Every tear drop makes me stronger... maybe?

Lately, I've been "NAMIDA MOROI."  I've been crying more than usual lately, haha.  It goes to show that I can be very emotional at times.  At other times, I can't cry.  Humans have emotions so sometimes releasing tears are unavoidable.  Holding back tears isn't easy.  I don't know if every tear drop makes me stronger, but I feel like I've somewhat matured even more in the past few weeks.  I know it's been over 3 months since I came to Japan via the JET Program, and that was already a huge step forward in my life, but lately, with what went on, I feel like I've grown even more.  I guess I'm still young as a 22-year old, but the older I get, I feel more like an adult (of course).

MI MAMA VISITED ME IN JAPAN

On November 10, my mom arrived in Narita from SF, and then transferred to Itami.  From Itami, she took a limousine bus to KIX at night.  Ms. Tanaka (a JTE) drove me to KIX and we picked her up there, late at night.  It was my mom and my first time at KIX.  We noticed that KIX looks similar to SFO.

Mother and Daughter reunited:

After arriving at my apartment, in the rain, I went to go pick up a bike to borrow from Mr. Teramoto (same age as my mom) during my mom's stay (it's so inconvenient without a bike or car here).  My mom got to meet him and one of his daughters:

The following day, early morning, we biked in the rain with ponchos and got ourselves drenched.  I thought my mom will get introduced to the whole staff at SJHS, but it didn't happen.  The principal sent us to his office and we talked some.  Some teachers came in to greet mi madre.  We gave them souvenirs.  I took a 6-hour nenkyu that day.

My mom got to see me team-teach in one of the 3nensei classes.  My mom introduced herself in English and helped out some.  The activity I had them do was kind of difficult for them.  Oh wellz.

Then, because of the dang rain, the principal kindly drove us to the Kishiwada Board of Education for my mom to meet my supervisor.  My mom, my supervisor, and I had a talk for a while.  Then, we went to say hi to Mr. Teramoto at his workplace (same building in the City Hall).

Then, my supervisor drove us back to SJHS.  We then biked to Fuugetsu-dou to eat delicious Osaka okonomiyaki and yakisoba for lunch.

Then, still in the rain, we biked home, and then walked to the local train station near my neighborhood, to go to Osaka Castle by train.  This was my 2nd time visiting Osaka-jou-kouen (last time was 2 years ago with Rachel after JCHIP), but this was my mom's first.  The autumn leaves were beautiful.  My mom was quite impressed by the architecture and the beauty of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's castle and flowery park.

Then, we went to Shinsaibashi to see the Glico sign at Doutonbori that my mom truly wanted to see.

We shopped for more souvenirs and such.  Surprisingly, my mom and I had a lot of fun shopping and window-shopping.  We were so exhausted from walking so much.  We had a small dinner at a kaiten-zushi restaurant, and then went home.  That night, my sliding door window wouldn't close right.  I freaked out because the next day, I needed to go to the JET Mid-Year Seminar in Abiko, and I wasn't about to leave with a broken door not securely locked.  My mom opened that door so many times because she adores having fresh air, and it wouldn't close right.  It got stuck, and I got pissed off at the old door.  I was like, why must this happen now?!?!

  The next early morning (11/12), I called LeoPalace but it wasn't business hours.  I emailed my supervisor and had him call me.  My mom figured out how to temporarily secure the door so that no one can come in.  We made it to the train station with Keiko, and she also met my other ALT friends, Mindy and Grace.  We got off and said bye to mi madre at a station to take a different line.  Using her JR Rail Pass, my mom went to Hida Takayama in Gifu Prefecture, while we had the Seminar.  The Seminar was located at a somewhat inconvenient area, but the content and experience I acquired from it were very useful and informative.  In fact, it was better than the Tokyo Orientation, no offense.

