Niijima revisited

So I doubt that anyone ever reads this blog anymore because I have not posted anything in over a year, but I am going to write my thoughts in it regardless.

Niijima time around next

This past week has been one of the best in my short life. I decided to revisit a place that once made me exuberantly happy. I had recommended this place to some of my friends for Golden Week (April 28th-May 5th), as I had an amazing Golden Week there three years ago. And wished them have a good time. I hesitated to join them because I was afraid of destroying the image I had created in my head of this sacred place of mine. I was afraid the second time around wouldn't be as amazing and this magically place would be no more. But in last minute my friend convinced me to join him with utterly cute puppy eyes, and I gave in. I mean why not, I had nothing else to do. The week before leaving, I kept recalling all the amazing nights I had with my friends three years ago, while gradually exciting myself deeper and deeper into anticipation. I remembered the green cliffs, blue waters, white sand, hot salty waters of onsen, smelly fish, green glass, rusty bikes, juicy bbq, thirst quenching beer, sweet sun, and amazing people. Niijima has it all. It has it down. It has it right.

Upon the night of departure in Tokyo, at Hamamatsucho, I could see the anticipation in my friends eyes. I think they could see the excitement and joy in mine. The adventure began. Our ferry left the port at 11 pm. Although the winds weren't the warmest, we soon put on an extra coat made of beer. Unlike the first time, three years ago, this time we all got some kind of sleep and woke up sober and hangover free! This made getting to the camp a lot easier. We threw all our luggage and two buff men into a taxi and sent them on their way. The rest of us meandered our way through the village and out the other side arriving at the camp about an hour later. After a bit of a struggle we finally decided upon a proper camp site. It was this decision that was so important for me. Before coming to the island, I made a decision to do my own thing once I got there. I really enjoy the company of all the people I went with, but I wanted to not be tied down to anyone. I rented a surf board and embraced the lifestyle. It was easy. It felt natural. Not the surfing part, but the lifestyle part. Before I never understood it, but now I think I've gotten a taste. I came to the island to do my own thing, and that is exactly what I did. Everyone that I met and talked to interested me. I wanted to have conversations with people. I would like to think that within the past three years I have matured, and that my Japanese and social skills have improved. Talking was easy.

There was one day out in the waves that I spent the entire day trying. I got rocked so many times. But I kept trying. I figured out how to sit and paddle and get beyond the break, which weren't always small, with a foam board in tow. I caught a few and stood up on a few. It was those moments of bliss while standing on the wave that made me, every time I got destroyed by the others, not turn around and return to the beach in retreat. But instead, return to the ocean, hoping that I could catch one more. Every moment that I was attached to the board was blissful. I was in the moment. While sitting on the board, feeling the waves pass underneath me, I started to understand. I was out there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. My lips pruned. My face and hands and feet blackened. My hair tangled. Upon getting out of the water, my nose because a faucet. Non-stop leakage of the sea for an hour. That night after an onsen and a beer or two, I was the definition of happy. Happy isn't even the right word... I was blissful, elated, blessed. Intoxicated with bliss. I felt like light was bursting from every inch of my body. Like nothing and no one could bring me down. I wanted everyone to feel was I was feeling in the moment. It was the most wonderful feeling. That night is up there on a list of most amazing nights in my life.

I wasn't sad to leave Niijima. Instead I was grateful that it happened. That I experienced such a beautiful place, and beautiful people and that it wasn't some place that I exaggerated in my mind. My memories of Niijima were accurate. Actually my memories of Niijima didn't live up to what I experienced the second time.

Niijima is a special place. I will go back again.

Whoa so its been like half a year, or maybe even more, since I last posted on my blog. Huge apologies. Writing is a good exercise to keep my creative English up to par. And since I have not been exercising this part of my brain for 243 days. Okay, I lied. Its been over a year. We are looking at 8 months, plus some. So what have I been doing in these past eight months... hmm.

Well winter came and so did the snow. I bought sweet skis and had some fun in white fluff. Then Christmas came and instead of going home. I went to visit my friend, Kait, in Thailand. She is currently teaching English in Bangkok and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. We did a short 5 day trip to Cambodia, where we checked out Phenom Phen and Siem Riep. Our highlights and low lights were Chiso mountain (just outside of Phenom Phen,) the Killing Fields, and Anchor Wat.

