Hello all!
It was an exhausting but exhilerating weekend. On Saturday, our school had a culture festival: two plays, the choirs and the band. Very interesting, but I didn`t understand a word. Here, this festival is a competition.
On Sunday, I got to participate in one of the fall festivals in a neighbouring town. Abuot 30 of us got to parade a "float" around town (like a big portable shrine, replete with taiko drummers inside). For most of the day it is on wheels, and easy to hoist around. When we got to the parade grounds, we had to lift it up and carry it, charging at other floats (there were about 20 of these things). It was an amazing spectacle, and I am sad to report that I have no clue what this festival celebrates - my Japanese is not good enough. I am learning quickly, but the people here are so unfamiliar with foreigners that they do not know to speak slowly to us. Instead they shout to us, as if we can`t hear. If this continues, I WILL be deaf!!! And, because we are sensei (plural: senseis?), they tend to use the most polite forms of speech, which are extremely ambiguous at best.
Anyhow, we were sore and tired after the festival, so we went to an Onsen (hot springs) Ahhhhhh. It was funny, because one bathes here naked, and we were in a major japanese resort town, so there were three of us who were surrounded by Japanese women from the city - they were telling us where to go and examining our tatoos - all to get the chance to practise their English!!! We had crowds of naked Japanese women follow us everywhere, no doubt remarking on the size of our butts and breasts in Japanese. Not as relaxing as we had hoped!!!!!!
After this experience, we spent most of monday (long weekend) at the gym. Then we decided to drive for an hour and a half to get to the nearest Indian restaurant - we had curry cravings. As we were walking down the main shopping streets we were blinded by flashing lights (there are a lot here - even in the country - bad for epileptics) advertising TURKEY sandwiches (the only cold cut we can normally buy here is ham). We decided that curry could wait and that, being around the time of Canadian Thanksgiving, we would celebrate with turkey sandwiches. It turns out that our turkey was chicken. Hmmm. After our appetites were gloriously satisfied, we took a stroll around the gardens of Himeji-jo - a HUGE castle in the city, and one of the most famous landmarks of Japan. It was all lit up with white lights making it glow in an ethereal fashion. Oh yah - I forgot to mention that we went into the electronics store to spend a good hour relaxing in their demo massage chairs - aaaahhhh. This may well be the souvenir I bring back!!!!
We got gloriously lost on the way home (it`s amazing how one grows to miss the city lights at night!), but it was muggy and there were people everywhere - such energy!!!!! Not at all like our dark, spooky little country towns at night (the only animals to come out at night at my place are the cockroaches, spiders, and wild bears and boars who like to splash in the river behind my apartment).
Anyhow, I am exhausted right now, and have to get to class. I am actually really enjoying teaching!!! Especially when they involve me in things like the fall harvest (on friday, I got to dig yams).
For your reading enjoyment, I have included an e-mail I received from a man in a nearby town who likes to go out to dinner with the english teachers in the area to practise his English. Some people speak English well, some poorly, few have the talent, though, to speak an english that is so funny it should be on a t-shirt. This man is one of the talented ones:
Dear Sabin
Today,
thankyoufor mail.
And,
let's go so that you may eat a supper with all.
If it
eats, you pray not to be a vegetarian (
that you are what ).
By the
way, what is your hobby?Which genre does music listen to?
Thank
you for the mail.And, mail it.Well, get along (
that you are fine ).
Sender.O.