October 26th

So... a lot has happened since I last posted. Where shall I begin...

I didn't teach a single class on Thursday. I didn't set foot into a classroom the entire day. A silly person would have sat at her desk and complained about not having anything to do. I took the opportunity to reorganize the 8 or so full binders of papers left behind by my predecessors. As a result, I had a lovely 1.5 hour long conversation/English lesson with some first year students.

As I was about to leave, my co-teacher came to me and asked if i wanted to take the class by myself the next day since he would be absent. Or, if I preferred, I could supervise while they did a worksheet. Guess what I chose...

Friday, October 26th: crazy super eventful day...

I taught the class by myself. It went swimmingly. The kids were great, and we ended up playing Halloween pictionary and charades. Just imagine a 7th grade Japanese kid trying to act out "zombie" or "Frankenstein." Since it went so well, my other co-teacher asked me to do the same activity with the other classes. As a result, I taught 5 classes (one alone, four with my co-teacher).

After work, I called Jen, my friend in Hawaii. Long story short, a close friend of mine from high school passed away two weeks ago.

As class correspondent, I facebook messaged everyone in the 2003 class group. A few people wrote back with thoughts and memories of their own. I later realized I should also write something in the bulletin, so here's a preview of the '03 notes for the spring bulletin.

Classmate Todd Okubo passed away this August after a long illness. Todd is an indelible part of my Punahou experience, and I’m ashamed to say that I took it for granted that he would always be around. Todd attended UH, and a trip home always meant hanging out with him. He embodies so much of what home in Hawaii is about; laid-back, caring, and reliable. Todd had a huge appreciation for having a good time, but was never irresponsible. I remember senior year Halloween when he dressed up as a Rainbow Warrior, then got scolded for breaking the (newly enforced) dress code.

At Punahou, Todd inspired others through his role as Peer Helper. I’m sure many of you who attended camp (or worked it with him) remember his dedication to the program. He performed in the style of Riverdance at Variety Show, helped with food at Carnival, sang in choir, and danced (kinda) in Pops Assembly.

During high school, I often drove Todd around (since we both lived on the windward side). It worked out well because I had a car and Todd knew where we were going. He always had more faith in me then I did (which one time resulted in us going to Pearl Harbor instead of Aiea). Todd’s guidance showed me where to go numerous times, and now I only get lost in Aiea half the time. It’s weird knowing I’ll never again hear his voice yelling at me to turn right.

He inspired so many around him during his years at Punahou and after with his friendly smile, fun-loving attitude, and reliability. Although I will never be able to hear his voice, mess up his hair, or give him another hug, I won’t forget him and everything he taught me.

I'll probably cut it down before submission, but this is where I am now.


On Saturday, I met up with an ex and a group of our friends from TIU/TIUA. Unfortunately, I was in a terrible mood, so I ended up going home early.

This week consists of elementary school, Halloween, two days of conference, and other such things. I'll keep you posted.

Kawagoe Matsuri and Tea Ceremony

Okay, it's official. I only do stuff of interest on the weekend (not that school isn't 100% fascinating, I just don't think you want to hear about my wonderful world of TF questions and pronunciation practice).

This past weekend was the Kawagoe Matsuri, a festival involving massively huge floats and smaller carried shrine-things (I learned what they were called, but I forgot). It was essentially the same as it was two years ago, except I was the only one who knew what was going on.

If you're reading this and you were with me at the matsuri two years ago (or the night before... for reference, Eric essentially dragged me to the train station then shoved me off at my stop), you probably remember what kind of mood I was in that night. Well, I was essentially just as cranky this past Saturday (and this time no one called me trash girl).

Anyway, on a related note, I saw the Willamette/TIUA fall delegation to TIU at the matsuri. Dean Long, Chaplain Charlie, VP Gunnar, Masaki, and Wayne. You would think the odds of running into them are crazy (since there are thousands of people at this festival), but they were pretty easy to spot (blue hapicoats and the fact that a group of white people walking around Kawagoe sticks out a little). I chatted a little with Wayne about the upcoming pre-departure meeting and how a lot of the current tutors are abandoning him next year.