The Killing Fields were a must see, but an extremely depressing must see. I'm pretty sure, at some point everyone has been educated on the massive genocide in Cambodia during the 1970s. I am guilty of not remembering anything I was taught, so here is a wikipedia link if you want to refresh yourself. Pol Pot, the leader of the communist Khmer Rouge Party, ordered decimation of anyone who had connections with the former government (a very vague category). People were starved and tortured. Something like 200,000 people were executed. So upon visiting the memorial/graves of these victims, I only knew a very brief account of what happened (thanks to Sala, our hired driver for the day, and a lonely planet guide). I didn't understand how the pieces of clothing sticking out of the graves would have an affect on me. I instantaneously feel in love with every Cambodian. And it wasn't a sympathy ploy that made me fall in love. It was the fact that, from what I could tell, were all genuinely happy people. If I remember correctly, Sala said that 1 our of every 4 people in Phenom Phen at that time were executed. Sala was young and his entire family was killed. He has moved on, like the rest of the country, and has now found happiness with his wife and children. Maybe there was so much pain and grief shared by all Cambodians that they were able to move past what happened and look into the future. Sala was testiment to this.

Anchor Wat was as expected, breath taking. Watching the sunset and sunrise from this ancient Hindu/Buddhist temple was something I will never forget. It was so big that regardless of the huge crowded, I was still able to find a secluded area and relax by myself for a bit. Amazing.

Watching the sunset at Anchor Wat

Chiso Mountain is not an "X" on the map. It is something you will not find in a travel guide. Sala showed us about an hour outside of the city, into rural Cambodia. Along the way we stopped of at a cluster of houses known by locals for their handy crafts. This was really something special. We had a chance to walk around and interact with some old ladies dying silk and their children weaving the died silk and their grandchildren who where all over us asking to get their pictures taken.

Chiso Mountain

Mai pen rai! No worries! In Thailand, Nobu, Kait, Mike and I enjoyed the beach, Ko Samet, for Christmas Holidays. For some unknown reason, I kept waking up at the first sign of light.

It was really nice getting my spot on the beach before anyone else arrived and enjoying a little bit of peace and quite before the vendors started stalking. I ate my fair share of fruit to last me a couple of months, or at least until I ventured to Malaysia.

In Bangkok, I enjoyed some shopping and delicious food. Really don't think I ate enough Thai curry while I was there. I was a bit frighten by its notoriety for being super spicy. We adventured out into the night, ran into some elephants and Bangkok's famous red light district and thai boxing. For New Years, we went to a bar and met up with a bunch of Kait's friends. The bar had a Moroccan feel. Pillows and Huka everywhere. Enjoyed the fire works while sipping on champagne on a roof top in Bangkok. Later the next day, we learned that a different bar had burnt down trapping many people. It was surreal, because we were debating between the Moroccan bar we went to and that one. Counting my blessings.

So that was back in December/January.

Hisashiburi!

Hey there!
So its been a while since my last blog. Almost a month now. What have I been up to since I went surfing? Well, its definitely starting to get nippy. I no longer sleep with my windows open and last night, I had an amazing dream about skiing! Laur, you and I were living together, here in japan, in my house, except my house was literally at the base of the most amazing mountain ever! Waking up this morning was not the easiest thing to do.


Work has been extremely busy. This past weekend was my middle school's festival. It's a two day long celebration displaying what the kids have been up to this past year. Yesterday, the day started out with the opening ceremony. It amazing how much effort they put into their skits. Everything ran so smoothly. Kanpeki! Then there were several japanese speaches. As far as I could understand, two were about global warming, and another was about everyday activites. Ahhh I want to speak Japanese! Following the speaches was two hours of fun filled activities. Each grade was competing against each other. Sadly, due to the weather, we were stuck in the gym, but it was still a great time. The first activity was a massive "three-legged" race competition. Each grade (one at a time) stood in a line and tied their legs together, thus a disaster in the making. See video. The second activity looked like so much fun. Basically an extreme version of tug of war. Blood, guts and all....
..... Okay so I started this blog entry and never finished it about 5 weeks ago. I am bad, gomen.
Let me see if I can pick up where I left off...
After the tug of war, there was an x treme jump roping competition. Each grade had one long rope and they had to see how many rotations/jumps they could get together in a row. The first graders won by a landslide with about 24 jumps. They are smaller and more sprite. My rationalization of their victory. All together the festival was a great experience and I am hoping to get more involved next year.

