So last I wrote I had informed you about the unfortunate event with Atsuko Oda (Oda san). She is well now and has no lasting injuries or effects from what the doctors can tell. Her mother came to my school the following week and thanked me in English (which she knew very little) and gave me a gift and several cards from family and friends. My principle cried while watching the exchange; he is a tough man by the way. Oda also always brings me small gifts and cards from more people. On Friday I received a very nice Christmas card from her family. So all is well.
Ben had recently prodded me via facebook and wanted a life update for the coming years. I think, due to other events that unfolded shortly after my arrival here, I will be staying two or three years in Japan. I might get my license here and a motorcycle license. Travelling throughout India and the rest of the asianic countries will unfold as well.
After Japan there is Australia, which I intend to attend the Royal Yachting Academy there that is hosted through an elite program/company known as Flying Fish. After that who knows... maybe Mediterranean or other places... even considering opening a charter business somewhere along the line once I have my certs for harnessing the wind. Nonetheless it will be fun as hell.
I realize that my "plan" may be a little lacking for most, but it suits me fine. It will provide me a wonderful and enriching future.
Any questions?
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
A bright bulb nearly went out.
Yesterday was a very trying day. Finished Lunch at Showanishi Elementary and was helping clean around the base of the stairs with three students, two second graders and one of my favorite students Oda who is a fifth grader. I had actually finished teaching Oda's class a bit before lunch and she was as cheery and full of participation as usual, however, now she seemed very distant and was half heartily sweeping. Also odd because she is usually very tenacious and thorough in her cleaning. It at first appeared that she may have been sad or upset about something and was thinking about it. I asked her if she was all right, she barely glanced at me in a "glassed" over expression. I thought to myself maybe she doesn't want to talk about it now so I just stayed there and swept by her and kept an eye on her asking is she was alright every minute or so.
After about four or five minutes she just stopped and stood with her back to a wall and stared with that same blank look out into nowhere. At this time I became much more concerned mainly for her condition of what appeared to be upset in a big way, but a feeling began growing real quickly that this was something far worse. I came up next to her and tapped her and asked again if she was all right. She slowly moved her head to the right a little (not looking at me) and reach out and grabbed my broom; she seemed like she was on autopilot.
I took the broom gently back from her and handed it to one of the ni-nenseis (2nd graders) that was also standing next to me trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Oda. Moments later her eyes began to track left a little and jerk 3/4 back towards the right (her perspective) and quickly worked their way all the way to the left, her head began to mimic the general motion and continued to the left and up a little bit till her head was at a very unnatural angle vertically and twisted to the left. At this moment it clicked with me, "SEIZURE!" alarms went off in my brain. Also at this moment she had come to the full extent that her noggin' could rotate in those directions and began to fall, away from me, towards a wall and a drop. As her head started to graze the wall I snagged her. She was already in violent convulsions. I made sure she wouldn't hit her head and brought her down to the ground. The two little ni-nens ran up and placed their hands on her as to help but looked at me and they didn't have a clue what was going on or what to do. I looked at the tiny one close to me and said rather loudly "Principle! (in Japanese) Now! (in English)" She looked at me a little confused and then I followed up with a loud "Ima!!" (now in Japanese). Her eyes went completely buggy huge, but she got the message and ran off to fetch the principle and staff.
I had Oda on the ground and her head supported, but I brought her down quickly and her legs bended backwards (couldn't drag back as we went to the ground because of the wall) so she was in an awkward position. I braced with one arm and used the other to try and untangle her legs, the other ni-nen unfroze for a moment and assisted me. Once we had her straight and in a good position I rolled her on her side into the recovery position; if you have ever been around a seizure it's almost guaranteed that they will vomit, don't want them to drown. At this point the other ni-nen was really scared and bugged out. I was alone with her for a few minutes... she was having some severe convulsions and her jaw was very firmly clenched, I was worried about her tongue. After a few more moments passed about four staff members rushed out. None of them had a clue what to do. They wanted to move her, I denied them that option almost as soon as their sentence ended. Two of the staff at least were calm and followed my lead in supporting Oda. She began to vomit and it came out her nose due to the clenched teeth, forcefully enough so it didn't block the airway. At that moment some teacher was shoving toilet paper in front of her to clean it up and wipe her nose clear, again I said no and told them to get a real towel because they were only making a mess.
After about five or six minutes the convulsions began to dissipate and she relaxed. I massaged her jaw open to visual check her airway and tongue, all looked good, thank god she had not bitten off her tongue. Her ABC's were good but she was now in a pretty unresponsive semi conscious state. Under control finally. Some kids were watching on the landing above and one laughed, I don't know about what or if it was about what was going on, but I turned and said "Dame!" (bad) pretty loud while stills supporting Oda. The teachers all jumped and all the kids were dead silent the rest of the time, that is the only time I have yelled in Japan, they were prolly surprised such a loud noise came out of the usually volume controlled Jesse Sensei.
It took a good a bit and finally a group of local fire fighters showed up, we moved her onto a stretcher and used some oxygen; by this point I was still an active caregiver, they did not wave me off. So I kept her hair back, head supported still and told her everything was going to be okay even though I doubt she could hear anything. We then carried her down to the main gate and waited for the ambulance. They took their sweet time getting there, loading her, and then talking for a bit... they should have moved on and done the talking while on the move. I was appalled at the response times and how long it took to do everything. I hope I don't have to go through the Japanese Medical System and be that guy that they let die because they were not hauling butt.
Later her father showed up to say thank you to me while he was picking up her things and told me what hospital she was in. I asked if I could visit and he said of course. I immediately made her 13 tsuru (paper canes) and put them all on a string together and then was picked up by Teruyo. We headed to the hospital after picking up some flowers; two big white Lilies and lots of pretty pink flowers (she always wore pink so I was assuming it was her favorite color). I met the girls mother and we talked about Oda, I then got to stay a while... it turned into several hours or me reading books and stories in English and Japanese, holding her hand, and staring at the wall while her mom got some rest and company. She barely opened her eyes once or twice and never said a word. I finally got home after eight in the evening. Long day.
Ended on kind of a good note though. Mike, Fish, and I went to the Onsen (bath) near Kure Eki and soaked and what not for about an hour and then all got thirty minute Japanese Massages at about midnight, was pretty damn cool. The massage was great, but the best part was when I was sitting in a old school white bathtub (the kind with feet) on top of a ten story building with hot water constantly pouring in an over flowing. I was sitting back with my legs hanging out watching the night sky. Definitely doing that again.
After about four or five minutes she just stopped and stood with her back to a wall and stared with that same blank look out into nowhere. At this time I became much more concerned mainly for her condition of what appeared to be upset in a big way, but a feeling began growing real quickly that this was something far worse. I came up next to her and tapped her and asked again if she was all right. She slowly moved her head to the right a little (not looking at me) and reach out and grabbed my broom; she seemed like she was on autopilot.
I took the broom gently back from her and handed it to one of the ni-nenseis (2nd graders) that was also standing next to me trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Oda. Moments later her eyes began to track left a little and jerk 3/4 back towards the right (her perspective) and quickly worked their way all the way to the left, her head began to mimic the general motion and continued to the left and up a little bit till her head was at a very unnatural angle vertically and twisted to the left. At this moment it clicked with me, "SEIZURE!" alarms went off in my brain. Also at this moment she had come to the full extent that her noggin' could rotate in those directions and began to fall, away from me, towards a wall and a drop. As her head started to graze the wall I snagged her. She was already in violent convulsions. I made sure she wouldn't hit her head and brought her down to the ground. The two little ni-nens ran up and placed their hands on her as to help but looked at me and they didn't have a clue what was going on or what to do. I looked at the tiny one close to me and said rather loudly "Principle! (in Japanese) Now! (in English)" She looked at me a little confused and then I followed up with a loud "Ima!!" (now in Japanese). Her eyes went completely buggy huge, but she got the message and ran off to fetch the principle and staff.
