Ancient Capital Revisited

Things have been especially slow at work lately, with the tests coming up and all. Even today I’m struggling to not go home early like I will in an hour or so to make lunch. One day I made a couple card houses and mini displays on my desk. I probably shouldn’t be advertising that I’m doing nothing when really there is always something I can do, but they seemed to be a big hit, and gave me reasons to explain English sayings like “…fell like a house of cards” and stuff like that. I later used a mini character to play Godzilla and destroy my skyscrapers. It’s tough to be bored if you can play in your mind the whole time.

On Thursday I went and visited my handicapped school to teach a couple lessons. It’s always a pleasure going; I’m not nearly on edge as I used to be. Experience is a good thing that way. The kids started the day with some marathon practice, so we ran/walked a couple laps around the baseball field before coming going to the classroom. I gave a small introduction and we played a small game with foods. It was cool showing pictures of pizza and bacon and explaining how they’re different back home; then explaining poutine. Sharing knowledge is fun.

After this I joined the kids in their pottery class. It was really cool, seeing the process of making some really neat items. We started by painting some finished pieces that were ready for the kiln, and then I got to make my own snack dishes. I made some hexagonal, sukara and leaf shaped plates. Some students made bowls using moving machines while others hand painted. It was really fun. Apparently they sell their finished products later. For my help, I got a large, rectangular shaped dish for sushi and whatever :) I think it’s really cool.

After a delicious lunch at their cafeteria, I taught another class, this time more geared towards music. We did the ‘Hokey Pokey’ and ‘Happy and you know it’ songs. For the most part it was I singing solo and the kids bounced around having a blast. It was fun seeing them come up on stage and dancing with me; feeding off the excited vibe. I felt bad my musical talents are a little limited; I should have got vocalized versions of the songs. After that, I went to the gym and played basketball in my socks with some students. I’m surprised just how much fun it was; being basketball and all. The kids are so cute and try so hard. One girl has a back deformity and there was no way she could throw the basketball high enough to go in, so we helped her out and she loved it. She had such a big smile.

Heart melting aside, that night I got in a car with Richard and Amanda and we went down to my old stomping grounds in Tatsuno to see the annual firefly festival. This year, it didn’t pour rain on us, and my pictures didn’t really turn out at all. It was still pretty magical though; those Japanese bug are much bigger and brighter than what I’ve seen back home. We met up with Erika and her posse too and she was saying how her area back home in the states is over run with these little guys. Those bugs and the magical all-night thunderstorms are reason enough for me to want to visit sometime.

Either way, I thought it was beautiful and quite relaxing, even if there were a lot of people including an old drunkard trying to start a fight. Hooray for new experiences! Now I know how a Japanese fight looks like haha. Mostly nothing going on but cussing and everyone else breaking it up; or holding their expensive camera equipment close to avoid damage. On that note, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a real fight before. Just a couple scuffles I got in with my brother John when we were younger, and even those were hardly fights.

Richard has been bugging me for a while to have a poker night and since people are leaving soon and there will never really be a “good time”, we decided to have one the day of. I messaged people in the morning, and that night it was Richard, Dougal, Amanda, Michelle and I at my place eating pizza and playing poker. It was the girls’ first time, so there were lengthy explanations to go over. I also couldn’t find poker chips anywhere so I settled with some fake money at the dollar store.

Sure enough beginner’s luck came through for Amanda and she won, but I think it’s safe to say we all had fun. Noboru joined us later in the night after his going away party with some co-workers and we moved on to video games after the poker. Somehow I was up until 3 in the morning, which wasn’t the smartest thing because I had to be awake at 6 in the morning for a big weekend. I caught 3 hours of sleep and when I woke up to get my bus, Noboru was still playing video games :) haha I think I got him hooked on that game so we’ll play it after he goes home.

It’s a good thing the bus ride was over 4 hours; I slept the whole time. Well, as well as anyone can sleep on a noisy, moving bus I guess. I was off to meet my friend Noriko. She did a home stay in Canada a while back and her host mom is a friend of my mom’s. We’ve been emailing for a while, but since I suck, I haven’t yet gone to Kyoto, one of the biggest tourist areas in Japan, for a real visit in my two years here. Save for that one-day with my mom last year when it rained non-stop. I’d just be making excuses, but maybe part of that reason was she doesn’t really get a weekend off from her job, only Saturdays and Wednesdays I think.

