November 1st
I had a decent day at school. Only had a couple of classes and the students had to prepare for their school festival. Talked to Mike-iko about bikes for a while and then headed out for a run. I didn’t cramp, but I also didn’t run much. I was so worried about cramping up again that I’d stop every 5 minutes and stretch. It was actually worse doing this, making me feel like I have to worry about my leg so much. Hopefully, I can work my way into some long runs. After the run I made a quick meal of fish, rice, and veggies. I was cleaning up and wiping out the tuna can and cut my finger deeper than I ever had before. Luckily it was a clean slice and I was able to rinse it and dry it without any crazy bleeding. I did lift the flap of skin and it didn’t look good. I saw blood, something white (hopefully not my bone), and then I quickly pressed it back down and covered it with gauze. Not exactly how I was hoping to end my day.
November 2nd
Had a few classes in the morning that went well. Ate lunch with the kids and then helped them rake the yards. Left for my second school and only had one class. The kids were great and I got to leave an hour early. Tried to clean my house as much as I could and then got distracted with The Long Way Round DVDs. Every time I watch this series, it makes me want to get out on a bike and explore. I’m already thinking of going across different continents and trying to figure out what sort of budget I may need. Anyway, it’s great and is pushing me to get a bike out here now.
Skyped back home for a while and then had dinner and went to bed.
November 3rd
Today we had “Culture Day” and got the day off. I met up with Kyle, Mary Margaret, Topher, Cassie, Allen, and Ayumi.
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We walked around the festival in Iwagawa and I tried some sort of onigiri with meat and cheese on the outside. I was also able to witness my first "Fishing for Chickens" booth. The kids were given sticks with line attached to the end. Then, the guy who ran the booth, would attach dough to the end of the string. The chickens would clamp onto the dough and the kids would lift them out of the box. Still, I don't understand why they went and dyed all the chickens different colors.
I was a bit worried for their lives when I saw that they carried the chickens around in plastic bags (just like the goldfish they also won).
The main event of the festival was a group of people parading a huge statue of Yagoro Don (Gordy) down the small streets. There's even a person standing on his shoulder in order to lift the electric wires out of the way.
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| This guy's lookin' to get electrocuted |
We watched the huge statue come from the shrine and head down the streets. All the while, Kyle and Mary Margaret were playing in their taiko group that walked with the statue. It sounded great and the crowd of people was quite a sight. After a couple hours, we caught up with the taiko group on their break and they still had quite some time before they were done. I can only imagine carrying those drums around for so long.
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| Kyle (middle) acting a fool |
I left the festival with the intention of going spear fishing but strayed as usual and found a new market. I finally found fireworks again and some good food for tonight.
Ate dinner, took a sample of my ‘business’ for the medical check tomorrow, and now I’m off to bed really early. Seriously, it’s only about 7:45pm. How sad.
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| Yes, that is a cartoon turd in the middle. Yes, he has arms and legs. |
November 4th
Went to my medical examination in the morning that seemed to include everyone from my BOE. I first had to give my stool samples to the guys at the front, give a urine sample at the next station, and then they weighed me. To take my height, they had me stand on a platform that had a robotic arm come down, touch the top of my head, and that was it. I was accidentally put in the wrong line (blood taking), when I was supposed to be in the blood pressure line. One of my buddies from the BOE taps a guy on the shoulder (who is already in the process of having his own blood pressure taken) and makes him get up so that I don’t have to wait in line. I kept saying, “No, it’s okay” in Japanese, but they had none of it. So there I was, being ushered from station to station after that. Blood pressure great, blood samples taken without passing out, hooked up to some electrical device, and then they measured my waist. I also ran into Tomomi, who had made me an egg sandwich since we weren’t allowed to eat breakfast that day. She’s just too nice to me.
I went home and took a nap since Hamaya-san (from my BOE) had cancelled my first school (apparently). I got a call from Shinmiya at lunch time asking where I was, so I can only assume I was supposed to go to the school. Oh well, no one got upset. Made it to the next school and the classes went well. They greeted me with a cup of coffee, although I really didn’t need the caffeine, and also gave me a choice of custard at the end of the day. I rolled a hula hoop back and forth with a little girl during playtime and she thought it was so funny every time she caught it. Before I left for home, they had me go outside and help them remove rice from the actual plant. It had been drying for some time so we used a foot-powered machine that had U-shaped pieces of metal, to spin and knock all the grains off. The machine smacked the grain everywhere, so kids had to hold a tarp barrier to catch everything.
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| Separating rice from the plant |
November 5th
The schools had their festivals today, which included art, English writing, plays, singing, and other events. Daiichi, my first school, had some pretty good song and dance numbers.
They ended, though, with a play about a Japanese woman who lost her children during the bombing of Hiroshima. I was sitting next to two older women and the one closest to me began sobbing uncontrollably. To say the least, I felt awkward being the only American in the room. Later, I found out that some of my Shibushi friends also had to endure the same play. It's so weird to see it from the other perspective, but the kids did a great job and really worked hard to pull the festival off.
My next school had already finished their festival and we got to work right away. There were a few difficult students and it was hard to get through the lesson. I decided to go home and skip out on badminton for the second week. I went running instead and made it without cramping for the 2nd time this week. I have also run into my students along my runs and they keep up with me on their bikes for a while.
I got home, made dinner and was about to watch a movie, when Shinmiya called to tell me that his family had a present for me at badminton tonight. I drove to the recreation center and they gave me my own badminton racket. What a cool gesture. Then, I got to play another 6 games of badminton and could feel that my legs were already too tired from the run. Still, it was fun and the kids were hilarious.
November 6th
Today is the rotary club Halloween party. I wasn’t sure on our lodging, so I packed extra futons and blankets for everyone. It turns out they had everything ready to go. We started with a game of ground golf. Everyone who played was awarded with a potted plant at the end. I think I may have grabbed a sage plant. Then we were driven to the local onsen, next to the recreation center, and ‘relaxed’ in the different spas. I honestly don’t like these things and nearly passed out again from the extreme heat of the water.
After the onsen, we got back to the campground and they were waiting for us with Halloween decorations strung all over the campground. Barbecues were stocked with meat, veggies, and squid. They also had a good amount of beer and shochu.
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| Indoor BBQs |
We were joined by Shinmiya, Masuyama, Ikoma, and their children. Everything was tons of fun, but it rained. They actually took two of the barbecues inside one of our wood cabins and continued the party in there. Smoke filled the place and we were forced to open all the windows. We put our costumes on and were immediately poked by all the kids.
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| Kids who slaughter me at badminton |
They stole the mask off my costume and were going around pretending to be an old woman, one of the little girl had a costume with fake boobs that everyone was trying on, and then we were given a martial arts demonstration by one of the rotary guys. I’m almost positive that he broke his hand.
Sometime later in the night, we taught the Japanese guys to play beer pong. One of them must have played 6 or 7 games. You should know that many of the games included the use of shochu instead of beer. Dangerous! It really turned out to be a great evening, despite the rain, and I’m looking forward to staying at the campground again.
November 7th
It was a rough morning, but we all managed to get up and clean up the campsite. The rotary guy who owns the ramen shop prepared breakfast for us. Then we all left for home. I took a nap and was lazy most of the day. I took a drive and explored some areas I hadn’t been to. Found a freshwater fishing lake, so I’ll definitely be spending more time there. Went to a farmer’s co-op and bought 18 bananas for 350 yen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many bananas connected together.
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