Speed

A very bad thing happened to us this week.  Ian got a speeding ticket.  GASP!  I know that it was his fault because yes, he was speeding, but the whole thing was stupid…….

Monday afternoon could NOT have been a worse time.  Ian was running late for work, we had a fight about something meaningless, and we were giving each other the silent treatment on the way down to Kirishima.  We were in the long tunnel that borders the Kumamoto/Miyazaki Prefecture line when Ian suddenly got out of the passing lane and into the slow lane.  I asked him what he was doing, but I immediately saw the flashing lights and knew.  I silently prayed that it was just an ambulance, but I think deep down I knew it wasn’t. 

I’m sure we’ve all had this particular feeling before:  you see the flashing lights, feel your heart slip into your stomach as you instinctively tap the brakes, and pretend like nothing is wrong as you cross your fingers and pray to the good Lord above that Mr. Policeman is after someone else.

Alas, Mr. Policeman did NOT go after someone else.  Instead of pulling behind us with flashing lights like what would happen at home, they pulled in front of us.  Ian and I both looked at each other and said, “Is that for us?”  I asked him how fast he was going, but he said he honestly didn’t know.  Ian tends to have a heavy foot, and it’s extremely easy to speed in a tunnel because they are long, flat, straight, and don’t have any scenery to stare at.  I shuddered as I wondered how fast he was going.  120?  130?  140?  A sign flashed on in the police car’s back window, but the kanji was far too complicated for either of us to read.  Since we were in the tunnel, there was no room to pull over, so we continued to follow the police car.  Other cars were passing by, and if we had any inkling of a doubt that the flashing lights were for us, I think they were crushed by those passing cars.

Once we were out of the tunnel, the police car pulled over.  We tried to play dumb and slide by them, but Policeman #1 rolled down his window and waved for us to pull over behind them.  Policeman #2 jumped out of the car and walked behind our car to place a flashing orange cone to alert other drivers to get into the other lane.  Then he came to my (the passenger’s window).  I think he was taken aback that we were both foreigners.  He started his speech in Japanese but QUICKLY realized that we weren’t comprehending.  We knew that he wanted Ian’s driver’s license, so we handed him that, and he seemed glad that it was a Japanese license (that he could read). 

Next, he instructed both of us to get out of the car.  We had to sit in the back seat of the police car while Policeman #1 and #2 processed the ticket.  I’m not a bad citizen and have no need to fear the law, but as I sat in the back seat of the police car, I started breaking down emotionally.  My hands were shaking, and I could feel the tears coming on.  They asked us simple questions: where we were from, where we lived, ages, jobs, etc.  They then explained to us that the speed limit in Japan is 80 kph, and they clocked Ian going 108.  They even had a little printer connected to their speed-gun-thing which printed out the exact speed that they clocked Ian at.  108. 

Let’s take a time out for just a moment.  The HIGHEST speed limit in Japan is 80 kph on limited access roads, i.e., the expressway.  80 kph is 50 mph.  The fastest, FASTEST we are legally allowed to drive in Japan is 50 mph.  However, EVERYONE breaks the speed limit on the expressway.  Going 20, 30, or even 40 kph faster than the limit is typical.  I’m not a fast driver, (I’ve actually been accused of driving like a grandma) but I routinely go AT LEAST 20 kph over the speed limit on the expressway.  Policeman #1 and #2 clocked Ian going 108 kph……as in 67 mph.  Ian got a “speeding” ticket for going LESS than the average speed limit on American interstates.  Let that soak in for just a second.

Once they finished processing the ticket, we could get back into our car.  Policeman #2 retrieved the orange flashing cone from behind our car and told us to wait until he waved us on before we pulled out into traffic.  So….how much did that set us back?  The ticket was 18,000 yen ($191).  I can think of about 298374267169873243 other things I’d like to spend that much money on instead of a stupid ticket.  BLARG!  What’s more is that since we were already running late, Ian was about five minutes late to his class.  Grrrrrrrr……..   

Yeah…… Monday wasn’t exactly the best day for the Reeds.  However, in my next blog I’ve got a great story to tell about a drinking party that I went to with my co-workers, so that’s a LOT happier! 

Disappointment :(

If one word could sum up my feeling right now it would be DISAPPOINTED, y’all.  In my previous blog I wrote about us planning a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.  I was ESTATIC!!  We worked together really hard and found great deals, figured out how to get Vietnamese and Cambodian visas, looked at hostels to stay at, established a time line, and basically planned out an entire trip in less than two hours.  The only thing left to do was book everything.  We wanted to start out with the flight—no flight means not going.  Mollee found a GREAT flight for only $523, which was a bit more expensive than the flight I had picked out, but it also cut down the travel time exponentially.  I was in charge of booking the flight, but I couldn’t do it on the spot because I didn’t have my credit card with me.  I resigned to do it once I got home. 

HOWEVER, whenever I went to book it later I ran into quite a problem.  It was the ole bait-and-switch tactic.  The price listed was not available.  The website we used was cheaptickets.com….maybe not the most reliable website, so I switched to Kayak.  Kayak also did the same thing.  I found the $523 tickets with the same itinerary, but the only difference was that Kayak allowed me to entered in all of our information BEFORE letting me know that the flight wasn’t available any longer.  FRUSTRATION.

I checked everything: search websites like Expedia, Vayama, Priceline, Orbitz, CheapO Air, and even the actual airline websites.  I played around with dates and times but found NOTHING that wasn’t $200ish more expensive or required us to sacrifice shaving off a couple of days of our trip.  I’m not sure where we’re going from here……..  Ian and I were already pushing the budget with a $523 flight.  I highly doubt our bank account will allow us to tack on another couple of hundred to that.  SO.  FREAKING.  DISAPPOINTED.  I know it’s silly to whine and complain about this whenever we are so fortunate to live where we live and have the life that we have, but DANG IT!  I was really looking forward to Cambodia and Vietnam!  That would be two more stamps on the ole passport, countless pictures, and magical memories made.  I know that everything happens for a reason, but right now I really don’t understand that reason…..  *sigh*

I have already checked into backup options.  Korea, Taiwan, or staying in Japan and visiting Hiroshima are all part of those options.  I don’t know what we’ll do….but never fear!  This world traveler is not going to waste previous vacation time sitting at home!  We’ll go somewhere and definitely have another adventure!!

I had something really weird happen to me yesterday.  I was at the ES yesterday, and one of my favorite teachers asked if I had plans for Spring Break.  I said that I was working all of this week, but next week I took vacation and would hike in different spots around Kyushu.  He asked if I was going alone.  I said no, that my husband was coming with me.  He said, “Oh?  Your husband is coming to Japan to visit?”  I was taken aback for a second by his response.  I told him no, that my husband lives with me here in Yunomae.  He said, “Oh really?  I didn’t know!”  *gasp*  I seriously thought that everyone knew ALL of my business.  Granted…this was at the ES where I’m there only one day of the week.  I’ve never been to a drinking party with the ES teachers, and it’s not like Ian comes to school with me, so I guess it’s possible for those teachers to not know about Ian.  However, would it make sense for me to move to the other side of the world for two years without my husband??  I mean…I guess I left the rest of my family behind…but still.  I honestly couldn’t believe that he didn’t know Ian and I lived together here in town!

That’s all for today.  In the next blog, I’ve got quite a story to tell, so I’ll churn that one out tomorrow!

Surviving Spring Break

(So….I originally wrote this yesterday [Wednesday] but forgot to post it….)

