White Washed

I decided I should go for a Dental Checkup, since it has been almost 2 years since my last one. The way it’s set up in Japan though if you want a cleaning, and want it to be partially covered by your insurance, then you need to go back 3 separate times. You go one time to clean the bottom row, the top row, and then a polish to finish. Overall I kinda wish I got it done in Canada so it would all be over with. The good news is at least I still have healthy teeth.

I’m sure other interesting stuff happened during the week but it’s a little monotonous writing about it all the time. Japanese class Thursday, sushi Tuesday, this and that here and there, etc. The new stories come in with the weekend as it usually does as I went on yet another adventure. This time I went to Minakami in Gunma prefecture to try Cannoning and White Water Rafting for the first time.

I couldn’t go up Friday night because I had a work party for Tatsuno’s new teachers that night. I drew the number “1” in the seating arrangement, so I was the only teacher to join the principle, vice principal and other VIPs at the special table. I didn’t mind too much. Sure we couldn’t talk much and I was under dressed, but the food was good and when the drinking starts people migrate all over the room anyways.

I wanted to go to the second party, but I needed to leave my house at 7 in the morning for the adventure and the bus that took the teachers to the first party practically dropped me off at my house in Ina, easily saving me an hour hassle of dealing with the train. It would be silly to refuse. That’s another thing, I should be using the train more, but with my car being so cheap on gas and driving being such a convenience, it’s hard to go back. I’ll drink more with my new teachers the next time we get together :)

So I left my house bright and early, feeling a little bleary still, and drove a couple hours up to Saku again to meet up with the rest of the carpool convoy. From there we drove a couple more hours and arrived at Minakami. Before long we were being outfitted with wetsuits and lifejackets and helmets and all kinds of stuff. Then we got on a bus and headed to a nearby stream.

For those who don’t know, like me before last weekend, Cannoning is a strange sport. You float around a river in your wet suit falling down waterfall drops and sliding down rocks. The first part of it was fun: lazily floating down a small stream with your friends, splashing the ice-cold mountain water on other people. I’m sure the snow is still melting up top. But then we got to our first waterfall.

It was a 20-meter, near vertical drop. Standing nearby you couldn’t see the bottom, only hear the screams of your comrades as they slipped over the edge and plummeted into the abyss below. My heart was in my throat, and soon more people like me were huddled near the back of the line wondering if there was a way out of this. Sadly there was not. There was however, the guide lowering you more slowly down the side should it be overwhelming. When I somehow forced myself up there, it’s hard to describe my terror; my arms were shaking and I couldn’t focus. I was lowered somewhat more slowly, and stuck to the right side as suggested to take an easier fall, but it was still one hell of a rush.

After that, everything was easy. One girl was crying by the time she got to the bottom so I guess I wasn’t the worst. There were neat little slides to go down, with cool grooves carved out of the rocks after many years of water slamming into it. You tried to think of it as a waterslide as much as possible; without the safety walls and made out of rock.

The next big drop was about 5 or 6 meters. We were told we could do it in 4 different ways: go down feet first, go down headfirst, go down backwards or just jump. Haha it was so cool. I went down feet first the first 2 times to loose my nerves, then I went down head first superman style. I didn’t have enough balls for the jump though; my terrifying jump in Vietnam was fresh in my memory. Anyways you were advised to tuck in your head when you hit so you do a bit of a flip and come up easier.

A couple small drops followed, then it was our last big drop, maybe a 4-5 meter doozy. The pool was a lot more spacious this time, and you could climb up to a nearby ledge to jump in. After the first jump to get rid of my terror, I did a couple cannonballs ;) I was maybe the biggest guy there and I heard my splashes were pretty awesome. I couldn’t see them of course, with being underwater and all, but I heard the splash went all the way up to the ledge I jumped off, and got people’s heads wet who were waiting up there :) I only wish we could get something like that on picture.

On that note, there was a man taking pictures for everyone with a waterproof camera. We would pose while floating, pose while scaling rocks, and try to hide the terror on our face as he got an angle shot before plummeting 20 meters earlier. The unfortunate thing was they charged way too much money for pictures. Your first picture was $7 and any additional one was $5 each. If you wanted a CD of all the pictures though, everyone in the group would have to pay $20 each, so that one person doesn’t buy and share with everyone and our large group would have to pay over $400. But this was a whole dark side of the trip you don’t need to here. (not pictured: the bottom of the 20 meter drop)

That aside, we had a BBQ that night. Half of the place’s employees were foreigners so they had some nice touches, like crown royal on the shelf and actual, real BBQs to cook real burgers and hotdogs from Costco. (This has made Neal more determined to make a trip out there sometime with my expensive membership, and load up a car full of goodies.) Some dude in our group was having a birthday and people in his block area (kinda like a group) bought him a keg and had their own, awkward party to the side of us; but perhaps that is another completely immature-JET related story I don’t need to recall.

