Catching up

Last night I finaly got around to ringing up my old host family. I haven't seen them in about 7 years. It was heaps dodgy the first time I rang them because I just got the grandma and she couldn't hear me properly and had no idea who I was. But this time the parents were home and she passed me off to the bloke who knew who I was. I am going out with them on Sunday to see the Konko music concert. It was good to talk to them though. Their daughter, who stayed at my house when I was in high school, is currently in Tokyo studying at a foreign language uni, English and Thai. She's coming home in late September so hopefully I will get to meet her then. Actually September is very quickly filling up with things to do. The ALT who lives above me is going away for a couple of weeks and asked me to fill in and teach a couple of his private English classes. I have so far managed to avoid teaching any private classes, despite pressure to do so from various people, but I figure it can't hurt to just fill in for a couple of weeks. It is good money and I will need it to cover what I lose from my salary because of my holidays.

This weekend it seems I am off to Okayama for an Aussie reunion of some description. I assume this means there will be plenty of beer drinking and etc. Not altogether a bad thing...

Phonics ROCK!

So the grade 1 teacher, whose English is the best here, came up to me today and asked me about phonics. Seems she wants me to teach the grade 5 and 6 kids how to read using phonics. I love phonics. I learnt to read using this system. Be buggered if I can figure out how it works now though. Seriously, once you start getting into it, there are so many exceptions to the rules that there can be no rules. But I guess I will have to count on the fact that the words we are teaching these kids are rarely all that advanced and hence less likely to be words English has borrowed from other languages along the way and hence don't follow the rules. So we can talk a lot about cats and dogs no worries. I think she is being quite optimistic about what these kids will be interested in learning - but I will have a crack, because as I said before I LOVE PHONICS!

What do Australians eat?

The school lunch lady just asked me what the 10 high school students who are coming over from Adelaide in October would like to eat for lunch. ... How the hell would I know?? As though every single Australian has the same tastes or something. When I said everyone has different tastes so it is hard for me to say exactly she started asking me specific foods. Will they eat udon? I supposed they would, considering that udon consists of fat white noodles in slightly flavoured heated water and hence could hardly be distasteful to many people. And then she was all "Really? Udon is OK?" Like it was the most flavoursome food in the world and that most people can only eat if they have been exposed to it from birth, like natto, or Vegemite or something. I had to refrain from saying "yeah, udon tastes like nothing" because they love their udon in this area, it's an industry here. But really, if any of you have ever had udon you know what i am talking about - it is practically like eating air. Having gotten this much out of me she branches out into vegetables. Do they eat mushrooms? Buggered if I know, mostly I want to say they will eat anything they are given, but there is always gonna be some fussy brat who'll fuck that up for me by refusing to eat anything except the Fruit Loops his mum packed. When I came to Japan on the very trip that these kids are coming on I ate anything that was put in front of me. Mostly because we were so hungry from standing around waiting to be told where we were going next.

For some reason the middle aged Japanese still seem think that in Australia we only eat potato and meat. The host parents are always heaps concerned about what food to give the Aussie kids. The reason the kids come here is to get a Jap experience so they should just feed them a normal meal rather than try and cater to their tastes. But that would involve being a bad host I guess. It is great that they are so thoughtful, but in the end it just amounts to mollycoddling which I am never a fan of.

Today we got ice cream in the staffroom. Dunno why, but the vice principal just wandered in with a bag full of ice creams and we all got one. Just for being around I guess. All I have done today is write e-mails and colour in the border on my schedule. I did print some song sheets earlier on and took them up to the E room. That made me look heaps organised. I totally deserve an ice cream for that!

Easing back in

Saturday morning I went down to Hiroshima in an attempt to distract myself from being back in Japan and about to face an entire week of work. R cam ewith me and we so we did a few touristy things as he had never been looking around Hiroshima before. A visit to the peace dome and the museum and so on. The Peace Museum was packed as always. I have been there about 3 times now. The first time I went I found it all a bit overwhelming, but now I have gotten to the point where I don't stop to read stuff, I just give it a cursory glance which is a good example of how easily humans become impervious to even the most emotive situations. Or perhaps I am just more cold hearted than most!