I had Oda on the ground and her head supported, but I brought her down quickly and her legs bended backwards (couldn't drag back as we went to the ground because of the wall) so she was in an awkward position. I braced with one arm and used the other to try and untangle her legs, the other ni-nen unfroze for a moment and assisted me. Once we had her straight and in a good position I rolled her on her side into the recovery position; if you have ever been around a seizure it's almost guaranteed that they will vomit, don't want them to drown. At this point the other ni-nen was really scared and bugged out. I was alone with her for a few minutes... she was having some severe convulsions and her jaw was very firmly clenched, I was worried about her tongue. After a few more moments passed about four staff members rushed out. None of them had a clue what to do. They wanted to move her, I denied them that option almost as soon as their sentence ended. Two of the staff at least were calm and followed my lead in supporting Oda. She began to vomit and it came out her nose due to the clenched teeth, forcefully enough so it didn't block the airway. At that moment some teacher was shoving toilet paper in front of her to clean it up and wipe her nose clear, again I said no and told them to get a real towel because they were only making a mess.
After about five or six minutes the convulsions began to dissipate and she relaxed. I massaged her jaw open to visual check her airway and tongue, all looked good, thank god she had not bitten off her tongue. Her ABC's were good but she was now in a pretty unresponsive semi conscious state. Under control finally. Some kids were watching on the landing above and one laughed, I don't know about what or if it was about what was going on, but I turned and said "Dame!" (bad) pretty loud while stills supporting Oda. The teachers all jumped and all the kids were dead silent the rest of the time, that is the only time I have yelled in Japan, they were prolly surprised such a loud noise came out of the usually volume controlled Jesse Sensei.
It took a good a bit and finally a group of local fire fighters showed up, we moved her onto a stretcher and used some oxygen; by this point I was still an active caregiver, they did not wave me off. So I kept her hair back, head supported still and told her everything was going to be okay even though I doubt she could hear anything. We then carried her down to the main gate and waited for the ambulance. They took their sweet time getting there, loading her, and then talking for a bit... they should have moved on and done the talking while on the move. I was appalled at the response times and how long it took to do everything. I hope I don't have to go through the Japanese Medical System and be that guy that they let die because they were not hauling butt.
Later her father showed up to say thank you to me while he was picking up her things and told me what hospital she was in. I asked if I could visit and he said of course. I immediately made her 13 tsuru (paper canes) and put them all on a string together and then was picked up by Teruyo. We headed to the hospital after picking up some flowers; two big white Lilies and lots of pretty pink flowers (she always wore pink so I was assuming it was her favorite color). I met the girls mother and we talked about Oda, I then got to stay a while... it turned into several hours or me reading books and stories in English and Japanese, holding her hand, and staring at the wall while her mom got some rest and company. She barely opened her eyes once or twice and never said a word. I finally got home after eight in the evening. Long day.
Ended on kind of a good note though. Mike, Fish, and I went to the Onsen (bath) near Kure Eki and soaked and what not for about an hour and then all got thirty minute Japanese Massages at about midnight, was pretty damn cool. The massage was great, but the best part was when I was sitting in a old school white bathtub (the kind with feet) on top of a ten story building with hot water constantly pouring in an over flowing. I was sitting back with my legs hanging out watching the night sky. Definitely doing that again.
Monday, November 16, 2009
The 13th.... the 25th time...
Some of you have been clamoring for a update on how my birthday was. It rocked. I pretty much got three days of parties and good times from all those here in Japan that know me. The week was a horrendous build of anticipation for something I don't get to excited about usually. It was a hard work week, but every class in every school throughout the week wished me happy birthday and sang and some even gave gifts; even though I had never said it was my birthday somehow they knew. Someone let the cat out of the bag. I guess I got excited because a lot of people showed me that they sincerely cared and it made me feel a little be respected and loved.
Friday continued in this trend of school bound birthday wishes, but was hard since I have one class that is primarily composed of Lucifer clones. However once I was finished I was free! I went and got a haircut so I would look halfway decent, then went home, showered and headed to my favorite bar Memphis where several of us had planned to have a little party and FFF (Free Food Fridays). It was great! I was surprised when I received thoughtful gifts from Ryan, Lindsay and Darius. They really didn't have to, but it was so nice though. We had a few drinks and socialized and then planned to mosie on over to a new bar opening up. Then the "Master" of the bar brought out a beautiful chocolate birthday cake! Everyone sang to me and I blew out my four candles.... yes I was four that night, not twenty-five. I then carved it up and made sure everyone in the bar got a piece. It tasted great!
Sadly we had to move on. My birthday happened to coincide with two other events: Shun (Vickie's boyfriend) was opening up a new bar and Leia was having her going away party there (two birds one stone) and we were obliged to join them. Everyone was there, it was great! The night eventually progressed to a romp of karaoke and late night Micky-D's. Yup classy.
I had to wake up early the next morning for a meeting and presentation by the most recent set of students that went to Bremerton from Kure. Three girls, all very bright and fun. Their presentation was enjoyable and I actually understood it. After that I staggered home more tired than anything else (was a little hard to keep my composure but I did fine at the meeting) and promptly fell asleep. I awoke a few hours later to noise and knocking at my door. It was Hiroe and her whole family! They had driven up all the way from Fukuoka to wish me happy birthday! What a surprise! They told me to get some clothes on and get in the car, so I did. They took me to Miyajima, a big and beautiful temple island just past Hiroshima. Was amazing, we timed it perfect so we got a great clear sky sunset. After that they took me out for a birthday dinner. Once we got back to Kure Masaki was too tired and drunk too continue (he had been drinking the whole day while Hiroe and I had not) so Hiroe and I decided to head out for some fun on the town. Was a really great day!
In the morning I was picked up by Hiroe and fam and we headed to the Clayton Bay Hotel, a surprisingly super nice hotel in Kure. Waiting there was Teruyo and the Sasaki/Suga clan (minus pop, he was climbing some mountain somewhere) and they all escorted me into the main concourse and dining area. It was a surprise birthday brunch!!! It was wonderful, we ate a lot of food and fun opening some presents. I received stationary supplies from Hiroe's sister, an amazing scrapbook from Hiroe encompassing our entire lives knowing each other, some beautiful artwork from all the kids, a nice wallet from Tsuyako, Osamu, and Yasumitsu, and a wonderful scarf from Teruyo! It was perfect!
The only negative things were that part of me looked at it that if I live to be one-hundred years old, I only have 75 cents left for the ride. The other being I was said I couldn't call mom oat 12:01 Am her time so she could wish me happy birthday First (officially due to the time zone I was born in), but my cell phone carrier changed its international procedure and I am still trying to figure it all out.
Friday continued in this trend of school bound birthday wishes, but was hard since I have one class that is primarily composed of Lucifer clones. However once I was finished I was free! I went and got a haircut so I would look halfway decent, then went home, showered and headed to my favorite bar Memphis where several of us had planned to have a little party and FFF (Free Food Fridays). It was great! I was surprised when I received thoughtful gifts from Ryan, Lindsay and Darius. They really didn't have to, but it was so nice though. We had a few drinks and socialized and then planned to mosie on over to a new bar opening up. Then the "Master" of the bar brought out a beautiful chocolate birthday cake! Everyone sang to me and I blew out my four candles.... yes I was four that night, not twenty-five. I then carved it up and made sure everyone in the bar got a piece. It tasted great!
Sadly we had to move on. My birthday happened to coincide with two other events: Shun (Vickie's boyfriend) was opening up a new bar and Leia was having her going away party there (two birds one stone) and we were obliged to join them. Everyone was there, it was great! The night eventually progressed to a romp of karaoke and late night Micky-D's. Yup classy.
I had to wake up early the next morning for a meeting and presentation by the most recent set of students that went to Bremerton from Kure. Three girls, all very bright and fun. Their presentation was enjoyable and I actually understood it. After that I staggered home more tired than anything else (was a little hard to keep my composure but I did fine at the meeting) and promptly fell asleep. I awoke a few hours later to noise and knocking at my door. It was Hiroe and her whole family! They had driven up all the way from Fukuoka to wish me happy birthday! What a surprise! They told me to get some clothes on and get in the car, so I did. They took me to Miyajima, a big and beautiful temple island just past Hiroshima. Was amazing, we timed it perfect so we got a great clear sky sunset. After that they took me out for a birthday dinner. Once we got back to Kure Masaki was too tired and drunk too continue (he had been drinking the whole day while Hiroe and I had not) so Hiroe and I decided to head out for some fun on the town. Was a really great day!
