Sports day at Isahaya Commercial High school

I had planned to attend Isahaya Commercial High School's Sports day today. Alex had mentionned that parking would be difficult because they were expecting so many people and it would be best to take the train. So I drove down to Kikistu and hopped on a the train from there. I rarely take the train to go anywhere locally, this might have been the third time in the 2 years that I've been here that I've taken the local train.

When we got to a stop in nishi (west) Isahaya, I thought my stop would be coming up soon. After what seemed like a little too long, I asked a conductor walking by when we would be reaching the main train station. He looked at me worriedly and said 'You missed it! It was way back!' . Well, those weren't his exact words because he didn't speak any English.

I ended up having to ride on the train another 20 minutes before reaching a stop where I would be able to catch a train going back to Isahaya. I spent the time playing around with my cell phone trying to figure out the many features which I have yet to learn how to use because it's all in Japanese.

So once I got off the train, I found myself in this dinky little town in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I shouldn't say that, every town has its own charm... I just wasn't in the mood to see anything too charming about this stop.

I had to explain to the clerk at the station that I just wanted to go back to Isahaya. I had to buy another ticket. I think the clerk thought me a little strange....

I had 30 minutes to kill before the next train bound for Isahaya arrived. So here are some pictures to introduce the Hizen - Kashima stop...

By the time I arrived at the main station in Isahaya it was almost 10:30am (the event started at 9am). I wandered up to the school ground. As I was making my way to the school, I got a call from Amanda checking to see if I was doing all right.

The rest of the day was much more enjoyable!

It was interesting to see how the Sports festival is done at another school. Some things are the same, some different, some better, some worse. It was fun to watch!

Alex and I were cheering for the International Studies team. Over the past 2 years, I have been to this school several times to attend English days with the students who are in enrolled in International studiesand so have gotten to know many of them. They're a very genki and upbeat group of kids! I also ran into Yoshida sensei, a very charming English teacher who happens to be the wife of one of the teachers at my school. This is Yuki, who I got to know at the Sechibaru summer camp last summer.


I ran into some other people that I knew: students from my school, Aya's mom (who had helped dress me in a yukatta twice), English teachers etc. One lady came up to me and said 'ahhh konnichiwa!' She looked very familiar, but I couldnt place where from...turned out she was the clerk from the dollar store!...

We had lunch together in the students' classroom. They gave me a hagumaki (? thing to tie around your head) and a towel with my name sowed on it!! Now I really felt like I was part of the light blue team :)

The school was divided into 8 different coloured teams. When I arrived, the 'light blue' team, the one we were cheering for, was in second to last place.

As the day went on, they accumulated more points by performing well in the cheering contest, having a very cleverly built panel, etc. The end result was that they came in first!!

Amanda and Saori got me a present for my birthday..I was really touched that they remembered! A purplish pink watch in the shape of a dog...purple and dog..my two favorite things :)

My train ride back to Kikitsu was much less eventful than the morning trip. I made it back to my car with no problem. Being in the sun the whole day really takes it toll on you...even though I didn't do any physical activity, just standing in the sun watching the kids exert themselves drained me of energy.

I took a nap when I got back, and woke up 3 hours later at 8pm....I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight!

After being away for two days right before the start of the term test meant I came back to find heaps of work to catch up on. I had a pile of journals reaching above my head (when seated) waiting to be corrected… Fun fun fun.

Actually, they are quite interesting to read through. You get to know the students much better through their diaries. Some have become like conversations with questions and answer going back and forth, so they are, for the most part, a pleasure to go through.

Business trip (Sept 27-28)

Yesterday and today were spent at the Board of Education Center in Omura for a 'business trip'. About 30 English teachers from around the Nagasaki prefecture attended a workshop on how to conduct debates. The prefecture is trying to introduce debates as a way to increase students' ability to communicate in English. There are 6 ALTs (including myself) who were invited to help with the workshops.

The meeting was scheduled to start at 9:30am. By 9am, everyone had arrived (participants, ALTs, head of the Board of Ed, organizers, MC etc...). People were already seated, and making small talk with those sitting around them. Around 9:27am everyone fell silent at the same time...Anywhere else, the organizers might have suggested they start a little early since everyone is already there and ready to start. But not in Japan. Everyone sat still, no talking, no moving for like 3 minutes (felt like forever). As soon as the bell off went (why there's a bell at the Board of Education center..I don't know..) the MC stood up and read from her script ('We will now begin the opening ceremony. Welcome to 'Work on English' seminar.')

I often find myself in awe of how well things are organized and how carefully everyone follows a very detailed plan in everything they do. But sometimes, I find the exactness with which everything is always done a little tiring. Sitting during those 3 minutes before the meeting began was one of those times.

Overall, the seminar was a success. The representatives of the Board of Education received a lot of good feedback and seemed very pleased during our debriefing on the second day.

On both days, we finished early compared to when I usually leave school. Once the program for the first day was done, one of the teachers and I went to get a haircut. She'll be going to a wedding next week, and I just needed a trim.

After the haircut, we went to get some purikura done!

When she saw me with straight hair, she said I should go to the meeting the following day with the new hairdo. I agreed, so for the rest of the evening was careful not to get water anywhere near my hair so that it stays straight for the next day.

I woke up in the morning with my hair sticking up on the side of my head...I don't own anything to help straighten my hair (including a hair dryer..) so ended up just going back to my regular all-over-the-place-hairdo kinda look. So much for the new hairdo.

