HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE :-)

Hey people! So i dont normally make new years resolutions but this year i decided to! I just spent christmas and new years in california with a friend of mine who has lived away from his family and friends for a lot of time but despite this i was really struck by how close he still is to his friends back home and it made me think that if i want to be the same with u guys in years to come i need to be better at staying in touch!So in this new year I am going to make much more of an effort to to let u guys know what im up to and i hope that u will keep me posted on your lives too! so this blog is gonna be one of the ways i gonna make sure we are still close! this blog malarky is all new to me but i gonna try keep u up to date on all the amusing things that happen during my time here in sasebo and believe me there has been alot of them so far! Though there is simply too much that has happened so far for me to write it all, i can truly say the last 5 months have been amazing. Coming to japan is possibly the best decision i have ever made. I cant count how many times i have cried from laughter! The people here are without a doubt the friendliest and kindest people i have ever met, the world has alot to learn from Japan! There are so many things i love about this country but without the people it would be nothing! Right now I am very happy, I am one of those irritating people who wants to get up in the morning to go to work!

I am going to put up some pictures from my time here so far that i feel sum up certain moments, cos i know how pictures make a page prettier!






THE PEACE POSE! Here we have, within a week of me being in Japan, the standard pose! Its almost become reflexive now....if i spot a camera my hand just goes up and i flash that peace sign! It was probably one of the 1st "japanese" things i started to do and now no photo is complete without it!




JANGLISH! On a daily basis I read something that at least makes me smirk and most of the times has me giggling out loud. It's not that I dont appreciate efforts to try and make things understandable for those who cant read the 6,000 plus kanji that exist but sometimes the end result of a translation attempt is beyond bizzare! Like this sign in the picture...poor little oak hotel...they have certainly tried but what the friggin hell is this about?!! Other notable janglish spottings have been "let's english"...cited on a english board in one school (not mine i might add!) , "too drunk to fuck"...on the t-shirt of a elementary school kiddie, "dear santa, this year i have helped my family, so i want good head. please visit my house"......what a 13 year old boy in one of my schools wrote in his letter to santa. i was almost crying at my desk and i think the other teachers thought i was insane taking pictures of students homework! I think the kid was trying to say he wants to be clever and do well at school. how unfortunate. , "mobility blessed"....another great t-shirt slogan, "corking spunk"....on t-shirts made for 8 year old girls...complete with pink glitter, "new bland"......a sign in a clothes shop trying to advertise the newest designs......haha...thats the neverending l/r mixup in action! I have some japanese friends who literally cannot hear the difference between lamb and rum. One of them wrote a bar menu and instead of rum and coke he had written lamb and coke!!bless! Good for entertainment while waiting for a train are the anti-smoking posters found on many platforms ... "when i bumped into someone, i apoligised. When my smoke hit your face, i said nothing". Continuing the transport theme...on a ferry... "dubious strangers, dubious items and other things strange. If you find them during ride on the ferry boat please contact and inform to our office". A sign on a garage "parking for japanese only. All others will be towed"... can u imagine the uproar if anyone displayed that back home?? and this one just looks way funnier with the photo.......



All these wonderful quotes just go to show that native english speakers are definately needed in japan!! Good to know!

DUMB ASS AMERICANS! I have met more americans here in Japan than i ever have in my life! Most of my new friends are american and they are all lovely people. and on the whole, very intelligent. However, there have been a few moments that have had me laughing out loud (whilst also being kinda disturbed at the same time!). One of these moments occured just last week during a otherwise non eventful day of work at the board of education (schools were still out for christmas). My English friend and i had been (pretty successfully) naming american states and then we asked our american colleague to name the countries in the EU. To which we got "the EU, now what does that stand for?". After explaining what we thought was a pretty significant political structure in the world she went about naming its members, getting up to about 7 countries before stalling. Then came the comedy gold........ "is Laos in europe?" ....... "Lithuania....no i know that's in Africa".....and my personal favourite......"East and West Germany"....... ME......"EAST AND WEST????? UMMMM the falling of the Berlin wall...pretty important event in world history, no??". I think I can honestly say the last one shocked me....HOW can you not know that????



