Gone Viral

Several months ago, back when I was living in Tasmania and we were having a long, hot summer (hard for you all to imagine now, I'm sure), I wrote a post which featured a poem entitled "Hare In Summer".  Instead of the hare photo you see there now, I had opted for a photo of the blue sky, with a hint of clouds and a bright, glaring sun in the corner.  Well... what I didn't know at the time was that this post would soon go viral.  

It took a bit of time, actually, and was definitely not an instantaneous result, but after some weeks had passed, I noticed its popularity dramatically increase.  I knew this through the statistics feature on blogspot, where you can see how many views each of your post have had over various periods of time.  But I knew somehow that it wasn't my amazingly interesting and witty post that attracted such attention, but alas, it was this rather plain, yet rather sought after image of the sun (I won't post the photo here or we'll have the same problem over again!).  With the stats feature also showing the source of each view, it was clear that google searches such as "sky with sun", "sun sky", "hot sun sky" and "sky images with sun" where indeed the culprit, and that most of the views would not have yielding in anyone actually reading the amazingly brilliant blog post text.

I'm not sure what it was exactly that made this photo so popular.   Perhaps the recent solar eclipse.  Perhaps the northern hemisphere summer.  Perhaps global warming (we can blame that for everything, right?).  But once the stats went up, they did not come back down.  

To give you a little taste of what I have been seeing:

Today - 13 views;

The last week - 208 views;

The last month - 887 views;

All time (since 29th Jan 2012) - 2,606 views.

My total blog views, including this figure, is 5,005.   So in other words, this post got more views that my other 45 posts combined.

So anyway, recently I decided it was time to do something, and today I finally took that photo off my blog. Goodbye popularity.  Goodbye fame.  Goodbye false sense of achievement.

Hello again, my 13 dedicated followers ;)

Modest is Hottest

A little while ago on Pinterest I decided to start a board entitled "Modest Is Hottest". The purpose of this board was to highlight and promote fashionable, modest clothing. 

There are a few pre-requisites I have to posting images on my Modest Is Hottest board.  

Firstly, it must be modest.  If it is "almost modest" then it does not make the cut.  

Secondly, I prefer to stick to images of clothing that people are actually wearing, rather than just the clothes themselves.  This is mainly just my personal preference, but also because seeing someone wear it becomes proof it is modest.  Sometimes clothing looks modest, until you put it on and whoops, it's just a little too short.  

Thirdly, it has to meet my personal tastes.  If I think the outfit looks revolting, but hey, it's modest, it still doesn't make the cut.  Again this is personal preference - when I look at my board I want to see an array of clothing that I consider to be beautiful and would actually wear.  

Celebrity photos is one exception to this.  If I notice a celebrity who is dressed modestly, first I get over the shock, and then I post a photo of them in their modest outfit.  As this is to highlight that big-name celebrities also think dressing modestly can look good, it's okay if their outfit suits their personal taste more than mine.  It doesn't mean, however, that I promote them as a role-model of continually modest dress.  Sometimes it may be a once-off, but hey, they wore it and they looked good!

Since starting this board on Pinterest, I have noticed something.  Many people have started following it!  People I don't even know.  While most of my boards average 63 followers, this board currently has 74 followers - including 20 people who don't even know me.  The numbers might not sound like much, but given that this blog currently has 13 followers, almost all who know me personally, I think it's pretty significant.  It makes me really happy when yet another person starts following my Modest Is Hottest board, because it feels like I am making a difference in the world, and encourages me to keep going and to add more to it.  

Modesty in clothing is very important to me, and has been addressed in specific counsel given by the Prophet and Twelve Apostles of today. They have counselled us to be neat and clean and avoid being extreme or inappropriately casual in clothing, hairstyle and behaviour, as well as to choose appropriately modest apparel when participating in sports.  According to their words, to dress modestly is to avoid clothing that is tight, sheer, or revealing in any other manner.  To women they have counselled to avoid short shorts and short skirts, shirts that do not cover the stomach, and clothing that does not cover the shoulders or is low-cut in the front or the back (see this link).

It may sound like a long list, but the result is worth it, which I have endevoured to illustrate with my board. It is part of my response to Elaine S. Dalton's call for a for each of us to "arise, and unfurl a banner to the world calling for a return to virtue."

