Monkeys!!!!!!

So, I'm sitting at school with my plague (got it yesterday, but that is beside the point).

My coworkers start chattering by the window, like they do, in their crazy oriental language that I hardly understand. However the word 'saru' sticks out, because it means monkey.

So, there's monkeys on the baseball field! Spring has come at last, I think. However the three monkeys turn into 7 monkeys... then 10 monkeys, and then about 15 monkeys!

They're playing on the field, climbing the bike shelter and running around at the speed of a determined Labrador. They are also the SIZE of one! Gah monkeys here are so scary.

After snapping some pretty lousy photos, I was asked the question I ALWAYS am asked when monkey sightings occur.

"So, what kind of monkeys they got in the states?"
"None."
"Not even in the ROCKIES?!"
"Not even in North Ameirca!"

they find this hard to believe until I describe a grizzly bear. Maybe Smokey ate all the monkeys.

Also I should note that the sun has been out more -- which is making Ine Bay turn some BEAUTIFUL shades of blue and green! Here are pictures for good measure.


I had a delicious bento box of egg rice with crab, a little bit of hamburger, sashimi, and sushi with cucumber and shrimp! I also got to look at this bay during it! It was fabulous.

Stupid need for human contact.

I had somewhat of an "episode" last night when I finally got a decent enough skype connection with my mother... It was really embarassing, but it has to do with living in Japan and as such, merits going in this blog. Plus I find that honest moments are the most interesting to look back on, so in 5 years if I read this... uhhh... I hope it's interesting?

Well yesterday I couldn't go to Marina's birthday party because it was snowing way too hard for me to get there and back in one evening in one piece. I spared myself some death-defying driving and stayed in with the ferret and the heater. It was fine.

But as the sun set and I ran out of people to talk to online, I started feeling a bit lonesome. On top of everything, my "super computer" imac has stopped playing the Sims (for reasons that are to computery to put into this entry) and has started freezing more often. I thought "macs didn't freeze", or whatever. Plus, playing computer games tends to be all that I do with my free time (aside from movies, reading and studying). I am not a "big gamer", but it's something to take my mind off of boredom and it passes the time really quickly! So without the ability to play games, I felt like I honestly had nothing to occupy my time.

My internet connection isn't good. It's spotty and generally slow as molasses. I don't need high speed internet to LIVE of course, ... but it also means Skype doesn't work that well. Which means I can't physically speak to anyone without a terrible connection and constant hang ups. So... that on top of being stuck in my house and having generally nobody to talk to/nothing to do in my town sometimes really wears me down. Never this much, though.

On the phone with my mother, I finally just broke down into hypoventalation and trying to vent my frustrations so I could breathe properly again. My mom keeps mentioning taht I should just transfer or ask to move closer to Ine to get better internet and be that much closer to humanity. But, I can't transfer out of Honjo just because of internet! It's so lame... and I love my town/schools/job/general lifestyle here. I'm just not a perfect person.

But, I will tell my PA (Ian) about it and maybe just venting to him will help. Plus he has to listen to me, it's his job.

Rachel

Instead of party snow. Alas.

Well, I was supposed to go to Marina's surprise birthday party tonight, which would have been nice for a few hours, but instead it decided to snow all day!

So I spent the day in my newly rearranged room (with the heeeater) and enjoyed catching up with some people, making cut out tigers, and walking around in the snow! Here are pictures of tigers and snow, ... I don't feel a need to clarify them further.

(this is technicaclly my 'backyard'?)
Follow the tiger head's advice for a promising future in dental hygiene.

Stupid omelette-grabbin' stairs

Well, the week has been generally uneventful. I did manage to make a delicious omelette, fall UP my stairs and get delicious omelette on every single step! Makes me miss having apartments with one floor :( And I miss it being warm enough to eat at my table in the kitchen! Someday...

I am supposed to be at elementary school today, but two of the grades have the flu so there's basically no school! So, I am at the Board of Education all day being ... bored of education?

