Oh what a Mountain...

Out west again. Friday was Chocolate and Cheese Karaoke. We ate chocolate, and sang super Cheesy songs. Just the four of us, Louise Julie Brian and I, the room felt different, smaller, like someones living room. But fun anyway. We discovered a new group, called E-Rotic. Very catchy and funny, but filthy as all get out... It was fun to try to imagine what the tune was to "Oh Nick Please Not So Quick." And then to download and hear the real version later.

Louise and I were going Mountain Climbing the next morning. We woke up with the realization that we had no idea how to get to the mountain. It turns out that the directions themselves were rather easy, but getting there was not....

After grabbing some not-terribly-good-for-us breakfast (i.e. microwavable pizzas) at Lawsons, we hit the road. We popped in the only tape that I have in my car, some weird trancy easy listening that we've deemed the "you're lost" music because we had gotten lost to it back when we went rafting. I needed gas so we pulled into a shady looking station. This old old old woman hobbles out, and fills up my tank, after I request $50 of gas. I hand her $100 and she disappears for what seems like hours. Meanwhile a homeless looking man asks if I need any help but we informed him that we've already been helped by the crypt keeper inside. After a day and a half of waiting, which was probably more like 10 minutes, she returns with my change. We get out of there quick and start driving up the mountain. The roads are HORRIBLE. Suitable for one car, with deep pits on the shoulder closest to the mountain wall, and a gaping ravine (sometimes covered by a guardrail) on the other side. We were gasping, screaming, and holding our breath the whole hour that it took to drive up the mountain. Cars sped by with little care, and I squeezed by them, I don't even know HOW I managed it. There were parts where you could literally go 3 mph, and have your mirrors kiss both the passing car's mirrors and the guardrail. It was that narrow. After what would warrant hospitalization for a one hour long nervous crisis, we made it to a clearing with a log cabin.

We get out and wander about. Old folks were looking at us like we were the strangest things they've ever seen. It was a beautiful inn with a bath and everything... we thought we had made it to the top without climbing... but as it turned out, we were only nearly at the bottom of the climbing part...

Driving a bit more we discover the climbing area, and James waiting. We park our car (which was a feat in itself as the place was crowded, we had to move a box that might have been reserved for something, to get to a spot) and start changing into our costumes. Oh yeah... we decided that we'd climb the mountain dressed as pandas in ugly dresses. In Osaka we had bought panda ears and Louise and Julie had the ugly dresses from Chalice Karaoke. We painted our faces up good, put on the dresses and exited the car. Oh the attention we got. Three reactions: 1) children, don't look at those creepy people. Oh My God run... 2) I don't see anything I don't see anything I don't see anything... 3) AWWWW Pandas!!!!! Can I take a picture?!?! The shop owners were friendly, but you knew they burst out laughing when we left their store.

After a while, and a free lunch that some Japanese man thought important to give to a pair of pandas, everyone in our party arrived. Fourteen people. We began the hike up. What a killer. Everyone was going so fast and we were struggling to keep up. Mostly because it was a hard climb, but also because we were being stopped constantly by other climbers coming down the other way who wanted their picture with a panda. One woman even called me "handsome"... while I was wearing panda makeup and a dress. Obviously something was off about her... The hike up was 3 hours or so. We had taken many panda photos of us and our panda baby (a walking, sound-making panda doll we bought in Osaka) as well as beautiful photos of the mountain to appease the folks back home who keep asking why we only take pictures of stupid things. :) About 3/4 the way up, we were a 10 minute hike from the top. But James knew of "this natural spring that is one of the top 400 natural springs in Japan...." Top 400? Doesn't sound too interesting but we went anyway, adding at least an hour to the trip. It was a nice spring, but about the size of a persons head, hardly marvelous.... Id put it maybe somewhere in the low 300's? Being the Japanese Natural Spring connoisseur that I am...

