Yesterday I performed in the Akita Yaatose festival with Kafumai, the Kisakata dance team. It was our first performance with our new costumes, and our second performance of this years dance.
It was sunny yesterday and therefore hot, but it wasn't humid so it could have been a lot worse. But I did get burnt even though I was wearing sunscreen, which was unfortunate.
We only performed our dance four times, so after Sapporo the schedule felt very easy. Because we only danced four times I tried my very best and didn't hold back at all. Seems as if I should have held back a little bit because today my right knee is sore from overwork.
One problem with performing in festivals is the lack of a lunch time. Everyone ends up quickly stuffing some easy-to-eat food that was on sale nearby down their throats before heading off to dance again. The Yaatose festival area happens to be very close to Mister Donuts, so yesterday I had a very unhealthy lunch.
While walking about I saw several shops I'd like to go back and see at some time. One of them was a 'cheese and wine' shop. I wonder if it has real cheese? I also saw some cheap clothes stores I would like to examine. They had some 'Engrish' t-shirts. Usually, womens 'Engrish' t-shirts are far too small for me to fit into, and the mens ones are far too long. There is always the chance I will get lucky one day and find one that actually fits.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Quick post
Just a quick post, because I have a lot of classes today. Actually, I have had a lot of classes since this term started. No longer am I sitting in the staff room all day with nothing to do. But of course, this also explains why I no longer blog on a regular basis.
I never got to take pictures of the fog because (of course) it cleared up an hour before I left work. Just like that. There was fog during the night last night, but it burned off before I got up. The sun rises really early in the morning here. Even though it is the Summer Solstice, the sun is still setting before half past seven in the evening (and starts to get dark well before seven), yet it rises before four o'clock in the morning. Why???? Why is there no daylight savings??? I would prefer light evenings, because I am never up early enough to enjoy the morning sunlight. It is not just the lack of daylight savings: Japanese time is, I reckon, a good two hours out. The Sun doesn't really have to rise before 6 am, does it? 6-9.30 would be just right.
I went shopping in Akita City on Tuesday (I had Mon/Tues off because I worked on Sat/Sun). I bought a new wallet. It is really cool, but I bought it from a department store so it was kind of expensive. I haven't bought a new wallet for (counting, counting) about five years? So I think it is okay for me to splurge a little. I didn't buy any shoes, which is a good thing. This had less to do with my self control and more to do with Japanese summer sandals being so impractical, gaudy and hideous that I wouldn't wear them if someone paid me. I will take a picture next time I am in a shoe shop, to show you I am not exaggerating.
Got to go teach, bye.
I never got to take pictures of the fog because (of course) it cleared up an hour before I left work. Just like that. There was fog during the night last night, but it burned off before I got up. The sun rises really early in the morning here. Even though it is the Summer Solstice, the sun is still setting before half past seven in the evening (and starts to get dark well before seven), yet it rises before four o'clock in the morning. Why???? Why is there no daylight savings??? I would prefer light evenings, because I am never up early enough to enjoy the morning sunlight. It is not just the lack of daylight savings: Japanese time is, I reckon, a good two hours out. The Sun doesn't really have to rise before 6 am, does it? 6-9.30 would be just right.
I went shopping in Akita City on Tuesday (I had Mon/Tues off because I worked on Sat/Sun). I bought a new wallet. It is really cool, but I bought it from a department store so it was kind of expensive. I haven't bought a new wallet for (counting, counting) about five years? So I think it is okay for me to splurge a little. I didn't buy any shoes, which is a good thing. This had less to do with my self control and more to do with Japanese summer sandals being so impractical, gaudy and hideous that I wouldn't wear them if someone paid me. I will take a picture next time I am in a shoe shop, to show you I am not exaggerating.
Got to go teach, bye.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
BBQ
This weekend is the inter-school sports exchange, so I am having to turn up to work in the mornings (and do nothing). Yesterday morning I was just surfing the internet.
About 10am yesterday, a fog suddenly rolled in from the sea. We don't usually see fog here in Konoura, and if we do we only see it for a short while as it moves to join the fog that likes to sit on the hills behind the city. But the fog that rolled in (initially looking like ghost sheep) didn't leave. Very strange weather.
In the afternoon I went with Atsuko and Toshi from the evening English class to a barbeque at Atsuko's friend's house. We were initially going to go to the beach, but it was still foggy so the barbeque was held in a small garden. Apart from us, there was a group of strange guys that always hang out there, and a group of girls that Atsuko had invited because she knew one from her computer class. The girls didn't mix with the guys much. It was like watching school kids, but these people were actually adults.
Some of the guys had to leave early, and then the party moved inside. Not long after that the girls left. One guy fell asleep on the sofa, so that left five people still participating in the party. Another person had been bugging me all evening: he looked like someone but I couldn't figure out who. It came to me all of a sudden, and I burst out in the middle of another conversation with "You look like Paul McCartney!" He really did. A Japanese Paul McCartney. He was so happy I said that that he wanted to shake my hand.
Anyway 'Paul' fell asleep too, and that left Atsuko, Toshi, myself and a very sleepy host who was staying awake for our sake to participate in the party for the last hour. It wasn't as if it was late or anything; we left shortly after midnight.