I know that when we dress modestly we show respect for ourselves and for others.  It allows us all to feel more comfortable and focus on what is important.  I know that I certainly feel so much more comfortable when I am not distracted by somebody's cleavage.  Awkward!  For those of us who are single, if we are dressed modestly when someone of the opposite sex shows interest, we can know it's most likely because of who we are and not what we are.

It's up to each of us to make the world a better place, and why not start with living and promoting modesty in dress.

Modest is hottest!

Random Thought of the Day

Welcome to the new segment of my blog I call "Random Thought of the Day".  Just as the name suggests, they will be kind of random, and will be fairly short posts scattered here and there for your reading pleasure.  And now for today's random thought, on the topic of Fast Sunday:

You know you're fasting when you're looking at the vase of lovely flowers next to the pulpit at church, and find yourself fantasising about drinking the water...

What are you doing to me, Japan?!

It's only been about 2 and a half months since I moved to Japan, which is sure to be a great experience full of growth and changes, but even in this short time there are a few unexpected changes about myself which I have started to notice.  You may need to sit down, as some of these might shock you...

Firstly,  I am finding that I almost like dogs.  Almost.  I have never really liked dogs (except for my childhood friend in Melbourne, Jess the chihuahua).  They make a lot of noise, they leave a lot of mess, and they usually smell.  Perhaps it was also because I had the joyous experience in my childhood of being bitten by a dog - twice, in fact.  I have always preferred and loved cats, and always will, but...something about the cute dogs I have seen at the park is definitely softening my dislike for canines.  They just look so excited to be able to run around and play fetch, they seem a little better groomed here in Japan, and I tell you one day at the park I saw THE cutest little dog, which kept trying to run towards me happily as the owner was coming past with it on a leash.  I just thought, "I want one!"  Even larger dogs like the akita are growing on me.  While I don't plan to go out and buy a dog anytime soon, I do know dogs are pretty popular with men so I suspect my (future/non-existent) husband may be wanting one anyway, and so this may be preparing me for a more harmonious (future/non-existant) marriage.

Next on the list is curry.  I am not really a fan of curry.  See my previous post on curry for more details.  Since being in Japan I have had many an opportunity to eat curry, which I took despite my aversion to the taste.  The other day at school the main dish in the lunch menu was curry (again), and despite knowing this, when I smelt that curry I took a deep breath and seemed to let out some kind of happy sigh.  Uh, wait, I'm looking forward to eating this?  Wow.  Strange, but true, I can now tolerate and even enjoy curry.

Next on the news is that I'm the proud owner of a beautiful purple bike.  That's right, I ride a bike.  In public.  It took a few tries to convince myself I wasn't going to die, but the truth of the matter is that I'm without a car and it just takes so long to walk anywhere!  Not to mention the difficulties of carrying groceries that distance as well.  Going by bike is so much faster, and luckily my neighbourhood is pretty much flat, so no nasty hills to deal with  (my hometown of Hobart is a different story there!).  So I have been riding my bike around, especially to the park and the large shopping centre, and for grocery shopping I bought an extra basket to put on the back which has greatly increased the amount of food I can buy in one trip, woohoo!  There may have been one little mishap recently from which I got some pretty awesome-looking bruises, but on a whole, so far, so good.  Even considering getting a cheap bike when I go back home - as long as I can make it to the bike track easily I should be able to avoid the hills mostly... Then again, it will just be so much easier to drive.  Hmm, we shall see.

As I may have mentioned one or twenty times, in my home of Tasmania there are no commuter trains.  So catching trains is generally not something I have tried unaccompanied.  But since moving to Tokyo, of course, I have to catch trains to get anywhere.  For the first month or so I had fantastic beginners' luck and seemed to find the train system very easy to navigate.  I was very pleased with myself.  After the beginners' luck ran out though I discovered many details about the train system I did not know which can and did result in getting rather lost.  But having worked those out now I think I am back to being a pro at trains.  There are three main types of trains in Tokyo - the Tokyo Metro (my favourite), the Subway (not to be confused with Tokyo Metro, which is also a subway system), and private lines, such as JR, Seibu or Tobu.  They are each a little different in how they work, and they often have different stations.  Near my house I have the choice of three stations: Chikatetsuakatsuka (which is the Tokyo Metro one I usually use, and has THE longest station name I've ever heard of), Hikarigaoka (Subway) or Shimoakatsuka (Tobu).  Having mastered such a complicated system, with no prior experience with trains, makes me feel all smart.  Sure, I'll meet you at the said station to which I have never yet been or even heard of.  No problem.  I'll just check with my friend Hyperdia and it'll be no probs.  You can officially call me a city girl now. 