Finally one email she said how she’s going to take holidays to finally come see me so that was the kick I needed to just go down there already. As luck would have it, she had the whole weekend to show me around too. I forgot my guidebook back home, but we still found fun things to do. At the poker game I asked everyone out of the blue what I should do in Kyoto.

The one thing everyone suggested was Kiyomizu Temple. It’s one of the more famous ones in a city oversaturated with historical goodness. This one had a cool patio overlooking a huge drop out into the forest. I understand why spring and fall are so popular in Kyoto for the color changing and sakura. It’s such a beautiful city. Before we found the temple though, we wandered around nearby cobblestone streets full of charming shops and beautiful girls dressed in kimonos. Those are a rare sight I thought, but quite common around here. I even saw a number of girls dressed like geishas, but Noriko said they weren’t real.

Sure we were lost, but I think cool adventures usually happen by accident. I ate up the alluring character and loved it all. Eventually when we did find that famous restaurant, sure enough there was a line up out the door. This was ok though, as it was a reason to walk around more and find a different place. When we did find a place, I ate some Kyoto tofu, which I thought were pretty good. Normally I hate tofu for its blandness alone, but you got a cool dipper to dunk it in some special Kyoto sauce.

We went to the temple after, and some school kids on excursion asked for a minute of my time. Since I love kids now, at least Japanese ones, I obliged. They asked some questions in some amazing English and we had a little conversation, which I really liked. They asked me to sign some paper wishing for peace or something, and some kids turned to Noriko and asked her if she was my mom.

Ouch! The poor girl, she was flustered. Of course I don’t know how old she is, and the only answer you’ll ever get from someone when you hint at the question is “older than you.” We walked around for a while taking pictures and drinking up the experience. Noriko goes every year for the fall colors and invited me to join her this autumn; I should definitely make the effort. Near the bottom of the temple was a mini waterfall coming out from a shrine. There was a huge line here of people catching the water and drinking it; as it is said to grant your wishes.

After the temple we went back to Kyoto station, but we didn’t really have a plan like I said. I threw out like a dozen ideas, but not too many were sticking or weren’t an option. Like the Beauty and the Beast opera was sold out, or there wasn’t a baseball game that night. We visited a tourist center nearby and for some reason I got stuck on the idea of being on a boat. We went to Uji city near where Noriko lives and went down to the river where we joined a Ukai Fishing event. “Uu” translates into “cormorant” if that clears it up for you… I know it didn’t for me :)

Ukai is an old traditional way of fishing perhaps. I didn’t really understand, so I’ll write down what I think was happening. Four people get on a banana shaped boat and light a basket of fire that is suspended over the water. Under that fire they throw these black ‘cormorant’ birds. Once there, I assume the fire attracts fish; much like a spotlight, and the heat forces the birds under the water, where they might as well grab a snack.

The lake we were on was by no means deep; it was clear and beautiful. Some people were having enkais on their boats! I was deeply jealous; I love Japanese drinking parties. They posed for my pictures too. Anyways, one guy on the boat was making tribal noises maybe, another person moved it up and down the river so people in all the boats could see. The birds were harnessed by wires or something, so when they came up with a fish, the girl would pull them in. Much like how a chicken has a gullet in its throat, the bird’s neck would bulge with its bounty. The girl would squeeze the bulge up and out of the bird’s mouth, and you could see the fish slide out and into the boat.

I of course felt bad for the birds, being manhandled by the throats and tossed back in once they were ripped from their supper, returned to the hot flames. The birds were always trying to get away, and splashing water on themselves to keep warm, but boy was this ever a cool spectacle. We watched them catch fish for over ½ an hour I think. I love being on a boat, and it was such a nice night.

We got back to Kyoto station and had to really look to find a restaurant that was open past the ripe, late late time of… 9:30. We did find a place that was really good though. I had udon noodles, sushi and tempura. Noriko apologized I couldn’t stay at her place as the spare room was busy or something, but she found a nice hotel for me that was reasonably priced. I of course was exhausted after the busy, hot day with little sleep so I didn’t stay up long to enjoy the awesome night view over the main station. I absolutely love nighttime in big cities, especially during good weather.

We met up again bright and early at 9 and after breakfast went to Kyoto tower while the weather was good for a clear view of the city. I had an entrance coupon anyways from my hotel stay. We got a good view up there even if it was only 100 meters high. There aren’t too many skyscrapers in Kyoto, and you could see temples and shrines everywhere. In a nice twist, the binoculars were free to use, so I frequented them often to see close-ups of things like the Kiyomizu temple we visited the other day, or some older Japanese people fishing off a bridge.