I ended up leaving early (meaning I went to the bookstore for an hour before going home) because I didn't feel like being smushed.

On Sunday, Zac, Dan, and I went to Hanno (the city just south of Hidaka) to meet up with
Paulina(sp?) another AET. We went to her friend's house where she took the girls (Paulina and I) upstairs to dress us in kimono for a tea ceremony demonstration. Meanwhile, the boys chatted with her husband downstairs. The kimono I wore was definitely the most practical kimono I've worn (my fourth time: one, high school Japanese extra-credit; two, JSP closing ceremony; three, Saitama JET orientation; four, this Sunday). There was only one layer under the kimono, and the obi was tied into a simple square. I'll post photos when I get them from Dan/when I figure out how to post them. We endured through far too much seiza (proper Japanese sitting), but saw some pretty ikebana(flower arrangements), paintings, lamps, and other such crafty things that Japanese housewives do when their husbands are at work and their children are at school/out of the house.

Unfortunately, I had to leave early to meet up with Kinuko for her English conversation practice. We ended up wandering around the supermarket for vocabulary practice. It benefitted both of us because she learned new words and I learned which brands are better and what no additives looks like in kanji.

Weekend in

I recently noticed that I've been posting almost exclusively about my weekend *ahem* adventures, and I'm sure you're expecting another ridiculously long post re-capping yet another crazy weekend in Tokyo.

However, this post will be different. Mainly because I've been afflicted with "かぜ" which has severely restricted my social life. It's not a big deal (it's just a cold), but in an attempt to avoid having to take sick leave (and being worried over by my co-workers when I go back to school), I've essentially remained in my apartment for the entire weekend with the exception of Friday night and a quick trip to the library and grocery store.

Okay, so maybe I did go into Tokyo on Friday night. We went into Ebisu to celebrate Dan's birthday. It turned into a big headache for him because people started cancelling (4 people in 30mins) and we had reservations at a small Lebanese restaurant. Then we showed up late because people came late. Ultimately, the food was good, the company was random, and I left early (10:30) because I could feel the cold starting to hit me and I didn't think staying out all night was the best thing for my health.

So if you know me and my trends in health, I get really cranky right before I get sick. True to past experience, I've been in a terrible mood since Tuesday. Unfortunately, Dan has felt the heat of if because I complain to him when he comes over to use my computer/internet (I believe he tunes me out which is for the best).

Speaking of Dan, apparently one of my co-workers (and possibly the education center people) thinks we're dating. Amusing, yes, but not a rumor I want spreading around. It's just annoying that a guy and a girl can't be good friends without people thinking they're dating. (Ironically this happened the last time I was in Japan too.)


Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, a guy who works at city hall in the education department texted me yesterday asking if he could stop by my apartment and drop off presents for the AETs. Let me give you some background on this guy. He's a 40 year old married guy who looks like he's in his early thirties. He swims every morning with my friend from TIU (which is why we exchanged phone numbers). His favorite singer is Wada Akiko (who is also Dan's favorite). So, he rode up to my apartment building on his motorcycle, pulled out a pile of military olive green shirts with white kanji and a white and gold star and laurel design. He said something about accidentally ordering too many, so he thought he would give them to the AETs. I asked what they said, and the only words I understood were "日本(Japan)," ”アメリカ(America)," and "戦争(war)." He accompanied his explanation with the motion of holding (but not firing) a gun. He then pulled out a photo of about 10 guys standing on a ship. He pointed out one particularly intimidating man and said that he is the leader and he loves memorabilia from the war. Next he showed me a catalog with tons of WWII replicas of uniforms, mess kits, etc. I still don't know what the shirts mean, but I've decided never to wear mine out of the house.

