Recess!

At some of my elementary schools I go out for recess with my students and play. Here are two things that I forgot about recess.

Playground Drama
I was skipping with 3 kids and there appeared to be some sort of fight going on between the 2 girls. I was turning the rope and the other rope-turner would always intentionally make it impossible for the girl jumping in to jump. The girl who stopped the rope would then take over turning the rope. This annoyed me as well because it seemed like no one was having fun, and things came to a head when one started crying. I had no idea what to do, but some older girls came over and let the girl cry on her shoulder, talked about it (I assume) and then left the other girl who was part of this fight standing alone looking very lost. I had no idea who was in the wrong or why, but I decided that the girl alone didn't need me to abandon her too so we kept skipping. I'm happy I'm not 7 anymore.

Energy Levels
As in kids have way more than I do. After the first bell at Ohyama I joined in on the "morning run" where the WHOLE school runs outside around the track (apparently they do this until February) for about 8 minutes. After the run and a break, I taught one class (Do you like banana? Yes, I do!) and then it was recess time. I joined the roku-nensei (6th grader) girls in a game of tag, and realized that they could both run faster and were far cleverer than I at tag strategy. One of the girls was really sweet and when I was exhausted from fruitless chasing, let me tag her so she would be "it"* and I could take a rest.

*they don't call it being "it" in Japan, I think it's more like dragon/demon, but I'm not quite sure.

My Birthday (week) in Japan

(I fear Blogspot will never post my pictures as I'd like, just turn your head as needed)

Did you know I turned 22 on November 20, 2007? I did! Yea 22! So young, I know. This was my first birthday out of the country and with a “real” job: conditions previously not experienced on my birthday. So there wasn’t a day of well wishes by friends on campus, nor birthday dinner with family. Instead I woke up on the day (Japan time) to my phone ringing (which I had wisely placed next to my bed in anticipation of such a call) and my fantastic family greeted me by singing happy birthday. It was perfect timing as my alarm was set to go off in just a few short minutes, and instead of hitting my snooze button for 20 minutes, I got to talk to them all on speakerphone. Tres nice. Then it was off to school, where my supervisor at Awaga gave me a lovely present of a bottle of wine and a very cute and useful agenda (and not cute in the “I have the taste of a 7 year old” which Japan likes, cute in the "ah, this is nice and cute" way). That was pretty much the highlight of the day at school. A few teachers wished me a happy birthday, I got a plethora of messages on Facebook, some text messages on my phone, and a few emails. When I got home from school I had a perfectly timed package from my cousin waiting for me, and a birthday card from another one of my supervisors.

As luck would have it, the majority of my friends were unable to make any festivities on that night, so I had a low key, and quite lovely dinner with George and Mary Ellen, 2 local friends, followed by some nice cake and the borrowing of movies. I got another bottle of wine, some Canadian treats, and a CD entitled “Joy of Canada’s British Beats.” Apres, I went home and did laundry, (a true birthday tradition?) and got another fantastic phone call from my Aunt and Uncle and a really sappy e-card from a friend back home. I went to bed feeling older, wiser (well, not really wiser), and very thankful for the birthday well wishes, if not missing the hugs, extensive English conversation, and such that usually accompany my birthday celebration.

My first day as a bona-fide 22 year old (in both birth and current time zones) was pretty uneventful. One of my classes sang “Happy Birthday” and another had a small child give me high fives. I did some more laundry and watched “Whale Rider” (borrowed the evening before), as I had to read the story for the JHS and had a need to see the actual thing. Thursday, I had an uneventful day at school, however it was the night of our last Japanese class and the beginning of the long weekend. Our teacher gave the 5 students who showed up (out of the 20 who are registered) chocolate and after class we celebrated by going to a restaurant so fondly nicknamed “dirty escalator.” There we met up with some friends from northern Hyogo who drove down to start the weekend. After some drinks and fried mochi, I caught the last train home while the others continued to celebrate my birthday into the night.

Friday morning I headed to Himeji and met up with the music teacher from my JHS and we drove to Kobe to check out Kobe Biennale, a very fun art exhibit in a park, in which about 50 different artists took a shipping container and did what they wanted with it—very creative and fun. We did a little shopping and he helped me find out that it would be practically impossible for me to buy women’s shoes in Japan unless I went to a big store where they import foreign brands. It was tragic news for the shoe lover in me. We parted ways and I headed to Osaka to meet up with the now rested Himeji friends.

