Ch. 6 Holidays and the View from one foot

Hey there! A new month is here and i am feeling guilty about my lack of blogging. I have had a few mishaps that have kept me from writing on here though. Not just the cop-out of 'I was busy'! My laptop broke!!!! I am in the process of trying to fix it. A computer wiz in the area told me that i need to get a new windows uploaded. So I have been tracking down a disk. There has also been the incredible lack of things to say. My broken foot has kept me from leading a exuberant lifestyle; which I should say is rather a good thing. I am lucky to have a girlfriend who talks to me every night and keeps me filled with excellant stimulating conversations(I mean in intellectual terms). I also have discovered a new found passion for reading. I have always read yes but before I did it for enjoyment and was easily able to go through one book every couple months. Now I can barely get through a week without a few books at hand. This can also be contributed to my latent interest in mainstream bestsellers. I guess Im starting to see a few ways this job has changed me. I did have a good Thanksgiving though. However work has taken on a new bitterness so I will start there...

11-18-09

We had been told for weeks, the other two JETs and I, that there was going to be a meeting after work on the 18th for the English teachers in Isumi city. However the pretenses for said meeting continued to take new forms as I spoke with my board of education supervisor and my fellow teachers. Up until this point I had been learning the subtleties of Japanese criticism and hierarchical communication in the little bits of information I could gather from being the silent foreigner. I was not prepared for what was to come at all though. To not delve too far into all of mayhem that occurred, three BOE staff(the section chief, another chief and my supervisor) and us, the three JETS were seated in a row in the front facing a huge conference room. At first glance it would seem like what i heard was our welcoming meeting and we would be introducing ourselves to the Japanese teachers or at least having a formal panel discussion with them. This was not the case at all though as it became apparent that we the JETs were the ones on the chopping block after not one but all three BOE staff stood up to lecture us. This went on for hours. Not only where we criticized about our poor health(Reuben had an internal cist removed and missed 80 days of work last year) but also our teaching! They went on to tell us that we would be reviewed in each class we teach and if we didn't make the cut the we would be fired and they would drop the JET program. Well not entirely, apparently they would keep on one JET who would go to 20 schools! Or the alternative if we did a good job then they would hire a fourth JET and we wouldn't have to go to all the elementary schools. They went on to even say that they expect us to win the state speech contest!! Afterwards i had dinner with Will us being the two new Jets we had to break apart and analyze what just happened. Immediately afterwards i became depressed. The next days at work were terrible, dreading the surprise visit and review of my class. I was depressed for awhile and still would be if not for another JET in the area who told me that nothing ever changes from those meetings and it was a joke to think from breaking my foot they were going to drop the JET program. It would obvious be a decision from someone higher up who knows nothing about us. I realized he was write and immediately felt lighter feeling some of the perks of being a foreigner. Today I was told that the section chief now wants to have monthly meetings to set goals and review them. All I can do is laugh about how serious he wants us to take this job; where we are basically just English tape recorders. We have no power to change things in class.

So after soon forgetting my work troubles and teaching Thanksgiving all week in class I was as excited as a school boy for school to end on Friday. I had helped plan a joint Thanksgiving party in Togane, a bigger city an hour north of me. There are about 6 JETS there and most of them live in a single apartment building. So we held it in about three apartments. After work I made it to the grocery store just in time before closing so that the lady followed me around carrying my basket to rush me through the store. I picked up some fixins for the two dishes I planned to make, Sweet potatoes and Vegetarian Stuffing. I happened to make it to the local bakery too and they had bread crumbs sitting there staring at me as if it was meant to be. The next day I woke up early and started on cooking. I had an immense amount of food to cook and not much time. There would have been no way for me to transport all this food but luckily Reuben offered to drive there. I started by boiling the sweet potatoes since I don:t have a big oven. I kind of have a toaster oven but I don't trust its heating capabilities. I then mashed them in a big clay pot and started on the stuffing. Slicing and dicing onions, celery, putting in spices and finally adding the bullion. The air soon smelled delicious. I was getting hungry but I soon discovered I was missing ingredients so I called Reuben. He made it over by 11 and we didn't make it on the road until 1:30. It was a late start but we were in good spirits, it was a nice day and a beautiful drive up the coast. We were both starving since I was in a rush in the morning i had no time to eat. We had a baguette with us though and soon devoured it. When we arrived we were the first ones there so took the opportunity to sit out in the sun on the porch drinking vine and listening to music. It was a great time while the three girls and a guy who lived in the building where rushing around in the last minute preparations for the party. As it approached six the ten or so of us who arrived early were starving and getting impatient waiting for the late stragglers. I was trying to sneak snacks but there wasn't much out yet. Finally when we were allowed to eat, we were called in five at a time, all but a smidgen of my thanksgiving excitment was sucked out of me. I was disappointed thinking back to last year when I was with Dorinne, sharing the thanksgiving tradition with a bunch of other foreigners in Nicaragua. I had such a good time I guess it was just hard to surpass it this year. For the three hours after I ate I was almost incapacitated being so full. I was on the verge of nodding off many times while the murmur of conversations went on around me. At about midnight though we all got a second wind and about 12 of us headed out to Karoke! It was a fun time but it just seemed to go on forever. A few of us left early and started filling the floor with beds. There were about seven of us in one room. We stayed up for awhile laughing and talking, but soon my eyes shut and I slept like a rock. The next day we woke up slowly and made it out by about noon. With no thought of breakfast in mind Reuben and I headed to a recycle shop, Japans version of a thrift store. The place was huge and I was excited because i had wanted to pick up some things for awhile. The place turned out to be really overpriced but it did have some good stuff. I ended up with a nice track jacket and Reuben picked up a few records. Eventually on the long drive back we did get hungry and stooped off at a taco shack. As you might already have guessed good Mexican food is incredibly hard to come by out here and this place was no exception. Even though it smelled great the tacos we ordered turned out to be burritos that tasted distinctly like taco bell. I think it was the hot sauce! When i finally made it home I was overtaken with a food comma. It seemed like all i did in the last 24 hours was eat and drink. I called Dorinne and talked excitedly about next month. If any of you don't know already I am heading to Belgium on the 17th and spending Christmas with my girlfriend. I am getting really excited about it. There will be all the weird new practices to be had like the bonfire night with lots of shots to keep warm. Yes many new things are right at my front door and the view from one foot is starting to take on a whole new meaning. The meaning I am creating for better or for worse. All I can do is start to hear the knocking...