There were stickers up around the windows saying what buildings were where, and I noticed a “steam engine museum” not far away. We made a mental note to visit it later. It didn’t take long for you to tell it was getting hot outside, as the view was being diminished by the wavy heat all around us. It was good we got up there when we did.

Before the full blown hot noon though, we got out to see Nijo Castle in Kyoto where the shogun would run the country. It was quite different from the ones I’ve seen in Osaka and Kyoto; this one seemed more geared towards living as opposed to war. At the same time though, I think it was better defended than the others, having 2 moats and high walls. Here we met up with the kids from yesterday too, as they called out my name and waved happily.

We took a tour inside, which was a series of building attached to each other in a half-moon shape. One building was for guests, one for living and so on. In the living quarters though, there were only women geishas, conveniently translated to titles like “head woman in attendance”, “second woman in attendance” and so on. I had a sneaky suspicion that “woman in attendance” kanji wasn’t quite translated correctly. Sure enough when I asked Noriko she wouldn’t answer me one way or another and just giggled.

I found it funny though that even in his private chamber he sat on his knees in that painful seiza position. The only comfort he had was a wooden block thing to rest one of his arms on. Over all, it was quite a beautiful place, with a real feel for how things might have been back then; different from the Osaka castle/museum or the Matsumoto one which is mostly a skeleton wood structure on the inside. There were mannequins, paintings, and cool stuff like secret doors for the bodyguards to hide behind.

For some reason, we couldn’t go in the castle behind the second moat. We weren’t sure why but oh well. After the castle we went and saw the steam engine museum that was pretty interesting. They had many of the old trains up on display that you could walk around in and an old switching train station that they used to pull out train engines as they wanted. I’ve only really seen that stuff in cartoons before, and they played the “I’ve been working on the railroad” song in Japanese. I regretfully forgot the lyrics…

Later they would let you ride the steam engine. I was quite excited, but that fizzled pretty quickly. They took you down 100 to 200 meters of track in a very enclosed area. At least I got to hear its whistle and can say I’ve ridden a steam-powered vehicle now. I’ll need to read up on how the inner workings of the train operate as it seemed pretty complicated, and the Japanese explanations weren’t helping me figure out how the pistons were moving, where the steam was going and so on. Noriko mostly laughed at me as I tried to work it out with the various model displays and so on; I blame the engineer’s curiosity.

She’s a quiet girl, but we had lots of fun. It’s a good thing I have so many stories and can just talk about nothing if I need to. Like the one time I pretended I was dead from the heat, so she quickly fanned me for a bit. I then said she gave me life; therefore she must be my mom like the students said. She didn’t like that one but it’s fun to play around. Richard bugged me the one time when I was in the middle of a negative story; but I don’t think I pay more attention to the negative or the positive, I just note if they’re interesting or not.

The highway looked like one big metal cylinder from a distance; to keep in the noise or something. I think you would have such awesome views of Japan if it weren’t for the huge walls everywhere. Even getting up to the stop there was a large metal slide door to dampen the noise maybe. On the bus home I tried watching some Japanese movies they were playing but I didn’t make much sense out of them. It was still interesting though.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. I finally got to see more of Kyoto and I sure wouldn’t mind seeing more. There are other cool cities nearby too like Nara, Kobe and Osaka that I need to see too. People were a lot more friendly that Tokyo, like I was saying the other day: you know it must be bad when people make a point of telling you of the one or two times a stranger talked to you or tried to help you with something.

I haven’t written this much in a while and should have gone home “for lunch” a couple hours ago. I’m so hungry now… since there are so many pictures that are so beautiful; I’ll post them on my photo account again for you to see. I know it’s been quite a while since I used it.

"The world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going." -David Starr Jordan

tnoy

Dampened Spirits

It’s almost a frightening thing; how emotions slant works. I deleted a page or two from my last entry as I suddenly burst into rant after rant of things that were bothering me. I guess it was good to get it out, and later when my head was clearer I was able to edit accordingly. I suspect this entry will be similar.

Another busy week came and went. I finished giving tests to my former student Nanako, worked out at the gym with Noboru and Richard, and went out for food with Neal among other things. School life is pretty good, with a lot of free time lately as my 3rd years work on a project. I spent a bit too much time online then talking with friends and reading news I didn’t really care about.

On Friday Richard and I went up to Matsumoto for Ashley’s birthday party. We were planning on going to the gym first; but didn’t have time with the long drive ahead of us. It was a really interesting experience being out in a city that is open after hours though. Ina is a big step up, sure, but here we went to more than one pub there, and all the while there were people on the street walking around enjoying the beautiful night.