We FINALLY make it to the top and BOY is it cold. zero°C. I hadn't brought a jacket but luckily I had borrowed one of James'. We take as many pictures as we can muster in the frigid hell temperatures, but then head inside to the inn. Its a cozy little mountain hotel where we are served a thick ginger soup/tea that warms us right up and flushes the phlegm from my sinuses! Amazing elixir. Dinner, Breakfast, and Lodging were included in the $70 cost, so it wasn't that bad. I was FAMISHED tho, so I devoured two lunches. A whole big plate of curry, and a huge bowl of tempura udon soup. After lunch, the others say "lets go hike to see the sunset." And Louise and I look at each other... "You don't celebrate climbing a mountain by going off to climb another pissing mountain...." so everyone else went and we stayed at the inn drinking beer. No regrets. They were tired and sweaty and cold, and we were comfy and warm and drinking. Eventually they make it back for dinner.

Dinner........ Oh my. This rusty looking fish, deep brown, and completely intact, was sitting beside some miso soup, various kinds of pickles in flavors ranging from rancid to delicious, and other treats. I ate it all, even the rust fish, because I was starving. It tasted like KFC for some reason... After dinner we all start hanging out in the inn. Drinking more, playing Texas Hold-em. I find my way to the bath. It was downstairs where our beds were, and no kerosene heater, so freezing. There was no hot water shower, only cold water shower and a hot bath. But I had gotten the brilliant idea from Amy to scoop hot water out of the bath and use that to shower off with. Then, I hop in the bath for the most LUXURIOUS experience of my life. The hot water felt SO good after that climb, and the cold. The tub was made of wood, had a beautiful smell beautiful feeling, beautiful everything. I didn't want to leave. But after what I thought was an appropriate amount of time allotted to luxury, I got out, and ran back upstairs where the heater was. There was a coo-coo clock on the wall which had not been ringing. We were sad that it wasn't working, as it was ticking down to some hour, Amy notices that the switch to the clock is turned off. So with literally seconds to spare, she jumps on a chair, flies over to the clock and flicks the switch in the exact same instant as the clock rang the hour. Our screams of delight at the coo-coo were enforced by our amazement at the perfect timing. Every one's heads turned to the 6 lunatics who were howling like banshees over a clock.

At bedtime, four people decide to go off for a midnight hike. STUPID idea. Its now sub zero, and the wind is howling strong enough to blow anyone off the side of the mountain. But they go anyway. Fools. Fortunately for them, and the JET program they return safely. At 5am we are all woken by the lodge keeper to view the sunrise. "Happy day! Blue sky!" Our options were go outside and watch the sunrise, no doubt freeze, or stay inside under our thousand blankets and stay warm. We chose (Louise and I) to not go out, and slept some more. Amy had done the same. Everyone else went out. Again, no regrets. It was probably beautiful, but at least we were warm. To be fair, no one else was as warm as we were. There were about 6 rooms for all of us, and most of them decided to huddle together for warmth. Louise and I decided instead to get our own room (designed for four) and take two sets of bedding. A total of 6 thick blankets. It was brilliant! We also took some of their cookies while they were out for the hike. haha!

After a breakfast of a hard boiled egg, rice, soup, and various pickled things that no one wanted to eat at all... it was time to pack up and ship out. James had to take his jacket back, since a bunch of them were taking the long way down, and Louise and I decided to take the shortest route possible. So because it was still zero degrees outside, I put on all the clothes that I had, including mine and Louise's panda dress, put some socks on my hands, and a towel over my head and around my neck. I looked like a homeless old lady bantering down the hill. A few Japanese people along the way told me "I thought you were an old woman when you were approaching!" We made a wrong turn because a large group of climbers were blocking visibility of the path we were supposed to take. So when we got to a path that went back up hill we realized we were going the wrong way. The down side was we had gone at least 20 minutes out of our way, and it was an uphill hike to get back to the right path... :( If there was any doubt that we would be taking the lift the rest of the way, that doubt was gone. We were so annoyed with adding at least a half an hour to our trip that we didn't hesitate a second in deciding to take the lift. (The lift only takes people up and down about half the mountains height) It was a $10 ride but it was nice to sit in a swing, dressed like an old lady (eventually I put the panda ears back on) and having everyone amused as they rode up the other side.

Once down we phone Julie and begin Shopping. But not before another nerve wracking drive down the winding narrow mountain roads. I swear we almost died at least a dozen times and apart from running over a rubbery plastic orange road warning stick thing, my car was untouched. The difference this time was we had our panda ears on, so everyone driving by ever so carefully could see two terrified screaming pandas driving the car.

