The Mountians of Northern Nagano

I thought I would change this post up a little and use blue...and a new font. If any of you even noticed...hehehe...man I am otaku (the Japanese equivalent of geek) sometimes!

So here I am, on Sunday night, sitting under my new favourite appliance: the Kotatsu. Before you ask how you sit under an appliance, or start Google-ing Kotatsu, I will fully explain what it is later in the post. It has been a hectic weekend, and sitting in my chair (which I have dubbed my ‘floor Lazy-Boy’) getting warm is the best feeling in the world right now.

Friday was one of those days that just seemed to go on forever. (I am sure the late night of Karaoke and Nomihoudai the night before didn’t help…either.) I was at elementary school all day. Now the school I was at was one of my favourite schools in the city. The teachers are helpful and nice (and organized), and the kids are sweet and have great hearts. Being October it is also really easy to come up with lesson plans. One of the classes was all decked up in costumes, and I was running around in my Spiderman mask. Tonnes of fun, but it also burns a couple gazillion calories. As soon as my fifth class ended (I had 6 scheduled) I had to bolt. I flew home, and threw some clothes in a bag, and headed over to Nakano-Nishi Senior High School.

This Friday and Saturday were Nakano-Nishi’s English Camp. The English Language department at Nishi offers an intensive English course. These kids are taken on 3-4 camps every year. The camps are held in the highlands to the north east of town, known as Shiga-Kogen. In total there were about 40 kids, 2 Japanese English Teachers, and 6 of us AET’s. We all loaded into a few busses, and headed up to Shiga. The bus ride is about 40 min, and there is a significant elevation increase. As soon as we started climbing up into the mountains, I could see why ‘Autumn Leaf Viewing’ is such a popular thing to do in the fall here. The mountains are mixed deciduous and conifers. At this point of the year they are a rolling sea of reds, yellows, oranges, and greens. It is simply beautiful.

We finally reached the Hotel/Onsen that we were staying at. 10 seconds off the bus and it was easy that we had gone up a few hundred meters…the temperature had dropped significantly. We were ushered into the hotel, where we then set up a ‘customs and immigration area.’ We announced that after the last camp some parents had phoned and complained that their children had gotten into bad things during the supervised nights. We informed them that we had to do a random bag check. It was really all a rouse, as before the bus left, we hid a few packs of cigarettes, some beers, and a girlie magazine in a few bags. We knew which bags they were and after checking some of the clean bags, we cracked down on the planted ones. The kids were all freaking out, and the others were shocked, and we all hammed it up to be a big deal. They all caught on to the rouse pretty quickly, but the first few shocked moments were well worth the effort.

We all had 15 min to go unpack and settle into our rooms before the afternoons activities got under way. My room was MASSIVE! It had 2 single beds, a small table and 2 chairs, and it had an attached 10 tatami mat sitting area. It had closets full of futons and chairs. I swear it could have slept 10 people comfortably. I threw my bag on the tatami and headed down to the conference room.

We all assembled and each of the AET’s did a self introduction. Then the students, who had been organized into groups, drew a name to see which AET would be their leader for the camp. My name was drawn by the group wearing pink name tags. We decided (upon my insistence that we have a team name) that our name would be Pink Team.

The first activity that we did was a questionnaire about all of us English speakers. After that is was dinner. The food was good, and during dinner each group pulled a number out of a hat. The number determined which of the secret items (which the AET’s provided) and the filming order for a commercial that they would make about the about the product. Pink Team drew baby powder.

After dinner we convened and started to plan the commercial. I helped my team with the structure and concepts of the infomercial, and then let then do most of the dialogue themselves. We had only an hour and a half to plan this 2 min commercial. This was a little too short, but we had to press on. While one group was out filming, the remaining teams played competitive group games. Pink team did pretty well on most of them.

Then it came time to film our commercial. We of course, were the 6^th of 6 teams to go, but I think that helped my group get psyched up about the whole thing. We called the baby powder “Super Deluxe Friendship Powder.” Our film started with a product introduction, moved into a personal story, and back to the big sell of the powder. I think one of the Japanese teachers filmed for all the other groups, but I asked if I could take over the camera. We shot with different angles and had artistic shots of flying powder in between scenes. It was hilarious, and the kids were really into it. Our product slogan was “Super Deluxe Friendship Powder. Get cool. Be cool. Stay cool. Forever.”

When the filming wrapped up for the night, camp was done. That meant that the fun for us leaders was just beginning. The teachers gave us a bag full of beer and snacks, and we had brought some of our own. We chilled in one of the ridiculously large rooms, and shot the shit. Through a game of “I never ever” we learned a lot more about each other. (I never ever is played like this: you go around the circle and say something you have never done. If anyone else has done it then you need to take a drink. It usually starts out clean and simple, but soon degrades to more raunchy subjects.) We went hard till around 1 am, when some of us decided to take advantage of the onsen. The water was hot, smoking hot. But man, noting relieves stress like a nice hot soak in a natural thermal hot spring. Around 2, being fully dazed from the beer and the dizzying effects of the hot spring (and probably a combination of the two) I made my way to bed.

The next morning we woke and had a decent sized breakfast. Derek (one of the AET’s) and I got to have rather large meals, as Jen and Chris are vegetarian, and Brandon will never get up for breakfast. We were treated to espresso after breakfast and then day 2 began.

Day 2 was mostly a performance oriented day. The groups had been working on simple English plays for a few weeks. That morning they each got 90 min with their group leader to fine tune, and work on their lines. Derek, who was the head AET as Nakano Nishi is his school, told everyone that they had to memorize their scripts. This came as a shock to many of the groups, and in reality it was only meant to get them to work hard on committing some more English to memory. In the end they would be allowed to use scripts. Having sat through more rehearsals than I can count, and memorizing my own lines, I knew that I could get full potential out of the kids. We worked each of the 5 scenes individually, once on book, once with 2 chances to look, and once completely off book. My group was awesome, and were fully off book by the second reading in most scenes. We got to our feet and worked with props and costumes. They were wonderful.

When rehearsal was over Derek announced that they could use their scripts, but I pushed my group to go off book. In the end some of them were so nervous that they had to use the script in some scenes. I told them to hide their scripts in a pocket or sleeve if they needed to, that way the play would be less interrupted, and they wouldn’t fall back on to the crutch. We were the last team to perform, and all the other groups did wonderful work. We finally went up, and they were wonderful. 3 of 6 were fully off book, and the others were very inconspicuous about reading when they had to.

Immediately following the plays, we watched the infomercials. I guess commandeering the camera from the teacher was a good idea, as the rest of the products where shot straight on and in one take. Ours was last in the rotation, and was by far the best. It was funnier, more over the top, and the girls were loud and clear. I was so proud of them. After watching the plays and videos, everyone voted on best actor, best costumes, best play, and best commercial. Pink team stole a lot of the thunder with 1^st place in best actor, and also a special award for trying to go off book. We also stole over half of the votes for best commercial.

The day was wrapping up and it was time to say good bye. All of us AET’s gave a few farewell words, and then it was picture time. First group shots, then a mêlée of individual pictures with us AET’s. Each student had their cell phone out, snapping pics with all of us. They are really adorable. Brandon, veteran of 5 English Camps now, is still talked about at Nakano Nishi. Judging by the assault that he and I both got, I am sure that there are now 2 idols there.