I went to visit the Yoshida's and to see Leigh on Valentine's day. I hadn't seen either of them in a really long time so it was a relief to catch up and to speak to other human beings and all that. We had delicious spicy tofu soup, curry, and Yoshida Bread mmm. The road from Iwataki until the mountain pass to Yasaka was covered in beautiful snow last night. Had the Yoshida's known this, they'd have made me stay wiht Leigh for the night :D But it was fun winding up the snowy road at 15 mph and looking athe pretty trees. Didn't get home until pretty late though.

On the way home, I couldn't help but feel really alone. Not lonely, just alone. And certainly not because of Valentine's day (which is a celebration of all things pink and heart-shaped as far as I am concerned). I think it happens when I hang out with people who have social lives around their homes. Or people who are close with their neighbors or Japanese friends and families. I really don't have anything like that in Ine and I don't think that I will. I am happy to stay at home and keep to myself most days... that doesn't bother me at all. I don't feel like I am missing out either. It just makes me extremely aware of how much time I spend alone. I think it just sort of hit me last night on the drive home.

Anyway I have to go to a birthday party this weekend that I am not keen on going to so much. It's kind of funny how the more time I spend alone, the less I actually want to go out and be social with people. Once a week is really enough! I suppose it's the hermit in me.

Hokkaido Part Four: The long way home – how did it get colder?

The long way home – how did it get colder?

Getting up the next morning at 6:30am was murder. It was really difficult to leave my warm, comfortable bunk for the cold outside and a long day of transit.
Marina and I hopped a train to the airport and had a nice breakfast there. After an uneventful two hour flight, we arrived back in Osaka, had a pizza lunch, and grabbed another train back to Kyoto. From Kyoto, we trained it YET AGAIN to Kameoka and began our drive home. It was essentially a day of trains, planes and automobile. We polished off the evening with a kaiten sushi dinner and I picked Kirby up from Yumi’s house and went home to go to bed fairly early.

It was depressing going home only because it was colder in my bed than I had felt the entire time in Hokkaido. Hokkaido, the snowiest coldest place in Japan. Figures.

Today was a day off from work though, which is excellent! It’s ‘National Foundation Day’, or 建国記念の日.

Here are some facts about this national holiday:

o Japanese people celebrate Emperor Jimmu, the first mythical emperor of Japan. It’s to honor and celebrate his imperial line as well as the country’s birthday.

o It became a holiday in the late 19th century when Japan adopted the Gregorian (Roman) calendar.

o Japanese people may put up a flag or two, but other than that it’s a fairly boring, tradition-less holiday where people don’t have to go to work. Amen to that!

Hokkaido Part Three: Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

Marina and I tried to sleep in on Sunday morning (or rather sleep off certain post-drinking affects). However, the girls in the room were making a lot of noise fairly early in the morning, so we eventually got out of bed. Marina then asked the girl who had stolen her bunk what the deal with THAT was. The girl replied that neither of them had left their bags on their bunks, so they had been cleaned. So the girl’s bunk had no sheets. And somehow it made sense to her to steal Marina’s sheetless bunk. In conclusion, that girl was crazy.

After a Starbucks breakfast, we met up with Andrew (from Shiga) on the shuttle bus to Satoland. Satoland is a sort of children’s ice wonderland constructed about 25 minutes outside of the city. They have snow slides, an ice labyrinth, and lots of snow games for children. We spent a few hours there, mostly standing in line. The snow maze was about as exciting as a colder version of a hay-maze. Megan and Kyle eventually caught up with us, along with Desirae and her friend James. Together we went on the ice slides (after a two hour stand in a line/queue). It was totally worth it! The slide was ridiculously fun. After standing in the cold, crowded, child-infested Satoland for a few hours, the lot of us hopped the bus back to Sapporo.

