Power Shopping in Hiroshima

It happened. I finally made it to Hiroshima. And did I go straight to the peace museum and memorial park? Did I make a beeline to photograph the few buildings remaining after the bomb blast? Sadly, no. I got on the first tram I could find and headed for the department stores. Of course I really want to go back to Hiroshima and do a special historical tour one weekend. Unfortunately on Sunday though, instincts kicked in and all the principles that my mother has drummed into me from an early age took over - spend money, fast, and only stop in the face of seriously good coffee. It reminded me a lot of Melbourne with its wide tree-lined streets and trams. The only good thing about the bombing was the chance to re-build the city with modern architecture and layout. It looked fantastic.
I made it to a book shop with a big English section, my first trashy magazines in 3 months was a religious expereience. I bought a huge Japanese-English dictionary and some books. Then at foreign foods I bought NZ cheese rolled oats, and Tim Tams for my supervisor. I spent way too much money, and then made it worse at The Body Shop. Dan and I were lucky we got to go with our friends Ellen, Kirk, Lauren and Kat who had been before and were able to direct us to the best spots. The night before we had all been to our fav restaurant in Kuga called Sanzoku, it was all lit up with lanterns and of course serving its specialty, yakitori (bbq chicken on a stick). Before eating, we went to a really nice onsen that had a beautiful outdoor pool and a huge bubbling spa. After we got dressed we fed 100 yen coins into the massage chairs. No partying and clubbing for us, just give us the massage chairs.
That night as we headed home on the expressway to Hagi, we got lost by taking the wrong expressway line! Instead of heading us into Yamaguchi City it took us about 15kms out to Ogori, we stopped to ask for directions (which I really didn't understand) and made it back to where we needed to be. I realised that I am now comfortable with people speaking only Japanese around me, I can't understand a lot of it but it doesn't scare me like it used to. I remembered back to the days when fresh off the plane I would have to study for the afternoon before I could attempt to develop film or get the drycleaning done. Now its not really a second thought. I love it.
Also, my big news this month is that I got a keitai (cell phone). It is pink and amazing. It was really cheap (Dan and I got two phones on the family plan for 0 yen) and the plans are about $70 a month including calls. Now we have to stay in Japan another year because our keitai contracts are for two years! The features are great, not only does it have a digital camera on it, but its own email address so I can instantly email thru photos. I can also tune in TV and radio. You never know, I may get bored on the way to the train station. I would never have afforded that in NZ. Loving the technology here.
And finally, only another week til our newest family member is born. Excitment is mounting like never before (well, except when Jodi was born..) Speaking of whom, she has become a right bossy boots lately. I was talking to Madam Jodi on the phone yesterday when Mum asked to speak to me. There was a long silence and then Jodi regally informed everyone "I'm still talking". If the new baby is a girl I pity it. It will be like me the bossy older sister all over again!

