Settling into Sendai II

Hello, house!

So it's August the 18th and I've been at my job for two weeks now (technically 18 days, but nothing before the 4th really counts)! They say the worst thing you can do when coming to Japan is to have a rigid mental picture of how your life is going to be there, and they are indeed correct. That's not to say that I fell into that trap; but life here has been full of unplanned surprises, that is for sure.

You actually have to pull...

Garbage disposal is a big deal in Japan.

First on the list is simply my neighbourhood. Sendai is divided into five wards ("ku"), and I live in Wakabayashi-ku. The ward was hit hard by the events of March 11, but my immediate area is on the extreme Western part of Wakabayashi, so things around me are fairly tranquil. As mentioned before, I live near Kawaramachi station, which is in an interesting point of the city. I am more or less in the exact middle between the downtown core (three subway stops North) and the large mall area aptly named "The Mall" (three subway stops South). The surprise for me is that, as a result of this unique position, I live in a very quiet neighbourhood despite being placed in a very urban area. There are shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and banks (not to mention a great many places catering only to those who speak Japanese) like any other place in Sendai, but it's all much more quaint. I'm actually quite pleased with the area - I am close enough to everything and yet far enough away so I don't have to deal with loud sounds and busy streets. Plus there is a twenty four hour 7/11 literally on the other side of the road from my house, meaning cravings rarely go unsatisfied for long.

The road outside of my house. City of Trees, remember?

Bars in Kawaramachi prefer the "cute" angle to the "cool" one.

Kawaramachi Station!

The second big surprise was that every trip for groceries has thus far been an adventure of its own. You really take for granted, living in a place where everything is in your language, just how much reading you do on a day-to-day basis. Is this package seaweed or parsley? Who knows! There are a lot of different brands and different foods altogether here, so there's very little in the way of familiar stimuli. That being said, it's still a lot of fun, and as long as you are careful and know where to look you are fine. I still have a long way to go, but I have been cooking for myself for two weeks now without incident. 

Buranu Freku! Or something!

Yes, my first home-cooked meal in Japan was pasta. 

That's better! (still no table...)

Smores! YES!

Authentic traditional Japanese cuisine.

Also worth noting is that I spent the entirety of last week at a Sendai Board of Education-hosted orientation. A lot of the information was very helpful, since up until that point most of what I've been told was either incredibly general or just plain inapplicable. Definitely a great way to spend my first full week in Sendai, not to mention giving all of us new JETs some more time to mingle before we start working on our own. One of the orientation days was spent participating in a number of "cultural workshops", which basically meant that we spent the whole day having fun (but also working really hard, promise).

Japanese Cooking Class: Before!

Japanese Cooking Class: After!

Their largest shoe. :(

My work uniform! Or possibly a festival costume. Hard to recall....

Masters of calligraphy (yes, mine goes in the wrong direction...).

Earthquake simulator. Unpleasant.

When I finally started work at my school on the 15th I was also pleasantly surprised at everyone's friendliness, despite me being the only foreigner/illiterate person in the staff room. The vice principal (kyoto-sensei) in particular seems to forget that I don't understand Japanese. Our conversations usually follow a pattern: he says half a million words in Japanese, pauses for my comprehension, remembers that I have no idea what he is saying, laughs, and then proceeds to communicate to me with intricate gestures. Other teachers sometimes use online translators to speak to me, which is always accompanied by at least one hilarious mistranslation. That being said, it will be nice once the English teachers start showing up to work...

Sampling Sendai's famous dish - gyutan (beef tongue) - with a local.

My locker - Nikorasu!

That'll do for updates for now! Hopefully I can get into the habit of blogging little things frequently so I won't have to do these massive posts every once in a while. But I'll probably just get more busy as the weeks drag on, haha.

You can view the whole photo album here!

Bye for now!


P.S.:

Probably the coolest thing I ever won from a cereal box.