This morning the fog is still hanging around. In fact, it has become much thicker. I am thinking about going to take pictures after I finish work because I am unlikely to see weather like this again while I am staying here.
About 10am yesterday, a fog suddenly rolled in from the sea. We don't usually see fog here in Konoura, and if we do we only see it for a short while as it moves to join the fog that likes to sit on the hills behind the city. But the fog that rolled in (initially looking like ghost sheep) didn't leave. Very strange weather.
In the afternoon I went with Atsuko and Toshi from the evening English class to a barbeque at Atsuko's friend's house. We were initially going to go to the beach, but it was still foggy so the barbeque was held in a small garden. Apart from us, there was a group of strange guys that always hang out there, and a group of girls that Atsuko had invited because she knew one from her computer class. The girls didn't mix with the guys much. It was like watching school kids, but these people were actually adults.
Some of the guys had to leave early, and then the party moved inside. Not long after that the girls left. One guy fell asleep on the sofa, so that left five people still participating in the party. Another person had been bugging me all evening: he looked like someone but I couldn't figure out who. It came to me all of a sudden, and I burst out in the middle of another conversation with "You look like Paul McCartney!" He really did. A Japanese Paul McCartney. He was so happy I said that that he wanted to shake my hand.
Anyway 'Paul' fell asleep too, and that left Atsuko, Toshi, myself and a very sleepy host who was staying awake for our sake to participate in the party for the last hour. It wasn't as if it was late or anything; we left shortly after midnight.
This morning the fog is still hanging around. In fact, it has become much thicker. I am thinking about going to take pictures after I finish work because I am unlikely to see weather like this again while I am staying here.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Sapporo Yosakoi Soran Matsuri
After months of practice, tens of thousands of yen and many hours of muscle aches it was finally time for me to go to Sapporo to perform in the Yosakoi Soran Matsuri. It was a trip filled with fun times and difficult times, but all in all it was an experience I would repeat again in an instant.
I am a member of two yosakoi soran teams; the Kisakata team Kafumai and Saihoku Repputai, a team from Wakkanai City at the most northern point in Hokkaido. It was Saihoku Repputai that went to Sapporo. Although the core of the team and most of the members live in Wakkanai, there are also members in Sapporo, Honjo, Nikaho (who are members of Kafumai too) and there are a few members in Yuza machi (Yamagata ken). We study the year’s dance by video in three separate groups, Wakkanai, Sapporo and Tohoku, and only join together as one team for the big festivals.
On the morning of Friday, 9th of June, the Tohoku members who were going to Sapporo met at Akita airport. There were two people from Yuza, ten from Nikaho City (mostly from Kisakata) and two people from Honjo. We flew to New Chitose Airport, took the train into Sapporo and then took another train clear out the other side of Sapporo to meet the rest of the team and to practice in a small town hall somewhere. Afterwards we all went back to Sapporo together and checked into our hotel. I ate Sapporo ramen that evening. I think I am going to have to wait until I forget the delicious taste of Sapporo ramen before I can enjoy any ramen here.
On Saturday we began our two days of performances. We all met in the hotel lobby in our costumes and makeup, received our subway passes and then set out to Oodori in the city centre. Of course it was raining in the morning when we had our most difficult performance; the Oodori parade, which is where teams perform their dance five times in a row without a rest. That was twenty minutes of strenuous exercise in the rain while wearing a costume. The person with the hardest job was the flag waving guy. That flag had to have been nearly three metres long, and when soaked in rain it must have weighed a ton. The male members of the team had to quickly wring the flag out between the third and fourth dances while moving into position for the fourth dance.
After we had finished at Oodori, we got on the subway and headed out to a suburb of Sapporo to dance twice down a narrow road. We had twenty minutes to stuff bentos down our throats and then we were on the subway again going to another area of Sapporo to dance three times in a row down a wide road. By this time the rain had stopped and the wind had picked up so our costumes dried. I received a medal from a festival staff member, apparently because I am a gaijin. The medal said ‘suki desu’(I like you) on it. Actually, a few other people in the team received medals. They were all young people too.
We headed to a stadium somewhere for our last dance of the day. Although the venue was a stadium, the performance was on the road curving around the outside of the stadium, and therefore was another parade. We were all very tired by this stage because parade dances are very hard and we had already done ten of them, but we did our best. The wind picked up some more as we went to dance which caused the skirts of our costumes to blow up around our ears. We were wearing white shorts just in case we had that problem, but they were kind of transparent so effectively all us women were showing our knickers to the audience for the duration of the dance. To tell you the truth, I was too exhausted to care at that point.
We only danced once at the stadium, brining the total of the day to eleven dances, all of them parade versions. And the day wasn’t over yet. After a quick dinner, we all went back to the city centre, many people in strange and amusing costumes, to dance simple dances with all the other teams. There were thousands of us just having a good time. It was wonderful.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny. Also, the day’s schedule was much easier than Saturday’s had been. First, we went to Sapporo JR Station to perform a stage dance. When performing on stage we only had to dance once, and we didn’t have to go anywhere so it was quite easy. Next we went to the big stage in the city centre. That was the dance that (I assume) had TV coverage within Hokkaido. Unfortunately, some people in the team made a big mistake at the end (not me though). Twenty minutes for lunch, and then we were on our way to our last parade performance; three times in a row down a narrowish street lined with coffee shops. After that there was but one more stage performance and we were done, bringing the total of the day to six dances, and the total of the weekend seventeen dances, fourteen of which were parades.