We walked around the fish market so Kyle could purchase delicious crab. It’s crab season, and some of the most delicious and expensive crabs can be bought in Sapporo and Hokkaido! (Some can also be bought in my area of Kyoto, I should add). Kyle showed us to a great sushi place that was recommended in her guide book. The sushi was definitely the best I’ve had in Japan. Melt in your mouth delicious, and the price was really affordable to boot!

Everyone left for other activities and I was left with Megan and Kyle. They needed to catch their ferry back home, so I went with them to a convenience store to stock up on snacks and we all had Baskin and Robbins ice cream! It had been too long since I’d had a proper mint chocolate chip sundae.

After everyone was gone, and I realized that there were no new movies out in the cinema, I went back for an early night at the youth hostel. I was exhausted from the day and it was nice having the room to myself to do a little reading.

Hokkaido Part Two: Snow festival, snow slide and beer hall.

Saturday, February 9th Part 2: Snow Festival, Snow Slide & Beer Hall

The youth hostel was so very warm. I slept in until about 9am, while poor Marina left around 7am to go skiing with KAJET (an association of JETs from our prefecture). I have no interest in falling off a mountain on wooden sticks and moreover, I didn’t want to wake up at 6am. So, I enjoyed my lie-in and eventually met Megan and her friend Kyle (female) in Susukino.

Susukino is in fact a red-light entertainment district. However, for the amounts of small children that pass through it during the snow festival, perhaps the prostitutes go on a skiing trip for that week. By which I mean, we did not see any ladies of the evening. We did, however, see a lot of ice sculptures! The ice sculptures ranged from cartoon characters to more elaborate designs with things inside of the ice. One such sculpture showcased crabs, fish and squid (dead, I think). Another had Bailey’s Irish cream bottles inside of the ice. If you went inside the little ice stand, you were allowed a cup of hot Bailey’s with coffee or cream. Not too shabby!

The three of us then went back over to Odori Park to see the snow festival sculptures once more. They were very different in the daytime, and the weather was absolutely perfect for it. There were a lot of families with small, adorable children wrapped up in snow suits and blankets. There were some game show type performances on stage (probably for television) and we even saw some jumping snowboarders on one of the stages! The snow sculptures included massive architectural feats (castles, bulidings etc), cartoon characters, and weird things such as the head of Al Gore. There is certainly something for everyone! After feet were partially frozen and bellies were hungry, we looked around a shopping mall for a famous ‘ramen village’, as ramen is very famous in Sapporo! However, everyone else’s thoughts had already found them at ramen village. So, we settled for Japanese style dim-sum with a nice view of the station. We sat for a long while and sipped tea before setting off again.

A huge ice sculpture including two MAMMOTHS! So cool!

In the evening, we hopped a bus to the Sapporo Beer Hall and Museum outside of the city area. The museum was all in Japanese, so I didn’t learn anything about beer… however, it was warm! We met Kyle’s friend Andrew (also from Shiga prefecture) and his friend Vanessa, who is a Hokkaido JET. The lot of us went to the beer hall for a lamb dinner! All you can eat lamb with veggies (you cook it yourself sukiyaki style) and all you can drink delicious dark beer. Marina joined us too, after her ill-fated ski trip. After much drinking, some falling out of chairs, and a brief interaction with a man dressed as a bear, we found an outdoor slide made of snow and made some use of it.

Drunk and covered in snow, we decided to head back to Susukino to look at the pretty lights and to find some karaoke. We did just that! Karaoke lasted at least 3 hours into the night (and we were joined by Desriae, a Kyoto JET). Drunk and all songed out, we stumbled home to our various hotels and hostels. However, when Marina and I got to our room, we found that some strange girl had taken Marina’s bed! So, Marina and I shared my roomy bunk and slept well into the morning.

Some information on The Snow Festival (taken from Wikipedia)

The Snow Festival began in 1950, when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japan Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculptures, for which the Snow Festival has now become famous.

