Christmas Posts! Ho ho ho.

Christmas Time!

Sunday December 16th

Although I hadn’t planned it, after a night in Tokushima City going to bars, I decided that I would stick around and visit one of the orphanages with the other ALTs. Originally I worried that it was going to be depressing so I didn't want to go, despite having given gifts. When I got there my idea changed completely. It was not depressing. There were maybe 50 kids playing. Reading, running around, coloring. Like they all had over forty brothers and sisters—the big ones read to the little ones; the boys engaged in combat; the girls played with dolls. On top of that, they were SO happy to see us. We sang songs with them, made Christmas stars and wreathes out of construction paper, played pass the parcel, and gave gifts. All the while kids were climbing in your lap, or tickling you, or wrestling you to the ground. I spent a great deal of time trying pathetically to escape the tickles of a child, arm wrestling another, and was even taught (well he attempted to teach me) a Pokémon-esque fighting card game.

For every ALT there was atleast three students, so we all had our arms full. James’ story was different. Within a few minutes of him walking into the room full of kids, a two year old girl approaches him and sits in his lap. After a couple more minutes she fell asleep and stayed there for the whole time. Needless to say he fell in love, and to this day wishes he could go back and adopt her. They each got a present and were filled with such joy. It was a truly magical and positive experience. I did not want to leave, and I definitely want to go back and visit again.

Friday December 21st

School finished with a Marathon. I was told to go outside to watch the students competing in a marathon, so I did as I was told. They were jogging about and stretching and carrying on. Soon they all made a line and with a gunshot from the principal, they ran… off campus… into the street…and out of sight. I just sat there thinking, “I was supposed to run for 3 seconds and then that's it? I can’t see them anymore.” After 20-30 minutes they returned out of breath and exhausted. This happened twice; first with the girls and then with the boys. And I truly did wonder what the point of me being out there freezing to “watch them” was. Oh well.

After work was a bonenkai or year-end party. All the teachers got together and carpooled to a local restaurant. Even though these are expensive, they are usually a good time. The food was sushi, nabe (a pot of meat veggies and other things boiled at the table), fried food, and endless amounts of beer. The last one I went to, we played contests. Last time I correctly guessed a Japanese quiz question before anyone else and they were impressed (The card showed P0,000; the Japanese word for 10,000 is MAN and I guessed P in front of it was P-MAN or PIMAN which means pepper in Japanese) but this time the questions were not so easy. I only guessed YMCA in the name that song category, and I think they let me get it because it was English. Our team won first place and was awarded some sweets. Then we exchanged Santa presents drawing numbers from a hat. I got a selection of rice crackers (shrimp flavored.. blah.. I gave them to my neighbors afterwards.) The rest of the evening was spent chatting with the gym teacher, the special ed teacher, and the art teacher about American dramas (Lost, Desperate Housewives, 24, etc.) and travel. It was a nice end to a difficult year. Now I just wait for the bill…

December 22nd – 24th

James and I went to Kobe on a morning bus. Claire was supposed to come, but her funds were limited based on exceedingly high phone bills. We arrived in Kobe and it was raining. :( yuck. But we bought umbrellas and made the most of it. We found a TGI-Fridays kind of restaurant for lunch and each got a sirloin steak. Kobe is known for its beef so why not… And to wash it down we got the all you can drink-stand. Which was filled with the common things (soda, tea, coffee) and the not so ordinary things, namely Black Vinegar Drink. The taste was…interesting…and improved when you mixed it with Calpis (a Japanese yogurt beverage). Calpis and Vinegar. Yum…

After dinner we hopped a train to Osaka. We couldn’t get a hotel in Kobe for both nights so our first night had to be spent in Osaka. We wandered around a shopping arcade for a while. I bought a leather jacket with a fur collar for a high price, which I will not mention on here. The truth was I had seen that jacket all three times that I went to Osaka, and had wanted to get it for over a month but thought “too expensive.” Finally, in the Christmas spirit, I decided to buy it for myself. And it’s amazing! Then we wandered about for a bit, stopping in a beef-bowl shop for dinner. Then we went to a bar that we heard about online. It happened to be a Christmas party. Who would have guessed? The owner wasn't dressed up, but one of the bartenders was wearing reindeer antlers and the other one was dressed like Amy Winehouse…with facial hair. When questioned about the facial hair, he responded, “Oh its just shadow…” Yeah… We had a great time there, chatting and drinking with different people. At one point this rather boisterous woman comes in and tries on a wig. I suggest she put on this Christmassy dress and she does it. What a sport! The people were so alive and friendly it was a great evening. We even didn’t care about missing the last train to the hotel and instead grabbed a $15.00 taxi home instead at 2am. We had also missed the public bath hours at the hotel, but that wasn’t a big deal.

