Hokkaido ALTs antics and debauchery

OK, so maybe we're not THAT bad... But, the Hokkaido ALTS are by far the coolest, sorry Honshu. You guys may have nice weather, the Shinkansen (bullet train), and all that jazz, but Hokkaido has style. This entry is mostly an excuse to tell you a little about us and post some pictures I have been meaning to post!!
****BY THE WAY**** I have a photobucket site now for posting ONLY pictures (since I can't fit them ALL in here), but I haven't figurd out how to link you to the whole profile instad of just individual albums! But keep a lookout for that link when Ipost it. ****
First is Sapporo. All Hokkaido ALTs had to go to the Sapporo Orientation. The purpose of this mostly was to get us comfortable with the challenges of living in Hokkaido. We talked a lot about healthcare in Japan, which is really really different from back home. JET wanted to make sure ALTs knew what to expect and were comfortable going to the doctor, because in the past they had some ALTs who were so afraid of going to the doctor because of their poor Japanese that they became very ill! One girl's appendix burst and she stayed at home untreated for several days before her contracting organization became worried about her and forced her to see a doctor. After the orientation, I guess I realized that healthcare here is really different, and a little scary in some ways (for example, they don't use pain medication here nearly as liberally as in America), but there's really nothing we can do except get used to it! We also had a couple of intensive language classes, which really helped me to brush up on my Japanese. There were a lot of things I had forgotten, so I took notes on those. Unfortunately, I had to turn in my notes at the office (they have to review my materials from conferences like this), so I wont see them again for a little while! I should have made copies so I could study while that was circulating around. We also had a few classes on teaching, itself. The language class was also a good example for this - the way they taught us Japanese is they way they want us to teach English to our students.
Sapporo was also a good time for us to meet other Jets in our area!! I met a lot of Jets from Northern Hokkaido, and they were all really great.

The ones I guess you should know are the ones closest to me:
-First is Moraya. She's also in Wakkanai, but works for a different Board of Education than me.
-Next is John. John is our resident South African and lives in Sarufutsu. We make fun of him because he doesn't speak real English calling stop lights "robots", the trunk of the car the "boot" and cookies "biscuits"... crazy British
-Also there is Theresa. She's from New York (I think.. right? Buffalo?) and speaks great Japanese! She lives in Hamatonbetsu.
-There's also Chris. He's also in Hamatonbetsu and is a little older than the rest of us - early 30's I believe. He's from Oregon in America and is getting married next year!