I will try to give you all more details about the European tradition soon. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!!!! Oh and look at my pictures! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nihonbouken/

Ch. 5 A new day begins..

Hello Happy fall everyone. I have been wanting to write more entries lately but there hasn't been mush to write about. I have been at home, trying to recover over these last three weeks. It has taken awhile to adjust to my new predicament. It has been very hard for me to stay at home and do nothing and while i could be taking this time to be productive in my Japanese study, my writing or keeping up with house work I have done little of anything. Of course it has been tougher with my broken foot but its almost like the motivation has been sucked out of me because I have too much time. Though as you know nothing stays the same and now I am living quite well with my ailment. I actually made it to Tokyo this weekend! It helped that I had to attend a two day seminar in a city an hour and a half away from my town (my first real outing since the accident). So all in all I had a crazy busy week especially compared to the last two where I barely made it out of the house. First I will recap on where my last moments of bipedalism(for a while at least).

10-24-09

The days were getting shorter and I was slowly settling into my role and life here. As Halloween was quickly approaching I was both excited and anxious for what new experiences that were to come. Seeing as how I needed a costume for the occasion I went up to visit my friend Zack on Saturday to see if he knew of any shops. When I got there we were both distracted by electronics shopping and barely saw one costume shop. I was kind of annoyed but Zack invited me to attend Tokyo's largest Design fair on Sunday, promising lots of eccentric clothing. We didnt have much time because I had to rush back by 7 to meet Jordan, another JET in my area, who invited me to a Birthday party. So I got back having spent roughly 2 hours of the last 3 and a half on the train! But my mood soon faded as Jordan and I were off driving through the dark hilly countryside. We finally got there over an hour later. I now realized what the really country was like! It was a quaint surfing town with nothing more then a grocery store and a gas station. The house where the party was held turned out to be a type of Log Cabin with a loft. Everything was new though and it gave the party a very open mellow feel. It turned out to be a joint birthday party of one Japanese woman and an American Jet in the area. So the party was half and half. It was nice to be able to use my Japanese and also meet new people. It was a lot of fun party too! It was the first time I got the feeling I could make Japanese friends. The night winded on and most people left. Since Jordan doesn't drink we decided to drive home as well. It was definitely one of the more social nights I've had out here and it seemed to me much more reminiscent of life back in the states.

The next day I woke up early so Zack and I could get to the Design Fest and have plenty of time. We finally got there by almost 3 because i had trouble with the trains. As we were approaching our stop on the Tokyo monorail we saw an amazing building which looked like four pyramids together in a square which where then inverted so that the top of the building was flat. We both awed at it until we got off and realized that was the building we were going to!! Inside the design fest was filled with local artists of all kinds. Along with just a huge section of murals being painted there were bizarre(only in Tokyo) performance artists, rows for graphic designers, fashion designers and painters. Of some of the cooler stuff there were the tons of handmade post cards. Zach picked up something like a hundred of them where I held off to purchase a framed print. Unfortunately they had little for costumes. It didn't matter though. The strangest thing I saw were a couple of women dressed in Dominatrix wear offering to bind, gag and then playfully whip any passerby. I quickly hurried past that stand. I had to leave early since I had school the next day but not before we went and got some tasty Indian food.