We stopped in Wakimachi for some Kaitenzushi (Sushi that is made by a chef in the back and sent around a conveyor belt for you to pick which ones you want, and pay for the amount of plates you've eaten later) and then made our way to Bulldog. Bulldog is a used and weird goods shop. Kind of like a Spencer's meets Salvation Army? Louise still needed a white suit for Halloween and I had some shopping to do as well. Julie opted out of Bulldog but would meet us later at Mos Burger. At Bulldog, Louise bought her white suit, which came with a rock star wig. We finished shopping taking turns wearing the wig and even took purikura together with it. I wore it in Mos Burger and all the clerks secretly laughed trying not to let me notice they were. We ended the night buying pumpkins to carve later and going to a huge recycle shop.

To tell the truth, we probably enjoyed the shopping more than the mountain. But it was a good experience to do both. :)

PICTURES!!!!

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 8:43 AM Comments: 0

First Trip to Osaka

Ok, I'm late again, and I'm sorry. But here goes anyway.

Two weekends ago (Oct 12-14) was a big trip to Osaka!!!


It started off on Friday night. I caught an express train into the city. The sign reads "regular train ¥1060 express train ¥1150" and you can only buy a regular ticket. I figured you'd get on the train and pay the ¥90 difference. I was right about getting on and paying the difference. What I discovered tho is that it is an ADDITIONAL ¥1150; totaling ¥2210. Never again, tho it was a nice train and a quick ride...I got to the city incredibly early because of it, and decided to buy the bus tickets for me and Louise to go to Osaka the next morning.

Louise had a guy visiting her from London. They had briefly dated before JET. This was the trip to return him back to the airport, as he had been there a whole week before. Unfortunately Louise developed a strong dislike for him almost immediately into the week, and needless to say the week was horribly uncomfortable for her, sharing her home with someone she'd rather not... I went as a buffer, also to meet my friend Naoki who I had been talking to for a while online.

It was fortunate for Louise that I only bought two bus tickets to Osaka, because she had called her ex-boyfriend and told him not to come to the city that night, and instead take a bus from her town in the morning. Which meant that she had a night without him! I met Louise James and Claire and we headed off to CocoCurry, a delicious curry shop. I pushed myself and got a level 2 spice. James had a 4 and Louise had gotten a 5. Apparently you are not allowed higher than a 5 unless they've seen you eat a full plate of level 5 first. She said it was hot but not too bad. Louise has the stomach of a viking! We had to go to the musical viewing party to get an idea for what the JET musicals are like, so Louise and I shuffled off to Jeff's apartment and met several others there to watch the Pinocchio DVD from last year. There was a brief discussion afterwards and then Louise and I left to meet James and Claire for some drinking karaoking.

The last train away from Jeff's (even tho he was one stop away from the city) was an unreasonably late hour, so we decided to take a cab instead. Getting inside we told the cab driver "ASTY 21 please" which we thought was our desired destination, the location of Cassanova's Karaoke Bar. Driving driving and driving. We eventually pull up to a desolate bus stop looking place, completely dark. Avoiding embarrassment we get out of the cab and pretend that it was where we wanted. It was a radio station building, which had closed for the night, and apart from one or two couples snuggling in the darkness we were completely alone. APPARENTLY, after we called James to see, we wanted ACTY 21... not ASTY 21. It was a horribly cruel joke that we are sure is exactly for the purpose of confusing foreigners that these two completely different places are so similarly named. We walk till we hail another cab, and get to the right spot.


At ACTY, not ASTY, we were the first ones from our group there. But the bar was FULL. All Japanese men, all young maybe 21-25. Drinking gallons of beer. We asked them what was the occasion, and it turned out to be a going away party, and that they were all Japanese Coast Guards. Fancy. We sang and drank with them a bit. Then instead of James and Claire coming, everyone else who was originally at the musical viewing party shows up. Then finally Claire and James show up. The Coast Guards order more beer but the bartender tells them no more because another party was starting and they had to leave... I thought this was rude, we didn't mind hanging out with them... So they left and we carried on for some more hours. Louise and I wanted a cheeseburger, so we headed toward Root Down. No one else wanted to come with us and went to Ingrid's instead. At this point Louise was completely trashed, and I wasn't far off. So at Root Down we just get burgers and water. There was a foreign guy showing two Japanese women how to throw darts. I don't know why but I insisted that they throw it while looking through their legs. When they tried and failed they demanded that I do it. And miraculously each dart I threw through my legs stuck in the board. They weren't as amazing as bulls-eyes but I hadn't missed once. They were convinced I was a dart master and we left the bar.

