I have a friend whose dad knew two phrases in English: 'Do you know me?' and 'Japanese mafia'. The Yakuza are the 'Japanese mafia', and he was a big fan of all those 70's Yakuza movies.
Last April, one of my schools got a new principal. Principals are obviously responsible for the school, but they are removed from a lot of the administrative work. They dictate what they want done and someone does it for them. The principals I've worked with tend to spend their time changing light bulbs, doing yard work, and taking naps in their office. They tend to be quiet and shy, preferring to work away from everyone else.
This new principal was quiet too, in an unnerving kind of way. He had a rough face with leathery skin and a raspy voice from smoking too many cigarettes. If he was a gangster, he would be more of a Harvey Keitel gangster than a Joe Pesci gangster. Basically a guy you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of.
The vice-principal at this school is his antithesis: she's a large woman with a loud voice that laughs too much and never stops talking. During lunch one day, the vice-principal is running her mouth as usual, and the principal is sitting quietly next to her. He then quietly says to himself, 'You don't shut up, do you?' [My translation of: うるさいな...] The vice-principal stops talking, all the other teachers just sit there, and then everyone slowly lets out nervous laughter.
That was the kind of guy he was. Then one day, I come to school and his office is empty. He had quit.
It turns out he wasn't the gangster I imagined him to be, but actually owed the yakuza a lot of money. What I have figured out is that he took out some large loans (for a house, etc) from a bank, and couldn't make the payments. So he took loans from another source to pay for the loans he already owed. He did that several times, and it looks like the last loan he took was from the yakuza, and now they want their money back.
In order to pay them back, he retired early to collect his retirement money, all $200,000 of it. But apparently that wasn't enough. I'm not sure where he is now, but the yakuza have called the elementary school a few times asking for him.
One of the teachers told me that when the principal explained the story, he said, 'My wife took out some loans...'. What a swell guy.
***
When I first met him, he invited me to go eat genghis khan (Jingisukan) with him. No, the ex-principal isn't into eating the bodies of dead Mongolian warriors. It's also a style of grilling mutton.
I never got a chance to take him up on it. Maybe it's a good thing, though, because he might have asked me for some money.
I leveled up in karate last week. I study Shuri Shorin Ryu, and the levels (kyu) are broken down as follows: (stolen from my friend Vaughn's blog)
初段
準初段 (black)
１級
２級 (brown)
３級
４級 (green)
５級
６級 (yellow)
７級
８級 (orange)
９級
１０級 (blue)
I am now at 6 kyu (６級) and have a yellow belt. I am awesome.
Last year, I took a trip to Iheya Island to cheer on some fellow English teachers during the Moonlight Marathon, which gets its name because it is ran in the evening. There purpose was to run a half or full marathon. My purpose was to drink. I had a lot of fun, but I ended up drunk and feeling fat.
Fast forward a year later to last Saturday, and this time I was one of those runners on the ferry to Iheya. I had just gotten over a cold/light fever, and I even puked over the side of the boat because the waves were so bad. But I had arrived and was ready to run. (actually, I felt horrible getting off the ferry, but after an hour or so, I felt better)
A half marathon is about 21 km, and I ran it in 2 hours and 46 minutes.
I am not exactly proud of the time, as I did a 10k in 62 minutes, but since this was my half marathon debut, my goal was only to finish.
I learned a lot, too. I felt great around the 15k mark, but around the 17 or 18k, I stopped to adjust my shoes, and a wave of exhaustion came over me. I also became conscious of the amount of pain my legs were experiencing. Stopping once caused me to stop again, and again, and again.
Next race, no stopping.
I forgot to take a picture of last Friday's lunch, so I am a week late with this. Also, the teacher's room has already changed the lunch schedule to November, so I wasn't able to write down the exact names of what we ate today.
But anyway, today we had:
Eggplant Curry
Shrimp Coleslaw
Rice
Cake
Today we had:
Fried Rice (炒飯)
Jia Chang Tofu (家常豆腐)
Wonton Soup (ワンタンスープ)
Today we had:
A Hamburger Bun (バーガーパン)
Winter Melon Soup (冬瓜スープ)
A Healthy Hamburger (ヘルシーハンバーグ)
Coleslaw Salad (コールスローサラダ)
A Slice of Cheese (チーズ)
A Slice of Pineapple (パイン)
Today we had:
Okinawa Yakisoba (沖縄焼そば)
Stir-Fried Potatoes (じゃが芋タシヤー)
Vinegared Seaweed (もずく酢)
A Mandarin Orange (みかん)
After writing about the Japanese food 'pyramid', I thought it would be interesting to show what kind of food the teachers and students at my elementary schools eat for school lunch.
Today we had:
Seasoned Mushroom Rice (きのこのたきこみごはん)
Fried Tofu (揚げだし豆腐)
Potato Soup (芋汁)
Chopped Bitter Veggies (にが菜和え)
Kids always have, and always will, change schools. Saying goodbye can be difficult for the family and close friends, but it also sucks for me. Not because I am emotionally attached to the kid, but now my combined 3rd/4th grade class of eight is now a class of seven.
One of my schools has a poster of the Japanese food pyramid hanging up, and as I don't have many classes today, I decide to take the time to actually look at it. The food diagram is not a pyramid at all, but a spinning top.
At the top is exercise along with water or tea.
Then,
Staple Foods: 5-7 parts rice, bread, grain
Side Dish: 5-6 parts vegetables, mushroom, potato, seaweed
Main Dish: 3-5 parts meat, fish, egg, or soybean product
Milk/Dairy Products: 2 parts
Fruit: 2 parts
and finally, 200kcal for indulgences.
The American food pyramid has changed since I was a kid and is now known as MyPyramid. MyPyramid is no longer broken down into percentages, but into cups and ounces.
I will assume the walking man implies exercise. I will also assume that he is running up those steps multiple times.
Grains: 6 oz of grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta (where 3 oz should be whole grain)
Vegetables: 2.5 cups of dark green veggies, orange veggies, and dry beans and peas
Fruits: 2 cups
Milk: 3 cups with a preference on low-fat or fat-free
Meat & Beans: 5.5 oz of low-fat or lean meats and vary it with fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds
with a footnote suggesting one to know their limits on fats, sugars, and salt.
The picture appears to suggest that grains, vegetables and milk should make up the bulk of one's diet, followed by fruits, then meat and beans.
As someone who has lost 26 lbs since moving to Japan (88kg to 76 kg, or 192lbs to 168lbs) , I have to say I prefer the Japanese table.
- The Japanese chart pushes for water and tea, which is completely missing on the American chart.
- The Japanese chart, correctly, puts milk at the bottom. As we all should know, milk is evil.
- The Japanese chart, correctly, puts fruit at the bottom. Fruit contains lots of sugar, which is why it should be a snack.
- The Japanese chart does not have a 'meat' section but a 'main dish' section, emphasizing fish and soybean products. The only picture of a fish on the American chart looks like canned tuna.