Later on, Richard and I did the same actually; buying (comparatively) cheap alcohol at a nearby convenience store then drinking it outside the pub the rest of the group was inebriating in. I think it was pretty awesome anyways; one of my small pleasures is being outside at night and not needing a coat. Good, cheap drinks and good company helped top that one off. When we did go inside later, I got talking with some guy from Scotland, and we had some amazing conversation about whatever. To think you could just meet someone randomly like that; something else that is becoming a rare pleasure of mine.

He got talking with a girl in our group that lived 3 hours away on the other side of Scotland, and they started talking in ways I couldn’t understand. We were all speaking the same language, but I couldn’t understand them at all. I want to go to Scotland sometime.

Unfortunately it was 3 in the morning before you knew it and some people wanted to sleep. I would have liked to hang out at the castle after hours, or more shenanigans but oh well. I couldn’t really sleep in, so I played games until it was time to go on a camping trip up north.

We returned to the lake we visited during our martial arts festival and set up camp. Here I got a taste of Japanese “camping” again. You know a gravel parking lot right? Ya, that was the campsite.

At first I thought it must have been a sick joke, but no. I ended up sleeping on top of my sleeping bag entirely to get as much foam between all the rocks and me as possible. It was especially sick because you were surrounded by beautiful nature. Whose idea it was to dump a bunch of rocks and make you sleep in a parking lot I will never know.

I wanted to rent a kayak, but the dude that spoke too fast in only Japanese wouldn’t let me if I didn’t have lessons; which he provided for over $50 the next day. I said screw it and went swimming. He came by not too long after and kicked everyone out of the lake; saying if you didn’t have a life jacket on you couldn’t swim. I suppose there were a lot of rocks and the water was cold, but lighten up a bit dude.

If you wanted a picnic table you had to rent it. Actually anything you wanted, like a grill to cook over the first with, had to be rented. All you got was a gravel parking spot, and half a cinder-crete block to build a fire in. I wish I had packed a chair, or more stuff in retrospect. The camp next to us had some Japanese folks inside: It was a massive tent where they had a dining table, chairs, tables with ingredients and other household stuff, and in the middle of the table they watched a DVD with the lake in the background. It made me wonder why they just didn’t eat at home.

That’s enough complaining. I guess some fun was had; Darby was giving out watermelon, and we met up with another dude that was hitchhiking around Japan. He was a cool guy with some awesome stories; not to mention a natural entertainer. I should grow a pair and try to backpack around Japan too. For example right after he got into a car, the guy invited him for supper and to stay the night before he could even give his name. That is a side of Japan I’d like to see in stark contrast to the cold vibe I get every now and then on the street or wherever.

I was exhausted from Friday’s adventures so I wasn’t up late. Richard and I crammed into a tiny tent; and it poured that night. It poured late into the morning too, when we gave up and decided to try and run for the car. This happens to me way too often when I camp it seems. Or maybe it’s so miserable it stands out in my mind. I remember my camping trip with my mom and how that ended; at the bottom of a hill getting a downpour flooding our tent. I guess that was one good thing about sleeping in a flat parking lot, we didn’t get overly wet inside the tent.

Some people went to the onsen, but I wasn’t having any of that. I apologized to Richard but I just wanted to get home; and there I spent the rest of the day, not really doing anything in particular. I napped for a couple hours, the only thing note worthy.

Sure enough, I deleted a whole ‘lot of stuff later and want to try to end this on a positive note. I’ll be going to Kyoto this weekend finally, alone. Maybe it’ll be the escape from myself that I need.

"The years in your life are less important than the life in your years." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
tnoy

Heavy Petting

Well I’m still tired, but not exhausted like the last 2 Mondays. I actually got to sleep yesterday! I slept in all the way until… 9 I think. Sad, I know; but at least I felt rested, even if my arms were really sore from the workout on Friday. I finally got a membership at a local gym for $50 a month and it comes with a personal trainer. The Brazilian restaurant underneath has an amazing restaurant too with huge burgers for $5 among other goodies. It’s such a nice culture; people are always smiling, wanting to talk to you and just being friendly.

Without getting too far ahead of myself, Tuesday I went out for supper with Junko and 2 of her friends. It was the first time seeing her since January… A strange thing really, considering we were seeing each other almost every week before. People just get busy I guess. Either way it was fun eating sushi and talking about whatever. It’s a good feeling having people ask questions and actually want to talk.