11-9-09

Back to my post handicap days. So after another week of staying home to recover and doing nothing but going to my weekly doctor visit I knew I would in for a very busy week. I had what is called the mid-year seminar. I mandatory seminar for all JETs in my prefecture of Chiba. Of course I had heard from many sources how boring and how much of a waste of time it was. Still I was excited to be getting out and really having my first paid seminar to attend. So I woke up early getting a ride from a JET in the area to the train station and then meeting a handful of other JETs in the area on the train. It was like going to school or something except we were all in suits. So taking the train was a long commute to Kahin Makuhari the up and coming foreign business district where the seminar was held but it wasn't so bad. The only problem as I was soon to find out was that the building where it was held was a fifteen minute walk from the train station. That estimate being for a healthy person, I was soon sweating and struggling up stairs around elevated walkways pass huge buildings. It was quite the endeavor to start my seven hour day seminar! It actually was worth it though because all the other JETs in the area where there so afterward we all went out to the local Irish pub. Lots of good beer and darts, fooze ball and pool bowling were all managed even with my broken foot. Unfortunately all that fun made the next day even worse. We barely made it to the seminar arriving 15 minutes late. For once we actually had an excuse(the train was late). This almost never happens so when it does the gate attendants actually give late slips to patrons so that people can show their boss they had an excuse for being late. We laughed about that for awhile. Anyway it was a struggle to stay awake through the second day but it was actually useful too because other JETs did sample team teaching lessons so I got a lot of ideas. I was also lucky cause my English teacher was there and she offered me a ride back. We headed out early but she wanted to make a stop to do a bit of shopping. We actually went to CostCo!! It was pretty awesome because I was in desperate need of some things. By the time we walked out of there we had bought way too much. It was really nice though and by the time I got home I was more then exhausted. I practically fell face first on my bed and didn:t wake up for 10 hours.

On Friday seeing that I made it through 2 days of seminar and traveling I decided to be a bit more adventurous. I left straight from work to the train station only to wait for 45 minutes(typically shitty train service). I met up with two other JETs Reuben and Jordan in the next big town up were we changed trains and continued on to Tokyo. We were all attending a Harvest Festival at a famous vineyard the next day so we wanted to be a little closer and not have to wake up so early. Of course to not make it any easier we were all staying in different areas. Since I dont know many people yet Reuben asked a friend of his to let me crash at his house. So I split up with them at the main station and ventured out to figure out my next move. Since I had some time to kill. I asked around for a bookstore and found a great one! The English section was on the seventh floor however so I spent what seemed like 15 minutes on escalators(typical of Japan). When I finally got there though I was surprised at both how big it was and their selection. It was the first time I found English books and was very excited. After I purchased a few I made it back to the station. The weather was getting worse and I was starting to freeze. When I finally called Gregg the guy I was supposed to stay with he told me he was going to some event and wasnt going to be around until 11. I was starting to get a bit nervous, being in a city I didnt know having to wait around for someone I have never met. Luckily I told him my situation and he asked me to come along. I ended up going to a Tokyo university Alumni event in the ritzy Conrad hotel. Not only did we have to walk there but the place was impossible to enter on foot. After scurrying across a busy street we made it. The party was actually pretty fun. They had expensive drinks and the views were amazing. I ended up talking to his friend Nam, a Thai girl getting her master of social work there in Tokyo. When we made it back I was completely wore out but I stayed up late anyway having a fantastic conversation. The next day, we managed to get up fairly early, we headed to the 26th annual Coco Harvest Festival. The day looked abysmal but slightly better then the day before. We arrived at 11:30 and set up camp on a large terraced hill on the vineyard along with everyone else. The atmosphere was contagious. Everyone was celebrating relaxing, lying in the grass, listening to music, drinking wine all under rows of grape vines. After about a half an hour the clouds broke and the Sun came out. At the time there was what sounded like Gothic choir music playing and we couldnt help but think this moment was angelic. It was a blissful time. Soon the others arrived and though it started to rain we were all to merry on wine to care. By the time we all made it back to the Train station we lost each other and I ended up riding the train back home by myself. I don:t know how I managed because I didnt remember how i got there. When I got back home being in better spirits I knew all I wanted was sleep and I still had Sunday to recover. The next day I did recover feeling better but still having loads to do. I also discovered that my computer is broken!

So now I will be hunting down a new computer in the next few days. I also have my first full week of work since my accident. So I will finally see how a real work week will be in my condition... Wish me luck! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Oh.. and check out my new pictures, there up!

Octoberfest...?

Hello everyone! I finally seem to have a lot of time on my hands so I will try to recap a little of whats been happening in my life this past month. Once again it seems like so much has just happened to me but i want to try and tell you about the great weekend I had earlier this month. I heard its been an average October here but it seems like spring weather to me. Its still way too warm for a jacket but nice sweater weather. When its sunny it is really nice. I actually went swimming a couple of weeks ago(definitely for the last time of the year). The water was freezing but it was still a nice day to be at the beach. Overall its been a pretty wild month but I will get to that later.

