And this is how my birthday party ended.

It definetly did not end on a bad note, but it did end up with finding my umbrella completly torn apart at the front of the kareoke bar where we ended the night at 5am. I dont really recall taking this photograph, nor do I really remember the taxi ride to my friend Jacqueline's apartment. Nonetheless, it was a great party, and I am still paying for the consequences. Waking up this morning for work was not exactly easy, but once at school and after drinking these wonderful little cans of coffee, I felt alright to start my day. Japan is overran by vending machines. Most of them sell this great coffee, either hot or chilled, for about 120yen. I am slowly discovering that I cannot start my day without one or sometimes even two. They are delicious and quite potent; they really work! Canada should really look into those.

Anyway, how about I tell you more about my birthday party on last saturday. We met at an Indian restaurant for dinner that is owned by a friend. He makes delicious curry and serves the biggest pieces of naan I have ever seen. Its a little pricy, but the service is in English and it is always nice to have a break from all of the Japanese. There we met another English teacher that is also a DJ from New Orleans that told us about this House Techno event at this nearby club called As Soon As. So we all went to check it out and see how the clubbing scene in Fukushima was like. It was a very small place and the music did not exactly suit my taste, but we still ended up having an amazing time. Since it was my birthday party many of my friends offered me drinks and wanted to introduce me to new ones, such as Red Rooster (very famous in Hawaii appearantly that happens in 3 shots: tequilla shot, tomato shot and Ginger Ale). Here is a picture of when 2 of my friends tried it out... It is not a great picture because it was dark and I couldnt really see straight, but it will give you an idea. Compai!




Japanese people are known for being very reserved people who avoid at all cost public displays of affection, but that night at the club things were a little different. I mean, unlike clubs in canada, you did not see anyone making out, but people were more touchy and friendlier (not that japanese people arent friendly), but they seemed to be more open that night. I had many strangers come hug me, and wish me a happy birthday and ask me what I was doing in Japan. Many of them had a decent english. I always feel so flattered when they try really hard to converse with me. I also noticed that in Japanese clubs, people are allowed to pass out anywhere and do not get kicked out. So many people were laying across chairs and on the floor to sleep. One guy was sleeping on this one chair all the time I was there (3 hours). Also, I am not sure if that only happens in this club, but I did not have one single sleaze bag hit on me. It was great! I guess people dont exactly hook up in bars here and if they do, people arent as nasty.

Here are 2 other pictures I took that night of me and some friends before we hit the Kareoke bars at 4am. I cant believe how many times I have been Kareoke singing since I have been here. I am really getting the hang of it and it can be really fun. My favourite songs to sing thus far are Mr Roboto by the Styx (which I love to dedicate to all of my Japanese friends, but that is totally unknown to them) and Heart of Glass by Blondie... 2 great Kareoke warm-ups.




Here you have Leslie and Ayako. Leslie is from a small town near Sarnia and of all of the people I have met so far she really reminds me of my friends back home. We enjoy the same dark and goofy sense of humour, and she is a tons of fun.











Myself and Ryota. Look at at those happy drunken smiles!







The birthday party was a success, my birthday week was a success. Thank you so much everybody for making it this fun. However, there is just one thing: I missed having all of you canadian friends here with me this week. If there was one birthday gift I really wanted it was to have you there party with me and meet all of these people and do all the things I have done. I really wish that some of you will come here one day and experience this crazy country with me.

Now I am giving myself a week to recover from all of this hardcore partying. I never thought I would party this hard here, but it has really been exhausting and when you work with kids and all of your energy is gone, teaching a kids' class can be the hardest thing to do. So this week, I am going to bed early, I am going to eat right and concentrate on my challenging job. Teaching kids is not as easy as I thought it would be, but it is what got me here and I am sticking to it.

Have a great day guys and I miss you all tremendously.
e.

Yesterday was another Japanese national holyday. They sure like those here, which is alright with me! So some friends and I decided that we would take another hiking trip up this mountain in the perfecture of Yamagata called Yamadera known for its 1,000 steps and its beautiful sightseeing. I thought that maybe this mountain would have been more challenging then the other one on Monday where you had to use chains to lift yourself up a rock to reach the next step, but all we had to do today was climb up some stairs to a bouddhist shrine.

