My Parents Come to the Japans

In late April and early May, my very international mum & dad came for a very Japanese visit! We went to a LOT of places, which was great for me because I haven't really seen that much of Honshu until now!

We first went to Yokohama to see all of the very modern, very beautiful buildings and piers around the city. We also went to Chinatown to eat dumplings. Here are pictures.

Jet-lag got the better of my folks. But they're just so cute!

The very next day, we took a train ride to Hakone. Hakone is also in Kanagawa Prefecture (along with Yokohama). It's a town full of hot springs, craft museums, and fancy hotels! We made use of Ryokan living, craft museums, trains, buses and yukata! I also introduced my parents to the onsen, but... we I haven't any pictures of that.

Hard to imagine that I come from their combined loins.

My parents also managed to visit my elementary schools! My dad had a BLAST at one of them on his very first full day in Japan. The second elementary school involved a much shorter visit and meatloaf shaped like a koi with a corn kernel eyeball! Mmmmm ketchup scales! We were also treated by my BOE to dinner at the onsen (with a beautiful view) and a ferry ride on Ine-bay around the boathouses! And what trip to Tango would be incomplete without a steak dinner at the Ikari Farm and a visit to the Whirling Giants of Death™?






Finally we ended our vacation in Kyoto. I have almost no pictures of the fabulous sight-seeing that my parents went on due to the fact that I was deathly ill. I mostly watched the BBC. I did, however, get out for one day with my dad and we saw the Golden Pavilion; overrated, but shiny.

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.

Hm.

I was trying to think of the best way to explain my new JTE situation. So here goes:

Tsuji-sensei was a horse.
Notani-sensei is a camel.

Both get you from point A to point B.

However when one switches from horse to camel, one thinks, "This is difficult only because I know what it's like to ride smoothly."

Poorly explained, but there you have it.

And if you've ever ridden a camel... well you just know what it's like.

偀介君Supermanz dat Ho

Letters from Kameshima
(it's an island... kind of close to where I live.)

Thursday
Dear Eisuke-kun, It is only the first day of classes, but already you have made my year.

Kind Regards,

Rachel Teacher

Friday
Dear Mashiba-sensei (may I call you Yoichi?)

I never knew I would be smitten by a 22 year old junior high school gym teacher doing a backflip to the eager applause of thirteen year olds.

I was wrong. So very wrong.

Anytime. Anywhere.

Rachel Teacher

Friday Later...

朝妻(Asazuma) -- part of Ine, but more a hilly village where I do shuji.

I drove around this new rode that leads from Honjo-hama (Honjo beach) all the way around the peninsula, hugging the coast. I didn't really know what to expect, but I got a really nice view as it turned out! I recommend taking mystery roads.

this essentially sums up all that happened in the past 60 hours.

Party in Honjo/Ine/Inaka/Your Mom

Party in Inaka; 6,000 Found Dead.

This weekend was a celebration of nothing in particular. A month ago I had decided to throw another party (the last party being Rachelmas™ back in December). Most of my good friends could come, which was good. A few couldn’t, which was too bad. The most interesting part was the RSVPing, which was usually acquaintances telling me that they ‘probably wouldn’t make my party unless nothing better came up’, which is always a delight to hear. Well, the turn out was a good number of people to the food and liquor that we had prepared. I have more liquor left over in my house than I could ever drink in a year.

Let’s go back in time to Friday, where I drove to Nishi-Maizuru to pick Ian and Megan up at the train station. What a great place to pick people up! It’s only an hour and 15 minutes away from my home and there are no tolls! I believe it’s also quite thrifty for the train passengers, which makes it an ideal Inaka-pickup place for future weekends. We immediately went to Karachi for curry and followed it up with a donut or two. After a lovely drive home (accompanied by Easy-E, as per usual), we watched cartoons and slept in the downstairs tatami room. We didn’t even need the heater! Kirby was pleased to see his favourite guests back in the house. The guests were equally pleased to see Kirby, who is now as big as a wild boar and twice as chubby.


