Misadventures in Japan: April 2006

Movin' on up!

As I mentioned a little while ago, I recently applied for a job within JET as an education center ALT in Omura city (really close to Nagasaki). The job involves, among other things, running all the education seminars for the Nagasaki prefecture JETs as well as for Japanese teachers of English. It is basically an education policy job and has a lot more responsiblities (and power...dahaha) than my current job. It also looks pretty kick-ass on a resume...

In any case, enough build up (and in case you couldn't figure it out from my excited rambling)....I found out today that I got the job!!!

I didn't think that I would get it because my Japanese ability is not the greatest (they had tried to interview me in Japanese but gave up after I just kept repeating that I loved sushi -- even in response to education policy questions). I was also supposed to find out sooner, but turns out the documents had gotten a bit lost in Japanese bureaucracy. Ah well, now I know!

In any case I am excited but also a bit terrified. I esentially have three months (the job starts in August) to learn to speak Japanese. I will also have to do a lot of public speaking (there are something like 200 JETs in Nag prefecture!) and that's not really my favourite thing. Oh well, it should be a challenge. Wish me luck!

Joy and Promise of a Ripened Cherry....

So I have completely crazy but hilarious friends. Sometimes when life just gets a bit boring I can always count on someone to send me an email/message/comment that thrills, confuses, or outright makes me laugh. Since I have nothing of importance to write today I thought that I'd post a part of a recent email that a friend of mine sent to me. I should point out that she used to be a sweet, innocent, happy girl when I first met her.....however, as with all such poor unfortunates that cross my path, I feel that I have brought out a bit of the dark side in her. It hasn't been a productive month unless I've corrupted at least one innocent....

Anywho, this is what she wrote:

"i enjoy a nice baileys and milk and wish i had a nice midget to serenade me with his fiddle whilst i sip on the said baileys and milk, staring into the fireplace at my side, wondering why in japan there`s 3 kanji for ocean. I would like him to dance...with occasional aero-dynamic flips thrown into the mix for good measure...with as much joy and promise as a rippened cherry.

But really, im not a lesbian (my comment: I don't know how this is related....)

But i do like to wrestle. In fact, I think a mud wrestling tournament is in order. A couple tarps, some baby`s shampoo mixed with grade a sludge...hell, why dont we throw in some fluffy sheep for good measure. Nothing`s funnier than a little mud-covered pile of wool dodging mud wrestlers. Really, can u imagine...that shit would be hilarious! Dont give me that shit about animals rights. Pussy.

anways...maybe i can learn to be offensive. Maybe i can say fuck your mother and really mean it. like, really want someone to fuck her hard and good (my comment: this is my favourite part of the email). or maybe not...because we all know what her offspring looks like, and we sure as hell dont want that to happen again. so i take it back."

Beauty is religion....

"And if Venice is sinking
I'm going under
'Cause beauty's religion
And its Christened me with wonder"
--Spirit of the West

Yep, life really is beautiful sometimes. Well not so much this morning because I have to be here in school working, which is especially hard now that I have spent three weeks on my ass doing crap-all. Suddenly things are back in full swing here, and I am busier than ever (though apparently not enough to keep me from updating my blog....ahem).

However, this weekend was truly one of the most amazing weekends I have had in a long time, even though nothing of specific importance occured. On Saturday Jen and I went to Nagasaki for some shopping and to watch the Chronicles of Narnia. I love going to the movies here because it allows me to feel like I am back in Canada, even if it is only for a short time. We ended up leaving Nagasaki pretty late though and didn't come back into Shimabara until 11:30 pm. At that point Jen was already slumped over in the car somewhat asleep and I was yawning up a storm and swerving slighty as I drove. We agreed that we might as well just go home, watch a movie and pass out. However, as the realization that I would therefore not have had a single night out this weekend finally hit home, I drove up the driveway towards my house, paused, and just kept on driving past it and back into the city center. I told Jen that I just wanted to check one place out and if it was empty then we could go home. She looked at me with bleary eyes but reluctantly agreed.

Well we ended up going to a place called AG's, which is a decent size, western-style bar. Turns out they had a hip-hop DJ going and a few drinks later we were pretty much ready for the long haul. Eventually Kara joined us as well and the three of us proceed to drink, dance and schmooze with all the J-boys we could find. It was good times and we didn't make it home till about 4 or 5 am, therefore satisfying my need for a good night out.

Sunday was spent lying in the park in the sun and just enjoying the beauty of Spring. Everything was so gorgeous that even my cynical, sarcastic self could be heard saying such sentimental crap as "Life is so wonderful!!!" and "Kara, Jenny, I love you guys. I love myself. I LOVE EVERYTHING!!". I also scared both of them by giving them really warm and affectionate hugs despite the fact that I was sober (not a frequent occurence). Not to sound all cheesy and flaky about it all, but if you had been there you would understand. The park was large and green, and warm with sunshine. Down the hill you could see the ocean glistening in the bright rays of the sun, and accross the sea the mountain range of Kumamoto was clearly outlined. Right behind us stood Mount Unzen in all it's glory; lush and verdent with life and majestic in the way that only a mountain ever is. And in between mountain and sea sat three content, happy and peaceful individuals -- talking about life, the universe and everything. Afterwards we went to Kara's and made Easter dinner and in thinking about the day we'd had I felt that, regardless of the fact that I do not subscribe to Christian beliefs, I now understood what people are feeling when they say they've had a religious experience.

