Lubu Lubu

So, night out in Fukuoka, everyone's heading to the Capsule hotel. It's a cultural experience of course.

I was looking for a different kind of cultural experience - the Love Hotel. I had heard stories of themed rooms - Tarzan & Jane, Cleopatra & Mark Anthony, Doctor & Nurse. I dreamed of a heart-shaped jacuzzi. I wanted trashy, I wanted cheap, I wanted to pay by the hour.

Reality is always so different isn't it.

At 1am when my body could take no more Malibu Pineapple I rounded up Dan and we got a taxi to Canal City. There is a row of Love Hotels across the river with names such as "Hotel With" and "Blue River". Dan had drunk a little more than I realised and I dragged him from love hotel to love hotel looking for a room. Each room number has a photo of the room, its price (euphemistically named "Rest" 2 hours etc) and a little button you can press to take the room and prepay for it. Most were taken and I was not about to spend 20,000 on a room. So I left an almost incomprehensible Dan in the foyer of a love hotel while I ran down the street looking for a cheap room. I found the last one available for 7,000. I pressed the button and a screen opened, the lady gave me an instruction sheet in English. I raced back to find Dan alert and playing with a lighter (no idea where it came from?) and dragged him back to the room.

We were locked in - if you want to get out you have to phone reception first so that they can check if you've drunk any alcohol before running off.

The bed was huge and comfy and there was free "protection" but otherwise it was just a hotel room. The bathroom was big and it looked very modern and clean. I would have paid at least double for the same room in a normal hotel. It was 7,500 yen for the night. Some rooms had two beds and were up to 22,000 a night - whoa. We didn't have to check out til 12pm the next day.

If I ever have to stay the night in a city again, I'll definately use a love hotel (how much love I'll be getting with a paralytic pyromaniac boyfriend I don't know). Try it!

Getting Some Culture in Fukuoka

So, it was the final shindig in Fukuoka for the party people. We drove with Sarah in the backseat refereeing between us, all looking forward to our last catch up.

Some highlights:

* IMS Building - great jewellery shop, great reflexology shop, English bookshop
* Canal City - Dipper Dan's blueberry cheesecake crepe. It's worth going just for that. Plus they had a funky African festival and GAP. My nieces have the most Baby GAP in
Masterton.
* A drunken dinner at an Izakaya that served delicious Kiwifruit Sodas. I have no idea what
the alcohol in it was. Good greasy izakaya food (not quite Red Lantern standards though).
* The formation of "The Bakers" as arch-nemeses of "The Butchers" at above establishment.
Tom, Lee & Chris screaming "Dan" for no apparent reason...
* 2,000 yen for us girls to drink as much as we wanted at The Happy Cock.
* Looking over to find Tom engaged in various sketchy dance moves with J-girl.

The lowlights:

* Selene and Dan refusing to give a final Dancing Duo demonstration. How many times can the music "not be right"?
* Looking over to find Tom engaged in various sketchy dance moves with J-girl.

A special thanks to Selene for her parting gifts, see you in NZ!
Thanks Jo for all the gossip
Jimmy, the soccer team will flounder without you
Rei, your Baba Ganoush has earned you a place in my heart forever.

I'll be back in Fukuoka in 2 weeks before we fly out, gonna head to the Hard Rock Cafe....

Working Holiday

Yesterday and today were supposed to be our first term break days in the office. Good old Sakuma-sensei rescued us however. She picked us up in the morning yesterday and drove us out to Sanmi school, a lovely little place on the coast.

We locked ourselves into the air-conditioned former kocho-senseis office (it's now combined with the shogakko so its empty) and did lots of fun stuff: shodo (calligraphy), ayatori (cat's cradle) and origami. Then she brings out bentos at 11.30am before driving us home.

Today she picked us up and we worked all morning on her shogakko Open Lessons coming up in September & October (fun ideas for teaching 'what's this' - I suggested a smelling competition!) and then after lunch we got out the kimonos. She taught me the correct way to fold a kimono and then we did obi (flat, wide belt that ties at the waist) bows. She taught me 'kai no kuchi' or 'shell's mouth' design. I have just bought some yukata to take home for dress ups with my sister/cousins/nieces so now I will be able to tie the obi properly. It was so much fun and I did heaps of things I had always wanted to do.

Next week she's taking me out for lunch after work and then she's taking me to a kimono shop so I can gawk at the prices and ask stupid questions. Love it!