Saturday I left around 1030 in the morning for Yagi (Greg’s town) which is about 30 km from Kyoto as I understand it. I got there in about two hours time and met Greg at the train station. We trained it to Nijo to meet Zara (who was visiting from Kyushyu after dropping her mother off at the airport). We all went hanami-watching [a term used to describe looking at blossoms] in the city while I did errands. Pet food, coffee, etc. The blossoms were indeed lovely! I shall have to plan a proper hanami picnic for next year, but I got my fill of pink flowers, which was my goal anyway. Two hours, one ice coffee, and a subway ride later, we met John ‘Nowun kan oonderstand me’ Blakeney at Nijo. He looked as though he’d been hit by the party truck. He immediately asked if he could have a shower at m house, and we jumped on the slowest train in the world back to Yagi. The ride back was quick and painless with a quick stop off at Miyazu’s most famous beauty spot: MIPPLE. An unbelievable load of snacks and booze and we were back in the car and driving to Ine.


The party was lovely, as I have mentioned. A great group of people came over, plenty of liquor was imbibed, and nobody got so drunk that they threw up in my house or yard, which is always a plus. I am always touched that people will drive all the way up to my town for a few hours of standing around in my kitchen eating pizza and chatting. It’s no small trek.

Around 3am, we called it a night and went to bed. No hangovers the next day, which was fantastic (and VERY different from Rachelmas™). The first problem in the morning was the realization that there was NO MILK. How did we drink a gallon of milk in one night? The answer: we COULDN’T HAVE. Someone had most certainly pilfered my milk. I drove some of the kids out to the Nishigaki about 20 minutes away to get milk and veggies for omelets. Zara made omelets and smoothies for us and we enjoyed them while forcing John to watch “The Little Mermaid” (my work here is done). Eventually it was time to go down to the train stations and get Zara and Greg home.



The only problem was that my car seats four people and we had six. Simple solution, three HUGE boys in the back (all being tall and or bootylicious), Megan in the front seat, and Zara curled up while sitting on Megan’s lap. [PEOPLE IN THE CAR] Zara is also about 16 feet tall, so that worked out as well as it sounds. A dangerous car ride to Amanohashidate saw Zara off! We then drove down to Ayabe to drop Greg off at the station which would save him money. He of course ended up on the SAME TRAIN as Zara. The earth is so small.

• The remainder of the lot found ourselves eating yakiniku and being ripped off on kimchee. Those bastards. Then an ice creamy goodbye and everyone hopped a train or two home. It was a very lonely trip back up to my inaka home, but all in all, a very satisfying and bank-draining weekend. Let’s do it again!

School Year Ends; Teachers Wander Off

Rachel says 'Goodbye' to Teachers, is Heartbroken on Purely Educational Level.

I won’t lie, this week has sucked and it has sucked hard. Last week I believe I studied Japanese for about 6-7 hours every day. It was interesting how much of it I was able to retain considering I have the conversational ability of an autistic panda.

I had an enkai with the Ine JHS teachers on Friday of last week. We went to a beautiful hotel in Amanohashidate (I was terribly underdressed) and ate fantastic food that went on and on for hours, course after course. Sauced up on sake, beer, and whatever liquor the womenfolk were feeding me, I had a good time conversing with my cohorts and taking time out to have English conversations with Aimi-sensei as well. The teachers’ speeches were very boring, but sincere. We are losing seven teachers (of our 15)—but three of them are only going to Honjo, where I also teach. I am sad to be losing one of my favorite teachers in the world, Fujimura-sensei. Her never-ending genkiness and motherly love towards me has really helped me get situated at Ine JHS. I wont’ be forgetting her anytime soon. She’s off to Hashidate JHS! So, at least Bryn can see her for me!

Yesterday (the last day of wretched March, which did not go out like a damn lamb) was my last day of work with Tsuji-sensei – my JTE and the best friend I had in my town for sure. We chatted the whole day about what we were nervous about in the coming year. She told me she really liked a lot of the teachers who are coming (including Notani-sensei, the new English teacher from Bryn’s school). That made me relax a lot. She says her new school is a fairly good size, maybe 300-400 students. Sadly she’s going to Yawada, which is clear across the prefecture (as much as you can get before going into Wakayama). A group of us teachers went to the only restaurant in Honjo (a lunch restaurant by Urashima Shrine that serves famous soba and delicious udon). It was nice chatting with the other teachers; some leaving, some staying. We all came back to school quite refreshed and full of noodles.

