Wednesday, March 17, 2010

End of Feb. and First Half of Mar. 2010

I was working on this entry on 3/15 but I left it for a while and didn't finish it till today (3/31).  I changed the post date to 3/17 though.  There's been some technical difficulties that I can't fix (this is hella driving me nuts!!!!!!  My internet is too damn slow and my comp is so old too!!) too, so this entry might look messed up at times.  So this is old news but I hope it's still good to read.

I have a lot to update... it can be a hassle, but I'll summarize.  Other than disliking pollen allergies (I've been taking meds daily), the rain and biking in it with an umbrella on narrow/busy/slippery roads, and doing the usual, I've been.... Well, let's see where I should begin.  If you haven't noticed, looking at the photos I take keeps everything in order.

VANCOUVER OLYMPICS
Last month was all about the Vancouver Olympic Games...  in Japan, it was all about Mao Asada, Daisuke Takahashi, and others.  In the USA and my apartment here in Japan, of course it was all about APOLO ANTON OHNO!  <3  I'm also a fan of Mirai Nagasu, whom I emailed in the summer of 2007 when I was doing an internship in Aichi, Japan.  I told her how our last names are similar, and she emailed me back agreeing so.  Anyway, I was constantly watching the Olympics but not always cuz of the time difference and air time.  I couldn't watch a lot of it because I had work.  I was able to join some staff/teachers watching some footage on TV in the copy room at the school though, haha.  Like when Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada skated the free program.  There was a lot of drama in the Games too.  Too bad I couldn't watch the Closing Ceremony cuz of bad timing and NBC Olympics.com doesn't let me watch the live streaming videos cuz I'm not in the USA.  Bummer.  Oh, and Apolo couldn't win a gold medal this time (and got DQ-ed/DQ-ed himself in the 500m final), but now has 8 Olympic medals from 3 Olympic Games, which I've all watched.  Wish I could've seen him live with my own eyes... it'd of course be awesome to meet this hottie.

SOME CULTURAL STUFF
After watching the figure skating exhibition on Sunday, 2/28, I hung out with Mr. Teramoto, his sister, his daughter, and an exchange student from Vietnam.  We went to the Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine,
went to the Miwafuku sake factory (the owner kindly gave us a tour and a souvenir small bottle of Danjiri sake),
and had a homemade oden and okonomiyaki dinner at Mr. T's mother's house, where I met another Vietnamese person working in this city.

HINAMATSURI (GIRLS' DAY) CELEBRATIONS
some rice cakes I bought on 3/3, the actual day (had other sweets too, but won't post here):
the night before, on 3/2, we had a sushi dinner party at Mindy's... the rice sucked (sorry Mindy) but the dinner was pretty good:

"AMERICAN GRADUATION" IN ENGLISH CLASSES IN JAPAN
For all four 3rd year jr. high classes, during the final English classes, after giving a quick lesson/presentation/explanation on how graduations are like in the USA and playing the "Pomp and Circumstance/The Graduation March" song, I called out the students' names, shook their hands, and gave each one of them "certificates" I made, with personalized messages on the bottom of each.  I really liked the 3rd years MUCH more than the 2nd and 1st years... many of the 2nd years are the worst, loudest animals ever, and so are some of the 1st years.  I only like one 1st year class.  I thanked the 3rd years for listening to me and participating in class.  So I've only had 1st and 2nd year classes after the final 3rd year classes.




S中学校合唱コンクール (SCHOOL-WIDE CHORUS CONTEST)









On 3/5, the school had a chorus contest, by each class and grade.  This is an example of something non-existent in a public middle school back home.  Each class sung their theme song, and then their free class-individual song.

                                            




ONE DAY, I JUST FELT LIKE GETTING OUT OF HERE




I've been interested in going to an Ito Yokado store just for the heck of it, and went online to look for locations nearby.  So on 3/7, after Google video-chatting with Lesli and Anne and their housemates, I went to the big/nice Ario mall in Otori to go shopping.  Here's the SAKURA CREAM FRAPPUCCINO I bought at Starbucks:







YAKINIKU DINNER @ GYU-KAKU; NEWS CALENDAR
















On 3/10, Shiori, Graham, Mindy, and I had some delicious meat:



































































Before the dinner, I picked up my 2010.4 - 2011.3 NEWS Calendar at LAWSON that I ordered through Amazon:



