"We have just learned from Tokyo the area to which you have been assigned. We are pleased to inform you that your assignment and Contracting Organization will be Nagasaki-ken, Tushima-shi ("ken" and "fu" mean prefecture, "shi" means city, "cho" and "machi" mean town, "mura" and "son" mean village)."
--official placement letter from JET, 5/16/06
So. What's this random island called Tsushima all about? First off, a few clarifications. Yes, in the letter, the city is spelled "Tushima" and i generally spell it "Tsushima." Romanization is a tricky thing, so both spellings work. Second, people tend to assume that the word "island" is in the Japanese kanji. That's incorrect. Tsushima's kanji is 対馬 , which breaks down to Tsushi-ma (and not Tsu-shima).
Next, what's the island like? Since I've never been there, I can't tell you. But, from what i've been reading, it's 89% mountains and forests (which i must say, totally enhanced my sense of indignance when i first learned about my placement). Its closest big cities are Pusan in South Korea, and Fukuoka on Kyushu (see a map here: http://www.city.tsushima.nagasaki.jp/foreign/where/english.html). Luckily, I'll be living in Izuhara （厳原）, which is the southern part of the island and also where one of 2 ports that has ferries and jetfoils heading towards Fukuoka are located. Taking a ferry to Fukuoka is at least 3hrs and 40mins (4.5 hours is there's a stopover at Iki, another island just off the northern coast of Kyushu). By jetfoil, it's just under 2 hours. There's an airport on Tsushima, and it flies out to either Nagasaki-city or Fukuoka. Both flights are only a half hour. As you can guess, though, there are significant jumps in price. The cheapest ferry one-way is already ~$35. The cheapest flight is i think around $73 and upwards of about $100 (i can't really read what the Japanese says, so i may have just made that up). Jetfoil prices are in between airplanes and ferries. I figure 1) prices are so inhibiting that I'll have to stay on the island and get to know the people there, or 2) i'll be desperate to get off and go broke in the process. Meh. We'll see. If you stumble upon someone begging on the streets of Fukuoka for money so she can afford to go back to Tsushima, stop by. Say hi! (btw, all those prices i listed above i pulled off of this website (japanese): http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~kurose/access1.htm)Temperature-wise, the average summer daytime is about 30 C, or 86 F. Nighttime averages at about 25 C (77 F). And of course, it's humid as all hell. During the winter, daytime is around 5 C (41 F) and nighttime is about 0 C (32 F). Did i mention there's no insulation in Japanese homes (unless you live in Hokkaido, the northernmost island)? Well, there's not. And did i also mention i was born and raised and still am in the Bay Area, hence i've never really experienced the cold? Yes. Tsushima looks like fun, fun, fun ;D
Tsushima also has a population of about 40,000 people (a little less than San Bruno). For my particular situation, i'll be teaching at 11 elementary schools and 4 junior highs as an Assistant Language Teacher. In other words, if i come back after a year and speak in English to you at a relatively slow pace, remember that i'm not trying to patronize you, so please refrain from slapping me right away. ok? thanks=)
Let's see. What else... I can apparently ferry to Korea, but i haven't looked into that yet. oh yeah -- Tsushima is a fishing community, and it looks like my diet is going to be a lot of fish and squid. fish i'm not so crazy about, but squid i like. They also have something called the "Tsushima Yama-neko", or Tsushima Leopard Cat. This cat apparently can only be found in Tsushima, Korea, or China, so the Japanese go to Tsushima to see it. Honestly, it doesn't look all that exciting to me (sort of reminds me of a lynx).
That's about all I can say about my future home / island paradise / island exile. Here are a few more websites in case you're interested:
* The official website of the city (in Japanese, but it's worth it to watch the flash animation on the front page with the pictures): http://www.city.tsushima.nagasaki.jp/index.php
* If you can't read Japanese or just don't feel like it, check out the wikipedia page (looks like it's basically translated from the city website): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsushima%2C_Nagasaki* An excellent page in English on how to get there, the geography... and it even comes with a map: http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/%7Ejoujou/ec-01-access1.htmJa, ne!
