Let`s Enjoying School Trips!

Post XIX

 A little while ago I went on the world`s most Japanese school trip. First, we visited a disaster prevention center, where we learned about how to cope with various disasters. There was a bunch of simulator rooms, which were all great fun, and some were actually quite scary (for example the earthquake simulator, which the kids insisted be set to the highest level, of course). 

After that, we went to the traffic flow control center to learn about traffic lights and other such things. It was probably the most boring two hours of my life to date, and the building was so hot that I just wanted to pass out. But, there was one highlight when a security guard crept up to me and whispered: "Hello, where are you from?" I said, the UK. He then said, "Ah. UK traffic lights, same?" to which I told him they weren`t. At which point he thanked me and walked away. I am sure this is not true, but it seemed like he had been waiting for some time for the chance to ask that question to someone. He could have used the internet, but I was glad to put an end to his anticipation. 

 Then we had lunch. This was the highlight of my day for two reasons. First, Japanese mums pull out all the stops to make sure their child has the cutest lunch. Second, every kid has more sweets that I could eat in an entire week, and they were fighting over giving me some! The bento boxes all had really cute food in them, and one mum even made a Kirby out of rice!!

 They were all so cool, and the sweets were awesome too. I was eating things that I hadn`t even seen in Japan yet, so who knows where they find all of these things! 

 After lunch we went to the local landscape garden which is very beautiful. I pretended to push one of the kids (one of the little “jokers”) in the water when he was feeding Koi, and he jumped out of his skin! He looked at me and said “Sensei not funny!!” which just made it even more funny for me. Of course, he saw the funny side, and appreciated that I was pulling pranks on him for a change. Then we had a tea ceremony, and headed home. On the ferry we bumped in to some of the younger kids who had also had their day out. Then began an hour of me being a fair ground attraction. Japanese kids, hyped up on sugar, were jumping all over me, wanting to be carried, spun around, thrown, chased, lifted, dragged and all kinds of other things. It was great fun, but absolutely exhausting.

Kidnapped in Japan

Post XVIII 

So last weekend was rather bizarre. I`ll set the scene. It had been a long week, and I was knackered, so decided I wouldn’t take the ferry to have drinks with my friends. Instead, I would cook a meal, have a beer, and read a book. I kept putting off cooking because I couldn`t be bothered, so I just sat reading and drinking, and all of a sudden it was around 8.30. I thought, I`ll get cooking now or else I`ll eat really late. So there I was, cooking away, and the doorbell goes. Now, the Japanese aren`t ones to disturb you late unless it`s important, so I wondered who it could be. I opened the door and there stood a lady whom I didn`t recognize. She started rambling at me in rapid Japanese. I could understand that she was saying that she was my neighbor. She asked if I had eaten, and I said no, but that I was cooking now. She said, no no its ok, you can eat at the bar. I was in my pajyamas so I insisted that I should change, she replied that I looked fine and that I didn`t need to worry. I just about managed to convince her I should at least turn off my gas, so I nipped inside (and quickly chucked on some trousers) and there I was being dragged out of the house to the only bar on the island. 

 She knew about 10 English words, but nonetheless we could hold a minimal conversation. She insisted she was my Japanese mother, and that I should frequently eat at her house, and so on. She bought me a plethora of drinks, and we played darts, and it was just generally a bizarre evening. 

 On the way home, she “boinked” me on the penis. I can think of a better word to describe it. It was like an exaggerated and comical pat with the palm of her hand, followed by the most childish outcry of laughter you have ever heard from a 60 odd year old woman. I suppose she was curious. It marked the end of an absolutely bizarre kidnapping and night out, that was actually surprisingly fun. After, I couldn’t help but ponder over the “boink” for a little while. I thought to myself, if it was an old Japanese man “boinking” a young girl on her tits, that would be completely inappropriate. Perhaps what she did to me was inappropriate too, but I guess I have got so used to all manners of attempted sexual assaults at school that I have just come to expect it. This is one of the Japan-isms that many foreigners draw the line at – the obsession, between same sexes, to attempt to sexually touch their peers (and teachers). Now, I think I don’t really have a problem with it as there is no sexual intent whatsoever, it is playful. Just like in English schools, we have “bundles” where one boy is piled on top of by all of his peers, the Japanese have “Kancho” where they try to grab your man parts, or sometimes worse…. Also, I have become a ninja at deflecting their attempts, so they rarely succeed. What`s more, my children don`t seem to try to kancho me as often as my friends kids try to kancho them.

