Happy Halloween!

If you didn't know already, Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Halloween in Japan, while not non-existent, lacks the substance and creativity of Halloween in the US. There is no trick-or-treating, no American candy (which I find to be far superior), few costumes and most kids don't really understand it.  So, I teach extraordinary Halloween lessons. This year, I made 3 girls cry from fear/ disgust.

The first part of the lesson was just introducing Halloween words, then we moved into the serious stuff.
First, I got very serious and told them that I had cut off the fingers and skin, and took out hearts, brains and eyeballs of last year's bad students- then to make sure the current students would be good, I made everyone touch said items. 


I prepared 5 bags of said items:
Eyes= pickled quail eggs (better than grapes because they pop if you squeeze too hard).
Brains= konnyaku (http://www.kki.yamanashi.ac.jp/~t04kg014/konnyaku.gif).
Skin: katsuo bushi (sliced, dried bonito).
Heart: one day peeled tomatoes, the next day canned peaches.
Fingers: Chikuwa http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Chikuwa.jpg

After feeling everything and getting thoroughly grossed out the students guessed what each item actually was. It so fun!  

At school, I dressed up as a black cat, but for the annual ALT Halloween party, I dressed up as a mummy.  The party which is hosted in my town at a campsite, is really fun because for all the ALTs and friends not from the US or Canada, it is a special treat because they didn't have Halloween growing up.  Almost everyone gets really into it, with great, often homemade, costumes. The winner this year was Muammar Gaddafi, although there was a great Mr. T, trio of Wizard of OZ characters, and the three blind mice.

For my costume, I went to the "dollar store" and bought A LOT of gauze and wrapped myself up from head to toe.  I wrapped over some leggings and a sweatshirt to ensure warmth!  People really liked it. The only problem was that my face got really itchy after a few hours! 

Mr. T and Gaddafi

Wizard of OZ

Mummy!

Jean Clawed Van Frog and the Disappearers

Last weekend I got myself an aquarium and some new friends.  Picking who and what would come home with me was very stressful.  I wanted fish, but I also wanted frogs and I also wanted a sea crustacean, but there was no way they could all live together. I finally decided on 3 frogs and 5 mini- shrimp.  The frogs are African Clawed frogs, two white, one black. The black one I named Hot Rod, but I couldn't decide on names for the white ones for a few days.

Unfortunately, the next day one of the shrimp was dead.  As sad as I was, I took him out of the tank with chopsticks.  I thought the worst was over, but then...

When I got home one night, after being away for only a few hours, one white frog and one shrimp were gone.  Not dead, gone.  They were nowhere in the tank. I checked the filter, I checked around the tank (despite having a lid, who knows what these guys can do?) NO LUCK! They disappeared. Either they got buried under the dirt and have yet (a week later) to float up, or they were eaten by the other frog.

Still no signs of them but thankfully none others have gone missing.

The other day I decided on the name for the other white frog, Jean Clawed Van Frog-get it? He's a clawed frog.

Oh Noh!

This weekend I attended a free Noh performance in Shimabara (the southern peninsula of Nagasaki prefecture).  Noh is a very traditional classical drama.  This particular production was supposed to be outdoors, lit only with bonfires surrounding the stage, known as Takigi O-noh.  However, due to the rain, it was moved into an indoor location.

So, as you know, where most people have problems falling asleep, I have problems staying awake. It's not hard to imagine what happened; dark, warm, incomprehensible....as hard as I fought my eyes would not cooperate.  Unfortunately I was dozing in and out for the first 4 plays and was out cold for most of the final (and apparently, best) one. 

I did see some of it though. The night started out with some short performances by a children's noh group which was really cute. They also were the main actors in one of the 5 primary plays about a fisherman. 

Two of the plays had live music with drums and flutes, which was... interesting. At points I questioned whether it was music or just noise, but it was cool nonetheless.

The final play, about demons and ghosts, featured special masks used in noh. Depending on the angle the actor positions his head, the expression on the mask changes. I didn't actually see this (sleeping) and didn't learn about it until after. So maybe, if I ever see it again, I'll keep my eye out (and open) for it.

Noh actors manipulate their voices in such a way that makes singing/speaking sound pretty goofy and they used very classical Japanese, so even Japanese people had a hard time understanding. 

All in all, I'm glad I had this opportunity to see it and I am pretty annoyed I couldn't stay awake. However, not sure if I'd go out of my way to see it again.

Camping at the Bottom of a Volcano

Okay, I admit, it's not quite as exciting as the title makes it seem.  I took another trip to Kumamoto prefecture to see Mt. Aso, the most active volcano in Japan.  Despite not having lava, it's still really cool because it has a green lake of aqueous sulfur.  It was really clear this time around so I could see it a lot better.