Unfortunately not all changes are for the better.  I expected living in Japan would mean I'd be all trim and slim, eating all that seaweed and tofu.  But alas, 'tis not so.  In fact, in the first few weeks, despite all the walking I was doing (a somewhat new concept for me), I put on weight.  I don't know how much, as I haven't weighed myself, but I have a new friend which resides on my stomach.  I call it "Jelly Belly."  I suspect it may have something to do with the very salty flavour of most Japanese cuisine - after eating it I always feel the need for something sweet to balance things out.  Probably that and placing myself in a suddenly stressful situation - new food, new city, new country, new people, new language, new job, new culture, new friends, new transportation system, new EVERYTHING - has caused me to stress-eat (especially chocolate, the greatest de-stressor).  Something about being in Japan makes me feel the need to always be munching on something.  Still, I am hoping to reverse this change with a little more time and effort.


And now the change that this whole crazy experience is about - the language.  Learning Japanese - as in, learning to speak it somewhat fluently - was my main motivator in moving to Japan.  So how is it going?  Well, it is certainly a lot harder than it sounds.  Yes, being immersed in the language certainly does help, but it still requires a lot of WORK if you want to see any progress.  So I have been studying in various ways to try to improve.  While I do get frustrated quite often with my lack of skills, especially after 10 years of study (doesn't help that I had gotten worse in the last couple of years from not using it at all), I did have an experience recently which helped me to see just how far I have come in the last 2 and a half months.  My listening comprehension has improved dramatically!  I have gone from understanding almost nothing, to understanding, perhaps, about 70%, depending on the context.  While speaking is a little harder I have also seen some progress there, and feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  It's still early days, and really I just need to remember that whatever progress I manage to make in my year or so here in Japan will still be a success story.  Plus there will be many other positive changes as a result of this experience, and there hasn't been a single day that I've regretting coming here.  In fact, I give thanks every day to be able to have this marvellous opportunity :)


I'll finish with a quote which I have found to be true:


"The key to change...is to let go of fear." - Rosanne Cash

Cute? More Like, Clever.

I have to say, there are some marketing departments in Japan that know exactly what they're doing.  Because if they put their tissues in a really cute box, I'm totally gonna buy them!  Just like I did tonight.

Bought this one several weeks back.  The same series also comes in baby seal and baby panda, sticking to the black and white theme.

The small print on this one translates roughly to "I am Mada Kodomo the *meow* cat. By the way...who are you?"  I also think the name essentially means "still young".

Breakfast - The French Way

I may not know how to cook much, especially here in Japan where the options of ingredients differs greatly, but I can usually pull off a decent breakfast, including this french toast I made myself this morning, mmmmmm!  Extra delicious with the extra thickly sliced bread common here in Japan.  It was too good to not preserve for ever and ever via this blog post.  And to make you all wildly jealous, of course ;)

So You've Experienced Your First Earthquake...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it happened.  I was in an earthquake.  I am obviously alive to tell the tale, and tell it I will....

[screen turns wavy and blurry as it fades out]

It had been a long day, possibly because I had gotten up at 5am, and the day had included a lot of walking whilst exploring my neighbourhood, as well as getting completely lost at Ikebukuro Station (the second busiest train station in the world), which I had not yet discovered is HUGE, and getting home at 10:30ish after a night of fun with church friends.  I stayed up a couple more hours before finally retiring for the night.

So there I was at 1:30am, lying asleep in my futon, when suddenly the bed frame starts to shake.  In fact everything shakes, and there's a loud noise like a train going past.  After a few seconds I finally conclude, in my heavily sleep-induced state, that it is in fact not a train but an earthquake.  "Your first small earthquake, cool right?" I ask myself.  "Yeah, yeah..." my sleepy self replies.  "Wait...how do I know it's going to be a small one?  WHAT IF IT BECOMES A BIG ONE?!"  It is at this point that I decide that it might be a good idea to find shelter somewhere.  I chose the large cupboard area under my bed.  