- The American grains chart pushes for breads over rice, whereas I am under the opinion that any bread that is not whole grain is bad for you and should be treated as a snack.
Food for thought.
Here is the track list of the new musical chairs CD I made yesterday for kindergarten:
We Are Golden - Mika
Hey Yea - Outkast
Suburban Knights - Hi-Fi
Worried About Ray - The Hoosiers
Island in the Sun - Weezer
Not Fair - Lily Allen
Please Don't Leave Me - Pink
Viva la Vida - Coldplay
Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis
Don't Look Back in Anger - Oasis
On the 15th, I drove my 5th and 6th grade Tsuha Elementary boys up to Shioya, one of the small districts within Ogimi. It was that time of year again: where some old fishermen carry an enshrined sea god down to the sea and some old ladies pray for a good harvest of fish. The festival is called Ungami, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say means 'sea god'.
But as the earliest party planners of Okinawa learned long ago, the reason to have a festival/party is nothing more than an excuse to have fun. My kids weren't excited about praying for this year's harvest of fish, they were excited to watch the awesome hari (canoe) races!
I raced in a hari two years ago, and I have to say, there is a reason they are used for ceremonial races only...they easily sink.
But the colors and designs are beautiful, and as they race, the women wade out into the water beating drums and chanting to cheer their men/team on.
During the race, there was a separate hari carrying the sea god. The god had been brought down from Yakko and taken across Shioya Bay . Then the old men (oji) got out of the boat, all dressed in their finest drinking clothes, and continued to make their way to the beach where the old women could finish the ceremony. At the beach, the women, dressed in all white ceremonial robes, prayed for a good harvest of fish for the year.
Not too sure what everything meant, but the oldest looking lady poured water (sake?) onto the ground, and then when the tide came up, some dude with a wooden spear ran to the water and stabbed it. Take that Poseidon!
The spear thing surprised me because of its quickness and randomness. At first, I thought the man had spotted dinner and went to stab an octopus. But then I realized that was the closing of the ceremony, and everyone was walking back back to where people were preparing for the Okinawa sumo tournament.
In Okinawa sumo, one grabs their opponent's belt with both hands and is not allowed to let go. His job: to throw his opponent to the ground.
First were the elementary students, then the junior high kids, and finally, the giant Shioyan fishermen. These guys were huge, but I had to drive my students back before I got to see them wrestle.
Last Thursday, I had a day off from school because of Obon. Okinawa celebrated Obon, or Kyu Bon (旧盆), this year in September because they follow the lunar calendar. I made an Obon post two years ago, but to do a quick summary, Obon is the time when dead ancestors come visit the homes of their living descendants.
The oldest son of a family keeps a Buddhist altar (仏壇) in their house to pray (うーとーとー) to their ancestors. During Obon, all the family's relatives will come to this house to sit around, eat food, and use the altar to pray. When the oldest son and wife die, the altar is passed on to the next oldest son. I was told it is difficult for a woman to marry an oldest son (長男) because she is responsible for serving and preparing the food for everyone during this time.
There are also many Obon superstitions held by Okinawans, such as the claim that many accidents occur to people who don't show proper respect. For example, a teacher of mine tore a muscle in her calf last week when playing tennis on Obon. She said it was because she hadn't prayed at her family's alter yet at the time. I asked her if she had stretched and she said no.
The biggest no-no during Obon is that one is not suppose to go swimming. I originally thought it was because when the ancestors travel from Heaven to Earth, they go by sea. Then I asked an Okinawan if that means Heaven is in the ocean. The answer is, no, the ancestors that come by sea are only the ones that have died at sea. So if one goes swimming, they have a chance of being dragged down by some angry drowned fisherman making his way to land.
As all my ancestors are wandering around North Carolina, I spent my Obon afternoon riding my friend Vaughn's motorcycle. I really need to get a bike.
I then went down to Nago in the evening to take photos of eisa groups. I learned taking pictures of moving objects at night is quite difficult.
Click on the photo for more pictures!
I've spent the month of August (summer vacation) at Ogimi Elementary working with my English Club. The kids will be taking the Eiken Level 5 in January, so I've used the summer break as a time to drill them with worksheets and practice problems.
However, my club (and summer) was interrupted two weeks ago when I woke up with a 38.5 C (101 F) fever. I went to the hospital and they shoved a thin q-tip up my nose and ran some sort of test. The doctor came back and said the results were negative: I didn't have the flu, just a fever, and I should be okay to go to work tomorrow. Then one of the nurses came running in holding a white plastic thing (looked like a pregnancy test) shouting, "Wait, wait!" She showed it to the doctor and he looks down at the ground, shuffles his feet a bit, and murmurs, "Well...hahaha, you DO have the swine flu."
I was then told I was not allowed to leave my apartment for a week.
The swine flu is currently spreading through Okinawa like a...plague. There have been five deaths in Japan from the flu (as of this post), with the first death being in Okinawa. 77 schools in Japan have been shut down, with 63 of them being in Okinawa. A school has to shut down for a week if two or more teachers catches the flu. I became the second teacher at Ogimi Elementary, and I think the doctor told me I should contact the school and tell them they had to close up. As I wasn't 100% sure on the Japanese, I just called the school to let them know I did have the flu and let them decide what to do with that information. (They didn't close down.)
In short, the swine flu felt like any other flu. I had a fever for a couple of days, which sucked, but as I was just laying around watching TV, it was no big deal. Honestly, I rather have a fever than a cold. With a fever, I'm weak and immobile, but a fever doesn't annoy me. With a cold, I am still expected to go to work and have to sneeze and blow my nose constantly.
I got over it pretty fast, though. I remember taking a run after only a couple of days. I had friends drop by with food, books, and DVDs so that I didn't have to leave my apartment. One of the teachers told me today she was going to come cook for me, but then her husband told her no, because he didn't want her catching the bug from me. I guess the gesture itself is nice.
***
Today is the first day of the new semester! One month of summer vacation really is too short...
A few random updates that I haven't blogged about.
I bought a plane ticket home for Christmas. I leave on December 21st, and I'll be in the States for about 2.5 weeks.
I got my motorcycle license back in June, but that isn't anything special because I don't have a bike yet. I think I will have one by October/November.
Also, after climbing Mt. Fuji (partly), I went to Fuji Rock and saw Weezer. Fuji Rock was a 3-day music festival but I only went for one day. Definitely want to do all 3 days next year, because it was so awesome.
And finally, Okinawa experienced a 94%-ish solar eclipse a couple of weeks ago. Check out my pictures!
Early August marked two years since I came to Okinawa. This post also marks my 100th post. I will be in Ogimi until July 2010, with the option to re-contract another year this coming January. The question is: do I stay a 4th year or move to Tokyo?
Taken at this month's Ogimi Festival:
I caught my second flight to Tokyo this month last Thursday with Roy from Izena. I left Ogimi early Thursday morning with one goal: to be at the top of Mt. Fuji for sunrise the next day. I had done little preparation, but I wasn't worried. I had read that on average, about 3,000 people climb to the top of Fuji daily and the fact that everybody and their grandma can make it to the top told me there would be no difficulty. Plus, Roy and I are both in good shape, so we figured we could do it in 3-4 hours.