My two friends and I were planning on going on a two day hike and camping somewhere out in the wilderness, but plans changed so we ended up just hiking somewhere else in the day and stayed the night at a campsite. 

Our hike was really fun, we walked up to the highest peak around. Within the hike we climbed 850 stairs. The view from the top was really nice, but would have been better if it weren't so hazy. 

Since it's fall, the nights are pretty cool. So in anticipation of the chill of sleeping in a tent, I went to sleep with 3 layers of pants, 4 layers on top, a hat and my sleeping bag. I was well prepared and miraculously didn't get cold! Amazing!

It was a short, but fun trip. Perfect weather.




Sidenote: We met an old man selling rocks who told me 23 is getting old and I should hurry up and get married. Haha! No way old man!

Sports Day 2011

It seems that I didn't write about Sports Day last year, but it was one of the events I was anticipating most this year. Sports Day is a day-long competition between the different classes in each grade. The grades also join together in blocks (so class 1 of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students are one team, etc) and compete against the other blocks. The day starts out with an opening ceremony where all the students march by with their classes. It's very militaristic looking, and I have a very hard time seeing American students not refusing to do it. When I say marching, I mean marching. Their arms and knees need to reach a certain height on every step and the must be in sync with their classmates. They practice marching for HOURS in the days leading up. Next on the program in radio taiso- or radio exercises. Pretty much warm up exercises. If you've seen the Michael Keaton movie Gung Ho, you know what I'm talking about. It's actually pretty fun. However this too needs to be executed perfectly and thus requires hours of practice.

The events themselves include 50m, 100m and 200m sprints, 800/1500m (girls/boys respectively) runs, relays, and then the fun events. At my junior high school, the first years have an obstacle course relay, the second years have a jump rope contest- all the students in each class jumping with one long rope per class, and the third years have a mukade race. I don't know if I've mentioned mukade before, but it's the word for centipede in Japanese. So this race requires all the students in each class to have both legs tied to ropes in a single file line- think single-file three-legged race, but with 40 students.

First year relay

Mukade race

The event ends with a big traditional Japanese dance. At my school, all the grades come together to perform soran, the fisherman's dance. Apparently, it's rare for the three grades to perform the dance together; at most schools each grade does a difference dance. Further, my students seem to be extraordinarily good at it! My friends told me it was much better than anything their students did. I really want to learn the dance, but I was never at that school on the right days to learn it.

Fisherman's dance

 

In the weeks leading up to Sports Day, it seems as if the students never stop practicing. I could hear them from my house in the morning, they practiced at least 2 hours during school and then after school as well. The kids are so tired during this time, and then they get in trouble for not doing their homework because they're too tired. Rough. But the students love it, and I love it. I ran in two relays (despite my food poisoning induced fever and having not eaten at all the day before). But how can I say no to Sports Day? I can't. I didn't do much though. For the first relay, with the PTA, we carried a basket of balloons on our backs and balanced a ball on a ladle while "running" about 20 meters. My team lost :( The second relay was with the second grade teachers against the second grade girl relays. They only had me run about 15 meters. Again, we lost. Sports Day is one of my favorite events all year. My elementary school also has Sports Day, but it's in June. Last year I missed it due to my foot disaster. You better believe I'm looking forward to it this year.

Stranded

[I suppose this is a little overdue, I apologize. I really am going to try to be more consistent with my posts.] In mid-September I ventured to, what is pretty much my favorite place in Nagasaki, if not Japan itself, Iki Island. In summer, Iki is a beach paradise. This was my third time to the island, and I would go more often if it wasn't an hour bus ride and 2 hour ferry away. But nonetheless, I headed up there with some other ALTs, one of whom lived on Iki for 4 years, for the long weekend. The first day the weather was beautiful. It could not have been more perfect- other than the jellyfish. I got a few light stings, but then, what I assume was a previously free-floating tentacle stuck to my arm and I didn't realize it was stuck there for a good 20 seconds. After I rubbed it off, it got really swollen, I looked like I had a huge bicep! But after I put vinegar on it, it stung less. It was still swollen for a few days and I have a scar now. It makes me look tough. On the second day, despite some light rain, some friends took us out surfing. Man, I love water sports! I just could not get enough. Even just laying on the board and moving with the waves would have sufficed. I wasn't very good at surfing but I did stand up on the board for a long ride once. I can't wait to surf again! For the weekend we stayed at a friend's guesthouse. It was really cool- pretty much a living room with 6 bunks built into the wall. The view was spectacular. It was a good thing we had such nice accommodations because a typhoon came. During my friend's 4 years on Iki, she had never heard of ALL the ferries to and from the island being cancelled for more than one day. But lo and behold, the ferries were cancelled for 2 days and we got the only one that left on the third. Crazy! The typhoon was centered much further south so we only experienced wind and a little rain, but man, were the waves raging. I've never seen waves so big, even though they were first stopped by a break wall. I was feeling a little adventurous, so I walked out on the beach a little bit (far from any danger, don't worry) and felt the water. It was so warm, I was very surprised. It was quite an experience to be close to the water during a typhoon. Despite having to use 2 vacation days and missing some school, it was a really fun, relaxed trip. Next time I go out there though, I will make sure ther are no typhoons coming.