I try to engage my students this way all the time, but there’s only so much you can do before they start giggling and try to escape the English questions. When I see them start to flee, I will usually throw some of my broken Japanese at them, which stops them in their tracks for some slightly prolonged awkward conversation; but at least they can understand what I’m trying to say/ask.

I couple of times during the week I met up with my former student Nanako again to either give her a test or just briefly double check her essay before she submits it. I haven’t gone out with the boys for supper in quite a while; we went out every day for a couple weeks a while back and must have burnt out. I don’t mind the change too much, but I should try and restart the Wednesday tradition sometime.

Before that though I should make a schedule for myself, maybe starting today. Give my self one hour for working out, one hour for Japanese studies and so on. I spent too much time watching a show called “the wire” last week and now kind of regret it.

I think that about covers everything up to the weekend. On Saturday I got up early again and went to Shiojiri, over an hour away. There a group of us joined a BBQ/games party. The price was really good for the whole package, and it would be a good date spot, except that the normal prices were a ripoff for what you got. For example they had go-karts. Normally for $3 (I guess $6 because you have to ride with a friend) you get to go on one short lap in a tin car that could hardly take me up the small hill.

Then the mini golf course they had was really ghetto; I think the lawn back on the farm would have been better for the putting greens. It literally was a mess of a field with grass cut shorter here and there. I won’t complain too much tough, as I guess I had fun and the price we paid could have been just for the BBQ we got alone. The petting zoo was kind of nice, although there was a rabbit in there with a broken arm which was unsettling. Oh and a goat ate this one guy’s paper book that he was carrying; it was pretty funny.

The parts I enjoyed the most was sliding down a hill in a little slider thing, some archery and a small swan-like paddle boat, where you row by riding something of a bicycle. It was so small for me though; my legs were bouncing off my stomach. I met some interesting people again, which seems to happen a lot. There was one guy from Canada that lived in Russia for a while that had some cool stories for us. It’s great running into other Canadians; they’re such nice people and most of them when they find out where I’m from will say “Go Riders!” or something :) Even if I don’t bleed green as much as they expect me to. To the Riders credit, I guess the last 2 seasons haven’t been as embarrassing as some others that finally bled out all my green.

We went home and relaxed that night which was a nice change. After sleeping in, getting some cleaning done, playing games with friends back home and cooking tasty food, I went up to Matsumoto for another BBQ party at Ashley’s place. She is moving soon but her house is amazing; it looks like the houses you see in pretty much every animation. A nice little yard, a little porch that stares out on it and all that fun stuff.

Since I drove I couldn’t drink like the others, but it was still fun. I met some new people and since I’ve been hanging out with JETs a lot more lately than I would like, I was privy to hearing that some rumors are flying around about me, where as before a lot of people simply didn’t know who I was. I guess they aren’t bad rumors, at least the ones I heard, but just a bitter reminder of the high school atmosphere many people like to carry around with them. Oh well, you shouldn’t care too much what others have to say about you anyways. Unless of course it’s constructive criticism from a friend and not petty bickering from a dolt that doesn’t deserve the time of day anyways; that jerk that shouted out “Canadian beer sucks” comes to mind.

I had to park at the castle, which wasn’t too far away, but by the time I left the parking lot closed apparently. My car was locked in with a note stuck to the window. When I paid to get out, it was over $10. To actually leave the lot, I unhooked the chain, drove in the wrong lane, and fun stuff like that. Oh and I forgot my camera somewhere; maybe at school so I don't have any pictures.

Maybe I’m more tired than I thought, I don’t normally complain like this. Half of this post was deleted as such. Everyplace has its own dirty laundry I guess. I wonder how the whole Quebec thing is playing out back home. I met a girl yesterday that had nothing to say but nice things about Quebec city, which was a happy change from the usual grim stories. Staying out of the news and talking to real people that aren’t trying to manipulate you has its advantages.

"The difference in winning and losing is most often... not quitting." -Walt Disney

tnoy

The Goats be Racin'

My exhaustion is profound. I suppose it didn’t help going to bed at 2 in the morning after yet another crazy weekend of working and traveling and keeping busy. On Friday night I got off work an hour early to catch a bus up to Nagano City where we had a “disorientation party” for the people returning home. It was a good party like always, but underlined by the sad fact many cool people I’ve grown to know and appreciate will be scattered across the globe, back to whence they came. It was a fair bit more difficult this year compared to last year, but I should be happy I was able to see them off somewhat.

