2 Weeks' Worth Laundry List

Ok, because I missed last week's entry, I'm just going to do a laundry list more for my memory than for your entertainment. Sorry about this, but there's just too much to write and not enough time for me to study Japanese if I write it. So, without further ado.

Two weeks ago Saturday (15th):

• Went to the salmon festival in Oirase with Tina and Natalie. We had salmon nabe with special miso sauce. Afterwards, we walked around all of the cool salmon-inspired things.
• We met up with Grahame, who was working the festival.
• I caught a salmon with my bare hands in the salmon-catch. Afterwards, I paid 300 yen and they cut and cleaned it.
• Existential crisis about killing an animal, don't get me started again.
• We went to the sports store, then my apartment, and met up with Erin.
• Off to Gonohe! We pick up Seth and drive to zazen meditation in Shichinohe.
• We get there right on time, meditate, and have an awesome meal afterwards.
• Back home!

Sunday (16th):

• That fish-market in Hachinohe for lunch.
• Home Center Sunday/Pia Do/Yamada Denki for various shopping stuff.
• French dessert cafe for pre-dinner dessert.
• Yakiniku place for dinner.
• Home to begin the Week again

This past week was the Mid-year seminar. Thursday I got on the train with my supervisor, ran into the other Hach JETs, and seminar'd it up.

My supervisor decided to get a hotel as far away from the seminar as possible. So a 45 minute walk in the snow later, we made it to our hotel. In order to get to the talent show that night, I walked the 45 minutes back to the main street, near the ASPAM building.

The talent show was awesome! I played waiter for a little bit, getting drinks out to everyone. Hands-down, the best talent of the night was Sam dancing to Daft Punk. He wrote the words on his clothes, and by the end of the song, he was moving in a synchronized motion and the words on his body matched with the words in the song. There was a katana demonstration as well, and, the 2nd best talent and best auction for the night was the Rokkasho crew. Normally, their performance wouldn't be so good, but conditions were perfect. It was the end of the night, people were drunk, including the performers, and something crazy had to happen.

After rowing themselves onstage with their makeshift didgeridoos , they proceeded to sing "didgeridoo" into their cardboard tubes. They actually had some cool sort of thing going. Then, the missing Rokkashite (that's what they call themselves) showed up, hitting a small drum-thing and making tribal screeches. It was weird. It was quirky. It was hilarious.

They then auctioned themselves (for the night was both a service auction and a talent show). Of course, when you are drunk, you'll say many things. "We will build you an igloo. Then, we will cook you a 4 course meal inside the igloo, while we play a movie on the ceiling of the igloo. We will find penguins and populate the igloo for your enjoyment. We will do this all shirtless and singing."

How much does such a believable feat go for? 900 dollars. Yep, a group of 4 bought them for 900. Yeah.

Speaking of which, yours truly got $250 for karate and massage lessons.

Afterwards, I then proceeded to walk the 45 minutes to the hotel and passed out.

Friday (21st)

• Went to more seminars.
• Went home.
• Exciting eh?

Saturday (22nd)

• Met up with office at 8:30 for the trip.
• The first drink was popped open at 8:37 AM, and they continued to drink on the bus during the entire day.
• We arrive at a museum of things. Yes, you can tell how much I like old pottery, especially when my only explanation is 亜非ンジャ　(these kanji may not load on your computer, and I just typed them randomly, so I have no idea what they mean).
• Teppanyaki lunch.
• Walk up to an old temple area. I saw a 1000 year old mini-temple made all of gold. It was wicked cool.
• Back on the bus for more drinks and a drive to a museum of an old school near Sendai.
• Over to a really nice hotel.
• Do I really need to onsen with you guys? Ugh, I'll hide in the corner.
• Change and just in time for the main event. Drinking dinner and a set meal.
• Everyone is getting plastered around me. This is sort of funny.
• You guys are pretty cool, and now that I can speak basic Japanese, this is sort of fun.
• Ah, the 1 guy makes a fool of himself at the karaoke. No, Tanaka-san, I will NOT sing for the office! Stop asking me.
• Bedtime? No, not yet, it's time for us to see a chinese acrobat show! These middle and high-school girls are really talented. I didn't think humans could do such things, I'll try and put a picture up.
• Bedtime yet? No, time for us to get Ramen.
• Bedtime yet? No, time for me to walk around the hotel and see what there is. Hint, not much at all.
• Bedtime, how about now? No, I went to room 1411 to watch the guys play Mahjong, drink, and smoke. I felt like one of the guys. You know, the deaf and mute one who just sits and does nothing.
• Ok, finally bedtime. Oh wait, these rooms hold 5 people on futons. And, my supervisor snores.

