Catching up

Despite the agonizing wait to find out if I'm staying in Japan for another year or not, April -so far- has been a pretty good month. I found a good balance between being busy at work and being busy at play - without feeling overworked, or feeling guilty from too much play.

I have had full weekend days to myself -something I didn't have last year. I've been able to read about 4 novels this month and have found my Japanese to be improving (somewhat).

Last weekend Kirsten and I took part in a swim meet together, I posted the experience on my other blog so feel free to check it out.








Yup, that's me in the closest lane!






The night before the swim meet Kirsten and I decided to partake in some 'hanami'. 'hana' means 'flower', and 'mi' means 'to look'. So, put it together and you get looking at flowers -in this case it refers specifically to the cherry blossoms that bloomed this month. Unfortunately it's be a very wet and cold month so the cherry blossoms were late, and when they did finally arrive it was too cold to go and look at them for any length of time. You see, this is an annual tradition in Japan. Companies will take their entire staff down to the parks or river sides to sit under the blossoming cherry trees while consuming obscene amounts of sake (pronounced sackay) or beer, or any other alcoholic beverage -basically eating, drinking and making merry. This year the parties were short lived in this area. On this particular night Kirsten and I took a stroll along Funagawa (a small river near Nyuzen). We tried sitting for a while, but it was a little too cold so we just walked along the banks, enjoying the fires that had been set up and lit by the local community. We sipped on amezake (warm milky rice filled drink) and ate sakura (cherry blossom) mochi (rice pounded into a soft, chewy substance, colored pink and filled with sweet bean paste -sounds yummy doesn't it!?).












































Last Monday some of my 3rd year students took me bowling again. We had a great time -I brought Jelly Belly jelly beans and they had a blast trying to force each other to eat the gross ones. I came in dead last without a single strike the whole night, but the boys were very sympathetic -haha!!









































Earlier in the month Kirsten invited me to her jr. high school for lunch! It was the first orientation day for her first year students (grade 7) and we joined one class as they took a tour of the school. I also help Kirsten set up her international room -she was given a brand new room in the brand new wing of her school -she's still collecting furniture and other 'worldly goods' to fill it, so if you have anything you'd like to donate -posters, photos, books, games, traditional clothing...anything international -travel books and brochures...., just send it all to me and I'll pass it along to Kirsten, I know she'd appreciate it.

Of course, we also ate lunch -the whole point of the visit! You see, at the elementary schools and jr. high schools, students AND teachers eat the school lunch. At Kirsten's school it's made in the school kitchen and distributed to each of the classrooms. Each student gets a tray and the food is dished up for them by their classmates and teachers. We had fish, soup, rice and milk on this particular day, but Kirsten says they get a wide range of food, from bread to fried chicken and some schools even get WHALE (and yes, it's controversial). Teachers without a homeroom class eat in the staffroom, but Kirsten often gets invited to join classrooms and so two students came and fetched us from the staffroom to eat in their homeroom. I sat with some of her students, who were very chatty and they tried to use all the English they could think of during our lunch time together.

I finished my visit by observing the bike safety check out on the school grounds. All the students are required to purchase the EXACT SAME bicycle and the EXACT SAME helmet, both of which are then checked by their teachers for proper height, ID stickers, etc. The students were given a helmet lesson as well as an outline of basic bicyle riding safety procedures. Kirsten and I took a walk through the bikes and asked a teacher how much a single bike cost - both of our jaws dropped when he told us they were worth about $600 each!!!! We told the teacher they were worth more than the cars each of us drove!! He thought that was pretty funny. $600 for a bicyle...now add the cost of school uniforms -winter and summer - and gym wear (2 sets) -Kirsten do you remember how much he said they were??? It was something insane -like $200/set...yeah. How do some of these parents afford to send their children to school????

Anyway, a big thank you to Kirsten and her school for allowing me to come in and experience jr. high school for a day. I hope we can do it again sometime. Perhaps K, you can come and help me with my high school kids for a day -they'd love that!!










































Tomorrow I've got my interview for next year's position and Thursday (sorry Mom, I totally thought is was last week...) I'm cooking dinner for 30-40 people at Colare in Kurobe for the international cooking party they hold every month. I'm cooking my mom's scalloped potatoes, sweet and sour meatballs and banana cream pie! I know it won't taste the same but hopefully it's not a total disaster!

Friday I'm going to Kanazawa with the 3rd year students for their annual start of the year school trip. I had a choice of 1st, 2nd or 3rd years this year -I choose to go with the third year's since I know them the best and have only a few more months left with them. I don't get to teach them this semester, so any activities outside of class I try to take advantage of.

