It has come to my attention that I can select up to 10 email addresses to receive an email every time I publish a new post. I added a few to test the waters, but I can add 6 more. If you'd like to be on that list, leave me a comment and I will add you!
Once again, laziness has taken over. As a result, instead of a few separate entries about my recent adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun, they're all jam-packed into one. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: sit back, relax, and read on.
安芸の秋
That says "Aki no aki." "No" is equivalent to a possessive in English, so it's "Aki's aki." Get it? Because aki is the Japanese word for fall/autumn, but Aki is the name of my city? Hahaha!
*cricket*
...ok, on to some pictures!
One October day, Alex and I set out to find the famous Aki roller-slide that so many east-side JETs have raved about.
It was drizzling when we set out and pouring by the time we got there. Still, we'd walked far, and I was determined to go down the slide anyway. I'd been sliding giddily for about 10 seconds when I discovered that the slide was not so much a children's plaything as a breeding ground for eight-legged monsters. I went through a couple of webs before grabbing hold of the bars, flipping around, and crawling my way back up the slide. (Alex stopped laughing only long enough to snap a picture on his cell phone, although he was nice enough to check me for hitchhiking spiders when I finally escaped.)
Enter a much lovlier day in November, when I was asked to meander around the city with some other teachers in hopes of finding inspiration for new teaching ideas. I'm not sure anything productive came out of it, but I did get some nice pictures.
(Noradokei, the famous farmers' clock.)
(Remember way back when I posted photos of the childhood home of the founder of Mitsubishi, now a tourist site here in Aki? Well, this is a closer look at the roof. "Mitsubishi" literally means "three diamonds." Random trivia FTW!)
Catching up with Arisa
I'd been putting off calling Arisa until I finished reading her Doraemon books, since I wanted to be able to give them back to her the next time we hung out. I finally finished them, so I gave her a call. We set up an English-Japanese study date. Needless to say, not a lot of studying got done — unless Italian food, a bar with hula hoops and instruments, and an autumn festival in Yasu count as studying.
(This is Japan's version of a cream soda... so not what I was expecting. It was good, though!)
Fun at the bar:
The festival was the next day.
(I cannot for the life of me remember what this activity is called, but it's basically choreographed sparring.)
We eventually did get around to studying at Arisa's house. I wasn't expecting to be there for so long, and her mom ended up inviting me to stay over for dinner. Japan is huge on gift giving, so I was panicking that I hadn't anticipated being asked to dinner and therefore didn't have a gift to bring. Nevertheless, her mom was very nice and dinner was delicious (all grown on Arisa's family's own farm), and the next time I hung out with Arisa I gave her cookies that I baked and asked her to share them with her family, so I think it worked out.
Thanksgiving in Ashizuri
The weekend before American Thanksgiving was a three-day weekend here. In Japan, that Monday is a public holiday known as Labor Thanksgiving Day. I think it traditionally dates back to some kind of harvest, but now it's basically a day off work. So, the Kochi JETs (and even some from Tokushima prefecture) got together and rented cabins in Ashizuri, the western cape of Kochi, for a Thanksgiving potluck party.
I went with the Muroto guys (Ben, Huw and Jenya). It was a five-hour drive — six hours for them, since Muroto is an hour east of Aki. It's actually the eastern cape, so Ben literally drove across the entire prefecture.
It was five hours spent listening to spitting and the discussion of bodily functions (boys, amirite?), but it was worth it for the fun and delicious food that awaited.
(Michelle demonstrating to Sam the proper way to slice a turkey.)
(That's the dish I made, shrimp and macaroni salad, behind the ketchup. And I gotta give a shout-out to Amy for her incredible mac and cheese!)
I ended up bunking with the Tokushima JETs — Terrina (also known as Rex — Terrina --> Tyrannosaurus Rex --> T-Rex --> Rex) , Natasha, Cassie and John. The next day, we piled into Rex's car and went to check out a shrine we'd heard about.
We stopped along the drive to take a picture of the view:
(Pretty, right? Well, it was nothing compared to what we were about to encounter!)
A short walk through the woods...
...and we were there. And all I could say was, "Wow."
(The woodsy tunnel from which we emerged.)
(The shrine itself.)
(Awesome!)
(From left to right: John, Cassie, Rex, me and Natasha).
It started getting dark, so we headed back to the cabins for leftovers and more fun and games.
(Cranium winners!)
(Khalil was teaching us how to dance, Tunisian-style.)
Of course, I had to take some pictures of the cabins the next morning before we left:
Well, the weather was so fantastic that before the Muroto guys and I made the long drive back to the east side, we went back to the shrine! They hadn't seen it before, and I was excited to see how much more beautiful it was in sunlight.
Chobitto
Enter December — and Chobitto, the annual Kochi film festival held in Akaoka.
(Hanging out before the show. From left to right: Katie, Matt, Tyler, George, Huw and Michelle.)
The drink station:
My station:
I was on the volunteer committee, selling sandwiches, popcorn, t-shirts, and tote bags. Check out the best tote bag ever:
Mero Mero Meron gave its debut performance that night as well:
(It was hard to get a good picture, but that's George on bass, Tyler on drums, Michelle on the mic, and Matt on guitar.)
I invited Arisa to come along.
How could we resist taking pictures with the creepy obaa-chan dummy?
Announcing the winners (as determined by audience votes):
Congratulating all submitters:
Check out the short films that won first and second place, "Hikariyume" by George and Gary, and "Takeshi" by Mia (organizer of the festival).
An apple a day keeps the
One day, I was having lunch with the third grade class at one of my schools. The students were chatting as usual, occasionally peering over at me to see what I was eating. I went about eating my lunch. Then I pulled an apple out of my lunch bag.
The room fell silent.
I looked around. Every single eye was on me. Cautiously, I took a bite out of said apple, and a collective gasp could be heard, followed by a look usually reserved for horrible creatures from outer space.
Confused as to why my students had reacted this way to a mere apple, I posted a Facebook status asking my fellow JETs if they had any idea what it was about. To my surprise, I received an influx of answers. Apparently, the fact that it was a whole apple, as opposed to a sliced apple, was the source of the chaos (though apparently putting peanut butter on your apple is just as shocking). To use Candice's words: " People just stare at me like I'm an animal in a zoo at feeding time." Others had amusing suggestions such as eating half and offering the other half to a student, eating the core, or bringing in a whole pineapple next time.
From now on, I'll remember to slice my fruit.
Candle festival in Aki
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to glance out of my window and saw tons of candles set up outside the train station. I had no idea what was going on, but I waited for night to fall, grabbed my camera, and went to investigate. (I ended up going back the next night too, with Sarah.) It was pretty cold, but the beautiful lights, good food, and live music made it worthwhile.
That's all for now. I'm leaving tomorrow to spend Christmas on American soil, followed by New Year's in Tokyo!
Happy Non-Denominational Winter Festivities and a Happy New Year,
Britt
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