Can you say "doctor" in Japanese? No? Neither can I, but that didn't stop me from going today!
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I came down with yet another cold, which explains but doesn't justify the lack of phone calls. Sorry! Happy Thanksgiving! Anyway, yesterday I finally realized that I have an ear infection. Although it feels almost better today, I decided I should go to a clinic for antibiotics like I normally do at home, just to nip it in the bud. Enami Sensei was so cool; she called her favorite clinic and told them I was coming and explained my condition, in order to make the language barrier a little less of a problem. There are English speaking doctors my friends recommended, but where's the fun in that?
Now I was just happy I found the place. Looking at a rough map and for a particular sign when you can't read is always an adventure. But the fun doesn't stop there! I walked in and handed the secretary my photo ID and my medical insurance card. Fortunately I do understand "denwa bango" (telephone number!), but "zero kyuu zero san roku ni san ichi ichi go hachi" is a bit of a mouthful when you realize you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into; so, unable to speak, I wrote it down for her. And then it was another jumble of mixed signals until I finally figured out that she was just asking me to take a seat and wait for my name to be called.
So I waited for about ten minutes, and then a lady came out with several files in hand and called out a few names, one of which was mine. We fortunate few, you guessed it, moved into another waiting room (which I had been staring into from the first one). In the second room, there were still some other people waiting, and we sat on a bench along one wall and faced a curtain that divided the room in half lengthwise. On the other side of the curtain were four dentist-type chairs and several nurses flittering back and forth between patients. One wonders why there was even a curtain in the first place, since the patients had no privacy from each other, let alone those waiting to be helped. But, you know, whatever.
So I waited for another twenty minutes, which isn't bad at all. I've heard nightmare stories about waiting all day for help since you have to bribe secretaries for appointments (not my words). I took a seat and waited a few more minutes for the ancient Dr. Fujimori to make his way over to me, and I sat in horror as I watched the other patients get their nasal cavities pillaged with obscenely long instruments.
Then Dr. Fujimori looked in my ears and apparently recommended a hearing test, so I followed the nurse to another room. I didn't understand one word she said to me the entire ten minutes we spent alone (a phenomenon I've become surprisingly comfortable with), but apparently I passed the test! I haven't done a hearing test since the fourth grade at Mt. Carmel, so I don't know what the kids do these days, but the one I took was way cool! They try to distract you by playing distracting noises in one ear while they test the other. And then the nurse took me upstairs and left me with another nurse who sat me in front of a tympanograph. It was like a tire gauge for my ears, and it even printed out a little graph of their respective pressures (all systems go)!
So I went back to the inner waiting room and waited to be seated again. And then Dr. Fujimori poked at my brain with the same nefarious apparata I had seen weilded on so many defenseless others. It sucked, and now I am more acutely aware of my ear ache, but at least I have meds! I also got to breathe through a nebulizer that reminded me of Harold & Maude's Odorifics, but it wasn't quite the olfactory banquet I had hoped for.
Still, it was a rather exciting day, and worth the two hours of paid time off I took to skip work after lunch!
PS: The title of this blog is "It's My Right Ear!" I can't be clever in Japanese yet, sorry.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Newsflash!
Hey! Did you guys know that just because the sun is shining, that doesn't mean it warms up in the afternoon? And did you know that when you're riding your bike, pedalling faster doesn't warm up your muscles? It just makes the wind feel colder! Winter, man, I just don't know how the two of us are going to get along (and apparently it's been unseasonably warm)...
So it's been a solid month since I last posted, and of course I have about eight thousand stories to share. But I figure I should take this in bite-size pieces because spending hours in front of the computer can be a little mind-numbing. Lets see if smaller quantities yield more posts!
I went to three more Autumn festivals on October 14th (Oshio in the evening), 15th (Nada in the morning) and 21st (Aboshi in the evening). The first two wore me out on festivals because after awhile they all started to feel exactly the same.
That's me with Kevin and Mac at the Nada festival. I love it because we all look so epically dorky. We had the sweetest seats and we got free snacks and alcohol, though; it pays to be a city employee! But this festival was a lot like the Shinzaike festival a week before, with lots of guys carrying shrines above their heads, so it was hard to get excited.
However, the Aboshi festival the following weekend was really cool. All these guys get snockered and smash paper lanterns together. By the end of the night there's paper and wood scraps everywhere, and all the guys are bruised and scraped up from their moshpitting. I just realized I don't have any pictures...only videos (still trying to figure out how to upload them)!
Festival season is over. Whoo! But my friend Cecy is right...it's good that we went to all of them because there are no more until April, and by then we'll be glad they're back. Plus, I realized that I ended up seeing all the local festivals recommended in the Lonely Planet Japan guide without even trying!
