Exploring Ise

As my previous post suggests, I drank a bit too much at the Ise JETs welcome party on Friday night. The evening started at an izakaya, a Japanese style pub which serves a variety of snack items and drinks. Rather than ordering a "meal" all at once, you press a button on the table that calls over the staff and tell them what you want. This goes on over and over until it's time to move the party on. On Friday, round two was karaoke. This explains the excess drinking. Or perhaps the excess drinking explains the signing. At any rate, I had too many beers from the conbini (convenience store) downstairs, and I was not feeling so grand in the morning. (In Japan, karaoke is usually among friends in private room rather than the open mic style more common in the U.S.).

Despite a nasty hangover, I woke up Saturday with a couple hours to spare before heading about 90 minutes away to a beach in Shima for the Mie prefectural welcome event for new JETs. I wanted to find a cooler to transport food and drink to the beach, as well as an ATM to replenish my Yen-on-hand supply. I failed on both counts after walking a few laps around my neighborhood. I've since found the postal ATM which works or foreign withdrawals ... it's a quick bike ride away.

And it seems that most everything is a "quick bike ride away" if you allow "quick" to stretch once in a while. In my time off on Sunday, I cycled around the area a bit. My neighborhood is a patchwork of rice fields and two-story structures. To walk or bike to school, most of the trip is through one-lane roads separating homes and rice fields. To get to the post office, the train stations, or several bars and restaurants, you head the other way down a some busier roads.

I've still only seen a small slice of this little town (about 100,000 people live here I'm told). But having been here for only a few days, that is not a problem.

On Monday after work I'm heading to a birthday party for one of the other Ise JETs who has been here for a couple of years (she is the one tasked with organizing the social events for Mie JETs ... and her boyfriend drove us all to the beach ... many thanks to her and her people). The party location is "Nanaimo," a fantastic bar that we visited after the beach party last night. Just a short bike ride away from home, the bar's night menu offers a lineup of Mexican food, a rarity in Japan. I had the nachos, which were great, and I can't wait to sample the whole menu as the days pass (the prices are not bad). They also offer a small lineup of international beers, including Corona via Mexico. Sadly, the offering from the United States ... is Zima. So we've established that the menu is great, but the real fun of the place is the atmosphere. I was only there for an hour at most, but the owner was very kind, funny and welcoming. Another English teacher from the area says he often eats there twice a day (there's also a lunch menu which I haven't seen yet). He's so close with the owner and staff that he helps buss tables, refill water glasses, and even suggest new menu items. I have a feeling I'll be visiting fairly often.

It's another day at the office tomorrow morning. I hope to spend the day reading through some "team teaching" guidebooks or other material I may be using. Unless something else comes up, which would be great, because we really truly don't have much to do right now.

BUT -- no worries, because on Tuesday we're going to the Koshien tournament to watch our baseball team vie for the national title. Then this Thursday and Friday we have to head up to Tsu for the Mie orientation for new JETs. Then, all of a sudden, the next term will start at school, and I'll have to figure out how, exactly, to be a teacher.