- The snow festival is still fairly new! This year (2008) marked it's 58th anniversary. The year's theme seemed to be 'global awareness'.

Hokkaido Part One: The Journey North

Friday, February 8th : Part 1: The Journey North

After spending the evening at Amy’s apartment in Kameoka, I met Marina in the morning. Together, we walked to the train station where we’d catch an early train into Kyoto Station, and from there to Kansai International Airport. Marina, the previous evening, had discovered that she had left something rather important at home. That being, her coat. She had fortunately borrowed a coat from Paulette (another girl in Kameoka who had hosted Marina for the evening). Coat drama aside, we made it to the airport without too much hassle. We caught our flight to the airport in Sapporo (New Chisate Airport). We were off to Hokkaido at long last!

We reached the airport in the early afternoon and took a train ride into the city of Sapporo. The subway system and grid system made Sapporo extremely easy to navigate. Using a map Marina had brought, we found our youth hostel with little to no trouble (although I managed to get us fairly turned around). We dressed for the falling snow, dropped off our bags and explored Sapporo Station to find some lunch. We feasted on okonomiyake (ironically a famous cuisine in Osaka, which we had just come from).

We then visited Odori Park, which is the main venue for the Snow Festival (雪祭り) or Yuki Matsuri. It was getting dark by then, so we were able to see the snow sculptures lit up with coloured lights! There were a few performances going on atop of a few of the stages in front of the mammoth ice sculptures as well. Some better than others. The pair of us were privy to a ‘light show’ sponsored by Disney. The sculpture was for the upcoming film Prince Caspian, which is the second of the Chronicles of Narnia. They had a Japanese narration with sound track music and crazy coloured lights. I assume they were depicting the story. By the time we had walked up and down the twelve blocks of Odori park, we were frozen. A quick subway trip back to the station was rewarded with hot chocolates at Starbucks and we then made it an early night and hung out in the youth hostel until morning.

The Prince Caspian light show

The scultpures sponsored by Egyptian Air

Some history on Sapporo:

- The city itself was largely inhabited by the Ainu people (the indigenous people of Hokkaido who appear more Caucasian than Asian). In the mid 1860’s, Japanese settlers began to migrate to the lower areas of Hokkaido and establish their own culture there. However, the name Sapporo is from the Ainu language and means ‘large river running through a plain’.

-In the 1870’s, the city of Sapporo was built with the advice from the American government and borrowed the American-style grid system to lay out the city itself (the city even uses street cars). Sapporo remains a sister city with Portland, Oregon.

-In the city, you can visit the nightlife center of Susukino, the huge bisecting park named Odori Park (odori meaning a large road or avenue), or you can visit the Sapporo beer hall or museum!

-Outside of the city is fantastic skiing and some of the most beautiful and well-preserved natural parks in all of the country. (I will definitely be going back to see some of that in the spring)

Sunday: Let's bathe Kirby and eat too much sushi

Sunday we slept in quite a bit before making MORE FRENCH TOAST. You can't ever have too much french toast!!!!

We then watched more episodes of Firefly in our pajamas. Somewhere into the second hour of doing so, there came a knocking at my door! Who could it be but the crazy girl from Jun's company who lives somewhere in Ine and likes to drop by (HOW DID SHE FIND OUT WHERE I LIIIIVE). She preceded to giggle and present me with some amazing powder blue silk to make a kimono out of because someone gave it to her but it 'wasn't her colour', she says.

OMG. Like... WHAT?

So now I have to find someone to make me a kimono. Good thing I know kimono makers??? I am not even kidding when I say that. Weird.

Anyway, it was setsubun, which translates to 'magic bean day' or something in picture language. Megan and I visited my shrine but there wasn't a whole lot going on down there aside from free sake and a guest book (which we signed). We decided to go eat too much sushi after that.

And then we did. Too. Much. Sushi.

Somewhere between those events, we also bathed my ferret.

