http://picasaweb.google.com/adriene.giese/8_28_09NagasakiOrientation?authkey=Gv1sRgCLmVlN2l48C0Qg&feat=directlink
My photos from Nagasaki. I will write everything later.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
booze and kindergarten
I guess I haven’t talked about my junior high school’s enkai, or welcome party. It happened last Friday. And of course, I completely messed up the time it started. Well I showed up slightly late, not too bad. But still, I strolled in a good fifteen minutes late for the party that they threw for me. Even though it was my welcome party, I still had to pay them 3000 yen ($30) for the meal. Everyone has to pay. And everyone has to pay every time that the teachers have a party. So I have to budget for one more thing because enkais are mandatory optional events. By mandatory I mean that if I want to foster good ongoing relationships with my office people I need to drink with them. Bottom line I need to booze it up. Don’t worry. I have learned how to look like I am drinking without actually drinking a lot, which requires skill.
If you are not careful at an enkai, your glass will keep refilling magically. As soon as you take a sip five people rush to grab the closest drink and fill your cup up to the brim, whether your cup is full beer or hard liquor. This brings me to rule number one: stick to beer. Drinking beer ensures that your blood alcohol levels are lower than if you drink nihon-shuu (what we refer to as sake) or sho-yuu (Japanese potato wine). With the first rule in mind, it is possible to avoid disaster because if you are like me, you keep drinking anything that is in front of you. As a habit I will drink anything put in front of my at a restaurant. This started with water, but I absent mindedly sip my drinks until they empty. Why? I have no idea, but even with water this because a problem because my bladder fills up quickly and then I have to make innumerable trips to the bathroom. I treat alcohol in a glass like water not because I want to get drunk, but because I don’t realize I am doing this. So, my dangerous habit combined with everyone refilling my drink I get into a vicious cycle that never ends. I can’t stop drinking, but I don’t realize that I am doing it. Solution (and second rule) have either a cup of water or cup of soda along with your beer cup. I can satisfy my constant drinking habit with the soda and not drink too much alcohol. Rule one: ask for beer and rule two: have a non alcoholic drink.
If you have to break rule one (only beer) then you can still maintain sobriety by leaving some sake in your glass. VERY IMPORTANT to leave at least a little. When your Japanese friend sees it empty your glass will be refilled before you can refuse. I think their refilling system kind of works like meerkats. A sentry, “or booze master” also looks out for empty glasses, and this duty seems to shift throughout the night. I am making this up to explain how dangerous drinking with Japanese can be. You are never safely able to finish a glass. BEWARE. I escaped booze disaster my enkai night, but I am lucky that I have played their game before. Making mistakes previously (and bad headaches) enlightened me, and I am now very careful.
The food was absolutely amazing. There was sashimi, tempura, yakiniku, fried fish, edamame, and soup. So, I started with the sashimi of course. I surprised everyone that I could eat everything, and that I like Japanese food. Every time I have mentioned that I like sashimi Japanese people look very impressed. They actually don’t realize that people consume sashimi regularly outside of Japan (which goes to show how egocentric they are). I can tell they don’t believe me when I tell them lots of people eat sashimi in the states. So strange that they can’t imagine foreigners eating Japanese food. Because in my opinion raw fish isn’t that big of a deal. Europeans have traditionally had the smoked salmon, and that is basically raw. Their amazement just reflects the thought that foreigners can’t do or understand Japanese things: food included. So when I used my chopsticks I kept getting, “Oh you are so good with chopstick.” Yes, people in America can use chopsticks. Yes, people in America know about manga and anime. We have heard about some parts of Japanese culture. But, almost everyone knows stereotypical cultural tidbits.
They made a list of questions for me which was by far the most awkward part of the enkai. Some questions asked about my birthday or about what I like about Arikawa. But then they asked me to guess the ages of the male workers. What? The worst part about this was I had forgotten my glasses. My vision significantly hindered my decision making abilities. So this tiny exercise turned into a horrible mistake. There are only five of men in the office and most look around the same age. Since they asked me to do this I didn’t think it was a big deal (after two beers why worry?) and I started selecting. For certain I knew the youngest and the oldest so fill in the rest. But what to do? I had to judge but I couldn’t base my decision on sight because I couldn’t tell easily with visual cues (I was blind after all). I guessed that the vice principal was second oldest because of the age-related hierarchy in business. However, I couldn’t decide for two men how old they were. I guessed the secretary was second youngest and that the assistant director was as old as the principle. ERRRRRR, wrong. The assistant director actually was second youngest. Oops He looks old! Nakamura sensei turned to me and said, “Be careful.” TOO LATE. I had already blundered and I couldn’t take it back. I felt so bad but everyone else thought it was funny. So two huge errors on the night of my enkai: I was late and I made someone (second youngest!) feel really old.
Look through my captions on picasa to see how my weekend went http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/adriene.giese/8_23_09SumoAndNarao?authkey=Gv1sRgCLuwhczj0ObGfg&feat=directlink . I went to an elementary sumo-wrestling tournament and to Narao on the southside of the island to visit Shinju.
Monday, oh joy, a day with none other than my most favorite person on the island! Yup, Toki. Oh my what a day it was. I had great plans for Monday: 8:30-9:30 read linguistic papers on vowels, 9:30-10:30 organize bills and finances, 10:30 – 11:30 continue lesson plans, 11:30- 12:00 blog, 12:00 -12:30 lunch, 12:30- 2:30 med school essays, 2:30- 3:30 study Japanese, 3:30 – 4:15 english board. But my lofty goals suddenly came crashing down when I realized that Monday I had the last half of the day with Toki going to the different elementary schools.
When he showed up he looked flustered. I think, like me, he doesn’t look forward of our time together. In my defense, I really don’t ask him to do very much and he doesn’t tell me anything. I think that he wants to save face, and so he doesn’t enjoy time together because he feels like his English should be better. And it should be in his position. He can’t articulate anything in English to me at all. When he does he often misleads me. So, he just avoids telling me anything at all. For example, he failed inform me that I am also working at kindergartens once a week. But, I had to figure this out for myself and here is how.
We went to the first elementary school Sakiura. At this point I was in a bad mood because I was sitting the car with Toki who smelled like BO and he was making weird breathing noises. It was right after lunch (my down time) and my natural demeanor after lunch tends to fall into the category of sluggish and moody which has nothing to do with Toki. I lack my usual zest. So post-lunch Toki time drags me deeper into a bad state of mind.
At Sakiura he pulled out a schedule to give to the principle, vice principle, and JTE. (WGO) On it, I noticed that new kanji (Japanese characters) appeared at the top of the schedule. He began discussing the schedule while pointing to various circles placed in sections of the spread sheet. I also noticed that new dates appeared that were never on the school schedule I was given. With some consideration I started to realize this new schedule meant I had more dates at these elementary schools and less dates at Arikawa junior high school. Strange. Strange because I have already laid out my schedule (not in stone). So like a responsible employee I asked what the new schedule had to do with me. Oh, I didn’t know? I was going to be working mandatorily with kindergartens. Wait what? Toki hadn’t mentioned anything about three kindergartens before this. Not only that but I am supposed to go to a different kindergarten every Monday and go to the corresponding elementary school that afternoon. I tried to not be upset but I told him in front of the Sakiura people that he hadn’t informed me of this beforehand. Sakiura people looked sympathetic and tried to explain to me my schedule because Toki had failed to do so.
On that day I was furious. I couldn’t believe that he was trying to take advantage of me as an ALT and spread my duties thin. Well, re-read my contract and I do have to work at kindergartens. Also, there is a clause stating that my supervisor can assign me duties that the board of education deems necessary. I don’t think that they will really try and have me do too much, but it is somewhat disconcerting to know that they can make me do whatever they want me to. My understand is the have to make me do extra things during work hours, but in my description they told me I have adult conversation classes. I keep asking Toki when they start and he told me that the adult classes didn’t fit into his job description. Yes they do. His job is to make sure that we are comfortable and taken care of during our time here. Since I have no idea who to contact, wouldn’t it be a good idea for him to call? We figured it out without him, but I am starting to resent his inability to be useful.
On a happy note, the rest of the elementary school visits went well. Everyone boosted my confidence in Japanese (because I could actually understand them unlike Toki) and I got tea at every place. Drinking so much tea nearly made my bladed explode but I love getting refreshments everywhere I go.
One last thing, I have decided that I will do the iron man triathlon next summer here in Shinkamigoto. If I can do it I will feel pretty bad ass.
If you are not careful at an enkai, your glass will keep refilling magically. As soon as you take a sip five people rush to grab the closest drink and fill your cup up to the brim, whether your cup is full beer or hard liquor. This brings me to rule number one: stick to beer. Drinking beer ensures that your blood alcohol levels are lower than if you drink nihon-shuu (what we refer to as sake) or sho-yuu (Japanese potato wine). With the first rule in mind, it is possible to avoid disaster because if you are like me, you keep drinking anything that is in front of you. As a habit I will drink anything put in front of my at a restaurant. This started with water, but I absent mindedly sip my drinks until they empty. Why? I have no idea, but even with water this because a problem because my bladder fills up quickly and then I have to make innumerable trips to the bathroom. I treat alcohol in a glass like water not because I want to get drunk, but because I don’t realize I am doing this. So, my dangerous habit combined with everyone refilling my drink I get into a vicious cycle that never ends. I can’t stop drinking, but I don’t realize that I am doing it. Solution (and second rule) have either a cup of water or cup of soda along with your beer cup. I can satisfy my constant drinking habit with the soda and not drink too much alcohol. Rule one: ask for beer and rule two: have a non alcoholic drink.
If you have to break rule one (only beer) then you can still maintain sobriety by leaving some sake in your glass. VERY IMPORTANT to leave at least a little. When your Japanese friend sees it empty your glass will be refilled before you can refuse. I think their refilling system kind of works like meerkats. A sentry, “or booze master” also looks out for empty glasses, and this duty seems to shift throughout the night. I am making this up to explain how dangerous drinking with Japanese can be. You are never safely able to finish a glass. BEWARE. I escaped booze disaster my enkai night, but I am lucky that I have played their game before. Making mistakes previously (and bad headaches) enlightened me, and I am now very careful.
The food was absolutely amazing. There was sashimi, tempura, yakiniku, fried fish, edamame, and soup. So, I started with the sashimi of course. I surprised everyone that I could eat everything, and that I like Japanese food. Every time I have mentioned that I like sashimi Japanese people look very impressed. They actually don’t realize that people consume sashimi regularly outside of Japan (which goes to show how egocentric they are). I can tell they don’t believe me when I tell them lots of people eat sashimi in the states. So strange that they can’t imagine foreigners eating Japanese food. Because in my opinion raw fish isn’t that big of a deal. Europeans have traditionally had the smoked salmon, and that is basically raw. Their amazement just reflects the thought that foreigners can’t do or understand Japanese things: food included. So when I used my chopsticks I kept getting, “Oh you are so good with chopstick.” Yes, people in America can use chopsticks. Yes, people in America know about manga and anime. We have heard about some parts of Japanese culture. But, almost everyone knows stereotypical cultural tidbits.
They made a list of questions for me which was by far the most awkward part of the enkai. Some questions asked about my birthday or about what I like about Arikawa. But then they asked me to guess the ages of the male workers. What? The worst part about this was I had forgotten my glasses. My vision significantly hindered my decision making abilities. So this tiny exercise turned into a horrible mistake. There are only five of men in the office and most look around the same age. Since they asked me to do this I didn’t think it was a big deal (after two beers why worry?) and I started selecting. For certain I knew the youngest and the oldest so fill in the rest. But what to do? I had to judge but I couldn’t base my decision on sight because I couldn’t tell easily with visual cues (I was blind after all). I guessed that the vice principal was second oldest because of the age-related hierarchy in business. However, I couldn’t decide for two men how old they were. I guessed the secretary was second youngest and that the assistant director was as old as the principle. ERRRRRR, wrong. The assistant director actually was second youngest. Oops He looks old! Nakamura sensei turned to me and said, “Be careful.” TOO LATE. I had already blundered and I couldn’t take it back. I felt so bad but everyone else thought it was funny. So two huge errors on the night of my enkai: I was late and I made someone (second youngest!) feel really old.
Look through my captions on picasa to see how my weekend went http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/adriene.giese/8_23_09SumoAndNarao?authkey=Gv1sRgCLuwhczj0ObGfg&feat=directlink . I went to an elementary sumo-wrestling tournament and to Narao on the southside of the island to visit Shinju.
Monday, oh joy, a day with none other than my most favorite person on the island! Yup, Toki. Oh my what a day it was. I had great plans for Monday: 8:30-9:30 read linguistic papers on vowels, 9:30-10:30 organize bills and finances, 10:30 – 11:30 continue lesson plans, 11:30- 12:00 blog, 12:00 -12:30 lunch, 12:30- 2:30 med school essays, 2:30- 3:30 study Japanese, 3:30 – 4:15 english board. But my lofty goals suddenly came crashing down when I realized that Monday I had the last half of the day with Toki going to the different elementary schools.
When he showed up he looked flustered. I think, like me, he doesn’t look forward of our time together. In my defense, I really don’t ask him to do very much and he doesn’t tell me anything. I think that he wants to save face, and so he doesn’t enjoy time together because he feels like his English should be better. And it should be in his position. He can’t articulate anything in English to me at all. When he does he often misleads me. So, he just avoids telling me anything at all. For example, he failed inform me that I am also working at kindergartens once a week. But, I had to figure this out for myself and here is how.
We went to the first elementary school Sakiura. At this point I was in a bad mood because I was sitting the car with Toki who smelled like BO and he was making weird breathing noises. It was right after lunch (my down time) and my natural demeanor after lunch tends to fall into the category of sluggish and moody which has nothing to do with Toki. I lack my usual zest. So post-lunch Toki time drags me deeper into a bad state of mind.
At Sakiura he pulled out a schedule to give to the principle, vice principle, and JTE. (WGO) On it, I noticed that new kanji (Japanese characters) appeared at the top of the schedule. He began discussing the schedule while pointing to various circles placed in sections of the spread sheet. I also noticed that new dates appeared that were never on the school schedule I was given. With some consideration I started to realize this new schedule meant I had more dates at these elementary schools and less dates at Arikawa junior high school. Strange. Strange because I have already laid out my schedule (not in stone). So like a responsible employee I asked what the new schedule had to do with me. Oh, I didn’t know? I was going to be working mandatorily with kindergartens. Wait what? Toki hadn’t mentioned anything about three kindergartens before this. Not only that but I am supposed to go to a different kindergarten every Monday and go to the corresponding elementary school that afternoon. I tried to not be upset but I told him in front of the Sakiura people that he hadn’t informed me of this beforehand. Sakiura people looked sympathetic and tried to explain to me my schedule because Toki had failed to do so.
On that day I was furious. I couldn’t believe that he was trying to take advantage of me as an ALT and spread my duties thin. Well, re-read my contract and I do have to work at kindergartens. Also, there is a clause stating that my supervisor can assign me duties that the board of education deems necessary. I don’t think that they will really try and have me do too much, but it is somewhat disconcerting to know that they can make me do whatever they want me to. My understand is the have to make me do extra things during work hours, but in my description they told me I have adult conversation classes. I keep asking Toki when they start and he told me that the adult classes didn’t fit into his job description. Yes they do. His job is to make sure that we are comfortable and taken care of during our time here. Since I have no idea who to contact, wouldn’t it be a good idea for him to call? We figured it out without him, but I am starting to resent his inability to be useful.
On a happy note, the rest of the elementary school visits went well. Everyone boosted my confidence in Japanese (because I could actually understand them unlike Toki) and I got tea at every place. Drinking so much tea nearly made my bladed explode but I love getting refreshments everywhere I go.
One last thing, I have decided that I will do the iron man triathlon next summer here in Shinkamigoto. If I can do it I will feel pretty bad ass.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
WGO's
I don’t want anyone to think that I am complaining all the time. However, what stands out to me usually has some type of culture shock value. The more I am here the more I realize how American I am.
For instance, a Japanese person will complain about the heat while wearing long gloves that go up to their elbows. But they sacrifice temperature to make sure they don’t tan. So different from America where most people try to take advantage of any sun available. I remember this summer I tried so hard to get tan (with little result), but in Japan women want to be paler. Women in particular apply bleach creams and wear sleeves in order to look sexier for member of the opposite sex. From my point of view I think it is crazy because I associate pale with sickly, but they associate pale with beauty. Well I guess many Japanese men will find me sexy because I can’t get tan even if I want to. One point on the Japanese attractiveness scale for Adriene, but many points deducted for not being petite. Don’t worry I am not calling myself “fat” but honestly even the bigger Japanese girls are smaller than me.
So about this week. Well, how should I put it…I feel like a blind person being led by a group of mutes who point to things but forget about my condition: I can’t see the direction they’re pointing. I don’t understand what happens most of the time and no one really takes time to fill me in. One mute, not hard to guess, is Toki-san, and the others are my colleagues at school. Toki-san (god bless his soul) still hasn’t been able to fully inform me about events. Either he forgets or assumes I know, but none-the-less there’s lots of miscommunication. For instance, he failed to tell me about a meeting I had yesterday. So, I had made plans to take a day of summer vacation and scuba dive. But, he called on Wednesday to “remind” me. Well Nakamura-sensei tried to help and asked to cancel it, but apparently it couldn’t be. Something something about my elementary school teachers? They would come to my school? And Nakamura sensei was also surprised I didn’t know and thought that she had told me. Furthermore they tried to blame it on me by saying that it said “clearly” (in complicated Japanese characters) on a sheet that I had an appointment. How was I supposed to figure that out? Toki-san, seriously, inform me! In the end Nakamura sensei apologized and told me that I should have been told in advance. So I rescheduled with Nice Buddy for next week, but I still felt horrible about cancelling so suddenly.
Yesterday when I expected to be greeted by the principles at my school, a BOE (board of education) member came to pick me up. Huh, what? And when I got to the BOE Kelly, Shinju, and Robin were all waiting. They had the same questions as me, “What are we doing here? Where are the principles?” Soon we found out it was literally a five minute meeting. The “meeting” of the elementary school principles ended being an introduction in front of all the principles of not just my school but all of the others as well. So no meeting. It looked like a UN conference the way the tables were set up in this gym. Individual tables were lined up in three columns and each table had a name plate of the school. Arikawa elementary school principle happened to be seated right in front of where I was told to stand. We all stood in a line (the four of us ALTs) and each stepped forward to give our introduction. My day of scuba cancelled for, “Hello, My name is Adriene, I like sports, I studied linguistics in college, thank you very much.” But, Japanese are very much into ceremony so it makes sense why this was so important. To me, it seemed unnecessary, but I have a lot to learn about the importance of self introductions. I have given but each time Toki-san reads our information first so why do we have to repeat everything?