Then there is the navy. When I first found out there was an American Navy base in Sasebo my initial reaction was that i would somehow be cheated out of "real japan" with a stack of americans about the place. And there is alot of them, but of course Japan it still is. The base is useful for getting hold of western stuff (like decent toothpaste!), for allowing me to be "just another foreigner" instead of someone to stare at (the common reaction in places less familiar with foreigners) and to be honest I kind of enjoy chatting to the navy guys and waiting for the ridiculous comment.I would like to add here that not all navy guys are sleazy and stupid - i have made some lovely friends who are navy - however some of them are!! One navy guy asked me where I was from, i said "guess", he said "australia" (the common answer!) , i said "no, my mum's english and my dad is Japanese"........HE BELIEVED ME!! Another bright spark told me he was a doctor. How nice, i thought. Then he points to my knuckles and says "these are called knuckles, I know that because im a doctor".......i really hope he isn't a doctor.

FUNNY THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED TO ME!



1. GETTING LOCKED IN MY SUPERVISORS CAR DURING MY 1ST WEEK. So it's week one, you are trying to impress. So typically it's not all gonna go smoothly! I decided to get the train to Saza, which is a town 40 mins away , to have dinner with my friend. Had a great meal randomly chosen from the menu I couldn't read. Went to get the train back to Sasebo to be told (through kind of disturbing gestures) by the driver that there were no more trains as some poor guy killed himself on the tracks. So I spent my 1st night in Saza and confused my supervisor by being with Zoe in the morning dressed not in "business attire" but as if I just got back from the beach. Thank god I hadn't gone for dinner with a guy! So our supervisor was there to show Zoe how to take the bus (it needs explaining believe me!) and i just tagged along. I think we were on the 3rd bus stop and i had just been staying in the car while they got out to decipher kanji, and so there i was in the car.....sitting, and waiting, sitting and waiting..... Then i suddenly realised they were at the bus stop where one would take the bus to Sasebo from, and they were still standing there. Maybe Zoe and I were meant to be getting the bus? But why when he was driving to the same place? And why wouldn't he have said "get out here"?? Well after just sitting some more I thought i would just get out and ask. Except I couldn't...... i tried and i thought i was just being stupid and not working the tech japanese car door correctly but no, it was locked. I laughed. Then i sat some more thinking zoe would just come and get me. Apparently not, she was listening to our supervisor saying "maybe she wants me, maybe i should drive her to sasebo...".hahaha. By this point Zoe is trying to subtly gesture to me to get out, and im trying to tell her "the fucking door is locked!!". Eventually my supervisor ventures over to free me, apoligising that he "should have helped me". I think it's funnier that he didn't.

2. GETTING LOCKED OUT OF MY HOTEL ROOM. Well getting locked in/out seems to be a bit of a theme! This happened at our welcome conference in Nagasaki city. Upon arrival at our hotel i was quite excited (1st "business trip") and rushed into my room to check it out then excitedly ran out yelling "mutia, mutia...whats your room like???i wanna see?". Slam, my door shuts. Instantly I though "dammit, my key". I locked myself out of my room whilst rushing to see the room next to me, which of course was bound to be EXACTLY THE SAME. I can see how this wouldnt be as funny to just read, but i was lying in the corridor with tears streaming down my face from laughter.

3. ME BEING NAKED IN AN ONSEN........WHILE EVERYONE ELSE IS WEARING A BIKINI! Its a rule of onsens (hot springs) that you must not wear any clothes. So I thought being naked would be the norm. I am with three of my friends in a town famous for it's onsens (Yufuin). We are all in the changing area and i am, well, stripping everything off. At no point did any of them stop me. I am clothes free 1st, and yes we're all girls but its still kinda embarassing just standing there, so i went outside and submerged my self in the hot water. Feeling quite comfortable , i just started to think "hmmmm this naked in public thing isn't to bad atal".......then the three of them strut on out IN THEIR BIKINIS!! Suddenly being naked didn't feel so comfortable, maybe just a bit wierd instead. "what??why aren't you naked ??"........laughter, more laughter..... "ummmmm rachel didn't wanna be naked"......"so you all have to be clothed??" ..... "why didn't you tell me this??"...laughter!!....... "go and get me my bikini!!!!" . For the record its way better without, rachel!!!!