At about 4 I met up with my Japanese friend who lives in Hiroshima and we headed straight to Molly's for some refreshments. I updated S on my adventures in Thailand and Vietnam and she patiently waded through the 2 kg worth of photos I had taken of the event! At some point I was heaps surprised to see an old uni friend come out and start working behindthe bar. He was workng there when I was living in Hiroshima, but last time I was here I was told that he had quit. We had a quick catch up but he was quite busy so didn't get long for chat. Maybe next time... While we were there a guy came in and sat by himself next to us. While he ate we sussed him out for converstaional suitability and eventually when he looked up I waved him over and he came and sat with us. Turns out he was a high school student from Denmark studying here for 10 months or so. His Japanese was very good given his short stay here and his English was fluent. How jealous was I that he can speak so many languages at such a young age?! He ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the night until his host mum came and picked him up when she got a littl too concerned about his being ou so late. He is only 17 after all, and I don't think that Japanese parents are used to being quite so liberal.

On to the next stop, Spud Love. More drinks, more chat with randoms. Turns out that my friend who has just come back from study in Ohio in the States was working in the shop right next door! So she didn't have far to come to meet up with us at all. She was looking very well and her English has improved out of sight which was good to hear. We all ended up at G's again, singing karaoke and so on. Bit of an odd night though really. No dancing unfortunately. Next time. We ended up at someone's birthday party at an okonomiyaki shop at some point too. I didn't atually drink that much, but was heaps tired and fell asleep almost immediately in my usual internet cafe accommodations! Actually I had to search for one that had chairs left this time and got a bit concerned that I might end up sleeping the peace park with all the vagrants (yes, no comments about how appropriate thanks), but luckily someone pointed me in the direction of a place I had overlooked in the hondori and it turned out to be about $5 cheaper too!

So, however distracted I was on the weekend, I am back at work again. BOO. This morning these was a massive meeting and then an English Activity workshop during which I heard that Australian English is "weird". That's the technical term of course, in layman's terms it would be "innappropriate for study since it's not spoken in America". Interesting that they also do not consider British English "normal" when that is where the whole thing comes from originally! Yes I am certainly back at work.

Back in Japland again

OK peoples I am back in Japan!

Reluctantly. The last 2 weeks have been great fun and coming in to work this morning was a little bit like what I imagine walking up to a carefully arranged bonfire above which you are to be tied would feel like. At least most of the teachers are not here owing to a PTA event tomorrow that they all have to attend. How stupid am I? Coming back from holidays to work on a Friday? Anyway let's think about my vacation.

I did some updates in Thailand I think. If I ever go to Thailand again I would like to avoid the tourist spots. Patong was fun, but it doesn't seem like the real Thailand for me. It is all there just for the tourists. A bit like Cairns is in Queensland I guess. Most of the population are only there for a week or so. I did get a Thai massage though which was very very relaxing and made me wish I could afford a masseuse on staff (but what with the cook and personal trainer, my budget is a little stretched at the moment). Lying by the pool was also lovely, got chatting with a few of our neighbours. We met heaps of Kuwaitis for some reason. After a while you get used to dealing with all the pressure from the locals to use their tuk tuk or buy from their shop. At first I didn't want to be too rude and not say hello back when they spoke to us, but in the and you realise sometimes it is the only way to avoid being dragged into a big long conversation that always ends in "Oh well, I can take you there in my tuk tuk!". I didn't find Thailand as cheap as what I was told. My funds ran low very quickly and mum generously paid for a couple of things that I did - like the massage.