We were a large group and it was hard to stay all together, as some of us (like myself) couldnt help but take pictures of almost everything in sight along the way. I couldnt believe how gorgeous this place was. It was like nothing I had ever seen before! I felt like I was in a dream, or in What Dreams May Come. I was in complete awe! I have prepared here a few pictures of my excursion to give you a better idea of what I have seen, but no matter how well the pictures turned out, none of them can truly give justice to this beautiful site! I hope you enjoy these next few photographs :)

This morning Jason (my neighbour from New York) and myself left home at 9am to meet our friends at the local train station. The train station in Fukushima is not like your average station. It is quite a large spot, with many restaurants, nightclubs, famous Japanese arcade games, Kareoke bars and it also has some sort of a mall that sells expensive designer clothes (which is something I am going to be looking into today.) Since it is such a big place, it requires huge parking lots, not only for cars but for bikes too. And since every living Japanese owns a bike, you get a few bike parking spots that look like this one. I thought it was pretty overwhelming to see such a huge amount of bikes all packed in such a huge space. Nobody in japan really locks their bikes, even if they are left overnight. Bikes here do not get stolen, in fact stealing anything is seen as one of the biggest taboos around here.



We all left Fukushima in 3 different cars and it took us about an hour and half to arrive to the little town. It was funny watching my Japanese friends finding hard to understand the local's dialect as they were looking for a parking spot. Just like in Fukushima, this town was surrounded by huge foresty mountains that were probably twice the size of the ones here. I didnt know where to look, everything was just so beautiful. There were many little shops selling typical Japanese snacks, so we stopped by at this rice cake kiosk for a taste. They were like these really hard Toaster Struddles without the filling covered in sugar and a little salt. Quite delicious, but a little hard on the teeth.









I really had no idea that Yamadera was going to be a bouddhist shrine until I entered the gates. Of course, as always, me and a few other foreigner friends were the only white people around, so we got a few stares. It is afterall a very small town and Geijins are a rare breed in these parts of the wood. Eventually, you learn to ignore all of the staring and all of the people running into walls to take a better look at you (yes, it has happened). I dont think I have received this much attention in all of my life. It was really intimidating at first, but it is something that you eventually get used to. Appearantly, they think it is an honour to have foreigners come live or visit their small town. So I shouldnt be too worried. Here you have a few people from the group lighting up incents at the entrance of the shrine.



Along the way up the mountain we came across a few little shrines and praying spots. Many of them had a statue of the famous buddha. It took a while, but i finally decided to go rub his belly for luck. I was afraid to look disrespectful among all the other bouddhists and Japanese tourists, but I finally decided to give it a little rub! It was nice and smoothe and round and lovely... next step: my conversion to buddhism.



We also encountered many kiosks that sold fortunes for a 100 Yen. They were all written on this beautiful rice paper in old Japanese that my friend Ryota helped us translate. Some predicted long life, some wealth and some predicted life-long happiness (just like mine actually.) When you are done reading your fortune, the custom is to fold the little paper in four, say a little prayer and wrap it around the branch of a tree or a string for good luck. Many trees are just covered with them. It actually makes me think of the one scene in Lost in Translation when Scarlet Johanson's character crosses a shrine surrounded by some of these trees in Kyoto, probably one of the most beautiful parts of the film.


Most of the people that came along today were Japanese. We were only 4 foreign english teachers. Most of my japanese friends speak english fairly well. Most of them have travelled the world or have lived in English-speaking countries for a few years, either for university or for pleasure. The rest of the group are old english students that have studied english in university or in one of the many language schools accross the country. So it is nice to have a nice group of friends to who you can actually comunicate with but who is also rooted in japanese culture. And if you are wondering, most of them are soccer players for the English Fukushima team and I was invited one night by one of the players to come and check it out. They seemed a little hardcore when I went to see them last sunday night, but I am thinking that maybe I could slowly start playing soccer again (a game I havent played since elementary school... i think) Soccer is very big in Japan and has probably become the second National sport of the country after Sumo wrestling. Here are most of them, left to right Ryota, Kou, Ayako, Jaqueline, Emiko, Kayako, Ryuta and Kume at the bottom.





Here you have some happy Japanese hikers taking a break from climbing sitting at the steps of a praying post.








Mid-way we reached one of the monks "residents", if I can call them like that. My friend Jason thought it was a restaurant and we almost walked in (which could have been a little awkward.) They were just sitting all together on their tatami mats very calmly. I needed to take a picture of this just because it looked so typical. Then again, I didnt want to seem disrespectful towards them, but I took a quick picture and left. I was always afraid to look so ignorant. It is hard to know in these situations if anything you are doing is wrong or disrespectful. Then again, I am obviously a tourist and they probably understand that I dont know any better.





