A Typhoon filled weekend in Kyushu

I had a long weekend last week and went down to Oita-Ken to visit my friend Jeffery. I left Friday after school with Vicki, who made the way down with me. We took the Shinkansen to Tokuyama in Yamaguchi-Ken and then got picked up by Tammy and her friend Sharona. We drove down to Oita, which is cheaper then taking the train, but longer. It didn’t help that we got loss and it ended up taking awhile to find Jeffery’s town. Nevertheless, we arrived close to midnight and then went to a dart bar and hung out with a few of the JETs I had met last time. We had a good night and made our way home early next morning. (Picture below: Jeffery's beer bottle and can collection in his kitchen)

Jeffery had ample warning of our arrival and he spent a fair amount of time cleaning, so his place looked a lot better then it did the last time we came. The next day, we drove to Fukuoka and spent the day walking around the city. Fukuoka definitely has a different atmosphere and feel to other cities in Japan, so it was just nice people watching and visiting some shops and restaurants. (Picture below: Group picture at the pizza resturant, Tammy, Vicki, Sharona, Me and Jeffery)

At night we made our way to Jeffery’s favorite pizza place in Japan, called Kenji-ya. The pizza and beer was really good and we spent a few hours just chatting and soaking up the cool décor of the place.(Picture below: Jeffery', Vicki and I being happy at the Happy Cock)

After dinner, we made our way to this really sketchy club called, “The Happy Cock.” One of the craziest places I’ve been to in Japan, with some of the ..ummm, dirtiest people I’ve every seen. Somehow, we managed to stay till 5 in the morning and had a few “incidents” at the club, probably safer to not mention it here. (Picture below: Me inside my capsule bunk)

We slept at a capsule hotel that night and the next morning we walked around Fukuoka some more and went to this huge complex called canal city. Basically it’s a large shopping mall with little canals running through the ground floor. It’s nice and it was fun walking around, but we had to leave around 4 because a typhoon was making its way to Fukuoka. Basically all the shops and stores had to close up and brace for the Typhoon.

We all quickly hopped in our car and drove back to Oita-ken and we were lucky enough to miss the Typhoon, as it didn’t make it out west where Oita is. However, we did manage to read the parking sign incorrectly and had to pay over 71 dollars for 1 day of parking. (Picture below: The lake at Yufuin)

We spent the night at Jeffery’s place then drove to Yufuin on monday, a hot spring resort close to Beppu. The town was really cool as it is more of a local tourist spot and it has lots of nice shops and little hot springs throughout the city.

Jeffery and I went to this really rustic looking hotspring and had a nice soak before we made our way back to his house and then home. The drive home didn’t really work out they way we wanted- as we managed to get lost again. Vicki and I got dropped off at a Shinkansen station because if we continued to drive, we would have missed on last train home. (Picture below: Jeffery. Vicki and I at a sightseeing spot in Yamakuni)

So all in all, we managed to get lost a few times, but made our way home in one piece. The trip went well, expect I managed to get really sick by the last day and for the past week I’ve missed 6 days of school and I’ve pretty much been holed up at home. The nasty cold has made me go through 5 full boxes of tissues and I’ve also managed to spread the sickness to a few other ALTs. Including everyone I was with in Oita and both Vicki and the new Chinese-Canadian JET that lives down the street from me, Jacki. (Picture below: Me tickling Jeffery with a harvested rice grain)

So I’m looking forward to getting better and getting back to my routine. I had to miss my elementary school’s sports day and also a Japanese cooking class. But hoping I’m all better for the upcoming weekend.

Japanese factoid# 31-If you've ever been in Japan you would have experienced the tissue phenomenon. In Japan, they give away mountains of free tissue filled with advertisements. In major cities they are pretty much on every street and they are always young girl, usually wearing leather outfits or skimpy clothes. It comes in quite handy when you got the sniffles or when toilet paper isn’t provided in some public bathrooms. They usually hand you the tissue and give you a nice bow for you kindly taking their gift.