On October 28th, we put on a Halloween party for kids in our neighborhood. Due to a scheduling conflict, only about forty kids came (versus over a hundred last year), but it worked out great! We shuffled them around in groups of ten, and they did pumpkin origami, a few different games, and bag decorating for trick-or-treating. We also showed them how to carve a pumpkin! The kids had a blast, but we had even more fun when they left!
I dressed up as a Koryo Junior High School PE student! I told Enami Sensei I didn't have any ideas for a costume, and she told one of the third graders (eighth grade in The States) to bring me her PE uniform...white knee-high socks and all! It was too perfect.
Just add pigtails!
Julian, the Pumpkin Master.
Allison the zombie pirate trying to eat my brains!
But the best part was when a few of us moved the party from Shirasagi Residence to our favorite local pub, Hosannah. I saw one of my teachers there, and he was totally freaked out! At first he thought I was one of his students!
Ahhh, Katsura Sensei, always a good sport.
So, this blog wasn't all that short, but it wasn't near complete, either. Look forward to stories of food that still moves on your plate!
Over and out.
So it's been a solid month since I last posted, and of course I have about eight thousand stories to share. But I figure I should take this in bite-size pieces because spending hours in front of the computer can be a little mind-numbing. Lets see if smaller quantities yield more posts!
I went to three more Autumn festivals on October 14th (Oshio in the evening), 15th (Nada in the morning) and 21st (Aboshi in the evening). The first two wore me out on festivals because after awhile they all started to feel exactly the same.
That's me with Kevin and Mac at the Nada festival. I love it because we all look so epically dorky. We had the sweetest seats and we got free snacks and alcohol, though; it pays to be a city employee! But this festival was a lot like the Shinzaike festival a week before, with lots of guys carrying shrines above their heads, so it was hard to get excited.
However, the Aboshi festival the following weekend was really cool. All these guys get snockered and smash paper lanterns together. By the end of the night there's paper and wood scraps everywhere, and all the guys are bruised and scraped up from their moshpitting. I just realized I don't have any pictures...only videos (still trying to figure out how to upload them)!
Festival season is over. Whoo! But my friend Cecy is right...it's good that we went to all of them because there are no more until April, and by then we'll be glad they're back. Plus, I realized that I ended up seeing all the local festivals recommended in the Lonely Planet Japan guide without even trying!
On October 28th, we put on a Halloween party for kids in our neighborhood. Due to a scheduling conflict, only about forty kids came (versus over a hundred last year), but it worked out great! We shuffled them around in groups of ten, and they did pumpkin origami, a few different games, and bag decorating for trick-or-treating. We also showed them how to carve a pumpkin! The kids had a blast, but we had even more fun when they left!
I dressed up as a Koryo Junior High School PE student! I told Enami Sensei I didn't have any ideas for a costume, and she told one of the third graders (eighth grade in The States) to bring me her PE uniform...white knee-high socks and all! It was too perfect.
Just add pigtails!
Julian, the Pumpkin Master.
Allison the zombie pirate trying to eat my brains!
But the best part was when a few of us moved the party from Shirasagi Residence to our favorite local pub, Hosannah. I saw one of my teachers there, and he was totally freaked out! At first he thought I was one of his students!
Ahhh, Katsura Sensei, always a good sport.
So, this blog wasn't all that short, but it wasn't near complete, either. Look forward to stories of food that still moves on your plate!
Over and out.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Let's Play Catch-Up
In as little space as possible, I will attempt to bring you up to date on the goings-on, since my inability to make myself blog could really just spiral out of control.
On the evening of Sports Day, I went to my second enkai (work party). It was fabulous; a few of the teachers did their own Soran dance (if I can figure out how to upload videos, I'll get that up ASAP), but the best part was when Enami-Sensei took a nap. She is absolutely my favorite person, and the fact that she took a nap at the party perfectly illustrates the Japanese work ethic of putting in your time, whether you're being a productive addition to the task at hand or not!
My kind of party!
Some of my teachers. They invited me to the second and third parties to be held that night, but I figured I should pace myself...
The day after Sports Day I went to Kobe with Lexy to kick off my three-day weekend. She is super cool, and we had a great time just window shopping and "soaking in the city life." On the way there, I saw the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge from the train, which is the longest suspension bridge in the world. I was really sad because it looked really short. (Fortunately, though, it was just perspective; when I saw it from the freeway the following weekend, it was much more impressive. I hope to walk across it sometime.) While in Kobe, we did Purikura, which is like a photo booth on steroids. It's so much fun and it's such a forgiving camera! You stand in front of a green screen and strike poses that are superimposed over different background scenes of your choice, and then you are alotted a certain amount of time to edit them afterwards, adding all kinds of text and stars and wigs and props and anything you can imagine. The pictures are printed out on sticky paper, so girls always decorate their notebooks and cell phones with pictures of their girlfriends. It's so cute!
