Sports Day!!!

Hello, to those of you who stuck it out and actually hung on until I returned. I'd like to say I've been too busy readjusting to life after Japan, but when it boils down to it... I'm just lazy. :D So, I'm going to try and do a couple more blog entries about the last few months over there, hitting on a few noteworthy things that happened. (Just... close your eyes and pretend I'm still there while you're reading this... wait, what?)

Shortly after the below mentioned trip to Korea, the wonderful people of Ozu Junior High finally got around to doing Sports Day! They'd been practicing for weeks on it. We would take time during the day, or at the end of the day (sometimes leaking over to after-school territory, and the students would practice marching. Yes, marching. I would always joke, "Like good little military kids." They practiced for this just about every day. Arms rigidly out in front of them, knees up to a 90 degree angle, keeping up pace while everyone screamed, "ICHI!! NI!!" *step step* "ICHI!! NI!!" *step step* It was quite shocking to see the amount of discipline they had. 500 students in perfect unison (well, not ALWAYS, but you get the idea) stomping around is kind of... intimidating? I dunno, but it was something!

Lemme back up and explain a bit of what Sports Day is. Every year, all of the schools in Japan set aside one day to celebrate athletics. It's kind of a glorified Field Day. There is a very precise opening ceremony (the marching practice is for the opening parade), followed by a morning of track competitions, and an afternoon of various group and team building games and activities. The entire school is involved, and everyone's parents are invited to watch, often times participating in a race or two.

The downside was that it was on a Sunday, so our "weekend" was shifted to Monday. The other thing was that we had to work on Saturday right before it, meaning THAT day off was shifted to the Friday the week before. So, right after Golden Week, I got back to a couple days of school, a 3 day weekend, and then Monday through Sunday of school everyday before finally having a day off on Monday right after Sports Day. Eesh...

It wasn't so bad. Kinda fun, since it kinda gave me a little extra time to "play" with the students. Anyway, the students divided up into 3 teams, red, yellow, and blue, and that was how they practiced and competed, tallying scores for the whole day. After every event, eyes kept shooting back to the score board put up behind home plate to see how they were doing.

When that Sunday rolled around, all eyes went to the sky, however. The weather was looking rather ominous, and we all arrived at school wondering if it would actually happen that day or not... but we went for it. We shifted the activities around and had to cut out one or two (The parent-participation ones, actually... the one I would have gotten to run in), but we set off to get as much done as we could before the weather hit us. It was pretty windy, but GAMBATTE!!

Among the activities, there were the 3rd year boys doing a series of balancing and endurance tasks (which proved difficult and maybe dangerous in the wind), the 3rd year girls did a dance to "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne (swearing intact... haha), the second year classes all did a group jump-rope competition (imagine 40 kids all jumping in unison over two incredibly long jump ropes), and the first years played an awesome class game called Typhoon. Typhoon is played by having the class sit in rows. The first row grabs a long pole and runs as a line around a weaving pathway. when they turn and come back to the class, they lower the bar and the rest of the class must jump the bar as it passes under them. Then, they pass the bar back to the next row and continue on until the whole class has gone. This was AWESOME and I totally want to steal it for some future school event!!

About the time we finished all of that, though, the weather finally gave out and it started pouring rain. We canceled the afternoon and decided that we would pick up on Tuesday morning. The students went home, and the teachers just sort of... hung out... for the rest of the afternoon.

On Tuesday, we started up again, but this time with the track activities. Each class and grade competed in various types of races: 50 yard dashes, 4x4 relays, and even relays involving the entire classes. It was really neat to watch them all band together. (And on a self-centered note, it was really neat to hear a group of first years cheering their team on with a cheer I taught them, "Let's go yel-low! *clap, clap, clap-clap-clap*)

Once all of this was finished, it was on to the cheering competition. Each of the three teams had practiced the same cheer, but then added in a couple of their own. This was more or less a spirit competition. The Red team was freaking AWESOME!!! Yet again, about 150 students all doing the same thing in perfect unison looked great, and they were by far the sharpest. (My team, the Yellow team, was... uh... *ahem* "less" enthusiastic...)

Anyway, overall, it was a fantastic day/s. Certainly something I'll never forget. And I have tons of pictures and video, so maybe someday soon, I'll put it all together and put it up here.

That's all for now!

For the students...

So I've come to it. I'm just about to start my last week at school. On Friday, I will officially say goodbye to my kids.

Everything is happening really fast, and I feel like I'm not getting a moment to stop and think about it. That's probably good because I don't think I want to... I'll save the "being sad" part for the plane ride home. But on the other hand, things like this happen. I'm suddenly surprised that it's my last week, and I haven't really had it sink in yet.

I've been trying to avoid telling the students that I'll be leaving in August just because I don't want to be treated any differently by them (good or bad). A few of them knew anyway for whatever reason, but for the past few weeks, my JTEs have been letting them know that my last week is coming soon. And every time I hear it, I can only think to stare at the floor. I don't want to be arrogant and assume that they're going to miss me, but I don't want to look at those who I know are indifferent and feel like I've had no effect on them.