"Do I have to?" I feel my body ask, as I drag it out of bed.  I wanted to turn on the light, being pitch black and all, but wonder if that's a no-no in earthquakes, and decide I'm better safe than sorry.  By the time I have gotten out of bed, the shaking has stopped.  I go out to the hallway and grab my unstrategically placed torch, and head to the underworld of my bed.  With the earthquake over, I soon decide there's not much point sheltering anymore, and wonder if small earthquakes have after-shocks...I crawl back into my futon, with my torch by my side, and soon find myself wondering if it was all just a dream.

But this link proves indeed not, with information regarding the earthquake which was 5.2 magnitude, and states in my area of Nerima-ku it was 3 magnitude, which funnily is what I guessed it would have been - see, I'm good at this already!  

I spent a fair chunk of this evening researching all things earthquake and have learnt the following: 

- it was probably better to stay in bed and cover my head with my pillows, until the quake is over;

- if not in bed, drop to the ground, find some sort of shelter and hold on;

- small earthquakes can have aftershocks...in fact, they may actually be foreshocks to a bigger earthquake, so I should probably be a bit more aware;

- it's probably a good idea to get an evacuation pack ready in case of a big one;

- there are many varying causes of earthquakes;

- there's a high risk area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire (and now I can't stop singing "down, down, down, in a burning ring of fire...");

- earthquakes can also happen in the centre of tectonic plates, but these are very rare;

- most injuries from earthquakes are caused by falling objects and debris;

- earthquakes are pretty much unpredictable...kinda scary!

- I am not invincible (it was hard to admit this one).

Having been half-asleep for this experience I am interested to see how I react to one when I am fully awake.  I only have a vague memory of what it really felt like at the time, basically just that I knew it was an earthquake and that I didn't hear any rattling of objects like you see in the movies.  Being from Australia, the centre of a tectonic plate, I have no previous experience at all of earthquakes.  But having had 2 earthquakes here in the last 2 weeks, there's probably plenty more where that came from.  

Guest Blogger - Ciara from "Random Japan"

Think leprechauns, shamrocks and sushi, and you'll be ready to meet my first guest blogger.  Her name is Ciara (don't pronounce the first 'a' and you've got it down) and she's one of my new friends here in Japan who has the coolest Irish accent, and a pretty good sense of humour.  I'd totally recommend following her blog, as last time I read it I burst out laughing multiple times.  Love it.  It's even cooler when you read it to yourself in her Irish accent.  She's in a different part of Japan than me and thus will be having different experiences - yet another reason to read her blog.  Without further ado, here she is:  

Hello readers of Maz’s blog!! My name is Ciara and I’m Irish. (I’ll give you a minute for that to sink in. If you’re like Mari-Anna and you like Irish accents I’ve already won you over :-p). Mari-Anna and I met when we were seated together during training at the head of the class, dangerously close to Cedric our trainer. She introduced me to Possum Magic for which I think I’ll be eternally grateful. What an adorable, wonderfully illustrated book. She has asked me to do a post on her blog so here goes, hope I don’t bore the socks off ye. Although if I could make your clothes pop off through the internet from somewhere across the globe I’d consider that an achievement and still be happy.

I fell in love with Japan through Final Fantasy 7 initially. A game accidently left in my house by my brother’s friend around 12 years ago. This, the most amazing of video-games ever created, was my first view into Japanese style animation and story telling and once I finished I moved onto other games in the series, and then onto anime and manga. First mainstream Studio Ghibli movies and after finding my anime-feet I moved onto whatever other anime I could download off the net. My manga collection is a combination of those I bought, while I was living in New York, in a Japanese book store that I spent many lunch breaks lurking around, and those purchased from the internet using money stockpiled from completing online surveys. So some of the elements of Japan I love have come to me in odd ways. 

About 5 years ago I decided I would eventually move here and experience the place for myself. (Clearly this has been a long time coming. I put it down to a combination of the recession and laziness.) I made friends with Japanese people who taught me Japanese customs, phrases and origami. One lovely Japanese lady even baked me two traditional swan shaped, green-tea cream filled buns and presented them to me at a dinner party I hosted. I did not share. I began learning Japanese characters on the internet and bought a book to help teach myself some of the easier elements of the language.

I got offered a position with Interac several months ago, booked my ticket, cancelled and re-booked my ticket when my visa wasn’t processed in time, and two weeks ago landed in the country I had daydreamed about visiting for years. (More like full blown fantasies actually. Knowing I was coming here is what kept me sane in my last job in a ticket booth; drunk people can be so irritating). I am currently on my placement in Hiroshima. 