The next day, Tuesday the 19th, I got a crazy Japanese haircut! I got my hair cut in Phoenix just before I left, and I got it cut by the woman who has been cutting it for the last seven years with the express intention of NOT letting ANYONE ELSE touch it in the coming year. But alas, that didn't work so much. I wanted to feel comfortable wearing my hair down (I never have, even though it's longer than it's ever been), so Lexy helped me translate my thoughts to the stylist, and he layered it all up and gave me bangs. Yeah! Haven't had those since I was like seven, but I love it! I love the cut because it's like bedhead for long hair, totally low maintenance. I've tried taking pictures of myself but they always turn out really awkward and googley-eyed since my face is only two and a half feet from the blinding flash, so as soon as I trade pictures with my friends, maybe I'll find some decent candid pictures of myself to show you.
That Thursday I started taking Japanese classes at Egret, the local community center. As much as I love everyone I live with, I've enjoyed the chance to widen my social circle a bit. I get along with everyone in class really well, and we usually hang out afterwards. Plus, having something to study A) gives me something to fill my time at work, and B) has temporarily satisfied my desire to go back to school.
That Saturday I drove two hours to the Costco in Amagasaki (which was when I got to see the bridge again). Eight of us piled into a van that belonged to some of our Japanese friends. I'm not sure exactly whose it was, but Mayumi-San drove, and even though you can't throw a stone without hitting twenty-seven toll booths, she absolutely refused to let us compensate her for gas or toll fares. Everyone I've met is that generous! We had a great trip...my American membership worked here, and it was just like being at home! They even had hotdogs and churros! I stocked up on a lot of the essentials...sometimes Japanese just doesn't hit the spot and you gotta have your refried beans. When we got home late that afternoon, Mayumi-san gave me a free tennis lesson. She has competed across the globe and is a total pro. I hope to have more lessons with her because I had great time! I don't have any pictures of her yet, but I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to take one in the future as she always attends community events if she isn't hosting them herself.
The funniest thing that happened that day was my mini panic attack in the back seat before the trip even began. I can't get used to the fact that the driver's seat is on the right here, so when I saw the person up front get out and we started to roll forward, I hollered, "Oh my God, the car's not in park!" But then I realized Gayleen wasn't driving, she was merely the passenger. There's always something to adjust to!
On Sunday I drove four hours to Koya-San with my friend Allison and her two Japanese friends from her Aikido class, Kakeuchi-san and Kobayashi-san. I was so glad she invited me because even though it was kind of an exhausting drive, it was completely worth it. Koya-san was the center of the establishment of esoteric Buddhism in Japan in 816. As a result, there are over a hundred temples even though it is just a tiny little town at the top of a remote mountain. We toured a few of the main temples:
Me with a rather large piece of wood (sorry, the sign wasn't much help). [Oh, those are my bangs! My hair is still long, it's just pulled back.]
The stones in this garden are said to represent monks in prayer.
The temple in the back is the Dai-to.
It is seven stories tall and is the center of a geographic representation of a lotus flower formed by eight mountains surrounding Koya-san.
I totally illegally snapped this picture inside (the railing in the middle of the picture is waist-high).
The highlight of the town was definitely Okuno-in, the cemetery for prominent Japanese Buddhists. It is over two kilometers long, and every square inch fifty to a hundred feet off each side of the path is covered by breathtakingly beautiful and complex ancient shrines. At the end of the path is Toro-do, a temple of lanterns which is tended by the monks; two of the lanterns supposedly have been burning for over 900 years. We happened to be there when about a hundred monks arrived for their daily prayers. Their devotion was humbling. (Unfortunately I only got a few pictures of Okuno-in and NO pictures of Toro-do because my 1 gigabite memory card was full!)
I loved the offerings...
and the bibs and hats.
The next week I fought off a cold which finally hit me last weekend. It wasn't too miserable, but it was enough that I decided to skip an all-nighter in Osaka with Lexy. Everyone said it was a good idea to lay low because a lot of people get colds they can't shake off for a few months. Whether it's adjusting to teaching and using your voice in a new way, or exposure to new kinds of bacteria, or working with kids, or just your body's way of telling you to slow down, everyone seems to get the same cold a month into their stay here. Enami-Sensei hooked me up with some good cold medicine from the school nurse's stash.
Last Thursday, the 5th, I taught at my first elementary school. Every Thursday I rotate between three different local elementary schools and teach first- through sixth-graders to get them excited about junior high school English instruction and to satisfy their parents' demands for earlier learning opportunities. I got to teach first graders all day, and they were so much fun! I got to sing and dance and do animal impressions all day long, but man, I was so tired after only four classes! The best part of the day was eating school lunch with them. Half the students don white coats, hats and masks and go to the kitchen to retrieve lunch (bread, salad, stew, milk). Then they form an assembly line and serve their classmates. Six years old and they do it without any instruction! I wish I had pictures...I'll definitely take some next time!
