Hello!
I'm in a really good mood. Many interesting, fun, or rewarding things lately.
It's a beautiful day here - around 50 degrees, sunny, brilliant mountains and blue sky. I might go running in a bit when I go home. Need to start training - I'm playing in a Japan-wide soccer tourney for Jets this spring... the Toyama girls won the same tournament this fall, so I'm pretty excited.
Just spent the past few hours with the other teachers re-waxing the gym floor. I've known about this for a few days -- it's been on the schedule that the gym floor would be waxed, so I knew abou it, but I didn't know that I was supposed to brings scrubby floors because all the teachers would be doing it ourselves. A pretty funny experience, though, and after about 15 minutes I ran up and grabbed the school's digital camera to record the rest of the afternoon. The gym here is so pretty - lots of windows and wood panneled walls, high ceilings, etc. All natural light.
This morning we had interview tests with the 3-nensei (9th grade). Some of the students do well, some can't even look me in the eye. Before one student, my teacher warned me that she probably wouldn't say anything, because in her 3 years at Nanbu, only 2 teachers have ever heard her speak. She's capable, she just decided at some point that she wouldn't. But she came in, sat down, and answered all of my questions well. The teacher was amazed that she spoke to me- I have now become the third person at this school to hear her voice, which is a nice feeling.
I had a great enkai last night with the office staff of my smaller (and friendlier) school. We took a bus (a story in itself) to a famous Toyama fish restaurant near the beach. This restaurant is in a really old, really large Japanese house - beautiful gardens, tatami rooms, and the okami-san (head lady) and staff in kimono. Please remember that Toyama is known in Japan for having really good fish - the specialities include this glow-in-the dark (I think it's called firefly or something) squid, and some sort of pure white shrimp - these things can only be caught in the Toyama bay. But the real reason for the enkai there and then was because it's kani, or crab, season. So the main course were crab legs, and we also had crab in other dishes (this cool soup with a square of crab in the center, etc.) I took pictures of the food, it's too elaborate (and tedious for you I'm sure) for me to really go into.
The people at this school are very friendly, and even though they don't speak a lot of English, they really try to include me. They're very curious about my impressions/opinions, and my background, so I seem to frequently become the topic of conversation. And after a few beers, my body always becomes the point of scrutiny. Not in a bad way - they're very complimentary. But the Japanese certainly have strange standards of beauty. The fact that they have standards are even strange.
For the past few months, people (random students, teachers, others) have been commenting on my 'small face'. Apparently, it's a very desirable thing to have a small face/small head in Japan, and students who have larger heads are often teased for it. But last night I found out that they have a term for face-to-height ratio. (I forgot what the term is, but it has the Japanese word for 8 somehow incorporated). Basically, they measured the height of my face and told me that there are eight of those heights in the rest of my body, therefore I am well-porportioned. They don't know how tall I am, they could just tell I'm an 8 with their eyes. How bizarre!!!
The bus ride was funny because a huge bus (25 passenger) came to pick up 6 people. The six of us were all sitting in the back of the bus (a little awkwardly, can you imagine sitting in a huge bus with an assortment of random people from you office? Maybe the language barrier makes it more strange), and my principle asked me (in Japanese) what kani is in English. I told him crab, and the bus driver piped in and asked for it again. This started banter back and forth between the prinicpal and the bus driver about foreigners, I could only understand bits of it, but I also heard a bit about russians and bicycles. The reason this was so funny though is something I can't really explain. It was the prinicpal asking me about crab, and the bus driver piping in over a sea of empty seats maybe.
Some good news: I won a free lift ticket to a pretty well-known resort in Niigata. Another excuse to go skiing! I'm going to Nagano this weekend, and have to leave tomorrow at 5:30 am to make it to the lifts by 8/8:30. Crazy!
But for tonight I'm going to try to organize a bit, get things in order since I'll be dead Sunday night when I get home.