That evening we had an enkai. Everyone let loose and had a good time, but it didn’t last long because the Wakkanai people had to catch their charter bus back to Wakkanai at ten o’clock. It was very sad to say good bye to everyone, as we may not meet again for a whole year. We made a bit of a scene on the side of the road, with cheers and tears and all that. Afterwards, the Tohoku and Sapporo people went out to find a place to have a second party.
We left the hotel late on Monday morning, did a bit of shopping at the station, and then caught a train out to New Chitose Airport. Some of the Sapporo people came to see us off. I can’t believe how many souvenirs some people bought at the airport. Some people spent tens of thousands of yen and had to buy suitcase-sized transport bags with wheels to get it all back to Akita. Who were they giving it all to?
We caught our flight back to Akita and then I got home at eight in the evening. I found myself wishing ‘If only I had talked to that person more,’ and ‘If only Wakkanai wasn’t so far away, I’d want to be friends with that person.’ That was hard, and I am still feeling that as I write this. I am also sad that, since I will be going into my third year on JET soon, I may only meet those people one more time. Even so, I had an excellent time.
I am a member of two yosakoi soran teams; the Kisakata team Kafumai and Saihoku Repputai, a team from Wakkanai City at the most northern point in Hokkaido. It was Saihoku Repputai that went to Sapporo. Although the core of the team and most of the members live in Wakkanai, there are also members in Sapporo, Honjo, Nikaho (who are members of Kafumai too) and there are a few members in Yuza machi (Yamagata ken). We study the year’s dance by video in three separate groups, Wakkanai, Sapporo and Tohoku, and only join together as one team for the big festivals.
On the morning of Friday, 9th of June, the Tohoku members who were going to Sapporo met at Akita airport. There were two people from Yuza, ten from Nikaho City (mostly from Kisakata) and two people from Honjo. We flew to New Chitose Airport, took the train into Sapporo and then took another train clear out the other side of Sapporo to meet the rest of the team and to practice in a small town hall somewhere. Afterwards we all went back to Sapporo together and checked into our hotel. I ate Sapporo ramen that evening. I think I am going to have to wait until I forget the delicious taste of Sapporo ramen before I can enjoy any ramen here.
On Saturday we began our two days of performances. We all met in the hotel lobby in our costumes and makeup, received our subway passes and then set out to Oodori in the city centre. Of course it was raining in the morning when we had our most difficult performance; the Oodori parade, which is where teams perform their dance five times in a row without a rest. That was twenty minutes of strenuous exercise in the rain while wearing a costume. The person with the hardest job was the flag waving guy. That flag had to have been nearly three metres long, and when soaked in rain it must have weighed a ton. The male members of the team had to quickly wring the flag out between the third and fourth dances while moving into position for the fourth dance.
After we had finished at Oodori, we got on the subway and headed out to a suburb of Sapporo to dance twice down a narrow road. We had twenty minutes to stuff bentos down our throats and then we were on the subway again going to another area of Sapporo to dance three times in a row down a wide road. By this time the rain had stopped and the wind had picked up so our costumes dried. I received a medal from a festival staff member, apparently because I am a gaijin. The medal said ‘suki desu’(I like you) on it. Actually, a few other people in the team received medals. They were all young people too.
We headed to a stadium somewhere for our last dance of the day. Although the venue was a stadium, the performance was on the road curving around the outside of the stadium, and therefore was another parade. We were all very tired by this stage because parade dances are very hard and we had already done ten of them, but we did our best. The wind picked up some more as we went to dance which caused the skirts of our costumes to blow up around our ears. We were wearing white shorts just in case we had that problem, but they were kind of transparent so effectively all us women were showing our knickers to the audience for the duration of the dance. To tell you the truth, I was too exhausted to care at that point.
We only danced once at the stadium, brining the total of the day to eleven dances, all of them parade versions. And the day wasn’t over yet. After a quick dinner, we all went back to the city centre, many people in strange and amusing costumes, to dance simple dances with all the other teams. There were thousands of us just having a good time. It was wonderful.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny. Also, the day’s schedule was much easier than Saturday’s had been. First, we went to Sapporo JR Station to perform a stage dance. When performing on stage we only had to dance once, and we didn’t have to go anywhere so it was quite easy. Next we went to the big stage in the city centre. That was the dance that (I assume) had TV coverage within Hokkaido. Unfortunately, some people in the team made a big mistake at the end (not me though). Twenty minutes for lunch, and then we were on our way to our last parade performance; three times in a row down a narrowish street lined with coffee shops. After that there was but one more stage performance and we were done, bringing the total of the day to six dances, and the total of the weekend seventeen dances, fourteen of which were parades.
That evening we had an enkai. Everyone let loose and had a good time, but it didn’t last long because the Wakkanai people had to catch their charter bus back to Wakkanai at ten o’clock. It was very sad to say good bye to everyone, as we may not meet again for a whole year. We made a bit of a scene on the side of the road, with cheers and tears and all that. Afterwards, the Tohoku and Sapporo people went out to find a place to have a second party.
