Experience vs. Expectation

It's funny how much our actual experiences can differ from our expectations. When I got to Uoshima, I got to spend two days with Ethan, my predecessor. Between packing and paperwork, Ethan could unfortunately only offer me a couple of hours to pick his brain and establish realistic expectations for my stay on fish island.

In the time we did spend together, I got to walk around with him and meet some of the people that he was leaving behind. Even though he hadn't studied Japanese at all before coming, two years alone on the island with no English speakers really strengthened his Japanese. Given that I came to Japan to study the language, I loved the thought of being fluent after two years. I couldn't have been in a better position.

Ethan was in fantastic shape when he left. I believe he was a runner before coming to Japan, but he spent the copious free time in the afternoons and evenings running up and down the hills of the circular island road, training for a marathon. Having been out of shape since the age of six, I looked forward to simultaneously slimming down and exploring the island. I would even join the baseball club and hone those skills.

Attached to Uoshima by a stacked stone foot bridge is a little island called Kojima (Japanese for "little island"), where Ethan would go in the evening to read. I envisioned myself composing music on the cool, rough rocks with the sun slipping below the horizon. Afterward, I could hop in the sea for a nice evening swim.

Life would be nice and slow. We'd learn to be self-sufficient with a vegetable garden. Kimiko Azuma, one of two people on the island who spoke English, worked out a deal with an old lady to get us a plot of land. I wrote a few months ago:

We have a plot of land that's been set aside as our garden. It's actually already a garden, but the owner of the land is hurt and won't be able to cultivate it any longer. It's right by the new house, so that's another factor to consider. It's a pretty big plot, about 40 feet by 80 feet.

We brought all sorts of seeds and bought a book about utilizing space in the garden. We were ready to go; we just needed to wait until planting season.

Before Ethan left, he wrote farewell cards to all the people he had gotten to know on the island. When it was time to board the ferry to leave, a bunch of people gathered around to say goodbye. I wrote a little about this:

His send off was touching. Dozens of villagers met him and the docks to see him off. They all held streamers that were on a spool, giving the ends to Ethan and Sarah (his girlfriend) to hold on to as the boat drove away. They remained "connected" to him even as he rode away on the boat (or at least until the streamers broke). It was hard to watch. I hope that I have as big a connection with these people by the time I leave.

Obviously, I looked forward to the day when my heart strings would snap, and I'd be reduced to a sobbing and babbling fool. Actually, I just hoped to build the friendships that would make it so difficult to leave.

So, I obviously had some grandiose visions of life on Uoshima. But what really happened?

First off, most of my long-term expectations became moot the moment I moved to Imabari. But right from the start, my expectations were off. Coming to the island, I was excited to meet the members of my new community. Here's what I wrote:

The ferry ride was beautiful. I was a little motion sick from all the travel, but it was neat to ride on the top of the little ferry and look down at the thousands of harmless jellyfish in the sea. Ethan said that I should be expecting a big welcome when I got home, but that didn't really happen. Ethan's girlfriend and one lady were running up to the docks when we got there with a sign that said "Welcome Mr. Stout to Uoshima!" Ethan seemed miffed that they didn't have more people there...

As for the language, Uoshima forced me to study Japanese enough to communicate, and I had plenty of free time at work. The teachers on Uoshima were amiable, but they rarely spoke to me in Japanese. Even though I had made it clear that I came to Japan to study the language, they instead tried to practice their English. I didn't really grow until Mia came in the middle of the night.

Dealing with the doctors at the hospital in Japanese forced me to learn how to communicate better. I'm not fluent yet, but I also haven't even reached the 10-month mark. My vocabulary is exploding and each day I get a little better at conversing. I understand almost everything I hear (except TV comedy shows--I'm often clueless to the slang). In Imabari, all my schools have at least one person with whom I can converse. Now I have less time to study, but more opportunities to practice Japanese. I can't draw any conclusions yet, but so far I feel that being in Uoshima was necessary at first, but being in Imabari is better for my Japanese in the long run.

Fitness was also a bit of a disappointment. I dropped from 245 pounds to 220 pounds, thanks mostly to the exercise festival and not having a wife at home for two months. While I lost a good chunk of weight, I'm still not happy with my physique. I never got to play real baseball on Uoshima. The weather was much too cold for me to run around the island. So, yeah, my once-tight pants are now baggy. But I never got to explore the island, and I still need to lose a few.

I went out to the little island a couple times, but never with the intent to compose. I figured I'd always have a chance later. Nope. I only went swimming three or four times, but looked forward to next year's summer, when we'd surely go swimming as a family every few days. False. We'd never get the chance.

