"...like a soccer mom on crack"

Ah good God! What a busy weekend, and I am horribly underprepared for going home!

On Friday, I was supposed to be going night boarding with Nate, but it fell through cause the skijo was closed. :( So me, Nate and Joe went to dinner. Nate and Joe ate tempura garlic cloves (smelly!). Hung at Lindsay's for a wee while, then Joe and I went back to mine. Watched Buffy. Slept. Woke up, felt cold, room smelled like garlic. Went to city. Read musical script with a bunch of people.

Came back mid afternoon, met by Nate at train station, and BOARDED! What an epic. We left Miyoshi at 4.30pm totally fired up, thinking we'd arrive nice and early, eat our conbini dinner in the car, and be on the slopes promptly by 6.30pm, when the night session starts. HA!

The trouble started about halfway up the mountain, when we ran into the back of a queue of cars, all stopped for no apparent reason. We got out, and managed to pick up that the ski bus was coming down from the day session, and we had to pull off the road to let it past. Ok. We pulled off the road... and got stuck in the snow! We were in a teeny weeny k-plate car, and hadn't put chains on yet. So we needed a push to get started again.

Not 10 minutes later, we ran into ANOTHER line of stopped cars. Again, out we got, and it seemed another bus was coming down. Ok. We figured we'd put the chains on this time. We silently cursed the huge 4x4 monsters, and their smug drivers as they pulled away from us, and set about wrestling the chains onto the front wheels. Well, Nate wrestled. I held the torch. :) The bus came down the hill, and we waved to it as it passed. Probably the filthiest, most suprised looks either of us had ever received from Japanese people. Chains on, we were good to go!

Now we were second in a line of cars, ahead of us a Ford pickup, which looked like it could handle anything. Not so, it would seem. It looked like the car had no snow tyres or chains on (suicide on this crazy-ass road). Time and again, we would start to go up a bit of an incline, and time and again, we would see the back wheels of this beast spinning furiously, while the front ones refused to budge. Tsk. Back wheel drive. (Nate taught me about the difference between front and back wheel drive while we were sat waiting, so I feel quite justified to tsk) Nate finally got fed up with this, and at the next hill, got out to see what was up. When he got out, the drivers behind followed his lead, and between them, they managed to get the pickup up the hill. By this time, it was getting late, and we were getting rather impatient to still be stuck out on the road.

Yet again, though, the Ford struggled at the next hill. We watched incredulously as the driver tried and tried to gun it over an icy pothole, and failed time and again. Once again, the other drivers got out. This time it was game over. Nate reported that the concensus was that the truck should pull off and let everyone pass. They had been "voted off the island". Hee hee! Nate got in, put the car in drive... and we listened in disbelief to the unmistakable sound of tyres spinning without finding traction. Nate eased, off, tried again. Nothing. WTF?? We've got chains! We've got snow tyres! What's the deal here?! We looked at eachother, horrified at the thought that WE had become the roadhogs, holding everyone else up. We tried again, and this time I heard a different noise. The noise of a "soccer mom on crack".

Let me describe this concept to you. In the UK, we have PTA parents. You know the type. They stay in the Wimpies, they drive Rovers or Vauxhalls. Their children are named Sarah or Kevin. They like to push their kids. They help out at the school sale, or disco, or play. In the US, they have soccer moms. Moms who drive huge station wagons, whose sons are on sports teams (soccer) and who go to every game, screaming their little darlings on. They're probably on the PTA too. I bet they have names like Joyce. Or Shelley. Or Bree (Desperate Housewives, anyone?).

Well, Nate's strategy for getting his tin can of a car moving again was to scream at it like, well, a soccer mom on crack. It's ear shattering. "COME ON BABY, COME ON BABY, BABY YEAH, WOOO HOOOOO, COME ON BABY, ALLLLLRIIIIIGHT, WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!". And you know what? It worked. The car found the bite, and we edged forward. Awww yeah! Let's hear it for the soccer mom (that's him showing off his ski wear)! We edged past the stuck truck, and I got a look at the occupants: two girls, looking far from happy. Bloody Kagawans. They should stay in Kagawa. Safely on the road again, albeit with a severe case of tinnitus, we made good progress up the mountian. We rounded a bend, and were confronted by what can only be described as a pile of snow boulders. I actually thought at this point that we had been defeated, but Nate found his inner soccer mom again, and the car shuddered sort of over and around the obstacle.

By this time, it was past 7pm, so the order of the day was "Screw the food, find a toilet, and get on the slopes!". Which we did. I had an excellent first board of the season, and for a near-first timer, Nate is a fantastic boarder. We had one unfortunate incident, where my board got wedged where the sun don't shine (that would be Nate's, not mine), while his board decided to beat my elbow up, but apart from that, we were beautiful. I even managed to do a wee jump, which felt good. Haven't really hung out with Nate for a while, so it was nice to chat away with him while having tonnes of fun.

Tired, somewhat sore, but very happy, we called it a night just before 10pm. Sadly, the mountain hadn't finished with us, and not five minutes after we took the chains off, we had a bit of a bump. Nothing serious: I have a wonderful purple knee today, and the headlight casing of the car got smashed, but we were otherwise fine. Except that the car was a lender whilst Nate's own car was being fixed after a crash earlier this week. Eek.

It was snowing heavily even down in town. On the drive home, I saw a lady walking in the snow, lit by the sodium yellow glow of a streetlight. I was reminded of one night years ago. I think it was Christmas Eve. Me, mum and dad were still up, late into the night, and we had switched off all the lights apart from the Christmas treee lights. We had opened the window blinds, and were watching a blizzard outside. I remember seeing a family from down the street, bundled up against the weather, on their way home from the church watch night service. I just have this one image of their forms, and the only light being the street lamp they were walking under, and I remember feeling so safe and warm and happy inside, sitting beside Dad, watching the crazy weather. I'm going home on Thursday. :)

White stuff baby!

Awww yeah! I'm going boarding tonight! Woo hoo! I am so psyched about this!

Heading up with young Nate (other Nate, not AJET Nate for obvious reasons) after school, and, providing we can get his wee lender car up the mountain (had a crash the other week, the Suzuki is in the shop), we'll be whizzing down the hill by 6.30pm or so. Bring it on!

I have to go to elementary school like now, but I am reluctant to leave, as it is snowing something chronic outside. Here is a picture, but you really can't see how hard the snow is coming down. This is my sports ground at school. Normally the mountains are right there, but you can't see them today. Chilly!

See ya!

AJET Superstars!

Four days in Tokyo really takes it out of you! But I had a good time, seeing all the AJET crew, some of whom I haven't seen since May. So much happened during the weekend, here are bullet form highlights, cause this entry would be ridiculously long otherwise:

- Waking up on Saturday morning to a view of the Tokyo skyscrapers, edged with trees still in beautiful autumnal colours was awesome.

- We found a great place for dinner on Saturday, Y2100 for tabe/nomihoudai (10 pounds all you can eat/drink). We could pour our own beer too! Tip: never let a Jamaican named Kevin pour you a beer: you'll end with with more head on it than if a Japaese person had poured it!

- Spent the later part of Saturday night fooling around in Nate and Michael's room. Nate is such a star, I wish he stayed closer to me! At one point, I took off my bra (under my jumper!), as the wire was digging in. Poor Michael didn't know where to look! Then Nate wrote PEN15 on my arm... I wanted to be cool, but I didn't realise til it was too late.... Oh well! It was Nate who wrote, and Nate is inherently cool, and he's my darling on the council, so it was ok. :)

-Spent much of Sunday asking various people where my bra was, which was amusing.

-Threw a fit on Sunday night over stupid accommodation arrangements, so we trooped across town to where Steve and Yih had stayed before. Not fun.

- Had to change accommodation AGAIN on Monday night, but at least this place had free porn, so me, Susan and Jamie spent a productive hour evaluating various performances.

-Christian decided to grace me with his presence on Monday night, the result being that I got NO sleep, as he snores like a mofo, and that the entire night was an exercise in balance, as Christian spread himself over the entire bed, granting me only a small space at the edge. Christian is a big bloke, kicking him to get him to move feels like, and has the result of, kicking a brick wall. The result being that I woke up feeling like I'd never even gone to bed.

- Gave good presentations for the CLAIR/MEXT folk, went out drinking with them afterwards, made lots of inroads, felt sad that so many JETs think CLAIR does dick for them. Simply isn't true! Some of the nicest, most hard-working people I've met in this country!

-Home last night to freezing temperatures and steady snowfall. Woke this morning missing my AJET buds, but looking forward to my trip home. And it's a snow day: no classes!

Pictures: Some of our crew, in no real order: Nate on the far left, Jamie, Froilan, me, Jessie, Mia, Kevin and Alex in the corner. Then Yih and Jamie strike some poses for us. Then there is a view from one of the windows on the 19th floor of Shinkasumigaseki, the buliding that houses CLAIR. You can JUST make out Fuji-san in the background. It's a very rare event indeed these days to see Fuji from smog-clogged Tokyo.

Muppet Weekend

Ah, tough life this! I'm off to Tokyo tomorrow for an AJET/CLAIR/MEXT meeting. The Tokyo bit in itself is not the best: Tokyo's great, but it does begin to, well, grate after a while. But I AM pumped about seeing my fellow AJET Muppets. Specially those I spent the two crazy weeks with in Tokyo this summer. Good kids. Muppets cause a) I love them like you love the Muppets and b) cause we are in the middle of a big screw-up, and one might hold us responsible like you might hold Miss Piggy responsible for squishing Kermit. But it'll get sorted. I'm hoping to get in a game of poker with them over the weekend.

I've just been reading the Xanga blog of a friend who left this summer. I didn't know Joe very well, he came over the same time as me, but we always moved in different circles. But whenever I met him, he was such a nice guy, genuinley interested in what you had to say, and was just a really top bloke. Isn't it funny who you miss? He seems to be doing well at home. In fact, all the people I am in touch with who left last summer seem to be doing well! Heather landed a great job, and seems so happy and content, Sarah has a plan of action, Jane is working (and worrying) her socks off as per usual, Dubs has got a job relevant to Japan, and all the other people who left Japan are equally well-engaged, it seems. It's encouraging! There's hope yet!

