Soji Sweethearts

Friday, July 20 was the last day of school before summer break. Hmmm....so that means NOW we're on "summer vacation"...that explains why all the students are at school, of course. People keep asking me what I'm doing over my "summer holiday" and since all the students are here for "supplemental classes", it didn't really occur to me that I'd have a vacation (meaning, I wouldn't have to come into the office or school). However, the principal told my supervisor to tell me to "feel free to take time off and travel around" during this time. Hmmm, still need clarification if that means to take some of the 20 days of annual leave I have, or if these are "free" days. We'll see. At least if I have to be in the office that means free air con :)

Here's another photo from my phone - sorry! It doesn't get any bigger. The kids were just too cute. The last day of each term we have an 'o-souji' (big cleaning) and here are some students working on the girls' locker room in the gym. Since I ride my bike everyday, I would shower and change in here, so I was helping the girls clean and we put little decorations on the mirrors there. However, today, after a series of slightly embarrassingly humorous or (humorously embarrassing) events, which included a sweaty, barefoot Tracey sensei turning up in the staff room, I've secured a daily hot shower in the men's changing room (the women's room doesn't have one, and I'm told the men don't use theirs). Not that I mind trading my freezing cold shower for a warm one, but somehow, I think I might have some funny stories to tell of this new arrangement...


ps - that is not to say that I can't have a hot shower at home; I DID finally figure out how THAT contraption works - I'll have to post a photo of it - you'll get the idea. So, yeah, for the record, I DO still shower everyday, yo! I'm not THAT far out in the country :)

Maneki Neko Truck and Co.

You've all seen this cat - she beckons you to come into restaurants and stores...she is a "manekineko" which is translated as a "lucky cat" or literally, "invitation-cat". But you probably HAVEN'T seen such a large one next to a Pepto-Bismol P***Mobile such as this. On a day trip around Shimabara hanto (peninsula), I saw these - ah - indulgent rides. It's not Top Gear (in fact, I don't even think there were functional wheels on the pinkmobile!), but I hope you enjoy!









...can you find me in this picture below? Just look for the really crazy hair...







*** that stands for PINK, of course - my godson will be reading this, I'm sure! (~,^) v

flowers in the window

I know most of the posts make it seem like I'm always genki and have one adventure after another (fairly true, but a conscious, continuous effort on my part, to be sure), but please know that sometimes I'm quite solitary in my little apartment. This opportunity to be quiet and away from distractions is one of the reasons I came to Japan, and I do cherish the fact that most of the time the only sounds I hear are those of crickets and semi (cicadas). However, the losses this past year (and now again, with several friends - including my American neighbor - leaving Japan) sometimes make just getting through the day really, really difficult. I endeavor to seek out The Lesson and The Beauty in my life in so much around me, but at times I just sit at my window and let the sadness rain down and wash over me. I know the storms and the drizzles don't come to stay, I know that they're washing away what's necessary and helping that inner garden to flourish, but sometimes I just wish I had someone to hold an umbrella for me.
But, the sun does always eventually find its way out, now, doesn't it -
Well, now that we're out of rainy season it does :)

Semi Attack

This should be interesting. I guess the internet gods have discovered I've not been studying Japanese as dutifully as I should, so now I can't access this site in English. It's all Japanese. So hopefully this works!
Here is a photo of a cicada..."semi" I found some of my students playing with it, and walked over, since I thought it was a small bird. It was about the size of my palm, and this apparently was a small one! Later, the semi got revenge, though and looked like it was going to attack those mischievious boys...

Lunch in Ghana, Blue Skies, and a Ride on the Neko Bus

I just want to let you know that I survived all the disasters we've apparently been having! Fortunately, the typhoon wasn't very bad near me (in fact, the weather was much better than it has been! Just a bit windy, but no dramas), and the earthquakes are way up around Tokyo. So Sunday I met the girls for lunch in Nagasaki at a lovely little international restaurant that serves a different nation's food each day. You can see our cook there in the middle; I think she might be studying at Nagasaki University. I tried to show off the delicious stew on the plate there, but it got cut off.