Though life actually was slow like I'd hoped, we never got the chance to cultivate the garden. We're glad that we didn't, since we would've had to leave it all behind. Here in Imabari, Stef has some planters full of fruits and vegetables that are in various states of health. The first strawberries are almost ready. The cucumbers (or is it the eggplant?) are dead. Stef's having fun, and it's much less work to maintain planters than a whole forty-by-eighty foot garden. While it's not quite what we expected, things are good on the garden front.

I don't believe I've blogged about my teary departure from Uoshima. That's because it never happened.

I spent most of the last day filling out forms at the town hall office. They told me that the boat would leave at about 9:50, and so I should load my stuff onto the boat at 9:30 or so. At 9:10, they told me that I had to load my luggage. I threw my stuff on the boat, and the other teachers, who had been saying good bye to the townsfolk for the previous fifteen minutes, all got on. They handed us each a ribbon or two and the crowd of people held on to the other end of the ribbons. The boat was off at 9:12. I didn't even get to say a personal good bye to the people I got to know. Typically, ALTs on Uoshima get their own send off. But since I was leaving with other teachers, I was just one of many who were leaving. There was no time for tears.

The boat pulled away, tightening my ribbon until it snapped, severing my ties with the island. I guess it doesn't really matter that I never got to say good bye, because I never got to know anyone on the island (outside of the doctor, the band members, and Azuma-san). Imabari is a great place to live, but I'll always look back with fondness at my time on Uoshima. The saddest part about leaving fish island is losing the memories of experiences I never got to have.

Our First Hike

So, we went on our first real (well, as real as it can get with Kelsey) hike here in Uoshima. We walked about halfway around the perimeter and then back. It really is beautiful out here. Here are some pictures of the hike. Click the picture to see the rest.

Uoshima Hike

So many thoughts, so little time

The other day, I was outside, weeding the school grounds with the staff and students. Suddenly, a bee charged at me, sending me flying into the air in a hoe-swinging panic. I ran around for two minutes, flailing at the bee that followed me as though it had some sort of fear-seeking lock-on technology. I finally lured it away when another bee came at me from the other direction. After evading it, I went back to weeding. Of course, a third bee felt left out and came at me with the furor of a thousand suns, and I scrambled to safety. Cleaning time ended and we were allowed to go back inside for the morning staff meeting.

During staff meetings, the teachers take turns making announcements in a very formal manner (bows and everything). Since I don't speak much Japanese yet, I always sit quietly during the morning meeting. This time, I waited until everybody had made their announcements, and when the person conducting the meeting asked if there were any other matters to discuss, I raised my hand, stood up, and said with a straight face, "I just got chased by three bees. It was not fun. That is all." I sat back down as though nothing strange had happened. The other teachers chuckled.

At church last week, we were sitting in the back row of Sunday School singing a hymn, when I realized that the whole congregation--with the exception of Me, Stef, and the American missionary--was singing in unison. I thought of the Japanese beliefs about social harmony and not wanting to stick out, and realized how plain it can seem sometimes. While, the Japanese don't have to deal with as many insurgents, they often appear to be devoid of their own personality. Just as our alto, tenor, and bass voices added color to an otherwise drab chorus, so do we, as Americans, add a bit of color to Japan. Whenever I start to wonder why they pay me to be here, I can just look back to Sunday School.

This weekend, we had a pretty cool festival in town. I performed Highway Star for the first time, and I think I did pretty well. Sure, it's a lot of screaming. But it's much easier to have some stage presence when you're rocking out to Deep Purple than when you're singing about how you can make your baby smile.

That same night, Ryota, Tetsuya's brother, danced and sang on stage with my young students. Japanese music tends to borrow phrases of English, such as in the following, "watashi wa anata o I LOVE YOU FOR EVER BABY" or "sumimasen, wakarimasen, kono yuubinkyoku de HIT THAT GIRL YEAH!" For some reason, they always write the English in these songs in capital letters on the CDs.

One thing that makes these songs a bit funny is the fact that Japanese phonetics are not like American English phonetics. The letter "I" is pronounced like the latin "I", so words like "hit" and "his" sound like "heat" and "he's", and so on. Imagine my surprise when the emcee announced the next song to be sung and danced to by Ryota and the gang: "IT'S MY SOUL!" I know that the Japanese can seem strange sometimes, but I had no idea that they were that morbid. I couldn't help but chuckle every time the chorus came around, and Ryota told us all about how "something-something-EATS MY SOUL! YEAH!"

Gotta go teach! But first, here's some video of the festival, as well as a little video of Kelsey running in town.