We left the hotel late on Monday morning, did a bit of shopping at the station, and then caught a train out to New Chitose Airport. Some of the Sapporo people came to see us off. I can’t believe how many souvenirs some people bought at the airport. Some people spent tens of thousands of yen and had to buy suitcase-sized transport bags with wheels to get it all back to Akita. Who were they giving it all to?
We caught our flight back to Akita and then I got home at eight in the evening. I found myself wishing ‘If only I had talked to that person more,’ and ‘If only Wakkanai wasn’t so far away, I’d want to be friends with that person.’ That was hard, and I am still feeling that as I write this. I am also sad that, since I will be going into my third year on JET soon, I may only meet those people one more time. Even so, I had an excellent time.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
O_o
While researching material for next weeks English conversation class, I came accross this:
These Horoscopes are for Thursday 05/32/2006
(Hit refresh or reload if the date is wrong.)
Since when has there been 32 days in May? I hit the reload button, but it didn't help any.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Ha ha LOL!
Check this out!
The guy (Guy Goma) was a cab driver who shared the same first name with the real expert (Guy Kewney), and who had gone to have a job interview at the BBC (I think). He did such a good job answering the questions as best he could. Bravo! But now it seems he is getting deported because he had overstayed his tourist visa.
The guy (Guy Goma) was a cab driver who shared the same first name with the real expert (Guy Kewney), and who had gone to have a job interview at the BBC (I think). He did such a good job answering the questions as best he could. Bravo! But now it seems he is getting deported because he had overstayed his tourist visa.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Memory problems
For the last two days I have had something very important I wanted to blog about as soon as I got the chance, and now I am sitting in front of a computer I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Please forgive me if I just natter for a bit and hope it comes back to me.
Over the last week I have been very busy with Yosakoi. There was a festival in Kisakata last Saturday, so last Thursday I was practicing for three hours until ten o'clock at night. On Friday I had to go to the kindergarten. When my schedule for this year was made up, my kindergarten visit was forgotten about. The only free time I have in the morning is third period Friday. But it takes about twenty minutes to walk to the kindergarten. I have to try and fit both the kindergarten lesson and the travel time into a one hour period, because I have classes at the Jr. High in second and fourth period. Kyoto-sensei (the Vice-Principal) said he would drive me, but he is on bereavement leave at the moment, so he couldn't. Everyone else was busy so I hurried to the kindergarten (or rather hobbled as fast as I could because I was still sore from the previous evening's dancing). I did a quick introductory lesson lasting about fifteen minutes, and then the office lady of the kindergarten drove me back to Konoura Jr. High because there was no way I could have got back in time for the fourth period class by myself. I have a feeling this is going to happen a lot because Kyoto-sensei, even when he is not on bereavement leave, is a busy man.
That afternoon I had to get money out of the bank to pay for my upcoming trip to Sapporo. So I walked for fifteen minutes through the rain to the bank, to find that the cash machine was in the middle of being serviced and would continued to be serviced for another half hour. What am I supposed to do, walk home and then turn around and come straight back? I thought. There was no where else I needed to go. Indeed there is no where else in Konoura to go. So I went home. It started raining heavier and heavier. I thought, I'll go back when it stops raining. But it didn't. Banks here close at about three o'clock in the afternoon and after that, one needs to pay an after hours fee to use the cash machine. So I ended up having to walk back to the bank in the pouring rain and fading light to go to the bank (again) and pay money to get money out.
On Saturday morning was the elementary school's sports day. I went to see that until lunch time, and then I had to leave because I had a Yosakoi practice from 1.30pm. The practice was for Saihoku Repputai, the Hokkaido team. Two people from Hokkaido had come to check whether we were dancing correctly, so I couldn't skip the practice. The lesson lasted three hours and was very hard. Now I know why the Hokkaido team are so much better at dancing than the Akita/Yamagata people.
I had aching muscles even before I went to Kisakata to perform with the Kafumai Yosakoi team. I was very tired afterwards. It was a small festival, so we were the only team there. We had to dance many different dances.
On Sunday morning we had another practice session with the people from Hokkaido. It was not so difficult a practice, but it lasted for four hours. Sunday afternoon I rested. On Monday I skipped Kafumai practice because I was too sore.
On Tuesday the rainy season started. It happens like that, here in Japan. The rain on Friday was normal rain, but the rain on Tuesday was rainy season rain. It sounds crazy I know, but it is true. The rain on Tuesday felt different. It's only my second spring in Japan, but even I could tell the difference.
Crazy bear hunter guy drove me to Kamagadai again. I learn so much from this guy. When he first picked me up from Konoura Jr. High, he told me that a bear had been seen near Kamagadai. I thought Guess he's exaggerating. Right? On the way up the hill, he was explaining to me about the two different varieties of bamboo in the area; the big normal one and the small one that only grows to two metres tall. Spring is the time for collecting 'take no ko' - literally bamboo babies. I asked him why the take no ko in the supermarkets are huge and the ones I ate at my friends house were small. Hence the discussion of bamboo varieties. He also stopped the car along the side of the road to point out the different varieties, and seedlings, of bamboo.
