White Christmas...almost

When I first moved here, I was under the impression that snow in Kazusa is as rare as a snowball in hell. Three days before Christmas:



Christmas day was sunny and almost warm, shattering my dream of having a white Christmas in Japan. Nevertheless, I had a great time at Suzie's Christmas party - she had about 10 people over. For some reason, we were all really silly and immature - just how I like it. I learned that British people have a very strange Christmas tradition: crackers*. They are basically these little packages that pop when you open them, and they contain paper crowns, jokes, and whistles. Every whistle is a different note, which resulted in much cacophony when we tried to play "We Wish you a Merry Christmas." (Actually, it wasn't so bad; I just wanted to use the word "cacophony.") We also played "Pass the parcel" and this game that Wesley introduced involving camping and lists that I basically sucked at. Erich brought some chocolates called "Asse" which resulted in much hilarity. After eating, partying, and generally trashing Suzie's house, a small group of us went to karaoke because parties in Japan without karaoke are like peanut butter without jelly.


Our (un-white) Christmas bash!

*While I'm writing about cultural differences, Japanese people celebrate Christmas a little...differently. Apparently, they all eat fried chicken and christmas cake. It is so widespread to eat chicken for Christmas that even here, in the inaka, a few of my students were selling "christmas chicken" in front of the grocery store. How KFC managed to convince every man, woman, and child in Japan to consume fried chicken on Christmas is a mystery to me...

And now time for...Onsen Mania!
This holiday season, it is so cold that I've been going to onsens (communal hot spring baths) a lot. Fortunately for me, my area is famous for onsens, and a particularly good one can be found at Hara-jo. Hara-jo is the site where 35,000 christians were massacred, resulting in Japan's isolation from the west.

I like onsens so much that Erich gave me this keitai charm for Christmas!

What the (near) future holds -
Next Friday, Erich and I are driving down to Miyazaki to ring in the New Year with Hilda. Can't wait to see her again!

Then, Hilda and I are off to Hong Kong! I am getting excited looking at where to go in my Lonely Planet guide.

IN OTHER NEWS - Franz Ferdinand is coming to Osaka in February!!!! Suzie and I are going to try to get tickets tomorrow...it's a bit far to go, but I think it'll be so worth it.

Winter days

This weekend has been COLD. There were flurries all over the hanto, but the only place where the snow ever sticks is on Unzen:

Snow on the hanto

We went to IONA's Christmas party. It was all right:

IONA Christmas party

After tea ceremony on Saturday, the little girl who drew this and her friend were dropped off with me, and instead of going home, they came right into my house! Of course, I was fine with that but the little rugrats were INTO EVERYTHING!! Within 2 minutes, they located my stuffed bunny collection. We played bunnies for a while, then they taught me some kanji, then they spun me around in my office chair until I nearly hurled. Then they did my hair and makeup. I was ready to go out on the town after that! And (sarcasm aside), I did...

Suzie picked me up and we went to Shimabara for some birthday celebrations. It was a good night and not too overwhelming...I got to know a few people better. I must have had a good time because I only took one measly picture.

The sweetest thing ever!

This little girl who takes tea ceremony with me gave me this picture today...what a sweetie. Now I have to figure out how to say, "Thank you for the beautiful picture!"

In other news, a few hilarious things were said to me recently that I must document before I forget:
Last week during volleyball practice, Kyoto-sensei (the vice-principal) and I were stretching to warm up. He can't speak a lick of English, but he is one of the few who tries on occasion. Anyway, trying to make conversation, he said, "I am very hard" (referring to his muscles, I guess!) I tried so hard not to laugh, and just agreed and said that I was very hard, too.

Last week, one of my favorite students said, "I want to feel you with my love." It wouldn't have been so hilarious if my JTE wasn't standing there with him, helping him recite what he had obviously rehearsed with her earlier.

I realized something today.

My JTE said to me, "You are so obedient!" After being initially puzzled that she called me an adjective usually attributed to a dog, I smiled in silent agreement. Yes, I am a good little foreigner. I follow all the rules to a T. If there is a volleyball game this weekend, I show up for practice. If someone asks me to help with something, I follow through.

So why do I wish I could be flakier?

Because flaky people have all the fun. If something else better comes up, a flaky person has no problem eschewing his/her responsibilities. They can talk their way out of situations that aren't desirable. I hate these people, so why do I want to be more like them?

Because I have no time for myself anymore!

2 months ago
A lady at the yakuba asked me to join her "nighto" volleyball team. Sure! "Ok then, practice is every Saturday at 8:30pm." Well crap, there goes my Saturday nights!

Last month:
I was having a pleasant conversation at my town's culture festival with a retired English teacher. I had just witnessed a tea ceremony, and she asked me, "Do you like to learn tea ceremony?" Of course, not wanting to seem close-minded and unwilling to try new things, I said, "yes." Next thing I know, the tea ceremony lady says to me, "Ok, then please wait for me outside your house every Saturday at 1:30." *

2 weeks ago
A man was talking to me about English education. I must have been hypnotized by his excellent English, because I ended up semi-agreeing to help him this weekend. Since I never fully committed, I kind of expected it to be like in America, where someone asks you to do something for them and you agree politely, then it never actually happens. Wrong.


