Wrapping up the Year in Japan.

The past two weeks have slowed down a bit, probably because mentally I know a long winter break is up ahead. We had a birthday party for Aimee, as well as Rob, in the past two weeks. Rob’s party was also a year end party for everyone, as almost all the JETs are heading to other places in Japan for travel or to other countries.

Two weeks ago we had a dinner in Kure for Aimee. We had dinner at an Italian place in town then made our way to our local haunt, Memories. We spent quite a few hours there passing the time and what made it even more enjoyable were the costumes that Rob has grown fond of buying for our nights out. (Picture Below: Shun and Seigo , the bartenders at Memories)

The two bartenders at Memories are really nice guys, so we also had a good time chatting with them while Rob and I also were wearing our masks. Rob had the god of commerce, Yebisu mask and he got me this well known Japanese lady mask. (Picture Below: Jay handing out presents and me being his elf)

Last Saturday, I was asked to volunteer at the preschool for the day along with Melody, Jason and Masato. Jason dressed up as Santa Claus and I had a great time playing with the kids at the preschool. Jason was a pretty good Santa and the kids were really great as cute as they sang Christmas carols to us. (Video Below: This isn't a Xmas song, but the kids are pretty cute so I had to put it on)The youngest kid was probably about 3, and the oldest was about 7. The interesting thing was that of the “foreigners” that came, none of them were white. Masato is Japanese and Mel and Jason are Maori. So in a way, we were doing our job of internationalizing the Japanese.(Video Below: Me doing my actions game)
After our introductions and Santa handing out presents, we did a Christmas song and I played a game called actions with the kids. It went relatively well, even though at some parts I was cracking up and losing it. (Picture Below: Ayaka and I doing hand gestures)

After our games we posed for pictures with the kids and then a few of us sat down and ate lunch with a few of the pre-schoolers. This one little girl named Ayaka was just adorable and I was chatting with her the whole time before and during lunch. Asuka also came and told me that I wouldn’t make a good pre-school teacher because I played favourites, but I couldn’t help it as she was just really cute. I had fun eating with her and the other kids and then we folded origami. (Picture Below: My two snack dishes and Asuka's plates)

Once we finished playing with the kids, the principal brought us to her own pottery room and we spent a few hours making pottery. I did some pottery during high school and also with my sister, but it took me forever to think of, and then make what I wanted. I finally decided on making two snack dishes, one with a Canadian Maple leaf and the other with the Japanese rising sun. (Picture Below: Rob sucking Shochu out of his straw)

At night, we a bunch of us made our way into Hiroshima for Rob’s Birthday and our year end party, also known as a Bonenkai. We booked a restaurant and got a pretty good deal with a set meal and all you can drink combo. It came out to only 35 dollars and we got tons of food, including oysters, sashimi and hotpot. We also took advantage of the all you can drink to its fullest. Vicki got Rob a 30ft straw, a samurai tophat and these funky glasses with moving eyebrows. (Picture Below: Rob and I in the Xmas spirit)

Once we finished dinner, we checked into our capsule hotel and then went and took a few sticker pictures with the gang. After visiting the sticker booth we checked into our capsule hotel and then went to a bar for a few hours before we called it a night. (Picture Below: A few of our sticker pics from the night)

School has also being going alright, but a sense the kids are itching for winter vacation to begin as their concentration had really dipped the past two weeks. I wrapped up the week by having the students create their own Christmas stockings. It took me hours to come up with the idea and then to actually make it feasible for the students to do. It’s actually a tad complicated, but most students were able to complete it and to decorate their stockings quite elaborately. As expected, the girls did a better job then the boys at making the stockings. (Picture Below: My kids Xmas stockings)

Essentially, I would have the kids cut out the outline of the stocking on red construction paper and then write their name on a white piece of paper and then paste it at the top of the stocking. I would also have the kids write their wishes for other and things they want for themselves on a piece of paper, which you would be able to pull out through cutting a slit at the very top of the stocking. A lot of the girls really did an amazing job with theirs and most of them ended up looking really good.

Well the semester has gone pretty fast as I’m already counting down to how much time I have left here. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to re-contract for another year, so it means every season or festival I see likely the last time I’ll be experiencing it. As for this Christmas, I am heading to Hong Kong and Shanghai for close to three weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing my parents again and also visiting Hong Kong. It will be my first time in Shanghai, so it should make a pretty interesting New Year. Well hope everyone is doing well in Canada and that you all have yourself a nice Christmas and New Years!

Japanese Factoid #39- The Japanese keep impeccable records of everything. This is most apparent with their city maps. Not only are they detailed, but they also have the name of everyone owner of the property. In smaller towns like Yasuura, they actually have maps at the beginning of every street to tell you the layout of the houses and who lives there.

