Some weekends

Fake weekend

Because I worked Saturday and Sunday for sports day, I got Monday and Tuesday off. Louise was in the same boat. So we bugged James to let us stay at his place, even tho he had school then. For some reason this trip I had a ravenous hunger. More on that later. Louise left her phone at home so we had to bother Andrew at the CLAIR office to find each other. Louise had been to the pants shop twice before we found each other. The first time was for her own pleasure. The second was because she heard from Andrew that I was going to buy some pants. (Pants means underwear in British English, and I will use it from now on).

As it turned out, I wasn't there, but we went back again after rendezvousing. I had gotten two cheeseburgers at a Lotteria (fast food place). We did some more shopping and decided that it would be funny to go back to the pants shop, making it a total of 4 times in one day for Louise. At the pants shop, we bought matching underwear (Gold waistband and green camouflage print). Louise made a joke to me, saying "these shop owners must thing that we're going to be involved in some kinky sex..." in front of them thinking nothing of it since they don't speak English. I reminded her afterward that the Japanese word for "kinky sex" was in fact "kinky sex" and she turned red. The Japanese shop owners understood nothing BUT that phrase.. quite a dramatic turn.

We took our matching pants and went to a photo booth. It probably was illegal, but we took pictures of us in just the pants (there was a curtain, but it still seemed wrong). When it came time to decorate and print the pictures, we expected about a minute to do it in. Usually in the other machines they time your decorating and you have to hurry. So we hurried. But when we were done, it just sat there. We started freaking out, thinking we would have to go get help printing our quite-scandalous images. The last thing we wanted to do. Pushing every button imaginable, nothing would happen. Finally after about 10 minutes of debating just walking away with our pictures on the screen, or asking for help, they printed. Sigh of relief. We got out of there fast.

More shopping (I bought a strange tiger mask), then we met James after work. Went out to a ramen shop, I had a tenpura meal, and then was still hungry, so I got a huge bowl of ramen. Essentially two dinners, after a two hamburger lunch. Was I pregnant?! Walking back to James, we stopped to pose on a giant cheese like playground. From James, to Karaoke at Cassanova's. By now, we don't care if he does or doesn't take pictures of people in the bathroom. He gives cheap drinks and is a nice guy. We were the only ones there on a Monday night, so he said he wanted to go to his friends place. He asked us to watch the bar and give him a call if someone came. Sweet. He refilled all our drinks and was off. Bar to ourselves! But we only took a couple of behind the counter pictures. We didn't knick any drinks, and he was back soon enough.

Because it was a school night for James, he headed back home, and Louise and I were quite drunk. We stumbled around the streets, me in my tiger mask, looking for Ingrid's bar. We had only been there once, but had a map. We stopped this couple we saw to ask for directions, but they were visibly terrified of the foreigners so gave us "hurry these crazy people away" directions. Somehow, we found Root Down--another bar we frequent--so we figured we were close. We asked another woman for directions, but she just said "No." to us. No explanation, how rude. There were three guys on bikes down the street, so we asked them. Turns out they had spent some years in the US and their English was great. Their English was great but their sense of direction was horrible. We walked around for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half.. who was keeping track, and finally found Ingrid's, which was closed. After all that! So we headed back to Root Down. Snapped a couple pictures of our new friends and were surprised that they didn't even want to come in with us for a drink. You would think that after an hour of going out of your way for a couple of foreigners, you'd want them to buy you a drink, but no, it was a simple goodbye.

At Root Down I had my third cheeseburger, tying Louise for most cheeseburgers in 24 hours. Took a cab back to James' house and woke up to find he'd already left for work. We played his Wii a bit (video game) and then left a lovely note farewell to head back to our respective homes. We topped off the trip with a visit to Mos Burger, where I consumed two burgers, making a grand total, and a new record of 5 burgers in 24 hours. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling too fantastic, but it was delicious. Fantastic fake weekend.

PICTURES!!
and this.....