Like I said earlier, the climb was a piece of cake compared to the one we did earlier this week. The hardest part of the trip was to keep the whole group together. Some had reached the top way ahead of time. Here you have one part of the group climbing the last steps. In this picture you can see the profile of the mountains in the background and the clearing of the sky. (Ayako, Kume and Ryota)







Once at a the top we couldnt believe how simple it was to climb these famous 1,000 steps. We sat for a few minutes. Then we had the chance to hear and see a bit of a bouddhist ceremony. I will never forget this moment in my life. I couldnt see very well because we were sitting outside of the shrine, but the priests chants were hypnotizing and so much more powerful then what I had ever expected. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, since I was told that one monk represented God itself and it was appearantly wrong to take a picture of God. I guess that made sense. Here I believe you have a picture of sacriligious omens and gifts, surounded by encarved stone. Appearantly, the engravings in these stones are short poems, commonly known as Haikus.





The view from the top of the mountain was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I know I keep on repeating myself, but I thought I had seen many nice things in my life before, but yesterday's sightseeing took the cake. So here are a few pictures of this amazing view.



























I took so many pictures at this one spot, but none of them turned out the way I wanted. You can hardly see the detailing of the mountains and the play on shadows.










Emiko, Mariko and myself in front of the stunning view.












Kirei! Beautiful....














After climbing to the top we were all starving. So we decided to got to one of the local restaurants for some Soba, a typical Japanese dish, a sort of soup with thick buckwheat noodles served either cold or hot.










We finished off the evening at Jason's apartment for a few drinks and some disco music... yep. Here are the boys and the girls.

Jason. Ryuta and Ryota strangling Dean, an English teacher from Hawaii.

Mariko, Kayako, Jaqueline and myself, looking a lot more civilized than the boys.

Wow, putting this all together really occupied a huge chunk of my time. Today, I am planning on cleaning my apartment, visit the shopping mall at the train station and later tonight we are having another big party for my birthday so that we can get the whole group together. Ill make sure to keep you posted on the event.

Hope this was interesting!

Ivanie

Yesterday was my birthday, as most of you know! I was afraid that by the it was my birthday, I wouldnt have anyone to celebrate with, but to my surprise it was a huge party! The night before my birthday I went to play cricket with some friends, followed by a disastrous game of bowling and finished off the night at a Kareoke bar getting drunk off of Japanese whisky. Unfortunately, on the day of my b-day I had to work from 9 to 9, but it wasn't until after my last class that some co-workers, French and English students went out to this very traditional Japanese restaurant. We ate a tons of delicious food and drank gallons of alcohol. By the way, the rumours are true; Japanese people love to drink and have no tolerance for alcohol (makes me think of Derwin in a way...) I could have sat there for weeks just watching them getting smashed! Girls were kissing, people were standing and dancing on their chairs and they just kept on ordering more beer, more sake, more cocktails. It was just crazy! So I thought I would send you a few photos of my wacky b-day night.

Here you have the waitress and her giant box of hot tofu. It is quite fascinating to see waiters in restaurants drop to their knees when they approach your table to take your order. They also never turn their backs to their customers in sign of respect, so you will often see waiters walking backwards or just stop walking as you pass by. And although they are serving you and the service is wonderful, they act as though they were a nuisance and wont stop apologizing. It is quite humourous sometimes: "so sorry, so sorry, so sorry!" or in Japanese, "sumimasen, sumimansen, sumimasen!!"

In these pictures you can have a better of idea of the amount of food and alcohol we have ingested last night. Every plate was gorgeous and so very delicious (oishi as they say in Japanese!)

Here are some of my french students. They were the drunkest of the bunch and the most entertaining. It's as if they had an on/off switch button on their backs that made them either automatically drunk or sober. All they needed was just one sip of sake to notice a complete change in behaviour. There is no middle-ground; they are either drunk or sober. Apart from the Japanese getting drunk, it was very amusing having to translate everything in french or in english and having people translating japanese for me. I was completly lost in translation. They kept on pouring me alcohol and they didn't understand how it was possible for me to still be sober by the end of the night (or somewhat)!

Here I am with a few of my students. (left to right, Chikoku, Yokiko and Tomoko.) Apart from Yukiko who is my english student, the two others are french students.

In this one, you see my boss, Regis with a beautifully presented sashimi plate. We get along really well and he has been great in helping me settle in Fukushima. He is also from Montreal and we a have few things in common like our love for fine food and fine wines, which is always a bonus.

Another co-worker, David, from Toronto, Canada getting fresh with one of the French students.

Well there you have it. Tomorrow again I am going hiking with friends, which reminds me that I need to go shopping for some hiking boots! Japan is such a beautiful country to explore. The country side is just amazing, its postcard perfect! I cannot even start to explain how beautiful it is here, you really have to be here to understand. I am happy to say that I love it here and that I regret absolutly nothing!!!

Till next time,

e.

