"OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO", (Dr. Seuss)

Before I left for Japan, my sons gave me the very best possible presents.  One was a copy of Dr. Seuss' book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go."
                      “You're off to Great Places!
                       Today is your day!
                       Your mountain is waiting,
                        So... get on your way!”  
I don't think they had any idea how those words would be dreams   come true and just how far I would go, nor did I. 
  
The other two presents were an address book with a note to take my friends' addresses from the States, and to write down my yet to be made new friends' addresses and telephone numbers, and a Japanese bird book, in English.  They were perfect!

They didn't know the bird book would become worn, scuffed and dog-eared.  They had no idea the address book would help me survive the first lonely months, and that I would fill it with ALT names from around the world, and wonderful new Japanese friends' names as well.  But no one was more surprised than I. 

After the first meeting of all the ALT's in Kagoshima Ken, I gained a lot of confidence to head out and travel on my own.  I was getting familiar with using the bus, and friends were coming in via train and bus to visit me in Kaseda.  Some had bought used cars and were even driving, on the other side of the road.  It actually was no longer intimidating to take my backpack, money and passport and pick a new place to visit for a weekend.  I had my copy of "Fodor's Japan", my bird book, camera and binoculars, and I was pretty much free to go on the weekends.

Another large boost to my confidence was an ALT meeting, this one in  far away Kumamoto.  Not really that far in hindsight, a little more than 3 hours away.  But now I had to learn to use the train system, which by the way, was so easy.  Signs were in Japanese kanji, but also English and even with multiple tracks and platforms, clearly marked with not only the names of the cities but with directional arrows.  It would be difficult to go in the wrong direction, and I don't think I ever did. 


The meeting in Kumamoto was for 3 days and ALTs attended from not only Kagoshima, but also Kumamoto and Miyazaki Kens (states).  The realization that the world seemed to be opening up for me was empowering.  I became enamored of every shrine and temple, those wonderful tiled roofs, the mountains, streams, and little shops and houses and gardens.  I so loved the gardens. 

These mums were at the castle in Kumamoto.  In Japan, great pride and lots of care groom magnificently large and colorful flowers by choosing only one blossom to bloom on each plant and supporting that bloom on a wire support so its weight does not make it drop or break the stem.

Seeing my first bougainvillea and birds of paradise in bloom, in the ground, not a flower shop, as well as angel trumpets and poinsettia were all new sights for me.  I was in a new climate as well as a new country.  The ginko trees, the camelias, the large persimmons hanging from the trees in fall, seemed so welcoming.

Bougainvillea blooming in the south of Kagoshima near Ibusuki.

Soon it became seamless to hop on a bus in my town, just 2 blocks from my apartment, get off the bus at the train station in Kagoshima City and catch a train to see Rochelle in Okuchi, or Shawn in Kagoshima City, as well as just going into Kagoshima to visit with ALTs or go for lunch and shopping.  I felt so grown up! 

Rochelle took me to see Sogi no Taki (Sogi Falls) in Okuchi, Kagoshima Ken, Japan. 

Different areas had various ways to dry the harvested rice   This teepee style was in Okuchi. 

 

This sawhorse style rack made of bamboo was the chosen method to dry the rice in Kaseda where I lived.

 

 

But I would often feel the wonderment of a small child, seeing and learning new things every day. I was tabla rosa, an empty slate to hold all the sights and sounds, and even the smells and tastes.  Truly, I was in the right place at the right time for me.  And I didn't want to close my eyes and miss anything.

Around every nook and corner, even in the shops, were new things to see, kimono silks for souvenirs as scarves and change purses, native wood carvings, lacquer ware and ceramics.  The opportunities to learn about this new culture were endless.  Around a corner in Kumamoto was a rebuilt castle from the samurai days.  It's unfortunate but wooden buildings can burn or decay, so often the most beautiful sights were replicas of the real thing.  But they were wonderful places to learn and envision the history of this new land.

My first castle in Japan was Kumamoto Jo.  Of course, a land of enchantment must have castles.

If you can see the people down in front of the castle, you can get an idea of the scale of its true size.

Suizenji Koen, a formal Japanese garden in Kumamoto

A lovely example of the tiled roof on a building at the Japanese garden.

My ALT meeting in Kumamoto allowed me to follow my mother's bidding and track down a Japanese exchange student who had lived in my hometown in Pennsylvania a couple of years earlier.  Takako had stayed with her best friend's daughter, and my mother had met her several times.   I was on a mission, charged with carrying good wishes and letting her know they had not forgotten her.  When I called and spoke to Takako, she immediately said I must come to her home for dinner.  I took my friend Maria with me, and we were both given the royal treatment.  

Having dinner at Takako's home with her parents and brother.

Maria enjoyed getting together with this great family, too. The family setting reminded us of home.

Her mother had prepared local specialties, and it was here I was introduced to karashi rencom.  This is the root of the lotus, cut crosswise, stuffed with very spicy hot yellow mustard, (in the holes of the crosscut) and then each piece is floured and deep fried.  Later I would reflect that perhaps that was when a spell had been put on me.  I had eaten of the lotus, and I might not be able to leave this new land of enchantment so easily.

 In fact, all ALTs in their first and second years would have to make a choice as to whether to sign another contract for one more year, or leave the program and the country.   The decision would be due by February, which was now looming.  I would eventually have to make that choice, that in the beginning was so clearly a simple countdown to how many more months I would have to survive before I could leave.  And now after the fall travels and the Christmas visit from my son, I was thinking of the place as a "land of enchantment."  Clearly, new posts will reveal more about that important decision.