An Enkai, an Illness, and a Dog.

An Enkai, an Illness, and a Dog.

With the new school year and new teachers come to Honjo JHS, it was time for yet another enkai. I was rather shocked to find out that it was happening a mere two weeks after the goodbye enkai (quite the rebound). However, it allowed me to use the following phrase which I had just learned.

二週間ぶり! “The first time in two weeks”, referring to drinking sake with co-workers, that is. And I may not have said/written/understood the grammar correctly in the first place.
We went to a really beautiful restaurant (and ryokan?) in Iwataki. I wish we had come in the daytime and the not-pouring-rain time so I could have walked around the garden on the premises. Instead, we all poured inside the room and sat down (自由席OMG- free seating) and naturally I sat near but not directly next to the fanciable Murakoshi-sensei [from hereon known as “Foxy sensei”] I sat next to the music teacher on my left [Shimizu-sensei] and the math teacher and drinking buddy of mine on my right [Ota-sensei]. I was happy with the surroundings and pleased that after a cup of sake, I was up to speaking some Japanese, answering the usual batch of questions about my hometown, eating habits, cooking abilities, presidential preferences, and love life. Oh, and baseball.
I had been feeling quite under the weather all day… not quite sure why. Mostly the lack of sleep, I had thought. However my feelings of general ickiness kept up throughout the evening, leaving me half conscious for a better part of the dining. Sadly, I couldn’t eat most of my food. This is VERY unlike me. I ignored my death rattle by talking to Foxy-sensei and Shimizu-sensei about the students and music and baseball [hooray for Ichiro, the only thing I know about baseball besides the fact that tight pants have always been my favourite things in the world of athletics.]

After much eating (why do so many dishes have small dead fish with eyes?), we strutted down to a local karaoke/bar named “White Pepper”. It sounded very familiar to me. I then thought that Bryn might come to this bar, which is where I may have heard the name before. Considering for a moment that Bryn’s former JTE was in our company and the lovely bartender had been talking about him for going on three minutes, I decided to invite Bryn to join our ‘fun’. He did so, being the sport he is. After a brief encounter with the not NOT trashed Notani-sensei, he hung out with me in the corner where I shared my half-chair with Aria-sensei [the nurse]. We chatted, wiped the blood from one another’s ears as Kocho-sensei sang his favourite tunes from the 1950’s, and drank whatever it was the bartender kept giving us. Unfortunately I had not foreseen that the gathering of two gaijins in a bar when said gaijins are not of the same gender can only mean one thing – HOT WESTERN SEX (in secrecy). I assume now that everyone things I am dating Bryn. This bodes less well for my romantic takeover of Foxy-sensei, which surely was well on its way. I believe he looked at me once and told me to ‘be careful’ in karaoke. One may recall the last karaoke session with this same set of teachers at the Ine JHS goodbye party. Do I hear wedding bells?

The trip home was no less than terrifying as my ride braved the sheets of rain on the narrow mountain roads of Nii-mura. Finally we arrived at my house, only to have a frantic look for my house keys!

At last, I had found my keys and let myself into my apartment. Only to be followed by some very expensive, Japanese puking. Another first time had in Japan.

Recitations and Hos = my weekend

What did I even do this weekend? For starters, I went to Miyazu on Saturday for the Recitation Contest of Junior High School Students. I hopped a bus at 0730 with Tsuji-sensei and the Honjo kids (Kohei and Kaai) and we then swooped down to Ine JHS to pick up Aimi-sensei, Chisato, Takashi, Misa and Ikumi. We arrived at Miyazu High School really early and I hung around my kids trying to make them feel less nervous. I don’t think it worked too well. My kids are used to an environment of very few students. The biggest school in the area is 58 kids, and Honjo is only 32 kids. Being around more people than even populate their schools was rather unnerving for them.