The same thing happened when meeting the board of education and the mayor. The BOE meetings basically reflected the principle meeting (but the BOE meeting happened first). Like I described earlier, when all of us ALTs gather we couldn’t predict what to expect. Toki-san never told us to prepare a self-introduction. Metaphorically, my blindness prevented the sight to see his mute gesturing. Toki-san might have told me beforehand, but when he gets nervous he starts speaking in really fast Japanese. Fast complicated Japanese that I just don’t understand yet. Funny enough he even does this to Kelly even though he knows that she can’t understand any Japanese.
I am going to title my unknowing moments as WGO’s (what’s going on?). Well another WGO just happened sitting at my desk writing my blog. All of a sudden students flooded in an all the teachers told me to clean. Cleaning time! What? And this morning when I walked into another WGO when all the teachers rushed out of the teacher’s lounge and they told me there was a school assembly. Why can’t I get a schedule? I am so confused. Yesterday I was getting ready to leave when all the teachers walked outside and told me it was time to pick grass on the brick driveway in front of the school. WGO? Mind you, I had dressed nicely that day in preparation of my meeting the principles and so my outfit was hardly suited for gardening. They gave me a bent thick wire and set me to work using this wire to dig weeds out of the cracks. Any heard of weed killer? I guess not. During this weed hooking I almost got bit by a mukade! Dangerous and poisonous, mukades are the Japanese centipede.
No gloves and without regard, I reached for a small weed. As soon as I touched a leaf a mukade about four inches long furiously scurried out from its hiding place! I screamed, and everyone of course turned towards me. I yelled, “MUKADE!” And several teachers ran over asking if I had been bitten. Luckily I escaped the poisonous bite. My brave JTE Takase sensei crushed the mukade with her foot. But that thing wouldn’t die. She had to step on it at least five times with powerful blows before it stopped moving. My life had flashed before my eyes and my heart started beating out of my chest. I wish I could explain how much I fear the mukade. Even though that was the first time I saw one, I don’t want to be bitten. I live in fear of them and as such I shake out my shoes every morning and I shake out my sheets. Better safe than sorry. But, I had not expected the mukade to come charging from under a small weed. I have to be even more careful than I thought. I live in fear.
Meeting the mayor was formal, but relaxed. He had us sit down, gave us delicious tea and presents. Cute little whale key chains and his card. Each card had a different place on the island with Catholic significance. I think he told us that he would take us by boat to a place called Saint Maria cave on the island. Missing my opportunity to ask about where I can go to church, I hope he does take us by boat so I can ask him again.
One more WGO. Preface- toki-san told us all to dress formally for the day’s events. After the two meetings on Wednesday we had our enkai (party). Usually this takes place at a restaurant, so we didn’t feel the need to change out of our clothes. Toki drove us to a place I am calling nowhere. At this nowhere we got out of the car and he handed us things from his trunk. OH, a BBQ! Finally we understood why we drove away from civilization, our enkai was a BBQ not at a restaurant. So at nowhere we climbed a steep staircase and ended up on the most beautiful hill and the perfect time of day when the sun cast a beautiful warm glow over everything. Dragon flies darted around our heads and we could see all the way to the neighboring island Ojika. Beautiful, but wrong. Are you surprised that Toki-san couldn’t get us to the right place? Soon he herded us back down the mountain and this time made it to the BBQ area.
Soon all the other BOE people showed up. And they all wore casual clothes and jeans. It was a BBQ of course. Oh Toki-san. Outside in formal wear was not my idea of a good time. I didn’t want to ruin my pants! Well I guess we couldn’t have changed if we wanted to because Toki-san didn’t tell us to bring an extra change of clothes.
My life continues to be one big WGO right now, constantly. Maybe I’ll catch on, but I feel like things will continually happen that I don’t expect. Either people don’t bother explaining because they feel like we won’t understand or they assume that our American social pragmatics match Japanese ones.
For instance, a Japanese person will complain about the heat while wearing long gloves that go up to their elbows. But they sacrifice temperature to make sure they don’t tan. So different from America where most people try to take advantage of any sun available. I remember this summer I tried so hard to get tan (with little result), but in Japan women want to be paler. Women in particular apply bleach creams and wear sleeves in order to look sexier for member of the opposite sex. From my point of view I think it is crazy because I associate pale with sickly, but they associate pale with beauty. Well I guess many Japanese men will find me sexy because I can’t get tan even if I want to. One point on the Japanese attractiveness scale for Adriene, but many points deducted for not being petite. Don’t worry I am not calling myself “fat” but honestly even the bigger Japanese girls are smaller than me.
So about this week. Well, how should I put it…I feel like a blind person being led by a group of mutes who point to things but forget about my condition: I can’t see the direction they’re pointing. I don’t understand what happens most of the time and no one really takes time to fill me in. One mute, not hard to guess, is Toki-san, and the others are my colleagues at school. Toki-san (god bless his soul) still hasn’t been able to fully inform me about events. Either he forgets or assumes I know, but none-the-less there’s lots of miscommunication. For instance, he failed to tell me about a meeting I had yesterday. So, I had made plans to take a day of summer vacation and scuba dive. But, he called on Wednesday to “remind” me. Well Nakamura-sensei tried to help and asked to cancel it, but apparently it couldn’t be. Something something about my elementary school teachers? They would come to my school? And Nakamura sensei was also surprised I didn’t know and thought that she had told me. Furthermore they tried to blame it on me by saying that it said “clearly” (in complicated Japanese characters) on a sheet that I had an appointment. How was I supposed to figure that out? Toki-san, seriously, inform me! In the end Nakamura sensei apologized and told me that I should have been told in advance. So I rescheduled with Nice Buddy for next week, but I still felt horrible about cancelling so suddenly.
Yesterday when I expected to be greeted by the principles at my school, a BOE (board of education) member came to pick me up. Huh, what? And when I got to the BOE Kelly, Shinju, and Robin were all waiting. They had the same questions as me, “What are we doing here? Where are the principles?” Soon we found out it was literally a five minute meeting. The “meeting” of the elementary school principles ended being an introduction in front of all the principles of not just my school but all of the others as well. So no meeting. It looked like a UN conference the way the tables were set up in this gym. Individual tables were lined up in three columns and each table had a name plate of the school. Arikawa elementary school principle happened to be seated right in front of where I was told to stand. We all stood in a line (the four of us ALTs) and each stepped forward to give our introduction. My day of scuba cancelled for, “Hello, My name is Adriene, I like sports, I studied linguistics in college, thank you very much.” But, Japanese are very much into ceremony so it makes sense why this was so important. To me, it seemed unnecessary, but I have a lot to learn about the importance of self introductions. I have given but each time Toki-san reads our information first so why do we have to repeat everything?
The same thing happened when meeting the board of education and the mayor. The BOE meetings basically reflected the principle meeting (but the BOE meeting happened first). Like I described earlier, when all of us ALTs gather we couldn’t predict what to expect. Toki-san never told us to prepare a self-introduction. Metaphorically, my blindness prevented the sight to see his mute gesturing. Toki-san might have told me beforehand, but when he gets nervous he starts speaking in really fast Japanese. Fast complicated Japanese that I just don’t understand yet. Funny enough he even does this to Kelly even though he knows that she can’t understand any Japanese.
I am going to title my unknowing moments as WGO’s (what’s going on?). Well another WGO just happened sitting at my desk writing my blog. All of a sudden students flooded in an all the teachers told me to clean. Cleaning time! What? And this morning when I walked into another WGO when all the teachers rushed out of the teacher’s lounge and they told me there was a school assembly. Why can’t I get a schedule? I am so confused. Yesterday I was getting ready to leave when all the teachers walked outside and told me it was time to pick grass on the brick driveway in front of the school. WGO? Mind you, I had dressed nicely that day in preparation of my meeting the principles and so my outfit was hardly suited for gardening. They gave me a bent thick wire and set me to work using this wire to dig weeds out of the cracks. Any heard of weed killer? I guess not. During this weed hooking I almost got bit by a mukade! Dangerous and poisonous, mukades are the Japanese centipede.
No gloves and without regard, I reached for a small weed. As soon as I touched a leaf a mukade about four inches long furiously scurried out from its hiding place! I screamed, and everyone of course turned towards me. I yelled, “MUKADE!” And several teachers ran over asking if I had been bitten. Luckily I escaped the poisonous bite. My brave JTE Takase sensei crushed the mukade with her foot. But that thing wouldn’t die. She had to step on it at least five times with powerful blows before it stopped moving. My life had flashed before my eyes and my heart started beating out of my chest. I wish I could explain how much I fear the mukade. Even though that was the first time I saw one, I don’t want to be bitten. I live in fear of them and as such I shake out my shoes every morning and I shake out my sheets. Better safe than sorry. But, I had not expected the mukade to come charging from under a small weed. I have to be even more careful than I thought. I live in fear.
Meeting the mayor was formal, but relaxed. He had us sit down, gave us delicious tea and presents. Cute little whale key chains and his card. Each card had a different place on the island with Catholic significance. I think he told us that he would take us by boat to a place called Saint Maria cave on the island. Missing my opportunity to ask about where I can go to church, I hope he does take us by boat so I can ask him again.
One more WGO. Preface- toki-san told us all to dress formally for the day’s events. After the two meetings on Wednesday we had our enkai (party). Usually this takes place at a restaurant, so we didn’t feel the need to change out of our clothes. Toki drove us to a place I am calling nowhere. At this nowhere we got out of the car and he handed us things from his trunk. OH, a BBQ! Finally we understood why we drove away from civilization, our enkai was a BBQ not at a restaurant. So at nowhere we climbed a steep staircase and ended up on the most beautiful hill and the perfect time of day when the sun cast a beautiful warm glow over everything. Dragon flies darted around our heads and we could see all the way to the neighboring island Ojika. Beautiful, but wrong. Are you surprised that Toki-san couldn’t get us to the right place? Soon he herded us back down the mountain and this time made it to the BBQ area.
Soon all the other BOE people showed up. And they all wore casual clothes and jeans. It was a BBQ of course. Oh Toki-san. Outside in formal wear was not my idea of a good time. I didn’t want to ruin my pants! Well I guess we couldn’t have changed if we wanted to because Toki-san didn’t tell us to bring an extra change of clothes.
My life continues to be one big WGO right now, constantly. Maybe I’ll catch on, but I feel like things will continually happen that I don’t expect. Either people don’t bother explaining because they feel like we won’t understand or they assume that our American social pragmatics match Japanese ones.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
obon festival
All of Japan celebrates Obon because the festival has deep Buddhism roots now engrained in mainstream culture. During Obon people visit graves and remember their ancestors by lighting incense, pouring sake on the graves (this is because the people liked sake in life), and giving freshly cut flowers. Most places in Japan make Obon a subdued and personal event including only members of the family. But Nagasaki does things a bit bigger. Obon happens to be the biggest festival in Nagasaki only second to New Years. People parade huge boat looking carts lit with lanterns through the street. Each boat carries the ancestors and recently passed family members and friends. Communities spend months preparing their floats to parade through the streets of Nagasaki. And each time the boat stops, a handful of very loud fireworks are dropped onto the ground. These fireworks are the type that make loud noises but not much light. Believe me, the noise rose to such unbearable decibels that we all had to wear earplugs. I’ll go into more detail about this later.
Careful planning ensured that I could make it to Nagasaki last weekend. And, I just barely made it. I had to go the long way through Sasebo. I chose this route because the Sasebo ferry is walk distance from my house, and because it is one of the cheaper routes to Nagasaki. On the downside, this route takes forever, but on the upside I get to see the beautiful country side. And it was a perfect day for taking the long scenic route. Finally the sun had come out – it has been pretty cloudy most of the time here – and made all the colors intense and vibrant. Reminding me of my high school Coaster days, I loved seeing the sea from my window of the train. It was a good relaxing break before all of the excitement in Nagasaki.
Before I get ahead of myself I should describe the ferry. There were no seats. When I walked inside there were only four sections of carpet elevated from the main aisle. Since I am in Japan, everyone took off their shoes before stepping up onto the carpet. I should have foreseen this event – removal of the shoes – but alas I did not. I had sprinkled a hefty amount of Gold Bond into my shoes in preparation of the hot humid Nagasaki weather. At first I had just sprinkled it in the shoes, but upon further consideration I felt that a bigger more ample amount would prevent foot odor. And those of you who have used Gold Bond know that it is very fine white powder, and in this instance completely covered my feet. Although a great idea to prevent foot odor, it wasn’t such a great idea when confronted with taking off my shoes. I nearly had a panic attack when I saw I had to remove my shoes because they would leave a white powder trail. So I devised a plan. First I pulled out the Japanese hand towel I carry with me at all times and then I stepped out of my shoes but stayed standing on them. My next move was pretty brilliant. I fumbled with my purse and “accidently” dropped it on my feet – oopsies - giving me enough time to quickly whisk away my powered feet. Crisis averted. I managed to avoid a foot power trail onto the burgundy carpeting.
Oddly reminiscent of pictures I have seen of immigrants coming to America, everyone picked a spot on the floor, picked up a complementary blanket and either went to sleep or watched TV. So I followed suit and wedged my way between two Japanese teenagers that had already fallen asleep (we had literally just bored the ferry). Japanese people can fall asleep anywhere! Last time I came to Japan I had the problem of people falling asleep on me riding home on the train. I would have to elbow them, or their head would be resting in my lap. Surprisingly they always woke up right before their stop. Japanese magic. But, to go back to the ferry. The teenagers were asleep next to me and I had barely enough room to spread out my feet while leaning on the wall. Luckily I got a wall spot, however, my feet dangerously were situated next to the head of a mother and son sleeping in the middle section of the carpet. The mother kept looking up at my feet, and I expected that something was wrong with them. So, I checked my feet: fine. Even though there were no traces of white powder she kept looking uncomfortable. So I have no idea if my feet were ugly, if I was in her space, or if it was the fact that I am a foreigner. None the less this made me really uncomfortable. Lesson learned from my ferry experience: don’t put on gold bond, wear socks instead, and be the first one to board the ferry so you can claim territory instead of invading other people’s. Besides my turmoil, we sailed smoothly to Sasebo.
The plan in Nagasaki was to meet up with ALTs from the Nagasaki prefecture and enjoy the Obon festival. Thankfully, Emily – a friend I met at orientation – so kindly allowed me to stay at her place for the night. She boarded so many ALTs for the weekend at her place that we all joked that she was running a mini hostel. Although Emily technically resides in Nagasaki city, her place is more of a suburb. Let me tell you, her area is nice and is without a doubt more affluent than my area in Arikawa. Drum roll…she even has a dryer in her apartment. Surprising, I know, that I am worked up about a dryer, but hardly anyone own a dryer in Japan. Basically, owning a dryer is unheard of, and Emily is the only ALT I know that owns one. Lucky! On the bright side, I am saving electricity. From what I understand her predecessor had a Japanese girl friend who elevated the apartment to a Japanese cleanliness and organizational standard. So, Emily doesn’t really have to do much in terms of cleaning or re-decorating, except for the shower. The shower works and is nice, but it is odd. Cranking a handle is the only way to generate heat. I am not sure how this works, but I do know that it is loud and more complicated that just turning on the faucet. Some areas in Japanese technology are first rate…while other sectors of technology seem to fail to catch up (air-conditioners!).
In total, five guests stayed at her apartment for the two nights I stayed there. It was crowded, but I got to sleep on a futon, and can fall asleep almost anywhere (like a Japanese person) so I was fine.
Walking to school today (10 mins) was so much hotter than usually. All I wanted was to get into the air conditioned teachers room, collapse and complain to other teachers how hot it is. Even though it is hot every day, without fail everyone says, “Atsui ne?,” meaning, “It’s hot right?” To which everyone responds, “hai sugoku atsui yo,” roughly translated, “Yeah, so freakin hot.” Today I expected the same circumstances because usually at school when I walk in through the door I only see maybe five – at most – teachers sitting in their desks. But today EVERYONE was there. Strange. I walked into a meeting, of which I had not been informed of that had clearly been going on since before my start time. I guess they figure I lack the language skills to understand the meeting. True, however, being employed by the school I want to know when teacher events are taking place. My goal is to slowly inform the teachers that I want to be included in these meetings. Nakamura sensei gave me a piece of paper and explained that there are meetings all day, and that I should just use my computer.
Back to Nagasaki. I bought a yukatta which looks like a kimono, but instead of silk it is made of cotton and commonly worn at festivals. Picking one out proved to be difficult! The patterns and the colors are important because the way I see it, a yukatta is a reflection of your personality. Because my yukatta has bright colors and a bold pattern I would say that my yukatta reflects my outgoing and fun nature. Without realizing it, I picked a very islandy looking one and I heightened that aspect by wearing a flower right above one of my ears. So cute, right?
I bought a yukatta – it’s always good to have one living in Japan – mostly because all the ALTs planned to wear yukatta the night of the 15th (the big day of the festival). Traditionally Japanese wear yukatta for festivals, and so we felt that Obon festival gave us an excuse to wear our yukatta and fit in at the festival.
Yeah, we did look cute but we were far from fitting in. Where were the yukattas? As soon as we boarded the bus we realized that no one wore a yukatta. At first I thought that people during Obon – a somber event – don’t wear yukatta. We later learned many people didn’t wear yukatta because they were afraid that it would rain and ruin the cloth. But, we didn’t learn this until the next day. Can’t you imagine how we looked at Obon? Not only were there the six ALTs staying at Emily’s house, but three more girls met up with us so that we could all help each other put on the yukatta. In total, we had a group composed of all foreigners: eight girls all in bright colored yukattas and one guy in a traditional jinbe.
We stood out like a sore thumb. Some of the people couldn’t stop staring, and people started taking pictures of us. Immediately I thought since Obon festival remembers departed souls, we somehow dressed inappropriately. And I felt like I had worn a bright yellow sun dress to a funeral. Like, a good gainjin I decided to roll with the punches and play into the stupid foreigner card. Although people usually wear yukatta at Bon, as I have mentioned the weather played into the decision for most people not to wear a yukatta on this day. Japanese pay very close attention to weather related events and seasons. For instance, if it is winter everyone wears a jacket; temperature is irrelevant to the clothing choice. But, in the case of rain – if there is a slight chance – people don’t want to ruin yukatta so no one wears one. Essentially we stood out because we – like unknowing gaijin – decided to wear our yukatta anyway. What I am trying to explain is that if it had been clear weather we wouldn’t have stood out, but since there was a chance of rain all the Japanese people couldn’t believe we risked wearing our yukatta. But, I am glad we did because I had so much fun!