Louise had fallen down to take a nap at two points in the middle of the road, and with a great deal of effort, we had made our way to Ingrid's, where we both fell asleep until James and Claire wanted to go home. There we slept, as usual, and the morning found us with a Mos Burger and a bus to catch. We boarded the Salad Express (name of the Bus...) and were off to Osaka. My first time, Louise's second time.

A 2.5 hour bus ride across the sea and we touched down in Osaka. It was SO good to get off the Island I spent more than the past two months on... So much shopping. So many people. So many buildings. It was a true city! Louise and I ran around shopping, mostly for Halloween costumes and pre-Halloween costumes. We met Louise's ex boyfriend around 3, did some more shopping, grabbed some sushi, and then met my friend Naoki around 5. It was a bit awkward to be around Louise and her ex, because she flat out ignored him and wanted nothing to do with him, and he was pathetically depressed about the whole thing. (I mean you kinda cant blame him for having paid all that money to get dumped, but things happen...) Once a foursome, we went to the top of the Hep 5 building (a big shopping mall like building) and rode the giant Ferris wheel at the top. They took pictures of us with a pumpkin and shoved us in a car. The view was great and it was slow enough to be completely relaxing. Naoki took us out to a restaurant afterward where you order from a vending machine and the vending machine tells the chefs what you want. Waiters merely bring it out. I had Oyako-don. It is a rice bowl with chicken and vegetables and partially cooked egg on top. Okayo means family and don means rice bowl. It is suggesting you are eating the whole family by having both the chicken and the egg. Cute :)

After all the food and a rather interesting conversation about why Louise carried Vaseline with her at all times, we headed out for more shopping. Clothes shopping Pants shopping everything fun. Naoki called me 吝嗇さん (Mr Cheapskate - Kechi-san) because I really only would buy a t-shirt if it were ¥1000 or under ($10). But the Japanese have a habit of spending enormous amounts in brand names and thinking its normal. They all have D&G wallets, Armani shirts, $200 jeans... I don't know where they get all this money from... We found a hotel room that was pretty cheep and dropped off many of our belongings. After lightening our load, we headed out to the Pig and Whistle--an Irish pub in Osaka. By this point we had traveled through 3 of Osaka's 4 big areas. Umeda, Namba, and Shinsaibashi.

Pig and whistle is a very famous name for many pubs in Europe but no one knew why. There was a sign on the wall, however explaining it in Japanese, which Naoki read. Apparently long ago, a glass of beer with a handle used to be called a pig and as is more commonly known the mouth is referred to as a whistle (a la Wet your Whistle) so Pig and Whistle implies putting the Pig to your Whistle, or more commonly drinking beer. Louise and her ex were both delighted to learn something about their own country while being in Japan. Louise also found a picture of a bar that is down the street from her house in England in the toilet of Pig and Whistle. I met Naoki's mother and sister a bit later. They were exceptionally nice despite it being difficult to communicate. They even gave me ice cream! yum!

The next morning I attempted to meet Louise again. She had left earlier to take the man to the airport. I wandered about Osaka for over an hour, taking two subways only to continue finding myself in the same location. I was also searching for a fabric store while I was searching for Louise. I had found one that was closed, and as I wandered around waiting for it to open I couldn't find my way back. After passing where she was (realizing this in hindsight) about 4 or 5 times, I finally found her. Eating a cheesy bread thing and a chocolaty bread thing at some cafe. I had a cheesy bread thing and a hotdoggy bread thing. Then as we head off to find more shopping, I stumble upon the fabric store and buy the fabric I needed for my Halloween costume. Yay!

We shop and shop some more until its about time to catch our bus back home. In Umeda by the bus station we find a outdoor vendor selling these strange balls with strange toppings on top. We order an Italian Special ball and attempt it together. It is a doughy ball filled with corn and vegetables and one miniature egg which I had the misfortune of getting, because it tasted horrible. What was "Italian" about it was the cheese they melted on top and the sauce they poured on it. Also in an extra-special pièce de résistance, he sprinkled potato chips atop the whole thing. Except for that mini quail (?) egg, yum!

