Another Birthday and Hockey at Elementary School

I just want to make a quick post on the past week before I head to Okinawa. On Tuesday I spent the day running around getting documents translated and then applied and received my Japanese driver’s license. It wasn’t too painful of a process though it did end up taking the whole day to complete. The driver’s license center is located in the mountains in Hiroshima, but they staff were really helpful and after a few hours-I walked out being able to drive legally in Japan. Canadians and the U.K are lucky in that we only need to transfer our license, but Americans need to actually take the driver’s license exam, sucks to be American.

On Wednesday I visited my elementary school, Noro-Nakagiri and had my first hockey lesson with the elementary school kids. There were all amazed by the amount of hockey sticks I had brought and I think they really enjoyed playing the game. (Picture below: My grade 3/4 students holding my Naslund Jersey) The first and second graders played like headless chickens, but the older grades had a bit more teamwork and managed to score a few nice goals. I showed them all my hockey equipment first then let them duke it out on the gym floor. Thanks once again to everyone that pitched in a few dollars for me to buy the sticks and bring them over. The kids had a great time and I look forward to playing with a few more of my other schools. (Picture below: Kana Handing my my Birthday Cake)

The past week was also when I managed to hit the ripe age of 24. Wow, after 22 you really start feeling old as the years add up. Well I was lucky enough to not have one, but three birthday parties. I had the dinner on Saturday with about ten JETs, then on the actually day of my birthday, I met a few JETs at the local Chinese restaurant for dinner. Masato, Vicki, Krissy and Jacki were nice enough to treat me for dinner and Vicki, even got me a cool t-shirt and a naked anime figure. (Picture below: Kana with Chucky!)

Then on Friday, I milked it for another birthday since I was born in Canada, my actually birthday wasn’t till Friday. So went to the local bar all the JETs hang out and had a few drinks. The bar is called Memories, and besides being the coolest bar in Kure, it is also the smallest. I can’t really describe it but lets say its approximately 15ft by 30ft. (Picture below: My trying to eat the wax Happy Birthday Brandon vake decoration ) What’s cool about it is that it has free karaoke and also the cheapest and largest beers in the world. The owner and workes are really friendly and nice. They even ordered me a birthday cake and sang me a song, so it really felt like a birthday. (Picture below: Tea master from Mitsuguchi)

Japanese factoid # 33- At Noro-nakagiri elementary school, we had a “Cha-do” or Japanese tea ceremony demonstration for the 3^rd to 6^th graders. They school was nice enough to let me participate. Tea ceremony in Japan is traditionally considered a highly skilled artform and every process of the tea ceremony has precise steps and movements. We had a really nice “oba-san” or old lady come into the school and showed us the proper way to preform tea ceremony. It started with precise movements walking it to the room, reading a scroll and observing “ikebana” or flower arrangement to help properly appreciate the tea. We then enjoyed some sweets and made our own tea by whisking it with a special type of brush and then drinking the tea by picking, holding and turning the bowl in a set pattern. Even getting up had precise steps (left foot over the right). It was quite enjoyable as this was the first time I was able to participate in it after briefly studying tea ceremony in University. The tea is bitter, but also quite good.