Week Two A-Go-Go!

Oh man, I've had so many adventures. How many? So many. Well, you know, a few, at least.

I'm starting to get settled in over here in my itty bitty li'l apartment. I've picked up a lot of the essentials like trash cans, garbage bags, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, plates, cups, silverware, and a few cooking utensils. Oh, and like a weird ground chair thing, because chair legs are for dorks.

A veritable banquet of deliciousness and nutritiousness.

I made my first trek out to the super market here, and now that I think about it, I probably should have taken some pictures of that. Huh. Well anyway, when I was here before I didn't really have to do too much of my own cooking because of host parents and such, but that's not the case anymore. I went with the intention of picking up enough stuff to get by for a few weeks, but here I am less than a week later and it's pretty much all gone.

Most of the stuff there I didn't recognize, and brands have a tendency to write all the relevant information on packaging in kanji because it looks cooler. Oh wow, you know that actually does look a lot cooler that way--EXCEPT NOW I CAN'T READ IT! I came away with some bread, non-distinct cheese, what I was pretty sure was cooked deli meat, some orange juice, a lot of probably yogurt, some salad mix that I couldn't find the expiration date for, and mysterious dressing. I didn't have any pots or pans at that point so my options were pretty limited. Anyway, so I had sammiches and salad there for a while. I want to figure out how to make some basic Japanese stuff like curry and miso soup so I'll be better prepared for next time.

Gunma-chan! He's a horse! I think!

I had another orientation a bit ago that took place in Maebashi, which is the capital city of Gunma. The info there was a lot more specific and relevant than last time. I got to meet Gunma-chan, which is ostensibly some sort of horse-thing. There seems to be a lot of debate surrounding that red dot on his face. Is it a nose or is it a mouth? No one can seem to agree.

Everyone stayed at a hotel in Maebashi that night, as it was a two-day orientation. I was surprised to find out that I had my own room. That was certainly a nice twist. I got a good sleep that night--but not before going out for a night of karaoke!

I really don't know why this is
Quarterback Karaoke. Do people
sing football songs? Do those exist?

I lived here for a year before, but never actually did karaoke. Well, no more! It was pretty fun. I sang along with a lot of songs, but didn't actually get up in front of everyone to do so. Maybe next time. There was a lot of love for '80s and '90s music, which I suppose isn't particularly surprising given the ages of most of the people here. What Does the Fox Say? of YouTube fame was probably the highlight. What are the odds a Japanese karaoke bar would have that in their roster? Good enough, I guess. It was an all-you-can-drink event over there as well, so I suppose that helped loosen everyone up a bit.

Good thing I played so much
Koto Hero in high school.

I attended a few cultural workshops the next day. I got to see a whole
bunch of nice old ladies playing the koto, which is a Japanese string instrument, before getting to try it myself. It was pretty cool. They put these weird fingernail-pick things on their fingers and then waggled them threateningly over the instruments to scare music out of them. There was like black magic going on there or something.

Who's that Pokemon?

I also got to attend a Japanese tea ceremony workshop where people served me food, called me lord, and bowed to me a lot. I could get used to that. What else...--oh, the calligraphy workshop! I think I was supposed to be practicing kanji there, but I kind of just wrote stuff in English and drew Pokemon. It's all good. They turned out pretty cool.

It was just a couple days ago that I got back. I haven't  been up to too much since then, just exploring the town and getting a few more things for my place. Two of the girls who are here in the program with me are out of town at the moment, so it's just two other guys and myself in our little foreigners circle. We've been playing some board/card/video games these past few days. Lots of Mario Kart, Munchkin, and Catan so far.

That's about it for me as of now. I go in to the Board of Education on the 25th to meet my JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) and some more of my coworkers. School actually starts on the 29th, so that's when things are really gonna get rolling.

Again, if you like these posts, let me know. Leave me a comment, or share these on Facebook. It would be nice to hear back from you guys. A few people have asked about my apartment, so I'll be sure to include more about that in future updates. Until then!

Somehow managed to lose despite
my glorious and undefeatable army.