There were so many people though it was hard to catch up. Before you knew it, 4 hours of drinking had passed and people were beginning to scatter to their own respective Karaoke parties or wherever. Cam caught up with me and it was very easy for him to talk me into seeing the new Terminator movie that just opened. I really couldn’t say no, I really wanted to see it. Sure enough it was an amazing movie, but I hope to be more sober the next time I see it…

Again, after another big night, I needed to wake up early to go on distant trip. This time I was going to Sugadaira for an English camp. It was about an hour out of Nagano. I got a ride up with Ashley, which was fun enough, but once again spring time in Nagano blew my mind with its amazing mountain roads surrounded by beauty. It was quite the climb up the mountain.

At the camp, I partnered up with another ALT named Chris and led our students in a small cheer and introduction game. Chris hopped on my shoulders and jumped up and down while I hosted him in the air while we bellowed how awesome our group is. Needless to say we won the contest, but it was harder than I thought it would be having a grown adult jumping around like that on your shoulders. We broke into many groups and the group I had to participate in played an easy game of Telephone; which went over well.

I was more interested in another game called “goat race” however. I was asked to make some kind of worksheet for the kids and a corny choose-your-own-adventure was its product. I laced it with many cultural references that the kids would love and other strange twists. I wouldn’t mind playing it with my own kids sometime; I’ll work something out.

I’m exhausted and going to bed. Since this is so short, I attached a copy of that Goat Race I made. Brace yourself for corny humor and obscure Japanese cultural references.

"The key that unlocks energy is desire. It's also the key to a long and interesting life. If we expect to create any drive, any real force within ourselves, we have to get excited." -Earl Nightingale

tnoy

Goat Race

(Prologue) You are goats and you just saw a monster! You must quickly run to the village and tell the young and strong mayor this important news! Run fast, because you only have 20 minutes to reach him. Make decisions along the way and get points.

(Instructions: The teacher/ALT reads this like a story and helps the students along. The students listen, and discuss which path to take, similar to a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. Encourage discussion and “are you sure?” checks. Read them the results, and then the number of points for their decision and carry on, you don’t need to read all the outcomes. Keep score and track of inventory. Hints in the story are in italics, notes for reader not to be read are [boxed])

First Decision: Which Path?

You running to the village, but you’re a little lost. You see a sign that looks like it has been moved. The path splits into 3. One path looks like it has been used a lot. One path looks like it has been used a little, and the sign points down the last path towards the village. Which path do you take? [Moved Sign path, path used a lot, path used a little]

- Moved Sign Path (1 point + sign in inventory)
Oh no! People from the busy path must have accidentally pushed this here and it points down the long path! Maybe it was Ashley and her crazy dancing.

- Well Used Path (2 points)
Oh there are so many people here! They are in line to buy Takoyaki because it is very tasty. You lose time getting around them, and start to feel hungry now.

- Little Used Path (3 points)
This path looks like the way to Pooh-san’s house! It was a great nature walk, but you didn’t see piglet. This path is a shortcut! Lucky you.

Second Decision: Good Smells

The first house you reach in the village smells so good! It smells like Natto and Tabasco Sauce… your favourite! You’re really hungry. Your stomach makes loud noises, louder than the danger behind you. Do you keep running? Do you eat quickly? Or do you take a boxed lunch [Bento], and then keep running? [Stop to eat, grab and go, keep running]

- Grab and go (1 points + Tabasco Natto in inventory)
Yay Tabasco Natto! You lose time though, because you’re a goat and don’t have hands, and now the delicious smell is making you even hungrier.

- Keep running (2 point)
You must save the village! Your warrior spirit pushes you forward, but your hunger makes you weak and slow; just like Neal.

- Stop to eat (3 points)
Oh that Tabasco Natto sure was tasty! You feel much stronger and faster now like a super-sayajin! [think dragon ball z. スーパ サイヤ じん] It’s sticky and spicy though, so you brush your teeth to look good for the mayor.

Third Decision: The Bridge Troll

After the house is the river; you need to cross it to reach the young and strong mayor. There is a bridge here, but you hear a troll underneath! You know this troll is scary and likes to eat goats. Do you try to cross anyways? Do you wait, and call for help? Or do you go around? The water doesn’t look deep… [cross, call for help, go around]

- Call for Help (1 point. +1point if you have signpost in inventory)
You sit there, calling for help. It’s not very romantic. Soon the monster behind you is louder than the monster under the bridge, so you run over the bridge.
[if you have the post read the rest:] In fear, you dropped the signpost. It was lucky though, as it pointed away from the village so now you have more time!