10-10-09

So I decided to head out to Yokohama. The fourth largest city in Japan, it has fallen in the shadow of Tokyo but still has its own unique feel and livelihood. I got invited by some Americans i met on a Tokyo boat cruise. The couple work for the US Airforce(but they hardly fit the part) and live on a base on the west coast of Japan. The guy, Quinn had hair down to his back when i met him and his wife, Kristen is a bit of a treehugger too. Kristen first got the job because she is a speech therapist and works with kids. So I left home to meet them in Yokohama to check into a hotel they booked. Since we were coming from opposite directions equidistant apart I thought we would arrive around the same time but I ended up getting there pretty early. I got off at the stop we were meeting and with time to kill I went out and explored the area. I stopped by a few shops, looking at winter clothes and books. I was already starting to like Yokohama. I had a good feeling about the place. It is much smaller then Tokyo and is more friendly and traversable. I also thought it wasn't as cold. Soon I realized i got off at the wrong stop and rushed back to meet them. When I finally figured out where they were I got out off the train to find a smiling group of gaijins(foreigners) all staring at me. It took me a second to recognize Quinn and Kristen so I was a bit freaked out. Quinn has cut off all his hair! It turned out they all worked on the Airforce base in some form or another. After some brief introductions we grabbed some beers at the next 7-11 and headed to this US army hotel to drop off our bags. I was expecting just a normal hotel plopped in the middle of the city that was just owned by the US. But that was not at all what we found. We climbed a big hill to find a full US navy base. Yes I stayed on US soil for the first time in 3 months. It was also my first time entering an international US navy base so i was a little unnerved at what to expect. To my surprise it was very nice and everyone give or take a few was really friendly. The base stood on what was an old Horse race track. It was on a big hill so there were beautiful views of the city. The eerie part though was that is was just like being back in the states. Even all the money used was US dollars! The hotel was really nice though and it was only $40! We then ventured down to the heart of the city. We had originally come to celebrate Octoberfest, but since it was Typhoon season it got pushed back to Sunday. Kristen reserved a place at a Lebanese restaurant so we headed in that direction. Though we found we were to early so we walked to China town, the famous attraction in Yokohama. It was great! I was a bit hungry so I ordered fresh dumpling on the street, delicious! There was also some festival happening so there were a lot of dragons and bands parading down the streets. It was quite the scene but really cool. When we got to the Lebanese restaurant we were a little disappointed to find the only had a set menu but the ambiance was right and we were hungry. The place started to get packed and we soon found out why, there was a belly dancing show. It was pretty awesome. The dancers had a routine and incorporated the diners. It was really funny to see some of men getting a show while their wives were sitting in the next sit. By the end of the show every one was up dancing in a big circle. We stayed until closing and again perused the streets of the busy city. We stumbled across a Karoke place and unanimously decided to go for it. We eventually made it back to base, only a easy 15 minute taxi ride, and crashed for the night. The next day I woke up early and still couldn't believe i was on a US Navy base! It was surreal. I wasn't allowed to leave without my sponsors Kristen and Quinn so I explored the base. It had everything. A full restaurant, a movie theater, a Walmart equivalent, and even a Library! I was amazed by how American it all felt sitting in the middle of a big Japanese metropolis. After what seemed like forever we all left to go to the waterfront district of Yokohama. An Octoberfest celebration was happening that was supposedly the biggest in Japan. I ended up parting ways with the group at the train station though because I was invited to a BBQ actually more held in my honor! Mr. Sakama who works at the Board of Education wanted to invite the new jets in the city to his house. I was a little bummed to have to go but man was it worth it. Not only was it a feast but it was at a beautiful house in the countryside with an immaculate Japanese garden. It left me with a whole new meaning for the words Japanese hospitality. It was Will and I, four young women from the BOE office and Mr. Sakama with enough food, beer and Saki to feed 20 people!! We ate outside watching the sunset playing with his dog and two cats. The night ended early because it was getting cold and Mr. Sakama drank far too much. I thought the weekend was over but since it was a three day weekend I got a call from some other Jets in the south looking to play the game Settlers of Catan and since I have the big house. I was up for it though and we ended up staying up until 4am playing apples to apples! It was a lot of fun! I woke up on Monday morning realizing that I had three guys throughout the house I decided to make a big greasy American breakfast of hashbrowns and scramble eggs! Two of the guys, one being from Canada and the other from England, had never had an American breakfast and really enjoyed it. After recovering for most of the day I went out shopping and cleaned the house. As I realized the weekend was over, I thought were else but in Japan could have such a experienced and done so much in only two days!!! It was a good feeling, not that i always need to be out doing so much every weekend but rather just knowing this time spent here will be anything I make of it. Or rather any experience, life is just what we make of this time spent here...

To fill you in briefly on the crazy new events of my life, I broke my foot on Tuesday!! Yeah it sucks! I was playing basketball at my elementary school and they have small hoops so i was dunking but i was asked to play so I wasn't prepared and only had sandals!! I landed awkwardly and fractured my 4th metatarsal in my left foot. The doctor said I will have to be on crutches for a month. So I will be house bond for awhile since the train station would be a forty minute walk in my condition! Have a Happy Halloween!

Pictures!!

