Stealing the Internets

I consider myself a bit of a technophile. I just love the electronic gadgets, the fiddling around and the discovery of some brand new application or tool deep inside a device that may fit in the palm of your hand.

But Japan has proven more than a challenge to my love of technology.

First off, I get computers at both of my junior high school desks. Hurray! Unfortunately, they are both completely and totally in Japanese. Ive figured out some tools, thanks to the reliability of PC functions (I was quite impressed with myself for setting up the language tool bar so I could type words in English) but some others are still a complete mystery. And when it comes to more impressive, more complicated functions, well, I might as well be beating a rock with another rock. And of course using the nifty Japanese keyboards is an adventure unto itself, where it seems absolutely impossible to get an apostrophe in English.

This would not be such an issue, except that last Sunday, the Internet mysteriously died at my apartment. My predecessor informed me he had left it on until the 20th, by which time I would have my gaijin card and could begin the long, red-taped process of creating my own. (One of my first lessons in Japan: there is no such thing as too much red tape.) I tried everything, turning it off, turning it back on, turning the computer off and on, the modem AND the computer, unplugging every wire I could get to. Nothing. No response.
The logic would be that my predecessors Internet simply cut out early. However, my phone is also tied to the modem, and thus the land line, and it functions just fine. So why would the phone, which arguably seems to be linked to the Internet, work, but the Internet itself doesnt?

The short story of it is, I am resigned to using whatever Internet I can steal away here at school.

As a rule, I try not to use the Internet except for Japanese studying or vocab/kanji checking. However, this week is the Obon festival, and though my vice principal has been fleeting in and out all day, there have only been two teachers in the staff room, and one of them left by about 10 am. Ive been correcting a speech for the English competition, but translating from Japanese into more proper English is making my brain explode a little.

(Ex: `It readily went to McDonalds in Japan and was terribly courageous though was able to order in the United States.` I translated as `I could order bravely from McDonalds in Japan, but in the United States I wasn`t very courageous.`)

So, a small... um, two hour long... break was in order.

Honestly, not having Internet was a little bit rattling. Having no Internet and no cell phone here is rather like to being left on a deserted island. A deserted island with lots of rice. I cant contact my supervisor, any of my teachers (for those days that I, oh, I dont know, get lost on the bus for two hours), or any other JETs in case of OMG CULTURE FREAKOUT.

Fortunately, this weekend was quite busy with prefecture orientation and a Japanese baseball game. On Monday, after hours and hours and hours of confusing applications (youd think I was buying a kidney and not a keitai) I received my very own phone.

And it has a TV function! No, seriously, I can watch TV on my cell phone! And browse the Internet (the TV is free, the Yahoo! browser is not.) I have even an email address on my cell phone... I think. I have no idea quite how to work all of it (they call texting email, and actual email is something else, and then theres SM and SMS! Mail, so it all gets very confusing.)

But still, cell phone! And I also received my gaijin card, so Internet is only a few more dozen applications away. I am a card-carrying member of Japan... literally!

Work has been both overwhelming and boring. Helping with the speech contests has become kind of like a hobby, trying to think of new ways to help them wrap their mouths around l and th sounds. The kids are great sports... though in one speech, a student sometimes substitutes an h sound in the middle of -sit- and..... well, I managed to take a few deep breaths and not fall over laughing as he said it over, and over, and over again.

I miss everyone from back home, though honestly, it still feels as if good ol Wisconsin is just a hop, skip, and jump away. Which is weird, since an hour long train ride to the capital city of my prefecture feels like an eternity whenever I start making plans with people.

Im starting to have my surprises and my `well this sucks` and `this is cool!` moments. I am trying very hard to focus on the positive, and not let snags mess up the upcoming year for me.

But I must say one thing. Bicycling in Japan, or at least in rural Japan, sucks monkey balls. Hard. All the streets are pretty narrow, and sidewalks are an act of God when you actually come across them... otherwise you have about three feet to four feet wide shoulders, with zooming vehicles of death on one side, and Gaijin traps on the other (otherwise known as rice paddy irrigation channels.) Additionally, my prefecture has the highest number of automobile accidents in all of Japan.

Which is bizarre to me, because it seems as if nearly everyone in Japan at least owns a bicycle and uses it fairly frequently. Ive certainly seen more bikes here in these past few weeks than I think I saw all year in Wisconsin. Just one of those interesting dichotomies, I guess.

Though Im not thinking -Interesting!- on that long bike ride from here to the next town over. Next time... Im just gonna take the train.