Today was jh sports day. The kids practiced for it all week. On Wednesday they didn’t tell me we were having practice all afternoon, so while everyone else was decked out in sports gear, I was wearing my skirt and sandals. Which meant I wasn’t allowed to participate in any of the practice events and had to sit and watch for three hours. Mostly boring, except when I was talking to some of the third graders (third year jh) who are really funny. They kept trying to get me to remember their names—only half of which I could remember correctly. Now the trick is remembering which name goes with which face among the sea of 180 kids. At least I know Mako is the kid with the crutches. Unfortunately, kids who kind of look similar tend to hang out with each other—often because they’re related… My ploy to force the kids to put a picture with a general survey about themselves has failed as my JTE has not yet given me the pictures and there was a bit of miscommunication regarding giving out the forms to EVERY class. So I have no photos and know about 5 names very well. Not very good.
Sports day was really fun, though, when I got to participate. I did the 2nd and 3rd grade tugs-of-war—I was on the white team. 2nd grade lost pretty badly in the tug of war, but 3rd won it in 2/3. And white won the whole competition. I also go to do this game where there are five teams of grownups who throw taped-up balls of trash into a basket on the top of a pole that the kids are holding up. My team was the really important people heading the town educational system—ie superintendent, my kacho, and some other old guys that I see periodically in the office. I also did the folk dancing. The first dance was set to “Do your ears hang low?” And the second was the town dance, neither of which I got to learn ahead of time. But it was fun, even though most of the kids were thinking it was lame. Which is understandable if you’re 14.
Friday night I went to Miyazaki City with a few other ALTs—Noele, Dave, and Matt—and Matt’s girlfriend who was visiting. We took the expressway there via Miyakonojo and it only took 1-1.5 hours, although it cost 1000 yen. The city wasn’t all that exciting or interesting. We went partially so we could go shopping, but nobody was really into it but me. Not that any of us could afford a lot of the things for sale in one department store we went to, but I still enjoy looking at everything. When we went out on Friday we ate dinner out then stopped by Mister Donut before going out to a bar—Zulu—which advertised reggae and “Black music.” So we went to see what that meant. Unfortunately I have the best Japanese and all of us missed the sign indicating a 1000 yen cover charge (!). On top of the 700 yen drink we all got. We could’ve gotten 2 hour nomihoudai (all you can drink) for 2500, but we weren’t sure if our hostel locked the doors at 12 or if they closed the front window. Turned out neither, as the window was already locked and the doors were locked between 1 and 2:30.
Saturday, after shopping, we drove back towards home down the coast to go to an onsen. It was really neat looking since the typhoon was near enough to make it stormy, but not to be dangerous. The waves were really big and the palm trees were blowing like they always show on TV. Lots of surfers out. Miyazaki’s famous for its surfing.
This next week I go to KAPIC (Kagoshima Asian Pacific International Center ?) for classes on Japanese language and culture. It should be really fun. And, hopefully, a bit educational, as well. Rumor has it that the evenings are just big party time—ex: the center is in the middle of nowhere. The beer vending machines are emptied every night.
I’m just excited to get to ride bikes around the lake there. And have some time off from thinking about making lessons and worrying about not having good ideas.
I bought a bento for 800 yen like all the other teachers for today's lunch. But I ate it for dinner instead because one of my students' dads who I'd met at a bar a few weeks ago (he's drinking buddies with one of the Shibushi ALTs) insisted I eat lunch with his family. And I was so glad I did. While all the women seemed really exhausted and nobody really wanted to talk much (so I talked to his daughter who's in 2nd grade at Matsuyama Elementary), it was still nice to pretend to be part of a group. The guy's wife got up at 4am to start making lunch for today and her sister-in-law or something got up at 3:30 (!). The food was really good. The guy runs a scuba school and a bunch of his fisherman friends gave him some little shrimps and some HUGE lobster-sized shrimp that were really tasty. And the bento really was dame. The nishime was gross and the fried chicken had very little meat and the piece of fish was insanely salty. Oh well. The man told me I'd be having lunch with his family next weekend at the elementary sports day. I knew I brought ostrich jerky for a reason...
Sports day was really fun, though, when I got to participate. I did the 2nd and 3rd grade tugs-of-war—I was on the white team. 2nd grade lost pretty badly in the tug of war, but 3rd won it in 2/3. And white won the whole competition. I also go to do this game where there are five teams of grownups who throw taped-up balls of trash into a basket on the top of a pole that the kids are holding up. My team was the really important people heading the town educational system—ie superintendent, my kacho, and some other old guys that I see periodically in the office. I also did the folk dancing. The first dance was set to “Do your ears hang low?” And the second was the town dance, neither of which I got to learn ahead of time. But it was fun, even though most of the kids were thinking it was lame. Which is understandable if you’re 14.
Friday night I went to Miyazaki City with a few other ALTs—Noele, Dave, and Matt—and Matt’s girlfriend who was visiting. We took the expressway there via Miyakonojo and it only took 1-1.5 hours, although it cost 1000 yen. The city wasn’t all that exciting or interesting. We went partially so we could go shopping, but nobody was really into it but me. Not that any of us could afford a lot of the things for sale in one department store we went to, but I still enjoy looking at everything. When we went out on Friday we ate dinner out then stopped by Mister Donut before going out to a bar—Zulu—which advertised reggae and “Black music.” So we went to see what that meant. Unfortunately I have the best Japanese and all of us missed the sign indicating a 1000 yen cover charge (!). On top of the 700 yen drink we all got. We could’ve gotten 2 hour nomihoudai (all you can drink) for 2500, but we weren’t sure if our hostel locked the doors at 12 or if they closed the front window. Turned out neither, as the window was already locked and the doors were locked between 1 and 2:30.
Saturday, after shopping, we drove back towards home down the coast to go to an onsen. It was really neat looking since the typhoon was near enough to make it stormy, but not to be dangerous. The waves were really big and the palm trees were blowing like they always show on TV. Lots of surfers out. Miyazaki’s famous for its surfing.
This next week I go to KAPIC (Kagoshima Asian Pacific International Center ?) for classes on Japanese language and culture. It should be really fun. And, hopefully, a bit educational, as well. Rumor has it that the evenings are just big party time—ex: the center is in the middle of nowhere. The beer vending machines are emptied every night.
I’m just excited to get to ride bikes around the lake there. And have some time off from thinking about making lessons and worrying about not having good ideas.
I bought a bento for 800 yen like all the other teachers for today's lunch. But I ate it for dinner instead because one of my students' dads who I'd met at a bar a few weeks ago (he's drinking buddies with one of the Shibushi ALTs) insisted I eat lunch with his family. And I was so glad I did. While all the women seemed really exhausted and nobody really wanted to talk much (so I talked to his daughter who's in 2nd grade at Matsuyama Elementary), it was still nice to pretend to be part of a group. The guy's wife got up at 4am to start making lunch for today and her sister-in-law or something got up at 3:30 (!). The food was really good. The guy runs a scuba school and a bunch of his fisherman friends gave him some little shrimps and some HUGE lobster-sized shrimp that were really tasty. And the bento really was dame. The nishime was gross and the fried chicken had very little meat and the piece of fish was insanely salty. Oh well. The man told me I'd be having lunch with his family next weekend at the elementary sports day. I knew I brought ostrich jerky for a reason...
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