Thursday, 27 July 2006

Ipods. Everyone has one. And those who don't, want one. The Lizard just shared his igenious method of sorting and listening to his favourite songs and I realised that the ipod has changed something deep inside me. Actually, maybe the ipod has just facilitated the transformation that already existed at a subconscious level. Actually it wouldn't be a transformation if it already existed would it? Anyway, I refuse to be sidetracked. My point is that the ipod has actually turned me into the worst type of consumer.

Picture this - I spend at least at hour each day in the car driving to and from my schools. During this time, I like to listen to music (and Japanese radio is truly horrific) so I plug in my ipod. I have around 2400 songs on the damn thing. In the last week, I've only listened to three different albums.

The problem is that there is too much choice - I am no longer capable of deciding what I feel like listening to. So I only listen to three different things. But I keep telling myself that I need 2400 songs in case I need to (read life or death situation) listen to that obscure Dexy's Midnight Runners song or that Stars cover of This Charming Man.

Honestly, it's truly pathetic when I think about it.

Saturday, 22 July 2006

Last night we went to the Shibukawa Heso Matsuri (or Shibukawa Festival) for the very good reason that we were dancing in the parade dressed all fancy in our Yukata (which is essentially a summer kimono - less formal and cooler (well, in theory)).

We got to Shibukawa (which is about an hour away) around 3pm and met up with Michelle and Canadian Sara by a stroke of luck (we got a bit lost but then just happened to drive past them walking down the street). We then went to Kimiko's house who had kindly agreed to help us dress in our yukatas. And, to be honest, wearing a yukata is easy - it's getting the length even and tieing up the obi which is troublesome.

The yukata is like a very long bathrobe with no ties. Basically you put it on and it is folded over at the waist with a cloth tie to get the length right. For women it is barely touching the tops of your feet and for girls it is a bit higher up - around the ankle. Then the obi, which is a long strip of fancy material about six inches wide, is tied around the middle with a bow at the back. It's worn around the abdomen - between your breasts and waist. Some use padding to keep the obi flat and to stop in wrinkling and bunching. There are several different types of bow - a girl will have a different bow to a married woman for example. And most gaijin don't have the best body type for a yukata. A straight up and down body is perfect but hips and breasts just get in the way.

The yukata is worn with the left side over the right side (the other way means you're dead or something). The yukata meets right below your neck but is meant to gape at the nape of the neck. It's also difficult to sit down and keep the obi flat which is the reason for all the kneeling in Japan. You are also meant to walk modestly - normal walking will make the yukata gape at the front and people will see your legs which is not modest. The correct walk is achieved if you imagine that your knees are tied together and take tiny, princess-like steps. This method of walking makes it hard to keep up if everyone else is walking like an immodest foreigner. It also means you have to kind of shuffle your feet, hence the slip on wooden shoes. Unfortunately I couldn't find proper shoes to fit (damn you wide gaijin feet) so had to wear thongs (flip flops for you Americans).

So here I am having my obi tied by Kimiko. Immediately after this photo was taken, Kimiko's father (Papa) untied my obi and re-tied it twice before deciding it was perfect.

Here's the finished product.

And here are the three of us looking gorgeous and ready to go.

Here are all the girls ready for the festivities to commence.

After getting all dressed up, the whole group of us wandered down to the main street to check out the sights. I felt a bit like a monkey in a zoo because everyone stared at us. At one point we all stood out the front of the meeting point and had eight different strangers taking photos of us. A bunch of the boys and two other girls (Kate and Jess) were going to be doing the belly dance as part of the festival so were having their bellies painted. Girls are allowed to participate but have to wear a t-shirt with a face painted on it.

Here are the belly dancers ready to go.

They have fake arms tied around their middle complete with little jackets. They also wear enormous hats that hide their faces so it looks like their stomachs are actually their faces as they dance.

So at 6:30pm we all line up and start the dancing. I'm not very co-ordinated but by about 7:30pm, I had the hang of it. The others had it nailed in about 10 minutes. And dancing is tiring folks. We danced for about 20 minutes then there was a 10 minute break where drinks were handed out. Then more dancing, and another break until 8:30pm. I had a fantastic time, thanks go the Chau for organising it and Sarah for volunteering me to participate.

