A Hon (a book)

CONGRATULATIONS Ricki and Ed on your new baby =)
Happy Birthday to my lovely cousin, Dr. Julie.

Warning Label: This is going to be a long post.

Where to start? Well, let's see I had been fighting a cold all last week which caught up to me just in time for my three day weekend.

Chapter One - Typhoons & Naruko

I had awesome intentions for this past weekend - which went semi as planned but not totally. Friday I had elementary school for the third time this week. Elementary school requires a lot of energy - with a cold; I did not have that energy. The day went pretty poorly on top of that. After school - I wanted to go to the gym and then head to Katie's for the evening. I experienced my first typhoon like conditions. We've received alot of rain in the past as after effects of Typhoons - but this one must have been much closer or stronger. Either way - I got out of work and the wind was so strong and gusty and the rain was horrible. The visibility was really dangerous. I decided against the gym and attemping to find Katie's place for the first time in a Typhoon. Smart move. I got home and really felt like my roof might blow off so I headed to my base school to hang out for a few hours because I was really nervous.

I had some wine by myself and went to bed that night. I woke up Saturday really early. We had plans to get to Katie's whenever as long as it was before noon. We had wanted to go to Naruko - a beautiful, natural place about 1.5 hours away. I headed out at 10:15. Typically, it should only take 40 minutes to get to Katie's. It took me well over an hour. I mapped out the best and easiest way to get to her place. I headed that way, drove 15-20 minutes in still shitty conditions. I get to this spot and the road was flooded. There were cars stuck, and cars going through. I decided, not in my best interest to take that chance with the history of my car. I turned around and went for plan b of my maps. I made it into her town okay, but then got lost finding her place once I was in the town. I stopped at a 711 and asked for directions and then again at another combini (convenient store) to make sure I was headed the right way. In fact, I was! I did it all good. I arrived and soon, we pack up Meghann's car full of our camping gear and we head out. It was Katie, Akira, Meghann & I.

Destination: Naruko.
Plans: Be one with nature.
Actuality: Rain, more rain, and more rain - not much opportunity to see the sights.

We arrived into Naruko at about 3:00 - checked in and went to our cabin. We had original plans to go tent camping - but alas, ame' -ame' - ame' --- obviously if roads were flooding, tent camping wasn't going to be a fun idea. We wented a cabin for $25.00 - split the cost between the 4 of us. It was basically a wooden box with one light bulb. It gave us what we needed though - shelter. See pictures below:

After getting situated in our cabin, we wanted to hit the onsens. If you don't remember what an onsen is - it's the hot springs that are kind of like a natural hot tub that you get completely naked in. Well - Naruko is mega famous for the onsens. We reach the town of Naruko which was such a pleasant place.

According to my Lonely Planet,

"Naruko is a hot-spring spa resort in the northwestern corner of Miyagi with good hiking and bathing options. It's famous for its distinctive style of lacquerware and kokeshi (wooden dolls with brightly painted floral designs). Like all onsen, its waters are said to possess distinct healing qualities. Naruko has a high sulphur count, as well as sodium chloride and sodium bicabonate, thought to be a relief for the symptoms of high blood pressure and hardened arteries."

In fact, while walking the pleasant streets of Naruko ; we stopped and watched a man in the window of his shop creating the kokeshi dolls by hand. It was pretty cool to watch. There is this wood piece that goes in circles really fast - then the dollmaker carves it with all sorts of different tools. I think the doll starts and stops spinning via a foot pedal or something. The man was very precise with his work.

Naruko smells very sulphuric as a result of all the hot spring onsens. It reminded me of when I was in Rotorua in New Zealand. That part of NZ had hot muddy pits. I think it is very similar to that. It is a small town tucked in amongst many mountains. According to the brochure we received while asking for some directions - Naruko has 374 natural hot springs. If you saw the size of this small town - you wonder where they all could possibly be. After walking the town a bit, we got back into our car and headed to an onsen.

