A couple more pictures of Joetsu

This is a street in the town center, Takada. Don't even try to tell me that this is not the most awesome goddamn thing you have ever seen in your entire life. I know you're jealous.

A shrine, also in Takada. From what I hear all the JETs in the area are a good 30-40 minute drive from Takada, but it's sort of a central meeting place.

This is on the beach toward Itoigawa, the next town south of Joetsu.

I found out that I'll be teaching at one junior high school, and probably also visit several elementary schools on a regular basis, which sounds pretty much perfect!

This post puts the HELLA in HELLA ANGELENO

My graduation ceremony was on Sunday, so I got to spend a couple days in the city with Ray and Vy this week. Half off pizza night at Pizza Orgasmica and dim sum at Golden River were on the top of my to-do list.

Counterclockwise from top left: ha gow (shrimp dumplings), chive dumplings (on Vy's plate; they are very garlicky and my new favorite dim sum dish), chashu bao, noh mai gai (lotus leaf-wrapped sticky rice with chicken and Chinese sausage), hahm seui go (the dish that unfortunately has no English name, so they'll call it "meat dumpling" or "meat turnover" but then half the time you order the meat dumpling and it's a DIFFERENT meat dumpling and then you're like DAMMIT I WANTED CRISPY GOOEY GOODNESS), and... a different kind of shrimp dumpling, can't remember what it was called. The ones in the middle are yet another shrimp dumpling. Apparently Ryan asked a friend of ours who lives in LA Chinatown where to get good dim sum and he said there wasn't any (!!!), so I had to stuff myself in preparation for my return to the godless south.

After lunch we headed to Vital Tea Leaf in Chinatown to be screamed at and served tea by Uncle Gee (no relation to the other Gee we all know and love). As we approached the store he was busy trying to convince some tourists that his tea would make them sexy, so I walked up and said "We don't NEED to be any sexier, but can we have some tea?" which I'm pretty sure made me a prime target for his teasing the rest of the time we were there since I eventually ended up in a chokehold. This time there were some elderly tourists from Arkansas next to us, and seeing him play to them kind of ruined the effect, like when you're taken in by a magic trick but then the magician shows the trick to someone else and you see right through it. But I'd still recommend this place to anyone hitting up Chinatown--it's a comedy routine that comes with a sampler of 10-12 gourmet teas, free of charge.

(A note on photo quality: As we strolled around taking pictures Ray said he was thinking of buying a real camera so he wouldn't have to use his cell phone, and asked how many megapixels mine was. I looked at the sticker on the camera and said "Uh, 2.0?" He laughed and said his PHONE was 8 megapixels. I got this camera for my 17th birthday. I have no plans to upgrade. Deal with it.)

One of my favorite things about San Francisco is the views down side streets--everything is so packed together that there are unexpected glimpses of things wherever you go. Sometimes it's the Bay Bridge:

Other times the Transamerica Building or the Ferry Building:

One of the dangers of living in a place like this is that you start to think you're the center of the world. Even when I lived four blocks from the Pacific Ocean and would walk down there every day to bask in its immensity, I still knew that the city was at my back, beautiful and funky and free and alive at all hours of the day and night. I can't even begin to explain it--I was a little person in a big city, but I was so connected to it that I felt like I was the city, and nothing outside of it mattered. (Ever seen this New Yorker cover?) But I'm moving on again, and this time I want to feel small.

Joetsu-shi, Niigata-ken (上越市, 新潟県)

(I copy-pasted that kanji from Wikipedia. Come on, you think I know how to write that on my own?)

I just received word of my placement on the JET program. I'll be in Joetsu, which is a city in Niigata Prefecture.