Hope you all have a good weekend,
Sarah
ps - I've heard that there's a monkey on the loose in Toga, and the town hall has gotten some sort of monkey cage and device to try and capture it. Isn't that place so exciting?!
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Alright.
So, I believe I was at Saturday afternoon. We watched I shot Andy Warhol (a little boring) and made sushi in a giant Japanese house. Didn’t get back home until 4:30-ish, and Justin and some of the Tateyama (Japanese) gang were coming to meet us at 6. Only an hour and a half at home! This seems to be the story of my last week – only in and out.
We all went out to dinner at a good Aisian/european fusion type place – really stylish restaurant with good food, pretty cheap, too. I think eating out in Japan is relatively inexpensive. Groceries can often be worse. Afterwards we went to Toyama’s one nightclub, where there was a special ska night. Toyama youth were out in full force, all dressed for ska. The bands were great, and the place was packed. A really good atmosphere, a lot of dancing, Japanese ska is fun!
It was kind of interesting to see how the Japanese are so strict about some laws and lax about others; one of my friend’s high school students were at the club, drinking beer along wth everyone. I’ve never been carded here, never seen anyone been carded, and they sell beer from vending machines in the street. So they obviously don’t care. Same with smoking – many teachers smoke in the teacher’s office during school in plain sight and smell of students.
But the high school boys were very ‘genki’ and fun, and they were pretty excited to use their English combined with alcohol to hit on me while I was sitting at the bar. They even demonstrated their musical skills by serenading me with ‘Stand by me’!
Sunday I was up at 5:15 to catch a train back to Kurobe, to catch a bus to Nagano. A Japanese international group had a day trip planned – all inclusive for around 50 dollars (so cheap!). We had a bus chartered 2 hours to a Nagano resort, where we skiied, ate, and bathed. First the skiing. Really good snow, not the most challenging of resorts, but still interesting. Japanese are very into the group thing, so we were with people of various levels. People seemed surprised that Becca and I were so good – I think we both grew up with frequent ski trips and competitive parents J.
At lunch time (11, but I was starving), we had this enormous buffet – Japanese food, Chinese food, western food. I had curry rice, which is classic Japanese ski fare, and also a tuna sandwich, coffe jelly (jello) with cream sauce, orange juice, and some Chinese dim sum. Everyone but Becca and I had the 1000 yen nomihoudai – all you can drink… I still don’t understand drinking beer while skiing, but it’s very popular here. Actually, they’ll drink beer anytime. Half the people on the trip weren’t skiing, either, they were old Japanese women who came to just stay at the hotel for the afternoon, eating, drinking beer, and going to the onsen.
So after dinner (which was an hour-and-a-half affair), we hit the slopes again. Found and interesting snowboarding park that wasn’t too hard, and nobody was very good, so I wasn’t too intimidated to do it a few times.
After ski – onsen. The onsen is where you take off all your clothes with your friends, people you just met, and complete strangers (this was divided by sexes, but there are some co-ed ones). Then you go into a room with mirrors and stools and shower heads, and you bathe yourself (have I already explained this?). Then, you have fun! This onsen was great – there were maybe 7 or 8 different bathes. An onsen is different froma sento because it is mineral water pumped from the mountains (sento is a public bath – tap water). The first bath I did was really shallow (ankles deep) with arm-chair things built in. So you lay down, and there are arm rests in the pool even, and there are bubble coming from under you. Very relaxing! There’s also a tub that’s very similar to a traditional hot-tub. One was purple-colored, and scented with some sort of lavender. There were also balls and rubber ducks in this one. One was in a ceder tub. There was also an outdoor bath – you could watch the skiiers on the hill throug a window – sit on your knees in the bath and stick your face out the window (there was a loose wooden roof and walls to protect your privacy).
Also an ice-cold tub – my favorite. We alternated this with the sauna a few times. Also a steam room.
Can’t you see how wonderful this would be after skiing? The naked thing really doesn’t bother me. Some people get nervous, but I just didn’t care. Noone else does here, they do it their whole lives.