One in Osaka we went to a fantastic Mexican restaurant where we met up with more friends and all indulged in fajitas, quesadillas, burritos, and other such wonderful things. By the time we finished it was still early to go dancing, so we walked around Shinsaibashi a bit. Some people hung out at a bar, but Myrie and I felt the need to keep walking post dinner and found a fantastic store that sold hilarious men’s underwear, Santa suits, cheap shoes, (Myrie bought a fantastic pair of 999Yen (about 10$) boots and I cursed large feet) feather boas, inappropriately shaped cushions, etc etc. I bought a pair of all black converse (thank goodness mens’ shoes fit) and promptly changed into them on the street and threw out the pair I was wearing, which were smelly and not so nice. I had decided to buy myself a birthday present and they were it.

We met up with the bigger group and proceeded to go to the same club that we always go to, ironically named Pure, but first I met up with another JET who was visiting Osaka. We lost luggage together in Tokyo and have kept in touch, so it was nice to see him again if not briefly and we randomly made plans to go ice skating, sometime in his prefecture. After dancing up a storm our initial group of 6 broke into a group of 4 and of 2. Four were bound for Kyoto the next day and left a bit early to find accommodation. Two had decided to just do some shopping and touring of Osaka the next day, danced some more and cabbed to a nearby friends house to sleep and have a fantastic breakfast which included pancakes. Naturally, Myrie and I went shopping. I’ve been to Osaka maybe 4 or 5 times now and am pleased with my ability to pseudo-navigate my way around. We browsed and felt very urban-chic. At nightfall we went to the Umeda Sky Building, (previously visited during the day way back in August) which was full of couples and had a German Christmas market below it. Very odd but also festive and lovely, once finished we took the train to Harimacho for dinner/drinks and stayed at Paul and Caoimhe's (pronounced Queeva) apartment. The next morning we went to Kobe and after looking at some ruins from the 1995 earthquake, I checked out flea market finds and relaxed in a park, and I convinced Myrie and Caoimhe to check out the Kobe Biennale exhibit. The day wrapped up with me going to the International Service at a Baptist church, followed by a United States thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey and pumpkin pie. Now it’s Monday, and I have received an excellent package in the mail from my penpal, which rounds out the week quite nicely. I think the birthday celebrations have finished and I am settling quite nicely into being 22.

Sleeping With the Monks

I went to a temple overnight last weekend. It was in to Koyosan, which is about 4-5 hours away by train/subway/cable ca r(!)/bus in the eastern part of Wakayama prefecture (a prefecture is like a province). There used to be a sort of "monk university" there and they have temples you can stay at (originally for pilgrims, but open to anyone, Buddhism is very open to all things, as there is no absolute truth, or so I think I understand from a monk who was talking to me). I went up with some friends from the area and met up with a bigger group of JETs. Group travel can be overwhelming but its nice to not have to plan anything.

We got there around 12:30-1 ish, wandered about, found the "international cafe" run by a French woman and her Japanese husband. AMAZING food. brown rice! real espresso. fantastic. found the group, stashed our stuff at the temple. Then we went touring about where the "university" part was originally, along with checking out the largest rock garden, eating the monks dinner (high in tofu in various states, which didn't seem to go over to well, but I liked it) made jizu/prayer bead bracelets (the first 6 for your good qualities, then next 14 are wishes/dreams/hopes, and then 6 more for your bad qualities) and after a little onsen/public bath goodness, we went to bed feeling very relaxed, Zen even.

We woke up early (6am on the weekend, gah) the next morning to go to the morning prayers of the monks who live in that temple. Imagine a low ceilinged dark rectangular room, 3/4ths of the room is where the monks do their praying and the other 1/4 (long and skinny)th is for people to watch. In the praying bit, there is a dividing wall and on one side is a monk sitting in front of a small fire which he puts spices and oils onto. The other half has monks praying and chanting, there were about 7 or 8 monks there. Some were Japanese, one Swiss, on woman from Holland, it was eclectic, like I said, Buddhism is welcoming.

After prayers we went to breakfast (more tofu) and then toured the giant cemetary. It was over 2km long and full of graves, monuments, and little buddhas. Some of us ducked out a bit early as it was cold, starting to rain, and we were tired. We went back to international cafe for more amazing lunch (leek quiche, chocolate cake, espresso) and made it there before the huge rush of the others from the tour ruined the atmostphere. We managed to catch an earlier train home, which put me home by 5, (only 4 1/2 hours) .

Scenes fom the seat of my bike

I love Japan

My friend in China always says "I love China" when something that you wouldn't expect to see back home happens, and seems to be very Chinese (at least that's my interpretation of it) I think this is something that makes me say I love Japan
Happy belated Halloween.