Last Friday I woke up with the craziest dream.  I’m not sure that it could technically be considered a nightmare, but I did bolt upright in bed when it was over.  I dreamed that we were back in Paducah after coming home from Japan.  I had gone back to work at the Parlor but was screwing up darn near everything.  I couldn’t remember table numbers or orders and was falling very behind.  One of my tables who had just sat down was being rude and said to me in a very snotty way, “We just want three Mr. Pibbs.  That’s all.  You got that?  Three Mr. Pibbs.”  I nodded and went back to the drink station to make them, but once I got there I couldn’t remember what they had ordered.  That’s when I woke up, bolting upright in bed saying, “Three Mr. Pibbs!”  I rolled over and looked at the clock.  6:18 AM.  I giggled, thinking about how silly the dream was and went back to bed.

That morning was my ES graduation and THIRD graduation to go to in the past two weeks.  I’m not sure why, but that was the most miserable graduation to go to.  It seemed like it would NEVER end.  I prefer ES graduation over JHS graduation because the kids are dressed in their best clothes and are just so darn cute!  The boys all wear dark pants and some type of dressy sweater which is usually a little baggy because it is presumably an older sibling or father’s sweater.  The girls generally wear cute little blazers with skirts and knee socks.  They are seriously just too precious for their own good!  However, even the cutely dressed students couldn’t entertain me.  The speeches seemed too long, the pomp and circumstance just a little too drug out, and to top it off the gym (where graduation took place) was freezing!  I spent the rest of the day trying to knock the chill from sitting in that gym for two hours.

All weekend we wanted to have a hanami (picnic under the cherry blossoms), but the weather just wouldn’t cooperate with us!  Please remember how we wanted to go last Wednesday, but we were rained out.  Well, we tried to go on Saturday, but the weather was kind of icky.  We decided to go on Sunday even though it was still cloudy and not perfect hanami weather.  The sakura of Mizukami are absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  It was a little breezy, so some of the blossoms were falling off, and it seemed like it was snowing.  The snowing sakura trees surrounding the mountainous reservoir were absolutely breath-taking!  Since Mizukami is known for its sakura, the Sakura Matsuri (cherry blossom festival) was going on when we went.  There were bands playing, games for the kids, and lots of Japanese carnival food.  We found a nice tree to sit under away from the crowds and enjoyed our picnic lunch before taking pictures.  I hate to take so many pictures because I know you, as the viewer, think that it’s just ANOTHER cherry tree.  However, the pictures just don’t do it justice.  Sakura season in Japan truly is a beautiful and magical time of year. 

      

We stayed in Mizukami until the weather finally turned, and it began to rain.  Ian and I invited our fellow hanami-ers back to our house to watch a movie.  Devin suggested we watch Rise of the Guardians.  Ian and I hadn’t seen it yet, but it was a cute little animated movie about the guardians of children, namely fictional characters like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, Jack Frost, and the Tooth Fairy.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good and funny the movie was and definitely would recommend it to anyone!

Monday morning began this long, boring week of work.  It’s Spring Break……but not really.  Instead of all the the students and teachers taking the week off and doing whatever the heck they feel like at home, everyone comes to school even though there are no classes.  The teachers still work, and the students come to school during the mornings to practice their club activities.  Even though it’s Spring Break, I don’t have the time off and must use vacation days to get any time off.  So…..what do I do everyday?  ………….. a whole bunch of nothing!  Monday morning was absolutely miserable for me because I was trying to think of what I could do.  The first couple of hours I was bored to tears, but then I got into the rhythm of it, and by today (Wednesday) I’ve created plenty of little tasks for myself.  This is what I have to do to survive Spring Break!  I’ve written a blog everyday so far, planned my English board for the month of April, checked Facebook regularly, cleaned my desk, planned our Golden Week vacation to Cambodia and Vietnam (more about that in a sec), and done other little odds-and-ins to keep busy.

And speaking of that Golden Week holiday…..it’s planned!  After deciding if it was financially possible for us to go or not, we decided that yes, it was.  If that means that we pinch pennies by not going out to eat as often, I’m fine with that.  If that means that we don’t get to go up to the city one time that we really want to, that’s fine.  If that means that we’re poor as church mice for a while when we go back to the States, so be it.  I’d much rather do without a few things and be able to take this trip.  Once we get back home, we’ll have far fewer opportunities for traveling, so carpe diem!!!

Since we’re all at work today (minus Ian) but have nothing to do, Ian, Melissa B, Mollee, and I decided to get online at 1:30 and research/plan our Cambodia/Vietnam trip via g-chat.  In about two hours, we found flights, decided where exactly we wanted to go, what we wanted to see, how to get from place to place, and even found places to stay.  I was impressed with our research today!  So here’s a breakdown of our vacation to Vietnam/Cambodia: We leave from Fukuoka on April 29th and land in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam that afternoon.  (Ho Chi Minh used to be called Saigon….as in where the Vietnam War ended.)  We’re spending the 30th there before catching a bus and hopping the border to Cambodia on the 1st.  We’re going from Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap that day, a whopping ten hour bus ride.  Then on the 2nd, we’re exploring the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  The next day, the 3rd, we’re heading to Sihanouksville, a beautiful beach town on Cambodia’s Gulf of Thailand and staying until the 5th.  Then we’re heading back to Ho Chi Minh, where we fly out on the 6th.  Back to Fukuoka it is!  I’m VERY excited about this vacation!  Plus, (bonus!) I only have three weeks of work in April.  I took off the first week for Spring Break, and Golden Week starts during the last week.  Woot!  After I burn through that vacation time, that means that I only have one vacation day left to use, and I probably won’t use it until the end of July.  With all of the packing, cleaning, and last minute things that need to happen, I’m sure I’ll need a day off!

That’s all for today!  I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of time to write another blog tomorrow!

Excited for Easter!!

There are exactly four more days of Lent (but who’s counting?), and I couldn’t be happier!  I tried to give up sweets this year (after a few unsuccessful years) and promised myself that I was going to do it.  I’ve done it before, and it’s hard, but I AM CAPABLE of doing it.  I was doing really well, too…..up until White Day.  March 14th, exactly one month after Valentine’s Day, is White Day, and boys are supposed to give girls chocolates since the girls gave them chocolates on Valentine’s Day.  Several male teachers brought chocolates to school that day and gave them to the female teachers, including myself.  I sat them on my desk and was going to take them home and put them in my Lenten sweets box.  However, they sat out on my desk all day long.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that they grew little eyes to stare me down and were screaming “EEEEAAAAATTTTT ME!  EEEEEEEAT ME!  EAT ME!”  I felt guilty about it, but I broke Lent and ate the three pieces of chocolate sitting on my desk.  Then I went home that afternoon and got into my sweets box.  I totally chocolate binged.  Since the day was already ruined, I asked Ian to stop on his way home and get me a Coke.  FAILURE. 

Last Saturday we went up to the city for Ian’s boss’ birthday party.  It was a traditional Japanese drinking party in which you pay a set price for food and drinks.  There were two options: soft drink nomihoudai (all-you-can-drink) for 2,900 yen or alcohol nomihoudai for 3,500 yen.  Of course I chose the soft drink option since I don’t drink, and I figured that if I was going to spend that much money, I might as well get my money’s worth.  So….I broke Lent and had Coke.  Tonight is my school’s end-of-the-year party, and it’s the same thing.  4,000 yen for eating and drinking, and I’ve already resigned to breaking Lent again.  Jesus understands money practicality, right??  I mean….if I’m going to pay that much for something, I might as well get it, right?  Right??  RIGHT???  Help me justify my sinning!! 