Took the bus/train home and ordered pizza. I love pizza! The pizza delivery boy had the biggest afro I’ve ever scene, and I’m still wondering if this was real or a wig. A Japanese afro?
Now I’m back in the school/rest/clean/bake routine. I’ve been pretty tired lately, I’m not sure why.
More later!
Sarah
So, I believe I was at Saturday afternoon. We watched I shot Andy Warhol (a little boring) and made sushi in a giant Japanese house. Didn’t get back home until 4:30-ish, and Justin and some of the Tateyama (Japanese) gang were coming to meet us at 6. Only an hour and a half at home! This seems to be the story of my last week – only in and out.
We all went out to dinner at a good Aisian/european fusion type place – really stylish restaurant with good food, pretty cheap, too. I think eating out in Japan is relatively inexpensive. Groceries can often be worse. Afterwards we went to Toyama’s one nightclub, where there was a special ska night. Toyama youth were out in full force, all dressed for ska. The bands were great, and the place was packed. A really good atmosphere, a lot of dancing, Japanese ska is fun!
It was kind of interesting to see how the Japanese are so strict about some laws and lax about others; one of my friend’s high school students were at the club, drinking beer along wth everyone. I’ve never been carded here, never seen anyone been carded, and they sell beer from vending machines in the street. So they obviously don’t care. Same with smoking – many teachers smoke in the teacher’s office during school in plain sight and smell of students.
But the high school boys were very ‘genki’ and fun, and they were pretty excited to use their English combined with alcohol to hit on me while I was sitting at the bar. They even demonstrated their musical skills by serenading me with ‘Stand by me’!
Sunday I was up at 5:15 to catch a train back to Kurobe, to catch a bus to Nagano. A Japanese international group had a day trip planned – all inclusive for around 50 dollars (so cheap!). We had a bus chartered 2 hours to a Nagano resort, where we skiied, ate, and bathed. First the skiing. Really good snow, not the most challenging of resorts, but still interesting. Japanese are very into the group thing, so we were with people of various levels. People seemed surprised that Becca and I were so good – I think we both grew up with frequent ski trips and competitive parents J.
At lunch time (11, but I was starving), we had this enormous buffet – Japanese food, Chinese food, western food. I had curry rice, which is classic Japanese ski fare, and also a tuna sandwich, coffe jelly (jello) with cream sauce, orange juice, and some Chinese dim sum. Everyone but Becca and I had the 1000 yen nomihoudai – all you can drink… I still don’t understand drinking beer while skiing, but it’s very popular here. Actually, they’ll drink beer anytime. Half the people on the trip weren’t skiing, either, they were old Japanese women who came to just stay at the hotel for the afternoon, eating, drinking beer, and going to the onsen.
So after dinner (which was an hour-and-a-half affair), we hit the slopes again. Found and interesting snowboarding park that wasn’t too hard, and nobody was very good, so I wasn’t too intimidated to do it a few times.
After ski – onsen. The onsen is where you take off all your clothes with your friends, people you just met, and complete strangers (this was divided by sexes, but there are some co-ed ones). Then you go into a room with mirrors and stools and shower heads, and you bathe yourself (have I already explained this?). Then, you have fun! This onsen was great – there were maybe 7 or 8 different bathes. An onsen is different froma sento because it is mineral water pumped from the mountains (sento is a public bath – tap water). The first bath I did was really shallow (ankles deep) with arm-chair things built in. So you lay down, and there are arm rests in the pool even, and there are bubble coming from under you. Very relaxing! There’s also a tub that’s very similar to a traditional hot-tub. One was purple-colored, and scented with some sort of lavender. There were also balls and rubber ducks in this one. One was in a ceder tub. There was also an outdoor bath – you could watch the skiiers on the hill throug a window – sit on your knees in the bath and stick your face out the window (there was a loose wooden roof and walls to protect your privacy).
