Shimabara

Last weekend, some friends and I took a trip out to the Shimabara peninsula in southern Nagasaki. Our plan was to hike up Mt. Unzen, a volcano that was very active between 1990 and 1995. However, it rained very heavily, so we couldn't hike, but decided to check out the remains. Pyroclastic flow destroyed over 2000 homes but only 44 people (mostly media), since 12,000 were evacuated at the beginning of 1990. The cool thing about this are the homes and one school that have been saved in their destroyed state. The houses are buried almost up to the roof and you can see all the debris inside. They seemed so old, but then I saw the solar panels and tvs and remembered that it happened only in the 90s. It was really cool to see.

I also drove through the city of Obama, which gained some fame during the 2008 election. They have a bunch of President Obama paraphernalia and even a statue somewhere. Obama is also known for it's sulfur onsen, so my friends and I went to one which was right on the bay. It was very relaxing!

School

I taught my first lessons today! Woohoo! Not as bad as I expected. The most nerve racking part was my introduction speech in front of the whole school in Japanese. I fell asleep so early last night, I didn't manage to practice much, but I still wowed the crowd somehow.

Elementary school kids are far different than the older junior high kids I saw yesterday. The elementary school kids are balls of never-ending energy and they aren't very shy. Walking through the hallway everyone will call out "Audrey Sensei!" "Hello!" or "See you!" It's cute and fun. On my walk home my name was called from far away and I could see some kids waving from the second floor of a building. I feel like a star.

For elementary school the lessons are easy and it's all about the games. My job here is more to get kids used to foreigners and to make English fun so they'll enjoy it more when it becomes more serious.

School lunches: At elementary schools I'm required to eat the school lunch with the kids. Everyday I'll eat in a different classroom, usual first or second graders and I have to eat everything given to me, no matter what it is, because the kids have to eat everything too. Everyone also has to drink one milk at lunch and all the kids have toothbrushes to brush their teeth with afterwards. It's pretty interesting. Today I ate with the first graders and man, were they cute.

Tomorrow I get to help out with swim lessons so I'm really excited!

Ryutosen

There's a big waterfall just outside of Omura called Ryutosen (dragon head place). It's beautiful! After a short hike we reached the biggest waterfall and jumped right in. The water was a bit cold but it was so refreshing. A little way down the river is another waterfall with a rope for swinging into the water. Although it took me 5 minutes, I finally managed to swing out and jump in the water. It was really fun and not really that scary.

I also collected a few tadpoles in a water bottle and took them home. They lived temporarily in a jar on my desk, but two died, so I felt bad and freed the remaining one.

Sasebo

I went to Sasebo, a big city north of Omura with an American military base on it. My friend's mom works on base, so we were able to go on and enjoy American foods and buy American products. I bought some candy to use as gifts, but really three weeks isn't quite long enough for me to really miss American things enough to fully appreciate the experience, as my friends did. I also went to a little park that was American territory. The place was filthy, litter everywhere and almost every person that walked by was overweight. Reminded me what I'm not missing in the US.

Recently...

I got a bike! While my area is relatively hilly, having a bike is very convenient and why not get the extra workout? I really like riding around and I can basically go anywhere I want pretty easily and quickly. I'll need to ride to one of my schools, but my other two schools are very close, maybe a 10 minute walk. My house is in such a great location!

A typhoon passed over Omura last week, I slept through the worst of it, but I heard some heavy rain and wind. It continued to rain until early afternoon. We were supposed to visit some schools on bike yesterday, but we were told to stay at home because of the typhoon, so I had a free vacation day.

I'm getting this cooking thing down I think. So far I've made:
-stir-fry vegetables with rice
-goya (a bitter squash) and scrambled egg
- potato slices with onion and garlic
-scrambled eggs with green pepper and onion
-chicken pieces marinated in miso and pieces of an orange, then sauteed with broccoli, carrots and onion.
-chicken pieces with bell peppers, onions and a few globs of some kimchee that wasn't very good to eat by itself, however, as the sauce it was actually pretty good.

Everything has been surprisingly delicious, I could just skip culinary school and become a chef at this rate.

Iki

I've spent the last few days on Iki. It's an island at the northern tip of Nagasaki prefecture, very close to Korea and is known for it's beautiful beaches and Kobe-equivalent beef. There are some ALTs up there, so I went with 3 of the Omura ALTs to visit them and spend some days in paradise. It was so beautiful and fun! The water was crystal clear and not that cold, and the weather was perfect. There were some tentacle-less jellyfish and some fish swimming around too. At night we did fireworks on the beach and looked at the bioluminescent creatures that glow in the water at night. It was a great way to spend my last few days before I have to start working. Plus, I made some new friends, had some delicious beef and apparently Japan's best pizza (it was quite good).

Nagoshi Matsuri

Last week was the Nagoshi Matsuri (End of Summer Festival) in Omura. It is a three day festival that started out Sunday with an amazing display of fireworks, shot from the airport. Some friends and I sat by the water and watched. I had been in Nagasaki the night before and saw the closing fireworks for their festival, however, those were not as spectacular despite being a much bigger city than Omura. Omura's lasted for half an hour and were huge and might have been the best I'd ever seen.



The next day of the festival I met up with some friends and we just walked the main street and got food at several of the food vendors. The main drag was filled with little stands selling yakitori (grilled meet), okonmiyaki, shave ice, roasted corn, grilled octopus and more. The stands are mostly set up by local restaurants, so I got the name of some delicious places that I'll have to try later. We also watched some taiko drum performances. An ALT that is leaving performed with her taiko group on the main stage. It was fun walking with other ALTs because their students would nervously approach them and say hi and try to speak in English.

On the final day of the festival my friend I dressed in our yukata (summer kimono). I'd say more than half of the girls and young women wear yukata at summer fesitvals. My friend and I both noticed a difference in how the local people reacted to us when we had the yukata on. They seemed to be more accepting of us, seeing that we were making an effort to be a part of the culture, but man was it hot! This night there was dancing down the main street, as well as some on the main stage. So many of the townspeople participated. It was quite an experience and I'm already excited for next year!