Closer to home, we are still stuck in some autumn-winter black hole. It's cold as hell, it's been snowing, and yet the leaves are not leaving the trees (you can almost hear them sing "We shall not be moved"). Odd, but in a nice way. It's quite a beautiful transition.

Current music: An album by Ozo Matli, a Latin - Hip-hop fusion outfit. They are cool, and my favourite rapper, Tuna Fish from J5, does vocals. Think I'll copy this one for Tim, the sort of stuff he likes, I think. :)

Decking the Halls

We took ourselves up to Higashiiya on Thursday night, to Nate’s house. On Friday, we were going on our annual Miyoshi-gun Junior High School Christmas Carol Tour, starting as ever with the furthest-flung school (H.Iya). Thursday night, however, was a night for relaxing and catching up with some people that I haven’t seen for a long time.

Nate’s had a lovely cosy atmosphere. He has just bought two lamps from Sean, an American lamp-maker who lives locally. The lamps are beautiful, to me they’re quite maternal in theme, and the light they gave off was somewhat womb-like. Anyway, ten of us crowded into the only heated room in Nate’s house, and chatted, had some drinks, sang some songs, and generally chilled out. It was a really nice night, and if I hadn’t received the last ever email from Stu just before we got there, I would have had a lovely time. Said email arrived, however, and I spent much of the night swallowing lumps in my throat, and blinking back tears from my eyes. But I’m not going to write about that anymore, because now it’s over. However sad that is, and it is, it’s time again put him in a part of my mind that’s warm and safe, but seldom visited. (Really, how can someone who was in my life for such a short time have such a de-stabilising effect on me?)

On Friday, we were up not-so-bright, but very early, and after an excellent breakfast of eggs with peppers and onion, and Danish toast (Nate’s a wonderful host), we were on our way, decked out variously in reindeer antlers, Santa suits and ‘capelets’, and tinsel. My tinsel lasted til the third school, Yamashiro, before some girls decided it was the coolest thing ever, and relieved me of it. Oh well!

It was a cold day, and just before our lunch stop, the heavens opened. After lunch, we went to a school in nearby Hashikura, which is for kids with physical and mental disabilities. It was the first time ALTs had gone there to sing carols, and I’m really glad we did. The kids seemed to really enjoy the spectacle, and I think the teachers were happy we’d gone too. Not long after, it was the Miyoshi kids’ turn for some fun. Everyone probably thinks that their own students were the genkiest and cutest, and most charming, but I am proud to say that my ones were for sure up there in the top two or three schools for welcoming us, and getting right into the mood. In my opinion. But I think lots of people would agree with me!

I was worried, because we were told to sing inside as a result of the rain, and I thought it might dull the mood. The whole school came down to the assembly area, and we got up on the wee podium in front. Lots of my 3rd grade girls were shouting for me, and waving at me. I shouted good afternoon, and then asked That Question: “How are you doing today?”, and the ENTIRE SCHOOL, all 250 or so students, yelled back “I’M FINE THANK YOU, AND YOU?” . All at the same time, perfect unison. It was a beautiful moment, and all I could do was just grin madly and stick my thumbs up at them (cheesy!). My babies. We then proceeded to rock the house, and the best part was when a rendition of ‘Deck the Halls’ turned into ‘1000 Miles’ by The Proclaimers. We sang the ‘last’ song, and started to leave. Then the first whispers of ‘encor-u’ (encore in Katakana English) began. I pretended to not here them, and cupped my hand to my ear in an effort to better understand them. Soon the entire student body was screaming “ENCOR-U!”, and I finally said “Oh, right, I get it!”. And we went again. Before we headed off to the next school, my lovely Kocho-sensei showed us into his office where we were served hot chocolate and crisps, and then we were off. I love my students! It was the best atmosphere we’ve ever had at Miyoshi, and I needn’t have worried about a dull mood!

After we had finished the tour, we were all done in, but I was in an ‘all back to mine’ sort of mood, so that is indeed what we did. Had a good game of poker, ate some yummy pizza, and huddled under my kotatsu. I was pretty tired, however, and felt fairly snappy, which I felt bad about.

On Sunday I went to sit a Japanese test. But the less said about that the better. The me and Joe and Lindsay came back to mine, swathed ourselves in blankets, watched the excellent 'Labyrinth' and ate (more) pizza. And it snowed, so it was COLD.

I am very much looking forward to bidding 2005 farewell. It’s had some incredible highs, and some horrific lows, and it has made me feel tired and old. I actually think I have some bona-fide wrinkles now! Anyway, the New Year will herald a new… well, year. A new start. Time to get focused, get the last bit of childishness out of me and be happy. Looking forward to it.

If you love something....

...give it away.

What they don't tell you, is the second part of this little life-tip. "After you've given it away, your heart will feel like it's been ripped from it's chest, because now you are without the thought that nursed you to sleep at night, and woke you up with it's possibilites the next morning".

If you walk away I walk away
first tell me which road you will take
I don't want to risk our paths crossing somday
so you walk that way I'll walk this way

We made love on the living room floor
with the noise in the background from a televised war
And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
"If we walk away,they’ll walk away"

BRIGHT EYES

珍しいのクタス

This is my new cactus. It's a rare (or mezurashii) cactus, apparently. Because it has yellow flowers. His name (yes, it's a he) is Hans. He came from Kagawa. His seller is a lovely older German bloke, who speaks wonderful Japanese, and a smattering of English. Each year this gent comes around our schools to sell the plants he grows. I didn't buy any last year, because I had no cash on me at the time. But this year, I wanted to buy a plant because plants are good for the soul, and because this German is such a nice man. He said that soon he would return to Germany to see his 93 year old mother, because he wanted to look into her eyes. I also decided on a slightly more expensive cactus because to sell a plant to me is usually a death sentence for the plant, and I want this one to have a fighting chance. It only needs watered once a week. I think my sunflower from ren-cho lasted all of two days. I shally try harder, with Hans, my German cactus.

AaaaCHOOO!

Man. I have the sneezes goodstyle today. I thank Dave for that. He was sniffing and sneezing all over the place this weekend, and I think his allergies (for that's what it is, not a cold) have rubbed off on me. Or maybe, just maybe, it's because he sneezed all over me in the middle of the night on Saturday. Forgot I was lying beside his bed, and sneezed in my general direction. Nice.

It's cold here today. Nothing like the cold at home, I gather, but cold enough for me to wish the kerosene stoves were on at school. I spent the weekend being quite productive: was in the city on Saturday to try to finish my Chrsitmas shopping (HA! What DOES one buy one's grandfather?!), and then spent the evening at Dave's doing AJET work, while Dave went out to an enkai.

On Sunday, we were up early doors to go and play touch rugby on nearby Awaji Island. I have to admit, rugby was the last thing I felt like doing on Sunday. No real reason, I just didn't have much 'get up and go'. The day, it seemed, was fine enough, and I spent a nice lazy first hour rolling around on the grassy (albeit DEAD grass) field in the sun. Then we had a nice thunderstorm and some freezing rain to remind us that it was indeed late Novemeber, and we were indeed right beside the sea. Brr. All in all, though, I really enjoyed the running around. Didn't score, but I got a couple of decent runs in.

After a good dinner at Masala's in the city (about the closest you'll get to a decent Indian in Tokushima) with Dave and GEOS manager Angela, it was time to board the train home.

This morning I spoke to Alice on messenger. It was so nice to 'speak' to her. I got a lot off my chest, and, as expected, Alice gave me bucketloads of support. Of course, it would have been better to do it in person, but that'll come in about three weeks. I can't believe how much I'm looking forward to going home. Not because it's home, but because of the people I'm going to see. I haven't seen Alice in a year, I saw Jil-sty for only a few hours in June, and I'm going to get to see Jane again. Sadly, I won't see my babies, Jo and Pernilla. That reunion will come in the summer.

On Thursday, the postie came to school with a parcel for me: turns out it was Jill's birthday present, sent to her in August, which I assumed was languishing in some Edinburgh-based Lost Post storage room. But no! The parcel travelled all the way to Tranent, floated around there for a while, looking for Stumpy, and then, when it couldn't find her, it came ALL the way back over here, in perfect condition! I am impressed. Now Jill will get a birthday present.

It's a beautiful day today: I don't think I've ever seen my mountains quite so aflame with autumnal colour. We've had a dry year this year, so it makes the colour that much more vivid. My house is a mess, it needs tidied. My head is a mess, that also needs tidied.

Gobble, gobble

I am feeling about 10 times better than I was at the start of the week. Not quite HAPPY yet, but certainly not as bleak as Monday.

Yesterday was another one of those weird Japanese events... a mid-week holiday. Not that I'm complaining! I went out to Kawashima on the train with Julie and Smitha for a Thanksgiving dinner. Wish I was American, there's something terribly civilised and friendly about a day devoted to eating, and playing parlour games, and watching American football (the latter was sadly lacking). I suppose also, there's something terribly privileged about it as well.

Kelly has the largest house of any ALT in the ken, and yesterday it was pretty full with about 25 fellow JETs, who had all come with various food and drink, to sit, eat, talk, laugh and play charades. What fun! The turkeys had been bought specially from a company that specialises in importing foreign food (yeah, whole frozen turkeys don't exist in this country), as had the stuffing and gravy. There were mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, cranberry sauce, El's yummy cream vegetable pasta thing, a few pasta salads, bread, cheese, wine, apple crumble (no custard! for shame!) a brave attempt at Yorkshire pudding, and lots of red wine. My poor tummy's tied in knots today over such rich food, it's used to gentle Japanese cuisine! We played charades, which was a lot of fun, and at about 9.40, it was time to jump on the train back west. Sadly there were no taxis, to I buttined up my coat, pulled on my hat, and started the 30 minute walk home.