A couple of us didn’t want to wait for those horrible charcoal grills with all the hungry and drunk wolverines hanging out around it, so we went up and got real BBQ for additional, but well spent money. Ah, it was such a good taste of home, a fat hot dog with all the fixings and extra onions making a mess everywhere. We had to get more than one :)

A plus though, like some people were saying, this trip weeded out a lot of the JETs that just plain fail at being human beings. Lots carry their politics on their shoulder, coupled with the grieving, whining and baggage. For example, Richard and I were talking with this cool Canadian about hockey and beer and other stuff we missed from home when some jackass shouted out for no reason “Canadian Beer Sucks!” Dude, really? Could you do a better job of not making friends? You know us Canadians are nice people, but I was suddenly feeling prone to violence if my feelings of pity for him weren’t more overwhelming. There were a couple more times through the trip I saw him make similar statements to other people seemingly at random to try and start fights.

Jerks like him aside, I met some really cool people and made some good friends now I think; like a couple of interesting blokes from England. Not only were their accents charming as hell, borderline Scottish as they were from the Northern areas, but some of the stories they told me were just fascinating. For example before Japan they hardly had to deal with traffic lights at all; almost every intersection is a roundabout. Traffic is always moving, always safe and just plain better. We talked about all kinds of things from taxes to Americans to space travel and so on; it is great meeting different people like this and seeing how they operate.

That was some good sidetracking… so anyways we had something of a party, (I use that word loosely) until 11:30 that night when the bus would drive us to the cabins for the night. There was a live Irish band, and later on techno music playing in the dance lounge, but I was simply exhausted and was more amused by the bright stars as seen near the top of a mountain, serenaded by the rumbling water from the stream nearby. When we did get back to our cabins, Brian is Irish and was super drunk, and went around swapping out shoes at different places; causing a ruckus while everyone else tried to sleep for the rafting the next morning. Also my sinuses hurt like hell from having water forcibly shoved into them when it went up my nose plunging down all those waterfalls. You really should breathe out a bit when you hit!

So ya, the one time we locked the door and turned off the lights to pretend we weren’t there, but he somehow hopped up high enough to get his face pressed against the window and started banging on it. Haha that guy is awesome. It was a cold night and our cabin was basically one big room with a tatami floor and we were cold, so some of us cuddled with cute partners to stay warm :) Not a bad night at all I must say.

Alas we had to get up early again, but this time it was for white water rafting. The guide made a very humorous introduction to the basics and such, we made groups, and out to the river we went. I pushed for a team name like I usually do, and we came up with “Bondage Kitty” after Neal’s exploits in the bondage themed hello kitty love hotel room. We said “BK” for short, which got the other teams on different rafts confused while we splashed them with icy cold water with our paddles. “Let’s go to the BK lounge!” (Pictured: I am in the front)

Of course I was scared at first, especially after hearing for 20 minutes on what to do should your life be in danger and stuff like that, but I warmed up to it quickly. I can see why people love it; it’s so exhilarating. You’re rushing down and over all these rocks, jumping around and relying on your team to stay afloat. The cold water burned the exposed flesh of your hands, but you are having so much fun you hardly notice it over the huge smiles of your comrades and the serene scenery that surrounds you. Terrain like huge mountainous walls covered with tree and birds and some remains of decrepit structures being lost to the roaring currents.

Half way down the river we stopped at a quiet patch. There we got out and jumped off a rock on the side. This jump was higher than yesterdays, and after you came up you had to come quickly back to the rocks to get pulled in, lest you get sucked out into the river for the rest of the ride. Again after my first terrifying jump, my second one was a ballsy cannon ball again. I know this drop was higher because my butt was numb for 10 minutes that followed, but I heard the splash was epic. That icy cold water sure woke you up too.

After that, we switched seats when we got back on the boat. I rode in the middle before, but went up to the front with Richard where you were in more danger, got wetter and lead the crew in rhythm. An amazing, exhilarating, unforgettable adventure. I highly recommend anyone to go, you will not be disappointed.

We got back around noon, worked out in our team what photos to buy and share with each other (ended up spending over $70 between the 6 of us) and spent the next 6 hours getting home. I went to bed at 9 last night… that’s way too early, but I’m feeling well rested today after that crazy weekend. I can’t wait to go again sometime.

