20th December
Went back to the hairdressers today for a change of 'do' and this time there was very little Engrish/Japanese spoken at all! I quickly looked through some magazines, found a cut I liked and handed it over. There were no head massages at this place but I did get to chose my own shampoo by smelling little sample bottles.
Anyway, survived the second trip that resulted in a short bob and fringe!
17th December
Kat, James and I drove up to nagano today to go ice skating at M-Wave Olympic stadium.
Kat, James and I drove up to nagano today to go ice skating at M-Wave Olympic stadium.
The rink was huge and mostly filled with little kiddies in salopetes, helmets and hockey skates whizzing in and out of everyone else. There was the odd occasion you would hear a familiar 'slosh' noise and see them sliding for miles on their faces and then quicly pick themselves up again without so much as a tear!
14th December
Pretty non-eventful week back at my base school after a third visit to Yogo Gakko on Monday. Trying to teach the kids about Christmas but they really don't care very much and it's just an excuse for them to eat the chocolate in my advent calendars sent from home!
After a bit of a manic cycle to work (late again!) I was particluarly sensitive to the severe temperature changes I encounter on a daily basis...
1) Wake up - so cold I can see my own breath.
2)Very hot shower and kersosene heater overdose. Open window to avoid kerosene gasing.
3) Get cold again so drink 3 cups of hot tea. Wrap up in ski jacket, scarf, boots, hat and gloves.
4) Cycle to school - usually quickly because I'm late. Arrive at school feelin extra toastie. Strip off in the doorway and cool down on the walk to my office. Walk past the temperature gauge which reads 3 degrees INSIDE the building.
5) Open door to office and melt on the spot due to the fact the teachers are there 2 hours before me and have had the heater on since before I even woke up.
6) Strip off a further few layers and wait to cool down. After a few trips to the photocopier I have pretty much lost the feeling in my fingers and toes.
7) Back to the lovely warm office and make a cup of tea.
8) Go to classroom via freezing corridors and turn on heater.
9) 10 minutes later the room is so hot that I need to stand next to the door for some air.
And to think this is just the start...
Pretty non-eventful week back at my base school after a third visit to Yogo Gakko on Monday. Trying to teach the kids about Christmas but they really don't care very much and it's just an excuse for them to eat the chocolate in my advent calendars sent from home!
After a bit of a manic cycle to work (late again!) I was particluarly sensitive to the severe temperature changes I encounter on a daily basis...
1) Wake up - so cold I can see my own breath.
2)Very hot shower and kersosene heater overdose. Open window to avoid kerosene gasing.
3) Get cold again so drink 3 cups of hot tea. Wrap up in ski jacket, scarf, boots, hat and gloves.
4) Cycle to school - usually quickly because I'm late. Arrive at school feelin extra toastie. Strip off in the doorway and cool down on the walk to my office. Walk past the temperature gauge which reads 3 degrees INSIDE the building.
5) Open door to office and melt on the spot due to the fact the teachers are there 2 hours before me and have had the heater on since before I even woke up.
6) Strip off a further few layers and wait to cool down. After a few trips to the photocopier I have pretty much lost the feeling in my fingers and toes.
7) Back to the lovely warm office and make a cup of tea.
8) Go to classroom via freezing corridors and turn on heater.
9) 10 minutes later the room is so hot that I need to stand next to the door for some air.
And to think this is just the start...
6th December - Yogo Gakko
Today I had my second visit of the year to Yogo Gakko - the school for mentally handicapped children. When I was there back in September I joined the elementary classes, but this time I was to visit the senior high section. I was told not to bother preparing anything for them but as I left the house in the morning I grabbed a santa hat that mum had posted out to me. When I arrived, I was greeted by one of the teachers who spoke very limited English but was very warm and welcoming. There were four teachers in the class with the students and all of them were bounding around with smiles on their faces. The kids were all smiling and got very excited when I walked into the classroom. From what I was told and what I could see, the stuents were aged between 15 and 18 years old with varying degrees of disability.
I kept my introduction as short and as animated as I could manage, and they all stared up at me with curious expressions and politely listened to the translations from the teacher. I then moved on to talking about Christmas and plonked the hat on my head. The whole room filled with laughter, cheering and clapping as they showed their enthusiasm. I was so pleased I'd brough it with me! After I spoke about Christmas, those that were able raised their hands and waited their turn to ask me a question (in Japanese, which was then translated) about turkey, santa and the reindeer. I even sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer for them! I then passed the hat around the room for them to try on and for their teachers to take pictures of them. As with the elementary children, each student has their own personal photo album and so they were all extra keen to be snapped wearing the red santa hat.
