Honjo Elementary School Visited, Rocked.

Children Rocked to the Point of Doing So with Cocks Out

Friday I went to Honjo Elementary school, which was my last school to go to. I had secretly been dreading another go at elementary school since Fridays I'm always tired and elementary school at Ine shogakko was confusing and exhausting. But, I gathered up the cardboard cut outs of the months, flash cards, books about bugs (care of Bubeh and Zaydeh) and alphabet magnets, and tromped off to school. Luckily for me, Honjo shogakko is in throwing distance of my apartment. It takes me 5-10 minutes to walk there (depending on how sleep I am), but due to the rainy weather forecast and the amount of paper products I was bringing, I decided to car it. Thank goodness too, because it's been torrential down pouring all day long! I love rain!

*slight tangent : It's something I realized about living in Los Angeles, I didn't get rain enough. Most people get depressed when it rains a lot. I get depressed when it doesn't rain. 80 days of sunshine in a row? I was ready to throw myself off a bridge. *

When first I arrived I was greeted by the awesomely awesome Nakani sensei (who is much older than he looks and seems). His daughter is my age, but I swear he doesn't look a day over 35. Asians. Everyone likes to comment on how young I am... I think I'm probably the only 22 year old in the tri-state area, otherwise they wouldn't seem so amazed by my age. Soon I'll be 23 though, and then maybe they'll stop thinking I'm special.

I introduced myself around the room and immediately liked everyone. Nobody is too quiet or shy or too polite. Everyone seems cool, relaxed, and just enough to make me not dread introducing myself in front of the entire school. Elementary schools are so much easier to do that sort of thing in, b/c those children are made of rubber and they really don't care if you go up and say "My name is Rachel. I are to teach the English to student. Nice it is to meet you student." But I think they understood my gibberish and then they sang me a song!!! I would say that hearing 42 kids (that's the entire school) sing at the top of their lungs to me, sitting alone in a chair, almost beat out the Ine elementary poster that said

"RECHEL, WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL." and had a squid drawn on it. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of it.

So then it was time for some class! First, the 3rd and 4th graders. 20 in all, my biggest class! We learned about family members and I met everyone and gave them bug stickers. Then we played "telephone" only we called it the whisper game. It was interesting how the kids really messed up very simple words. My favorite was when "Family" became "GOOD MORNING!" with group one, and "family restaurant" with group 2. Maybe those kids were carrying sake in their hello kitty thermoses... Anyway the kids were totally awesome, and the hour went by too quickly.

Afterwards it was time for my FAVORITE group, the 1st and 2nd graders, 10 in all. As usual, the girls were INSANE. I think girls are insane until the age of 10 or 11, and that's about the time that boys become insane, so it evens out I suppose. We sang the ABC song and most of the kids knew it better than I did... since when is it "Happy happy all are we, now we know our abc's?" Who changed the song? It's supposed to be "Now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me?" Everybody knows that. So then I made the kids sort out the alphabet with the magnets, which they did very well! V in Japanese is pronounced "Vui" hehehe. Then I taught the kids about BUGS and made them find bugs in the bug books (which were a HUGE hit, B&Z should know). And I learned the names of bugs too! In return for them finding letters in the alphabet, they got BUG STICKERS which really emphasized the new English words they would soon soon forget. Yay! The little first grade girls were in love with me, and I think I held their hands 90% of the day. So cute. Nanami-chan, Mui-chan, whatsherface-chan, little crazy girl-chan, and the other one.

The fifth and sixth graders unfortunately were very quiet. This seems to happen as kids get older in Japan, they stop thinking as individuals and start being terrified of speaking individually (the bane of my existence in jr. high English classes). We learned the months and they told me when their birthdays were. Of course them doing this was more of a process of them telling the teacher when their birthday is in Japanese, the teacher puts it in English and then the student stares at me blankly until I say "GOOD JOB" and give them stickers. Ugh.

Anyway it was playtime! I climbed all over the jungle gym, swung on the swings, played on the trolley thingy (zip glider?) and carried around tiny Japanese first graders on my arms and legs, against my will. The kids there have UNICYCLES and stilt type contraptions that they call "pony", don't ask me why... I've never seen anything look less like a horse. Then the first graders showed me the school pets. Three chickens, a rooster, and a group of turtles. Apparently they had a bunny but it died, they said with a gleeful smile. I got to hold a chicken! Never in my life have I held a chicken! It was glorious!!! And they were very soft and fluffy! Then one of the boys (who had a bug sticker on his forehead all day) showed me the turtles, kame-chan. As soon as the boy went over, all the turtles swam to him and tried to climb out of the pond. It was amazing. I didn't know turtles could be fond of things.