So what truths have I come to realise in my two weeks here? This country is fantastic. Wonderfully weird. People are friendly and helpful. There are enough lights in the nightlife districts to induce seizures. There are beautiful, ornamental gardens that can make you forget you’re in the middle of a city (I almost fell asleep in one). Smiling like a lunatic and bowing repeatedly can rescue you from many situations. You will never go thirsty with a vending machine on every corner. Okonomiyaki is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Street signs and posters have cute, smiley characters. Even those that advertise constipation medicine. Flowers and trees grow everywhere, even alongside skyscrapers and concrete. I love it here. 

You are welcome to view my blog at http://japan-by-ciara.blogspot.jp/ if you wish. Hope your socks didn’t fall off =P 

Rising From The Smoke

This morning I was outside the hotel (thanks to James, who kindly woke me when my alarm didn't go off...oops), attempting to get a view of the rare event of a solar eclipse.  So were a lot of the hotel staff.  We had fun trying to somehow get a glimpse of it, despite being completely unprepared (ironically I found out afterwards via tv that it would have been as simple as using a Ritz cracker and piece of white cardboard).  Fun, that is, until after about 15 minutes of breathing in the fumes of cigarette after cigarette, I started to get slightly irate.  Why did I have to breathe in toxic fumes whilst beholding an amazing natural phenomena?  I managed to find another spot nearby free of cigarette smoke, but was already starting to harbour ill-feelings towards this aspect of Japanese culture.   

Back in my hotel room a little while later, I was trying to go about my day, but the cigarette fumes started drifting in.  I tried to endure it as best as I could, like I had already been doing for so long, but finally, I could not take it any longer.  I had already spent two weeks suffering this olfactory invasion of having to breathe in those awful toxic fumes against my will.  TWO.  WHOLE.  WEEKS.  I'd had enough.  Something snapped.  I was ready to go "postal".  I decided I needed to get far, far away from this smell.  But first, I would ask the hotel staff if this room was, in fact, in a smoking section, and can I change rooms.  Well to my horror and relief, the answer was yes, and yes (remind me to have stern words with my employer for booking us into the smoking section!). Although the second one could have been a no, but luckily something was free.  So I gladly took the opportunity, packed up all my stuff that I had spread out over my room the last two weeks, and moved it all up to the 10th floor.  And here I happily am, sipping my peach "latte", and not breathing in evil fumes.

Now, I know what you're thinking.  I come from Australia.  There is definitely no lack of cigarette smoke there.  My friends can attest to many a great moment being ruined in similar manner, such as the incident of February 2012, Watching the Regatta Fireworks from Montagu Bay (they were even smoking right next to their own kids!).  It bugs me that in some areas, especially in the city, I can't sit outside and enjoy the sun whilst eating my lunch, without being afflicted by that awful smell thanks to someone lighting up.  And don't get me started on people who are in front of me on the walk to work who spill a steady stream of fumes from that cigarette in their ever-swinging hand.  Yet I feel happily satisfied that at least smoking inside public buildings is completely illegal.  I can at least find refuge somewhere.  

In Japan things are a little different.  Generally speaking, smoking on the streets is not allowed.  So most of the time I can walk about smoke free.  I guess that's something to be grateful for.  But smoking inside of buildings, such as hotels, restaurants and cafes, is legal and common.  That's right, in your local McDonald's there will be people smoking inside.  Sure, there are "smoking" and "non-smoking" areas or floors, but I think the western world caught on long ago that such an arrangement really doesn't improve much.  So in my current state of living in a hotel and having to eat out quite regularly, I am constantly exposed to passive smoking.

I have a lot of great friends who are smokers.  I am not at all implying that they are bad people.  I also have nothing against the freedom of choice they have in choosing such a life-style.  The problem with smoking, however, is that it's really hard to do without affecting a lot of people.  Even if you go outside, have your smoke, then come back inside and sit next to me, I can smell that awful odour and want to cover my nose.  Seriously, I can be outside with no one around me, and suddenly I catch a whiff of that awful stuff.   I quickly turn around, scanning the area until 10-15 metres away I spot the culprit and mutter a raspy "Why, it's youuuuu..." and shake my fist in anger.  