Today I had my second visit of the year to Yogo Gakko - the school for mentally handicapped children. When I was there back in September I joined the elementary classes, but this time I was to visit the senior high section. I was told not to bother preparing anything for them but as I left the house in the morning I grabbed a santa hat that mum had posted out to me. When I arrived, I was greeted by one of the teachers who spoke very limited English but was very warm and welcoming. There were four teachers in the class with the students and all of them were bounding around with smiles on their faces. The kids were all smiling and got very excited when I walked into the classroom. From what I was told and what I could see, the stuents were aged between 15 and 18 years old with varying degrees of disability.
I kept my introduction as short and as animated as I could manage, and they all stared up at me with curious expressions and politely listened to the translations from the teacher. I then moved on to talking about Christmas and plonked the hat on my head. The whole room filled with laughter, cheering and clapping as they showed their enthusiasm. I was so pleased I'd brough it with me! After I spoke about Christmas, those that were able raised their hands and waited their turn to ask me a question (in Japanese, which was then translated) about turkey, santa and the reindeer. I even sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer for them! I then passed the hat around the room for them to try on and for their teachers to take pictures of them. As with the elementary children, each student has their own personal photo album and so they were all extra keen to be snapped wearing the red santa hat.
5th December - Christmas Party!
Instead of my usual English class with Makoto and Yoko I decided to theme it towards a Christmas Party idea and invite Makoto's wife Tamie, Jo and Matt to join in. I made some mulled wine and even ordered some mince pies online.
Both Makoto and Yoko brought cream cakes and wine so we had quite a feast! Makoto had a Japanese message iced on his cake especially which read "Tanoshi kurisumasu wo sugoshimasho" - let's have a fun Christmas together!!!
We talked about our family christmas traditions in Scotland, England (Jo) and New Zealand (Matt) and Makoto happily lapped up the mulled wine.
English Camp, Tofurkey and The Zen Master
For some reason, I have managed to neglect my blogging duties during the latter part of November and have now found myself in December! The last few weeks have been good and have managed to keep myself quite busy...
22nd November
A few weeks ago I had been introduced to a Japanese girl called Atsuko who attends a local university and lives in Iiyama. She is really fun and has lived in Canada for a year so has brilliant English. I don't need to change the way I speak when I see her and she uses a great deal of English slang which makes her the most non-Japanese Japanese friend I have! We decided to meet up and have a coffee one Wednesday night followed by the long awaited release of The Devil Wears Prada (brilliant by the way!). We ordered a huge bucket of "solty" popcorn which was drizzled with hot melted butter and got comfy in the big bucket seats at Nagano cinema.
23rd November - Happy Thanksgiving!
The Japanese celebrate Labour Day on Thanksgiving and therefore we get another day off! I had planned to make a start at some Christmas shopping and then join some other JETs for a Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cornbread (?) and buckets of KFC (!!!). It was really yummy and as it was organised though Club Konnichiwa there were lots of Japanese people there too who all loved watching us eat a turkey dinner with chopsticks (I kid you not!). There was a fireworks display on after dinner but I declined the inivitation to walk a few miles down to the river to watch them and decided to carry on with my Christmas shopping. There was actually a prime viewing spot at the station so I managed to catch some of them anyway.
24th & 25th November - Nakano Nishi English Camp
A few weeks ago I had been asked to help with a neighbouring school's English camp weekend, so having helped with a few quiz preparations I was quite looking forward to hanging out with some Japanese kids who actually liked English and could say more than "my name is... I like Japanese food etc etc". The camp was held at a hotel way up in the mountains at a place called Shigakogen and as we were driving there the weather changed from being a bit cold and sunny, to frozen trees and snow on the ground! It was all really pretty and nice to get out of Iiyama again!
(you can't really see it in the picture but this view is actually of a lake - it looked stunning at 8AM!!!!!!)
The students were working on a short film all week and it was our job to help them act it out and film it. I even got a small part! They worked really hard on scripts, costumes, props and of course their English "acting", but we managed to let them all down by not checking the equipment properly and ended up loosing a morning's worth of filming! They pulled through though and everyone was still genki at home time!
(I was Tatsunoshi's new girlfriend!!!)
(the boys are too cool to smile...)
All of the helpers got private Japanese style bedrooms - this is a picture of mine below.
There was also a very helpful picture in the bathroom explaining how to use the western style toilet making it very clear it was different for men and women...
30th November - Mid Year Conference in Shiojiri!
Most of my fellow JETs were looking forward to the MYC as it meant getting out of the office for two days to catch up with old friends we haven't seen since Tokyo. For me however, it meant twice as much work to make sure I didn't leave my teachers without a lesson to teach. I think I am the only ALT in the WORLD who still has to make lesson plans for lessons I will actually be absent for. So, loosing two days of preparation and having to plan twice as many lessons I was a tad stressed come Wednesday night! All in all, the conference was boring and not really relevant to a low level ability school such as the lovely Minami Ko. It was indeed nice to meet up with some familiar faces and see Shiojiri, but it was really just a lot of lectures from Japanese men in Paddington Bear suits...