The boat floats were everywhere. Even throughout the day people began walking their boats through every part of the city on the way toward the downtown area. You couldn’t miss the boats at any time during the day. At every stop people lit the firework, altering everyone in the surrounding area of their presence. During my visit to the Peace Park (the hypocenter of the A-bomb) I couldn’t miss the loud popping noises in the distance, and I caught my first glimpse of the group of matching men in jinbe surrounding the float. Along with the fireworks kids led the procession by banging on a gong. Everyone had a role in each group. A couple people lit fireworks in front and behind the float, some people banged on the gong, and depending on the size of the float an equal amount of men (usually men) lined either side of the float and push the cart forward.
Before I get to ahead of myself, I should talk a bit about the Peace Park and museum. As an American, I feel a certain draw to understand the history (even if it is dark) between Japan and America. Even though I feel a certain personal magnetic pull to visit both A-bomb sites, at the same time I feel a cultural push and expectation to visit the hypocenter of the bomb. I can’t explain my reasoning for this, but I know that other Americans feel the same way. If I ignored the A-bomb site and museum, it is almost like scoffing at and ignoring the horrible events that took place on August 9th at 11:02 A.M. in Nagasaki. When I visit (especially during Obon) I feel like I am giving my respects to all of the lives lost as a result of the A-bomb (around 130,000 people died). But maybe more importantly, by visiting I want to show that I am an advocate of peace, and that I am not afraid to acknowledge the destruction and learn from the personal experiences of bomb survivors.
Unlike Hiroshima, Nagasaki attempted an objective approach. Of course it is almost impossible to achieve this when your city is only one of two in the world destroyed by an atomic bomb, but they were objective considering their fate. Hiroshima tried to question why the bomb had to be dropped on a city, why there had to be a second bomb dropped, why did they drop it against the scientists of the Manhattan project’s wills, why did they choose these specific targets, why weren’t the cities warned prior to the drops,etc. Interestingly Hiroshima made a good point that the choice had personal ties. For instance, one general refused to have a bomb dropped on Kyoto since he spent his honeymoon there. But, Nagasaki left out information like this because arguably that story might not be as concretely true as Hiroshima insists. Instead, Nagasaki focused on personal stories and events, and talked specifically about the stages of the bomb. That is, how hot temperatures rose at certain distances from the hypocenter and how powerful the blast was. Many bottles, roof tiles, and trees showed the bubbling caused by the intense heat. Many stories and personal items filled the museum. Some sections informed museum goers about stages of radiation and showed graphic pictures of skin burned off and keloid scars.
All the pictures of the burn victims almost brought me to tears. Even now when thinking about how many people suffered, upsets me. Perhaps the item that stood out to me the most was a lunch box of a school girl. Displayed under the picture of the girl, this lunch box still had all of the food items intact, but was completely charred. Essentially the lunch box had been preserved like a time capsule and even individual grains of rice could still be seen. Right now I am having a hard time describing how it affected me so deeply. Maybe because I started to think about how unknowingly this school girl sat at her desk thinking about her regular day and how soon (around 11 o’clock) she would finally get some lunch. Of course made this up in my head, but I started thinking about how so many people had no idea what would happen, and how instantaneously some many lives disintegrated. They hadn’t been able to find this girl; the only thing that remained of her on that day was her lunch box with her name engraved on the bottom. It was a piece of her on that day almost perfectly preserved, and a memory that her life had been unknowingly swept away. I hope that explains my jumble of thoughts. I find it so difficult to describe, and so I encourage anyone who gets a chance to visit the Nagasaki A-bomb museum to truly make an effort to understand that peace is necessary so that no A-bomb will be dropped again.
On a lighter note, Obon exceeded my expectations. The atmosphere and excitement truly affected everyone around the festival. All the roads downtown had been shut down for the parade of boats, and in some spots the only lights came from the lanterns on the boats themselves. Tons of people lined the street on both sides and tons of fireworks exploded in the middle of the street. I have never seen as much litter in Japan until the night of Obon. Since people discarded firework box where ever the street was barely visible under the mounds of trash. So strange to see in Japan, but it made it all the more exciting and different than any other Japan experience I have had. Instead of me explaining forever what the floats looked like, look at the pictures for youself (the link is on an older post). Experiencing Obon in Nagasaki was worth it, even though it was expensive!
Planning my trip back didn’t go too well. I had just enough, again, to make it back to Shinkamigoto on the fast boat. Bad decision. Unfortunately the fast boat is not only expensive, but pretty far from my house. I had the idea that I could catch a bus from Taonora (where the boat lands in Shinkamigoto) regardless of the fact that I didn’t look up the schedule. Also, I wore jeans that day – really bad decision in this heat – because someone told me I would need jeans to protect myself from the ground fireworks at Obon. To my disadvantage on this exceptionally hot day, they were my only set of clean clothes. Since I thought I could take a bus back home, wearing jeans didn’t seem too stupid. But, it was. Let me tell you, skinny jeans in humid heat makes for a miserable 1.5 mile hike while carrying duffle bags.
Upon arriving in Taonora I was informed that the last bus of the day just departed ten minutes ago. What to do? Not having enough money for a taxi, I opted to walk in my jeans on this hot hot day all the way back to my house. Carrying my bags I set off in the direction – I hoped – was Arikawa. Thankfully it was, but it took me a good hour and ten minutes to finally reach my destination! And, another problem I faced was figuring out how to get to Nice Buddy later that night for a BBQ they invited me to. I didn’t have anyone’s number from Nice Buddy because I had just gotten my phone on Thursday. But fate was on my side! Thankfully after all my misfortunes of the day, I ran into Natsun – one of the owner of Nice Buddy – on the walk home. If I hadn’t I think I would have collapsed on my bed and not been able to make it all the way to the BBQ. After exchanging numbers and explaining my situation she offered a ride later in the day. Halleluiah!
I won’t go into details of the BBQ, but instead focus on what’s interesting. I ate sheep, goat, sea snail, and beef. Funny, but true, goat kinda tastes like how they smell. Taste wise, I haven’t made up my mind whether I actually liked it or not. And raw goat meat tasted better than when cooked. At first I thought they were playing a trick on my and trying to get me to eat a raw meat that I shouldn’t. So I had them eat the raw goat first. They did, so I did. And it was delicious! Raw goat is tasty, but raw sea snail not so much. I happened to eat some raw sea snail sashimi in Nagasaki. It looked like the multicolored gizzards of a chicken with boogers all over it, and I think it tasted pretty much how it looked. And it was so incredibly slimly I had a hard time handling it with my chopstick. Instead of gracefully placing it in my mouth, I had to scoop it in. In my mouth the booger sack burst open and a flood of extremely mushy cream of wheat textured goo poured out. Delicious. Joking, because seriously it was nasty. Cooked sea snail actually tastes good, but it is just one of those things that shouldn’t be eaten raw. So adding goat and sea snail onto the list of sashimi, I have also added cooked sheep (I have eaten lamb, but full grown is different) onto my new foods list. I really like.
*Hahaha, there is a break between meetings and people started taking about how hot it is, and when the heat will end.
Sheep in Japanese is pronounced jingesukan, which sounds an awful lot like Ghengis Khan the Mongol conqueror. So they kept talking about how we were going to eat Ghengis Khan, and I didn’t understand. And I kept asking why they said we were eating a Mongol. It took forever to explain what I meant, but towards the end of the night everyone started calling the sheep monguru-jin (Mongolian person).
I really like the whole Nice Buddy family! Techan and Natsun have three kids: two girls and one boy. And the girls are interested in talking to Robin and me. I think they want to learn English from us, and I figure that my free English lessons are in exchange for the extra benefits (like dinner) that Nice Buddy has given me. The little boy (8 years old) keeps showing me all the bugs he catches. Here in Japan little boys catch a certain type of beetle. The more you have the cooler you are. Techan keeps calling his soon “hero” because he has so many bugs, and explained that he is a really manly cool little boy for catching these beetles (they are not dangerous) and so they call him a hero for it. I think that they look really nasty, but I am not a huge fan of bugs in general. But, every time I go to Nice Buddy the little boy shows me his beetle collection because he keeps them in a tank like pets. Last time he showed me almost all of the bugs in one of the terrariums had died, and he didn’t seem too upset. I told him all had died, but he assured me that there were live ones at the bottom of the sod. So he dug through the layers of dead beetles and moist sod to prove that in fact live beetles did escape death. Gross.
After my dive on Monday night, Nastun served me dinner at Nice Buddy. I sat there for a good while trying to explain the pronunciation difference between frog and flag. When it comes to pronunciation my linguistic training comes as an advantage.
*Best time ever at work. I went out of the teacher’s lounge to go to the bathroom, and what do I hear but Thriller playing the background. So I went over to investigate and almost all of the third year students were practicing the dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video! So cool to see all of the students doing this dance. They told me that they are practicing for sports day where they are all going to perform the dance together. Some taught me some of the moves, and I started to join in and practice with them. So much fun!
I’ll write about meeting the mayor tomorrow. I have already written so much!
Careful planning ensured that I could make it to Nagasaki last weekend. And, I just barely made it. I had to go the long way through Sasebo. I chose this route because the Sasebo ferry is walk distance from my house, and because it is one of the cheaper routes to Nagasaki. On the downside, this route takes forever, but on the upside I get to see the beautiful country side. And it was a perfect day for taking the long scenic route. Finally the sun had come out – it has been pretty cloudy most of the time here – and made all the colors intense and vibrant. Reminding me of my high school Coaster days, I loved seeing the sea from my window of the train. It was a good relaxing break before all of the excitement in Nagasaki.
Before I get ahead of myself I should describe the ferry. There were no seats. When I walked inside there were only four sections of carpet elevated from the main aisle. Since I am in Japan, everyone took off their shoes before stepping up onto the carpet. I should have foreseen this event – removal of the shoes – but alas I did not. I had sprinkled a hefty amount of Gold Bond into my shoes in preparation of the hot humid Nagasaki weather. At first I had just sprinkled it in the shoes, but upon further consideration I felt that a bigger more ample amount would prevent foot odor. And those of you who have used Gold Bond know that it is very fine white powder, and in this instance completely covered my feet. Although a great idea to prevent foot odor, it wasn’t such a great idea when confronted with taking off my shoes. I nearly had a panic attack when I saw I had to remove my shoes because they would leave a white powder trail. So I devised a plan. First I pulled out the Japanese hand towel I carry with me at all times and then I stepped out of my shoes but stayed standing on them. My next move was pretty brilliant. I fumbled with my purse and “accidently” dropped it on my feet – oopsies - giving me enough time to quickly whisk away my powered feet. Crisis averted. I managed to avoid a foot power trail onto the burgundy carpeting.
Oddly reminiscent of pictures I have seen of immigrants coming to America, everyone picked a spot on the floor, picked up a complementary blanket and either went to sleep or watched TV. So I followed suit and wedged my way between two Japanese teenagers that had already fallen asleep (we had literally just bored the ferry). Japanese people can fall asleep anywhere! Last time I came to Japan I had the problem of people falling asleep on me riding home on the train. I would have to elbow them, or their head would be resting in my lap. Surprisingly they always woke up right before their stop. Japanese magic. But, to go back to the ferry. The teenagers were asleep next to me and I had barely enough room to spread out my feet while leaning on the wall. Luckily I got a wall spot, however, my feet dangerously were situated next to the head of a mother and son sleeping in the middle section of the carpet. The mother kept looking up at my feet, and I expected that something was wrong with them. So, I checked my feet: fine. Even though there were no traces of white powder she kept looking uncomfortable. So I have no idea if my feet were ugly, if I was in her space, or if it was the fact that I am a foreigner. None the less this made me really uncomfortable. Lesson learned from my ferry experience: don’t put on gold bond, wear socks instead, and be the first one to board the ferry so you can claim territory instead of invading other people’s. Besides my turmoil, we sailed smoothly to Sasebo.
The plan in Nagasaki was to meet up with ALTs from the Nagasaki prefecture and enjoy the Obon festival. Thankfully, Emily – a friend I met at orientation – so kindly allowed me to stay at her place for the night. She boarded so many ALTs for the weekend at her place that we all joked that she was running a mini hostel. Although Emily technically resides in Nagasaki city, her place is more of a suburb. Let me tell you, her area is nice and is without a doubt more affluent than my area in Arikawa. Drum roll…she even has a dryer in her apartment. Surprising, I know, that I am worked up about a dryer, but hardly anyone own a dryer in Japan. Basically, owning a dryer is unheard of, and Emily is the only ALT I know that owns one. Lucky! On the bright side, I am saving electricity. From what I understand her predecessor had a Japanese girl friend who elevated the apartment to a Japanese cleanliness and organizational standard. So, Emily doesn’t really have to do much in terms of cleaning or re-decorating, except for the shower. The shower works and is nice, but it is odd. Cranking a handle is the only way to generate heat. I am not sure how this works, but I do know that it is loud and more complicated that just turning on the faucet. Some areas in Japanese technology are first rate…while other sectors of technology seem to fail to catch up (air-conditioners!).
In total, five guests stayed at her apartment for the two nights I stayed there. It was crowded, but I got to sleep on a futon, and can fall asleep almost anywhere (like a Japanese person) so I was fine.
Walking to school today (10 mins) was so much hotter than usually. All I wanted was to get into the air conditioned teachers room, collapse and complain to other teachers how hot it is. Even though it is hot every day, without fail everyone says, “Atsui ne?,” meaning, “It’s hot right?” To which everyone responds, “hai sugoku atsui yo,” roughly translated, “Yeah, so freakin hot.” Today I expected the same circumstances because usually at school when I walk in through the door I only see maybe five – at most – teachers sitting in their desks. But today EVERYONE was there. Strange. I walked into a meeting, of which I had not been informed of that had clearly been going on since before my start time. I guess they figure I lack the language skills to understand the meeting. True, however, being employed by the school I want to know when teacher events are taking place. My goal is to slowly inform the teachers that I want to be included in these meetings. Nakamura sensei gave me a piece of paper and explained that there are meetings all day, and that I should just use my computer.
Back to Nagasaki. I bought a yukatta which looks like a kimono, but instead of silk it is made of cotton and commonly worn at festivals. Picking one out proved to be difficult! The patterns and the colors are important because the way I see it, a yukatta is a reflection of your personality. Because my yukatta has bright colors and a bold pattern I would say that my yukatta reflects my outgoing and fun nature. Without realizing it, I picked a very islandy looking one and I heightened that aspect by wearing a flower right above one of my ears. So cute, right?
I bought a yukatta – it’s always good to have one living in Japan – mostly because all the ALTs planned to wear yukatta the night of the 15th (the big day of the festival). Traditionally Japanese wear yukatta for festivals, and so we felt that Obon festival gave us an excuse to wear our yukatta and fit in at the festival.
Yeah, we did look cute but we were far from fitting in. Where were the yukattas? As soon as we boarded the bus we realized that no one wore a yukatta. At first I thought that people during Obon – a somber event – don’t wear yukatta. We later learned many people didn’t wear yukatta because they were afraid that it would rain and ruin the cloth. But, we didn’t learn this until the next day. Can’t you imagine how we looked at Obon? Not only were there the six ALTs staying at Emily’s house, but three more girls met up with us so that we could all help each other put on the yukatta. In total, we had a group composed of all foreigners: eight girls all in bright colored yukattas and one guy in a traditional jinbe.
We stood out like a sore thumb. Some of the people couldn’t stop staring, and people started taking pictures of us. Immediately I thought since Obon festival remembers departed souls, we somehow dressed inappropriately. And I felt like I had worn a bright yellow sun dress to a funeral. Like, a good gainjin I decided to roll with the punches and play into the stupid foreigner card. Although people usually wear yukatta at Bon, as I have mentioned the weather played into the decision for most people not to wear a yukatta on this day. Japanese pay very close attention to weather related events and seasons. For instance, if it is winter everyone wears a jacket; temperature is irrelevant to the clothing choice. But, in the case of rain – if there is a slight chance – people don’t want to ruin yukatta so no one wears one. Essentially we stood out because we – like unknowing gaijin – decided to wear our yukatta anyway. What I am trying to explain is that if it had been clear weather we wouldn’t have stood out, but since there was a chance of rain all the Japanese people couldn’t believe we risked wearing our yukatta. But, I am glad we did because I had so much fun!
The boat floats were everywhere. Even throughout the day people began walking their boats through every part of the city on the way toward the downtown area. You couldn’t miss the boats at any time during the day. At every stop people lit the firework, altering everyone in the surrounding area of their presence. During my visit to the Peace Park (the hypocenter of the A-bomb) I couldn’t miss the loud popping noises in the distance, and I caught my first glimpse of the group of matching men in jinbe surrounding the float. Along with the fireworks kids led the procession by banging on a gong. Everyone had a role in each group. A couple people lit fireworks in front and behind the float, some people banged on the gong, and depending on the size of the float an equal amount of men (usually men) lined either side of the float and push the cart forward.
Before I get to ahead of myself, I should talk a bit about the Peace Park and museum. As an American, I feel a certain draw to understand the history (even if it is dark) between Japan and America. Even though I feel a certain personal magnetic pull to visit both A-bomb sites, at the same time I feel a cultural push and expectation to visit the hypocenter of the bomb. I can’t explain my reasoning for this, but I know that other Americans feel the same way. If I ignored the A-bomb site and museum, it is almost like scoffing at and ignoring the horrible events that took place on August 9th at 11:02 A.M. in Nagasaki. When I visit (especially during Obon) I feel like I am giving my respects to all of the lives lost as a result of the A-bomb (around 130,000 people died). But maybe more importantly, by visiting I want to show that I am an advocate of peace, and that I am not afraid to acknowledge the destruction and learn from the personal experiences of bomb survivors.
Unlike Hiroshima, Nagasaki attempted an objective approach. Of course it is almost impossible to achieve this when your city is only one of two in the world destroyed by an atomic bomb, but they were objective considering their fate. Hiroshima tried to question why the bomb had to be dropped on a city, why there had to be a second bomb dropped, why did they drop it against the scientists of the Manhattan project’s wills, why did they choose these specific targets, why weren’t the cities warned prior to the drops,etc. Interestingly Hiroshima made a good point that the choice had personal ties. For instance, one general refused to have a bomb dropped on Kyoto since he spent his honeymoon there. But, Nagasaki left out information like this because arguably that story might not be as concretely true as Hiroshima insists. Instead, Nagasaki focused on personal stories and events, and talked specifically about the stages of the bomb. That is, how hot temperatures rose at certain distances from the hypocenter and how powerful the blast was. Many bottles, roof tiles, and trees showed the bubbling caused by the intense heat. Many stories and personal items filled the museum. Some sections informed museum goers about stages of radiation and showed graphic pictures of skin burned off and keloid scars.
