No work, all play, aka, "funderployment" (part 1)

Between the last day of work and my departure for the homeland, I have been filling my time with a variety of activities. Most activities are not very interesting, (sleeping! going out with friends! Internet TV!) but there have been some definite highlights so far, namely last weekend.

On Friday I went with my friend Tu to Summer Sonic . We got there early to get some free stuff (ooh, sweat towels!) and see The Veronicas. Another friend of mine went to high school with them, and I'm pretty sure they recognized him (as he is over 6ft and blond, was in the front in a sea of Japanese people). After the Veronicas we went to check out Solange (aka Beyonce's little sister), because no one else we knew was playing, and she was playing in an air conditioned building. We were entertained by her, surprised to hear her call out her sound guy, and the eye rolling at her getting the crowd to sing "hey Mr. Sound guy, get your shit together". Sorry Solange, you are not good enough to be that much of a diva! We said "Solange you later." (Solange as you don't tell anyone that we went to see her at all...) and went to find some delicious festival food.

Full, and wandering, we stopped by The Vaselines, who were performing in air conditioned beauty, and then went to go check out Maximum the Hormone-- a hilarious Japanese metal band, and they opened with the one song I know-- "Koi no Mega Lover". I head banged for the first time in my life, and after a few songs had enough, and went to find some other JETs and then together went to see Lady Gaga. She put on an unsurprisingly rude and entertaining show-- lots of "I love Japan!"s and we also saw Perez Hilton there, shouted his name and got him to wave at us. Gaga was followed by more festival food and then Ne-Yo, followed by no other than Beyonce.

Beyonce put on a serious show-- complete with 3 drummers, 2 pianists, 2 guitarists, a basisit, a 3 person horn section, and 3 back up singers (all female). Her set took about 30 minutes to assemble, and she had 4 female and 4 male back up dancers. She opened well, and closed well, but the middle was some sort of "ode to marriage/Canadian singers and crazy Robo Beyonce". She had a crazy song where she sang Ave Maria, and back up dancers frolicked up and put her in a sort of wedding gown? And then another when she was wearing some sort of robot costume, and the background was snow leopard/robot Beyonce? But the close was amazing, and she left the main stage to go to a smaller one in the middle for some impressive dancing, and where I wound up being crushed but within mere inches of her. Later Tu and I were discussing that Beyonce is impressive, but she's been doing this for ages, and is so polished and it's almost creepy.

Exhausted after a full day in the sun, dancing, headbanging, sweating etc, we finally made it to Tu's place around 1:30, and then were up the next day, Tu for more Summer Sonic, and me to head up to Fukui with a Japanese friend of mine (which I shall describe in Part 2).

More lists, written on my last day at school

I've just said my last goodbye speech. Soon I'll have lunch with the staff here, and then home. And that's it. I have taken the next week off to pack, clean, and sleep in. I've cleaned my desk, written a helpful guide to my schools, and poorly pronounced Japanese words to 300 students. However, I have yet to sit through a staff meeting before lunch happens, which gives me time to come up with a few lists.

I'm going to miss:
-goodbye music (aka auld lang syne) that they play when stores close
-bowing! its great, no touching and spreading of germs, being polite to old people, what's not to love?
-the love of flowers everywhere
-the covered shopping street-- better than a mall, available in nearly every Japanese city
-seasonally flavoured everything. Apple vinegar, sweet potato, cherry etc flavoured Kitkats, never mind the changing flavours of icecream, candies and drinks
-not relying on cars to get places-- just my bike and the trains. (with occasional help from friends with cars)
-the view from my balcony. Setting sun over mountains = pretty excellent
-the view from my mountains. Valley stretching out, nestled between mountains = pretty excellent
-the Japanese love of uniforms. Sometimes it's ridiculous, but it adds a bit of professionalism to jobs, and keeps people modest, which I've come to appreciate
-konbinis, or convince stores. These places are truly convenient. Usually have a nice clean bathroom to use, great selection of snacks and msc items, drinks etc. Also a place to buy concert tickets and pay bills.

