Lots of Phone Sex

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17

I met Elizabeth at 8:20 and we headed down to the train station. Once on the platform, we were joined by May (an Irish JET) and Alan (a Canadian) and within another stop, were joined by another four or so, including Kaitlin and Alara, who are both of Asian descent. We had our own little happy party on the train ride to Otsu. In Otsu we met up with even more JETs piling off other express trains. We had a little pow-wow in the station before heading off to the meeting.

It seems that everyone was in Kyoto last night, so I feel sad and left out. But now my number is out there and it probably won't happen again. From what I've heard, the Kanji was less impressive than the night of partying, but still. Andrew didn't know about my text, but when pressed, checked and hadn't realized that the random number was from me, so he hadn't opened it.

Let me explain Japanese phone messaging. In Japan, they don't have texting like we're used to. You have two messaging systems. SMS, in which you send a message to a phone number. However, it must be a phone number on the same provider. The second is S! Mail, (or perhaps that's just the SoftBank name for it, as most people seem to call it e-mail.) This allows you to text anyone on any provider, but you send it to an e-mail address rather than a phone number. Why? I don't know. There are some other differences between the two, but I'm rather fuzzy on the details. Regardless, this means that everyone has an e-mail address on the mobile phone which, no, I don't think you can just e-mail from gmail, but I haven't tried.

When I got my mobile, the e-mail address was the randomly generated one that was default assigned to me. The same with Elizabeth. We did stop in to a SoftBank store to try to figure out why both Matthew and his girlfriend Jane had their messages coming from an e-mail address and ours just came from our numbers, but the woman was quite uncaring and not at all helpful, even though Elizabeth spoke to her in Japanese. However, as of this night, I pulled out my user manual, turned to the vague English section and looked up how to fix this. It was not the most helpful of directions and involved me doing I'm not quite sure in pages filled with Japanese text, but I did end up setting up a recognizable e-mail address. I'll have to RE-give out my information tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the story. Andrew is borrowing his supervisor's number until he can get his gaijin card and get a phone of his own. So, when he got a strange text that came from a number instead of a name, he didn't open it. And thus, the complete lack of communication about Kyoto. I pretended to beat him up once he read it.

There was a quick stop-off and some JETs broke off to get breakfast at McDonalds. The rest of us headed in and chatted happily and exchanged mobile numbers while waiting for the meeting to start. Many JETs still don't have phones as some branches seem to require the actual gaijin (foreigner) card. By the end of the day, I got a good chunk of people's numbers. And learned a lot of names. For example, Chaya, who doesn't have a phone yet, is vegan. She had heard about me and Andrew, so she was quite happy when we got to chatting by chance. I don't know how she's planning to pull that off. But then, at this point, anything really that I have that's vegetarian rather than vegan, is of my own choosing. She's also Jewish, and, as was later mentioned, there are two synagogs in Japan: Osaka and Tokyo – good luck.

Let me tell you about phone sex. Okay, it's not the kind you're thinking of, but it's our affectionate name for the process of making our phones do 69 or any other number of crazy positions. Hi Mom, Dad. Let me explain. Japanese phones have a feature called Infrared transfer. Each phone, including just cheap ones like mine, has an infrared transmitter/receiver somewhere on it. Mine's on the side, but some have theirs on the top, bottom, back, etc. If you want to get someone's number, rather than texting or reading it out loud, you turn on your infrared signal (on for 3 minutes) then hold your phones in whatever crazy position puts the two infrared receivers closest to each other. Then, in the menu, you can select send → via infrared. And it will hop from one phone to the other. You can send any number of things. So, when I went around getting phone numbers, we had phone sex, and my contact information (all filled out, name spelled correctly, home town, etc.) all hopped into their phone book. It's really awesome and quite convenient.

The morning was dedicated to a little quiz on our contracts to make sure we discussed and knew the important parts. Luckily, I'd read my contract twice, once at home and once bored at work, so I was pretty solid on most of it. Important things to remember: 20 paid days of leave (Nankyuu) which I might only be able to apply to breaks. Honestly, the Board of Education can deny my request for days off. I also get sick leave, which is unheard of in Japanese society. If you're sick, you use your vacation days. We discussed salary briefly, and it's a pretty number, especially compared to work at home.

We learned about the progression of teachers and how this honeymoon phase of the students loving us will wear off (which is unfortunate, as I quite like it.) It was also good to hear, because I hadn't considered that their affection for me will influence their willingness to behave in class.

We also had a quick discussion of Culture Shock. Now, I think I've mentioned this before but I HATE the Culture Shock discussion. I got it in college, before heading off to study in Ireland. We got it once we got to Ireland. We got a lecture on it when were were heading home. I had nothing that I could call “culture shock” in Ireland or upon return. Then, I became a peer adviser, and I had to learn about Culture Shock. So I could teach a lesson on Culture Shock at orientation to my students. Then, when I renewed my contract, I had to learn about Culture Shock AGAIN, then teach it AGAIN to my new group of students. Which brings us to Chicago Orientation before coming to Japan, when we learned about it – AGAIN. Then in Tokyo orientations it was covered multiple times. Now here. I HATE the Culture Shock discussion.