All the pictures of the burn victims almost brought me to tears. Even now when thinking about how many people suffered, upsets me. Perhaps the item that stood out to me the most was a lunch box of a school girl. Displayed under the picture of the girl, this lunch box still had all of the food items intact, but was completely charred. Essentially the lunch box had been preserved like a time capsule and even individual grains of rice could still be seen. Right now I am having a hard time describing how it affected me so deeply. Maybe because I started to think about how unknowingly this school girl sat at her desk thinking about her regular day and how soon (around 11 o’clock) she would finally get some lunch. Of course made this up in my head, but I started thinking about how so many people had no idea what would happen, and how instantaneously some many lives disintegrated. They hadn’t been able to find this girl; the only thing that remained of her on that day was her lunch box with her name engraved on the bottom. It was a piece of her on that day almost perfectly preserved, and a memory that her life had been unknowingly swept away. I hope that explains my jumble of thoughts. I find it so difficult to describe, and so I encourage anyone who gets a chance to visit the Nagasaki A-bomb museum to truly make an effort to understand that peace is necessary so that no A-bomb will be dropped again.
On a lighter note, Obon exceeded my expectations. The atmosphere and excitement truly affected everyone around the festival. All the roads downtown had been shut down for the parade of boats, and in some spots the only lights came from the lanterns on the boats themselves. Tons of people lined the street on both sides and tons of fireworks exploded in the middle of the street. I have never seen as much litter in Japan until the night of Obon. Since people discarded firework box where ever the street was barely visible under the mounds of trash. So strange to see in Japan, but it made it all the more exciting and different than any other Japan experience I have had. Instead of me explaining forever what the floats looked like, look at the pictures for youself (the link is on an older post). Experiencing Obon in Nagasaki was worth it, even though it was expensive!
Planning my trip back didn’t go too well. I had just enough, again, to make it back to Shinkamigoto on the fast boat. Bad decision. Unfortunately the fast boat is not only expensive, but pretty far from my house. I had the idea that I could catch a bus from Taonora (where the boat lands in Shinkamigoto) regardless of the fact that I didn’t look up the schedule. Also, I wore jeans that day – really bad decision in this heat – because someone told me I would need jeans to protect myself from the ground fireworks at Obon. To my disadvantage on this exceptionally hot day, they were my only set of clean clothes. Since I thought I could take a bus back home, wearing jeans didn’t seem too stupid. But, it was. Let me tell you, skinny jeans in humid heat makes for a miserable 1.5 mile hike while carrying duffle bags.
Upon arriving in Taonora I was informed that the last bus of the day just departed ten minutes ago. What to do? Not having enough money for a taxi, I opted to walk in my jeans on this hot hot day all the way back to my house. Carrying my bags I set off in the direction – I hoped – was Arikawa. Thankfully it was, but it took me a good hour and ten minutes to finally reach my destination! And, another problem I faced was figuring out how to get to Nice Buddy later that night for a BBQ they invited me to. I didn’t have anyone’s number from Nice Buddy because I had just gotten my phone on Thursday. But fate was on my side! Thankfully after all my misfortunes of the day, I ran into Natsun – one of the owner of Nice Buddy – on the walk home. If I hadn’t I think I would have collapsed on my bed and not been able to make it all the way to the BBQ. After exchanging numbers and explaining my situation she offered a ride later in the day. Halleluiah!
I won’t go into details of the BBQ, but instead focus on what’s interesting. I ate sheep, goat, sea snail, and beef. Funny, but true, goat kinda tastes like how they smell. Taste wise, I haven’t made up my mind whether I actually liked it or not. And raw goat meat tasted better than when cooked. At first I thought they were playing a trick on my and trying to get me to eat a raw meat that I shouldn’t. So I had them eat the raw goat first. They did, so I did. And it was delicious! Raw goat is tasty, but raw sea snail not so much. I happened to eat some raw sea snail sashimi in Nagasaki. It looked like the multicolored gizzards of a chicken with boogers all over it, and I think it tasted pretty much how it looked. And it was so incredibly slimly I had a hard time handling it with my chopstick. Instead of gracefully placing it in my mouth, I had to scoop it in. In my mouth the booger sack burst open and a flood of extremely mushy cream of wheat textured goo poured out. Delicious. Joking, because seriously it was nasty. Cooked sea snail actually tastes good, but it is just one of those things that shouldn’t be eaten raw. So adding goat and sea snail onto the list of sashimi, I have also added cooked sheep (I have eaten lamb, but full grown is different) onto my new foods list. I really like.
*Hahaha, there is a break between meetings and people started taking about how hot it is, and when the heat will end.
Sheep in Japanese is pronounced jingesukan, which sounds an awful lot like Ghengis Khan the Mongol conqueror. So they kept talking about how we were going to eat Ghengis Khan, and I didn’t understand. And I kept asking why they said we were eating a Mongol. It took forever to explain what I meant, but towards the end of the night everyone started calling the sheep monguru-jin (Mongolian person).
I really like the whole Nice Buddy family! Techan and Natsun have three kids: two girls and one boy. And the girls are interested in talking to Robin and me. I think they want to learn English from us, and I figure that my free English lessons are in exchange for the extra benefits (like dinner) that Nice Buddy has given me. The little boy (8 years old) keeps showing me all the bugs he catches. Here in Japan little boys catch a certain type of beetle. The more you have the cooler you are. Techan keeps calling his soon “hero” because he has so many bugs, and explained that he is a really manly cool little boy for catching these beetles (they are not dangerous) and so they call him a hero for it. I think that they look really nasty, but I am not a huge fan of bugs in general. But, every time I go to Nice Buddy the little boy shows me his beetle collection because he keeps them in a tank like pets. Last time he showed me almost all of the bugs in one of the terrariums had died, and he didn’t seem too upset. I told him all had died, but he assured me that there were live ones at the bottom of the sod. So he dug through the layers of dead beetles and moist sod to prove that in fact live beetles did escape death. Gross.
After my dive on Monday night, Nastun served me dinner at Nice Buddy. I sat there for a good while trying to explain the pronunciation difference between frog and flag. When it comes to pronunciation my linguistic training comes as an advantage.
*Best time ever at work. I went out of the teacher’s lounge to go to the bathroom, and what do I hear but Thriller playing the background. So I went over to investigate and almost all of the third year students were practicing the dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video! So cool to see all of the students doing this dance. They told me that they are practicing for sports day where they are all going to perform the dance together. Some taught me some of the moves, and I started to join in and practice with them. So much fun!
I’ll write about meeting the mayor tomorrow. I have already written so much!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Kurapu Kurapu
I won't be able to blog about the weekend until tomorrow :( I am so exhausted from everything!! There seems to be no time in the day anymore.
I wanted to post something before I went to sleep. It's more like my time to vent than talking about events.
No, I am not going to talk badly about Japanese people, but instead I am going to complain about my toilet situation. At first I was overjoyed to know that I had a western style toilet. "Thank you, there is a god," I thought as I peered inside and walked away. - side note: traditional Japanese toilets are squat toilets and you can't exactly relax with a magazine - To give you an idea of the bathroom (or maybe just toilet room is better): it is a closet sized space which includes the western appearing toilet and a small strange sink. I noticed something else that was very strange, a gun looking water sprayer hung next to the toilet. From my experience with the highly technologically advanced toilets in Tokyo, I though maybe it was a bidet. I was so wrong.
So, overwhelmed by my sense of good fortune I missed the horrible smell even though I examined the strange gun. But, I sure noticed it the first time I went into the bathroom. I had to hurry to finish my business and bolt out of there. When I flushed the familiar swirl and rush of water were replaced by the opening of a flap in the bottom of the bowl and a stream of water. Interesting, maybe the toilets flush differently here in Arikawa? No.
My toilet as I have come to realize is just a glorified outhouse attached to my house. The flap separates the septic tank sitting just below my bathroom from the rest of the house. Even though my predecessor told me I had a septic tank bill I didn't think that it would be a flap away from my house.
The most startling aspect of the flap happens to be the sounds it makes: the clap. If you happen to have good aim you can measure your craps in claps. By this I mean, the flap can't hold much weight. What you do hits the flap, the flap opens, flaps back up and makes a clapping noise. The first time this happened I was really surprised and was afraid that something was crawling through the flap. Not so, just my own doing. I am so sorry that I am being so graphic, but I just need to vent about my kurapu kurapu.
Kurapu kurapu you ask? Well sound it out. Ku-ra-pu. Huh, kinda like "crap". But if you were Japanese it would also sound like "clap" - Japanese can't make the /r/ /l/ distinction. Hence: kurapu kurapu. A play on words in Japanese to mean both crap and clap, and since you can measure your craps in claps, this is the new name of my toilet.
Basically I have an outhouse for a toilet, which explains why I can't kill the smell. And don't get my started about the really hot humid days here. No matter how much I try to make it smell like lavender it doesn't work. I have two general air fresheners, and toilet attachment, a freshener to put in the sink, and the spray. Nothing works for more than an hour! It's best just to avoid the bathroom during the lunch hours. In the beginning I blamed the smell on Joe, but now I understand that nothing can be done.
And I figured out the purpose of the spray gun. The bowl doesn't fill up with water after flushing. Adding to this problem, is the fact that the water pressure when flushing doesn't do very much. Every time that you can't aim directly on the flap, the gun assists in removing anything you don't want stinking up your bathroom. So this makes a separate problem. Spraying away unwanted visuals means that you have to be careful. Sprayer beware because you might splash some of what you clean onto your legs. Gross.
I think I would prefer an outhouse to the kurapu kurapu. Venting complete.
I wanted to post something before I went to sleep. It's more like my time to vent than talking about events.
No, I am not going to talk badly about Japanese people, but instead I am going to complain about my toilet situation. At first I was overjoyed to know that I had a western style toilet. "Thank you, there is a god," I thought as I peered inside and walked away. - side note: traditional Japanese toilets are squat toilets and you can't exactly relax with a magazine - To give you an idea of the bathroom (or maybe just toilet room is better): it is a closet sized space which includes the western appearing toilet and a small strange sink. I noticed something else that was very strange, a gun looking water sprayer hung next to the toilet. From my experience with the highly technologically advanced toilets in Tokyo, I though maybe it was a bidet. I was so wrong.
So, overwhelmed by my sense of good fortune I missed the horrible smell even though I examined the strange gun. But, I sure noticed it the first time I went into the bathroom. I had to hurry to finish my business and bolt out of there. When I flushed the familiar swirl and rush of water were replaced by the opening of a flap in the bottom of the bowl and a stream of water. Interesting, maybe the toilets flush differently here in Arikawa? No.
My toilet as I have come to realize is just a glorified outhouse attached to my house. The flap separates the septic tank sitting just below my bathroom from the rest of the house. Even though my predecessor told me I had a septic tank bill I didn't think that it would be a flap away from my house.
The most startling aspect of the flap happens to be the sounds it makes: the clap. If you happen to have good aim you can measure your craps in claps. By this I mean, the flap can't hold much weight. What you do hits the flap, the flap opens, flaps back up and makes a clapping noise. The first time this happened I was really surprised and was afraid that something was crawling through the flap. Not so, just my own doing. I am so sorry that I am being so graphic, but I just need to vent about my kurapu kurapu.
Kurapu kurapu you ask? Well sound it out. Ku-ra-pu. Huh, kinda like "crap". But if you were Japanese it would also sound like "clap" - Japanese can't make the /r/ /l/ distinction. Hence: kurapu kurapu. A play on words in Japanese to mean both crap and clap, and since you can measure your craps in claps, this is the new name of my toilet.
Basically I have an outhouse for a toilet, which explains why I can't kill the smell. And don't get my started about the really hot humid days here. No matter how much I try to make it smell like lavender it doesn't work. I have two general air fresheners, and toilet attachment, a freshener to put in the sink, and the spray. Nothing works for more than an hour! It's best just to avoid the bathroom during the lunch hours. In the beginning I blamed the smell on Joe, but now I understand that nothing can be done.
And I figured out the purpose of the spray gun. The bowl doesn't fill up with water after flushing. Adding to this problem, is the fact that the water pressure when flushing doesn't do very much. Every time that you can't aim directly on the flap, the gun assists in removing anything you don't want stinking up your bathroom. So this makes a separate problem. Spraying away unwanted visuals means that you have to be careful. Sprayer beware because you might splash some of what you clean onto your legs. Gross.
I think I would prefer an outhouse to the kurapu kurapu. Venting complete.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Pictures
Finally got the internet up at my house!!!! Crazy, it almost doesn't feel right anymore. Well, I hate to say it, but I am so tired I can't find the strength to write anything. Don't worry I have a lot to say. But...in the mean time, pictures!! I am posting links to picasa and you can view them there. I only made some comments on the pictures from this last weekend, but I will go through all of the pictures in time!
Obon Festival (this weekend)
shinkamigoto
more shinkamigoto
house cleaning (don't judge me, this was when I first got there)
Arrival to Shinkamigoto
Orientation
New ALTs
Peace Day Assembly
Office
Obon Festival (this weekend)
shinkamigoto
more shinkamigoto
house cleaning (don't judge me, this was when I first got there)
Arrival to Shinkamigoto
Orientation
New ALTs
Peace Day Assembly
Office
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
bioluminescent flagellates
Where to begin?!? Making Japanese friends at Nice Buddy has already heightened my experience here in Shinkamigoto. We went on a boat to a festival in a neighboring island (Wakamatsu) to eat yummy food and have a good time.
So far it really hasn’t rained much…until yesterday! Talk about bad timing. All day it constantly rained, but not too hard until we headed down to Nice Buddy, where the rain really started to pour. But, I came prepared with my awesome rain boots (which saved my life yesterday, thank you mom), a rain coat (thank you Jamie), and an umbrella. I decked myself out in rain gear because after living in Houston I know how to deal with the down pours.
At Nice Buddy we (11 people) piled onto the scuba boat and head toward Wakamatsu. And it was a much faster and more direct trip to Wakamatsu by boat than by car. In a car you have to not only scale mountains, but you have to go over a bridge and then wait in traffic and find a place to park. On a boat, you can head straight there (the quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line), park right on the dock without waiting, have a place to eat, and most importantly you have the best view of the fireworks. All in all, I attribute my amazing experience to the people at Nice Buddy and the boat.
Maybe I was over-prepared, but I didn’t regret my decision to wear the boots after we got to the festival. We had to walk through sticky brown mud to buy some BBQ food (they brought their own sushi –BYOS for short – ). Everyone else had flip flops on, which meant they had to carefully look around at the ground where they walked while I walked through the mud without a care in the world (and dry, mud free feet). Looking around, I felt so bad for all of the girls that had gotten ready with their yukata (light cotton Kimono-ish garment). Some girls had just a tiny towel over their heads to protect them from the rain. But the saddest sight was the entertainer on the big stage. Unfortunately his act included juggling and twirling fire. Only several dedicated audience members huddle near the front of the stage and watched as people with umbrellas tried to keep him and his spinning fire baton dry. And their very dedicated attempts at keeping the show alive could not sustain any audience interest. Poor fire thrower.
We left the main festival mud pit to rejoin the nice buddies, where we ate, drank, joked, and laughed while exchanging cultural tid bits. Japanese people have a very hard time pronouncing many English sounds like [f] [b] [v] [l] [r], stops [p,t,k,b] at the end of a word, the [si] combination in words like [sit]. There are many more, but it was funny to hear Natsun-san say “flip flop” because it sounded more like [rep rop] than any close to “flip flop”. And they can’t pronounce “corn dog” very well (especially because they call a corn dog “America dog”) so corn dog either sounds like [coin dog] or [co dog]. Obviously I want to make our friendship deeper than just saying things in English, but at first it is a good way to break the ice and make everyone laugh. Another really good way to impress Japanese people is knowing bits of J-pop (Japanese pop culture). Such words like KY (kuuki yomenai, can’t read the air, hence “awkward”) and maji de ( oh really???) come in handy because they will usually make someone laugh. Knowing about yumei na hito (famous people) and cartoons like oshiri kajiri mushi (butt biting bug) go a long way to make little kids think that you are cool. And then it opens up the conversation to talk about slang in English.
Enough about language, this was my first festival after all so I might as well talk about it. Especially because some weird things happened that I didn’t expect. I didn’t mention it before, but Robin came along. I asked Nishimura-sensei and then they invited her to come along. So, together we walked back to the festival –it had stopped raining – to see why everyone gathered around the stage. We both didn’t have to strain to see the stage (because everyone is so short) so we were immediately surprised to see…Power Rangers??? NO! GOTO RANGERS! On the stage stood several bad guys surrounded by the “puddy” things (if you haven’t seen Power Rangers they are the lowest ranking and easiest to kill henchmen). One puddy was not child appropriate. He stuffed something bigger than a sock down his costume to give an enlarging effect (although funny because so strange) did not seem okay considering the amount of little kids. Sometimes overtly sexual things in Japan are accepted by the mainstream public.
Enough about “big puddy”. I have to say they did a pretty good job reenacting the whole cheesy Power Ranger getup and choreography. Apparently there are only two Goto Rangers, red and blue, but they kicked some monster butt!! Even when Godzilla showed up in the crowd (who awkwardly lumbered around with escorts, and had to be lifted onto the stage), they were able to defeat him and keep the Goto Islands safe. There was lighting and fog effects that make it seem so real! Not really, but it was entertaining!! Alas, the show couldn’t last forever, and so we walked around the festival.
Commonly at the festivals there are fish catching games. You kneel and a trough filled with fish and in one hand you hold a bowl and in the other you have a small net. The goal is to herd a gold fish into the bowl with the net and scoop it up. Breaking super easily, the net isn’t meant to have any weight put on it. Rather you herd a fish slowly until you can quickly scoop with the bowl. Since I have been wanting a fish, I decided this was a perfectly acceptable way of acquire one. After breaking my first two nets, I caught a fish!! The man also gave me a pity fish that really wasn’t that pretty. Mine –the one I caught – is way cuter. So I named my big gold fish Goto Ranger and the little one Busu-chan (it means ugly thing in Japanese). Now I have to make sure I can keep the fishies alive!
Both Robin and I ran into our students from our respective high schools. So we posed in our most Japanese way and took a picture. Running into them was fantastic because I want them to know I get out and around and I am interested in the community events. The only drawback was that they tried to take advantage of me! One student asked for me to pay for their ice cream. I told them I didn’t have any money – which is true – so they asked Nishimura sensei instead. To my surprise Nishimura sensei gave into their request! Maybe this is a common thing for a sensei to buy the students food or something, but I feel weird doing that. They should be bribing me, not the other way around.
