what's going on

As the school year is just wrapping up, I was anticipating a lull in activity. I am pleasantly surprised that this isn’t the case.
I recently received an official looking letter approving my request to re-contract next year!! Woohoo!! That is such a load off my mind. Now I can quit trying to eat all my canned goods and start buying the few little things for my place that I’d like to have but couldn’t rationalize purchasing with an uncertain future. I am pleased to find out that my base school, Minamishiro Koko, will remain the same although I may be required to visit more schools during the week. Details to come…

Due to scarce classes, last week we had time for a teacher’s volleyball tournament that was too much fun.

I was on team anko, which means red bean paste. Who knows. Only a couple of the teachers are skilled at this sport but no one seemed to mind going all out, diving and screaming and laughing and acting up.

By the end there was a 3-way tie and they decided to play janken [Japanese paper, rock, scissors which is unbelievably popular for resolving all sorts of disputes] to determine the winners. Every team got some sort of crazy prizes which we goofed around with in the gym forever.

Team anko got chocolate and nuts for our 2-2 finish.

Last Thursday night, the English teachers went out for a little all-you-can-drink party. It was at a small restaurant I’d never noticed that is tucked away behind a 7-11 literally 3 minutes walk from apartment.

We had the standard fare, which was delicious. Shellfish snail-like things that we had to gouge out of their conchs with toothpicks, grilled fish, tenpura, sashimi, rice soup and oyster stew accompanied by a generous flow of Sapporo and nihon shu. [Interestingly, in Japan, the word ‘sake’ refers to any alcoholic beverage. What we consider to be sake back home is termed ‘nihon shu’.] Afterwards, Ishiyama, Kobayashi and I headed to PTA for a ni ji kai, or afterparty.

It just so happened that I knew everyone who stepped foot in the place that night, which they found hilarious. One of the couples [I knew her from around town and he works with Liz] Kobayashi also knew so we partied together.

Its really nice to see them let their hair down, so to speak, although they think I’m nearly nuts.

We performed Peter “Ja” Pan in my hometown this weekend. It was a huge success; probably the smoothest the production has gone off. Many of my colleagues were busy but Minamishiro’s principal and Sato sensei from Yoshikawa came to watch. After the show Sato gave me a bottle of nihon shu that was produced by the Yoshikawa students on the vocational sake making training track.
Peter and I


Patrick, Mary and her mother and friend who were visiting adjourned to my apartment for a drink before heading to the party liz and I had arranged at nicks bar. It was great. We packed the place, the dj was great, playing danceable 80’s tracks to true booty shaking music.
Carrie, Beth and I

I was really glad the night was a success because we’d asked them to go out of their way for us, which included the usual bureaucracy involved in anything Japanese including meeting after meeting after phone call. And these bartenders don’t work for tips so they would probably rather the place be dead. Subsequently I’ve been back in and everyone has thanked me profusely, saying how much we drank and how much money they made thanks to us.

The aftermath of that wacky hairdo.

Our finale trip to Papua New Guinea is just around the corner…more to come on that.

Then on Sunday, Liz and I headed to Tokamachi, a town about an hour southeast into the mountains, for their annual snowfestival.

It rained a bit which meant some of the sculptures had pocks marks and smeared faces unfortunately. There was dancing...

A few igloos. Couldn't believe how warm it was inside.

A maze carved out of the snow.

Also tons of good food and crafts. Afterwards, Mel, Liz and I headed to one of those conveyor belt sushi joints. I ordered the shrimp miso soup which was only garnished with ebi heads. I had to inquire how to go about eating them [luckily I just learned the way to ask how to do something]. They thought it was pretty funny.


Also am so friggin’ excited about Golden week, a span with many back to back holidays when you can take 2 days paid holiday and secure a 10 day vacation. Last night Melanie, Carrie and I bought tickets to Seoul for the holiday. We’ll be leaving for Korea on April 30 and returning on March 8.

And as if you haven't had enough...I put a few photo albums online to share my pics of Thailand with the others on the trip. There are some shots that didn't make the blog.
Click here for pictures galore!