After that it was time to grab our bags and head home. The weather up in Shiga was really chilly, close to 0. I pegged it at around 6 degrees. The ride back was gorgeous. The trees had gotten even more beautiful even with only one more days worth of fall. There were Japanese people out in hordes taking pictures left, right and centre. Finally we arrived back at the school, waved a quick good bye in the torrential downpour, and headed for home.

It was raining, and bloody cold. I got home a quickly made it to my bed. Even though it was mid afternoon, my house was too cold, and my covers too thick. I had a great nap. When I got up I was inspired by all of Brandon’s talk about how wonderful the Kotatsu is, so I made a trip to Watahan Homu Senta (Watahan ‘home center.’) I purchased the finishing touched for my Kotatsu (which had previously been serving as a coffee table.)

What is a Kotatsu? Good question! A kotatsu is s table that has a removable top. Built into the frame of the table is an electric heater. Think toaster oven with less metal. To finish off my kotatsu set I had to get a floor mat and a blanket. The floor mat is a fire retardant rug, which is designed to cover the tatami. With out it the kotatsu is a pretty dangerous appliance. Think industrial strength heater 18’ away from a rice straw floor. The blanket is also fire retardant. This is where the brilliance of this Japanese invention really shows itself. You take off the removable top drape the large blanket over the table frame, the put the top back on. The blanket traps the heat of the heat in, and you sit with your legs under the heater, and the blanket up around you. The beauty is that you still have a table! Since energy costs here are a little pricy, it works really well to heat a small space and yourself, and not the rest of your un-insulated home.

I definitely made the right decision about getting the kotatsu set up when I did. When I woke up this morning I was grabbed by my neighbour Brandon. I was told to put my shoes on, when I asked why I was ordered to put my shoes on. I did, and we went running down the street. I seriously though something bad happened. I could not have been more wrong. What Brandon revealed to me was one of the most beautiful sites I had seen since landing in Japan. The torrential rains that pelted my poor little house all last night, had more than dusted the mountain tops with snow. Not only was it a scenic wonder, but also means that just around the corner is the day that Brandon and I have been waiting for with baited breath: the first day of snowboard season.

And now, sitting in my chilly house, warm and cozy under my heated table, I am content. Another weekend has flown by. From an exciting English camp, with all the eager students and successes of my team, to the warmth that my house has lacked since the last dog days of summer passed, to the beauty and excitement ushered by the first mountain snows, I am beginning to fully realize how wonderful life in this country can be. There are times when I feel a little down, and there are times when I wish I could blink and be in Vancouver for 4 hours, but on days like today when all the celestial bodies seem to be lined up in my favour it is hard not to feel like one of the luckiest people on this planet.

With this being the 2340^th word, I bid you all adieu. (Seriously copy this into a word processor…the word ‘this’ is actually the 2340^th! Honest! You know me; I am that geeky to have figured that out!)

Zen and the Art of Using Chopsticks...

...left handed!

That's right, left handed! But I will get to that later. It has been a pretty slow week, and there isn’t a whole lot to report. This post is kinda like one of those clip episodes of a series. The crew and cast are on vacation, so the writers just slap together a buncha the old stuff. Well this post won’t be a casserole of my old posts, but it will be a ‘filler’ post. Still I hope you find it interesting.

Chopsticks. Ohashi, in Japanese. There are a few differences between the various chopsticks of Asian countries. Chinese chopsticks are probably what most people are familiar with. They are long, usually a beige plastic, and are square in the handle and round off slightly towards the tips. Chinese chopsticks are flat (blunt) nosed, and do not taper. I have been told that in China that the higher up you hold the chopsticks the more status you command. Needless to say, after hearing that I started holding my chopsticks as far up as I could. It is actually much more difficult that one would think.

The next chopsticks I will examine are Korean chopsticks. Korean’s have made some wonderful advancements in chopstick technology (and lets keep in mind this is ancient technology). As in China your chopsticks are paired with at spoon, however the Koreans use a large, long handled metal spoon that resembles a western spoon, more than the Chinese scoopy thing (yes, that is the official name. Google it if you don't believe me!). As well as the spoon being metal, the chopsticks are as well. They don't stain, and they are really easy to clean. Another interesting thing about them is that they are quite flat. Where Chinese chopsticks tend to be a square shape, Korean chopsticks are as flat as most table knives. The coolest (ok, you know how much of a geek I am when I am referring to the cool things about chopsticks) thing about Korean Chopsticks, is that they have an area near the end that is textured with a pattern. There are a few patterns of these textures, and I have personally made the assumption that they vary depending on the type of dish you are eating, be it noodles, rice, noodle soup, etc. This assumption is based on the observations I made while in Korea a few years ago.

Finally, Ohashi: Japanese Chopsticks. The O in Ohashi is actually just a polite thing. Japanese put O in front of certain words when they are being polite or honorific. In spoken Japanese you say Ohashi, in the dictionary you would find them under Hashi. Anyways, I digress. Hashi are quite unique compared to Chinese and Korean chopsticks. Hashi tend to be round from end to end. Sometimes the handle area will be a little squared off, but the majority of Hashi are completely round. Hashi also have the unique feature of being tapered. They come to a rounded point. It is not considered impolite to stab certain hard to eat dishes with the hashi (both mind you) in Japan. The smaller surface area also makes it much easier to cut your food with the Hashi. You are expected to use them to slice large pieces of food. That is an etiquette that is often neglected, but still it is made much more possible by the taper of the chopstick. The other point of note about Hashi is the material. Most household Hashi are lacquered wood. They tend to be quite beautiful, but the lacquer often peals off the tip exposing the wood. This happens even more readily if you do not soak them immediately after eating sticky rice.

Now that we have had a cross-cultural chopstick lesson, let’s get into my personal history with chopsticks.

I learned how to use chopsticks in grade 4. My teacher at Garden City Elementary was Ms. Liu. Now as the name implies she was Chinese. Every year she made it a large unit for her class to throw the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration…you know Gung Hei Fa Choi, and all that. We decorate the gym, and presented a lion dance, the one where the lion eats your lettuce then ceremonially regurgitates it back at you. The more you catch the more luck you will have in the coming year. Who knew lion puke could be so luck…I wonder if anyone bothered to tell the zoo keepers and vets around the world. They could be cashing in!

Back to the Lunar New Years fest in Grade 4…as well as having the lion dance we also had stations set up in the gym. One of them was learning to write 1-10 in Chinese characters…which low and behold, actually came in handy for me! But the real cash in was the chopstick activity. There were two large trays that contained marbles. Yes, small round slippery marbles. The point of the activity was to use the Chinese chopsticks (the slightly rounded ones made of plastic. Hmm, plastic chopsticks and round marbles…sounds worse than that water torture the Chinese are so renowned for) and move ten marbles from one tray to the other. This is a lot easier said than done, when one has never used chopsticks before and all the instruction that exists is a sheet showing the proper way to hold the chopsticks (on this note I will digress and state that the number of people that don't hold their chopsticks the ‘proper’ way far out number those who do...hmmm, maybe it should just be do it what ever way works Ms. Liu!). Well with some determination, and I’m sure a little cheating I finally had it down.