This led us back to the topic of bears because as one would expect, bears eat take no ko. (I say 'as one would expect' because, in case you didn't know, bear and human diets are very similar). Crazy hunter guy (maybe I should start calling him 'forest lore guy') was telling me about how careful you have to be when collecting take no ko, because you may find yourself reaching for a shoot that a bear is also reaching for. We crossed the hills and entered the valley where Kamagadai is situated. It was here that I found out that forest-lore guy had not been joking about the bears. He pointed out three old women at the side of the road at the edge of a forest area who were foraging for take no ko. "That's dangerous," he said. He drove another 30 metres down the road and stopped the car again (this is no problem because there are very few cars on those roads) and pointed down a track leading into the forest. "Can you see that?" he asks. "The bear trap." There was indeed a bear trap there, a big metal cage. And the old ladies were unconcernedly foraging for vegetables a minutes walk (or three minutes hobble) away. We soon got to Kamagadai. On the way back I learned a bit more about bears. We stopped again by the trap to see if it had caught a bear yet. Forest-lore guy pointed out to me the stream that was near the trap and explained that was the reason the trap was there. He said that during spring the bears follow the streams down to the feeding areas, so the streams are like bear roads. He also mentioned that the bears meet up later in the year at the lakes to the south east of Kamagadai, and hibernate to the east of Mount Chokai (which I already knew in a general sort of way). Apparently last year was a good feeding and therefore breeding season for the bears, so this spring most female bears have a cub with them. Which makes them very dangerous. Forest lore guy spent the whole way back over the hills scanning the forests with his hunter eyes looking for bears. I told him we don't have bears in New Zealand, and so now he really wants to show me one.
Yesterday was very cold (a sign of the rainy season), but it was only spitting. I went to the elementary school, and then in the evening I taught my English conversation class. Two more people came, women from Kisakata who look like they are in their fifties. So that is four new students I have picked up (the older woman with no English skills who came to the cooking class never came back). All we did was talk, because I made everyone do a self introduction and then made everyone talk about what they did over the previous week, and that took an hour and a half. It's hard to keep control of that many middle-aged (and older) strong independent Akita women (weak-willed women don't have the guts to go to an English class), but I have a new hepler. The man who has started coming to my class has decided to help me out by refusing to answer questions directed to him in Japanese. I have a lot of trouble getting everyone to speak English rather than Japanese, but now there are two people saying "I'm not going to answer you until you ask me in English," it is a wee bit easier. I am also glad that Toshikatsu's English is so good. I asked someone a question about what they said, but she could not understand my question. I rephrased it several times, but she still did not understand. It was a little difficult, I'll admit: "If you hadn't changed jobs, would you still . . .?" I've only just learnt the Japanese form of that grammar point ("Moshi shigoto o kawaranakattara . . .") I was starting to think What do I do? No one understands, when Toshikatsu said "Shall I explain?" and then put my question into Japanese perfectly. Very handy.
After my English class I read Sandman comics. I have decided to collect the Sandman graphic novels while I am in Japan because once I return to New Zealand I will no doubt have difficulty affording them. So far I have bought 'Preludes and Nocturnes' (which I lent to Atsuko last night), 'The Doll's House' which I am half way through reading and 'Dream Country.' I read Dream Country before The Doll's House because it arrived in the post (I ordered them on the internet) earlier. Since Dream Country is a collection of stand-alone Sandman stories, I thought it would be okay. Although I found out last night that it wasn't because 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' had been foreshadowed in The Doll's House.
Today the sky is clear, but it still feels like the rainy season. It is cool, and the wind is wet. It is the right wind, but there were no rain clouds for it to bring with it.
Well, I never did remember what I was so eager to blog about. But I have written about everything that happened to me over the last week at great length, so whatever it was I am sure I covered it. It must not seem as important to me today as it did yesterday, so I thought I had forgotten it but really I remembered it all along. I wonder which particular thing it was?
Over the last week I have been very busy with Yosakoi. There was a festival in Kisakata last Saturday, so last Thursday I was practicing for three hours until ten o'clock at night. On Friday I had to go to the kindergarten. When my schedule for this year was made up, my kindergarten visit was forgotten about. The only free time I have in the morning is third period Friday. But it takes about twenty minutes to walk to the kindergarten. I have to try and fit both the kindergarten lesson and the travel time into a one hour period, because I have classes at the Jr. High in second and fourth period. Kyoto-sensei (the Vice-Principal) said he would drive me, but he is on bereavement leave at the moment, so he couldn't. Everyone else was busy so I hurried to the kindergarten (or rather hobbled as fast as I could because I was still sore from the previous evening's dancing). I did a quick introductory lesson lasting about fifteen minutes, and then the office lady of the kindergarten drove me back to Konoura Jr. High because there was no way I could have got back in time for the fourth period class by myself. I have a feeling this is going to happen a lot because Kyoto-sensei, even when he is not on bereavement leave, is a busy man.
