chrissiedoesjapan

[chrissiedoesjapan]

So, throughout my Interac process, my family/friends have been questioning the legitimacy of Interac. I've tried to tell them that the company is legit but they have a hard time believing it.

All companies have their pros and cons, and Interac is no different. I hate to use this phrase, because it seems like everyone who lives in Japan throws it around, but it’s really true: ESID (every situation is different). Interac is a legitimate company in the sense that you get to do exactly what you want: teach English in Japanese schools. How well that’s executed and plays out depends on where you end up, what schools you get, which branch of the company you work under, etc.

Personally, I’ve had a pretty smooth experience with Interac, and I’ve heard a lot of the same from people all across the country. If you’re thinking about applying, definitely go for it. Just keep an open mind, be flexible, and have lots of fun. :) Japan is a great place to be.

Side note: My boss told me this at training, but 1 in 4 Japanese kids is taught by an Interac ALT... not sure if that’s actually legitimate, but it’s something to think about.

[chrissiedoesjapan]

Thoughts

I don’t know if it’s because I’m visiting home in 7 days, or if it’s because I’m on vacation, but my excitement over being in Japan is starting to come back to me, and suddenly I’m less overwhelmed and more excited to explore everything around me. This is also good because that means more blog posts for all of you!

I think I was so overwhelmed with doing my job and trying to be good at it, that I became complacent with the fact that yes, I am living and breathing in Japan and fulfilling a huge dream of mine. My time here is limited and I need to make the most of it! So I’ve made several plans to keep myself busy when I come back. No more sitting around on the weekends and doing nothing under the excuse that “well, I’m still in Japan, so it’s okay.” Time to get myself back out there! And so...

Tomorrow I’ll be making my second trip up to Tokyo! :) I’ll be staying with my friend who lives in Ryugasaki, which is about an hour away from Tokyo by train. I’m taking the bus for the first time because it’s cheaper and easier than the train! I’m really excited to just relax and read a book for 3 hours without having to worry about transfers and missing my stops. 

I’m very excited to keep you guys posted! :) 

[chrissiedoesjapan]

Cafe La Pesca and the Jeweled Peach!

On Monday, I visited Cafe La Pesca in Yamanashi with a few friends! It was a really cute experience. The car ride was about 50 minutes, but it was well worth it! 

Right next to the cafe were several patches of land just like this, growing grapes and peaches and other fruits I couldn’t distinguish from so far away. I’ve never seen anything like this before.

This is the sign for the gelato shop right outside the cafe. 

The following are pictures from inside the cafe! It was really cute and beautifully decorated.

The process of ordering our food was really simple. We went up to the counter, ordered our food, got a number, and sat down! There were a few magazines in that basket in the corner, but I didn’t get the chance to really read through them. We came specifically for a dessert called the Peach Jewel.

Rough translation - Peach Jewel: Lemon flavored jelly with peach gelato’s refreshing combination with sweet crumble cookie. One more Yamashita peach is placed over the peach parfait. It is the most popular item on Cafe La Pesca’s menu.

Sounds pretty good, right? Check out the final product!

The presentation was beautful, and so was the taste! Japan has some of the freshest peaches I’ve ever eaten, and this was no exception. The lemon taste combined with the peach was truly refreshing, and the cookie crumble gave it a nice texture with some added sweetness. I have to say again, it was well worth the drive, and I would be more than happy to do it again before peaches are out of season again. I highly recommend this dessert to anyone living in the Yamanashi area!

I also bought a souvenir, but I can’t reveal what it is, because it’s a gift for someone special back home who reads my blog. :) I’ll probably make a separate post about it once it has been revealed!

The view from the second floor of the cafe was really pretty as well!

Look at all those growing fruits, mountains, and clouds! It was a beautiful day. A great time with great people!

[chrissiedoesjapan]

This is on my list of places to visit. :)

Watch the entire tour of this place and you will not be disappointed.

[chrissiedoesjapan]

Shingen-ko!

On April 4, I went with a big group of friends to the Shingen-ko matsuri (信玄公祭り) in Kofu, Yamanashi. This is considered Japan’s biggest samurai festival/parade, and one of the largest festivals in Yamanashi prefecture! It’s a 3 day long festival dedicated to Takeda Shingen, who is considered to be the most famous samurai/feudal lord in Japanese history. 

He’s got a nice face, yeah? Click here to learn more about him!

During the festival’s big parade, over 1,600 infantrymen gather in front of Kofu station, and march through the streets of central Kofu, in a similar fashion to how Shingen’s army would march before going out to battle. The great Shingen himself even makes an appearance, played by a different famous Japanese TV actor every year. More on this later!

This is just a very small portion of the festival that I shot from the top of Kofu Castle! On the far left there’s a stage where many bands and entertainment groups performed. The festival took place during cherry blossom season, so it was absolutely beautiful to walk around and take pictures of the sakura trees.

The food there was so delicious! I helped myself to some warm ramen and it really hit the spot. There was seating at the stand, but it was all taken, so the woman running it was kind enough to give me a tray so that I could sit wherever I wanted and enjoy my meal. I will never cease to be amazed by Japanese courtesy, especially in food service.