I did learn one thing though - in America, they have such a thing as "tofurkey" for vegetarians to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with all the usual accompaniments... and I thought it was only the Japanese who loved their tofu!
The train ride home was the best bit of the trip though because we had the privilege of being joined at our seats by none other than the Zen Master himself (well, he was actually one of the 25 Zen matsers in Japan).
He was 81 years old and spoke pretty good Buddism-related English. He had published a book a few years earlier which he took great delight in showing us, which contained plenty words of wisedom and also a photo of him with one of his pupils - Jacques Chiraq! We were all happily taking pictures of him and he was happy to pose, but once we were finished he reached into his beaded bag and produced a camera of his own to take pictures of the four gaijin girls he encountered on his trip. I wonder if he has a blog...
Once we got back to Nagano, Kyla and I hit the shops for a while (actually a bit longer, because they closed us in!!!) and then had some cocktails in a Russian bar. We were not quite in the mood to go home in time for my last train so we decided to hit Nagano's finest nightclub - High 5, via a 35 minute cycle on a bicycle that did not belong to me and a broken mountain bike. The club was tiny but the music was good and once they chucked everyone out (me, kyla, the DJ and about 3 other customers - it really was small!!!), Ky and I decided to grab some food and energy for our cycle home in Doma Doma ( a funky Japanese restaurant open until 5am).
Saturday night was spent in Nagano again for dinner, to welcome Kat's boyfriend James who has come over from Newcastle to spend the winter on the slopes. Kat, James, Kyla, Belinda and I had some beers and a yummy mix of Western and Japanese food in an Izikaya near the station (I forget the name!), but I had the last train to catch at 10.40pm so had to slink off back up the mountains. To my surprise, although probably not really now that i think about it, it was snowing! Ricycle had at least 2 inches of snow on the seat and so I had to walk back through the snow in my party shoes.
I woke up in the morning to find it already thawing out, but to reports that Hakuba (our New Year destination) had 1 metre of snow!
I seem to be eagerly awaiting the snow and getting quite excited about it but I know that come March when we will have had 3 months of constant snow I will be sick of the stuff! It's definitely on its way though - the locals have snow tires on their cars, the shops are running low on snow boots, all the trees have bamboo support fixtures holding them up and 2 metre poles have been placed to follow the line of the roads or any sudden drops in the pavement!
For some reason, I have managed to neglect my blogging duties during the latter part of November and have now found myself in December! The last few weeks have been good and have managed to keep myself quite busy...
22nd November
A few weeks ago I had been introduced to a Japanese girl called Atsuko who attends a local university and lives in Iiyama. She is really fun and has lived in Canada for a year so has brilliant English. I don't need to change the way I speak when I see her and she uses a great deal of English slang which makes her the most non-Japanese Japanese friend I have! We decided to meet up and have a coffee one Wednesday night followed by the long awaited release of The Devil Wears Prada (brilliant by the way!). We ordered a huge bucket of "solty" popcorn which was drizzled with hot melted butter and got comfy in the big bucket seats at Nagano cinema.
23rd November - Happy Thanksgiving!
The Japanese celebrate Labour Day on Thanksgiving and therefore we get another day off! I had planned to make a start at some Christmas shopping and then join some other JETs for a Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cornbread (?) and buckets of KFC (!!!). It was really yummy and as it was organised though Club Konnichiwa there were lots of Japanese people there too who all loved watching us eat a turkey dinner with chopsticks (I kid you not!). There was a fireworks display on after dinner but I declined the inivitation to walk a few miles down to the river to watch them and decided to carry on with my Christmas shopping. There was actually a prime viewing spot at the station so I managed to catch some of them anyway.
24th & 25th November - Nakano Nishi English Camp
A few weeks ago I had been asked to help with a neighbouring school's English camp weekend, so having helped with a few quiz preparations I was quite looking forward to hanging out with some Japanese kids who actually liked English and could say more than "my name is... I like Japanese food etc etc". The camp was held at a hotel way up in the mountains at a place called Shigakogen and as we were driving there the weather changed from being a bit cold and sunny, to frozen trees and snow on the ground! It was all really pretty and nice to get out of Iiyama again!
(you can't really see it in the picture but this view is actually of a lake - it looked stunning at 8AM!!!!!!)
The students were working on a short film all week and it was our job to help them act it out and film it. I even got a small part! They worked really hard on scripts, costumes, props and of course their English "acting", but we managed to let them all down by not checking the equipment properly and ended up loosing a morning's worth of filming! They pulled through though and everyone was still genki at home time!