Seriously, if you can move marbles with chopsticks you have got it down. That was the meagre beginnings of my chopstick-ing career. And here I am in Japan, the land of Ohashi…or Osushi…or Osake…well all of the above I guess. Now, eating sushi, with hashi, while drinking sake, requires a certain amount of skill.

Since I plan on being a Jedi Master of chopsticks, I have recently taken on a new challenge: using chopsticks left handed (all the left handed people sit down and shut up, of course you can use them left handed!). Since I have learned to shift gears left handed, I figured that this is a good challenge to try and work on. I actually started trying this in Vancouver a year or so ago, and I got ok at it…but I wasn’t using chopsticks regularly enough to really master the technique. Everyday at school we get school lunches. They undoubtedly consist of a bowl of soup, a salad of some sort, a main dish (usually meat based), and either rice or bread. Everyday I make it a point of eating at least half my meal with my left. It is actually quite easy if you put your mind to it, and give it a little practice.

The real reason that this all came about, was that I was constantly getting complimented on how well I used my chopsticks. Seriously I think a Gaijin could throw his Ohashi at the food like a spear, and still get complimented on his prowess with chopsticks. Since I found the hollow praise slightly offensive, I decided to show up the Japanese. The first time, I casually, coolly, tossed the chopsticks into my left hand. I then proceeded to eat the rest of my rice with my left. In reality this wasn’t such a huge feat, the rice is really sticky and is the easiest part of the meal to eat that way. That’s how it all started. Since then I have changed lunch class rooms two times, and each time I have been met with the same praise. This last class room, I decided to change it up even more. I ate with my left until it was commented on (no one in Japan uses their chopsticks in their left hand…even the lefties! God forbid being different from the group!) as soon as they asked if I was left handed, I said nope, and proceeded to eat with my right. Needless to say, I am now even more of a hero in my current class!

Well I am all written out for tonight, and frankly, I don't want to think about chopsticks anymore. I hope this instalment was as fun and informative as it was for me to write. If it wasn’t, well go suck a lemon, and then try to use chopsticks left handed (right handed for you damn lefties). When you think you have it down, I am always willing to accept a challenge: 10 marbles, 2 trays, wrong handed. You name the time, I name the place (or you can pay for my plane fare!)

Enjoy the chopsticking! (hahaha, that is something you would read on a Japanese t-shirt!)

moon viewing season

Well it is now officially Moon Viewing Season. Actually it has been Moon Viewing Season for about a month now, but it finally feels like it.

As with most things in Japan, what better way to celebrate the season/something new/actually anything than cutsie little cartoon characters. Right now it is hard to go anywhere without seeing little moons and bunnies. No, the Japanese don't see the Man-in-the-Moon, they see the Rabbit in the Moon. Personally, I have to agree, the Rabbit is a little easier to see than the Man. Although I wonder if the Rabbit can survive on cheese alone? I don't thing rabbits even eat cheese…

What is Moon Viewing Season? Well it is essentially fall. As spring is the season to view cherry blossoms, fall is the time to view the Moon. Is the Moon view really wonderful right now? Well actually yes. I’m sure it helps that I am in the country side, and that my city of a modest 47,000 doesn’t create all that much light pollution (you can see 5x the number of stars as Vancouver….I know this is not really even a lot, but hey I’ll take what I can get). The other reason that I thing fall is good for Moon viewing is that the nasty humidity of the rainy/typoon season has, for the most party, passed. The air is clear and crisp…quite crisp.

That is actually the forefront of my thoughts lately. The temperature has dropped significantly. The night time temp is down to 12c. Now, being from Vancouver, 12 isn’t that low. In fact if I were at home right now, I think I would feel that 12 is still nice. However, compared to the 35 degree, super humid days of summer, these evenings and morning are definitely chilly. The day times are still warm and pleasant, when it is sunny out. When it is cloudy out it is a different story. The days are still chilly when the clouds are here, and often it rains. The rains are not like the summer squalls, which were warm and quite refreshing. These autumnal rain falls are chilly and wet…kinda like late Vancouver fall.

Apparently the winter snows will come with early December. That is here in town. Up on the hills, I have a feeling that the snows will start in late December. The winter is apparently quite cold. My house will be colder than outside, as I am already discovering with these chilly days. Luckily the Japanese have ways of dealing with this. They don't insulate houses here, for whatever reason, but they have other wonderful inventions. The first of which, I cannot wait to fire up. It is called a Kotatsu. It is a table with a heater under it. You put a blanket under the removable top and drape a fire proof blanket under it. You sit with your legs and torso under the blanket and stay warm. Other ways of staying warm are gas and kerosene heaters. The kerosene heaters are a little counter productive however, as burning kerosene creates carbon monoxide. This requires an open window or door to ensure proper ventilation. A little counter productive if you ask me.

That all being said, winters here are a snowboarder’s paradise. With town getting up to a foot of snow overnight on a regular basis, the hills can get up to 3 metres of snow in one storm. Also being inland, and sandwiched between 2 mountain ranges, we get the nice fluffy powder. Some places on the hills have chest deep snow. Mmmm, yummy!

Well that being said, I think I will have a shower and hop in the tub. That is another difference. You shower before a bath, as the water is expected to be reusable. I personally can’t bring myself to use the water more than twice, but I think I may get over that. The tub I have has some cool heating features. The tub itself is heated, and there is a pump to re-warm and recycle the water. The best part is that the tub is deep and you can sit fully submerged up to your neck, even if you are a gaijin ‘giant’ (which thankfully I am not…it would be nice to be head and shoulders above a crowd once in a while, but I don't need to wear my gaijin badge any more openly than I already do).

Cheers and adieu all. Hope that fall is treating you all well, and that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am glad that I don't need to say Canadian Thanksgiving to you all, as I do with my American friends here. If I don't they proceeded to tell me how that doesn’t really count as thanksgiving, but what do they know anyways, eh? I will be spending my Thanksgiving with another Canadian, shredding some mud up on a mountain with our bikes. No turkey, but we can have some ‘Sea Chicken’ as the Japanese refer to Tuna (or the American’s Tuna Fish, come on though, what the hell else would it be, Tuna Horse?!?). I might make some mashed potatoes though, as there is no shortage of those!

Take care and have a safe holiday!

Also for some insight in to the life of a foreigner (Gaikokujin) in Japan, I highly recommend ‘Hitching Rides with Buddah’ by Will Ferguson. He was a Canadian Assistant English Teacher, and decided to hitchhike from the southern most tip of Japan to the northern most. I have just started reading it, and it is laugh out loud hilarious, and a true insight into the life that all us Gaijin live over here.

And this time I really am finished! :p

Another year older…

…and not much wiser…maybe just more worldly. Ok, bad pun I admit it, but hey I have to use my corny English jokes on people that understand them right?

Well as I said, I am another year older. September 22^nd came around pretty quickly this year. It really doesn’t feel as if a whole year has passed since this time last year. I guess between applying for JET, interviewing, getting accepted, prepping for leaving, and actually taking off and starting work, the time has just flown. Throw all the other great things that I had in Vancouver (a cool apartment, all the jobs, a great gal, etc) and it is easy to see where the time has gone.