That's always exciting. He smells laundry fresh now. Or fresher than ferret stink, anyhow!

After sushi-death, we went to Mipple (the big shopping center nearest to my homestead). I splurged and bought a silly pair of shoes for school, a shelf, and a bag to carry things in. We then did purikura, which I will put a picture of on this blog post as soon as I scan it.
Megan then checked her watch and said 'um... my train leaves in 11 minutes?'

Cursing happened here. I thought her train was leaving 10 minutes later than the actual time.

As I was speeding down the roads of Miyazu towards the station, I believe we actually got AIR as we hit one particular bump. But Megan caught the damn train, and I drove home to put together my shelf.

As it turns out, you need a screwdriver.

And moreover, in seven years of predecessment, not a single Ine AET has managed to own a screw driver? Curiouser and curiouser.

Stranger still, my parents actually live in

this house

. Maybe I'll be joining them after this whole JET thing blows over!

Saturday; French toast, amanohashidate, more izakaya please.

Saturday was a day for sleeping in. It was warm in our futons and we'd all stayed up fairly late. When we were in 'waking up mode', Amy made delicious french toast from the few ingredients that she could find in my kitchen. (I should note that kokedama-chan™ [mossy] was admired).

I took the kids on a driving tour of Ine. Ian played 'postal service' the whole way, which was oddly fitting to the surroundings. The washi tree was sadly only occupied by one washi today, but the skies were clear and you could see all the islands surrounding the bay in Ine! It was really spectacular! We then drove to Amanohashidate to walk around since Ian hadn't been there before. [Again, Amanohashidate is the bridge to heaven where them gods came down and birthed some Japans. ] It was chilly but a really nice walk in the mud and Amy told excellent stories, as per usual. I also had no idea how many of my friends had fired shotguns out of moving vehicles! People never cease to surprise me.

We moved along to meet my spectacular friend Yuuki and her nurse-buddy Momoya at an izakaya in Nodagawa that I really love going to. Liz was originally intended to join, but could not because she had to save a schoolbus of kindergarteners from bears or something. The izakaya is called Isshin 一心　(one heart/mind). I really enjoy that izakaya and have had many a good time there! This particular time was really laid back and man oh man, they have good food. The bartender/owner is Toshi and his mama is the cook. They treat us good. I think Yuuki really liked hanging out with Amy, Ian and Megan too (especially b/c Megan and Ian can speak to them properly).

I hurried everyone to the train station in Miyazu afterwards (not realizing how ridiculously close it was) and dropped off Amy and Ian. Their visit was short but sweet and I think they went home happy.

Megan and I went home to watch Firefly (she'd never seen it!) and to play with Kirby-kun. That was pretty much all we did! It was fantastic! Desirae was supposed to come up, but she too had to save a school bus of children from a bear. Maybe... the same bear?

Friday = Highway to Sleepovers

Well, the weekend was good, as it was expected to be! And it was welcomed after a long crazy day at Elementary School. Granted, having my plushie octopus, 'Pig', (given to me by Brynmor for Rachelmas) helped out a LOT especially with the older kids. They enjoyed Pig-san greatly.

The evening was spent taking the express way for the first time to Ayabe (where I'd never been before!). I picked up Ian, Amy and Megan from Ayabe Train Station and we met Leigh at an izakaya in Iwataki for some delicious foods. I like that we have to 'ask for permission' to go to izakayas because some people are completely insane, but whatever, we got fried food and delicious oolong tea for cheap and it was all that mattered.

It was also super nice seeing Leigh again, as I don't get too many chances what with her sexy boyfriend ;D

She had earlier given me some excellent directions to get to Ayabe. Although later on my JTE would explain that there are cheaper ways to get to the train station (which I know how to do now!)

After dinner I drove everyone up to Honjo for some James Bond watching/chou creme eating/beer guzzling gaieties. And enjoyment was succumbed to by all.