Friday there was a moon viewing ceremony at Himeji-castle. The full moon was the kick off for all the community harvest festivals this month. The party was what we like to call "nomi hodai". Oh yes, all you can drink: I know it well. 500 Yen (under five bucks!) and endless locally brewed sake! But it was such a subdued gathering, considering the amount of free-flowing alcohol. There were dance and musical performances, and people sat around on picnic blankets. And they love their schedules here; when 9:30 rolled around, I turned around and everyone had packed up and left. The whole park just cleared out in a matter of minutes and there was NO trash anywhere. Japan rocks. Afterwards, a few of us went out to karaoke. I tell you, karaoke is wonderful...I never thought I would love it, but it's such a blast!
Yesterday, Sunday, was so awesomely bad. My community, Shinzaike, had its festival, which began at 8am. Traditionally, all the community members wear their hapi coats and pull their own shrine around town. Inside the shrine are two children who constantly beat a drum for at least four hours as we walk through neighborhood streets (it was a great tour of the area). Sometimes the men carry the shrine above their heads, and they "battle" other community shrines.
Even though they always took breaks and fed us snacks along the way, I think all the sun exposure on top of merely picking at a bento lunch (I never considered myself a picky eater until coming to Japan) compounded to make the endless beer and sake a bad, BAD IDEA. I was passed out drunk by 3pm and hungover by 7pm. I don't ever want to look at another beer again. EVER! But at least I remember every part of last night, which is more than some others can say!
Fortunately, we got a long weekend. As sick as we all were, today was such a lovely day. It was cool enough for me to justify wearing a light sweater when a few of us rode our bikes downtown. We decided a few Bic Macs were in order, but the McDonald's didn't help as much as the ice cream. The Baskin Robbin's is definitely what made us feel better!
And now we're all caught up, so this concludes our broadcast special. Thank you for tuning in!
On the evening of Sports Day, I went to my second enkai (work party). It was fabulous; a few of the teachers did their own Soran dance (if I can figure out how to upload videos, I'll get that up ASAP), but the best part was when Enami-Sensei took a nap. She is absolutely my favorite person, and the fact that she took a nap at the party perfectly illustrates the Japanese work ethic of putting in your time, whether you're being a productive addition to the task at hand or not!
My kind of party!
Some of my teachers. They invited me to the second and third parties to be held that night, but I figured I should pace myself...
The day after Sports Day I went to Kobe with Lexy to kick off my three-day weekend. She is super cool, and we had a great time just window shopping and "soaking in the city life." On the way there, I saw the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge from the train, which is the longest suspension bridge in the world. I was really sad because it looked really short. (Fortunately, though, it was just perspective; when I saw it from the freeway the following weekend, it was much more impressive. I hope to walk across it sometime.) While in Kobe, we did Purikura, which is like a photo booth on steroids. It's so much fun and it's such a forgiving camera! You stand in front of a green screen and strike poses that are superimposed over different background scenes of your choice, and then you are alotted a certain amount of time to edit them afterwards, adding all kinds of text and stars and wigs and props and anything you can imagine. The pictures are printed out on sticky paper, so girls always decorate their notebooks and cell phones with pictures of their girlfriends. It's so cute!
The next day, Tuesday the 19th, I got a crazy Japanese haircut! I got my hair cut in Phoenix just before I left, and I got it cut by the woman who has been cutting it for the last seven years with the express intention of NOT letting ANYONE ELSE touch it in the coming year. But alas, that didn't work so much. I wanted to feel comfortable wearing my hair down (I never have, even though it's longer than it's ever been), so Lexy helped me translate my thoughts to the stylist, and he layered it all up and gave me bangs. Yeah! Haven't had those since I was like seven, but I love it! I love the cut because it's like bedhead for long hair, totally low maintenance. I've tried taking pictures of myself but they always turn out really awkward and googley-eyed since my face is only two and a half feet from the blinding flash, so as soon as I trade pictures with my friends, maybe I'll find some decent candid pictures of myself to show you.
That Thursday I started taking Japanese classes at Egret, the local community center. As much as I love everyone I live with, I've enjoyed the chance to widen my social circle a bit. I get along with everyone in class really well, and we usually hang out afterwards. Plus, having something to study A) gives me something to fill my time at work, and B) has temporarily satisfied my desire to go back to school.
That Saturday I drove two hours to the Costco in Amagasaki (which was when I got to see the bridge again). Eight of us piled into a van that belonged to some of our Japanese friends. I'm not sure exactly whose it was, but Mayumi-San drove, and even though you can't throw a stone without hitting twenty-seven toll booths, she absolutely refused to let us compensate her for gas or toll fares. Everyone I've met is that generous! We had a great trip...my American membership worked here, and it was just like being at home! They even had hotdogs and churros! I stocked up on a lot of the essentials...sometimes Japanese just doesn't hit the spot and you gotta have your refried beans. When we got home late that afternoon, Mayumi-san gave me a free tennis lesson. She has competed across the globe and is a total pro. I hope to have more lessons with her because I had great time! I don't have any pictures of her yet, but I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to take one in the future as she always attends community events if she isn't hosting them herself.