So I finally got around to puting up some pics on flickr. Its sunny and actually pretty hot here! Not like Minnesota from what I hear. Heres the link... http://www.flickr.com/photos/nihonbouken/

Happy Fall!

Ch 3 Matsuri, Matsuri, Matsuri(Festival time)

It has felt like forever since I have posted on here! Though I am beginning to see a trend here of my long bi-weekly posts. Hope you don't mind long bouts of reading in front of the computer. Well to start off I should tell you about the end of my long holiday, called Silver Week. The government actually added another day off to stimulate the economy. I guess there will be no Silver Week next year as it depends on the calender, so I was pretty lucky. I had a total of Seven days off, which was a huge relief from the 8-5 days and getting up at 6:30 every morning. The last four days off I considered going on a big trip to Hiroshima or Osaka but this was the one time I really couldn't leave my small town of Ohara. The annual Hadaka Matsuri was happening!!! This is the one thing my town is famous for.

10-07-09

I guess I will start off on Tuesday when a friend of mine called me out of the blue and asked me to go to Tokyo for what was my fourth time in a row. We went to check out the Cycle Messenger World Championship! Yes, it was just like walking into a fixie grunge scene in San Francisco. There were hundreds of flashy custom bikes and lots of Japanese bike teams and shop stands. There were a number of events including some of the crazier ones like BackWordCircles, where the winner rides in small circles backwards for the longest time. Also the FixieKing and FixieQueen compitition, a last one standing game, where a big group ride in tight circle and try to force each other out with out using hands or feet. It was a lot of fun to see them practice but i couldn't see the actually races because it was the next day when my towns festival was happening. We had some free time to wander in Shibuya and stupidly(I will get to that later) decided to go check out a movie. We found a theater in the area and i was surprised to fin that it was what looked like a small art house theater tucked behind a huge shopping center. So we payed the ridiculous price of about $14 and entered the strange four floor building. We decided to see the new Jim Jarmusch film called The Limits of Control. When we got seated though we saw that the screen was about half the size of an American theater! I guess even with Japans advanced tech society, their theaters are still stuck in the 90s. Anyway the movie was a let down, I have to admit I almost fell asleep many times. The worst part though was that when we made it to the train station I realized I would never make my last train home. Luckily Zack lives in Chiba city which is both closer and has much later trains going to Tokyo. So I ended up staying at his house and being late to my own towns festival! I had planned to host a bbq after the Hadaka Matsuri for all the other foreigners that where coming down. When I got home it was already crazy, the streets packed. Earlier in the week decorations started appearing on my street, hanging banners, streamers and Japanese paper lantern lights. There was a feeling of excitement anticipation the air was electric. On Wednesday and Thursday the town completely shut down and people began to poor in. When I finally managed to make it to my house, picking up five Jets along the way i was feeling very rushed. I had to prepare for the party, take a shower get before the sunset. Needless to say I missed the famous tradition where half naked men run into the sea carrying six hundred pound shrines. There was plenty more to see though. My street, one of the main routes for the constant parading of the shrines, was lined with vendors. Although they were mostly the standard food stands that Ive seen at every Matsuri, there were a few strange ones in the mix. There was a stand to buy baby turtles, the gold fish stand(where you actually try to catch as many as you can with one scoop of a plastic bag, and lots of stands selling all kinds of BB guns. Along with the many stands there where people sitting out in front of their homes with coolers of beer, tents and food. All the men from the youngest to oldest were wearing the traditional garb and many of the women too. There was a float(kind of moving stage) with kids playing Taiko drums, a traditional music. The sounds were interesting too with the occasional loud or faint grunting song of the men carrying the shrines up and down the streets. After a little people watching I headed towards the ocean and met my friend Will and his sister who was visiting. We ended up going to a Japanese chain restaurant bizarrely just like a Dennys(festival food is not something you can eat all day) with a few of Wills teachers. It was really fun. I was now not the only one understanding nothing since Wills sister was there. I actually translated a bit too. After that we walked to the elementary school across the street from my house. A large crowd had gathered around the soccer field. When I finally was able to get a view of anything I saw all these different groups carrying their shrines around in a circle. They all had different color headbands on and started to show off by performing what could only be described as shrine carrying acrobatics. I learned from one of the teachers that this last gathering represented the last time to appease the gods before the winter came. It is actually a celebration much like many to celebrate the harvest and pray to the gods or ask them for a good crop. It was an amazing sight to see! They continued to sing and march until the sun set and it was pitch black. I made it to my house soon afterward to find a gathering crowd of foreigners waiting outside my house. We fired up the grill and started eating. It was a beautiful night; the weather was perfect. I continued to hear the crys of the marching songs well after everyone had left.
The next day the festival continued but there were far less people. It was actually a work day for everyone who didn't live in Ohara. I got up and there were still people drinking, setting up stands and singing in the streets. I tried to be active though and headed towards then next biggest city, Mobara. When I returned I could hear the same roar of lots of people gathered at the school across the street but this time i was too tired. I decided to go to another festival that night in a small town not too far away. This time I tried to eat well and got the baked potato's. They are actually steamed and then picked out, cut and loaded with a huge spoon full of butter. It was delicious. The most interesting thing I saw was the sign for a game stall where you tried to shoot a target that had a picture of Mickey mouse and Pooh bear holding AK-47s! Definitly some strange ways American culture has been appropriated here.
As the weekend approached i heard of an Indian Festival going on in Tokyo. I know another festival! I ended up heading there on Saturday and it was amazing. This was not so much a festival as just an excuse for Indian restaurants to set up food stands and make money. But there was a lot more too. It took place in Yoyogi park a famous park in Tokyo. There was a stage with traditional Indian dancing and music. I wandered through the stands and ate delicious food. I also could help buying some goods too. There were many vendors selling everything from packaged food to DVDs to cloths and rugs. I ended up buying a huge can of Indian Chai and some hard to find spices. It was a hot day and I ate some delicious samosas, chana masala, curry and fresh naan. I ended up walking back to the station early I came alone but planed on meeting some people who never show up. Right as I got to the station though I saw Zack and some other foreigners i didn't know. They were heading to the Indian festival too. So I ended up heading back which I am glad because there were some amazing musicians at night. Great sitar and tamba jams. I finally made it home late that night realizing my vacation was almost over. Thinking of all I had done over the past week. It was truly amazing to have so many new experiences. I was exhausted though and crashed immediately. I still had a lot of work to do for school and I was not looking forward to having a full schedule and no time again but I was excited too. There were many new experiences to be had, people to meet and get to know and skills to learn. So I was ready for another day to begin and with it, all it would bring unknown and wonderful upon my life...

