Coloring and T-shirts

August 6^th

Today, for my job, I mostly colored and cut out pictures.  I’m making some ‘About Me’ posters so the kids can get a feel for who I am: surfer, kayaker, snowboarder, wrangler, and all that other boring stuff.  I went to lunch with Tomomi and 3 of her co-workers.  I can’t go one day without these people trying to set me up with someone.  Even my bosses, when introducing me in Japanese, will always throw in ‘Handsome man,’ and tell me what girls are single.  It’s no wonder though, this city’s population has actually decreased over the years and there are very few young people left.  There are only about 1,200 students in the 9 schools combined as compared to 6,000 students 20 years ago.  Crazy huh?  Anyway, the lunch was great again.  We went to some little restaurant/home where they only serve one type of dish a day for 600 yen (little less than $6).  Today it was a sort of chicken katsu/curry thing with salad, rice, miso soup, and some veggies.  One of Tomomi’s friends paid the bill before we could get up and I taught him how to say ‘Amigo.’  He was stoked and called me ‘Amigo’ about 20 times before we got back to the building. 

Mastumoto-san left his surfboard for me, but it’s not the foam board like I expected.  It’s a legit fiberglass board, probably about 7-7.5 feet and really clean.  I’m shocked he’s letting me borrow it!  Mind you, I haven’t even met this guy.  After hearing that I surfed, he left it for me on his day off.  Suuuuper nice people here. 

My meeting with the kochos went well.  I only had to introduce myself, say some interesting facts in English, and then I was excused to leave the room.  Got a call from another ALT, Rob, and they were heading to an onsen.  I wanted to go but remembered that I said I would attend a Tai Chi class.  I’m so glad I did because I got to meet some of the real Osaki people.  Looking for the room where it was taking place, I ran into one of my coworkers and he laughed when I told him what class I was attending.  He said something about the age of the people.  All senior citizens, only one spoke a little English, and they all kept clapping for me, saying ‘Good Job!’  It was too funny.  There was the guy with his pants too high, the lady who wears too much makeup, and the one who doesn’t talk, but just sits and watches us.  I was invited back for the next session so I’ve got to find a Borat mankini this week. 

I forgot to mention that my predecessor left me something in the trunk of my car.  A Nintendo Super Famicon console with 15 games (including Super Mario RPG, Mario Kart, and Street Fighter to name a few).  This will definitely help while I don’t have the internet at home. 

Alright, I need sleep again.  I’m driving to Kagoshima City tomorrow for New JET Day Out.  It doesn’t start until 1, but I’m hoping to find a good 2^nd hand store and find some rare odds and ends.  I hope the states are great.  I miss big dogs and tacos.

August 7^th

I got to take my first long road trip to Kagoshima City today.   It was great.  Almost went the long way around the place, instead of taking the ferry to the city, but luckily turned around and found my mistake. 

Met a lot of JETs today that are all awesome.  Actually, I met some surfers and we’re all going to try and find some waves tomorrow (if I get a hold of them early enough tomorrow).   Went to the Kagoshima aquarium with a bunch of people and had a blast.  Bought an omiyage for Tomimo and her family.  Saw my first live whale shark (in a tank) as well as a grouper. 

As small as the aquarium was, I was completely impressed.  Then they told me there was a whale shark half the size of the tank in Okinawa and I won’t believe it until I see it.  We ate some good traditional ‘Dutch baked goods,’ went to probably the best sushi place I’ve ever been to in my life, and then walked around a 6 story mall.  Some of the JETs knew the guy at a surf shop at the mall and we got some great local surf spots.  I think I’m heading out tomorrow with Mary Margaret and some other JETs tomorrow.   We got to hear Sakurajima (the volcano) erupt.

Ash on the ferry seats

Ash was being thrown all over the place today (it actually wasn’t ash as you may expect, but particles of lava that felt like sand).

Sakurajima Burps...

I saw a whole bunch of motorcycle places tonight, which inspired me, even more, to buy a bike out here.

It’s crazy, all the shirts, stickers, board-shorts, etc. in the surf shops out here at double, if not triple, the price they are in the states.  Wish I wouldn’t have given away so many t-shirts and stickers from the ASR conventions I went to.  Honestly, it was $10 for one Rusty sticker.  They also had some of the coolest ‘California’ paraphernalia.  Bad ass OP (Ocean Pacific) t-shirts, shorts, and changing robes (for surfers).  I was tempted to buy the ‘maple leaf’ robe.  But sadly, I know how cheap they are in the states.

I left Kagoshima City and had a great drive back.  I listened to Gian-san, Metcalfe, Mike-iko-san, and Pat sing some songs that I had recorded over a year ago.  It totally brought me back home and I felt like I hadn’t left more than a day ago.  I also found out, that after 3.5 days of being on, my phone finally dies.  This incorporates much texting, calls, and playing with the settings.