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Published: November 10th 2007
Halloween Shikishima
Snack Time, where we give them food, they eat and then run around noisily. I get to yell at them in English then someone yells at them in Japanese. Oh the joys of a sugar saturated Japanese Halloween. Mind you I got little to no candy, is lame!I would like to start off by saying thank you to everyone that reads my blog, the comments you guys make are great and always bring a smile to my face. They are what motivate me to keep writing these blogs.
So I haven't written anything for awhile and lost of stuff as happened. The first thing that has happened is that I went to a Japanese Onsen (Bathing house). My friend from my Japanese lessons invited. I wanted to go and she'd been before so I figured she could show me around so I didn't do anything stupid. Anyways we went on a Monday night. Her sister/family came to the train station to pick me up and drop us off at the Onsen, which was about 10 mins away from train station. We got there I found out her niece was coming too. We we got inside I found out that the men and the women have separate bathing houses, so I was going to be bathing with a bunch of old men, by myself. yeah... well then I found out that we have to bath naked... so and at this point, I would like to point out that
Isawa Branch Halloween Party
The kid on the left is an angel or something but her costume is made out of balloons. I have yet to decide if I think that she was cool or lame because of it... gawd I'm an ass. I was a little excited to try this Japanese bath house thing before finding out those few key details (for those of you that know me, I frequent my bath at home quite often), needless to say my original vision of a Japanese bath house was just shattered by the image of bathing by myself with only naked mostly older men (I figured this was more of an older man sorta thing, I was right but there were younger people there too). Remembering that I was in a new country and I vowed to try new things, despite all better judgment I decided to suck it up and pretend like I already knew these factors and that I was still just as excited. So she explained to me that I get this locker, two hand towels, a regular towel and a pair of pajama-esk clothing. I think I've got it figured out then I get to my locker and start to change. Did she tell me I was supposed to go out there naked or wear my pajama thingies out there... shit.. why? at such a cruel point in my Japanese bathing house experience was I not paying more attention.
Next Class at Isawa
I'm pretty sure that the guy on the right is the wizard from super mario for super nintendo. I questioned him about this but after 5 minutes of trying to figure out if he was or not, he seemed more scared and confused then happy about halloween. Maybe my English skills need improvement. hmmm Alright. I'll just watch someone. Dammit no ones in my row of lockers. hmmm, I'll subtly peek around the corner to see what someone else is going. let me tell you, there is nothing subtle about a grown half naked white man peeking around the corner in a Japanese Onsen. Nothing what so ever. Needless to say, people were getting changed but it was hard to tell whether they were going to the onsen or back out to the restaurant in the Onsen. This whole peeking thing really did me no justice and probably just gave foreigners a bad name. So i looked out into the Onsen. There was only naked men, that doesn't help. I know that before I get into the Onsen I have to get naked. Whatever, I'm just going to get naked and if some random starts yelling at me. I'm going to come back and put on my pajamas. Alright. I'm standing naked on the floor of the Onsen. Hmm theres these funny shower-esk things. yeah I think i'm supposed to shower before I go in. But why are these stall like showers and stools infront of them. Oh my god, I have to sit
Futaba Halloween Party
Two classes, the kids are great. and clean/shower myself, how odd. I choose one and sit down, there are other men showering as well. hmm how much showering is enough showering, better to do more than less. hmm.. hes shampoo.. i think... alright, this isn't so bad. Wait a sec, whats that guy using. he has some sorta of towel thats hes using to scrub himself, where'd he get that. hmmm... alright he got them over there. I stand up and start walking. Whoa he can really use that towel to clean everything. Gawd, stop starring. At this point it dawned on me that I had no idea what i was doing, what I was supposed to be doing or how I was supposed to do it. So as I grabbed the towel like wash cloth, I started watching other men.. yes.. other... naked... men... Weird thing about me is that as I do things that are completely awkward I think about how i'm going to be writing about this in my blog and that always makes me feel a little more awkward. I also realized the irony at this point of the fact that I was starring at naked old men showering and the fact
Ghost Toss
The kids basically have to toss the tissue paper ghosts into boxes. Its a great game for kids who just want to run around. I have now made variations of this game to use at all seasonal events. hurray for waring kids out. that I judged my co-worker when he said that he did the same thing. This made me laugh, so now I was the naked foreigner smiling as I starred at other naked me... As much as I would like to say that I've been a good ambassador for Canada, its times like this that the word pervert flash into mind. Its a good thing that most Japanese people probably just assume I'm American and not Canadian. Anyways, I finished showering and hopped in the onsens. It was great. The water was super hot and I stood up one time and I almost passed out because I stood up too fast.. taht would have been great. Either way, besides being around naked men, it was a relaxing experience.
