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.

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!

The First Week of Classes

The First Week of Classes

This was my first week of classes and it was mighty strange. My first day all I did was introduce myself to the students, stumble through a poorly written speech that basically had to take up 3-5 minutes (ugh) and then sat around in the teacher's room all day being bored. Tuesday was essentially the same, only the kids were less quiet so I stumbled more skillfully through my speech.

Wednesday and Thursday I got to help out in class, which was fun! I have better communication with one of the JTEs than the other, so... the classes were different. Unfortunately I am going to have to just get my butt in gear and learn Japanese all quick-like so I can talk to her more easily.

Anyway junior high school kids are so weird. Some of them obviously have the puberty thing together, some of them don't. I've only had one "bad" student so far... he just refuses to participate (I think b/c he doesn't understand) and he puts his head down on his desk or chews on his nails and blah blah blah. But whether he learns or not, I don't really care. He might as well do something with his time though, I figure.

Eating lunch is really amazing in Japanese schools. Ours are too small to have cafeterias, so we have a kitchen and then the students all grab plates, food, trays, milk, chopsticks, straws, etc etc etc and bring them up to their classrooms. Then they all help serve lunch. Some kids will serve the soup or the salad or the main dish and they all place them on the desks. It's fascinating to watch. I suppose because so little was expected of me in school when I was a wee lass, I never knew kids of this age were so capable of doing things in a neat and orderly manner! Much less without throwing stuff at each other. Everyone sits down and when the last person is ready, one student comes to the front of the class and puts their hands together, and everyone follows suit. "Itadakimasu!!!" Or..."bon appetit" as I equate it to. It basically means "we will eat!" but very very very politely. Then everyone eats quickly and in complete silence. In about 30 seconds all the boys are done. They say "shitsureshimaaassuuuuu" and run out the door. Of course, they pile their dirty dishes and recycle their milk boxes in all the right places. And in a blink, they have vanished. The girls sit and finish their lunches more slowly, as is the female way (in Japan anyway). They clean up their things and then altogether they and any surrounding boys students will carry the dishes and finished containers down to the kitchen and put them away in a neat and orderly fashion.

Astonishing. I have never in my life seen anything more amazing than a Japanese junior high school lunch, and all of the protocol.

Today (Friday) I got to hang out with the elementary schoolers! And they were just unbelievably adorable. we played games b/c I sort of rand out of things to do so I made them up as I went along. I made the first years and second years play duck duck goose!!!! EEEEEE they picked it up so quickly! "dakku dakku guusu!" soooooo cute. I nearly exploded. I think the teachers agreed. I even managed to persuade some of the boys to pick some of the girls, and a lot of the girls outran the boys!!!

Then I got to eat lunch with the first graders, who are alllll girls and one boy!!! (poor Ren). I think because of this, the 2nd years joined us. I was asked lots of questions "do they use chopsticks in America?" "How old are you?" "Are you married?" NO. "Why not?" "Because I hate boys" and I asked one of the first years if HE was married, since he was sooo interested. And milk came out his nose. I think that means success. I can almost eat as much and as quickly as the first grade girls. Ugh, I suck at eating lunch Japanese-style. How the heck are they so small and beautiful if all they do is shovel food in their mouths? I guess its the whole running around for HOURS thing. They seriously train these kids from a young age like SOLDIERS. When I came into school this morning they were running laps. Teachers too. Probably, all of the six year olds could outrun me. Even the one with the sprained ankle.

For the lesson I showed them the world map (where Japan was in the middle and I was confused as to why America was so small in comparison to Canada ... Heeeyyyyy isn't America the biggest country in the world??? What gives?????" So I explained where I was from in ENGLISH and made them point out Japan on the map and where Ine was on the map. Then I talked about the family living in Turkey but they weren't FROM Turkey and the kids all love my cheapo ring with the evil eeeyyyeeee. And my super cheap Target watch. I have no idea why they like it, its falling apart and its ghastly.

I had to give class, aside from my intro, almost entirely in Japanese. To do this, I copied everything my Japanese teacher ever said (Maru-sensei). Such as

• Haaaaii, kiite kudasaiiii - listen please!
• Jyaaa-aa..... "sooooo...." or "welllll"
• and my favorite "san hai". - I have no idea what it means.

When Maru-sensei wanted us to say something as a class, she'd say "san HAI" and we'd all say things in unison. So I tried it and IT WORKED. I was so shocked!!!! So thank you Maru-sensei for being number one teacher.