For clothing gear, I brought my running shoes, gloves, a warm hat, jeans, and a winter jacket.
For other gear, I had a traveler's backpack that held water, a flash light, my camera, and onigiri.
The iternery was to leave Ogimi in the morning, catch a flight to Tokyo, then leave on a bus from Shinjuku Station to Mt. Fuji. There are many stations on Fuji, with most travelers taking a bus to the 5th station, which is about half way up the mountain. From here, you are still greeted with a spectacular view, but to go higher you have to hike. We got to the 5th station around 8:30 at night, and I might as well have just been in any forested area in the world. The bus drive did not provide a view of the mountain as we approached, so I just had to take everyone's word for it that I was on Fuji.
There was one shop open at that time, and we used the bathrooms to change into our climbing gear and put stuff we didn't need into lockers. The toilets on Fuji are famous for asking people to deposit 100 yen ($1) to use the bathroom. The fee goes to help pay for the transportation of water from a lake at the base of the mountain, as there is no natural running water on the mountain. I do not think they are trying to rip people off, because for the amount of dirty, sweaty people that walk into these bathrooms everyday, they were well kept and clean.
Around 9:30, we were changed and ready to start our hike. We estimated that we would get to the top around 1ish, then we would look for some ground to sprawl out on and sleep until sunrise. When I told my students a month ago or so that I would be going to the top of Fuji, they asked me if I would be buying oxygen. The week before my clim, a rock got loose and rolled down the mountain, crushing and killing someone sitting in their car. So when that happened, the questions from my students and teachers changed from 'be careful breathing' to 'don't die'.
So up the mountain we went. It was dark and cloudy and all we could see was what was in our immediate surroundings. Itt felt like hiking any normal trail and was pleasant...until the rain started. It was a very light sprinkle, and my logic said that as we climbed higher, we would get 'above' the rain cloud. This would get us out of future rain and still give us a great view at the top for sunrise. The light sprinkle then turned into a real sprinkle. It wasn't a hard rain, but my hair was starting to get wet and I would have to wipe water from my face every now and then, which was turning a nice walk into a slight annoyance.
The first big stop area is the 7th station, and this where the climb turned serious. Up to the 7th station, the path is just a wide trail that snakes it's way up the mountain. From the 7th station, it becomes part trail, part rock climbing. It wasn't Tom-Cruise-Mission-Impossible-2-rock climbing, but as I was carrying my flash light and the rocks were wet, I had to be careful, as the path was quite steep. After a bit of 'rock climbing', there would be a hotel/hut/rest area. Some of the hotels were charging 1000 yen ($10) an hour to sit in, or around 6000 yen ($60) for a night's rest. If you didn't want to pay to sit inside, there were benches outside for people to sit on. These would have been nice if the rain hadn't started to pick up and the benches weren't wet, which made resting outside not fun at all. It was around this time that something began to start happening to my clothes...they began to absorb water. When we would stop to 'rest', I would be aware of my jeans and jacket getting heavier, and when the wind would blow, I would get cold. Luckily, I had a hat and gloves (which would later get soaked), but it did provide me some shelter from the wind. Roy, on the other hand, was in jeans, a fleece, and a baseball hat. He had to be the more miserable of us, but there was never one word of complaint out of him.
So our 'rests' were not much rests at all. We would have a quick water break, and then when standing around too long reminded us how much the weather was starting to suck, we went on.
After the 7th station, climbing turned into a silent affair. The rain was staying constant, and we both had to focus on our footing in the dark. I assume Roy and I were still making good time, because we were passing everybody who had left with us on the bus. I had read on the internet about how crowded Fuji is, but there were very few people that night (foreshadowing). Eventually, we reached a decent sized hotel with a lot of climbers hanging around the lobby. We immediately rushed in, as it was the first building do offer some sort of coverage from the weather. We learned we were at the half way point from the 5th station to the summit. We had made it in 1.5 hours, so it would be another 1.5 to the top. I think it was about 10:30 or so, and we had a serious debate about forking up the money to crash, let the weather clear up, and leave around 3 am to finish the climb. We decide on trying to get closer to the top, and if we need to, we could find another hotel.
At that time, we were wet, but we had a lot of energy, and the weather was 'tolerable'. If I had been in waterproof gear with waterproof shoes, the climbing would have been easy. It's amazing how much a little rain can make you miserable if you aren't prepared. When my students had asked me about oxygen, I couldn't help thinking, 'What do you take me for, weak?' I think I viewed being over prepared as a kind of weakness, not to mention a nuisance if you are carrying a lot of gear. I think all the Japanese people that were climbing that night were raised as boy scouts...and all shopped at the same mountain climbing gear store. Everyone was decked out in every kind of hiking accessory you can imagine on someone. They had the same hat, jacket, pants, boots, backpack, and walking sticks. At first I thought it was a little silly, but then when I would be standing at a 'rest' area in wet clothes and had to watch a group of people in their 60's would walk by in all their gear laughing and telling stories, I couldn't help feeling like the stupid one.
We continued our pattern of path, rock, rest and at some point while climbing rocks, we saw a large rock that had a small opening under it. Roy and I head towards it and literally got on our stomaches to crawl under this rock to get some protection from the rain and rest. I tried to sleep for a little bit (and hope the rock didn't roll onto me), but then a group of young people walked by screaming and shouting and removed any wariness from my body. Later when climbing down the mountain, I realized just how pathetic our situation was becoming that we had to crawl under a rock to rest. At the time, it was a perfect idea, though.
We decided to stop at the next hotel we found. The place we found was 5300 yen ($53) for a night. It was about 11:00 and we guessed we had another hour to the summit. The hotel was one long bunk bed that extended the length of two rooms with sleeping bags spread out for people to sleep next to each other. I've never seen anything like it, but it was ingenious. The place was quiet and dry, and after stripping down to my underwear and wrapping myself up in two sleeping bags, I crashed.
My alarm went off at 2:30 am. This was one of the most miserable points of the trip, because I could feel that it was colder and I knew I had to put on my wet clothes again. Doing that sucked as much as I imagined they would, because not only were the clothes still wet, but they were a little stiffer and colder. However, the hotel guy had rain gear for sale, so for 1500 yen ($15), I got these sweet rain pants and a jacket. They were a slick shiny blue/silver, and when I put them over my winter jacket and jeans, they became very tight. I felt like I was in some 1960's sci-fi movie.
Off we went, and a little after 3:30, we reached a sign that said that we had one more kilometer to the top. There was a little hut/hotel where a few people were gathered inside. We had two options: climb to the top and hope to find a rest area there or rest now, and continue the climb around 4:30. We decided we didn't want to take the chance of finding a rest place filled with people, so we went inside, and paid the 1000 yen ($10) to sit for an hour. At that point, I would have paid $50-$100 to rest inside and get warm. I also paid $6 for a cup of udon. The same thing will run you 50 cents at the super market.