We went into the onsen and relaxed for a while. This one was much more cooler than the one I went to in Yamagata Ken a month or two ago. This one was outdoors. Straight in front of us were mountains. Onsens are soooo relaxing - the water makes your skin sooo soft. Following the onsen, we went back to our cabin to start dinner. Our neighbors witnesses us struggling in trying to make dinner with a flash light and offered for us to use their supplies. Next thing you know - we have this huge electric lamp and their grill in front of our cabin. That's the Japanese way - always giving. While making dinner - those very same neighbors invited us over to hang out with them when we were finished eating. We accepted the invite and went into their more expensive cabin. It was really nice because they had a heater in there and more electricity and running water.

We spent the evening in the company of two married couples and their children. All the while being served more and more and more and more food. The Japanese just keep giving. By the end of the night I was quite drunk and really exhausted. We went back to our cabin to crash. Unfortunately, I only slept for maybe an hour or two. This is the night my cold really kicked in. Probably from all the beer, and temperature changes. The cabin was mega dry as well. It was a painful night.

Sunday morning - we had to get up early because Meghann and I were invited to go to this traditional Japanese play called Bunraku. On the way out - we saw a beautiful rainbow. It was so full and thick with the colors and it was a whole arch as well.

The drive back went quickly and smoothly which was good for us since it gave Meg and I time to shower before Bunraku.

Chapter Two -Banraku

Bunraku is a Japanese Performing arts with puppets. It was created during the Meiji era of 1868 - 1912. These puppets are rather large and are controlled by three people. - they are about 1/2 to 2/3 life size. The main puppeteer(omo-zukai) wears clogs called butai-geta. These butai - geta are really large and used for stamping for sound effects of when the doll is supposedly walking or running. Then, there are two other puppeteers that are wear all black including face masks. It's kind of creepy to look at - in the western culture - these masked men look like executioners. They do this so that they are symbolically invisible. However, the main puppeteer is considered a celebrity in the world of Bunraku which is why he does not wear a mask. Sometimes, they even wear more outstandish clothes like a bright white kimono. The omo zukai controls the head and right hand, the secondary puppeteer or hidarizukai controls the left hand and the third person or ashizukai crouches and controls the dolls feet. Since this requires so much work from people - it is said to be one of the most highly developed puppet theatre art in the world.

The Butai or the stage as we would call it in English is specially constructed. It is a series of flat paintings that show different scenes and hide the lower bodies of the pupeteers. The puppets or ningyou are made of carved wooden heads, hands and feet, a bamboo and clothe framework for the trunk of the body, and a costume that covers the framework. There are 70 types of puppet heads with names that usually come from the name of the character or type of character.

The stage also has a part to the right where the storytellers and shamisen players are. There is usually one to two story tellers and shamisen players. A shamisen is like a three stringed banjo. These story tellers do all the talking for the puppets in song while the shamisen plays along with the singing. The storyteller has to change from men voices to those for women and children.

That's Bunraku. In Japan - they would ask me "What was your impression of Bunraku?" I would answer - it was interesting. In between the two plays we watched - they called random people up to try things out. So, some people had to try to be the storytellers, others tried playing the shamisen and others tried controlling the puppets. Clearly, it takes alot of skill to do any of those three things. I found the storyteller to be most intriguing. It was cool how he changed his voice to go with the character he was acting out at the time. His facial expressions and everything went right along with his singing. Next, I found it very interesting how the main puppeteer acted while controlling the puppet. His face was so serious and never showed any expression. On top of that, it's almost like he made his body move to the way the puppet would be moving. Lastly, the shamisen. I've never seen or heard one in real life before - only have read about it in Memoirs of a Geisha. Very nice. I think I would have appreciated the whole ordeal better if I wasn't so tired.

We watched parts of two plays - I would not have understood any of it, if we weren't given an explanation in English about what the story would be on. It was all in Japanese - obviously. The first story was called Datemusume Koinohikanoko. They only showed one act. Basically it was a love story. There was a girl who needed to get into a village to see her forbidden lover. Forbidden lover had already killed himself. She took a risk of getting into the village by ringing a bell that would have her executed if she was caught doing it without a real fire. She did it anyways only to find out her lover had died.