Party/Soccer/Roadtrip Guchi Style

There is yet another typhoon today, we are lounging around in our pajamas watching movies ripped off the internet and then tomorrow I'm working at my favourite elementary school for only 2 hours. Just as well I'm having a weekend mid-week cos I had a bitchin' weekend. It was time for the big bad ALT Soccer Tournament.
Everyone met after work on Friday to load into the hired vans (the one I drove was really nice, 11,000 kms on the clock and a GPS screen, ouch) and mished it for 5 hours + to Awaji Island. We had two teams plus supporters, 32 people representing half the 'guch! We arrived at the ryokan (trad Japanese style inn) at 2-3am and not a whole lot of sleep was had. Most of the talk was about one of our vans that got stopped on the way up for going 150kms/hr. Luckily Amy pretended not to speak Japanese and was let off the fine...that's her story and she's sticking to it!
Next morning we were all up in our sexy Yamaguchi soccer uniforms ready for battle. We are the team that pretty much drives the furtherest to get to Awaji, and the team that usually comes away with the least amount of points on the board. Last year we came in last :( However, with 2 teams this year, subs available and a killer supporters crew we knew that it was going to be different. Yamaguchi B (me and Dan's team) didn't end up winning a game but we did win one of the halves and we gave it a really spirited go. More importantly, we had a fantastic time on the field. I tell you it was bloody electric out there, all the nerves of going into battle like Braveheart, veteran Jimmy holding the team strong with his "pressure that" leadership, and the constantly screaming encouragement from our sideline crew. No other team played "Livin' on a Prayer" when they were down at half time, or laughed at the haughty serious teams by playing MC Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" on the ghetto blaster. When Yamaguchi A won a game on the Sunday 5-1 we sang til we were hoarse to "We Are The Champions". I was disappointed that I didn't get to catch up with more than two kiwis (both guys), the other teams don't really include girls much as usually they are so serious and all about winning. Our crew was easily over half girls, and we just didn't care about ability. We were all there to feel included and have a go.
And onto the important stuff, the Sat night party. We had a few drinks at the ryokan before we headed to dinner and then the pub. Dan and I did't stay for too long as we were exhausted and the smoking in the pub kinda ruined it for me. We did however catch some dance-floor action, Yamaguchi bought the party and ripped it up. Seems some of our team mistook a wee table for a stage and decided to work it. It's hard when you are an impressionable first year and the 2nd and 3rd years set the standard. Suddenly I understood why Rei's email address is ghettobooty. Unfortunately for some there was photographic evidence of misdeeds.
After finishing up on the Sunday avo we headed for home, exhausted but bonded like never before. It was such a good opportunity to get to know people we hadn't talked to much, and little did we know the bonding had only just begun. One word = onsen.
An onsen is a Japanese style relaxation spa/pool. There is one pool for men and one for women, and everyone just strips off and goes naked, no togs in this country. So you go in, strip off, put all your stuff in your locker and head to the pool. There is a little shower area where each person has a stool and a washing station with soaps etc. So everyone rinses off and then heads into massive spas, there are also cold pools, warm pools and hot pools. It is a bit like Roman baths meets a sauna. Its a really relaxing experience once you get over the socialising naked bit. For our battle-scarred bodies it was the perfect way to end the weekend. I've heard some onsens are outdoor and have the most amazing views overlooking scenery.
So after that we loaded back into the vans and got yet more conbeni food (convenience store, like Star Mart) and made the long, long journey back. After dropping the vans back an hour late, having a crash course in how to fill up the tank at a self-serve gas station in Japanese, and then driving back to Hagi in our own car, Dan and I arrived home at 10pm sore, dazed, confused, knackered and heading for the general direction of our futons. Next weekend we're going to stay with Ellen on the other coast and we are heading to Hiroshima for shopping on Sunday. Good thing it's pay day tomorrow. Hehe.

Carla is Gone

So, the news came today that they have found Carla's body in Arthur's Pass. They think that it was washed down to the bank with all the rain down there lately. There will be an autopsy today and until then there really is no definitive answer as to what happened to her.
I am resigned to the fact that she is gone, its so sad and unreal. All I can think of is the fact that we were both the same age, and now for her life is over. I think of our group when we hung out at Teacher's College, how we all had plans of the things we would do in the future.
I can only be grateful for all I have had and done, the people I have known. I hope Carla's life was enough. From where I sit she was a lovely person, gone but not forgotten.
Rest in Peace Carla.

Dan the Man

Today was a great day, only in part because we got to finish work at 11am! Every four years there is a conference for the Yamaguchi prefectural English teachers, including a team teaching demonstration in a real live classroom. Today just happened to be that day, at Higashi Hagi Junior High. So Dan was the lucky ALT who got to team teach with Yasumitsu-sensei, the really cool HOD. He did really well under so much pressure, with so many teachers looking and analysing every detail of the class. Needless to say it was planned in minute detail down to how Dan would greet the class. I got to have the day off and watch him, and take some photos. Wicked. He did really well and made us all proud. Thank God they didn't choose Hagi Nishi!
Also, one of the things that arrived the other day in Mum's NZ parcel was a pair of size 13UK slip on shoes for Dan to wear indoors at work. To say he looked questionable in the "guest slippers" is an understatement, they came half way up his foot if he was lucky enough to fit his foot in. But today he looked nothing but swish and a living tribute to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in his sassy new shoes!!!

Ayumi goes to Tokyo

First, continuing on the parcel theme, I got the massive jam-packed suitcase that Mum sent me from NZ. It was soo fantastic to get my jerseys and winter PJs! As well as all the treats she shoved in there, just the whiff of home was so comforting.
My huge news is that Ayumi is going to Tokyo, which is amazing. She got 2nd gold at the Hagi speech competition and went on to compete at the Yamaguchi prefectural (regional) comp. To be honest I really didn't think she'd get a placing, it was great for her to just be competing. However! She pulled out a blitzing performance and surprised us all. The person who beat her at the Hagi comp came fourth overall, and Ayumi herself got second. November 25 will see her compete at the grand final, so yet more speech coaching. It will be very interesting to see just how far she can go. Awesome stuff. None of it would have happened it it wasn't for my amazing team teacher, Sakuma-sensei (the Anti-Aktins).
Everyone at Hagi Nishi Junior High and my Board of Ed was congratulating me, a nice feeling, and to top it off my supervisor then offered me re-contracting papers for next year! Usually they are not produced til about Nov/Dec, he expressed to me that the B.O.E really want us to stay and continue on. I would be very surprised if we didn't. We are really enjoying our lives here and the opportunities that this job brings. We have decided that we will travel to Korea, India and China while we are living in Asia, and then when we have had enough of living in Japan, Europe will be on the cards. These next five years will probably be the most exciting of my lifetime, which is a bloody nice thought.
Meredith's baby is now due in just 3 weeks. I am planning on getting a cell phone so that I can be contacted as soon as we have news. I just pray for a nice smooth labour! Hell she's done it before. I still have the bite marks on my arm from the final pushes....
Next weekend is gonna be a big one. We are travelling across Japan to Awaji Island to play in the massive JET soccer tournament, to be held in a World Cup stadium can you believe. Should be a great road trip and hopefully a chance to catch up with other kiwis sprinkled throughout the country. Next blog will be a massive moan about multiple injuries sustained from the event no doubt. As long as I can walk from the field!