I’m really excited for Sunday for more reasons than just guilt-free sugar binge eating.  We’re going to Mass in Hitoyoshi that morning, and I’ve already decided that I’m going to get one of my cute summer dresses out of my summer box and wear that.  After Mass, we’re going to Mr. Donut to eat ALL THE DONUTS.  A couple of friends are meeting us there for breakfast, and I already said that no judgments should be passed on the amount of donuts that are consumed.  Then later that afternoon several of the Kuma-gun ALTs are getting together for Easter dinner.  Hurray!  Ian ordered a ham online for us to cook and enjoy, and everyone else is bringing side dishes and desserts.  CAN’T WAIT FOR HAM.  Ham is a rarity over here.  We have beef, chicken, and fish regularly, but ham is special.  Just to give you some sort of idea about how rare ham is over here, Ian paid 17,000 yen ($180) for a 5-7 kilo (11-15 pound) ham.  We’re all splitting the price of it, but ham doesn’t come cheap here!! 

Another reason that I’m excited for Easter is because it starts my wonderful Spring Break.  I took off all next week so that I don’t have to sit around at school and twiddle my thumbs.  Ian and I are planning on hiking around our area.  There are a few trails close to home that I want to do.  Kirishima, where Ian works, is known for good hiking, so we want to hike down there, and we might even make our way up to Aso and hike Nakadake and Takadake, the highest peaks on Kyushu.  I asked Ian if he’d be cool with using our tent and camping out instead of getting hotel rooms.  He (surprisingly!) said yes, so the nights that we don’t come back home, we’ll just stay in the tent.  If it gets too cold to camp, we’ll sleep in the car.  Someone asked what we’d do for showers, but a nice thing about Japan is that there are onsens (hot springs) everywhere, so we can stop there for baths.  Plus, soaking in the hot water will relax our muscles so that we don’t get sore.  Every time that I’ve gone to the onsen after a hike, I’ve never gotten sore.  I’m excited for next week!  It’s going to be another great adventure! 

So….who else is with me?  Who else is looking forward to Easter and all of the chocolate bunny goodness it brings?

Easter party and cookies = happy eikaiwa students

Last Wednesday was a national holiday, so I had the day off.  I tried to sleep in, but did my body let me?  NOPE!  I pretty much don’t need an alarm clock because my body wakes itself up at about the same time everyday, which sucks on days off.  I actually woke up to the sound of thunder that morning.  Thunder is pretty uncommon around these parts, and in the year and a half that I’ve been here, I can probably count the number of times that I’ve heard thunder on one hand .  We have rain, but rarely does it thunder or lightning, and usually if it does, it’s during rainy or typhoon season.  Generally if you hear thunder/see lightning you know that it’s going to be a serious storm.  Wednesday morning took me by surprise because it was so random…. just a distant grumble of thunder and no big deal.  As crazy as it sounds, it reminded me of thunderstorms at home and made me long for them. 

I laid in bed for a while, but once I deemed it time to finally get up I went to the kitchen to make something that I’ve been wanting to try for a while….breakfast pizza.  DELICIOUS!  I made a biscuit crust, white gravy for the “sauce,” and then scrambled eggs, bacon, and a drizzle of cheese for the toppings.  It was fattening, greasy, and delicious.  By the time I finished it, Ian was waking, so we enjoyed a late breakfast together. 

 

We had planned on having a hanami (picnic under the cherry blossoms) that day, but the rain canceled that trip for us.  Instead Melissa came over, and we did absolutely nothing except be fat and lazy.  We watched TV, laid around, and caught up on The Walking Dead.

Thursday at school was the last actual day of classes.  At the end of each of my classes, the kids gave my JTE and I “thank you” speeches and little booklets of thank you cards.  Each student had written a thank you card.  Some were in English, some Japanese, and some a hybrid, but it was really the thought that counts.  It meant so much to me for them to do that.  Even if it was a forced thing that they HAD to do, it still made me super happy!

That night I had my kid’s eikaiwa class.  Since it was the last class of the year, I wanted to do something special with them, so I reserved the kitchen (which is right next to my classroom) for that night, bought the ingredients to make cookies, and decided to have a little fun.  I had three tasks for them that night: 1) make cookies, 2) make Easter baskets, and 3) dye eggs.  As soon as they arrived and realized that we were cooking that night, they got excited.  I set up three stations, cooking stuff on one table, Easter basket stuff on another, and finally egg dye stuff on the last table.  Step one was to make the cookies, which took a little longer than I thought it would.  The kids were so ridiculously diligent with mixing the batter.  I tried to preheat the oven while they did that, but I wasn’t having any luck.  The darn thing would seem like it was working, and then it would beep and turn off.  It took me almost fifteen minutes of trial and error before realizing that the oven was a dual fuel source—it required both electricity AND gas, and I didn’t have the gas on.  *face palm*  Once I figured that out, the kids started placing cookies on the tray.  They dough was too sticky to roll out, but they managed to make hearts shaped cookies.

 

While the cookies were in the oven, we moved onto step two: Easter baskets.  The kids knew nothing of Easter.  I asked if they knew “Easter,” and they gave me confused looks.  I didn’t go into all of the details.  Instead, I simply told them that it was a “Catholic holiday.”  (Yes, I know that it’s a Christian holiday, but they don’t understand what a “Christian” is.  They do, however, know what a “ka-to-ri-ku” is due to all of the missionaries who came to Japan way back when.)  I found a cute crafty idea online to make baskets shaped like bunnies out of paper plates.  (I swear….I’ve lost track of how many different crafts I’ve used paper plates for……)  After I demonstrated how to make them, I grabbed the cookies out of the oven while the kids put their bunnies together.

The final craft event of the night was egg dyeing.  Last year, one of my friends sent me an Easter package that just so happen to have egg dye in it.  When I received the box, it was after Easter, so I never got to use it, but this year it made for a great success!  The kids had never done this before.  (Honestly, it had been a while since I’d done it, and I had forgotten how to do it!  How much vinegar went in..?  Did I have to mix any water with it..?)  They wanted to do one tablet of each color.  I showed them how to dunk the eggs into the water and told them that they could do one color or five…just whatever their little hearts desired!  They went absolute bananas with this and actually made some really beautiful eggs!

Once all of the crafts were finished, I let them eat the cookies and fill their baskets with eggs.  We had a nice little end-of-the-year party, and I’m really going to miss those girls being in my eikaiwa class!  I hope next year’s class is just as good as this year’s was! 

Tis the season for graduations

Monday morning I woke up, and my body IMMEDIATELY reminded me of the previous day’s event.  3,333 steps DEFINITELY killed my legs.  They didn’t hurt so much when I walked in a straight line, but if I had to go upstairs (for example, going to class) or when I stood up or sat down, it huuuuuuurt.  It wasn’t the sorest I’d been after a hike, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable!  The soreness hung around darn near all week, too.  Even as I write this today, Friday, my calves and quads STILL remind me of 3,333 steps when I flex them.

I love spring time flowers.  After a long and hard winter, it is refreshing to see something so colorful and scented.  The only downside to seeing all of these flowers is that none of them are at my house.  Sad day!  Our neighbor behind us has some type of rose bush that borders our back yard and blooms in fall, but that’s the only flowers that we have.  Soooooo…I decided to take matters into my own hands.  Monday night on the way to Kirishima with Ian, I noticed a large patch of jonquils growing along the side of the road and told him that I wanted to stop there and get some on the way back.  At 9:30 PM that night as we were driving through the rural darkness on our way home, I kept to my word and pulled the car over.  I picked the largest handful that I could without getting caught by any passing cars.  When I handed them to Ian through the window, he said, “AHHHHH!  They’re leaking!”  All of the flower juices were flowing out of the stems!  I’ve never seen so much goop come out of flowers like that!  Luckily we had an old McDonald’s cup to put them in. 