We went out the first night to karaoke - which was total madness. We were walking down the sidewalk when some people where handing out fliers (as is common in Japan) for karaoke. We decided that would be a good idea and headed in the general direction of the karaoke bar. Then, another person handing out fliers spotted us and offered us a better deal at HIS karaoke bar. Then, a THIRD person promoting a karaoke bar spoted us and offered and even BETTER offer, and volunteered to walk us to the bar to show us exactly where it was and to ensure that we got the discount. When we got there, it turned out to be a really good deal, and the service was good. Karaoke in Japan is really different than in America. Instead of a whole bar being open w/ a karaoke machine, you rent out a room for use you and your friends that has karaoke equipment. It has couches and tables like a little lounge, and people come in and bring you drinks. Most offer songs in English, and hav a pretty extensive list. The funny thing though about gaijin (foreigners) and karaoke is that not many of us actually LIKE karaoke! We would never NEVER do this back in our home countries, but it's a total must here, so we get into it and get just as drunk and stupid as everyone else in the bar. We sang a lot of Disney songs, the obligatory Bohemian Rhapsody rendition, and numerous boybands and pop singers that I am ashamed to admit to, but unfortunately EVERYONE knew the words.
Another night we went out to an arcade. This was a great opportunity to see what Japanese teenagers (who we will be teaching) do when they go out. The arcades in Japan are also really different from America! There's actually something for everyone to do. For girls, there's purikura (little fashion sticker pictures girls take with their friends, trade, and collect) and for boys there are all the other video games. There are also a lot of games where one can compete in dancing, playing drums, playing guitar, and other things that require you to move around. Some kids are REALLY good at this and look like they are having a lot of fun doing it. There are also a lot of claw machines to catch stuffed toys and candy etc. The difference between these and the ones in America is that the claw games in Japan actually give youa chance of winning. Each stuffed toy or prize has a different strategy you must figure out to catch it. If you mess up too much, you can call an attendant over to come and "reset" the machine, meaning he opens it up and moves the toys back to the position they were in when you started, so you can try again to figure it out. I won a giant stuffed hamster!! It's head was really heavy, so I figured out that if I could grab it from the rear, it would be heavy enough at the top that it would fall into the shoot. It only took me a few tries to catch it! It is insanely cute, which lead into a big discussion about WHY EVERYTHING IN JAPAN IS SO CUTE. (More on this later, in my entry "The Absurdities of Japan"). John described it as "stupidly cute". which is probably the most fitting description.
After Sapporo, we all went back to our host cities, but it wasn't long until we found the time to meet up and were at it again! John got his car worked out and come to visit me and Moraya in Wakkanai. Together, we all did a bit of necessary shopping (some of which John HAS TO do here because his town is so tiny that he can't buy many things there), then we all went out to Soya Misaki. Soya Misaki (Soya Cape) is the Northernmost point in all of Japan (refer to picture in previous entry). On our way back, we passed by a bar with TONS of American flags out front. Moraya and I each raisd an eyebrow to this. Americans? In Wakkanai?? WHYYYY? So we drove by the bar a few times trying to look in the windows. Then, we actually stopped the car and got out and walked around it a few times. It was surrounded by Harley Davidson motorcycles and looked like it might be a rough crowd, so we were afraid to go in. We were thinking about going in, even though John said, "No way, those are YOUR fellow countrymen. You two go right on ahead!" Finally, a petite, cute little woman in tight pants with dyed hair and leather Native American accessories came out and asked us what we were doing. We asked here if there were AMericans in her bar, which made her totally crack up. She explained that it was a club for Harley Davidson bikers and since it was from AMerica, they decorated with a lot of American flags. But she assured us that everyone in the bar loved foreigners and would really like to meet us. We were a little unsure, but we went in. The bartender asked us to call her "Mama-chan" - an affectionate name for the bartender which I guess might be like "Big Mama" in English. She went on to explain that the bar was also a hostel for bikers travelling in Hokkaido's countryside. It had a small outdoor hottub where they could relax, and lofts where they could sleep. There was also a hut outside with a stove for cooking, and sitting around while drinking beer. They asked us to stay and eat with them, so we did, but we had to keep telling them that we couldn't drink because we all had to work the next day. Either way, we made some new friends with friendly bikers :). One girl there actually spoke great ENglish because she used to work for NOVA (a private English tutoring company with somewhat of a bad reputation in Japan, actually), but she said she saved up and quit so she could travel the country. She said she had been to every prefecture in Japan on her motorcycle, except for Okinawa. She was probably only a few years older than me, and said she came from Nagoya originally, which ws exciting news to me because Nagoya is my home-away-from-home in Japan since I know people there.
This weekend was the last time I saw all the Northern Hokkaido jets. The 4 I listed earlier came into town yesterday and we showed them around Wakkanai and went shopping for things they needed, again. We had a really good time cracking each other up. I don't often realize how quiet I am most of the time here, but when you get all of us together, we get LOUD and crazy because we're excited to get to use English freely in ways we never could with Japanese people. There is just something about American humor that doesn't translate to Japanese. The night was full of sarcasm, cynicism, gratuitous swearing, colorful idioms, jokes about "your mom" and "that's what she said"... regular college kid ridiculousness. Even though we are from different parts of the world, the fact that we all share a similar language and humor made us fast friends. We went to a home center and a sushi bar and at both places we had each other laughing until we were crying and our stomachs hurt. It was really really nice. I must say that, as a group, we Hokkaido ALTs have really good banter. It was non-stop puns and conversation all night. Because everyone lives so far apart, and I have the biggest apartment with extra bedrooms, we all spent the night at my house (Moraya brought some extra futons for people to sleep on). We watched British and American movies, drank cheap beer (even though we don't really HAVE TO anymore since it's not college and we could probably buy something better - but alas - this is the American way), and talked until about 3am. Today we went out to do a few things and stock up on camping supplies for........... OUR CAMPING TRIP next weekend!

So, hopefully soon I'll have updates on the craziness that will ensue when we meet with 30ish other Northern Hokkaido ALTs to go camping and party.

Lng story short, Hokkaido ALTs have the most fun. End of story.

---

---