By the time I made it back to the boat –Goto Ranger in tow – the fireworks started. The view from the boat was spectacular. I don’t ever remember fireworks being so loud, so it must have been topographical features amplifying the sound. They went on forever. I thought that since it was a small festival the fireworks wouldn’t be very grand, but Japanese take fireworks very seriously and the display truly was beautiful.
But better than the fireworks was the ride back on the boat where probably thousands of the bioluminescent flagellates (Wikipedia it) illuminated the crests of the waves and the surface of the water. I have never seen anything like it. The water had an eerie turquoise glow anywhere the microscopic organisms had been perturbed. So the wake behind the boat glowed. And I can’t even begin to describe the stars (I just have been able to see them clearly again with glasses) because there were millions and millions that we could see. Without the harsh city light I am used to, the sky looked as clear as I can remember it. The night sparkled above and below me in the boat. And to add to the romantic nature of the night, I saw a falling star. I wish I could find the appropriate words to describe just how beautiful the night was. I can only look forward to more beauty in events to come, especially since Natsun told me that you can see the bioluminescent flagellates (plankton) night diving!!
The biggest congregation of the plankton itself was around the dock of Nice Buddy, and so when we got off of the boat we spent a good ten minutes throwing things into the water to make it glow. I can see how sailors must have thought that spirits lurked in the water. Even though I know the explanation, I still couldn’t help feeling that what we saw was not natural and other worldly. I don’t know how long the bioluminescence lasts in these waters, but I am so glad I got to see it!
First festival: success!
Here is a google map of all the places I've been talking about.
So far it really hasn’t rained much…until yesterday! Talk about bad timing. All day it constantly rained, but not too hard until we headed down to Nice Buddy, where the rain really started to pour. But, I came prepared with my awesome rain boots (which saved my life yesterday, thank you mom), a rain coat (thank you Jamie), and an umbrella. I decked myself out in rain gear because after living in Houston I know how to deal with the down pours.
At Nice Buddy we (11 people) piled onto the scuba boat and head toward Wakamatsu. And it was a much faster and more direct trip to Wakamatsu by boat than by car. In a car you have to not only scale mountains, but you have to go over a bridge and then wait in traffic and find a place to park. On a boat, you can head straight there (the quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line), park right on the dock without waiting, have a place to eat, and most importantly you have the best view of the fireworks. All in all, I attribute my amazing experience to the people at Nice Buddy and the boat.
Maybe I was over-prepared, but I didn’t regret my decision to wear the boots after we got to the festival. We had to walk through sticky brown mud to buy some BBQ food (they brought their own sushi –BYOS for short – ). Everyone else had flip flops on, which meant they had to carefully look around at the ground where they walked while I walked through the mud without a care in the world (and dry, mud free feet). Looking around, I felt so bad for all of the girls that had gotten ready with their yukata (light cotton Kimono-ish garment). Some girls had just a tiny towel over their heads to protect them from the rain. But the saddest sight was the entertainer on the big stage. Unfortunately his act included juggling and twirling fire. Only several dedicated audience members huddle near the front of the stage and watched as people with umbrellas tried to keep him and his spinning fire baton dry. And their very dedicated attempts at keeping the show alive could not sustain any audience interest. Poor fire thrower.
We left the main festival mud pit to rejoin the nice buddies, where we ate, drank, joked, and laughed while exchanging cultural tid bits. Japanese people have a very hard time pronouncing many English sounds like [f] [b] [v] [l] [r], stops [p,t,k,b] at the end of a word, the [si] combination in words like [sit]. There are many more, but it was funny to hear Natsun-san say “flip flop” because it sounded more like [rep rop] than any close to “flip flop”. And they can’t pronounce “corn dog” very well (especially because they call a corn dog “America dog”) so corn dog either sounds like [coin dog] or [co dog]. Obviously I want to make our friendship deeper than just saying things in English, but at first it is a good way to break the ice and make everyone laugh. Another really good way to impress Japanese people is knowing bits of J-pop (Japanese pop culture). Such words like KY (kuuki yomenai, can’t read the air, hence “awkward”) and maji de ( oh really???) come in handy because they will usually make someone laugh. Knowing about yumei na hito (famous people) and cartoons like oshiri kajiri mushi (butt biting bug) go a long way to make little kids think that you are cool. And then it opens up the conversation to talk about slang in English.
Enough about language, this was my first festival after all so I might as well talk about it. Especially because some weird things happened that I didn’t expect. I didn’t mention it before, but Robin came along. I asked Nishimura-sensei and then they invited her to come along. So, together we walked back to the festival –it had stopped raining – to see why everyone gathered around the stage. We both didn’t have to strain to see the stage (because everyone is so short) so we were immediately surprised to see…Power Rangers??? NO! GOTO RANGERS! On the stage stood several bad guys surrounded by the “puddy” things (if you haven’t seen Power Rangers they are the lowest ranking and easiest to kill henchmen). One puddy was not child appropriate. He stuffed something bigger than a sock down his costume to give an enlarging effect (although funny because so strange) did not seem okay considering the amount of little kids. Sometimes overtly sexual things in Japan are accepted by the mainstream public.
Enough about “big puddy”. I have to say they did a pretty good job reenacting the whole cheesy Power Ranger getup and choreography. Apparently there are only two Goto Rangers, red and blue, but they kicked some monster butt!! Even when Godzilla showed up in the crowd (who awkwardly lumbered around with escorts, and had to be lifted onto the stage), they were able to defeat him and keep the Goto Islands safe. There was lighting and fog effects that make it seem so real! Not really, but it was entertaining!! Alas, the show couldn’t last forever, and so we walked around the festival.
Commonly at the festivals there are fish catching games. You kneel and a trough filled with fish and in one hand you hold a bowl and in the other you have a small net. The goal is to herd a gold fish into the bowl with the net and scoop it up. Breaking super easily, the net isn’t meant to have any weight put on it. Rather you herd a fish slowly until you can quickly scoop with the bowl. Since I have been wanting a fish, I decided this was a perfectly acceptable way of acquire one. After breaking my first two nets, I caught a fish!! The man also gave me a pity fish that really wasn’t that pretty. Mine –the one I caught – is way cuter. So I named my big gold fish Goto Ranger and the little one Busu-chan (it means ugly thing in Japanese). Now I have to make sure I can keep the fishies alive!
Both Robin and I ran into our students from our respective high schools. So we posed in our most Japanese way and took a picture. Running into them was fantastic because I want them to know I get out and around and I am interested in the community events. The only drawback was that they tried to take advantage of me! One student asked for me to pay for their ice cream. I told them I didn’t have any money – which is true – so they asked Nishimura sensei instead. To my surprise Nishimura sensei gave into their request! Maybe this is a common thing for a sensei to buy the students food or something, but I feel weird doing that. They should be bribing me, not the other way around.
By the time I made it back to the boat –Goto Ranger in tow – the fireworks started. The view from the boat was spectacular. I don’t ever remember fireworks being so loud, so it must have been topographical features amplifying the sound. They went on forever. I thought that since it was a small festival the fireworks wouldn’t be very grand, but Japanese take fireworks very seriously and the display truly was beautiful.
But better than the fireworks was the ride back on the boat where probably thousands of the bioluminescent flagellates (Wikipedia it) illuminated the crests of the waves and the surface of the water. I have never seen anything like it. The water had an eerie turquoise glow anywhere the microscopic organisms had been perturbed. So the wake behind the boat glowed. And I can’t even begin to describe the stars (I just have been able to see them clearly again with glasses) because there were millions and millions that we could see. Without the harsh city light I am used to, the sky looked as clear as I can remember it. The night sparkled above and below me in the boat. And to add to the romantic nature of the night, I saw a falling star. I wish I could find the appropriate words to describe just how beautiful the night was. I can only look forward to more beauty in events to come, especially since Natsun told me that you can see the bioluminescent flagellates (plankton) night diving!!
The biggest congregation of the plankton itself was around the dock of Nice Buddy, and so when we got off of the boat we spent a good ten minutes throwing things into the water to make it glow. I can see how sailors must have thought that spirits lurked in the water. Even though I know the explanation, I still couldn’t help feeling that what we saw was not natural and other worldly. I don’t know how long the bioluminescence lasts in these waters, but I am so glad I got to see it!
First festival: success!
Here is a google map of all the places I've been talking about.
my first dive!
I had no clue what to expect from my first dive, but it was fantastic! They completely suited me up from head to toe in scuba gear. Thankfully, the wetsuit fit –just barely - because I am definitely not Japanese sized. So I had a wetsuit, boots, gloves, the mask, flippers, weights, and the tank. Everything on felt so strange, and it definitely wasn’t my most attractive moment.
Techan (the guy giving me the lesson) doesn’t really speak English, so my first lesson was in broken Japanese. There are two main things he taught me: 1. When water gets in your mask push on the top and blow as hard as you can with your nose to expel the water, and 2. When your oxygen mask gets yanked out in the water blow really hard on it before breathing in again. Simple enough. And after making sure I could do both of those things, we jumped off of the side of the dock and into the water. Breathing from the tank felt like I was sucking air through a straw. And my mouth got surprisingly dry toward the end of my twenty minute dive.
Don’t worry, Techan made sure to hold my hand and watch me closely to make sure I had my balance (which is surprisingly difficult). If he left me he indicated to grab hold of a rock or pole while he pointed something out. Since we stayed at the dock I thought that I wouldn’t see any interesting sea life, but there was so much to see right there! Clownfish, seahorses, colorful shrimp, schools of small silver fish, and an occasional big fish (foot long). Well I can’t say that I had a favorite part to my dive, but I got to hold a seahorse!
Techan brought one over to me and placed it in my hands, and it grabbed onto my finger with its tail. Very strange creatures, but so fascinating! And to gather more fish, Techan pounded on a rock with a silver rod which attracted about twenty fishes. Afterwards he told me the pounding breaks off food particles that the fish feed on. Techan had me swirl my finger through sea anemones which would gently recoil and move away from my hand, and the clownfish would get in on the fun and follow our hands through the anemone. Overall I had such a great time even though we didn’t go anywhere. And just before the end of the dive, we picked up oysters from the sea floor to take up with us.
I had a slight inclination of the oyster’s contents, but it was confirmed when Techan shucked them open and had me dig for the contents inside of the oyster’s body. So I reached with my thumb and index finger slowly dipping them into the doughy texture of the first oyster and pulled out a perfectly shaped off-white colored pearl. So beautiful. I couldn’t believe that he not only let me have the pearl from the first oyster, but from the second one as well. And although the second has black raised areas of imperfection, it is equally as beautiful as the first. Both mean so much to me because I have a physical memory not only of my first dive, but of Shinkamigoto for as long as I don’t lose them. My plan is to make them into a necklace or into earrings.
I can’t imagine all the other amazing things that I will encounter. As the diving manual (in Japanese) reads, “If it is your first time scuba diving under the water, you will surely become hooked.” I have to agree. And I wish that I could translate more of this manual which I am supposed to have read, but it so difficult to translate. They are going to give me the English manual that one of the last JETs ordered so that I am able to read and study the basics of scuba diving. But for now the book has been helpful for practicing my Japanese.
Tonight I am off to go on a cruise around a bay with the members of Nice Buddy where we will eat lots of sushi and drink beer and watch the fireworks. I have to say that sushi is my favorite food here on the island!
Techan (the guy giving me the lesson) doesn’t really speak English, so my first lesson was in broken Japanese. There are two main things he taught me: 1. When water gets in your mask push on the top and blow as hard as you can with your nose to expel the water, and 2. When your oxygen mask gets yanked out in the water blow really hard on it before breathing in again. Simple enough. And after making sure I could do both of those things, we jumped off of the side of the dock and into the water. Breathing from the tank felt like I was sucking air through a straw. And my mouth got surprisingly dry toward the end of my twenty minute dive.
Don’t worry, Techan made sure to hold my hand and watch me closely to make sure I had my balance (which is surprisingly difficult). If he left me he indicated to grab hold of a rock or pole while he pointed something out. Since we stayed at the dock I thought that I wouldn’t see any interesting sea life, but there was so much to see right there! Clownfish, seahorses, colorful shrimp, schools of small silver fish, and an occasional big fish (foot long). Well I can’t say that I had a favorite part to my dive, but I got to hold a seahorse!
Techan brought one over to me and placed it in my hands, and it grabbed onto my finger with its tail. Very strange creatures, but so fascinating! And to gather more fish, Techan pounded on a rock with a silver rod which attracted about twenty fishes. Afterwards he told me the pounding breaks off food particles that the fish feed on. Techan had me swirl my finger through sea anemones which would gently recoil and move away from my hand, and the clownfish would get in on the fun and follow our hands through the anemone. Overall I had such a great time even though we didn’t go anywhere. And just before the end of the dive, we picked up oysters from the sea floor to take up with us.
I had a slight inclination of the oyster’s contents, but it was confirmed when Techan shucked them open and had me dig for the contents inside of the oyster’s body. So I reached with my thumb and index finger slowly dipping them into the doughy texture of the first oyster and pulled out a perfectly shaped off-white colored pearl. So beautiful. I couldn’t believe that he not only let me have the pearl from the first oyster, but from the second one as well. And although the second has black raised areas of imperfection, it is equally as beautiful as the first. Both mean so much to me because I have a physical memory not only of my first dive, but of Shinkamigoto for as long as I don’t lose them. My plan is to make them into a necklace or into earrings.
I can’t imagine all the other amazing things that I will encounter. As the diving manual (in Japanese) reads, “If it is your first time scuba diving under the water, you will surely become hooked.” I have to agree. And I wish that I could translate more of this manual which I am supposed to have read, but it so difficult to translate. They are going to give me the English manual that one of the last JETs ordered so that I am able to read and study the basics of scuba diving. But for now the book has been helpful for practicing my Japanese.
Tonight I am off to go on a cruise around a bay with the members of Nice Buddy where we will eat lots of sushi and drink beer and watch the fireworks. I have to say that sushi is my favorite food here on the island!
Monday, August 10, 2009
monkey poses with nice buddies
I am in pain! My calves, my arms, my abs, everything. Everyday I am doing something involving physical exertion. Even at home, I am constantly cleaning the dishes, hanging my laundry, cooking, making lunch, and folding my laundry. And all of that seems like a break compared to the bike ride I’ve made a total of four times in the past 6 days.
Excuse my explanation of my journey because it will seem rather archaic, but I have no other options. Luckily my bike is a mountain bike, or else I think it might be impossible to climb the intense hills. I start at my house and make a left at a bright sky blue building, and proceed down the main road (there are only two main roads on the island, so the chance of getting lost is slim) past a fire station, baseball field, tennis courts, the hotel I stayed in, then past the beach until I reach a tunnel. Before I go in the tunnel I turn on my little bike flash (I can choose blinking or solid light) and have to push through an uphill battle until I can sail down the other side. The coast always stays on my right, so if you are inept at directions that means I head south the entire ways. Past the tunnel I think I am still in Arikawa, but I am not too sure. Yesterday I got to see junior high kids as well as elementary school kids practicing for a boat race. Their form of boating is between crew and canoeing, because they are fatter looking canoes with flat bottoms but they have a teacher directing them (like crew) and they each have an oar like crew. However, there are pairs sitting side by side, so maybe they actually reflect a Viking boat more than anything. Unfortunately my school doesn’t participate in this event, which takes place this weekend.
Anyhow, to get back to my trek, I bike past the boating area for a small ways and bike up another incline through a second tunnel, which is much shorter than the first. For certain I know when I break through the second tunnel I arrive in the town of Uonome, where Deborah lives. Uonome has a much more urban touch than Arikawa. So, to go to karaoke and many restaurants I have to bike through the two tunnels. I have found this bike ride seems easy compared to going all the way to Aokata (the next town over). Uonome gives me some rest, because it is so flat, before I have to bike up the steep never ending hill to Aokata. I think it might be a five minute uphill battle. Very long, and very tiring. At first I gave up after biking half way up the hill. It is disheartening when you have been biking so hard and make it around the corner of the hill and see that you are only half way there. It tricks you into thinking it is only half as big with the curve. But (sound trumpets) I FINALLY DID IT! For the past two times I made it up the hill without stopping. I have to shift to the very lowest gear in order to make it up all the way, but the point is that I did it (DEKITA!). Bragging, I feel, is warranted in this situation because it was one early goal I accomplished. So, in a way, it makes me feel like I can reach any goal that I set. Metaphorically my hill climb represented to me the uphill trek I have to make with everything I do, but once I finally can make it to the top (even though it is really really hard) the rest is an easy downhill descent that requires little if any effort. And not only did I make it up one side of the hill, but both sides on the same day. When I had to go back home, I didn’t stop all the way from Aokata to my house.
Once again, this Monday, I attended TaiChi class. Talk about an uphill battle for me, TaiChi makes me sweat more than biking. I thought the second time I could understand more, but I think that I ended up making more mistakes! When I looked in the mirror I got confused and realized that I turned my movements into the actual mirror image of what everyone was doing. We (the gaijin, Robin Deborah and me) have no clue about the correct order of the movements. TaiChi, like other martial arts, relies on stances and focusing your energy. Being the only one with experience, Deborah explained to Robin and me a little bit of what the heck we were doing. Excuse me if I am mistaken, but from what I understand TaiChi relies on focusing your Chi –or your energy- and you breathe in not a set rhythm, but with your own movement in the steps. When you place your foot down, you breathe into your leg so that all of the energy is focused on one solid leg while the other is free to kick or attack. But, as many of you know, Tai Chi movements are very controlled and fluid. What I didn’t know was that many of the arm sweeps represent batting a kick away, grabbing a foot and redirecting momentum, or attacking. I think the basic purpose of Tai Chi is to understand the flow and energy of your body and using that energy defensively and aggressively against an attacker.
Let me tell you, I felt embarrassed that these fifty year old women were kicking my twenty two year old ass. They were flexible, fluid, and strong. I, on the other hand, looked rigid, clumsy, and weak. So, I have a lot to learn, and I have to work hard. Some lady showed me a manual of the steps that was in English and Japanese, and I realized that they had been memorizing the steps at home. At first I thought that everyone had just remembered from class, but now I know that I am not hopeless forever. I have a chance to not be half a second off of the steps. Right now, the new students stand in the middle of the class while the more experience students stand on the corners of the room. Because we just follow the moves of everyone else we need constantly watch what everyone else is doing. This way we can see someone who knows what the heck comes next, but it makes the movements look awkward because we constantly have to be looking to someone. Sometimes it seems like the blind leading the blind. Occasionally I will watch someone doesn’t really know what to do next, and so I get screwed up. Eventually I will learn the moves and know who to follow so that I don’t look completely ridiculous.