After going in the Onsen we met outside in the complex and they have other stuff to do as well. They have this beautiful garden, a hot room, massages and a restuarant. While we were in the garden I saw the largest wasp I have ever seen. it was easily 5 times the size of a regular hornet. holy crap. I turned and fled like a little girl. I did some research
My Favorite kid
He is by far the coolest kid I get to teach. His coolness factor is is on par with myself, we're both outgoing, we're both good looking and when you're least expecting it we've both got our hands in our mouths... I may have picked this last trick up from him... maybe... found out that Japan just has massive hornets, they can kill people. Its crazy. i've posted a pic of them. I started explaining this to my Japanese friends and apparently they're not that common and I was "lucky" that I got to see it. I would like to point that I would have been perfectly happy wandering Japan not worrying about gigantic hornets that might attack and kill me. But I was lucky. Whatever
After the incounter with the hornet we went inside for some food. It turns out that the sister of the girl i know works for the owner of the Onsen, so I got to meet him and he sent over a free plate of sushi for us. It was crazy awesome. the Girl i was with doesn't like sushi that much and she was on a diet so I got to try most of it. The salmon sushi is to die for over here. Its so amazing. It tastes so good and it melts in your mouth. I also got the pleasure of trying eel, sea urchin and a number of shellfish that she didn't know the English translation for and I just hoped I
Witches
These two girls didn't want me to take their pictures, but when they were posing for their mothers I snuck my picture in there too! ha, but then they chased me and hit me with their brooms for about 5 minutes. I think they definitely got the better end of the deal. wasn't allergic to. turned out I wasn't. Everything was great but different I'm sure I'll get addicted the more I try it.
So Halloween was last week and for teaching we basically just have a party where some of the students get dressed up and I explain games in English then the Japanese teacher explains everything in Japanese, so I basically have no purpose. As packing a halloween costume was not a priority of mine when packing my bags I didn't have anything ready. so i had to improvise. There was a construction worker hat left in my apartment so I went and got some fisher price tools and was a construction workers. this costume also conveniently let me wear jeans a t-shirt for a week of classes. it was great. Although most of the kids laughed at me for my costume, I know that they laughed at me and not with me because when they pointed and laughed, despite a language barrier, I was still hurt. i also found out they called me an old man in japanese. Whatever, atleast I got to play with my tools while they were playing stupid games. hallween really isn't celebrated here
After the Popcorn Race
After winning the popcorn race he was not as graceful with his winnings. You will notice he is trying to stick a piece of popcorn in his nose. beside in English schools, so there really weren't any costume stores or all that Jazz, so most of the costume you see in the pictures are homemade. which is crazy awesome. Anyways, I thought i would enjoy halloween but it turns out after 5 days of doing the exact same thing you get kind of sick and tired of doing it again and pretend dying when a kid brings a gun to class and shoots you about 20 times and anytime you get up he shoots again. so I made an invisible shield with my tools and he couldn't kill me anymore. ha.
SO then this last weekend I went to Fujikyu which is an amusement park which is world famous for its rides. It has the highest roller coaster in the world at 79m and the fastest roller coaster at 178km/hr which was pretty cool. Either way I had a blast. I went there with one of the branch managers, takami, there were other people supposed to come but people bailed at the last minute. So the one crazy thing that happened was that at amusement parks this machine takes your picture and prints a pass for you,
Popcorn Race
They pick up popcorn with spoons and carry it from one table to another. Can you just see that he radiates coolness with his serious concentration, but effortless skill. This kid is going passes. but I didn't know this so takami told me to put my receipt in this machine and stand in front of it. I really don't know whats going on and I'm looking down at this space on the machine that looks like it should be taking a photo and it magically all clicks just in time to see a nicely photographed chest.. gawd... I'm an idiot. Either way I know what to do for next time...
This is getting a little long so i'm going to call it quits and I'll write something more a little later. Hope you all enjoy.
Cheers
Geoff
PS the octopus was good but very chewy, I think i was supposed to boil it or something. oh well.
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J-Mini
non-member comment
an invisible shield? haha. I'm so glad to finally see pics of the kids, you're favourite seems pretty cool. ps: you're supposed to boil or fry calamari, but im sure it was just as good chewy and cold?