Road Trip to Yamaguchi Prefecture

The weather has been nothing but rain for a week and looks to continue through the foreseeable future, unfortunately. It's like tsuyu (rainy season) all over again. Despite the weather, two friends and I took off for a 4 day road trip to Yamaguchi.

In August there is a holiday called Obon. On the first day (8/13) spirits of ancestors are welcomed back into the home with a lantern, a mukae-bi. On the last day (8/15), the spirits are sent out of the home when the lantern is sent down a river into the ocean, in a ceremony called okuri-bi. Recently deceased spirits are sent out in floats and taken to the water in a procession of bon odori dancers and fireworks. How is this relevant? Well, due to the three day holiday, companies give employees three free vacations days (apart from the normal use-anytime yearly leave). However, they must be used in August and consecutively. So, Obon has become a holiday of not only welcoming ancestors back home, but it's the time of year when people return to their hometowns- using their special vacation days. That being said, we used our 3 days and set out.

We rented a car (substantially cheaper than in the states) and our first stop was Shimonoseki, just across the straits separating Kyushu and Honshu. We headed up to a mountain outlook judged one of the best views in Japan, where we were able to see three bodies of water, the Kanmon Strait (separating the islands), the Inland Sea (to the south) and the Sea of Japan (to the north). During WWII, this spot was also used to fire and store artillery, so there were many bunkers and other shelters hidden under ground. It was pretty cool to walk around.

Next stop was fugu! We ate some blowfish sashimi and survived, phew! While it can only be prepared by highly certified chefs, most fugu nowadays is bred to be poison-free, so we were not really in much danger in eating it. It really wasn't anything special, not much flavor at all.



The next morning we went to a fish market at 4:30 in the morning. It was cool, but we got there way earlier than necessary. I got some nice pictures out of it though.

After a nice drive up the western coast, through some small towns, to and around a small island on a long bridge that is supposed to be over beautiful water (but we did it in a downpour so I can't say for sure), we made our way to Nagato. Here we went on a cruise to see beautiful rock formations around the island on Omishima. Luckily, the weather cleared up for this.

Down the road in Hagi, we saw the ruins of a castle, some old-preserved samurai houses where a coi river runs along and even through the houses. Back in the day, the water was used for washing and cooking, not sure if the coi lived in there then too... People were still using that water for their homes, we saw some tubes with siphon-filtration unit on it. The best part of Hagi however where the hands on activities we did. Hagi is one of the most famous Japanese pottery towns and we went to a shop where we were able to make our own cups on a wheel. Granted we were helped a lot by the teacher, they turned out awesome and I can't wait to get it (in the mail, it had to go in the kiln). The teacher liked us so much, he gave us each a cup which would usually cost around $30 or more for free! But wait! There's more! We also went to a glass-blowing shop and got to make our own cups there too! That was really cool also. I have to say though, I liked making the pottery better because I got to get my hands dirty and felt like I was doing more. When I get the cups I'll put the pictures up.
On the final day of our journey we headed to mid-Yamaguchi where we went to the biggest cave system in Japan. It was pretty awesome. The cave was huge and the limestone formations were spectacular.

Next we went to Safari Land, a drive through zoo. While I tend to dislike zoos because the animals usually don't look happy, I was so excited. I thought maybe since they weren't really in cages they'd be happier. I was kind of right? It felt like we were in Jurassic Park with huge electric gate system, controlled by a man in a watch tower and the animals could frolic about as they pleased, for the most part. It was cool to see animals interact, but most of the animals were sleepy (namely the big cats, but when are cats not sleepy), and not frolicking as merrily as I imagined they would be. There was also a petting zoo area with ponies to ride, kangaroos to play with and my favorite, baby lions to hold. While I did feel bad about succumbing to the tourist trap and the servitude of the poor baby lions, it was pretty great to hold him! He was so cute and fuzzy!The final stop on our trip was to a micro-brewery in Yamaguchi city. Probably the biggest complaint of foreigners in Japan is the low-quality of the beer. I'm no beer connoisseur so I can't say much on the topic myself. Micro-brews for the most part are unheard of and are very hard to find. There are good local brews, but my friends were not a fan of this beer (I didn't have any, as I was driving and drivers can't drink at all). The view was beautiful though and the pizza as very delicious!

We concluded the trip with a drive along the southern coast, with a stop by the water where we found some bioluminescent creatures floating about and on the sand.

Back to the grind at school this week, classes start again in next week.