In the morning I was picked up by Hiroe and fam and we headed to the Clayton Bay Hotel, a surprisingly super nice hotel in Kure. Waiting there was Teruyo and the Sasaki/Suga clan (minus pop, he was climbing some mountain somewhere) and they all escorted me into the main concourse and dining area. It was a surprise birthday brunch!!! It was wonderful, we ate a lot of food and fun opening some presents. I received stationary supplies from Hiroe's sister, an amazing scrapbook from Hiroe encompassing our entire lives knowing each other, some beautiful artwork from all the kids, a nice wallet from Tsuyako, Osamu, and Yasumitsu, and a wonderful scarf from Teruyo! It was perfect!
The only negative things were that part of me looked at it that if I live to be one-hundred years old, I only have 75 cents left for the ride. The other being I was said I couldn't call mom oat 12:01 Am her time so she could wish me happy birthday First (officially due to the time zone I was born in), but my cell phone carrier changed its international procedure and I am still trying to figure it all out.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Eh?
So life in Japan is running along smoothly as can be expected, an yes the kids at Tenno ES have made a habit out socking me in the berries. Life can be rough here, not as in hard, but there is not a lot of "cushyness" like there is in many other parts of the world. Things just kinda function with out overdoing things; they love the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" mentality and it has done right by them.
Some cool experiences since last I wrote. Tons of festivals going on at the moment to bring in the season change. They are fun and the food is amazing. I usually draw more attention than the festival though so it can be weird at times. They never get over how big a person can be in this country. I was fortunate enough to be invited to go to a Matsuri (festival at a shrine) on the far side of town with two JETs Lindsey and Ryan. Was creepy though, we were in the Yakuza area or Kure... for those of you that don't know what is, its the Japanese mob... the kind you don't want trouble with. The night was incident free for my party and I, but we did get a fine education in "spot the gangster". They are pretty easy to pick out based on behavior, haircut, etc.
We had a Halloween party at the local pub called Memphis that I like. I followed my tradition as going as tall people and went as Jaws. Not the shark, but the villain from the James Bond flicks that was over seven feet tall and had metal teeth. Yeah my teeth were foil, booya! As the night progressed many of us moved on to check out a small bar tha tone of my colleagues had heard about and wanted to check it out before going to another "known" bar to do some karaoke. We ended up in some random "hostess" bar, the kind where you pay by the hour to have company.. was weird. It was closing time, but they let us in and let us pay by the drink instead. So we had a beer and some alcohol soaked fruit and then moved on (no we are not quite raging alcoholics, its the social culture over here to drink and socialize). Was kinda odd, I felt like we may have been set up, heh. We then went and had a good time at the other bar and I eventually got taken by the bartender from Memphis (the bar we started the night at with the party... yeah she came with us, lol) and we went to another place. Definitely the underbelly of Kure, it was where all the working women went after their places closed up shop. Even the girls from where we had the beer and fruit were there! It was a crazy good time and lots of fun. No mom, I did nothing bad except get home just after moon went to bed.....
So yeah, Kure has its rough spots, but what do you expect from an industrial city. I didn't think they were bad, just needed a different perspective to appreciate. Was really fun though.
Some cool experiences since last I wrote. Tons of festivals going on at the moment to bring in the season change. They are fun and the food is amazing. I usually draw more attention than the festival though so it can be weird at times. They never get over how big a person can be in this country. I was fortunate enough to be invited to go to a Matsuri (festival at a shrine) on the far side of town with two JETs Lindsey and Ryan. Was creepy though, we were in the Yakuza area or Kure... for those of you that don't know what is, its the Japanese mob... the kind you don't want trouble with. The night was incident free for my party and I, but we did get a fine education in "spot the gangster". They are pretty easy to pick out based on behavior, haircut, etc.
We had a Halloween party at the local pub called Memphis that I like. I followed my tradition as going as tall people and went as Jaws. Not the shark, but the villain from the James Bond flicks that was over seven feet tall and had metal teeth. Yeah my teeth were foil, booya! As the night progressed many of us moved on to check out a small bar tha tone of my colleagues had heard about and wanted to check it out before going to another "known" bar to do some karaoke. We ended up in some random "hostess" bar, the kind where you pay by the hour to have company.. was weird. It was closing time, but they let us in and let us pay by the drink instead. So we had a beer and some alcohol soaked fruit and then moved on (no we are not quite raging alcoholics, its the social culture over here to drink and socialize). Was kinda odd, I felt like we may have been set up, heh. We then went and had a good time at the other bar and I eventually got taken by the bartender from Memphis (the bar we started the night at with the party... yeah she came with us, lol) and we went to another place. Definitely the underbelly of Kure, it was where all the working women went after their places closed up shop. Even the girls from where we had the beer and fruit were there! It was a crazy good time and lots of fun. No mom, I did nothing bad except get home just after moon went to bed.....
So yeah, Kure has its rough spots, but what do you expect from an industrial city. I didn't think they were bad, just needed a different perspective to appreciate. Was really fun though.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The little things...
So the other day I was waiting for the bus back from Miyahara (hill) to head home after work. I was staring at some steps down an embankment from me that wrapped up to where I stood. They were normal steps that were most likely built in the 50's or 60's (the area I was in is old) and had a a feature that just made me ponder about who made them, or more precisely who modified them. On each step to the right hand side (against the wall it was following up) there was a skinny paver like cinderblock cemented on the actual step. This obviously was built for kids or the elderly, someone who has trouble making it up the normal steps and needs the extra help of having the distance they need to raise their leg each time halved. I was banking on the elderly. This was easy to concive, the part that really had my mind occupied really didn't matter at all. I was wondering who modified them and when. I was pretty sure it was for some geriatric, but did he/she modify the steps themself? If so when? Did they have help, did they do it when they found they were having a problem or did they have to foresight to do it long before they would actually need the assistance, or were they there fromsomeone before them? Either way it was probably only a few afternoons work and maybe sixty bucks tops for all the materials. Right in the middle of my mind racing after this reletively pointless series of questions someone begain to come up the stairs. It was an old man in his late eighties or mid nineties, smartly dressed, carrying some large rolled papers under one arm with a small box in the same hand, and using his other arm to brace against the wall while using the modified steps. He had a slight limp with his left leg. He worked his way to the top and marched his way over to the bulletin board by the bus stop.
I casually glanced at him now that he was facing me and noticed he was missing a part of his lower left jaw... maybe cancer? He begain posting some of his large flyers on the board, but the wind was blowing them around and away and you could tell he was struggling with that and actually pushing in the tacs in to hold them up. I felt compeled to help him, I am a sucker I always try to help anyone even if it makes me late. I walked over and gestured to help while picking up one of the signs that had blown away, he declined yet I insisted so he let me help. We quietly stood there and fastened the remainder of his posters. Afterwards he was a little winded and we sat down on the bus stop bench together. He gave his thanks and asked about whom I was and what I was doing in Kure. Yes, it is obvious you don't belong somewhere when you are a giant white monster hiding in a land of tiny people. I said I was an English teacher at some of the areas schools and working through the sister city relationship program. He looked at me and and said "What sister city?" This is all in Japanese by the way. I said Kure was a sister city to several cities around the globe, but one in the United States named Bremerton shared with it a special bond from WWII of being ship producing and mantaining giants. He then mentioned something about remembering the war. I looked at him puzzled. He went on to say he served as soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army for some time and that it rewarded him with a lame left leg and "missing face"; presumably from shrapnel because he mentioned somethign about big projectiles that I couldn't quite figure out, but the hand jestures made it pretty obvious. He said he wasn't sorry for his time spent and he looked on the USA as a worthy opponent. WOW! He was a nice man, very nice, and had huge frikken hands for a Japanese person. My bus arrived and we said sayonara.
I just thought that was a cool run in, me thinking about something so trivial and then a piece of history walks right up and I get to chat with him with my bad Japanese.
In other news:
Hiroe came up for the weekend with Yuichi and Misaki. We had lots of fun going to Hiroshima and playing tag in several parks. The Sasaki clan came along too so Seina and Saika got to play as well. I am a bit worn out though... lot of playing tag with tiny kids full of energy.
I got smaked in the "jewels" real hard the other day by some kid at Tenno ES. They play that koncho game where they poke you in the butt, but now its escalated to speedbag boxing. I hope that does not happen again.
Fell asleep on the trian the other day and almost missed my stop. Everyone in Japan sleeps on the trians, but they all have like some super human ability to snap awake and fly out the door at there stop.
Japanese food still rocks!