(I was Tatsunoshi's new girlfriend!!!)
(the boys are too cool to smile...)
All of the helpers got private Japanese style bedrooms - this is a picture of mine below.
There was also a very helpful picture in the bathroom explaining how to use the western style toilet making it very clear it was different for men and women...
30th November - Mid Year Conference in Shiojiri!
Most of my fellow JETs were looking forward to the MYC as it meant getting out of the office for two days to catch up with old friends we haven't seen since Tokyo. For me however, it meant twice as much work to make sure I didn't leave my teachers without a lesson to teach. I think I am the only ALT in the WORLD who still has to make lesson plans for lessons I will actually be absent for. So, loosing two days of preparation and having to plan twice as many lessons I was a tad stressed come Wednesday night! All in all, the conference was boring and not really relevant to a low level ability school such as the lovely Minami Ko. It was indeed nice to meet up with some familiar faces and see Shiojiri, but it was really just a lot of lectures from Japanese men in Paddington Bear suits...
I did learn one thing though - in America, they have such a thing as "tofurkey" for vegetarians to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with all the usual accompaniments... and I thought it was only the Japanese who loved their tofu!
The train ride home was the best bit of the trip though because we had the privilege of being joined at our seats by none other than the Zen Master himself (well, he was actually one of the 25 Zen matsers in Japan).
He was 81 years old and spoke pretty good Buddism-related English. He had published a book a few years earlier which he took great delight in showing us, which contained plenty words of wisedom and also a photo of him with one of his pupils - Jacques Chiraq! We were all happily taking pictures of him and he was happy to pose, but once we were finished he reached into his beaded bag and produced a camera of his own to take pictures of the four gaijin girls he encountered on his trip. I wonder if he has a blog...
Once we got back to Nagano, Kyla and I hit the shops for a while (actually a bit longer, because they closed us in!!!) and then had some cocktails in a Russian bar. We were not quite in the mood to go home in time for my last train so we decided to hit Nagano's finest nightclub - High 5, via a 35 minute cycle on a bicycle that did not belong to me and a broken mountain bike. The club was tiny but the music was good and once they chucked everyone out (me, kyla, the DJ and about 3 other customers - it really was small!!!), Ky and I decided to grab some food and energy for our cycle home in Doma Doma ( a funky Japanese restaurant open until 5am).
Saturday night was spent in Nagano again for dinner, to welcome Kat's boyfriend James who has come over from Newcastle to spend the winter on the slopes. Kat, James, Kyla, Belinda and I had some beers and a yummy mix of Western and Japanese food in an Izikaya near the station (I forget the name!), but I had the last train to catch at 10.40pm so had to slink off back up the mountains. To my surprise, although probably not really now that i think about it, it was snowing! Ricycle had at least 2 inches of snow on the seat and so I had to walk back through the snow in my party shoes.
I woke up in the morning to find it already thawing out, but to reports that Hakuba (our New Year destination) had 1 metre of snow!
I seem to be eagerly awaiting the snow and getting quite excited about it but I know that come March when we will have had 3 months of constant snow I will be sick of the stuff! It's definitely on its way though - the locals have snow tires on their cars, the shops are running low on snow boots, all the trees have bamboo support fixtures holding them up and 2 metre poles have been placed to follow the line of the roads or any sudden drops in the pavement!
18th November - Time to get naked!!!
After a little visit from Kat last weekend, I decided to go check out her corner of the paddy field in a village called Asashina in Saku City. Having just been paid I thought nothing of jumping on the shink and was there in 20minutes flat. I picked up some weekend supplies from the supermarket (Chu Hai's, red wine, crisps and chocolate centred koala biscuits) and then in very broken Japanese gave a taxi driver directions to Kat's rice paddy. She has a lovely little bungalow complete with wooden floors, 3 tatami mat rooms and open plan kitchen. Her toilet and sink are nowhere even near her kitchen - very lucky! Having said that, she is miles from civilisation, gets woken by a rice paddy workers alarm at 6 EVERY morning - that is if the cockerels haven't got in first, has 4 buses a day do pick-ups at a stop 20mins walk from her house and I'm pretty sure the temperature dropped to about minus 20 degrees during the night. She sent me to bed with a wooly hat and I thought she was joking... but she wasn't. Any other JETs reading - it's definitley the coldest place in Nagano!
The next morning, Kat agreed to take me to my first onsen in her village. Having been able to avoid it for the last 4 months, the sheer chill in my bones was enough to make me jump at the chance to spend the morning relaxing in a hot tub - regardless of the fact I would be completely naked with a bunch of strangers. Naked. So, basically here's what you do. You walk into a changing room where you take off ALL of your clothes and don't even get a towel to hide in. You then stand completely naked until your friend/mother/sister/grandmother/child is ready and you walk into a large comunal shower (via a room where fully clothed people are putting on makeup and drying their hair). You grab a stool and sit down in front of a shower and scrub yourself clean from head to eh... toe. Once you're clean, you're free to'go onsen'.
Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier but the onsens are split into two - one for men and one for women. The showers are quite big, I think there were maybe 6 or 7 other women there but I didn't lift my head long enough to count them. Kat and I then moved through the glass doors so we were outside in the fresh air. Naked, still naked. You have to resist the urge to run to the onsen and hide in the water, so that you can delicately climb into the rock pools filled with hot water and natural minerals. In this particular onsen there is a lovely waterfall trickling into pool and there are beautiful golden trees surrounding you. Of course, none of this meant anything to me becuase now I was trying to sit in the CLEAR and relatively still water in the most optimum concealing position - which I found out is impossible when you are NAKED!!!
The whole thing was very relaxing but the water is pretty hot so we didn't stay for long. It is hard to get over the naked thing, especially when you see two old ladies scrubing each others backs (it's a sign of friendship) in the showers next to you. But, glad I did it and will definitely go back again. I felt squeaky clean afterwards too!
After a little visit from Kat last weekend, I decided to go check out her corner of the paddy field in a village called Asashina in Saku City. Having just been paid I thought nothing of jumping on the shink and was there in 20minutes flat. I picked up some weekend supplies from the supermarket (Chu Hai's, red wine, crisps and chocolate centred koala biscuits) and then in very broken Japanese gave a taxi driver directions to Kat's rice paddy. She has a lovely little bungalow complete with wooden floors, 3 tatami mat rooms and open plan kitchen. Her toilet and sink are nowhere even near her kitchen - very lucky! Having said that, she is miles from civilisation, gets woken by a rice paddy workers alarm at 6 EVERY morning - that is if the cockerels haven't got in first, has 4 buses a day do pick-ups at a stop 20mins walk from her house and I'm pretty sure the temperature dropped to about minus 20 degrees during the night. She sent me to bed with a wooly hat and I thought she was joking... but she wasn't. Any other JETs reading - it's definitley the coldest place in Nagano!
The next morning, Kat agreed to take me to my first onsen in her village. Having been able to avoid it for the last 4 months, the sheer chill in my bones was enough to make me jump at the chance to spend the morning relaxing in a hot tub - regardless of the fact I would be completely naked with a bunch of strangers. Naked. So, basically here's what you do. You walk into a changing room where you take off ALL of your clothes and don't even get a towel to hide in. You then stand completely naked until your friend/mother/sister/grandmother/child is ready and you walk into a large comunal shower (via a room where fully clothed people are putting on makeup and drying their hair). You grab a stool and sit down in front of a shower and scrub yourself clean from head to eh... toe. Once you're clean, you're free to'go onsen'.
Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier but the onsens are split into two - one for men and one for women. The showers are quite big, I think there were maybe 6 or 7 other women there but I didn't lift my head long enough to count them. Kat and I then moved through the glass doors so we were outside in the fresh air. Naked, still naked. You have to resist the urge to run to the onsen and hide in the water, so that you can delicately climb into the rock pools filled with hot water and natural minerals. In this particular onsen there is a lovely waterfall trickling into pool and there are beautiful golden trees surrounding you. Of course, none of this meant anything to me becuase now I was trying to sit in the CLEAR and relatively still water in the most optimum concealing position - which I found out is impossible when you are NAKED!!!
The whole thing was very relaxing but the water is pretty hot so we didn't stay for long. It is hard to get over the naked thing, especially when you see two old ladies scrubing each others backs (it's a sign of friendship) in the showers next to you. But, glad I did it and will definitely go back again. I felt squeaky clean afterwards too!
November 16th - pay day...
... and I decided to celebrate by having a well overdue haircut! Here's what happened:
18.57 - I arrived at "Pied de Poule" clutching a picture of what I thought would like nice on me.
18.58 - I was seated and given some Japanese magazines to 'read'.
19.00 - My jacket was taken from me and I was led to a small booth with disturbingly bright lights.
19.01 - I showed my hairdresser the picture and she said "ahhh longu bobu, longu bangsu desu ka" which translated into "long bob, long fringe?" so I replied with "hai"
19.03 - I was then taken over to the sinks to have my hair washed.
19.04 - rinse
19.06 - shampoo and massage
19.11 - rinse
19.13 - shampoo and massage
19.20 - rinse
19.22 - shampoo and yet another massage
19.28 - extended rinse
19.32 - towel dry and massage.
19.33 - neck massage
19.40 - led back to my seat where my hairdresser chopped off my longish hair into a cut just below my chin.
