching middle school, which i hear can be difficult but it can also be a bit better because the middle school japanese english teachers will speak more english (sometimes the elem. japanese english teachers hardly speak any at all which can make the ALT's (assistant language teacher) a bit more challenging when trying to figure out what we are wanted to do). i even have some other friends fairly near i met during training, about an hour from the city. i am so excited. until my departure, i will hang out here in my temporary chiba apartment doing japanese lessons at the head office until i leave may 12 (i think) for a teaching start date of may 16. i couldn't be more pleased!!!

a few nagoya links: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagoya

http://www.japan-photo.de/e-nagoya.htm

as of yesterday, i am in my chiba apartment. it is a brand new chain building so it's very clean, and nicely furnished, new appliances, etc. it is a bit far out, a good 20 min. walk to the grocery store and train station; from there two trains and 45 min from the head office in tokyo. also, the sleeping situation is going to take a little getting used to. first off i have a tiny pillow, almost airplane size and its filled like a bean bag chair, sounds okay but it gets kinda hard after a while. and then... there's the "futon". it's is basically a glorified pillow about 5 inches thick fluffed up, more like 1 inch after you lay down on it. imagine if you took a cushion off a lawn lounger and put it on concrete and then tried to sleep for 8 hours on it! there is a little, a very little cushioning but its practically like sleeping on the ground. i have literally been more comfortable camping. i don't get why this is considered ideal but maybe i will get used to it, let's hope so at least! otherwise, it isn't bad. i will take some photos and maybe a video and post more over the weekend. 

yayyy such good news today!

video + bye tokyo

today will be my last night at the hotel in tokyo. tomorrow, we move to chiba which is about 40-60 minutes away from tokyo, to the east. it will be a temporary apartment although no one knows how "temporary" it will be. we start paying for the apartment ourselves now as well. it will be nice though, more space but a little weird since literally anytime we could need to pack up and get out straight away to go to our locations so we don't know how much we should really settle in. i imagine we will be there for up to a couple months. so... if anyone would like to see grand old chiba, come on over! hopefully i can feel comfortable there and get used to the new surroundings. there are about 15-20 of us left that will be moving, all to the same building so that should be nice. i'd like to befriend a few more gaijin (foreigners) before i get placed, likely out in the boonies where foreigners will be less common.

since this is my last night at the hotel, i took a quick video of the space i have been staying in for the last 16 days. not that i could ever forget my cozy tokyo hotel but just in case... and for your viewing pleasure, check it out below: 

the other day i saw this little guy on the street in harajuku. LOL!  yeah, those are swimming gold fish dangling from his ears.

shinjuku + harajuku (again)

today i took the metro to shinjuku. the metropolitian government building has free north and south observation decks on the 45th floors of the two tower building. i visited the south tower to take in the view of tokyo and snapped tons of pics. it really drives home how humongous this city really is; literally buildings for miles and miles. i am used to trees and forests for miles and miles but here, its either people or buildings as far as the eye can see depending on your vantage point.

then i walked about 3 km from shinjuku to harajuku (above pic). i seem to like it there since i've ended up there 3 times in a matter of 7 days. its bustling, friendly and i feel comfortable in that area as there are many tourists and lots to see. i visited kiddy land again, a super awesome toy store. i hadn't seen one of the floors (there are 6) on my previous visit so i hit that and bought two little keychains from vending machines. those are always fun. everything is cute and you don't know exactly which one you're gonna get. ok, so i like to pretend i am a kid again...now i need to plan monday and tuesday activities. happy easter everyone! i wish the easter feasts could be send to me instantly! i think i am having ramen, again LOL!

photos from this week HERE

saturday + hotel room

today (saturday) i just felt like taking a "personal" day. i slept in, laid around on my bed (partly due to it being the only real option as far as seating goes in my incredibly tiny room), caught up with a bunch of people back home on skype and watched some shows on my computer. it was lovely. there is a lot more to see and do in tokyo (although i think i have seen a bunch) but it is a little different being in an unfamiliar place without family and friends to do things with and today i wasn't into it. most of the friends i made during training have gone off to their cities, so i dont have too many people around here to go explore with. plus, i have a 4 day weekend, so i justified doing absolutely nothing touristy for one day. i did finally leave the hotel heading out for dinner, ran into a guy from my company on the street and ended up going to eat with him. he is also an alternate and from canada. i seem to meet and get along with the canadians. lol. we tried a kind of a fast food place near the hotel. i ordered a little combo thing and got a bowl of ramen, a side of rice and some gyoza all for 680 yen (roughly $6.80) so not bad at all. we also went to a different grocery store near the restaurant. this one is bigger and considerably cheaper than the one i've been to before. it was kind of a relief as the other place was pretty pricey with limited selections. when we walked back to the hotel, we ran into a bunch of the guys (there seem to be mostly guys here at this stage) as they were gearing up to head out for an expensive night on the town. i retreated back to my room to hibernate and re-dye my hair. sweet, sweet saturday night in tokyo =D