The funniest thing that happened that day was my mini panic attack in the back seat before the trip even began. I can't get used to the fact that the driver's seat is on the right here, so when I saw the person up front get out and we started to roll forward, I hollered, "Oh my God, the car's not in park!" But then I realized Gayleen wasn't driving, she was merely the passenger. There's always something to adjust to!
On Sunday I drove four hours to Koya-San with my friend Allison and her two Japanese friends from her Aikido class, Kakeuchi-san and Kobayashi-san. I was so glad she invited me because even though it was kind of an exhausting drive, it was completely worth it. Koya-san was the center of the establishment of esoteric Buddhism in Japan in 816. As a result, there are over a hundred temples even though it is just a tiny little town at the top of a remote mountain. We toured a few of the main temples:
Me with a rather large piece of wood (sorry, the sign wasn't much help). [Oh, those are my bangs! My hair is still long, it's just pulled back.]
The stones in this garden are said to represent monks in prayer.
The temple in the back is the Dai-to.
It is seven stories tall and is the center of a geographic representation of a lotus flower formed by eight mountains surrounding Koya-san.
I totally illegally snapped this picture inside (the railing in the middle of the picture is waist-high).
The highlight of the town was definitely Okuno-in, the cemetery for prominent Japanese Buddhists. It is over two kilometers long, and every square inch fifty to a hundred feet off each side of the path is covered by breathtakingly beautiful and complex ancient shrines. At the end of the path is Toro-do, a temple of lanterns which is tended by the monks; two of the lanterns supposedly have been burning for over 900 years. We happened to be there when about a hundred monks arrived for their daily prayers. Their devotion was humbling. (Unfortunately I only got a few pictures of Okuno-in and NO pictures of Toro-do because my 1 gigabite memory card was full!)
I loved the offerings...
and the bibs and hats.
The next week I fought off a cold which finally hit me last weekend. It wasn't too miserable, but it was enough that I decided to skip an all-nighter in Osaka with Lexy. Everyone said it was a good idea to lay low because a lot of people get colds they can't shake off for a few months. Whether it's adjusting to teaching and using your voice in a new way, or exposure to new kinds of bacteria, or working with kids, or just your body's way of telling you to slow down, everyone seems to get the same cold a month into their stay here. Enami-Sensei hooked me up with some good cold medicine from the school nurse's stash.
Last Thursday, the 5th, I taught at my first elementary school. Every Thursday I rotate between three different local elementary schools and teach first- through sixth-graders to get them excited about junior high school English instruction and to satisfy their parents' demands for earlier learning opportunities. I got to teach first graders all day, and they were so much fun! I got to sing and dance and do animal impressions all day long, but man, I was so tired after only four classes! The best part of the day was eating school lunch with them. Half the students don white coats, hats and masks and go to the kitchen to retrieve lunch (bread, salad, stew, milk). Then they form an assembly line and serve their classmates. Six years old and they do it without any instruction! I wish I had pictures...I'll definitely take some next time!
Friday there was a moon viewing ceremony at Himeji-castle. The full moon was the kick off for all the community harvest festivals this month. The party was what we like to call "nomi hodai". Oh yes, all you can drink: I know it well. 500 Yen (under five bucks!) and endless locally brewed sake! But it was such a subdued gathering, considering the amount of free-flowing alcohol. There were dance and musical performances, and people sat around on picnic blankets. And they love their schedules here; when 9:30 rolled around, I turned around and everyone had packed up and left. The whole park just cleared out in a matter of minutes and there was NO trash anywhere. Japan rocks. Afterwards, a few of us went out to karaoke. I tell you, karaoke is wonderful...I never thought I would love it, but it's such a blast!
Yesterday, Sunday, was so awesomely bad. My community, Shinzaike, had its festival, which began at 8am. Traditionally, all the community members wear their hapi coats and pull their own shrine around town. Inside the shrine are two children who constantly beat a drum for at least four hours as we walk through neighborhood streets (it was a great tour of the area). Sometimes the men carry the shrine above their heads, and they "battle" other community shrines.
Even though they always took breaks and fed us snacks along the way, I think all the sun exposure on top of merely picking at a bento lunch (I never considered myself a picky eater until coming to Japan) compounded to make the endless beer and sake a bad, BAD IDEA. I was passed out drunk by 3pm and hungover by 7pm. I don't ever want to look at another beer again. EVER! But at least I remember every part of last night, which is more than some others can say!