As time passed, we slowly began to realize that if we even made it to the top, we would not be able to see a thing. It was extremely cloudy and we knew the sun was beginning to rise because the clouds were beginning to turn a dark blue. After our hour was up, we got up and went outside to finish our climb...only to find that the weather had gotten even worse. It was colder, the wind was blowing harder and the rain was stronger. We started the climb, and immediately retreated back to the shelter of the hut. At this point, we had a quick meeting that was, psychologically, the hardest part of the climb: deciding whether to go all the way to the top. Sitting in a nice air-conditioned room in Okinawa, it is easy to say, 'of course! it would be a waste to turn away with only 1 km to go!'. But being up there on the mountain, it was a very serious discussion...and we decided to turn away.
We retreated about 100 yards before Roy shouted, 'No! We have to do it!' So we turned back towards the summit and began climbing up the mountain again...before the wind and rain turned us around.
That was our last 'gung ho!' moment. We turned our backs to the top one last time and proceeded to 'run' down the mountain. This was actually quite fun because as we descended, it became lighter outside, the weather got a little warmer, and the rain began to let up. On the way down, we met some people who had climbed Mt. Fuji numerous times, and they said there were many instances where they, too, had turned away. It was a bit disheartening, but we knew we had made the right decision. Another highlight of the decent was meeting some guy climbing down backwards with a mushroom costume-thing on his head. More power to you, buddy.
We returned to the 5th station at around 6 am, meaning we had 'ran' down in an hour and a half. The store that had our change of clothes had not opened yet, so we stood around for an hour, still in our wet, cold clothes. When the store opened, I felt all prepared, until I realized I didn't have a change of shoes. So I spent 800 yen ($8) on 28 cm sandals (I wear 32).
Later that day, we learned that two men died that night after trying to climb down from the summit. Learning this removed any feelings of regret for not reaching the top.
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/two-climbers-die-on--4981/
Next year, I will definitely try again. However, I will plan to be in Tokyo for awhile, so that I can choose the day once I am there to climb Fuji. If you schedule the climbing date ahead of time, you are leaving weather to chance.
I will also be sure to bring a poncho.
This picture was taking the next morning at the 5th station. Notice the lack of view.
Today, we had an emergency drill. The last one I took part in was a fire drill. Today, it was what to do if a stranger came into the school.
The students knew there was a drill, but they did not know when or what kind. At the start of 3rd period, the school's vice-principal comes up next to me with a towel wrapped around his head and a staff in his hand. We sneak up together to the 3rd/4th graders classroom to watch what was about to unfold.
A dude I know from the village office rushes in screaming and holding a fake knife. The kids freak, but they group up and head towards the gym while one of the students ran to the teacher's office to notify everybody.
An announcement is made over the intercom about the stranger, and the school evacuates to the gym. In the meantime, all the male teachers bust out broom poles (except the principal, who pulled a bamboo pole out of nowhere), and they all head to where the bad guy was. The teachers corner him into the corner by surrounding him with desks and making fake jabs at him with their staffs. Then the police arrive, knock him to the ground, and handcuff him.
It was awesome.
Last December, I was asked by two friends from UF, Tyler and Mana, to MC their wedding reception in Tokyo...in Japanese. I agreed to do it because I want to get more comfortable talking in front of a crowd...you know, one of those "life skill" things. Whenever I do speak, I feel a little nervous, but apparently I look way worse. So to make sure things went smoothly, I worked on my dialogue for several months with my Japanese teacher, who would tell me where I should pause and make sure my intonation was correct.
Saturday was the day of the reception, and although I felt prepared and felt no nervousness, about a minute into my opening speech, I could feel myself start to tense up. I'm sure it was noticeable, but I hope not distracting. People laughed at my jokes, which helped me to loosen up. Also, when I compare this to a little 30 second self introduction speech I did to a small group of old ladies a few months ago, I can now tell I've gotten a LOT better.
I think the secret is not to want to impress anybody. As soon as I want to do that, then I become self-conscious and nervous. At the beginning of the reception, I think I was trying to impress Mana's relatives. But as the reception progressed (and I had a few drinks in me), I stopped caring and think I did a better job. I was told by some of Mana's relatives that they were all worried when they heard a foreigner was going to MC the wedding, but were relieved cause I did a good (passable?) job.
Check out Ben's (the photographer) blog for some great pictures:
B. Whitlock Photo Blog
***
Okinawans always tell me how much better their wedding receptions are compared to the more 'formal/stiff' Japanese weddings. The argument is that at a Japanese wedding, you have to wait for the toast before drinking, which is a good 15-20 minutes into the reception. At an Okinawan wedding, people start drinking as soon as they sit down at a table. Also, at the end of an Okinawan wedding, there is usually some kind of song that gets played on the sanshin and everyone gets up and starts dancing. Therefore, more fun.
Well, getting to drink early is always a plus, but the wait wasn't that bad. And yes there was no dancing at the end, but other than those two things, this wedding was identical to the Okinawan one I went to. You eat a lot of great food, then you sit through some speeches by friends, followed by some musical entertainment.
And let me tell you, Mana's family is filled with talented musicians.
So take that, Okinawa weddings.
***
Another great thing about going to the wedding was that it was a chance for me to go to Tokyo again. Every time I go, I am always surprised at the amount of people and the amount of things to do. However, this time, I was walking around the city during working hours, and I swear salary men have no souls. The city was full of zombies in business suits, and I was a little unnerved.
Note to self: don't work for a company.
Then it becomes night and the city comes to life. I got to hang out with a lot of old friends and met some cool new ones. One of the highlights was talking to a Korean man at a bar, who is fluent in Korean and Japanese. He is a Tae Kwan Do master with 800 students who says his master founded Tae Kwan Do and had students such as Chuck Norris. I got his business card, and if I do move to Tokyo, I know where I will be continuing karate.
***
I will be going back to Tokyo again at the end of the month for a week with Roy. We are going to climb Mt. Fuji to see the sunrise and then off to Fuji Rock!
I could not have asked for a better 4th of July weekend. The Northern Code played a show at Tejas that Saturday night, and almost all of the English teacher's in the north came, as did quite a few other friends that I had invited. Cesar has a nice house up on a hill that he has turned into a mexican restaurant with a small open area the back. Because we were playing outside, I was worried about rain, but by mid-afternoon, all the clouds seemed to pass by. We set up, begin to warm up...and then the cops showed up.
I don't remember exactly, but I believe the policemen motto is 'to serve and protect and stop people from having a good time'.
This officer was a little old man, and he did exactly that. He told us to unplug or no play. So we did the show with no mic and little amp.
But music is music and I had a great time playing.
We played for two hours, and after we were all packed up, the band plus Vaughn headed down to Onna to stay the night at a brand new resort. I'm good friend's with a family here in Ogimi, and it was through the dad's civil engineering company that we were able to stay a night for free. I think I need to do a blog post about company gift giving in Japan sometime down the road, cause it's cool.
