Whew! It has been one busy day! We had English camp this morning in Taragi, tour of shrines and volleyball tournament this afternoon/evening with elementary and junior high teachers, and my first enkai (Japanese drinking party) tonight. We were gone today from about 8:50AM to 9:30PM.
My day didn't start off so well. When I woke up this morning, I felt really sick and a little dizzy. (Before anyone begins the pregnancy jokes, I'm going to let you know that it's 100% not possible for me to be pregnant.) I could barely stand up w/o feeling like I could get sick. I'm not sure what that was about, but after I ate a piece of toast that Ian forced on me, I felt much better.
I love English camp. I told Ian that I wish we could do it everyday! We assembled in Taragi, which is the next town over from Yunomae. The kids were really cute and nervous. After speeches from the mayor and superintendent, we loaded buses for the "camp site," which turned out to be an old school. They said that the school closed b/c there were only two students there, lol. Imagine that! When we got there, we had to play an introductory game were person 1 stands up and says, "My name is Sarah." Person 2 says, "My name is John. Her name is Sarah." Person 3 says, "My name is Jane, his name is John, and her name is Sarah," etc, etc. Easy, right? If the names were Sarah, John, and Jane, yes. However, Japanese names are EXTREMELY difficult for me to remember, lol. After the introductory game, we made name tags and were supposed to make a picture of something on it. I asked my group what I should draw, and one girl told me a dog. My art skills suck. When I showed them the dog, they laughed. One girl said, "alien?" Ian said it looked like a mukade (annoying and creepy Japanese centipede). To avoid confusion, I wrote "dog" above my drawing of a dog. Lunch was prepared for us, and after lunch, we talked a lot with the other ALTs in the area.
Ian and I had to leave English camp early b/c my board of education wanted us back for....something. We weren't exactly sure what was going on. I joke that it's going to be weird coming back to the States whenever I do b/c I'll actually understand what everyone tells me! I definitely won't be able to use the excuse of "Wakarimasen" (I don't understand). We waited for a bit at the board of education, and then they ushered us out to a bus. We had no idea where we were going. I recognized a few faces of teachers I had seen at the junior high and elementary schools. As it turns out, we were on a tour of the Buddhist or Shinto shrines in the area. It was really cool. We stopped at three different ones. I don't really understand much about the religions, but some of the teachers that could speak English explained a little. The first temple we went to was for breastfeeding mothers, the second for women hoping to marry and ......something about water. The last one, I have no idea what it was for, but it was really cool b/c there were these two HUGE chain saw carved dragons on either side of the temple. They were amazing!
After our temple tour, we headed back to the BOE, which happens to be part of the Manga Museum. Manga is like anime. I don't really get it or care for it, but it's HUGE in Japan. We looked at all of the anime and went to change our clothes for the volleyball games. I suck at sports, yet for some reason, Japanese people think that all Americans are awesome at each and every sport. I was the kid that stood in the back of gym class hoping that the ball (in whatever sport was being played) would never reach me. That strategy is coming back to bite me b/c I suck at EVERYTHING I play, and the Japanese LOVE to play sports. My team won 2 rounds (no thanks to me) and lost 1 game. It was fun playing. I enjoyed it, but I suck. I felt sorry for my team. I always feel like the handicap on any team. Sorry, Japan! Ian's really good, though. He's the cool American that can actually play sports, and I'm the dumb-dumb in the back hitting the ball out of bounds, lol.
After the volleyball game, we had our first enkai experience. Whew! The Japanese like to drink! An enkai is basically a big drinking/socializing party. The Japanese work place is a bit more rigid than the American work place, so this is a time to let loose. What happens at the enkai stays at the enkai. :) This statement is completely true. At orientation, they told us that we'll probably see co-workers, supervisors, and teachers absolutely blitzed, but the following morning, it's like nothing happened. There were speeches at first, then a big toast, and then the eating and drinking began. Once people found out that I didn't drink, I got offered Coke. Yay! Once people found out that Ian drank, I felt sorry for him. They kept offering him more and more and more drinks. One of the junior high teachers that I work with gave him a big glass of "spirits" and said, "challenge." Once Ian finished that, she mixed him another drink like it was nothing, lol. Needless to say, Ian went to bed early tonight. ;) At an enkai, you socialize. We never had to get up to move around b/c people kept coming to talk to us. At one point in time, Ian left to go to the bathroom, and a very drunk Japanese co-worker sat beside me and began talking. I wanted to tell him that a) I don't understand drunk words in any language, and b) I don't understand Japanese. Give up talking to me now. haha. A lot of people kept asking about America. It's so easy to say that we're from Kentucky b/c everyone associates Kentucky w/Kentucky Fried Chicken. Thank you, Colonel Sanders! :) We started talking about pizza and the different toppings here and in the USA. I said that my favorite pizza is ham and pineapple. They were blown away that we put pineapple on our pizza. They put shrimp, corn, and potatoes on a pizza, but for some reason, pineapple blows their mind, lol.
There is seriously never a dull moment in Japan. Each day is an adventure....something new and different. I know this feeling will probably eventually go away, but right now, I'm going to continue to ride this high. Japan is pretty amazing!
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