Tuesday mornings I always have nursery schools.  Like normal, I went to Jikou followed by Yunomae nursery school.  However, I realized that something was wrong when I first arrived at Yunomae.  Not ONE teacher was in the teacher’s room.  That was very strange.  I walked back to my classroom and could tell that something was up.  I heard clapping, music, and noticed a few of my kids lined up outside the very last classroom (which also doubles as a tiny auditorium).  As I slowly walked back there, the head honcho of Yunomae nursery school saw me, seemed shocked, and said something to the fact of “We’re having graduation today.  I’m so sorry!  You don’t have to teach today, but please stay and watch.”  (Immediately I realized my mistake.  I knew that one of my days at Yunomae was canceled in April, and I thought it was the last one.  Turns out it was THAT one.)  I’m so glad I made that mistake, though because it allowed me to watch a nursery school graduation.

Nursery school graduations are by far the CUTEST graduations.  The kids are tiny and squirmy, and while the ceremony still has the structure of JHS and ES graduations, it lacks the formality or discipline.  The kids just aren’t quite old enough to grasp it yet.  Throughout the entire thing, teachers were running back and forth organizing last minute details, fixing the projector that wasn’t working, or making sure that the kids were on their best behaviors.  If the graduates didn’t bow low enough when coming onto the stage, the teachers would make them do it again.  If they wringed their fingers or didn’t step properly, one of the teachers would smack them to get their attention.  If they didn’t step on the piece of red tape marking where they should stand, a teacher would point to the EXACT spot where they were supposed to stand when receiving their “degree.”  Each student had to stand up, walk to the stage, stand while a recorded message from their parents was read, and then receive their “degree,” which was actually just a story book.  I’m not really sure why it was a story book.  Maybe it was their favorite story…?  Maybe it represented the change from happy-play-time in nursery school to let’s-start-real-school?  Not sure.  Anyway, it was precious, and nursery school graduation is by far my favorite type of graduation! 

Tuesday afternoon my first graders at the JHS were wilder than bucks.  Since it’s the last week of school, we played games, but one group of boys in particular was just too much!  They weren’t playing the game AT ALL and were taking their pencil pouches, which were in the shape of a sheep and bear, and putting them together in a VERY SUGGESTIVE way.  They continued to ram the animals’ downstairs parts together and laugh hysterically.  They then took a rubber band and tied the animals together around the waist.  My JTE was doing NOTHING about it, so I walked over to the group and took the animals away.  This only caused them to laugh harder because the foreigner was holding the animals having sex in her hands.  UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH JHS boys are perverts!!!

I’ve still got plenty to tell, but to prevent this from getting too long, I’ll stop here.

Just 3,333 steps to the top!

Sunday was another day’s adventure for us.  Joel, one of our friends who lives close to the city, invited us up to his house on Sunday night for pizza.  He made a brick oven about a year ago, and Ian has been dying to see it.  Instead of driving all the way there just for that, we decided that we should make the most of our trip and do something else along the way.  Ian and I decided that we’d tackle the longest staircase in Japan….the Nippon Ichi.  It’s merely 3,333 stone steps to a shrine at the top of a mountain.  People come from all over Japan to climb the steps, and it just so happens that we live only an hour and a half from it.  While some might think it’s crazy to climb 3,333 steps for “fun,” it proved to be quite an adventure for us!!

We recruited Melissa to come with us, claiming that it would be good practice for when we climb Fuji in August.  She agreed, and as we were on the way to Misato (the town where the staircase is) it started to rain.  However, we didn’t let it dampen our spirits!  We found the staircase, which was deep in the countryside, and took a few “before” pictures (in which we were all smiles) before ascending.  Since we were much higher up in the mountains and the sun wasn’t shining, it was quite chilly.  It didn’t take long for us to warm up, though!  After conquering two of the loooooooong sets of stairs, we were already panting and clutching our sides.  One thing that I think continued to encourage us was the old people.  We’d see old men, who were probably triple our ages, coming down the staircase, so we had the mantra of “if they can do it, we can do it!!” 

After an hour or so of walking up, up, up, and up, I thought the stairs would never end.  I’d like to think that I’m in good condition, but these stairs kicked my butt!  3,333 steps doesn’t sound like that much when you’re at the base.  However, once you’ve climbed the first couple of hundred, you start to realize just how far that is……..  Melissa and I were about at the same pace, and it was as if we could read each other’s minds because we’d both stop and break at the same time.  When it started to drizzle on us, it made the journey just that much more depressing.  We didn’t give up, though! 

The nature and scenery surrounding the staircase was unbelievable.  Had the day been clear instead of cloudy, it probably would have been more beautiful, but even with the clouds hanging low over the evergreen mountains, it was quite scenic.  We stopped for a break in one spot and realized that there were two deer in the woods beside the staircase.  Ian and I started making deer calls, and the deer turned, looked at us, and then sprinted off in the opposite direction.  HA!  HA!  I’m not sure what we said in deer language, but apparently it was enough to scare the deer off!!

It took about two hours to reach the top.  We had a couple of fake out moments when we thought we were at the top only to see another set of steps lurking in the distance.  It was the most downtrodden feeling ever……  Once we reached the top, we actually weren’t sure if it was the top.  We were expecting something a little……more.  While the view was beautiful, it wasn’t the best.  Supposedly you can see all the way to the sea from the top, but the clouds and haze obscured our view.  We followed the path and walked around the side of the mountain to see the shrine.  This was also a disappointment.  It was one of the crappiest shrines I’ve even seen.  Everything about it looked rundown and un-impressive.  Since we were on the top of a mountain, the wind was whipping around, and it was COLD!  We decided to snap a few quick pictures at the top (to prove that we’d done it) and began our descent.

While the way down was much quicker, it didn’t stop from hurting.  All of us were in pain at that point in time.  My legs were so stressed that they were trembling.  I held onto the handrail just in case one of my legs gave out….so that I wouldn’t go tumbling down 2,193 (or some other random number) of steps.  Melissa was pretty smart and slipped one leg over the railing so that she could slide down an entire set of steps.  Genius!  However, her plan ended up failing because the railing was wet, so her downstairs (no pun intended) area was soaking wet!

Once we finally reached the base, we took a couple of “after” pictures in which we definitely look much more jagged and exhausted.  No smiles that time!  Our next step (ha! no pun intended again!) was to go to Joel’s, where he had fresh brick oven pizza waiting on us.  It was DELICIOUS, and best of all it was COVERED in a thick layer of cheese. (Japanese pizzas have cheese barely sprinkled on them.)  It was the perfect end to an adventurous day!  We arrived home that night around 10:30.  I quickly got my things ready for Monday, showered, and we both crashed within minutes of getting in bed.

*disclaimer* Sorry that I don’t have any pictures from our climb.  The only camera that we took was Ian’s, and he hasn’t uploaded the pictures yet.  Sorry, guys!

Hanami

Ian and I have talked about this quite a bit.  We decided that the Japanese are a scared people.  They are skittish and afraid of darn near everything, but they have NOTHING to be afraid of.  If something scares a Japanese (no matter how insignificant it might be), he or she tends to OVER-REACT by jumping and saying “KOWAI!” (“Scary!”)  They’re afraid of everything!  They wear surgical masks because they are afraid of spreading/receiving germs.  They drive the ridiculous 40 KPH (about 25 MPH) speed limit because they are afraid of speeding.  They are afraid of foreign influence changing their culture.  They are afraid of the sun tanning their skin, so even on the hottest days of July they’ll cover up each square millimeter of skin, down to the fingers.  They live in constant fear of someone stealing something from them/breaking into their house/car even though there have probably been a total of five recorded thefts in ALL of Japan’s history.  Anytime I, as a foreigner, get sick they are afraid that I’m dying.  They are afraid that if they don’t eat rice or drink green tea every day, they’ll get fat.  They are afraid that if they sleep with a fan on, it will cause them to die.  Do you see where I’m going with all of this?  Ian and I can’t believe how fearful of a society the Japanese are when they really and truly have NOTHING to be afraid of!!