Akutagawa High School Wadaiko Performance, MYS Day 1:

Senshu Tombo-dama glass bead-making workshop (where I helped by translating), MYS Day 2:

After the MYS ended, Grace and I went to Namba to go shopping.  I had so much luggage that I didn't buy anything other than like dinner and some snacks.  We walked around a lot.  Grace stayed with me until like an hour before I boarded a night bus to get to Hiroshima, and she kindly took home my suit set.  I was worried and confused where the bus stop (departure spot) is, but figured it out.  I took the Willer Express night bus around midnight and arrived in Hiroshima for the first time, at around 6:30am.  The place that they dropped us off was confusing and it took us passengers a while to figure out where the JR Hiroshima Station is.  I took a Sanyo line to Miyajimaguchi Station, where I met up with my mom.  She arrived the night before from Gifu, and had stayed at a hostel.  I took a shower there (shh), and then we got on the ferry to go to Miyajima, where Itsukushima Shrine is.  I learned that this is where Taira no Kiyomori lived and controlled.  This is a famous World Heritage Site, and my mom and I were finally able to visit this place.  We both wore matching boots.  My mom bought me a pair as a X'mas present.

We met up with Ehime JETs: Stacy, Daisuke, and Melanie there.  They were filming for Melanie's 4sei documentary.  We were contacting each other, but I spotted them filming:

While they filmed some more, my mom and I checked out some places nearby.  We also had a momiji manjuu.  We of course kept taking more photos too.

We met up with S, D, and M again and had lunch!  The 3 out of us 1st year JETs had kaki (oyster) donburi.  Everything was hella delicious!  We walked around some too... it was really great seeing my buddies again!!

After hugging, they went filming again, and my mom and I went to see the island more.  We learned that the water recedes in the afternoon.  So we were able to walk to and touch the famous Itsukushima Shrine torii gate!!!!!

We then took the ferry back, got our luggage, and took the JR to Yokogawa, and then took a local small train to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial.  We were finally able to see with our own eyes, the things that we saw/read about in photos/books: the Dome, monuments, and Sadako and the Thousand Cranes.  I was able to believe I was there, but it felt like, oh, so this is where it all happened.  It was sad.  There were so many visitors, from all over the world.

May there be eternal peace on earth for us all...

My mom didn't wanna go through the memorial museum so she waited outside, and I paid 50yen for a ticket (not the cassette tape kine) and cruised through it quickly.  I took some time to read and see a lot of the stuff they have, but didn't spend too much time in there.  I already knew a lot about what happened anyway.  The gruesome/dreadful stuff I saw in there weren't really new to me.  It was still very sad.  It was an honor to be able to visit such a place.

Then, we took the chinchin-densha back to Yokogawa and took the JR back to Hiroshima.  It took us a while to find a Hiroshima style okonomiyaki place, but it turned out to be on the 6th floor of a large building!  There were so many okonomiyaki restaurants on the whole floor!!!!!  It was amazing... we walked through the whole floor and most of them chefs were calling us over!  haha, we eventually settled for a cheap place and had the basic stuff.  It was sooo delicious!!!!!  But I burned a part of my mouth inside by a few teeth because it was too hot.  It was our first time having AUTHENTIC Hiroshima style okonomiyaki with the yakisoba underneath!

After quickly shopping for more souvenirs, we took the Shinkansen back to Osaka.  My mom had the JR Rail Pass, but I had pay for a regular ticket (cheapest was still expensive, 2x more than the night bus).  But we arrived back in Osaka in about 1.5 hours; not too late, so it was good.  Hiroshima was the furthest I've been to in Japan.

The next day, 11/15, we stayed in Kishiwada.  We spent the whole morning cleaning my apartment room!  My mom is a clean freak, so she helped clean my apt a lot!  haha.  For lunch, we ate at Jolly Pasta.  We shopped at Daiso too.  We chilled some at my apt, and then went to eat ramen and gyoza at Yokozuna Ramen.  We invited others to come, but no one came.  After that, we went to Big Echo to karaoke for 1 hour:

Then, we biked over to Co-op.  My mom regretted buying so much in western Japan because of the heavy luggage.  She could've bought everything in Kanto, but she bought some stuff here, knowing that she won't have a lot of time to shop in her hometown.

The following day, I took the whole day off.  We left Kishiwada after she finished packing everything (which was difficult).  My mom said good bye to Kishiwada, and I went to Shin-Osaka with her to help her carry the heavy suitcases and to see her off.  She took the Shinkansen to Shin-Yokohama, and took a few other trains to get to her hometown, and got picked up by relatives to get to her jikka (house before marriage).  She stayed at her hometown and visited Hakone with her mother (my grandma), and visited other relatives, including my grandpa at a center (he has altzheimers), for a couple of days.

