Maybe It's Tomorrow, And Maybe It's Not...

For some unknown reason I only get colds in the middle of summer. Kyoto being the hottest prefecture in the country, it was bound to happen here, too. So it's 30°C or so and I'm sneezing my face off while the staff around me give me a wide berth like I've come in from a leper colony to teach their kids. I know I'm supposed to wear a surgical mask at times like these, but I just don't want to. So for the last week I'm been up to not much. The typhoon I mentioned n my last post has disappeared like it never happened. The three days of school that were cancelled because of it seem like they off on a holiday rather than rain because it's sunny again, the only change being the days are no longer sweltering, just pleasant. So here's the sunny September update since It's the first BOE day in a while and I can't be assed writing this at home.

Yesterday (Thursday 29 September) one of my schools, Yoshizu Primary, held an international day and invited Maggie, Rob, the AET from Yosano, Natalie, two Philipino mothers of Yoshizu children and I to teach a class each a game from our countries. Maggie and I were in charge of the 3^rd and 4^th graders that were combined. We headed outside to first play a couple of Japanese the kids taught us, then Maggie and I introduced them to 'wink murder' under the slightly censored name of 'sandman'. Nishihara-san had suggested we change the dying into sleeping as that may not appeal to the kids. I found this really odd. The kids are exposed to death all the time from the sort of anime they watch on TV, but even so they refuse to play at death. I remember we used to like this game especially because of the melodramatics we could perform as we died, but the kids here were contented enough to play at sleeping and snore loudly. After the games we had lunch with our class and as I walked in, I saw they had made a welcome big poster.

Welcome, Ali-sensei!

They had further pulled out the stops for the foreigners by having a very unusually tasty school lunch of fried fish and rice with a nice furikake on top. After coffee in the principal's office we were driven home. The day took under several hours, a usual day for me, my fellow AETs were miffed to hear. I don't think I could cut an 8.30 to 4.15 day like they do. Doing more than four periods a day? Gotta be joking. Today I was at Kamimiyazu Primary and this morning they asked for me to come in around 10.30 to do two classes, have lunch, then get dropped off at home. Life is good. :)

Last week (Thursday 22 September) was the birthday party of a fellow AET, Mario, in Omiya. I don't really know many of the other AETs in the Tango area, just the ones that started this year with me, so I went along to drink, basically. Maggie and I took the train to Omiya and began the great hike in the general direction of the bad instructions we were given. On the way as we headed into the countryside we passed a semi-shady looking woman with a man on the street and as we walked on they drove up beside us and the woman spoke up in a very American English accent, “If you have time please come and help me practice my English” and gave us her business card. Her name was Chimama (or Hoochimama, as we now know her as), and the business card she gave us was under the business name of something odd that I can’t remember. But this name rang a bell for Maggie as this place had two names, although she couldn't place it until it was mentioned to the other AETs at the party. This place was a strip joint under the name of Manopause. So Hoochimama worked at Manopause and wanted English practice. Next time we're in Omiya we thought we should drop by, it's nice to meet new interesting people. 

The party itself was held at an izakaya so there was just endless finger food and drinks they kicked us out at midnight. The birthday boy Mario is a third year AET living with his partner Matt who is also an AET. We didn't really see either of them as there were a ton of people there spread out over two long tables and we were jammed in like sardines so it was hard to move around, but the hosts did try to get around everyone they could. Highlight of the evening probably was the existence of bourbon and this was the first time I had seen it in Japan. It was no Jim Beam but it was nice to have it for the first time in a long while. After dinner we headed out to karaoke and rented a giant room, singing drunken Lady Gaga ballads until the staff threw us out at 2am. Well, I'll say you haven't seen real karaoke until you've seen four drunk gay guys singing Born This Way, complete with dance moves at two in the morning. 

"I'm on the right track baby I was born this way!"

Luckily Maggie and I were able to get a ride back to Miyazu afterwards because all of the trains had finished their runs long before. Luckily the day after, which was a Friday, was was national holiday (Autumnal Equinox Day, yeah, it's actually a holiday) so here goes the second long weekend this week! And because I've had two days off because of the typhoon, it means that I've only worked half a day this week. Otsukaresama deshita!

