Somehow, I survived the Genki dance retreat with my limbs intact and the piano concert with my sanity (relatively) intact.
A behind-the-scenes peek at the costumes and makeup for Genki:
(My zombified clothes for the Thriller dance!)
(Ripping holes in, applying fake blood to, and dragging your clothes through the mud is quite fun. Therapeutic, even. I highly recommend it.)
The zombie look:
If you have a Facebook account, you can check out videos of the dances here (I'm in the Dance Retreat Finale, Zombie views 1 and 2, and the Fox Dance — still in fox makeup in most of them!)
A sign posted at the dance retreat venue, a youth center in the mountains:
(Who's this Chuck guy and what was he smoking?)
And of course, the gorgeous official show poster:
Classes are done for the year (here, the school year starts in April and ends in March — Japanese schoolkids still get a nice, long summer break, but it's just during the school year rather than between school years). Elementary school graduation is tomorrow (I'll be going to Daiichi, my biggest school). The weather has been yo-yoing, but spring is slowly on its way (I hear rumors of cherry blossoms, though I haven't seen any yet). Do you know what spring means? Spring break! I did end up making plans after all, so for spring break Rachel, Martin and I will be going to Sapporo, Hokkaido — where it is, ironically, still very much winter.
Flights, hostel, and snowboarding lessons are booked! Catch you later, Kochi!
My deepest apologies, dear readers, for neglecting to keep you informed on what's happening in my life.
Ever since I've been back from winter break (which was lovely, by the way), I've been insanely busy! Here's a rundown of what's been going on with me lately.
I have renewed my contract to stay in Japan for a second year!
Rehearsals for Genki (the musical the Kochi JETs put on every spring) have started. I auditioned for a singing role, but I guess I sucked, so I'm a dancer/extra. Whatever, I'm still excited.
I've been going to taiko classes in Muroto twice a week with some east-side pals. It's a lot of fun and a good stress-reliever, too. Why am I so stressed, you ask? Well...
...Arisa and I are playing two piano duets in a concert in Yasu at a venue that apparently seats 600 people (first of all, ARE there even 600 people in Yasu?) I don't know how this happened. One minute, she was asking me if I was free March 13; the next minute, she was showing up at my door with sheet music and a keyboard. The next thing I know, it's three weeks away. Gulp. There's a poster that, to my horror, has been distributed at all of my schools with our pictures and a blurb in Japanese about each of us (there are two other people in the concert as well). Arisa wrote about the oh-so-many musical instruments I play, making me sound like some kind of musical genius when really I haven't touched most of those instruments since high school. Now teachers keep asking me to play at school assemblies. This not only IS a nightmare, it's actually GIVING me nightmares. If only I could fast-forward time.
On a happier note, today is my last day as a 22-year-old!
Garrett and I are starting to plan a summer getaway. We've decided to go to Taiwan, and he may even come to Kochi first!
The school year is wrapping up, and the new one will start in April. I got some really sweet letters from my 5th graders at Kawakita reflecting on their favorite memories of English class :)
So far, I have no spring break plans (Alex and I are still thinking about going to Korea during Golden Week in May, though). No big deal. I'd rather save my vacation days for summer.
And, to tide you over until my next actual entry (one that is hopefully not a rant or random list), here are some pictures Kataoka-sensei took of me in action!
Introducing myself at a meeting at Daiichi:
A Halloween lesson with the 3rd and 4th grade at Ananai:
A 6th grade lesson on places around the city:
Playing "Duck Duck Goose" with the 3rd grade class of Kawakita:
A 5th grade lesson on shopping and how to ask for a discount at Daiichi:
A ceremony at Akano. I have no idea what it was about, but there were two people in cartoon character costumes dancing around. I really didn't want to release balloons into the air, but someone handed me four and I didn't want to be rude.
(Sorry, environment.)
International day at Ioki, one of Matt's schools:
(ALTs from the U.S., England, Germany and Korea.)
(Learning about time zones and getting ready to play a game about farm animals that they ended up not liking so much. Oh, well. You win some, you lose some.)
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 doctor students away
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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