Update

Tonight's the first part of the omikoshi festival in Uoshima. The mikoshi is a heavy little portable shrine on beams that people put on their shoulders and carry around all day. They wave it around wildly and sometimes even take it into the water. That part doesn't take place until tomorrow, but tonight we have a party up at the shrine. There will be chicken, yakisoba, and lots of people. Oh, and Uoshima'X's second performance. Tonight I sing Highway Star for the first time. We'll see how that goes. I'll try to get some pictures of everything.

As for the ad for Exclusive Exteriors--I'm trying to get the site onto the search engines, and that's one way to do it.

More Video

Here you go. I'll write soon.

Videos

Here are some videos. I wasn't able to get as many up as I wanted, but these will have to do for now.

Some pictures

So, we still don't have many pics. I promise that we'll take some pictures of the house and surroundings soon. For now, these will have to do.

This is me with Brett Gilbert in Tokyo before I came out to Uoshima:















This is a random street in Shinjuku (in Tokyo).



Subway ride from Shinjuku station to Meguro



Random pictures from the festival in Yuge:





I wanted so badly to buy this ice, but I had to settle for regular ice because I didn't know the difference.



A sign that made me chuckle (yeah, I'm 12):



Ash tray in Yuge:



Welcome party in Uoshima:



Ethan and Sarah at the welcome party:



My town hall work desk:



Beach close to our old house:



Uoshima from a little island just outside:



Zoomed view:



Kelsey at the rock island:



A couple Uoshima sunset photos to finish up:

First week or so on Uoshima

Sorry it's taking me so long to update this thing! Life is crazy right now. Just when I think I've got a break, something else comes up!

So, I got to the Matsuyama airport, where Ethan (my predecessor) and a couple of my Japanese coworkers were waiting. We hopped into minivan (microbus style) and drove for a while until we reached Imabari, the closest (in travel time, not geographically) city to Uoshima. There are small cities that are close, but Imabari is a lot bigger. Normally we'd take a ferry, but since we were in the car, we drove over a series of suspension bridges that stretch from mainland Shikoku all the way up to mainland Honshu (the biggest land mass in Japan). We stopped briefly on one of the connecting islands and got some salt flavored ice cream. It was like saltwater taffy flavored ice cream. Delicious.

We got to Habu port, which is the southern most part of Hiroshima (and Honshu), and (Ethan and I) hopped on a ferry to Uoshima, our home. The ferry ride was beautiful. I was a little motion sick from all the travel, but it was neat to ride on the top of the little ferry and look down at the thousands of harmless jellyfish in the sea. Ethan said that I should be expecting a big welcome when I got home, but that didn't really happen. Ethan's girlfriend and one lady were running up to the docks when we got there with a sign that said "Welcome Mr. Stout to Uoshima!" Ethan seemed miffed that they didn't have more people there. I wasn't bothered at all.

The first couple days, Ethan and his girlfriend stayed in my future apartment while I stayed on the 3rd floor of the town hall building. It was kind of creepy. Some bananas that I had bought even mysteriously disappeared, one-by-one (that was Oofune-san, I later found out). It was better than staying up by the school, which was farther away and even creepier.

We had a welcome party one of the first nights here. It was really crazy to see all the normally super-professional people get absolutely hammered. It was fun to watch people try to communicate with each other. It took probably 3 times as long as it should have for them to understand each other. People are a little confused that I don't drink alcohol, coffee, or tea. They're still pretty supportive, though. They can't understand why I'd just want water at a restaurant, though. They give tea here with every meal, and so when I ask for water, they get me a soda or something else. The water cups that I do get hold about a half an ounce.

The food has been very good so far. Twice I've had okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake thing that has noodles, egg, and whatever the heck they want to put in it. It's usually got a barbecue-like sauce, and is very tasty. I've had sashimi (sushi with raw fish) a few times. It's pretty good. I realized why I didn't think I'd like it. I always remembered it smelling like fish in the U.S. They say that if it smells like fish, it's too old. If you just stuff the whole thing in your mouth and chew, it's usually pretty good.

Ethan was very helpful in his last few days here. He showed me as much as he could and helped me know how to make my formal introductions. I brought some stuff, but it wasn't enough for everybody. So I've ordered some more through a service that lets you buy stuff from Costco. It's a bit pricey, but worth it. Sometimes you just need a little reminder of where you're from.