Group hug!

On Sunday (25 September), Miyazu hosted a regional soft volleyball tournament where we saw over 20 teams from around Kinki converge on our home grounds and compete in a goodwill competition. There were only two of our teams that competed but we meet people from as far away as Fukuchiyama and as north as Kyotango with most teams being comprised of people our age and some teams of mothers. For the record, I suck at volleyball and see myself as more of a hindrance than a help so I wasn't expecting much from me or my team. That premonition was bang on. My team played three games and we didn't win any matches but we at least won a set which extended a game into the third set instead of the usual two we played. It was still really fun though. During lunch I met a really nice guy from Fukuchiyama called Junji who had just returned home from spending five years in Seattle. As expected his English was excellent and it was a welcome change to speak English to a Japanese person after all the Japanese I have to speak all of the time. This was the first time my team mates had heard me speak English so we had an audience every time we spoke. I met his team and introduced them to mine, and we played a couple of games together in the off time. We all got along so well that we are planning a meet up with them again sometime for a practice together and a dinner and karaoke night out in Fukuchiyama. Even though I suck at volleyball I think my team mates like having me on the team for the comedy aspect. It's not so much that it's funny to watch my miss the ball every time (although it's partly to do with the fact that I can't jump and end up waving my legs like a madman while only lifting off about ten centimetres off the ground), but they like my on court theatrics. At Mastsue too I gained popularity by acting like a total dork and entertaining the masses, something I could never do in New Zealand if I tried. That evening, a few people from my team and I met up for a dinner of yakiniku (or what I like to call, “Freakin' cook it yourself” niku) which Maggie joined us for, and grilled the night away. Twas goood. Now that I think about it, there's been a drinking party every week with one group or another. The Japanese sure love their alcohol (even if it's highly diluted, it just mean's they drink more of it!).

Still on the topic of food tonight I went along to a dinner Maggie and I were invited to, which I originally thought was a meeting with someone from city hall accompanied by someone from the BOE. I had envisioned a rather formal event. Boy, was I wrong. We met up with Nishihara-san beforehand as we didn't know the way to the restaurant so I guessed at least she had been invited and we passed Kawahara-san on the way so that also counted him in. Great. The reassembly of the Rowdy Duo, that writes out formality. All four of us arrived at a small Chinese restaurant and occupied their only two tables as two others from the BOE joined us and the beers and nihonshu arrived. Kawahara-san managed to down his beer in 30 seconds and order more while I sipped my nihonshu as we waited for our guest to arrive. Noriko was the name of our guest from the city hall and she was the niece of one of the BOE staff who had spent several years at a university in Arizona. By the time she arrived I had lost count of the nihonshu that had float past me, each one seeming the break the laws of gravity more than the last and finally becoming airborne. Nishihara-san too was beyond recognition, her face a dark red ball moving ever closer to the recipient of her conversation before falling on their shoulder, with each round of shochu. The night was a lot of fun and the large number of cultural blunders I attempted could not be stopped as my alcohol tainted ears blocked out all cries of warning.

Kawahara-san, you so crazy!

It's peace time.

And Nishihara-san is horizontal already.

Even though all the tables in the izakaya had been taken over by us, other patrons would wander in from time to time to seat themselves at the bar. One such patron happened to be the son of my kyudo teacher who had heard of me. Needless to say at kyudo the next night I was welcomed with a “You went drinking last night, didn't you. I hear you can hold your liquor” followed by a complete recap what I did the night before as told to him by his son, for the rest of the kyudo members. From my point of view, the version of events went nothing like how he relayed it so I'll just disregard his version. Anyway somewhere within the 15 minute play-by-play recap I was challenged by the old kyudo master (who resembles Mr. Miyagi but with a longer beard, and is therefore wiser)to a drinking match sometime at the dojo using the kyudo clubs' ample supplies of sake, that they were quick to show me. This was brought on by the rest of the club wondering who could hold their liquor the longest knowing full well that the master was indeed a master at it. Tanoshimi da na.