It was a beautiful clear crisp night, and the stars were gorgeous. At one point, I lay down in the middle of the road to look at them better, and had to laugh at the thought of one of the locals walking by, and seeing this foreign girl lying in the middle of a dark road for no apparent reason. It didn't happen.

Back at school today, and my one class is cancelled. So time for study. Have also made the decision to go to Belfast over New Year to see Jane. Good stuff.

The picture is me, along with Kiwi Amber, and Canadian Julia, both first year ALTs, and both very lovely. The other one is Beej chewing over life's little idisyncrasies with what's left of the turkey he so expertly carved. :)

Seven Years Bad Luck

Look what I did. I broke a mirror on Saturday morning. The last thing I need right now is seven years bad luck. This term has had too much that is bad. Sadly, the weekend had a fair share of bad luck, which I attribute to my poor mirror:

1) Intending to go to the city to shop on Saturday, I woke up at 8am, broke the mirror, and then discovered that the roadies who are currently digging up my street had turned my water off. So my plans for the day were scuppered. I stayed in and did some work and felt cold.

2) Something else happened last night, which I can't write about here, in case it's read. Suffice it to say that things are not as they seemed. But although I am unhappy at the piece of news, the person giving it to me seemed very happy indeed, and that is more important. After I heard what this person said, I went and listened to Nine Inch Nails, turned up very loud, and felt like I was 16 again.

I feel quite blue and alone today. Need some love. And need to reign my imagination back in. Tonight, I am going to run the broken mirror under cold water, and bury it in the soil. Apparently that reverses the bad luck. I don't want anymore bad luck. Things need to start going right, soon.

"It's mine!"

I just had a couple of really good first year classes, using phrases like "Is this yours?" and all they associated answers that come with it.

Firstly, me and Tame-chan did a demonstration skit, where we had been shopping, we were on our separate ways home, and we bumped into eachother. Our shopping spilled all over the floor, and we had to sort it out asking the above question. At one point, we had a pulling match over my Cadbury's Advent calendar than mum just sent me. She was really pulling hard!

We handed the floor over to the kids, and they just bowled us over with their skits. We expected them to be really dry, using only the target grammar. Instead, we had fights, romance, murder "I kill you! Give me! I kill you!", and pets "My animal, follow me". It was wonderful. Times like this, I just love my job. It should happen more often!

Cold days now. Snow will come early this year. Means a good long boarding season. I have a lot of work to do. I must get going.

So looking forward to seeing everyone at Chrsitmas, and just TALKING with people that know me. This term has been such a rollercoaster, and I'm mentally drained.

Iceland Airwaves

This last couple of months, as I've already commented on, I have been in this sort of musical dreamland. The music I've ripped from people (mainly Nate) has enlarge my collection something ridiculous, and I haven't listened to half the stuff I have yet.

The JETs in Tokkers are a musical bunch, we have a whole spectrum of taste represented here, everything from Classical to gangsta rap and all the stuff in between. From time to time, you get a musical tip-off from a fellow JET about a music website, and you're done for: download orgy, and things like JLPTs and AJET report writing get thrown out the window. The last time this happened was when Mat posted about epitonic.com and I spent many a happy hour browsing the amazing collection of free MP3s they have there.

Today's tip came from Beej, who I will admit, isn't really on my wavelength when it comes to music. But he is serious about it, and any musical tip from Beej should be followed up on. He recommended tofuhut.blogspot.com which is more of a links site to MP3 blogs. And my, what a resource. It's amazing what and who you can find on the net by following link after link.

One of the best finds today was a playlist of some acts at this year's Iceland Airwaves festival. I think Scandinavia has some of the most innovative music around, and I always like to hear more. So I was pretty psyched when I found this playlist just waiting to be downloaded. Haven't taken all of it, but if I like the stuff I have taken, I'll go back for more.

I also found a really great photographer, who turns out to be this 18 year old kid somewhere in the US. His work is really edgy, and beautiful without being sentimental. Check him out here. When I go home, I'm going to do the courses at Stills and get back into it.

Too many kaki

I had a quiet weekend for the first time in well over a month, probably nearer two months. Predictably, by the end of it, I was feeling lonely and bored, but I reckon the down time has done me a world of good. Here is my weekend in bullet form, as there is nothing hugely interesting to write prose about:

1) Sat in on Friday with beer and the films 'Volcano'- a literally steaming pile of Hollywood cak, perfect for mindless Friday entertainment-, and 'Carlito's Way'- one of my favourite films, but I saw it not so long ago, so it wasn't quite as breathtaking as usual.

2) Woke up at noon on Saturday. Did some chores, studied a very little, go bored.

3) Spent Saturday night with more films: 'Devil's Advocate' (going through an Al Pacino phase) and 'Death to Smoochy' which is superb, can't understand why it failed at the cinema.

4) Woke up at 7.30am on Sunday to go and spend 3.5 hours in my freezing gym, watching the PTA playing volleyball. As anyone who knows me already knows, I loathe PTAs. So I was not overly happy to have to spend time on Sunday pretending to want to be there. God, was it cold.

5) Went to the onsen to warm up after this, followed by a steaming bowl of udon. Then went home and slept for a good long time. Was woken up by Kocho-sensei's wife, summoning me to their house in order to give me kaki (persimmon) from their tree. I have so many of these damn things now, all sat in my kitchen, and not a single idea of what to do with them. Maybe kaki-shoyu, or kaki salsa, or kaki pie? Hmm, no oven with which to make said pie.

6) Had a quiet Sunday evening, did some AJET work, and by this time, was ready to start the new week, and see people again.

Today, I've had no classes, no-one is really online to talk to, so I'm still feeling somewhat lonely, but that's ok. Monday is busy for most people apart from me! I did have my ass slapped by a third year girl. She's a shocker. I ran away from her clutching my backside, feeling violated.

Tomorrow, we have the big demonstration class for the people from the prefectural board of education. Not overly worried, but would still prefer not to have to do it!

100MpH

PHEW! What an absolutely MAD week. It's been good though. It's not often that I feel totally worn out at week's end through hard work, so I am enjoying this sleepy Friday feeling (instead of the usual Friday feeling, which is euphoric at the prospect of two days away from my desk).

Today, I had no idea what I wanted to do in any of my three classes, but they all came together swimmingly well at the last minute, which is always a great feeling. The teachers seemed happy with what I did, the kids seemed interested, so all in all they were good lessons.

Tonight, I plan on being alone for the first Friday in.... a long time. Not so long ago, I was moaning because I always seemed to be at home on a Friday, but then things took off, and I found that my house was always full of guests. Which was great, I love having people over. But this weekend, I am bowing out of the social scene, and having a weekend in on my own to get some sleep, watch some films, and do some.... JAPANESE STUDY!

Yes, the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is but a scant three weeks on Sunday, and I am woefully unprepared. I don't expect to pass (not being a martyr, I simply don't know enough to pass), but I can try my best. And I also have a bet with Stu that if I pass, he has to stop drinking for a week, or a month's worth of weekends, or something like that. If I fail, I have to send (yes, SEND) him a crate of beer. So there's an incentive if ever there was one.

Studying comes tomorrow, though. Tonight, it's me, some beer, my blankets, the rain outside, and some films. Bliss.

Love to you all, see you soon!

Elbow to the Eye

The Japanese can be an odd bunch sometimes: like putting a National Holiday in the middle of the week. It just strikes me as odd. It was well received, of course, and I spent the day vegging out with Julie and watching videos, then playing tennis (badly) at night. Just wish it had been a Friday rather than a Thursday.

On Friday, my friend Mat came to stay over. He brought a film called 'Kikojo no Natsu', which means 'Kikojo's Summer'. I think that was the name used... I forget the exact name of the character. Anyway, it stars Beat Takeshi, one of the most famous Japanese actors, and a young boy (who was just beautiful really), and they go in search of this boy's mum. The story is about the unlikely friendship that grows between them, and about some of the characters they meet on their journey. It's quite a melancholic wee film, but nice too.

On Saturday, Mat and I loaded up his car with futons and food, and made our way to the Iya Valley for the annual camping JET camping trip. This was the first time I had been, as in previous years I had been busy with dancing. The drive up to the valley was amazing: we caught the leaves at a perfect time. Unfortunately, I discovered that I had brought my camera without its battery, which was still languishing in the charger at home. So I didn't snap any of the foliage. Nutter than I am.

The trip was good; it's always nice to see people away from Akita Machi, the drinking area of Tokushima. Of course, there was drinking going on, but there seems to be more of a social edge to it when it's done outside. Spoke to a lot of people, snuggled with a few others, and ate some really good BBQ tortilla/quesidilla type things. And drank, maybe just a little more than was necessary.

On Sunday, me, Mat, Joe and Jordan headed to Joe's place nearby, and spent a few hours chatting, playing this odd game called 'Settlers of Catan' (which borders dangerously on the the 'geek' side of things, but however...), and then having a crazy, four-way thumb war which ended abruptly when Jordan's elbow invaded my eye socket. Ouch. Small shiner today, but nothing too noticeable.

Had a wonderful early night last night, after watching 'Heat' (great film), eating Japanese deli food from the local supermarket (wanted to cook curry, but decided that I simply couldn't be bothered), and actually talking to Stu on the phone. He phoned me, and it was really good to hear his voice.

Going down the tubes!

My football team, the Heart of Midlothian (or Hearts, or Jambos) have had a great run of late. Since the start of the season, they have scaled the heights of the Scottish Premier league to sit on top, and lord it over the likes of the Weegie teams, and the ever-so-nasty Hibees. No longer. First of all, our manager departs. Then we draw with.. someone, I forget who. Then we LOSE to the HIBEES, thus allowing Celtic to claim the throne AGAIN. THEN both our chariman AND our chief exec leave at the same time. Crumbs! I blame the majority shareholder, some millionaire from Lithuania, or some such place, who was quick to appoint his son as executive. Something is amiss, and unless this idiot starts respecting the people who actually work at the team winning (ie. not him!), he's going to find that his club slip steadily down the league.