Yesterday I was so busy that I almost didn’t make it to “Adriene- looks-ridiculous-doing-the-monkey-pose time” also know as Tai Chi. I, as my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) tells me, “Very active.” Before monkey-posing I went to a scuba diving information session at Nice Buddy!! Isn’t the name so Japanese? Japanese are talented at taking two directly translated words, smashing them together, and synthesizing a truly unique phrase, such as “Nice Buddy”. Meeting the other divers was so exciting! I have wanted to scuba dive, since as long as I can remember, and the opportunity here presented itself. So now it is full throttle on the diving goal until I have my license. Luckily a co-worker (Nishimura-sensei) dives all the time, and she is the person that really got things moving for me. Once you mention you are interested in something, right away the wheels start turning. I know how to get what I want.
Even though I had been introduced to Megumi-san, a Japanese girl my age interested in diving, and she offered to take me sometime, but I had a sense she was busy and I wanted to start right away. And as luck would have it sitting in the desk across from me sat Nishimura sensei with a Nice Buddy T-shirt on. I got really excited because I knew if I mentioned anything about diving she would start to help me right away. It is the Japanese way (at least as I have experienced) to help out foreigners as much as possible, and take anything you mention into action (example: the blue bunny shoes). So slyly, using this knowledge to my advantage, I mentioned to Nakamura sensei that I want to go diving while I am here. Right away she looked surprised and said, “Oh, Nishimura-sensei dives too. I will talk to her.” And she did, and before I knew it Nishimura-sensei called Nice Buddy, came over to me and asked when I had a free day, and offered to take me there herself. Everyone is very generous here, and don’t assume I plan on taking advantage of this all the time, but I really really want to dive! It would have been very difficult setting things up on my own.
Yesterday afternoon – between school and Tai Chi – ended up being the perfect time to meet the crew of Nice Buddy. Unfortunately for me, Nice Buddy might be a little too far to bike since it takes twenty minutes by car to get there (and there is a hill twice as large as the one between Uonome and Aokata!). Nishimura-sensei drove me, and the views were absolutely breath taking. I am so lucky to be in such a beautiful location with very steep mountains completely covered in bright green foliage and crystal blue water. So, I will have to take the bus or get really strong in order to have the physical capacity to bike all the way. For now, I accept the free rides they offered me!
Everyone at Nice Buddy, as the name says, is nice - they will be my new nice buddies from Nice Buddy. And in Japanese custom they offered Nishimura-sensei and me delicious homemade pudding with strawberry jelly on top. I could have eaten about twenty bowls of pudding and have had room for more. Then came in Natsun-chan (woman) and Techa-kun (man) both extremely tan, fit and relatively young. Fortunately for me I understood a good bit of their Japanese. So I am either getting used to hearing Japanese or they know the type of Japanese to use with foreigners. Immediately they began filling up my schedule with dives, classes to get my license, and parties! They invited me to two Nice Buddy parties: a BBQ on the 12th and another on the 16th. Instant friends! On the 12th we’re on a boat (yes, think of the Lonely Island song, and if you don’t know it look it up on youtube) that will cruise the bay around a smaller island Wakamatsu where there will be fireworks (hanabi) after a small festival. My wish is that everything is free, because I don’t have much money left. Maybe I have enough set aside.
Right now, I am reaching the end of my cash supply. I should have exchanged all of my money in Tokyo, but didn’t get a chance since the hotel wouldn’t accept everything in one day. My money has to be saved for my new pink ketai (cell phone) and my trip to Nagasaki where I can exchange currency. Nowhere on the island offers currency exchange because, really, how often would they need to here. So, I need enough to make it to Nagasaki and enough to pay for my cell phone which means I cannot spend any more money on food. The stock of food in my fridge keeps shrinking, but luckily I have enough rice to last me a while. I have been very resourceful with making new combinations of food. Like today (a salad I am very proud of) I combined half a cob of corn – I cut the kernels off – with deli ham slices – which I further sliced into rectangles – and I added miso sauce and sesame seed oil, stirred: instant corn and ham salad. I impressed myself with my salad because it actually is something I’d make even if I had a fridge full of food. Corn and ham salad plus a rice ball (filled with chicken and wrapped with seaweed) was lunch. I haven’t gotten sick of onigiri (rice ball) yet, but I feel like the time may come soon. Since food is low, I made an onigiri filled with tiny chicken bits from Saturday’s BBQ for each lunch this week. So my lunch will be corn ham salad and onigiri everyday this week. Rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Rice, rice, and more rice! Thankfully, on Friday I’ll be in Nagaski by 3:30 I can exchange money and have some real food, maybe I’ll indulge in some champon (look it up)…yummy Nagasaki cuisine.
And, to add to my cash surplus on Friday, comes my first pay check!! I was unaware of the fact that orientation counted as work, but I am happy about it. So the 14th I get my pay check for the month of July. Extra money than I was expecting! So far since I exchanged only a bit of my money, I actually am way under my budgeted spending (yay for Adriene). But, my diving expenses will eat up the rest of what I have not spent so far.
Off topic, but funny, is the subject of typhoons (commonly known as hurricane). Typhoons regularly graze the Goto islands, but are hardly ever destructive. Now, we are in typhoon season so Nakamura-sensei tried to explain the typhoon procedure. I use the term procedure loosely, mostly because, there isn’t one. The procedure as far as I know means that the teachers either risk their lives coming to school (even if the kids don’t have to) or you have to take a day of paid leave. I kept asking, “What if no one can get to school?” And the response I kept getting, “Oh, no I think there is still school. You have to come.” To which I asked, “Even if the students don’t have to come.” “Hmmm, yes, I think so.” And from what I learned there is no real safe place to be, but inside your house. I feel a bit uncomfortable about this. I am trying to reconcile safety plans between the other JETs and me in case there is a big typhoon. The chances are slim, but better safe than dead.
*Students have felt more and more like they can come and talk with me. I am probably going to start an English board and newsletter at my school. If anyone has any ideas for me, or wants to ask a question, go ahead and leave a comment!
Excuse my explanation of my journey because it will seem rather archaic, but I have no other options. Luckily my bike is a mountain bike, or else I think it might be impossible to climb the intense hills. I start at my house and make a left at a bright sky blue building, and proceed down the main road (there are only two main roads on the island, so the chance of getting lost is slim) past a fire station, baseball field, tennis courts, the hotel I stayed in, then past the beach until I reach a tunnel. Before I go in the tunnel I turn on my little bike flash (I can choose blinking or solid light) and have to push through an uphill battle until I can sail down the other side. The coast always stays on my right, so if you are inept at directions that means I head south the entire ways. Past the tunnel I think I am still in Arikawa, but I am not too sure. Yesterday I got to see junior high kids as well as elementary school kids practicing for a boat race. Their form of boating is between crew and canoeing, because they are fatter looking canoes with flat bottoms but they have a teacher directing them (like crew) and they each have an oar like crew. However, there are pairs sitting side by side, so maybe they actually reflect a Viking boat more than anything. Unfortunately my school doesn’t participate in this event, which takes place this weekend.
Anyhow, to get back to my trek, I bike past the boating area for a small ways and bike up another incline through a second tunnel, which is much shorter than the first. For certain I know when I break through the second tunnel I arrive in the town of Uonome, where Deborah lives. Uonome has a much more urban touch than Arikawa. So, to go to karaoke and many restaurants I have to bike through the two tunnels. I have found this bike ride seems easy compared to going all the way to Aokata (the next town over). Uonome gives me some rest, because it is so flat, before I have to bike up the steep never ending hill to Aokata. I think it might be a five minute uphill battle. Very long, and very tiring. At first I gave up after biking half way up the hill. It is disheartening when you have been biking so hard and make it around the corner of the hill and see that you are only half way there. It tricks you into thinking it is only half as big with the curve. But (sound trumpets) I FINALLY DID IT! For the past two times I made it up the hill without stopping. I have to shift to the very lowest gear in order to make it up all the way, but the point is that I did it (DEKITA!). Bragging, I feel, is warranted in this situation because it was one early goal I accomplished. So, in a way, it makes me feel like I can reach any goal that I set. Metaphorically my hill climb represented to me the uphill trek I have to make with everything I do, but once I finally can make it to the top (even though it is really really hard) the rest is an easy downhill descent that requires little if any effort. And not only did I make it up one side of the hill, but both sides on the same day. When I had to go back home, I didn’t stop all the way from Aokata to my house.
Once again, this Monday, I attended TaiChi class. Talk about an uphill battle for me, TaiChi makes me sweat more than biking. I thought the second time I could understand more, but I think that I ended up making more mistakes! When I looked in the mirror I got confused and realized that I turned my movements into the actual mirror image of what everyone was doing. We (the gaijin, Robin Deborah and me) have no clue about the correct order of the movements. TaiChi, like other martial arts, relies on stances and focusing your energy. Being the only one with experience, Deborah explained to Robin and me a little bit of what the heck we were doing. Excuse me if I am mistaken, but from what I understand TaiChi relies on focusing your Chi –or your energy- and you breathe in not a set rhythm, but with your own movement in the steps. When you place your foot down, you breathe into your leg so that all of the energy is focused on one solid leg while the other is free to kick or attack. But, as many of you know, Tai Chi movements are very controlled and fluid. What I didn’t know was that many of the arm sweeps represent batting a kick away, grabbing a foot and redirecting momentum, or attacking. I think the basic purpose of Tai Chi is to understand the flow and energy of your body and using that energy defensively and aggressively against an attacker.
Let me tell you, I felt embarrassed that these fifty year old women were kicking my twenty two year old ass. They were flexible, fluid, and strong. I, on the other hand, looked rigid, clumsy, and weak. So, I have a lot to learn, and I have to work hard. Some lady showed me a manual of the steps that was in English and Japanese, and I realized that they had been memorizing the steps at home. At first I thought that everyone had just remembered from class, but now I know that I am not hopeless forever. I have a chance to not be half a second off of the steps. Right now, the new students stand in the middle of the class while the more experience students stand on the corners of the room. Because we just follow the moves of everyone else we need constantly watch what everyone else is doing. This way we can see someone who knows what the heck comes next, but it makes the movements look awkward because we constantly have to be looking to someone. Sometimes it seems like the blind leading the blind. Occasionally I will watch someone doesn’t really know what to do next, and so I get screwed up. Eventually I will learn the moves and know who to follow so that I don’t look completely ridiculous.
Yesterday I was so busy that I almost didn’t make it to “Adriene- looks-ridiculous-doing-the-monkey-pose time” also know as Tai Chi. I, as my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) tells me, “Very active.” Before monkey-posing I went to a scuba diving information session at Nice Buddy!! Isn’t the name so Japanese? Japanese are talented at taking two directly translated words, smashing them together, and synthesizing a truly unique phrase, such as “Nice Buddy”. Meeting the other divers was so exciting! I have wanted to scuba dive, since as long as I can remember, and the opportunity here presented itself. So now it is full throttle on the diving goal until I have my license. Luckily a co-worker (Nishimura-sensei) dives all the time, and she is the person that really got things moving for me. Once you mention you are interested in something, right away the wheels start turning. I know how to get what I want.
Even though I had been introduced to Megumi-san, a Japanese girl my age interested in diving, and she offered to take me sometime, but I had a sense she was busy and I wanted to start right away. And as luck would have it sitting in the desk across from me sat Nishimura sensei with a Nice Buddy T-shirt on. I got really excited because I knew if I mentioned anything about diving she would start to help me right away. It is the Japanese way (at least as I have experienced) to help out foreigners as much as possible, and take anything you mention into action (example: the blue bunny shoes). So slyly, using this knowledge to my advantage, I mentioned to Nakamura sensei that I want to go diving while I am here. Right away she looked surprised and said, “Oh, Nishimura-sensei dives too. I will talk to her.” And she did, and before I knew it Nishimura-sensei called Nice Buddy, came over to me and asked when I had a free day, and offered to take me there herself. Everyone is very generous here, and don’t assume I plan on taking advantage of this all the time, but I really really want to dive! It would have been very difficult setting things up on my own.
Yesterday afternoon – between school and Tai Chi – ended up being the perfect time to meet the crew of Nice Buddy. Unfortunately for me, Nice Buddy might be a little too far to bike since it takes twenty minutes by car to get there (and there is a hill twice as large as the one between Uonome and Aokata!). Nishimura-sensei drove me, and the views were absolutely breath taking. I am so lucky to be in such a beautiful location with very steep mountains completely covered in bright green foliage and crystal blue water. So, I will have to take the bus or get really strong in order to have the physical capacity to bike all the way. For now, I accept the free rides they offered me!
Everyone at Nice Buddy, as the name says, is nice - they will be my new nice buddies from Nice Buddy. And in Japanese custom they offered Nishimura-sensei and me delicious homemade pudding with strawberry jelly on top. I could have eaten about twenty bowls of pudding and have had room for more. Then came in Natsun-chan (woman) and Techa-kun (man) both extremely tan, fit and relatively young. Fortunately for me I understood a good bit of their Japanese. So I am either getting used to hearing Japanese or they know the type of Japanese to use with foreigners. Immediately they began filling up my schedule with dives, classes to get my license, and parties! They invited me to two Nice Buddy parties: a BBQ on the 12th and another on the 16th. Instant friends! On the 12th we’re on a boat (yes, think of the Lonely Island song, and if you don’t know it look it up on youtube) that will cruise the bay around a smaller island Wakamatsu where there will be fireworks (hanabi) after a small festival. My wish is that everything is free, because I don’t have much money left. Maybe I have enough set aside.
Right now, I am reaching the end of my cash supply. I should have exchanged all of my money in Tokyo, but didn’t get a chance since the hotel wouldn’t accept everything in one day. My money has to be saved for my new pink ketai (cell phone) and my trip to Nagasaki where I can exchange currency. Nowhere on the island offers currency exchange because, really, how often would they need to here. So, I need enough to make it to Nagasaki and enough to pay for my cell phone which means I cannot spend any more money on food. The stock of food in my fridge keeps shrinking, but luckily I have enough rice to last me a while. I have been very resourceful with making new combinations of food. Like today (a salad I am very proud of) I combined half a cob of corn – I cut the kernels off – with deli ham slices – which I further sliced into rectangles – and I added miso sauce and sesame seed oil, stirred: instant corn and ham salad. I impressed myself with my salad because it actually is something I’d make even if I had a fridge full of food. Corn and ham salad plus a rice ball (filled with chicken and wrapped with seaweed) was lunch. I haven’t gotten sick of onigiri (rice ball) yet, but I feel like the time may come soon. Since food is low, I made an onigiri filled with tiny chicken bits from Saturday’s BBQ for each lunch this week. So my lunch will be corn ham salad and onigiri everyday this week. Rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Rice, rice, and more rice! Thankfully, on Friday I’ll be in Nagaski by 3:30 I can exchange money and have some real food, maybe I’ll indulge in some champon (look it up)…yummy Nagasaki cuisine.
And, to add to my cash surplus on Friday, comes my first pay check!! I was unaware of the fact that orientation counted as work, but I am happy about it. So the 14th I get my pay check for the month of July. Extra money than I was expecting! So far since I exchanged only a bit of my money, I actually am way under my budgeted spending (yay for Adriene). But, my diving expenses will eat up the rest of what I have not spent so far.
Off topic, but funny, is the subject of typhoons (commonly known as hurricane). Typhoons regularly graze the Goto islands, but are hardly ever destructive. Now, we are in typhoon season so Nakamura-sensei tried to explain the typhoon procedure. I use the term procedure loosely, mostly because, there isn’t one. The procedure as far as I know means that the teachers either risk their lives coming to school (even if the kids don’t have to) or you have to take a day of paid leave. I kept asking, “What if no one can get to school?” And the response I kept getting, “Oh, no I think there is still school. You have to come.” To which I asked, “Even if the students don’t have to come.” “Hmmm, yes, I think so.” And from what I learned there is no real safe place to be, but inside your house. I feel a bit uncomfortable about this. I am trying to reconcile safety plans between the other JETs and me in case there is a big typhoon. The chances are slim, but better safe than dead.
*Students have felt more and more like they can come and talk with me. I am probably going to start an English board and newsletter at my school. If anyone has any ideas for me, or wants to ask a question, go ahead and leave a comment!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
peace and jellyfish
I woke up on Saturday morning to a weed whacker. As thoughtful as it was for Kyoto-sensei to cut my grass, I would have liked to take advantage of sleeping in. Instead tons of tiny rocks hitting my bedroom window. Not fun. Maybe he was making sure to make noise to get revenge for my overgrown lawn. I highly doubt it, but I considered it.
So on my one day off this week to sleep, I cannot. Yes, only one weekend day. Annually the school meets for a peace assembly in recognition of the A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Since the day landed on a Sunday this year, everyone has to come into school. For me, the school assembly meant I had to give a self introduction in front of the entire school. I learned this on Friday that I would not only give my English introduction to the school, but also a Japanese one. Panic! Granted, the school is not very big, but I hate public speaking. And as a new teacher I wanted to look in control, calm, and poised. I think I managed. First the kochou-sensei (principle) introduced me in Japanese, and then I took over the podium overlooking all of the students who were VERY closely watching my every move. Thankfully they had me give my speech in English first, “Hello, and good morning. It is very nice to meet all of you. My name is Adriene. I came from California, which is in America. I like to play sports and paint. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach at your school. I look forward to teaching English. Let’s have fun and work hard.” I know that my speech was choppy, but remember that I have to make things simple. Also, I would never have constructed a self-introduction like this in America, but the Japanese expect a certain format and certain information such as: where you are from and your hobbies. So in Japanese it sounds somewhat better (hopefully!), “ Hajimemashite, watashi ha Adriene desu. America no California-shu kara kimashita. Sports to e wo kaku koto ga suki desu. Minasan to issho ni eigo no jyugyo no toki ha tanoshi mitai ganbarimashou.” Translation “Humbly, I am Adriene. I came from America’s California –state. I like sports and painting. I want all of you together in class time to try and have fun and work hard.” Not very deep, but my speech got the job done. I didn’t screw up, sweat profusely, or faint! Successful, for sure. I wonder how the other new ALT’s fared because for all the rest of them it was also their first day. For them it might be a little more nerve wracking than my experience.
We sat on the hard wood gym floor the whole time! Not good on my knees at all. I would have to keep shifting positions the whole time, but for someone not used to sitting for about two hours straight on the floor, it is not a comfortable experience. Surely I thought they would have brought in chairs to the assembly, but to my detriment the chairs never appeared. The students seem to be used to it because they didn’t have to change position every five minutes like I did! Moving around so much made things seem so much longer. Since I didn’t understand anything the time dragged on. I know the assembly talked about peace, and I know that they talked about the actual bomb, but sometimes they would say the word “America”. It made me uncomfortable to not understand because I would really have liked to know what they said about us. Possibly they were saying that we can learn from this horrible tragedy and will never repeat the event. Or it could have been a speech about inevitable and future revenge upon America. But of course I’m joking. I actually find significance being introduced to the school on Peace Day, especially because I am an American. Only around sixty years from the event a school in Nagasaki prefecture can welcome with open arms a teacher from a country that decimated not only one, but two cities. In the span of history, this is such a short time for forgiveness. Some animosity towards Americans exists (we wrote their constitution and won’t move our base from Okinawa), but the general attitudes towards Americans (especially the younger generations) are positive. Giving my introduction today gives me the feelings that we are working towards peace. Hopefully my presence at the assembly will mean something special to the students: Japanese and Americans working together to enhance the education and lives of the students.