Thinking of Carla :(

This is a special post for Carla. Dan and I were part of the same intake as her at Teacher's College in 2002/2003. We were a bunch of about 35, we had a challenging year of ups and downs, and we all bonded pretty well as friends at the time. After that year, we all went our separate ways finding teaching jobs around the country, and in our case, around the world. Now we have just received news that Carla has been missing for a week in Arthur's Pass, Christchurch. The police have used divers and searchers and still no luck. It is really tough to think that the worst may have happened to her, and until there is news, her family is really hurting. http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3762-3770381,00.html
I remember Carla as a shy person, who once you knew her (or had a couple of beers with her at the 'whiti..) giggled away and was really friendly. She rode a motorbike and was easy to be around. I just hope and pray for good news, what else can I say.

Yay, Yay, Yay!

I'm really happy because Mum has just emailed saying the parcel I sea-mailed a month ago has arrived. It contained copies of all the photos I've taken since I've been in Japan, newspapers for Dad, fans for Mum and Meredith and Japanese masks for Jodi and Dyson. Finally, they will be able to see all the things I've been going on about and understand how different and cool my life is here. I will now waiting with baited breath for my parcel from NZ which should be arriving this week, full of winter stuff, NZ stuff and Mum goodies and treats.....
Tuesday this week will mark the four-weeks-til-due-date of Meredith's baby. I was lying in bed last night tripping out, thinking that if the baby was born right now, it would be a little bit premature but fine, so really its just in there, waiting in the dark, getting fatter....wicked. If you hate preganancy, birth, babies, gushy cuteness, tune out now. The blog is officially clucky.
Halloween is coming, we don't celebrate it really in NZ, but as a JET you are part of a global village and most of the other US/Canadians do, so guess what. The Brit pub 'Gotcha' in Yanai is where its happening on the 31st, which is also Mum's birthday. I am frantically searching for a great costume idea thats not too difficult to throw together considering I'm in Japan and don't fit any clothing whatsoever let alone costumes. Argh. Because I am around only Japanese people 99% of the time, I find myself looking in the mirror in the bathroom at work and almost freaking out when I see the fair hair/pale skin/blue eyes reflection. Likewise when I compare the size of my pelvis to other Japanese women.
Work lately has been great, I've finished all speech competition tutoring, helping Ayumi for the last time on Friday avo. I've finished self-introductions with all my classes and done most of the awkward first lessons with my team teachers. Considering I could be a colleague of these people for up to the next 3 years I am trying to tend to my relationships like a little garden. It is all growing nicely with sprinklings of smiles and rays of sunshine. Any spare time I am now going to put into making cool wall posters for the classrooms about NZ. I am also going to do a regular English newsletter and maybe even start up an English conversation club. The few relationships I have built with students outside of the classroom are so rewarding that I will try and cultivate more of that.
Once again, a power packed weekend at Rosie's Ryokan (traditional style inn). Kat & Lauren from Yanai, Louise from Asa and Alex from Yamaguchi City (all UK) did a Brit invasion and stayed with us, we had a fantastic time doing a pottery lesson at one of the gorgeous Hagi-yaki shops www.e-yakimono.net/html/hagi-er.html . On Sunday we went to Hagi Glass and did an awesome glass lesson, we got to fire stunning glass pendants which they put on silver chains for us. Next time we go we'll graduate to glass blowing. Don't go to Venice people, come to Hagi! We totally ran out of time to explore the castle ruins and Samurai quarter, there is just so much to do. The new Hagi museum is opening November 11th, can't wait.
This weekend we have a(nother!) public holiday on Monday so its a 3-day weekend, we are going to Hiroshima for the annual sake festival. This will be fantastic. Watch this space.