In other news... I'm off home at Christmas. This last few months has had a lot of highs and lows that have left me reeling somewhat, and in need of some TLC in the shape of Mum's chocolate trifle. I was looking forward to spending this winter break doing some travelling in SE Asia, but the plans simply haven't come together. Maybe it's for the best. When I made the decision for sure (last night), I felt quite happy at the prospect of home. Not that I am counting down the days til the end of my Japanese life. It's just been a mad time of it, and I feel the need to go home and chill out.

Still emailing Stu, which is still nice.

Ducks, Frogs and Blasts from the Past

Ducks: We had to go to a silly teachers conference on Tuesday, all the way down in Anan. That meant me, Giuseppe and Jordan had to leave my place (where the boys had stayed the previous night, after a violent game of Crazy 8s) at 6.30am. Bleugh. It was not a nice drive. Until we got to south of Tokushima. Sat in heavy traffic, we noticed a truck, a removal truck, edge up alongside us. It had a duck painted on the side. And a big "DUCK!" printed under it. We raced that truck all the way to Anan. It was fun. Jordan had a fight with a hedge, and Joe looked like Neo from the Matrix while helping to push a stalled car off the road. Later that day, at Christine's, we had a small rubber duck as our poker button. Christine had a book, I'm told, called 'Magic Things You Can Do With Ducks'. Or maybe 'Things You Can Do With Magic Ducks'. I forget. Either way, it was magically ducky. We listened to a band called Duck Missile. And our duck button was thrown to shouts of "DUCK!"; in warning that a duck was coming your way, and you should duck avoid being struck by this duck missile. We're clever kids, us. Funny too.

Frogs: Had about 9 years shaved off my life just this morning. Our school janitor, Usuki-san, is quite possibly the coolest cat in school, and something of a practical joker. No, he IS the coolest cat in school. He saunters up to me, and offers me Something in his hand. Like a fool, I make to take it, but then the Something jumps out of his hand and onto the floor, eliciting a "MWAH! JESUS!" from me, and much clutching of the chest. The Something was a small frog, and the poor little thing was covered in dust, having been living in the staffroom for a while. Usuki-san cackled while I regained my composure, sent him filthy looks, and rescued the amphibian from the floor. I like frogs.

Blasts from the Past: I had an email from Stu. Well, I emailed him first, I won't go into details, but I sort of had to. Anyway, Stu emailed me, and it was actually really nice to hear from him. I had hoped he wouldn't email me back, but he did. And when I read his mail, I remembered him, and it was a nice feeling. I'm over him, and I've stopped missing him, but hearing from him was sweetness. I'm not sure if we will keep in touch. I don't know if I would want to. Then again, maybe I would. I don't know. I'm not trying to analyse it, I do that too much. I simply wanted to state that he had written to me, and that I liked it. And it didn't hurt. So for now, emails from him are welcome sights in my box. I also had an email from Alice, who I miss fiercely. Alice has the best listening ear of anyone in the world. I like nothing better than going to the Bailie with Alice, having a pint, and getting it all off my chest. And she does the same. Alice is the least judgemental person I've ever met. Nothing I say has ever fazed her. She's gold.

I am grammar checking my near-sister-in-law's PhD thesis. Title? 'Later Prehistoric Settlement Pattern in South Scotland'. Yikes.

I have a huge weekend ahead. Poker (hope Mum's not reading this) on Friday, Frisbee, Halloween costume shopping, swing dance lesson with Dave, and then Halloween party on Saturday. Possibly dying on Sunday. Or maybe just sleeping for a long time. Dreaming of ducks, frogs and my precious blasts from the past.

Chitter

Yeah, it's cold. It got very cold over the weekend, cold enough for me to turn on the space heater in my house. I think I had a grand total of three weeks without the need of aircon of any sort. Three damn weeks.

The weekend was pretty quiet, and truth be told, pretty murky. Lots of stuff happening that needs to be thought out and considered very carefully. Wishing that I was at home, or that at least I could SEE someone from home.

I did have a good time at a small-scale poker game on Friday (sorry Mum, but I think I deserved it!). I made a couple of good bluffs, and kept most of my money.

On Saturday, the weather was cold, grey and rainy, yet I had to cycle about 10km to a new private eikaiwa class. A mother and her two young kids. It was good, as far as eikiawas go, but there were many other things I could see myself doing on such a nasty afternoon.

On Sunday, it was the festival at the local onsen. I had a lovely time hanging out with the locals, watching some performances on stage, dancing myself, and playing with the kids. I haven't spent a day like that in a while, so it was nice. It cheered me up.

I haven't really a lot to say. Just lots to think about.

Cracked it!

Finally! I have discovered how to team teach with Noda-sensei! Sensei and me have had something of a love-hate relationship since day 1. I always dreaded teaching with him, because he left the entire lesson up to me, and it was always such a hit-or miss affair. In retrospect, it has probably made me a better teacher, but the road to that has been a little bumpy. Anyway, things are different now, and we work a lot better together. And now, the answer to good lessons which make me, the kids AND sensei happy is MUSIC! And it was staring me in the face all the time. Dummy. I won't go into detail, but this week, for the first time ever, we were united: in disbelief that out of the 75 third graders (14-15 years old) in the school, 5 of them knew or had heard of John Lennon's 'Imagine'. Shock-a-rooney. So we have decided to take the bull by the horns and introduce the kids to a song that at first glance is beautiful and idealistic, but by the time someone is 15 years old, they should be beginning to question its message. Jings!

Speaking of music, I am in a musical wonderland just now, with all the new stuff I am listening to. If anyone is in need of some new sounds, then let me know. I can put together a zappy CD for ya, and send it off! Maybe the stuff I'm listening to isn't new (I don't think it is), but you need to remember, that I have more or less been out of the Western musical loop for over two years now, and there's a lot of stuff that has come out during that time. I have a lot of experimentation to do when I get home! Maybe I'll try to get a job in a record shop when I get home as a stop gap...

Travels in my more immediate future are on the horizon. I want to go to SE Asia this winter break (sick birds and suicide bombers be damned!). I'm hoping for Cambodia, as it's pretty cheap to get to from this end, but I still need a travel partner. I would travel alone, if only it wasn't Christmas. We'll see. I've always wanted to visit Cambodia, and I want to go before it becomes too much like Vietnam or Thailand: overrun by white backpackers with degrees and a burning desire to find themselves. I think at the moment that it's not quite that bad. And I might not get such a good chance to do it so cheaply again...

Must be off!

Too sleepy

I feel so tired this morning. It's been a busy time of it this last week. The weekend was back to usual madness after a rest last weekend.

I went east on Friday night for a get together at a friend's house. It was a good time, nice to catch up with people that I haven't seen in a while.

Had a long lie on Saturday (having spent the night at another friend's house), then woke up and had the best breakfast ever. Scrambled eggs with peppers, onion, garlic, loads of Danish toast, fresh tomatoes, apples and juice. What a feast!

After that I went into the city for a haircut, and a spot of shopping: winter is on its way, and I need some new clothes badly. I got a couple of jumpers and some new underwear, so I was happy. Then I went for a haircut, before heading to Big Brothers', a local sandwich shop run by a couple of Americans who have been in the country for a long time. Good food, and there's always people there to talk to. As it happened, I was meeting my friend Kenji.

Saturday night was spent out on the town. One of the most popular (the most popular?) gaijin bars was closing it's doors. Mabuhay (better known as Ingrid's, for the name of the kind but crazy Phillipine owner) is the tiniest karaoke bar ever. The bar is only big enough for six seats, and there is only room to stand about 10 people after that. So patrons would regularly just stand behind the bar, and pour their own drinks, or hang out on the balocony. However, Ingrid has decided that she and her customers have outgrown Mabuhay, and so she is moving. I went along on Saturday to see the place for the last time. But it was so crowded, I didn't even try to get in amongst it. Dave came and joined me, we chatted to Ingrid for a bit, then bid the place farewell, and headed for a jazz bar a little way down the street. There we met some other JETs, had a drink, enjoyed some live jazz, and headed home at about 1am.

Sunday was by far the best day of the weekend! Up early doors to go and play in a local Touch Rugby competition. The fields we play on are down by the river, and on Saturday, it rained non-stop. The result was that we had to play on water-logged pitches on Sunday morning. We didn't so much as run around, as we did slip, slide and fall. By the time we were done (my team won), I was caked in mud, and I rather doubt my trainers or t-shirt will ever be the same again. Still it was a good time, and I enjoyed the exercise, fresh air, and after-match BBQ that we had.

But I wasn't done with physical activity yet! After the rugby, I headed north to Naruto for some Ultimate Frisbee. I had a great couple of hours in the company of about seven other JETs, throwing the 'bee around. We had a face paced game, that wasn't quite Ultimate because we were lacking in numbers, but it was still a proper 'scoring points' kind of thing that left us knackered but feeling very alive and invigorated.

Finally started the long drive home with Smitha and Nate about 5.30pm, stopping on the way for food, and a trip to Book-Off (second hand book/CD/game shop), where we all bought some cheap Y250 CDs, and then blasted our heads off all the way home to Japanese punk and Euro techno. All right.

Those kids...

Long weekend was pretty quiet. Sadly. But everyone was tired from shenanigans the previous weekends, or had dates, or stuff... What did I do?

1) Watched films. Lots of films. Including, but not limited to, the entire Indiana Jones series, Twister, and US Marshalls. I felt American.

2) Slept.

3) Ate entirely too much junk food.

4) Attended a meeting for the upcoming AJET musical, which I feel I will regret becoming involved in.

Then it was back to work today, Tuesday. Tuesday is my least favourite day of the week. Today, I was dreading it, but it was actually not bad. Thus far anyway... Two good third grade classes, and a not-bad junior class, followed by a disastrous senior class, both in the mountains. It could have been worse. They could all have been disastrous. :) Eikiawa tonight, which I always feel pretty nonchalant about, but always enjoy. Yeah, this could have been a worse day. I like being busy!

I also got given a lot of omiyage (presents) yesterday for no apparent reason. From the vice-principal of the mountain elementary school (such a nice bloke, he is), and from one of my eikaiwa ladies, who just had a holiday in Okinawa. Sometimes these people just blow my mind with these random acts of kindness.