So that was five weeks ago, what has happened since then?

My third grader, Lisa, who I was helping out with the english speaking competition did very well but did not move onto the national level competition, which would have been held in Tokyo. Im very proud of her. (see picture)

Everyday I love my students more and more. I am starting to make some real connections with them, especially the second and third graders. The other day two third graders asked if they could come over my house after school. So next wednesday I am going to have them over for dinner and we can listen to american music and watch a movie in English! They are soooo cute. Right now Wakasa, Misaki, Miku, and Natsu are coming over. Who knows how much the word will spread by next week, it could end up being a party. Any suggestions on good food to cook? I'm already planning on making some guacamole!

The picture above is from a festival in my friends town. I was not one of the brave souls to carry the floats under the sparks until they caught on fire. Wise decision considering some participants came out with scars.

Last Friday was sports day here at Seinan Junior High School. The students spent the whole day playing volleyball. I was on the red team and decked myself out in all the red that I owned (Eric- including the scarf you gave me for xmas). Unfortunately I didnt get to play. Just made myself look like a fool on the sidelines yelling things that no one understood. I did learn some lingo for cheering in Japanese, such as, oshi oshi and i pon/ mo i pon. Oshioshi means that was close. They say this even when it wasnt close at all. To make their teammates feel better. Kazuki, slightly clumsy thrid year starting getting pissed toward the end when he wasnt close at all and people were saying oshioshi. 'i pon' and 'mo i pon' literally mean 'once' and 'once more'. As in you only have to think about this one serve. And if they do well the first time, you say do it once more... 'mo i pon'. All together each team played 7 games. The red team did not win one. Dead last. But its all good. We had a great time not really caring.

I will finally be able to drive my car this weekend! Yatta! So excited to have the freedom to come and go as I please. My house really isnt in a bad location. The train is easily accessible, but it is still a hinderance. My baby is a 1994 Suzuki Wide Wagon. Little white tub. My first car that I purchased by myself. I feel accomplished!

I think fall is a little delayed here, because the leaves are just starting to change colors, and if my memory serves me correctly, the leaves should be falling off the trees back home in boat loads by now. Next big purchase is a pair a nar skis. One of the JETs here is a professional skiier from New Zealand. And she knows everything there is to know about shredding, so she is going to help me out and match me up with some babies. Can't wait to cuddle up with them in bed!

Three weekends ago I participated in a Inter-prefectural ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) Soccer Tourney. That is held twice a year in of all places but NAGANO!!! And teams from all over Japan and beyond come to participate, there was even a team from Canada! I was a ton of fun. Its a two day event. Boys and Girls have seperate brackets and its all just a bunch of fun. They guys bracket is a bit more competitive. I was soo sore the next monday, it was pathetic. My students and teachers made fun of me as I hobbled down the corridors, wincing everytime I was greeted by a change in elevation. Good times.

Sorry it took me so long to update my blog, I will try to be more consistent. Each of these short recaps of my happenings here I could write pages about. But do you really want to read that? Hmmmm?

Much Love!
Mere

Well, well, well... shall we?

Ha, Looks like I have a little competition for relative doing cool shiz out in the big bad world. Although Todd (see blog) does have 12 (?) years on me of being righteous, I think this friendly rivalry will be healthy and inspirational... Hmmm, what else righteous could I do this weekend and tell everyone about? So Todd might have prime location for surfing, but did he get to speak Japanese with sick brahs while being instructed on how to kick hard enough to catch the waves? I think not, but I did! I went surfing for my first time! Yatta! It was awesome, and I stood up for a bit here and there! Learning conditions weren't prime, but I got a taste. Im so siked on life right now and Japan is sooooo gorgeous. Is there skiing in Hawaii? Saturday I spent the night at a friends house in Hakuba village, the location of all the skiing events during the olympics. The mountains were out of this world. We (whitney...above, dave...below, darby, michelle and I) woke up at the crack of dawn, actually before the dawn's crack was seen, and hopped in the car so we could get to the beach by 6:30ish because thats when the swells were prime. It was a breathe taking car ride as we drove through the mountains the sun was rising and the mist was lifting. At that moment I understood the inspiration behind traditional Japanese paintings... It really was mystical. After driving for 50 minutes, the mountains opened to a larger valley and the ocean could be seen in the distance. As the sun rose the water got bluer and bluer. It almost felt like we were in the tropics. I wasn't expecting to get a chance to ride but at about 9 30, dave took a break and offered to teach me how to catch a wave on his new board (pictured). It was a lot of fun and definitely want to try it again.