- Go Around (2 points)
You find a safe path around, but it took a little longer than you would have liked. You saw a frog, but you’re sad it’s not Keroro Gunsou. [ケロロ　ぐんそう, anime character frog]

- Cross (3 points)
Good thinking! That troll can’t hurt you on top of the bridge! Uh oh, you can hear a noise! It’s him! He’s coming! He’s chasing after you! Oh no! [“Roar” and scare them if you’d like] You run and get away

Fourth Decision: No Animals Allowed

Oh ya, you forgot animals can’t go in the village! You must wear a disguise! You see Cosplay nearby [コスプレ] Who will you dress like? Will you dress like Sanji? Will you dress like Suzumiya Haruhi? Or will you dress like Anpanman? There is a school nearby and everyone looks hungry. [Sanji, Suzumiya, Anpanman]

- Anpanman (1 point)
Yay Anpanman! The students see you though, and they are hungry! You are scared; they are trying to eat your head! Oh no! You run for your life.

- Suzumiya Haruhi (2 points)
YOU ARE OTAKU! [オタク, point out a student for dramatic effect] People give you funny looks and you want to play video games, but you must get to the mayor first!

- Sanji (3 points)
Yay Sanji! You are so much cooler than Zoro. Zoro sucks. [thumbs down and ‘boooo’ if a student protests] You are everyone’s hero because you are so cool. Girls are screaming and blowing you kisses, but you don’t have time for them because you’re just too cool.

Fifth Decision: Zombies!

Oh NO! Zombies! [ゾンビ] Scary! They are walking around and talking funny. It’s very scary… Uh oh, they see you! Now they are coming this way! Do you hide? Do you run away? Or do you make friends with them? Maybe they’re hungry for brains! [Hide, run, make friends]

- Hide (1 point)
You hide from the Zombies! You cry and cry like a baby. [ウルウル make “uru uru” sounds for crying, kids love it] When the zombies go away, you continue to the mayor.

- Run (2 points)
You take off in fear! You hear them chasing you! You run and run until you can’t hear them anymore. You wasted lots of time, but you’re alive

- Make Friends (3 points)
Oh, that funny talking was English! Crazy! Those Zombies were English ALTs. You ask for help, but they don’t understand you. Because you’re a goat. Baah, Baaah.

Sixth Decision: Guess Who!

Finally you reached the town center! The mayor must be around here somewhere, but who could it be? Is it the man dressed in a uniform, holding his stomach? Is it the old man with long gray hair by the water fountain? Or is it the young and strong man walking his dog? [uniform, old, young]

- Old man (1 point)
This guy is an elder, he must be the mayor! He is feeding the ducks in the fountain and ignores you. After a long time, the young man sees you and comes over, it’s the real mayor!

- Uniform (2 points. + 1 if you have natto in inventory)
You rush to the uniformed man, but find out he’s only the town guard! He points you to the real mayor and you go together to save the village!
[read this if you have natto:] The guard is really hungry, and when he smells your Tabasco Natto he eats it all. What a greedy man! He is stronger now, and ready to better protect the village

- Young (3 points)
Congratulations! You remembered the mayor is young and strong and you talk to him. He doesn’t understand you, because you’re a goat, but he notices the danger you are pointing too!

(Conclusion)
You new friends and your powerful cosplay come together to save the village. The people make a statue of you, and sing songs about you. Later they discovered you are a goat though, and kicked you out of the village. No animals are allowed still. Sad, you go for a walk and see a new danger! Will you go back to the village and warn them again? [Play again?]

Score
18 = you are no regular goat, you are a SUPER goat! Your name will live on in songs and stories forever just like Sanji! Congratulations!

17-15 = The villagers are always happy, and give you Takoyaki every day! Thank you!

14-12 = The Village is saved and life goes on like normal, lots of Natto for you!

11-9 = The Village has been damaged and the people are sad. Without electricity they can’t play video games or watch anime anymore. Now they study and do homework… EVERYDAY

8-6 = There are more monsters now; the world is a dangerous place. This is the start of pocket monsters! [pokemon]

5-1 = Did you even want to save the villagers? I understand now why you were kicked out.

My Karate Chop, Let Me Show You It

It was a pretty awesome week, I only taught one class because of the students writing tests. I suppose that made for some long days, but I went home early more than a couple days and killed zombies with friends back home when I wasn’t logging in to wish my brother a happy birthday or things of that nature. Some teachers took advantage of the downtime too and wanted to throw a BBQ party!

