Here I am, back in Tokushima! I just arrived from Himeiji about 45 minutes ago. That's where I ended up doing my training, which now seems like a blur. Hard to believe they can teach you everything you need to know about being a dynamite Nova instructor in 3 freakin' days. Suffice it to say I'm a little wiped out right now.

My adventure began on the 30th-- I followed Shona and Maz's (to-be coworkers of mine) instructions and parked my bike in an alley near the train station where it wouldn't be impounded and arrived at the train station early. Maz had said, "Now this may sound stupid, but Don't Miss The Train". And I was like, "Doi." It didn't look difficult-- I knew where I was heading to, and I knew which platform to stand at, and I knew what time the train was arriving.

I missed the train.

Turns out that I didn't know what time the train was arriving; what I had was the time for the train's departure. So I sat down and had a good cry about it for a few minutes before I decided that I was ruining my makeup and my air of professionalism, and that maybe I had better go find out what I should do. It turned out that the next train came about an hour later, so I would be able to arrive in Okayama just in time to get to Orientation. I caught the next train without any trouble and admired the scenery that flashed by-- glimpses of villages and orange trees with ripened fruit falling off of the branches, dry rice paddies and bustling cities with narrow streets and garbage in the ditches and waterways, the misty ocean and serene looking little islands fading off into the gray distance. I made my train change in Takayama without difficulty and pulled into Okayama with about 20 minutes to spare. "How joyous," I thought. I was feeling quite satisfied... and then came disorientation part two. I got completely lost in the train station trying to find the correct exit, well aware that to get out of the station, you must relinquish the ticket you used to get there. Once you have done that, you can not get back into the station, even if it's just to walk through and find the right exit. Freaked out and overwhelmed, I wandered about sobbing audibly through the crowds of cuirous looking people. At that point I was having difficulty calming myself down enough to ask for directions, so I must have presented a pretty pathetic sight. Or maybe romantic-- there's no better love story than one that ends badly in Japan, so maybe everyone thought that I was crying over my lost love, and they wanted to leave me alone so they could enjoy the fantasy. Anyway.

I managed to find my way out of the station, and because it was raining, I had an opportunity to open Kelaine's Umbrella of Mystery. I tell you, that umbrella could not have been necessary at a better time--- all over the black umbrella, Kelaine had drawn stars and written in gold. It was some lovely prose about how Endrene the adventurer was going to soak up all the sights and sounds of a magical new place (and maybe see a unicorn too). It renewed my confidence a little, enough so that I felt I could go on. *Thanks, Kelaine!*

I made it to Orientation (hah! 'Orientation' they call it) and was only about 5 minutes late. Late enough to make the Aussie in charge of the orienatation a little disgusted with me. Luckily, about 10 minutes after I arrived, a ditzy chick from Louisianna showed up, exclaiming, "Oh mercy! I had no earthly idea how to get here!" and any animosity I had previously been experiencing was deferred. Orientation itself was marginally useful-- mostly it was a check-in to make sure we knew who to call if we got into trouble and a review of company policy. There were about eight of us, and only one person that I'd met before-- the guy in the brown suit with the bad breath. His name is James. After we'd all been filled up with rules and policies and instructions, we were let go to find our seperate ways to OJT (On the Job Training). James suggested going to a (can't remember the name-- I'll put it in later) Japanese style pub. By that point, a beer sounded like a really great idea, so I followed along. Seven of us went, and I had a really enjoyable meal of okanamayaki (like a little pizza-ish pie of egg, cabbage, mayonaise, squid and fish-flakes) while the Louisianna chick babbled on and on about how strange and different and weird everything is. Uh, yeah. Surprise, you're in Japan!

Despite his persistant halitosis, James turned out to be quite nice and helpful, and came with three of us to the train station to make sure that we went to the correct platforms. I got to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Himeiji-- an 83 km jouney that took about twenty minutes. It's no wonder that when someone gets hit by one of these trains they are vapourized. It was dark, so I couldn't see much, but I kind of had the sensation of riding a really boring roller coaster. I also accidentally sat in a smoking car (everyone smokes EVERYWHERE here) so I was glad that the trip was over quickly. Again, getting off the train I got a little turned around in the station, but quickly righted myself and actually came out the correct exit-- my hotel in plain view. What a relief!