On a lighter note, a jellyfish stung me yesterday. Don’t worry though, it really isn’t too bad. Yay for jellyfish breeding season. All through August the jelly fish take over and breed here off of the coast. All of us ALTs got together around my place (Arikawa) yesterday, and we decided to go to the beach. While, although beautiful, has several problems. For one, trash covers a good part of the beach, which I didn’t expect in Japan. But from what I gather many beaches have trash in Japan. What’s more, a lot of cockroach looking things crawl on the rocks and all over the trash piles. Thankfully they don’t come near the swimming areas. The beach, apart from the trash, rivals the looks of many California beaches and the water is warm enough to wade in and not feel cold (high 80’s). But, near the water the sand retains so much moisture that our towels became completely soaked by the time that we got back to them from the water and a thick layer of sand stuck to the towel that we couldn’t shake off. Robin and I decided our old towels we found in the house weren’t worth dragging back to the house. So, we snuck to a trashcan and while no one was looking we threw away our towels. And here I am saying I’m worried about the trash on the beach and I throw a towel away at the beach. Oh well, I dumped it in the correct receptacle. The final problem of the day were jelly fish. Even though there is a netted in swimming area, I managed to get stung. Before I went in I knew it was breeding season, but I figured the net would stop them. Not so, I am pretty sure a bit of jellyfish leg made it through the net and landed on my inner arm above the elbow. At first it started to sting and tingle so I wasn’t sure, but quickly I realized what had happened. But I wanted to stay in the water anyway. However when I felt a sting brush across my leg, I knew that it was time to book it to the shore. Slowly but surely a raised rash formed on the site of the sting. I am okay, I got some cream on it, and it sometimes stings even today, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
So on my one day off this week to sleep, I cannot. Yes, only one weekend day. Annually the school meets for a peace assembly in recognition of the A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Since the day landed on a Sunday this year, everyone has to come into school. For me, the school assembly meant I had to give a self introduction in front of the entire school. I learned this on Friday that I would not only give my English introduction to the school, but also a Japanese one. Panic! Granted, the school is not very big, but I hate public speaking. And as a new teacher I wanted to look in control, calm, and poised. I think I managed. First the kochou-sensei (principle) introduced me in Japanese, and then I took over the podium overlooking all of the students who were VERY closely watching my every move. Thankfully they had me give my speech in English first, “Hello, and good morning. It is very nice to meet all of you. My name is Adriene. I came from California, which is in America. I like to play sports and paint. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach at your school. I look forward to teaching English. Let’s have fun and work hard.” I know that my speech was choppy, but remember that I have to make things simple. Also, I would never have constructed a self-introduction like this in America, but the Japanese expect a certain format and certain information such as: where you are from and your hobbies. So in Japanese it sounds somewhat better (hopefully!), “ Hajimemashite, watashi ha Adriene desu. America no California-shu kara kimashita. Sports to e wo kaku koto ga suki desu. Minasan to issho ni eigo no jyugyo no toki ha tanoshi mitai ganbarimashou.” Translation “Humbly, I am Adriene. I came from America’s California –state. I like sports and painting. I want all of you together in class time to try and have fun and work hard.” Not very deep, but my speech got the job done. I didn’t screw up, sweat profusely, or faint! Successful, for sure. I wonder how the other new ALT’s fared because for all the rest of them it was also their first day. For them it might be a little more nerve wracking than my experience.
We sat on the hard wood gym floor the whole time! Not good on my knees at all. I would have to keep shifting positions the whole time, but for someone not used to sitting for about two hours straight on the floor, it is not a comfortable experience. Surely I thought they would have brought in chairs to the assembly, but to my detriment the chairs never appeared. The students seem to be used to it because they didn’t have to change position every five minutes like I did! Moving around so much made things seem so much longer. Since I didn’t understand anything the time dragged on. I know the assembly talked about peace, and I know that they talked about the actual bomb, but sometimes they would say the word “America”. It made me uncomfortable to not understand because I would really have liked to know what they said about us. Possibly they were saying that we can learn from this horrible tragedy and will never repeat the event. Or it could have been a speech about inevitable and future revenge upon America. But of course I’m joking. I actually find significance being introduced to the school on Peace Day, especially because I am an American. Only around sixty years from the event a school in Nagasaki prefecture can welcome with open arms a teacher from a country that decimated not only one, but two cities. In the span of history, this is such a short time for forgiveness. Some animosity towards Americans exists (we wrote their constitution and won’t move our base from Okinawa), but the general attitudes towards Americans (especially the younger generations) are positive. Giving my introduction today gives me the feelings that we are working towards peace. Hopefully my presence at the assembly will mean something special to the students: Japanese and Americans working together to enhance the education and lives of the students.
On a lighter note, a jellyfish stung me yesterday. Don’t worry though, it really isn’t too bad. Yay for jellyfish breeding season. All through August the jelly fish take over and breed here off of the coast. All of us ALTs got together around my place (Arikawa) yesterday, and we decided to go to the beach. While, although beautiful, has several problems. For one, trash covers a good part of the beach, which I didn’t expect in Japan. But from what I gather many beaches have trash in Japan. What’s more, a lot of cockroach looking things crawl on the rocks and all over the trash piles. Thankfully they don’t come near the swimming areas. The beach, apart from the trash, rivals the looks of many California beaches and the water is warm enough to wade in and not feel cold (high 80’s). But, near the water the sand retains so much moisture that our towels became completely soaked by the time that we got back to them from the water and a thick layer of sand stuck to the towel that we couldn’t shake off. Robin and I decided our old towels we found in the house weren’t worth dragging back to the house. So, we snuck to a trashcan and while no one was looking we threw away our towels. And here I am saying I’m worried about the trash on the beach and I throw a towel away at the beach. Oh well, I dumped it in the correct receptacle. The final problem of the day were jelly fish. Even though there is a netted in swimming area, I managed to get stung. Before I went in I knew it was breeding season, but I figured the net would stop them. Not so, I am pretty sure a bit of jellyfish leg made it through the net and landed on my inner arm above the elbow. At first it started to sting and tingle so I wasn’t sure, but quickly I realized what had happened. But I wanted to stay in the water anyway. However when I felt a sting brush across my leg, I knew that it was time to book it to the shore. Slowly but surely a raised rash formed on the site of the sting. I am okay, I got some cream on it, and it sometimes stings even today, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
i need a scythe
So, if I haven’t mention it before, I’ll mention it now. My vice principle lives next to me. It makes me nervous because I don’t know how much he can hear or if he can see into my house. Even if he can’t see inside my house, he can definitely see the outside. He complained about my grass to me today. Without knowing it was a problem or that I need to cut it I didn’t notice my grass. Of course his complaint came to be subtly and unexpectedly, “Oh, Adriene, how say (then he makes a cutting motion).” And I reply, “To cut?” “Oh hai hai, yes, cut, ehhhh, cut grass?” At this point I had no idea it was a complaint, I thought he was asking me how to say something in English, so I nodded and asked, “You mean, mow the grass?” “Sou ka…etou ne, cut the grass?” “You mean mow?” To which I added a mowing the grass motion, and he clearly did not seem to follow, “Me? You? Cut grass deshou?” more swiping motions like he was using a scythe “Uh….” I had no idea what he was getting at, so Nakamura sensei came to my rescue and initiated the complaint conversation. I was supposed to know he was complaining by mentioning the grass, and Nakamura sensei could easily tell I didn’t catch on. Some Japanese ensued between them and then she turned to me, “Adriene, do you cut your grass?” “What? Grass?” “Kyoto-sensei is your neighbor and he want to know if you cut grass?” Once again I asked, “Can I mow the grass?” “No, your grass is rather long and Kyoto-sensei has offered to cut it.” “Oh, what? I can do it. I am sorry.” “No, just say thank you to Kyoto-sensei.” “Okay, doumo arigatou gozaimashita.” To be honest, his grass doesn’t look that much more manicured that mine does. And I have only seen him at his house once, so this totally caught me by surprise. Most other houses have overgrown grass, so mine did not seem out of the ordinary. Because I have put so much time into making my house look better and be free of mold, the garden areas escaped my attention. Well he has yet to see how much better the house will look after two pay checks. I plan on re-painting the house and planting flowers and improving the garden. Looking back I should have handled the situation differently, I should have said, “Hounto ni sumimasen,” which means truly excuse my behavior. Something, anything, would have been better than standing in the room shocked without much speaking. He seems like a really cool laid back guy, so I don’t think my reaction bothered him. Plus, I am foreign so they do not expect us to follow Japanese social norms.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
new alts and george
Today will be a long day. After going out with the new ALT’s last night I don’t feel so great. Last night I had fun, but of course the Japanese kept serving drinks to us. One drink in particular got the best of me: Chuhai. It is so delicious and it tastes like sprite, so I kept forgetting it had any alcohol in it. Chuhai perfectly complemented all of the interesting food dishes. For starters we had deep fried chicken cartilage : don’t be fooled when people tell you Japan has the healthiest food. There is so much freakin fried food, so many pastries, and mayonnaise comes on everything. You have to have a strong will not to indulge in all the unhealthy food. Being in Japan once and making that mistake has made me realize that I don’t need to buy every new pastry I see. So I am leaving pastries out of the house, but I’ve already made fried chicken! Bad me, but it comes pre-battered and it’s so easy and so yummy. And the leftover chicken gets stuffed into rice balls (onigiri) with the left over rice – perfect for bento box (lunch box). During the school year I will get free school lunches but during the summer I either have to buy a lunch (around 500 yen, or 5 dollars) or bring one in. I have opted to bring in my own food, like onigiri or my leftovers from dinner. It’s much cheaper for me this way. Plus, I know what I’m eating. Back to food, I am an adventurous person and like to try everything. But, I don’t know if I’ll try raw horse. People eat raw (sashimi) horse, and some Japanese people think it’s funny to get the foreigner to try it. I don’t want to feed into the “foreigners don’t eat our food, so funny” stereotype, but I think back to my own pony Misty and can’t do it. Maybe after a while, but I have a mental block. I’ve already eaten raw sashimi beef, and lots of sushi, but no horse. Robin seemed like she might give it a try eventually, but I think Kelly might be on my side.
My new besties Robin and Kelly are so awesome. But I could tell that they were very tired. I know I was when I first arrived. Not being able to go to my house on the first day was a killer so I know how they felt. At least they got a welcome from me, Deborah, Nathaniel, and some Japanese co-workers and dinner. I got no welcome and no dinner, and they didn’t suffer Toki-san alone. Being stuck in the tiny hotel room was not my idea of a good time. I was so glad that we could take them out and make them feel welcome. Shinju had her own welcome in her town of Narao which is very far down south on the island. The four JETs living on the north side all got together: me, Deborah, Kelly, and Robin. First we went to dinner, where the drinks started coming. I really enjoyed my time there. To my knee’s benefit the table wasn’t a foot off the ground like at all the other places. Thankfully there was a pit that dropped down under the table where you could put your legs. All of the other places I’ve been to are sit on the ground places which hurt my knees after a while, but I guess I have no choice but to get used to it. So dinner was nice, we were all a little loud, but that’s acceptable here as long as you have had a beer. After a beer Japanese people feel free to shed their social fears and will not only start talking in English, but become extremely loud. No one cares at restaurants and bars how loud you are. And we took full advantage of the volume allowance after our drinks. However, the real experience was yet to come.
We met George. A foul mouthed, retro, pimp throwback. Somehow I don’t think George is his real name. And even though we were warned about George, nothing Nathaniel said could have cushioned George’s extreme character. His car gave all of us our first glimpse into George’s strange world. It was a pimped out car that looked like it was straight out of the 70’s with a black paint job, purple interior, and chrome wheels. Very distinctive. And then we saw his sign outside his shop that read, “Fuckin’ good pizza.” I have to agree his pizza was pretty good, strange, but good. The pizza had corn cabbage and mayonnaise on it. Not very American. The bar also looked straight from the 70’s with a piano – mike attached – sitting in the middle of the room, but the bathroom topped it all off. The toilet matched his car, it was jet black with a purple seat cover. A bunch of hemp like plants surrounded the toilet and in the alcove behind and above the toilet sat a lot of cherubs. I think he decorated it himself. So we sat there with George who himself looks nothing like a normal Japanese guy. His head is shaved bald – the only facial hair being a small patch of hair on his chin - and he wears some silver chains around his neck. He would randomly shout out, “Fuckin’ Bush, fuckin’ Reagan. Fuck America. I like the big breast.” Breast was always singular, and we kept trying to tell him Bush wasn’t in office anymore – and neither is Reagan. He would go, “Yes, yes we can! Obama!” I don’t think that you’ll be surprised to learn that conversation wasn’t deep. He only understands cussing. At one point George tried to do a British accent which of course failed terribly, but he thought he did a great job. Kelly hilariously made so many under handed comments that went straight over his head but definitely made me laugh. Suffice to say, I will not be going to get some fuckin’ good pizza very often. George I’ve decided isn’t really the type of person I can handle very often. But, once in a while I think it would be very entertaining.
My new besties Robin and Kelly are so awesome. But I could tell that they were very tired. I know I was when I first arrived. Not being able to go to my house on the first day was a killer so I know how they felt. At least they got a welcome from me, Deborah, Nathaniel, and some Japanese co-workers and dinner. I got no welcome and no dinner, and they didn’t suffer Toki-san alone. Being stuck in the tiny hotel room was not my idea of a good time. I was so glad that we could take them out and make them feel welcome. Shinju had her own welcome in her town of Narao which is very far down south on the island. The four JETs living on the north side all got together: me, Deborah, Kelly, and Robin. First we went to dinner, where the drinks started coming. I really enjoyed my time there. To my knee’s benefit the table wasn’t a foot off the ground like at all the other places. Thankfully there was a pit that dropped down under the table where you could put your legs. All of the other places I’ve been to are sit on the ground places which hurt my knees after a while, but I guess I have no choice but to get used to it. So dinner was nice, we were all a little loud, but that’s acceptable here as long as you have had a beer. After a beer Japanese people feel free to shed their social fears and will not only start talking in English, but become extremely loud. No one cares at restaurants and bars how loud you are. And we took full advantage of the volume allowance after our drinks. However, the real experience was yet to come.
We met George. A foul mouthed, retro, pimp throwback. Somehow I don’t think George is his real name. And even though we were warned about George, nothing Nathaniel said could have cushioned George’s extreme character. His car gave all of us our first glimpse into George’s strange world. It was a pimped out car that looked like it was straight out of the 70’s with a black paint job, purple interior, and chrome wheels. Very distinctive. And then we saw his sign outside his shop that read, “Fuckin’ good pizza.” I have to agree his pizza was pretty good, strange, but good. The pizza had corn cabbage and mayonnaise on it. Not very American. The bar also looked straight from the 70’s with a piano – mike attached – sitting in the middle of the room, but the bathroom topped it all off. The toilet matched his car, it was jet black with a purple seat cover. A bunch of hemp like plants surrounded the toilet and in the alcove behind and above the toilet sat a lot of cherubs. I think he decorated it himself. So we sat there with George who himself looks nothing like a normal Japanese guy. His head is shaved bald – the only facial hair being a small patch of hair on his chin - and he wears some silver chains around his neck. He would randomly shout out, “Fuckin’ Bush, fuckin’ Reagan. Fuck America. I like the big breast.” Breast was always singular, and we kept trying to tell him Bush wasn’t in office anymore – and neither is Reagan. He would go, “Yes, yes we can! Obama!” I don’t think that you’ll be surprised to learn that conversation wasn’t deep. He only understands cussing. At one point George tried to do a British accent which of course failed terribly, but he thought he did a great job. Kelly hilariously made so many under handed comments that went straight over his head but definitely made me laugh. Suffice to say, I will not be going to get some fuckin’ good pizza very often. George I’ve decided isn’t really the type of person I can handle very often. But, once in a while I think it would be very entertaining.
out with the old and in with the new
We said good bye to Andrea and Carlo today. I skipped some work, with permission, and headed down to the ferry port. What I expected, and what actually happened were quite different. I pictured a few people saying good bye and then they would board the boat and the ferry would leave. Not so quaint. A large amount of students and teachers came to the send off. And while Andrea and Carlo boarded the ferry, the teachers attached hundreds of colorful streamers from the balcony of the ferry down onto the dock. I only wish I had had my camera. Deborah and I were both given three streamer to hold on rollers. Some people had up to six streamer rolls in their hands. Even some of the little junior high kids were holding lots of colorful streamers. And among the crowd of people the high school band played their high school song. Words can’t describe how amazing it was to see a huge crowd of people on the dock looking up at Andrea and Joe. Adding to the festivities, the sun finally came out. The mist over the mountains still remained, but it was definitely a picturesque moment which I could not take a picture of.
When the ferry began its departure the whole crowd of students – even teachers – ran down the dock yelling, “Come back, come back, visit!” I did not expect it at all, but ran with the crowd anyway waving at Andrea and Carlo the whole time. Shinkamigoto good byes are pretty spectacular. If I don’t get one like that, I think I will be bitterly disappointed.
And tonight come the new ALT’s : Robin, Shinju, and Kelly. All of us graduated this last year, and we are all working with junior high schools and elementary schools. I think we’ll be the bestest of friends. I can dream and hope! I’m planning a welcome BBQ at my house so that everyone can hang out and enjoy themselves. I hope I can get the BBQ working! Deborah has left over fireworks from Andrea, so hopefully we can turn it into a party.
Oh the turmoil of dealing with Toki-san. Update on my situation: I won’t have internet at my house until the 17th of August. That is in two weeks!! I think I might take things into my own hands and get the internet set up at my house. Toki-san told me the modem was broken or something like that, but I can always buy a new one to get the internet running faster. When I asked him if I could internet now he said, “Oh maybe, yes, maybe.” But, that doesn’t mean maybe in Japanglish, it mean no way not even when hell freezes over with the internet work today. I have so much to learn about Japanese pragmatics. After getting the same maybe five times he finally said, “I don’t think today, maybe, not.” He still included a maybe!!! In English it means there is an actual possibility, and so now I like to think that I have the instilled American value of optimism. I am going to learn a lot about my own beliefs when I pragmatics don’t connect in conversation. So I learned that I value optimism, and if someone tells me “maybe” I think it means that I have a definite and probably chance of something happening. There are exceptions to this rule, like with facebook invitations when I don’t want to go I usually put maybe, but even then maybe isn’t a definite “no.” With Japanese people most of the time maybe means no, actually it probably just means no.