The coolest part of that play was when she was climbing the bell tower. They had her climbing it and it must have been really difficult to do that.

The second play we watched was also a love play. A man was blind and a woman went to pray for him everynight to try to get his vision back. He thought she was having an affair and committed suicide. She found out and did the same thing. Then, the Goddess of Mercy answered their prayers, she brought both of them back to life and granted the man eyesight.

Pretty morbid storylines, ne? This play was cool - my favorite part was at the end when they were dancing or something because they were alive and he could see. The main puppeteers were stamping their feet in unison and it made a really cool beat. The scenes of committing suicide were pretty intense as well - but I like the happy part better. =)

I ran into two of the people from the party I was at last week. I saw Zahir from Syria and Daniel from Mexico again. It was nice to be able to talk to them. Other than that - it was a good experience - always good to do something completely Japanese (ha).

Chapter three - taking things for granted.

I invited all the Ishinomaki English teachers to my house for a party. I gave two of them a ride to my place after Bunraku - since they were there as well. They live in the city and really haven't been out of it since we have been here. They were just absolutely awed at how beautiful my daily drive is and at my town. I guess I really take things for granted as much as I thought I don't. But - I think the grass is always greener on the other side. I am just as awed when I actually get into the city. It's just so wierd to think that they haven't even seen anything outside of the city yet. And yes - I know my area is beautiful - I am just really lonely - which blinds me from the beauty around me. I took them into my 711 where these girls were just gawking at them. They are both cute guys and Jeremy is like 6'4" or taller. It was quite funny. I do get stared at - but these girls were clearly all about cute guys - it was different from anything I get.

Afterwards, we went to my place and chatted until everyone arrived. We had a gaijinfest at my local Ujie (grocery store). We bought stuff for dinner. My party was basically my same group of friends + some. So - that is - Meg, Katie, Akira, Brian, + Jeremy & Dom. We made a huge crapload of food. It took a while to cook everything - but my kitchen and house was so alive - I loved it. We had a delicious dinner, again, over silly arguments like self expression and uniforms at school, some political talk and whatnot. Jeremy & Dom headed back to the city - where the rest of us just drank and swapped music for the rest of the night until we crashed scattered around my house. It was a wonderful night.

The next morning - I was feeling even more worse than the day before. I braved it up and we all headed into Ishinomaki to do some second hand shop shopping. I didn't purchase anything. Afterwards, I went to Brian's apartment and we just chilled, talked and watched some Harry Potter. Our supervisor picked us up and took us out to dinner. His wife is having a baby on November 20th - she came, too. It was nice - even though by this point I felt like absolute garbage. I didn't have it in me to try to speak Japanese or even have the energy to concentrate hard enough to understand much. I felt bad about it but I was just so tired. It's amazing how much concentration it does take to speak Japanese - when I get too drunk, too tired or apparently too sick - it's just too hard. On the way home - I asked my supervisor some questions. Turns out - he never went to college. He met his wife at work and after 3 months of dating - married her. That's Japan for you. No one dates long - they're always rushing out to get married. He's a really cool guy - I think he's actually quite attractive. Not too many 6' tall Japanese men in these parts with good teeth.

Chapter Four - Back to School

Back to school on Tuesday. My first two classes sucked - they were with the horrible kids. Honestly, it sucks because my one school I really love the kids but the teachers rarely acknowledge me - but then at the school where the teacher's are really friendly - the kids are horrible. I made it through the two classes - thinking, will I really want to do a second year with these horrible kids? My last two classes were great. I taught nineth grade and a slow student class. When I say I taught nineth grade - I really did. At Junior High School - I generally team teach and don't get much say in the lesson plan. But my co-teacher was absent. We have a 21 year old student teacher at the moment - she told me to just do the same lesson that I did with this other nineth grade class -so that I did. I loved every minute of having my own class. I can't believe just how well it went. The kids listened, did as I asked, and I was even able to joke around a bit with them. The student teacher is awesome - she helped out when I asked her to and translated when I asked her to. I couldn't have run it without her - but maybe so. After such horrible first two classes - to run that class so effectively - made me so happy. I was just sooooo kind to them in every way.