19.50 - blowdry and a trim
19.58 - led back to the sinks for another shampoo ( x 3 plus head and neck massages!!!)
20.10 - back to my seat where two hairdressers tag-teamed me both armed with hairdryers and straighteners.
20.25 - hair product applied (without the sales pitch)
20.30 - the look was complete, I parted with about £20 and away I went following lots of bowing (on both parts I have to say, it's really hard not to do it back!) to hide in Starbucks with my first Christmas latte of the year.
So I survived my first hairdresser visit in Japan and although my hair has been thinned to within an inch of its life, I am safe in the knowledge that my hair grows abnormally quickly and it should be back to normal by, well... eh, Christmas!
... and I decided to celebrate by having a well overdue haircut! Here's what happened:
18.57 - I arrived at "Pied de Poule" clutching a picture of what I thought would like nice on me.
18.58 - I was seated and given some Japanese magazines to 'read'.
19.00 - My jacket was taken from me and I was led to a small booth with disturbingly bright lights.
19.01 - I showed my hairdresser the picture and she said "ahhh longu bobu, longu bangsu desu ka" which translated into "long bob, long fringe?" so I replied with "hai"
19.03 - I was then taken over to the sinks to have my hair washed.
19.04 - rinse
19.06 - shampoo and massage
19.11 - rinse
19.13 - shampoo and massage
19.20 - rinse
19.22 - shampoo and yet another massage
19.28 - extended rinse
19.32 - towel dry and massage.
19.33 - neck massage
19.40 - led back to my seat where my hairdresser chopped off my longish hair into a cut just below my chin.
19.50 - blowdry and a trim
19.58 - led back to the sinks for another shampoo ( x 3 plus head and neck massages!!!)
20.10 - back to my seat where two hairdressers tag-teamed me both armed with hairdryers and straighteners.
20.25 - hair product applied (without the sales pitch)
20.30 - the look was complete, I parted with about £20 and away I went following lots of bowing (on both parts I have to say, it's really hard not to do it back!) to hide in Starbucks with my first Christmas latte of the year.
So I survived my first hairdresser visit in Japan and although my hair has been thinned to within an inch of its life, I am safe in the knowledge that my hair grows abnormally quickly and it should be back to normal by, well... eh, Christmas!
Tuesday 14th November - posted by an anonymous stranger...
Sample test answers selected at random:
1) Describe yourself (longer sentences will get more points)
"I am fat and my leg is short" (yikes!)
"I am big hand"
"I have a cat. It is very cute. It is difficult for me to speak English"
"I don't like to spider and ghost" (This isn't so random - we did a Halloween lesson last week!)
"I have small eyes so I don't like eyes"
"I have a brown eye" (just one?)
"I have three families" (he gets an A+ just for spelling families correctly!)
"My favourite singer is Bump of Chicken" (I'm thinking that is a literal translation...)
2) Complete the sentences:
Scotland shares a border with .........
"Scotland shares a border with love"
"Scotland shares a border with instrument"
"Scotland shares a border with New Zealand"
Nessie is a famous .........
"Nessie is a famous bard"
"Nessie is a famous kilt"
Madeleine is from .........
"Madeleine is from Canada" (funny that, so was the previous ALT)
"Madeleine is from England" (now that is funny!)
Sample test answers selected at random:
1) Describe yourself (longer sentences will get more points)
"I am fat and my leg is short" (yikes!)
"I am big hand"
"I have a cat. It is very cute. It is difficult for me to speak English"
"I don't like to spider and ghost" (This isn't so random - we did a Halloween lesson last week!)
"I have small eyes so I don't like eyes"
"I have a brown eye" (just one?)
"I have three families" (he gets an A+ just for spelling families correctly!)
"My favourite singer is Bump of Chicken" (I'm thinking that is a literal translation...)
2) Complete the sentences:
Scotland shares a border with .........
"Scotland shares a border with love"
"Scotland shares a border with instrument"
"Scotland shares a border with New Zealand"
Nessie is a famous .........
"Nessie is a famous bard"
"Nessie is a famous kilt"
Madeleine is from .........
"Madeleine is from Canada" (funny that, so was the previous ALT)
"Madeleine is from England" (now that is funny!)
Sunday 12th November - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
It's here, it's finally here! My first sighting of snow from my balcony...
It's here, it's finally here! My first sighting of snow from my balcony...
It's due to snow at ground level on Thursday but the locals are telling me it is too early for it to be heavy so i'm not to worry. When I tell them I don't yet have a heater the response has been "heeeeeeee, are you cold?" and although my answer through chattering teeth is usually"yyyyyyyyyyyes", I am aware that a heater this early could spoil me and I may actually die when it drops to around -15 degrees! The temperature gauge in school today read 9 degrees and my nails were blue after marking 26 number quizes, but the heating will still not go on until December!