Lesson learned: Japanese people are treacherous. Avoid at all costs.

* My tea teacher asked me to pay her last week - is it safe to bail now that it's not free anymore? Or would that be too flaky?

Time.

Just when you think, I actually have time to sit down and write, where does it go? I actually don't have time to sit down and write right now, because Erich is patiently waiting to watch the next episode of Lost, which we have recently discovered is fantastic. So I will make this brief:

Last weekend, Suzie and I went to Fukuoka to see sumo. After shopping all day and partying until 3am, we crashed on a karaoke sofa for the night while singing ourselves to sleep with Coldplay and The Doves.

Me and sumo!

The next day, Erich and I boarded a plane for Seoul, Korea for Erich to finally get his visa. We proceeded to freeze our asses off, eat at a wonderful vegetarian restaurant, get a lot of great deals, and go to the biggest indoor amusement park I've ever seen. All in about the span of 48 hours.

Seoul is so big...

Knackered

I've stolen an expression from the British and adopted it as my own - knackered knackered knackered! I love it. Anyway, after our mid-year conference this week, I am knackered. But I have some fun pictures to share:

Fruit bus stops

Along the way to Nagasaki, we took a detour through this town that has bus stops shaped like fruit. They have caused me to ponder why more objects aren't shaped like fun things, because why not? They put a smile on my face. This is why I love Japan. Only the Japanese have the ability to convert everyday objects into these fun, interesting things. Napkins that say "Lovery Strawberry." Thumbtacks shaped like sushi. Popsicles shaped like watermelon wedges. There is a happy smiling character on EVERY package of candy. I could go on and on.

So why do I feel like all of this happiness is just an illusion?

Living in Japan is a lot like putting together a puzzle, except that someone else has all the pieces. And they don't speak English.

At the post office, trying to pay for our trip to Korea (next week!):
Me (in Japanese): I'd like to do a money transfer, please.
Them: Sorry, you have to go to the bank.
Me: (puzzled, because I just did a money transfer at the post office 2 weeks ago)
Pedaling to the bank, cussing under my breath
At the bank:
Me (in Japanese): I'd like to do a money transfer, please. (showing them my cash and the account in which the money should go)
Them: Cash?
Me: (nodding)
Them: (pointing to ATM)
Me: (Walk over to ATM. Man helps me. Money comes out of my bank account, not the cash in my hand. Pissed off.)

At school:
Me: Where is the vacation request book?
Vice-principal: (scrambling, unable to find. Calls the office teacher, gets into a discussion for 10 minutes about the book, principal summoned. Book still no where to be found.)
Me: (standing there, trying to be patient)
Another 5 minutes elapse, still talking about/looking for book. Librarian summoned.
Librarian: Is this it? (holds up the book)
Me: YES! (grabbing it)

Before I came here, I worried about being uptight. But the truth is, I am laid back compared to some of the people here. Seriously, they put the ass in anal.

Nevertheless, sitting in the office every day without conversing is really taking its toll. I really want to talk to people, but when I eye someone to talk to, they always look too busy to talk to me. Plus the fact that I don't speak Japanese well is frightening to some of the teachers because they know they will inevitably have to use (cue scary music) ENGLISH!

So all of these social anxieties have been contributing to a greater fear: that they don't like me.* It culminated in a really bad day for me on Tuesday, where I was pretty much walking around in tears. Once a good cryfest is out of my system, I can move on with my life but since I didn't get a chance, it was a slow painful leak all day long.**

I prefer explosive sobs where my whole face turns into a tomato and I can eat ice cream after it's over.

This story has a point, I promise. I was riding home from a teaching demo in Kitaarima earlier, and my JTE was talking about my teaching situation, which I have wondered about since day one. During Tokyo orientation, I was told that I would be teaching at one base school (my junior high) and then occasionally going to 4 different elementary schools. Well, that didn't happen because I've been at the same junior high this whole time. So I've been mulling over in my head why they wouldn't want me there. I can see why introverts go insane.

Well, my JTE told me that my principal was really adamant about having an ALT at his school, and the elementary schools said they wanted me once a week. That wouldn't leave enough time at the junior high, so there was much bantering back and forth. The Board of Education determined that it was more important to have an ALT at the junior high, since elementary English education is optional. So in the end, I sit at the junior high, even though I could easily go to the elementary schools during exams. Stupid bureaucracy...

So here I sit at home, trying to piece together my life with these fragments of understood conversations. But isn't it supposed to be challenging?

* Boo-hoo, I know. It's a really stupid fear. But the truth is, I have lived enough years to know that people judge people before really getting to know them. And it pisses me off.
** And then the enkai. But that is another post entirely...