So this is the first year with out many of the things that have made birthdays what they were for the last few years. Not having my friends and family around, and not just being able to go somewhere I know for a party, has definitely been strange. I don’t know if it was as difficult as I though it might be, but it still wasn’t easy. I have friends here and we did go out (to the few places we know) but it definitely wasn’t the same as birthdays have been before. So here is a recap of how my birthday unfolded.

Wednesday night, the eve of my day of birth, 5 of the teachers at my school took me out for dinner. It was a double header to welcome me and to celebrate my birthday. We went to Burera, a pasta and pizza joint here in town. It was killer food, weird pizza and weirder pasta. The most out there was squid pasta, in a squid ink sauce. That’s right, squid ink sauce. It was jet black, and tasted great. The down side of squid ink is that it stains things…like your insides, and everything in there too. The dinner was great, and the teachers were hilarious. Only 2 of the 5 were English teachers, but with help of those two, my limited Japanese, and the others limited English, we totally hammed it up and had some great conversations. I was the youngest there, but only by a year, and I found out that I am not even the youngest teacher at the school! After dinner, to my surprise a round of cake showed up. This was some killer cake, but perhaps the sweetest part about it was the fact that they got candles. We all put a candle on our cake and we all celebrated each others birthdays.

Thursday rolled around, and low and behold it was my birthday. The day started off a little rocky, but proceeded to get better and better by the hour. When I first go to school I was in a low mood, but many of the teachers wished me a happy birthday, then I taught 3 of the best classes of the year. Admittedly, one of them was all games, but it culminated in the students teaching me some slang and more modern Japanese. After that I had the rest of the day to kick around the school. I started a project that I have been planning for a while: Adam Bucks. This is a way to give rewards every game, but not give out all my prizes to quickly. “Adam Bucks” can be cashed in for prizes when the certain amount has been reached; different prizes will have different values.

After school, I headed home. I swung by the post office to pick up a package that I missed the delivery on the day prior. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a package from Liz. I flew home and sat for all of 30 seconds before I started opening it. I would say before I ripped into it, but for those of you who know me well enough to see me open gifts, you’ll know how my meticulous anal Virgo comes out in full bloom when I unwrap gifts. I won’t go into details of the contents, but I was really pleased. The one thing I will mention is the coffee. It definitely rocks that I now have a JJ Bean stash at my house! After that I was sending some email, when I got an e-card from my mom. I replied to it and mentioned that her package hadn’t come yet…we both had assumed this would be the case, but we were holding out hope. The hilarity of the situation is that with in 2 min of sending that email, the post man arrived at my door. Low and behold what did he have, my birthday package from my mom. The irony of the situation left me laughing for hours.

At around 7 pm, people started gathering at my house. We were going to party since it was a long weekend. I love the fact that the Autumnal Equinox is a holiday! There were 5 of us all together. We were missing a few of our crew, one to a previous (many months prior engagement) and another to a thrown out back. We hit up a restaurant called Shunsaibo. It has all sorts of great food, the two best being the deep fried Camembert cheese and taco rice. The other rocking thing about this place is that if you make reservations on your birthday you get a free bottle of champagne. Needless to say, I had made a reservation. After a kick ass meal, and some ice cream with a sparkler, it was time to head to Karaoke. We showed up and only had to wait 5 min…frankly I think they always make you wait 5 min…it helps them look busier. We requested the system that has the most English songs (this Karaoke place actually has 3 different systems). We got the system we wanted, and had a great time. We were there for about 3 hours, and the better way through the 3^rd hour a surprise showed up. My friends had gone to the Baskin Robins in town and ordered an ice cream cake for me. They had left it at the Karaoke place earlier in the day. It was a delicious cake. Moreover, the also got me some gifts. Since the car I was really hoping to get was a Subaru Impreza WRX, they got me a remote control version of that car. They also wanted to get me a taste of home, so they got me a big bottle of Canadian Club Whiskey. We closed off the night with a few last songs and headed home. That was the end of my actual birthday. All in all a pretty kick ass day.

Friday morning rolled around, and Brandon and I decided to hit the beach. We drove out to Niigata, and got there in time for some good surf. The only weird thing was that the waves were breaking in such a way that made them a big pain in the ass to catch. We tried hard until the surf died down, then we hit the international food store in Niigata. On top of Jamaican Red Stripe Beer, I got some A&W Root Beer (something impossible to find here), and some brie cheese. I was looking for peanut butter, but I couldn’t find it…oh well. After that we bombed back into Nakano, as we had a party to get ready for that night.

We hosted a party out at Riches super huge house. It’s a little in the sticks, but large enough to allow for many people. We got there, set up the place, and then waited. People started showing and the party started rocking. It went late in to the night, and we all had a blast.

Then it was Sunday, time for some R&R. Well kinda. I took a trip into Nagano City with a fellow Canuck, Derek. We hit the big electronics store, and I got a mic for my computer. The kick ass thing is that I can now have voice conversations with anyone over the internet. If you use a pc and have messenger we can chat that way. Or have a mac or don’t want messenger, then get a program called Skype. Its free and the killer part is that with either PC Messenger or Skype, and a mic you can talk for free, in real time over the internet. Look into it. I have found it to be well worth it!

The other part of my trip to Nagano was to look for a bike. I inherited 2 bikes with my house, but to be honest, they both suck. The breaks have seized on both, and they are not worth trying to repair. After a few hours of lost and hopeless searching we finally found the mountain bike store. Well the wait was worth it; the owner knows his bikes, and he offers screaming deals. In the end he made me an offer I couldn’t reuse (and no, this isn’t the Godfather Bike Shop). He offered me over $700 off a top of the line mountain bike. It’s a Kona and it is killer sweet. The deal is that it is the end of the season, and this is this year’s model and people in Japan want things brand new so no one will by it next year. Score for me. In the end I just got myself a birthday present.

Well that is a recap of the days surrounding my first birthday overseas. It was memorable, and eventful. I was sad to not have all my regular peeps around, but it was still a great time. Thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes, it definitely made it a little less hard.

back to the heat...whats up with that?

Well it has been a while since I last updated. I hope you all enjoy looking at my car as much as I enjoy driving it. I will try to catch up to date on everything that has been going down...we'll see how long I can type for.

As far as the title: the weather has been slowly turning to fall. The nights when clear are actually cold. I know I said you cant complain about gas prices, so I should complain about 14 degree nights, but man compared to the summerday heat it seriously feels cold! It is undeniably becoming Fall here...but today the remnance of Typhoon 15 which hit China and Korea (I have no idea what the stupid name is, because they dont name the typhoons...if you hear one refered to with a name, that is the American media or meteorologists doing that) started to pass through. It is now nothing more than a strong low. The way it worked a front passed over and left us with blazing hot and humid air. It felt like early August did! Even the Japanese people were surprised. That being said, I can already feel Fall at night, its just a matter of time till Winter...and snowboarding!