So Tuesday my neighbor and 3 other teachers went into our backyard that someone mysteriously cleaned up for us recently, and had an amazing BBQ. They did a lot of fried meats and vegetables on the grill, while I put together and potato dish and put some hamburger patties and hot dogs on the grill. It was a amazing to me how mystified they were with my antics; I’m not sure they’ve ever done it before! Another thing I’ve taken for granted maybe. So I taught them how to make a hamburger with tomato and lettuce and stuff and they loved it. It was funny too, some people prepared their hotdogs the same way with lettuce and tomato; perhaps I need to be more thorough with my teaching. It was still really tasty, even if the tomatoes cost more than a dollar each.

We sat around and talked later, with them asking me to tell multiple stories. I surprised even myself with how many tales I could share, as long as they gave me a theme to work with (ie festival, travel, food etc) and I did my best to share the stories in Japanese. I like my lessons as I feel I understand a lot better than before; my listening skills used to be horrible, what with studying alone all the time and so on. I learnt interesting things too, it’s good to make Japanese friends; perhaps my language level is finally good enough to make meaningful friendships now with people who can’t speak English.

On Thursday instead of tests we had a class-match. That is when the different classes team up against the others in various activities. The sports this time were softball, badminton, tennis and volleyball. I was going to play softball until I found out about the Volleyball and couldn’t refuse. It was a really fun time, with the teacher team making it to the finals and many students crowding around to watch. What was shocking to me was just how weak I really have become. It was embarrassing, but everyone thought I was doing amazing still so they don’t know how much they’re missing. We took the championship and that last game made me sore for the next couple days.

I was going to see the new Star Trek movie that was opening in Japan on Friday, but I found out Thursday we were having a work party that night instead. We met at a nice restaurant in Ina to formally welcome Chiho Sensei in and give our parting wishes to Ono Sensei who went to Ina Kita to teach with Neal now. It was a good time I think; I’m just glad I have interesting stories to tell which helps steer the conversation away from being completely Japanese and me listing off in a drunken stupor from my lack of understanding as a result.

I was able to share some snacks and beer from Canada finally; my supplies are running a bit low on the chips that maybe expired a week or two ago. I still have lots that I brought from back home, although I think the container of peanut butter was bad as it’s all liquid inside and not really tasty. Talk about bad luck :) I’ll just need to buy the expensive, inferior stuff here. Neal still bugs me that I can open my own convenience store with all the stuff I brought back.

As with last week, the morning after a big drinking party I had to get up early to go out on another weekend adventure. This time we went to Omachi Budo Festival up North to learn some martial arts. My group first learnt about Naginata where you fight with something like a pike; a long staff with a curved blade on the end. After which we learnt some Judo which was unfortunately limited by one of the elder teachers and we didn’t even learn to flip people and throw them to the ground like what was learnt last year. I guess we learnt some submission moves that were entertaining.

After the festivities, we didn’t have much time to bathe or get ready unfortunately as it took about half and hour just trying to find adequate space in a room for the night as it was speculated there were people from a certain country who tend to only think about themselves and not about the benefit of the group, leaving confusion and inconvenience for everyone else. It’s a good thing they’re not the majority, at least not here in Japan. It’s just an unfortunate consequence of learning about another’s culture perhaps. I’m surprised how much I’ve been seeing other JETs lately and these things remind me why I don’t.

Regardless we had an amazing supper and good party that followed. After a group of us made our way out to the lake for a swim and Frisbee. Amazingly there were people still out there fishing off the dock at 11 at night, but when we got in the water and scared away the fish they left too. The water was kind of cold but still fun. A group of people on shore had a “great idea” to take people’s clothes and hide them, making some of the drunks swear bloody revenge which got a bit tense. Drinking brings out the bad in a lot of people unfortunately. I tried not to let it get to me (the angry drunks that is)

On Sunday we learnt some Kendo and called it a day. It was fun. Richard, Neal and I made our way back and had some lunch/supper together and discovered a really good gym to work out in. We plan to start up this week; it would be good to get fit again. For $50 a month you get access to a really good gym and a personal trainer; an absolute steal in this country given how many people pay over $70 for a crappy gym and no trainer. It’s probably because Brazilians run this one that it’s so good.

Exhausted, I spent the rest of the day on my couch reading a book. I need to take it tone down the crazy adventure scale and take it easy more often; although working out will give me more energy again :) it should be good.

"Man is born to live, not to prepare for life." -Boris Pasternak

tnoy