 In any case, whether you see it as a playful part of Japanese childhood, or a fundamental flaw in how children are allowed to behave at school, it is still going to happen. I try to just be as little of a kill joy as possible, but I can understand why it can be a source of discomfort for foreigners working in Japan, too.

Heavy lifting

Post VXII 

 I have had a pretty crazy 4 days. The last two are completely boring, I had 7 demonstration lessons – more than the average ALT has in a year – which were just so draining, mainly because of all the lengthy meetings that go with them. But, at the weekend before the working onslaught I carried a Japanese portable (and I use portable very liberally here, as they weight just under three tones) shrine, known as a Mikoshi (みこし). I carried it for 2 2 hour stints, on Saturday and Sunday. So 8 hours in total. It was amazing! On the first day, it wasn`t actually a shrine, but a `portable` taiko drum (Japanese war drum). The people carrying it were some of the younger and more boisterous islanders, some of whom I have gotten to know through drinking and so on – in fact I was invited to carry it by the owner of a café I often drink at. Before we carried it, we all drank Shinto `holy water` - and lots of it. Of course, it was actually just Sake, which meant that some of the Japanese people were rather merry by the time we got to carrying it. Slightly worrying seeing as you are relying on everyone to pull their weight and not fall over. 

The style of carrying also involved a lot of bouncing up and down, and running down the street, both of which were a mixture of extremely exciting and extremely terrifying. But, it was a great party, and afterwards we went back to the café and all got extremely drunk. I went to bed, knowing I was going to wake up rotten hung over, knowing that I had to be up at 7am, and knowing that I would be carrying three tones of shrine again in the morning. My shoulders were in absolute agony, and the thought of doing it again made me feel sick (or maybe that was the drink). But, I decided to force myself to do it and I am glad that I did. The second day was much more like a ceremony. I wore a special ceremonial white robe and hat, and carried a beautifully ornate Mikoshi complete with God inside. We took the God (no one really knew which God) to chill out in the town, and just generally carried him/her for a few hours. I was given a huge bento for lunch, complete with beers, which was the perfect reward for the hard manual labour of carrying this thing! It was an absolutely unique experience, and one that I am very glad that I had, even if my body is absolutely knackered, sore, bruised and blistered. Looking forward to carrying it again next year!!

I take it all back....

I feel as though I need to retract my last post. Last night, when walking back to a friends house I fell in to what's known as a gaijin trap, or, foreigner trap. They are wide open drains by the side of the road. It was just under 5ft deep. I grazed my arm to shit, I am pretty sure I have broken a rib, and I just generally feel like a bit of a mug! Ah well. Stiff upper lip and all that.....

がいじん no more

Post XVI

Today I want to Okayama again (have I told the blog I have been already? Who knows. In case not, Okayama is fairly near me and is pretty awesome). I bought the new 3ds and super smash bros. Good bye what little free time I have!! So I am pretty excited about getting home. I also bought a tea set, which rather sadly I am equally excited about (a sign of aging perhaps???). 