Niigata is the only prefecture I requested, and it's where my great-grandparents were born, so I'm super stoked! I'm not sure I really have a feel for what it's like yet, but these are some of the things I found out:

• The "city" is really an amalgamation of various towns and villages that have undergone mergers to become one municipality. I can't seem to find a good map or photos, but I believe there's a central urban area and then some smaller villages with lots of nature and countryside in between. The population is just over 200,000, but the total area of the city is larger than LA, bringing the population density to 212 people per km². (For comparison, Folsom is 318/km²; San Francisco is 6,688.4/km².)
• Niigata-ken in general is known for rice farming, excellent sake (made from the rice, duh), SNOW and onsens (hot springs). Joetsu-shi seems to be no exception.
• Joetsu is about 2.5 hours from Tokyo by shinkansen. That becomes 5 or 6 hours when you take a regular train or bus. Shinkansen is pretty expensive but I'll be making a lot so maybe I'll be able to pop out to Tokyo for the weekend once in a while!
• In addition to the summer fireworks festivals and springtime cherry blossom festivals (which are common to most places in Japan), Joetsu hosts a Lotus Festival, a sake festival, a firefly festival and a snow candle festival. 

• There are also temples, castles, an aquarium and a planetarium. It sounds like there's a lot to do!

I still haven't gotten in contact with my predecessor and may not hear from them for several more weeks, so all the specifics of my situation (apartment, rent, car) are still up in the air. Chances are I'll be teaching middle or elementary school, though.

Here are a few extra links:

Joetsu city English website
Joetsu tourism guide
Joetsu region guide on the Niigata JET page
Joetsu Wikipedia entry

Word nerd

The books I plan on bringing to Japan:

1. Strunk and White- The Elements of Style. Not so much because I think I'll really need it to teach English to Japanese high school students; more so because my identity depends upon being the kind of person who carries her Elements of Style everywhere, even to Japan. Also, it's very small and portable.

2. Lawrence LeShan- How to Meditate. Also portable, and in Japan I'm going to, like, be totally spiritual and stuff.

3. Vladimir Nabokov- Speak, Memory. This is probably going to be my main reading material for the flight, orientation, travel to my prefecture, and first few weeks before I figure out how to acquire other books in English (and, um, get internet). I'm not sure it will last me that long, so I'm thinking about bringing one more just in case. I originally wanted to bring War and Peace but I have so many unread and half-read books laying around, and since I already have so many to choose from I really think that ten dollars would better be spent on dinner or nomihoudai or, like, rent. But none of my current titles seem appropriate. Maybe A People's History of the United States?

JAPAN JAPAN JAPAN

A little over a year ago I was browsing Facebook and came across a photo album by an acquaintance from high school who I never talk to. His younger brother was leaving on study abroad for Japan, and there were pictures from goodbye parties and airport photos, and I suddenly realized that every single time I heard about someone leaving on study abroad--but especially if it was a Japanese American friend going to Japan--I felt incredibly, incredibly jealous. I'm a little embarrassed that instead of having a more positive reason, I basically decided to go to Japan for fear of feeling this way every time someone mentioned going abroad for the rest of my life, but that was when I started looking into study abroad options. When it turned out that the Japanese programs didn't work very well with my major and minor, I found out about JET, waited, applied, and a year later here I am.

(Pro tip for those applying next year: You will have a story like this too. Don't put that crap in your application essay because no one at the embassy gives a shit. Save it for a blog post when you get in so your friends and family can act like they care.)

So most of you know by now that I've been accepted to the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program and am going to Japan on July 25, in a little under three months. I don't know yet where I am going, what grade level I'll be teaching, whether I'll be driving or what my housing will be like (though I know I'll live alone). I do know that my airfare to Japan will be paid by JET, that I'll spend three days at orientation in Tokyo before traveling by bus, train or plane to my future home, and that I'm going to meet some fucking awesome people who went through every step of this crazy process with me in person for the first time. I also know what my pay will be, and let me tell you I am less stressed now than I have been since I was laid off from my office job while still in school.

I'll remain Hella Angeleno in spirit, but I'll have to think of a new name for my blog while I'm in Japan. I seriously considered "Not a White Guy in Japan," but I think that may have seemed like a much better idea after three beers.