Also an ice-cold tub – my favorite. We alternated this with the sauna a few times. Also a steam room.
Can’t you see how wonderful this would be after skiing? The naked thing really doesn’t bother me. Some people get nervous, but I just didn’t care. Noone else does here, they do it their whole lives.
Took the bus/train home and ordered pizza. I love pizza! The pizza delivery boy had the biggest afro I’ve ever scene, and I’m still wondering if this was real or a wig. A Japanese afro?
Now I’m back in the school/rest/clean/bake routine. I’ve been pretty tired lately, I’m not sure why.
More later!
Sarah
Monday, February 24, 2003
Hi.
My computer's still not back. Actually, it's causing me much grief. But I won't go into that for now, there are much more interesting and exciting things in my life the past few weeks.
Last time I posted was a Monday, I believe. The next day was a holiday, and I headed to Kanazawa, the closest cooler, bigger city (50 minute train ride for about $7.50 - not bad!) Kanazawa wasn't bombed in the war (like Toyama was) and there is a famous garden (top 3 in Japan), castle, marketplace, and geisha and samurai districts. But unfortunetly, it was freezing and raining. And I didn't have a clue where I was going.
I got on the tourist - city loop bus and started getting off where I thought I could sightsee. But the maps were confusing (every map had north pointing a different direction), and in the pouring rain I didn't have much patience. I did make it inside the castle, but was so wet and cold I cared more about being inside than in a castle.
So I took the bus to the shopping/urban area, and the bus stop was right in front of a starbucks. Sitting inside with a book, coffee, and a western-style sandwich was a lovely way to pass my time, and I met some interesting Australians, too. Then I decided to give sightseeing another go, and headed to the samurai district nearby. Again, too cold and wet so I ducked into a book-music store.
This place was really cool - small, but everything it sold was fascinating. There was really good music playing (from the 2 turntables built into the counter) and there was a really cool selection of film/art books, postcards, music, and and childrens' books that were more about the design than the children. I spent an hour or so browsing before I bought a children's book about winter and some postcards. As I was checking out, I asked the guy behind the counter about the music, and he offered to play a bunch of CD's for me. So I spent more time, just hanging out and listening to music. This guy was also interested in learning English (it was the kind of store with a lot of French/German/American style design things, in addition to Japanese), so we talked for a bit. He was also looking for a female native English speaker to sing for his next album (he's a DJ and producer in addition to soley owning and running the store), so I told him I was interested in trying. What an exciting trip/person to meet!
That night I met Victoria at a Japanese-style pub for food and beer, which was nice. A busy day, but worth it.
That weekend was the Valentine's dance. Nothing too exciting happened. Saturday I bought a hat. Sat. night I got dressed up and went dancing. Rebecca and I weren't having too much fun in the bar after, so we called it an early night and took a cab back to sunshine.
Oh, forgot Valentine's day - nothing too exciting - but I did visit my English teacher in the women's pregnancy hospital. Her husband and son were there, and she showed me the videos of all her ultra-sounds. She's very excited, as she's had many miscarraiges in the past 8 years since her first child. She looked great - very young and healthy. I think her rest is doing her good. That night I played Jenga and sequence with Becca in my apartment. Jenga has become quite the popular thing.
Sunday was Brian’s birthday – very low key dinner at the Nepalese restaurant. We were going to go bowling, but were tired and it was late, so we played Jenga in my apartment.
The next Monday was pretty rough – I got a call from Apple. They told me my warranty was invalid since they found physical damage on the computer, and that the repairs would total 125,000 yen, which is over 1000 dollars. No Good! No good at all. So I’ve been playing phone tag with the English translator at Apple Japan, and e-mailing various people for advice. I’ve decided to fix the computer myself – a teacher told me he can order the correct parts at 15,000 yen for a hard drive and 10,000 yen for the bottom case.