Here's Megan and I with two of the guys handing out drinks. And yes, they are dressed in French Maid costumes. And no, I have no idea why. Weird huh?

I've posted more photos on my Flickr site if you are interested.

Friday, 21 July 2006

Change of plans. Mark will be arriving in Japan on Saturday, 28 July 2006. I can't wait.

Thursday, 20 July 2006

And it is still raining. Seriously, I am so over the rain. My hometown of Brisbane has been in drought for the last six years and are currently on pretty tough water restrictions. My mum is watering her trees by bucket because hoses are banned.

Japan seems to have so much damn water that it scares me a bit. Where ever you go in Takasaki you can hear running water - there are irrigation ditches, rivers and creeks. At the moment you have to slosh through the lake that was our carpark. I suggested to the boss that we should include Ark building as one of our craft activites at Kangaroo Republic. A tie-in could be a scavanger hunt to find all the animals two-by-two. I guess I'd need to develop a drinking problem for some true authenticity.

It started raining on Saturday night and hasn't stopped yet. Just when it eases up for a few hours and I think that I won't need my umbrella, it buckets down again. The only bright side is that at least it isn't boiling hot. Oh, the rice paddies look all pretty and green.

And I nearly forgot - on Wednesday night when we all went to Canadian Sara's to watch American Idol, there was a tiny little bat flying about inside her building. As I left I spotted it sleeping upside down in the corner so Emily and I quickly swung into bat catcher mode. I trapped it with a bucket and Em cover the top with a big paper fan and we carried it outside. It was so cute and so tiny. No bigger than a slightly obese mouse wearing a dark chocolate fur coat and wings. I wanted to touch it but Emily said it would bite me and then I'd get rabies. Do they have rabies in Japan???

Saturday, 15 July 2006

Today was our last Saturday night with our dearest Emily. The lucky cow has finished her contract and is now on her way to Mexico for three sunny weeks. Although she will be swanning back through Takasaki before she flies home to Brisbane, it was her greatest wish that we have a small sending off at the beer garden. This time we decided to try the beer garden at Montres. It's much the same setup - all you can eat and drink for a set price.

We'd been there about an hour or so when the weather turned wet. Unfortunately there really isn't much of an undercover area so Sarah went downstairs and stocked up on a bunch of umbrellas from the 100 Yen shop. So, armed with our umbrellas, we returned to our table and continued drinking. See, that's dedication folks.

Here's Sarah and I before we got too damp from the sudden downpour.

Sarah amusing the locals with her singing and dancing.

Here are the girls at the beer garden.

The beer closes at 9:30pm so we all headed over to Odessa to continue the festivities with Karaoke. I managed to straggle home on my bike (and it was still raining) by 3am.

Emily, we are really going to miss you.

Sunday, 16 July 2006

Ipod High Rotation Notification:
Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

You need to listen to this CD.


Current Fiction Being Imbibed:
DBC Pierre - Ludmila's Broken English

The man writes very nicely.


Most Recent Film Watched:
Happy Endings

Recommended by Invisible Lizard. I liked it.

A Day In The Life

The 8:15am alarm is usually required to jerk me into wakefulness from whence I leave my bed bursting with joy at the thought of the day that lies ahead. Actually, I usually hit the snooze button and go back to sleep briefly before dragging my cranky arse out of bed by 8:30am. Hit the shower first up then have breakfast while chatting to Mark on Skype. Sometimes I’ll blow dry my hair or do a load of washing before leaving the house at a dead sprint by 10am. Drive to work fuming about the people who do 25km/hr down the main road and by 10:15am, I’m installed at my desk.

In the mornings the native teachers either talk about any problems we are having, lesson plans that we have to write, actually write the lesson plans, make materials for our lessons or, if we’ve got a big event coming up, we’ll talk it through as a group.

Around 12:30, we all gather up our things and wander off to lunch. Depending on how much time we’ve got and when our first lesson starts, we gaijin usually eat lunch together. My personal favourite is the French restaurant near my house, but the pasta place near work is nice too. We’ve got to be at our schools at least an hour before class starts, so if I have a kindy class, I need to be there by 2pm. We each go to a different school every day and our schools are spread out all over Takasaki and other nearby towns so we need to factor in travel time so we get to school in time.