Soon other AETs had arrived as well! Simon, Brynmore, Jannie and Eric, and Liz as well (cheering on our students and probably having little better to do!) We began the contest and all of the students, in my opinion, did really well! There were only two cases of forgotten speeches, and in those cases the students didn’t panic, but they stopped, remembered, and carried on. I have to admit that I was nervous for all of my students! Knowing how hard they had been practicing since early October, I feared that they might make a mistake. However, my kids all did really well! The best I’ve seen them do! They all got great comments from the judges, and Ikumi and Misa took home 2nd place for the first years, and Kaai took home first place for the second year students! I was so proud of them! We talked and ate packed lunches on the way back home from Miyazu. Kaai especially was beaming with her victory (although it was misspelled) and Tsuji-sensei and I recited all of the dialogues on the ride home. We weren’t too shabby!

I spent the rest of the day napping and playing with Kirby. In the evening I joined up with the AETs from the contest as well as Jun, Lyle, Leigh and Nori (Leigh’s friend from Kyoto) at an Izakaya somewhere near Nodagawa (at least after getting lost for forty minutes, I think that’s where it ended up being). Spent the evening picking at the food and enjoying my friends increasing drunkenness! I however, being a driver, stuck to cola. It was good times. I then helped ferry people to a nearby small bar/café where I eventually said goodnight to everyone and left for home. I slept forever as soon as I arrived back at my house.

The mornings are getting colder, which means it’s getting more and more impossible to wake up! Luckily I discovered one more box of winter clothing in my closet! I now am armed with flannel winter pajamas and sweatpants. At least most of my body will stay warm during the winter months.

Other than that, Leigh and Liz came for dinner on Sunday evening. We had some curry that Leigh brought from home, played with Kirby for a little while, and I helped Leigh remember how to knit while Liz played on the internet (as she is lacking it at home due to some bad luck with her laptop). We then watched the majority of The Last Unicorn, which as we all know is a high quality movie… at least a high quality movie circa 1982. Or a poor quality movie from 1982, you decide. They soon went home to sleep and I curled up under my kotatsu, knitted, and watched Hustle and Flow, which is basically a retelling of the Last Unicorn but with more black people, pimps, ho’s, violence, and rap. I mean they both have songs.

Anyway this week’s adventures will be from my team teaching conference in Kyoto, which I am prepared for mentally and physically after weeks of training. Training to sit and be bored out of my SKULL.

Sub par chocolate covered bananas. Oh, and fireworks.

I drove down to Amino this afternoon to have lunch with Shinobu, a friend of Liz'. She had a 'thank you' sort of luncheon for the people who had helped out for the Halloween party a few weeks back (the one for elementary schoolers), however I was the only person of that group who was able to attend. Besides me, Liz, Leigh and Jannie came and we were joined by Shinobu, her friends (both Yuko's) and Yuko B's two young children (Chika and Ryouji, who were adorable).

The lunch spread was amazing. I think we ate for about two-three hours straight. I should also mention that Shinobu's house is gorgeous. It's a Japanese-style place, all one floor and connecting through paper walls that slide. Kotatsu tables, magnificent garden outside (filled with trees, ponds, flowers etc) and beautiful art and decorations to match. Really lovely environment!

After lunch I dropped by shimamura with Jannie so we could pick up some clothing items. I'm wearing the slipper socks I bought... they were a good purchase for SURE. My feet have been having trouble staying warm lately. These will help out a great deal.

We then met up with Marina, Amy (Marina's friend from Fukuchiyama), Bryn, Simon, Lyle and Scott and watched the fireworks at the Iwataki side of Amanohashidate. It wasn't too cold today, so the viewing was entirely pleasant! We also had sub par chocolate covered bananas, which didn't taste of chocolate or banana, in my opinion.

Now it's home to finish out the weekend with a tuna fish sandwich and a glass of milk.

I might get my car looked at tomorrow morning before school if I can manage to wake up early enough. Ha!

Sand Dunes, Wet Blankets, and a Landslide

Elderly Respected, Sand Dunes Walked On

This weekend was a three day weekend. We had Monday off of work because it is the "Respect for the Aged Day" in Japan! It exists to honor and give respect to the elderly denizens of this fine fishing nation. Established in 1966, it used to be held every September 15th. Then someone brilliant established the "Happy Monday System" in Japan, moving quite a few holidays to Mondays in order to procure three day weekends. Since the Happy Monday System's establishment, Respect for the Aged day now occurs every third Monday in September.Historical tangent aside, we had Monday off of work.