That Wednesday I took half the day off and went back to Kanazawa. The guy from the store had offered to give me a personal tour of Kanazawa. Luckily, it was sunny and gorgeous – very warm and beautiful. We walked around the gardens, shrines, castles, markets, and districts, and did the whole city in about 4 hours – stopping once at the cooooolest café I’ve ever seen. It was in the Geisha district (which looks like a nicer version of the small town in Yojimbo – the houses are all connected with the vertical wood paneling). The café was all tatami, and each table was a kotatsu, which means there was a well for your feet, and the floor and under table area was heated. Really dark wood, with a bar in the back. Behind the bar was an indoor garden with bamboo. They had a really great selection of herbal teas, and they came in unique, cool tea cups, beautiful. It was really fun.
That night I met up with Victoria again for dinner and drinks at our favorite Italian restaurant – the pizza there is sooo good. So is the red wine and ceasar salad.
Returned that night and whipped up a pumpkin pie for desert. Or maybe that was Tuesday. Regardless, who doesn’t love pumpkin pie? (besides Justin)
Friday night was a charity show meeting (somehow I’m set designer and videographer which is a little too involved for my tastes, especially if Chris is coming in June). Then went with Becca and Yoko to a small town on the outskirts of Toyama Pref., about an hour away. There was a house party at a Japanese friend’s house (the biggest house I’ve seen in Japan – maybe twice as big as mine, and all traditional Japanese style, so cool!). I hadn’t really met anyone there yet, so it was interesting and fun to make a few more friends. One girl I met is Mahiko, a travel agent with a good sense of humor and great English. This next weekend I’m going to Nagano with her, Becca, and 9 of her Japanese guy friends. Two days, with travel/hotel/dinner/breakfast/ski tickets/onsen all at about 160 dollars. Great! We’ll ski at the place the Olympics were held – it’s supposed to be pretty tough.
But going back. Friday night was a late night, and we had a leisurely afternoon on Saturday at this guy’s house. His mother brought up stuff for sushi, and we sat around watching a movie and making temakizushi – or hand-rolled sushi with the fresh tuna this guy had just caught in the pacific (they have a family fishing company).
I’ll continue this later. I’ve got to get going.
Sarah
My computer's still not back. Actually, it's causing me much grief. But I won't go into that for now, there are much more interesting and exciting things in my life the past few weeks.
Last time I posted was a Monday, I believe. The next day was a holiday, and I headed to Kanazawa, the closest cooler, bigger city (50 minute train ride for about $7.50 - not bad!) Kanazawa wasn't bombed in the war (like Toyama was) and there is a famous garden (top 3 in Japan), castle, marketplace, and geisha and samurai districts. But unfortunetly, it was freezing and raining. And I didn't have a clue where I was going.
I got on the tourist - city loop bus and started getting off where I thought I could sightsee. But the maps were confusing (every map had north pointing a different direction), and in the pouring rain I didn't have much patience. I did make it inside the castle, but was so wet and cold I cared more about being inside than in a castle.
So I took the bus to the shopping/urban area, and the bus stop was right in front of a starbucks. Sitting inside with a book, coffee, and a western-style sandwich was a lovely way to pass my time, and I met some interesting Australians, too. Then I decided to give sightseeing another go, and headed to the samurai district nearby. Again, too cold and wet so I ducked into a book-music store.
This place was really cool - small, but everything it sold was fascinating. There was really good music playing (from the 2 turntables built into the counter) and there was a really cool selection of film/art books, postcards, music, and and childrens' books that were more about the design than the children. I spent an hour or so browsing before I bought a children's book about winter and some postcards. As I was checking out, I asked the guy behind the counter about the music, and he offered to play a bunch of CD's for me. So I spent more time, just hanging out and listening to music. This guy was also interested in learning English (it was the kind of store with a lot of French/German/American style design things, in addition to Japanese), so we talked for a bit. He was also looking for a female native English speaker to sing for his next album (he's a DJ and producer in addition to soley owning and running the store), so I told him I was interested in trying. What an exciting trip/person to meet!