Currently the Australian government is taking a lot of measures to discourage people from smoking, such as proposed plain packaging laws.  Many argue that this will not do much to deter smokers (makes you wonder why the tobacco companies are so upset about it then?).  The other day I read an article with a pretty radical and extreme proposal - ban smoking completely for anyone born after the year 2000.  

Australia's troubled health system alone would benefit hugely from such a ban - and I'd be bold enough to say that no one would be negatively affected by this complete phase-out of smoking.  Except, of course, for the share-holders of the tobacco companies raking in huge profits from other peoples' suffering world-wide.  Remind me to cry a river for you later.

Thoughts from Tokyo - The First Week

I’ve been making an effort to write in my journal everyday to preserve my experiences, especially as I did such a terrible job of that on my mission.  Here’s a few extracts from my journal entries over the first week (excuse the super dodgy formatting, technology did not want to cooperate):

6^th May 2012 (Sunday) 

I am in Japan!  My Qantas flight arrived 6:02am this morning.  I caught the 8:00am bus to the Tokyo Dome Hotel.  On the bus I discovered it had wifi!  It cost a small fee, but I signed up online with my credit card details, and emailed mum to tell her I arrived safely and everything was going fine. 

My flights were fine.  I was in one of the middle seats to Tokyo, my neighbours were nice enough.  One was a Japanese man, middle-aged.  I saw him struggling to open the rice pudding container, as I had done before I finally worked it out, so I finally said “すみません”(excuse me) and gestured towards the container, and said “むずかしいですね” (difficult, isn’t it?) as I opened the lid.  He was happy and said thank you which was good.  I’ve made a pretty good effort of speaking Japanese so far, with a few exceptions.

My bus dropped me at Tokyo Dome Hotel, I then had to walk to Koraku Garden Hotel where I was staying.  As soon as I got off the bus, the hotel attendant asked if he could help me.  I explained in Japanese where I wanted to go and he kindly got a tourist map and explained to me in English.  On my way there, one of the traffic wardens also stopped me to ask where I was going.  I didn’t think I looked lost, but I had my suitcase and a map and I’m foreign.  I probably had that “fresh foreigner” look about me too as everything was new!  So he kindly explained to me also in English.  So I found the hotel without trouble, though my bags were quite heavy!   

When I got to the Koraku Garden Hotel at 9:30am, I asked what time I can check in (knowing it was around 2pm), and the staff looked at each other and said now was probably fine.  So I got to check in straight away!  I was so happy!! I felt so gross and was so looking forward to a shower and a nap!  Sleeping in an actual bed! Life doesn’t get better than that.

My hotel room is nice enough, smells of cigarette smoke though.  I guess I will have to get used to that.  So glad Australia’s smoking laws keep getting better, with no smoking inside buildings.  Actually , outside Narita airport there was a little smoking room.  Outside!  Funny.

7th May 2012 (Monday)

Survived the first day of training!  It was mostly administrative and contract stuff and about being an employee of the company.  Oh, and we got drug tested!  It was a saliva test, and required a lot more than I would have thought.  I was the first to obtain clear status, woohoo!  Seems only fair, being the Mormon and all.  But it could simply mean I produced the right amount of saliva...so probably nothing to brag about!

The training group are nice, there's people from USA, Canada, England, the Phillipines, New Zealand, Australia, and my favourite accent - Ireland.  There's a few that know Japanese, most that don't.  Most have teaching experience, which I don't.  Everyone seems pretty friendly though.

8th May 2012 (Tuesday)

Wow, what a full-on day!  And an intense day.  We were told after we walked in that if we didn't have our materials to present our first lesson we were in trouble.  Well, I was in trouble.  Long story short, but I thought we wouldn't need it until later in the week.  Training began with Cedric talking about the "MEXT" principles, how teaching is so much more than imparting knowledge.  We need to inspire the students to want to learn, and we do that by our attitude and by living the subject.   We need to make it come alive for the students.

So after that introduction we had "sudden immersion."  I knew yesterday when I read that on the schedule that it didn't sound nice.  It was the most stressful & scary part of the day.  It meant presenting our lessons - no hints, no tips, just go!  Because I didn't have my stuff I thought I was dead meat.  Doomed.  I started to get that sinking feeling.  The fight or flight mode was switching on.  Well, I decided to fight.  I thought, I can sit here and sulk and fail, or I can decide to do well.  I can be positive, find a solution.  Be Macgyver! (Ok I didn't think of the Macgyver reference until after).  Did I want to fail or succeed?  I came here to succeed, so that's what I was going to do.