Sunday (23rd)

• Let's wake up before the sunrise and see it rise beautifully!
• After breakfast, it's time to leave...only to go to the shark marketplace!
• Ok, goodbye shark place, and now, to the sake distillery.
• Woohoo, lots of sake and a good lunch at this olde-fashioned place. Very cool, but wow, you guys really like to drink.
• How much do they like to drink? Enough to go to the winery right after the sake distillery. Yep. I did buy myself a nice bottle of wine afterwards though.
• Ok, you all found out that I'm going to a jazz concert afterwards and might not make it on time. I really don't want to cause a fuss, so please, stop offering to drive me when we get back, I'll just take the bus.
• Ok Tanaka-san, thanks for the ride. You have a really cool family.
• Hey, Jazz concert, very fun.
• Hey, I could still go for a few drinks, you interested? Yes? Ok, if you say this is a good pizza place, let's go!
• Taxi, please, take me back to Shiriuchimachi post-haste!

Monday, the day off:

• Went with Paul for all you can eat Yakiniku. We got our money's worth.
• Random errands, including changing my tires.
• Cleaning, trying to pry myself away from the piano.
• Oyasuminasai.

And now to study Japanese.

Dracula, Bowling, the Surprise Enkai (Beef), and Okonomiyaki

So I taught with flamboyant Dracula today. Aside from the fact that his English sounded like Dracula, he carried himself in a vaguely vampiric and effeminate way. He also had shaved the hair off his hands, I could tell from the hand-stubble. Japanese people are really hairy, so I could understand his desire to do such a thing...but don't let the stubble grow out. I think it's a common feeling that a 5 o'clock shadow should only be on your face.

The funny thing about Dracula is that he's a great teacher. He was extremely energetic, and it was so infectious that the kids were rapt with attention. They actually enjoyed learning English. Hell, I would too if my teachers were like him.

Sidenote: There’s a woman who came in to speak with one of the administrators in my office, and her 1 year old child is wearing a pair of pants that say “relish” on the butt.

Now I’ll recount what I did last weekend, both for my own record-keeping and also for your enjoyment.

Friday night I went with a friend to buy heating things for my apartment. Right now the inside of my apartment is pretty cold, and it will only get colder. I’ve already broken out the electric blanket for my bed, but now it’s time for more drastic measures. I already own a heating carpet, and soon I’ll be buying a kotatsu heater. A kotatsu is a table with an electric heater underneath it. You put a blanket or futon on top, and then climb on underneath. Even though it only heats the bottom half of your body, it is a great, low-cost way to stay warm in under-insulated apartments. Friday night I bought some plastic wrap made to cover your windows, adding another layer of insulation. Since there are 2 huge windows above my bed, I really needed the insulation.

Ok, enough about me being cold and trying to protect myself. After buying winter things, we went to a Ramen shop for dinner, and then bowling down in Downtown Hach. At the bowling arena, Tina, Wade, Paul, Erin, and I had a battle of fate! The strikes and spares were flying, the points were climbing higher and higher. But alas, at the last frame, only two remained, me vs. Tina.

Now, I’ll give you an insider’s look at my strategy. See, when things get close, such as in this baseball game, I sell my soul to the devil (or any other pagan god/demi-god that pops into my mind) in order to secure my victory.

Funny thing about the devil and his sense of humour*, I lost by 3 pins! Game 2 was a little better and I won by a good margin.

*Please note my British spelling of humour, which is about a million times better than your pitiful spelling of “humor.”

After the epic bowling, we were at a loss of what to do. Where shall we go? What should we do with all of our spare time? Karaoke? Nah. Izakaaya? I can’t drink because I’m driving. Arcade attached to the bowling alley? Sweet as*. I only played the best game ever, the Taiko drum game. There was a 4 player shooting game that we tried as well, with huge fake assault rifles and a terribly stereotyped American Army backdrop, but Taiko was the best. Oh, and also the purikura.

*Please note my use of kiwi slang “sweet as.” In the words of my flatmate from New Zealand, who happens to be kiwi as: “It’s not `sweet,` it’s `sweet-as.`”

Unfortunately, the building was shutting down, and it was time for us to go home. I dropped everyone off and slept very well that night.

