New stuff to talk about

Sorry guys, I've been a bit slack lately - heaps has been going on.
Last weekend I got to be a samurai lord in a city-wide festival. The city invited 3 kiwis to take part, so I jumped at the chance. It was pretty cool. We were dressed in traditional samurai kit, and that stuff is heavy! There were 13 lords (I have visited their graves) in Hagi, and I was the 13th - Mohri Takachika. The other kiwis decided I was the Last Samurai - I wasn't impressed. I was also the smallest person but one out of all the samurai (including the Japanese samurai!). I think this picture about sums it up:







Simon, me and Jo before the armour was added. This is the basic yukata (robe). What you can't see is about 3 layers of cloth for protection - hot!!!

The sandals were pretty sexy. Made of a kind of flax like plant, they are sort of like jandals, but the thongy bit wraps right around the foot.






Anyway, we each had our own banner carried by a school kid - they were dressed in apprentice kit - and we had to walk down the main street of the city to the temple, where they gave us sake (strong, too!) then let us go and get changed. The walk was over a kilometre and it was a mission, but fun too. I reckon everyone in Hagi must have a photo of the crazy gaijin dressed like samurai.

Also, the other day we had a Thanksgiving eating event at an American ALT's (Assistant Language Teacher) house. It was great. We started eating at 3, and didn't finish until 10. I was ok, because I stopped eating at 3:30, but some of the others were practically comatose!
The weather was crap, but it was unbelievable good to just get away from japanese food and manners. Did I mention that before every meal you have to say 'Itadakimasu' and afterwards: 'gochisosoma deshita'. It gets really annoying! And then there is chopstick etiquette. Don't get me started, I could rant for hours!
Let's just say there is a right way and a wrong way of doing EVERYTHING in Japanese society.

I've got tomorrow off, so I'm heading into Yamaguchi city to see my favourite JTE perform in a noh-kyogen comedy play type thing. Hopefully I'll be able to follow it - I'll let you know:)

Holidays and onsens

You would not believe the weekend I had. It was a three-day holiday, so on Friday morning I got picked up at 7am by one of the teachers from Kawakami Junior High and we went to the bus depot where we meet other teachers from KJH and left Hagi. Just after 8am we picked up the last teacher, and as soon as he was on the bus, out came the alcohol. I'm not kidding, they had beer, cocktails, whisky and sake. I managed to avoid drinking until about 9:30 which I reckon is pretty good. We drove to Nagasaki, which is on the bottom island (Kyushu) of Japan (hagi is on the main island, Honshu). It took us 12 hours of pretty solid drinking and rest stops every few hours. On the way we stopped at a museum on a small island off the coast of Kyushu. It was 2 stories and the entire first floor was dedicated to whales and hunting them. I didn't know until the tour guide took us over to a poster and pointed out which species were the tastiest. They had dioramas, photos, actual weapons and all sorts of stuff. I felt sick. Then one of the teachers asked me what I thought about eating whale. How the hell do you answer that without giving offence?? And then the gift shop had kujira kaari (whale curry) for sale. I was glad to leave that place.


On the island off the coast of Kyushu

We also saw this huge budda statue and a few other touristy things before arriving at the hotel (5-star, nice.). I was the only foreigner there, and I kept getting started at, especially when I spoke in Japanese.


Outside the hotel

The hotel had an onsen, which is kind of like a public bath. The men have a separate area to the women. You get undressed in one room, then walk through to the onsen, where you sit and have a shower, then hop into the hot pool and just relax. It is fantastic. It gave me a chance to talk to the other women teachers who are usually too shy / scared to talk to me.
We had an enkai (party) a little later, where the alcohol continued to flow, then watched some tycho (said tie-ko) drumming and a few of our party took part in a karaoke competition.
At midnight, me and 2 other teachers went to an outside onsen (rotemburo). It was f*****g cold outside, but the rotemburo was great. The stars were out and the moon was full and we were on the top floor of the hotel - amazing.
The next day we did some sightseeing around Nagasaki then came home - it was a long drive but I had an amazing time.


Outside a samurai castle in Nagasaki, sorry its sideways.


The sunset on the last day

Then on Sunday I had a bunkasai to attend at Akiragi JHS. This is my favourite school, and the kids were great. I had an awesome time even though I was absoluted stuffed.


Some of the boys from Akiragi JHS

On Monday I made it to school only to be sent home sick, and I'm still sick today. But hopefully tomorrow I'll be ok.
Next weekend I am dressing up as a samurai lord and taking part in a city-wide festival! Cool, huh?

yet another update

Yesterday I had dinner at one of my JTEs’ (Japanese Teacher of English) house. Unfortunately, he lives an hour away from Hagi and my place, so I had to stay the night there. His daughter is my age, and she had a friend staying as well, so the three of us ended up hanging out, talking and watching movies.
Dinner was a typical Japanese meal: sukiyaki. It’s kind of like an indoor barbecue with beef, lots of mushrooms, salad (with raw salmon) and some other stuff. You dip the meat into raw egg and then eat it. It was good. I was a little dubious at first, but I figured when in Rome. It was a good meal, and then the alcohol started to flow. At one point, I had 6 cups and glasses around me, and only one of them was non-alcoholic. I had wine, beer, Japanese sake, a melon spirit, and Mongolian alcohol.
The Mongolian stuff tasted like meths. I had a tiny sip and it burned right down my throat. I couldn’t speak! I have new-found respect for Mongolians – if they can drink that stuff they have to be tough.
I slept on a futon in a tatami room (very traditional) and had a great night’s sleep. Mind you, the alcohol may have played a part in that.
This morning, I had a usual Japanese breakfast: fried egg, green stuff (still don’t know what it was), rice, miso soup and green tea.
Good times.
By the way, the hot teacher from yesterday’s school is at today’s school :)

Ahoy-hoy

This is kind of bad, but I’m sitting at the principals desk at one of my junior highs, just mucking around because I only have one class today and that isn’t until after lunch.
All the kids are getting ready for their bunkasai (Culture Festival), so its pretty relaxed here. I swear the vice principal is playing computer games on his lap top and the hot teacher here is just mucking around.
You may have caught the reference to a hot Japanese person. Ok, I admit it, some of the guys here aren’t that bad. At first I wasn’t fussed, but the other day I just kind of clicked, and suddenly, half the guys I see are pretty good looking. Sad, but true.
I guess it comes from being surrounded by them all the time. A few days ago there was a German couple on the same bus as me and I couldn’t help staring at them because they looked so . . . foreign. That kind of explains why I get stared at all the time. One time when I was in the supermarket, I actually got followed around by this old guy who wanted to know exactly what I was buying. It was kind of creepy, but we did get warned. I’ve also been stopped in the street by people wanting to know if I’m American (bad), and when they find out I’m a kiwi they get really excited.

Anyway, on to other stuff.
Yesterday, I bought a new camera. The stuff over here is a lot more advanced than in New Zealand (you guys should see my cell phone – it’s amazing). It’s a great little camera and was pretty cheap considering (I won’t tell you how much). The scary thing is that it is all in Japanese and THAT DOESN’T BOTHER ME! What is up with that?? When I first picked it up and played around with it, I didn’t even notice the lack of English – sick. Reading the katakana (like the Arabian alphabet, sort of) was automatic and made sense.
Here’s an example of what katakana reads like:
supootsu sentaa - sports centre.
basu kaado - bus card
pasukon - personal computer

Makes perfect sense, right?
I’ve already been here too long!