After walking around and enjoying all the entertainment (including a trained monkey!), it was time to watch the samurai parade! Each group of samurai wore the armor and banners of the clans who served Shingen, and I gotta say, I was really impressed with how amazing everyone looked. I’ve read that the costumes are very accurate, but since I’m not well versed in samurai history I can’t say for sure... I totally believe it though!

These guys were hanging out before the parade and I had to get a picture with them!

This is a video of all the clans marching out. The video taken in the dark is the grand finale of sorts, when each clan is announced to the crowd, and the big man himself comes out on a fantastic horse (though looking back through my old footage it looks like I didn’t catch that part... all my batteries were so low... lesson learned for sure)!!

And that’s it! Overall I’d say it was a lot of fun and I will definitely be back next year to experience it again (and I’ll probably be more bold about taking pictures with all the different samurai I see)! :)

[chrissiedoesjapan]

Today was really productive. I hung out all my laundry to dry in the sunshine, and I made myself a really healthy ramen lunch. As of today, I'm on a sort of pseudo-break. I still have several work days during which I need to submit work related tasks to my head teacher, but other than that I'm pretty much on vacation! I have a lot more free time on my hands, so I think I'm going to try tackling this blog one more time and trying to bring back my original vision of daily ramblings. I think the main reason why I haven't been able to keep up with it is because I've been so swept up in doing my job and living my life haha. It's been hard for me to take a step back and really write about what I've been up to. Anyway, I'll be working on that, and I apologize to my followers for not getting on top of it sooner!

[chrissiedoesjapan]

This is the view from outside of my apartment. :) I'll be posting my Instagram pictures on here separately since I can't do it directly from the app. If you'd like to follow me, my username is chrissiebeezie!

[chrissiedoesjapan]

Whoops!

Hey everyone!

I’m really sorry about not updating in so long. Life just took me by the hand and starting running at full speed! Getting used to everything here (my work schedule, driving, apartment cleaning, social life, etc.) has taken a lot out of me and hasn’t left me with a lot of time to sit down and reflect. I think I’m getting to a point where I can confidently keep this blog active, so starting this week I’ll be doing a lot of catch up work (maybe one entry a day for all the major events) until you’re all up to speed.

I’m looking forward to sharing all my experiences so far!

P.S. My apartment still isn’t fully decorated to my liking, so I’m refraining from doing an apartment tour until it feels 110% like home. Sorry!

[chrissiedoesjapan]

Hello everyone!

Today I went to the laundromat down the street from my apartment since my washing machine still isn’t hooked up. It was really confusing since I couldn’t read a lot of the kanji, and at one point I accidentally wasted 100 yen by drying clothes that needed to be washed. Hahaha, oops.

I would consider my trip a success because I now have clean clothes and my apartment smells awesome because of it!

While I was waiting for one of my loads to wash, I stopped by the convenience store to pick up some trash bags. Japan is very serious about trash collection and recycling. Each bag separates the trash into different categories, which are picked up on different days of the week. I have a lot of burnable trash in my apartment, so I needed to get the proper trash bags to take it out. Anyway, when I went to the store, I was a little confused as to which bag I needed. I knew yellow was burnable, but I wasn’t sure if I needed a different bag for my plastic trash (I’m pretty sure I do, but I’m not gonna worry about it for now). The lady working there was very friendly and helped me confirm which trash bags I needed. Then she started a conversation with me and asked if I’m here for business. I told her I’m the new ALT in the area and that I’m living here now. She was over the moon excited to talk to me after that! Her Japanese was very fast so I had a bit of a time keeping up with her, but she told me about the other ALT who lives up the street from me, and said I should meet him after he comes back from America. Then she asked me where I live and I told her right down  the street. She asked for my name and I asked for hers.

It was very exciting to actually talk to someone in Japanese!! I slipped a little bit of Spanish in there by mistake (it’s weird using the same part of your brain for two languages), but she didn’t seem to catch it. I’m really happy that she outstretched and chatted with me. I’m excited to go back and say hi to her again!

Next, I went to get lunch at a restaurant on the same street at my apartment called Apple. I went there yesterday with a couple of new ALTs and the udon was awesome, so I wanted to go back again and try their curry rice. The lady working here is very old, but super nice and gives great service. Everything was delicious!

After my meal, there was another older woman who tried to ask me something (I think she was asking me if I was warm enough), but I couldn’t fully understand her. She apologized to me and walked away for something. When she came back, I made sure to tell her the food was very delicious, and she seemed very happy to hear that. When I went to the front to pay for my meal, she rushed from the kitchen and gave me a chocolate snack for free. :) They have won my loyalty, and I will definitely be back again for more food.

So that was my whole morning and a little bit of my afternoon. Now I’m going to make a shopping list and see if I can make the drive out to the supermarket to grab some groceries.

Oh, and my first bill came in the mail. I had to use google translate to fully understand it... I think I can go to the convenience store to pay it, but I’ll have to check with my IC and see.

See you guys next time!

[chrissiedoesjapan]

Shopping Adventure!