Our littlest 3 - 4 year old kids have class from 3pm to 3:30pm. The next class up start at 3:40pm and go until 4:10pm, so I see these little kids each week. The older kids I only teach once a fortnight (the Japanese teacher teaches them the week I don’t see them) so each week I teach the alternate group. We teach three classes in the afternoon and the last class finishes at 6:40pm. We then tidy up our classrooms and then write up our class reports. Usually the Japanese teacher and I will also talk about any problems or difficulties that the students are having.

We usually finish work between 7:15-7:30pm so I’m usually home by 8:00pm or so. Sometimes I stop on the way home and pick up some groceries. Then I talk to Mark on Skype while I eat my dinner. I try to do my email after work or I read or watch a movie. Unless it is Wednesday night when we all head over to Canadian Sara’s for American Idol (and I'd appreciate it if we pretend I never said that). I try to get to bed by 11:30 or so because I get too cranky if I’m tired (or hot, or hungry, or pretty much anything else).

Wednesday, 12 July 2006

Today started like any other ordinary day. Until I started driving to work and notice that there were policemen lining the road and people with little Japanese flags on sticks. When I got to work, I found out that the Crown Prince of Japan was going to be driving through Takasaki this very morning. I'm not really clear on why he was driving (or more accurately, being chauffered) through Takasaki although he must have presumably been on his way somewhere. We asked Yukari if he was a hottie and she said (and I quote) "he's not very handsome, but he is very kind".

Anyway, it's not everyday that the Crown Prince comes to Takasaki so the boss agreed that we could all walk across to the main road and wave at him (the Crown Prince, not the boss). The rumour was that he would be passing by at 10.29am with his assorted hangers on and secret police (or whatever they are called in Japan). At about 10.25am the policemen started closing down the road to regular traffic and changed the traffic lights to green (apparently the Royal Family never get red lights). And sure enough, at exactly 10.29am, the motorcade drove past. First there were more police, a limo of body guards and then the Crown Prince. It was a bit odd though. I mean there were sooo many police, a circling helicopter for pete's sake but the Crown Prince had his window down and was waving in a very casual and relaxed manner. I swear the car passed within a metre of where we were all standing.

Oh, and if you want to see a picture of the Crown Prince - have a look at Megan's blog.

Sunday, 9 July 2006

Nothing much happened today. Emily and I had Freshness Burger for lunch and then came back to my place where I made her watch Lost Boys for the sole reason that she hadn't ever seen it. I have a new appreciation for bad 80's synth let alone the bad 80's sax.

It was absolutely bucketing down for most of the day but still stinking hot. Much like home really.

Then we went to Sarah's and watched Dusk til Dawn.

Saturday, 8 July 2006

So last night was the beer party hosted by Canadian Sara's work. We all got dressed up nice and fancy and had a great time. The gig was pretty much just chatting to the school's students so they could practice their English with foreigners. It was fun and I really enjoyed myself although I nearly died from lack of food and water. I couldn't really get near the food table because everytime I moved, I ended up talking to someone else.

But it was fun and some of the students we chatted too were lovely. We were even given little presents by the students that we talked to!

Look at all the beautiful gifts I was given by the students.

After the party went to Odessa for a while and had a few wee glasses of lemonade.

Here's Emily, Sarah and I at Odessa after the beer party - our new friend Megumi is in the middle looking a bit wide-eyed and terrified at being surrounded by slightly drunk gaijin.

Saturday, 1 July 2006

It's getting so damn hot here that I bought a fan today. I already had one here, but it's currently up in the loft and I don't think I'm up to moving it up and down the pool ladder every day so I went crazy and bought another fan. Yep, it cost the equivalent of about AU$20.

On Saturday night there was a big JET party at the summer beer garden on the roof of Takashimaya (which is a big department store). The beer garden is only open from June to August, it costs 2400 yen (for girls) to get in and it's an all you can eat and drink deal. We all rode our bikes in (which takes about 25 mins on bike from my house) so that we could all have a drink or two. It was also Canada Day on Saturday, so many of the local Canadians were keen to celebrate.

In the spirit of Canada Day, Canadian Sara made Australian Sarah and I honourary "Canadians for a Day".

After the beer garden closed at 9pm, we all hopped on our bikes and rode over to Odessa for a few more pints. It was a fun night even if I did have to ride my bike home in the rain.

Here's all of us at the beer garden.