大南瓜冒険
Anniversary Update: 2 Months in Japan
Yah! It’s my 2nd month anniversary here in Japan today. To celebrate, I think I might go out for supper tonight. If my stomach feels better. I have a job for all of you. I want to you to take pictures of yourselves and friends and email them or send them to me using ICQ. I want to do a project for one of my classes and I need your help! Awesome! That’s all for today. Other then that nothing else has happened since the last blog…^_^
Wow, I think this is my first same day post! I had my conversation class tonight, and the regular crew showed up. Except now I have a shodo artist in my class. And for an older woman she’s quite attractive. And the shodo, don’t even get me started about the shodo. Tonight I decided it was a good time to discuss politics. This started when I asked everyone in the class to tell me about what they read in the paper today(in English). Mr. Honda explained that Koizumi had been re-elected to the liberal party. And then he asked me to explain Canadian politics. Wow. Boy did I ever. I really don’t think I should have ripped into the Alliance party the way I did, but what the heck! It’s fun teaching a new language. This volunteer job is awesome. And not only that, but the Honda’s gave my a ride home afterwards. It was pouring.
In other news I found out that we are getting a Lawson’s in our town. It will be the third convenience store in Senmaya. We don’t have 7/11 yet, but 7/11 in Japan doesn’t have slurpee’s anyways. They do have the best tacoyaki though. And where else can you buy so many different kinds of meat of a stick.
This weekend I’m supposed to go to a place two hours north of here for an all night drinking party. Sounds fun, although, I’m starting to feel a little sick. I’ll have to see how that works out. Hey, if you see a spelling mistake, shout it out! I want to master the English language. As well as the Japanese Language. 1006 kanji down! 939 more to go…>_
So it’s 10am on a thursday, and I just find out that all my classes are cancelled for the day because of exam. W00t. However, that still leaved me with having to find something to do in the staff room here. Hmm, I think i will do some more prep for my conversation class tonight, and then I will study Kanji and vocab until my head explodes. Ahhh, the life of a JET. Somedays I’m so busy I don’t have time to finish lunch, and on other days I have the entire day to do whatever I want. Funny that! But you know what? I love every second of my job!
Just a quick update. I’m feeling much better about the whole marriage thing. I never reallly felt all that bad about it. But when I heard my Mother had gotten remarried, I flipped!! Oh well. I’m off to work now, and I’m still having a blast in Japan. How can I not? It’s Japan!
Today was an interesting day. I woke up at 7am and then got picked up at 9pm. My friend Sarah drove me to a place called Murone and from there, your at the based of a nice sized mountain. It’s nothing like the rockies, but there is an observatiory at the top, and people paraglide and hanglide off the top of it. That’s why I was there. I was going to learn how to paraglide. Whee. Except for one down side. It rained all morning, so that god cancelled. We’re going to try and do it again on Tuesday. Apparently, if you get really good, you can glide for hours. Sounds like a ton of fun. For training we actually went 30 minutes south of Murone to a place called motoyoshi. We went to a place call “moulando” which is moo land in english. It’s a farm/tourist attraction and it’s quite swell. There is a hill and from there you practice hangliding or paragliding. Before the rainout I got some pics.
This is a cute sign.
The rain grounded this bloke.
You can’t see it, but it’s pouring.
Stop eating the parachutes!
In other news I just found out that my mother got remarried. That’s a suprise because she is the one who taught me that when you are getting married, you are getting married to hilter! In other words marriage is bad. Well, now she’s gone and done it again. And the funny thing is, I still think it’s bad. I’ve never seen a good marriage. They usually fall apart between 1 and 30 years. And the sad thing is that I’ll probably be one of those 47 years old guys who’s not married and is made fun of by others. Hey, if someone wants to prove to me that it’s a good thing, by all means, shout it out! Other then that, I think I missed my only chance at marriage. That ship has sailed!
Boy do I have a story to tell. Okay, last week I walked into a sushi shop and met the owner and another customer. Using my best Japanese, I stumbled my way into ordering a really tasty sashimi dish. While eating, I started talking to the customer beside me. I explained that I was from Canada and that I was new to Japan. After about 15 minutes of small talk, he invites me to dinner the next evening with his wife and then proceeds to pay for my meal. I was floored.
So the next evening, he and his wife pick me up and drive me to this great yakitori restaurant called, “Hilltop”. There we meet another friend and have a great dinner. Cow’s togue is a really wonderful dish. He then proceeds to pay for my meal again. Then we drive to Kessenuma, which is about 30 minutes away in miyagi-ken. We go out for sashimi and he pays for me again. Then to a coffee shop, where he buys my coffee. Then he takes me back to my apartment. But he invites me to a elementary school softball game the next day.