Everyday, now, I'm getting a student or two stopping me in the hall and asking me when I'm leaving. After the teacher makes the announcement at the end of class, I sometimes get a student or two that comes up to me and asks, "Really? So soon?" There's been this group of boys that I sometimes joke with outside of class. In class, they're rowdy, noisy, and not the best students. I thought they hated English and didn't really care about me. But just the other day, at the end of class, they came up to me, "Wait, so you're leaving?" "Yeah, guys." "Oh..." and they each decided they wanted to help me carry my books and materials back down to the teacher's office. This meant I had a group of boys walking with me, each of them only carrying 1 book, or a pencil case, or a rolled up paper (And the JTE with an armful of books and a CD player trailing behind). I like those guys. :)

I like all my students. What can I say? There are too many things that happen with them everyday to mention. There are way too many inside jokes and conversations and quick hellos and strange glances in the halls to type out. If there was ever a day where I was getting frustrated at anything, be it workload, other teachers, or just life in general, I would consciously make the decision to go into the hall between a class. Because I knew my students would make me happier.

And it worked. Every time. I'd wander over to my bulletin board to staple something up and suddenly there would be 5 kids waving at me and trying to practice English as they ran to PE. Or there would be a group of boys who learned the word "Cool" and would proudly shout at me, "Mr. Sandall! You... are... cool!!!" and await my reaction, only to shout, "Hai! Uso desu!" wink, then run off laughing. Or there would be that girl, Shoko, who I once told was always very polite in the halls, and since then is sure to give me a super-deep bow everytime I see her (which I of course return. It's funny to see a 6'3" American bow so respectfully ;) ). Or the "sex technicians." Or the pirate crew. Or that shy girl who used to lower her head when I said konnichiwa, and now smiles with a "Hello," everytime.

I was really afraid at the beginning that they wouldn't ever like me, as I'm sure most new teachers are. So I was content just doing my job and being there for those who needed it. I was in love with Japan, so it didn't really matter to me if I would grow on them or not. I couldn't imagine how it would be to be able to walk through the halls and almost instinctively respond to 400 Hellos, 100 Heys, and 20 japanese jokes every passing.

Now, I can't really imagine how it's going to be without it.

PS: My old principal who left in April, Mr. Higashi, came over to my apartment tonight to bring me a present and to say goodbye. Wow. I'm in shock. :)

Hisashiburi da, ne?

I feel like I've used that topic before... huh....

Anyway, so there's been a massive lack of posts, yes? Yes. Yes, there have. Ok, so life's gotten busy. I'm trying to see all of my friends and do all of these things I want to do before I leave in... one month. (It's getting more and more depressing each time someone reminds me... at this rate, I will be a raging ball of tears before I even hit the Kumamoto airport... k, maybe not. :D) On top of all this, I have... actual work to do... haha, "Oh yeah. That."

So it comes down to me having a lot going on, and having a lot to write about, but no time to write about it. Because if I take the time to write about one thing, I feel like I'm missing another.

I guess what I'm trying to say is excuse the sporadic posts, but expect things to be the same while I'm still here. I'll update a little here and there, but honestly, they may be few and far between in this final month. Hey, this gives you plenty of time to catch up on the long-winded posts from earlier. :D

Anyway... expect an eventual update on my Miyazaki mountain biking trip, my brother coming to visit, other concerts with Crossroads and Destined for Desolation (folk band and rock band respectively), and my potential Okinawa trip coming up in a few weeks...

For now, I will be heading off! I feel like a year's worth of not sleeping a lot is catching up to me finally... meh. :)

Oh, and keep checking back for updates on when I'll return and what I plan to do!

Because I enjoy reminding people how dorky I am...

The Fine Art of Japanese Cuisine



Enjoy. I hope this makes you a better chef.

Long awaited!!

This is long overdue, and a lot has happened between now and my last real update, so I'm going to do my best to make this short and to the point. Hey, at least I've been keeping myself (very/too/disgustingly) busy! We got a lot of ground to cover, gang, so hang on.

Well, let's see. Since I last posted, the very first thing I did was head over to a small river resort town about an hour and a half east of here to check out their coi flag festival. Boy's (Now Children's) Day was coming up, and traditionally, families hang massive flags out to represent their family, especially the children. This town we went to prides itself on these flags and hangs them over the river. Ever wonder what 3,500 8 ft. long fish flags look like? Completely awesome and well worth the trip.

Shortly after that, I made a trip to Korea over Golden Week! What's Golden Week?? Well I'm GLAD YOU ASKED! In early May, 3 holidays fall in a row which means 5 day weekend! This is one of the longest breaks for most people so just about everyone travels for the long weekend. Korea sounded good because I've got a friend, Amy, living over in Seoul teaching English. Thanks to an awesome travel agent (who knocked 1,000$ off of my plane ticket THANK YOU VERY MUCH!) I was able to fly in on Friday night after school. It was quite the weekend! But again, keepin' it short. Here are some of the highlights. (Those on facebook can see a lot of the pictures I took. Others can wait until I dump the next chunk of photos into photobucket)

The first day in, we decided to check out Seodaemun Prison. This is a prison built by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century to hold Korean independence fighters. Aside from the terrible living conditions such as hunger and disease, inmates were in constant fear of brutal torture and swift executions. Of course, to capitalize on this, the prison has since been turned into a tourist attraction where you can pay to go and see recreations of the torture devices, the prison cells, and even a small wax/animatronic gallery depicting several of the more gruesome tortures in full, bloody detail. (Bring the kids!) It was very interesting to see, in all seriousness. I guess I'm stupid, but I didn't know much of the history behind any of it, so it was all new to me (as read through heavily biased display descriptions. :D).