That afternoon I had to get money out of the bank to pay for my upcoming trip to Sapporo. So I walked for fifteen minutes through the rain to the bank, to find that the cash machine was in the middle of being serviced and would continued to be serviced for another half hour. What am I supposed to do, walk home and then turn around and come straight back? I thought. There was no where else I needed to go. Indeed there is no where else in Konoura to go. So I went home. It started raining heavier and heavier. I thought, I'll go back when it stops raining. But it didn't. Banks here close at about three o'clock in the afternoon and after that, one needs to pay an after hours fee to use the cash machine. So I ended up having to walk back to the bank in the pouring rain and fading light to go to the bank (again) and pay money to get money out.
On Saturday morning was the elementary school's sports day. I went to see that until lunch time, and then I had to leave because I had a Yosakoi practice from 1.30pm. The practice was for Saihoku Repputai, the Hokkaido team. Two people from Hokkaido had come to check whether we were dancing correctly, so I couldn't skip the practice. The lesson lasted three hours and was very hard. Now I know why the Hokkaido team are so much better at dancing than the Akita/Yamagata people.
I had aching muscles even before I went to Kisakata to perform with the Kafumai Yosakoi team. I was very tired afterwards. It was a small festival, so we were the only team there. We had to dance many different dances.
On Sunday morning we had another practice session with the people from Hokkaido. It was not so difficult a practice, but it lasted for four hours. Sunday afternoon I rested. On Monday I skipped Kafumai practice because I was too sore.
On Tuesday the rainy season started. It happens like that, here in Japan. The rain on Friday was normal rain, but the rain on Tuesday was rainy season rain. It sounds crazy I know, but it is true. The rain on Tuesday felt different. It's only my second spring in Japan, but even I could tell the difference.
Crazy bear hunter guy drove me to Kamagadai again. I learn so much from this guy. When he first picked me up from Konoura Jr. High, he told me that a bear had been seen near Kamagadai. I thought Guess he's exaggerating. Right? On the way up the hill, he was explaining to me about the two different varieties of bamboo in the area; the big normal one and the small one that only grows to two metres tall. Spring is the time for collecting 'take no ko' - literally bamboo babies. I asked him why the take no ko in the supermarkets are huge and the ones I ate at my friends house were small. Hence the discussion of bamboo varieties. He also stopped the car along the side of the road to point out the different varieties, and seedlings, of bamboo.
This led us back to the topic of bears because as one would expect, bears eat take no ko. (I say 'as one would expect' because, in case you didn't know, bear and human diets are very similar). Crazy hunter guy (maybe I should start calling him 'forest lore guy') was telling me about how careful you have to be when collecting take no ko, because you may find yourself reaching for a shoot that a bear is also reaching for. We crossed the hills and entered the valley where Kamagadai is situated. It was here that I found out that forest-lore guy had not been joking about the bears. He pointed out three old women at the side of the road at the edge of a forest area who were foraging for take no ko. "That's dangerous," he said. He drove another 30 metres down the road and stopped the car again (this is no problem because there are very few cars on those roads) and pointed down a track leading into the forest. "Can you see that?" he asks. "The bear trap." There was indeed a bear trap there, a big metal cage. And the old ladies were unconcernedly foraging for vegetables a minutes walk (or three minutes hobble) away. We soon got to Kamagadai. On the way back I learned a bit more about bears. We stopped again by the trap to see if it had caught a bear yet. Forest-lore guy pointed out to me the stream that was near the trap and explained that was the reason the trap was there. He said that during spring the bears follow the streams down to the feeding areas, so the streams are like bear roads. He also mentioned that the bears meet up later in the year at the lakes to the south east of Kamagadai, and hibernate to the east of Mount Chokai (which I already knew in a general sort of way). Apparently last year was a good feeding and therefore breeding season for the bears, so this spring most female bears have a cub with them. Which makes them very dangerous. Forest lore guy spent the whole way back over the hills scanning the forests with his hunter eyes looking for bears. I told him we don't have bears in New Zealand, and so now he really wants to show me one.
Yesterday was very cold (a sign of the rainy season), but it was only spitting. I went to the elementary school, and then in the evening I taught my English conversation class. Two more people came, women from Kisakata who look like they are in their fifties. So that is four new students I have picked up (the older woman with no English skills who came to the cooking class never came back). All we did was talk, because I made everyone do a self introduction and then made everyone talk about what they did over the previous week, and that took an hour and a half. It's hard to keep control of that many middle-aged (and older) strong independent Akita women (weak-willed women don't have the guts to go to an English class), but I have a new hepler. The man who has started coming to my class has decided to help me out by refusing to answer questions directed to him in Japanese. I have a lot of trouble getting everyone to speak English rather than Japanese, but now there are two people saying "I'm not going to answer you until you ask me in English," it is a wee bit easier. I am also glad that Toshikatsu's English is so good. I asked someone a question about what they said, but she could not understand my question. I rephrased it several times, but she still did not understand. It was a little difficult, I'll admit: "If you hadn't changed jobs, would you still . . .?" I've only just learnt the Japanese form of that grammar point ("Moshi shigoto o kawaranakattara . . .") I was starting to think What do I do? No one understands, when Toshikatsu said "Shall I explain?" and then put my question into Japanese perfectly. Very handy.