Checkout was 11:00 am and checkout we did. I was hungry, James doesn’t eat unless you force him, so we got breakfast in an odd Rest shop. The outside smelled like pee, and the inside was decorated like a cross between a Greek Diner, and Aunt Helen’s house. Very odd being in Japan. The breakfast was good though and we were on our way. Boarding a train to the Himeji Castle—a world treasure. The train was an hour long so we rushed to get seats. After a long time on the train we arrive in the town of Himeji. An adorable touristy town, Himeji was filled with little shops and restaurants. Since we arrived in Kobe I had been taking pictures of strangely posed women carved in stone that were on display just about everywhere, and Himeji had one every block. I was going snap-happy—not out of want for the pictures, but because I decided long before that I would document them all. After a 10 minute walk we get to the castle grounds. Its GORGEOUS!!! Moats and stones and sculptures. It would be even more beautiful in the spring when all the cherry blossoms are in bloom, but it was still stunning in winter. We wandered about the gardens at the entrance for a while, and then paid to go in. First we toured the buildings around it—where they lived, etc—and then made our way to the top of the really tall hill to see the main castle. So many stairs, so little light, it was all such beautiful breathtaking architecture. There was artwork and historical notes everywhere and I really appreciated having done something “nice” in Japan, as opposed to going to bars and going shopping. The view from the top was also spectacular.

After the castle, we got the train back to Kobe and got lost in the attempt to find our hotel. We found it eventually and got settled. I left to get my bag from the coin locker that I left it in on the first day, and James took a nap. Afterwards it was dinnertime. He had read about an Irish Pub in town, but when we got to the address, it had turned into a German Pub and we were outraged. So we walked further and found an English pub instead that we remembered seeing while walking around on the first day. (We wanted fish and chips which was why the German Pub wouldn’t do… nothing against Germans…) They seated us, and shortly after, seated another white group of people next to us, assuming we knew them. They were JETs from other parts of Japan. After dinner we walked around for a while trying to find a bar. When we found it, it was largely disappointing, mostly because we were tired, and also because we had such high expectations after a great time the night before. We left for the room shortly after. I lost my tiger’s eye necklace at some point during the day so I wasn’t feeling too happy.

The next morning we checked out at 11am, bought some omiyage (gifts for people back home when you travel) and caught the bus back home. Kobe is nice, but I prefer Osaka and Tokyo.

December 24th

I took the train back to Hiwasa and spend Christmas eve alone drinking an entire bottle of wine and watching Little Miss Sunshine. Sad. Haha oh well.

December 25th Christmas

After waking up and calling some people I love and care about, I got ready and drove to Tokushima City again. We had plans for Christmas dinner at a fancy restaurant in the city. Originally making a reservation for 8 people, only 5 showed up. The restaurant was GORGEOUS. At the point we walked in, it truly felt like Christmas. The Christmas dinner special was about $80 dollars and included 6 courses, a drink, and coffee. Foie Gras with a pumpkin mango chutney, Seafood compote with cauliflower cream sauce, Lobster bisque with creamed sea urchin, Cod over white beans, Awa beef with a red wine sauce (Awa is the old name for Tokushima), and dessert of white chocolate mousse. I had quite a bit of wine and finished dinner with a Sambuca grand totaling about $120. I felt so good to spend that much though because it was really worth it, and I had the best times! The food was out of this world, the service was phenomenal, the atmosphere and ambiance were beyond compare; a GREAT time.

After that we went to a piano bar for a bit. Then Claire and Rich left for their last trains and Jeff, James and I went to another bar for a snack and some drinks. My sadness for a lonely Christmas had melted away because I had the time of my life!

My family is coming in a few days. More Christmassy posts are en-route. :)

PICTURES!!!
Christmas Party in the Osaka Bar
Statues of Kobe
Himeji Castle

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 11:30 PM Comments: 0

Members Only Bar and Louise's Pub-Quiz Birthday

Last weekend (Dec 7-9) was a bit crazy. It started off on Friday when James and I decided to go to a members only bar in Tokushima city. But not before trying out an Italian food place close to his house. It was called "Dear" and the interior was really modern and cool looking. The downside was everything on the menu seemed to have egg on it, because the Japanese love their egg. Pizza that looked delicious except with a nearly raw egg floating on the top... We both got the lasagna which although it was a little bit sweet, was still delicious. I got the house wine which was terrible (I should have known better). After dinner we went to the bar. It was very odd and creepy. The sign advertised that it was ¥1500 to get in, then ¥500 yen per drink. We got there probably around 10 o'clock and after a bit we checked the clock: 11:30. Ok reasonable. A couple more drinks and some Karaoke and we look at the clock again... 2am?!?! Where the hell did all those hours go? I suppose you can say we had a good time as the hours flew by, but what an odd experience. The good thing was we were only charged ¥2000 each.. and we definitely had more than one drink.