I casually glanced at him now that he was facing me and noticed he was missing a part of his lower left jaw... maybe cancer? He begain posting some of his large flyers on the board, but the wind was blowing them around and away and you could tell he was struggling with that and actually pushing in the tacs in to hold them up. I felt compeled to help him, I am a sucker I always try to help anyone even if it makes me late. I walked over and gestured to help while picking up one of the signs that had blown away, he declined yet I insisted so he let me help. We quietly stood there and fastened the remainder of his posters. Afterwards he was a little winded and we sat down on the bus stop bench together. He gave his thanks and asked about whom I was and what I was doing in Kure. Yes, it is obvious you don't belong somewhere when you are a giant white monster hiding in a land of tiny people. I said I was an English teacher at some of the areas schools and working through the sister city relationship program. He looked at me and and said "What sister city?" This is all in Japanese by the way. I said Kure was a sister city to several cities around the globe, but one in the United States named Bremerton shared with it a special bond from WWII of being ship producing and mantaining giants. He then mentioned something about remembering the war. I looked at him puzzled. He went on to say he served as soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army for some time and that it rewarded him with a lame left leg and "missing face"; presumably from shrapnel because he mentioned somethign about big projectiles that I couldn't quite figure out, but the hand jestures made it pretty obvious. He said he wasn't sorry for his time spent and he looked on the USA as a worthy opponent. WOW! He was a nice man, very nice, and had huge frikken hands for a Japanese person. My bus arrived and we said sayonara.
I just thought that was a cool run in, me thinking about something so trivial and then a piece of history walks right up and I get to chat with him with my bad Japanese.
In other news:
Hiroe came up for the weekend with Yuichi and Misaki. We had lots of fun going to Hiroshima and playing tag in several parks. The Sasaki clan came along too so Seina and Saika got to play as well. I am a bit worn out though... lot of playing tag with tiny kids full of energy.
I got smaked in the "jewels" real hard the other day by some kid at Tenno ES. They play that koncho game where they poke you in the butt, but now its escalated to speedbag boxing. I hope that does not happen again.
Fell asleep on the trian the other day and almost missed my stop. Everyone in Japan sleeps on the trians, but they all have like some super human ability to snap awake and fly out the door at there stop.
Japanese food still rocks!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Bullet Trains, Good People, Typhoons!
Sorry for the dealy in writting, I have been just about as busy as a single human being can be for the last couple weeks.
Let us start soon after I had last wrote something. I mentioned that I would be going to see Hiroe and her family in Fukuoka (spelt right this time). I finished work Friday the 18th and then scatttered home to pick up my bag I had packed the night before and change out of my dress cloaths and into some good travel attire. I am wearing a suit and tie all the time, so yes it was necessary for me to get out of it, breath, and not be so hot for a change. Teruyo (my "sister" here) gave me a lift to Kure Eki (station) to save some time. Which I said thanks and just barely managed to get on my train before the doors closed. Yes, they willl leave you, they don't wait for you while you are running down the ramp. Doors close and trian is gone, you miss it, tough luck.
It took about 45 minutes for the local access train I was on to arrive in the main train/transfer hub in Hiroshima. It had arrived with really no time to spare. I had been eyeing my watch the whole trip down... "Shinkansen leaves at 7:16 p.m., you miss it and you are screwed.. and out 18,235 yen." I thought to myself. Once the local train stopped and the doors opened I was running out and up the stairs to catch my next train. I was relieved to find a pack of people around me doing the same thing! "We" got there right as the last call was sounded and sliped on right as the doors closed. Everyone that had been running made it. We all were sweating and breathing heavily in the center area between cars (where you board), a moment or two passed, then we all looked up at eachother and smiled and let out a few chuckles. These were not people I was travelling with, these were random people just in the same time squeeze I was, so it made for a rather funny situation. I then found my seat and plopped down.
Turns out I wasn't on an N700 which I thought were to be the fastest, I was on the N500 model, which is actually the fastest. The N700 is the most comfortable and "green" of the shinkansen while still having great speed. After seeing both, the N500 looks way cooler too! I was in candyland, this thing was soo roomy, I could recline my seat, had tons of leg room (in a normal seat), and lots of arm room too! I watched out the window but started getting sleepy. I had over two hours and it was dark out so I just slept all the way to Hakata Eki.
Once in Hakata Hiroe met me right outside the station. I gave gave her a huge hug and lifted her right off the ground and spun around. We then walked about a block to where Masaki and the kids were waiting in the car. Once in the car, which was a rather nice hybrid lexus, chaos errupted from the children. Not in a bad sense, but more in the "OMG! Jesse is here!!!" freak out kind of sense. In Japan, most kids don't wear seatelts when sitting in the back seats, so they just kinda bounce all over the place giving you hugs and being outright annoying. Was fun though. During this madness, Masaki calmly looks at me and asks in English, "You hungry?". I nod yes. He then asks, "Cow or Squid?". I think to myself, both sound really good, but I reply that whatever they are most hungry for or whats closest will be perfectly fine. Moments later we arrive at a very nice group of buildings by a river (in the middle of the city, big city, third largest in Japan), park, and stroll inside. Needless to say it was a nice place. Masaki gets right to ordering and then shoving beer in my face, which turns into chug races and much laughter by the end of dinner. We had ended up going to the "cow" establishment, which is called yakiniku here in Japan. It's basically a gas grill in your table that you cook strips of nice meat on and eat with different things. It's way cooler and tastier than it initially sounds. After dinner Hiroe drove us to a huge festival that was in its final night. Very cool. Even in the big city, everyone stared. I even bumped in to a navy guy from Gig Harbor who had gone to South Kitsap, so some small world syndrome was present. Later that week we also did the "Squid" option, was delicious and the squids on one of the main platters were still alive, changing colors and stuff. They kept poking them with their chopsticks and laughing... felt a little bad for the guys. They then took thema way, made tempura (kinda like a deep fry) and brought em back. They tasted great. P.S. mom you would love the food here, when are you coming? Was thinking we could go to Fukuoka for a few days and then a couple other places.
The rest of the trip followed the precedent set in the first night. Lots of drinking, very nice and exclusive places, tons of fun, and good times. Masaki in many of the places was hell bent on using me as a conversation starter with everyone and would always try to get all the girls after me. It would have been annoying if it wasn't so funny. The guy is a cartoon. They took me to an active valcano, Mt. Aso, which was pretty awesome. Beautiful rolling green hills and then a ginormous red rock basin with extremely hot blue water pooled in the bottom. They even had shelters all around the rim of the crater which were obviously for refuge if Aso san decided to go boom. Masaki and I just started reffering to them as "Oh S#*%" shelters, because really they are not going to do much for you if a decent erruption occured and you would be yelling that as you ran for one. You probably wouldn't even get to say anything at all, it would be like a nuke going off and turning you and the shelter to dust in short order. We also had famous Fukuoka Ramen, t'was good! We went to some crazy beach side water park, where I played with the kids all day and Masaki slept and drank beer in the sun, great times. We ended up also going to a huge mall and watching some Chinese circus that was really cool. Naturally though I drawing about the same number or spectators just by walking around. They sometimes try to hide the fact that they are staring, but they are bad at it. They also don't think I understand Japanese; once we pass eachother all I hear is "That dude was huuuuge!" and other such remarkes in Japanese. Bowling was also pretty fun!
On one of the last nights (a week long stay) Hiroe and I went to a nice resturant. Usually it was her watching the kiddies while Masaki and I went out to raise hell at night time, durning the day though we were always all together. Was nice, went to a quiet place up on a hill overlooking all of Fukuoka and had some amazing food and drink. We sat on the bar right in front of the kitchen and got to watch everything and talk to the cooks. They took great interest in us and we had lots of conversation and even got a bunch of complementary goddies. After dinner we shuffeled over to the main bar wich had a superb view, low lights, and an extremly compentent bartender. Hiroe loved taking the break, I could see that she doesn't get one very often these days. She said I have to come live in Fukuoka and get a girlfriend so I can take her to this resturant! We just sat there and talked about all sorts of things and planned the next time for me to come over. We also started tossing around thoughts of getting everybody to come back and visit mom and the Seattle area family!
All together Fukuoka was amazing, very new, very clean, and extremely fun. I am sure I left out a ton, but those were some of the highlights.
The typhoon bit: Was windy and wet! We were supposed to get absolutely hammered, but it balked right at the end so we didn't get the worst of it and it was only ugly for about a day. The Japanese think I am a psycho because I like bad weather and watching it.