The other day we were talking with our friends and asking the question “If you could trade houses with anyone in Kuma-gun, who would it be?”  I said that I would want Melissa’s house.  I think her house is the perfect size.  She has a nice entertaining space, her own bedroom with a bed, spacious kitchen, and even a car port!  Ian said that he’d want Margo’s house.  It’s true…..Margo does have the biggest house in Kuma-gun.  Her two story house is perfect for entertaining, and she has so much extra space that she has an extra tatami room with nothing in it!  I was really surprised by the answers of other people.  Melissa, Mollee, and Brian all agreed that if they could have anyone’s house, it would be OURS!  They said that it’s the perfect size for just one person and doesn’t require cleaning a lot of extra useless space.  Plus it’s easier to cool during the summer and heat in the winter.  I honestly couldn’t believe that people would want OUR itty-bitty house! 

Saturday morning we woke up and Skyped a few people back at home before heading up to Mizukami.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and Mizukami is famous in our area for cherry blossoms.  A very traditional Japanese thing to do is to have a picnic under the cherry blossoms, so we packed a lunch and tossed a blanket in our car.  We met up with Sara, Mollee, Colin, and Margo (who had all just been in Itsuki bungee-jumping—CRAZY!).  All of us camped underneath a lovely blossoming cherry tree, eating, talking, and enjoying the sunshine.  Ian and Mollee both got some great pictures on their fancy-smancy camera while the rest of us snapped pictures on our iPhones.  Once the sun went behind the mountains, it got a bit chilly, so we packed up and went our separate ways.

 

Devin rode with us, and as we were on our way back to Yunomae, I told her about the amazing park in Mizukami and how awesome the playground equipment was.  I told her that we’d have to go play there sometime, and she said, “What about now?”  Like a five-year-old, I couldn’t deny the opportunity to play at the park, so we backtracked to it.  As soon as I parked and pulled the keys from the ignition, we all ran out of the car like excited elementary kids.  The reason that we like that playground so much is because there is equipment there that would NEVER be allowed in American playgrounds because someone would get hurt on it, and then their parents would sue……  There is a giant rope course, climbing wall, oversized cat head that you can climb through, a long slide built into the mountain, and many other fun things.  Ian and I tackled the rope course first.  Like monkeys, we raced to the top.  However, Devin struggled to get a few feet off the ground and blamed it on her lack of climbing trees as a child.  Ha!  Ha!  Even though daylight was mostly gone, that didn’t stop us from playing to our hearts’ content.  We climbed to the top of the slide and laughed the whole way down as we slid.  We climbed through the giant cat head.  We played on the see-saw (even though the weight limit was forty kilos, and each of us DEFINITELY weighs more than that).  It was a GREAT night!    

 

I’ll wrap it up here.  I’m actually a little miffed with this silly blog right now because I had written a blog about the entire weekend on Tuesday and just needed to add pictures.  I guess I forgot to save my work or something because when I went back to add the pictures, everything that I wrote about Saturday and Sunday was gone.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! *sigh*

Glorious golden light beams shining upon me…

Since the Sunday of graduation was technically a “work day,” I had Monday off.  We didn’t do anything that morning, but since it was a nice day outside, I suggested that we see if anyone who also had the day off wanted to have a picnic in the park.  Melissa was the only one who agreed, so we met her at the island park in the middle of the river in Hitoyoshi.  Since it was such a nice day, there were lots of people at the park, and all of the parking spots were taken.  Thank God we live in Asia, though, and it’s perfectly acceptable to make your own parking spot anywhere.  I parked next to a concrete barrier, and maybe I got a little too close to it because Ian couldn’t open his door.  It didn’t stop him from getting out, though.  He said that he’d “NASCAR it” and get out through the window.  Oh, my sweet goofy Ian!  The sunshine was on us, so we stayed in the park all afternoon until we had to leave so that Ian could go to work.  I once again went with him.  I looked for my friend that I made the previous week at the riverside park, but she wasn’t there.  Maybe next time! 

 

Tuesday was one of the best days I’ve had in a while.  It seemed like the heavens opened up and glorious golden light beams were shining upon me.  The best part of the day was us selling our old car.  For the past month it has sat in the back lot awaiting a new owner.  We asked around, posted it online, and tried different ways to sell it, but nothing worked.  Finally, FINALLY an ALT from Misato messaged me and asked if we were still selling the car.  HECK YES WE ARE!!!  We talked back and forth, and it wasn’t long before he committed to buying the car for ni man (about $200).  He was pretty desperate and needed a new car ASAP since his old one crapped out on him, and he was currently having to pay for a rental.  It was a win-win situation for both sides.  Hurray!  We arranged plans for Ian to drive the car up to him on Wednesday, and then he would drop Ian off at the Matsubase train station so that Ian could get home.

Another good thing that happened was that I got my days off for spring break.  Hurray!  Even though there are two weeks of “spring break” and there are no classes, I’m still required to come to work everyday.  Since I’m leaving in August, I have vacation days to burn, so I wanted to have an actual spring break.  I asked my supervisor if it was okay, and she said to ask all of my schools.  Since there are no classes that week, I figured this wouldn’t be an issue.  I asked my ES, JHS, and Yunomae nursery school if it was okay.  All of them said yes.  I asked Jikou nursery school last week, and the teacher told me to wait.  I asked her again this week, and she apologized but said no.  Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?????  I’m only at that school for thirty minutes a week, and Heaven forbid if the kids don’t get to play duck, duck, goose with the foreigner that day!  I resigned that I’d take Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off, work for an hour on Tuesday, and then take the rest of the day off.  I emailed my supervisor and told her that all of the schools were OK with my vacation except for Jikou.  She replied back with the same reaction I had, “Whaaaaaaaaaat????” and asked if I wanted the whole week off.  I told her that it would be nice, but if it couldn’t work out, I understood.  She told me that she’d call the nursery school and ask them to give me the day off, and IT WORKED!!  I LOVE my supervisor!  I now have the whole five days off.  Woo-hoo!!

At Yunomae nursery school after I finished my lesson, the kids ran to the back of the room and gathered a box to present to me.  Inside the box was one of the sweetest gifts I’ve received in Japan.  It was a framed picture of me with the kids and a little #1 teacher ribbon and construction paper medal that the kids had made.  It was absolutely too precious!!

I didn’t have a schedule for that week at my JHS, so I wasn’t sure how many classes I had that day.  As it turns out, I didn’t have any, and (bonus!) my JTE wasn’t even there that day.  He was away on business.  Once I got to the JHS after my nursery schools, I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted. 