Anyway today was far too cute. And they drew pictures of themselves and wrote their names and then I died. Or went to the BOE, uuuugh. I hate the BOE. Aside from drinking tea all day I don't do much else. I have also come to the consensus that girls are just naturally well behaved. WHY IS THAT???? All the girls were quiet and did what they were supposed to and the boys ran around screaming and punching each other and asking me what fruits I liked. I don't understand. But they are all 100% adorable.

Baby's First Enkai

Head of the BOE, Yukiko, and some crazy girl

Last night was my first enkai (宴会). What is an enkai? Well, that's a very good question! Websters describes enkai as a group of Japanese people trying to get the newbies or younger staff members drunk at a party or gathering. Actually the kanji for enkai means "banquet". But there is a lot of drinking generally involved. Because the workplace in Japan is an especially stiff one, the only true way to get to know your colleagues or underlings is to drink with them. And it was indeed a new experience in getting to know my coworkers.

There is zero tolerance for driving and alcohol in Japan. If you are caught drinking and driving, they ask you to step out of the car, give you a bushido blade, and request that your sepukku be a quick one. If you are in the car with a person who has alcohol in their system and you get pulled over, its sepuuku (read: jail) for you as well, and heaps of fines.

Because of this, and because everyone drives in Ine, we hired a bus to take us to the restaurant. So five of us piled into the bus. My JTE was there too, Tsuji-sensei. I think they invited her along to help translate, but it was great having conversations in English and in Japanese. The only translations she really did were before and after the enkai.

So the party was a lot of fun! I had every kind of sushi and sashimi that I have been craving since I got to this country! And they kept force feeding me more when they found out I love sashimi! I couldn't say now... I guess I just love raw fish.

There was a lot of alcohol too. Most of the male coworkers got pretty drunk. I myself got a little tipsier than I wanted to. I had one beer but then they made me drink something that is like a Japanese zima? But it was actually like a 16 oz gin and tonic in the end... mostly gin. It was hard to focus on what was going on even more than usual. I mean, sober Japanese people are hard enough to understand. But they asked if I had a boyfriend! And I realized I was probably the only single person at that table. I guess I am on my way to being an old maid! And I'm so FINE with that.

I am still shocked at how much food a tiny Japanese person can eat. I think they have super powers. In Japanese the "betsu-bara", or second stomach, is something you have so you can squeeze in desserts after a big dinner. I like the way they think.

On the way home, we talked about music in English that the kids in school like. Apparently they really like Avril Lavigne. A LOT. It is my new goal in life to change that, and to give them some new, better music for their own benefit!

BBQ and Mukade #2 - Unrelated

BBQ#2 + Mukade #2 - Mostly Unrelated.

Ugh I found another mukade when I woke up this morning. Thankfully it was not in my bed or upstairs, it was downstairs by the shoes. Although I don't feel very happy about poisonous centipedes creeping around my shoes so much, but I'd still rather them there than in my bed. (shudder)

I sprayed it, put it under a piece of paper towel, and put a cloth towel over it. I find this is the most efficient way to kill bugs. Less mess, and less having to look at it. It reacted immediately to the pesticide, writhing and seizing. God it's really hard to do that to an insect, but you can't really release them because they just get bigger and come back into your house and eat you (that's just science). So you have to get rid of them, unfortunately. I didn't want to squish it but I think I gave it a rather agonizing last few moments (more like 35 minutes). It was still alive when I left for work, but just barely. So I swept it out the door. Blech.

I came home to grab my textbooks after a short meeting with Aimi-sensei this morning (truth be told I utilized the "meeting time" I had allotted myself to run errands because I didn't want to go back to the BOE). As I left to go back to work I noted that the mukade was gone. I wonder if a bird had picked him up or if he had crawled into the grass. Either way is pretty terrible, considering I probably poisoned the bird. Ugh. It boils down to the fact that I am a horrible person, I suppose.

Last night I went to a BBQ by the Urashima Shrine with Tsuji-sensei. Of course she had Anyway T-sensei and myself and the PE teacher (Ohada-sensei) who is about our ageish (probably 27?) walked down to the shrine with our CC Lemon (lemon soda with the vitamin C of 70 lemons per serving!) and grapes. There we met a bunch of the neighborhood ladies who are sooooo nice.

