The Guess Who Visitor

So the city I'm in is called Kanazawa, it's in a peninsula-prefecture called Ishikawa on the midwest coast that, as I tell everyone, looks like a fire-breathing sock puppet. Some people claim they can't see it. At the very least it looks like a hissing snake head or something... right?

Kanazawa is an awesome city, it is certainly one of the the best placements one could hope for on the JET programme. It's probably one of the biggest cities involved in JET too, actually, with half a million people in it. Kanazawa is home to a castle, a Temple district, a samurai district, a geisha district, one of the 3 sacred mountains in Japan, one of the 3 most beautiful gardens in Japan, a bustling fish market, and a downtown that's totally mini-Tokyo meets Disney World Pavillion. It's really quite something. I really want to detail each trip to these nifty places in different entries because I think they each warrant their own with fancy photos. So that will come later.
For now I think I'll share with you a unique anecdote.

Last Sunday I was hanging around the apartment, reorganizing some things and basically putting off getting groceries in the terrible humidity. Around 2pm, my doorbell rang. I thought for a moment, wondering who it could be. Most of the other JETs lived too far away for an impromptu visit, and my appliances had already been delivered the day before. So I opened the door, and there stood a very friendly Japanese woman.

"Hello?" I asked politely, wondering if maybe she had been expecting someone else to answer. Instead she began speaking rapidly and excitedly in Japanese. She kept saying "koenkai", which I had no idea what it was. "Enkai" means an afterwork drinking party, so I kept wondering if it had something to do with that. She barrelled on, ignoring my helpless replies of "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand". And thus began an epic guessing game, and a huge test of my (obviously weak) Japanese skills. Yep, here is our strange conversation. In Japanese.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I said, bowing, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Allie. Nice to meet you."
She looked at me funny and hesitantly introduced herself. I continued to try and deduce who she was. "Are you my neighbour?"
"No..."
"Do you live near here?"
"Yes, over in Izuminomachi."
"Oh! By the library!"
"Yes, the library."
"It's nice there."
"Yes. Um, are you a mother? That is, do you have children?" she asked.
"...No, I do not have children. ....Do you have children?"
She brightened. "Yes! I have a son and two younger daughters."
"Oh!" I seized this opportunity, wondering if perhaps her kids went to my school. "How old are your children?"
"My son is 16. My daughters are 12 and 14."
"Oh, Junior High!"
"Yes."
"Do they go to Noda??[my school]"
Again, she looked at me with a perplexed expression on her face. "No..."
"Oh..."
An awkward silence ensued before she said, "Oh, are you an English teacher?"
"Yes I am. At Noda."
"Really! That's great."
I brightened again, hoping to get more info, "Are you possibly an English teacher as well?"
She frowned. "No, I dye kimonos for a living."
"Oh... wow, that's really interesting!"
Yet another awkward silence before I said, as politely as I could, "I'm sorry, why did you come here today?"
Again, she repeated koenkai, and talked of "the other women" and it became even more confusing, so I ran to get my dictionary and together we tried to carry on our conversation but it kept getting very roundabout. She finally said, "koenkai--conversation!". I thought of course she was referring to the conversation we had been having in my doorway, about kimonos and children, and so I smiled. "Yes, we're having a conversation" I affirmed.
Finally, after another few agonizing moments and my attempts at saying "Thank you for coming today to visit", I explained that I had to "meet a friend soon" and she nodded in understanding but still didn't leave.
"I'm very sorry my Japanese is so bad," I said bowing. "Next time, I will ask my friend to come. That chick speaks Japanese and English."
She laughed amicably at my use of "that chick", a term I had thrown in when I couldn't think of how to say "she" in Japanese. Finally she said, "I'll come again then." and bowed. I thanked her and said, "yes, please come again."

It was only the next day, through asking a Japanese teacher, that I realized what koenkai was-- a lecture. She had been there, wanting to ask me to give an English lecture to a group of eager homemakers.
I hope she DOES come again so I can be prepared with this newly learned vocabulary and say "Hai! Yarimasu! *Yes, I'll do it!*"

Tokyo Orientation

Slowly, but surely, I'm beginning to update. Hope you enjoy the tales of my travels.

Tokyo Orientation!
At long long last, after months upon months of preparation and anticipation, I'm in Japan.

We, that is to say, the other 14 Ottawa JETs and me, left for Tokyo early Saturday morning and arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon (13 hour time difference). We were staying in a fancy hotel right in Shinjuku, a very cool part of Tokyo, for a two-day orientation. There were panels galore, most of them repeat for us because we were so well-prepared thanks to Ottawa's many helfpul orientations. We were required to stay in the hotel for the day but after 8pm we were allowed out.

The first night we were there, Taryn, Julie and I wandered out nearby to see if we could find exotic Japanese food. Instead we found exotic Italian food, very different than the Italian food you'd find in Ottawa. In Japan, there is no tipping your waiter, and prices on the menu are tax-included, so when something says "580 yen" (about 7$), you only shell out 580 yen. It's quite awesome!

We also marvelled at the Konbini's (convenience store) selection of Japanese food. Konbinis not only carry the usual selection familiar to most Canadian convenience stores, but also has a wide selection of hot food that you can get heated up for you there. They also have what is one of my most favorite things to eat here: onigiri. Onigiris are triangular riceballs wrapped in seaweed, with some sort of meat (or fruit) inside. They're delicious.

Monday night everyone was going out with their prefectures for drinking or karaoke, but mine was scheduled for Tuesday night so I explored Shinjuku on my own. It was very much the Japan you've probably seen in movies. :)

Tuesday night was Embassy night for everyone, so we were expected to travel to our country's embassy and watch whatever they presented to us. The Ottawa JETs, despite still exhausted from jet lag and 12-hour orientation days, went out at 7:30 to the Canadian embassy, came back to the hotel to change, and then we all went out for karaoke. Jordan's Japanese was clearly the best in the group so he became our official and invaluable translator for the night as we ordered food and belted out to classics such as "Total Eclipse of the Heart", two Backstreet Boys songs, Spice Girls, "Rock n Roll all night", "Bohemian Rhapsody", Madonna, and a selection of others that managed to fill 2 hours. It was awesome!

Wednesday morning we got up at the crack of dawn to go to our new homes... and that will be in another entry. ;)

Pictures added soon when I figure that out! ;)