So first things first: purchases. It seems that Japan is one large sponge for money. This doesn't really stem from things being more expensive (which most things are, let me tell ya), but more from just trying to get set up. I have been endlessly missing my longboard. My toe-nails are loving the rest from being brused and falling off every few months, but my brain just wants to carve some asphalt. There are some smoking hills to bomb, and some nice small slopes to cruse on around my house. Moreover, whatever god/deity/higherpower/or nothingness you believe in, bless Japanese perfectionism and care for public space. Major roads are immaculate...no potholes no cracks. Simply beautiful. My small neighbourhood is another story, but since I am downslope from everything in town that will just make for a bumpy ride at the end. I can handle that. All that being said, my longboard is sitting in my Mom's house, and there is no way it will make it here (unless I fork out a wad'o'cash for airmail) before the rain and snow covers the beautiful beautiful asphault. So I purchased another type of longboard. The downside, its almost impossible to 'ollie' this one...the upside, if I wipe out (which we all know seems to happen frequently to me) on this one it will definately hurt a lot less. If you haven't guessed it, I bought a surfboard. I told myself I wouldn't, but with 2 of the other JET's in town now owning surfboards, and making weekend trips to the beach, it was kinda one of those When in Rome moments. The board is not an pro-model or anything like that. Pretty stock surfboard, blue stripe on a white board. The sweetest part (other than surfing on it) is how hot it looks on top of my car. Let it be known, I am the hottest shit in town! (and modest about it too, HA!).

As far as other purchases...I havent really made anyother major ones...but here is a list of some of the things I put off buying so I could get a surfboard:
-a standing lamp (so I dont have to use the bloody flourscent lights that all Japanese homes have)
-a mic and webcam so I can talk to ppl in Vancouver for free with Skype. (so check this, if you want to talk to me for free, get a mic and an instant messaging program)
-indoor shoes for school (they school has a million pairs of slippers that I can borrow, but they give me shin splints)
-an iron (my solution to wrinkly clothes: dont wash them and they arent as wrinkly. HA, just kidding, or am I?!?)
-a better couch or floor chair (the one I have is fine, but it is so low that my knees get killer sore when I stand up. There are floor chairs that are a few inches higher which I think will help.)

BUT, I can now officialy say I am a Snow/skim/longskate/sufboarder. Thats right, I give you all permission to bask in my stunning and official boarder-ness.
(I assume I should prepare for and accept some mocking on for that last sentance [especially if Mel is reading this], but I think this tea I have been downing tonight is having a funny effect on me...I swear its just tea, but I seriously feel...wacked...as if my post isn't showing that)

Second topic: Elementary school. So I visited the second of 3 elementary shcools that I will work at (Kousha JHS is still my base school, but every month I have 2 days at each elementary school). This school was called Nagaoka, and it was stunning. It is extremely new...like months old, kinda like my JHS, but cooler. Why is it so new you ask? (and if you didnt, you should have!) Well let me tell you: The government of Japan is undergoing some ambitious expantion. They are expanding the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Nagano to Niigata, with plans to go all the way up the west coast at some point. What does this mean for Nagaoka school? Well they were unfortunate or fortunate enough to be right in the path of the new line. Their school was leveled, and where it was there is now a large concrete support for the elevated line. This was for the good though because they got a brand new school. It is about 5oo meters from the Shinkasen, but since the line wont be built for another 9 years it isnt so bad (on another note, I have not seen a single worker on the line, and it is build in spuratic sections...very strange). The new school is all wood, and the sweetest part is the outside courtyard. There is a large Koi (carp) pond with a fountian. There are a few fish in there. The pond feeds a stream that runs through the courtyard. Either side of the stream has small bushes that serve as home to about 100+ tree frogs. The coolest thing is that it is all designed for the kids to muck about it. Needless to say, I was right in there, catching frogs, tossing them in the pond, making them race. It was so much fun, and the kids didn't even they were learning things as they played. I wish my elementary school had a pond. Instead we had ditches...still frogs, just not so clean...Richmond, go figure.

The only other thing that strikes me as worth of mention (in regards to Nagaoka) right now, is the poor kid that I indirectly made cry. So I have alreay explained the school lunch thing, but it is taken to a new level at the Elementary schools. I am suppsoed to wait in the teachers room until the kids from the class that I have been assigned to come and humbly and politely request my honoured presance in their class. That sounds arrogant, but unlike my boarder comment, it really isnt. That is the translation of the style of Japanese that they are supposed to ask me in. The other thing is that they have to carry my lunch tray. I would have no problem doing it, but that would show some fault on their part, so I just go along with (as if you cant see where this is going...) So this particular day in question, the 4th graders come and get me from the teachers room. Being the guest at the school, I get a huge bowl of soup and a massive ammount of salad (the 2 dishes that dont come preportioned). I think I had at least 2 regular size portions. The 4th graders on on the 2nd floor of the school...and on the way up the stairs...something goes wrong...the poor kid carrying my tray...trips...full out...face first...and slam! my lunch is now the most recent decoration for the stairs and wall. I just shrugged it off, ask the poor guy if he was ok...he said he was fine, but his shin looked mighty scraped up. I told another kid to get a mop and some towels, while I cleaned up the initial mess, and went back to the teachers room with the ruined lunch. I was given some other teachers lunch, and sent off in a hurry. When I got back to the stairs 3 teachers were on their hands and knees cleaning the floor (seriously, they dont have mops here...I dont get it) and the poor little dude was just bawling. There was a huge crowd, so I told them all to get to class, and sat the poor little dude down. Now my Japanese still sucks, and he didnt know any English. The futility of me trying to comfort him was not lost on me, but what else could I do. It took a good 5 min but he finally calmed down a little. Poor guy went from having the honour to bring me to class and carry my lunch for me, to the shame of spilling it infront of everyone. I wonder, if he had a Tanto (small samurai sword) if he woundnt have drew it and committed Sepuku (hari-kari in damn American Japanese) right there.

So I was going to write about the English Conversational class we teach on Tuesdays, but I am getting tired, and it is getting late. I will save that for another post. Besides, I think another 1600 word post is good...and the trippy tea is starting to wear off...

Hope all is well in BC! Give my best to all who dont read this...and then convince them to do so! Remember, all you trolls (ppl who read but dont post), my shaw email addy is still in action, so feel free to hit me with a private message!

Cheers!

My Car!

First things first, NO ADS PLEASE. Anyone can comment, but no BS ads! Playfair or I will put rules on posting rights!

What IS up with that, eh? I guess I should take it as flattery, but what a nusance. Anyways on to cooler things like my car!

So this is my car. It rocks. It isnt the best on gas, but it is still pretty good by North American standards. I know gas is expensive at home because of the hurricane, but it has always been high here. It is up to 130 Yen a litre...thats about a buck fifty...so all gas price complaints can be directed to my trash can! Ha!

But back to my car! It is a Nisan Rasheen. As far as I know, it doesn't exits in North America. It is about the size of a station wagon, but as you can see it's boxy. It has the cool deer guard with fog lights, and the spare tire on the swing arm. It also has a sunroof. The trunk has a hatch and a tail gate. It came with a roof rack but no cross bars, so I picked a pair up as well.