And finally, this coming weekend is the start of Golden Week in Japan. Named so because there are a string of national holidays in a row. I'm hoping to visit friends this weekend and maybe do a bit of camping during the week -if the weather is good!

That's all for now, so if you've made it through this post, well then, we're both caught up!!

Amy's BEE RIde Dinner

I'm getting ahead of myself with this blog post, but I thought I'd write something before I have to acknowledge that another weekend has flown by and tomorrow is a work day again.

This weekend, my friend Amy held a charity dinner at the Peace St. Diner in Toyama city. She is leaving JET this year but has decided to extend her stay here a little longer by doing a bike ride from Hokkaido to Okinawa. The organization is called
BEE Japan (click here) (Bicycle for Everyone's Earth), and you can read about what they're doing on their home page. There are 8 members riding this year and each of them is responsible for raising money for the environmental issues they are trying to resolve.

Amy's charity dinner was held at a small vegan restaurant in Toyama-city, she invited JETs and non-JETs alike to come. The meal was 2000yen, or about $20, 500 of which went directly to Amy. Along with the buffet style meal she organized a Silent Auction -people brought all kinds of random items, from maps, to artwork, to knitted vegetables, to socks. At one point a giant Darth Vader Pez dispenser arrived out of no where and Amy asked me to put on my coaching voice and announce that it too would be up for bids -however, people started bidding on it while it was still in my hand...before we knew it the people were calling out prices and we ended up selling it on the spot for $25!! The silent auction in itself was quite successful, a lot of the items were popular and you had to keep track of the bidding, but of course there were a few that were left without bids. So at the end of the night Amy asked if I would auction the rest of the items off live -just so that we could get rid of what was left. Little did we know that we'd end up selling these items for probably more than what the silent aution had brought in. A box of tissues for $5!! Scarves that nobody had bid on were sold for $30! %7 for a chocolate bar! It was fun to watch people get into the spirit of it -knowing that all the money was going to charity. I ended up pretty hoarse, but it was a lot of fun and well worth it.

After the aution Amy opened the floor to anyone who wanted to share poetry, music or literature with the group. There were just under 35 people in attendence and 5 people got up to read, perform, sing and entertain us. People were totally captivated and the room was full of energy during the whole thing -there's something to be said for people performing, especially when the pieces are personal creations.

Diverse, eclectic and random would best describe what I thought of the evening. Amy managed to raise over $600 on Saturday. She's got one more big event in May that will hopefully put her over the $1000 mark, but if you're interested in donating to her cause, please let me know and I will arrange a way to get the money to her.

Things to check out

my workout journal -go to the links on the right, it's under 'sports' -swim meet results...

Sista K's blog -she has a unique program going with her students and needs English speakers to comment on it -click the link on the right.

Thanks!

A Japanese Wedding

On April 1 my friend Coco got married in Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture). She had told me about it months ago and I was quite shocked and excited.

You see, I hadn't heard from her in quite a while - over a year, in fact. She had moved to Nagoya to work and we kind of lost touch for a while -but I've kept the same address on my cell phone the whole time I've been here and she managed to track me down. So, I was shocked to hear from her and excited to know that once she was married she'd be living in Toyama Prefecture again!!


I met Coco my first year in Japan. She worked part time at a local electronics shop and because she speaks English fluently, she was able to help me out a lot, not only in the store but in getting settled in Japan.

So I was honored when she invited me to attend her wedding. As usual, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the day turned out to be a lot of fun. I took the train to Kanazawa on the morning of the wedding (the wedding was at 6:00 -night weddings are so beautiful). Checked into the hotel that Coco had booked for me and did a little shopping before meeting Takako, another of Coco's friends who was staying at the same hotel. We got into a cab together and were taken to the wedding site around 4:00. I had a hair and make-up appointment that Coco had offered to book for me along with the other members of the wedding (family). I thought it would be fun to see what goes on before the event, so I took her up on the offer. I knew it was a mistake when they started doing crazy things to my hair and making my face 3 shades paler than normal....oh well, everyone was friendly and now I can say I've seen what happens leading up to the ceremony.

I guess I should clarify that this was not a traditional Japanese wedding like the one I attended in September. This was much more Western, in fact the ceremony was a Christian ceremony with a Caucasion minister (but he performed the ceremony in Japanese). In Japan there are wedding ....what should I call them...wedding 'places', I guess. It's the whole meal deal; reception area with a lounge, hair and make up studio, garden, chapel, and dining hall all in one place.