When we parted at the station, while we hugged, I started crying.  It was so hard to NOT cry.  I got very emotional.  I'm so glad my mom visited me.  She came right when I was burnt out and stressing out from studying for the JLPT and right after I was bummed out dealing with punk ass students.  I didn't study when she was here.  It didn't go 100% perfectly (due to rain and some stress), but it was a short and sweet break, spending quality time with my mother.  Thank you, Mama.  I miss my family very much.  I'm glad my mom enjoyed her time/stay here.  If I didn't live in Osaka, she wouldn't have traveled as much as she was able to (in western Japan), so she was/is happy.  :)

  I told my mom to call me when she gets to Narita, so I waited for the call all yesterday.  I was at work, and right when I was washing a dish, she called me!!  When I returned to my desk, I noticed that I missed her call by like a second/minute!!!!!  She left me a message and I listened to it.  Tears came out again (esp. because she sounded like she was about to cry at the end of the message).  Then, I went home, holding my cell phone, but she didn't call back.

  I'm now on Skype, and my mom says that she thought I could call back to the payphone she was using.  But it doesn't work that way.  I'm glad she got home safely though, but something happened at SFO.  Anyway, it's fun talking on Skype with my family.  They're enjoying the many souvenirs that my mom brought back.

I CAN'T GO TO UTADA'S CONCERT IN SF @ FILLMORE ON 1/24/2010

T_T  It's so unfortunate.  UTADA, my ultimate FAVORITE SINGER, is having concerts early next year in the US and UK...WHEN I'M NOT THERE ANYMORE!!!!!  I've been soooooooo bummed out!!!  :(  I hella wish I could go back home for this, but it's gonna be after winter break, and it'll be bad to take time off (nenkyu) for a "concert."  Plus it'll be expensive to fly back and forth for it.  It's on a Sunday, but if I were to go back, I'd prefer staying for at least a week too.  I've also basically made a (big) commitment to stay in Japan for at least a year to experience all 4 seasons.  I'm so jealous of everyone who's there (USA) and who's going!  Hella bad timing!!!  :(  And if she were to have another concert tour in Japan, it's gonna be hella huge and more expensive, and geared toward Japanese fans.  It's so different.  I went to UTADA UNITED 2006 and know how it's like.  I wish I could've just met her this year when I was still in California.  Then I wouldn't be complaining.  I have her personalized autograph thanks to Haseena, and I got to speak to her on the phone at another radio station (in SF), but I got too nervous and couldn't talk right.  So I have yet to actually meet her in person!!!  That's one of my dreams!

BRATTY KIDS, COLD WEATHER, AND STUDYING FOR JLPT

Luckily, I haven't had to teach 2-3 since my previous blog post!!  So work isn't so bad lately.  It's just a bit harder to jump-start my mornings cuz it's gotten colder!  As soon as my mom left Osaka, the temperature went down a lot.  On Thursday, my bike was almost stolen.  While having my bike parked at school (work), someone attempted to steal my bike and put a metal piece in my key hole and it got stuck.  I had a staff take it out for me, and my bike works just fine.  But I was with the vice principal and these kids were running (sports club activity) and came over to me!  The asshole student came and said "Gambatte" to me.  I have no idea why or what he really meant to express to me.  And yesterday, as I was leaving school (after I missed my mom's call) close to 5pm, a group of 2nenseis were outside with their teacher for something (they finished their job experience stuff).  A couple of girls came up to me and told me that a JTE told them that I haven't been liking what the bad student has been saying, and they were agreeing with me about how bad he is!  Now I have companions siding with me against the arse kid!  hahaha... They made me laugh, after I had some tears.  I hope things turn up.

  I seriously need to cram for the JLPT 1!  I have only 2 weeks left!!!  Before my mom came, I was stressing out.  When she came, I didn't study, so I've been burnt out and I've partially given up due to the level of difficulty.  But I will do what I can though!  ...Since I signed up for it and have spent so much money, time, and effort on this.  Ganbarukkyaneeyo.

  In conclusion of this blog post, I've been more emotional than usual.  I feel like this year has been full of big transitions and ups and downs.  But that's life and I will continue to grow as an individual, with the support of others.