The final awesome thing that happened was lunch time conversation.  I ate lunch with my first graders at the JHS, and the three boys I ate with that day were fabulous.  I asked the boy across from me if he got a hair cut, and he said yes.  That led to a conversation about the boy next to him.  Apparently he recently started shaving because the other two boys were telling on him.  They pointed at their own upper lips and said, “He cut.  He cut.”  LOL!  Somehow the conversation morphed into languages, and I told them that I could speak Spanish and German.  One of the boys knew “hello” and “goodbye” in Spanish and German, so he kept saying “Adios” and “Auf wiedersehen.”  They asked me to speak some Spanish and German, so I said simple sentences like “I have two sisters and one brother” in both languages, and they thought that I was the bee’s knees.  They asked if I could speak Italian, French, Russian, Korean, and any other language they could think of.  I said no, only English, Spanish, German, and a little Japanese.  Once lunch was over and I was walking away, the kids said, “Adios!”  (Bonus: After class today instead of everyone saying the uniform “see you” when I walked away, they said “adios” or “auf wiedersehen.”  Internationalization at its best!!)

Since spring has finally come, Ian and I decided to put our futon away for a while and sleep on the twin bed instead.  We don’t do it during the winter because it’s in the non-heated room and RIGHT next to the single pane windows that allow provide no protection against the cold.  Ian and I had finally gotten tired of our futon laying out on the floor all the time and were ready for a change.  Plus, the bed (although more cramped) is MUCH more cushiony and comfortable than the futon.  Yay for spring finally being here!

Wow…..normally I procrastinate and put off writing these blogs, but I just powered through that and got it done in record time.  Who’s got two thumbs and is super motivated?  THIS GIRL!

Burning yards

Last Wednesday despite my illness (apparently cause by the Chinese smog…..or so all of the teachers claimed) I went to school.  I had ES that day, and by the end of that day, the kids had WIPED my energy, and I was running on fumes.  Since I was congested and had mucus coming out of every hole on my face, I didn’t wear my contacts that day.  It was as if the kids had never seen someone wear glasses before (they have—several of the kids wear glasses).  All of them kept saying “Melissa-sensei, megane!  Megane!”  (Glasses!  Glasses!)  Yes, kids.  I’m wearing glasses.  Woo-hoo.  One kid wanted to try them on, so I made the mistake of giving them to him.  Suddenly ALL of the kids wanted to try on Melissa-sensei’s glasses.  It made me giggle because I have ridiculously poor vision.  The reaction I got from 90% of the kids trying on my glasses was priceless.  As soon as they looked through the lens, they pulled the glasses from their faces, rubbed their eyes, and said what I imagined to be something about how strong the prescription was/how much it hurt their eyes.  Ha!  Ha!

I ate lunch with my third graders that day, and those kids LOVE me!  As soon as I walked into the classroom, I was escorted to a seat and prompted to play janken (rock, paper, scissors) or thumb wrestle with them until lunch was ready.  I talked about the bully girl in a previous blog, and she’s in that class.  Just to refresh…..I like this girl, but she has a VERY assertive personality (rare for the Japanese) and is just kind of like YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND.  WE WILL PLAY TOGETHER, AND YOU WILL LIKE IT.  ………yes, ma’am!  Anyway, I wore a skirt that day, and she kept trying to lift it up and look under.  I have no idea what her goal was or why she wanted to do that, but she was very adamant!!

My last class that day was my fourth grade.  I LOVE my fourth grade class!  Those kids are so precious and love English class!  That day I planned a lesson about clothes.  (T-shirt, skirt, cap, sweatshirt, etc.) After going over and learning the key words, we started playing the first game.  I had brought examples of my clothing from home and put them in a garbage bag.  One by one I pulled out a garment and asked what it was.  Then I asked for a volunteer.  The kid had to roll dice.  Whatever number the dice landed on, that was the number of garments he/she had to blindly pull out of the bag and dress in.  Once the kid was dressed, I asked the class what each garment was.  THE.  KIDS.  LOVED.  THIS.  GAME.  I cannot tell you how much fun they had dressing in Melissa-sensei’s clothes.  They especially loved it when someone would roll a six and be forced to put on six different garments at the same time.  They also loved it when a boy would pull the sequin skirt or pink fuzzy socks out of the bag.  That was probably one of the best classes I’ve ever had, and I’ll definitely repeat that lesson with some of my other classes!!  

On Thursday and Friday I stayed home from school.  I wasn’t feeling the best, and I guess I’ll blame the Chinese smog.  Ha!  Ha!  While I’m not exactly sure what I had, I feel like it might have been allergies or something.  It COULD have been the smog because I read articles stating that hospitals and clinics had seen a rise in patients with respiratory illnesses, but I’m just not sure.  Anyway…..since I stayed home, I was required to go to the hospital for medicine.  Anytime I go there in the morning, it never fails.  Usually a bus shows up and out walks at least half a dozen old people ready for their check-ups.  I don’t go to the doctor that often, but every single time I’ve been there, this has happened.  I guess they’re there for daily check-ups or something, but I always find it funny to see the bus pull up and out walk all of the old people.

Since I stayed home on Thursday and Friday, not a lot happened.  Ian and I had lazy days.  I watched a lot of TV, cleaned the house, and researched for various irons that I have in the fire.  :)  Saturday was an extremely busy day for us.  Ian had planned a big party at Brian’s house on Saturday night.  In addition, it was Melissa’s birthday, so we all agreed that the party would be half get together/half Melissa’s surprise birthday party.  Ian and I left our house around noon to go to Brian’s to get things organized.  Once we were finished there, we went to Melissa’s house.  We knew that she wasn’t home, which allowed Ian, Mollee, and I to cut her grass.  *sigh*  Oh, Melissa’s grass!  She has an irrational fear of grasshoppers, which live in the grass, so she never cuts it.  As a result, the grass was waist deep in places and resembled a jungle more than a back yard.  We thought that we would surprise her and trim it up for her birthday.  What would have taken less than ten minutes with an American lawnmower took us about four hours with three sickles and fire.  Ian, Mollee, and I began the backbreaking work of cutting the grass by hand.  When we were FINALLY finished with that, Ian decided that we should burn the yard to prevent future growth (don’t judge us—we live on a tropical island, and it’s darn near IMPOSSIBLE to stop things from growing) and to kill any remaining grasshoppers. 

 

Since it was windy that day, we had to be extremely careful with burning it.  We would enclose the small area that we wanted to burn in a water circle and burn small sections until we had a perimeter.  Mollee, Ian, and I were all very careful and vigilant with the fire.  We stood around and anytime the fire seemed to be getting even the slightest bit out of control, we dumped water on it from the several jugs of water we had ready.  It was a slow process, but once we finished the perimeter, we were able to set fire to the middle without too much worry.  We all still had our water jugs ready and waiting….just in case, but the yard was burned without incident.  Hurray!  Little did we know that there was actually dirt beneath the tangle of weeds and overgrowth.  None of us had ever seen it!  While her yard looked a little bit like Satan’s yard due to the blackness, it was worth it.  Melissa was completely surprised when she arrived home. 

Burning her yard brings me to another point………in my nearly two years of living in Japan I haven’t seen one well manicured lawn like what we have in the States.  First, the Japanese don’t have nearly the space that we have in the States, so most people don’t have a yard.  If they do, it’s usually messy.  I’ve seen yards that are just gravel, a tangle of weeds, overgrown to the point of being scary, and/or just bushes.  No one has nice green grass that is regularly trimmed.  In fact the only lawnmower I’ve seen in Japan is the motor-less DIY kind that requires effort (pictured above).  No one has beautiful gardens with colorful blooms, stepping stones, small water fountains, and lush black dirt covering the ground.  I found out why the other day.  Since gardens and manicured lawns require water and machines to maintain them, it’s seen as wasteful.  Yep, you read that right.  Gardens and manicured lawns are actually ILLEGAL in Japan because waste not, want not.  How different is that?      