Speaking of tea I popped in to a really nice looking antique shop, treating it more like a museum than having any intention to buy, knowing that it would be extortionately expensive. When I entered the shop I was greeted by the owner who began speaking to me in rapid Japanese. I asked him to slow down, and then realised he was offering me tea. Too polite to turn down is offer, I accepted, and was lead in to a small room crammed full of antiques with two benches facing opposite each other. Tea was poured and I was forced in to a very difficult conversation in Japanese. Much of what the man said went over my head, and I continually apologised for my terrible Japanese, but none the less we exchanged words for about 10 minutes until I exhoisted my Japanese vocabulary. I was then praised for my speaking ability (laughable if you had heard how bad it was), and got up and left. It was a lovely piece of Japanese hospitality, but what I enjoyed the most is that he recognised immediately that I was not a tourist. His imprinting statement was 'you live near here, right?' . So that made me feel chuffed. Perhaps I have finally stopped bumbling around like some clumsy Gaijin and started to fit in a bit more, even if my japanese does suck.

Tokushima Yu Ka Wai

Post XV 

I had a little excursion recently, to Tokushima, which is known for its natural beauty and remoteness. And god was it remote. We had planned to eat in the town, `Oboke`, once we got off the train, but there wasn`t a single restaurant. It was like the express train had just stopped at some arbitrary location along its tracks and let us off. It was very strange indeed.

Fortunately I recognized the Kanji for `Bashi ` which meant we hopped on a bus, heading for Kazurabashi, hopeful that we would find the Ryokan (Japanese guest house) on the way. Luckily the bus announcement was very clear, and the bus stopped right outside the Ryokan, so it was all relatively stress free. When we got there, the names of the people checking in were written in the entrance hall. The person checking in after me was called Yu Ka Wai. Which when read, sounds like “You Kawaii”, which is a Japanese word for super cute and awesome. 

 We had a couple of hours before we had to check in, so we went on a food hunt. We walked for about 40 minutes, following a hand drawn map, to no avail, so we headed back to the hotel. It then turned out that right next door to the hotel in the other direction from which we had walked, there was a small gift shop that also sold soba noodles. Typical, I suppose, but the walk was really nice and we had a great view of Oboke gorge and the river which name escapes me, perhaps the Iya river but I might be wrong. 

 Then, we basically had two days of Onsen! There was a range of outside and inside baths, but the most beautiful one by far was the Kazurabashi Onsen, which was up a cable car, and was just fantastic (I`ll try to put a picture on the blog post too!). Kazurabashi also has a very famous vine bridge, which we crossed and was terrifying! All in all, pretty nice weekend. I`ve put a link to a travel video of the weekend which was made by a Japanese iPhone app. The result is pretty hilarious but you`ll also get the idea of the beautiful scenery!

 http://magis.to/en4jAUxAA1kzLiEHDmEwCXh4

10 days worth of updates.... well at least the main parts

                                            Post XIV

 I cannot believe it has been 10 days since I last wrote on the Blog. I guess not having internet in the house has kind of made me forget that it exists. I find it surprising how little I miss the internet. Considering how much time we all spend on the bloody thing, one would think that you might not know what to do with yourself without it. But, that has not been the case really. I have barely even noticed not having it. It means contacting the family is a massive pain, but actually sending a letter is like 100 Yen (60p) so that’s the best way to stay in contact if I am honest. Might cancel the internet altogether (I would have to send A LOT of letters in a month to rack up a 5000 Yen bill in stamps – what I am currently paying for internet). But, at the same time, I really want to keep up the blog, as much for myself as for any readers that might happen to give it some time. So, I will decide about the internet later.

 So what have I done of late? Well, my student had her speech contest. It’s a very strange phenomenon the speech contest, and there seems to be two strategies: recite good English, or, recite bad English but cover it up by being extremely enthusiastic. A bit like the Eurovision song contest, it seemed less about the quality, and more about the performance. Which is a great shame as it meant that my student, who speaks extremely well but who is rather shy, didn’t place in the top three. Despite confidence building exercises, she just felt too uncomfortable with big gestures and smiles, and so, despite her near perfect speaking, she was overshadowed by the extra energetic students. I am still so so proud of her, and she has come an extremely long way since I met her (all down to me of course………..) and she has a lot to be proud of too. Not many people would have the confidence to speak a foreign language for 5 minutes, whilst being judged, to a room full of people at just 12 years old. I’ll also miss the practice sessions themselves, weirdly, as it was a great time to goof around and make a fool out of myself, and really try and help her to realise that the most important part of the contest was just to enjoy it.

