Last Wednesday night, I had dinner with Arisa, my first non-JET friend here in Japan. We met on the train the first time I was coming back to Aki from Kochi City. I was sitting on the train, scrolling through my iPod, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the girl sitting next to me was just staring at my head. Feeling kind of awkward, I finally turned to look at her. She was completely fascinated with my hair and started asking me a bunch of questions about it. Somehow that developed into an actual conversation, which led to us exchanging phone numbers and promising to hang out.
So I texted her Tuesday (in Japanese) to see if she wanted to come to the usual Tuesday night dinner thing at Yourou with Matt, Kym and me. She said she was working but asked if I wanted to hang out the next night. I was surprised that she texted me back in English, since she didn't seem to speak much English on the train.
On Wednesday, she drove to Aki (she lives about 20 minutes away) and we went to the okonomiyaki place for dinner — I'm starting to frequent that place as much as Yourou and the bakery — and got to know each other a little better. She's a self-employed piano teacher and quite a cool lady! (And it turns out she has a translator on her phone, which solves the mystery of the English texting. We mostly spoke in Japanese, with her phone acting as the occasional interpreter.)
After dinner and ice cream, we went to an arcade because she wanted to do プリクラ (purikura, a.k.a. those goofy photo booth pictures). After you're done taking the pictures, you can doodle on the screen before printing them out.
When we were done with pictures, we decided to stay and hang out in the arcade.
(Of course the arcade has a pachinko section. Pachinko parlors are everywhere!)
My new favorite game, Taiko no Tatsujin (basically, a taiko drum game in the style of Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution):
Arisa conspires with the arcade employee for the best approach to grasp the bunny:
She goes in for the kill:
Success!
It was a fun night. I really hope we get to hang out more and become better friends!
The next day, I headed to Kochi City for Prefectural Orientation. Since it didn't start until 1 p.m., I met up with Alex on the train earlier that morning so we could go to the immigration office to get our re-entry permits (which you need if you want to leave the country and be able to get back in).
Aside from getting to meet more Kochi JETs and catch up with the ones I'd met in Tokyo, the first day of the orientation itself was nothing new. I mean, really, how many speeches on culture shock do we need?
After orientation, there was an after party at a nearby beer garden, which was basically a buffet where we could chill, eat and chat with fellow JETs.
Later that night, there were a bunch of fireworks as a close to the Yosakoi Festival.
And then there was the after-after party at One Love, a reggae club that's pretty popular among the Kochi JETs. $7 drinks, but hey, no cover charge on weeknights!
(A disco ball AND a blacklight!)
(my Aussie buddy Ben in Muroto)
(Michelle, one of the PAs)
(Matt, whom I sit across from at work)
(Emma, a Scottish girl in Kochi City)
(Sean, a hilarious Irishman)
(Lisa, a fellow Californian in Kochi City)
After leaving the club, Ben and I accompanied Michelle to a コンビニ (conbini, a.k.a. convenience store) to buy Japanese condoms for her speech on safe sex for the next day of orientation (I mean really, what is this, middle school?) Before heading back to the hotel for the night, we stopped for purikura.
The next day of orientation was better (and included an amusing moment when one of the PAs made a joke about Mormons during his presentation without realizing that there was one among us).
There were some presentations about things to do and sights to see in the different parts of the prefecture, as well as a sign-up sheet for the Genki Musical that the Kochi JETs put on every year (heck yes!). But the most relevant bit of information during the entire two days of orientation was Michelle's presentation on earthquakes and tsunamis. The Nankai Earthquake is a big one expected to hit Kochi within the next 50 years. I'm from California, so earthquakes don't scare me, but it's good to be prepared. Next time I go to the grocery store I'll pick up some extra water and non-perishable food so I can get an earthquake kit together.
After day two of orientation, a bunch of us grabbed an early dinner at Hirome, an always-crowded food court, and I caught the train back with Ben and Peter, a PA who lives in Nahari. Since Nahari is as far east as the train goes, poor Ben had to take a 45-minute bus ride from there to Muroto, after already being on the train for an hour and a half.
I spent the weekend relaxing in my still Internetless apartment. I rearranged the furniture in my bedroom so that the hanging lamp is not directly over my bed and won't crush me in an earthquake. Work has been pretty low-key as usual this week, though Matt and I went over some lesson plans with Kataoka-sensei.
Tonight, it's the usual Tuesday night dinner at Yourou with Matt and Kym. This weekend there's a stone-skipping festival in Ino that I might check out, and I'm working on getting a rafting trip together for Monday!
Peace,
B
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