-- evelyn
So this is now my 3rd attempt to set up a blog or online journal of some sort. I've had this love-hate relationship with blogs for years now, but i've decided to swallow my pride and give this another shot. the first time i tried making a blog, i loved it. that is, until my first week was over, had already written for hours and hours on it, and whatever website i was using tragically crashed, causing me to lose all of my precious entries. then i moved on to xanga, which i decided after only one post, wasn't worth updating because i really didn't have anything worthwhile to say.
So now i'm trying this out. After living in Japan for 5 months last year, i realized how i wrote super long emails to close friends and family, but beyond that, no one else knew what i did. in about 6 weeks, i'll be taking off for Japan once again, and I decided that I'd like to have my year of experiences recorded for both comical and sentimental value. Who knows. Maybe i'll get lazy again and give up on the whole online journal thing, but i have hope (and hopefully oodles of spare time).
For people who don't know yet or have forgotten the name, I'll be living in Tsushima, Japan, for one year come August as i torment elementary school and middle schools kids via teaching them English. The JET Programme has been one of those goals I've kept in mind since i started learning Japanese -- you know, one of those, "If i'm still into learning this language when i graduate, I'll do it" type of goals. Well, after 4 years of Japanese, I've decided that even though i'm not sure what i want to do with the rest of my life, not mastering this language is one of those things i can foresee myself regretting (and I've taught myself to live with very little regret. yes yes -- i have no shame). And so, with a little bit of luck, I've made it into the program and been subsequently placed on a little tiny island between South Korea and Kyushu (the southernmost main island in Japan). I was honestly incredibly disappointed when i found out though. I think of myself as a very flexible person, but there were only two things i wanted out of my placement. One: that it NOT be on an inaccessible island. Two: that i have internet in my home. While my first criterion was completely betrayed, my second criterion has fortunately come true. For the last month or so, I've been in contact with my predecessor (a Canadian who got a masters in History before being sent off into exile) who's been in Tsushima now for 3 years, and she confirmed my ability to get internet at home. She's also sent me a couple of pictures of my future 2-room, 2-story house (not 2 bedroom, 2 ROOM. each story is essentially a room), and what will hopefully be my future car, a Suzuki Samurai (jeep). Getting the car is a matter of negotiating price at this point, but that's a story i'll leave for another day.
As i mentioned before, I'll be leaving in about 6 weeks. So what am I doing until i depart? That's right -- i'm working at Meyer Library (I can just feel one of my fellow consultants chanting "you love meyer!" as she read that). Starting last October, i've been working part-time at Meyer's 2nd floor Tech Desk doing stuff like checking out equipment, troubleshooting, helping people with multimedia studio projects, etc. Since my boss is awesome (yay Kenneth!), he's letting me work at Meyer until I leave for Japan. The only con i see is having to wake up early and sleep early everyday (i have to get up at 6:30am so i can commute 30 minutes here and open the library by 8am). Being a strongly nocturnal person, sleeping at 11:30 everyday has been quite a change in lifestyle for me. but hey, i'll get used to it. and i guess i have to if i'll be teaching next year. well, working at any job for the rest of my life i suppose. *sigh* the ails of entering the real world.
It hasn't really clicked yet that I have a degree. The first thing i did when i stepped off the stage after receiving my diploma, was look at the cover that my diploma was in, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened it up to take the first peek at it. When i opened my eyes, I saw my name (to be expected), and underneath it, "Bachelors of Science in Biological Sciences." Honestly, when i first saw that, i thought, "Wait, what?" and was kinda shocked and confused. As if they had made a mistake or something. It almost took me by surprise. To see my name associated with that major just didn't register to me. I mean, it's true that I have a bachelors in Biological Sciences. I just really dont feel like I deserve it. I feel like i dont know as much as the average person holding the same degree. Not to say that i didn't work my butt off. i shudder at the recollection of many late late nights straining my brain to finish problem sets only to find out i didn't do too hot. I really tried. I just dont really think i'm a hard-core Bio type. When i think back to my time at Stanford, I think more about time spent getting to know my Japanese teachers and learning the language. Out of everything I've learned here, I feel like that's been the most valuable. Probably because it's a tool for communication. I now have access to a larger percentage of the world population. Pretty cool when you think of it that way, no?
Well, it's 5pm, and my Meyer obligation is done for the day. More about Tsushima coming soon=)