The next morning was the Tokushima Musical meeting. We set out driving for the station but on the way decided we had time for and wanted breakfast. As we were driving down the street, an old man with a bike collided into the side of my car... It might have been my fault and kind of looked like I hit him. But he was fine, my car was fine, I was horrified but shook it off and drove off, a bit more cautiously than before... James told everyone afterwards that his head fell off... great... Driving around searching for something breakfasty turned out fruitless. No coffee nooks. No bagel cafes. No places to get a stinking egg. So we gave up and went to the station. At the station we swung in a local sandwich shop. I got a tuna melt... mmmmm. And James got a Croquet Monsieur (I was reminded of the dance, Barcarole, that Liz and I made... *sigh*). The musical meeting was fun. They have the show times and rehearsal times set. We read through the first act which was pretty good. I'm a bit bummed that all my friends who were excited about the musical are now bailing... but what can you do...

After the meeting, I round up Louise and Claire and we head off for Takamatsu. Its my first time driving there and I'm nervous. It was Claire's Birthday on Thursday and Louise's birthday Saturday so they were both in high spirits. The route turned out to be pretty easy. We got off the thruway at the wrong exit but a man with a map was very helpful and we found our friend Rich's apartment perfectly on time. Since there was supposed to be many of us staying at Rich's and he only had one extra futon, I brought the entire contents of my room to his place. A metric ton of bedding. The three of us loaded up our arms and heads and wherever else we could hold blankets futons and pillows and piled into the elevator. It was such a tight squeeze that we could have lifted our legs and been held up by the bedding. We exploded out of the elevator and into Rich's room where we prepared for the Pub Quiz. Our team was the Tokushima Tarts (since we were the guest prefecture there, everyone else was from Kagawa) and upon Louise's birthday request we got tarted up. I am impressed that we made it to the pub (Dirty Dicks...) on time! The pub was interesting. The quiz was fun and sometimes challenging. We ultimately won third place but no prize :( Pretty good for out-of-towners tho. The bartender was slow, and he was the only one. Louise had "buy me booze" written on her fingernails in nail polish because it was her birthday, so she was set for the night. But after a rousing spirited quiz everyone dispersed.

Off to Karaoke afterwards, at a chain Karaoke complex, Shidax. We had to wait forever to get a room for 12 people. We signed for 2 hours, all you can drink and started singing. By the end of the two hours however, I started to hate everyone in the room. People were rude, belligerent, hostile, just plain stupid, and everything else you can think of. At one point the canceled a Disney song that Louise and I put in. Needless to say when they signed up for another hour, I was pissed. Claire was pissed too. After 3 hours dragged by, we finally left. Claire and I had left early and waited outside we were so fed up. The kicker, the thing that made us the most angry was how much it cost. ¥5000 a person. $50. For a miserable time. Shit. Then we were dragged to get a snack with everyone (I was fed up with these people). Then when I was ready to go home and forget about it, Rich and this guy Greg who I do not like at all dragged us to another bar. I sat outside with Claire for a while looking moody. Then we went inside and didn't order anything. We both had literally no money left. The conversation was stale and painful so I eventually fell asleep against a wall. Perhaps a cue to leave and go home. So eventually we did. I was SO done with that night.

At 11am the next morning Claire and I had packed up to go home. Louise was heading in the opposite direction and would take the train. Parking wasn't bad, only $11.00 for the whole night. I was pleasantly surprised. We stopped at McDonald's and hit the road. Driving along the expressway we lost track of something.. and soon found ourselves on a big bridge. Is this.. oh wait, shoot. It is... We were heading off the island to the mainland toward Osaka. We were traveling on one of the biggest bridges in Japan because we missed our exit. Haha. As soon as we got to the mainland, we got off at the closest exit and I looked as stupid as I could and asked how to get to Tokushima. He asked where we came from and I said "Takamatsu..." and he laughed and said "you made a mistake." Fortunately he let us make a U-turn without paying any fee, and gave us our expressway ticket back. Calling out "Make sure you go to Tokushima this time." Which I can only hope was not supposed to sound sarcastic in its original Japanese... Usually crossing that bridge is CRAZY expensive. The fee and toll at the end... but we managed to cross it twice for free. Fantastic! And it was such a pretty bridge too!

Home. At last. Weekend over.

PICTURES!

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 8:23 AM Comments: 0