That night I met Victoria at a Japanese-style pub for food and beer, which was nice. A busy day, but worth it.
That weekend was the Valentine's dance. Nothing too exciting happened. Saturday I bought a hat. Sat. night I got dressed up and went dancing. Rebecca and I weren't having too much fun in the bar after, so we called it an early night and took a cab back to sunshine.
Oh, forgot Valentine's day - nothing too exciting - but I did visit my English teacher in the women's pregnancy hospital. Her husband and son were there, and she showed me the videos of all her ultra-sounds. She's very excited, as she's had many miscarraiges in the past 8 years since her first child. She looked great - very young and healthy. I think her rest is doing her good. That night I played Jenga and sequence with Becca in my apartment. Jenga has become quite the popular thing.
Sunday was Brian’s birthday – very low key dinner at the Nepalese restaurant. We were going to go bowling, but were tired and it was late, so we played Jenga in my apartment.
The next Monday was pretty rough – I got a call from Apple. They told me my warranty was invalid since they found physical damage on the computer, and that the repairs would total 125,000 yen, which is over 1000 dollars. No Good! No good at all. So I’ve been playing phone tag with the English translator at Apple Japan, and e-mailing various people for advice. I’ve decided to fix the computer myself – a teacher told me he can order the correct parts at 15,000 yen for a hard drive and 10,000 yen for the bottom case.
That Wednesday I took half the day off and went back to Kanazawa. The guy from the store had offered to give me a personal tour of Kanazawa. Luckily, it was sunny and gorgeous – very warm and beautiful. We walked around the gardens, shrines, castles, markets, and districts, and did the whole city in about 4 hours – stopping once at the cooooolest café I’ve ever seen. It was in the Geisha district (which looks like a nicer version of the small town in Yojimbo – the houses are all connected with the vertical wood paneling). The café was all tatami, and each table was a kotatsu, which means there was a well for your feet, and the floor and under table area was heated. Really dark wood, with a bar in the back. Behind the bar was an indoor garden with bamboo. They had a really great selection of herbal teas, and they came in unique, cool tea cups, beautiful. It was really fun.
That night I met up with Victoria again for dinner and drinks at our favorite Italian restaurant – the pizza there is sooo good. So is the red wine and ceasar salad.
Returned that night and whipped up a pumpkin pie for desert. Or maybe that was Tuesday. Regardless, who doesn’t love pumpkin pie? (besides Justin)
Friday night was a charity show meeting (somehow I’m set designer and videographer which is a little too involved for my tastes, especially if Chris is coming in June). Then went with Becca and Yoko to a small town on the outskirts of Toyama Pref., about an hour away. There was a house party at a Japanese friend’s house (the biggest house I’ve seen in Japan – maybe twice as big as mine, and all traditional Japanese style, so cool!). I hadn’t really met anyone there yet, so it was interesting and fun to make a few more friends. One girl I met is Mahiko, a travel agent with a good sense of humor and great English. This next weekend I’m going to Nagano with her, Becca, and 9 of her Japanese guy friends. Two days, with travel/hotel/dinner/breakfast/ski tickets/onsen all at about 160 dollars. Great! We’ll ski at the place the Olympics were held – it’s supposed to be pretty tough.
But going back. Friday night was a late night, and we had a leisurely afternoon on Saturday at this guy’s house. His mother brought up stuff for sushi, and we sat around watching a movie and making temakizushi – or hand-rolled sushi with the fresh tuna this guy had just caught in the pacific (they have a family fishing company).
I’ll continue this later. I’ve got to get going.
Sarah
Sunday, February 09, 2003
Hello!
Ouch - I'm in pain. But in a good way. Between Aikido twice a week and snowboarding on the weekends, I think my body will be constantly bruised, pulled, and strained. But I'm having fun!