Fortunately, we got a long weekend. As sick as we all were, today was such a lovely day. It was cool enough for me to justify wearing a light sweater when a few of us rode our bikes downtown. We decided a few Bic Macs were in order, but the McDonald's didn't help as much as the ice cream. The Baskin Robbin's is definitely what made us feel better!
And now we're all caught up, so this concludes our broadcast special. Thank you for tuning in!
Monday, October 02, 2006
Kimonos and Kotos and Geishas, Oh My!
Hi, yeah, sorry! I know I should write more often! Slowly but surely I'm falling into a daily routine here, so my goal is to pick a specific time to blog. Patience, dear friends, is a virtue. Good things come to those who wait...and whatnot.
On a slightly related note, my hard drive is completely full, which means I can't import anymore of my photos until I do a little computer spring-cleaning. So the stories you get tonight are a bit old. Oldies but goodies!
Saturday, September 16th was a really fun day. I got to leave work early (yes, I was working on a Saturday because of Sports Day, which is addressed below) to go to the Okamachi Community Center for a welcome party. People here are so amazingly kind; they seem genuinely happy to have foreigners in their midst and to share their time and their culture. Volunteer work is a huge part of the culture here, especially among the retired.
The first item on the itinerary at the welcome part was a geisha dance! Several older women performed three traditional dances, and they were so cute! They were dressed in traditional garb, and they twirled umbrellas and flipped fans and everything. It was definitely a treat.
And THEN, we all got free kimonos! I chose a yukata instead, which is a summer kimono. I loved the pattern, but I was dismayed when I put it on because it was too large in every direction and it dragged on the floor. But it turned out that there were women in attendance who were expert kimono dressers! Before I could bat an eye, they had chosen an obi (belt) to complement my yukata, and they had me all wrapped up. I loved it so much, I wanted to bike home in it! We were all so sad to take them off at the end of the party!
Me with Taube.
Me with Lexy.
My summer knot!
The group!
While we were still in our kimonos, we went to a koto performance. The koto is a traditional, twangy Japanese instrument...but these ladies were totally hooked up because they were playing electric koto! The music was so beautiful, but the highlight of the event was when they let US try it out! All you have to do is pluck a string and hit some numbered keys, and the numbering makes the sheet music really easy to read. But the absolutely ancient lady whose koto I was playing kept telling me what a natural I was! Afterwards, she gave me her pick. I'm considering taking koto classes at Okamachi just because she is so cute.
On Sunday, September 17th most of the junior high schools in Himeji held their annual Sports Day Festival. That Sunday was the culmination of a seven-day work week for me! It's not like field day at home, where all the kids basically get a free day to run around and do high jumps and discus throwing. Nope, it's all rehearsed. The kids were outside all day, every day the week prior (even Saturday). Since there was no regular class schedule that week, guess what I got to do? That's right, pull weeds! In Japan, people do so many things themselves that we regularly hire people to do at home.
So by the time Sports Day finally rolled around, the kids were pros. And of course, a lot of the day was filled with speeches. This is the principal (he is a very quiet and gracious man):
The kids marched around the track to the center of the field, grouped by class (each grade level has five homerooms), and each class displayed the flag they had painted.
Then they all performed the "Radio Exercise," which is a nationally broadcast stretching exercise.
Then they did what seemed like 500 relay races...I even got to run with the teachers! Finally, after almost two hours, each grade level participated in its own contest. The first graders' was the best: each homeroom had to hurl practically weightless bean-bag balls into a basket ten feet above their heads, and the winner was the group with the most after two minutes. It was hilarious! The third graders' mukade (poisonous centipede) race was also hysterical; with all their right feet bound and all their left feet bound, some groups couldn't jog ten feet without toppling! (Speaking of mukade, I've had one in my room. It's always something.)
Afterwards, about 75 to 100 kids performed the Soran dance, which is a traditional Japanese dance about fishermen, and it's quite a workout. It culminates with a human pyramid!
We got rained off the field in the last hour, so we had to skip the closing ceremony (e.g. more speeches). Darn! But it was a really fun day, and I got Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off because of the long week prior!
I've been spending a lot of my free time getting moved in. The second law of thermodynamics definitely holds true when you're living in confined quarters: entropy of an isolated system always increases! It's hard to find out exactly where everything should go, and I have to spend so much time cleaning. With wood flooring and no dishwasher, the work just piles up! But I love having my own space. Soon I will post pictures. It's finally starting to feel more homey, and I think I'm starting to realize that I actually live here now...
On a slightly related note, my hard drive is completely full, which means I can't import anymore of my photos until I do a little computer spring-cleaning. So the stories you get tonight are a bit old. Oldies but goodies!
Saturday, September 16th was a really fun day. I got to leave work early (yes, I was working on a Saturday because of Sports Day, which is addressed below) to go to the Okamachi Community Center for a welcome party. People here are so amazingly kind; they seem genuinely happy to have foreigners in their midst and to share their time and their culture. Volunteer work is a huge part of the culture here, especially among the retired.
