Work at the nursery

Today we started work at the nursery, it was really good. All the kids are under 4 and very very cute. They all sang songs to us and told us their names, then sat down for tea. We took the olders ones outsite to play and they kept collecting sakura blossom and giving them to us. Then we were given a baby each to cheer up. They were very cute in the end, and we fed them a traditional japanese meal, complete with miso soup (very difficult to give a one year old). The little girls were interested in our blue eyes and hair, and we sat down with them to watch tom and jerry. They also gave us fantastically fashionable aprons...

Working at the atomic bomb hospital

So weve been working at the Hospital for a few weeks now, and Im really enjoying it.

The work is generally pretty simple, cleaning, sorting out patients rooms and making beds, but you get to chat to the nurses all the while, and the patients, and they make it fun.
The nurses are all obsessed with my height, my blue eyes and how pale I am. It was funny at first but now Im sick of 'eeeh kanojo wa takai desu!' and people pinching my cheeks..

The nurses and doctors are all really lovely, and whenever I dont have much to do theyre happy to chat to me, though none speak english. the nurses I follow are called Uemura-san (very lovely, and takes her time doing things) and Yoshiko-san (very funny, rushes around a lot)

Ive seen a few medical procedures, which are very interesting, including a lumbar puncture and bloods being taken. I cant wait till we get to watch an operation. We get to help out at the nursury on tuesdays, so im really excited for that cause the kids are so cute, and its just on the first floor of the nurses accomodation where we live.

Nagasaki life

 Nagasaki is very interesting, and it seems to be a fun place to live. In our first weekend here, we wandered almost the length of the city, and found many shopping malls and cute things to decorate the apartment, like the hello kitty giant pillow (in photo). The apartments are actually very nice, and theres lots left from previous volunteers, like books, stationary, dvds and notes on things to do, which are nice to read. I spent most of the first few days feeling quite sick from delayed jet jag, watching Eddie izzard dvds on my laptop and eating jam on toast.

The kitchen in my apartment is insane, the toaster (on the left) is very off, like a tiny oven that toasts the bread with what looks like two pink neon tubes...

The kettle is a strange white object with no handle or spout, just a kind of pump button and japanese instructions. I bought about 3 different types of tea in the first fews days, I miss my brews!

 



During the first few days we wandered around many interesting looking supermarkets, but food shopping in japan is very very difficult. Nothing has english on, and most doesnt have katakana on (the only one i can kind of read) so many things are guess work. We managed to buy simple things, although the milk is actually single cream and nothing that looks like chocolate actually tastes like it. Its a fun experience though, wandering round the exotic looking shops, with entire aisles devoted to pickles or seaweed.

By far the best thing about shopping in Japan though is the clothes and cute things. They are Obsessed with stuff to put in your hair, cute little hats, amazing patterned tights, frilly skirts, contact lenses, hello kitty bags, purses, massive high heels, gothic lollita dresses, tiny trench coats, nirvana t-shirts and Toroto toys.

Also, anthing you can think of, they have a toy cover for it here. There toy phone covers, toy TV remote covers, toy backpacks, pencil cases, toilet roll holders, toilet seat covers, wall hangings, pillow cases, slippers, shoe covers, socks, key chains, anything you like, you can have a hello kitty version, or a plushie version of it

Arrival in Nagaski

So, from Tokyo, we got a JAL flight to Nagasaki, to our placement. We were taken to Tokyo Haneda airport by Tomoko-san, then we had to wait around for a while, making full use of the free wifi and looking at the bizarre Japanese heated toilets, with many different buttons to choose flushing sounds and TV channels.
We boarded the plane very quickly, the Japanese are incredibly efficient, and set off. The flight was more than a little bumpy, with Chloe saying "we're going to die" at every bit of turbulance. We flew over mount Fuji, a bizzare looking snow capped volcano in the middle of quite flat landscape. We're planning to climb Fuji in the week before we leave, very excited.

We arrived in Nagasaki around 2pm, and were greeted by Oka-san, our host. Shes very lovely and very tiny, doesnt smile much and walks very fast, but is nice and speaks a bit of English. She took us on an hour long bus journey to our placement.
Nagasaki is Way bigger than I thought, and was very hot when we arrived. In the distance in all directions are tree covered hills, but on the first day they were surrounded by a sort of haze, that I thought was smog, but it turns out it was just rising heat. the city is located around an estuary and you can smell the sea.
We walked up the river, past the large (and slightly intimidating) hospital that we'll be working in, and up to our apartments. There are 4 sets of steep stone steps up to the fron of the apartment buildings, which was an effort in the heat.

 

 As we went in we were greeted by the house keepers, and given slippers, our own shoe box and mail slots ( with our 'names' in katakana), and our keys. we have rooms next to one another on the second floor, comprising of a small kitchen, toilet room and large bedroom with rafia mats.

Oka-san then took us out for dinner, which bizarely was Chinese. Me and chloe had to eat prawns and I ate some kind of tentacle, which made me feel sick, so not the best start to living in Nagasaki.
Then we went back to our apartments for the night. It was the first time I'd been on my own since England, and the apartment outlook wasnt great. The kitchen was dirty, the room was cold, my internet wouldnt work, the bed was folded up in the cupboard, the bathroom is communal, and everything looked very bleak. I think I was very overwhelmed and i just wanted to cry.




In the morning however, me and Chloe went for a wander around the shops, and I bought some plants, a Jimi Hendrix poster, some hello kitty things and some fruit, and the apartment started to look much more like home. I also bought some light saber chopsticks, and they cheered me up a lot :D

 Kind of backtracking here, But on March the 5th I left manchester for Japan :D I got a flight from manchester to Heathrow at 6am, then waited for the other volunteers, eating sushi in pret a manger. Everyone was very excited and giddy, buying random things for presents for our hosts, I bought jam (they like it in Japan). We boarded the giant plane and most of sat together, ready for the 12 hour flight.


It was effort being up there for 12 hours, cause Id fall asleep for 3 hours, was up and there'd still be lke 7 hours to go, ridiculous XD We watched looper and wreck-it-ralph on the tv, and I read Keith Richards autobiography. The food was lovely, we got cocktails, edamame bean and noodle starter, a sweet chicken, veg and sticky rice main, and a Gu pudding. They also randomly woke everyone up and gave us all a cheese pastie, then before landing we got a full english breakfast, a muffin and a yoghurt.

Then we got off and took lots of silly pictures of just the airport, and the welcome to Japan sign, then the security started splitting us up and asking for all our documents, which took a while. They also took a photo of each of us for their records, I wasnt happy about that after the flight.
Then we met up with Ide san, the coordinator over here, and the canadian volunteers, and we sent our luggage to our placements.

 Then we got a bus to the youth hostel, which was massive (about 20 stories high) and we had a great view of tokyo from our room window.

 That day, Ide san took us around the area and for lunch at a buffet, which was really nice. Then we all slept, cause the jet lag was unbearable. Afterwards i was super hungry, so we went to a restaurant where you choose what your want from the plastic replicas outside, then put the money in a machine and get a ticket to hand to the staff.

I got a kind of pork katsu and soba noodles. It was wayyy more than what I thought id ordered, but only cost 500 Yen :D

Here are Sarah, Chloe and Evelyn. Im living in Nagasaki with Sarah and Chloe, Evelyn is one of the canadian volunteers. We realised that a mixture of a posh girl from Milton keynes, this Manc, a scot from Dumfries and a girl from Toronto cant understand a word each other says XD