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." -Joseph Campbell

tnoy

Luxury Camping

It's past midnight and I have nothing written up yet because I was busy making a test for my 3rd years so this is going to be brief but still look kinda long because of the pictures I end up posting. Ironically enough my story starts by how exhausted I was all of last week. I went to bed early every night, suffered through the whole day, and napped every time I got home. It was strange. I'm starting to feel better now though and hopefully I will get more done.

When I wasn't exhausted and/or eating out with friends, I went to an English camp on the weekend. This was not for students per say, but for adult English class people Neal teaches. We played games, shared stories and really just had a good time; like I ended up talking about Canada for almost an hour to a bunch of good and intelligent questions. It's funny though when they say how we're "camping in a forest" when you're really at a fancy resort with tiled floors in your wood cabin's bathroom, brick fireplace and all kinds of other luxuries. The toilet had the function "super deoderizor" or something on it, also a noise making button that is suppose to sound like you're flushing it to mask any bodily noises you may be making. I pressed it out of curiosity, but regretted it when I was hailed with a couple minute long barrage of cheap speaker noise.

In the end we ate, drank and talked lots and had a good time.

"A man may fail many times but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." -J. Paul Getty

tnoy

All the Small Things

Wow, two weeks to write up about now. We celebrated “golden week” here in Japan last week and with it a long holiday, so I didn’t update. Last year I went on a crazy road trip, sardined into a van with 9 people to Kyushu. This year we didn’t get a van and many people did their own things. Richard went to Tokyo, Patricia to Okinawa, Neal to Bali and so on.

But the week leading up to the holidays was pretty good I suppose. On Tuesday I had a work party for Yayoi to welcome the new teacher, Takematsu sensei; as tradition dictates every year a teacher leaves and a new one is transferred in. I’m not a fan of the system, but I’m sure it’s there for a reason. I hear Japan’s school system is still modeled after Germany’s; pre-war era. So ya, the party was pretty good at the same “blue dragon” restaurant where my mom and last year’s entrant, Momose sensei had their welcome parties; and where my mom told all my co-workers I drink too much :) or something. I don’t remember with the red cheeks and all.

Wednesday was a day off to sleep off the booze, but Neal and I were invited to Ono Sensei’s house for food with her husband. That was my third time going there, and Neal came this time because she transferred to his school and… maybe they gossip about me all day, I don’t know :) Either way we had some amazing okomiyaki (Japanese pancakes) and an embarrassing amount of beer over 6 hours or so of great conversation. I wasn’t embarrassed per-say; I could have drunk a lot more! But when Neal saw the pile of cans and started taking pictures, the party eased up.

Thursday night was suppose to be Tatsuno’s welcome party too, but it was cancelled again. This time it was due to… rather unfortunate circumstances. On Tuesday at work, during some downtime, I stood outside for an hour, maybe more. I just enjoyed the feeling of the warm sun on my back, the birds singing in the air, the fresh mountain air I was breathing in, and thinking about how good life is. When school ended though, Uchiyama sensei called me into her office to tell me my neighbor of the last 2 years in Tatsuno, Mr. Hirasawa Sensei, died that day of cancer.

I won’t soil his memory by writing unnecessary things, but instead share some of my happier memories about him. He was always smiling and polite, and helped me many times. One of the times, when I first arrived and didn’t know where to put my garbage, a month had passed and things started to liquefy in the bag, but he helped me out. There was another time when he helped me out around town when I was having problems with the language barrier. My best memory maybe was during one of our parties and he sang Opera for us. He lived in Italy for more than a decade and had such an amazing voice. He will be missed.

Thursday classes were difficult, having everyone feeling down. Some of my students cried for most of my morning class; they were in his choir club. We gathered in the gym and words were said by the principle; most of which I didn’t understand. It was somber, but interesting to see how things are different in Japan. Keeping face is important I’ve learnt, as even in the face of a tragedy, they still look firm and unshaken. Maybe showing emotions is not a favourable thing. The funeral was on Friday, but I was at school in Yayoi and couldn’t attend.

On a lighter note Friday and Saturday, the start of the golden week, were really awesome. My plan was to cut out Internet, unplug my phone and any other way to communicate with the outside world and be a hermit in my awesome new house; enjoying my solitude. The first two nights however was more of a big geek-streak, where I played some games online with my friends in Canada until 6 in the morning. It was fun :)

On Sunday I slept in until 2 in the afternoon, which I haven’t been able to do in years, but I guess I punished my body enough for it to happen. I ended up talking with my friend Megumi in Tokyo for a couple hours online who wanted me to visit, but I instead drove up to Saku for a hot air balloon festival that I caught wind about a little while back, and got a message from Erika while I was sleeping to see if I was still coming. Might as well leave the house right?