The resort, of course, over looked the beach. We had a 4 bed room suite and after putting everything away, we went down stairs and spent the rest of the evening at a bar outside.
Balcony picture!
The front page of all the Okinawa papers last Saturday led with the story of two JET English teachers who were arrested for trying to import an illegal drug called Mind Candy. Here are some links my friend Vaughn dug up:
The first article that was run the night they were arrested: (Japanese)
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/news/2009-06-19-S_009.html?PSID=822364d2e9392ddf3e9851f8e4b65311
The article that was on the front page this morning: (Japanese)
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/news/2009-06-20-M_1-001-1_002.html?PSID=1a893f13cf30730cfebedd4adfc7082a
ALT Dave Webb's own blog post. (English)
http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/2-foreign-teachers-arrested-in-okinawa-for-importing-illegal-substances
And finally, Vaughn's translation of one of the articles:
2 American English teachers arrested for violation of the Narcotics Control Low
The prefectural organized crime division arrested two ALTs on charges of violating narcotic and psychotropic drug control laws (import). The two arrested denied the charges, stating "we didn't know it was an illegal substance."
The departments investigation reveals Lawrence ordered 44 pills of the narcotic (so called "mind candy") on April 10 and had it shipped to Japan via airmail. *(another story indicates the order came from the UK)
According to the department, the Tokyo Narita Airport Customs branch office discovered the drugs , and using Lawrence's address, alerted prefectural officials. Prefectural police carried out the arrest.
I had met one of the girls at a marathon and I did not know the other girl. The girl I met was real nice, but what she did was just plain dumb...if you are going to do something illegal in a foreign country, don't get caught.
A tip for not getting caught: Don't order 44 pills over the internet and have it shipped to your front door. To give some perspective of how much that is, according to one of the UK supply websites, a packet comes with 2 pills and costs £6, or almost $10.
But what I can't seem to find any information on is what Mind Candy is. It's 'marketed' as a plant fertilizer and I'm guessing it's some mild psychedelic.
What will happen to them? According to the US Department of State website on Japan (also found by Vaughn):
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1148.html
CRIMINAL PENALTIES:
Persons violating Japanese law, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned. Persons arrested in Japan, even for a minor offense, may be held in detention without bail for two to three months during the investigation and legal proceedings.
Illegal Drugs: Penalties for possession or use of, or trafficking in illegal drugs, including marijuana, in Japan are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and fines. In most drug cases, suspects are detained incommunicado, which bars them from receiving visitors or corresponding with anyone other than a lawyer or U.S. consular officer until after indictment, which may take several months. Solitary confinement is common.
So yea. When they eventually do get out of jail. It's pretty likely they will have no jobs and will be deported.
Finally, I have heard some teachers express worries of some kind of racist backlash against them from all members of Japanese society. I think this stems from their own stereotypical views, not to mention if there was a person to hold some kind of grudge against all English teachers, that would represent that person only, not all of Japan.
And for the record, not a single teacher, nor my supervisor or superintendent, has even brought this to my attention.
One of the big summer school activities is swimming lessons. Ogimi has four elementary schools, but only one of them has a pool. During the summer, the different schools will load the kids onto a bus and invade that school's pool for a couple of hours.
The fact that there are people who do not know how to swim is a concept I am slowly grasping with. This concept is further inhibited by the fact that these kids live within walking distance of the ocean. Yes they are from Okinawa, but I am told repeatedly that Okinawans only LOOK at the water. One of the mom's from Real Japan told me the kids there can swim. So I think this is an Okinawan thing only.
It's taken two summers now for me to finally understand that there are people who really can't swim. Maybe it's because I grew up in Florida and had a swimming pool, but even the actual question of 'Can you swim?' was foreign to me coming to Okinawa. Why would someone even bother to ask that question? Of course I can swim, who can't? It's like asking 'can you walk?'. And these aren't the kids asking me this, but the adults.
So last week, I went with the kids to help teach swimming. The kids wear what I consider to be normal swimming attire. A bathing suit. The teachers wear what I would consider to be normal swimming attire if I were allergic to water. They wear a bathing suit with a long sleeved wet shirt, swimming cap, and goggles. They look like they are ready to swim in a triathlon. I always feel a little bit awkward strutting my hairy white self into the open, but then again, the moms do seem to become more talkative.
The teaching part is fun, even if the kids really do suck.
But the most interesting part of the day was when everything was over and I was getting into my car, I was approached by a couple mom's asking if I can site read opera music. Random, but okay. I said it depends on the music and I headed back to school.
When I arrived, there was a lady waiting for me. This lady turned out to be an opera singer and is a friend of one of the student's mom's. She had great English and she said she speaks German even better. She lives in Tokyo but studied and lived in Vienna for 10 years. She hands me music and says we are performing in 30 minutes. Luckily the songs were easy enough to pick up in that time, but I did postpone lunch (yes, that's a big deal for me) in order to be ready.
Then the whole school files in (all 40 of them) and we gave a performance. The lady was amazing and I've been invited to visit her and her husband if I am ever in the Tokyo area.
Even though the Torii Beach gig was cancelled, last weekend was not all a loss. On Sunday, the Wonder Wagon was officially passed onto Roy (for free!) and I bought the Wonder Wagon II (WWII).
I found a Daihatsu Move in Ginowan and knew it was The One almost immediately. Anything is better than what I had, but I'm surprised at just how nice the car is for the price I got it for. It has FM radio, power steering, and can go up hills. I've been driving it a week now and I'm still amazed that it actually speeds up when I press down on the pedal.
This car is a bit historical because it is the first car I have searched and paid for on my own. I also paid for it the way all cars should be paid for: cash. So I'm happy about that, too.
Buying a piano at the beginning of the year has been one of the best things I've done in Okinawa as it has led from one opportunity to the next. I accompanied my students in some songs at the 学芸会 (school arts festival), participated in a 4-piece band in the spring called the 役場カルテット (town hall quartet) where we played a couple of Okinawan songs at a cafe, and finally becoming part of what will soon be the greatest rock band Okinawa: The Northern Code.
We are currently three people strong. I play keyboard, Roy (who coincidentally went to UF) plays guitar and sings, and Yuichiro, a teacher on Izena, plays bass and does back-up vocals. A lead guitarist and a drummer may be joining soon, too.
Our first gig was in Chatan at Mary Jane's Rock Bar last month. The bar is said to usually be packed, but we played to a group of about 15. Apparently some famous band I've never heard of was playing on base. We are scheduled to play there again this month on the 20th, hopefully to a bigger crowd.
Our second gig was last week on a base in Yomitan. We were scheduled to play a three hour set outside on the beach. We were also told we would have an open gate so we could invite our friends. In my mind, we would be playing to a crowd of 500, with the majority being single women in their mid-20's. The reality was that we arrived only to be told the gate would be closed, and then after setting up and doing the sound check, we had the show called because of some rain clouds.