Here's a shot of the view off my back porch looking off towards the mountains where I went firefly hunting. (hey, you CO peeps, pipe down there - they're mountains to ME, anyway - just let me live with that fantasy :) ). I can't believe I actually took pictures of the blue sky, but, I kinda forgot what it looks like! You can also make out the clay "path" that runs along the green hill there - I usually take that shortcut to the konbini or bus stop. Gets to be exciting in some parts since it's only about as wide as one of my feet!
The other picture is from a little Totoro store up off of Hollander's Slope in Nag. Apparently there's also some kind of a big cat bus in the Totoro movie, and this store had a life-sized model! Maybe I should just get this Totoro movie and have my bar eikaiwa students explain it to me. But then again, some things are more fun when they're a mystery.

Typhoon Man-Yi

For those of you who haven't heard, there's a typhoon headed in my direction. More alarming than this, however, is the utter lack of concern amongst my colleagues...However, the school is actually closed tomorrow (though there was a juicy rumor circulated amongst the students that while the 1st & 2nd year students could stay home, the sannensei would have to go to school!). What? Kanko closed? Maybe this IS serious...
No, no, not to worry, I think at most it'll be akin to a cat 1 hurricane, and I've heard that though it may hit Kyushu, our prefecture should (just) get a lot of rain. Whew! - thank goodness - more rain. I was afraid I might actually see the sun again this summer -

Inside the Fun Room

As I said in the other post about the Kyushu National Musuem, I have a hard time keeping my hands off of all the exhibits. But how great is this?! On the ground floor of the museum, there was a whole room devoted to giving the museum visitors a hands-on experience with a variety of artifacts. It DID make me miss being an art teacher, though! Unfortunately, I didn't find this room until almost closing time, so I didn't get to see/understand everything, but I still enjoyed the visit. In fact, in my "search" for figuring out exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life, I find places like this particularly inspiring. I just keep praying for guidance...anybody out there have any ideas? Preferably in a locale in the mountains near the sea? (^,^)


Great dragon, yo! Look at those eyes!

Here's a side view of the room from the outside.
In this picture, you see a Japanese painting on a screen on the right, and a several plaques hanging on a tree on the left. Each plaque had a section of the painting on one side, and the other had information about that particular part of the painting. For this activity, you take one of the plaques hanging on the tree there and find the matching section on the screen to learn about it.


In this activity, I think you try to put the missing pieces in the quilt so they match the one above. In my teaching (kids AND adults), I find that any type of manipulative makes the lesson so much more interesting!






And after playing with costumes and masks, discovering distant painted lands, and fighting dragons, one can always use a spot o tea before one heads for home...

"Totoro-san, umegaemochi wo tabemasenka?"

This Totoro character is still a bit of a mystery to me, but he still cracks me up. I watched the beginning of the movie, "Tonari no Totoro" when I was in the Japanese class in Fukuoka. The Japanese isn't too difficult, but it's a little fast. I saw this furry guy on my way to the National Museum in Dazaifu, and he just looked so hungry...so I offered him some of my umegaemochi...

(click on the post title for a link to the Wikipedia site that talks about the movie) Since the other ALT here is moving back to Colorado next week, I think I need a neighbor like Totoro :)

Kyushu National Museum

The last time I was in Fukuoka, I visited the new Kyushu National Museum (click on the title of this post to get more info). The Aussie gave it big thumbs up, and he never thinks ANYthing is cool, so I figured I'd go see for myself. I had been to Dazaifu before, but hadn't seen this supposedly massive building (and the town's not that big!). Well, I finally found the escalator that went up the mountain to get to it - wow! I felt like I was queing up for a ride at Disney. The museum is such an odd, enormous shape, that it first seemed like a mirage in the sky (?). But I really like how it was tucked into the landscape and reflected the trees all around - it was as if it very politely said (just like the Japanese people) - "Sumimasen, ah - excuse me - can I just sort of settle myself down in here? Do you mind?" instead of being like the kind of building that has the audacity to wipe everything out first, then looking like a pile of discarded boxes stacked up here and there in a parking lot.
And all that was just the outside! It proved to be cavernous, yet alive on the inside; I walked in as a concert in the main floor was just starting. I headed up to the historical exhibits upstairs, the music accompanying me as a went. I got a free English headset to understand some of the highlighted exhibits, and, though I'm not a huge fan of history, I must admit, I thought it was really neat. Afterwards, I went into a fantastic hands-on exhibit downstairs. I'm forever in trouble at the museums because I want to touch everything - and in this room, you could! More photos of it later, but here's a funny one with some borrowed locals :)
I also thought you'd like to see what a little bit of the town looks like - here's a photo of the view outside the eki (station) immediately after you come out of the turnstiles from the train. I asked several Japanese people what that white statue thing is there, but none gave me anything more than something to decorate the "welcome to our town" area. Notice the cars and how low the clouds are, and if you click on the photo to enlarge it, see if you can find "konbini" called "Lawson's" (you wouldn't believe how many times I've gotten directions to someplace that somehow involved a Lawson's - "yeah, you can't miss the place - it's right next to the Lawson's...")
Can you guess where I was standing to take this picture? Don't forget to click on the "eki" photo to enlarge it...)