Anyway, apart from the fear of dying from the cold, the snow has also brought with it very exciting plans for Christmas and New Year. Kat already has her tree up and I'm planning to visit her at the weekend for some chu-hai's and merriment! Kat, Kyla, Belinda and I are trying to book a lodge at one of the ski resorts for New Year so we can attempt to get on the slopes and have a bit of a party to bring in the new year. David will of course be here so am hoping to get a crash course in how to snowboard BEFORE he gets here so he doesn't have to spend two days helping me up! Yay!
David and I will spend Christmas day in Iiyama with some turkey sushi and brussel sprout takoyaki minus the 'tako' (octopus)... don't think Delia will be able to help me with MY Chrsitmas dinner with a difference!
Friday 10th November
A bit of a slow week, with students REALLY getting on my nerves. I managed to tie down some teachers though to discuss the situation in my classes and we have decided to put some small changes into place next week at my visit school. Instead of teaching 41 incredibly rude and misbehaving students, I will now only teach 20. My sensei has decided to split the class in half so that I can concentrate on teaching them instead of telling them all to shut up! At base camp however, the changes were a little less strategic. I decided to take the classes as seriously as the students do i.e. not at all, and was pleasantly surprised at my own ability to laugh at myself. When I relaxed a little and stopped stressing about getting through all of my activities, I realised that I could get two lessons out of my one lesson plan (which will also mean less work the following week) and the students had more fun and became less disruptive!
I also realised that I am not responsible for them passing their exams because I am NOT A REAL TEACHER... something I fail to remember when I am panicking about how and what to teach them next.
A bit of a slow week, with students REALLY getting on my nerves. I managed to tie down some teachers though to discuss the situation in my classes and we have decided to put some small changes into place next week at my visit school. Instead of teaching 41 incredibly rude and misbehaving students, I will now only teach 20. My sensei has decided to split the class in half so that I can concentrate on teaching them instead of telling them all to shut up! At base camp however, the changes were a little less strategic. I decided to take the classes as seriously as the students do i.e. not at all, and was pleasantly surprised at my own ability to laugh at myself. When I relaxed a little and stopped stressing about getting through all of my activities, I realised that I could get two lessons out of my one lesson plan (which will also mean less work the following week) and the students had more fun and became less disruptive!
I also realised that I am not responsible for them passing their exams because I am NOT A REAL TEACHER... something I fail to remember when I am panicking about how and what to teach them next.
DJ Squid is in the house!
Ok people, it has finally happened... I have faced my fear! I ate squid-on-a-stick!!! Well, technically it wasn't on a stick and it wasn't even cooked but that makes it far more scary and me much braver for trying it. Not bad for a Monday!
I had my usual English class tonight with the ever-enthusiastic Makoto. After our encounter on Friday, during which he presented me with freshly cooked Takoyaki (fried octopus balls...), he was keen to offer me something else typically Japanese that most foreigners run and hide from. For some reason, I cannot seem to say "no thank you, it looks weird" or "I wouldn't eat that even if you paid me" and so it seems I will continue to be offered these culinary delights. Just before he left, I thanked him again for the Takoyaki which then reminded him he had a stash of dried squid in his car.
Makoto: "Will you try?"
Me: (slight hesitation) "oooh yummy, of course!"
2 minutes later he reappeared with this...
...this being 6 times the size of my hand (and he brought two!)
He grilled the first one on the hob which turned the 10 day old fish smell into a stench that resembled singed hair. He ripped off a leg and started chewing, leaving me to select my own part to try - I opted for a smaller leg! It tasted a bit like seaweed with the texture of biltong, but the smell was overwhelming. Makoto was delighted when I replied with "oishii desu" (delicious) and decided to leave both specimens with me as a present.
As soon as he left, I downed half a tube of GIANT Smarties (thanks mum - perfect timing!!) to get rid of the weird after-taste but can't quite seem to mask the smell that has filled my tiny two room apartment...
Ok people, it has finally happened... I have faced my fear! I ate squid-on-a-stick!!! Well, technically it wasn't on a stick and it wasn't even cooked but that makes it far more scary and me much braver for trying it. Not bad for a Monday!
I had my usual English class tonight with the ever-enthusiastic Makoto. After our encounter on Friday, during which he presented me with freshly cooked Takoyaki (fried octopus balls...), he was keen to offer me something else typically Japanese that most foreigners run and hide from. For some reason, I cannot seem to say "no thank you, it looks weird" or "I wouldn't eat that even if you paid me" and so it seems I will continue to be offered these culinary delights. Just before he left, I thanked him again for the Takoyaki which then reminded him he had a stash of dried squid in his car.