I also taught my eikaiwa class Einstein's Theory of Relativity last night. They didn't know it! So I feel that I have finally taught something of import to these people: EVERYONE should know Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Dance Practice

Minoda-ren is part of a group of five rens all based in the Miyoshi-gun area. We all perform at the Highway Oasis on a weekly rotation. From time to time, all the rens get together and do a big performance. One such date is coming up in a couple of weeks time. It's for the Minoda-matsuri (the festival named for the Minoda rocks, which are a feature of the river at the Oasis).

We had a practice for the matsuri last night. Usually dance practice is at the weekend, but to get ready for the big show, all the rens have been getting together on Thursday nights. Practicing mid-week always serves as a reminder to me of how diverse the Dancing Fools of Tokushima really are. People turn up fresh from work: teeneagers in their school uniforms, construction workers, electricians, teachers and so on. Seeing people of so many backgrounds come together for a common purpose is, I think, one of the best things about being in a Awa Odori ren. It really is for everyone! I love how it brings people together so that we can enjoy dancing, and so that we can entertain people.

If you would step into any of the high schools in the county, and look at the sullen faces of the students, you'd be forgiven for thinking that doing something as community-minded as Awa Odori would be their idea of hell. But come down to the Oasis on a Thursday night, and watch them as they transform themselves into fools. It's a great spectacle, and something I will be forever grateful to be involved in!

I hope to see some of you on October 23rd at the Miyoshi-cho Highway Oasis!

Weekend pictures

Here we are: a spot of star-gazing in Nate's garage roof, and me, Julie and Joe doing battle with the tree.

Lunch

Yummy. I got to have some school lunch today: it was my favourite cream corn pasta stew type thing. It's wonderfully comforting food, and since it's a rainy day today, it's just perfect. And then I ran home and snatched the bag of Maltesers that Mum sent me. Which I am munching as I type. And all the while the Mad School Nurse is screeching away in my ear.

I like rainy days. I'm going to stay in tonight, have an early shower, maybe actually go to the onsen, then hole up with a film.

Need inspiration. Feeling bored this week. Must gee up.

Trees and Bad Shoes

Last week was one of those weeks that you just want to be over. Not because you are having a bad time of it (I had a good week at work, actually), but because you have some stonking activities planned for the weekend. But my plans bit the dust on Thursday night (we were supposed to go and play Frisbee on another part of the island, but we cancelled because of time contraints), and I spent the evening in a blue funk, because I'd been waiting ages for it to happen.

However, the weekend was still one to remember! It started late on Friday afternoon, by teaching my 2-nenseis (2nd graders). I always dread these classes, as they are the last classes of the week for both kids and teachers, but the students are always great, and I love teaching them. They set me up. Anyway, Friday there, I taught them the phrase 'Happy Friday'. And during cleaning time after class, two or three of them passed me in the hall and wished me a Happy Friday. All right!

After that, it was time to head over to Julie's place in Mikamo. The rough plan was chat, films, erm poker. D'oh! Nate is a total poker monkey, and so once again, I found myself staring two cards in the face. But THIS TIME I WON! I tripled my buy in (so more or less recouping my losses over the previous two weekends). Happy! But still aiming for no poker next weekend. We had a really great night, everyone was on good form, and it was a good substitute for Frisbee. Joe and Nate came back to mine to watch a film called 'Saw', which I think may have been scary if I had been by myself, and the mood of the group wasn't as happy. It was an ok film I guess, but I was sort of tipsy, and we were all wired so I didn't watch it like I should have. Then a pillow fight ensued, then a half-serious argument about the distribution of blankets and pillows and things, and then 3.30am we finally crashed.

On Saturday, we got on the road about midday. We picked Julie up, and headed for the nearby city of Kawanoe (paper milling capital of Japan, hence smelliest city in Japan) to do some shopping. Nate is still kitting his house out to make it feel like home, and on his list was a tree. He wanted a tree for his kitchen. So we got one. But we had to get it back to Higashiiya. Hilarity. We were in Nate's car. Nate's car is tiny. It was crammed with four people, and their stuff for nights away at people's houses. And now we wanted to fit a tree in aswell. A six foot tree. This will go down as one of my classic JET memories. Nate putting this tree in through the back window, me having to recline the seat all the way back, thus pegging Joe in place, then sitting with the tree trunk on top of me. The foliage of the tree was in Joe's face. So he was breathing leaves. It is one of the funniest situations I have ever found myself if. A giggling Nate ran round the car taking pictures, so when I get copies, I will post them.

It was a long drive back to Iya, what with a tree lying on top of me, but we got there, tree and all! Quick stop at Nate's to dump gear, and then we drove up the mountain to an old samurai house for the annual jazz concert. This is one of the coolest events ever: all these people sit round an old iryori (open fire used for cooking), and listen to these cool cats go mad on vibraphones, double bases and pianos. Jazz in the mountains. Sweet. The concert is made all the better for the great home-made Japanese food laid on (food with a distinctive Iya twist).

After the concert, we went back down to Nate's to par-tay. There was our Kawanoe crew, plus Jordan, Dave, and a few other JETs who had been rafting that day. It was a really great night: I was in an ass-slapping sort of mood, we played some mad games, Dave and Amber showed people how to swing dance, and there was swimming in the river outside Nate's house. Some people were more dressed than others. :) Again, it was 3.30am by the time we finally crashed out: drunk, tired, but happy.

I wish I could have slept in longer on Sunday, but I was due back in Miyoshi by 12.30 to dance. So I left my nice futon, said my goodbyes, and drove back towards civilisation with some of the other revellers. I hadn't danced for a while. Things have been busy. And Minoda-ren is having something of a membershiop crisis. However, tired as I was, I always like to dance.

Yesterday, though, was the worst I have dance for a very long time. Maybe cause I was so beat, but I think it had more to do with the poor shape my shoes were in. I always carry two pairs of geta with me (wooden thongs on wedges that you dance in) in case one pair breaks. My first performance was horrible because the rope of the thong was about to snap, and I could feel it getting weaker and weaker with each step. it made me lose all concentration, and I guffed up dances I've been doing with my eyes closed for two years. And Dave was watching! So sad! I always like to dance well if Dave is seeing me: he's my Awa Odori mentor, and I always want to impress him, but alas, not yesterday. Quick shoe change, no worries. But the second and third performances were no better! The wedges kept dropping out the bottom of my shoes, making me stumble and forget my timing! Then a blister formed and popped right between my big and second toe, where all my weight rests when I'm dancing. As you can imagine, that's excurciating!

So all in all, a pretty grim day onstage, but good to see the ren and hang out. There are only a couple of shows left before our winter break, sadly. It's been a quick season! I hope that next season (from about March time) will see a newly revived Minoda-ren dance up a storm. I'm sure it will.

So back at school today, Monday is when I have no classes. That can be a blessing and a curse. A pretty average looking week lies ahead, and then next weekend is another long one, with the 10th being Japanese Health and Sports day (which is so important, it warrants a National Holiday!). I'm going to do lots of studying this week, maybe see Hanna and Kunihiro for dinner, and try to catch up on some sleep. No plans for the long weekend as yet, but I hope it'll be good. Sure it will. :) The pictures are of Joe on Saturday (VERY late on!), and Joe, Nate and new JET Sara looking philisophical on Friday night.

Brrrr!

The one thing about living in a country as hot as Japan is during summer is that any slight drop in temperature is felt quite a lot. There is no heat in the night now, which is really refreshing, but something of a shock to the system as well! In the space of a week, I've gone from sleeping in the buff, with aircon and no blankets, to wearing a t-shirt, switching the AC off, and using my duvet.

It's not really cold, but there is a definite chill in the air. I use hot water for showers now, and the glass on my bathroom mirror gets misted up when I come out. There was condensation on the insides of my windows this morning. The shops are starting to sell nabe broth (nabe is a tradtional type of Japanese stew, very delicious, and eaten in the winter months). The kaki (persimmon) are starting to turn orange on the trees. The leaves of trees are taking on a faint yellow/brown hue. Yup, summer is truly gone, and the country is preparing to hunker down for another long winter.

This sort of thing is the best part of living in Japan for me: the change of the seasons. It is so marked, the change is not a gradual process, but one that happens noticeably over the course of two or three weeks. I love how there are four distinct times of year, rather than the long grey nothingness of the UK. I think it's very good for mental health as well. Something about your surroundings fitting in with your state of mind. Maybe that's why so many people get SAD in the UK? Because although it gets colder, and darker, there is no proper change of season, just a gentle decline into it. So people still wonder when the next warm day will be, still think of summer activities. In Japan, people sense the winter coming, and change their lives to reflect this. They adapt their activities to deal with the different weather, and I think this has a good effect on their minds. In Britain, we associate summer with good living, but this doesn't have to be the case. Winter in Japan is full of activity. It's hard going, because it's so cold, but if you keep yourself busy (not hard to do!) then you can have a really good time of it, as good as in the summer.

Here's the little boy and his fishes. See? This is why I live in Japan! The cutest kids in the world.

Yet Another Long Weekend!

Ah I love and hate September for exactly this reason! It has all these wonderful National Holidays, but those, combined with the crazy-ass schedule at work, make it nigh on impossible to settle into any sort of routine. Which in itself is good and bad.

Anyway, Friday was a National Holiday, but it was Miyoshi Junior High School’s bunkasai or culture festival. This is basically a day for the kids to perform serious and not-so-serious skits, show off the work they’ve done in their practical lessons, and host a bazaar, full of stalls run by the students. They sell all sorts of food, you can play video games, and even catch your own goldfish! I didn’t realise that I had signed up for this, so when I was handed my fishing net, I was a little panicked! I didn’t want goldfish! I caught two of the poor creatures, and immediately handed them off to a little toddler boy standing watching me. That’s him with his new pets in the picture. Cute kid.

I spent Friday ONCE AGAIN in on my own, but I was rather tired, so it wasn’t a bad thing.