i bought some candies and chips for my room snack supply at the store. japan sure does candy right. i tried a lemon gummy thing which was sour and tasty. i also bought a little box of chocolate covered strawberry jelly bean-ish ones. they were awesome and i finished the box (hey, it was little; everything over here is :P). they were kind of like a chocolate covered raisins but tastier and a lot better!!! 

tomorrow i promise to do something fun and outside the hotel. maybe go to ginza, shinjuku or akihabara - all different neighborhoods/areas within tokyo that i haven't been to yet. we shall see and of course, photos to follow. 

odaiba + tokyo tower

so... this week was pretty uneventful workwise. just had a couple japanese lessons is all, mostly i had free time. some of my friends got placements, there are not too many alternates left at the hotel. today we got word that next week, if we are still without placements we will be leaving the hotel to live in a temporary apartment that we pay for in chiba. it will be a 40 minute commute from there to the head office so not too bad. (right now our commute from the hotel to head office is 30 min). anyhoo, i am basically in limbo. the "temporary" apartment could be for a week or a few weeks or maybe months. depends. i think if we dont get placed next week, we will replace someone who has a freakout and bails from their job, just all speculation though... 

in other news, this week was pretty chill. i got to hang out with some guys from my interview group who i met in january so that was cool. yesterday (thursday) i headed to the tokyo bay area of odaiba where i got to soak up some sun on some rocks by the water. it was fabulous. i just took some photos and admired the awesome view of all of tokyo.

today (friday) i had a grueling 3 hour japanese lesson in a sweltering room with no windows. awesome good times. this evening i headed to tokyo tower with a girl from training. its a replica of the eiffel tower with two viewing decks. pretty ridiculous views. crazy whoa, like "oh my gosh, i feel like i am in the biggest city in the world... oh wait i am!". then i got stuffed into a train to come home :) a different life over here for sure... 

see some photos (and even a couple videos) here: HERE

lesson + food

well, today we ventured to the head office for the first time as training was held at a different location. they were having japanese lessons for us. when we arrived we realized we were just joining into a class that got started last week (oh awesome) so the others had already had 2 lessons at 3 hours a piece so we were only 6 hours behind the class. with these conditions, i think i did pretty well in it but it's still pretty much a big mess in my brain. watashi wa noelle desu = i am noelle. sweet. i can go far on that, ya? ha ha... well anyways, after the class there was about a 15 second update on our status which is still up in the air. so we wait and have another japanese lesson tomorrow morning. the office location was in a pretty cool area of tokyo, idabashi. it was cute. 

we did have free time after the class which was nice. after relaxing for a bit, i went for a walk around the hotel neighborhood in a new direction i hadn't explored yet. i took some photos of the sensoji temple which was nice. then i got really hungry so i went into a ramen place i went to the other day. the previous time i tried a vegetable tempura and soba noodle thing which was ok. this time i tried a pork and egg one. i did not find it pleasant. so i ate the noodles out of it and headed to the grocery store and bought some lettuce leaves, cherry tomatoes, coke zero (there is no diet coke here), some chips and cookies. yeah, i was in need of some comfort snacks. i found cheesy doritos (not nacho cheese, just cheese) it perked me up. so i returned to the hotel and ran into a couple guys i met at the interview so that was nice. more friends in tokyo the better. did you know tokyo is 12 million people (35 million for the metro area) and the most populated metro area in the world? i am surprised how smoothly everything runs and it is i think the cleanest city i have ever been in although there is a surprising lack of noticeable garbage cans so i have determined everyone carries their trash home. pretty incredible this tokyo... 

ueno park + harajuku

yesterday (saturday) a couple new friends and i headed to ueno park and lucky us, it happens to be cherry blossom time so the park was filled, and i am talking filled with people meandering around and picnic-ing on just about every open space taking in the views. the blossoms were beautiful and the people watching was quite nice as well. i took a ton of photos. after going through the park, we did a little wandering around, had mcdonalds lunch and then walked around a little lake and back up through the park to the train station. it was a long but nice day.