A group of us who had Saturday free decided to go to Tottori. Tottori has quite a few natural attractions and tourist attractions! We had set out to see the Toy Museum, the Sand Dunes, and stay at an onsen for a bath and some dinner!!!

The crew: Marina, Jarrad, Yumi, Desirae, Andy (Desi's fiancé), and Kristin. Four Yankees, two canucks, and one Nihonjin in a pear tree. Or rather, in two tiny cars. We set off from Mineyama after a breakfast of French toast and tea ceremony matcha tea (which is strange and delicious). I had Jarrad, Marina and Yumi in my tiny car. The Canadians took Desirae with them. We listened to music and began the three hour trek west. It was a beautiful drive, but the 95 degree weather made us all very sweaty and cranky. We stopped at a few places on the way to take some photos!

At last we were at Tottori! We piled out of the car and explored the sand dunes. Apparently, there are sand dunes in Japan. Specifically in Tottori, and nowhere else. Who knew? It was hot but not too humid, as we were next to the ocean. We had fun playing in the alien desert and running up and down hills! There were quite a few tourists there, and it was fun watching the parents chase after their all-too-energetic toddlers, who inevitably would fall down the hills of the dunes in the most adorable of ways. It was definitely a lot of fun and something extremely different, even for Japan. Yumi had even made and brought onigiri for us to eat! For those of you who don't remember my brief onigiri obsession, they are Japan's answer to the sandwich. Sticky rice with something inside (like fish, fish paste, seaweed, tuna, etc) and wrapped in some nori (seaweed). They were fantastic and kept us going on our ridiculous trip.

After that we shopped for some onigiri. I suppose pears are the seasonal delicacy of Tottori because everything had pear in it. Some of the group even got pear ice creams! I stuck with water, since I was really dehydrated at that point. Then it was time for the toy museum! The museum was full of all sorts of toys from Japan and around the world. They had masks from every country, dolls, action figures, traditional old toys, modern toys, legos, kites, model airplanes, wooden toys, and puzzles! It was wonderful! We only had about an hour or so to spend in the museum, but everyone had a really great time!

Picture Says 900 Words, Poets Proved Wrong

Then it was about 5pm, and it was time to grab dinner and head back to Tango since it would be a long drive home. We got lost for about an hour trying to find some Thai restaurant and finally after asking about 2 people on the side of the road, we found a tiny tiny side road that led us to the restaurant. It had a gorgeous view and the curry was really delicious! We spent a lot of time there and set off on the road pretty late.

Grown Man, "Just Wants to Go Home".

Then the drama began. It was about a 2.5-3 hour drive to where we had began our journey, Mineyama. Mineyama is about an hour, hour and a half from Miyazu-city. So, because Ine was closer than Miyazu, I invited Yumi, Marina and Jarrad to stay over and I would drive them home in the morning or what have you. Everyone was fine with that, except Jarrad. Jarrad was only interested in getting to his apartment and got irritable and cranky. He said "well why can't we just go back to Miyazu and you can stay there?" "Because that's a four hour drive and I am tired?" Six hours of driving, in my book, is too much. He complained that he didn't have spare clothes or underwear. I said "Well... I have big t-shirts you can borrow if you want, and you can use my laundry machine or we can find you some underwear at the convenience store b/c they sell it at quite a few of them.... and I have extra toothbrushes, you can have a bath and a beer and you'll be fine." He was disagreeable to the whole situation. Finally we made him see reason and started home.

We took the northern coastal route. Jarrad by now had calmed down and explained that when plans change, he tends to get grumpy for awhile. I guess that's fine, I mean everyone is different. So everyone had high spirits once again! We stopped at a conbini to grab a few more supplies (candy, coffee for me, and underwear for Jarrad!) and then continued on our route, which led straight from Tottori to Ine, what a break!

Two and a half hours of driving and listening the ol' ipod later, we are nearing Ine! Nearing a bath and a fresh change of clothes and a good night's sleep on a soft futon... mmmmm. Instead we reach a sign and a huge blockade in front of the road. "Land slide. Road closed."