After playtime we had lunch. They are the only school with an actual lunchroom, which organizes their tables by their birthday. So January and February students are at one table, March and April at one, and so on. But it was a lovely day so we picnicked instead! We all received bentos and took our bentos and milks out to the Urashima shrine to picnic. I even ate my tomatoes, and my umeboshi, which is a pickled plum that's delicious and sour! I hung out with a quiet third grader, Nakani-sensei and the Principal, who was cool and asked me about baseball. I think you have to like American baseball to be a principal.

After lunch I hung around the teacher's room pretending to be awake. Then it started to rain and I decided to walk around the school to wake myself up. The head teacher (whatever that means) took me on a tour. He showed me the music room, science room, art room, and then the elementary school FARM. They grow buckwheat, peanuts, rice, strawberries, and radishes... what a crazy town I live in. I can't wait to eat everything that grows at the school. I bet it tastes better when you learn next to it.

Anyway, after the day's classes ended I was kidnapped by the first grader girls and taken on a whirlwind tour around the school, and its chalkboards. We drew lots of smileys, random english letters, and lots and lots of spirals. And then randomly, one girl would scream "IKOU IKOU IKOU!" let's go let's go let's go! And all the girls would scream and grab my h ands and we'd run off to find more chalkboards. I mean, I get it though. Chalkboards are awesome. We ended up in the gym playing dodge ball, jump rope and general 'run around and climb on everything while shrieking and giggling' games. I don't think people should elect to be parents until t hey hang out with first graders for a day. I think by the end of that day, they'll know if they want kids.

Around 4:15, Nakani-sensei came in and said "is Rachel here?" and I popped out of some curtains on the stage, on top of a balance beam and said, "um... I'm here!" I probably looked professional.

And then it was time to go home. I was going to write about more things from the week, such as going to the Yoshida's house over and over (they are like my host family here, and feed me every week!) or.. the 5 huge spiders that live outside my house on the balcony (Mona-sized), or how i finally got a coffee machine. But those aren't nearly as interesting. At least in comparison.

I forgot to mention! Here is an awesome conversation from the teacher's lounge:

Teacher #1 - So, have you seen the monkeys here yet?
Rachel - yes! I have they are so cute!
Teacher #2 - Japanese monkeys have kind faces.
Teacher #1 - What kind of monkeys to they have in America?
Rachel - uh, they don't have monkeys.
Teacher #2 - really?????
Teacher #1 - But what about King Kong?
Rachel - King Kong's not real!
Teacher #2 - No no, King Kong was an ape, not a monkey!
Teacher #1 - ohhhh, so you have apes in America?
Rachel - ...sure.

I mean we have Presidents anyway.

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.

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.

First Day of School

The First Day Jitters: Rachel Loses Balance, Dignity

I am having that first day of school experience that I tell myself I won't have, and ALWAYS end up having. Even as a teacher! I am doomed!

On my first day of high school I fell off the school bus! I was wearing platform shoes so I just toppled right off. And everyone was like "ARE YOU OKAAAY????" but I just got up and tried to disappear into the crowd as best I can. I told myself it was not the end of the world and I would live to see another day. Then I fell down in the hallway. And later I fell up some stairs. Apparently, my feet could not get it together that day.

I am kind of reliving that day.
In fact, I tell that story in my introductory speech, which I have written for my intro at the assembly (read: WAS FORCED TO WRITE). I made the mistake of writing it in English and in Japanese..... which I was helped with. But writing something and speaking something are different. And speaking in front of a mass of giggly teenagers who I've never met in my life is terrifying even though I am no longer a teenager. I think there is a part of us that stays a teenager forever. The part of us that dies of embarrassment when we feel like we're being judged.

Yesterday was fine. It was 9am and the students weren't even awake yet. I gave my speech, made no mistakes, and the students seemed to enjoy it and I immediately fell in love with all of them for not giggling through my speech or making me feel like more of an ass. I'm sure I was bright red after it anyway, I always blush when I have to do stuff like that.