Ch. 2: My First Movie Role!!

Thanks for all the responses to my first post! I am still new at this so I don't know if I am being too honest and freaking some of you out. I am not extremely down or bored here. I have the normal ups and downs of anybody maybe heightened a bit more by the daily obstacles I face here. I have had a great week of vacation so far. It has been nice to sleep in past 7:00 am and travel to Tokyo everyday. It has also been nice not having a schedule or set plans and just figuring out what I am going to do as the day begins. I could give you a string of good stories about what has happened to me in the last couple of days but I remembered that many of you haven't heard about my amazing day being a film extra in Japan! So I will recount that day first and get most of you caught up on the strange happenstances in my life.

9-13-09

I guess I will start off at the beginning of the weekend since I had it completely booked and planned out for every minute or so it seemed. I decided to go to Tokyo immediately after work on Friday(I guess daily routine of going to school, eating and going home to sleep made me a little antsy). So I slipped out of work early feeling a bit guilty, which is expected in japan, and jumped on the express line to Tokyo. For some reason it felt so good just to be going. I had no one to meet there and no official plans though I had stumbled upon a foreigner meet-up group on the internet that discussed the metaphysical, meditation, etc and I planned to crash their month meet. So after 80 minutes (which seems to me to be really fast now since the trains take forever here) I arrived in Tokyo Station. Of course Tokyo station is as big as an airport and takes forever to navigate or change trains. So I end up running a little late but I can still make it there about 10 minutes after. So I venture out of the train station excited discovering a new neighborhood and realize that I didn't write down an address or a contact phone number all I printed off was the directions to a building. Of course the description of the building was completely vague especially for a city packed with tall apartment buildings of all colors shapes and illegible names(at least for me). So not surprisingly I get lost but am not despaired and store into the nearest konbini(convenience store) and buy some dinner and eat it there. Afterwards I decide to go to Akihabara, the electronics town full of nerds and the nerdiest stuff you can image. Most of it you probably don't want to. Anyway I get there around 8:30 and most of it is actually closed down. Though I did get to slip in to a giant store and pick up some computer parts(I got a sweet cordless mouse and external keyboard). I ended up jumping on the last express train back to Ohara(which I now discover saves you only 20 min and is almost double the price). The next day I woke up and enjoyed a lazy morning, I have plans to go on a Night boat cruise in Tokyo Bay with a few other jets. I head into Chiba around and have lunch(spicy Szechuan noodles) before I meet the other Jets to head to Tokyo. We end up taking a slow route and getting there at sunset and it starts raining as we exit. We have to meet at 7 at the boat launch so we have time to stroll. Chris an Australian Jet gets hungry and so we look for a quick bit. As w turn the next corner low and behold the red face of Wendy smiles down upon us. Erica the other Jet with us and I begin reminiscing about Wendy's and Chris says hes never been there and starts implying how bad American food is. So we force him to go and we all get some super value meals. One big difference though is that it is expensive. Eventually we make it to the Boat launch witch is packed full of foreigners most wearing traditional Japanese clothes. It was a sight to see; kinda hilarious to see them awkwardly stumbling around. We slowly move on to the boat in a pack and begin to see the appeal of taking a boat ride in the pitch black while its cold and raining out side... It is all you can drink!!! Yes for 2 hours people including lots of Japanese drink as much as they can on a rocky boat with rather low side railings. There was a lot to stare mouth agape at; especially the singing of YMCA in unison. I didn't drink much though because I had to wake up tomorrow for my big part in a Movie. Yes!! I was in a real movie. I got a text from a older Jet in the area awhile back asking me if I wanted to participate and I said yes not knowing what I had planed. I also thought they wouldn't need me so I expected not to go. So the next day came I was kinda expecting not to go but I roll over and look at my phone and I had gotten a text from the guy saying he needed me. So I jump out of bed and look at the clock. Its 7:40 and i needed to meet at 8:00! I call the guy and run out of the house, jump on the bike, and ride as fast as I can to the train station to catch the next train. I soon found out that everybody was running late anyway. So I arrived at the train station and has a few minutes to wait. I noticed small group of foreigners