Oh. My. God. That was just about everyone's reaction. We were at least 45 minutes from the nearest small town and there are no other roads to Ine. The only one is closed. In order to get to Ine, it would take another hour and 45 minutes, by going back east, taking a southern route, going through Miyazu and then back up north to Ine, which would be ridiculous. Instead, we kept our cool and headed back towards Mineyama where Desi and Andy live. But it was nearly midnight by then and everyone was asleep! Instead I decided to keep truckin' and hoof it to Miyazu, where Jarrad would have his damn way. I think people thought I was going to freak out, but I just wanted sleep. I wasn't too tired to drive, but I was tired of being in a hot sweaty car with no A/C. On our dark winding road back through the coastal countryside, I slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting the wildlife in front of the car. It was a mama boar and her seven piglets. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. The scene was ruined a little by Marina screaming bloody murder at the surprise stop, and Jarrad's reaction to being awoken by Marina screaming and the sudden stop, which led to him grabbing the front seats and hitting his head on top of the car. Ridiculous. The pigs were even freaked out. We stopped, stared, and both went on our way. The piglets followed the mama like baby geese.

Finally we reached Miyazu. A shower. A good night's sleep. And Jarrad had his damn change of underwear.

But the weekend does not stop here.

Sunday we had a concert in Ine-cho. A group of people from Osaka joined up with quite a few of the Ine people to play the koto (wooden harp instrument), the shamisen (a Japanse "banjo") and one man played the bamboo flute. I was excited about the concert! However, matters became complicated when one person from Kyoto city (a 3 hour train ride away) decided that although she had not told me she would be coming, she would show up in Miyazu at 12:07. She let me know when she was on the train and said "pick me up at 12:07!" It takes an hour to get to Ine from Miyazu and the concert starts at 1pm. I was livid. After I banged my head on the wall, I said "FINE WE WILL PICK HER UP." but I was not happy about it. I didn't want to be late to my own town's concert because some person with no common sense went and.... didn't use common sense!!!! So I piled the three in the car again and drove to the station. After five people in my car (which is illegal for a car of my size, and very well should be) I drove as quickly/safely as humanly possible up the coast. My car barely moves with four people in it, so imagine five people plus me in an enormous hurry. I told the passengers that if anyone made a crack about my driving, they could walk the rest of the way. They got the picture.

And we made it! In 45 minutes! We got to the concert just in time to meet Randall and Toko (this Randall being a charming man from NZ who is married to the Japanese lady, Toko). The concert was beautiful. A lot of my coworkers and neighbors joined in with their instruments and everyone wore beautiful kimonos! It was the first time I had seen people in kimonos since coming to Japan, as they are traditionally winter-clothes and it's still summer (and in the 90s). I really enjoyed the different style of music and my neighbors were really excited to see me there!

After that we relaxed in Ine and there was more driving drama in that I had to drive everyone back, but my car was out of gas and all t he gas stations in town closed early because of the holiday. I made it as far as Iwataki and met up with Jun, another Japanese girl we're all friends with. She bought me a cannister of gas (which filled up 1/4 tank of my car!!!) and we went out to dinner with quite a few of the Tango JETs who had been to their sports festival on Saturday. After some delicious food, good stories, and play-by-plays of sports festivals, I was recharged. I drove back to Ine and intended to sleep for a thousand hours. When I arrived home I had a text message from Jarrad, "I forgot my keys in your car."

Blegh.

The next morning I slept in, had a big breakfast and caught up on movie-watching and sitting around. It was glorious. Around 2pm I went back to Miyazu to give Jarrad his keys and to hang out at Mipple where a group of us got lunch and coffee . It was very relaxing compared to the rest of the weekend. I got to know Simon and Bryn (two JETs who have been here awhile) and drove Bryn home to Iwataki as it was on the way home for me. He is really cool and told me all about my predecessors for the past four years. A lot of them really loved it in Ine, so I am not the first (and surely not the last). It was a nice change of company too, since I had been in the car with the same people for two days straight.