MY FIRST TIME ATTENDING A GRADUATION IN JAPAN
On 3/12, the 3rd years graduated from the junior high school.  To the generous and thoughtful students who gave me something, I gave them thank you cards with a St. Patrick's Day theme:
I wore a suit to the graduation, took so many pics, sat through a real graduation in Japan for the first time (I watched Japanese graduations in dramas like "3nenBgumi Kinpachi Sensei" I grew up watching), saw a lot of people crying (I teared up only a teeny bit), and parted with the 3nenseis.
getting their diplomas (but they didn't get to take them home until after the ceremony, in their classes)
singing songs emotionally
I visited the 3nensei classes after the ceremony and went outside with them after that
and said and heard good byes and thank yous, etc.
special lunch after the graduation ceremony



SHINBOKU-KAI TRIP TO KINOSAKI, TOYOOKA, HYOGO and OTHER PLACES ON THE WAY AND BACK WITH STAFF/TEACHERS
The day after the graduation, this past weekend (3/13-14), I joined some teachers/staff to go to the top of Hyogo Prefecture and other places on the way and back.  I was in charge of photography.  It was one short trip, but it was a long journey (it was so far) and it was expensive.  Good thing we were traveling by car though, but there was heavy traffic at times, esp. on the way back.  We stopped at a few highway service areas:
On the way, we stopped at the Amano-Hashidate (one of Japan's beauties) in Maizuru, Kyoto, which is like right next to Hyogo Prefecture.  We got on a lift via the Hiryukan:
Amano-Hashidate
We took the lift up to this place, which is famous for tourists to look out through their legs to see:
After visiting a temple, we walked around this thing for good luck.
And then we got on this motor boat thing to go around the lake or ocean or whatever body of water it is.  We got to see the land, water, and great view, for 1000yen each.



After that, we crossed a few small bridges and went to this beach for a bit.  Then we stopped by the Amanohashidate Winery... tasted some sweet wine and had a white wine soft serve ice cream.















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Still not at the destination... we stopped by another place and then drove up a tad rough road to Kinosaki.  When we finally arrived at the ryokan, TSUBAKINO, the principal was already there in his yukata and relaxing with a drink, lol.  Here's most of the crab dinner of the enkai:



















































Afterwards, our drunk group (I only had a little beer) walked to a snack bar where one of our teachers used to work at, and we karaoke-ed.  Many of the teachers/staff were quite drunk and they were singing and dancing hilariously.  I unfortunately got sick to the stomach due to the enormous amount of crab.  Never again... hahaha...ha.  It sucked.
I wanted to take an onsen bath that night, but they were closed before midnight so I couldn't.  We went back to the ryokan around 12 midnight and we just chilled for a while.  I slept around 2:30am, but there were others who slept later.  They were pretty drunk and were drinking more, but I didn't.  They didn't have a bottle opener so the principal pushed the cork into the bottle and opened the 2 bottles of wine that way (the 2nd bottle was harder to open and I tried but couldn't open it... heard that the principal eventually opened it).
Here's breakfast from the following morning, after we took our onsen bath.  Too bad I couldn't be in it for longer, cuz I was trying to look for the other teachers.  This trip was expensive so I should've just gone on my own pace and liking.



Then, we strolled around town and shopped for souvenirs and tasted things (i.e., I had a Sakura ice cream).
We left Kinosaki, and went to another part of Toyooka, to go to this museum.  For the first time, I learned about this guy:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Uemura
We drove more and stopped by at a Sara Soba restaurant that one of our teachers (who's from this area) usually goes to.  I had this kind of served soba for the first time.  There's a lot of small plates of soba and we dip it in the cup of soup/sauce.
The ride back was so long too, and there was traffic.  I kept falling asleep and waking up.  The teachers in the car I was in kept talking, esp. the one on the shotgun seat and the driver.  I overheard them talk about their personal lives, their family, their students who've had sex, and other stuff.  I was so tired and a bit unsatisfied with how this trip went.  It was great going there for the first time and experiencing new things, as well as spending more time with the staff/teachers I got to meet at my first school on JET, but it was unexpectedly expensive, too short, we spent so much time outside of Kinosaki, doing other things and all, and it was so far.  I'll probably never go again, considering it was my first time, it's far, and expensive.  Well, I learned from this; these "friendship trips" that teachers/staff go on are expensive...and short.

Other things that went on:
I watched TV as usual, and was so glad to see Yamapi in "Code Blue Season 2," a doctor-heli drama.  In the end, Aizawa Kosaku, the role he plays, becomes a Neurosurgeon (I think?  My memory isn't clear).  Anyway, it was so awesome.  And Yamapi was on a SMAP x SMAP episode too:
I gave short St. Patrick's Day lessons:
On 3/16, after Keiko, Grace, and I picked up our new trash bags (the garbage policy changes in April), we went to McDonald's.  I had a Big America California Burger just for the hell of it cuz I'm from California.  It was alright; there's pepper sauce, bacon, etc. in it.  We talked for maybe 3 hours?  We had a lot to catch up on.  Omara came in too.





























































































Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)