Since twenty-four

On Saturday afternoon, went to the Odaiba beach party with Simona. The weather was horrible, but we drove there anyway since we hadn`t heard any news of the party being cancelled. We got there around 4.5pm, and the first people did not show up until 6pm. So much for beach activities. Many people showed up, met a few 2nd and 3rd year JETs whom I haven`t met before. Lots of people full of sperms and eggs and ethanol. I felt a little bit left out because, despite the fact that I`ve got sperms and there were lots of eggs, I didn`t have any ethanol. Still I had a sobering good time. Left the party with Simona a bit after 10, got back to Yonago around 11, had a beer with Ian at the Brown Sugar before I went to sleep.

Next morning Segawa-sensei picked me up at the apartment, and we went fishing. Met the rest of the crew at Akasaki port: Yoshida, Morita and his kid Kyoske(sp?), Sakesegawa and her two kids, Segawa-sensei, his wife, and their baby. I had no idea that 1) that this was a family fishing trip and 2) that this wasn`t a boat fishing trip. On the invitation that was passed around the staff room, it specifically mentioned that we will meet Sunday morning at Akasaki port, aboard Yoshida #2, and driven by captain Yoshida. Little did I know that it was an inside joke of sorts--everybody knew that Yoshida wants a boat but doesn`t have one. So we fished little (<10cm) blow fish, thorn fish and other assortments of poisonous/unedible specimens. The pole setup was kind of strange too: pole and a link of multiple hooks and plastic baits, with a little weighted cup of chum/bait at the end of the line. You drop the cup in the water, the chum/bait floats and swirls in mid-water, attracting all fish in the vicinity into a feeding frenzy, and you sit and hope one gets hooked. It was kind of fun at first to maneuver the line and the hooks and disguise them in the chum cloud, but it soon got pretty old when you realize that, it is mostly luck and requires as much skill as pachinko. Everyone enjoyed it, go figure. We had BBQ afterwards on the beach, it was better and cheapter than yakiniku restaurants. I played frisbee, baseball, and soccer with a trio of 5-8 year olds in the sand. It was worth giving up on the beach party the night before.

Monday I didn`t go to school, instead I went to the English speech/recitation contest in Yonago. Three of my 3rd year`s competed in it and I had been coaching them afterschool for two weeks. None of them won anything, but they met some of my fellow JETs and they seemed happy about it (apparently happier than I thought: just 5 minutes ago, Chika wanted me to give a thick envelope with Pooh art to Matt; I coulda teased her about it but decided not to, she looked terrified enough just asking me to pass on the letter).

From left to right: Chika, Mae, and Yoshiko @ the speech contest.


Yesterday I went to Gotokaoka JR high school in Yonago with Matt to observe Suzanna, a 2nd year JET, teaching in her classes. It was official JET business, a job training of sorts. Besides the fact that Gotokaoka chuu is 7 times as large as my school, everything was essentially the same and no revelations were imparted. Though they have a judo team, a boys` volleyball team, boys+girls basketball team, badminton, swimming, etc., I have to say that I did not envy Suzanna`s situations at all. She meets her students less than once a week, she is basically a human tape recorder (well, so am I on most days), the school infrastructure is dilapidated, and some of her teachers` quietly dismissive attitudes revealed how absolutely useless and expendable her role is. Though on most days, I don`t fare any better in the classrooms, I do feel that I have a presence in the school above and beyond my (near) accent-free English. I am treated as an equal collegue and not a mere assistant by the teachers, but the students know me and in time, I will know them too. One good thing about Tuesday: I didn`t have to leave Yonago, and the day was over by three thirty. I got a haircut at Ikka, an English-speaking hair salon, which was introduced to me by that Japanese girl with good English but better-looking friend at Hangover (Tyler got the #). Lisa, the fluent Japanese speaking girl from Scotland(?) was there. The shop was owned by Yu-san, who speaks passable English and passable Mandarin in a baritone voice, loves Taiwan and its foods, and owns a lefty brown `69 Mustang. The hairdressor`s names were Amy (spoke very good English) and Ma-chan (not to be confused with Majong). They were happy to chat with Matt and I, and gave me a 50% discount on my haircut (\2000 for \4000). Though the cut is not $40 quality, I will definitely go back for more.

The same (last) night, I finished reading 天竜八部, the Chinese kung-fu novel sent by mom, a 2-week, 10 books, 4000+ page effort. So now what am I going to do with my nights?