I'd be interested to travel around a bit next time and see if things are different elsewhere. Vietnam was a lot more up my alley. I stayed in Saigon for a couple of days and went up to Nha Trang and went swimming and snorkling and stuff. Crossing the street in Vietnam is just the best. At first you stand there looking at the barrage of motorcycles wondering when they will stop so you can get across. But then you see the locals just wandering out in front of them and not dying and realise that you have to do the same. So the idea is that you just walk slowly, without stopping across in front of all the traffic and it just avoids you. And it works! The bikes just readjust their path slightly to avoid you. The streets are quite wide so it was all good. I didn't see a single accident the whole time I was there. They all beep their horns impulsively though. I don't know who they are beeping at or why because at any given time there are at leasts 3 people around you breaking the law in some way. Once I was looking out into the street in the early hours of the morning, it was totally deserted, just one scooter putting along and it beeped its horn!! It must be a disease they have. Call me crazy but I kind of enjoyed the chaos on the roads. It just seemed to work in the end. Everyone just expects the road rules to be broken so they are more aware drivers (well most of them are riders since there were many more bikes than cars). It was also quite funny watching them use a motorbike as the family sedan. Often you would see a bike coming towards you with a child of 1 appearing to be in control, propped up on the petrol tank, 3 more kids on the back and mum holding them all on.

I checked out a museum in Saigon, walked around aimlessly a lot and did absolutely no shopping although I was approached a bit to buy postcards or flowers. There were heaps of crazy fruits and stuff. Saigon doesn't have tall buildings. I think that's what I liked about it. The sun gets in everywhere and it feels a lot roomier. It is a bit of a mix between new and old. More old than new - there seemed to be a lot of construction going on, but everywere was still a tad messy. I don't know if I was just rebelling against the perfect precision that is Japanese town planning, but I enjoyed the messy streets and odd angles and unfinished look to everything. The Vietnamese themselves are very friendly I reckon. Although not when you would expect them to be. Like, when you go somewhere official where you might expect good service at home you don't get it. Like at Vietnam Airlines office. They don't go out of their way to help you out, but in the streets people are heaps nice. I had a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels and my tour guide was just hilarious. Pretty cheeky fellow.

I would love to go back to Vietnam when I have more time and check out Hanoi too. I reckon it's gonna get heaps more crowded with tourists over the next few years, so better go before it gets "discovered" like Thailand seems to be. It is still pretty cheap too. Plenty of cheap beers were consumed... Next time I should make more of an effort to learn some Vietnamese though, I only know how to say Thankyou!!

Vietnam YAY

In Nam!

It's beautiful weather, not too hot, not too cold. Going crawling through some tunnels tomrrow - might fire some bullets at some people... see what happens. Saigon is lovely. Plenty of trees and stuff, massive market action and friendly people. Some too friendly... always wanting to give me a ride around town in their peddle thingos. Must find out what they are called in Vietnamese. Cheaper than Thailand too. Well, must dash off and look at some more stuff...

Well, I am leaving Thailand today and off to Vietnam. It is bloody great weather here today too. Oh well. Mum went home feeling a bit off so I hope she is OK at KL during her stopover. My hotel pick up is in a few minutes so better get back there and get organised. Soak up a few last rays of sunshine... I'll be waiting at airports all day today.

Special edition

Lots of beer today.

(and a tad of swimming)

Bit browner.

Had a Thai massage.

Was tops.

Feels heaps relaxed and stuff.

'Specially after a few...

Thailand - full of Thais

!!

Thailand is fab. That's what I have to say so far about my stay here. Arrived yesterday and waited about 2 hours for mum to rock up before heading to the hotel she booked. Of course it was slightly (read; vastly) different to the pics of "quiet place in the north" displayed on the internet - but I am not all that fussy. Our room last night was overlooking the sea and hence the rather noisy street between us and the sea. The water comes right up to the road during high tide so the left side of the street is covered in sand. So if there is another tsunami we will be the first victims. It was also overlooking a rather dense mass of power lines and some construction work. So today they moved us out the back so we are now overlooking the pool and a fake waterfall and such splendors.