 Other than that, I played a gig with some of my teachers at the island music festival. It was a good laugh actually, though we played really cheesy JPOP songs which probably didn’t do my ‘street cred’ much good. The kids liked it though. A bunch of the kids had various performances too, and so did a lot of factory workers, which meant that the festival was a miss-match of thrash punk, JPOP, Jazz Dance, Hula and acoustic Bruce Springsteen covers in hybrid Japanese/English. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this al got a bit much by around 4 so I went for an Onsen again. The Onsen on the island is interesting because it always has tourists (Japanese and otherwise) in it, which means it doesn’t have a ‘locals only’ type of feel to it which they often do. It also means that there are often people who want to talk to you. I find it very strange that once you are naked, everyone is perfectly comfortable to speak to strangers, foreigners and so on. The conversations are often similar, but it’s always nice to meet new people.


 I’ve also been to Okayama, which is a city with a castle, cool garden, and a shit ton of skate shops, guitar shops, second hand shops etc. Really cool little place and I’ll definitely be going back frequently as it is not too far from me!

 Well all of that was a bit of a stream of consciousness, but I don’t really have the energy to check it. I hope it’s remotely comprehensible, but perhaps not. I wanted to fill people in on what’s been happening, and though I have missed a lot of things out, I think the post is way too long as it is. So, to sum up, I’ll end with a cliché hope that I can post more frequently etc etc, and I think this week should be less busy than average, so perhaps I actually can post more frequently this week….

A quiet afternoon at school, and time to share some thoughts

                        Post XIII

Still no internet, but I don’t mind. I have been really busy at work and also socialising with the teachers so I have barely been home anyway. The workload is rather relentless, but the work is also rewarding so I don’t mind. My only issue is that sometimes I have very little to do during the school day, but once school finishes and I should be going home, all of a sudden I am given a million things to do. But yeah, I guess I have to fit myself in around the Japanese teachers schedule because they are significantly more busy than me. 

School lunch is always the hardest part of my day. I have eaten things that taste gross, things I didn’t even know were eaten, and things that the very concept of is gross. Example: the theme of one meal was “mother and child”. Which meant that we had an egg and chicken rice dish, served next to three whole fish about 4 inches long. I don’t like eating whole fish, but I have gotten used to it so I was like “fuck it” and just cracked on. After biting in to it, I quickly realised that the fish was very heavily pregnant, because it was full of tiny eggs. This is without a doubt the most disgusting thing CONCEPTUALLY I have ever eaten, but actually it didn’t taste that bad I have to say.

 Lunch is often quite fun too, there was this one kid goofing around who stole one of the other kids muffin and refused to give it back. I have like zero authority over the kids because I goof around as much as they do, so instead I offered the other kid “my” muffin. The little joker who stole the muffin’s face instantly washed out. You could see that he was thinking: Oh shit, sensei doesn’t realise I am joking and thinks I have actually stolen the kid’s muffin. He promptly returned the child his muffin, and gave mine back to me, with a look that said “alright kill joy” on his face. Then, he suddenly realised that I had two muffins. Then, it clicked that I had sneakily stolen his muffin, pretended to be offering my own to the child, but all the while offering the little jokers muffin. The look on his face when he realised he has been beaten at his own game was priceless.

 I also had my first Nabe party. You all cook a stew together on the kitchen table, and just continuously add food and drink beer until you can eat and drink no more. So that was pretty awesome. So much so I think I will buy a Nabe pot in time for winter. Other than that, it’s been practicing for the music festival, training my speech contest student for tomorrow, keeping half an eye on Scottish independence, sleeping whenever I get the chance, and parties. I often think “I wish I had more time”, but then I think to myself, well I am already just doing all the stuff I want to do anyway, so what would I even do with the extra time?