Aikido was really really cool. Basically I threw myself down on the tatami mat repeatedly for an hour and a half. Aikido's about doing and receiving (actually, I'm sure I'll explain this wrong since I've only had one lesson in broken English and Japanese). But basically the attacker grabs someone's wrist, and then becomes the receiver because the person whose wrist is grabbed basically uses the attackers force and balance against him and gives him a flick or twist to send him flying accross the room. It's amazing and looks effortless - they look like they're gliding accross the floor, and they don't seem to break a sweat (unless they're getting thrown around). Apparently it will hurt less once I learn to fall correctly, but for the first few weeks, when I'm repeatedly falling and often not doing it right, I think it will hurt. Both my shoulders are large round brusies (yellow at this point). I think the Monday-Thursday interval is just enough time, though, for the bruises to get better before I genereate new ones.
Tonight I'm going to buy my dogi (cool pajama-like white suit) before Aikido.
Had a great weekend in Toga - another festival in the mountains. Saturday we caught a train and a bus to the snow festival (total of 2 hours travel time). We walked around a bit and saw huge life-size castles and buildings intricately carved of snow. and bridges, igloos, a police box (koban) you could go into, large walrus with stairs up the front and a slide down the body, etc. There were games, dances, a performance of King Lear at the ampitheater, some good music (from Brazil), etc. We had 3 large chunks of snow to carve - 2 were maybe 12 ft. square, one was 12 x 12 x 20 feet long. The two smaller ones became Jaws and an armchair, and the large one became a shinkansen, or bullet train. When it became night, someone went around and put candles in all the sculptures, including one in each window of the shinkansen. It looked great. All the snow sculptures were lit with colored lights at night, and the colored lights of the castle changed with each performance, then were synchronized with the amazing fireworks show which was set off from behind the castle. Did videotape a lot of the day (mostly the parents who made their kids participate in this tube-pusing snow competition, very cute). Also ate soba (it was the soba festival), and have a new appreciation for warm sake (it was freezing rain during the fireworks). That night about 25-30 JETs went back to the local JET's place and camped out, amuzing ourselves with ALT-teaching games such as hangman, pictionary, and charades. Next morning, woke up early and went to the nearby ski-jo, snow valley. Unfortunately, weather hadn't turned colder and it was _raining_. Only mist/cloud/fog on the mountain, but it was so warm that the snow was pretty slushy and gross. Also was really tired. But the resort was good, and I'd like to go back when there's colder weather (I'm sure it will come - it's in the 50's here today, for February!)
Last night I was sound asleep by 9pm, and it was very nice. Time for lunch!
Sarah
Ouch - I'm in pain. But in a good way. Between Aikido twice a week and snowboarding on the weekends, I think my body will be constantly bruised, pulled, and strained. But I'm having fun!
Aikido was really really cool. Basically I threw myself down on the tatami mat repeatedly for an hour and a half. Aikido's about doing and receiving (actually, I'm sure I'll explain this wrong since I've only had one lesson in broken English and Japanese). But basically the attacker grabs someone's wrist, and then becomes the receiver because the person whose wrist is grabbed basically uses the attackers force and balance against him and gives him a flick or twist to send him flying accross the room. It's amazing and looks effortless - they look like they're gliding accross the floor, and they don't seem to break a sweat (unless they're getting thrown around). Apparently it will hurt less once I learn to fall correctly, but for the first few weeks, when I'm repeatedly falling and often not doing it right, I think it will hurt. Both my shoulders are large round brusies (yellow at this point). I think the Monday-Thursday interval is just enough time, though, for the bruises to get better before I genereate new ones.
Tonight I'm going to buy my dogi (cool pajama-like white suit) before Aikido.