I wasn't that disappointed because 1) we still get 50% of the promised pay, 2) the number of people that were actually at the beach were in the tens, and 3) we now have three hours worth of music ready.
We asked to play again sometime and he said he'll let us know about an opening. We then asked to play a few songs since we had set up and everything, and by the time we had finished our second song, the guy's voice comes through our monitors, "So when are you guys free in August?"
Like I said, soon to be the greatest rock band in Okinawa.
***
What does The Northern Code mean? The name came before the band. The 'northern' part refers to the 'yanbaru' where we live. The code part is simple:
Rule 1 of The Code: Don't talk shit about other people.
Rule 2 of The Code: Don't talk shit about other people.
By following The Code, you can learn how to lead your life with a positive attitude. Why waste energy on the negative?
A manifesto is currently in the works.
This is a little late, but I figured I could summarize what I was doing last week. May 3-5 were holidays in Japan, known as Golden Week. It's not a full week, cause work started again on the 6th, but most JETs take off Thursday and Friday to get a nice long vacation. Since all my money is going towards bike lessons and getting a new car, I didn't go anywhere, but that doesn't mean I didn't do anything.
Will, my friend from UF who is studying in Tokyo for a year, came to visit me for three nights. Because Okinawa is awesome, lots of Japanese tourists come to Okinawa during that time. The beaches get filled up with tents and the roads get crowded, so for us 'locals', we have to just ride the wave until everyone leaves. Will, thankfully, didn't really want to do anything. He was content just hanging out in the north away from all the crowds. When I went to pick him up in Naha, we stopped at Shuri Castle and Okinawa World (yes, Okinawa World), but the rest of the trip was in the north.
On Sunday, we went over to my friend Rick's place and bar-b-qued sausages and lounged around (drank) for most of the day.
On Monday, we took the 58 up to Cape Hedo, came down again along the east side of Okinawa to avoid the traffic in Nago, went to Motobu to see the aquarium, then past through Nakajin to avoid the Nago traffic again. When we got back to my place, it was almost dark, but we had driven completely around the perimeter that is the Yanbaru. That night, a few more friends came over and to play Street Fighter 2.
On Tuesday, I took Will to the airport and then met up with my Japanese teacher and her niece to go see the Ryukyu Kings playoff game. She is a 'Gold Member', which is something pretty cool I guess, cause it got us awesome seats on the ground floor and we were let into the building about 30 minutes before everyone else (it was really hot that day). As I was walking into the building, I passed one of my principals who was sitting on the sidewalk (I later found out for 2 hours) in the 'General Section' line. The opponent was Rizing Fukuoka, so I was cheering extra hard for us to win.
And win they did, so now they are off to Tokyo for a Final 4 equivalent. The niece also gets into all the after parties where the basketball players and, more importantly, the dancers sometimes show up.
On Wednesday, I went canoeing around Shioya Bay with one of my student's family. I put on sun screen, but my shorts road up, and I had a bad sun burn on my knees for a couple of days.
All in all, nothing too exciting, but that's the point of a holiday, I guess.
But if you want to know what is exciting (and a bit scary), check this out:
http://www.maryjanes-rockbar.com/band
I went on a field trip last Friday to a local park with the kindergartners. It was the day before Golden Week, and all the elementary schools went on a trip, too. The lady who runs the kindergarten (who loves me) asked where Kijoka was going for their trip. Kijoka is my Friday school and I said they hadn't mentioned anything to me. She asked where they went last year and I said I don't know cause I didn't go anywhere. This led to the realization that I most likely spent the day at my desk while everyone else had been out. So she made a few calls and arranged for me to come along with them instead.
I spent the day chaperoning (playing) with the kids, eating lunch, and taking pictures. Enjoy!
I've loaded up some pictures from my whale watching trip, graduation, and the race. Clicking on any of the pictures will take you to my Flickr page.
I've just discovered that a free Flickr account limits you to 200 pictures. Does anyone know of another photo site that will display an unlimited amount and still free?
Japan has borrowed lots of English words, some (most?) of which are given a slight change of meaning. One of these words is 'marathon', which just means race. So when I say I ran the Shioya marathon to someone here in Japan, they might say, "Which one? The 5k?".
I was signed up for the 9.5k. The race use to be a full 10k, but due to some road construction a long time ago, the roads were changed and thus the course shortened to 9.5k. The point isn't so much running 10k, but more that the course circles Shioya Bay. I woke up early, ate some fruit and was very pumped. I started running as a kind of mental therapy, but now I run because it just makes me feel awesome. Shioya is just up the road from me, so most of my students would be there and I was really looking forward to them cheering me one while feeling awesome. That's a double dose of awesomeness.
At the Nago Marathon, I started off strong, but had a horrible finish. I'm still a beginner, and my weak point right now is I cramp up. My mind and muscles keep pushing me, but I end up having to walk due to side cramps. My goal for Shioya was to take the first half easy and end strong. However, I had one thing working against me: the previous night's drinking.
I was convinced to have a beer (a tall one) after my English class the night before, and one led to three (three tall ones). The next morning, I felt fine. But once the race started, I probably ran not 5 minutes before I got a side cramp. This was bad because it doesn't hit me for at least 40 minutes usually and once it hits, it doesn't seem to go away. So I started to face a possibility that I would walk 10k. What also sucked was that I was still in the middle of town and a lot of people I knew were watching me. So I got to enjoy the feeling of walking past my students not even 5 minutes into the race.
I walked the first 4k of the race, trying to run a bit here and there, but getting stopped by my cramp. Then when I reached the '6k to go' sign, I stopped at the break table, drank some water, and tried running again. I felt the cramp disappear and remember thinking I had less than 30 minutes if I wanted to finish the race under an hour. I took off and started passing all the old people who had passed me in the beginning. By the '2k to go' sign, I was in a full run, and the last kilometer I practically sprinted.
My time: 1 hr 4 min.
This was a 9.5k race, though. I ran the Nago 10k in 1 hr 2 min, so I did not improve, but I was really proud of my finish. Especially when I was going at a full run and all my kids were like "Yeaa!!! Cliff-sensei!!!!" (Later, when I told them my time, they changed their attitude to "Pfft. Slow.")
Again, I was left with the feeling of, 'how fast can I actually run 10k if I don't cramp?' I will have to wait for the fall when racing season starts up again to find out.
The new school year started last week, with the big change being that 5th and 6th grade now have mandatory English class. That means the kids have textbooks and workbooks and a curriculum that I am suppose to follow. Actually, I think Japan is going to make it mandatory in a few years, and select areas (that include Ogimi) are acting as trial schools for the textbooks and curriculum right now. Before this, I believe it was up to each school board to decide whether or not they want to send an English teacher to an elementary school or not.