Saturday I had a surprise enkai (office-party). The head-boss is leaving, and this lunch was a good-bye party for him. Why was it a surprise? They didn’t tell my until Friday afternoon. Thanks guys, I guess brevity’s your thing (10 yen to anyone who guesses the movie that’s spun off from). Not quite proper use of brevity, but I wanted to include it anyways.

So, at 12 we got into 2 cars and drove to Takko town, famous for it’s garlic and beef (check my earlier post of the garlic and beef festival I went to). We went to a yakiniku restaurant (you grill your own slices of meat with your pals) and began to drink our beer, wine, sake, all while eating some of the best, tenderest meet I’ve ever had. There was also some surprise meat there too, like the cow-tongue and something from “the inside of the body, like the stomach.”

Speaking of surprise beef, I was turning over some slices of beef (with my chopsticks, of course) and flame spat up, which caused my to fling the slice (keep in mind these are all bite-sized, chopstick friendly slices) into the air. Where else does it land but my vice-principal’s lap. Despite the shock and horror on my face, my vice-principal only looked at it through his beer goggles, and in a big voice said “BIKURI GYUUNIKU!” (SURPRISE BEEF!). If only he ate it, then it would’ve been the single most hilarious thing I’ve seen in Japan.

After the enkai, we daiko’d it back to Hachinohe, and I walked to my apartment. At this point, I just collapsed on the bed. I woke up an hour later, just in time to meet up with Seth and drive to Ariel’s birthday dinner. At this point, I felt sort of sick from stuffing myself with the beer and beef, but I went ahead anyways.

Dinner was at the one and only Bon. Only four of us were able to go that night, so Seth, Erin, Ariel, and I were there. We even got the comfy kotatsu table on the first floor, which I’ve been eyeing ever since I’ve been to Bon. We had a lot of cool conversation, and I’m really glad I decided to go, because after awhile, I began to feel a lot better. Just in time for Kappa’s delicious seafood everything stew.

Afterwards, we went to a café, hung out for awhile more, and then returned to my apartment to eat Seth’s home-made pumpkin pie. It was really fun, and the heating carpet came in really handy for keeping us warm.

Sunday there was a big lunch at an Okonomiyaki place called Teppei. Now, I have an unhappy past with okonomiyaki. I hate mayonnaise, and I also hate the brown sauce they put on top of the okonomiyaki. Why did I go? Because at this place you can make your own okonomiyaki (that’s a bitch to type, by the way), sans mayonnaise and brown sauce. For once it was actually tasty! Afterwards, we also played a party game that Jin-sensei just happened to have in her purse. You have to use lacquered chopsticks to move 10 beans from one bowl to another.

Our get-together was only supposed to be lunch, but it ended up turning into an all-day affair. After lunch, we got dessert at the food-court in Pia Do. We were there just talking for a long while, and when we realized it turned to dinner time, we all decided to go together since we happened to be together. Gusto, which was right around the corner, was our target. By this time, the huge group was pared down to only Erin, Ai, Jin-sensei, Nick, Oliver, and Ai’s friend. It was really fun, we got tables next to each other and continued on talking and hanging out. Finally, 8 hours after the start of our lunch, we all headed home. I cleaned the apartment a little bit, played a little piano, and went to bed, not even thinking about the fun I’d have teaching with Dracula this week.

Yesterday, I was a few minutes late to my school in Negishi. I felt really bad about it! I know, it was only a few minutes, but still. Usually on the schedule I get, the put on the time I should arrive at the school in order to go over the lesson plan. I guess this school put the time that the classes started, so I had to jump in while the class was already moving! Ack. It ended up being ok though, the students were wonderful, the teachers were understanding (at least, to my face, I’ve heard that they way they are to your face versus what they actually think are very different things, but since I never get to saying anything but what they present to my face, I suppose that doesn’t matter so much), and the principal and I talked for a good hour (in English!) after I was officially done at the school. I felt much better

Remember last week when I was telling you about the sweet potatoes? Well, I guess my role as a farmhand has spread out to other schools too. I have officially learned how to thrash soba seeds and harvest rice after it has been cut (this was at Herai, the best school). It was really fun, I learned something new and I got a chance to bond with my students.

Well, that’s about it for the highlights of the past week. Have a great week yourself, and I’ll update you soon.