I do give them credit though, they skipped everything we'd heard about culture shock and went more in to discussing aspects that affect culture shock (gender, race, age, sexual orientation, etc.) and how they are perceived and why this might make things difficult. It was much more interesting. Plus, Brian taught it, and he's quite fun. When he did manage to be respectfully tactful once in his phrasing, Alara, who is Asian, piped up that “yes, they think you're f-in' retarded if you don't speak Japanese” and you're Asian. 'Twas quite funny. He was also unfortunately blunt that guys will have it much easier than girls in Japan, but that's really the way Japan, a more traditional society, is.

They were nice enough to schedule in breaks every hour or so. It kept us happy. I don't yet know how to turn my phone on silent, but everyone who could possibly call/text me was in the room, so I didn't worry about it. But it is something I need to figure out.

Finally, we had a section of scenarios and we were supposed to figure out which Japanese cultural trait was causing problems. From this we learned that (1) if you get a casual offer that you should hang out, or maybe come to dinner or something, it's the equivalent to smiling while walking down the street in American culture. You're being friendly, but don't you dare take it to mean you want to be buddies, Mr. Creepy hobo. (2) If you write something for your JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) and you see them later with a dictionary checking your work, yes, it does mean that they don't trust you. They are responsible for the final product. (3) If you make a suggestion and your JTE says “okay” or “I understand” that does not mean that they agree. In fact, an indifferent response is usually a “no,” because they'll never say “no” outright. Finally (4) the Japanese drink because it's the only time they can ever de-stress or remove their work masks and be themselves. Or even offer criticism to higher-ups and not get fired. But even with this practical purpose, you are not required to drink.

For lunch, a bunch of us headed up to a little curry place. It turned out our group was much too big, and some broke off for a different restaurant. I stuck around and, with the help of James, an Australian, ordered cheese curry, vegetarian style. It was quite tasty. Next time, though, I'm upping the spice level one. Andrew, who is a less strict vegetarian got a vegetable and shrimp dish and just removed the shrimp when it arrived. I assume Chaya brought her own lunch. I'd brought rice, just in case, but was quite satisfied with the curry.

A bit too much information now: something about the spicy curry didn't sit well with my stomach on the 15 minute walk back in the blazing hot sun. Japanese bathrooms have little sensors/buttons that you can press to make a “flushing” sound. It's meant to cover the sound of your pee. Because, obviously, if you go into a stall and there's flushing sound playing (which does sound a bit recorded, so you can tell the difference) and you emerge, it wasn't because you just stood there. One can assume. Thus, I've always thought the buttons a little silly. However, I am woman enough to admit that when I saw a Japanese woman washing her hands when I entered, I was quite happy/frantic to make the little flushing cover noise go. Perhaps it's not so foolish.

This is also when I looked in the mirror and noticed that my shirt back and upper torso were dark green with streaks of sweat. I was just like everyone else, but it was highly unattractive and very embarrassing.

After orientation, we went out to a little German bar and hung out, chatted (loudly), and drank. I ended up being the only one there not to order alcohol. While I'm fine with social drinking, I didn't want to spend too much (and beers were expensive). So, I considered getting just one and nursing it when I saw something I wanted more that was equivalent in price. I nursed that slice of flourless chocolate cake for probably 30 minutes. And it was good. May once again supported Irish stereotypes by (I'd judge successfully) drinking the Canadian Alan under the table with two HUGE tankards of beer.

I sat next to and talked a lot with Charleen a friendly black girl from America. She told us about straightening black hair, the products she uses and growing up with her mother coming it with a comb, heated on the stove. She also worked for Disney once upon a time, so I'm hoping to join her as she made an open offer for anyone who wants to to go to Tokyo Disney with her. We won't get discounts or anything, but it should be nice. We also had a nice little chat with an intoxicated Brian about Japanese women and their body types and how they don't quite fit with our own. He says expect comments.

Elizabeth was ready to go and my chocolate cake was gone, so I left with her. I'd had a headache on and off for much of the day. Plus, I'll see everyone again tomorrow, so I didn't feel too bad about leaving. We caught the train at last. We were quite confused because the train times weren't quite matching up. As it turns out, they all had up to a 75 minute delay! Japan prides itself on the reliability of its trains (down to the minute.) Clearly, something big had happened. I'd been thinking mechanical malfunction and Elizabeth suggested it could also be a suicide. Jumping in front of trains is a common suicide method here. Either way, I wish I had internet so I could try to find out.

Speaking of internet, Elizabeth and I each returned tonight to find a phone bill and a “delivery attempt” notice in our mailboxes. Elizabeth called the company and suggested tomorrow after 7:30pm as an acceptable delivery time. So, there won't be any late partying for either of us tomorrow, but that's fine. We should get our packages, then hopefully go about hooking this up. Wish me luck. Although, if this is online and you're reading it, I must have been successful.

On the train ride home, I realised that on Thursday I go to Nishi for the first time. One of my fellow teachers lives in town and is meeting me by the train station to take me so I don't get lost my first time. Unfortunately, the fax I have with the information about WHEN we're meeting is at work, at Koko. So, tomorrow morning, before Elizabeth and I meet at 8:20, I need to get to Koko and get that paper (and, perhaps also my application for reentry permit.) So, I'll be up extra early, which means it's past time for me to sleep.