On the two hour bus ride back home we are loaded up with shopping and tired as hell. We read hilarious excerpts from the book entitled "Making Out in Japanese" which has important dating words and other things in English and Japanese. Our favorite was in a section marked what to do if you're being harassed by perverts on a train. And one of the example replies was "I'm never coming here again!"

In Tokushima city, Louise and I both buy huggy pillows. Its a squat body pillow with a shallow diagonal sewn in the center. The pillow then folds into a V shape, and you can hug it in so many ways while you sleep. Best Japan purchase yet! Then we headed to CocoCurry again. This time I got a 1 and Louise got a 3. We weren't up for a challenge after such a crazy weekend. Then to the coffee house to wait for our trains home to arrive. Well the arrived, and left. Louise made her train by a couple minutes, but I arrived just in time to see my last train home speed off.......

I exchanged the ticket for a refund, bought an emergency battery pack for my dead phone, and thought about what to do. There were no more trains to my town but there were still trains going halfway home. I called my friend Bessy, and asked her really nicely if she could pick me up in Anan because I missed the last train. She was kind enough to do that, and drove 40 minutes to come get me and take me back home. I was SO grateful. Home and with a huggy pillow, I was happy!

And late for work the next morning. :P Oh well.......

PICTURES!!!!!!

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 1:54 PM Comments: 0

Festival Crazy

This last weekend, I stayed in Hiwasa. It was a three day weekend so technically I could have dome something in an exotic location, but there was so much happening here, I felt I couldn't leave.

The first thing was Hiwasa Autumn Festival. Depicted in that brochure that some of you saw. Men of the town carry around "miniature" shrines through the village all day. They are miniature in the sense that they are not big architectural shrines, but one that is in essence portable... 50 men lift this massive structure, and even with their large numbers, they all appear to be in extreme pain at its weight. Inside the shrine sits four children who play the drum while the adults carry it through the street. I started the day off by visiting the Hiwasa Castle for the first time. I didn't pay to enter inside this time, but the outside was beautiful. I even saw a Tanuki (raccoon dog) scurry past. So cute!

Back in town though, I happened upon my region's shrine. (The town is split into sections, and each section has one to carry.) My two friends Hiro and Shige (neighbors in my apartment building) were carrying it, and Hiro's son Yutaro was riding on top. I walked about town for a bit, getting something to eat, happening upon various other groups in their procession. When night fell, I went to the temple grounds, which were all decorated in lanterns and street food/games. So many of my Jr High School students were there. It was strange to see them out of their uniforms, in their own style. Some even were couples which completely floored me, because there was no sign of it in school. I grabbed various things to eat, and played a game where you try to catch a goldfish using a flat circle made of thin tissue paper. (It ripped almost immediately upon entering the water...) Despite losing, I was awarded three goldfish, which I had no use for whatsoever and couldn't pawn off on anyone. :-/ There was also a gathering of people in front of a stage where some men were throwing mochi (gelatinous rice flour pastries) into the crowd. I didn't manage to get any, but it was fun to try. Around 9:00, the fireworks started. First they were a string of lanterns which exploded into colored sparks. After the street had filled with smoke from these, the ones in the sky had begun. I got a strawberry shaved ice and enjoyed the fireworks.

Sunday morning was part two of the Hiwasa Autumn Festival. The miniature shrines were carried into the sea (not completely, but only to get wet and then straight out). Apparently years before they were left to float out to the ocean, but now they think it safer for the children aboard not to have to swim for their lives, and for the expensive drums (about $1800 each) on board not to be lost. Wise idea. I had left before they actually did this, I only was able to watch them carry some to the beach and wait on the sand. I left because I heard that because of the rain, they weren't going to go into the sea. So I figured after I had seen a couple parade onto the beach, that was it. I did watch the video afterwards tho and it wasn't anything so phenomenal that I feel bad about missing. I had a great time, and one of the students mother and father said that I was welcome to have dinner with them sometime. Which could be interesting.