Okay, I know that all sounds sort of dramatic. And no, I am not in fact taking any drugs, nor have I recently joined a cult. It is of course possible that I am just bipolar and emotionally unstable; however for now, I think I'll just stick to the explanation that it really was a perfect weekend.

Delicious Duck....

So I have recently realized that my level of Japanese is completely pathetic given the fact that I have been living in Japan now for over 8 months. In an effort to correct this (since it would be nice to talk to Japanese people about something other than the weather and how delicious everything is) I am now trying to study a little bit of Japanese everyday.

Today I learned that the Japanese people call a person who is easy to beat (i.e. a loser) 'kamo', which means 'duck'. The apparent reason for this is that ducks are really easy to kill and taste quite delicious. There is even a saying in Japanese that goes 'kamo ga negi shotte atte kuru', which means 'the duck carries a leek to you' (meaning of course that it is so easy kill that it virtually comes up to you brining ingredients for a good duck stew). I don't know why but I found this simultaneously a very funny and very tragic image; and I now have a new favourite saying.

Just TRY and stop me!

Ok kids, more pics! I have finally uploaded Sakura, Hanami and Poker night pics (pretty much all of which are courtesy of Jenny, since I am crap at remembering or bothering to take pictures and are always kicking myself after). Please find below and enjoy. Some pics were left out....but that's mainly because I like to keep this a family friendly blog.

Incidentally....the waterfall swimming yesterday was a bit of a non-success (i.e. total failure). You see when I said that it had rained torrentially for several days I did not consider what this would do to the water flow of a waterfall. Needless to say, when Kara and I got there (we had dashed down half naked and it was in the evening so it was cold and starting to rain again) the water was so heavy that we couldn't even get near it! Oh well, we plan on trying again next week. And the week after.....

Shimabara castle seen through the Sakura (cherry blossoms)

Seriously, where do I live?! Could this be any more gorgeous??

The path around Shimabara castle.

The woman said to smile. So I did. Not a pretty sight....

Kazuya looks a little anxious....

Cherry blossoms up above. Truly one of the most beautiful things ever.

Shin and Moi getting ready to grill!

Sakura!!!

Fumi (my Japanese teacher) and me.

Food, booze, Sakura. Perfection!!

Making okonomiyaki....

A car got stuck in a ditch near where we were having the party so the gang all got together to pull it out!

The happy/drunk owner of the car shows his love after we had pulled it from the ditch...

Jen and Kazuya having a raw egg drinking contest....don't ask.

You can't buy this kind of love (you have to drink a bottle of whiskey to get it....)

Together. Drunk, but together.

Poker night at Jenny's....we didn't end up playing all that much poker. Someone brought down some pillows and things kinda got out of hand and---dahahaha, just kidding boys. It was good times tho...all these ladies are amazing!

Later on that same night... We be wasted.

Personally I'm not sure who I'd bet on...but I would love to watch these two brawl....

Yes. Just, yes.

After a two day deluge of biblical proportions, the rain has finally stopped, the clouds have cleared and the sun is shining through a beautiful light blue sky. It feels like 25 degrees and it's almost warm enough to be hot and humid. Could it be a more beautiful day here in Shimabara? I don't think so. To celebrate, Kara, Doug and myself are heading to the waterfall right after work for a quick swim. Yes, that's right. We are going swimming in April.

This morning I was preparing two of every animal, and now I am searching for my bikini. La vita e bella.

Yeah, yeah. I know what you all want....

So I thought I'd post some more pictures because some people seem to be too lazy to read these days....oh well, don't mind, don't mind!

Below I have put up some pics of Mnt. Aso, which is a large volcano in Kumamoto prefecture (across the bay from Shimabara). Nicole had come to visit me from Iki a couple of weeks ago and we decided to go see the volcano together. Only problem -- her, Kayoko, Kara and I had gotten wasted the night before and had gone crazy dancing at a random hip-hop party that just happened to be going on in Shimmy. Well, hungover, and with about 3 hours sleep, we decided that it would still be a good idea to climb up into Aso's toxic fumes on a cold March day. We survived though, and it was definately worth the trip. After all, how many people can say they have looked into an active volcano (er....apart from all the people in Kumamoto that is...)??

Below that are also two pictures from a Taiko seminar I went to with my new found friend Lima (whom I did not meet nearly early enough considering how much fun she is!). I actually really like Taiko, and am considering taking it up. The only problem with the seminar was that, once again, I was hungover and really, loud drumming is not the best thing for a pounding headache. Man, I have to stop making plans for Sunday mornings!

And don't worry people, I will be posting pictures of Sakura in only a few short days...