Little update

                 Post XII and a half

Today I showed my secondary school kids some of my Pokemon cards. They found them really interesting, but it turns out the cards were older than the kids. Holy fuck did that make me feel old!!  

I still have no internet, because the hotline for setting it up closes at 6, and I have rarely left school earlier than half 6 at the moment because of demonstration lessons coming up (a bit like ofsted in Britain). 

Also I am now in a band with some of the other teachers. We are called 'raw power' and we are going to play anime songs and Disney covers at a small festival on the island. The irony was lost on the teachers, unfortunately but unsurprisingly I guess...

First Week at School

                         Post XII 

Wow it’s been a while since I managed to sit down and actually write a post. I have lacked motivation actually because my internet has run out, so I knew I would have to type it up in MS word, take it to school and then upload it – which all seemed like a bit of a faff. But, it has been an interesting week and I finally have some time so I thought its worth sitting down and typing away. 

This week has been my first week of teaching. First thing Monday morning; kindergarten. From 2 years old to 5 years old. So damn cute! But fuck do these kids have energy! Also, none of the kindergarten teachers speak English so I had to completely wing it – which seemed to go ok. They can’t get enough of high fives, they will literally do it until they are told to stop. I also experienced the two extremes of affection. One kid just continually hugged me, another, too shy to give me a high five, instead punched me as hard as she could in my stomach. Fortunately she was 4 so it didn’t hurt, and it seemed to release her fear-of-foreigner tension, because after that she was quite happy to high five like all the other kids. As soon as it began, so it was over. I was back behind a desk at Junior high. Then all of a sudden, and Amazon delivery man appeared at the school asking for me. I signed and paid for my parcel (in Japan paying online for things doesn’t really happen, so Amazon offer a ‘cash on delivery’ option). Now, I had not put the schools address anywhere on my Amazon page. This delivery guy must have gone to my house, realised I wasn’t in, and then asked people where I would be, before tracking me down and making sure I got my parcel. In the UK, Amazon sometimes leave a ‘sorry we missed you’ not when you are in the fucking house!! I don’t know why I was so surprised, it’s not so hard to track down a foreign person living on a tiny island, but still – it was cool. 

I then met all the other kids, and I could go on and on with little stories about them but it would maybe get repetitive for you. Basically there is a wide mix of them, but they are all really cute and interesting! School lunch, however, has been the most difficult thing to understand. I have mucked it up 5 days in a row now. Firstly, all the kids eat in the classroom together, and all help to dish up the food. The food itself has been hit and miss. Well, it has always been prepaired well, but sometimes I have had to force down food that I would not usually eat. Ever. Like fried small whole fish and egg soup – that meal really was a struggle! But, if I made it through that alive, it can’t get any worse (it bloody better not anyway). Once they finish, this hilarious song comes on and all the kids brush their teeth. It really is quite a spectacle and I spend the entire 3 minutes trying to hold in my laughter. I have to look away because if I watch them for too long I just can’t help but laugh – it’s just so surreal! 

Then, we all go outside and I play a mixture of football with the older kids (who can talk to me), and them some game that I don’t really understand with the younger kids where I think basically I am some sort of monster they have to catch. So that just consists in me running away from a hoard of kids for 20 mins in the 30 degree mid-day sun! So as you can imagine it’s pretty tiring! All of this tom-foolery is over by half 1 and then it’s back to class – drenched in sweat and bright red (not a good look). I tend to recover about halfway through the class, get some energy back and continue to goof around and generally try to keep the kids engaged. Meetings and various other things keep me occupied till around 6, and then, after my 11 hour day, I come home and have a cold beer. Very tiring work, but already very rewarding and fun even though the kids barely know me! I look forward to more if I can maintain my energy levels….

Mundane Post About Japanese Prices

Post X

I do not get Japanese pricing. It makes no sense. Some, seemingly random, stuff is really expensive, and other things are so cheap! So here is a quick list of stuff that is really cheap, and stuff that is crazy expensive:

Cheap stuff!