This morning we spoke to a tour operator about riding some elephants and snorkling and the like. That will all happen on Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile I have been preoccupied with trying to find some new bathers. No matter how fabulous you think you are, being told by people "we have size XL, especially for you madam" more than twice in the same day is gonna start taking its toll. I did find some lovely ladies this arvo though who helped me out without all the fuss about how huge I am, (although they did sell me the tiniest bikini in the world). I am getting more used to the bartering process. At first it was all, hmm, am I ripping them off? But now I reckon they are just trying to rip me off most of the time! Petang (sp?) is a very touristy area, gaijin everywhere, and I would like to get out and see some real Thailand at some point. Hopefully this kayaking thing will give me an opportunity to do that. Mum and I went to Phuket town this morning and did some shopping - or some window shopping as it turned out. I did buy some dried fruits and figured out afterwards that I was massively ripped off, still not having my head around the exchange rate for some reason. But what the hey.

The Thais seem mostly friendly, but perhaps a little jaded in this area. Shopkeepers are quite pushy when you are just looking, but once you are interested, particularly with restaurants, the service becomes quite disinterested. I feel like most of the food here is geared towards western tastes and I would like to try and find somewhere that is not trying to impress us. They often say "not spicey, not spicey" because I guess they assume that we won't like spicey food, when if fact, we are not fussed. Everyone seems to speak enough English to help us out which is just amazing. I feel really bad having to rely on others' studying my language in order to get around, but I guess I can't really study the language of every country I plan on visiting just to avoid that situation.

The weather has been warm, not as warm as Japan, just nice actually. While it is a cool change for me, mum is sweating up a storm since she came from the Adelaide winter. Last night we grabbed a massive bottle of vino from the nearby mini mart and sneaked it upstairs and sat around getting increasingly happy for a few hours before bed. It was good to catch up on the all the stories from home.

Well, next time I will tell you about how to ride an elephant and how to be James Bond. De dum dawaaaa.

Photos!

One of the teachers (there are only 4 of us here today), just lay himself down on top of the bench in the staffroom here and had a snooze! No wonder my power nap in the classroom wasn't commented upon. Clearly that kind of thing is A-OK. Nice to know.

SO here's a picture of one of the peaches that Kimiko left for me. It was massive, very juicy and sweet. And it kind of was the same colour as the sunset...








Well, a little bit. This is taken from my loungeroom window a week or so ago.









And here's me about to smack the crap out of a watermelon... I would apologise for the poor quality of the picture but clearly I wasn't taking the photo. I ended up missing the damn thing by about 1cm. It is heaps of fun when it finally does crack open though! I recommend you all give it a go at your next BBQ.

Is there anything more exciting than the day before a big trip??

Last night while walking home quite late from showing R a different route back to his little fishing village I ran into Yamamuro and the volunteer firies. They all started acting rather foolish the moment I rocked up, and because they were in a group I guess they were feeling a little bit braver than usual. Yamamuro introduced me to the chief and a couple of his mates and then all the others started coming over to shake hands with me. Yamamuro decided to be his usual helpful self and point out all the single lads for me at which point a few of them thought it wise to inform me that they "love foreigners and want to marry a Russian". Yeah right. Nice to meet you too. I told them they should move to Hiroshima, lots of Russian hookers there for them. What is it with the Japs and Russians? They love em. I guess it's because they generally tend to fit the gaijin stereotype - that is tall, thin and blonde. But what is with announcing it to people like that? I don't go to parties at home and hear blokes I have just met saying "I love Asians, I want to marry a Malaysian", in fact, the last thing you would hear a bloke at a party talking about is marriage! (unless it's one of those parties that occurs after a wedding in which case you may hear more than the usual amount of blokey marriage conversation). And, I guess to a lot of people these days that kind of statement could be taken as a little racist really. How can you narrow your search field down to a particular nationality unless you believe that everyone from that particular country has similar characteristics?

