Sutorenjaa In Japan

Updates!

So it's been ages since I last wrote... Here's the abridged update on what's been going on with me.

March 20-26
My dad cam to Sabae. It was very cool. He met my host family, went to Eheiji Temple with my vice principal, brought me & set up my new computer (joy!) and made meatloaf (GAAAAAAAAA...SOOOOOO GOOOOD!) for my dinner club. Then we went to Osaka and I wandered around & shopped a little (had to hold back!)... PS-America-mura is way cool. There will DEF be more trips to Osaka.

March 26-April 5
Went to Thailand. 7 glorious days doing nothing on the beach. The weather was FANTASTIC the entire time. Hot an humid but perfect beach weather. Went snorkling, jet-skiing & tanning. I got so dark & even a bit burnt. The skin is still recovering... eeew gross! Peelage! But it was so worth it! Spent the last 3 days of the break in BKK... shopping like craaaaaaaayzay! I'm so excited... bought 4 pairs of shoes! JOY!

April 6& 7
Opening ceremony for school. Very weird. I came back and my desk is now in another room. ALSO, every school year some teachers leave and some new teachers come. The board of education moves teachers around, I guess. So, we have a ceremony to say goodbye to the old teachers... they came up, the students and teachers said some parting words and then they filed out of the auditorium, no looking back, doors shut behind them. SHUN! The next day the new first years came and parents and students were welcomed and given a tour of the school. They were all so well behaved... still timid and making first impressions I guess. Well, I'll savor their enthusiasm while it lasts (i.e. BEFORE they realize they don't need to work so hard!)

April 7-14
I was sick as a DOG on saturday & sunda. I actually went to a doctor. As usual, he just said that I had a virus and gave me some asprin & meds for my sore throat. Blah. I missed the welcome party for the new teachers, but oh well.. I was DYING. So, I missed the first 2 days of the new school year too. BUT... I got a new supervisor and she is on top of things so it was nice to come back and still be in the loop. Cherry blossoms were also out this week & the trees in front of my school looked beautiful. Unfortunately it was rainy the entire week so many of the blossoms got washed away and didn't stay out as long as usual. Still, it was amazing to see.

April 15
My vice principal took me around Sabae & Takefu to view the cherry blossoms in various places. It's a spring pastime here... during the cherry blossom time people go picnicing & cherry blossom viewing. It's called hanami. I was glad to get out to see some cherry blossoms. One essential Japanese experience.

April 16
Spent the day practicing for the upcoming FJET play. A ridiculous tale that is something like "Into the Woods" but with Japanese and Western fairy tales. We'll be putting on the play sometime in May. This was the first play practice for me (for some reason I don't get any of the emails)... Did one run through (I had all of 5 lines) and then spent the rest of the evening cuting out giant peaches out of cardboard & waiting for the crew to figure out what they wanted to do for the set. The set stuff is turning into a bit of a headache.... it seems like people are getting a little too ambitious but that's just my opinion.

Ok... another post to follow...

posted by KidBach @ 3:54 PM 0 comments

Rally??? Like totally, fer suuuure!

So there's this Rally thing that had been ominously looming for the last couple of months. I hadn't heard much about it... just whispers amongst the Jets in Fukui, and occasional FJET posting that "the Rally is coming"... what was this 'rally' thing? Impending doom was all I could think. And then... next thing I know, I'm part of a rag-tag team of 1st year misfits, calling ourselves "Crockwork Orangi"... no good could come of this.... and then it happened. One of the craziest, zaniest, balls to the walls nutty 'road trips' I have ever taken... but road trips is a TOTAL misnomer... it was the Fukui Southern Car rally. And it was pretty damn crazy.

This Rally... Hanna-Barbera Wacky Race + scavenger hunt + Animal House. One day, 11 teams (11 cars, 3-4 ppl in each team), and one course in southern Fukui... a place that is pretty seldom visited by the majority of the Fukui JETs (about a handful of people get placed down there, and cool as it may be, it's in the boonies and a trek for them to come up north, so we don't see them too much). So, basically, the south of Fukui is the great 'beyond' for us 'northies', aka PERFECT for a rally.

They had us driving around looking for all kinds of crazy things along the road, silly challenges, etc. I can't really explain everything, but I'll post a 'picture' blog this time & desribe some of the challenges that had us photograph. Rally ho!!!

Challenge: Make a pose of your favorite sports day activity

So, if you don't remember from my September post... school kids here have a sports day every year where they go out into the burning heat and do relays, games, challenges and other torments in the 80% humidity. By far, my favorite game was the capture the hat/ chicken fight game. HILARIOUS to watch kids smack each other silly grabbing hats, and all the while riding around on their teammates, in a human-pyramid-ish stance. ANYWAY, that's the pose we struck. Boo yah.








Challenge: Make a human Torii

"Shinto shrine compounds are entered by passing beneath a torii, the simple gate of the early shrine fences." So, this is what we made. Good times & I'm glad as hell I wasn't the one doing the lifting. Brilliant work, boys.








Challange: Find the abandoned ice cream shop

That about says it all. Mmmm... mmmm.





Challenge: Take a drive with Anpanman

Anpanman is a children's anime superhero. I am told by my kids that he is made of Anpan (a kind of bread) and helps people by giving them part of his face when they are hungry (WTF?!). He has a merry crew of other food-heros (e.g. Melonpanman, tostoman, etc) and they save the world from hunger and Baikinman ('Germ man'). How wholesome and dericious!




Last Picture of the Day!!!

Came in second place in terms of time, and 5th overall... NOT BAD considering we were all 1st years! :) Mad props to the navigators & question readers... made my drive a lot easier to handle (BTW- I am MAD good with the rally driving... I can haul!). ;) Good job everyone! Clap hands!



At the end of the day, everyone was totally bushed but in high spirits. We had a BBQ & campout/ party down in the moutains of Obama. Very fun.

posted by KidBach @ 10:59 AM 0 comments