Makoto: "Will you try?"
Me: (slight hesitation) "oooh yummy, of course!"
2 minutes later he reappeared with this...
...this being 6 times the size of my hand (and he brought two!)
He grilled the first one on the hob which turned the 10 day old fish smell into a stench that resembled singed hair. He ripped off a leg and started chewing, leaving me to select my own part to try - I opted for a smaller leg! It tasted a bit like seaweed with the texture of biltong, but the smell was overwhelming. Makoto was delighted when I replied with "oishii desu" (delicious) and decided to leave both specimens with me as a present.
As soon as he left, I downed half a tube of GIANT Smarties (thanks mum - perfect timing!!) to get rid of the weird after-taste but can't quite seem to mask the smell that has filled my tiny two room apartment...
Tuesday 31st October - Happy Halloween (and Happy Birthday Dad for Sunday!)
So, was in Tokyo this weekend for 'Hariween' and boy, did we have fun! It all started on the 16.48 shinky where Belinda and I got comfy with our starbucks (spiced pumpkin latte - finally!) and picked up Kat on the way down.
99minutes later we got into Tokyo station and a few metro stops later we were walking down the street in Jimbocho looking for our hotel. Kyla was already there and the evening was spent getting dressed up and sipping on chu hais until the rest of the gang arrived - Julia, Bec, Laura and Nicole (from Gifu-ken and Aomori-ken).
Ok, well first we tied the Yukata ropes around our heads...
Once we were all ready, we headed out in search of some food and then Club Ever that had us on their VIP list! We ended up eating in a Jazz restaurant - Jazz Bird - that had the following message on their menus:
"Although nobody has heard his voice, the Jazz Bird is a fairly good singer and is swinging instead of flying"
"Although nobody has heard his voice, the Jazz Bird is a fairly good singer and is swinging instead of flying"
Kat, Kyla, me, Bec, Belinda, Nicole, Laura and Julia in the Jazz Bird waiting for our food and cocktails!
We got to Club Ever after trying to explain to about 6 different taxi drivers where we wanted to go and walked into some more jazz in a tiny room. The music was different but later into the night it got better and we were dancing for hours! Nobody wanted to call it a night but we had to be up and dressed in costumes by 9.30am...
Saturday morning arrived way too quickly but once we started with make-up and hair, the costumes fell into place and we were all ready to go. Belinda and Nicole were team captains and we intended to split into two teams but somehow, once we saw the RING BINDER full of rules and instructions we pooled together and straight away decided not to take it too seriously. We had previously decided on taking two whiteboards around with us the whole day to write funny things on, and these ended up being the source of great amusement...
Ocassionally we got the odd random to hold a sign. This is my favourite - she looks like she's right out of the Kill Bill movies doesn't she??!!
Superheros!
And some random things in Tokyo...
This is a picture of tights that claim to burn 416kcals per hour. There was actually a whole stand of different kinds, all burning different amounts of calories!!!
Kat's face is a picture... (white sunglasses)
Streets of Shinjuku (above)
The largest intersection in the world (allegedly) at Shibuya (above)
Sentimental 'Engrish'
When our feet started to hurt, Kat, Kyla and I made our way back to the hotel for a ceista and a shower before going back into town for dinner and awards for the hunt at 6pm. We got a little lost finding our venue The Pink Cow but when we did we enjoyed a nice dinner of salads, fish and pasta washed down with some cocktails...
We then went on to an Irish bar in the very stylish Roppongi Hills called Paddy Foleys (who thinks of these names?!!) which still had a very high presence of Japanese, as well as Americans and of course Irish! Kat and I went on to Grace to meet up with some fellow hunters and had a good old dance to some cheesy music. The whole club was filled with people in fancy dress and made for some very interesting people watching. There were actually men in white suits with feather boas and women walking about in their underwear and big fur coats! Tokyo-ites love the shock tactics! The night ended with, believe it or not... a very yummy kebab!
Before leaving the hotel the next morning there was time for a quick group photo... (including Tommy Lee Jones on the vending machine)
Then, our final stop in Tokyo was Harajuku for a another look around the shops and a Pizza Express! Our trip back to Nagano was not quite as glamorous as our journey to Tokyo as we had decided to save a few pennies and get the bus. 3 1/2 hours later we were back in Nagano!
After feeling the nice autumn temperatures in Tokyo (low 20s), I have really started to notice the drop in temperature here in Iiyama. My school principal has decided that although it is about 10 degrees inside the school building during the day, we can wait until it gets colder before they put the heating on in the classrooms! I don't have a heater in my appartment yet but have finally got a cable for my kotatsu (heated table) so have been toasting my toes in the evening and wrapping up in blankets.
That's all for now folks, thanks for reading!
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