My First Week of Adventures in Mie Machi

    I live in Mie, by the way, which is a small town included in the Bungo-ono City umbrella. Driving from the airport in Oita to Mie-Machi, I saw the most beautiful sights, which I believe might be comparable to Hawaii, although I don't really know for sure since I've never been. In Oita, there are beaches, turquoise water, and tiny little islands about the size of a neighborhood block sprouting just off the shore. Granted, I don't really live by any of these beaches (I'm 30 minutes away), so I'll have to drive my tiny little black Honda in order to catch some waves.

   My first impression of Mie is: Paradise. Really, too. It's SO SUPER DUPER green. Very luscious and inviting. A river or two runs through Mie (I'm not quite sure if there are two or one yet) forming picturesque waterfalls at every turn. All around, in every direction, are mountains covered in green trees, similar to foothills of North Cali or the Loraine territory in South Eugene, Oregon. I'm told that in the Autumn, the colors of this area go from Kelly and forest green to amber gold, bright yellow, maroon, and rust red. There isn't really any grass, just field after field of rice paddies, which looks like really long grass and dances in the wind (I'm not one for poetry, but this is really what it looks like).  I know you all are waiting for pictures, which I have none yet (I've been so busy just learning how to get around), and in those pictures you will just catch minute glimpses of the beauty by which I'm surrounded. So, in short, I LOVE where I live. Love it, love it, love it!

   With that said, I'm in a pretty humid area, although it's not horribly so. Actually, Jota, I think it's less than Houston's humidity. I'm able to run and bike my way around without feeling like I'll pass out. It could also be the time in which I came, since I hear talks of typhoon season nearly approaching. I don't live too far from the ocean, so I guess that my town gets a good amount of rain and wind from typhoons. I have lived in typhoons before in Okinawa, actually on the day of 9/11/2001, and I must say they're terrifying. Also, I'm in the land of Earthquakes, which I experienced last night! Seriously, my entire apartment shook for like 10 or more seconds, and I was like, what do I do??? I had no idea... what do the Japanese do during these things?

  Going back to my arrival in Oita (I had spent the first few days in Tokyo at an orientation, and then flew to Kyushu, the southern region of Japan), I was met at the airport my Al, my UK predecessor, and Nagano san, my supervisor. Al, from that point on, has been the biggest help to me. First of all, by agreement over the internet, he sold me his car and furniture belongings. Then he accompanied me to every place I needed to go, like the cell phone place and the alien registration place, and my new work (two junior high schools), and introduced me to all of the teachers, and introduced me to all of this local friends, and the local pub which may be replacing my beloved Bierstein back in Eugene, and the strange and wondrous 'Kiku's.

Kiku's

   I digress...Okay, I don't really know how to explain Kiku's. It's the most bizarre restaurant I've ever been to. Kelsey, another ALT (assistant language teacher, like myself), organized a JET get-together, so that I and another new ALT could be introduced to all of the old-timer ALTs in Bungo-ono.. We met at Kikus. We walked in normally, were guided to a sectioned-off room, where upon entering, you take your shoes off and then sit on the floor, legs beneath coffee tables. Then we were served some basic tempura and french fries. After that, it was time to fish for our dinner. So we go over to a giant tank, dunk a scooping net, and try to catch a Tai fish. Tai is flat and is used for celebratory events (like this  night was with all of us new people). A fish was caught (not by me, I stood back and took pictures for my new friends) and was prepared for us to eat... actually, we helped in the preparation. The freshly caught fish was brought to our room with its head chopped off, and we were to stick a thin metal prod into the spine to verify that it's worth eating and hadn't suffered nerve damage. This makes the headless fish jump on the platter and flap it's tail in very random and sudden movements.

   Next, after we okay-ed the freshness and adequacy of our soon-to-be sashimi, we are invited to play with two kittens. They are super dirty, but quite cute. One is very very scared, while the other one is as happy as can be. They make me think of Momo and how much I miss her (I'm really not a crazy cat lady, people). While this is happening, we play random games where we get to win prizes. The game I chose was Russian Roulette, where the sushi chef hands us a platter of rice wrapped in seaweed. From here we have to pick one and hope it's not the one filled w/ wasabi. I was in the clear, but Owen, another ALT, had a few moments of wasabi-burn.

Finally, out comes our sashimi, and the fish's head, on a platter with a delicious homemade lime sauce for dipping. I suppose this is one of the freshest fish I've had, considering we caught it alive ourselves, and it was also quite tasty! Lastly, we have the option of taking home Candyland-looking lollipops and tiny little carnival fish that, if we were so lucky, we were able to catch and bag. All of this lasted about three hours, and allowed us to slowly get to know a little bit about each other. I must say, at first Kiku's scared me a little bit. When they brought in the kittens, I was like, 'Oh dear god, what are they going to do?', but I was able to relax a bit and enjoy the evening after sitting back and watching the festivities unfold.