Ogimi already had me teaching 5th and 6th graders every week, so it's not much of a change. Most of the stuff in the new textbooks is stuff the kids already know, so I am pretty much keeping my own curriculum this year with only a few changes. Another difference this year is that the Japanese homeroom teacher is suppose to act as the teacher with me, the ALT, acting as an assistant. Again, the teachers have pretty much told me I can do what I want, but since the kids now have a workbook to complete with activities, the homeroom teacher will be useful in explaining the directions.
I don't mind the new textbook material that much. Most of the English in it is standard, with a few odd phrases here and there that I'm not going to teach ('Do you have an orange cap?').
What is going to be a challenge at first, I think, is getting the kids to do the activities in their new workbooks. They're not bad, they're just too easy and they take up my class time when I can be teaching other stuff. Also, I can't assign it as homework as you need a CD to do the activities. But I guess that's why we're a test school, to tell them what doesn't work.
Also this year, I'm starting an English Club at Ogimi Elementary. It'll be offered to grades 4 and up and they will have homework (Anki reps). So it's only for the kids who want to study English more. At the end of the school year, they'll take Eiken Level 5, which is the English test for Japanese people. If the club goes well at this school, I'll give it a try at the other schools next year. I would say each school has about 2-3 kids who would be into doing the club, and that's all I need.
Today, one of the assistant teachers showed me a DVD he had made for the graduated 6th graders. The movie was just a slide show of photos, with music and special effects transitions.
I gave it a glance, said it was nice...and then he said he spent 6 hours on it. (At a Japanese pace, mind you. It would have taken a lesser man 12.)
"You did what?!"
The following is for media nerds only:
He had asked me before what I used for movie editing, and I said Final Cut. Editing video and audio files within Final Cut is cake, but when it comes to adding a picture, you have to stretch out the file to the amount of time you want it to be on the screen, and then add the transition effect and music afterwords by hand.
Yes you can make a slide show with Final Cut, but why would you want to? He did, and it took him 6 hours to add over a hundred photos.
I said, "Yuji, software is suppose to make things easier. If it's taking a long time, you're doing it wrong."
I then showed him how to make the same slide show movie using iPhoto.
Total time, including rendering: 5 minutes.
Poor guy.
Haven't really updated in awhile because, nothing much has been going on. Actually, that's a lie.
There have been lots of school events such as graduations and teacher good-bye parties. Also, tomorrow is the Ogimi Quartet's (name pending) first gig. The group consists of me on piano, a guy on soprano sax, another on guitar, and an older man playing some Chinese-stringed-thing (no, that's not the instrument's name).
But that is not the purpose of this blog post.
This morning, I attended an orientation for...motorcycle lessons.
Any kind of driving school is ridiculously expensive here in Japan. To drive a car, I've been told, costs around $2000-$3000 for the school.
For bike school, it's $900. Since I know nothing at all on how to ride a bike, and given the dangers involved, I want to know everything I can. I think it'll be well worth it.
I have my first two lessons (hours) this Sunday afternoon. The total course is around 18 hours, I believe. Can't wait.
There was a morning walk on Sunday that all the 6th grade students, teachers, and most of the parents participated in. I'm not to sure what the purpose was, but I think it was a "walk into Junior High"-kinda walk. I was asked last week if I wanted to come along.
"Cliff, want to go on a morning walk this Sunday?"
"Sure! When? How far?"
"Starts at 5 am. 20k."
The hardest part was waking up at 4:15 and driving to the start point. But once everyone started walking, I started to wake up and it really was a lot of fun. I enjoyed seeing how kids from different schools formed into new groups. For example, the one or two bad kids from each school seemed to attract each other to form a bigger bad boy group.
The best part was getting to talk to the shy kids. Usually in the classroom, you have the kids that run their mouths and the other kids that sit in the back and not say much. I use to think these kids were just boring. But on the walk, I had the chance to single them out to chat or quiz them on their English, and most of them turned out to be really cool and wouldn't shut up, while the loud kids seem to become shy in front of their parents.
The walk ended at one of the schools around 10am. We were then driven to another school for lunch. I think I got home around 11:30 and crashed for a good 4 hours.
So that was my first "half-marathon". My first timed one will be on April 11th on Ie Jima.
I would like to show you the dark side of Okinawa.
 |  |
Abandoned puppies. This is what happens when people from the city think it's cruel to neuter or put down an animal. Their pet becomes pregnant and has a bunch of puppies, then they make the drive to the north to drop them off to become someone else's problem.
Aaron (the other Ogimi English teacher) and I found these two by the beach where we meet for karate. We saw the Junior High principal and called him over to ask what we should do. He said they're big enough to take care of themselves (really?) and just to leave them.
I know what Dave would have done and it would have involved a stick.
While I was in college, I started developing a strange habit. I developed a sense of things I felt a well-rounded person should be able to do, and I forced myself to do those things. As with most things, it started with broccoli. I forced myself to eat it almost every day, and soon began to like it. Then I moved onto other foods I was being picky about, and now I can eat about anything.
Before joining JET, I knew I needed some leadership skills, so I started the Japanese Club. That was a year and a half of fun events with lots of not-so-fun planning. I started realizing that I don't like doing things in front of a group of people, which explains why I hated doing piano recitals when I was younger. It's not that I don't want to do it, I just get really nervous when the time comes.
Yesterday, we had an English Talent Show at Shioya Elementary. This was an idea that a 5th grade teacher had. She approached me at the beginning of the school term last year and said she wanted to do this in the 3rd semester. I agreed and did my normal thing up until the 3rd semester started in January. Since then, I have not been teaching the kids anything new, only getting them ready for this event.
There were three groups: the 1st/2nd graders, the 3rd/4th graders, and the 5/6th graders. The 1st/2nd graders sang some songs and said things like, "Hello. My name is Shuto. I'm 7. Thank you." The 3rd/4th graders did the Hokey Pokey and did longer self-introductions. The 5th/6th graders did a skit and had me drill them on biographical details (When is your birthday? Where are you from? Do you have any brothers and sisters?, etc.).
I remember doing little performances for parents when I was in school, and I never liked doing them (probably that performance anxiety thing). So when I started getting these kids ready for the talent show, I began to wonder, maybe teachers made me do this kind of thing because they enjoyed doing it. Maybe some do, but around the second week of practicing, I discovered that I didn't.
The talent show was last Wednesday. Before it began, I was worried about not being able to squeeze everything into one hour. But like all events that have a director who is awesome enough to have the kids completely ready, everything went smoothly and we finished 10 minutes early.
The only thing that apparently didn't go smooth was me. I had to give a little speech (in Japanese), to the audience after the show was over, and afterwards, all the kids were making fun about my nervousness. I was cool in the head, but in these kinds of situations, my hands and voice shake.
One of the teachers asked me if we do we do lots of talent shows and the presentations in America. I said we do a little, but not nearly as much as the kids do here. These kids are ALWAYS doing some kind of presentation or another. I know when they grow up, they'll be able to talk in front of a group of people with no problem.
I now know why teachers made us do presentations, however infrequently. I am now going to put myself in a position to be in front of a group of people as often as possible. And for the record, I think presenting and teaching are two different skills. I like doing the latter and need to learn to like doing the former.