---

Venturing out West

The next three day weekend I was supposed to have, but had been canceled because I was supposed to go to a sports festival, which really was never true because I didn't have to go and didn't find out until the last minute WAS HERE!! Well if I had known that I had three days off all along, like was planned, I would have gone to Tokyo. But instead I booked it home after work on Friday and got in my car to attempt driving for the first time out west. Janet was having a BBQ, and Brian was really sad and just wanted to get drunk, so he couldn't drive. So I thought, why not. I'll attempt it. After three hours on the road, I made it to Janet's with NO problem. I'm really impressed with myself. As it turned out, no one could find cheap meat, so the BBQ plan was out the window. We went to a restaurant for dinner and drove Janet home. She was going to Oosaka at 6am the next day. I drove everyone back to Brian's (Everyone being Brian Louise and I) where we played video games and drank the rest of the night. Some of us out of glasses, some of us out of measuring cups.... eherm.

The next morning we arose around 2. Brian cooked up some eggs, bacon, sausage and toast. Louise was in charge of filling the water for coffee. And I was in charge of making sure Louise didn't kill herself doing so. She was either horribly hung over or still drunk. I'm not sure. After breakfast, I had to get in the car and start the three hour trip back home. I was meeting my neighbors at 6 for a party. I made it back just in time. :)

The rest of the weekend (Sunday and Monday) was spent buying new things for my apartment and cleaning up. But that's not so exciting.

I only have a couple of pictures that were taken by Louise for this one. Sorry :(



NEXT WEEKEND... Rafting! Woo hoo.

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 8:42 PM Comments: 1

Sports Day

I know its a week late, but I'm lazy... what can I say.


I had to work the weekend of the 8th because of Sports festival. The crap part of that is that I had to work a 7 day week. The good part of that is Sports day is incredibly funny.

Saturday was practice for sports day, we ran thru all the activities and the kids half-assed the whole thing. They skipped a bunch of things and sped thru many others. But Sunday on the other hand was golden. It started with a march of all the children, organized into three teams of varying years, around the sports field to introduce themselves thru an adorable (and somewhat unintelligible to me) chant. I did manage to get the Red Team's ”そんなの関係ねえ。そんなの関係ねえ。はい、オッパッピ！" tho! (A chant and dance made popular by a Japanese comedian click to see)

After that they broke into several smaller sections of teams to compete in various different athletics. Games included girls wrestling over old car tires, first years dressing up like monkeys, running with a basketball between their knees, climbing up a bamboo pole, and then reaching for a banana with a rubber tube tied around their waist..... Basically anything you can think of to properly make fun of the kids. Gotta love this school system. They do it so willingly. My favorite of all time was the relay for the 1st thru 3rd year boys. Each sat in the corner of a triangle. In the center was a rubber inner tube tied to the ground with a rope. Whose ever team was all thru the inner tube first, was the winner. But you could carry the tube over closer to your team, Run it away from other teams, push people out of the way, etc in order to achieve this. Kids were dragged across the dirt half inside the tube...pushed, tripped. It was riotous--and the whole thing reminded me strangely of a sperms quest for the egg... The crappy news is that when I was transferring all the videos I took from my camera, my computer decided to get an error at this exact point, so this is the only event which I do not have a video of... my favorite event. :( :(

Lunch time interrupted the games around the halfway point, but not before a charming folk dance. The kids performed a rather simple square dance, and a mazurka, en mass in a giant circle. It was creepy and reminded me of the Nazi armies which used Laban notation to learn dances. For we teachers, lunch was catered in the teachers lounge. A simple bento (lunchbox) with bits of this and that with rice. The kids all brought their own lunches, their parents too.

Sports day continued without a hitch after lunch. A presentation of skits were put on by each of the three teams, most boys were either dressed as girls, or in animal costumes, and the girls were either boys or really strange girls... Each skit was 5 minutes--I had to judge them and didn't know what was going on :P... And to my dismay, many of these small children can do back flips and gymnasticy things that I cannot do. grrr. This time it was the PTA's turn to play some games (Strangely the initials PTA somehow stand for the same thing in Japan as they do in America...) I joined in a rousing game of over-under pass, tug of war, and get the bean sacks in the basket alongside my fellow teachers, against our kids parents! Muahaha. We totally owned the bean sack in the basket game. More children games, and then the coveted awards ceremony. Green team won, Purple team second, and Red team last... damn I was rooting for the red team.

The day of great fun ended in everyone taking down the tents and putting all the equipment away. My weekend began Sunday at 5, and was destined to end Wednesday morning.

PHOTOS!!!

Videos:
Sports Day Activities
Folk Dances

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 12:01 PM Comments: 0

Actually Living and Teaching...