Also just went to a festival over the weekend. Crazyness, lots of people, lots of awesome food, people staring as usual, and a really cool presentation where the rice was brought to the temple for the gods. Basically guys in blue brining the rice up the hill fighting guys in yellow suits and red deamon masks. They were actually going at it, not quite throwing blows, but tons of shoving and grabbing. Apparently from what I hear that in the November festival there is a ritual fight between sides where injuries often happen... fun! Two of my coworkers, Courtney and Lindsey, were dressed in red and were responsible for helping carry the small shrine (behind the rice) to the temple on top of the hill. They looked like they had a great time.
Other notes of interest: Have begun to take piano lessons, play the harmonica now with friends at the bar sometimes, found some sailboats and I am trying to find the owner so I can sail them, hiked Mount Haigame agian with friends this time and had a drink at the top while overlooking a picturesce night time Kure, found several awesome places in Kure to try and relax, and went to a huge sake festival in Saijo!
Till next time....
Let us start soon after I had last wrote something. I mentioned that I would be going to see Hiroe and her family in Fukuoka (spelt right this time). I finished work Friday the 18th and then scatttered home to pick up my bag I had packed the night before and change out of my dress cloaths and into some good travel attire. I am wearing a suit and tie all the time, so yes it was necessary for me to get out of it, breath, and not be so hot for a change. Teruyo (my "sister" here) gave me a lift to Kure Eki (station) to save some time. Which I said thanks and just barely managed to get on my train before the doors closed. Yes, they willl leave you, they don't wait for you while you are running down the ramp. Doors close and trian is gone, you miss it, tough luck.
It took about 45 minutes for the local access train I was on to arrive in the main train/transfer hub in Hiroshima. It had arrived with really no time to spare. I had been eyeing my watch the whole trip down... "Shinkansen leaves at 7:16 p.m., you miss it and you are screwed.. and out 18,235 yen." I thought to myself. Once the local train stopped and the doors opened I was running out and up the stairs to catch my next train. I was relieved to find a pack of people around me doing the same thing! "We" got there right as the last call was sounded and sliped on right as the doors closed. Everyone that had been running made it. We all were sweating and breathing heavily in the center area between cars (where you board), a moment or two passed, then we all looked up at eachother and smiled and let out a few chuckles. These were not people I was travelling with, these were random people just in the same time squeeze I was, so it made for a rather funny situation. I then found my seat and plopped down.
Turns out I wasn't on an N700 which I thought were to be the fastest, I was on the N500 model, which is actually the fastest. The N700 is the most comfortable and "green" of the shinkansen while still having great speed. After seeing both, the N500 looks way cooler too! I was in candyland, this thing was soo roomy, I could recline my seat, had tons of leg room (in a normal seat), and lots of arm room too! I watched out the window but started getting sleepy. I had over two hours and it was dark out so I just slept all the way to Hakata Eki.
Once in Hakata Hiroe met me right outside the station. I gave gave her a huge hug and lifted her right off the ground and spun around. We then walked about a block to where Masaki and the kids were waiting in the car. Once in the car, which was a rather nice hybrid lexus, chaos errupted from the children. Not in a bad sense, but more in the "OMG! Jesse is here!!!" freak out kind of sense. In Japan, most kids don't wear seatelts when sitting in the back seats, so they just kinda bounce all over the place giving you hugs and being outright annoying. Was fun though. During this madness, Masaki calmly looks at me and asks in English, "You hungry?". I nod yes. He then asks, "Cow or Squid?". I think to myself, both sound really good, but I reply that whatever they are most hungry for or whats closest will be perfectly fine. Moments later we arrive at a very nice group of buildings by a river (in the middle of the city, big city, third largest in Japan), park, and stroll inside. Needless to say it was a nice place. Masaki gets right to ordering and then shoving beer in my face, which turns into chug races and much laughter by the end of dinner. We had ended up going to the "cow" establishment, which is called yakiniku here in Japan. It's basically a gas grill in your table that you cook strips of nice meat on and eat with different things. It's way cooler and tastier than it initially sounds. After dinner Hiroe drove us to a huge festival that was in its final night. Very cool. Even in the big city, everyone stared. I even bumped in to a navy guy from Gig Harbor who had gone to South Kitsap, so some small world syndrome was present. Later that week we also did the "Squid" option, was delicious and the squids on one of the main platters were still alive, changing colors and stuff. They kept poking them with their chopsticks and laughing... felt a little bad for the guys. They then took thema way, made tempura (kinda like a deep fry) and brought em back. They tasted great. P.S. mom you would love the food here, when are you coming? Was thinking we could go to Fukuoka for a few days and then a couple other places.
The rest of the trip followed the precedent set in the first night. Lots of drinking, very nice and exclusive places, tons of fun, and good times. Masaki in many of the places was hell bent on using me as a conversation starter with everyone and would always try to get all the girls after me. It would have been annoying if it wasn't so funny. The guy is a cartoon. They took me to an active valcano, Mt. Aso, which was pretty awesome. Beautiful rolling green hills and then a ginormous red rock basin with extremely hot blue water pooled in the bottom. They even had shelters all around the rim of the crater which were obviously for refuge if Aso san decided to go boom. Masaki and I just started reffering to them as "Oh S#*%" shelters, because really they are not going to do much for you if a decent erruption occured and you would be yelling that as you ran for one. You probably wouldn't even get to say anything at all, it would be like a nuke going off and turning you and the shelter to dust in short order. We also had famous Fukuoka Ramen, t'was good! We went to some crazy beach side water park, where I played with the kids all day and Masaki slept and drank beer in the sun, great times. We ended up also going to a huge mall and watching some Chinese circus that was really cool. Naturally though I drawing about the same number or spectators just by walking around. They sometimes try to hide the fact that they are staring, but they are bad at it. They also don't think I understand Japanese; once we pass eachother all I hear is "That dude was huuuuge!" and other such remarkes in Japanese. Bowling was also pretty fun!
On one of the last nights (a week long stay) Hiroe and I went to a nice resturant. Usually it was her watching the kiddies while Masaki and I went out to raise hell at night time, durning the day though we were always all together. Was nice, went to a quiet place up on a hill overlooking all of Fukuoka and had some amazing food and drink. We sat on the bar right in front of the kitchen and got to watch everything and talk to the cooks. They took great interest in us and we had lots of conversation and even got a bunch of complementary goddies. After dinner we shuffeled over to the main bar wich had a superb view, low lights, and an extremly compentent bartender. Hiroe loved taking the break, I could see that she doesn't get one very often these days. She said I have to come live in Fukuoka and get a girlfriend so I can take her to this resturant! We just sat there and talked about all sorts of things and planned the next time for me to come over. We also started tossing around thoughts of getting everybody to come back and visit mom and the Seattle area family!
All together Fukuoka was amazing, very new, very clean, and extremely fun. I am sure I left out a ton, but those were some of the highlights.
The typhoon bit: Was windy and wet! We were supposed to get absolutely hammered, but it balked right at the end so we didn't get the worst of it and it was only ugly for about a day. The Japanese think I am a psycho because I like bad weather and watching it.
Also just went to a festival over the weekend. Crazyness, lots of people, lots of awesome food, people staring as usual, and a really cool presentation where the rice was brought to the temple for the gods. Basically guys in blue brining the rice up the hill fighting guys in yellow suits and red deamon masks. They were actually going at it, not quite throwing blows, but tons of shoving and grabbing. Apparently from what I hear that in the November festival there is a ritual fight between sides where injuries often happen... fun! Two of my coworkers, Courtney and Lindsey, were dressed in red and were responsible for helping carry the small shrine (behind the rice) to the temple on top of the hill. They looked like they had a great time.
Other notes of interest: Have begun to take piano lessons, play the harmonica now with friends at the bar sometimes, found some sailboats and I am trying to find the owner so I can sail them, hiked Mount Haigame agian with friends this time and had a drink at the top while overlooking a picturesce night time Kure, found several awesome places in Kure to try and relax, and went to a huge sake festival in Saijo!
Till next time....
Monday, September 14, 2009
Bird fights and the shot put, eh?