Last Monday was a Japanese national holyday, so me and some new friends went to check out the beautiful falls in Koriyama called Chosigataki, merely an hour drive from Fukushima. (left to right, Craig, Ryota, MEEEE and Kume.)

Some new friends (left to right, Craig from Australia, Kume, Ryota and Jacqueline from Australia.)

Some more new friends at a nice little Indien restaurant! (left right, Yoshiro, Ryota and Leslie) What can I say, Im what people a call a social butterfly!

One of Fukushima's many mountains.



Typical little street in Fukushima.

The view from one of the many big windows in my apartment.

Bonjour tout le monde!
vous vous demandez surement comment se passe ma vie au Japon! Et alors, jusqua maintenant mon sejour ici a ete super! Je ne regrette rien. Les Japonais ainsi que mes collegues de travaille sont tres gentils, chaleureux et genereux. Regis (mon employeur) m`a beacoup aide a mon arrive a m`ouvrir un compte de banque, a me connecter a l`Internet (qui va etre installe chez moi le jour de ma fete - le 21 Septembre) et a me retrouver dans cette ville.
Fukushima est une tres petite ville avec un jolie petit cachet. Elle est entouree de montagnes qui resembles beaucoup aux montagnes des Laurentides. Une des montagnes est meme un volvan actif. Tres bientot, moi et des nouveaux amis, nous allons faire une randonnee dans les montagnes et peut-etre un picnic. La bouffe est delicieuse, meme le 7Eleven au coin de la rue offre le meilleur sushi! La fin de semaine passe, moi et mon voisin (un autre professeur d`anglais de New York de 33 ans) nous sommes alle a un vrai resturant japonais traditionel. On a du enlever nos souliers a l`entrer et s`assoir sur des coussins pour manger. Alain tu serais aux anges ici!! Tout est tres sante, les fruits et legumes sont tellement meilleures ici... ils sont plus sucres, ils goutes tres differents. Par contre, les fruits et legumes sont beaucoup plus chers! Par exemple, 3 bananes coutent presque $3!! Des melons d`eau peuvent etre aussi cher que $20!! Mais au contraire des rumeurs, la bouffe en general n`est pas aussi cher que tout le monde pensait, mais Fukushima est une tres petite ville et les choses ici sont generalement moins cheres que dans les grandes villes.
Mon apartmement est aussi beaucoup plus grand que je pensais! J`ai une chambre a coucher, un salon, une salle a diner (que j`ai transforme en bureau), une grande cuisine, une toilette et une salle de douche (La toilette et la douche sont dans deux salles separees au japon).
A date, l`experience d`enseignante d`ecole a ete tout un defi. Il a des cours que je prefere enseigner plus que d`autres (comme les cours d`adultes - ils sont plus interessants, ils m`apprenent beaucoup sur la culture d`ici et ils jasent beaucoup plus), mais enseigner, par exemple, le francais a des enfants de 3 ans "makes you want to pull your hair out." A cet age, ils ne savent meme pas comment parler le Japonais, imaginez leurs ensigner le Francais... argh!
Ce soir, je vais a un "house warming party" d`un professur qui vient de commencer dans une autre ecole d`anglais a Fukushima. A date, j`ai rencontrer plusieurs nouvelles personnes. Tout le monde est tellement plus vieux que moi, mais ils ne me croivent pas quand je leur dit que j`ai seulement 22 ans. Hier je suis sortie avec mon voisin et une de ses collegues de travaille (une femme britannique de 35ans) et elle n`arretait pas de dire comment qu`elle me trouvait mature pour mon age. Mais je dois aussi admettre qu`elle agit pas mal jeune pour une femme de 35 ans. On ecoute la meme musique, on a la meme facon de penser et elle aussi aimerait devenir journaliste apres son retour du Japon. Je suis contente de l`avoir rencontre. Elle sera a la fete ce soir et puis elle habite tres proche de chez moi. Ce soir, je suis sure que je vais faire plus de nouvelle rencontres.. mais je me suis deja fait tellement d`amis. Je ne savais pas que ca serait si facile!
Je dois y aller maintenant, j`ai quelques comissions a faire. Je ne comprends pas at je ne parle pas encore le japonais, mais tous les jours j`apprends des nouveaux mots et des nouevlles expressions. Par contre, ca peut etre tres frustrant de ne jamais rien comprendre! Presque personne parle l`anglais... mais je m`arrange!
s`il vous plait, si quelqu`un peut donner se e-mail a Arlette et Robert, puisqu`ils n`ont pas encore l`Internet. Merci :)
alors, a la prochaine... vous me manquez beaucoup!love you,Ivanie