1.) Udon noodles... I have never paid more the 3 quid (500 yen), and quite often pay half that, for a delicious bowl of steamy noodles, and that is including the meat noodles. Now I hear in a fancy place you might pay 800yen (a fiver!).... but yeah, so so cheap it is silly.

2.) Eating out in general. Can comfortably eat out with a beer for less that 7 quid. I have been to three places that have offered all you can eat and drink (no time limit) for less that 18 quid.

3.) Whiskey. Japanese and some scotch, are about 6 quid for a litre (Johnnie Walker Red label, eg, or some of the cheaper Japanese whiskey like Suntory's cheap one). It is worth saying now, that it is also 6 quid for a box of spam. And yes, I am serious. I have never eaten spam in my life (thank god), and it cracked me up so much when I saw it priced at like 700 yen!! Crazy.

4.) Buses. So the bus I have got a few times now is supposed to be 100 yen (60 pence). But, I am yet to discover how you actually pay so never have. And I have also never seen any Japanese people pay either. So in my book that makes it free, which is very good value!

5.) CD's. New CD's won’t cost you more than 6 quid (rather than the UK's 12 quid)

6.) Bike rental. 60 pence for 6 hours!

Expensive stuff.

1.) Spam. As already mentioned.

2.) Cereal. It is about 5 quid a box!!!!! I also saw a box of Dorset cereals muesli for 1500 yen. That’s nearly a tenner! Laughable.

3.) Beer. I have bitched about this before. 330ml cans for over a pound a pop is a joke. Even if you bulk buy, its still very expensive. What’s worse, these stupid 330ml cans go down in 2 or 3 mouthfuls..... Quickest way to waste money.

4.) Apples. Even Japanese apples, which are like a hybrid of a pears and apples and are really tastey, are about a quid for one!!

5.) Cheese. Real cheese. About 25 pounds per Kilo. Yikes. Haven't cracked and bought any yet.

6.) Gas! Gas is all done by canisters (because of earthquakes they can’t have pipes). And that means it is VERY expensive. No hot showers for me!


That's all I can think of for now.... But I just don’t understand why some stuff is so cheap and some random things are really pricey!

More English tag lines!

Post IX (and a half) 

Another great English tag line. Your guess is as good as mine as to what this is meant to mean .....

Culinary Escapades

Post IX

So today I went for dinner. I have been very lucky and been invited in to many of the residents homes – and I must say they are invariably beautiful inside. Today though, unlike when I went to the mayors house where they prepaired a very western-friendly meal of steak and tempura, I ate the most traditional Japanese food I have had so far. I must admit I was nervous. When I looked at the spread,  sea bream sashimi was the least adventurous looking thing. Yeah, LEAST adventurous. Now, sashimi is already on the adventurous end of my personal spectrum, so I thought to myself: oh god, this is going to be tough. Now, I suggest you get comfortable, whilst I walk you through my culinary escapades.

First up, sashimi. Yellow fin and seam bream. Both prepared expertly by the local resident, and absolutely delicious. Maybe it’s worth mentioning at the outset that this was not a dinner party per se, but rather us being fed. I have no problem with that, and it was very nice, but it was my first experience of eating in that manner. Next up, mystery fish stew. This was a whole fish, roughly diced up in some kind of sauce (head and all). To the eye, it provoked fear. But, to the taste, it was a lovely meaty white fish, in a very delicious (cold) broth. Mind you, it was a bit fiddly to eat – picking out the meat from inbetween the bones with chopsticks was certainly a stretch of my chopstick abilities. Next, more mystery fish. This time, it looked boiled, again cold, and again delicious. It was almost pink looking with an exotic looking tail (can you tell I am not used to eating fish?). Then, and closer to familiar, sushi. Not a sushi roll, but a big slab of rice topped with ginger, octopus, sea bream and prawn. Everything but the prawn I managed to eat, and though this was not as nice as the other fish dishes, it was still nicer than I had anticipated. Finally, Fugu. Now, you’re probably thinking ‘Fugu, hmmm now why have I heard of that before?’ Well I’ll tell you. It’s because it is that seriously poisonous puffer fish from that Simpsons episode that nearly kills homer. THAT’S WHY. I had made a promise to myself before leaving to never try Fugu – it always seemed like a pointless adrenaline junky type thing to eat, and not being overly keen on fish, it didn’t seem worth risking my life for. But, the urge to be polite overcame me and I ate it. It was deep fried, and tasted almost like chicken (not in the cliché sense, but it really is almost exactly the same as chicken, but a nicer texture). And so far, my nervouse system hasn’t started to slowly shut down whilst I remain conscious so perhaps it is safe to say that I have not been poisoned. Though, perhaps that will change later, in which case this is my last blog post! But yeah, not something I will eat again in a hurry, though it was very tasty.