Kamagari Island and a Tour of My Apartment

I’m trying to post a bit more regularly after the long summer break. Since September has finally rolled around, school is finally in full gear. Classes have been going well and I’m getting back into the grove of things. My grade 3’s at JHS are still the best students any teacher can ask for, as there are always smiling and friendly. (Picture above: Vicki, Beth, Rob and other Brandon at a dart bar in kure) (Picture below: Shion, Aoi and my former host daughter Kanon)

I just spent last weekend attending a birthday party for Rob’s host family son, Shion. A lot of JETs went and we had a good time playing with the kids and having a good lunch. Rob and I got the little boy micro machines and he is a super sweet kid that speaks really good English. His parents and a few of the other host families put their kids in an international English school, so almost all the kids have better English then my Junior High school students- it’s pretty amazing to say the least. My former host daughter was also there and she didn't burst out crying this time and I was actually able to chat and play with her for a bit. (Picture below: Rob on the soccer pitch)

I also made may way to Rob's Island, Kamagari the other weekend. We went to the local beach there and just spent the afternoon playing Football, Soccer and throwing the frisbee around. The beach is called kenminohama and has a really nice soccer pitch. We took the bus to the beach from his place, but we ended up missing the last bus to take us back. So we had to hike back along the shoreline back to his house. It took close to 2 hours to walk back and was gruelling after playing sports for the past 4 hours.(Picture below: Took this as the sun was going down before our hike back home)I spent the past weekend heading to this cowboyish American themed steak restaurant called Rocky Bear. I’ve wanted to go all last year, but never got a chance to. However, I finally made my way this year with a few other JETs and actually managed to go 3 times in the past week. One thing about Japanese restaurants is that they go all out in aesthetics, the inside of the restaurant looks like a barn and the waiters wear cowboys hats. It’s pretty cool and even has a large wooden slide at the top of the entrance.

My Irish friend Vicki has matches my enthusiasm for the place and we went with a few other JETs on the weekend. We also went bowling and had a good time at this super complex.Well it’s been a year since I got here and here finally are the pictures of the place I live in. I gotta say I was really lucky to get a brand new place with a great view when I arrived in Japan. The apartment is actually made for a family and has two rooms and a large living. So here is a tour of my place. Starting with the front door of my apartment on the third floor of the Saski Biru (Building).When you open the door on your right side is our guest room/laundry room/ hockey storage room.

The spare room is normal size, the basic six tatami room measurement used in Japan. It does have a nice balcony that overlooks the east side of Kawajiri though.

On the left side is the largest room in the apartment and it has the kitchen, dinning room and living room in one.The bedroom is connected through the living room and has two large closets and my bed. Since the place was brand new, it really didn’t have much furniture when I got in. But the past year I’ve managed to buy a couch, table and a desk for my laptop.

If you turn left from the entrance you enter a hallway that leads to a bathroom. There is a sink and beside that is our washing machine.

On the other end is our shower room, it has a bathtub and a pretty roomy circular shower area.So that's it, I gotta say it really feels like home since I know that no one has everyone been there before me. Even though I have a year left, I’m already feel a bit sad knowing I’ll have to leave this place.

Japanese Factoid #30: One of the biggest contrasts in Japan that you will see if you come here is the toilets. In a lot of establishments there are still squatter toilets, which are essentially a hole in the ground. Like this: However, there is also, what I call the “Super Toilet.”I was lucky enough to get one of these in my apartment when I moved in. There is a faucet at the top of the toilet for you to wash your hands. The toilet also has automatic flushing when you get up and the toilet seat heats up in the winter to keep your tush warm. When you are done your business there is also a washing mechanism in place that sprays water and then dries it with air. I tried it once, but ..umm.it got too ticklish and I had to stop it with my hand. Some people like it, but to me, it just feels like a midget is down there tickling my ass. Here is a picture of the remote control. The three buttons on the left are Stop, Butt wash, Bidet and the click control allows you to adjust the intensity. There is also a big flush and small flush button at the top of the controller.