Ok so its about time; a post not about an extravagant weekend, but instead one about what I've been up to these past few weeks and how I've been feeling!

School is not quite in full swing, but its certainly winding up. Its an exceptional week due to sports festivals and school festivals and such; sometime next week we'll be in full swing. That said, I have been very busy regardless.

I want to start by saying that I have learned that, so far, I adore teaching. I have only been to two classes, but both were fantastically rewarding. Before that, a little of the goings on at school. A couple of days ago, I come into work late accidentally and when I get there everyone is blasting music and cleaning. I ask the English teacher if I should get a broom and she said "Oh you don't have to..." which I took to mean "Oh, we don't expect you to clean... you're the foreigner you just sit there and be comfortable..." but in actuality she meant "YOU don't have to, and neither do I, or any other teacher, because its the students job to clean the school." ...subtext... But since I didn't know that I said "No, I really think I should..." You know, good graces... and she kind of looks confused, says ok and shows me a broom. I'm sweeping to the tune of "AAH!! Cool Teacher!!!" as kids are shocked and happy to see that I'm cleaning with them. A misunderstanding with beneficial effects as now I've won some of their hearts. Later that day, as some kids were preparing for their performance in the school festival, I ask them if I could watch their dance. Its a very Kids Bop music video dance with an abundance of clapping and turning.. but I quietly turned of the studying-four-years-of-dance-at-college critique and told myself that these are middle school girls... The rest of the day I spent drawing monkey faces. For no apparent reason, at least to my knowledge, the Kendo teacher approached me, and asked me to draw a monkey. He liked my monkey, and had me draw more... And that was that.

For my first class, on Wednesday, Megumi, the English teacher, and I taught half of the second year students. She had me introduce myself, answer questions, draw some states I was associated with on the chalkboard, and then ask the students questions. They were eager, happy, thoughtful, and an overall joy to teach. Fifty minutes flew by and I did basically nothing! Later that same day I had a "business trip" as they like to call it, to the Elementary school in Hiwasa. I thought, better to plan a lesson, so I downloaded some children's songs (ring around the rosie, froggie went a courtin, and pop goes the weasel). There was to be about 48 of these second graders that I would be in charge of at the elementary school. So I brought also 48 sheets of differently colored construction paper (pink, red, blue, green, orange, purple, yellow). The kids came in, lined up, and repeated everything I said.
"Hello!"
"Hello!"
"Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you!"
"How are you?"
"How are you?" ..... wait a second... they have no idea what I'm saying, they're just repeating me... oh well. Game on!

I gave them each a paper, (they knew all the colors already, damn.....) and with the help of the supervising teachers, I explained that they should get in a circle, put the paper down on the floor, and when the music starts, to skip, jump, walk, or awa-odori around the circle. Freeze when the music stops. Look down at your color. Naturally with 48 kids walking in a circle, it didn't work out that they stopped on a color, were unevenly spaced about the room, and all kinds of other technicalities.. but the supervising teachers quickly grabbed unused colors and tossed them at the feet of the colorless kids, as if in a By-any-means-necessary desperate attempt at the success of my game. After a couple of seconds, everyone had a color, and the kids didn't mind freezing that long, rather enjoyed it--shouting out loud if they or their friends didn't have a color. 1, 2, 3.... Blue. I would call. And the blues took their paper, ran around the room over to me, gave me a high five, and together, we chanted the color name again. Or whatever other color I said randomly. They had a great deal of fun... so despite knowing the vocabulary already.. they still enjoyed it.

All that's left at this point is my 英会話 (Eikaiwa - Adult English Conversation Class) and my Enjoy classes (classes where I am the main teacher and have to keep the kids busy and having fun--the focus isn't English... but I am to speak English) Those are the two that I'm most nervous about... where people are an age where just anything wont entertain them... :) But we'll see how that goes when I come to it.

In the living news... I've moved apartments, as you know. And within the first couple of days of moving in, I get a ring at my doorbell. Two women from the apartment complex are at the door and say "We want to be your friends!" They invite me over for cake, and later, dinner. At dinner was the both women, their husbands, their kids, and another woman from the apartment complex with her kids. Including me, 6 adults, and 6 toddlers (all kindergarten or younger). What a crazy time. I've since been over for dinner a couple more times, met more of their friends. Communicating with these new friends is just as challenging as communicating with anyone else here, but its a lot more relaxed, so its a lot more enjoyable. They are very eager to help me out, and even helped set up my Internet for me yesterday. I'm really thankful for these neighbors.