Around 8:00PM began the Akamatsu Autumn Festival. Akamatsu is the mountain town next to Hiwasa (where my old apartment used to be). It was held at the shrine by the Elementary School. Despite the pouring rain, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. For this festival, a huge wooden spire was erected in the center of a rope circle. On-lookers stayed outside the circle while a handful of men with towels on their head, and Hapi coats were inside. One by one, traditional Japanese fireworks were hoisted up the spire on a rope, then lit. These fireworks didn't shoot up into a circular bang like the fireworks I'm familiar with. Instead they rained down a shower of sparks, all fire-colored (no brilliant colors or designs). Huge downpour of sparks flooded the ground whereupon they were immediately extinguished by the wet soil. Our group of towel men would start rhythmically clacking musical sticks, chanting, and would go charging into the flames, and dance around in a circle with sparks falling about their body. It looked horribly dangerous, but no one showed any signs of being in pain. I enjoyed some more festival food, and more Jr High School student sightings. Several other JETs were there and it was nice to be speaking English for a change. My Vice Principal was also there. He was drunk off his ass as his home was in walking distance, but seemed extremely pleased that I was there and enjoying myself. I really get along with him, and am convinced he likes me. Despite my doubtful feelings about the English teacher, at least I know that I am held in high regard with the Vice Principal.

After a long hard weekend of festival happenings, I had managed to catch quite a cold. Might have been all the rain. I spent Monday in a combination of relaxing and getting over the cold, and returned to school Tuesday. It's really great to see my town come alive. It's usually so quiet.

PICTURES!!!
Video of Fireworks
Video of Mini-Shrine Carrying

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 11:02 PM Comments: 1

Rafting Weekend

Friday after work I hop in my car and drive out to Brian's house. Three hours approx. From there its off to Karaoke to meet several other people. Chalice, a girl from out west, was leaving Japan and Friday was her last day. So we were having Chalice-oke in her honor, to say goodbye. As a theme of the Karaoke, we decided to dress like Chalice. Louise and Julie dressed as speech contest Chalice Brian as standard day-wear Chalice, I was "stuffed pants on the outside" Chalice because she came to Brian's with shiny red stuffed underpants on the outside of her shorts, and Caitlin wore one of Chalice's dresses. We thought someone had spilled the surprise to Chalice because she showed up wearing her own Speech Contest Chalice dress, but we later found out it was a very strange coincidence. Bedecked in our Chalice tattoos we stormed the Karaoke plaza and sang until 1am.

The highlight of the evening was during the middle of a riotous Beauty and the Beast Karaoke, the lyrics on the screen popped up "Beef our guest!" Lots of dancing, from interpretive and ballet tom-foolery to sexy dirty dancing and scream-metal thrashing. I had to perform Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" because apparently I sound like a British talk-show drag queen, Dame Edna. You can youtube her if you like. Also, my standard Macy Grey "I try."

Even tho I only knew Chalice for maybe 3 days, it was sad to see her go.

We got back to Brian's (Louise and I) and after some nighttime giggles, and Louise recording a ring tone to be her morning alarm (screaming "GET THE F#*% UP!!!!!!!!!!) we fell asleep around 4. I woke up at 7 to a cat in my face. Possibly the most frightening thing one could imagine. Louise had placed it on my chest, and it stood there staring at me, as if to say "I'm not going to stop being creepy until you wake up." We let Brian sleep as he wasn't going rafting like we were, even tho we were cursing the morning light.

Grabbing some pizzas at Lawsons, we hit the road with Brian's crappy tape that he had lent me playing dramatic route-seeking music. Barely escaping our lives as a truck was driving on the wrong side of the road, we made it to, and past our destination. Driving with full confidence as the music was confidently playing along side us. After a while tho, we had doubts and pulled into a gas station. The woman had no idea so she called her husband (at least I think it was her husband but in light of events which I will soon regale we believe him to be either a kind of mystic or some kind of fanciful creature...) He told us that we had passed it. And told us to go exactly 15 kilometers the way we came. Alright. Standard directions... I'm used to hearing "yeah go about 5 miles back that way....." So I punched my tripometer to get a feel for 15km. To our flabbergasted shock, the man was right on the money. Like he had some sort of laser pointer that told the distance to any object--he was right on!! We thought we should either go back and kill him, or keep him in our trunk to use later...