I’m glad I did, it was a great drive up and I got together with some great people. I didn’t arrive until late, but in time for drinking, tasty food and my first game of “Never have I ever”. You say something you haven’t done, and people who have done it take a drink. As it was explained to me, later on in the game it turns sexual, but I won the rock-paper-scissors diplomacy act and started the game off with a sexual question haha. Later on we turned it into an “I have done” game and if you haven’t then you take a drink. It was fun getting them to drink with silly things, like “Never have I ever been American” and stuff like that. It was an interesting way to get to know each other better :)

In the morning, 4 of us got into a car and went out for the hot air balloon festival. It was cool and all, what with the festival food and pretty balloons, but we weren’t there for long. We ended up driving to the nearby volcano, the one my ill-fated previous car died while trying to get to it. This is one thing you hear about during golden week: don’t travel around Japan during that time.

Everyone has that holiday and everyone is trying to go somewhere. I heard the interstate was bumper to bumper, and on the way to the volcano there was a huge line of cars going shopping at the next town over. Never in my life have I seen so many different and so many expensive cars on the road. Lamborghinis and Benzes and other makes of vehicles you don’t recognize as anything other than a sign that someone has more money than common sense, especially with Japan’s consumerist approach to vehicles.

This volcano is famous for still being active and exploding every 200 years or so; of which it’s due for another eruption. Last month it had a mini-eruption and rocks were supposedly still flying out. It was a bit of a cloudy day though, but that didn’t stop us from walking around paths in the old lava formations that have since cooled and started to crack, break and buckle under its own hastily formed weight. It was so beautiful and we spent hours walking around talking and even singing Disney classics as that were on Erika’s ipod on the way up. Us foreigners always do our part to freak out the local Japanese people perhaps.

Further up the hill was a very obviously abandoned building of some sort. It looked so creepy with some boarded up windows, signs letters than have fallen into disrepair and scattered on the ground around it, and concrete ledges that have fallen apart; baring it’s rebar skeleton. It gave an incredible atmosphere and ominous warning that death, and possibly zombies were nearby. I wanted to grab a shotgun and some friends and jump inside to hunt the zombies. Perhaps I need a break from the games.

That night Erika made another amazing Southern meal for us and we watched some “No Reservations” (an awesome travel/food show that I want to see more of) and went to sleep early after the busy day. In the morning we were treated to a Southern breakfast not unlike what Craig treated Neal and I to last fall. Home made gravy and biscuits with scrambled eggs and grits. It was amazing.

Over all, those couple days were an amazing adventure and learning experience about what everyone knows as “The South.” It’s a damn shame they have been given such a bad rep. Their accent is charming, their hospitality is exquisite and their food is delicious! I learnt so much that it has joined my list of “place to go.” I learnt all sorts of things to explain the bad stereotypes, (like with the fundies) cultural differences (like why gas BBQ or ‘being skinny’ is shunned) and other neat things that I want to see (like lightning storms in the sky that last all night when the weather is too hot and miserable). It was incredibly interesting stuff; I love the south now even though I’ve never been… (ToT)

I got back home that Tuesday and forgot to turn off my lights given it was daytime still. (I turned them on in one of the many tunnels I drove through; one was over 2km). I was therefore grounded without a car until Saturday when Patricia came over and gave me a boost. Ah nostalgia, the booster cables. Everyone else was gone until then, what with being on holidays still. I still enjoyed the last couple days even though I had to work on Thursday and Friday. On Friday I was sick, so school was hard and that night was spent on the couch plowing through 3 movies. The cold mostly went away, but I’m still feeling the effects a bit.

Saturday night was the last night for the Philippine girls in Japan as they were going home Sunday. They wanted to cook me food and hang out last Thursday, but it was pouring rain and my car was dead so I opted out of the ½ hour walk to get it. We got together and had something of a good visit I guess, even though I was fighting exhaustion and a bit of my cold still. I should have gone home earlier maybe, I hate being the focus of attention for something bad like that; they went so far as to suggest I should go to the hospital. The doctor prescribes: best rest. Sorry ladies, I’m not spending money to find that out. (Healthcare isn’t 100% covered in Japan)

Sunday was a lazy, hot day. The windows were open but I was still sweating, and it was great. At least it wasn’t too hot; I’ll have to get my fan out. Richard got a hold of me and we went for food, and then later watched a movie. Not a bad holiday I think :)

“I don’t want to survive. I want to live.” –Wall-E

tnoy

oyasumi~

I'm on holidays :) Check back next week... :'(