Hiroshima

Sorry guys, I forgot to take me camera with me this weekend.
Anyway, Hiroshima was great! We arrived around 9pm, and headed out on the town. There is a great bar called the Shack that has English speaking bar staff and Western food. Several fajitas, mashed potato, fries, beer, marguerites, and miscellaneous cocktails later, we headed to Molly Malones – an Irish pub right across the road from the Shack. And they had a big screen for the rugby! The only problem was the bloody American marines who were oblivious of the rugby and sat right in front of the tv. We were NOT happy.
Sadly, I called it a night just after midnight – gimme a break, I was tired! The hostel was sweet, except for the dude in our dorm who snored so loudly his bunk was shaking (I kid you not)!
The next day we spent 7 hours shopping. It. Was. Fantastic.
The five of us split up and only met up for lunch and afternoon coffee. I came away with a pile of Body Shop products (no Body Shop in Yamaguchi :) ) and a pile of English books. I meant to get shoes because the ones I am currently wearing are falling apart (literally), but the books distracted me, and I like to think I have my priorities right!
It was kind of strange being in a big city (Hagi has about 50,000 people and is surrounded by mountains), we got excited when we saw other gaijin, except the bloody marines!
I found I was more comfortable around Japanese people over foreigners, and I spoke a lot more Japanese, even to those who could speak English. I’m getting worried about that, actually.
さよなら！

Another week

Ok, so today I am recovering from last night. This week has been a fairly big one with 4 nights where drinking was involved. Wednesday was payday, and we had to celebrate. The celebrations turned into an impromptu kareoke party at 1 am. I'm ashamed to admit I took part. Then I had to ride home. I never learn, right?
Yesterday was very Japanese. A few of us went to a Japanese lady's house for dinner. We made our own sushi. I avoided the squid and stuck to raw mackerel and crab - yum! Anyway, it turns out this lady is quite fond of 'sho-chu', which is a spirit that tastes kind of like turpentine. Long story short, only 2 of us were left standing at 2am, and that was only because we were leaning against each other! This afternoon I am heading to Hiroshima with 3 others, and the clubs there are not to be missed!
Sayonara!

PS. On my one non-hangover day, I made it to the beach. It was gorgeous. It's tough being an ALT, trust me :)

Words fail me

Found this in a 7-11. Don't ask.

The week in review

It's been a busy week. I'm gonna keep it short because I have to be up at 5:30 tomorrow morning to catch a bus up to my mountain school with all 8 students!

Anyway, last weekend 6 of us went to Fukuoka (a city at the bottom of Honshu) for a night. After accusing me of being a burden on everyone, Rosie found me a wheelchair and proceeded to push me around the biggest shopping malls ever at speed!



Me, Dan and Rosie at the hotel. You can just see pictures of some of the rooms behing us. Being Valentines Day, there were decorations everywhere we went. It got kind of creepy after a while. Especially because in Japan only the girls give chocolates, preferably home-made. On March 14 they have 'White Day', where boys can decide to give girls chocolate if they like them, or just reject them. Great, huh?

Dan, Starsky and me in the middle of Fukuoka. The traffic was insane. We saw a bus almost side-swipe an SUV - cool

Thursday, I was in the mood for sushi, so I texted all the ALTs in Hagi, and 2 of the guys were keen for dinner, so out we went, only to discover our favourite restaurant closed. Not willing to go home and cook - can you blame us? - we found a great little yakitori (lit. fried bird) place around the corner. It was cheap and GOOD! The only problem was the beer was the cheapest in the city, and we couldn't miss an opportunity like that. After dinner, we went to Mister Donut for dessert, then off to the combini for more beer. Back at Matt's house we ended up drinking and talking until 1am. I'm sure I've said this before, but riding a bike home when you're drunk is an experience. Remind me not to do it again. Let's just say I wasn't feeling entirely healthy at work on Friday, but I managed to get through the day, then went to Yamaguchi city with a few others for sushi, so I got my raw fish after all :)

Yesterday, the Hagi kiwis (Dan, Rosie, Jo and me) made our way to Heki (45 minutes south-east of Hagi) where we met up with a big group of Yamaguchi ALTs and proceeded to eat a pile of food and drink even more alcohol.

Jess attempting to balance one more beer can on our tower. Matt (in the background) had just succeeding in balancing a raw egg on the top - we were very proud.

Today the weather was absolutely bollocks, so Dan, Jo and I went bowling. For my first time, it was really fun. And they actually have drinkable beer and passable wedges at the bowling place. Turns out Dan is a fantastic bowler, and he thoroughly kicked my and Jo's asses! I claim 2 strikes, even if they did come after 2 gutter balls, and so were technically spares.