It took about 35 minutes for them to get the fire lit since they were using the most burnt looking wood I have ever seen. But they managed! The neighborhood kids all played "ketchi bo-ru" or "catch? baseball?" There was a liiiiiittle kid, about 3 or 4 years old I would guess who was the most adorable person there. She ate more food than anyone, it was incredible. Once they got the fire going, we had yakiniku (grilled beef) yakitori (grilled chicken) yaki yasai (veggies) and one of the ladies had brought home made onigiri (rice balls, soooo good). It was mouthwatering. Much beer was had as well. They have canned screwdrivers here! (for those of you who didn't go to "college", a screwdriver is orange juice and vodka). In a can!!!! Amazing! I mentioned to the women that me and the rest of the folk we call America can't sit like the Japanese do. They just sort of squat. I don't think I can even physically do that, much less hold the position for an hour. I sat American-style instead, on my butt. They were surprised that not everyone can sit that way. Well gee in other countries we have ... chairs... and toilets... and couches. I think that would do it. Anyway it was fun to hang out, but at the same time it was a bit boring for me. I mean aside from the language barrier, its not even interesting to hang out with a bunch of moms in the states if you don't know them and aren't really their age or anything. They chattered on about T-sensei being all married and stuff which was cute. And from there, I have no idea, I zoned out.

The most exciting part of the evening was the fireworks because kids in the inaka are totally allowed to play with fireworks. I think that is awesome. T-sensei made me go light some although the inner American child was screaming " NOOOO YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED! YOU'LL BURN YOUR ARMS OFF!!!!" but I didn't burn my arms off at all, and in fact I had a good time. Even the little baby was walking around with a sparkler. Sparkler is a word Japanese people can't say (in case you ever need one).

Supaaaa...supaaaka....raaa....?
sssspark-lerrr
Spaakurrruuura
NO.

and so on. My feet were destroyed by new bugs, "ka" or to us, MOSQUITOES, my arch nemesis. I have about 8 bites on my feet alone, they are murder. Because bug bites no your feet never just itch, they swell and fester and make you unhappy all night and all day. Good times!

My love for flashcards outweighs my fear of the unknown.

My Love for Flashcards Outweighs My Fear of the Unknown

Things have slowed down.

I have come into a routine of waking up at 6:30, making breakfast, checking my phone email, watching a little of the children's programming on TV (the Tuesday song is the best one), and driving to work at 8:00.

If I don't have green tea in the house, I will certainly make a pit stop at the nearby grocer's vending machines for it. I am completely addicted to cold green tea. It isn't sweet like black tea usually is in the US, and it has a strange flavor! But, as soon as I have swallowed a mouthful of green tea, a new flavor overwhelms my mouth. I don't know how this magic happens, but it is the reason for my addiction. It reminds me of chocolate, although it tastes nothing like it. Maybe it satisfies the same parts of the mouth (wikipedia tells me that it does). I'm no doctor.

This morning on the road, I only had one car swerve around a corner half in my lane. I avoided him with grace. Japanese drivers are everything the stereotypes say they are- particularly in Ine. I did however, see a monkey, which made up for it. I brought my cassette adapter for my i-pod so I can listen to music in the car, which is wonderful! There is something really fantastic about driving up a Japanese mountain while blasting Diana Ross out the windows. And with every song, I have to wonder if its the first time this particular song has ever been played in the area. Its fun to make history with some seriously bad music (read: "Dr. Feelgood").

My house is a mess. I have officially strewn boxes and papers in just about every room. I need to motivate myself to actually clean them up and find places for them so I can have a spotless, meticulous Japanese abode. Of course that will require me looking through THE DESK™. Upstairs in the study there is a desk and a chair. Both of them are littered with old books and papers from the past two girls that have lived in the house. I don't want to sort through any of it, but its getting to the point where I will have to. I should just dedicate an afternoon to it.

Other than that, I wish they had a sushi place in town where I could grab some sushi. I haven't had a proper sushi lunch since leaving Los Angeles and I am missing all the delicious foods. I suppose I should just learn how to make it on my own. I am getting a little tired of noodles and rice, which is pretty much all I make at home. Although for lunch today, since I was too lazy to make my own at home, I will venture out to a nearby store in hopes of finding onigiri (rice balls wrapped in nori seaweed, really really really delicious) and maybe some candy.

I am also trying to find more ways to pass the time at work. Yesterday I think I checked my e-mail ninety times. Today, I brought my Japanese text books and flashcards and markers. If I get bored of drawing flashcards for my elementary students, I will switch to studying Japanese, and vice versa. It will hopefully keep me occupied until the end of the day.

So essentially, I have nothing new to talk about.