New JETs and the 61st Hiroshima Memorial Anniversary

Well here is my pretty late post on what I've been up to in August. I've been busy and just too lazy to sit down on the computer and type the past few weeks. I’ve had a really good August spending time with a lot of the new JETs that have arrived in town. In my board of education there were 12 new arrivals, almost a complete turnaround. So the remaining few of us have been busy putting on workshops and just helping the new teachers get settled into the town and their upcoming school life.

Well it definitely hasn’t been all work, as we’ve managed to spend a lot of late summer nights in Kure. Asuka went back to Toronto for her brother’s wedding, so I stayed for most of August in the main town of Kure. The new JETs are great and we’ve spent a fair bit of the time eating and drinking away the nights. (Picture below: Rob, Greg, Aimee, Krissy, Vicki, Brandon Shaw and myfelf)

We managed to make our way for the 61^st anniversary of the A-bomb drop and had a great day walking around the city and viewing the lanterns at night. (Picture below: Beth, Kirssy, Aimee and Vicki at a British Bar in Hiroshima)

There was a Hiroshima Prefectual Orientation in the City and our Board of Education was nice enough to put us in hotels for two nights- so all the foreigners had fun wrecking havoc on Hiroshima city for two nights. (Picture below: My host sister, Kanon)

There was also a meet and greet done by the International center in Kure. It paired some of the new JETs with host families and since we were one JET short, I also volunteered. I got paired with this one little girl, called Kanon and her mother, Maya. Everything was great, except the girl hated me-or I was told just men in general. The second she laid eyes on me, she burst out in tears and continued to scream and run to her mom every time I came anywhere near her vicinity. Bear in mind I also had a 2 week beard, but I knew this "host family" relationship wouldn't really work with all the tears and yelling, so when another new JET arrived late, I gave my host family to her. So in the end, I had a Japanese host family for about 20 minutes. (Picture below: The new JET Keely getting introduced to her new host family)
The rest of the month of August went by quite briskly and was one of the most enjoyable months I’ve had in Japan- since there was no classes, it meant everyday was like a holiday. (Picture below: Lanterns being floated down river in Hiroshima)

Everything has been great except for a few minor annoyances have occurred the past month. About two weeks ago while biking in Town, my wallet popped out of my back pocket. I noticed pretty much right away, but when I went back my wallet was gone already. I did a police report, but as of yet, my wallet hasn’t turned up. Now I just want to dispel that myth that Japan is super safe and honest, as people often say that if you lose your wallet- you’ll always get it back with all your money and cards still inside. Well I haven’t gotten my wallet back!-even though I know that 9 times out of 10 you will- it’s just that I managed to hit that 10%...damn.

Also, last week for 4 days, my town Kawajiri had all its water cut off. A crack had appeared in one of the major pipes, so they had to shut down water for my town and a few other islands. So we couldn’t shower, use the bathroom and cook for a few days. The original timeline was actually 3 weeks, but luckily they managed to fix it in four days. You really know the value of some resources when it’s suddenly cut off. I had to go a few days showering at the gym and going to a local onsen, but luckily everything is back to normal now.

Well School has officially started and I’m looking forward to heading back to school and seeing my kids again. This fall should be a lot of fun as my schools have lots of events and I have a few little trips planned to Kyushu with some friends and Okinawa with Asuka.

Japanese Factoid #29: Well this past month I had quite a few dinners with fellow JETs and some supervisors. One big thing to do in Japan when you go out for dinner is to head to Tabe- ho-dai or Nomi-ho-dai which translates to all you can eat and all you can drink. There is usually a flat rate of about 30-35 dollars and you get on average 1.5 hours to pound back as much food or alcohol as you want- dangerous for you weight, but immensely enjoyable. Last week I had a dinner, and me a few JETs felt adventurous and tried fried Scorpion. Not bad I must say..