PuriKura

I honestly think it has been raining or at the very least, dripping, for - well - I can't even remember the last time it wasn't. Since so many other parts of the world are missing rain, I feel so selfish to have so much here! Ah, well, I guess it wouldn't be "rainy season" without the RAIN. The rice fields need it anyway, desho?
We had a bbq at a waterfall scheduled for last night, but, well, you can guess that didn't happen. The party was moved indoors to "Espace" which is a cafe owned by the same people who own the bar where we do our eikaiwa (English conversation) class on Wednesday nights. After we had a FEAST (thank you, Tanaka-san!), we chatted, played with the Wii, and in between raindrops, had fun with some sparklers/fireworks. Neat pic of Makiko-chan, ne! I got lucky with the timing on that one. Afterwards the gaijins headed to the video arcade by "Satiwan" (that would be katakana for "31" as in Baskin Robbins 31 flavors..) for a little "purikura" (my guess is that it's katakana for "print club"), and games. I honestly got a bit sick being cooped up in the smoky, blaring environment, but I was able to stand it long enough to do a couple of pics with the Isahaya crowd. For those of you who don't know what purikura is, picture a big photo booth where you cram in, pose in different positions (ours even had a jungle gym you could climb on inside!), decorate the photos, and print them out as tiny stickers. Tons of fun for only 450yen!

Happy Haruna and the Yogo School Festival

Isn't she lovely? She has an excellent memory, too.
Last night my neighbor invited me to go to his special ed school's festival. I had been planning to head to the onsen at Ioujima, but try not to pass up opportunities to go to the little local festivals here. This charming girl's name is Haruna, and she graduated from this school in the Spring. I met her (only once!) last December when I went with Murphy-sensei (my neighbor) to give my "jiko shokai" (self intro) to his classes. She was excited when she heard I was an art teacher, because she loved art and even had a painting hanging in the front entrance of the school. So, all these months later, she sees me and remembers me!
So here she is singing karaoke on the stage - she, like all of the other kids I saw, exuded such joy. It's so addicting. Below is a photo of some of the junior high teachers doing the Billy workout (?) I'm not absolutely sure, but it sounded like it was in English, and reminded me of my Tae-Bo/kickboxing days. Which came in handy, beause suddenly, two yellow-gloved hands grabbed me and Murphy, and the crowd apparently expected an impromptu gaijin performance, too! So we got right in there (me in a long skirt, Murphy after doing some heavy lifting at practice just prior to the festival - we were a sight!) and followed the crazy man in yellow gloves and camo pants. What better way to spend a Friday night than this?

More on how you GO in Japan

I think I've mentioned before that my favorite godson, Berns, is really into anything related to transportation. Considering I don't have a car here, I am afforded many opportunities to take all kinds of vehicles to get me where I want to go. As I was at the Fukuoka station waiting for my train (which is the Kamome, the slick white one that runs between Nagasaki and Fukuoka), I saw this one, a Midori, going to Sasebo. I used the explanation of taking a photo for my godson to start a conversation with the lady behind me in line (I've decided to just start talking to people in my broken Japanese - I figure, hey! law of averages - someone's bound to talk back eventually!). She seemed very amused, and, so encouraged, I proceeded to show her my purchases from the day. Apparently I wasn't too boring or incomprehensible, since she wanted to sit next to me on the train, too.
The other photo is of some good-natured しゃしょう "shasho" (train conductors) on the nishitestu train I took out to Dazaifu. The man inside the little booth is announcing that this is the Nishitetsu train heading for Omuta, and that the next stop is Shimo-ori. They of course said this in Japanese...
I can't believe how the Japanese is 'changing'...if I pay attention, more and more comprehensible words and concepts are filtering through what used to be all background white noise! :)