waiting in a corner chatting. The next thing I know I am being carted off with 8 other foreigners in to a van and taken to a guest house down the road. We exit the van in a beautiful wooded hillside and I notice lots of other people running around and other cars pulling in. I am beginning to think this is a big production. The other extras and I begin to search the compound for where we are supposed to go and eventually find the wardrobe/make-up room. As I look around I notice that 80% of the people are from Latin America! I fall right back into my Spanish and speak it for the rest of the day! There are actually two Chileans too! What a small world this is. The next part was kinda like gambling on luck. They called us in one by one to the fitting room and we hoped for some cool pirate costume. Ohh I completely forgot to tell you what the movie is about. It is a historical reenactment on a Spanish naval ship that crashed not to far from here 400 years ago. There is a children's book about it and it is starting to become a big deal since its approaching the 400 year anniversary. One of the Jets helped translate the book and knew the director so that is how I got to be in it. The local Japanese fisherman and women clam divers rescued the many survivors so there is some interesting stories. So unluckily I came out with a small vest which appeared to be Mexican so I got to show off my chest hair to everyone all day and I was not too happy. Next was the make-up area where we got smothered in dirt make-up(surprisingly hard to get off, much worse than real dirt!). After awhile of talking and laughing at each other we were rushed off to another spot farther up the coast. I was a alcove tucked away in some hills and really nice. the weather turned out to be on our side and was sunny and warm. We spent the next 8 hours in this small area, mostly standing around watching and talking. Most of our scenes where us washed up on the beach where the Japanese fisherman came and dragged us to shore. There was one lucky or not so lucky extra that got to be in the nude scene. Yes, there was a nude scene! I think he was from Hungary and he had to play dead while a Japanese woman stripped off her top and began rubbing her body on his. I know what your thinking but this wasn't some porn sex appeal thing thrown in for good measure. There is actually historical fact that when someone is dying of hypothermia the best way to warm them up is through skin to skin contact. It was really funny though because the director(a women) wanted 8 retakes. So the poor woman wasn't pulling her top down enough and had to give us all a show to our enjoyment. Most of the extras were vieing for spots with the best view but I just couldn't help laughing. I then put in my 5 minutes of work lying on the beach getting pounded by waves. We were all looking haggard by the end. There was sand everywhere, we were soaking wet and shivering(mostly because we forgot our change of clothes and towels at the guesthouse). The director then thanked us and told us we must be freezing so we could all take as much time as we wanted in the Onsen at the guest house! So we slowly made it back and showered and then all had a good soak in the hot tub. Afterwards we had to wait to get paid which took forever. I made $110 though! Wooohoo! By the time we got back to the train station it was already 6:30. I wanted to hang out with the Chileans but I had school the next day so I headed back on my 5 minute train ride. When I entered my house I realized something. There are always going to be experiences to had and they are going to come and go without any action on my part. The only question is do I sit back and let these opportunities pass by or do I latch on and try to enjoy the ride whatever life brings. I think I choose the latter...

If you were wondering it is going to released in a museum and maybe on tv so I won't be famous at least not yet...

Check out my pics from it...

ch. 1 onsen!!!

SO I had planned to start this thing awhile ago but with everything else new in my life I had a hard time getting motivated to sit in front of a computer for an hour typing out the details of every second of my new life. It has taken some adjustin(to save you from the depressing journey into my turbid emotional state) to except that I am here and this is my new life. I don't mean to sound so dreary and serious; in reality I have had some amazing times so far and in fact I don't regret coming here at all(at least not yet). It has been really good for me to be living on my own and trying a new profession. I have been able to be a lot more honest with myself and communicate my feelings. Anyway I could babble along for pages about what lurid moments and dismal days I have had and how it has changed me but that should really be kept for my therapist(though I don't have one so my girlfriend gets to hear all about it; thanks baby!). I wrote all about my onsen experience in my journal and I meant to write it as my first post but that was also 10 days ago!! Oh well here goes....

