Day 4 – off to Nagasaki

I woke up feeling still as if I had not slept at all. I managed to get dressed, eat breakfast and then all the JETs going to Nagasaki prefecture assembled in the lobby. We were carted off to Haneda airport and put on a domestic flight to Nagasaki. In just under 2 hours we landed in Nagasaki City in beautiful Kyushu province. However, as we claimed our bags and got ready to exit the airport where we would all be split up and taken to the city that we were going to live in for the next year, the reality off it all finally hit me. I was going to be living and working by myself, in a small town where I did not know the language and where few people would know English. And I was going to be doing this for a year. That’s a long time and I suddenly felt very far from home. I looked at Nicole and could see she was having the same thought. “Holy shit”, I said to her. She nodded and said “Yeah, it just hit me too. Remind me – why are we doing this??”. The one person who I had met and really got along with was going to a little island several hours away and I was going to my own small town. Realizing the danger of this kind of thinking though, I pulled myself together. This had been my choice. No one forced me to come here. I had said I wanted a challenge and I was now actually going to get one. It was time to step up. Nicole and I said our good byes and promised to stay in touch, and then we parted ways.
At the exit, there were a dozen Japanese people with signs waiting for us JET ALTs. Soon a tiny Japanese woman came up to me and pointed (we were wearing name tags). “Rana?” she asked. I nodded and she smiled at me and introduced herself as Inoue-sensei – one of my supervisors. She helped me get my stuff to her car and soon we were off to Shimabara. As I looked around at the ocean and mountains all the apprehension I had melted away. This was truly one of the most beautiful places I had been to so far. It was, however, even more hot and humid than Tokyo had been (I mean I love the heat but this was insane). Happily, Inoue-sensei’s car had air con so we cruised through the country side in style. Inoue-sensei, I soon discovered is a super nice and quite funny little lady. I would describe her best as ‘feisty’. She was asking me all kinds of questions and telling me about the school I was going to work in, Shimabara Commercial High School (everyone calls Shimasho, which translates as ‘lets go!’). Strangely enough I didn’t really have too many questions for her though. My main concerns were about the bugs. At the Tokyo orientation I had discovered, much to my dismay, that Kyushu is known for all sorts of giant bugs. Most notably a huge poisonous millipede (about 20 cm long, which is found in houses and if killed by being stepped on will release a smell that attracts more of its kind so you have to catch it with tongs and take it outside and burn it. It’s also poisonous and if it stings you you need medical attention.). There are also spiders the size of tarantulas. When I had heard that I started to freak out a little. I am quite arachnophobic. However, Inoue-sensei advised me with a chuckle that those are very rare in Shimabara and so not to worry. She said they were much more common in rural towns and old houses, and on the little islands (poor Nicole). I was dammed relieved to hear that. Everything else I knew I could handle. As we approached the town (about an hour and a half from Nagasaki) I realized that in many ways Nagasaki prefecture reminded me of Croatia. The mountains, the ocean and even the style of houses were very similar to the Croatian coastline. That juts made me love the place even more. Interrupting my reverie, Inoue-sensei informed me that we had to go to the school first (the teachers work even during summer holidays) as I had to get my other bag and would be introduced to all the teachers. Luckily I was still in business attire, even though I was sweating like a dog in Chinatown. After the intro, she said that she would take me shopping for whatever I needed to start me off in the apartment (it was fully furnished but she said I would need a new futon and sheets to sleep on courtesy of the school, and also that I might want to get some groceries and things like toilet paper). Then she asked me if I liked drinking. I was a bit surprised at the question and was considering how to answer when she said “I love to drink. I want a cold beer right now”. I chuckled and agreed with her as I leaned back in the car seat with a smile. A nation of alcoholics. I had finally come home.