After my English class I read Sandman comics. I have decided to collect the Sandman graphic novels while I am in Japan because once I return to New Zealand I will no doubt have difficulty affording them. So far I have bought 'Preludes and Nocturnes' (which I lent to Atsuko last night), 'The Doll's House' which I am half way through reading and 'Dream Country.' I read Dream Country before The Doll's House because it arrived in the post (I ordered them on the internet) earlier. Since Dream Country is a collection of stand-alone Sandman stories, I thought it would be okay. Although I found out last night that it wasn't because 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' had been foreshadowed in The Doll's House.
Today the sky is clear, but it still feels like the rainy season. It is cool, and the wind is wet. It is the right wind, but there were no rain clouds for it to bring with it.
Well, I never did remember what I was so eager to blog about. But I have written about everything that happened to me over the last week at great length, so whatever it was I am sure I covered it. It must not seem as important to me today as it did yesterday, so I thought I had forgotten it but really I remembered it all along. I wonder which particular thing it was?
Monday, May 22, 2006
I am a Mage
Take the World of Darkness Quiz
by David J Rust
But then, all my scores together looked like this:
Vampire Score: -7 WereWolf Score: 0 Mage Score: 16 Wraith Score: 4 Changeling Score: 14
So it looks as if I am split between the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment, and the desire to be creative and to express myself (which is what Changeling meant). Which seems to me to be just right.
Also, it seems that although I am slightly wraith-ish, I am not at all were-wolf-ish, and am anti-vampirish. Yay.
***
Yesterday I bought 'Stadium Arcadium' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I love it. I've already managed to listen to both CDs twice, and this morning I listened to 'Dani California' about four times and then to 'Readymade' twice while getting ready for work.
I don't listen to the radio here so I didn't even know that the Chili Peppers had a new CD coming out until there was an article about it on Xtra MSN (which I read to get NZ news). I immediately went to amazon.co.jp and placed an order for it. Cash on Delivery service is great.
***
Happy Birthday Vanessa!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Busy, busy
I've been really busy lately. Since the last school year, my work load has increased significanlty. Also I have been very busy with Yosakoi practice. My team's first performance of the year is this Saturday. (Which reminds me that many weeks ago I said I would write about last year's festival season and then never did).
Some new students came to my adult English class last week. One of them was an older woman with no English skills, and she did not come back this week. The other two did. They are both young people. Yay!
On Saturday there was a festival in Konoura. A hand cart dressed up as a float was pushed around the streets of the town. On the cart were two taiko drums. Members of the local kids taiko team played festival music as they went. The cart and chants and drums were used to bless the houses of Konoura, and many residents gave money to the children. I followed the float around my district of town, with a croud made up of my neighbours. I took some photos, but I haven't copied them off my camera yet.
Yesterday I had my first Elementary classes of the school year. From now on, I am going to be teaching 5th and 6th grade classes in two-period blocks. That is to say, for 1 1/2 hours with only a 5 minute break in the middle. Umm, even though they are the oldest kids in the elementary school, they don't have attention spans that long. Yesterdays lesson started out alright, but when I tried to get them to do the last activity of the lesson, they all just stared at me blankly. They are going to have to get used to it because all my lessons with them this term (and possibly longer) are going to be like that.
Some new students came to my adult English class last week. One of them was an older woman with no English skills, and she did not come back this week. The other two did. They are both young people. Yay!
On Saturday there was a festival in Konoura. A hand cart dressed up as a float was pushed around the streets of the town. On the cart were two taiko drums. Members of the local kids taiko team played festival music as they went. The cart and chants and drums were used to bless the houses of Konoura, and many residents gave money to the children. I followed the float around my district of town, with a croud made up of my neighbours. I took some photos, but I haven't copied them off my camera yet.
Yesterday I had my first Elementary classes of the school year. From now on, I am going to be teaching 5th and 6th grade classes in two-period blocks. That is to say, for 1 1/2 hours with only a 5 minute break in the middle. Umm, even though they are the oldest kids in the elementary school, they don't have attention spans that long. Yesterdays lesson started out alright, but when I tried to get them to do the last activity of the lesson, they all just stared at me blankly. They are going to have to get used to it because all my lessons with them this term (and possibly longer) are going to be like that.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
This is turning into a photo blog
Here are some photos I took on Tuesday (the day I go to Kamagadai).
This was taken from in front of the school.
So was this.
This was taken from in front of the school.
So was this.
This week the cherry trees in Kamagadai are in full bloom. That is two weeks later than in Konoura, which is a mere half hours drive away.
The next couple of photos were taken on the way back to Konoura. The town driver was nice enough to take the scenic route so that I could get good pictures.
There are a lot of wind turbines around here.
Mount Chokai from the Nikaho Plateau.
Beside the road somewhere near Otake (a part of Konoura).
Monday, May 08, 2006
Yesterday's Pictures
These pictures were all taken within 10 minutes walk of my house.
Took pictures of some flowers.
In this area, all the pine trees are being killed by a parasite. There used to be lovely forests here and a pine tree industry, but it is all gone now. It has taken little more than a decade for over a hundred kilometers along the coast to change to this.
There are a lot of unused fields in Konoura.
Getting ready for planting.
Already planted fields.
People like this ancient woman are the ones who maintain the fields.
Took pictures of some flowers.