Anyway, after this display of juvenile behaviour I was keen to head on home so Yamamuro walked me home. He started talking about his marriage woes, which was actually quite interesting for me because I have never had the inside goss on a Japanese marriage before. Seems he has got himself into quite a mess. So after all this talk I didn't end up getting to bed until about 12:30, probably a good thing because it meant I fell asleep immediately rather than lying awake being excited about my flight tonight. This morning I packed my toothbrush and I am all set. I unplugged my fridge and brought the three remaining beers with me to school and put them in the fridge here. All intentions of taking them home and giving them to one of my neighbours, but if I forget to pick them up it might not be a bad thing. Emergency supplies for after particularly bad classes...

So the plan is jump on a train to Okayama, shinkansen from there to Shin-Osaka and train it out to Kansai where I get on my plane at 1:30am. Arrive Phuket 9am tomorrow, somehow find mum at the airport and head to the nearest beach. :)

EEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Typhoon season

It is now typhoon season in Japan. That means that every night during the news they show these highly detailed maps with swirling clouds and stuff and show the typhoon's predicted trajectory. It is heaps of fun for me cos we don't get that stuff at home. Typhoon number 7 passed away to our east and all we got of it was some slightly stronger winds yesterday. Typhoon 9 was no where near Japan, it passed over Taiwan and still it made it onto the map so I started wondering at which point they decide to give a typhoon a number, thereby identifying it as weather than affects this country. Even though it didn't even go near Okinawa it was still counted as Japan's typhoon number 9. Hey, just have a look at the word typhoon again;

TYPHOON

How silly is it!!

But you can do that with any word really. Last night I had salmon steak for tea. Yummmm. With a banana. Can't get much better than that. All that's left to eat now is a tomato, 2 slices of bread and a kilo of chocolate - oh, and 3 cans of beer!!

Banana Boat dadumdadumdum

Yesterday I spent hours riding on a large inflatable banana towed by a boat. Well, sometimes I was riding it, sometimes I was being thrown from it... Yamamuro, of Nishi fame, and co and I went to a beach on Yoroshima (which used to be an island before they filled in the sea between - just for fun as far as I can tell) and hung out all day. We had a BBQ (Japanese style - all meat no salad), beer, plenty of sun and some shade. The banana was heaps of fun. The water was heaps warm so it was more fun to be thrown off actually! Although the water was heaps filthy - I don't reckon I will be going back to that particular beach in a hurry! At the end of the day we did the Watermelon Bashing (I re-named it). This involves a blindfolded and disorientated person holding a large stick and attempting to smash a watermelon open. It took about 9 people but we eventually cracked it open! Above is the photo of the demolished item in question. My arms and legs got a bit burnt and unfortunately I was wearing the same bloody shorts I am always am so have managed to burn in my terrible shorts tan line again. Will remedy this at the end of the week when I am sunning myself on a beach in Thailand...

Yeah, so Thailand - only 4 days away now! I am getting heaps excited. Paid for my flights on Saturday so now I actually have tickets. Only thing I don't have is local currency because the banks here are useless. Will have to wait until I get to Kansai for that, and hope that they have what I want! I have started the process of eating everything left in the house instead of going shopping which is making for some interesting meals... I had soup for breakfast for example. And thanks to a particular generous friend I have a fridge full of mini chocolate bars to consume before Thursday too since they won't survive out of the fridge long in this heat!! Damn, I am forced to eat chocolate!

RUN!!

When people make for the emergency exit in Japan, they really go! I love this man, he is on every door in the new school.

In Okayama today catching the festival and meeting new JETs. Mostly Americans, 3 Aussies. Nice crowd. See if we can't get some touch footy action out of them! Will go now to finally pay for my flights at the travel agent from hell. Will they take my money?? Will they let me fly for free? Do they even have my tickets? Only time will tell...

Sake + Jo = Loud in any language

Wow. Last night was SO much fun!! The people who came from Nishi were all the ones I really actually like. About 9 of us all up. We gto stuck in early and for some stupid reason I decided to forsake my usual beverage of choice and have a crack at some sake. Shilly billy. The converstaion at the restaurant was hilarious and Yamamuro got pissed as a fart and was all telling the waiter that his beer glass wasn't big enough (it was practically a jug) and the waiter was all apologising as though it really was his fault. They must have been glad to see the back of us. Bloody hell, I didn't even have to pay for it! I totally forgot about that. I was the guest of honour.