Thirty minutes late, we arrive at the Happy Raft parking lot. Our group is there, and the wavers are being signed and clothing is being distributed. We're not too bad. They give us wet suits, flannel shirts, raincoat, life vest, helmet and shoes. I was sweating thinking "great this is going to be a gross sweaty time." We hopped a bus and drove off to the take off point. There we met the guides and we re instructed on how to not die. I was in a boat with Louise and 3 other JETs, one friend of a JET and our Japanese guide. We named the boat Celine after Celine Dion's rendition of my heart will go on for the Titanic. Our pretended not to speak English, but his English got better as we went along. I was informed that a rough pronunciation of New York 入浴（にゅうよく）means to take a bath. So as a sort of pun you can say "I took a bath in New York. ニューヨークで入浴しました。” (nyuu youku de nyuu yoku shimashita) Which I have done!! :P

Each Rapid had a name. There were eight major rapids. In an attempt to remember the names (and by remember I mean completely forget in the form of bastardizing) we decided to give them names which sounded similar to the Japanese ones. The first rapids were affectionately termed "Techno Remix." The second ones "Morning Musume" (a teeny-pop girl band which refreshes its members yearly...). We were told the name of the third rapids and decided its name should be "Nudie." But as we approached a pretty strong current, we asked if that was Nudie, and it was not, so since it came before Nudie, we named these lesser rapids "Foreplay."

After Nudie, there were some tall cliffs which jutted out above the river in a very deep spot. There we would cliff dive. I figured I was scared at the lowest one, probably 12 feet in the air, so I might as well go for the highest one, 24-ish feet. (The numbers are all estimates, but it seems about right) SO MUCH FUN. I slapped my hand really hard tho. BUT FUN!

Goldfish was next, followed by Old Turkey. But between the bird and the fish was lunchtime. We got off on a sandy rocky place and undressed down to our wetsuits to enjoy an on-the-house lunch of tuna salad on bagels. We could feast on as many as we wanted. I had 3, some had 5!!! Back in the water after warming up and drying off (thank God, I was now thinking, for all those pieces of clothing; the water was so cold.)

Then came Margarita. The biggest of them all. Our boat got stuck on a set of rocks in the early stages of Margarita. So a majority of our margarita was on the rocks... but we broke free and although popping the bottom of our raft, we made it down and felt its true tequila terror! Our guide, at this point was mistaken, and thought the next one was called something which we named Adolf (after Hitler, thinking it appropriate as we had just eaten bagels) but there was some other rapids before Adolf which sounded like "Adult Play" but we took it a step further and called the penultimate rapids "Kinky Sex." Adolf immediately followed Kinky Sex, and the trip was over. Five and a half hours on a raft, with lunch in between. We were knackered!!!!

On the bus ride home the guides joked that a video of me would make the website. I had tried to attack one of the other boats by kicking it from underneath, but instead I bit it good and smashed my face into the side of their raft before going into the water. They said it was the funniest video all year. @.@ We stayed to watch the pictures and videos that they had taken on the trip, and each contributed about a dollar to buy one CD of it between us all and share it.
Then Louise and I began our long drive back to Brian's.

We were at Brian's for a bit waiting for Julie's car to be done at the shop and for us to go to Kagawa (the prefecture above us) to attend their castle party at Marugame Castle. The party at the castle started around 7. We, after driving for gas, and food, and forgetting which way we were actually going, got there around 11. Louise and I had met Nick, Megan, and Angelina from Zorbing before, but the other Kagawa people were a mystery to us. Julie and Brian had many friends there tho so they were fine. We decided to drink! When in doubt. Louise also had brought a pair of funny glasses with the nose on it.. so to introduce ourselves to the crowd, we asked some people to pose for a picture with the funny face, and then take us to their friends to take their picture, and their friends friends and so on. By the end of the night, we had been there for about 3 hours, talking to God knows who, and had amassed some 40 pictures or so. I don't remember anyone really, but I cant remember not having anything to do for three hours. So, success! A video was made from this sillyness.