In this area, all the pine trees are being killed by a parasite. There used to be lovely forests here and a pine tree industry, but it is all gone now. It has taken little more than a decade for over a hundred kilometers along the coast to change to this.
There are a lot of unused fields in Konoura.
Getting ready for planting.
Already planted fields.
People like this ancient woman are the ones who maintain the fields.
I am alive
Yeah, yeah, I didn't post for ages. I've been busy at work.
The 29th of April was sports day at Konoura Jr. High. It was lots of fun. Each class has to do a dance performance, and this year the kids really outdid themselves. There were a lot of hams having their few seconds of fame.
Last Monday was a day in lieu because of the sports day. On Tuesday I taught at Kamagadai. From Wednesday to Friday was Golden Week, a trio of public holidays so arranged to get Japanese people out on holiday and spending their money. I did nothing. I had a cold. When I say nothing, I don't mean nothing. I did play a lot of FFXII, and spent a lot of time with my pen tablet's pen in my hand and Photoshop open on my computer. I can't visit DeviantART from work to find the links to what I did last week, so too bad. Go visit my gallery, the link is to the right.
On Saturday I had three hours of Yosakoi practice, and then I went to Sumiko's house. I got a big surprise. She has bought a new cat! For a while now, Sumiko has had a cat called Kitaro. He is a grey and black tabby. He was young when I first met him, but now he is a huge beast of a cat. He is also the most human cat I have ever met (more on that in a moment). Anyway, while visiting a pet shop (probably to buy food for Kitaro) they saw a mini Kitaro. It is the same cat! Grey and black tabby, markings in almost the same places. It's uncanny! Her name is Umeko, and she is an undergrown 5 months. Shes about a third of the size of her big brother, if that. But she is strong and feisty and keeps attacking Kitaro. And she yells a lot.
The pair of them remind me of Chris and Vanessa. They were in the middle of a war when I arrived. First Umeko was bothering Kitaro, so he chased her off. Repeatedly. Then she attacked him, so they play-mauled each other. Umeko would saunter off, and Kitaro would remain frozen mid punch, on his back with a paw in the air to my amusement. Repeat ad infinitum. Eventually, Kitaro stood in front of Umeko, raised his paw, and gently bopped her on the head. It was such a human gesture. "That's enough! Stop right there." I shouldn't have been surprised. I mean, this is the cat who tries to eat his dry food with his paws. (He doesn't have much success because he has no fingers).
Then Atsuko arrived, and got immediately distracted by Umeko. "Chitchai!!!" (Tiny!)
We ate gyoza (Chinese something-or-others. I call them gyoza and can't remember what to call them in English. Although I don't remember eating them before coming to Japan, so maybe there is no English name?) After that, we fussed over the cats again for a while, and then played Mah Jongg. I understood it less the second time.
Yesterday I went to take photos, because it is spring and therefore a good time for taking photos.
The 29th of April was sports day at Konoura Jr. High. It was lots of fun. Each class has to do a dance performance, and this year the kids really outdid themselves. There were a lot of hams having their few seconds of fame.
Last Monday was a day in lieu because of the sports day. On Tuesday I taught at Kamagadai. From Wednesday to Friday was Golden Week, a trio of public holidays so arranged to get Japanese people out on holiday and spending their money. I did nothing. I had a cold. When I say nothing, I don't mean nothing. I did play a lot of FFXII, and spent a lot of time with my pen tablet's pen in my hand and Photoshop open on my computer. I can't visit DeviantART from work to find the links to what I did last week, so too bad. Go visit my gallery, the link is to the right.
On Saturday I had three hours of Yosakoi practice, and then I went to Sumiko's house. I got a big surprise. She has bought a new cat! For a while now, Sumiko has had a cat called Kitaro. He is a grey and black tabby. He was young when I first met him, but now he is a huge beast of a cat. He is also the most human cat I have ever met (more on that in a moment). Anyway, while visiting a pet shop (probably to buy food for Kitaro) they saw a mini Kitaro. It is the same cat! Grey and black tabby, markings in almost the same places. It's uncanny! Her name is Umeko, and she is an undergrown 5 months. Shes about a third of the size of her big brother, if that. But she is strong and feisty and keeps attacking Kitaro. And she yells a lot.
The pair of them remind me of Chris and Vanessa. They were in the middle of a war when I arrived. First Umeko was bothering Kitaro, so he chased her off. Repeatedly. Then she attacked him, so they play-mauled each other. Umeko would saunter off, and Kitaro would remain frozen mid punch, on his back with a paw in the air to my amusement. Repeat ad infinitum. Eventually, Kitaro stood in front of Umeko, raised his paw, and gently bopped her on the head. It was such a human gesture. "That's enough! Stop right there." I shouldn't have been surprised. I mean, this is the cat who tries to eat his dry food with his paws. (He doesn't have much success because he has no fingers).
Then Atsuko arrived, and got immediately distracted by Umeko. "Chitchai!!!" (Tiny!)
We ate gyoza (Chinese something-or-others. I call them gyoza and can't remember what to call them in English. Although I don't remember eating them before coming to Japan, so maybe there is no English name?) After that, we fussed over the cats again for a while, and then played Mah Jongg. I understood it less the second time.
Yesterday I went to take photos, because it is spring and therefore a good time for taking photos.
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