Travels with hannah I

AKA: Ota at Large - The first of five posts on my 10 days with hannah

Visitors are always an occasion for joy, but I was especially excited about seeing hannah. Having lived together for 3.5 years, we always seem to refer to the other as "my roommate," despite the distances between us. Having been separated for 1.5 years after having lived together for so long, we were more than overdue for a long visit.

TUESDAY (13 January)
I was distracted all day, counting down the hours and minutes until hannah's arrival and worrying about a variety of concerns - space in my apartment, the cold, etc. Once I saw hannah at the station that evening, however, my built-up worries about the trip began to dissipate and were quickly replaced with school-girly joy. We squealed and giggled and stayed up talking entirely too late that night.

WEDNESDAY (14 January)
I ran on caffeine the next day, Wednesday, and rushed home after school to prepare hannah and Ian for our first activity - dinner with the Saito family.

The Saitos are some of my favorite people. The eldest daughter was one of my middle school students last year; now that she is in high school, I tutor her once a week. Her younger sister is a first year (a 7th grader) at my middle school. The mother, Ms. Saito, is amazing - she truly treats me like one of her own, bringing me soup when I'm sick, offering to drive me places whenever I have need - in fact, she took me to the station to pick up hannah - and in general tries her best to make me feel comfortable and happy while here in Japan. I had few interactions with the husband, but they were all cheerful and warm - in short, they are an amazing family.

The week before hannah arrived, I told the Saitos that she would be coming and, if they liked, my weekly tutoring session with the eldest could be with hannah as well. Within moments, Ms. Saito turned my offer into a dinner party, inviting my brother to join the fun. By the time the dinner actually arrived, even more had been invited - the dinner party ended up having 7 people.

Armed with flowers as a gift, the three of us went to the Saitos that night. As the food was brought out, our eyes popped. There was a sushi-rice dish that was large enough on its own to feed us all, but of course there were another three or four courses at least, each of similar size to the first. In addition to this were three large cakes of different flavors, each some 3 layers tall. We were encouraged to take much of this home, more than the three of us were likely to eat in the coming days.

The conversation, despite my earlier hopes of encouraging my students to use English, was largely in Japanese. Still, one of the guests, a retired physics professor at the elite Tokyo Univeristy, was well-versed in English, so the conversation switched languages fairly frequently. We covered a variety of topics, enjoyed pleasant food and company, and in general had a blast.

THURSDAY (15 January)
The next day was another one that encouraged the use of caffeine on my part. I once again rushed home after school, this time to hurry hannah and myself off to the bus stop. We made our way into Ota and met up with several other ALTs (Bob, Clarissa, and Mia) for dinner. Ah, finally - English reigned over the dinner table. I was able to give hannah a view of my life here as well as give my ALT friends a view of my past and someone who was very influential in making me the (wonderful!) person I am today. All in all, we had fun, ate delicious Indian food, and enjoyed ourselves.

Clarissa and Mia went off to teach an English class, while Bob, hannah, and I went to the local arcade. Arcades in Japan are near polar opposites from those in America - they're smoke-filled, for starters, and crowded with adults as well as children. They're also much, much louder, to the point that yelling becomes the only way of communication. Still, the draw is there, and Bob and I introduced the Taiko drum game to hannah. If you haven't seen this game yet, please watch this youtube link - the game is more fun than I can say.


After an hour or so at the arcade, mostly spent at the Taiko game, we all made our respective ways home. hannah and I took a taxi back, and I spent nearly all of the 15 or 20 minute ride in an intense conversation with the driver. My triumph of that ride was recognizing the Japanese word for "compulsory education." (Go me.) hannah's triumph was not screaming out of boredom and language frustrations.

FRIDAY (16 January)
Friday was a wonderful day, as hannah joined me at school! She came with me my two classes, met my teachers, and suffered the suppositions of my students ("Is she [hannah] your sister?" "Is she [hannah] your daughter?" "Does she have any boyfriends?"). We played a board game in my classes and hannah helped, getting to enjoy the confusion my students had with things like "jumping jacks" and "high-fives." I also showed her around the school and explained as we went. All in all, it was a fun day.

That is, it was until that evening. We were gathering our things, preparing to leave for Tokyo, when disaster struck. I had, sometime in October, agreed to be a judge for a speech contest but had forgotten to write down the date. As (bad) luck would have it, the contest was to be the next day, Saturday, when hannah and I were planning to be in Kyoto. A half hour of scrambling and praying later, I had a replacement and was given the OK to be absent at the proceedings. With a lighter heart and mind, hannah and I made our way to Tokyo.