Flashback to the first time I had to pitch a film idea in class, freshman year. I stuttered through my written proposal and people started laughing and making joke proposals about where the film could go (which I would later find hilarious as every one recommending things became my best friends not long after). The distractions of the people trying to lighten up my nerves made it worse, and I ended up turning bright red, not being able to say a word and nearly bursting into tears. Ironically it was Randall that came to my aid with constructive criticism and asked if I could show the class my storyboards (as he was the TA at the time). I couldn't get it together that day either.

Nearly four years later, I find myself standing in front of the bigger Ine junior high school class. Already the kids are giggling. It is not helping my nerves. I'm already preoccupied with the fact that I was unable to finish my lunch. Although delicious, it was seriously too much food. Curry, rice, orange pudding atop of weird seaweed (which is good but strange) which is called tokoroten (ところてん）, milk, an apple that I brought from home, and somen or そうめんサラダ, which is cucumber, carrot, noodles, egg and way too much mayonnaise. So everything was edible, and most things were quite delicious. But I really just can't eat that much for lunch!!! I never do! My big meals are breakfast and dinner. Mostly breakfast. Breakfast which I had eaten 3 or 4 hours previous, and I wasn't hungry to begin with. I couldn't finish. And in Japan, EVERYONE finishes their meal. Even these 75 pound women with the 14" waists were wolfing down their school lunch. I felt so embarrassed that I ate way more than I wanted to, and that somen might as well have been live slugs b/c I was not enjoying anything I put in my mouth. I was literally force feeding myself. It was disgusting.

Flashback to my 6th grade play when I forgot every single one of my lines and had to elbow the person next to me so they would go instead.

So after disgracing myself at lunch, not to mention feeling sick from too much mayo-noodle-salad-death™, I had to give my speech. Which brings us back to the gym full of giggling teenagers.

I messed up soooooooo maaaaany words. I kept telling myself "they're not giggling at YOU they're not even paying attention to you! They're giggling because they are 12 year old girls and that is what 12 year old girls DO" but it didn't help. Every giggle made me turn more scarlet, and every messed up word made me want to jump out a window. Finally it was over and I got down.

This is the first time I've wanted to cry since coming to Japan. But at least the speeches are over, and the next time I have to talk in front of the kids it will be in ENGLISH and I will be the one giggling at THEM!!!!! ...in a constructive and nurturing way.

I mean this day can only get worse, so maybe it will be my bad day for the week and I can look forward to fun happy things that make me not feel like a slug.

Messy Desk, Lots of Nature

A Very Messy Desk, Indeed

Well there's not much to write about this weekend. Thank goodness, it was quiet and gave me a chance to catch up on things, such as cleaning. I finally cleaned the desk upstairs... it only took me three and a half hours and minor paper cuts to get it finished up. All that's left now is sorting the trash... and then cleaning out the downstairs closet. I'm really nervous about finding bugs in there, so I might have to down a few beers first to give me the beer-energy I need to clean bug-closets. We'll see. Or maybe I could get into the Ine-JET spirit of LEAVING ALL MY GARBAGE FOR THE NEXT PERSON.

Voila!

Anyway it's CLEAN and that is what matters. After a long few days in my own home (which I'm happy to be back in) I'm going to Miyazu city to have dinner with the boys and girls and to look around at Mipple for things like CDs and perhaps a few cheap items of clothing or indoor shoes for the schools. Thankfully I have enough school supplies which I plundered from the desk cleaning. I certainly don't need any stickers, pens, pencils, erasers, glue, white out, folders, binders, loose leaf, hole punchers, staplers, staples, paper clips or push pins EVER AGAIN. I could stay the next decade and never run out. It's kind of awesome, actually. Anyway the longish drive seems worth it just to get some sushi and outside-air into my weekend before school starts.

School starts tomorrow. I'm not excited so much as confused and possibly nervous. I just want this first week to be OVER so I can get into the swing of it. I have to give a speech... I don't want to give a speech. At all.

Other than that, here are some nature sightings/stories for the week:

1. Kumo-chan. My door spider is getting pretty big. He's gone from a dull brown to being shades of vivid green! He's turning into quite the handsome little arachnid, but it may mean he's getting too big to live on my porch. Moving day will be soon, hope he doesn't mind! Perhaps it's time to give him a proper name as well. I am thinking Kaminari-san, which means thunderstorm. He's scared of them, so I figure naming him after one will make him stronger. Or ironic.