Of course I may take more and more internet liberty at school if I can. That way I won’t have to worry so much. But, it’s hard to get anything done around here by myself as I just realized. I learned that I have school on Sunday to honor the A-bomb drop on Nagasaki. So, there will be a peace assembly in the gym. I got really excited and asked if I could go, and then Nakamura-sensei said of course I could but I need to put on my gym shoes. Gym shoes? Apparently I need different indoors shoes than my blue bunny sandals. The gym shoes have to be different than school inside shoes. When I asked if I need tennis shoes they told me that I they don’t play tennis in the gym. I quickly realized my mistake instead of saying sneakers I said tennis shoes –which is what I’m used to. Faster than I can say Shinkamigoto, the gym instructor came over carrying catalogues of shoes. He kept asking for which sport I need to shoes for. Volleyball, basketball? And when I pointed to regular all around tennis shoes he told me that those are outside shoes. Well of course they are meant to be outdoor shoes, but he didn’t understand that I wanted to wear them inside. So I settled on pointing at some indoor soccer shoes. That made everyone happier because they are meant to be indoor. And I can’t get these shoes on my own either. I have to wait till tomorrow to get them with Nakamura-sensei. She told me it’s better if she introduces me to the shop keepers. I know that building relationships is usually facilitated through other people, like a giant networking web. But, it would be really nice to be able to buy some shoes by myself.
When the ferry began its departure the whole crowd of students – even teachers – ran down the dock yelling, “Come back, come back, visit!” I did not expect it at all, but ran with the crowd anyway waving at Andrea and Carlo the whole time. Shinkamigoto good byes are pretty spectacular. If I don’t get one like that, I think I will be bitterly disappointed.
And tonight come the new ALT’s : Robin, Shinju, and Kelly. All of us graduated this last year, and we are all working with junior high schools and elementary schools. I think we’ll be the bestest of friends. I can dream and hope! I’m planning a welcome BBQ at my house so that everyone can hang out and enjoy themselves. I hope I can get the BBQ working! Deborah has left over fireworks from Andrea, so hopefully we can turn it into a party.
Oh the turmoil of dealing with Toki-san. Update on my situation: I won’t have internet at my house until the 17th of August. That is in two weeks!! I think I might take things into my own hands and get the internet set up at my house. Toki-san told me the modem was broken or something like that, but I can always buy a new one to get the internet running faster. When I asked him if I could internet now he said, “Oh maybe, yes, maybe.” But, that doesn’t mean maybe in Japanglish, it mean no way not even when hell freezes over with the internet work today. I have so much to learn about Japanese pragmatics. After getting the same maybe five times he finally said, “I don’t think today, maybe, not.” He still included a maybe!!! In English it means there is an actual possibility, and so now I like to think that I have the instilled American value of optimism. I am going to learn a lot about my own beliefs when I pragmatics don’t connect in conversation. So I learned that I value optimism, and if someone tells me “maybe” I think it means that I have a definite and probably chance of something happening. There are exceptions to this rule, like with facebook invitations when I don’t want to go I usually put maybe, but even then maybe isn’t a definite “no.” With Japanese people most of the time maybe means no, actually it probably just means no.
Of course I may take more and more internet liberty at school if I can. That way I won’t have to worry so much. But, it’s hard to get anything done around here by myself as I just realized. I learned that I have school on Sunday to honor the A-bomb drop on Nagasaki. So, there will be a peace assembly in the gym. I got really excited and asked if I could go, and then Nakamura-sensei said of course I could but I need to put on my gym shoes. Gym shoes? Apparently I need different indoors shoes than my blue bunny sandals. The gym shoes have to be different than school inside shoes. When I asked if I need tennis shoes they told me that I they don’t play tennis in the gym. I quickly realized my mistake instead of saying sneakers I said tennis shoes –which is what I’m used to. Faster than I can say Shinkamigoto, the gym instructor came over carrying catalogues of shoes. He kept asking for which sport I need to shoes for. Volleyball, basketball? And when I pointed to regular all around tennis shoes he told me that those are outside shoes. Well of course they are meant to be outdoor shoes, but he didn’t understand that I wanted to wear them inside. So I settled on pointing at some indoor soccer shoes. That made everyone happier because they are meant to be indoor. And I can’t get these shoes on my own either. I have to wait till tomorrow to get them with Nakamura-sensei. She told me it’s better if she introduces me to the shop keepers. I know that building relationships is usually facilitated through other people, like a giant networking web. But, it would be really nice to be able to buy some shoes by myself.
the next day at work
My next day at work. Even though I don’t actually have assigned work right now, I’ve kept busy going through all the old material at my desk and creating maps of California and Texas. More and more curious students either look through the door at me. The brave ones actually come and talk. So, to make conversation run a little smoother (they are so shy) I made the maps and also state fact sheets about Texas in California. My hope is that they are interested in the state bird, flower, fish etc. I want to start and share where I come from as soon as I can. Some of the kids are excruciatingly shy. It pains me to speak to them because they feel personally accosted by my English! I really really want to reach out. Not giving up, and being patient is the key. One such student Shione-san blatantly avoided me while talking with the English teacher – Nakamura-sensei- sitting right beside me. But, after persevering and smiling a lot, I broke through! She not only looked at me, but sort of spoke! Yay me. Not all the students behave the same, some are really outgoing and funny. Others hold back completely. It’s middle school; it’s hard. I can’t blame the really shy ones, it’s not like this time is easy. If I were in the same position as these middle schoolers with a native foreign language speaker trying to get me to speak, I think I would shut down as well. In fact, I still do that around Spanish speakers. I can relate, and so I’ve been using English and Japanese. I think I’ll keep it that way outside of the classroom while I’ll only use English in the classroom. Possibly the longer I stay the more they’ll feel comfortable around me, even comfortable enough to where I only do speak English to them.
I keep making little mistakes in the teacher’s room here and there. Since we eat lunch at our desk, I assumed we could eat treats at the desk too. Not so. Nakamura-sensei told me it’s okay at other schools, but not here. She’s worked with other ALT’s before, and I get the feeling she is really laid back and really sweet. I also parked my bike the wrong place and they told me by saying, “Oh Adriene, you rode your bike today…” hahaha, I got the point and asked where Joe used to park it. Also, I didn’t know that I couldn’t have coffee without paying. Yesterday the cafeteria planner lady gave me some coffee, but this might have been an extended gesture. The treats in the snack room are also not free. Well, they are kind of. You can take a snack or treat without paying, but everyone is expected to bring in treats every once in a while. Free for now, but eventually I’ll have to buy some sweets. What’s more is that I stamped my name on the wrong page. When I come in I’m supposed to use my name stamp on a specific page on a specific date to record when I was at work. I stamped on another teacher’s page and in the wrong color. I made the mistake because Japanese books go from right to left and not left to right. I found my tab and stamped the page to the right of the tab (going the western way left to right) instead of to the left. Everything is supposed to be in red ink, and I used black. I have no idea why it has to be red. So much I have to learn. Everything turned out okay, and I’ll learn what’s okay and what’s not, but only by making mistakes!
On a side note, they think I’m crazy for biking everywhere. Yes, I may be, but my predecessor did it. What’s more is that I don’t want to pay for a car. A motorcycle maybe, but a car is too much money: insurance, gas, repairs. It’s just not worth it. Plus, I am getting in shape. My glutes haven’t worked this hard in a long time! I’ll be strong and fit in no time. Personally I think it’s a great way to explore the island, as long as I don’t get attacked by the feral pig population. Nakamura-sensei told me that they charge at you, especially when they have little babies. I wonder if I could tame a baby pig and make it a guard pig. Not like a need a guard, it’s so small and safe that nothing is going to happen. There are so many alley kitties too. And even though I’ve been told not to bring one into the house, they are just so cute. Don’t worry, I won’t take one off the street, but it would be nice to have a pet in an empty house. Maybe a fish will do for now. Not cuddly like a cute feral kitty cat with deformities. By deformities I mean that their tails are usually bent in awkward ways that definitely looks like a birth defect. Probably inbreeding of the alley kitties. And my guess is that they are not nice and have not been domestic for a while. So, I will not be letting a cat into my house.
Strangest thing yesterday, I saw two foreigners walking down the street that weren’t new ALT’s. I felt Japanese when I kept staring, and thinking, “what are they doing here?” I have to admit that I was a bit suspicious because it isn’t a huge tourist attraction for westerners. I locked my house.
Now, I only have one hour left at work. What am I going to do? I made it through most of the day just fine, but now I’m tired of looking through ESL material since that’s what I’ve been doing for a good 4 hours. I have plenty of work going through all of the material left for me, but I’m beginning to lose focus. I’m tempted to walk around the school by myself but I might get something like, “Oh Adriene, you go exploring?” which might mean nothing, but could mean stay at your desk. I think I’ll wait to take my liberties very slowly. They still need to get used to me, and I them.
To my surprise the school is relatively new, very spacious, and lets in lots of light. It’s all wood floors, and the wood extends half way up the walls. In the windows there are lots of plants, so it has a very organic feeling. Another surprise was to learn all the types of classes they offer. Home Economy, wood-shop, sewing, and art are some of the non-academic classes. These classrooms along with the academic classrooms were much nicer than anything I had in middle school or even high school.
Right now the students are on summer holiday (I think it is the middle of the academic school year for them). None-the-less everyone is still at school without going to classes. Everyone participates in some type of a club. All day I have heard nothing but the volley players and basketball players in the gym, and when I look outside people are running around I think running cross country.
*Good Feeling: The students keep calling me cute! I feel great about myself.
On another note, last night I did not feel so great about myself. I tried Tai-Chi for the first time (Kai-kyo-ku-ken in Japanese, so hard to say!) and I looked like a fool. Those who know me well understand that I have a lot of self awareness for sports where there is a ball: soccer, football, baseball, but that I lack graces for dancing and sports like Tai Chi. Hopefully I’ll catch on, but I’m sure if it was video recorded I would have made a great youtube video. At the beginning of the lesson they had us sit around in a circle where I attempted some of the stretching positions. During all of the stretching the teacher chose a vowel to chants – a, e, i, o, u – depending on the position. And by chanting I mean holding a monotone vowel for as long as possible. The strangest for me was when laying on my back with my legs in the air spread eagle chanting, “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” I’m really glad I’m okay with looking stupid because I met one of the ladies who works at the board of education (one of my supervisors) and a couple other ladies that live near me. But, I was not the lone gaingin (foreigner), Deborah (who has done TaiChi in the states) came as well. Even though the teacher speaks pretty good English, I’m happy to have someone native to speak with in English and explain some basic things. Hopefully, I can foster good community relations through this class as well as improve my grace and poise. And, Tai-Chi proved to be much more difficult than I thought. By the end of the class I had sweat pouring down (I wasn’t the only one) and my legs were shaking. Because it’s a twenty minute bike ride up a super steep hill, I may have tired myself out before hand. So after working really hard in Tai Chi I got bike up another steep hill and then coast back to my house. I had to force myself to do necessary chores once I got home.
Chores include hanging laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming, etc. Driers are absent in most Japanese houses. And in a humid place like Shinkamigoto, it is imperative to hang your clothes right away. I started the washing machine before I left for TaiChi and had to hang clothes before bed. This I don’t think I’ll like very much, but I have no choice in the matter. It’s either hang right away or love the smell of moldy clothes. Living in Houston has prepared me for these conditions, but that don’t mean I like it.
More about Arikawa junior high school. There are three levels. The top floor is devoted to the first years (7th grade), the second floor is for the second years (8th grade), and the bottom floor is ruled by the third years (9th grade). The first years are so cute and small compared to the third years. All are friendly, but the third years are definitely the most outgoing, and it’s probably because they feel like they own the place. The real school year starts in April, so I guess I’ll be getting a new group of first years in the middle of the year. I’m not exactly sure when the year changes, just when it begins. I have no fear that the first years will open up to me once I kick their butts at dodgeball. The other ALT’s tell me that dodgeball is a very popular after school sport here and that the kids start really warming up to you once you smash in their heads with a ball several times (but in a very friendly and teacherly way of course).
I keep making little mistakes in the teacher’s room here and there. Since we eat lunch at our desk, I assumed we could eat treats at the desk too. Not so. Nakamura-sensei told me it’s okay at other schools, but not here. She’s worked with other ALT’s before, and I get the feeling she is really laid back and really sweet. I also parked my bike the wrong place and they told me by saying, “Oh Adriene, you rode your bike today…” hahaha, I got the point and asked where Joe used to park it. Also, I didn’t know that I couldn’t have coffee without paying. Yesterday the cafeteria planner lady gave me some coffee, but this might have been an extended gesture. The treats in the snack room are also not free. Well, they are kind of. You can take a snack or treat without paying, but everyone is expected to bring in treats every once in a while. Free for now, but eventually I’ll have to buy some sweets. What’s more is that I stamped my name on the wrong page. When I come in I’m supposed to use my name stamp on a specific page on a specific date to record when I was at work. I stamped on another teacher’s page and in the wrong color. I made the mistake because Japanese books go from right to left and not left to right. I found my tab and stamped the page to the right of the tab (going the western way left to right) instead of to the left. Everything is supposed to be in red ink, and I used black. I have no idea why it has to be red. So much I have to learn. Everything turned out okay, and I’ll learn what’s okay and what’s not, but only by making mistakes!
On a side note, they think I’m crazy for biking everywhere. Yes, I may be, but my predecessor did it. What’s more is that I don’t want to pay for a car. A motorcycle maybe, but a car is too much money: insurance, gas, repairs. It’s just not worth it. Plus, I am getting in shape. My glutes haven’t worked this hard in a long time! I’ll be strong and fit in no time. Personally I think it’s a great way to explore the island, as long as I don’t get attacked by the feral pig population. Nakamura-sensei told me that they charge at you, especially when they have little babies. I wonder if I could tame a baby pig and make it a guard pig. Not like a need a guard, it’s so small and safe that nothing is going to happen. There are so many alley kitties too. And even though I’ve been told not to bring one into the house, they are just so cute. Don’t worry, I won’t take one off the street, but it would be nice to have a pet in an empty house. Maybe a fish will do for now. Not cuddly like a cute feral kitty cat with deformities. By deformities I mean that their tails are usually bent in awkward ways that definitely looks like a birth defect. Probably inbreeding of the alley kitties. And my guess is that they are not nice and have not been domestic for a while. So, I will not be letting a cat into my house.
Strangest thing yesterday, I saw two foreigners walking down the street that weren’t new ALT’s. I felt Japanese when I kept staring, and thinking, “what are they doing here?” I have to admit that I was a bit suspicious because it isn’t a huge tourist attraction for westerners. I locked my house.
Now, I only have one hour left at work. What am I going to do? I made it through most of the day just fine, but now I’m tired of looking through ESL material since that’s what I’ve been doing for a good 4 hours. I have plenty of work going through all of the material left for me, but I’m beginning to lose focus. I’m tempted to walk around the school by myself but I might get something like, “Oh Adriene, you go exploring?” which might mean nothing, but could mean stay at your desk. I think I’ll wait to take my liberties very slowly. They still need to get used to me, and I them.
To my surprise the school is relatively new, very spacious, and lets in lots of light. It’s all wood floors, and the wood extends half way up the walls. In the windows there are lots of plants, so it has a very organic feeling. Another surprise was to learn all the types of classes they offer. Home Economy, wood-shop, sewing, and art are some of the non-academic classes. These classrooms along with the academic classrooms were much nicer than anything I had in middle school or even high school.
Right now the students are on summer holiday (I think it is the middle of the academic school year for them). None-the-less everyone is still at school without going to classes. Everyone participates in some type of a club. All day I have heard nothing but the volley players and basketball players in the gym, and when I look outside people are running around I think running cross country.
*Good Feeling: The students keep calling me cute! I feel great about myself.
On another note, last night I did not feel so great about myself. I tried Tai-Chi for the first time (Kai-kyo-ku-ken in Japanese, so hard to say!) and I looked like a fool. Those who know me well understand that I have a lot of self awareness for sports where there is a ball: soccer, football, baseball, but that I lack graces for dancing and sports like Tai Chi. Hopefully I’ll catch on, but I’m sure if it was video recorded I would have made a great youtube video. At the beginning of the lesson they had us sit around in a circle where I attempted some of the stretching positions. During all of the stretching the teacher chose a vowel to chants – a, e, i, o, u – depending on the position. And by chanting I mean holding a monotone vowel for as long as possible. The strangest for me was when laying on my back with my legs in the air spread eagle chanting, “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” I’m really glad I’m okay with looking stupid because I met one of the ladies who works at the board of education (one of my supervisors) and a couple other ladies that live near me. But, I was not the lone gaingin (foreigner), Deborah (who has done TaiChi in the states) came as well. Even though the teacher speaks pretty good English, I’m happy to have someone native to speak with in English and explain some basic things. Hopefully, I can foster good community relations through this class as well as improve my grace and poise. And, Tai-Chi proved to be much more difficult than I thought. By the end of the class I had sweat pouring down (I wasn’t the only one) and my legs were shaking. Because it’s a twenty minute bike ride up a super steep hill, I may have tired myself out before hand. So after working really hard in Tai Chi I got bike up another steep hill and then coast back to my house. I had to force myself to do necessary chores once I got home.
Chores include hanging laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming, etc. Driers are absent in most Japanese houses. And in a humid place like Shinkamigoto, it is imperative to hang your clothes right away. I started the washing machine before I left for TaiChi and had to hang clothes before bed. This I don’t think I’ll like very much, but I have no choice in the matter. It’s either hang right away or love the smell of moldy clothes. Living in Houston has prepared me for these conditions, but that don’t mean I like it.
More about Arikawa junior high school. There are three levels. The top floor is devoted to the first years (7th grade), the second floor is for the second years (8th grade), and the bottom floor is ruled by the third years (9th grade). The first years are so cute and small compared to the third years. All are friendly, but the third years are definitely the most outgoing, and it’s probably because they feel like they own the place. The real school year starts in April, so I guess I’ll be getting a new group of first years in the middle of the year. I’m not exactly sure when the year changes, just when it begins. I have no fear that the first years will open up to me once I kick their butts at dodgeball. The other ALT’s tell me that dodgeball is a very popular after school sport here and that the kids start really warming up to you once you smash in their heads with a ball several times (but in a very friendly and teacherly way of course).
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