I think the car is 8 years old, but I'm not postitive, and the sales staff didn't speak English. With my broken Japanese, and a little help from my supervisor, I managed to do most of the buisness. The car was a 135000 KM when I got it, but it still runs great. Apparently it has a timing chain, not a belt. I dont know exactly what the exact purpose of that is, but I can deduce that it lasts longer...which saves a costly repair!

The car is 4wd, so it will be good for when we get feet of snow overnight. This is also the first manual transmition car that I own...I have driven stick before, but never had one to myself. Boy, they are way more fun! It will also be the car of choice to hit the ski hills. More than anything it looks super cool.

I guess the biggest thing of note is the steering wheel. Not the fact that it isnt built for my thighs, but that its on the right! Its kinda funny, because I didnt event think to mention that until I looked at the photos. It actually comes really naturally to drive on the right...I have no idea why though. The only difficulty, and its minor at that, is to make sure you dont drift too far left. The roads are narrow and people drive a little crazy at times. A strong set of wits, and experience driving a big truck are 2 things I recomend before attempting the roads in Japan.

Well that is all I have for now, enjoy these pictures and I have also updated the last post and given the pics some captions!

Cheers all for your continued readership!

Just some pics

The Above two shots are from the Suwa Fireworks festival in August


These are students of class 2-1, where I ate lunch for a few weeks. I nicknamed the one getting locked up "meat-ball"

These are some 3rd year students. The guy second from the left has a broken arm (see the blue cast?). He is the local high jump champ, but busted his arm doing pole vault.

Second year students pulling 'weeds' from the field. Really anything that resembles a weed, including grass gets pulled.

Joetsu beach, our not so local surfing spot.

My attempt at an artistic shot of a spiral staircase in Nagano City.

Takaoka Elementary school and its Garden. This is one of the elementary schools I visit.

Nakano sunset. 'nuf said?

The entirety of Kousha JHS. Notice the girls on the left in sailor uniforms.

Bored? heck no, BOARD!

So schools rocks. Thats pretty much the long and short of it! Ha, long my ass...some how I doubt that this post will end up that short...they never seem to. I think I should enter a 12 step typing course, because I just cant seem to put the keyboard down sometimes! All joking aside (well not all...) let me get to the first part of the title: bored.

School is anything but boring. Trust me, some days I wish I had time to be bored. Let me clarify a few things about my school, as there seems to have been some confusion. I am at a school called Kousha Chugakkou. The U’s after O’s sound like O’s. Ha, I am supposed to be clarifying things! Chugakkou kinda translates to Junior High School, but it is more like middle school. The kids are the equivalent of grades 7 to 9 back home. They are a lot less mature (by that I mean they act younger, I am not trying to insinuate that Canadian High School kids are mature by any means) for their age though…but that is simply Japan and not my school in particular.

There are 3 grades (called 1,2, and wait for it…3) and 3 classes per grade. There are also 2 ‘special classes’ numbers 5 and 6. These special classes are quite small, I would guess 6 kids in total. This is where things kinda rub me the wrong way. I can say with out a doubt that at least 2 of these kids are just unmedicated ADD or ADHD kids that have been pulled from regular classes. Back at home these kids would barely be on the radar. A few of the others have social or emotional problems that I don’t have the full scope of yet. Either way they are all great kids, and I could never see them being completely separated from the general student body in Canada. I guess that that is just one of the differences.

There are definitely a few other major differences between school in Japan and in Canada. Some are for the better, and some are for the worse (well for me at least!). For the worse first: the students stay in their own class (I’m pretty sure I already mentioned this, but I don’t really care!). The teachers, including me, run around the school between classes. This is good in that the halls aren’t so crowded, but it means a trip to the teacher’s room to grab my stuff from my desk, and then rush off to the next class. I often run down 3 flights of stairs just to run up 2. I wish I could cart a bag around with me, but my Japanese Teachers of English (JTE’s) all want me to meet them at my desk and head off together. C’est la vie.

For the better: Schools don’t have janitors. How is that for the better you ask? Well every day the students do 30 min of cleaning. This is thorough cleaning too! Each class has an assigned area of the school. They do everything from sweeping to hand scrubbing the wooden floors, to pulling weeds! You wouldn’t believe how clean the school is after the army of young Japanese kids swarm the mess…the down side is that if us teacher aren’t busy we are supposed to help out. I have found 2 consolations in that. 1, look busy and burry yourself in work, then you are fine to keep working. 2, dust. For all the cleaning, the majority of the kids and staff can’t reach that high. Not that I am a giant, or the tallest person in the school by any means, but I can reach the high up sills. It is amazing the number of dust bunnies you can capture with a wet cloth and 30 min. Mom, don’t even bother saying anything! Ha, ha, ha!

School lunches…a toss up between better or worse. The upside: I get a lunch, no hassle, everyday. They are cheap, about 300 yen, or 3 bucks a day. They come with soup, a small Japanese style salad (usually full of pickled stuff, which suits me well) a small portion of an entrée (today was gyoza, the other day was pork) and some rice or bread…and milk. It is all good except for the fact that we all (teachers and students) get the same portions. That kinda bites when you are hungry. Another down side, I am ruing the day that we get 2 deep fried fish…heads, guts, eggs and all. That will be the only day I will not be mentally complaining about small portions. The milk part sucks, but I have that under control. I bring my water bottle (which by the way is a foreign concept to the Japanese, why do you need a water bottle when there are vending machines EVERYWHERE…I mean everywhere, even in the middle of nowhere on some country road.) My milk is a daily prize, but the largest (both height and waistline) kid in my lunch class seems to have capitalized on the milk deal. I now call him Milk-Man. I traded him for some extra food one day, but the other days I make him say something in English, or answer English questions. He is in the remedial English class, so his friends help him. That’s ok, because it helps them, and hopefully he retains some of it. Come winter the Milk is coming home so I can make Mochas with my espresso and steaming machine!

There are 6 periods a day, 50 min each. I have 5 classes usually. Let me tell you that that is a lot of work. These kids are very fun, but often unmotivated. Also, the JTE’s let the kids get away with anything short of murder in class. There is very little discipline in the classroom, which I have to admit seems a little strange for the Japanese. That is just they way it is though. As math will prove, I have at least 1 free period a day. I usually spent that trying not to pass out, as I am expelling tonnes of energy being ‘on stage’ for almost 5 hours a day. The best kept secret of my school is the tatami mat floor room. It is in the grounds keepers’ area, and it is the secret hideout for tired teachers. Usually one is taking refuge there. If you have never lain down on a real tatami floor, you would never believe how comfortable they can be. The rest of my free time is spent burning through Japanese flash cards, and prepping my lessons.

Well school is exhausting, and writing about it hasn’t been any less so. Therefore I will move on to the other part of the title of this now lengthy post: Board.

So the beach that treated me so wonderfully to some crispy skin, gave me something back this past weekend. I learned how to surf! Oh yeah, chalk up one more board sport for me! Now the waves we were hitting weren’t monstrous, but I was able to catch waves and get up on the board. What a thrill! If you have never caught waves, I suggest you take the opportunity, it is amazing.