I'm getting used to this town. I find myself WANTING to explore instead of wanting to stay home and sulk. Try restaurants, learn to communicate, learn to navigate. There's such a wealth of things to do in the surrounding areas... to the naked eye it is dull and a miserable desolate place to live. But underneath its skin, this town has something beating. I will find that pulse!

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 4:13 PM Comments: 2

Shirahama Beach

I met Janet Louise and James at a Lawson (convenience store) near my house. They had each gotten a pizza and as we were heading to the cars, an old Japanese woman smiled and said "you're going to get fat..." and walked away...


Beach party today! We were all on monkey patrol, but with no luck--I don't know if I had mentioned that I see wild monkeys frequently around my place, and the three of them do not. We begin our 30 minute drive to the beach, all of our stuff piled in my trunk. We stop at a big supermarket in the next town over to stock up on beer, beer, beer, peach flavored cocktails (we bought out the store, all like 12 or so), cheese, bread, and raw meat to make burgers. We get to the beach and very few people are there. No bother, we leave the tents and clothes in the car and bring only the food, drink, and fun. Get in the water, toss a Frisbee, life is good.

But no grill to speak of. 5, 6 o'clock rolls around and still no one in charge is there. We're contemplating either eating the meat raw or roasting it over a human sacrifice that we nominate. Just then, the cavalry arrives, but without grill. Tragedy.... they inform us, while knives are pointed at their throats, that the grill had been here all along. And lo and behold, it had been. Get that fire started. It was in the hands of an able girl scout and a couple of guys to get the fire going. In japan they have chunks of trees that are called charcoal. Unfortunately no charming briquettes of lighter-fluid--so it was a bit more trouble than one would expect. Once the fire was roaring, the full crowd of about 30 of us were there. With smells of pork and salmon and kabobs and whatever anyone dreamed of placing on a fire wafting through the air.

I had seized both of the tongs and a miner's headlamp and had become the grill master. Flipping things like it was my job because no doubt, it was. Our group had polished off all but two of the burgers, which I as happy to hear Louise and Janet had eaten at wee hours of the morning, so nothing went to waste. I had also managed, through my masterful grill work, to earn a Sudachi seasoned (Japanese lime native to Tokushima --pride--) Salmon Steak. Sudachi Seasoned Salmon Steak. Sudachi Seasoned Salmon Steak! Since we were drinking since around 3pm, the night came quickly. Music came late. We had wanted music all day, and only when it had gotten late had the music come.

Music leads to dancing, like it does. We also discussed the various juicy gossips that were springing up all around us. Our tents set up, our bellies full, it was time to just enjoy the beach. A couple among us had gone to bed already, a couple had passed out on the sand or in a car. Myself, I was whisked away for a swim. I was one of the only few in the first group who would swim naked... but after a few minutes a whole team of naked swimmers arrived, including one of the Japanese groundskeepers, who kept shouting "I am a samurai!" until Bessy pointed out that he was a small samurai. Embarrassed, he abandoned that title.

Snacking on the leftovers, the evening began winding down. Ingrid (a woman who has been in Japan for 15 years, owns a bar in the city, and loves hanging out with JETs) left a lot of her leftover food in my possession. I scored some bread, salad, raw meat, and cheese. That would be dinner. It was eventually back to the tents for me. I had conveniently forgotten...anything... and had to sleep without blanket resting my head upon two slightly wet towels. Horrible sleep. Which is why it only lasted four hours. The next morning, I comb the beach for our belongings, clean up a little, and go to pack up the tents. Piling everything back in the car. In the spirit of being all together again, we obviously want burgers. There's a Hawaiian Kitchen, but it is closed at 9am, so we drive until we spot a Sunkus (another convenience store). Still on monkey patrol, and serenaded to the sweet tune of "Que Sera Sera" on the radio, we make a sleepy drive home. No monkeys, but a good time.

PICTURES!!*
*borrowed from Louise because I was lame and didnt take any pictures for this trip... :(
PS. two new pictures added to my apartment set... if you care. :P

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 3:50 PM Comments: 0