***
Below is a quick Youtube of two 2nd graders giving their self-introduction. I brought my camera with the intention of filming almost everything. But everything went a lot faster than it did in rehearsal, and I completely forgot about it. Sorry.
Today at Ogimi Elementary, I ate lunch with the 2nd graders and we played a little game which I'm calling "Black or White".
First, a quick Japanese lesson. Kokujin means 'black person'. Hakujin means 'white person'.
So while we were eating, the kid in front of me asks, "Cliff-sensei, are you black?". I replied with a polite, "No, I'm white.", which caused the kid to ask the teacher what the koku in kokujin was.
Once that little bit of information was sorted out, we somehow got into a guessing game. I would name a famous foreigner, and the kid had to say hakujin or kokujin.
"Kobe Bryant?"
"Kokujin."
"Yes!"
"Michael Jordan?"
"Hakujin."
"No!"
"Yao Ming?"
"Kokujin."
"No!"
"Hakujin."
"No!"
"Huh?"
The teacher also had a pamphlet of the current starters on the Okinawa pro basketball team, and so I went through the foreigners on the team and I'd say he got half of them right.
Calling someone black or white in Japan is not considered rude. But why couldn't the kid guess who was black or who was white? Probably just because he knew the name of the person, but didn't know what they looked like, so he just guessed.
It was a fun game, but I don't think I'll be adding it into my lesson plans any time soon, though.
If the JLPT was a test for life, my result would mean I am a failure at life.
Thankfully, it only means I'm a failure at passing a Japanese test.
Going for 1-kyu next year anyway!
Throughout December and January, I was experiencing a dying fan in my Macbook (a metaphor for a broken heart?). Actually, I don't know if it was dying, but when the rpms reached around 5200, my computer started sounding like an airplane taking off. It was really loud and really annoying.
I called Apple in Japan, and they said that for people outside of warranty, they offer a one price fix anything plan at an easy $400.
I ended up ordering the fan myself from PBParts.com for $29 + $7.50 international shipping. I want to plug the site because other sites had shipping alone at the $40 mark.
I followed an install guide on iFixit.com, and my Macbook is back to normal again.
After returning from Tokyo at the beginning of January, I was unsure about whether I wanted to stay another year in Okinawa or move to Tokyo. Once school got going again and things started to calm down, I found the decision easy. Of course I'll do another year in Okinawa.
This has me teaching up through July 2010. I first came to Okinawa reluctantly and planned to only stay a year. Now it seems I can't leave. I'm going to work on making Ogimi a home this year, instead of a temporary stopping ground. That means the Wonder Wagon will be replaced in a few months *sniff* along with getting "stuff" for my apartment.
Also, I've spent the past month trying to figure out what I want to achieve in Japan. I'm not too motivated so the list is short:
-pass Level 1 JLPT
-run a half-marathon (maybe a full)
***
On Sunday, I ran in the Nago Half-Marathon race. I only did 10K and I'm planning to go for a half in April. It was my first race since running a little one when I was about 6. I wanted to run it under an hour, but I ended up running it in 62.07 minutes. If I don't cramp up next time, I know I can do it a lot faster.
It's that brief time of the year again when Okinawa cherry blossoms are in bloom!
Japan is familiar with Obama for various reasons. While still running in the primaries, he received a lot of hype because there is a city in Japan called Obama, and everyone cheered him on pretty much for that reason alone. I guess the reverse logic would be true: if there was a city in the world named Cliff, I would think that would be the greatest place ever.
Adults are familiar with him now for the obvious, but the kids also know about him because there is a comedian who dresses up in a suit and pretends to be him. He goes around saying, in English, "Yes we can!". So a lot of my students are now repeating it and coming up to me asking what it means. I also sat in on a few young classes for lunch last week (1st and 2nd grade), and the kids are saying, "I know who the new American president is...Barack Obama!". I reply with, "and who is Japan's Prime Minister", which is answered with silence.
Now for a quick Japanese lesson. The word for president in Japanese is 'DAITORYO'. The word for feces (yes, as in 'poo') is 'DAIBEN'. A clever 1st grader of mine put the two together and said "Obama Daibentoryo".
*insert laugh track*
I was watching a TV program yesterday that placed normal people in extreme situations. For example, there was a 42 year old who always wanted to be a pro wrestler, so they matched him up against Japan's current champion. It was funny cause he comes out to Rocky music only to find, to his surprise, that his family had been called in to watch. The champ seemed to not hold back and just whipped this guy up for a good 5 minutes. By the end, he was bruised all over and bleeding heavily from his mouth. His wife was just shaking her head and his kids had gone pale, but he was happy because he got to do something he always wanted to do.
The best skit was with a mom and her three kids, a girl who was 6 and two boys who were 5 and 3. The TV guy was interviewing them with just random kid questions, when he asks the older boy what he is scared of the most. He replies, 'Zombies!' A few seconds later, you hear screaming coming from outside. Everybody rushes out of the house to see a crowd of around 50 people running towards the family shouting 'Run away! Zombies are coming!'.
The kids run back inside, and the TV guy works to calm them down and help them set up traps in the house. The kids went along with it, looking kind of confused. They gathered a bunch of toy blocks to use as ammo, and then they set up a bucket with a cord above the front door that the girl was suppose to pull when the zombie came in.
The front door had a foggy glass pane set in, so when the zombie arrived, you could only see a pale shadow. Then the door knob started to turn. It was really scary and the camera turns to show the girl by the door holding the cord. She looked like she was about to pee herself. The zombie walks in in professional makeup, and the girl freaks out and pulls the cord early. But the zombie still stumbles on a few other 'traps' that were setup in front of the door and falls down. The kids then bolt for the bedroom to plan for the final battle.
This is where it became epic. The girl had a roll of saran wrap that her and the older brother were to wrap around the zombie's face. They were standing on the bed crying and the TV guy is telling the older brother, who is the most scared, that he has to protect his family. The zombie comes in and walks to the bed. The sister presses the saran wrap to the zombie's face, but can't get herself to stand close to him long enough to wrap it around, so she gives it to her brother and begins crying even more. The brother tries himself but is unable to wrap it around the zombie's head. The zombie, in the meantime, is just kind of standing in the room and stretching his arms out every now and then at the kids. When all help appeared to be lost, the boy sees two plastic poles, grabs them, jumps off the bed, and starts whacking the zombie as hard as he can, crying while he's doing it. He then throws them away and just starts punching and kicking the zombie screaming 'Get out!' The zombie turns around and runs away.
The TV guy begins interviewing the 5 year old with 'You did it, you saved your family.' The kid is bawling and gasping for breath in between each word. He said, 'We did it as a family. No one came to save us so we had to do it ourselves.' It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen and got me a bit choked up. When the skit ended and cut to all the TV personalities, they were all crying.
So if you are ever in a situation where there seems to be no hope, just remember about the kid who saved his family from zombies.