My neighbour Brandon, works at another Junior High in Nakano. One of the JTE’s there is his snowboarding buddy. Apparently J (the teacher’s nickname) is also a surfer. He met us at the beach and brought some extra boards along. One of the other AET’s in town, Rich, bought a surfboard. Brandon and I grabbed the extra boards and we all hit the surf. Being the heaviest and tallest of the 3 of us, I got the LONG board. I’m talking Big Kahuna long. This thing was definitely not less than 8 feet! We all busted into the waves and started trying to catch them. That, believe it or not is the hardest part. Once you are on the wave it is a quick motion…very similar to skim boarding, to get to your feet. I managed to get a good dozen waves in the hour and a half we were out there.

Yesterday, Brandon and Rich went back, and Brandon also bought a board. I needed a day to clean and rest (which I am glad I took) so I didn’t head out. Those guys are so dedicated (in the nutz sense of the word) that they even did the hour drive tonight in hopes of catching waves. It seems like the beach is going to be keeping us busy until the snowfalls, and we strap on the snowboards. A few of the other AET’s in town are thinking about getting boards. I am still a little unsure as to whether I will or not. I have never been good at making big purchases without much deliberation. I also want a better bike than I have now, and I know for sure I will get good use out of that. I might wait till the off season and get a surf board then…because I know that come spring we will be back at Joetsu Beach on a regular basis (read: every weekend).

Well that brings you all pretty much up to snuff. I just want to send out a huge thanks to everyone who is checking out this site. I am seriously only updating this because of you my audience. Also I can see the site counter on my computer, so if any one can read the Kanji (Japanese, Chinese) characters please tell me what the counter is at. I want to have a big celebration when it hits a certain number…although I don’t know what number that will be yet.

I am definitely rambling now, so it is time to go. I will update the site again later this week, but probably with picture not prose. Yes, feel free to cheer, you will have it easy that post.

And with that being the 1666th word of this post,
This is Adam (or A-Da-Mu as I am now called) signing off.

Sun burns suck, but school rocks

Ouch! My back and shoulders are bacon. In fact I think I would make a pretty good meal right now. I was at the beach again yesterday, chilling with the boys before we all went into work today. The shitty deal is that I applies my favourite sunscreen (hawaiian tropics for the unenlightened) and reapplied 3 hours later (we were at the beach for 7 hours). The kicker is that I seem to be more severely burnt in the places where I reapplied. The sunscreen hasnt expired, according to the bottle, but I kinda dont believe that.

As far as earthquakes go, I didnt feel that big one that was up near Miyagi-ken. I am sorrounded by mountians so Nagano doesnt get a lotta earthquakes or typhoons, which is nice...but the trade off is that we live near a few active volcanos! Well if one natural disaster inst gonna get you then the other will right? However, when I was at the beach yesterday we did feel a small tremmor. It was a 4 out of 6 on the Japanese scale, but a 6 is only like an 8 on the Richtor scale...trust me it wasnt that big.

So today was my first day of school. It started off with me getting hauled into the principals office...what else is new...hahaha! He just wanted to explain the schedule to me and then introduce me at the morning staff meeting. When I say explain to me I mean spit out some japanese while I stared at the teacher translating. At this point we went into the meeting and I had to introduce myself...in Japanese! Today was the day of self introductions. After the teachers meeting there was a school assembly. I had to deliver a speech in English. That was actually great, because I knew about it a week ago. I felt bad for the teacher that had to take my typed speech and translate it on the fly after I was finished.

I was in 2 classes today. My regular load will be 5, but they wanted to give me a break. I played a gambling game, where groups had to bet on things about me. I though it was a better way than just talking about myself. Both classes were 3 year students, which is about the equivelent of grade 9 or 10...that being said they are a little less mature than students back home. They are all really cute though.

For lunch, teacher eat in their homeroom class rooms. Oh yeah, in Japan students have set classes and teacher move around. It makes WAY more sense. The halls are way less crowded. Back to lunch, we had some excuse for a salad, soup, some rice, a piece of fried salmon skin (which was great) and oh yeah my favourite (not) a big jug of milk. I ate it all, save the milk that I gave away to the first student to remember my age. I nickednamed him 'meatball' because one of the other kids called him that. He is a little dude, but he is really cute. He is my favourite in my homeroom so far.

After lunch I had 3 free periods. I studied Japanese...and fell asleep at my desk. I slamed coffee and tea to stay awake...but that only slightly worked, especially since instant coffee sucks my balls. After school I am obliged to stay for about an hour after classes end. So I sat around...then walked around. Then finally got to go home.

The 5 japanese Teachers of English I am working with are pretty cool. Most of the teacher at my school are young. Infact I think I am older than 1 or 2. They are all super excited to have a dedicated AET (assistant english teacher) there, as before there were 2 for 4 shcools, and now 4 for 4. One of them even bought an electronic translator to be able to communicate with me.

Pretty much, I am going to love it at my school...except that there are no janitors. Why hire cleaning staff when you have an army of staff and students...but that is a story for another post!

Hope all is well in Vancouver!

I have heard of a barrel of monkeys, but never a bucket…

So this past week’s adventures include some very exciting things to write about. I’ll save the best for last though!

First off is the Suwa Lake Fireworks (Hanabi in Japanese, which is actually Fire Flower…a much more appropriate name if you ask me). This is the second largest fireworks show in Japan. The largest is in Tokyo, and how can Suwa, a city of under 200,000 compete with the 12.5 million ppl that demand only the best. But back to Suwa. As mentioned this display is on Suwa Lake, one of the largest lakes in Japan (it actually experiences tidal forces, read hi and low tide). Apparently over 1.4 million ppl attend this display. It is a 2 hour long display of various types of fireworks. This is actually part of a month long fireworks festival. Every day there is a 15 min show from a different group. There is the large night that I went to, and then on September 6th there is a bid for top spots next year, and all the new top secret fireworks are shown!

The night was great. We went early to try and beat some of the million odd ppl that all crowd in. We actually beat a lot of people, but still had to walk for 40 min. to find a spot to watch. With our big blue tarp down, and a body or two to watch the bags, it was time to brave the corner store for beer. Well if anyone ever tells you how polite Japanese ppl are, and that even in the Tokyo subway they only jostle, then they have never been to the bloody corner store during Suwa Lake fireworks! Using my powers of deduction, I sent my friend to stand in line to pay. I slowly moved towards the beer fridge, conveniently located in the back corner of the store. After some less than friendly pushing (from other ppl mind you, I am just the big Gaijin, I’m not actually in line for anything am I?) I finally made it to the beer cooler, and realized why some of the rude ppl had baskets (number 1 they hold a lot more beer than my hands, and number 2 they are good for pushing people and making it look accidental.) So there I am filling my arms with cans (why no 6 packs, why?) and I close the fridge door and turn to leave, only to get bowled over by some middle aged man a woman. They seriously shoved me into the door to the staff area; I almost landed on a staff member bent down to restock shelves. So needless to say(to those who know me)in a Canadian Moose way, I shove back. They lost their place in front of the beer fridge, and I had space to leave. Met up with my friend, paid, and got the hell out…to the slightly less crowded streets. Imagine Denman or Davie after the ‘Celebration of Light,’ and multiply that by a good 10 fold. The rest of the afternoon for me was spent eating and drinking on the tarp, too many people for my tastes!