Had a great long lie on Saturday, and then heard from Nate that poker was at my place that night. So I spent the afternoon cleaning the place up, and chilling. Nate, Lindsay and Joe turned up just after 7pm, and I had time for a couple of hands before I had to go to dance practice. I came back just after nine, and we played til about 11.30. I lost again, but not everything, and I feel like I know the game better now.

The following day, I went to Ashiro Elmentary School’s sports day. It was a really good time. I had been invited to watch the events with the Ito family, who I know really well: I teach or work with or am friends with a lot of the family. Ito-san, the grandmother, who is also my eikaiwa student, had brought along a tonne of homemade Japanese food for lunch, and it made me so happy. I love Japanese food, and if it’s homemade, it’s out of this world! There was so much to go round, we ate like kings. In the afternoon, there were more events to watch, and I got roped into the tug-of-war event, which was actually a lot of fun. I left the Itos around 2.30pm, and biked to another elementary whose sports day was also being held. I didn’t stay long, as I was tired, and I didn’t know so many people there.

Back home for a quick snooze before heading to Jordan’s place in Yamashiro for more… poker! Hmm, yeah, I’ve played a lot of poker the past couple of weeks, and I think I’ll not play any more for a wee while. It takes a lot of brain power, and while I enjoy the game, and I think it’s something I’ll enjoy playing from now on, I’ll never be a total card shark. Anyway, Sunday night was a good night, we had some good laughs. I stayed at Nate’s place in the mountains, and had a really great sleep. Full of weird dreams, but it was a good sleep nonetheless. I woke up at 11.30, and an hour later Joe came round. We three went for some lunch, then Joe and I hit the road.

We were headed for Niihama, a city about 2 hours west of Miyoshi, in neighbouring Ehime-ken. We wanted to see a new place on our day off, so we picked Niihama. We got started rather late in the afternoon, so we didn’t arrive in Niihama til 5.30pm. Enough time to look round the shopping complex I wanted to show Joe, get some great melon ice-cream, and buy some Body Shop smellies (yes, the Body Shop!).

After that, it was back in the car, and back east to Kawanoe for the first Miyoshi-gun bowling night. We didn’t have a full showing of folk, as people are still tired and busy and stuff (it really has been a mad month). But we had a good time, good craic, and my bowling skills aren’t as diminished as I’d feared.

So back to school on a Tuesday (such weeks can often be longer than the full five days!), and then it’s another exciting week next week. But that will have to wait. I am becoming hooked on weekends, and it needs to change. I need to rediscover the joys of simply living in Japan from day to day.

I’m in such a weird place mentally just now. It’s sort of exciting, but sort of sad. It’s not quite where I want to be.

School's Gone Nuts!

A little add on: the school has become this hive of activity, it's amazing. It's the school culture fest on Friday, and all the preparations have gone into overdrive. Between concert rehearsals, kids preparing skits, and teachers gathering stuff for the bazaar in the afternoon, it seems madness has finally descended! A teacher just came into the room with a big candy floss machine, which fell apart when she put it down. She put it back together, switched it on, and now the room is filled with the smell of hot sugar!

At the end of the concert rehearsal today, I was chatting with my 3rd-grade girls. One of them, a cheeky but rather lovely kid called Akiko, came up to me, put her hand on my shoulder and looked very sad. Then she said "Eri... you're crazy". Just like that. I cracked up. I love moments like this!

Oh man, now the teacher is MAKING candy floss! Woo hoOo!

Weekend pictures

Here are a couple of pictures, click to enlarge:
Tamezane-sensei, Yuki and me after the speech contest.
And some of my friends playing on the vine bridge. I wanted to post a mukade picture, but I can't get the image to copy over. Just think of a big black centipede with orange legs and antennas, and fearsome fangs, and you're there. :)

Looong Weekend!

I feel like I have a lot to write about today, so I hope that you make it to the end of all this....

First of all, yeah, I had a long weekend, which was mostly super-duper. I spent Friday night.... yep, you guessed it, in and alone with some videos. This is beginning to get to me. Friday nights are when I feel best about going out and having fun. It's just that everyone is so crazy-busy in September that it's hard to make it happen. So yeah, more movies, and it wasn't entirely bad. Heartily recommend Fargo, that's a funny film. Yah. William H. Macy is possibly the best actor to ever live. Ever.

Saturday, I met Yuki for speech contest practice in the morning, then went to the city at night for a BBQ. The party was being held by Aussie couple Ron and Andrea in their lovely big house just North of the city. Dave and I drove up, and proceeded to eat great food, have some good chat, and run around with Josh and Hannah, Ron and Andrea's young (and very energetic) kids. Twas a good time! I stayed with Dave at his place, and we had a good time watching a really bad Steven Segal film, and chatting about life and future plans til the wee small hours.

On Sunday, I headed allll the way back West... further even than Miyoshi. Destination: Higashiiya! In my first year, Katy lived in Higashiiya, but she left, and the placement was vacant last year. Now that Nate is here, I get to go up there much more often! So a group of us trooped up on Sunday night to play poker. My first time, and I won't pretend I didn't find it all somewhat confusing. But it gets under your skin, and I'm thirsty for more! I'll be boning up on poker thoery before the next poker night, that's for sure! There's something about throwing chips on the table, and calling and raising, and bluffing and all that. I lost. It was only a Y500 buy in (about 2.50) and I lost about Y300. But it was fun. "I see your Y50, wise guy... and I raise ya Y100!". Hee hee!

On Monday, some other first year JETs came up to Iya, and we took them round to all the normal tourist sights: the Kazurabashi vine bridge, the Pee Boy statue, the best noodle shop, Senkichi, and the best onsen in Tokushima-ken, Hikyou no Yu! Being a Monday holiday, Iya was pretty packed with tourists, but it was a lovely relaxing day nevertheless, and I enjoyed hanging out with everyone.

Nate came down to mine that night, and we watched a film called 'Gothika' which we thought, and hoped, would scare us witless, but it ended up being a mildly interesting psychological thriller. Oh well. I then stole a heap of music from Nate's computer, so I'm over the moon! I've turned into such a music junkie these last few months! For those of you starved of musical choice, I heartily recommend The Postal Service, Bright Eyes and Pete Yorn.

Tuesday was the annual county speech contest, held in Ikeda. My girl, Yuki, has simply worked off her socks at her speech, and even though she didn't win, I couldn't be prouder of her. She's a star! She had the unfortunate burden of going first. She got too nervous, and spoke way too fast, as well as forgetting some of the speech. But someone had to be first. So I don't care, I think she was great!

We spent the afternoon yesterday having a meeting, and then heading to the arcade to play games and do puri-kura (in case you don't know, puri-kura is little sticker photos that you take with your friends and then decorate with all sorts of cutise mostifs. Lots of fun!). So that was four days with no school.

Finally, last night, I was teaching my eikaiwa class. As I was chatting away, I felt a really sharp, stinging pain in my hip, and let out a howl of "Aaaaaaoooooowwww"! I stood up shouting that something had bitten me, and started swatting at my shirt. Out fell a mukade. A MUKADE!!!! Mukade are pets of Satan himself. They are poisonous centipedes, common to rural parts of Japan. My first house here in Miyoshi was a horrible little affair, set low in the ground next to a swamp. So I used to get loads of mukade, and other assorted beasties, scuttling through on regular occassions. Never before though, has one of the little buggers bitten me. Until last night. The one that got me had crawled up from the floor under my shirt, I think, and had a nibble. It hurts so much because they inject poison, rather than suck blood. My assailant was a tiddler at 5cm (they regularly grow to 20cm+), but he still left visible puncture marks, and a stinging pain. Thankfully, it was my eikaiwa class, and they jumped into action, smashing the beast with a slipper, then administering the correct cream to take the sting away. Mukade are always killed in Japan. Their bites can kill small children, and the very old. Shudder!

Finally, I just wanted to write about something that has happened to me that I never even realised was happening. I have become a crusty old JET. I am jaded. And it's sad. The new folk have this wonderful enthusiasm for being here, learning the language, meeting lots of people, and all that. Whereas I have been here for two years, have a pitiful amount of Japanese to show for it, and have become entirely too settled. It's not good, and I need to shake myself up in order to make the most of my final year here. I wish I was back in first year, with all the wonder that goes with it. I don't want to be old and crusty.

The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On!

I have nothing to say. But much to share. Below are some of my favorite links on the web. Most are fun, some are just good websites. They are in no particular order. Lemme know what you think...

www.epitonic.com
A site passed onto the local JET community by fellow ALT and fellow Blogger Matt 'Fletcher' Shettler. Loads of great free music downloads from bands that haven't sold their souls to Sony or Geffen or suchlike.

www.outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html
A site written by an ALT up in Kyoto. The stories are hilarious: I tend to take some of them with a pinch of salt, but they make great reading nonetheless.

www.fabrica.it/flipbook
Given to me by Jeff, this site allows you to create your own animations, and view the ones your friends did. So much fun!

www.heavy.com
A website full of funny animations and stuff. Really for adults. Check out the 'Office Friends' animation. Priceless!

http://happyraft.com/en/
The website of the crew up the road at Happy Raft, the company I semi-regularly raft the Yoshino River with.

www.street-mg.com/xnew/
A web site of three sister magazines, based here in Japan, I think. It covers street fashion from Japan and the rest of the world. Some great pictures, great clothes, and intersting looking people.

www.robertmckechnie.com
Website of an old photographer friend of mine: we both worked in Starbucks in the golden years, now he's back in his native Australia, doing what he does best: taking great pictures. Good for you, Rob!

www.ajet.net
The website of the Association of the Japan exchange and Teaching Programme, which I am doing work for this year.

I also like reading stuff like The Scotsman (for home news), the New York Times (it's a good international newspaper) and The Economist and Newsweek (just good, mostly non-biased views), but I won't link them from here, as they are pretty easy to find.

No Rest for the Wicked

Oh my, what a weekend! There was so many good, good things about it, and one big bad thing, that was so big and bad that it was as big as all the good things put together. It was that bad.