Still can't wait for flurries to fly! Mountains will be amazing. Until then I'll try to enjoy the sun and water. Til next time! Ja ne!

School/Accident

Teaching English has been so much fun thus far. I know I'm only a week into school, but I'm loving it. In my school there are three grades about 30 students in each, all together there are 85 students. For each grade there is only one class, so I teach three different classes. The first graders are really cute and learning basic english. They are not as confident in their speaking skills and seem a bit shy when I comes to talking to me, but during class they are roudy and seem like a bunch of fun. The second graders know a little bit more, but it doesn't seem like they know how to use it. Their writing skills are better, but they are still very shy when it comes to talking. This is basically the awkward year, though they are all so cute. Today was the first day I taught the third year students and they were so much fun. They not only used better grammar and had a larger vocabulary, but they were also not as shy to speak with me and seemed like they were having a great time learning English. Almost all the students seem like they want to learn English!

I never realized how difficult of a language English is until I started teaching in. I'm try to brush up on my grammar during my free time. Basically, I want to learn the difference between what is right and wrong. I know the difference because it sounds correct to me, but I can't explain why. So I am learning. Tonight I'm going to study Articles, Determiners and Quantifiers. I want to try and memorized the difference between a possessive noun, possessive pronoun, numbers indefinate pronoun, and demonstrative pronoun. Bah... I wish I paid more attention in 8th grade English with Mr. Smith. Every grade has their own classroom. The students stay in the same classroom for everyclass and the teachers move around. This makes a lot of sense actually. Not as many people need to be shuffling around between classes. All the teachers have their desks in one big office. (Picture) I think it's a lot easier this way when compaired to my middleschool/highschool experiences. This way the teachers are able to interact with each other more easily and discuss how classes are going. Everyone works together more to make things run smoothly.

Physically, the school is split up into several different buildings with coverd walk ways connecting them. (I fear this will be bitter in the winter.) There are two long buildings that run parallel to eachother (2 stories) and two walkways connecting each end. This creates a court yard (where I've been weeding the flower/vegetable beds the past couple of days). On one walkway, on the outside, is a building where all the food is cooked. In one of the long buildings is all the classrooms (homerooms) and it also has a fine arts studio, meeting room, home ec. room and computer lab. The second long building has the main entrance (where you change your shoes when coming/going), the staff/teachers office and kitchen. It also has a nurses office, wood shop, Language Lab, and upstair is the Library, another meeting room, and the music room. Attatched to this building is the gym. And outside the gym, on the far side, is the outdoor fields. Hopefully I painted a picture for you. I think the school is very pretty and well kept.

Outside of the classroom, school is busy. Whether I'm preparing for my next class or brushing up on my Japanese and English, or weeding the school grounds, every day is busy and interesting. Lunch time in particular is very interesting. Seinan doesn't have a cafeteria, all the students each in their classrooms. Everyone is served the same meal by the students. They are in charge of going to the kitchen and carry the pots of food to their homerooms where they serve up the deliciousness on dishes which they place on each desk which are grouped together. The food is so good! This month I am eating with the first year students. I try and make small conversation in both English and Japanese, but they are a little bit scared to talk with me. I guess I understand... I do bite. (^_^) After everyone finished everything on their plates everything is stacked up and taken away. It is very efficient and a lot of fun! After lunch, for about twenty minutes, the entire school cleans. The students change out of their uniforms into matching sports wear. At Seinan it is tradition that the boys all take of their shirts (even in the winter) and wear a band around their head. The girls wear towels/rags on their heads to cover their hair. They have some chant that they say together every once and a while during cleaning sessions to help lift spirits. The teachers and even the principals clean too. Group effort. I love it!