I have to say that overall, even though the weekend was badly planned on my part, it was extremely awesome. I definitely bonded with Yumi and Marina, although I am growing apart from Jarrad who I find generally annoying and unpleasant more and more frequently. But, as I learned, it's a big peninsula, and there are plenty of other people to drive around it with!

Weekend not NOT awesome

The Ine JHS Sports Festival -伊根中学校の 体育祭

So the weekend was awesome. It started out with the amazing sports festival at Ine Jr. High School where I got to watch kids and adults run around and play ridiculous games. One of them involved ME and the PTA "fishing" for paper fish. They had these huge cut outs in the shape of red snapper, flounder, turtles, squid, octopus, etc etc. So you'd have to run over, grab a pole, read which fish to catch and get the hook in the hole! It was harder than it looked, but my team totally WON! Hooray! I took video and way too many pictures. Anyway there were a lot of boring sort of standing in line type things... marching... speeches. But there were some very exciting relays and goofy games and we even had a dance by the first graders and some middle schoolers! How lucky to see it again!) Japanese dance is really awesome to watch. I wish I had a proper video camera for it! But I think they took video at the school so I'll just steal a copy later. But it was a lot of fun, even though it involved me working on a Saturday (BOOOOO).

JHS and Elem. school girls doing the Dokoishou Soran Dance

After that I ran off to Miyazu to join Eric and celebrate his 31st bday party at the gaijin bar in Miyazu. It was a BLAST. Lots of fun drinks, cake, food, and the bar is about the size of a trolley, so it was just us and the bartenders, who are friends with the birthday boy! Eric was even behind bar helping mix drinks. It was completely wonderful. It was great seeing some of the JETs and Japanese folks I haven't seen in awhile, like Yumi and Desirae and Jamie and so on. The cake Yumi baked was delicious too! After the bar closed, we went off to another bar and did lots of karaoke which was all way too fun. So we started the evening around 7:30 and went home around 3:30... all in all, an excellent party. The next morning, a few of us who had slept over in Miyazu at Jarrad's house drove to Omiya to grab some Kappa-Zushi, which is that conveyor belt sushi I love so much. It was my first time having it here in Nippon, and it was soooo cool! You could make your own tea right at the table with a hot water spout, and of course the sushi was ready to go. They had so many different things, and you could order from an electronic menu and once you've done that, they send over your sushi on a little model bullet train! It dings at you when the food arrives and then you grab your plate, press a button and it goes back home to the kitchen. Plus the conveyor belt had pie (which was yummy), jell-Os, and juice boxes with Hello Kitty™ on them! Hooray juice! So after lunch I finally came home to Ine and hung out and went to bed SO EARLY (like 9:30pm, no joking).

The Simple Life with Liz and Rachel

Today was Monday, but it was my daikyuu, or day off because I had worked Saturday. Lucky for me, Liz (the JET from Amino) was also free! So after I cleaned the house (it was sooo messy) and biked to the store for some eggs, Liz drove all the way up here! Once she was here I drove her around and we explored the area. We found Ikari farm, which is this 100% pastoral farm area with rolling green hills and happy sheep running around (and coooows) and it's totally gorgeous. We walked around there and said hi to the sheep, goats, mini horse, bunnies, and cows. Then we hopped back in the car and drove even higher up the mountains to the wind machines. Or whatever they are called. They are these 70 foot high fans that collect wind energy. They are huge and scary and Liz finally agreed that they are pretty creepy. They are just these huge, unnatural silent machines living in the hills. Creepy. We took pics and explored and then commented on how AWESOME the cool weather was up in the mountains. Usually in Ine near the water it gets quite hot and humid, so it was a nice change of climate. Then we came back to my house to burn CDs and drove to a little Americanesque diner called "orange" near Iwataki. I had pizza with tuna fish, corn, pepperoni and mayo. It was strangely delicious, although the mayo was a bit gross They put mayo on EVERYTHING.