It started off on Friday: I didn't get my wish, and I spent Friday night alone. But that was ok! Because I had Daniel-san and Mr. Miyagi to keep me company (hmm, so I suppose I wasn't entirely alone). That's right, readers, I rented The Karate Kid (or Besuto Kiddo in Japanese)! It was soooo good, it gave me goosebumps. I grew up on this film. Daddy still uses quotes from it even now. "Daniel-san! Always look eye!". After that, I decided to try Mulholland Drive, which I have heard a lot of good things about. I got about 2 hours into it, before I gave up and pronounced David Lynch on his own planet, which only a privelaged few are allowed to visit. I am not one of them. :)

On Saturday, I was picked up by Nate and Smitha (new ALT in nearby Ikeda), and we drove aaaallll the way out east to Naruto Park for... Ultimate Frisbee! It was a blast! A lot of people came out, and we got a good game going. It's really fast-paced, and I haven't run like that in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then us three Westies went to Uniqlo (Gap-like shop with really good prices: also gaijin-friendly sizes), and then hopped over to McDonald's for dinner. We were joined by Dave too, and it was nice to sit around for a wee while and chew the fat. Hmm, literally methinks!

We drove home via the expressway, and Nate decided to come back to mine for films and beer and chat. We said goodbye to Smitha, stocked up and headed home.

I haven't had such a good night in a long time. Nate is one of the easiest people ever to talk to, we have a lot in common, similar senses of humour.... he's super-social, so it's not like we are bosom buds, but he is definitly going to be one of my closest mates this year. It was just so nice to kick back and relax, and listen to music and laugh away. We didn't get to sleep until 4.15, with lots of beer and shochu inside us (that was Nate's fault, bad influence!). Unfortunately, I had to be up at 6.15am. That was the start of the badness...

It had rained all through the night, and I had a hope as I crawled (slowly) from my futon this morning that the school sports day (for which reason I was up at such an ungodly hour on a Sunday for) might just be cancelled. Nate was still snoring away, no sports day for him. The town announcement went off, and sure enough, the event was cancelled! All right! I get to sleep! Erm no. I phoned my Japanese mum (but officially she's only a work collegue) and checked that I had the right end of the stick. Yes I did. But. Staff and students were expected at school.

So odd. A bit miffed, and looking decidedly worse for wear, I ambled down to school, looked at the schedule board, and nearly had a blue fit when I saw we were scheduled for a full day. This was the bad thing. I'd had two hours sleep. I was wearing no eyeliner (big deal). I hadn't brought my electronic limb, my laptop, in the belief that I would be safely back in bed after the short meeting to officially cancel the sports day. I had brough nothing to see me through a day of hell, such as I saw it.

Maaaaaan. What a bummer! I slipped home at lunchtime, Nate was beavering away at his Japanese textbook, having had about 4 more hours sleep than I did. Collected my laptop and some other materials and sulked back to school.

So this was the crappy end to the weekend. I'd almost have rather felt awful, and had to work at the sports day, than feel awful, think I was getting a day off, then not, but not really having any work either. What a let-down.

Still, it happens, and I think the good just edges out the bad from this weekend. More than just. :) It was a great weekend. Mostly. ;)

Ichi Ni!

"Ichi, ni! Ichi, ni! Ichi, ni!". Sports day practice is under-way. I can hear the perennial cry of "ichi ni" in my head. Damn kids.

The typhoon came and went, its most notable point being that it filled the local dam from 0.4% to 100% in 24 hours. Yikes!

This last week and a half or so, I finally cracked and watched the Lord of the Rings movies. Promptly fell in love with Viggo Mortensen, who plays Aragorn. He's actually a poet, painter and photographer too, and has created some beautiful pieces.

Want to do something fun this coming Friday night. Want to hang with some good mates, and have a reeealllly good conversation. Playing some frisbee on Saturday. All right! Sunday is the sports day.

Registered in the nick of time for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) taking place in December. I haven't a marshmallow's hope in a bonfire of passing, but at least coughing up Y5000 for the privelage of taking the test is making me study again. It's been a long time.

I am in a CD making mood. I want to make CDs for people, and I want them to enjoy them. I found some old songs today on iTunes that were buried at the back of my memory, downloaded them, and felt sparkly.

I DO NOT want to play tennis tonight. But I should. Unless it rains. Come on the rain!

NOW the typhoon cometh!

Aww yeah, looks like it's heading straight for us! Hmm, maybe in the face of all the horrors currently taking place in New Orleans, my cheerfulness over the impending storm is misplaced. However, typhoons are, on average, somewhat weaker than hurricanes, and this part of Japan needs a day of heavy of rain like nothing else. I have a healthy respect for the weather, especially in a country like Japan, which is susceptible to all sorts of natural disasters. But at the same time, I love to marvel at the power of Mother Nature in a bad mood. Puts me in my place.

The weekend was pretty good, quite a quiet one. I had a great enkai (drinking/food feast) with the teachers on Friday night to celebrate the start of term. I came home with a tummy stuffed with excellent food, and a lot of beer and sake besides. I was in a mood to save the world, but alas! there was no-one around to talk strategy with. So I settled for terrorising Dave and Jenna by keitai email for a while, before sitting down to let Team America: World Police save the world in my stead.

Saturday was spent doing nothing, mostly. I did meet my friend Kanako for dinner, which was nice, as I haven't seen her in an age.

Sunday was a dancing day, and new Mikamo ALT Julie decided to come and watch. We were pretty rubbish, actually, but it was a good time nonetheless. Afterwards, Julie came back to mine, we were joined by Keiko, and had some dinner. I tested my new-found yaki-soba-making skills on the girls, and they were pretty impressed.

Watched the last installment of Lord of the Rings (great stuff!), a little F1, spoke to the parents briefly, and then fell asleep and dreamed of Aragorn.

Ashiro 1st Graders

Written last Friday, published today.

What a way to start a term! By teaching the youngest class at the biggest school! Don't get me wrong, these ankle-biters are the bees knees, and I love each and every one of them. But after a six week long hiatus, it's something of a baptism of fire to have them as your first class.

As soon as I walked into the classroom, I was greeted by 27 beaming munchkin faces, assorted cries of "Eri-sensei!!" and assorted hands reaching for assorted parts of my body (we ALTs are something of a playground for the young 'uns; glad I'm not a bloke...). After I had deposited them back at their desks, we enjoyed a fairly smooth and productive lesson. Well, as smooth and productive as it can be with 6 year olds who understand less than nothing of what you are saying!

We played a game called "Grab a Friend", where I put on some music, they dance a bit, I stop the music, they freeze, I call a number, and then they all get into groups of that number as fast as possible. I had some Japanese J-pop with me, and put on a particulalrly mad, ravey number, and they totally rocked out! The sight of these wee things going mad, having a good old boogie, but all the time keeping one eye on me was just great! I danced and jumped along, and generally behaved like a six year old.

There's one little kid in the class called Keigo. Keigo and his entire family belong to Minoda-ren, and he thinks this means he and I have a special bond. I guess we do in some way, but it's not something I'm about to play up to for him. It just struck me as funny that today I was being all teachery with him, being very authorative and so forth, but not three weeks ago, he was pouring me beer at the halfway party for Minoda-ren. "Keigo! Get over here, my glass is empty!". Probably, I'd get reprimanded for that in the UK, but here, such things don't seem to be such a big deal.

WOW

Just a little add-on. I just had the BEST chocolate thingy EVER. It was a ball of white chocolate with a whole freeze-dried strawberry in the middle. Keep me away from those things!

Owls and the End of Summer

Yesterday, at the end of our session, Yuki gave me a present. If you’ll recall, Yuki is the girl who has been selected to represent Miyoshi JHS in the county speech contest later this month. She decided to give me a late birthday present, which she made herself. You can see them in the picture: five wee beanbag owls made from kimono silk remnants. Owls are lucky in Japanese lore, and because they’re beanbags, Yuki has requested that I learn how to juggle them. I shall do my best! I was really touched that Yuki thought of me, and that she hasn’t started to hate me for all the speech practice I’m making her do!

We just had the opening ceremony for the beginning of the school term. I remember standing in the same ceremony last year wondering if I’d be standing in the same place in a year’s time. Happily, it turns out I was. But this year, there is no question: I will not be standing in the same spot this time next year. My JET tenure at Miyoshi will have ended. To know for certain like this is not a sad feeling, but neither is it a happy one. Certainly not! Looking around me today at the kids, I wondered, for maybe the 500th time, how I’ll ever leave here. But I know I will. It’s time to move on, and time to make way for someone new to come and live their dream.

From now on, until next March, the days will only get colder. We’ll have a mad, warm month in September, and then the smells if autumn will fill the air. It’ll be time to get the nabe pot out, turn on the space heaters, and huddle under the kotatsu. The kids will settle into this marathon term, the ALTs will plan Halloween and Christmas parties. I like the term. There’s always something going on.

We also just had an earthquake drill. This part of Japan is expecting a major earthquake right about now. So drills a mandatory at the beginning of each term. Remember fire drills? How they were conducted only very occasionally, but we were never told? Well, they tell the kids. There’s no alarm or siren. The Kyoto-sensei (vice principal) gets in the tannoy and says “Get ready, the earthquake will start soon”. You hear chairs being scraped back in preparation. The special needs teachers bring down our wheelchair-bound student at this point to avoid the rush. The a minute later “Ok, the earthquake has begun. Get out!”. And the kids run downstairs out into the sports ground. I mean, drills are great, but the upcoming Nankai-jishin (as it’s called in Japanese) is hardly going to announce itself before it arrives: “Listen up, mortals! I’m on my way! In about a minute, I’m gonna move the earth so hard, you’ll barely be able to stand, and your school will collapse around you. Better get your asses in gear if you want to live!”. No. It’s just going to happen. And when it does, the school kids are gonna freak cause no-one told them. Sometimes Japan is too efficient for its own damn good.

The Language at my Fingertips!

Awww yeah! Got me a dictionary! I just bought a second-hand 1971 edition of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary: compact meaning it comes in two multi-thousand page volumes, complete with it's own magnifying glass so you can read the tiny print! There are THAT many words in it. The full version is something like 15 volumes, so I think I'll wait before I buy that. James Murray, I salute you! And it was a snip at Y3000 (15 GBP).