I'm looking forward to:
-seeing my family on a regular basis, not through a computer screen
-seeing my niece and nephews grow up
-buying hummus, sharp cheddar, raspberry yogurt, pie...
-coffee time at home, with whipped cream
-ok, food
-driving and singing along to the radio
-not being overly aware of English conversations of strangers. You hear English on a train, and you can't help but listen. It makes things a bit awkward sometimes.
-easy access to English books
-not watching TV or movies via crappy internet streaming sites
-having garbage cans placed in convenient places on streets

I’m going to miss: my students

-students in class who have no idea what they are saying, but say it very enthusiastically
-students in class who are clearly not interested in English, because I can identify with them with my relationship with French
-students who yell “good morning” to me from the 3rd floor balcony of the Junior high when I bike into school in the morning
- the students who yell “good morning” to me from the 3rd floor balcony of the Junior high when I bike into school after lunch
-the boys that have decided they love me
-the girls who are fascinated by what I wear and my accessories
-students who surprise you by using the English you’ve taught them and they’ve actually retained
-seeing the look of learning. When you see that light bulb go off, it’s magical, truly.
-students who smile at me when I smile at them in class.
-making faces at students to make them smile when the JTE is droning on about grammatical points

Seasons

1. The season for Japanese kids who live in the USA to come to Kamikawa and go to school. They finish up in the states, and then attend Japanese elementary/junior high for a month. It gets their Japanese back into shape, and I guess is a good dose of culture. For me it means there is a kid in class who knows exactly what’s going on, and is pretty much bored. I can bring the fun in a game, but there is still 20 minutes of learning that they have to suffer through. English class for English speakers = painful. I have 1 kid at junior high and 2 at elementary school.

2. Rainy season. Out of nowhere humidity came and gave me a big sweaty hug. Thanks humidity! Mmmmm. It rained for about 10 straight hours (starting last night around 1am) and now there is a nice fug in the air. There is a bit of a breeze, so that’s helping… but mostly I’m very shiny and want to wash my face all the time.

3. The season of replacements. I am prepping myself to leave in less than 2 months, and my successor for the glories of my job. I will get to meet her as I’m kicking around Japan till mid August, so she can glean all the wisdom I’ve amassed about my town/job, although considering I write massive emails telling her most things, I’m not sure how much I have left to say. Everyone is waiting to find out who will attempt to fill the void they leave.

4. The season of leaving. It’s both a relief and sad-- whether or not my brain knows it, Japan does unconsciously stress me out and my body will welcome being in the homeland. It will also be good to be home again. I've lived away from home for 6 years now (well, 4 of those had 4 month intervals at home during the summer, but still, a long time), and I miss my family. At the same time, I’m leaving some excellent friends, who live in corners of the world that are not in Canada, let alone Ontario. An excuse to travel more? I think so.

Top dogs and underdogs

Below are some photos of a Hanshin Tigers game I went to a while back. It was a great time—and I don’t know anything about the team. I’ve since been to 2 more Tigers games and one set of tickets was free. I was talking in my adult class about baseball which lead to a conversation about top dogs (the Tokyo Giants) and underdogs (the Hanshin Tigers, although they seem to have no chance this season) I asked my students what team they supported. In the end, the I said I liked the Tigers “of course!” because they are the local team, and a woman who is the biggest Tigers fan I’ve met (her car is yellow... because it’s a tigers colour) said she had 3 tickets to a game that she couldn’t go to, would I like them? Yes!

Before coming to Japan, I think the last professional sports event I went to was an NBA game my dad got free tickets to, when I was in high school, and maybe a game during the 1990s BlueJays heyday. I would not call myself a sports fan. However, Japan has changed me. In Japan, I have seen 2 sumo games, 3 Hanshin Tigers games and 1 soccer game in Seoul. Why the change of heart?

1. You can bring your own everything. No fear of extortionist vendor prices, just bring your own. The only rule is at the baseball games, you can’t take glass bottles or cans in, so you have to pour them into big cups (and they have a cupholder for you to use).
2. The cheering. At all 3 of the Tigers games I’ve been to, the Tigers have lost. Did that stop the fans? Oh no. Just as enthusiastic at the bottom of the 8th, loosing 8-1 as they were at the start. In the fan section (cheap seats) there are organized cheer-leaders, and everyone knows the cheers and sings along (or in my case, fakes it). Even at sumo you find yourself getting caught up in the moment (literally), feeding off the atmosphere.

Anyway, here are some photos for your enjoyment.



The fan-section at the end of the 7th inning. Instead of a "stretch," everyone blows up a rather phallic looking balloon and lets go at the same time. It's nice and dramatic, if not environmentally friendly. (Although at my last game they didn't do this due to H1N1 paranoia).

The game! If you can be bothered to watch it. I spent most of my first one just trying to learn the cheers. Tigers fan's only cheer when they are up to bat (and maybe sometimes for the pitcher?) so until the cheers are second nature, you need to follow the leaders to get the rhythm right.