All in all the meal was delightful, and I ate more fish in a single night then I have in my entire life (I am not exaggerating). So, moral of the story, just eat everything and sometimes you will be surprised.

On a lighter, but still food related, note I want to share some of my favourite taglines from Omiyage. For those who don’t know, omiyage is a small gift (usually a biscuit) from a specific area of Japan, that colleagues buy for each other when they go on vacation. As its summer, I have accumulated a fair few. Here are my favourite English taglines:

1.)    This sable, made with the finest ingredients, tastes really good! It surly will make your tea break happy and wonderful!

2.)    A delicious financier was made. Please spend happy time.

3.)    White chocolate sand.

     

BBQs and Squishing Innocent Creatures for Fun

Post VIII

Today I had a BBQ. Japanese style. Unlike England, when one macho man (often myself, it has to be admitted) takes control of the fire, and the cooking, and feeds all his guests, in Japan; literally everyone huddles around the BBQ cooking small pieces of meat. You then take them straight off the BBQ and eat them. This is a pretty cool way to eat, but at the same time, you are flipping raw meat with the same chopsticks you then eat from - which goes against every BBQ handbook there ever was. Again, though it was against my instincts, I just rolled with it, and here’s to hoping I am not as sick as a dog tomorrow.

Other than the food, the BBQ was pretty fun. I had a race with the PE teacher because I thought I could take him... It was close, but he won, which was annoying. But then I out-drank him so I guess that’s some kind of (very sad) victory. I also saw my first ever shooting star. The skies are so clear and I was watching the sky, and it just shot across. So that was pretty awesome.

Today was actually my second beach BBQ since getting here. The first was last weekend, when we ate some Yaki Soba and Niku (meat) by the beach and waited for the sun to go down, and then went to the pier (and by we, I mean most of the town) to catch some Umihotaru. Now, these are best described as 'sea fireflies', but they glow electric blue. There is no word for them in English. We all stood on the pier and caught them, and then proceeded to squish them on the pier, and spread their glowing bodies all over the place. Sounds pretty gross right? And yeah it is, killing innocent creatures and what not, but the end result is very beautiful! The children also like to stick them to their shoes so that they leave glowing footprints. That said, I preferred seeing the alive ones swimming though they rarely come to the surface. Still, pretty awesome experience even if it was a bit uncomfortable killing fish just because they looked cool.

All in all a pretty nice week, though I feel a bit 'in demand' at work and so am very tired, I keep putting the effort in - especially with my speech contest girl who is lovely - and I am still very positive! I think it will be interesting to read back over my blog and try to track my mood, and plot exactly when I start to get overwhelmed by everything and find it frustrating. Let's hope it never happens, because for now, I am having many challenging but rewarding experiences every day. So let's hope that continues at least for a little while!

Udon

Post VII (and a half)

No matter how many times I order it, and how delicious it is, I will never feel fully comfortable asking for ‘Bukakke udon’.... For those who don’t know why, let’s just say that in this regard, perhaps ignorance is bliss.