Caught the last train home and went on to a wee karaoke box of Yamamuro's mates and sang and drank further with just the 4 of us. Oh man, today my head is thumping!! I came into work an hour and a half late. No one cared. There are only 3 of them in the office besides me. Oh, I managed to have a word to Yamamuro about Monday. He asked me a week ago if I wanted to go water skiing with him and some of the nishi crew but I couldn't cos I can't take any more holidays. I told him that if he rings up the school here and "requests my presence for something" at Nishi all day I can get out of school. He's gonna call today!! Totally working the system and loving it.

Oh yeah, that reminds me. Yesterday the new ALTs for the middle schools in Konko and Yoroshima arrived. They are both Aussies. Hirai asked me to come to the BOE and help them out and I arrived just as they were signing their contracts and getting their certificates and stuff. Afterwards they had a big sit down and wanted to tell them stuff about their workplace, what to wear, how to take sick days and stuff and they got me to translate! It was HEAPS of fun. Hirai can speak English, but when I am around he usually tends to slip into Jap and let me translate for him because it makes him so nervous using English. So for an hour or so I was actually using all those years of study for something kind of specialist!! It was heaps exciting - sure it's not the UN, they weren't discussing who's hiding what nukes, but I was still acting as an intermediary for communicative purposes! So yesterday was a good day for my Japanese - I actually felt like I haven't been wasting my time over here. So yeah, just gonna take a few moments to be heaps pleased with myself if you don't mind.

:)

Drinking party!!

This weekend there is some kind of festival going on in Okayama. I am going to see it, if only because this Saturday I am finally allowed to pay for my flights. Turns out to be way more expensive than what I was originally told, but that's just what tends to happen over here I reckon. Next time I go anywhere I will just book it all myself on the internet I reckon.

I found a bakery in Okayama that makes scones. Plain ones and ones with sultanas. Yum. I don't have an oven so I am heaps excited to find a place I can buy them if I get a craving. They are bloody expesnive though, about $1.70 for a fairly small size. But you take what you can get over here. This place also makes real wholegrain and multigrain breads which are pretty much impossible to find here. I should put up a picture of your average loaf of bread. I'll do that tomorrow if I get time...

Tonight is the party which Nishi arranged to say goodbye to me with... I love how they just call it what it is; a drinking meeting. nomikai. We're not interested in eating, talking or anything but drinking. Easy. I'm excited.

Bludging

Well, I have been deprived access to the internet the last couple of days. My new school, Rokusho, has had their connection sliced by the demolition crew on the school yard and they don't seem to be in a hurry to fix it. I have been going a little mental without access to mail, and hence friends. Yesterday arvo we three CIRs just took off home, each saying we were at each others schools. It worked out nicely. I went home, cracked open a tinny and had a snooze in the sun. I have a fridge full of beer now thanks to a generous neighbour who also left 6 massive peaches which have constituted a vast portion of my diet over the last couple of days.

My new school is double the size of Nishi and the building itself is brand new. The staff room is quite large and my desk is unfortunately positioned right in front of the principal's. Aside from the lack of internet thing it is all going well there. The teacher's have left me to my own business which has allowed me to sneak out early and generally do as I please. Lately I have just been working on the translation they asked me to do, which is coming along nicely. Tomorrow a couple of new teachers for the middle schools in Konko and Yoroshima arrive so Hirai has asked me to help out with them... not sure what he wants me to do. But anyway, my party with the Nishi crew is tomorrow night so I won't be helping too much after 7pm... The girl who is coming was in my Jap class at Adelaide Uni last year... small world huh? The bloke is from Sydney I think. Hopefully their arrival will mean more bludging opportunities for me... Yay!!