Today I traveled through many different country towns in Yamanashi to go shopping with one of my fellow ALTs. It took us about 3 hours to complete our journey, but we did it! She drove us through all sorts of windy roads, and it was really nice to see more of the mountains. I even got another glimpse of Mt. Fuji! I bought pretty much everything I needed, and have a better idea of a couple of things I still need. I bought some very much needed decorations so that my apartment actually feels like my home, and not just some place I’m squatting in. :)

I was also informed today that there is a shuttle bus that takes people up Mt. Minobu so that they can see the cherry blossoms growing on the trees there. I’m going to try planning a trip up there so that I can take a bunch of pictures and enjoy this season of new beginnings!

[chrissiedoesjapan]

A Long Week

Hello everyone!

As of now, I have moved into my apartment in Minobu, Yamanashi, and I’ve completed my week long journey of training!

I met a lot of new people and made plenty of new friends during training that I’m going to try keeping in contact with throughout my time here. It’s disappointing that a lot of people live so far away, but I’m confident that we’ll all be able to hang out and have fun sometimes.

Without getting into too much detail, training was like cramming for finals week in college, but on steroids. Minimum 9 hours of work a day, plus jet lag. We started on Sunday, and by Tuesday night I was a complete wreck. Hahaha. My roommate was super awesome and really helped me get through it all. We were both jet lagged from the same time zone, so it was really nice to have that solidarity. We got along fabulously and never had a problem with each other. We also ended up going to bed at the same time in complete agreement every night, which was super nice!

The move into my apartment went really smoothly. I pretty much bought all the furnishing I would need from the ALT whose position I’m taking over. He was kind enough to move everything from his apartment to mine, which is a 20 minute drive. So when I walked into the apartment, it was just filled with a bunch of stuff. Also, I guess some of the Japanese neighbors decided they would dump a bunch of recyclable trash in here and gift me with some nice flowers. It was all very confusing, but with the help of my friendly escorts, we sorted through everything.

The apartment is looking more like home now. I just need to decorate! Once I feel like it’s thoroughly clean and ALL the trash is gone (there’s still a light fixture and an ironing board that have to go), I’ll make a video tour and post it here!

Tomorrow the plan is to go to the bank and set up an account there, then possibly go get my phone plan! I also need to buy hand soap, curtains, and a bath mat... It’s amazing that that’s really all I need. I’m feeling very blessed that I didn’t have to stress about any of that when I got here. My only real problem is that I don’t have enough room for all the stuff I bought already!

Also! I drove for the first time today. I didn’t really have any readily available food here, so I took a drive on over to the Lawson convenience store across the river. Driving wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. I just followed the speed limit and the flow of traffic and it got me there just fine. I did get turned around for a minute and started heading into Nanbu (the town I’ll be teaching in), but it was really easy to navigate back. The nice thing about living in a rural town is that there are only two roads to get in and out. So if you leave by mistake... all you have to do is turn around! Hahaha.

That’s all for now. I’ve been posting a ton of pictures on Instagram, so I’ll be sure to link those to this blog from now on so you guys aren’t left out. If you want to follow me directly, my username is chrissiebeezie! I’m also planning on stringing together all the video I’ve taken so far and posting that here, so keep an eye out for that.

I hope you’re all doing well! See you next time!

[chrissiedoesjapan]

I’m safe!

Hello everyone!

Wow!! I’m here and safe!! I’m currently staying in the Toyoko Inn in Narita-city, which is right outside of Tokyo! Everything has been a complete whirlwind right from touching down on the plane. Going through customs, exchanging my money, calling my parents, getting a shuttle to the hotel, and then Interac day 0 orientation! 

I would have written to you all last night, but it was just so so busy and by the time I had any time I was just ready to pass out, and I wish I had more time to write to you guys right now... but I have to get my introduction lesson ready (or at least semi-constructed), and I have to get dressed and have breakfast before day 1 of training! 

P.S. I watched Big Hero 6 on the plane! SUCH A GOOD MOVIE! .... And Frozen 3 times because I kept getting distracted before the ending (never finished it...)

[chrissiedoesjapan]

i saw ur blog while browsing tags, i hope you don't mind if i follow you. have a safe flight!

I don’t mind at all! :) Welcome aboard! 

Thank you very much! :D

[chrissiedoesjapan]

A New Adventure Begins

Hello everyone! If you’ve found this blog, you probably know who I am, but just in case you don’t, here’s a quick run down.

My name is Christina, but all my friends all my Chrissie. I’m 23 years old, graduated from college with a psychology degree (and Japanese language minor), I love cats, and my favorite food is ice cream. Tomorrow, I’m moving to Japan in order to teach English to elementary school children!

I created this blog in order to keep everyone updated on the ups and downs of this new, huge chapter in my life! I’m beyond excited to fulfill this dream of mine!

I just finished packing everything, and my flight leaves tomorrow afternoon. My plan is to stay up all night and hope that’s enough to put me to sleep on the plane ride over. Packing light was a challenge, but I think I managed to pull it off alright!

Hopefully I’ll update again while I’m on the plane! See you all soon!