Midway through the day, Tsuji-sensei sat down at her desk and informed me that she was unable to make the Goodbye Enkai the next day because she had to drive to her new school immediately after the goodbye teachers ceremony on Tuesday. I was crushed. All of a sudden I went from having one more day with Tsuji-sensei to having two more brief hours. Hours at school, and not drunk at a hotel somewhere. It was a miserable way to end it, I felt. I helped her clean up the student council room with Ota-sensei (the math teacher who has taken a shine to me and likes to try out English on me). Afterwards it was time for me to leave. I said, ‘well, thank you for everything.’ Then she extended her arms for a hug—which I wasn’t sure people ever did in this country. I hugged her goodbye and we said our, “I’ll miss you’s” and “write me soons”. I left the school crying for the third time in one month.

I am at Ine JHS at the moment. We’ve just completed the goodbye teacher ceremony and it was sad, but more boring and cold than anything else. Why is it still cold?! The gym teacher is considerably more good-looking than the last (the 55 year old man) which makes me feel a bit more high-spirited about the coming school year.

Thank you to all the teachers for making my first 8 months in Japan memorable, and for being nice to me even though I could never quite speak to you other than saying all the wrong things in your ridiculous picture language.
Love, Rachel.

The Bay - Could it BE any more colours?

Rachel Appears to be Musical Prodigy, Isn't.

Rachel Appears to be Musical Prodigy, Isn't.

Musical prodigies are said to look this amazing. And have ferrets.

Japan is an amazing place in that it creates mental images for me that make me laugh uncontrollably in the teacher’s room…

Megan and I were talking today while I was studying (online, obviously) and I told her that the Vice Principal had asked me to play the piano for the teacher’s farewell ceremony on Tuesday. I pointed to myself to confirm this, and then mentioned that I may not be a good choice as I have no idea how to play the piano at all. He then nodded, said “Hm. Is there no one who will play?” (Meaning I was definitely his last choice), and then he kindly instructed me on how to hole punch papers and put them in folders. That man sure puts the ‘pal’ in principal.

Anyway, I told Megan about the piano playing. She thought it was funny enough. I then said that I should have agreed and played the piano and played chopsticks. Megan said it would have been better to just bangon the keys for six minutes and then stand up and say, “It’s an American song!”. I had the mental image of every person in the room standing perfectly still -- not laughing or acknowledging my hypothetical insane actions. I then burst out laughing in the middle of the teacher’s room. Laughing so hard that my JTE actually asked me what was so funny. I told her the idea, and she started laughing soon. I then said, “Everyone would just say ああ、面白い。。。“ Which means “Ah… that’s interesting.” – they say that all the time when they don’t like something. LOVE IT.

I have absolutely nothing left to talk about, that seemed like it was completely validated.

Sumo Wrestlers hold Championship, are Fat.

Sumo Wrestlers hold Championship, are Fat.

As I got off the subway at Namba Station in Osaka, I thought, ‘what could possibly be so wonderful about fat guys in thongs wrestling each other out of a circle?’ The answer is, ‘everything’. The lot of us (my friends plus KAJET people—an organization that sets up events such as this one for everyone in the prefecture) crowded into some tiny seats around the ring. Many of the foreigners I was with had trouble with the size of the seats, but they did their best to squeeze into them. The sumo match started off with lesser players (I don’t know any sports terms so please bear with me). The group of sumo-san come out and ascend the stage as their names are called out. When the entire group has been called out, they clap their hands and lift them to the sky while standing in a circle. Then everyone cheers, and they waddle off stage. During this opening, the sumo-san will wear sort of flags of their sponsors over their nether regions.

The fighting was the most exciting part, although it is the briefest part of the match. First the sumo-san have to approach the stage. A man in a very old, oriental looking get-up sings to a fan (someone told me that he sings their names). Sumo-san then climb up into the circle, face each other, and lift their legs high in the air, stomping them to the ground. The crowd yells ‘yoisho!’ Then the sumo squat, have some towels brought to them, squat some more, throw salt around the arena (to cleanse)… eventually they face each other and the match begins. The goal, from what I understand, is for one wrestler to toss/shimmy/push/elbow the other one out of the circle of chalk that surrounds them. Sometimes the matches are really quick, sometimes they are very long (by long I mean almost a minute). We saw wrestlers pick up their opponents and chuck them out of the ring, or fall trying to do so. We saw slap fights! Some sumo would grapple with each other then takes breaks while hugging, which was odd. The most exciting part of this is that the sumo wrestlers look to be about 300-400 pounds. When a 350 pound man in a diaper is tossed out of a ring, it is INCREDIBLE. Boy, some of those men took some real tumbles.