I spent the first few days traveling to the surrounding islands to complete paperwork. I'd get home from a long, tiring day and come back expecting to get some rest (I'm supposed to be done at 4:30 each day). Instead, I end up staying hours past 4:30, trying to communicate with my coworkers who don't speak English. It's tough. It'd be a lot easier to cope with if I had my family here and was more settled. One day, I got home at 8:30 after leaving the town hall. After that long day, I was excited to know that I could sleep in the next morning, since it was Saturday. Right as I left, my coworker said that the next morning at 6AM, the entire town was getting up to pull weeds on the island. He said I didn't have to go, which meant, "If you don't go, everyone will despise you." So, I got up and pulled weeds at the playground for a few hours the next morning. I still haven't had a chance to rest. Last night was going to be my first chance, but towards the end of the work day, my coworker and band-mate Kuroda-san informed me that there would be a festival from 7-9PM (called "Bon") that celebrates their dead ancestors. After that, he was holding a band meeting. So I was there until 10PM. Still looking for that elusive rest. I'm hoping that I can get it tomorrow, but I won't hold my breath. I've learned to expect to have things sprung at me at the last minute, with non-participation not really being an option. You do what you gotta do, though. Suck it up, go, have fun, and hope that you sleep enough to feel rested.

Ethan wasn't able to tell me much about my actual teaching, so I'm pretty clueless right now. He actually told me quite a bit, bit it was all such a blur. We planned to go write stuff down, but we ran out of time. Ethan had to run around on his last day. His send off was touching. Dozens of villagers met him and the docks to see him off. They all held streamers that were on a spool, giving the ends to Ethan and Sarah (his girlfriend) to hold on to as the boat drove away. They remained "connected" to him even as he rode away on the boat (or at least until the streamers broke). It was hard to watch. I hope that I have as big a connection with these people by the time I leave.

My apartment is a cozy two-room apartment with a living/kitchen area. The bathroom is spacious and the shower has its own room with a deep tub in it. I didn't have a problem with the place, but one of the English-speaking villagers spoke with my supervisor and asked if a bigger place wasn't available. It turns out there is one. There's a two-story, three room house in town that's pretty new. Its kitchen area's a lot smaller, but It has the added benefit of having separate rooms. It's a bit bigger. It's also got a lot more storage space. It's the same exact price as the place I'm living in. The only downside is that it gets extremely hot. It's on the hillside instead of right by the beach, so it doesn't stay as cool. I'd imagine it will stay warmer in the Winter for the same reason. We could always buy another air conditioner (we have one that we'd take with us, but we'd need another one for the downstairs room), even if that route's expensive. We'd have a bit more space and a lot more privacy.

We have a plot of land that's been set aside as our garden. It's actually already a garden, but the owner of the land is hurt and won't be able to cultivate it any longer. It's right by the new house, so that's another factor to consider. It's a pretty big plot, about 40 feet by 80 feet. I think. It's hot and humid here, so I'm not sure what will grow. It gets down to 32 degrees in the winter, but not much below it. That's still pretty cold for houses with no insulation or central heating. I've done worse in Guatemala. Get thick blankets and a space heater and you're okay.

There's a lot more to write about, but I'm tired. This is from an e-mail I sent to Stef:

"At Deodeo, the electronics shop, They had bathroom scales from $25,ovens from $500 (they're small), bread makers from $250, fans from $25, A/C units from $700 to $3000, vacuums from $40 to $500 (most were expensive), and a blender for $15. Everybody keeps telling me to get an electronic dictionary. They're around $250. It would help a lot, but I think I'll try to use my paper one until you come. When you
come, I'll get the kanji dictionary for DS off the laptop. Deodeo had a really annoying song going on. It was their theme song, and it just kept repeating. It was like the Small World song from Disneyland. I wanted to punch something.

We were running a bit late to catch the ferry (Shizuka was driving her old Volvo with the steering wheel on the left hand side--she pays about $100 a month to park it on Habu. If she left it on Yuge, it'd be free, but she'd have to pay each time she needed to take the car over to Habu.), so Shizuka hurried to take me to the port. I felt bad, because she told me to get on the boat. I didn't know that she was trying to come with me, because she had said that she was going to catch a later ferry. Her mom wandered off and got lost while I was waiting for the next ferry (which was coming in 2-3 minutes). I spotted her in the distance and told Shizuka where she went, and Shizuka ran to grab her. The boat came and I got on, and in the distance I saw Shizuka scramble to get her mother and father to the port. She was trying to make it on that ferry to Yuge, but they pulled away before she could make it. I felt bad, because I would have helped had I known that she was hoping to go with me.

Last night was even more hectic, because in both Habu and Yuge, they were having gigantic fireworks displays and festivals. The streets were filled with people, with many of the girls wearing traditional kimonos for the festival. We drove by some people dancing in traditional garb with taiko drummers in the background. It was a shame I couldn't stay to watch the festivities on Habu. They said there were 10,000 fireworks.

