The next day I did a scavenger hunt with some JETs around the area. This was a precursor to the welcoming party, and AJET put together a huge list of places to see and things to do all over Aomori prefecture.
Here is a shot of our team at Christ's Grave, in Shingo. Yes, people in this area believe that Jesus walked over to Japan (he can walk on water, so no story flaws yet) married a Japanese woman, had some children, and died of old age. Oh, that guy on the cross? His twin brother, who took one for the team. Don't believe me? Google it.
On the way back from Christ's grave, we passed by construction workers. But these weren't any normal construction workers, they had towels on their head! Score +40 points for this picture. What did we tell the construction worker in our (well, Erin's) Japanese? Something like "This is... event for towel-man. Picture. May we please take?"
Ok, Christ's Grave? Check. Towel-wearing Japanese person? Check. Dress up in yukkata (festival wear, which I ended up wearing all day and night). Check. Find the weirdest fashion? Here we are, these are two cosplayers . The thing that blew my mind was the fact that they were likely "in character." The girl on the left was being led around by the taller, powder-grey haired girl on the right. For example, the shorter girl stood docilely while we were taking the picture until the the girl with grey hair physically rotated her body in the correct direction and put her in the correct place. Click on the picture to get a much better view of what they looked like.
After a few more challenges completed, we finished up at the Statue of Liberty. Do you see it there in the background? Yeah, Japan took Ellis Island right from under the US's nose. What now?
Unfortunately, our team got last place in the scavenger hunt. But, we had so much on the way that it didn't really matter.
The welcome party was pretty good. It was in a ski resort that rents out their cabins during the off season for parties like ours. There were a good 80+ people there. Some people were drinking, others were bbqing, dancing, it was a lot of fun. There wasn't too much that happened there. Actually, around 6 in the morning, some guy came into our cabin and was like "who took my pillow! Whoever it is needs to give it back now!" A lot of people slept right through it, I sort of woke up, looked at him and gave him the peace signal, and lay back down. He mumbled something and left.
This week I've been teaching English a lot more. Would you like to see a picture of my students?
Yes, they are ridiculously adorable. And yes, they can be yours for the small price of getting paid to teach English. Also, note the baller in the top left kamehameha'ing.
I think that's about it for the weekend. This coming weekend I plan on hiking and camping Mount Hashikami (sp?). It's a national holiday on Monday, so we get the day off. Woo!
This week in Random Japan:
A long time ago, when I didn't have a car, ok, well, two weeks ago, I took a bus to visit friends in Gonohe. The bus cost around 800 Yen, I payed with a 1,000 Yen note, got my change, and was on my way. Well, I'm walking down the street and suddenly the bus driver runs out and gets my attention. I don't understand a single thing he's saying, but he hands me my 1,000 Yen note back and runs away! Ladies and Gentlement, Japan paid me 200 Yen to take the bus.
1 comment:
GOD, how is this possible!? That means I could just make a living in Japan by taking the bus everyday? ;-P
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