I also want to mention that the majority of watching the matches was mostly chatting, with brief pauses to return to the action. Megan and I began to rename the sumo wrestlers and take bets on them. ‘I call the one in the aqua diaper! His name will be Bel’aqua!’ “Alright… then I want the one in the CRIMSON diaper. I will name him Noodles.” Megan made much better choices than I did.

I was interested in some of the wrestlers who weren’t Japanese. The top sumo wrestler (who won this match among many others in the past few years) is Mongolian. We also saw a Russian sumo, a Romanian sumo, and a Hungarian one, I believe. It was really strange seeing them dressed as sumo. I don’t know who pulled off the diaper better, the Asians or the Caucasians.

In the end, I highly recommend taking in a sumo match at least once in your life. I believe alcohol might make it even more exciting, although I don’t have that as first hand experience.

Teachers Prepare for Migration

Migration of the Teachers: Part I – Preliminaries

It’s the last full week of school (if you don’t count Vernal Equinox… a stupid idea for a holiday but a grand idea for a day off!) The teachers are finding out over the phone whether or not they will be working at their respective schools for the next school year. Many of them won’t be. Oddly enough (and happily for me) quite a few of the teachers are swapping from Honjo to Ine, and from Ine to Honjo. This means I won’t be devoid of their smiling faces or strange conversations. It’s good that I am able to keep the people I know, as they are few and far between.

However, as I had prepared myself for, my most fluent JTE, Tsuji-sensei, will be leaving me. She has tears in her eyes this morning… I think that while she is happy with the news, she is going to be fairly heartbroken when she leaves this school and this little community. Tsuji-sensei came to Honjo JHS six years ago. I believe she was fresh out of college, where she majored in French and learned English on the side. As such, she is certified to instruct both English and French. I have to mention that her English is phenomenal. For someone who has learned English solely inside of Japanese Universities, her skill and the level of conversation she has progressed to is top notch. She says this is because her former university professor is British. Be that as it may, it was always a breath of fresh air speaking with Tsuji-sensei. I honestly feel sometimes that she is the only person who can understand me (as an English speaker and as a person) in this town. In the summer that brought me to Japan, Tsuji-sensei married her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, also Tsuji-sensei, worked at the elementary school in Honjo for some years. He currently works in Kyoto city with handicapped learners. This means that the Tsujis are married and live about three hours of driving apart, which also means that Mrs. Tsuji (my JTE) travels to Kyoto city almost every weekend (read: every weekend she is not at work).

So, for her, transferring is a great relief. Wherever she is sent, odds are it will be infinitely closer than where she is now. Honjo is so distant from the city our prefecture is named after that people in Shiga, Hyogo, Fukui, and Osaka are able to reach it must faster. One hopes that she will actually be able to live with her husband at some point, too. I suppose she’d like that as well!

In the next few weeks I will have to say goodbye to a lot of my colleagues. I suppose the only consolation is knowing that the teachers are generally better off where they are in comparison to Honjo or Ine. Also, in early April we will be receiving the new first years (fresh out of elementary school), which will be my new breath of fresh air.

Last day at Ine JHS for the Year, Keima Came

Last day of classes at Ine JHS! I am celebrating the break from having to teach my horrid 2nd year students. Here is a picture of the first year students. I actually like them. I managed to convince them of the pronunciation of ‘came’ by writing on the board,

• Keima came.

Giggle aside (in my head), Keima blushed, and the students learned. In theory. Also, it was cold again this morning. I was not amused.

Bet you can't guess which one is me.

St. Patrick’s Day Acknowledged, Rachel Forgets Anyway.

Today was St. Patrick’s day. In actual news, I had my last first year class at Honjo JHS, so I took a picture.

Then I talked to John wot comes from Oirland, so I suppose I celebrated the holiday in that fashion. I then knitted and fell asleep while watching Amelie.

Not to flood my blog with even MORE photos, but I went cycling around Honjo-hama (the area behind my house, essentially) and some of the photos came out looking very stunning. Despite my taking them.