Closing Ceremony

Pretty farcical stuff today, we had the closing ceremony for the end of term. Tension ran high as we bowed to the kocho-sensei and waited for them to drop like flies. The kids, I mean. Teachers stalked down rows checking on students leaning over slightly, hungry for action.
I'm disappointed to report there was nothing dramatic today. Unlike in winter when the gym was so cold we had 3 kids go down with a huge thud. I'm surprised they don't split their heads open. About 7 kids "felt faint" so had to sit out. It's like a tradition here.

Did something really exciting this morning, rang my hairdresser in NZ and made the appointment! It's really happening. Was so bizarre, you speak and they take down your infomation, you don't get a million "hai!"s or "wakarimashita!"s. I made the appointment for 1pm so I can go out for lunch beforehand at one of my old haunts.

Had Sarah, Chris and Bren over last night to hang out, for the last time probably :( Chris leaves for Canada in 2 days, off for her month of fun in the sun, have fun camping! Bren leaves on Saturday and we are doing a final yakiniku for her on Thursday night. It's tough to think she won't be back to hang out, but what great memories, and I know she's going on to good things.

Not long til our newbies arrive, how exciting, there will be 6 of us in Hagi next year plus Gerards Abu-cho newbie.

I have officially been teaching in Japan for one year.

All You Can...

Okay, you are learning a new language - mistakes are inevitable.
I have known all along it was coming - the language mistake with the distastrous double entendre.
So here it is - I meant to say "nomihoudai" All you can drink
Instead I ended up saying "namehoudai" All you can lick.

There were strange looks, there was laughter. Thank God nobody took me up on it.

War of the Weather

Woke up to a scorching 26 degrees, expected to get up to 32 degrees today. We have 85% humidity but at least the rain has stopped. Summer really has arrived. I am fighting the urge to eat ice cream for every meal.

Things feel really weird and liminal at the moment. We have good friends leaving Japan, new people arriving in Japan, extreme heat to be followed by extreme winter in NZ, a long time away from home and then suddenly right back in the middle of everything we left behind.

We had the Sayonnara Party last weekend for our leavers, it was a fun night but the end of an era for many. I am sad that is only just now that I am becoming really good friends with some of the people who are leaving. Some of the people I thought were friends turned out not to be.

From our immediate circle we will miss Bren, Rei and John. Thanks guys, for your good company and all the laughs, way too many to count.

To Rei - marry Jimmy please. Just to be Rei Doyle. You can divorce him later if blending his stew becomes too onerous.
To Bren - please visit NZ but don't give them any shit about their accent or their Marmite.
To John - 3 words - do not grow back your mullet.

A 3 day weekend that we have wasted by vegeing around the house under the air-con. Last night we made it out to see "War of the Worlds" at the local movie theatre. Apart from the fact that it costs double the price in NZ and there was only 2 other people in there apart from us, it was a good movie. I am watching way more sci-fi than ever. Liked the acting and the wicked special effects but the plot was a little too Steven Spielberg.

One suitcase for NZ already packed!

Rainy Season Blues

Have just realised the gross black stuff all over my tatami mats is mould. Hate the rainy season.
Am going for a facial tomorrow afternoon, yay, so will attempt to scour the house all morning.
Going to Yamaguchi today to get my Japanese Driver's Licence...I hear Jaws music.

The cat shat on the mat - Part II

Was in the handicapped class with Ito-sensei today. He is a pretty cool kyoto-sensei (vice-principal) who speaks a lot of English.
Unfortunately he decided he would do a listening test with the kids. Among the pairs of words, I was required to walk around saying "cock.....cock....cock" while they decided whether it rhymed with 'book' or not.
I swear I am going to leave Japan with a stomach ulcer.

The Grease and the Glory

Had brilliant day - it was New Zealand school lunch day!
Nono-sensei (school nutritionist) organised for us to create a special school lunch.
We went with Fish 'n' Chips, coleslaw, a bread roll, milk and a kiwifruit for dessert.
It was so good, I could almost close my eyes and be in New Zealand eating fish 'n' chips on a Friday night.
One more day of teaching this week, then Friday I get to work in the office. Monday is a national holiday in Japan, don't ya just love Marine Day.
I hope this means all things that live in the ocean rather than the American base in Iwakuni...

Simultaneous Culture/Reverse Culture Shock

Feeling so blah today. At least the weather is cooler now that tsuyu (the rainy season) is late.