After my hair and make up, Takako and I sat and had a drink in the lounge. I was waiting for all the guests to start streaming in -except, they didn't. I only saw about a dozen other people arrive. At 6:00 we were escorted across the garden to the chapel. Besides Coco's family (parents, sister and brother in law), Takako and I were her only other guests!! The groom had a few more -with grandparents, one of his college profs and 5 college friends. That was it!! After the ceremonly, which was short and sweet, but very beautiful, they rearranged the chapel in order to take a group photograph. Then were were escorted to the dining hall where we were all seated and treated to an amazing never-ending meal. The entertainment included the groom's mother's shamisen (traditional musical intrument) teachers and of course speeches by EVERYONE seated at the table, including me. Thankfully, Coco was there to translate everthing and once again, I felt so honored to be taking part in such an important day!

We ended with a video of the ceremony that had already been put together (courtesy of the full-meal-deal) complete with a musical background and a credit list of all the guests! What a day!

Usually there is some kind of after party involved in this type of wedding, but because the numbers were so small and nobody really knew each other, we all just went back to our hotel, soaked in the onsen (public bath) (separately of course, haha) and went to bed. I had a nice sleep in, did a little more shopping and caught the train home on Sunday- back in my apartment by early afternoon. A very, very pleasant experience.

That's Takako on the left, pale-faced me, Coco and Takanori.

The dinner party.

The Hair

OH, there's one last part of this story to tell you about...you see, it's customary in Japan for the bride and groom to give all the guests 'thank you gifts' -now this isn't too far off from Western tradtion, we leave candies or flowers on the tables for people, and give away pieces of wedding cake...however, it's a little more extravagant in Japan...here's what I took home:
















*note: the 'Fine Choice' is a catalogue - I can choose anything from it, send in a slip of paper and it's delivered to me!!

Beijing: Day 3 -the last afternoon & evening

After lunch at McDonalds, Mike and I spent the afternoon wandering around the area close to our hotel. There was a big shopping department nearby so we wandered in. The shops were open-style, kind of like here in Japan, where it's hard to tell sometimes where one shop ends and the next begins. They had all the brand names you could think of from Esprit to Nike and although the prices were pretty good, I wouldn't say they were cheap. Mike decided to get his hair cut, so that gave me an opportunity to go shoe shopping -and for those who are wondering: I only bought one pair on this trip!! I had agreed to meet Mike at the starbucks on the main floor and wandered in and ordered a big latte of some sort, found a table and waited for Mike....and waited....and waited, finally he came into the shop, white as a sheet and shaking like he'd seen a ghost. "I passed out." he said. What!?!?! I guess his blood sugar was a little off, combined with McDonalds for lunch and an sweltering temperature in the shopping mall -it made for a disasterous combination. At least he was sitting in the chair when it happened. He assured me that the people at the salon were more than helpful and the one girl who could speak a little English escorted him down to the Starbucks!! Well, that ended the shopping trip! No big deal, we were both a bit tired and so we headed back to the hotel, and had a little nap.

Feeling much better after lying down for a while, we got up and got ready for our night at the Chinese opera. We had booked this part of the trip the night before after deciding that JTB (the travel agency) was doing a pretty good job entertaining us. Our tour guide had given us a pamphlet with optional things to do and both of us had been told not to miss the Chinese Opera. Our sources were correct! It was a great time. First we were given snacks and tea (served with flair -refer to the photo above), next we were given headsets with English interpretations and information about the opera to listen to as it was being performed. Though it was distracting at times, I was thankful for the explanations. The performance was visually stunning and the music/singing was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. It's similar to Kabuki (traditional Japanese theatre) in that many of the movements are symbolic and the story is told through singing. The first part of the performance was a story about war and love, the second focused on the mythical/religious side of China, dealing with warring gods. This part was much more physical, acrobatic almost. A fantastic evening out.

We ended the night with one last tour option: a foot massage. We were taken to a massage parlor and given 90minutes of pure relaxing bliss. We were given our own private room, and Mike's masseur was a friendly young man who tried his very hardest to speak English to us. I had a young girl, as cute as a button, who didn't look older than 13 rubbing my tiny feet. She didn't speak a word, but smiled and promted me to say good or bad if she wasn't sure how hard she could massage. We drank tea all the while and took advantage of the quiet time.

Back at our hotel, we packed up, ready to leave for the airport at 6:30 in the morning. Our flight back was pretty uneventful, save the huge line up at customs. We both had time for a little shopping in T-town before Mike hopped a boat back to his island and I jumped on the night bus for home.

A great trip, with a great travel partner. One of the best holidays I've ever had!
Thanks Mike!!!