Isn't it funny how just getting outside your own head for a while can totally turn your mood around? I spent Sunday and Monday in the city, getting my haircut, meeting friends that I haven't seen for ages, and getting to know some of the new JETs. I had a really nice time, and am feeling altogether better about the coming year.

On Saturday night, there was a "well done" party for Minoda-ren, my Awa Odori group. The Awa Odori festival has now well and truly finished for the year (what a shame!), so it was time for our crew to finally relax properly and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. Of course, it was total fun from beginning to end, but it was also hard work, so our celebration was well deserved. Not that the dancing is finished for Minoda-ren this year: far from it, thank goodness! We dance at our local spot in Miyoshi twice a month until well into November, and there'll probably be things in the way of weddings and other assorted performances that we're asked to dance at. Saturday night was a good time: I didn't go too hard, but I had a lot of fun chatting to people and eating some of the best Japanese food in town at Fujimoto's restaurant.

Sunday saw me hang out with Jenna for the first time in about six weeks. We had a lovely time catching up, and we were joined for an okonomiyaki dinner by Dave, Joe and new Higashiiya ALT Nate.

On Monday, I had the chance to get to know Nate much better, as I joined him zooming around the city in his little Suzuki to run errands. He's a top bloke, has great taste in music, is a climber and frisbee player (joy!), and is totally laid back. We're planning on doing some climbing, some frisbee playing and some hiking in the very near future.

Jo just came back from making his assault on Mount Fuji (I still can't say the name without shaking with anger at how that mountain treated me!). It's a great story, it'll make ya laugh, as Jo is a really great writer. Read it here.

I made some kick-ass yaki-soba last night (stir fry noodles and veggies). So good, I'm going to make it again tonight to use up the vegetables. Healthy, cheap and quick. That's what we like!

The Typhoon Cometh. Not.

Maaan. We were supposed to get a 'super' typhoon this week. And the bugger has decided it doesn't like Shikoku and has veered off north-east. Damn. There's something about typhoons that I really like.

Although I had promised myself that I would simply enjoy Japan, and not worry about What Comes Next until October, it's pretty hard to do. Especially in the frame of mind I'm currently in (read: bored, homesick, getting a bit lonely). So I did some research, and apparently, I should become an archivist. Did some reading into what the job entails, and it sounds like the sort of thing I'd like doing. Connected to the academic world, but not overly.

I'm having daydreams of rainy afternoons in Edinburgh, sitting in the window of Black Medicine, one of my favourite coffee shops, with Pernilla and Jo, and talking about the world. Or going into the Dean Gallery to look at the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition that's on now. Or cooking up a storm in the kitchen for my friends. Homesickenss is a funny old thing.

It'll get better. I have AJET. I'm going to have the JLPT. Structure is good, keeps me from going totally mad. Who'd have thought it: me liking structure in my life.....

God's Mountain

Had a nice quiet weekend just there. On Saturday, Joe and I went to meet some friends for a BBQ beside the picturesque Anabuki River. Unfortunatley, given the good weather, we weren't the only ones who had the idea, and we arrived to find the river and surrounding area swarming with Japanese families out enjoying the last few days of summer. Oh well, laughs were had, so that's all that matters. :)

Joe and I didn't stay long, however, as we were due at the last orientation event for the new ALTs: the Kamiayama party. Kamiyama (literally 'God's Mountain') is a beautiful little town nestled deep in the mountains at the very heart of the prefecture. It has a very internationally-minded, arty community, that each year, has a homestay event for the new JETs (whereby they go and live with one of the community's families for a couple of days). The party is sort of the highlight of the weekend, with live music and dance performances, and a lot of mingling and INTERNATIONALISATION!!! Joe and I, while we didn't do the homestay, decided to go to the party as it's normally a good time.

We drove up a crazy road from Anabuki, via a couple of very high mountain passes, and a few tiny villages. We arrived about an hour after the party started and proceeded to chat to the new ALTs (most of whom I met in Tokyo but didn't really get a chance to get to know), and some of the familiar faces of Kamiyama. I met a girl who, I believe, is deaf and (for want of a better word) dumb. She was very nice, really friendy, and we ended up swapping email addresses. I know a very little of Japanese sign language, so maybe we'll muddle through somehow!

The new JETs seem like very lovely people for the most part. I'm not sure how well I'll get to know them, but I hope I do.

Joe and I drove back to mine, watched 'Team America' (watch it!!) and then went to sleep.

Up early the next day, as I thought I was playing rugby. However, as I neared the city, the heavens opened, and a phone call to Dave confirmed that the planned afternoon of playing touch, followed by a BBQ, had indeed been called off. What a shame! Especially since the city is such a long way away! I did some shopping, then hopped the next train home.

Last hurdle of the weekend: doing battle with a mammoth spider. Don't know how it got in. Shudder. I killed it but wished I hadn't. But this thing was way too big for the whole 'glass and card' routine. The rest of the night, I kept on imagining I could see things scuttle across my floors and walls.

Back at school today. The term starts next Thursday. Looking forward to it. I don't like having my days so unstructured. It makes me very unproductive. Also looking forward to some colder weather. Heat is exhausting!

Same thing, I wrote this last night, but am posting today:

My Birthday and Awa Odori Part II.

This may be quite a sizeable entry!

So I woke up on my birthday morning to a nice pile of parcels and cards that had arrived through the post from home. Always nice to be thought of!

I headed to the city and arrived by midday. Stepping off the train, you could literally feel the festival atmosphere in the air. It was positively buzzing. It reminded me of Edinburgh at festival time, except without so many daft Europeans wandering around. I spent lunchtime with Kenji in Big Brothers (Kenji's second home). He treated me to lunch, and the folk at BBs gave me a double helping of chocolate brownie for dessert, topped with birthday candles, and a rendition of 'Happy Birthday'.

I headed out to meet Dave quickly, who was holding my birthday present from my Tokyo friend, Linda. Linda is Singaporean, very beautiful, and very electric. She's such a live wire! We spent an afternoon together when I was in Tokyo last month, and ended up guttered by 3pm. I met her when I was editing Team Taught Pizza. She was the person assigned to head up the printing of the book. We have remained in touch despite the book being finished. She's rather poorly just now, so my thoughts are with her. Anyway, she sent me a beautiful bracelet via Dave, which was rather a surprise.

Left Dave to his Awa Odori, and wandered round the city to soak up the atmosphere. I ran into my friend Dan, and we sat by the river and chatted for a while. Then it was time to take my seat for the early evening dance performance, at one of the most famous street venues, Aibahama. Tickets for this go quickly, and I was lucky enough to be offered a spare one from some friends of a friend. The show was great and certainly got me fired up for the start of my own Awa Odori season the next day.

The show ended, and I met up with Dan again, and then our friend Stephi, whose Mum was here to help Stephi get home (as this summer is sadly the end of her JET tenure). I had intended take the final train back west at 10.20pm, but I was having such fun, so I was persuaded to stay out and party the night away. We danced in the street, drank beer, did some weird fairground game involving catching plastic fish, went to Ingrid's briefly, and ate some raamen. It was a really nice way to spend a birthday, even though all my closest friends were otherwise engaged. Or in another part of the world!

I didn't feel so hot waking up for the 5.45am train mind you! I got home with enough time for an hour's kip before I had to start getting ready for my own Awa Odori performances.

And my, what performances!

Admittedly, we got off to a shaky start, with broken shoes, messed up formations, and missed calls. But it went way up from there! We had a good first three runs at our usual haunt, the Highway Oasis, a quick bite of dinner, and then we piled into two coaches to head to Ikeda, the capital of Awa dance in the west of the prefecture. When we got off the bus it was like a minature Tokushima: the same vibe ran through the streets, people looked happy and relaxed, and it felt good to be there. When our turn came to dance, it was impossible to keep the smile off my face (which is good, as you are supposed to smile!). I shouted “Yattusa!” louder than I have ever done, and generally gave it my all. The highlight of the night was Ekimae, a street in Ikeda leading to the train staion. It was packed, and it is a very long distance to dance. But the spectators were great, applauding and cheering, and my smile only got bigger the further up the street I got. I saw some rafting friends, who cheered for me and took my picture. At the end of the street, I had sweat dripping off my nose, and running into my eyes, but I felt so alive and happy. What a great time! We danced through another couple of streets, and then, exhausted but happy, climbed back aboard the coaches for the short drive home.

The following day, we gave four shows at the Oasis, with a mini enkai at night at one of the local Japanese restaurants. Again it was fun, but it was nothing compared to the previous night!

On Tuesday, it was the last day of Awa Odori for the year in Tokushima. After dancing at the Oasis, we headed for Ikeda for one last dance through the streets. By this time, even I was feeling tired, but again, as soon as we stepped off the buses, the atmosphere hit us like a brick wall, and, if it's possible, we gave it even more effort than we had on Sunday night. Dave came out to watch us in action, but of course got pulled into the thick of it, even without a yukata. He loved it! As did we all. We even got filmed for telly. It was another late night, but well worth it. I love Awa Odori!

I was clever enough to take today off work, so I could catch up on some sleep. I did that, did some shopping, some cleaning (though barely touched the tip of the iceberg in that department!), and went to visit my friends Hanna and Kunihiro in Mikamo-cho. They recently got married, and I think maybe they haven't many friends around here (as neither of them are natives to Miyoshi-gun: Hanna's from the south of Tokushima, Kunihiro from Aichi-ken, near Tokyo). They are lovely people, and between their half-baked English, and my quarter-baked Japanese, we get to have some good conversations. We're planning an overnight trip together to neighbouring Kochi-ken next month. Should be a good time!

The pictures are of the dancers at Aibahama, a rather tired-looking me with Dan on my birthday, and of the Minoda-ren dressing room, a hive of activity just before we start dancing for the day.

Back to school now. Back to the grind. Looking forward to the kids coming back to school, the holidays are boring without them!