4.THINKING MY OWN LEG WAS A SNAKE!



There is a pretty little waterfall near Saza. It's a really peaceful spot, well it was untill I descended upon the place. We all stripped to our bikinis (this time i was wearing one!!) and then stood looking at the pool saying "it's cold" .....and me saying "i'm scared i'm going to hit the bottom, and what if there are snakes in there?" (to be fair we had passed a sign warning about snakes on the walk there). After getting kinda cold standing I decided to just go for it, I took a deep breath and leaped in. FIrst of all it was bloody freezing. Second, " A SNAKE TOUCHED ME!!! THERE'S A SNAKE, IT'S ON MY LEG. AAAAAAAAAAAH" ..repeat for a good 3 minutes! . After screaming got tiring I realised it was probably more likely that the "snake" was infact my other leg. Or it might not have been. Mysterious huh.

5. HAVING MY RIBBON STROKED AND MY FOOD STOLEN BY A DRUNK "FIGURE OF AUTHORITY"

I am at a party, it could be any party, it doesn't matter really. Just hanging out, speaking bad Japanese, drinking Asahi and eating sushi...what could be better? So the party required wearing little yellow ribbons, i had pinned mine carefully to my chest...where most people would put a ribbon, a sticker or a badge. Midway through an unrelated conversation the "figure of authority" leans over and starts stoking my ribbon saying "what is this, what is this"..... "a ribbon"......"what does it say?"...."ummm i dont know, i cant read kanjii"... "oh yes, let me see ...it says......blah blah blah". Throughout this the sttroking of the ribbon continued. Bearing in mind the location of the ribbon it was kinda amusing. Maybe 5 minutes after this incident i was grabbed and led to the food area where i tried to insist i was full "onanka ippi, sumimasen"...but nooooo i must eat more. Several pieces of sushi were piled onto my plate. I walk back over to "my crowd". Figure of authority...."ahhh you have more food natalie ?"...... " yeah but i am actually full, i just took it because they insisited and I couldn't be rude". No pause "I'll have some"......LEANS OVER AND JUST GRABS MY ENTIRE SUSHI ROLL AND PUTS THE WHOLE THING IN HIS MOUTH. He didnt even use chopsticks!!! Just to state, this behaviour is very unjapanese. I dont think either of these things were bad, just really funny and mainly because they were so uncharacteristic. Of course there is one simple reason for that. Alchohol.



PRETTY PLACES......

There's been alot but here are some of my favourite places so far......




This is taken on a cliff edge on the Island of Ikitski which is about an hour and a half drive from me. The sky was so beautiful. It was crazily windy so standing on the bench was a teeny bit scary as i thought i might be blown of the edge. But the picture says it was worth it!



Ok so maybe pretty isn't the 1st word that springs to mind when you are describing Tokyo, but it is certainly pretty amazing. This view is from the bar on the 42nd floor of our hotel in Tokyo. Any way you look out, for as far as the eye can see there is buildings. It is immense. I had seen nothing quite like this before. I remember sitting by the window (vaugely feeling like i was in lost in translation) on maybe my 2nd day in japan, thinking "I am so lucky to be here and to be seeing this".








Oshima ;-) This is an island a 25 minute ferry ride from me. It's pretty beautiful. Small and peaceful, it is a nice contrast to sasebo. There are so many "wow" pictures from Oshima i didn't know which to choose!



Sports day at my main Junior High School. These kids are so dedicated. They practised so hard in super hot conditions. They all take part and they all really care. They run the whole day. They set up all the seats and tents.They do all the announcements. They start the races. They run, they march, they dance, the boys dress up as girls, they beat the teachers at tug of war, they do relays wearing swimwear or playing their instrument and then at the end of the day they tidy everything up. The whole day is a perfect example of teamwork, something Japan values very highly and does very well!