After Saturday’s night’s party, which was a blast, we didn’t get home until 3:30 AM.  I had to be up at 7:30 the next morning for graduation at my JHS.  Yes, graduation in Japan is in March.  The end of the school year is in March, and the new school year begins in April.  Let me tell you about really long and boring speeches from the principal, vice principal, mayor, etc and only four hours of sleep.  NOT FUN!!  Although I experienced graduation last year, it still surprises me with how different it is compared to graduation at home.  While at home graduation is a happy time that celebrates accomplishments and looks forward to the next step, graduation in Japan is the opposite.  It’s a very sad and somber occasion that reflects upon the good times had and how much everyone is going to miss everyone.  Whereas in the States everyone looks forward to graduation, and hardly a tear is shed, in Japan graduation is almost dreaded, and there isn’t a dry eye in the house.  EVERYONE cries.  The graduating students cry.  The parents cry.  The teachers cry.  The town officials cry. The students not graduating cry because they think of their own upcoming graduation.  What’s more is that the graduating students have to give speeches while they’re bawling their eyes out.  Some of the girls could barely get through their lines, and some of the guys were trying their best to not show their tears (because they are men and therefore don’t cry).

I only had to work a half day that day, so after work I went back home and took a nap with Ian.  Both of us were exhausted after only a few hours of sleep the night before.  However, I sat my alarm for late afternoon so that I could be up in time for the writing workshop.  Just like last year a couple of friends and I organized a writing workshop in which we submit drafts of stories to one another and share comments.  Mollee and Brian planned to come over to my house at 6 PM, and we would Skype Ana (who now lives in Oxford, England).  However, Mollee canceled since she was still feeling sick from the party.  Ana was right on time and messaged me at 6:01 to say that she was ready whenever we were.  Brian still hadn’t arrived by 6:20, so I called him.  He had forgotten about it, so I asked Ana if she wouldn’t mind rescheduling.  Even though we didn’t get to do writing workshop, we still were able to catch up a bit and have a nice chat via Skype.

Wow….okay.  That was a long blog!  I’ll let your eyes rest now and finish up in the next blog.

Random encounters in which I make a friend

Last Monday night I went with Ian to Kirishima for work.  I really enjoy going down there with him on Mondays.  It gives us a little more time together, and it keeps me from doing the same old, same old come-home-and-be-a-blob-for-the-rest-of-the-night routine.  I think he enjoys me going with him as well because I keep him company along the way.  Anyway, after I dropped him off at work, I went to this nice little walking/running trail that follows the river.  As I started, I walked past a girl about my age who was just starting a run.  I continued on my walk, but I heard a pitter-patter of feet behind me.  The girl had jogged up to me.  She asked in Japanese where I was from, and I said America.  Then she asked me something else, and I muttered something in Japanese that showed just how little Japanese I know, so she said, “Do you speak English?”  YES!  LET’S COMMUNICATING IN ENGLISH!  We had a great little chat.  She said that she lived in Canada for a year and studied English.  I told her that I live in Hitoyoshi (it’s much easier to say I live there because NO ONE outside of Kuma-gun knows where Yunomae is) and teach English.  She said that she was from Yatsushiro, which is just up the road from Hitoyoshi!!  She now works for Toyota in Kirishima.  I told her that my husband teaches an eikaiwa class at the Sony factory, and I ride down with him on Monday nights.  She said that she runs in that park quite often, so maybe we’d meet again.  Awww, I made a friend!  I love random encounters like that!

Once she jogged away, I continued my walk.  Despite the fact that the sun had gone down, and it was pitch black I wasn’t concerned.  I was a single woman walking alone in a deserted park at night.  Would I ever do that in the States?  NO!!  However, I’m not scared in Japan because I know that nothing is going to happen to me.  I’m REALLY going to miss that sense of security when we get back in August.  Ian and I were joking the other day and said that we’re probably going to be robbed because we’ll forget to lock the front door, forget to lock the car doors, or simply just leave our purse/wallet sitting around where it shouldn’t be.  Once you live in a place without problems for so long, your cautiousness tends to melt away.

After Ian got off of work, we went to this nice shabu shabu restaurant that Ian has been raving about for a date night.  What’s shabu shabu, you ask?  It’s a special Japanese dish.  There’s a pot of spiced boiling salt water sitting in the middle of the table, and you let the meat/vegetables/noodles/whatever you order cook in the hot water for a few minutes before eating it.  It was delicious!  It was a bit expensive, but we haven’t had a date night in a while, and I’d never had shabu shabu, so it was worth the experience, I guess.  

The next day, Tuesday, was quite the day!  I woke up terribly congested but went to school anyway.  Ian said that throughout the night I was coughing and sniffling.  I had nursery schools that morning, and on my way I nearly hit a bird.  It was in the middle of the road, and generally whenever you get close to birds, they fly away.  I didn’t think anything of it as I continued to drive toward it until I was right up on it, and it didn’t move.  I’m not sure if its wing was broken or what, but I had to swerve out of the way in order to avoid it.

As I was leaving my second nursery school, one of the really little kids was crying in the hallway and tugging on his teacher’s leg.  I could tell that it was a fake cry and was just for attention.  As soon as the kid looked at me, he stopped crying, stared at me, and gave me a WHAT-THE-HECK-ARE-YOU????? look.  I guess white people are confusing for Japanese toddlers who have never seen a white person before!  Ha, ha, ha.  As soon as I walked away, he went back to crying and tugging on his teacher’s leg for attention.

Whenever I checked Facebook that morning, I had noticed several people posting things about Chinese smog floating to Japan and the air condition having a PM 2.5 rating.  At first I ignored it, but I saw more and more messages about it, so when I got to my junior high school, I did a little more investigating and found out that it was a very serious condition.  Smog from China had blown across the sea and was settling over our island of Kyushu.  Yikes!  While I didn’t think that it would affect us way out here in the middle of no where, I was wrong.  For the past week, if I look off in the distance it is quite hazy.  (However, it’s not as bad as it is in the city.  People were saying that you could see a nasty yellow/gray cloud that was the smog hovering over the city.  Gross!)  Everyone has absolutely been freaking out.  That Tuesday the teacher’s called an impromptu meeting before lunch to discuss the smog.  I was getting ready to use the microwave to warm my lunch like I do every day when I noticed all of the teachers sitting down at their desks.  I thought maybe I’ll wait on warming this soup…..  The media has been warning people to stay inside (not like it’s going to matter because Japanese houses are quite drafty) and to wear face masks if going outside (not like that’s going to help because the tiny air particles can still get through those masks).  The Japanese hate the Chinese, so this is just one more reason for them to do so.

Since I was so congested and coughing/sniffling so much, both on Tuesday while I was at my JHS and on Wednesday when I was at the ES I got asked if China had gotten me sick.  Ha!  I told them no, but time after time I was told that it was probably China’s fault.  ……..either that or hay fever.  It was as if there was no other reason to be sick other than those two things.

On Tuesday I was randomly on Kayak and looking at ticket prices for different flights.  Ian and I are still tossing around the notion of going to Cambodia over Golden Week, so I checked prices for that.  Then I whimsically looked into flight prices for when we go to Tokyo in August.  While we have booked our big international flight home, we hadn’t booked from this area to Tokyo yet.  I played around with the airports near us—Kagoshima, Kumamoto, and Fukuoka only to find a SUPER cheap flight leaving from Fukuoka for only $54 through Air Asia!!!  Originally my supervisor told me that she would take us to the Kagoshima Airport since it’s the closest to our area and to book a flight from there.  However, I emailed her the link to the website showing the $54 ticket and asked if it would be okay to take the bus to Fukuoka and leave from there.  She basically said, “For $54 you can do whatever your little heart desires.”  While it doesn’t really matter how much my ticket is since the BOE is paying for it, that means that we only had to spend $54 on Ian’s ticket, bringing the total price of the ticket home up to $1,916.04.  While that sounds like a lot, you have to consider that we spent about that much for one ticket last summer when we came home, and that was a direct flight that didn’t have a three day layover in Honolulu.  Hurray!  

