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Friday, September 24, 2010

Ground Golf and Amami

September 17th
Okay day at work.  Crazy kids as usual.  After work, I had a planned event with my BOE peoples to play ground golf.  
Tomomi and Shinmiya

It’s pretty much miniature golfing on a flat, open course.  But, the balls are the size of tennis balls and the putters are made of wood.  I was on a team with most of the people in my office and we actually won the tournament. 
The guys from my BOE

I shot 2nd best (thanks to all those weekends of miniature golf with my grandparents) and the prize money paid for our dinner and drinks afterward.  We went to some ‘restaurant,’ that was really someone’s house, and ate tonkatsu, chicken sashimi, and some other various edibles.  

Chicken sashimi, fried chicken, and some fish-flake food with onions
One of my coworkers began GLOWING red after one drink and another was seemingly drunk after two beers.  He then asked me to stay at his house, because his wife would be mad that he came home drunk (again), but I had to decline.  ‘Next time, okay?’ he says…sure, why not?  The superintendent of Osaki-town drives me home and I get packing for an early departure to the airport.  I think I got to bed around 1am.

September 18th
I’m finally on vacation!  I woke up at 5:45am because I thought that I had to be 2 hours early for my flight to Amami.  It turns out, I only had to be there 20 minutes early, so I napped a bit on the plane.  Got to Amami and saw Erin’s awesome smile from the tarmac.  Her house is only 10 minutes from the airport, so she took me to her place to unload my crap.  We walked across the street from her place and had some delicious food and a couple beers.  Leaving the eatery, we run into a couple of her high school students who immediately assume we’re together.  Then, we decide to head to the beach for a swim. 
This is Erin's backyard

She still doesn’t realize how lucky she is.  This place is gorgeous!  Crystal clear waters, green mountains, clean beaches, and not a soul in sight.  That is, until we see the same boys we just talked to, riding up on their bikes.  They sat there for an hour and a half, just waiting to see Erin in a bikini, but she’s smart and kept herself covered.  Poor boys, island life must be tough J 
We meet up with another ALT, Katie, and her friend from the island.  They take us to ‘watch’ some people dancing at houses.  It’s a traditional dance that’s done at a number of houses throughout the night, to raise funds for their city council (maybe?). 

It turns out to be many grandparents and a few 40-somethings that dance in a huge circle around people’s yards.  The places are predetermined, so the homeowners have food and drinks ready for everyone when they get there.  There were so many things that were happening, it’s hard to remember it all.  I remember them telling me to always look at the woman across from you (as you’re separated into groups of men and women, from oldest to youngest). 
Erin and Katie 'free-dancing'

All the while, people are coming up to you, while you’re dancing, and pouring you beers and glasses of shochou.  Then once all the different dances are done, a guy yells in the middle of the circle and everyone claps.  Finally, more drinks and countless trays of food are brought out. 
I thought after we finished dancing at the 3rd house, we’d be done.  Not a chance!  They invite us foreigners inside (extremely rare) and we all stand up to introduce ourselves.  Who do you think they picked to stand and speak in front of these elders first?  If you said Tom Cruise, you’re right.  The man of the house even whipped out his shamisen (guitar-like instrument) and played a ton of songs. 

They were wonderful entertainers, except when we had to leave and they made me chug a freshly poured glass of shochou.  My goodness, these people are nuts!  I love them! 
We headed back to Katie’s friend’s place, to drink more of course, and I walked out into the sugarcane fields to check out the stars.  This island is beautiful.  I’ve heard that some say it’s comparable to Okinawa, so I can’t wait to visit there as well.

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