The show itself was spectacular. I would describe the show, but I think describing something inherently visual, as fireworks are, is more than a little ridiculous. I have photos from my camera, but I haven’t loaded them onto my computer yet. And, I wont even go into leaving the damn place. 2 hours in a car just to get to the highway! Ok, enough about Suwa.


Time for some Monkey business!
On Saturday, me and the other dudes hit up the Monkey Park and Onsen. This is where the famous Time cover of a snow covered Monkey in a hot spring was taken. It is a short drive and a shorter hike from my part of town, so we headed over. For about 5 bucks, you get all the time you want to observe monkeys. This is no safari either; the monkeys are all around you. They run under your legs, they walk on the bridge with you. They are absolutely adorable. There are babies and moms; there are old guys and the next generation of leaders as well. It was really cool to see. Especially when they swim in the hot springs there! I can wait to go back in the winter.

There are 2 moments I will choose to describe.
1) I was watching some monkeys climbing cables that cross a river that is in the middle of the park. The monkeys are kinda dumb, but they have that figured out. All of a sudden I see a monkey in a bucket suspended over the river. It was hilarious. That’s all I’ll say, the photo is better.
2) Like I said Monkeys are dumb. There is a clear PVC pipe that one of the caretakers puts an apple piece, right in the centre. The monkeys arms are too short to reach the piece so they need to use a stick to push or pull the apple to where they can reach. Well it took one monkey a good 20 min to get it all worked out, and then a bigger monkey almost stole the piece. Then after the first one succeeded, a second piece was placed. This monkey though didn’t figure out that the stick in the tube would help, so he kept tossing it out, no matter how many times the caretaker put it back. We finally got bored and left before the damn monkey got the apple!

Well here are some monkey photos!

Look, Pictures!

So I got a cell phone! You can't (seriously it is almost impossible) to get a cell phone with out internet, a camera, a video camrea, lights, and more. So that being said I got one with a 1.9 megapixel camera. They have ones with 3.2, but I still want a digital camera so I went for a lower model. That being said here are some shots for the time being:


So we made the local rag here in Nakano. From left to right: Brandon, Me, Rich, Devin. The title is something like the 3 new AET (assistant English teachers) that have come to Nakano. There is also a whole article about us, and we each have a paragraph or 2 about us...but I can only read half of it :(


This is my kitchen...it is a little messy in this photo...but big ups for stainless steel counters!











This is my living room. It is about 6 tatami. Again, I took the photos as procrastionation from cleaning. I have an other room the same size as this one...that is completely empty except for my luggage. My bedroom is a little bigger with wood floors, but the photos of that didnt turn out too well...










This is the view from my back door (the Shoji, or rice paper screen, in my living room). The door opens almost due south; this view is to the south west.

from Binzuru to the Bizarre

Well Hello,

I swear this country will never stop being weird. I cannot even begin to explain all the bizarre things and situations there are…but I will get into some.

Before I get on to all the weird stuff, let me tell you about a really cool family, the Nakazawa’s. This past weekend I participated in a homestay Many of us JETs were given a host family in Nagano City, and we stayed over Saturday night at their homes. Saturday also happened to be Binzuru, a big festival in Nagano. Most people were taken to Binzuru by their host families, and many participated in the dancing. The Binzuru festival consists of ‘teams’ of people who all, in unison, dance to the same music all around the town. Imagine a parade with only people, no floats. There were tens of thousands of people following the course around the city…it was definitely spectacular.

I got to participate in a very different way than everyone else. The Nakazawa’s own a large Izakaya (kinda like a bar…but not). Their restaurant (which is actually a 5 story building) is right in the heart of Nagano, and right along the festival route. They were not dancing in the festival, they were capitalizing on in. Out front of their building they set up a stand to sell Yakitori (chicken on a stick), karagge (fried chicken wings), and nama-biru (draft beer). Not only did they have a prime selling location, they also had a killer spokesperson announcing the menu…namely ME! That’s right, I was helping them sell the food and beer (in exchange for all the chicken and beer I wanted) to the goers of the festival. I cannot count the number of people with shocked expressions on their faces while I was standing on the road yelling in Japanese. Many of those people ended up buying something (just to note beer was by far the best seller). Binzuru was a riot…many people in crazy outfits dancing for about 3 hours with only 2 breaks of 10 min.

Now onto the Bizarre!

What do you get when you cross Croquet and Pitch n Putt? MALLET GOLF (マレットゴルフ, maretto gorufu). Now what the hell is Mallet Golf you might ask …well that is a very good question… Mallet Golf is played on a course similar to a pitch n putt course. There are a few (4 at the one we went to) sets of 9 holes, ranging from 30m to 90m in length. There are doglegs, bunkers, and ‘greens’ (which are really dirt patches that have a large hole with a flag in it.) You stand in the tee-box, put your roughly croquet ball sized ball down, take your club (which is a modernized japanized version of a croquet mallet), and wack the hell out of the ball. Now I know kidsfesters will know how hard you can wack a croquet ball, but imagine the ball has more mass, and the mallet is metal. Needless to say, those things fly! The courses are evil, up hills with roll backs, down hill slopes with room to roll off the green, trees, rocks, more trees, oh yeah did I mention trees? It is a brutally fun and ridiculous game. The most bizarre part was when the old grannies and grandpas started passing us, and they all had full regalia going: gloves, extra ball holsters, ball markers, and personalized mallets. I don’t know what to say but…bizarre.




I didnt take those photos, but I thought they may help with my explination...

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Today was a great day! After a long night of poker with 7 other JETs from the area, it was nice to have a low key day. Brandon (my neighbour), his brother, another English teacher from farther south, and I all piled into Brandon’s little car and headed for Niigata. Nigatta is the prefecture North West of Nagano, and it is on the Sea of Japan. That specifically was our destination…the Sea of Japan. After a little over an hour on the highway, and a few local roads, we were there: a sandy beach with some pretty decent waves. We found a spot on the sand and then hit the water. My oh my was that water ever refreshing. I would say it was a good way to beat the heat, but the water was pretty damn warm too. It was almost like a salty bath. We bodysurfed and played in the waves for a few hours. When we were finally all prunes we sat in the sun to dry. What an amazing view: the sea spread before us, the mountains right behind us, the little huts selling food and renting water toys just off beside us. It was simply amazing. I cannot believe I can go from the best area for snowboarding in Japan, to a kick ass beach, in a little over an hour!

I cannot believe the amazing situation I have landed in!

On some other notes:
-Tomorrow I meet all the teachers I will be assisting
-I am currently looking for a cell phone plan to suit me
-I am also looking for a used car (which are quite cheap to buy, but there is a hefty inspection fee…kinda like air care, but for the whole damn car…right down to the windshield wiper blades)
-I am also going to get a digital camera soon, so I share my own crazy photos of Mallet Golf and other bizarraties (hey if Shakespeare could make up words, wby cant I?)

My telephone number is
269-23-3524
I am sure from Canada you need to punch in more numbers…locally here we just dial the last 6…


I hope everyone at home is doing well. Please feel free to email me at aj22@shaw.ca if you don’t want to post publicly on this page. Thanks to everyone who is keeping in touch and checking up on my site…I am really doing this sire for all of you, so it is encouraging to see that people are interested.


Cheers
Adam