These past couple of days at school have been a little hard. This past saturday I was in a car accident and I'm pretty sore... I'm so unlucky. My friend (a third year JET) and I were driving back from a weekend activity on the highway. We saw that their was a car with its emergency lights on in the distance. Erika, my friend, started to slow down. I thought that because it was raining the car was going slowly, but in retrospect it doesn't make much sense because the car was in the fast lane. Once we realized the car was stopped it was too late. There was a mac truck in the other lane with several other cars behind it. She wasn't able to change lanes and slammed on the brakes. They locked up and we hit the stopped car going probably 15-20 mph. We were both wearing our seatbelts so besides really sore necks and a couple of bruises we are okay. The man whose car we hit was also okay, thank god. He actually wasn't in the car, but standing inbetween the car and the gaurd rail... why? I have no freaking idea. I am soo grateful that he is okay. Definitly could have easily squashed him. The front of his car was banged up, he got into an accident 15 minutes before hand. The front of the car we were in was smooshed, crunched, gone-zo. An ambluance and three cop cars came. We were moved off the highway as quickly as possible. Three hours later everything was worked out. There was lots of deep bowing and apologizing. In Japan, being apologetic can get you really far in terms of tickets and penalties. We aren't sure who is going to get most of the blame. In Japan during accidents, it's never 100% one persons fault. We are the ones who hit his car, but he should not have stopped in the fast lane on the highway, when on the other side there was a huge shoulder and 100 yards away an emergency pull off. To make matters even more difficult, the car Erika was driving wasn't hers, but another JETs. Bah... so is life.

I went to the doctor yesterday and xrays were taken. "Your spinal okay" Ha... thats great to know. I am going to try and see a chiropractor as soon as possible. My neck and back are really sore and stiff. I can feel myself starting to get sick already, sneezing and coughing commences. Bah! Just happy to be alive. I hate car accidents.

Just finish weeding the school grounds with five other teachers I work with. Its amazing the amount of responsibilities the teachers in Japan have. Not only do they teach but they are also supposed to keep the school looking beautiful. It is part of their responsibilities as a civil service worker.

The other week I also sat through a two hour power point slash lecture comparing the nutrition and health of the children in Seinan (my school) to students in Tokyo and Hokkaido. All the niddy griddy details were discussed, from the weight of the students to how much sleep they are getting. This is also part of the teacher responisbilities, to make sure the students are in good health. Its really amazing.

I am still struggling with the language barrier, but I can definately feel myself improving. Haha funny story. So this past sunday I and a couple of other JETs in the area went to an onsen. Onsens are basically hot springs, that people bathe in nude. You wash yourself before you get into the water and again after you get out. Its really relaxing and the minerals in the water are very good for you. Anyway, I went with two other girl friends and we were sitting in the water just starring off into space and this old naked Japanese women comes up to me and we ended up talking for like half an hour. She was really funny, kept asking me about my strait white teeth and big eyes and my "huge" legs. It was kind of awkward considering she was naked and kept getting closer and closer to me, to the point were we could have bonked heads. Anyway, the conversation ended and we went our seperate ways, or so I thought. Later on, when I was sitting outside chatting it up, she comes on over and asks if I have washed my hair and body yet. Originally we weren't planning on going to an onsen so we had forgot to bring supplies. I told her this and that next time I would remember. She offered us her supplies, and I said that was okay, we were fine. She gave me this disgruntled look and walk away. As we were leaving she came up to me one more time and asked the same question, but this time she said I had to wash my hair. It was bad if I didn't. Next thing I knew I was sitting on the stool with her hands in my hair while she was sudsing me up. Hahha it must have been a funny thing for all the other japanese women to see, because it was abnormal behavior for even them. Anyway, she ended up making all of us use her stuff, which was very generous. It did feel good to be clean. After we dressed she asked me to smoke with her. Haha it was such a funny experience, something worth laughing about. She's my new best nude friend.

On Friday I was able to get outside with some good people and climb a great mountian, Ariake-san. It was very difficult but lots of fun. Definately didn't bring enough water and I barely remember the climb down the mountain because I was so dehydrated. I went with 4 other Jets from 4 different countries. Kate, a new JET like myself is from New Zealand and is obsessed with skiing (=awesome), Jo, a fourth year JET, from England is crazy in shape and found myself in her dust the whole way up. Brain, a fifth year, we followed blindly. And Alex (and friend from home) is from Scotland. He started climbing up in sandals and decided against it half way up. So great to get outside and make friends.

Other than that... everything is new :) much love!
Until next time.
Lates