Things in Japan are improving for me. My students absolutely love me, which is good, especially since I am not so much as trying to teach them english rather than to get them doing anything at all. Most Japanese students are robots. They read, momorize, and then take a test.... that is it. Their comprehension and involvement is low for english, but also other things; outside of the memorization a lot of times they are stuck. I have become very active in making them express themselves and it is starting to work. The teachers now say they are more interested in english, speak up and clearly (they mumble a ton), try even if they think they could be wrong, and participate. The main points I am pushing is speaking clear and directly mixed with pronunciation and implementation of what they actually are learning in everyday life. The Japanese teachers can focus on the grammar for now, all you need for that is a book, but flow and often times context is lacking in the text books.
I really have to distract myself due to recent events with Rachel. It's hard to say, but I am single now. It really has me at wits end. So there is the reason for the distraction. Everyone is now trying to hook me up with their daughters or friends, but I am not too interested at the moment, I appreciate their attempts to keep me out of the "gutter" though.
On a brighter note one of my schools that I will prolly talk a lot about in the future has taken a sure liking to me. Miyahara staff took me out to dinner on Friday. It was not a normal dinner, but a nomihodai (all you can drink) and a fancy meal of all you can eat. It was under 50 bucks too, however, I could not pay, they would not allow it. A gift. Was awesome, got hammered off beer and shouchu ( sweet potato vodka-like Japanses moonshine). Was good times all around. Then several teachers and I went and had a wake of sorts to mourn my relationships passage at a nearby pub. I am not sure if I remember everything from the rest of that night. Aren't you proud of me mom?!
A post or so back I commented on pigeons. Today I saw a group of them while I was waiting for the bus. They were milling around a big pile of crumbs. Then two for some reason got really pissed at eachother, puffed up and started pecking at eachother like hell. Feathers were flying, people avoided them by a good margin (prolly as not to lose a leg, hehe), and I think people were placing bets on the bench next to me. Then I think one lost an eye and flew off quick like, the victor held the field. I now know why pigeons don't flee from you in Japan, they could probably kick my ass. Japan pigeons = blackbelts.
It also turns out that I am now the stength training, high jump and shot put head coach for Miyahara Junior High and High School. I was worried at first because it has been so long since I last did it. I fortunately remembered enough and checked up with some books before practice today. I have a group of kids that are all great and two that really have promise. A girl high jumper Chiho and a boy who is a sprinter and shot putter Sataru. They loved my practice as it was hard and challenging, they learned a lot, and was very fun. I look forward to next practice.
I also get to go visit Hiroe in Fukouka next weekend.... I get to take a 700 shinkansen... bullet train baby! The 700's are the fastest kind too!
Oh P.S.: Apparently everyone at Miyahara JHS thinks Luke has played in the NBA. They asked if you did one day and I replied that you could have and that you did play college ball. I think there was a translation error, lol. Now no matter how many times I tell them otherwise, Luke is still an ex-NBA player. Uh, fan club got larger Luke. Sorry.
I really have to distract myself due to recent events with Rachel. It's hard to say, but I am single now. It really has me at wits end. So there is the reason for the distraction. Everyone is now trying to hook me up with their daughters or friends, but I am not too interested at the moment, I appreciate their attempts to keep me out of the "gutter" though.
On a brighter note one of my schools that I will prolly talk a lot about in the future has taken a sure liking to me. Miyahara staff took me out to dinner on Friday. It was not a normal dinner, but a nomihodai (all you can drink) and a fancy meal of all you can eat. It was under 50 bucks too, however, I could not pay, they would not allow it. A gift. Was awesome, got hammered off beer and shouchu ( sweet potato vodka-like Japanses moonshine). Was good times all around. Then several teachers and I went and had a wake of sorts to mourn my relationships passage at a nearby pub. I am not sure if I remember everything from the rest of that night. Aren't you proud of me mom?!
A post or so back I commented on pigeons. Today I saw a group of them while I was waiting for the bus. They were milling around a big pile of crumbs. Then two for some reason got really pissed at eachother, puffed up and started pecking at eachother like hell. Feathers were flying, people avoided them by a good margin (prolly as not to lose a leg, hehe), and I think people were placing bets on the bench next to me. Then I think one lost an eye and flew off quick like, the victor held the field. I now know why pigeons don't flee from you in Japan, they could probably kick my ass. Japan pigeons = blackbelts.
It also turns out that I am now the stength training, high jump and shot put head coach for Miyahara Junior High and High School. I was worried at first because it has been so long since I last did it. I fortunately remembered enough and checked up with some books before practice today. I have a group of kids that are all great and two that really have promise. A girl high jumper Chiho and a boy who is a sprinter and shot putter Sataru. They loved my practice as it was hard and challenging, they learned a lot, and was very fun. I look forward to next practice.
I also get to go visit Hiroe in Fukouka next weekend.... I get to take a 700 shinkansen... bullet train baby! The 700's are the fastest kind too!
Oh P.S.: Apparently everyone at Miyahara JHS thinks Luke has played in the NBA. They asked if you did one day and I replied that you could have and that you did play college ball. I think there was a translation error, lol. Now no matter how many times I tell them otherwise, Luke is still an ex-NBA player. Uh, fan club got larger Luke. Sorry.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Things of Japan...
Today was an odd day at school. I was at Miyahara Junior High School. Some high school students were also there to act as mentors. Turns out Japanese kids get real crazy once they become comfortable with you. The formalities are still present around faculty, but I think I am a unique case that can play both sides of the game. The students have let their "guard down". The boys for the most part are pretty good besides being a bit unruly. If anything they are mean to eachother. One boy tried his luck on me and ran off with my towel; we use hand cloath size towels to keep the sweat at bay and usually hang them around our neck, making them easily accessable. Needless to say I ran him down and got it back promptly much to everyone's entertainment.
Girls on the other hand are a different beast. They seem so sweet and they really are but there is a dark side to them. I think it is from the behind the scenes oppression and overt male dominance in the culture that makes them absolute hornballs. I got my ass grabbed and slapped several times today. The first slap I thought was a boy because they have this practical joke they get as kids where they poke you in the ass with their index fingers, it has some wierd childhood significance of humor that I have not quite found. I also pretty much got molested by a pack of 9th, 11th, and 12th grade girls. Jabbing me in the sides and feeling my stomach or shoulders at all available opportunities. Somehow a few of them learned the words sexy and hansome and used them frequently. One level headed one that was doing something else would catch another and yell "Hentai" at them, which mean perversion, heh. It was akward and they always caught me by surprise or while I was doing somehting else. I am not a beer belly either anymore in case you were wondering what they found so appealing. I have lost 7kg and have got some abs back! In normal circumstances this behavior might be more flattering, but considering that I am a "teacher" and they are all young girls it makes me feel really uneasy. I would tell someone on staff about it, but the culture here is way different and I am better off just keeping my mouth shut on all grounds and practicing my evasion tactics ( I asked the other ALTs about it and they said it is wise to just keep quiet and hope it eventually ends.... and then they all laughed at me... apparently this happened to one of the other ALTs a few years ago as well). Either way I plan on being more vigilant in avoiding their ambushes... it will be hard though because they are always in packs and I usually have to get past them and your back is almost always to one of them when passing.
Cats and pigeons in Japan are reversed. At the slightest onset that you will appraoch a cat they bolt off very quickly. The clicking of the tounge does not even get them to come close, it scares them off more quickly. Pigeons on the other hand walk right up to you and peck at you for food instead of flying away. If you step towards them they either don't do anything or they come up to you and investigate. The only exception to this was with a cat I saw in my host family's neigborhood in Tenno while on a walk with the girls Saika and Seina a week or two ago. It was an old cat that was laying in the middle of the road, prolly hoping for a dump truck to run it over. It had cataracs in both eyes and appeared to be a little lame. I think it was more a nourishment issue because it was so very skinny and its hind legs were weak. It walked right up to me when I approached it and laid down on my leg and let me pet it, it was a dirty cat too. I felt badly for it and went to get it some food at the corner store. I returned with a small can of tunafish. The cat loved it and ate up, prolly its last meal since it was so weak. Thank god dogs are the same here! Ben, if you don't believe that either I can have the girls write you a letter about it, its all they talked about for like a week.
Heat is reletive here. 80F is like an icebox. I am starting to adjust to that scale. Humidity is the big factor.
I have also found lots of things to do here when anyone comes to visit. Students also go nuts when they hear how big my family is and that I am not the biggest... Luke-san, your fan club awaits.
More soon...