We saw the same palace 3 times... or so I like to say. On 3 days, we went to 3 palaces. Each of the main portions of the palaces all look pretty much the same. By the third time, Amy and I were sure to make plenty of deja vu jokes. The distinguishing features of each one lie around the main palace in the grounds. One of them had a beautiful lake, another had many smaller buildings, including an island pagoda, and the third, more centrally located one, has a changing of the guard ceremony everyday. THAT was cool. In full "medieval" Korean clothing, the sword-wielding guards put on a great display, accompanied by traditional Korean musicians, all marching and moving with great precision. I was enthralled by the music (being a massive music nerd) and so I spent the bulk of my time watching them play the unique instruments. Also, the "drum major" completely rocked. :D

Amy made me go to church. *sigh* Ok, so I went to an English singles ward in Korea. Actually, it was kinda fun to hang out and talk with more people who have such a strong drive to go experience other cultures. On Saturday night, they had an event called Bob's House of Blues... basically, everyone gathers at this guy's apartment, eats dinner, and holds an Open Mic night sort of thing. People sing, tell stories, read poetry, or perform pacific island dances. It was just a lot of fun to hang out, and it was a nice apartment, too! (They convinced me to play... it was terrible. I haven't touched a guitar in almost 10 months, and I wasn't even that good to begin with.)

Based on a recommendation from my Japanese teacher here, we went to go see JUMP! on Tuesday. JUMP! is a... well... "Martial Arts Comedy Extravaganza" for lack of a better description (as if there could BE a better description!). It was a mostly pantomimed show about a strange family who are all martial arts masters. Stuff happens... stuff which enables them to jump really high, flip, break boards, run off of walls, throw each other around, swing bo staffs, and make the audience laugh the entire time. It was a GREAT show! Completely glad we went to do that (and glad it was MY recommendation! Ha!)

Anyway, that's about it for Korea. Of course we went to Seoul Tower and a few more places, but I'll spare the descriptions. I might be throwing a video together soon, anyway.

Believe it or not, after a few days in Korea, I actually got homesick... for Japan. Weirdest feeling... haha. Anyway, I headed back home to a few days of school, a 3 day weekend, and then a solid 7 days in a row of school. Tuesday through Sunday. Why oh why would they put us through such torture? The answer, of course, is Sports Day. For about a month before that Sunday, we had been practicing almost everyday for Sports Day. The students practiced marching, they practiced team cheers, they practiced their individual events...basically, a TON of hard work. All of it came to one massive event. Pretty cool, says I... and I've got tons of pictures and video. I've got ideas of a video I want to make, so maybe expect something soon.

Otherwise, things continue to be busy. I'm still performing with that band I sang clapton songs with, the other band I'm playing bass in (New name pending), and still taking a bit of kendo. Kendo... is hard. In fact, today, I was having a hard time with one "routine," and so the teacher brought over this elementary school girl to show me how to do it... talk about emasculating...

That's it for now! Until later!

*gasp for air*

I AM ALIVE!! I'm alive... relax.

It's been a busy... BUSY... couple of weeks. Since I last updated, there's been a trip to Korea, starting up Kendo, and weeks and weeks of Sports Day practice (including working on the weekend...).

More detailed updates coming soon, including loads of pictures and video!

Say "Tsutsuji Matsuri" 5 times fast

Sunday, Ozu held their Tsutsuji Matsuri (Azalea Festival). Though as luck would have it, all of the azaleas in Showa Park had already bloomed and fallen off thanks to the strange weather... so a flower festival without the flowers... NO WORRIES! There's still plenty to do!

Downtown Ozu had a parade, a stage setup with cultural things going on, and everything ranging from a Flea Market to Kids Sumo (It was quite hilarious to see pictures of these scrawny little boys trying to sumo the crap out of each other). Oh, also the Ozu Karaimo made an appearance. It's a family of 3 sweet potato mascots which I forget the names of, but... yeah. Anyway, all of this downtown stuff, I missed. I was busy over at Showa Park performing with a lady from my eikaiwa class. Her family has a band and she invited me to come sing a few songs with them, which then turned into playing a few MORE songs with them... and... Yeah. You've got a whole day of sitting at the music festival at Showa Park. A group of friends showed up to show support, and video tape... sooo... here. Be nice. :(

(Not going to embed, since there are 3 clips)
Shimanchu nu Takara - BEGIN (Me on drums)
Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton (Me singing)
Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton (Me singing)

Fun day. Cold day. and I was freaking nervous... eh.

PS: This weekend, I'm headed to Seoul, South Korea for Golden Week! Yay!