Shimabara

We eventually entered the city of Shimabara and drove towards Shimasho. Shimasho is actually a gorgeous school with hardwood floors and a beautiful garden in the center. I was introduced to all the English teachers as well as the other ALT at my school (a kinda funny South African guy named Vuzi). The teachers all seemed really interested in me and were in general really nice. Inoue-sensei then took me to meet Kocho-Sensei (which means principal…I forgot his name, but everyone just calls him Kocho-Sensei anyway). He doesn’t speak English and he’s a very formal and serious type guy (I tried my best to seem respectful and just kept bowing at him….in retrospect, I think I might have left him under the impression that I am slightly retarded, but at least he doesn’t think I’m rude). After talking about Canada, my job at the school and swimming for a half hour with Inoue-sensei translating, Kocho-Sensei finally allowed us to leave (I managed to sneak in one more bow at the door). I then collected my other bag that had been shipped directly to the school and went with Inoue-sensei to my new apartment. I didn’t know what to expect but I found out soon that I was quite lucky. The apartment is a large bachelor (bigger than my annex apartment) and is fairly new and very clean and bright. It also has a great view from both the east facing window (the ocean) and the balcony (huge mountain). We left my things at the apartment and got back into the car for some shopping. As we drove around Shimabara I felt more and more happy. It’s a really great place. On one side is a large mountain and behind that a large volcano (mount Unzen) where there are tons of hot springs that you can bathe in. On the other side is an ocean bay which has ferries to the other side of the bay. The city itself is smallish but has everything. We first went to Nafco (basically Canadian tire type store) and then to a supermarket called Erena. In total, there are 3 large supermarkets in the city. There is a Macdonald’s, several bars and local restaurants, foreign food places, pharmacies, movie rental places, etc. Basically all the amenities a person could want. There is also a historic castle called Shimabara Castle, and it’s actually just next to my school. After shopping, Inoue-sensei dropped me off at my place and asked me to change and shower (in fact she kept mentioning me showering, so I was starting to get a complex that I smelled) and said that she would be back in a half an hour to pick me up for my first Enkai. Enkai’s are basically work parties that take place at a bar or restaurant and where everyone drinks and bonds. I changed into some more summer like clothes after asking her if that was appropriate and soon enough she returned with the car and drove us to a restaurant near the school. All the English teachers and the other ALT were there. In all there were 8 of us and when we were seated with drinks in hand, we started the self introductions going around the table. The first person to introduce themselves was a retired teacher whose name I forget as I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. Followed by Uchida-sensei (head of the English department, and a serious man), Tadakuma-sensei (a young female teacher who is super nice), Taniguchi-sensei (my other supervisor, who ironically for an English teacher seems to neither speak nor understand English), Nagaii-sensei (a tiny and very eccentric little man, who gets drunk off one drink and likes to make a fool out of himself….but he’s also quite over the top even when sober). Inoue-sensei reintroduced herself as well, and then both Vuzi and I had to do intro speeches. I kept mine fairly short but wanted to convey that I was happy to be here and was looking forward to working with everyone. I did my best to seem friendly and excited. Vuzi talked for half an hour about national relations and the cultural heritage of south Africa (he has a masters in culture and heritage) and I think it was mainly lost on our hosts and on me as well for that matter. As the speeches concluded I found I was starving but it seemed we could not order ourselves, but rather were going to have a several course dinner from a set menu. All of it traditional Japanese fare. I pretty much had to eat everything so as not to seem rude, but given that I had eaten raw horsemeat it did not seem so daunting – that is, until the first course was served. Those of you who know me know I don’t like fish in general, and even the thought of raw fish is enough to make me gag. Well, the first course was sashimi (3 different types of raw fish, but not on rice like back home, rather totally by themselves) and what looked like grilled eel. I stared at it in dismay but figuring it wouldn’t kill me, so I put as much wasabi and soya sauce on the fish as was possible and shoved it in to my mouth. Well I can’t say that I loved it, but it was actually ok. The fish here is so fresh that it doesn’t really have that fishy taste or smell that I hate so much. It was actually pretty tasteless. The tuna was probably the best and I managed to finish all of it. The other types I tried but didn’t like as much. The grilled eel was also ok as well when I put some radish on it. This was followed by crab, raw shrimp, miso soup, weird tofu stuff and some tempura (I was thrilled to see the tempura). I felt pretty good at that point at having tried pretty much everything that I had been so afraid to eat. Not even the last course fazed me....which, in case you were wondering, was actually an egg pudding with fish, shrimp and octopus in it (yep a pudding with seafood). I ate it as best as I could and kept chasing it with gulps of beer. Of course alongside the food we were drinking lots of Japanese beer as well as shochu (a Japanese liquor that’s somewhere in between vodka and sake and mixes well with water so is quite low cal…hehe, my new vodka and soda as it were). After the enkai we said good bye to the other teachers, and Inoue-sensei and Tadakuma-sensei took me and Vuzi to meet one of the other ALT’s that was soon going back to America but had worked in Shimasho for two years. We went to a Hawaiian themed bar (Shimabara is very quiet but has lots of cute little bars) and met Natalie and another Japanese teacher named Kayoko. We ended up having a great time, but eventually the jet lag caught up with me and I found myself struggling to stay awake. Tadakuma-sensei offered to take me home and so I said my good byes to everyone else and went off for my first night’s sleep in Shimabara. I must say I slept rather well. I felt totally at peace and able to handle whatever came my way…of course, it could have just been the beer.