Getting myself mentally prepared for NZ soon. Trying to imagine going back to my old life and failing....How am I going to react when I get to a supermarket that sells apples for 30cents, whole chickens, golden syrup, real cheese in kilo blocks. Then I'll have to leave again for Japan.

Went out to Mishima island to stay last night, it sucked. Maybe because I get cut off from the civilised world, but also maybe because the ryokan really smells and they serve me lettuce and plain rice for breakfast...nice though to come back to a boyfriend who missed me and bought me dinner :)

Now that Ann has blessedly sold me her "Japanese for Busy People" books I am studying lots more - why are the characters in Japanese dialogues always called 'Tanaka-san'?

I hate rain, I hate tiny islands with yukky food and I hereby declare myself mentally retired from teaching until September 1st.

At least we have San Marco's in Hagi where I can go eat good food and sing along to 'La Bamba'.

The Cat Shat on the Mat/What Is Wrong With Japanese English

We learned at the Kobe conference that Japan isn't ready yet for English to be a compulsory subject at shogakko (elementary) level. Yesterday's experience had me agreeing.

There is a small shogakko which has two blond gaijin kids among the ranks, the children of the people who run Hagi's conversation school. The principal also speaks English and because of the gaijin I think, is a little too vigilant about teaching the kids English. Instead of doing fun games and songs, they do "phonics". They basically have to repeat words (after me of course) even though they have no idea of the meaning, and learn to differentiate between the sounds.
It's very dry and boring and I often get confused over the sounds myself because they are isolated out and drilled so many times. And these kids are 8!
For example "ran - run" "fan - fun" "ban - bun"

This week we had an extra special phonics lesson with the third graders. We had "shot - shat". The children had a test on the sounds and I found myself in a very quiet classroom saying "shat....shat.....shat" over and over. I could have corrected them, but it was only in the middle of the lesson that they sprung it on me and I thought, hey, a little in-joke won't hurt anyone. And what would I say - "uh, this means the past tense of shit". Right.

We then went on to do "tan - tin - ten - ton - tun". I had to pick one word out of the group and say it, the children would guess which one I said and write it down. I refused at this point, saying that ton and tun were pronounced the same and tun wasn't even a bloody word. It was retorted back that tun is in the dictionary. Maybe someone out there with a massive Oxford will find it but I've never bloody heard of it.

The day before this happened I went out to an island school, I taught at the shogakko where there are only 3 students. They are all siblings. They are the children of one of the junior high school (in the same building) teachers. So basically its just a glorified day care for his family.

Anyway, we were having lunch in the lunch room when a TV camera crew came in. Considering you can't even buy a pice of chewing gum on the island this was a surprise. It was a Tokyo crew filming "island life". They came around and interviewed various people. They looked at me and whispered and formed a huddle. There is a westerner in the room! They conferenced and nudged each other and then formed another huddle. Eventually the presenter came over and looked at me strangely before saying "Hello" and seeing if I understood that. I thought, oh God, what a brilliant example for the kids. No wonder hardly any one will speak English to you despite then learning it all thru school. Even the first grader knows how to say hello, come on.

I was again shocked today when a teacher who had previously never spoken to me in anything but Japanese spoke to me in good English. I've been here for a year now!

Somewhere out there is a TV program on it with me rolling my eyes into the camera.

Suitcases At The Ready

Got them out this weekend for my trip back to NZ August 7 - 27th. V excited. V excited. V excited!
They were pretty dusty but I had been waiting for the symbolic moment for a long time.
Had massive general cleanout of all cupboards - as Dan says you wouldn't believe we arrived to an empty house when we got here...
In two weeks the summer school term will officially close in Japan - which means I have been an ALT for a year now. Pretty amazing stuff.
Have got 3 weeks of sitting at the Board of Education from 8.30-11.30 after school finishes - will be spent watching DVDs. Will try very hard not to build a crusty outer layer of bitterness that I don't have unlimited nenkyu (paid leave). Will try very hard not to imagine what I could be doing if I had unlimited nenkyu. Will not be thinking of skiing trip, horse trekking, countless hugs from my nieces...
Only problem is - my one huge megahuge suitcase is full of assorted Japan crappola for the family. My tiny carry on is all I have for clothes.
Abused the shite out of myself for a) buying too much stuff for my family and b) spending too much money - and then went straight out and bought two yukatas (summer kimonos) so we can have a fashion show. Souvenirs Annonymous for me.