A Golden Week, With Small Adventures.

Hello again, readers!

DW is hairline-deep in school work this week, so you get another post from Japan!  Lucky for me (well, sort of...), this week has been full of many small, unexpected adventures, so a blog topic was easy to find.  And it's Golden Week (a string of several Japanese holidays), which meant I got extra days off!  Hooray!

Since there were so many, many trips and stories this week... I'm going to break them into blog installments.  Blogstallments, if you will.

A-Ah-Ahem.  Let us begin.

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GOLDEN WEEK ADVENTURES.
Fukutsu / Fukuma: The Tale of the Wandering SUGOCA.

Last weekend, on Sunday, I was struck with a sudden, random blueness of mood.  I didn't want to spend much money, but I wanted to get out of the jutaku for a bit, so I hopped a train to Hakata Station.  It's a major entertainment and shopping hub in Fukuoka, so it's a cheap and easy pick-me-up trip (especially since it's included in my "commuter route," so my train ticket is essentially free).

I walked to my home station and entered through the electronic train stalls.  Scanning my SUGOCA card (my 6-month train pass for work, which I can charge with cash and use in tons of places) with a satisfying BEEP, I glanced down at the digital display.  It showed my current card-cash balance.  "Good," I thought.  "Pleeeeenty of money to head to Tenjin, if I feel like it."  Then, I intentionally boarded a very slow local, knowing that the journey itself was a part my evening's escape, not really the destination in itself.  I settled in by a window in Car 4, listening to my audiobook and gazing out at the late afternoon sky.

After about 40 minutes, my train pulled into Hakata Station.  I stood and zipped up my hoodie, thoroughly engrossed in my audiobook, and exited the train.  I trotted down the steps from the platform, reaching into my hoodie-pocket for my train pass.  Nothing.  I patted my jeans pockets.  Nothing.  I turned, found an alcove, and emptied my purse.  NOTHING.  I ran to a JR attendant, but just as I approached, a woman stepped in front of me for directions.  The attendant, apparently confused, turned and consulted a map.  He squinted, removing his glasses.  As I waited, bouncing nervously, a thought hit me: my train might still be here.

FYI, in small stations, the train lets people off and it leaves.  Immediately.  Unless there's a direct connection, it leaves right away.  And even if there is a direct connection, we're talking about a 60 second or so window.  This is what I expected, because this is what usually happens (given that I'm most often boarding at smaller stations).  But not in Hakata.  In the big stations, the train sits on the tracks for a few minutes.  So, with this thought suddenly in my head, I turned and SPRINTED up the stairs, back to to my platform.  I made it to the top step just in time to see the doors shut and the train shift into gear.

(Sigh....)  I won't give you the gruesome, painful details of my talk with the attendant, my tearful handing-over of train fare, my trip to the "Lost & Found," the embarrassing conversation with the clueless, super-fast-speaking JR lady, and the remainder of my mopey, sniffling evening by myself.  But, needless to say, I had a very bad evening.  If they didn't find my pass, I'd have to pay 1000 yen to have the commuters pass reissued, plus I'd lose ALL the cash on the card and my I-spent-a-long-time-picking-it-out-even-though-its-cheap case.  If that wasn't depressing enough, my language skill was totally defeated by the problem.  I could barely do anything about the situation, could hardly communicate at all despite studying and practicing for months.

So, I went home (paying my way... again) feeling even worse than when I'd left.

The next morning, I get a phone call from my supervisor.  They found my card!  It ended up hitching a ride from Chikushino to Ebitsu, to Araki (I think), and finally ending at Fukuma Station in Fukutsu.

Chikushino = where I spent the night.  (A) = where my card spent the night.

HOORAY!  My card!  They had my card!  I could go, reclaim my SUGOCA, and redeem myself by handling the interaction in non-crappy, dry-eyed Japanese.  And, since I was already going to have to pay the fare, I decided that I'd find someplace cool in Fukutsu on the internet and I'd go there.

ADVENTURE, MOTHER F&%KERS.

Here it is.  In photos:

My precious!

A mascot: Fuku-Fuku-chan.

The station.

One of the views as I walked.

My e-directions were frighteningly... residential.

But they were beautiful.

Miyajihama Beach!

Gorgeous.

It was a windy day, so there were lots of windsurfers.

I love beaches.

Ahhh... relaxation.

Yeah, I know.  Selfie at the ocean.

So, in short:  A terrible, weepy evening turned into a long, lovely walk and a picnic-for-one on a beautiful Japanese beach.  Lemons into lemonade, or some such.

Thanks for reading!
WR

Of Rain, Ramen, and Origami Gomi-Bako.

Hello, readers!