The deal was we may only do it for one minute.  Maybe 5.  Maybe 30 seconds.  It all depended on when Cedric stopped us.  All were good, he said.  We worked out what order we were going in, and I got about 4th or 5th.  The first few people made it about 15 seconds.  "This is great!" I thought, no need to stress.  When my turn began I just tried to be bright and bubbly as possibly, using my experience from primary (kids aged 3-11 at church).  I also tried to involve the "students" (ie the other teachers) instead of telling them things straight out, such as my name (I got that from a demo earlier).  I didn't have my pictures of Australia etc, so instead I used the white-board and asked a student to draw Australia.  I lasted about 45 seconds.  I survived!!  What a difference to how things could have gone, if I had given up.  I should probably add I did pray beforehand too ("help!!!").

9^th May 2012 (Wednesday)

Today I discovered udon noodles for lunch.  I learnt they are the big fat noodles!  And you buy them by choosing and buying the correct ticket from the ticket machine, then give the ticket to the counter staff.   Then it will be ready in about 3 minutes!  I had niku (meat) udon.  Not bad.  

After training today I had a headache.  Actually I couldn’t decide if it was a headache or not, but I felt really tired like I needed to sleep.  So I had a “nap” for 45 mins, then tried to read the homework, but I decided it was a headache and I needed pain killers!  I would not be able to study or sleep, or function tomorrow without them.  So I went out into the rain and went to the chemist I found the other day, not too close but not too far.  And the man there helped me, I explained in Japanese I had a headache so he recommended Bufferin.  So I took some back at the hotel and soon I felt great!  And studied!  Now, I must sleep!  Good night! 

10^th May 2012 (Thursday) 

I love Bufferin!!  I’ve had no problems since last night and slept great!  I tried the Japanese breakfast option in the hotel today, I’d only had the western style breakfast so far.  The Japanese breakfast was pretty good.  Plain rice, miso soup, fried egg, and salmon.  Pretty good, but at the start of training I noticed I still had salmon fingers – smelly! Today on my lunch exhibition I discovered a games arcade with the taiko game!  I didn’t have time to play, because I had to eat lunch, but I made a mental note to go back!  Each day I have fun exploring just a little further at lunch.

Tomorrow is the big demonstration – as in, we each have to do our “first lesson” demo.  At least 20 mins.  So far I’ve probably done 6 or 7 mins only in training.  Tonight I ran through it and it seemed to go okay, so it will be interesting.  Hope I manage to hold it together for my first actual class.

11^th May 2012 (Friday)

So I did the presentation and survived.  It wasn’t nearly as nerve-racking as the first day, and even looking back now I find myself thinking “What were you so worried about?”  Having said that, I'm pretty nervous for the real thing!  Pretty sure my first lesson is going to be a disaster!  Haha.  Although Cedric said the main thing we missed was we didn’t seem to be enjoying ourselves, so as long as I resolve to do that I should be okay.

I met with some people from my branch yesterday, Tokyo 2.  Deepa and James are both in Tokyo 2 also, and got their schedules today.  I found out I will be doing Nerima definitely, but the contract still isn’t final, so no schedule yet.  Nerima is a Haken style contract, not a Gyoumu-itaku style like we were told to expect, so I don’t know what I’m doing there either!  It means the JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) and I will plan the lessons together, and possibly present together.  It could also mean they tell me what to present 5 mins before the lesson.  But hey, I’ll just roll with it, right?

Tonight those of us left in Tokyo (minus Carmelita), went out for dinner/drinks and karaoke.  So it was me, Deepa, Tom, Darren, Sascha, Alex, James and Ciara.  We went to a place with meals & all you can drink (I think I managed 5 glasses of orange juice), it had these tiny little rooms divided by curtains.  Smoking is allowed so that was awful (at least those in our group had the courtesy not to smoke – thank you!!).  But finally we went to karaoke and that was fun.  Hopefully nobody could remember my bad singing!  But hey, I had fun. 

If you made it to the end of this blog post, then well done!! My subsequent posts will not be nearly as long, or as detailed, but I thought the first week in Japan was a big one and worth sharing more details.  And not having the internet for the first week means you get it all in one big lump now!

Stay tuned for next time.