later in the evening i met up with a friend who also lives here that i went to highschool with. he took me to a HUGE electronics store called big camera where i bought a jump drive and a usb camera memory card reader (i was having technical difficulties between my camera/cord/computer - but the new set up works now, thank goodness cause i was about to throw my computer out the darn window and now i can share my photos, too). 

today (sunday) a girl from canada and i went to harajuku which is a ritzy, trendy spot in tokyo. we walked down a street that had every fancy, designer brand i have ever heard of (louis vuitton, chanel, coach, emilio pucci (my fave), dior, bulgari, tods, etc.). we had subway lunch (trust me, i am trying to slowly but surely incorporate more japanese food as time goes on). i had read about a huge toy store called kiddy land and wanted to stop in. it was rad and did not disappoint; i want to go back! i bought a couple little toysies for fun. later on we found a couple more affordable stores to counterbalance the super expensive shops (zara, gap, H&M, topshop and even a forever 21 under construction) that we could actually buy something at. we did more wandering, came across 2 awesome park spaces (one very modern with a very cool wood little building in it next to what appeared to be a brand new apartment/shop/office building. the other space was a traditional japanese garden with water, cherry blossoms, koi, etc. i think it was part of a shrine). they were lovely surprises on our walk. we finished the day with an ice cream crepe (crepe + vanilla ice cream + chocolate syrup + strawberries + whipped cream), which was different that i have previously had but i did not argue, i just went with it and it was of course quite tasty. a perfect way to end the day!

tomorrow i go to the head office for japanese lessons and (hopefully) some more information on my placement.

blogspot still hates my computer/photos so here is a link to some on my picasa album:   HERE 

i am thinking of making weekly/monthly albums (depending on what i have to share) from here on out. i can post more on there and its very easy to use (thank goodness). let me know what you think! 

photos + photos

ok photos, photos, they are actually a big hard to get to the blog in the spots i want them in so eventually i think i will just make mini albums on picasa and post links to them from the here...

here are a few more i took the last few days though to tide my lovely blog readers over til i upload again with some new material ;)

the images below are as follows: (seriously being a design freak, i can't stand not being able to have the text where i want it, etc. so i am doing this double post method, lol)

photo 1: i love the narrow little buildings, the just squeeze in something anywhere they can.

photo 2: a little alley.

photo 3: the sign to my hotel (the white one in the upperish right corner) the glass sliding doors of the hotel entrance.

photo 4: a little friend on the street.

photo 5: cherry blossoms at night down by the river.

photo 6: sensoji temple before a big storm.

photo 7: the little store next to our training location. i bought one of the yellow handled umbrellas with a clear plastic, i've always wanted a clear one, lol. 

photo 8: along my current morning walk.

tokyo + camera

sashimi + thunder

right now it is raining and thundering like crazy. i didn't quite expect that but i actually kind of like it. tonight after a (very l-o-n-g) training session a british girl and i went for sushi. it was a little more fishy than american style sushi (which i've only had a few times) so i only had 2 little plates (one egg/seaweed wrap/rice, one cooked salmon/rice/onion/mayo-ish stuff) so i got some fries from good old mc donalds, lol. but i didnt know how to read  the menu and i pointed to both chicken nuggets and fries. so i just got both. ehh whatevs, i'm in japan, i will be flexible. then we got gigantic beers from a vending machine and drank them down by the river... then the cold and rain started so we just went back to the hotel. i took the hottest bath of my life. the tub here in the hotel is short but its quite deep so you can really warm up and get a good soak. i am talking water up to your shoulders. i definitely think its worth the trade off of not stretching your legs fully out. you are kind of squished up but not too much. really the bath was lovely and made me quite relaxed and sleepy...  now i am trying to keep myself up for a bit cause it is only 9:27 and my sleep schedule is still a tad off. 

don't know what is in store for tomorrows training - today was all stuff for the first teaching day in the schools. tons and tons of information was covered. it was very tiring. still no word on placement or timeline (of course, right ;) lol). 

hope everyone in oregon is well; i miss it!

welcome + japan

so i made it...

and am currently staying in a very small, but quite functional hotel room that is stuffed to the brim with all my bags and things. i felt like i was bringing too much but everyone i saw had about the equivalent so i felt ok afterall... i paid about 30 dollars to have the bags brought to the hotel the day after i landed, i think it was money well spent. 

so far i have learned, i am too big for japan LOL. yesterday at our training my legs couldnt even fit under the table and spaces are just much more limited than in the US which i knew to expect but experiencing it first hand is a little different that just imagining it. but it will all work out! 

having fun fun so far! cant wait to get to where i am going =)