OK, here it is, the last of the trip to Beijing, I have to get this written because I keep putting off every other thing I want to post on this blog...

Beijing: Day 3 - Late Morning

After the temples, Mike and I ventured out to an open market that we had read about in the Lonely Planet. We took a cab -which was easy enough since the doorman at the hotel wrote down the address for us to give to the cab driver - it also had a map and addy of the hotel for our return trip -nice!!

We got to the market and it was teeming with vendors selling everything from tea cups to art work to Mao alarm clocks. Actually, you could find pretty much anything you wanted with Mao's face on it -lighters, posters, books, playing cards...it was quite amusing. Now, Mike and I are very similar in a lot of ways, one of them being we don't like the whole bartering process. We had our Lonely Planet book with us which gave a few guidelines on what to do, but when it comes down to it, you have to go on instinct. Our first encounter cost us just about as much as the rest of our purchases combined. Once we realized that you have to offer about 10-20% of what they are actually asking we had no trouble negotiating for 30-40% of the initial price. And we found very quickly that if you walk away, they will ALWAYS call you back and give it to you for your price. It was a real challenge for me and totally out of my element, but a good experience nonetheless.
































Because this was our free day we had to do lunch on our own. We knew we weren't going to top any of the restaurants we had been to so far, so we opted for the opposite end of the scale -McDonalds!!!

March after Beijing

Besides the trip to Beijing -which I promise to wrap up in my next post - March has been a very active month. March 1st, the day before I left for Beijing was our Graduation Day. Students recieved their diplomas in the gym during a cermony (well a representative of each class receives them for the class and the rest are handed out by the homeroom teacher later in the classroom) After that, the rest of the students go outside and line the entrance to the school and say their goodbyes as the graduates leave the school for the last time. It was a freezing cold day, but I still managed to get some good photos...including Shimizu-sensei who was dressed in very formal attire. Usually the female teachers wear kimono and the male teachers wear suit and tie.



















I also managed to get one more day of boarding in on the 11th. I had a wonderful lunch a Kirsten's apartment on the 12th in honor of Women's Day. She invited about a dozen women (all Japanese) for a potluck lunch -we ate until we could eat no more. It was painfully delicious -thank you Kirsten!! Hm, now where are my photos....?







March 14th was White Day -I think I've mentioned this before, but Valentine's Day here is set as a day where girls give to boys. And in a brilliant bit of marketing they created 'White Day' and obligatory day of reciprocation where boys give something to the girls that gave them something -it's a nasty little bit of societal extortion if you ask me. Most men and women complain about it and this year's poll revealed that 70% of women want to do away with the custom and 50% of the men feel the same. At any rate, on V-day Kirsten and I had brought goodies to some of our 'boy' friends who work at a local drinking establishement. In return they invited us for a compimentary drink on White Day (March 14th).







On March 17th the English faculty held a farewell party for our vice principal, Yamaguchi-sensei, who is also an English teacher. We went to one of the most expensive chinese restaurants in Toyama city -ate on the 19th floor of one of the best hotels in the city The ANA Hotel. We then proceded to the lounge on the same floor, enjoyed the view of the city and I watched as my co-workers got progressively -for lack of a better word....SMASHED. We decided to proceed to karaoke (this really isn't a conscious decision, it's more like and inevitable circumstance). We lost my supervisor in the maze of karaoke rooms -she had gone to the bathroom and didn't come back. She had forgotten our room number but managed to make it to the front desk where she patiently waited for someone to come and rescue her. We then wandered back to the hotel where I had the luxury of my own room.






The next day I was invited to be the guest at my friend's private english school that she runs out of her home. She usually invites me to do the holiday lesson, and this time was Easter of course. She teaches three levels of students and I have been visiting them for a year now. I only see them once every few months, so each time I see them I'm always shocked by how much they have grown! We always have a great time together.



















The 21st of March was the vernal equinox and in Japan it's a national holiday. Now normally I would have grabbed my board and been on a hill like most other sane people, but with the olympics still lingering in people's minds, a group of JETs decided that we should check out the curling scene in Japan. After the Japanese women did so well (even beat Canada) there has been a surge in it's popularity. Well, in Toyama there is only one rink- and by rink I mean it's a hockey/skating rink and every Sunday the curling team is allowed to pebble the ice for a couple of hours to practice. This just wasn't going to do for us -we needed something a little flashier -why not the olympic curling rinks???? Jamie -our resident pro (she curled in college -she's from Chicago - I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either....) is also a pro at Japanese, so she set everything up for us -times, dates, road maps, it was awesome!!! We took 4 cars and drove, and drove and drove -until we were closer to Tokyo than Toyama. Kuruizawa is the name of the town where we played. The ice rental was cheap -about $4 each! Jamie and I did some skills and drills to warm everyone up and then we played!