Girls on the other hand are a different beast. They seem so sweet and they really are but there is a dark side to them. I think it is from the behind the scenes oppression and overt male dominance in the culture that makes them absolute hornballs. I got my ass grabbed and slapped several times today. The first slap I thought was a boy because they have this practical joke they get as kids where they poke you in the ass with their index fingers, it has some wierd childhood significance of humor that I have not quite found. I also pretty much got molested by a pack of 9th, 11th, and 12th grade girls. Jabbing me in the sides and feeling my stomach or shoulders at all available opportunities. Somehow a few of them learned the words sexy and hansome and used them frequently. One level headed one that was doing something else would catch another and yell "Hentai" at them, which mean perversion, heh. It was akward and they always caught me by surprise or while I was doing somehting else. I am not a beer belly either anymore in case you were wondering what they found so appealing. I have lost 7kg and have got some abs back! In normal circumstances this behavior might be more flattering, but considering that I am a "teacher" and they are all young girls it makes me feel really uneasy. I would tell someone on staff about it, but the culture here is way different and I am better off just keeping my mouth shut on all grounds and practicing my evasion tactics ( I asked the other ALTs about it and they said it is wise to just keep quiet and hope it eventually ends.... and then they all laughed at me... apparently this happened to one of the other ALTs a few years ago as well). Either way I plan on being more vigilant in avoiding their ambushes... it will be hard though because they are always in packs and I usually have to get past them and your back is almost always to one of them when passing.
Cats and pigeons in Japan are reversed. At the slightest onset that you will appraoch a cat they bolt off very quickly. The clicking of the tounge does not even get them to come close, it scares them off more quickly. Pigeons on the other hand walk right up to you and peck at you for food instead of flying away. If you step towards them they either don't do anything or they come up to you and investigate. The only exception to this was with a cat I saw in my host family's neigborhood in Tenno while on a walk with the girls Saika and Seina a week or two ago. It was an old cat that was laying in the middle of the road, prolly hoping for a dump truck to run it over. It had cataracs in both eyes and appeared to be a little lame. I think it was more a nourishment issue because it was so very skinny and its hind legs were weak. It walked right up to me when I approached it and laid down on my leg and let me pet it, it was a dirty cat too. I felt badly for it and went to get it some food at the corner store. I returned with a small can of tunafish. The cat loved it and ate up, prolly its last meal since it was so weak. Thank god dogs are the same here! Ben, if you don't believe that either I can have the girls write you a letter about it, its all they talked about for like a week.
Heat is reletive here. 80F is like an icebox. I am starting to adjust to that scale. Humidity is the big factor.
I have also found lots of things to do here when anyone comes to visit. Students also go nuts when they hear how big my family is and that I am not the biggest... Luke-san, your fan club awaits.
More soon...
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Gaigin Traps, Homeruns, Eraser Clouds, and Flying Bikes...
So, two more days into the wonderful orgy of outrageousness that is Japan. Now some of you may be looking at the title of this and thinking to yourself, "WTF is a Gaigin Trap", and I am going to reassure you it is not some plan to lure foreigners into dark corners with hourly compensated women and then steal their kidneys. Gaigin Traps are what forigners call the ditches lining the street everywhere in Japan. When I say ditch I don't mean a small dirt depression that carries excess water away to protect a roadway, but more like a concrete cravass ranging from 6-16 inches across and anywhere from 6-40 inches deep in most cases. Now we refer to them in this way because foreigners do not expect such a dangerous gap to be right next to the roadways unmarked and often find themselves in some pain when they step in one at night or on a jog, ride their bike into them, or even their cars. I have had a couple close calls myself! However this particular story I am spared and I get to watch a few other poor bastards hit one at full steam. Several young men were running in a formation down the street and weaving around people walking on the side of the street. Often these Gtraps have grates or loose concrete blocks covering them; but on this street it was 50/50. The first runner lead the pack around a little old lady and then vered to head down an allyway... he was not looking where he was putting his feet though and his right leg went straight down and he hunkered to a painful sounding stop up to his mid thigh in the "ditch". The worst was yet to come, in quick succession his remaining buddies cascaded over him and all came to a very loud and rather hilarious yard sale of runners. You may be thinking, "Jesse you unsensitive son of a biscut, they could really be hurt and that is not funny", and you know what? You are right and I still found it funny because by all means it should have been me doing something like that. I did go help them up and none were hurt, just some scrapes and then they went on their way. It was just too comical though the way they ended up. Best part being they were Japanese, you figure they would know (maybe we should just change the name to man-eaters/traps or devil dikes).
Yesterday I went to Tenno Junior High School and taught five classes, all went well and my introduction lesson to the classes were sublime. They loved me. I did have a break at second period and I went and watched my first periods gym class. They were doing the high jump with mats and everything. I joined them, still in my suit, and showed em the fillsberry flop... you know the one where you arc backwards over the bar? I ended up clearing around 6ft! I think that is better than when I did it in school, haha! They all went crazy and loved it. At luch I finished quickly and joined one class that was playing a softball game out beside the school. The school is a 4 story concrete structure that wraps around the baseball diamond, so in the outfield there are the balconies from the seperate levels streatching the length of the field and big green nets hanging from the top of the school down so no balls break anything. They wanted me to hit some. I had already been playing catch for a bit on the side, but they put the game on hold to have a batting and fielding practice. I got a couple hits in that were all line drives and a couple pop outs. Students and teachers begain to fill the balconies coming out of class to watch. Then it happpened! I belted one over the top of the school! Now this is not a tiny field, its like a normal baseball field for highschool with a 4 story building hemming it in on two sides. The entire student body went absolutely apeshit! I was actually surprised I got such a good hit myself, it was awesome. It must have looked hilarious though, some 7 foot white dude in nice grey slacks, black dress shoes and belt, a nice deep purple dress shirt and matching tie with a beat up bat in the middle of a dirt baseball field with dust wipping up in the scortching heat belting a ball that some 14 year old hurled at him. It was like a russian ganster playing with small imporverished children almost. To the kid who was pitchins' credit he could bring some serious heat, I thought for sure he was going to strike me out! P.S. Tenno J.H.S. is also located on an amazing hillside overlooking the water! It was a pain walking from the train station up to it.
Today I went to Miyahara Junior High School and it was much like that of it's little sib the elementary school in Miyahara. Formal and orderly and in an crazy awesome spot. Though a few classes in the kids really started to warm up to me and were were kidding around and such. They would also let their guard down and tease eachother and whatever in the manner they would if I were not there. So a few of us were sitting down on a break showing eachother our favorite kanji and english words. There were a few others in the class and couple boys cleaning chalk boards and the erasers. They were being somewhat noisy but whatever, it was the break. Then I heard "thwump" and coughing almost immediatly. We all turned to the boys by the blackboards and one had smacked another one in the back of the head with a chalk laden eraser making a huge white cloud around the boys head. It was priceless because his spiky hair was all white, yellow, and pink form the kinds of chalk we had been using. No one told the main teacher when she returned so I also kept my silence because it was not that serious and it was all in good fun really. She really did not seem to care either and shared a laugh at him. The boy was a good sport and kept his hair wacky till cleanup time at the end of the day a few hours later. Turns out the other boy who smacked him was his twin bro and I had not recognised him because of the chalk!
Do you really think bikes fly? They do when they hit gaigin at 20km/hr! I was walking down the road tonight and out of nowhere a young man on a bike rams into my side after emerging from an allyway to my right. I barely had enough time to drop my shoulder a little for protection. He went off the bike and pretty much planted into my shoulder and his bike somehow sprung up in the air and flew to the side like ten feet! It was a lot like a old beetle running into a moose at high speed, you get the picture. Iwas fine, small bruise on the inside of my arm is all. I helped the young man up and helped him get his bike, he also appeared to be fine and so was his bike. He said he was sorry and to have a good evening and then rode off. About five or six other people nearby just watched with their jaws down, only a young girl came and helped get some things that had fallen out of the mans pockets. Heh!
Bonus material for those of you who have slogged your way though this series of stories. We had yet another earthquake this morning. I was in the shower and ran out stark naked to take cover in a concrete doorjam! That brings my tally up to 5 earthquakes, 2 typhoons, and numerous series of floods and landslides I have survived since comeing to Japan.
Take care all and I will update again soon!