Row-of-the-Rowstein, here.  Today's blog post will be a meandering, photo-filled parade of the last week or so of my life in Japan.  Here goes:

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The new year's classes have, after many ceremonies and orientations and checks of various kinds (only some of which I understood), officially begun at my school.  That means I'm back to doing my whole English teachery thing.  Hooray!

I'll admit, though, that I was a bit apprehensive before these new classes started up.  (What if these students don't like me?  What if I can't control the class?  What if I run out of lesson ideas?  What if my new teachers don't like the way I teach? Etc, etc, etc.)  But, after meeting with all my classes, I feel much relieved.  My students are fabulous and friendly, my teachers are great, and my schedule is workable.  I'm hoping it's a good foundation for a great school year.

And, now that I've been there for a while, I feel like I'm starting to be accepted by the school as a whole, not just the English Department.  A teacher noticed that I didn't have a chalk-case, as I was admiring someone else's, so they got me one.  And I promptly decorated it with a sticker.  Because, you know, I'm 5.

Cute snake!  Chalk!  Happy!

I know it's not much, but when the Japanese teachers make a point to include me as part of the group in any small way, it makes me feel really good.  And valued.  That can be a rare feeling as an ALT.

Anyway, my classes two weeks ago (the first of the school year) went swimmingly.  And to celebrate, on the following weekend, my friend Eleanor and I decided to spend some time in Tenjin (a particularly hoppin' area of Fukuoka city), eating ramen and going shopping.

We hit a very famous ramen chain called Ichiran.

Eleanor and I get very excited about food.

Tonkotsu (not to be confused with "tonkatsu") ramen is a notoriously delicious local food here in Fukuoka.  The soup has a rich pork base, which is usually served with super thin noodles, slices of pork belly meat, green onions, a spicy miso-sauce, and sometimes sliced mushrooms.

At Ichiran, when you walk in the door, you buy a food ticket from a machine.  The selections are incredibly limited.  Think a handful of buttons that say things like:  RAMEN, EGG, FRIED THING, EXTRA EGG, EXTRA FRIED THING, BEER, and so on.  But variety is not as important in Japanese restaurants.  Quality is important.  You go to a restaurant that makes one thing, because it makes that one thing reeeeeally well.  And so it is with Ichiran.

So, after several moments of Eleanor and me bumbling with the ticket machine (it was so easy, we'd assumed we were doing something wrong... ha!), we took our seats at tiny, adjacent dining booths.  Then we filled out a "Preference" sheet, kindly written in English, indicating how we'd like our ramen to be prepared.  (Note:  You can see my ramen ticket, ラーメン, just above the paper.)

We pushed a button, causing a veritable three-part chorus of はああああい from within the restaurant, and a server came and took our orders.  Within minutes, two lidded crocks of unbelievable deliciousness arrived at our tables.

I wish you could smell photos.

Now, everyone has their opinions on Hakata ramen, and I'm not saying that Ichiran is the best.  But on this rainy, cold day... this tasted like absolute heaven.  HEEEEEAVEN.  (Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound).

When / if you finish your ramen at Ichiran, a unique "fortune" awaits you at the bottom of your bowl.  I've forgotten what mine says, now, but it was something cheeky and funny, like, "You've finished this soup, you must be happy."

Here's a photo of the outside of the restaurant.  Sorry I couldn't get better perspective, but it was raining rather hard and I didn't want to get out from under the awning.  Blogger fail, I know.

And here's a shot of the neighborhood, called Tenjin (sometimes also called Daimyo).  It's a super lively place, with more cafes and shops than you could shake a stick at.  And I mean that literally.  If you picked up a stick and shook once it at every shop you came to, you'd pass out from exhaustion before you even left the Tenjin Core building.

After shopping and chatting for a few hours, we headed back to Hakata Station (a regular stop for the two of us) and found a parfait shop, hidden on the basement floor in one of the many dining clusters.  Unsure of the menu, and me with a serious aversion to fruit, we gambled and each ordered a Japanese style parfait.  They're towering confections, as you can see.  Eleanor was choco-banana, on the left, and mine was a coffee-something-or-other, on the right.

Parfaits digested and many good times had, we then went our separate ways, taking our respective trains home.  A lovely Saturday.

The next day, I spent all morning (and I mean ALL MORNING) studying for the GRE.  But I got fed up with being inside on such a gorgeous day, so I hopped a train to my favorite place in the area, Dazaifu, and walked to Tenmangu Shrine.

Here are some pictures:

A small child watches the koi.

The beautiful gate.

Kid waves "Bai bai" to the fish.

The shrine proper, with lovely trees.

Looking back at the entrance.

After buying a few charms and offering a prayer to Michizane, I decided to take a very long, very ambling walk all the way home.  The day was lovely, though, and the mind-clearing time was much needed.  Successful weekend = complete!

