Settling into Tottori - Week 2

It has been a rather interesting second week. I have begun working, settled into my apartment, made my first tourist trip, and I have eaten some good food.

To start, over the weekend I went to Higashihama beach, which is right near Iwami. Free! fans will know where that is, although somewhat ironically there is no swim team in Iwami. The beach is in a cove and has some of the clearest water in Japan. There were some very cool rock formations you could swim and climb on, so some fun bouldering challenges revealed themselves to me.
While there we ate at a little local cafe called Aloha. I had hamburger curry, and it was delicious. I don't think it's possible to have a poor meal out here in Japan. Even the convenience stores carry microwave meals that are quite good and dirt cheap.

This same weekend there were also a bunch of local bands playing in an open area near the main train station. Since it was only a short walk from the hotel I had been staying in I ventured over. Many of the bands looked like high school or college age people, but they were quite good. A wide variety of music was played in 15 minutes sets, and then the bands would change. What I got to experience was some J-Rock, some upbeat jam band stuff (my personal favorite, I just don't know how to describe it), and a DJ with a brass section. Who knew you could combine "club" music with (jazz) club music and have it sound really good?  I tried to record some of it, but the audio quality does not do the performances justice. I wish I would have been able to understand the band names so I would have been able to find them later.

I have spent a fair amount of my evenings socializing with the other JETs, since we all live in the same apartment complex, and second group just arrived this week. We have gone out for good food, and they are good company to be around. It's nice to not be isolated from other English speakers and people my own age, since most 20 somethings move away from Tottori to live in the big cities.

The school week has been very slow, it is still summer vacation so students are only at school for club activities and optional study hall. I have been helping a couple students with English speeches they are working on. There is a regional competition coming up in September.  Apart from that I have just been trying to prepare for my first few lessons.  I have eaten at some interesting restaurants over the past few days. A few of the teachers invited me to a traditional Japanese lunch place earlier in the week, which had a wide variety of food on a tray. It was good and the company was fun, even though I could not understand the conversation at all.

A highlight of my gastronomic adventures was a small ramen restaurant, who's name translates to "Carpe Diem" one of the teachers recommended. And seize the day I did, because she challenged me to eat the biggest meal they offered. Up to this point I have been very happy about Japanese food costs, but let down by portion sizes. So I accepted the challenge. I ordered the biggest bowl of pork ramen they offered. However, at this restaurant, once you order they then ask, free of charge, what serving size of toppings your would like. The topping is bean spouts, cabbage, minced garlic, and a pork fat broth/drizzle which comes in 4 sizes: garnish, a little pile, cover the bowl, and a small mountain. Accepting my co-workers challenge, I went for the mound. Check it out:



This was one of the best meals I have eaten out here. Not only was I uncomfortably full (clocked a solid 40 minutes of eating), but that drizzle was one of the best things I have ever tasted. Will definitely be going back, but probably ordering a more reasonable size.

Speaking of food, I also believe I have found my staple fallback restaurant. It is a 24 hour beef bowl chain very close to my apartment. This was a godsend since the food is inexpensive, portion sizes are sizable, and I can go whenever I want!

O ya, I got to move into my apartment in the middle of this week. I spent some time settling in. Thankfully my predecessor, Ivan, has gone above and beyond in helping me settle in to life and work in Tottori. I have really lucked out to have someone I can rely on, which is very unusual for JETs. He left a fair amount of useful stuff in the apartment, so I have not had to shop for much. I have been shopping at Aeon, which is a large department store/mall company which has many locations throughout Japan. Think Super Targets.

My new apartment- Copo Hestia

However, I recently discovered that second hand stores, which are big in Japan, have waaaaay more stuff than US secondhand stores. I regret not shopping there first. I have found surfboards to washing machines to new tea sets to bicycles to cheezy home workout machines all in the same store! It's like a community garage sale inside these places. Very cool and pretty convenient for inexpensive lifestyles.

Now that the week is over I will spend the weekend helping run an English camp.