So the next day comes and they pick me up and we go and watch softball. There I learn he is a softball coach and took senmaya junior high to the Japanese championships a couple years ago and won it all. He’s got a great pitching arm as well. Afterwards they take me out for lunch and buy me soba. Now I’m starting to feel a little uncomfortable with them paying for everything. But I go along with it.
So it’s now friday and he calls me up and asks me if I’d like to go out for dinner. I agree. We go to this great little place that make the best onigiri and streak. I was impressed. But then he paid for it again. I was very grateful. He’s even offered to show me around Japan anytime I want. I’m really happy about it, but at the same time, I’m feel like I’m imposing. Tonight, I was really tired and cut out after dinner. I felt bad about it, but I wanted to have a quiet night at home. I’m really happy to have made a new friend, but it’s kinda scarey as well. Mabye I will play it by ear and see how things go. The last thing I want to do is upset him. I’m the first foreigner he’s become friends with before, so I feel good that my role as an international spokesman is working, but I think my paranoia is coming through. The next time I hang out with him I’m just going to relax. But it’s interesting isn’t it? I think this guy has spend 100$ at least on me so far. I’m flatttered.
Other then that I have the weekend off, and then I have tuesday off. If anybody is up for coming to Iwate, I’ll but em a beer or two…^_^
Recommended game. Phantasy Star Collection for GBA. Three great classics. Pick it up.
So, I’ve got the next three days off. What am I going to do with them? Well, not a hell of a lot I guess. I do want to catch up on sleep, so I think I will do that…^_-. Mitsuya, a photography teacher, wants me to try paragliding. I’m not so sure about that one, but we’ll see. So I began my Volunteer english class at the Senmaya Comunity center. Here’s a shot list of some of the people in my class:
A buddist monk who speaks excellent english
A shodo expert.
A Woman who is going to Red Deer for a year to teach Japanese. I’m trying to get her to go to Edmonton, and then she can party with you guys…^_-
A second year high school student.
And a number of retired people who speak good english and want to learn more.
I believe this could be the most enjoyable part of my time in Japan. Teaching this class seems fun and I really feel like I’m helping out. Other then that, things are okay. I seem to have hit a road block with learning Japanese. I’m okay with more of the vocab, but I’m still trying to cram it all in. I’ll let you know how I’m doing. Anyways, I was at the senmaya mall this evening and I played a UFO catcher game. I won this doll:
Is that not just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. One of my lovely lady friends is going to get this little guy. Who yet? I don’t know. It’s a suprise. This is how the Japanese gamble I guess. I was playing this game and there was girl playing with me. I put in 100en and got it on the first try, she got it after 1000en. Funny how that works. Oh, here is a picture of Sarah, she is the other ALT in Senmaya. There are three of us. This is her third year, and she’s pretty awesome. Very helpful and enjoys to party.
That’s all for now. More updates to come.
Ok, here’s the scoop. I went to Kawasaki on Sunday and participated in what is know as the annual e-boat race. Now, what is an e-boat race? Well, you take 10 people, put them in a boat, and then it becomes a torpedo. Well at least it did in the second race. The first race was fine. We didn’t even finish last. But no, that wasn’t good enough for us. We wanted victory at any cost. So when the second race came, we took an early lead, but then I noticed that we weren’t going straight. We were crossing into the path of the other boats!!! Bam! was the sound I heard as we slammed into the first boat, however they were able to get around us and keep going. Then, Whoosh. Collision! We strike a boat straight in the side and it tilts and takes on water. At this point the team in the boat decide to abandon their hopes and head back to the dock. We however, want to at least finish, so we continue straight ahead and then after a while we make our way towards the dock. However, we are still going at full speed, and we slam into it. Ouch! We we came in last, but we took out an entire boat. Now that’s might! Here’s some pics of the crew:
Captain Chiba! Our leader for both races.
This is Ikukosan. This was her first race as well!
The guy sitting down is the big boss. He was aboard during the “Incident”!
Notice out flag in the last picture. We were, “Team Senmaya Education Office”. Weeeeee.
******BREAKING NEWS******
As of 5:37am on September the 3rd, Aislyn Akimi Stone was born to James and Melissa Stone, two good friends of mine here in Japan. I wish them the best with their brand new bundle of Joy, and I hope that at some point I will be able to visit this new happy familly. My love goes out to them and I wish them a happy recovery and best wishes. What a wonderful day this is!
Oh my god!!! I just found out that I’m going to be going to Hokkaido in October as part of a staff trip. Yes! It the first place I want to visit in Japan that’s not really close to my house. And I’m going. This is more then awesome. I can’t believe it. Sugoi! I don’t have any details yet, but I’ll put them here when I find out.