9-11-09

Today is my girlfriend Dorinne's(for those of you who haven't heard me talk about her) birthday! I'm actually glad it is because it is so easy to remember. There has been a lot that has happened to me in the last week or however long its been since I've sent out a group e-mail. But I really just want to talk about yesterday because it has been the best day here since Dorinne has left. As any other day it started off as a normal school day with lots of "canceled" classes (meaning the teachers don't want me to come to class) but it gives me lots of free time to sit in the staff room and try to occupy myself with something. However on this particular day I did get to start my routine of giving an American culture talk. Yea! This time my topic, 9.11 or the start of "War on Terrorism". I know what you are thinking and yes I probably scared off many of my English teachers as being a radical liberal but the students probably couldn't understand anything I said anyway. I also continued giving my introduction schpeal; which has gotten a lot better since I first stumbled my way through it but unfortunately this time the projector stopped working so I had to basically talk about myself without any pictures. Surprisingly it wasn't so bad and my JTE(japanese english teacher) helped make it a lot of fun. In the afternoon a vendor came to school selling unusual sweets, which I expected would just be ignored and sent off as a peddler of useless crap but too my surprise all of the female teachers gathered around and each spent a good amount of money on these nicely packaged sweets. Suddenly I felt bad for refusing to buy anything minutes before. Since I couldn't eat much for lunch(there is usually lots of meat but since it is free I take a lunch anyway and give most of it to the kids) a few teachers felt bad and offered me some of the sweets. It was very interesting for lack of better words. My first time eating what seemed to me to be a very sticky gelatinous candy which was then covered with daizu(soy flour). It was tasty albeit a little difficult to swallow. So after some speech contest practice I headed over to the BOE(board of education aka my employer) to pick up my modem... YES. Finally I have internet!!! I was so happy I had no plans but to go home and immediately reconnect with the world or at least thats what it felt like(I am a bit addicted to the internet). However on my jubilant exit with my beautiful modem in hand I ran into Tsuroka-sensei. Hes an old gym teacher who has taken an interest in me had has taken me out before and basically just paid for everything. This time he said "lets go have a special english lesson.. are you free right now". It was a little strange to be in front of everyone else in the office when he said that but I thought why not even though I really wanted to go shopping for computer things and call Dorinne. But...

HE ended up taking me to my first Onsen(japanese natural hotspring)!! It wasn't to far away in a little surfing town named Chosei, about a 40 minute drive away. So he picked me up at my house and with very little said we soon approached a huge new looking building with adjoining restaurant and outside seating and ice cream stand. For a second I thought I was at some amusement park or indoor water park. But Au contraire, I entered the building and the onsen was amazing! The first hurtle to cross was the nudity. Yes, there are no clothes accepted when you enter an Onsen. They are sex separated though of course. So everyone is naked and only carry around with them a small hand towel I imagine solely for wiping sweat away from your face. Entering this onsen was like entering a dulux spa. There where about 10 pools or what looked like rock walled ponds both inside and outside(traditional) in a courtyard behind the building. This was a nice place but unfortunately wasn't a real onsen becuase it is not a natural hotspring. I heard that they ship the water from the natural hotsprings close by in the mountains but I don't believe this. After I entered feeling a bit strange standing completely naked holding a small towel(and I mean small) I didn't know what to do. Luckily I had Tsuroka-san with me. He treated it as a challenge and I had to experience every pool like it was a stage to be completed in some culture appropriating video game. So first was the typical suana. Well maybe not so typical being there is a TV in there and all the wooden benches are covered in thick towels. I love a good suana! Next was the hot tub pool inside about 41 C, after a bit on to one of the hot springs outside (the cooler one) and it when on like this! He took me to the mineral scrub too which is in a little room, basically a suana and you rub your entire body with a salt like mineral. Unfortunately I had a few small cuts on my body and man did it sting! There is a shower attached to this room so we showered the mineral off after a painful 10 minutes. The next hour was spent alternating the sauna, hot tubs and oh yes I forgot the cold pool! This was really hard to do but man what a sensation! One pool outside was had "black water" which Tsuroka-san said was for longevity. Finally your next challenge as Tsuroka-san put it. The water massage. I tackled this one on my own. A stream of water came down into a shallow pool of hot water. The water fell from about 10 feet and man was it intense. I mimicked other japanese and slowly let the water fall from my neck to my toes, which ended up causing more damage then help I think. After this you go into a really hot pool which basically looks like a slightly bigger well. The next hour was "free time". I wandered a bit taking it all in. Being in what looks like a natural hotspring in the quiet night air looking up at the stars, it is awesome. I eventually made it to the grooming area. Basically a L-shaped corner of the inside area had was looked like cubicles of sit-down showers. It sounds weird to shower in the open with a bunch of old naked men around you and it is but after being naked for 2 hours walking around a huge building you kinda forget about it. Japan also has a really relaxed attitude towards nudity so its not embarrassing at all. So I had a shave and shampoo and was ready to go. Both of us left feeling refreshed and extremely relaxed. As soon as I entered the car I felt exhausted. When i got home it was only about 9:30 I still made it out for a little shopping. Unfortunately the only place that was open was Yac's, its kinda like CVS or Walgreens. It had lots of the necessities and I ended up spending a lot about $80 but it had none of the computer electronics I needed. I got home and talked to Dorinne a bit still coherently. After about 20 minutes though I said goodbye for tomorrow was another school day and drifted off into darkness...