Flying Body Attack and Donkey-Hote

This weekend I was requiring some social interaction, so Saturday I went up to Fukuoka again. I'd planned on meeting up with Kate on Sunday, but when she emailed me with the message, "Hey, going to see '300' - wanna come?" Hmmm...let's see, that's a tough one...300+ ripped, mostly naked men running around brandishing swords, fighting for honor and freedom against all odds, swirling around in scarlet red capes...do I have a pulse? So of course I met the girls. We went to Hard Rock Cafe first - sounds so cheesy, but it was a nice departure from the occasionally monotonous predictability of Japanese fare. And I wanted MEAT. I ended up with fajitas, but I could still identify a few slices of beef in there. Ooo - they even had real, life-sized napkins that weren't waterproof! (spend some time in inaka Japan and you'll know what I mean).
We enjoyed the movie, of course; though the story wasn't strong, the visuals more than made up for what the story was lacking :)
Before heading back to Tenjin, we stopped at "Donkey-Hote" (another one of those clever names like the piano bar 'Hugh Jorgens') since they have a little of everything. Baby shirts with wrestlers surfing (?), toys next to the "toys" (wink wink), next aisle you find dartboards and skateboards, you can also grab a new lamp, stock up on cheap candy, and pick up some motor oil on your way to the check out line. Hyaku-en shop on acid. But I at least got some photos to amuse myself :)

仮面ライダー (Kamen Rider)

(if you don't see the Japanese on these pages, then look for the "text encoding" in your browser menu and select "Japanese" - it looks much cooler than the random symbols that are probably coming up if you haven't enabled that feature) SO - what do you think of my new bike and outfit? The only drawback is that at this time of year it's a little warm.

But すごいかっこいい、ね！(but really cool-looking, isn't it!)
This week my students are doing little skits about famous characters/people. I just had to post a picture of this one - you've got to love mutant superheroes. They sound so ridiculous when you're not familiar with their story. Kamen Rider, too, seems to have the formulaic story of fighting against another mutant gone mad who's prime objective is - you guessed it - total world domination. You must go to the wikipedia link (click the title of this post) and check out the episode titles...at the very least you'll get to learn a few new Japanese vocabulary words! I can't decide which is my favorite: Strangeness! Bee Woman (怪異! 蜂女 Kaii! Hachi Onna) or Cockroach Man!! The Terrifying Bacterial Ad-Balloon (ゴキブリ男!! 恐怖の細菌アドバルーン Gokiburi Otoko!! Kyōfu no Saikin Adobarūn) or

Sone

Here's the jazz bar we went to in Kobe.

Kobe conference

At the end of May I went to the Kobe conference for recontracting JETs. So for those of you who didn't get the previous memo - yes, I'll be here till at least Aug 2008. The conference had some really good bits, and I'm glad I went. I was really excited to hang out with some GIRLS for once (we're sadly lacking them in Isahaya!), and I met some really nice people from Fukuoka ken. I went to a great ws on using AV aids to make my experience more fun and engaging, and I attended a discussion about eikaiwa (English conversation) since I seem to keep getting invited back to the bar to teach. I'll have to take some photos of the bar eikaiwa peeps - they're really cool. I also went to a presentation by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) about meeting challenges in ALT-JTE (basically "foreigner" vs Japanese) communication. Wow - it was very enlightening - things getting "lost in the translation" is only the tip of the iceberg! Tatoeba (for example), one major difference: "Western" style for meetings - discussing and deciding; "Japanese" style - announcing and agreeing (the deciding goes on before the meeting apparently). !!! Anyway - I mentioned neat people from Fukuoka (remember that sounds like "who-coo-OH!-ka"), and we found a fantastic Greek restaurant downtown. Good thing there weren't more of us - we wouldn't have all fit in the restaurant. Afterwards we went to a great jazz bar, and much to the dismay of the snooty host, my Isahaya mates met up with us, too, so there was quite the gaijin contingent. The musicians didn't seems to mind, and the piano player's American English was spot on!
Unfortunately, we never got the renowned Kobe beef, so I really hope someone reading this (with some extra money to spend) will come visit and take me out for dinner :)

Train tram

While I was having a tea waiting for my plane in Kobe, I realized the airport trams looked more like little trains and less like monorail cars. So, here you go, Berns (and anyothers of you who are interested in transportation)! Have I posted any pics of the trolleys in Nag yet?