Now, jumping ahead to a mid-week event of note.  I participate in a weekly Japanese class on Wednesdays.  But, every 4th Wednesday, we have an optional event instead of class.  This week, we went to a "Japanese Manners Dinner," where we learned techniques for picking up and using chopsticks properly, what NOT to do with our chopsticks, how to serve and eat some traditional Japanese foods, etc.

Here are some highlights!

First course!

D, workin' that sukiyaki.

Delicious steak.

Tasty, tasty sashimi.

As the meal was winding down, our teacher offered to teach us how to make origami trash-cans out of newspaper.  We made them and, of course, the first thing I said was, "This could be a hat!" and I put it on my head.  Because, you know, I'm 5.

Origami fashions, yo.

So, there you have it!  My last two weeks crammed right into a nutshell.
Sorry if you're allergic to nuts.

Thanks for reading!
WR

April Fools

At this point I have spent 8 years of my adult life living in the northern parts of the Midwest.

The winters are hard, but that is part of the charm.  You go about your life on -80 gajillion degree days, pretending you neither notice nor care that three of your ten digits froze and fell off two blocks earlier.

You turn to the new transplant from SoCal at the bus stop saying, "It's not so bad, you should have seen it two years ago".

January and February are suitably brutal, but you know it's coming.  March is predictable in its unpredictability.  The month with the lions and the lambs and such . . . got it all well in hand.  April?  April is where it all turns around.  The month of returning to biking, the month of budding trees, tulips springing up, when you see the potential for the summer to come, and . . .

... God ...

... Damnit ...

... Minnesota.

It's April #&%@$ 18th!  Even the CATS are trying to escape from this god forsaken month . . .

. . . and they're INDOOR ONLY!

Ach, so it goes.

As I'm sure you've gleaned, it's the Stein portion of RowStein this week.  And although the weather has been spectacularly bad so far this April, the consequent lack of outdoor activities has given me no good excuse not do everything I need to get done.  Namely, piles upon heaps upon mountains of schoolwork.  I've been truly up to my eyeballs in work since Whit headed back to the land of the rising sun.

The good news is that there is an end in sight!

The bad news is that it will be 4 weeks, with some pretty high hoops to jump through (flaming of course), in the meantime.  I'll outline the craziness that will be end of the semester and the ensuing summer next time, but for now bed beckons with sweet dreams of temperatures breaking 45 degrees . . .  you know . . . in July.

Ta ta for now, and don't forget to feed the fishes.

DW

A New Beginning.

So.  It's been a while.  (clears throat)  How've you been?

Oh, good.  That's good. 

Me?  I've been busy.  Sure.  You know, Japan.  And school.  Stuff.

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Sakura = Spring!  A fresh start!  Right?

Okay, really.  I'm sorry.  I know it's been a long time.  Dan and I should have written, I know.  But every week, more and more "things" piled up... more and more "things" to write about... and before we knew it, it was so overwhelming that the thought of trying to catch up the blog was a horrific, terrible, vomit-inducing prospect.

So, we're going to just start over.  Start fresh, from here.  One brief "catch up" (See below), then the RowStein Compendium will be back on a steady weekly rotation.  I promise.

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WR posing with her chocolate replica of the "Iron Throne."

ROW-Stein:
WR is really enjoying her life Japan, despite the occasional Phase-2-Culture-Shock moment.
WR passed the Japanese Language Proficency Exam, level 5.  (Yes, it's the easiest. But whatever.  Shut up.)
WR is getting better at her job, every day.
WR participated in a J-pop dance performance with her co-workers (sober, even!) at a school festival.
WR performed two 10 minute manzai (a Japanese comedy style) skits at school events with a coworker.  Entirely in Japanese.
WR is studying for the GRE and the next level of the JLPT.
WR made a friend on the train, who she talks to every day on the way to work.
WR loves Hakata Ramen.
WR misses her husband and cats.
But, all in all, WR is doing well.

DW with a Rags on his back.

Row-STEIN:
DW is kicking academic ass in his new program, getting straight A's so far.
DW got a Teaching Assistant position at his University.
DW has continued his physical training from the Tri, and is still biking, running, and swimming regularly.  (Okay, well, as much as Mother Nature allows.)
DW is still baking, making killer-delicious breads on a regular basis.
DW got into an awesome SLP summer program.
DW is enjoying his first steps along a new career path.
DW visited WR in Japan, and loved it.
DW also loves Hakata Ramen.
DW would not recommend laying-over in LAX, as it is very lame.
DW misses his wife.
But, all in all, DW is doing well.

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WR & DW, walking the Fushimi Inari.

There you have it. 

From here on out, expect regular updates of the blog.  No, really.  We swear this time.  It may not follow the same style as we used to... but we'll do our best to post often.

Thanks for reading (again)! 
And don't forget to feed the fish!  They're probably STARVING.

WR