I stayed at the Toyoko hotel, which was very nice. The front desk staff were all youngish women in pretty pink uniforms. When I checked in, I was given a little welcome package in a pink plastic sack. It contained two seperately packaged Q-tips, a shoe-polishing sponge preloaded with black shoe polish and a small plastic bag marked SANITARY BAG. It was kind of funny, but hey! I'm in Japan! The room was teeny-tiny, smaller than my dorm room. I had a nice firm bed and a pair of pajamas laid out for me, with instructions on how to use the Pants Press located under my bed. (I tried to use it on one of my blouses, but it was a failure.) I set the phone to ring to wake me up early, because I didn't start training until 1 pm and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to find Nova and look around, because I had heard that Himeiji has the oldest (and best) castle in Japan.

The next morning I headed down to the lobby in time for the free breakfast-- nigiri (flavoured rice blocks) and miso soup. It was awesome-- there isn't a better breakfast than soup, as far as I'm concerned. It was the same breakfast all 4 mornings, and I didn't tire of it. I then headed off for Nova-- again, a little difficulty finding the passageway that takes one over the train station (no ticket needed) but once I found it, all was well. The Himeiji Nova is located in a giant shopping corridor-- it's like a 6-block street covered with a roof. It's mostly jammed with pedestrians and bicyclists, but the occaisional service vehicle came driving through to deliver supplies. Once I found Nova I decided to shop for a while, as I didn't have the energy or enthusiasm neccesary for sightseeing. I spent a considerable amount of time in the "Leg Fashion" store -- you should see the variety of stockings and socks they have here-- and in a kid's clothing store. I was looking at the shirts with mangled English on them. Some didn't male sense at all. My favorite was a little boy's shirt that read, "I AM NOT RECYCLE TRASH! Think Ecology!".

Training ended up being pretty fun, in retrospect, although I did have a few rough patches where I felt like it was all just happening too quickly. I was being trained by a nice Aussie named Grant who has been in Japan for -- 8 years? The other trainee was this cute little blond fellow with enormous lips and shiny blue eyes, named Lawrence. He was from somewhere in England, and had an accent I had difficulty deciphering. At any rate, he was fun to learn with, and we had a good time at the lunch breaks deciding what to have. The first day it was curry (our pick) the next day it was stuff from the bakery (his pick-- he managed to get a chocolate thing while I unluckily chose a curry donut-- too much curry) and yesterday it was tempura and sweet bean-paste pastries (my pick). The poor guy bit into the bean-paste bun and I almost choked on mine when I saw his big red lips trying to keep it in his mouth-- they just kept working and working while he started to look more and more worried-- he finally went and spat it out. It was hilarious! Anyway, more for me-- I LOVE it.

Classes have anywhere from one to four students, although it's usually 2 or 3. Each class is 40 minutes long, with a 15 minute interval between each class, with a maximum of five classes being taught in a row. The instruction manual is relatively simple, and each lesson is themed appropriately for the learning level of the student; for example, a low-level student might get a lesson themed on Simple Greetings or Do You Like Rice, while a more advanced student might get Dealing With Angry People or Talking About The Future. It all became pretty simple once I got the hang of it, although I'm still not 100% great at keeping my instructions simple enough to understand for the lower level students. It's a total immersion system, so there's no use of Japanese allowed, even if I know I could explain it in one word. My fist day at Kitajima (the other Tokushima school) is tomorrow. Anyway, I feel confident enough about it all to not be too worried-- although I still do have to find out how to get there.