2. Mona is still doing well. I swear she is bigger, but I can't tell anymore.

3. One monkey sighting this week! A female monkey climbing up the roadside wall. Fuzzy butts = cute monkeys. She doesn't have one of those weird monkey butts, hers is quite charming. Fuzzy!

4. A praying mantis "hoofing it" I believe, across the road. They move FAST when they want to. I didn't know quite what it was as I passed by. I think it's the third one I've seen in my entire life, and they always seem to show up in strange places.

5. Heron... I suppose they're not strange or anything, but as I was biking to the store a few of them flew beside me and landed in the rice fields. They're really beautiful birds, other than that... not worth mentioning.

6. The jumping snake! I don't know if snakes usually do this, or if it had been hit by a car, but I saw a snake jumping in the road! It sort of ... sat up (as a cobra does out of a basket) and was thrusting its head forward and its body followed in something like a JUMP. Jumping snake! So for you guys who know about... animals? Do snakes normally jump? Or do you think it was injured in the road? Or by a bird? I don't much like to think that snakes can jump... it makes me feel like a surprise, snake-related death could be more imminent.

7. Mystery night creature : I was reading in bed last night about 10pm (yes I go to bed early, even on weekends) when I heard this sudden thumping against my balcony window. Mind you, my balcony is on the 2nd floor. And there is a fence around it. WHAT, then, was trying to get into my room and kill me? It didn't sound like a moth. Or a spider... in fact it sounded like something of decent size... like a rat or a large frog. But every once in awhile it would bang against the glass or scratch on the screen. I knew my door was locked, so I wasn't completely terrified. But I was so so so curious as to what it was, why it was trying to get in, and HOW it got there. I supposed it could have been a small bat that lost its way, or even a large cicada. Either way I didn't really want to know in the dark by myself. It would require opening a curtain slowly, and that always results in scary, gruesome death (in movies). I decided if it was something I ought to see, it would be there in the morning.
It wasn't. I will never know what it was. The JETs and I are calling it the Ine-dragon that scared Tamar away.

The Coming of the Boar

Loneliness and Boar

I was driving back from a thrifty shopping trip at Mipple and fun time dinner at the sushi place. There was no sea to see (because the moon was all cloudy) alas. Listening to some music... suddenly a song came on that I was playing a lot in the last few days before I left California and it just made me think of Toshi and how much I missed him. I don't know how he made such an impression on me as I am sure it is not mutual, but he did and I really do miss him quite a lot.

I was feeling rather blue. So I told myself "well you can't fall in love with someone who's not here anyway, but you can sure fall in love with Japan! Japan is here!” And as soon as I thought that, Japan gave me a present. Piggies!

Okay so I have wanted to see the wild boar for AGES and everyone else seems to have seen them around Ine except me. So when I saw two piggies hanging out in the road being adorable, I squealed "YES YES YES THANK YOU!" and drove along my way (taking care not to run them over...) PIGGIEEEEEES

So I was feeling pretty good on the way back. Homesickness has just started hitting me a little bit, just feeling lonesome for some company and wanting all my friends and family to experience my small town too. And as I was at the turn to go into the clearing where Honjo begins, I saw MOOOOORE PIGGIES!!!! Three of them! A mama piggie, papa piggie and baby piggie! The papa piggie even had tusks! OMG! So I wanted to stop but at the same time I wasn't sure if it would like jump on my car and eat me, so I merely slowed down enough to get a piggie glimpse and rode along my merry way. HOORAY.

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!

Yasaka Party leads to Epic Hangovers

Yasaka Party Leads to Epic Hangovers, Sand in Places

This weekend I drove to a town called Yasaka to meet my friend, Leigh and to hang out at her place for the rest of the day and evening. A lot of JETs from Kyoto city were also coming up, so it was an awesome opportunity to leave Ine for a day and an even better opportunity to meet more new JETs!

Getting there was difficult. I had asked Leigh for directions, and she had given me a shortcut which would lead me to her house more quickly. However I missed the turn. As a result, I ended up taking a very long way to get there. It took about an hour and and 15 minutes which I wasn't planning on driving for. From the highways her house was completely impossible to find. I ended up on the outskirts of her small town at a mobile phone store and called her. She was like, "wait you're lost?" and as I was talking with her on the phone, I noticed a small blue car driving by. In the car was a tall, slim girl with long brown hair on her cellphone. I said "...are you in a blue car? Because I think I see you." And I followed her home from there. Leigh is really cool. She had just come home from a month in Kyoto of studying Japanese (which I am totally doing next summer). We ran out almost immediately to drive another 20 minutes to the train station to pick up the other JETs and meet up with the few who brought their cars. I was exhausted and grumpy from the heat at this point.

