Myoenji festival

Last weekend, there was a festival here in Ijuin. Part of the festival took place just across the street from my apartment building. It was fun to have so many people and so many things happening around where I live.

On the first day, I wandered down to see the festivities a few times, but mostly spent my time sitting in my living room area on the computer with my window open so that I could hear if something interesting was going on outside. Near the end of the day, some other JETs came along and I found myself on a quest to find a place to eat cake (I am not sure how this happened.) Anyway, it was good to hang out with people.

Yesterday, the festival had a lot more going on and there were a lot more people around. It was really exciting. My students were just about everywhere. There were also a lot of other JETs around, so I didn`t end up returning to my apartment out of slight boredom as I had the previous day.

Anyway, I uploaded some new pictures. To see them, click on the "Photos" tab at the top of the page.
I also took videos of various things, which I will share in some form sometime soon.
I have a lot going on this week (parties and work). That`s probably why I wrote this blog now even though I am rather tired.
I`m sure that I will be EXHAUSTED by the end of this week.

The meat smell, the tents, and lack of waves

Now that the humidity outside has died down, I`ve been hanging clothes to dry outside rather than inside. At first, I didn`t like the smell the clothes carry after being hung outside, but I am getting used to it.

It`s kind of like smoky, meat-like smell. I don`t know why but since I moved here, I`ve thought that this town carries a strange scent that makes me think of meat (but -not- in an appetizing way, though.)

There`s a festival coming up in my town. I guess it`s this weekend, but tents have been up for it nearby my apartment building since last weekend.

What`s kind of neat about the tents being up is that the pictures my predecessor sent of the view of the apartment balcony had tents in the same place. It wasn`t like I was really expecting to see the tents when I first physically looked off the balcony myself, but seeing the bare area kind of made me... well, not "sad", really, but a little disappointed. (lol) But now the tents are back!

I finally got to go to the beach last weekend. It wasn`t at all as pretty as Monterey. The water looked gross and there was a wave breaker for people who want to swim (my Monterey raised mind says "HA!") in the ocean. Still, though, it was good to finally see ocean more than just a 2 second or so view from a car.

Little fish

There are some things you simply can`t be prepared enough for.

A example of this is kyushoku- the school lunch provided in elementary and middle schools that you eat in the classroom.

Usually, I think they are fine. Not exactly my favorite foods, but I can deal with it.

Well, except for one thing.

Today was the second day I came across it.

Small fish fried whole.

I really want to be able to just suck it up and eat it, but I can never eat more than one or two of the bunch that I am given. First of all, eating something whole like that is really unfamiliar to me. Secondly, it doesn`t even really taste that good to me. As much as I want everyone to be impressed that this foreigner would eat anything, I keep having to draw the line with that and another food that I will not mention (I have mentioned it and I`ve learned my lesson).

Anyway, so I was in the teacher`s room today, just waiting for the time to go to a classroom to eat, and the principal and vice principal were already eating. I was attempting to psych myself up for eating the fish and failing horribly when one of them turned to me and asked perfectly seriously-

"Is rice okay?"

Today`s lunch was rice, miso soup, and those fried fish. And of all those things, he thought I`d have trouble with the rice!

I was actually asked if rice was okay one other time that day, too.

And I had to explain that I have, indeed, used chopsticks in the US.

More to do with music, etc.

This week's update a little late this week. Of course, I haven't "officially" announced that updates are to come here on either Sunday or Monday of each week, but that's kind of what I was thinking I'd aim for.

Sort of continuing on the topic last time- last week the brass band from Kamimura Gakuen (Aya's old high school) came to one of my elementary schools. One of the songs that they played was the Atsuhime theme song that I talked about in my last blog. It sounded very awesome in person.

I am really starting to feel like I am enjoying working at the schools. Regardless of whether I am talking to a teacher who knows English or not, I've been having good conversations with them. And the students are getting more familiar with me, so they're a little less shy.

At one of my junior high schools, a new building opened up. This building is really nice and kind of fun to wander through during the afternoon break. Yesterday, I found the music room and the music teacher let me try to play the "koto". I think I might want to take lessons in that instrument now. That is pretty amazing for me, I think, because I hadn't really thought about taking up an instrument (except maybe taiko) since I was in elementary school.

Moving onto the next topic, I feel a little weird bringing it up, but I think it's kind of a unique cultural thing, so I will anyway. Sometime during the weekend, my supervisor's father passed away. Unlike in the US where a person would think it would be weird to go to a memorial for someone that they don't really know, in Japan it's commonplace to do so if you knew (worked with) someone in their immediate family. So, me and the other ALTs who I had a meeting with on Monday were told that we should either go that evening or we should send money for the grieving family with someone who was going. I agreed with our decision not to go because we don't really know what to do at the Japanese memorial service and it's not really the right situation to be fumbling around as we would other occasions that are new to us.

The next day, as we were told beforehand, the guy from my office brought back thank you gifts from my supervisor's family. It was a handkerchief and a box of packets of sugar. To me it still feels strange to have received a gift for that and I am not sure what to do with these things because of that.

I have the other ALTs bags still. They are in another office, so they weren't there to get theirs.

So basically I left work yesterday with three bags of... ummm thank-you-for-your-sympathy-and-donation gifts, my regular two bags I carry to work, and a pretty good sized package of instant ramen that was given one to each person in the office randomly right before I left.

Anyway, I suppose that's it.