My second morning in Himeiji I got up extra early and made my way up to the castle grounds, although I couldn't figure out how to get in to the castle. I ended up walking around the enormous property, stopping to take pictures here and there, and eventually came across an entry gate for the castle and the castle gardens-- by that time I wasn't really interested in going into the castle-- I was enjoying the fresh air and the rainy scenery, so I decided to pay to see the gardens instead. They were mind-blowingly beautiful-- I can't even begin to imagine how lovely they are when the greenery is in full blast or when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. I wandered about in the kind of stupor that only comes from an excess of beauty-- my senses were very nearly overfilled with the sense of rich peace and the sounds and smells of the earth and the water. Each garden is walled off from the other, and I visited about five. I didn't ever have to share the gardens with another person, the wet weather probably causing most people to head indoors to the castle instead. It was my great fortune. In one garden I found a tea-house-- a friendly sign in English welcomed me in to enjoy a traditional tea ceremony. I hesitantly slid open the door and was welcomed by a friendly hostess who spoke very good English. She took my 500 yen and gave me diagrammatical directions on how to perform the cermony. Once I was seated in the tatami room, I was waited on by women in kimono. The first brought me a pink sweet in the shape of a blossom, sort of a bean-paste thing, half the size of my palm. Once I had used correct deccorum and eaten it up (yum), my tea was brought by another woman. Both times the ladies sat by me to attend to me and (I am sure) make certain that I was doing it right. The tea-lady was very friendly and helpful, but by the end of that bit I was so nervous, I can't quite remember what the tea tasted like. I then sat and soaked up the peace a little more-- up until the time I left, I was the only customer in the tea-house.

I then headed back to the indoor mall. I had forgotten to bring any foundation make-up with me to training, and so decided to go to one of the cossmetics stores I had seen, and see whether I could find some. I walked into the Shiseido store and was immediately waited on by two women. Neither one spoke much English, and my Japanese level is still below that of a normal two-year old, so there was much gesturing and face-making involved. The younger of the two took me to a counter in the store (which was beautiful, I might add) and proceeded to start up this high-tech computer thingie. She used a sort of laser pen device to scan the skin on my cheek, and then the skin on my neck. A graph-type image then came up, showing the two skin-tones, and where they intersected. She then put in my age (there was some confusion when I thought that she was asking for the day of my birth and she wanted the year-- she typed in 1911, and we all had a good laugh) and then she bustled off to get the correct foundations and powders. Before I knew it, I had a complete makover, lipstick, eyeshadow and blush included. I didn't buy everything, but I did leave with more than I had intended on getting (and with less yen in my pocket). It was so worth it, though; just the experience itself was priceless. Not to mention I was watching carefully as she did my eyeshadow, so I picked up a couple of good tricks.

Last night was my final evening in Himeiji, and it also happened to be the birhtday of Liesl, one of the Nova staff. Lawrence and I got to come along for the party, which was in an upscale Japanese-- bar? Pub? VERY upscale anyway. The entrance was made to look as though you were walking along a winding midnight path of shiny black stepping stones among smooth white river-rocks-- the screens surrounding the path were black with pin-points of light shining through like stars. Everyone got their own cupboard for his or her shoes, and we were directed upstairs to our own room. A 12 foot table was in the centre, at ground-level, and we all sat around it on cushions printed with white rabbits dashing through an autumn sky. I talked with everyone I could-- there were so many fascinating people with such a variety of stories. I probably spent the most time speaking with a woman who was originally from Ireland, but had moved to California, met and married John (a Nova instructor) and then come to Japan to teach English at the University of Himeiji. Much drinking and terrible karaoke ensued. I went to the washroom at one point-- all dark hard wood and polished black stone-- and bumped into Liesl, who encouraged me to try out the 'bottom wash' button on the fancy toilet. Once explained to me, it didn't look so frightening and I decided to give it a shot. I almost broke the mirrors in the washroom with my shreiking laughter-- the hot stream of 'cleansing water' tickled so much I couldn't contain myself. Once the "off" button had been pressed, I had my choice of colourful scented toilet paper-- one printed with pink lipstick kisses, and the other printed with blue stars and a playboy bunny figure silouette sitting on a swing suspended by the moon. I emerged from my stall feeling very decadent, if a little ridiculous. Poor Liesl was stuck on her toilet, as the "off" button in that particular stall didn't work... all in all, it was the best time I've had in a ladies washroom in ages.

Anyway, suffice it to say, I had a great time. I still have so much to do before work begins tomorrow-- for starters, make sure my bike is still in the alley-- so I had best get off this computer. Thanks, everybody, for reading and emailing me, and I'll be in touch soon...
Love
Endrene