There's things to cover and people to talk about
Okay, coming a bit late but I've realized that I've left a lot of story gaps so I'm going to try my best in this post to make up for that.
Next post or the post after that I'll be putting up all the pictures I promised I would put up with other posts - because that's just nicer than going through individually to each post and inserting the pictures.
First, let's talk about the friendship problem here in Japan. You can read all about it on Bob's posts too (http://richiebob.livejournal.com) but Bob and I have been wondering whether or not a second year is really for us or not. It comes from a lot of different reasons but mostly from the fact that we've been having trouble finding people our own age to chill out with or even finding people to chill out with at all. There's Ohara-sensei, the vice-principal of my school, and he's a pretty awesome guy, but we don't get to hang out that often. I've been trying to find out clubs for us to join so we can get out a bit more (not that we don't get out, we just don't get out with a group of people ya know?). While the experience of being with Bob and having him as my travel and adventure buddy will no doubt help us in becoming a closer and more passionate couple, there's something to be said for outside friendships too that we feel is rather lacking in Japan. It has to do with language and exposure. We're not on a college campus anymore with people our own age doing activities to find people with the same interests so it's hard for us to find true friendships. The JETs in the area aren't bad people either, just not the kind of people we'd normally hang out with. So what to do? If everything about the place you're at is awesome: the scenery, the co-workers, the job working with kids which has its own ups and downs... but then the social scene sucks? Yeah that's going to wear ya down even if you're the kind of person that likes feeling aloof and away from other people.
It helps that we have means to stay in contact with people at home - I call my parents every week and I've been sending letters - but those people who are so important to us are far away.
It's not a matter of wasting our time here but what would we be doing in America? I know that Jocelyn and Hall (the ALTs who were here before us) had wished that they had stayed on for another year and I know I'd be the same way if Bob and I decided to leave. Erg, it's frustrating to think about. Anyway, the situation isn't resolved and you guys are probably like WTF, mate just tell us what you guys are doing. We're looking right now at definitely staying for another year at least. We have to make the most of this ^_^v.
Second topic under discussion: people we have met
OKay, so first I'm complaining about not meeting people and now I'm going to tell you all about the people I've met? Kind of. The thing is that we don't find a lack of people who are friendly with us but a lack of people we can build relationships with. For example, about a month ago Bob and I were wondering around the city at random when we saw this old-fashioned shop that appeared to sell wooden and porcelain and lacquer cups, spoons, plates, and the like. We were gazing about the store when a woman came out from the back. She spoke to us a little uncertainly in Japanese at first, asking us if we liked the items (I was holding a bunny paper weight) and then if we could understand and speak Japanese. Immediately we all got into a nice conversation and between Bob and me trying out Japanese and her trying to use simple Japanese and her dictionary we had a nice conversation at that. We even talked long enough that she politely mentioned that they were closing and off we went into the night. It's places like that that really touch my heart and make me believe that being in Japan can be a social thing if we seem open enough to it. Speaking more of that night (getting off topic) we got a little lost coming back home as we decided to keep walking randomly. Among our nighttime adventures included walking by a restaurant that seemed heavily monitored by the yakuza (Japanese gangsters). I say this only because the stereotypical yakuza type bows to random, black tinted windowed cars and looks menacingly around as they speak into their ear phones. They dress like James Bond too. Anyway, the point is that we should go for more nighttime walks because we always seem to discover something awesome when we're just walking along and not really thinking about it.
The next sort of person I'd like to talk about is the guy who works at the bar across from Big UP which has a huge Betty Boop doll in front of it. This guy is one of those weird cases where we're all friendly when we're there but he's just a weird guy. First thing he tends to stare at me. To be fair he may just be staring at Bob's beard, that's what most people seem to be doing, but Bob has the suspicion that he's looking me over and I'll leave it to Bob to figure that kind of stuff out. So we're going to be under the assumption that he is in fact looking at me. Second, he picks his nose in public. Ew. I've seen this in a couple places too. And I know it's pretty much weird no matter what country you're in but maybe Americans are actually more discreet than the Japanese at something because I never saw this many people pick their noses in public before. It's not like 1:10 men or something but it is considerably more frequent. WEIRD. And again with the friendship thing: can we actually become friends with the kind of people who we see often when we go out to eat?
Third Topic: Haircuts
I completely forgot to inform everyone that Bob and I both got haircuts. I wasn't expect y'all to cry or anything about that in particular, hair is hair and unless Bob gets a Mohawk sometime this will never be an interesting topic. However, it was the way that we got our hair done that's interesting. First we went to go get Bob's hair done. Actually we were both supposed to get our hair done but the place that I had scoped out at first, in which I saw women waiting, assumably for a haircut, actually only catered to the business men types and the women were simply waiting there to escort their husbands and children around. So I ended up sitting down but that turned out to be a good thing as I was able to check everything out.
When you first go into this place you get the impression of a factory line. There are numbered stations and when you first come in, as a dude, you're escorted to one of the stations to wait until your turn comes around. There appeared to be two people working at the shampoo and hair dry station and an assortment of people doing jobs as cutters, beard attendants, and make you smell nice people. Bob ended up waiting for a while as everyone seemed to be busy pruning. At places like this you can get a shave and get your eyebrows cleaned up and even just come in here for a cheap shampoo if for some reason you like your hair clean more than your body. Bob artfully dealt with his cutter but at first I was mortified when I saw how much hair was coming off. Bob's hair looked kind of like a minstrel's before we went in so to see the buzz cut was a little unnerving. Then they performed a ritual with a hot towel and actually used an old-fashioned razor blade to trim up around the edges. Pretty nifty.
Next episode:
1. My salon experience
2. International Club
3. Recent School Happenings
4. Anything else I forgot to tell you.