The first item on the itinerary at the welcome part was a geisha dance! Several older women performed three traditional dances, and they were so cute! They were dressed in traditional garb, and they twirled umbrellas and flipped fans and everything. It was definitely a treat.
And THEN, we all got free kimonos! I chose a yukata instead, which is a summer kimono. I loved the pattern, but I was dismayed when I put it on because it was too large in every direction and it dragged on the floor. But it turned out that there were women in attendance who were expert kimono dressers! Before I could bat an eye, they had chosen an obi (belt) to complement my yukata, and they had me all wrapped up. I loved it so much, I wanted to bike home in it! We were all so sad to take them off at the end of the party!
Me with Taube.
Me with Lexy.
My summer knot!
The group!
While we were still in our kimonos, we went to a koto performance. The koto is a traditional, twangy Japanese instrument...but these ladies were totally hooked up because they were playing electric koto! The music was so beautiful, but the highlight of the event was when they let US try it out! All you have to do is pluck a string and hit some numbered keys, and the numbering makes the sheet music really easy to read. But the absolutely ancient lady whose koto I was playing kept telling me what a natural I was! Afterwards, she gave me her pick. I'm considering taking koto classes at Okamachi just because she is so cute.
On Sunday, September 17th most of the junior high schools in Himeji held their annual Sports Day Festival. That Sunday was the culmination of a seven-day work week for me! It's not like field day at home, where all the kids basically get a free day to run around and do high jumps and discus throwing. Nope, it's all rehearsed. The kids were outside all day, every day the week prior (even Saturday). Since there was no regular class schedule that week, guess what I got to do? That's right, pull weeds! In Japan, people do so many things themselves that we regularly hire people to do at home.
So by the time Sports Day finally rolled around, the kids were pros. And of course, a lot of the day was filled with speeches. This is the principal (he is a very quiet and gracious man):
The kids marched around the track to the center of the field, grouped by class (each grade level has five homerooms), and each class displayed the flag they had painted.
Then they all performed the "Radio Exercise," which is a nationally broadcast stretching exercise.
Then they did what seemed like 500 relay races...I even got to run with the teachers! Finally, after almost two hours, each grade level participated in its own contest. The first graders' was the best: each homeroom had to hurl practically weightless bean-bag balls into a basket ten feet above their heads, and the winner was the group with the most after two minutes. It was hilarious! The third graders' mukade (poisonous centipede) race was also hysterical; with all their right feet bound and all their left feet bound, some groups couldn't jog ten feet without toppling! (Speaking of mukade, I've had one in my room. It's always something.)
Afterwards, about 75 to 100 kids performed the Soran dance, which is a traditional Japanese dance about fishermen, and it's quite a workout. It culminates with a human pyramid!
We got rained off the field in the last hour, so we had to skip the closing ceremony (e.g. more speeches). Darn! But it was a really fun day, and I got Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off because of the long week prior!
I've been spending a lot of my free time getting moved in. The second law of thermodynamics definitely holds true when you're living in confined quarters: entropy of an isolated system always increases! It's hard to find out exactly where everything should go, and I have to spend so much time cleaning. With wood flooring and no dishwasher, the work just piles up! But I love having my own space. Soon I will post pictures. It's finally starting to feel more homey, and I think I'm starting to realize that I actually live here now...
Monday, September 11, 2006
Miscellaneous Musings...
As I was writing the date on the chalkboard in class, it struck me how removed I feel from my country today. My hope for everyone on such an anniversary is that we remember to count each and every one of our blessings! And now I will make a conscious effort to discuss happier things going down on this side of the Pacific.
My inner editor cries daily in this land where English is the second (if even) language. But it's always amusing!
This a placemat at Muche ("Moooooosh"), our favorite authentic "Italian" restaurant in the neighborhood:
Are you enjoy? I sure are.
And this is my favorite trash can!
Being creen sure IS wouderful.
Now, reading the placemat and the trash can is a bit like reading the first graders' summer essays. They don't have a command of English, but you can always understand what they're trying to say because it's simple enough. The third graders, on the other hand, are trying so hard to compose such complex sentences that they convolute their work beyond all logic. It's cryptic, much like this ten-dollar purse I couldn't pass up:
(?)
(?)
I love it here.
Here is something else wonderful about this city: gaijin traps. "Gaijin" is a not-so-nice term for a foreigner. Now, to be fair, Japanese people ride bikes too, but it's usually the Americans or the Australians that come home with cuts and bruises from top to bottom after sliding off the road into one of these:
Isn't it nice how the asphalt just kind of gently rolls down into the ditch? You can see another ditch on the other side of the road, too. Now, gaijin traps come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they're narrower, maybe only six inches or a foot wide. They're usually this wide and this deep, roughly two feet. Sometimes they're six feet deep. As necessary drainage, they are on EVERY road, but maybe only five percent have grates to cover them. The rest are waiting to eat me.