Brian was nice enough to drive and stay sober so we headed back around 2am. We had been awake since 7am the following morning, so were naturally pretty tired. We stopped nevertheless for something to eat at a local diner-like Japanese restaurant. Brian got his beverage from the tea bag counter, Louise had another pizza, and we all admired the girl with a wiener on a stick printed on the menu. We dropped Julie off at home and went back to Brian's. After criticizing one of his kindergarten counting books ("These aren't 5 cuddly teddy bears. I don't see a single cuddly one there. They're 5 mangy teddy bears....") We went to bed around 4.

I woke up, looked at the clock. Damn... it was 4pm. I slept Sunday away. Brian had been up since two. I watched some cute anime about a little girl in witch school (long before Harry Potter's time) and we waited for Louise. Around 5pm we thought enough was enough, and I kindly woke her with a cat on the face as she had done me several hours before. She rolled out of bed and it was off to the grocery for her and I. Brian was making us lasagna and we needed some salad preparations. At the grocery, we decided that it would be cute if we brought dessert. We saw a blueberry cheesecake and snatched it up. Then we thought... it would be cuter if the plate had chocolate powder on it. Finding the chocolate powder, we also see gummy cute animals so decide to decorate with that. In addition Louise finds mini grapes and we pick those up as well. Next we thought it would be even CUTER to make this a surprise, and in order to make it a surprise we needed to buy our own plates so we didn't have to ask for some.

After a delicious dinner. Louise and I go outside. As we are decorating the plates of cake in my car, we realize just how insane we are... The look great regardless of our sanity, and everyone is pleased and delighted at the cakes. I make my way home around 9pm, destined to be home in 3 hours, at midnight... but there is no traffic on the road, so I make it home in 2 hours!!! Lucky!!!

What an exciting weekend, despite a missing Sunday. :)

PICTURES
Chalice-oke and Marugame Castle
Rafting

VIDEOS
Margarita on the Rocks
Rapid Surfing
I Bite it Hard
Funny Glasses at Castle Party

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 2:53 PM Comments: 0

New Picture in an old Set...

I added a picture of my toilet to the Apartment set on my Flickr account.
I decorated it about a week or so ago!
SEE?!

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 9:36 AM Comments: 0

And now for something work related.

Last week was the English Speech contest that I've been rehearsing two of my third year students for all August and September. It was a short 30 minute drive out to Mugi where the contest was held, and there were 16 kids from about 6 or 7 schools competing.

We had to eat lunch before everyone else in order to make it to the contest in time, and the girls were nervous as hell. I thought they were well prepared. Ayana would go first about her speech on the real meaning of Christmas. Her voice was loud and her presence great. Sachika would go next who had a mastery of all the words and a great accent. Her speech was about her mother's diabetes. :(

When we got there, we helped Bessie set up (Bessie is a JET in Mugi from New Zealand) and the show got on the road. I was asked to lead the kids in a stretch warm up. Last year they had to rock paper scissors for it because no one wanted to do it. But it was no problem at all. The kids were all with me for the stretch up, stretch sides, touch the floor bit. When I told them to shake out their face and make a noise, some did, some didn't. Then, because I was specifically asked to stretch out their faces, I did a face stretching exercise that Aileen taught us. It came from Japanese performance art... I figured the Japanese would love it. :P But the kids all watched me. No one did it; despite it being hilarious and good for them. At least they, and the teachers and judges all had a good laugh. :)

Sitting through the speeches was long and tiring. Some were engaging, others weren't. My two kids did great of course even tho, in their nervousness, they each had to glance down at their papers once to regain their place. After a 45 minute wait, the judges were finally ready. It had been a tough decision, but first place went to Yuki-town (my neighboring town) and an Honorary/Second prize went to 5 other girls (both of my girls were among them). So good work after all.

We had decided that if we won, they would get ice cream, and if we lost, I had to drink milk (because I HATE milk in Japan..... ugh *sick face*) So they were playing up the "ahahah you have to drink milk!!!" Until we got to the convenience store and they each got an ice cream (my calling Ayana an alcoholic for getting rum raisin flavored....) and I was allowed to pass on the milk drinking!!

We returned home after much praise back at the school from their fellow students and other teachers! Good work girls!


PICTURES!!! (I don't have pictures of my two kids speeches because I was too busy videoing)
Ayana video
Sachika video

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 9:21 AM Comments: 0