And now I'm home! I love having productive and amazing weekends and Liz is just the person to do things with. She inspires me to go and do things on my days off so I'm hoping to be invited to little jaunts that she plans in the future. She's also from Maryland, I forgot to mention. Hooray for people and things and places! I love my Tango peninsula and everyone needs to come visit, since I'll probably NEVER LEAVE.

Obon in Miyazu. Limited Casualties.

Obon : The Buddhist Dio de los Muertos

Last night I went to Miyazu City to take part in the celebration for Obon. Obon is a Buddhist holiday celebrating the ancestors, and its the day of the dead. Ghosts and zombies and all that. Well, maybe not zombies.

So I went over to Jarrad's home which is among some rice fields in the city (because even decent sized cities still have weird rice fields and ditches). His home is small, but very cozy and he actually has some furniture which I find amazing. We practiced flashcards while waiting for Scott and Liz to show up from Omiya (a tiny bit west from the area). They got stuck in traffic (as did I, I spent about 80 minutes driving straight from work to Miyazu in fact!) but they eventually made it.

From Jarrad's we all walked to the big department store, Mipple. It was packed! Everyone had gathered there to watch the lanterns and boats and fireworks. We eventually found our friends in the crowd and sat down. Yumi was there with her friend Jun, who is hilarious and brought sesame balls filled with delicious things. Marina was also there (the girl from LA) as well as Bryn (a kiwi who has been in his city of Iwataki for going on 4 years now) and Jannie (an Aussie who is on her 3rd year in Kaya). The boys went off to find food in the kiosks (a lot of ice creams, sodas, crêpes, and really greasy chicken) while the ladies went to look at the bay. Amanohashidate, the bay in Miyazu, is totally gorgeous all the time. But for Obon there were tons of little floating paper lanterns with candles in the bay, to represent ancestors I guess, and a lot of strange very "oriental" looking boats floating in the bay as well. They had lanterns and fires all over, some of them were manned some not. It was a strange thing to see, and the reds and oranges were really beautiful against the dusky blue background. As the sun disappeared, we went back to our tarp to watch the fireworks.

Fireworks in Japanese is "hanabi" which means "fire flower". I think that makes a lot more sense than firework. A work of... fire? I don't pretend to understand English. I only teach it.
The fireworks were amazing. They weren't like American ones where it's about a 15-20 minute show. Instead, they had 30 second, 2 minute displays, all of them different and sponsored by different companies. After the first would end, they would play a musical interlude while the sky cleared of smoke, and then would start the next display. It was very organized, and I saw some fireworks I had never seen before. The shape of a cat face, or a flower, or a smiley face, or a heart. Things like that, it was really neat! Some of the fireworks looked bigger and more glorious than I imagined they would. I think maybe I am not used to seeing fireworks so close up, or maybe it was the reflection off the water that made it seem grander? I don't know. Anyway the displays went on for about an hour. During this time, we decided to teach Yumi some American slang/Ebonics. So if you see a tall Japanese girl saying "what up, shorty?" ... we are to blame.

Afterwards, we all gathered around a big sort of wooden stand with speakers. A lot of people at the gathering were in yukata, which is summer-time clothing. Not to be confused with kimono, which are more of a winter wear (and more formal, I think). Anyway there were people of all ages wearing them, and man did they look pretty. The little girls especially looked as pretty as could be, and the older women in their patterned yukata and sandals looked like they were in a picture book. Everyone looked like paper.

The dancing began! Elderly women in the big wooden stand began to sing traditional songs about Miyazu and Amanohashidate while men played taiko drums and some other instruments I don't know the names of. It was really spectacular! Many of the people in yukata began to dance in a circle going clockwise, and many people without yukata joined in (including quite a few from our group). The dance steps were easy, but I could tell by seeing the older women do them that they took years of practice to perfect the grace and the balance of the dance. After the first "number", they played a few more songs, but always repeating them. It went on for quite sometime! I even joined in one of the dances, the easy one, with some other JETs. This older lady in front of us in a yukata was helping us learn the steps, and I had more fun watching her than I did actually doing the dance. It was like tai chi... and very much like tai chi, my balance always ends up on the wrong foot. Always. There were a few young men in the group adding their own sort of spice to the dance, and one of them came over to Marina and said, "shall we dance!" She couldn't say no. Liz and I decided to dosie-do instead, which was fun.