I implemented an Outstanding English Card system where if kids come talk to me in English outside of the class I give them a sticker. They need to fill in 26 (A ~Z) and 5 longer conversations and I will give them a prize. The prize is going to be a CD of PoP music from America. I had some girls come and chat with me - it was alot of fun and rewarding. My favorite punk kid came down and just sat with me. He's always tired and acts Emo. I asked him why he is always tired. I asked him if he intends to go to college - he said no that he wants to be a hair dresser. I thought that was very interesting. I have started to ask kids questions like that - I'm really curious to see what kids in rural Japan really have for their future.

Chapter 5 - Kyo -aka Today

Today - was another typical day. I thought I'd tell a story about the Nalgene bottle. Nalgene's are very popular in America - nearly every college student has one. I brought my Nalgene to my base school a few weeks ago where my co-teacher commented on how every English Teacher has one. Her, along with many other co-workers don't understand why we carry a bottle so big full of water. I explained that the Nalgene never will break and that we like to drink a lot of water. I couldn't really answer her why - usually I use mine when I'm camping or hiking and stuff - or just sitting around my house. I really bring it to school because I would just be constantly getting up to get more and more water all day long. Also - Japanese people don't just drink water. They think it's wierd when I just want to have water and not something else. It's just a cultural difference.

Today - my co-worker at my other Junior High School asked me why I have such a big bottle of water. I told her I'm sick and want to drink lots of fluids to get well. Which brought another teacher to ask if it was special water. I didn't understand the question. After some lost in translation time - i realized they were asking why I would just put tap water into my bottle and bring it to school if I could just get it out of the sink while at school. Again - I couldnt' really answer their question. It's hard to explain the cultural difference of water to them. In America, I drink a lot of water because it is healthy, it is best for my diet, it is the natural thing to do. Japanese diets don't really consider health and weight as a factor for many things. It's wierd to notice a cultural difference over water.

Today - was a good day. This is the school where the students are good and the teacher's don't really talk to me much. While these students are good - they are very shy of me. But today was a promising day. I'm starting to get to know the students at this school better. I can recognize the students that are really good at English. I had two boys ask me to eat lunch with their classroom. I was so happy - I told my co-teacher how happy I was because the students seem so shy of me and that I am happy they asked me to eat. I went in and I practiced my Japanese. It's funny because when they see me struggle with Japanese - they really just want to communicate with me. Shortly after - they are breaking out their dictionaries and text books. It was great. I had a lot of fun eating lunch with them.

I watched the nineth graders sing this song they have been practicing for weeks now. I think they are practicing it for some certain festival they will be having. Anyways - they were listening to it during lunch so I was able to get through that the song is a song about "earth". Whatever that means. I like the song. It's amazing how in Japan - they still have their students collectively singing songs together as whole. I'm pretty sure we stop that in 5th grade. No complaints here =)

At work today - a lot of the teachers chatted with me too - a step forward for me as well. I made this really awesome Halloween poster for my kids on Friday. They all loved it - my co-teacher wants me to make another one to hang at my Junior High School - that thing took me like 3 hours to make. I don't know about that. Tomorrow - their Supervisor comes which means we have this extra difficult lesson plan for both classes. On a positive note - I think I am out of there after half a day. That excites me.

After work - I went to the gym where I ran for 35 minutes and did my arms and abs. I love the gym - I wish it wasn't so far away. It really leaves me with little time to go. Especially because it is closed on weekends and on Mondays. Bummer.

That's it for me. If you pray - pray that North Korea doesn't decide to test any more nuclear bombs and especially not anywhere near Japan. I talked to one teacher about it today as best as I could and he said it makes him angry. I think I'll probe out all the English speaking Japanese people here. I'm curious to see their "impressions" of what is going on there. It's scary but probably just as scary as being in America. According to the news, it seems that N. Korea is more pissed at the USA but Japan is closer to their test site. Craziness.

Love you all. Hope you got through this. I'll post up more pictures once Katie sends them to me.