Now, let's talk about school, particularly the bathrooms:
Yeah! It's like camping every day of the year...in your work clothes!
This is the teachers' office. All of the teachers work in the same room. There are three groupings of ten desks, and the principal and vice principal sit at the front of the room:
These are some of my teachers:
That was the third grade boss and Kano-sensei (with the fan). Kano-sensei is so cool! She always gives me the Japan Times in English. And she always finds chopsticks for me since I usually forget to bring my own.
And this is Kawakami-sensei:
Unfortunately, her eyes are closed, but she is so pretty! And she's a dancer and she's just the nicest lady ever. Today, she randomly asked me how I felt about my schedule, and I told her my concerns, and she said she would talk to the other teachers about it. And when 4 o'clock rolled around, she was like, "Just go home!"
And, saving the best for last, this is Hamada-sensei:
All of the other teachers tease him because he looks like yakuza (Japanese mafia). When Enami-sensei asked me to explain the difference between cute, handsome and sexy, she asked me to classify Hamada-sensei. Without even thinking about it, I said, "HE IS DEFINITELY SEXY!!!" He looks totally scary, and he can be (I watched him make a disruptive fifteen year-old boy cry today), but he's the biggest teddy bear when you're on his good side. I think he's why I like teaching the third graders so much. (Yes, I am giggling like a school girl right now.)
And I took pictures of cleaning time as promised!
First they move all the desks to one end of the room, and they sweep and "mop." And then they do it to the other half of the room. All the while, a few kids are cleaning the chalkboards and the erasers...even brushing or vacuuming the chalk dust off of the tray! It's so fun to watch how much they get done in fifteen minutes!
But now, I think I'm going to go to bed. Sorry if this post was too picture-heavy. More stories later.
My inner editor cries daily in this land where English is the second (if even) language. But it's always amusing!
This a placemat at Muche ("Moooooosh"), our favorite authentic "Italian" restaurant in the neighborhood:
Are you enjoy? I sure are.
And this is my favorite trash can!
Being creen sure IS wouderful.
Now, reading the placemat and the trash can is a bit like reading the first graders' summer essays. They don't have a command of English, but you can always understand what they're trying to say because it's simple enough. The third graders, on the other hand, are trying so hard to compose such complex sentences that they convolute their work beyond all logic. It's cryptic, much like this ten-dollar purse I couldn't pass up:
(?)
(?)
I love it here.
Here is something else wonderful about this city: gaijin traps. "Gaijin" is a not-so-nice term for a foreigner. Now, to be fair, Japanese people ride bikes too, but it's usually the Americans or the Australians that come home with cuts and bruises from top to bottom after sliding off the road into one of these:
Isn't it nice how the asphalt just kind of gently rolls down into the ditch? You can see another ditch on the other side of the road, too. Now, gaijin traps come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they're narrower, maybe only six inches or a foot wide. They're usually this wide and this deep, roughly two feet. Sometimes they're six feet deep. As necessary drainage, they are on EVERY road, but maybe only five percent have grates to cover them. The rest are waiting to eat me.
Now, let's talk about school, particularly the bathrooms:
Yeah! It's like camping every day of the year...in your work clothes!
This is the teachers' office. All of the teachers work in the same room. There are three groupings of ten desks, and the principal and vice principal sit at the front of the room:
These are some of my teachers:
That was the third grade boss and Kano-sensei (with the fan). Kano-sensei is so cool! She always gives me the Japan Times in English. And she always finds chopsticks for me since I usually forget to bring my own.
And this is Kawakami-sensei:
Unfortunately, her eyes are closed, but she is so pretty! And she's a dancer and she's just the nicest lady ever. Today, she randomly asked me how I felt about my schedule, and I told her my concerns, and she said she would talk to the other teachers about it. And when 4 o'clock rolled around, she was like, "Just go home!"
And, saving the best for last, this is Hamada-sensei:
All of the other teachers tease him because he looks like yakuza (Japanese mafia). When Enami-sensei asked me to explain the difference between cute, handsome and sexy, she asked me to classify Hamada-sensei. Without even thinking about it, I said, "HE IS DEFINITELY SEXY!!!" He looks totally scary, and he can be (I watched him make a disruptive fifteen year-old boy cry today), but he's the biggest teddy bear when you're on his good side. I think he's why I like teaching the third graders so much. (Yes, I am giggling like a school girl right now.)
And I took pictures of cleaning time as promised!
First they move all the desks to one end of the room, and they sweep and "mop." And then they do it to the other half of the room. All the while, a few kids are cleaning the chalkboards and the erasers...even brushing or vacuuming the chalk dust off of the tray! It's so fun to watch how much they get done in fifteen minutes!
But now, I think I'm going to go to bed. Sorry if this post was too picture-heavy. More stories later.
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