Exodus from the Underground Fortress

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Halloween!
Sorry about the lack of updates, I haven't been taking any pictures, and I didn't want to waste people's time with words. But, now I have some photos and words, so a blog is coming to fruition.

I don't know when my last blog was, but I've maintained a teaching position since October 1st or so. I didn't want to mention it earlier, because I was fairly confident I would be fired after a short time, but I managed to keep this one for awhile. I was originally teaching Junior High (13-16) and Elementary (8-13, I think), but Elementary proved difficult, as they expected me to create lesson plans, and sing and act goofy, so now I just teach Junior High. It's very interesting, and can sometimes be very fun. I think I'm learning almost as much as the kids. I'm just an Assistant Teacher, so I do alot of reading out loud, so the kids can get a correct English pronunciation. I'm essentially a human tape recorder. For some reason, foreign english teachers are seen as being cool, so most teachers hear somewhat frequent mutterings of "Kakoi! (cool)". It's really quite absurd, I pity them for their lack of judgment 😊

I'm still in the same place, a guesthouse in Nakano. I am currently only working about 10 days a month or so, because I declined on Elementary, but the pay is very good, so that gives me more than enough for food and rent. I spend most of the rest of my time reading, studying, eating, and playing video games. Video games are a great way to learn Japanese... but most of it is only useful if you get in a fight with someone or feel like being very rude.

A couple weeks ago I went to a large festival. I didnt take any pictures, but the Australian fellow I was with did, so I will post some of those. It was unbelievably crowded. I believe there were about 20 large floats, each containing a masked person and a bunch of other people, as well as drummers and people playing various instruments. Each float was pulled around by large ropes, and in between floats there were groups of people in fancy clothes.

Hmm... not much else to say, maybe some random tidbits.
- I think I am eating too often at the Indian Buffet.
- Tuna is frequently called Sea Chicken.
- Fried chicken cartilage and skewered chicken hearts really aren't that bad.
- Libraries here are usually jam packed with people.
- There is a department store chain called Don Quixote, which is the name of their penguin mascot. It has absolutely nothing to do with the famous book. Everyone refers to the store as Donki (donkey), and they have a little theme song that is always playing in store ("Don Don Don, Don-kiiiiiiii, Don-ki ho-tayyyyyyy...")

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Photos

Crowd
One of the main streets during the festival.

Mask 1
A character on one of the floats that go around.

Float Battle
When two floats meet, they have a little battle of sorts. Music and dancing.

Tower
This festival took place in Kawagoe, which has quite a few old timey buildings and houses.

Comments

[HiredGoon]

Chicken
I like to call chicken "Tuna of the land"