Dan posing. Need I say more?

So it's been a busy week. Next weekend we have a tentative plan to go to Hiroshima for a night. There is an Irish bar (with Japanese barmen), an English bookshop and The Body Shop - heaven.

Yamaguchi - an exciting place to live

Before I start: Mum you may not want to read this, you'll only worry.

OK, so I knew there were yakuza (Japanese mafia) in Yamaguchi (the 'state' I live in). I knew there were yakuza in Hagi (my city). I even knew that some of the kids I teach are yakuza kids. What I didn't know was that the Yamaguchi branch of the yakuza is the largest in Japan! In fact, the Yamaguchi gang is one of the largest criminal organisations in the world. They have a hand in pretty much all underground businesses or anything dodgy, including pachinko - Japans way around the fact that gambling is illegal in this country - and love hotels. I'll explain that one another time.
On the 6th there was a shooting in Tokyo by the yamaguchi-gumi (gang) of an important member of a rival branch. There were rumours of a gang war on the verge of spilling over into the public, and revenge shootings started an hour after the first murder, but a few days ago the leaders of the groups met and called a truce, at least for now. Apparently there have been tensions since the end of 2005, so we'll see how long the truce lasts.
Mum, I know you will have read this far, but don't worry, the yakuza in Hagi are nice guys. They are all rich bastards and most of them speak some English.
I live almost directly opposite a pachinko parlour, and occassionally I see members of the yakuza around. More often than not I see them driving around in big flashy cars. They walk different to normal japanese men as well.
There was a murder in Hagi just before I arrived. A woman who ran away from her yakuza boyfriend was found dead on the beach at Hagi, and there have been a few 'incidents', but nothing really tied to anybody. The police just try to keep a lid on things, and not get involved. So Japan isn't a totally boring country to live in.



Tattooing is a sign of membership, although this an extreme example. Members often wear conservative clothing unless they want to display their 'badge'.

Finally, some holiday stuff.

Ok, just a few photos of my holiday in Singapore and Malaysia. I promise I'll get myself sorted and write about it properly one of these days.

Me at a waterfall out in the jungle of Malaysia. There were monkeys!

This is my favourite picture from Singapore. I was in the National Botanic Gardens, it was pouring with rain, I was soaking wet and there was noone around, so I jumped over a kind of barrier and took this.

Also in Malaysia, at 'Batu Cave', a temple/shrine place inside a cave. The statue behind me was finished at the start of 2006. There are 272 steps up to the cave. It was ridiculously hot, too, but I made it! There were monkeys there as well.

meh

I swear, I've been busier this week than ever before! Monday I ended up having Sushi for dinner with Matt then heading to a bar with Matt and Dan to catch the Ireland-Wales game (Matt is Welsh). Tuesday I had curry with Paul, Wednesday Paul, Matt, Pauline and I went to San Marco (a Japanese-Italian restaurant), then Paul and I went to Mister Donut for an hour. There aren't many places to hang out in Hagi, so we take what we can get.
Thursday was Mosburger - the BEST burger place in the world! Then back to Dan and Rosies place to watch DVDs.
Oh, and school. I am definitely sick of explaining what I did to my knee. My new words are:
baka = stupid, and abunai = dangerous. So: ski wa abunai to ore wa baka desu yo! Skiing is dangerous and I am stupid!
Thankfully this weekend is a three day weekend, so lots of time to relax. Hopefully off the crutches by Sunday / Monday.

more pics from the weekend

He deserved it!!

The sunset over Ohshima, an island just off the coast of Hagi

Oops, my bad :)

Chicken with a PSP - they are so much fun! I want one:)

Gumby

Well, its official: I am a gumby.
Last Friday we had the huge dumping of snow (see last post). That night I went to Mutsumi (a tiny town north of Hagi) with 4 other ALTs and we spend the night eating Japanese food, drinking and talking. The next day we went sledding up a mountain. I'll try and put a video up in the near future. Then on Sunday I left Hagi at 5:30am to go to Hiroshima on a school ski trip. It was great! There were kids from both the elementary and junior high schools, some really cool teachers and a few parents. Everything went well right up to the point where I had a doozy of a crash and stuffed my knee. Went to the doctor on Monday for an x-ray and was told I have damaged a ligament and that I have to stay off my leg for a few weeks. So, here I am, on crutches stuck at home bored out of my skull!
Still, it was an awesome weekend!

The aftermath.

My JTE and favourite teacher.

Some of the Junior High girls.

A junior high boy.

Some elementary girls.

Snow