Wednesday the 22nd was a ladies lunch for all of the female teachers at my school. The closing ceremonies for the school were held on Friday the 24th and the new students came in the afternoon with their parents for orientation and to be fitted for their uniforms.





On Saturday I attended my school's spring concert at Cosmo Hall -the local art/community center and then went for dinner at the Muro's house. The Muros are a family of 3 brothers and one sister. Their families all live within a stone's throw of each other in Nyuzen. The first Muro I met was Shizuko -daughter of the eldest Muro brother. I met here waaaay back when I was working at NOVA -she was one of my students!! We became friends and after moving to Nyuzen I found out that her cousin, Ryu, was going to be one of my high school students. He's the son of the 3rd Muro brother -and this Mr. Muro I met because he works at the Nyzuen town hall and speaks great English!


This was my second visit to the Muro house. The first time was for Obon almost 2 years ago. It had been a while, but they were as friendly and generous as the first time. We had sukiyaki for dinner and were entertained by Shizuko's sister's new baby, Shudai! He's 5 months now, and as round as a button. Everyone doted on him -including me! It was a fabulous evening, but unfortunately I had to cut it short because I was catching the night bus to Tokyo to meet up with friends from home.














OK, technically, I was only meeting up with one friend from home, but he was bringing a friend and meeting another friend from Calgary who lives in Japan. Let's just say that by the time the introductions were finished and we'd had our first cup of coffee -we were all friends. Since Doug (the friend who lives in Shizuoka as a 3rd year JET) and I had been to Tokyo multiple times we were in charge of entertaining the troops -that being Mitch, a friend I had met last summer during the great canadian VW trip to Vancouver (he also gave me a ride to the airport the night I was leaving -thanks Mitch) and his partner in crime, Rory. Rory, I found out, is from Prince George but went to school in Lethbridge -at the same time as me!!!! Crazy.




I had arrived in Tokyo at 5:00 a.m. and planted myself in my favorite coffee shop in Ikebukuro with a latte and a new book. Usually when I do this little ritual the coffee shop is dead with only me and one or two Ojiisans (grandfathers) sipping quietly, waiting for the city to wake up. But this was a Sunday morning -and also university graduation weekend. So at five in the morning I had to wait in line behind a hoard of 22 year olds coming in from a night of celebrations. I divided my attention between my book and the mini dramas being played out at each of the tables. 3 girls sat quietly, dressed to the nines, hair done up, and make up streaming down their faces as they came to the realization that they probably wouldn't see each other again for a long time. They dabbed their tears and managed to get a few photos of each other with their cell phones before saying goodbye. Then a group of 'couples' came in. Everyone was paired off except for one. He looked like the ring leader -dressed in white, not the typical black suit every other boy was wearing. He wandered around, never sitting down, going from table to table making sure everyone was still being entertained, hugging the girls and kissing the boys on the tops of their heads....and then came the 3 boys who sat down beside me and said nothing but "DAME" (dah-may :which means 'stop', or 'no more') and "ABUNAI-KORE" (ah-boo-nigh-co-ray: which means 'this is dangerous'). Over and over and over again -this wasn't in reference to me it was the fact that they had had too much to drink...I think they managed to sober up a bit before leaving the coffe shop -but those are still the only words I heard them say.

I met Mitch and the boys Harajuku, where we also hooked up with Jimmy -another 3rd year JET from Toyama and also Canadian.










We went to the Meiji Shrine and watched the weddings stream through.








We had lunch in a great little restaurant, watched the Harajuku kids strutt their stuff, visited a funky art building, tour our picture with some of the rockabillies, strolled on to Shibuya -one of my favorite districts in Tokyo. We did print club, played some video games and then did the inevitable -karaoke!! Jimmy had to catch his train so we said goodbye and moved on. We shared a few more drinks together, met up with MORE people from home (another guy who went to Lethbridge at the same time as I...know people I know -this world is so small....). And then it was time for me to say goodbye. I had another night bus ride ahead of me...thank goodness the wine began to take effect -I had a great sleep on the bus, arrived in Kurobe at 5:00, home by 5:15 -a quick 2 hour nap and I was up and ready for work!














Now it's Tuesday, and almost the end of the month!!!! On Thursday, there will be a farewell party for the teachers who will be leaving this year and Saturday I'm off to Kanazawa for a friend's wedding!!! Whew!