Afterwards, we went for a long walk to avoid traffic (we weren't in a hurry to go home anyway). We went to find cheap vending machines and got some drinks (tea for me, and "sweet kiss" soda for the others, which is basically mountain dew). We also spotted some little frogs along the way, and some big spiders.

Then it was back home, and a very long boring drive. Driving past the sea at night scares me, I feel like I could fall off the edge of the world into outer space if I make a wrong turn. But I didn't, and I got home, and I feel asleep almost immediately.

Still in Japan

Still in Japan : A Day at the Bridge of Heaven

I went to the beach this weekend with some JETs and some locals who speak awesome English. We went to Amanohashidate, which is this famous bay area nearby. I drove to the train station which was about 45 minutes by car along some crazy narrow roads. It was a little unnerving because drivers round those corners at a million miles per hour (rather, a million kilometers per hour) in the MIDDLE of the road. Lucky for me, my car is small so I fear them less. Though, the safety features on my car are no more fancy than those on a tuna fish sandwich.

The bay was totally awesome. Amanohashidate (天橋立) means "Bridge of the Heavens". The story says that the gods dipped a sword into the sea, from whence Japan came into creation. The land bridge that goes across a bit of water in Northern Kyoto is where the sword first touched the sea. It is also one of the top three "beauty spots" in Japan, which is conveniently close! There are two sides where you can view the land bridge, one in Iwataki and one in Miyazu. If you bend over and look through your legs at designated 'viewing spots', the land bridge is supposed to look like a dragon in the sky. Does it really? I think that's a personal decision.

We got some delicious sandwiches and ice coffee beverages and then went for a swim. I got burnt. Stupid American. I didn’t think I would need THAT much sun screen and we were only in for 40 minutes! But the parts I had put sunscreen on (such as my shoulders got MORE burnt than the rest of me. So that just goes to show, that white people always get burnt and there’s not a lot we can do about it. That is how I validate my pink skin.

Anyway I made some friends and it was all good! There is a South African guy named Scott who has also done film stuff so we chatted about that. And a girl from Los Angeles lent me a swimsuit that was soooo small (the girl is barely 5 feet tall). She is awesome. I met a New Zealand JET named Bryn who lives nearby and a girl named Desirae who lives in sin with a Canadian JET, Andy, in Mineyama. I also met two awesome Japanese girls, Yumi and Jun. They were really tall for Japanese girls, like 5 foot 8 or something! And they were hysterical. I got to practice some Japanese on them, and they got to practice English on me (by practice English, I mean they are fluent already). A fair trade. Then we went for stew and more ice coffee. Then the train ride back to Miyazu station and the long drive home. I had a splitting headache the whole time which sucked, but I don't know what it was from! Probably just the humidity. I blame everything on humidity. Later I learned that Amanohashidate is about a 30 minute drive from my house, so the 45 minute drive to Miyazu station and train ride from there actually took me backwards in distance, and in logic.
I watched quite a bit of TV this weekend... they have weird shows on Japanese TV. One show was a race to find the biggest bug-thing. I don’t know what they are called, but they’re almost a foot long and they have pincers and they are slow moving beetles or something. Anyway they are GROSS. Then they have these commercials for cell phones with Cameron Diaz everywhere and Tommy Lee Jones is in canned coffee commercials where he is working as airport security and then turns into a monster and frightens children. I think he could probably just frighten kids with his face... regardless. Isn’t he supposed to be in MENSA???? Its weird. My favorite thing this weekend by far was the Egyptian game show that had Japanese people in Egypt exploring museums and stuff for the sake of a question game show thing. It made no sense! But it was cute seeing tiny Japanese women interviewing old decrepit Egyptian women with unibrows. I was feeling strangely at home watching both of them. They also had a reenactment of something to do with Pharaohs? And in it they had Japanese men dressed up like Pharaohs and a Japanese lady who was supposed to be... Cleopatra? Everybody knows she looked like (see Elizabeth Taylor).