Contact Improvisation and Kawagoe

Last last week Thursday, I taught with Chikako, an English teacher who floats around the various Elementary schools. She invited me to join a yoga class with her. Since the class was only 100yen and I was free, I said okay.

While I don't regret saying yes, I will tell you firstly, that it was the weirdest class/workshop thing I've ever been to. We pulled out yoga mats, and individually stretched while the instructor told us to think about our five senses and about how we should experience all five senses in the class. She then asked us to go around the gym, open a window, and feel the senses. By the way, this is all in Japanese. Usually I can understand meaning and about 50% of the vocab, but she was using technical language so I only got about 25%. Luckily, there was a second grader who came with her mom, and the instructor would give out dumbed down instructions for her (and probably me). After "experiencing" the gym, we walked around in a square. It reminded me of that activity we did in Chemistry as a high schooler when everyone walked around the classroom slowly, then faster to represent the temperature rising. Next, we walked around the gym, and randomly lay down on the floor. Then stood up, and randomly lay down again in a different place.

We did two poses for a total of maybe 3 minutes.

Then came contact improvisation. The instructor explained to us that the goal of our next activity was to be in our partner's "inai" space. "Iru" is "to exist," "inai" is "to not exist." Basically, she said that we should be where our partner is not. Ultimately, we ended up doing an odd improvised dance type thing in a group of 5 people, one middle-aged house wife, the instructor's assistant, two (over 50) Japanese men who joked that they had no "inai" space, and the 22-year old who had no idea what was going on (me). Like I said, it was interesting (and no, we didn't taste anything).

I then met up with Dan for lunch where we discussed the common misconception that when two people of opposite genders hang out (especially without other people), they are dating. (In case you are curious, I'm not dating anyone.)

That night, Dan, Kaz, Zac, and I went out to Kawagoe where we met up with Pepe and Sabrina. Pepe is a guy we met last week Saturday night (see previous entry for details). He designs and makes leather accessories such as bracelets, wallets, etc. He's also a model/actor. Sabrina is a fellow JET participant in Saitama that is friends with Dan's friend from college (I'll talk more about Sabrina later).

It was a really fun night! We went to a yakiniku place for dinner, then followed it up by a visit to "Beer Saurus." We stumbled into this place, and were immediately attracted by the blue lights, large windows, and Tyrannasaurus(sp?) head. The guys at the table next to us made comments about the "gaijin" (foreigners), so Kaz went over to them and whispered to them that he understood Japanese and he would appreciate it if they stopped talking about us. They got super embarrassed and left soon thereafter. However, they came back about 10 minutes later and apologized profusely in Japanese. The guy who made the comments was extremely drunk, since he's getting married soon. A few minutes after they left the second time, we were informed by the server that they had bought us a round of Zimas as an apology. Around this time, Sabrina realized she had to leave to catch her train. I walked her to the station (since she had never been to Kawagoe before), and left when she went through the ticket gate. Unfortunately, she took the wrong train, and thus ended up spending the night in my apartment. If you've seen the photos of my place, you know its large enough where two people could each have their own room. We got along swimmingly, and I thought it was really funny since I literally met her six hours before she stayed overnight. She left early the next morning since she had plans to meet up with her boyfriend in Chiba, but after picking up some groceries, I promptly hopped back into bed and lazed around for the rest of the day.

Around 4:30, I met up with Kinuko, a housewife with two young children who studied English in London for 10 years. Her English skills are great, but she wants someone to speak to (other than her husband) to keep them strong. As a result, we met up through Kaz (she wanted a girl), and we made plans to meet every other week for about an hour and a half while her kids and husband are at golf.

So, that was 2/3rds of my weekend in a nutshell. Today is "taiiku no hi" (sports day), so its a national holiday. I'm thinking of heading into Tokyo for some shopping, but that requires changing out of pajamas.