I’ll stop here, but I’m far from being finished.  It’s a slow process, but I’m catching up!

Catching up from last week

Friday a week ago at lunch I had a really good time eating with my 3rd graders at the JHS.  At the beginning of this year I absolutely hated my 3rd graders.  I didn’t hate all of them and actually it was just a few little jerks in the class that ruined it for me.  However over the past month or so, I have really grown fond of my 3rd graders.  The past couple of times that I ate lunch with them they actually talked to me, so it was no awkward stare-at-one-another-as-we-silently-eat lunch.  One of the girls in the middle of the table started talking.  She has a very outgoing personality.  She’s a bit of a troublemaker sometimes, but I still like her, and I’m pretty sure that she likes me.  At first she asked me the typical questions that every Japanese JHS student has memorized by heart: What sport do you play?  What do you have for breakfast?  What is your favorite food?  Then she whipped out her textbook and tried to go for more detailed questions: Have you ever been to China?  Who is your best friend?  What do you do after school?  The boy who sits across from her is actually really good in English, and he was spoon feeding her things to say.  She had no idea what she was saying, so when she said, “Let’s make a baby together with me” I stopped mid-bite, dropped my jaw, bugged my eyes, and stared at her.  The boy doubled over in laughter, and the girl realized that whatever she said was not conversational English.  The boy told her in Japanese what she had said, and she put her hands up in defense.  “No!  No!  No!  No!  No baby!  Let’s make a baby together with Ian.”  (While her words might not have been grammatically correct, she was implying that I should have a baby with IAN, not HER.)  This started the whole you’re-married-why-don’t-you-have-a-baby conversation.  Ugh!  How many times must I explain myself?!?  I know that it’s a very foreign concept for the Japanese to understand, but we are waiting to have kids, not just shot gunning kids. 

On Saturday afternoon after our morning Skype dates, I went for a little walk.  The weather was so nice, and I couldn’t simply stay inside.  As I was walking, I saw a puppy on the sidewalk.  He must have also been out for a stroll because he had this attitude of confidence.  I know that he was someone’s pet because he had a collar on, and he came right up to me.  He was the cutest little guy, and it made me realize just how much I miss having pets around!  I can’t wait to be back at home and play with my siblings’ dogs!!  :)

That night we went up to the city with Krista, Melissa, Sara, and Margo for Yusuke’s surprise welcome home party that Mary had planned.  It was a ton of fun!!  We got to the restaurant super early, and it was too cold to wait outside, so we walked down the street to Joyfull to get drinks.  We waited there until our reservation time at the yakiniku restaurant.  Mary had made the reservation for 7 PM but told us to get there at 6:45 so that we could surprise Yusuke.  It was a REALLY nice place.  We had our own private little room, and when we saw Mary and Yusuke pull up, we all stopped talking and “hid” as well as we could in that room.  As soon as Yusuke poked his head through, we all jumped out and yelled “SURPRISE!”  He was utterly surprised to see all of us.  That was the first time we’d seen him since Australia.  :)  As far as the food goes, I’m pretty sure we all ate our fill of meat that night!  For 2,500 yen we had an all-you-can-eat buffet of meat and veggies with a salad bar.  Platter after platter of delicious cuts of beef, pork, chicken, onions, and peppers arrived at our table, and we had absolutely NO PROBLEM putting them away.  Delicious!  I’m pretty sure that’s the most meat I’ve eaten in a long, LONG time.

After dinner all of us went back to Mary’s just to chat.  Since Ian and I had to go to a soccer tournament the next morning, we stayed in the city, but the rest of the gang headed back to Kuma-gun.  Oh, the soccer tournament!  I didn’t particularly want to go, but I felt roped into it.  Stupid Japanese obligatory things.  :(  Ian and I woke up at 8:30 and tiptoed out of Mary’s apartment.  I didn’t realize until that morning that I left the map that the teachers had given me showing me where the soccer tournament was at home.  FAIL.  I knew that the tournament was north of the castle, but other than that we were flying blind.  I tried to look for it on Google maps, but it wasn’t there.  Ian asked what my plan was.  I told him that we should just go to the north side of the castle and maybe by the shear grace of God we would find it.  Turns out….nope.  I felt like a failure, but the truth be told I didn’t really want to go.  We finally gave up looking for it and turned back to go to Starbucks for a morning beverage.  (I later looked at the map, and it turns out that we were very, very close!)

As we were sitting and enjoying our hot drinks while people watching, Ian said, “Hey, look.  I think that’s Shara!”  It was a foreigner walking toward Starbucks, but it was too far away for me to clearly see if it was her or not.  I jokingly said, “Ian, come on.  Not all foreigners look the same!” (because the Japanese think that we do)  However, as the person approached, I realized that it was indeed Shara!  How crazy to randomly run into her up in the city!!  As soon as she walked in, we waved at her to get her attention.  The three of us had a lovely little chat about almost everything: spring break plans, crazy students, going home in August, life after JET, etc.  It was a great lazy morning.  After that, Ian and I walked around and shopped for a bit.  I had forgotten that March 3rd, that day, was the Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival).  There were great displays of porcelain dolls sitting out everywhere.  Many shops set up the displays in front of the stores.  I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of the dolls are (I think it has some historic value), but I know that A LOT of care goes into the set up and display of the dolls. 

 

We returned back to Kuma-gun that afternoon and met up with Mollee to go to a hole-in-the-wall curry restaurant that she has been raving about.  However, the restaurant was closed.  Since it was mid-afternoon, we assumed that maybe the restaurant wasn’t open, and we could come back later.  Instead Mollee showed us a really nice walking path along the river that she runs on frequently.  It was a nice sunny day for a stroll, and it killed some time for us.  Whenever we tried to return to the curry restaurant, it was still closed.  Sad day.  So we decided to go to the great Indian restaurant in Hitoyoshi, Everest.  Yum!!!

 

I was really dreading going to school and having to face all of the teachers on Monday morning after the whole missed soccer tournament thing.  In Japan if you say you are going to come to something, you are OBLIGATED to go.  It’s extremely frowned upon to say that you’ll go to something and then not show up, so I was afraid of what the teachers would think of me.  However, I totally got a free pass!  The first teacher I saw was my vice principal.  I met her in the office as I was clocking in, and she laughed and said, “I’m so sorry about yesterday.”  I told her that I got lost and was so sorry that I missed it.  She once again said sorry.  SHE WAS APOLOGIZING FOR ME SCREWING UP.  Then she hugged me.  Yay!  I get a free pass as a dumb foreigner.  Hurray!

I ate lunch with my first graders at the JHS that day.  They have realized that I know about Gangnam style, so they will dance around doing Gangnam style as I laugh at them.  Precious.  As I was setting my food down on one table, the group of boys at the next table was like, “No, Melissa-sensei.  Sit with us.  Come over here.”  Two of the four of them are good boys who are decent at English, and I don’t think they had an alternative motive.  They honestly just wanted me to sit with them.  Awwwwwww!!!  It’s things like that that honestly just warm my heart!!  It’s a small gesture, but those kids have no idea how happy they made me by asking me to sit with them!   

Alight.  I’ll wrap it up and stop here.  I didn’t write any blogs last week (oops) because it was a slightly different week, so that means that I have lots to write about and get you fellow blog readers caught up on!  Hurray!