Had a great weekend in Toga - another festival in the mountains. Saturday we caught a train and a bus to the snow festival (total of 2 hours travel time). We walked around a bit and saw huge life-size castles and buildings intricately carved of snow. and bridges, igloos, a police box (koban) you could go into, large walrus with stairs up the front and a slide down the body, etc. There were games, dances, a performance of King Lear at the ampitheater, some good music (from Brazil), etc. We had 3 large chunks of snow to carve - 2 were maybe 12 ft. square, one was 12 x 12 x 20 feet long. The two smaller ones became Jaws and an armchair, and the large one became a shinkansen, or bullet train. When it became night, someone went around and put candles in all the sculptures, including one in each window of the shinkansen. It looked great. All the snow sculptures were lit with colored lights at night, and the colored lights of the castle changed with each performance, then were synchronized with the amazing fireworks show which was set off from behind the castle. Did videotape a lot of the day (mostly the parents who made their kids participate in this tube-pusing snow competition, very cute). Also ate soba (it was the soba festival), and have a new appreciation for warm sake (it was freezing rain during the fireworks). That night about 25-30 JETs went back to the local JET's place and camped out, amuzing ourselves with ALT-teaching games such as hangman, pictionary, and charades. Next morning, woke up early and went to the nearby ski-jo, snow valley. Unfortunately, weather hadn't turned colder and it was _raining_. Only mist/cloud/fog on the mountain, but it was so warm that the snow was pretty slushy and gross. Also was really tired. But the resort was good, and I'd like to go back when there's colder weather (I'm sure it will come - it's in the 50's here today, for February!)
Last night I was sound asleep by 9pm, and it was very nice. Time for lunch!
Sarah
Thursday, February 06, 2003
Great! Haven't been able to get onto this site at my other school for some reason. Only have a few minutes to write now before I catch a train home.
A few new things -- First, I'm going to start learning Aikido. I hope this lasts longer than the Brazillian break-dance-fighting, but I think it will. It's at a gym downtown, twice a week, and all adults who've been doing it for like over 20 years. And who speak Japanese. So I'm sure I'll fit right in. Actually there is another JET who goes - she was new last year so she should be able to help me out a bit.
Had the flu last week so I didn't get to go to Nagano. If you read Brian's site you might have seen that the snow wasn't great, but I think from other reports I've heard that only the beginner stuff was icey and the rest of the mountain was _amazing_, but that's okay, because I'm doing a cheap day trip to nagano in a week or two.
This weekend is Toga, please meditate for my life as I brave these crazy mountain roads. Luckily I'm taking a bus, rather than dealing with a foreign city driver and a city car. Saturday is the snow/soba festival -- I'll make a huge snow sculpture with other JETs, eat soba (japanese wheat noodles), and watch some awesome fireworks at night. Then Sunday I'll try to snowboard a bit before heading back -- have heard very mixed reviews about Toga's hill, but I think it will be very small.
Time to run for the bus, I hope I can write some of the entertaining things I'm experiencing soon!!!
Sarah
A few new things -- First, I'm going to start learning Aikido. I hope this lasts longer than the Brazillian break-dance-fighting, but I think it will. It's at a gym downtown, twice a week, and all adults who've been doing it for like over 20 years. And who speak Japanese. So I'm sure I'll fit right in. Actually there is another JET who goes - she was new last year so she should be able to help me out a bit.
Had the flu last week so I didn't get to go to Nagano. If you read Brian's site you might have seen that the snow wasn't great, but I think from other reports I've heard that only the beginner stuff was icey and the rest of the mountain was _amazing_, but that's okay, because I'm doing a cheap day trip to nagano in a week or two.
This weekend is Toga, please meditate for my life as I brave these crazy mountain roads. Luckily I'm taking a bus, rather than dealing with a foreign city driver and a city car. Saturday is the snow/soba festival -- I'll make a huge snow sculpture with other JETs, eat soba (japanese wheat noodles), and watch some awesome fireworks at night. Then Sunday I'll try to snowboard a bit before heading back -- have heard very mixed reviews about Toga's hill, but I think it will be very small.
Time to run for the bus, I hope I can write some of the entertaining things I'm experiencing soon!!!
Sarah
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