Yesterday I went to Tenno Junior High School and taught five classes, all went well and my introduction lesson to the classes were sublime. They loved me. I did have a break at second period and I went and watched my first periods gym class. They were doing the high jump with mats and everything. I joined them, still in my suit, and showed em the fillsberry flop... you know the one where you arc backwards over the bar? I ended up clearing around 6ft! I think that is better than when I did it in school, haha! They all went crazy and loved it. At luch I finished quickly and joined one class that was playing a softball game out beside the school. The school is a 4 story concrete structure that wraps around the baseball diamond, so in the outfield there are the balconies from the seperate levels streatching the length of the field and big green nets hanging from the top of the school down so no balls break anything. They wanted me to hit some. I had already been playing catch for a bit on the side, but they put the game on hold to have a batting and fielding practice. I got a couple hits in that were all line drives and a couple pop outs. Students and teachers begain to fill the balconies coming out of class to watch. Then it happpened! I belted one over the top of the school! Now this is not a tiny field, its like a normal baseball field for highschool with a 4 story building hemming it in on two sides. The entire student body went absolutely apeshit! I was actually surprised I got such a good hit myself, it was awesome. It must have looked hilarious though, some 7 foot white dude in nice grey slacks, black dress shoes and belt, a nice deep purple dress shirt and matching tie with a beat up bat in the middle of a dirt baseball field with dust wipping up in the scortching heat belting a ball that some 14 year old hurled at him. It was like a russian ganster playing with small imporverished children almost. To the kid who was pitchins' credit he could bring some serious heat, I thought for sure he was going to strike me out! P.S. Tenno J.H.S. is also located on an amazing hillside overlooking the water! It was a pain walking from the train station up to it.
Today I went to Miyahara Junior High School and it was much like that of it's little sib the elementary school in Miyahara. Formal and orderly and in an crazy awesome spot. Though a few classes in the kids really started to warm up to me and were were kidding around and such. They would also let their guard down and tease eachother and whatever in the manner they would if I were not there. So a few of us were sitting down on a break showing eachother our favorite kanji and english words. There were a few others in the class and couple boys cleaning chalk boards and the erasers. They were being somewhat noisy but whatever, it was the break. Then I heard "thwump" and coughing almost immediatly. We all turned to the boys by the blackboards and one had smacked another one in the back of the head with a chalk laden eraser making a huge white cloud around the boys head. It was priceless because his spiky hair was all white, yellow, and pink form the kinds of chalk we had been using. No one told the main teacher when she returned so I also kept my silence because it was not that serious and it was all in good fun really. She really did not seem to care either and shared a laugh at him. The boy was a good sport and kept his hair wacky till cleanup time at the end of the day a few hours later. Turns out the other boy who smacked him was his twin bro and I had not recognised him because of the chalk!
Do you really think bikes fly? They do when they hit gaigin at 20km/hr! I was walking down the road tonight and out of nowhere a young man on a bike rams into my side after emerging from an allyway to my right. I barely had enough time to drop my shoulder a little for protection. He went off the bike and pretty much planted into my shoulder and his bike somehow sprung up in the air and flew to the side like ten feet! It was a lot like a old beetle running into a moose at high speed, you get the picture. Iwas fine, small bruise on the inside of my arm is all. I helped the young man up and helped him get his bike, he also appeared to be fine and so was his bike. He said he was sorry and to have a good evening and then rode off. About five or six other people nearby just watched with their jaws down, only a young girl came and helped get some things that had fallen out of the mans pockets. Heh!
Bonus material for those of you who have slogged your way though this series of stories. We had yet another earthquake this morning. I was in the shower and ran out stark naked to take cover in a concrete doorjam! That brings my tally up to 5 earthquakes, 2 typhoons, and numerous series of floods and landslides I have survived since comeing to Japan.
Take care all and I will update again soon!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
41 Days In...
So I thought I would finally get this thing started now that I have net and a predictable schedual. I have been here 41 days so far settling in and today being my first day of school. I will skip pretty much all the exciting preperations that took place until this point, otherwise I will be compelled to write a novel of rather ookii (big) proportions.
Today I had a fairly short day, but it was full of tension. I went to my first school, Miyahara Elementary School in Miyahara 4 Chome, a district of East Kure. Miyahara is absolutly beautiful! It is a seemingly small school nestled amongst the houses and tree line on a large hillside overlooking all of Kure> By hill I mean foothill that is the coastal mountains that pinch Kure up against the sea. To get an impression Miyahara is the district all the admirals and other officers had their houses and offices during WWII so that they possessed a commanding view of the inland waterways. The Yamato itself was built not more than 200m from where the school is. I arrived at school before eight in the morning and was shown by several teachers to various parts of the school as well as my very own oak desk! We then had a brief teachers meeting for about 25 minutes. Teachers meetings here are not like the states, it is incredibly formal and extremly steeped in traditional mannerisms. They spoke so fast I only really picked up on about a quarter of the agenda for the first week. I did pick out though that I had to give me jinkoshoukai or self introduction to the student body! I was a little surprised at this, but in time the meeting was over and we filed into the gym.
All the teachers were there first. Then one at a time from the oldest grade (6th graders) came in in soldier like formations marching, turning in step and sitting down on command... the process repeated till all six grades were seated in the same fashion equally spaced ont he floor. The discipline was unbelievable! The principle stood in front of the mic at the front, did some introducing of new students and faculty and then told them a little about me.. actually all.. and I was worried because he said exactly what I was going to say. They all stood and bowed to him and let out a loud "HAI!" (YES!) together and then remaind straight upright waiting for me. I walked up, gave my speech and then bowed and said the formal end greeting (dozo youroushuku onagaishimasu) in which they a half second later all at once returned the greeting and bowed in unison. HOLY F&^K*#G S%$* MAN! It was intense. By the way, there were over 1200 of them!
After that it was a few hours of meetings and lesson plans, which only took so long because my Japanese sucks and their English is nonexistant. We got through it though and had a good time. Also they like to force coffee into you all the time. I don't like coffee very much, but I have one at the schools every day... The other day I visited three schools in a single day and each gave me several cups of coffee each (impolite to refuse) and I was bouncing off the damn walls by the end of the day! I ran from like 9pm to 1:15 in the morning to tucker myself out so I could sleep! It also kept my mind off of other things that have been messing with my head emotionally, but ya'll don't need to hear about that.
Anyways,
More to come...
Today I had a fairly short day, but it was full of tension. I went to my first school, Miyahara Elementary School in Miyahara 4 Chome, a district of East Kure. Miyahara is absolutly beautiful! It is a seemingly small school nestled amongst the houses and tree line on a large hillside overlooking all of Kure> By hill I mean foothill that is the coastal mountains that pinch Kure up against the sea. To get an impression Miyahara is the district all the admirals and other officers had their houses and offices during WWII so that they possessed a commanding view of the inland waterways. The Yamato itself was built not more than 200m from where the school is. I arrived at school before eight in the morning and was shown by several teachers to various parts of the school as well as my very own oak desk! We then had a brief teachers meeting for about 25 minutes. Teachers meetings here are not like the states, it is incredibly formal and extremly steeped in traditional mannerisms. They spoke so fast I only really picked up on about a quarter of the agenda for the first week. I did pick out though that I had to give me jinkoshoukai or self introduction to the student body! I was a little surprised at this, but in time the meeting was over and we filed into the gym.
All the teachers were there first. Then one at a time from the oldest grade (6th graders) came in in soldier like formations marching, turning in step and sitting down on command... the process repeated till all six grades were seated in the same fashion equally spaced ont he floor. The discipline was unbelievable! The principle stood in front of the mic at the front, did some introducing of new students and faculty and then told them a little about me.. actually all.. and I was worried because he said exactly what I was going to say. They all stood and bowed to him and let out a loud "HAI!" (YES!) together and then remaind straight upright waiting for me. I walked up, gave my speech and then bowed and said the formal end greeting (dozo youroushuku onagaishimasu) in which they a half second later all at once returned the greeting and bowed in unison. HOLY F&^K*#G S%$* MAN! It was intense. By the way, there were over 1200 of them!
After that it was a few hours of meetings and lesson plans, which only took so long because my Japanese sucks and their English is nonexistant. We got through it though and had a good time. Also they like to force coffee into you all the time. I don't like coffee very much, but I have one at the schools every day... The other day I visited three schools in a single day and each gave me several cups of coffee each (impolite to refuse) and I was bouncing off the damn walls by the end of the day! I ran from like 9pm to 1:15 in the morning to tucker myself out so I could sleep! It also kept my mind off of other things that have been messing with my head emotionally, but ya'll don't need to hear about that.
Anyways,
More to come...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)