It's Liz! Behind her is Kuma-chan, a heavy drinker. -->

Seeing my friends perked me up a little bit and we piled into the three cars and went to the beach in Amino. The beach was perfect. The waves were well-sized, there were no sea beasties to bite our toes, and the water was the warmest it could have been without seeming too warm. We spent about three hours floating around, chatting. It was a great way to get to know the people I hadn't already met, such as the two from Hawaii (Lauren and Anthony) and the awesome British girls (Ruth and Claire) and an equally awesome New Zealand girl (Stef). The Kyoto city JETs are extremely cliquey so far. It's a shame, trying to get to know them was very difficult and not at all rewarding, but you win some you lose some I guess.

<-- [Right to Left: Jannie, Marina and some crazy girl]

After the beach we caravan'd back to Leigh's house to shower and buy beer and snacks. From there it was a regular party. The neighbors, the Yoshidas (Kumi and Masami), came by with more food than you could imagine. Lots of egg rolls, sashimi, pickled eggs, salads, and shrimp chips. It was a buffet! Also lots of veggies and fruits and lots of things to drink! I had a chance to chat with the Yoshidas and their daughter, and they were all really nice even though my Japanese was very simple. I could understand their normal Japanese accents perfectly which made me feel better about my communicative skills and worse about the crummy Ine-ben dialect (grr). Mrs. Yoshida told me that she works up in Ine at the high school, so I am sure to be seeing more of her. Plus I hear she will bake me bread!!! I am excited about that!

Aside from new JETs, old ones and meeting the neighbors there were four Japanese guys there as well along with Jun, who I had met a few weeks ago in Amanohashidate. They were all really nice and their English was practically perfect. We talked half in English half in Japanese, and it varied depending on the amount of beer we were drinking.

[Stefanie hit on Simon's little brother pretty hard core. Otsukaresama] -->

Once the party really got started, there was a lot of chatting and it somehow devolved into hula as led by Lauren, the girl from Hawaii. Which then turned into a hula lesson! It was pretty interesting. Anyway the guys were super hot for the most part. The tallest one kept pouring me beer and we kept spilling it, and blaming each other. Then he asked me if I wanted to peel the skin off his sunburn and I was like "ew no! do Japanese girls do that for you???" he said "if they like me!" and i said "well good luck with that!"

I think we ended up going to sleep around 5am and then waking up at 730am to drive home and drop people off at the train station. After coming home I slept until 6pm. I was totally exhausted. Sleeping on the floor after a long night is one thing, but sharing that floor with about 16 other people is another thing. I wanted space and air conditioning and a shower.

Introducing, Yukiko Tsuji.

Yukiko Tsuji - My ぺらぺら Hero

I JUST met my neighbor who is the English teacher from Honjo Jr. High school (the one closest to me, obviously). She speaks FLUENT English. I know people have told me this loads of times already but seeing it just ... well goodness!

I live in INE... now anywhere else in Kyoto-fu you could run into a person who speaks decent English, but in Ine there are only 2600 people to begin with and I swear to god all of them are crazy obaa-san who dash out in the road with their canes just to mess with you!

So after my way too long nap to open the door and meet Yukiko Tsuji... it was like being in some sort of weirdo dream. She said "Hi I'm your neighbor! My name is Yukiko!"

normally it's like... tons of bowing and nodding and looking awkwardly at me and then pointing to themselves and bowing more and lots of "hai hai hai" and I never remember names. She didn't bow once, she just said "Hey there's a festival going on around 7:30 if you want to go."

Hell yeah I do! I feel like I have found the key to unlocking all of Ine's crazy mysteries, like how to send mail and pay bills and properly sort the garbage. I'm so happy.

The festival was a lot of fun, too! I met some of my neighbors, some of the students I will be teaching, and saw a lot of people in yukata. I also had a delicious strawberry snow cone and watched the gas station guys sing karaoke.

Shiori, Ayumi, Saori and Tsuji-sensei

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.