Apato souji

Here's my little neighbourhood! One Saturday the people who live in my apt (mostly teachers) all turned out to do some intensive weeding and general outside maintenance (yet, that same day I was asked to pay a maintenance fee???). Working together was actually a lot of fun! The weeds could have been swiftly annihilated with a power edger thingy, but using the big scythes (sp?) was a lot more fun. I even brought out some of my American music... My nihonglish is improving by leaps and bounds...
By the way, the very un-Japanese looking guy is my upstairs neighbour, Colin the Strong (there's another one who's Colin the Tall), from Colorado. His contract ends in July, and then he's going to Tokyo to study Japanese (or the J-girls, not quite sure). He's the one who keeps me updated on what's happening via The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. :)

Oh, no! Gotta run - going to English Camp with Dawn's kids this week - be back later!

Taiko lessons and Dad bonding

So my dad is a drummer. He just can't help it; it's in him and you just can't stop his constant beat. But I wouldn't want to anyway...it kinda helps make Dad, well, Dad. He plays all sorts of other instruments, as well - some he's even made, but, sadly the music making genes did not get passed on to me. He's given me many other things, like my love for photography, my need for my own (power) tools (because he taught me everything I know :) ), my thirst for adventure, my insatiable curiosity, and though I have a deep appreciation for a variety of music genres thanks to him, I've really been wanting to be able to create something musical, too. Sometimes, when I'm in the "zone" as a visual artist, I feel the energy of other artists - it's like a common electrical current. Somehow with the drumming, I hope to maybe tap into my dad's "beat" - even though I'm on the other side of the world in his tomorrow.
So, I've decided to study taiko drumming. I've been able to attend two workshops at a nearby university, but we're hoping to find a right proper, more regular practice space. These are my teachers giving a performance at the end of one practice, and here I am in a most difficult playing position (of course it's much easier when you're looking at the drum and not mugging for the camera). I just realized I've not been putting up a lot of photos of me - sorry - I'm just usually the photographer, and I've also been vain and mourning the loss of my long hair - it's really best not to have things "get lost in the translation" at the hair dressers...ah, well, shikatta ga nai, yo!
So, tonight I faked enough Japanese to get myself an old motorcycle tire from the Suzuki guy down the street...and now all I need is a couple of decent dowels/drum sticks and I'm in business with my practice instrument.
I can already see Mom now, looking down, grinning and shaking her head -
(well, Mom, since singing counts twice as much as praying, ask The Boss there how much does drumming count for?)

txo

アヤメ

Yesterday I rode my bike up to Omura City because I'd heard that the irises "ayame" (アヤメ）were blooming. At the base of the castle in Omura Park are thousands of irises - probably hundreds of varieties. I left Isahaya in the mid afternoon and got to the park just as the light lost its glare...everything was more golden...the perfect moment for viewing the flowers. While I was there I saw a couple in traditional dress (kimono, etc) having their pictures done in the garden. There were also many people out on blankets enjoying picnics around the park, reminding me of summer barbeques we have back home (menus vary slightly, though). Of course there were the usual festival food booths - yakisoba, yakiniku (バラ蓋が大好きです、よ！), fried corn, frozen pineapple, ice cream (including green tea flavor), beer/sake, fried squid (ika), mochi. Sometimes with these guys you can get an extra serving if you beat them in a game of janken (their version of RockPaperScissors). I'm just going to give a friendly suggestion to steer clear of yakiniku guys who wear a ridiculous amount of costume jewelry - especially if they say your nihongo wa jouzu desu, and all you've said is "konnichiwa". (At least I'm bigger than they are -)

Anyway - I love how the Japanese celebrate such natural events - I've been to hanami (cherry blossom parties), ume (plum) blossom viewings, azalea matsuri, and just last night I joined (or they joined me) my neighbors in visiting with the fireflies "hotaru" (ホタル) in the "mountains" behind my house. I feel like I fell in to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and there were little sparks of magic all around...