An Onsen filled weekend in Kyushu

Last week we had another holiday on the Thursday, so Rob and I took the Friday off and went down to Kyushu for 4 days. We left Wednesday afternoon and got down to Oita-Ken and Nakatsu city by early evening. We spent the first night taking it easy and catching a movie at home. But right beside Jeffery’s house is the town hall and get this, they have a large ice skating rink in the winter. So we spent the evening ice skating while listening to an alternation soundtrack of Michael Bolton Christmas tunes and early 90’s rap. It was Rob’s first time ice skating and he pick it up pretty fast. We had a good time and it made me really wish I was placed in Oita instead of Kure for the winter, so I could go skating everyday. (Picture below: Jeffery, Rob and I at the skating rink in Yamakuni)

The next day, we went to Beppu-shi which is famous for their onsens (hot springs). What’s neat is as you drive into the town, on the mountain side you see pockets of steam rising from the whole mountain side due to the volcanic heated hot springs.

We wanted to visit the “9 hells or Jigoku” of Beppu which is basically different viewable onsen pools, but the weather was really bad. Instead, we walked around the town a bit and then went to an onsen up in the mountains. Beppu has a famous onsen which is submerges the bather in mud. The three of us decided to give the mud onsen a shot, even though it was pouring rain. (Picture below: Outdoor of the mud onsen, the male is the right side and the females are on the right, though almost none ventured out)

The outside of the pool is unisex, but we didn't get the pleasure of seeing a Swedish cheerleading team on vacation in Japan. It was cold outside because of the rain and very slippery because of the mud. The mud part was weird at first, actually it’s still weird now, because you basically bury yourself in the clumps of mud. The sensation is akin to crapping your pants, but once you get use to it, it’s actually not that bad. The mud is super warm and it was neat just to experience it once. The bath was nice, but the worst part was because the mud is heated by active volcanic areas, we ended up smelling like sulphur for the 2 days- which meant-if you’ve never had the experience- smelling like rotten eggs. (Picture below: A sign outside the onsen- not sure what primordial bestiality is, but I hope I don't have it.)

On Friday, we went into Kumamoto-Ken, which was where my old Japanese teacher from University is from. I always promised her I’ll visit Kumatmoto and I was looking forward to visiting the castle there, but we ended just going to a volcano instead. Mt. Aso is right in the middle of Kyushu and surprisingly, it’s the largest volcano in the world. At first I didn’t believe it, but after driving up the damn thing, it really is enormous. Once again, we were thwarted by the bad weather, as we were unable to take the cable car up to the top due to the cloudy weather and high sulphur levels. (Picture below: Near the top of Mt. Aso)

We ended up walking around the top of the mountain, which also had a nice lake in the middle with these huge horses roaming around. After going back down the mountain, we hit another hot spring which was entirely made from wood. The building and even inside the onsen, had huge blocks of carved wood adorning the tubs and fountains. It was a really nice onsen, and it was really good way to rest up after a long day. We had yaki-niku at the hot spring and then relaxed a bit before heading back into Hita-city and meeting up with a few JETs I knew from last time. (Picture below: From left to right: Phil, Jeffery, Me, Rob and Andy)

On Saturday, we went into Fukuoka city and wanted to catch the local sumo match, but the tickets were all sold out. We were also thinking of seeing a concert by this Japanese band, but it ended up being too much of a hassle to get to. It was also Jeffery’s birthday on Monday, so I spent the day roaming around the city and hitting all the local haunts that Jeffery likes to visit. Fukuoka is a pretty lively city, and it fun walking around and then catching dinner at this local pizza joint. It was the same one we went to last time and we had another good meal there.(Picture below: A large tengu statue in the middle of a shopping district)

At night, we met up with a few more people from Oita and went to this local bar/club. I had a good time just sitting at the bar and chatting and taking advantage of the $30 all you can drink. It was very laid back and I chatted with a few of the bartenders, one of which I was sure was not Japanese. I asked the bartender and he ended up being a Korean-Canadian from Alberta. All in all it was a good night and we ended up crashing at another Capsule hotel.

Japanese Factoid #38- I know we have massage chairs back home, but in Japan they have hundreds of models. One thing I always do when I go into Hiroshima city, is after walking around for the day, we stop off at the big electronics store and sample the different massage chairs to relax. They usually have 30 different types lined up and I would really love to be able to ship one of these home. They are free and get quite complex and elaborate, massaging pretty much your whole body. At the Onsen in Kumamoto, there was a few pay ones, so Rob and I sat down a got a 20 minute massage. (Picture below: Rows and rows of massage chairs)