The ferry ride from Habu to Yuge was very soothing. It was a slow boat for cars, so it took a while longer than the fast boat. It was dark by then. In the strait, a bunch of boats lined up in ceremony as far as I could see, the glow of their red lanterns reflecting on the peaceful sea.

I got to Yuge in the dark and started to walk around looking for white people. I planned to stay in Allee's spare room in Yuge. Some people from Uoshima came to greet me, and I asked them if they had seen any foreigners. Nobody had. I walked around the streets, which were lined with booths selling all sorts of traditional foods, both fried and grilled. There was a stage with a little band of girls playing western sounding music on wind instruments and dancing in their kimonos. After getting to the end of the street, I turned around and came back. I saw the three other Kamijima ALTs and stopped by to say hi. We got snow cones and some fried food and just hung out to watch the fireworks display. Yuge only had 1,300, but it was still one of the most impressive displays I've ever seen. The whole sky seemed to light up with rapid-fire explosions of many colors. I really wish I could have enjoyed it with you and Kelsey.

We'll either have to take lunch with us or buy lunch in Imabari when we go to church. I took the 2:45 PM ferry from Imabari and got home around 5. On my way back to the apartment, some kids were playing baseball in the playground area. They asked me to join in. I first played in my sunday clothes, but they asked if I wanted to change. I changed and came back, and we played a game (2 on 3, don't ask me how it worked). My first at-bat, I crushed the ball out of the yard and up into the trees. They were blown away and excited that I hit the ball so far, but I felt bad, because I lost the ball. We went up to the school where there was more room and played with the other ball. I batted lefty for my first at-bat at the school and got a hit. My second at bat, I took a half-swing and crushed the ball out of the park and waaaaaayyyyyy over the trees. I felt so bad. I was trying not hit it out, but I was just too big. I lost both of their balls.

They're cheap, so I'll buy new ones. They weren't sad, though. They were excited at the prospect of having a "power hitter". The kids on my team were jumping for joy. I love these kids. I can see how it would be hard to leave them."

When I got home from Yuge island a couple days ago, Emiko, one of my students, followed me home. She followed me into my house (Ethan said that this happens often unless you lock the doors) and just kind of stood there. I didn't know what to do, so I let her play the Wii for a bit while I took care of other stuff. I'd rather the neighborhood kids didn't come in my apartment. She tried to come in the other day, but I told her that I didn't have time.

I was talking to her the other day, and I asked her what her parents names were. She said, "My mom is so-and-so (I forgot already), and I don't have a dad." The disappointment on her face was clear. She wished she had a dad. That just broke my heart.

That's it for today. Next time I'll write about "Bon".

Six days to go!

In two days, I leave Sacramento for Napa. Three days later, I leave for Denver, where I'll attend a pre-departure orientation. The next day, I head out to Japan! I can't believe the time has gone so quickly; I'll be in Japan in six days!

Our last few weeks in Utah, it was pretty easy to keep from stressing about Japan, since there were so many things keeping us busy (moving, etc.). Now that we're out here visiting family, and I no longer have a job in the U.S., the stress is mounting. This a pretty big change. There are also a lot of things that I want to do here in California, but not enough time to do all of them. I find myself being short with people and not having a whole lot of patience. It's frustrating, because I normally don't let things get to me.

Even with the stress, I am excited. Japan is going to be an incredible adventure that my family members and I will never forget. It's not likely that we'll ever be able to do anything like this again. I'm a little bummed about having to be away from Stef and Kelsey until they come out three weeks later. But I'll be pretty busy, and I'm sure the people on Uoshima will do their best to keep me company.

I promised I'd write more about Uoshima. Even though it's been a month, I still will.

Uoshima is a little island in the middle of the Seto inland sea, way out in the middle of nowhere. It takes about 2-2 1/2 hours by ferry (it's actually two separate one-hour ferries with an island connection) to get to the mainland. We'll be making the voyage every week for church, and it won't be cheap. It's going to cost about $100 every week just to travel to church.

Uoshima is a little fishing village (it literally means "fish island") with fewer than 200 inhabitants. We really will know everybody on the island. Ethan, the teacher I'm replacing, only teaches about 5 or 6 kids, so that's what I'll be doing as well. Ethan's also the lead singer of Uoshimax, a 60's brit-rock tribute band. Since he's leaving, I'll be taking his place as lead singer. Rock-n-roll stardom, here I come! Ha!

We'll be living in a two bedroom apartment that's mostly furnished. We'll want to buy a bed, since Ethan's been sleeping on an old futon. Anyway, I'll write more about Uoshima when I get there.