The evening of the second day, Iwata san came over for our regular Japanese / English lessons. She's such an extraordinary lady! I love her so much...she's like a mom to me here in Japan.

More time with you

How sweet is this comic..!

It's been almost three months since I last went to a volleyball practice. First because of my thumb, then once the cast came off it still hurt a little so I thought I would give it a break (Hm.. not THAT kind of break. Once is enough). I was also away a lot of the time...however I really missed playing.

So I went to practice this evening, it was good to see the volleyball people again! Narumi and I had alot of catching up to do. Later in the evening, I got a message from her inviting me to a party that Pascal and her will be hosting at their place next weekend (the long weekend). But that's the same weekend of the Okunchi festival and I will have friends staying over at my place...! Anyways, we'll see how it goes.

On my way home from school today, I thought I'd stop by the dollar store to pick up a few things. When I turned onto my usual shortcut, partway down the street it was blocked. Beyond the bloackade, this is what could been seen:

There were a few people taking pictures, and I asked what was going on.

Last week's typhoon did this! Half the road is gone!!

Today was a lazy day for both Erica and I. Having gone to bed way too late, neither of us was too motivated to do anything too physically (or mentally..) demanding.

We had breakfast/lunch at an Indian store we'd been meaning to go for a while. It was delliiiiiciousss!! I love indian food.



We stopped by a market, wandered around a little. We made our way up to the top of a hill and had nice view of the area.

Once at the top of the not-so-high hill, we needed a break..so took some pictures...

On our way to the port, we went by the neighbourhood petang game that had been organized. It's nice how there are so many activities that help build a sense of community and belonging in the area. There were games for all ages (babies to older folks).

We made it to the port just in time to catch the ferry.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Thank you Erica for inviting me!!

Tamana Tawara Festival (Sept 23-24)

I left early in the morning for Kumamoto where I was met by Erica at the port. It felt like such a long time since we'd last gotten together!! From there, we picked up Tamita (also a JET) and after grabbing a quick bite to eat, we headed downtown where the Tamana Tawara Festival was going to take place.

The day began with a parade leading to the main street where we would soon be racing.

Along the way, music was playing and people were dancing. The upbeat atmosphere was contagious, we tried our hand at the dances, a couple of which had been performed at my school's Sports Festival!

Eventually, we reached the main road where the races would be taking place. The main event of this festival is the pulling of a tawara from one end of the street to the other.

There were children, women and men's teams. We were part of the florist shop's team, where many of Erica's eikaiwa (English conversation classes) students work. Each team was timed, and the winning team was announced in the early evening.

A short while before the race, we gathered for a bit of strategy talk. One of the members used a can, some string and diagrams to demonstrate where we start, where to run to, which rope we need to pull (ie our position) and how to correct the direction we're going in should we start veering too much to one side.

As our turn to compete neared, we started feeling a little bit nervous..how heavy is this tawara thing? How easily does it steer off course??

Here we are pumping ourselves up before the race. We will gambarimasu!

It was a fun experience, I'm sure very entertaining for the audience!

Once the races were over...

Later in the afternoon, more dances were performed.

Eventually the results were announced. Unfortunately, we didn't do too well....came in 11th out of 15 teams!! But it was lots of fun, and now we know what to expect for next year!

Maki (one of the team members) and I share the exact same birthday: same year, same month..and same day!! Erica prepared some deliciiiiouus brownies to celebrate, which we indulged in at the party later in the evening.

As it started to get dark, they started to prepare for another type of dance. What seemed like hundreds of ladies in yukattas formed a large circle and started to do a very simple, but graceful dance using fans.

It didn't look too hard, so we decided to join in!

Once the festival was over, and everyone had finished helping clean up, we went over to Miwako's place for a quick change before heading to the enkai (party) at a local sushi restaurant.

At the enkai:

Before heading home, we stopped to get a late night coffee.

From left to right: Hitomi, Erica, me, Maki, Miwako and Fushimi. We had a lot of fun together..we laughed so much I feel like I got more exercise from all the laughing than the actual pulling of the hay!

Typhoon No.13

When I arrived home last night, I was greeted by a huge flying cockroach in my doorway. Guess it must have been just as surprised to see me as I was to see it!! It’s the first one I’ve seen this summer in my place, so I really shouldn’t complain. Though if you see one..there's probably 30 others around that you don't see... but
'minu mono kyoshi' (=what you don't see doesnt bother u!)

I found that my screen door was torn off, everything was a mess in the veranda, tons of leaves and dirt had blown into my bathroom….as if I didn’t have enough to do for work the following morning!!

Also found that the drain in my kitchen sink had popped out....thought it was a little strange. When I told Iwata san about it, she said that the water might have filled the pipes and the pressure pushed up the drain. Hmm.

I got most of the stuff cleaned up by 1am. It's good to be back!

When I got to Bunko, I found out that my typhoon related problems were pretty lame compared to what happened to others. The typhoon hit in full force on Sunday.

Yamaguchi sensei (my upstairs neighbour) 's window was shattered. One of the windows in the staff room also shattered and everything was blown around. Okubo sensei said the teachers spent Monday (a national holiday) at school cleaning up.

The shed at school was blown down and flattened,

the glass panes from the greenhouse were scattered all around the school grounds.

The power was out for over 24 hours in some places..shingles were torn off the roofs of houses. Some people fled to typhoon shelters..

Hoping we don't see another typhoon anytime soon!

Birthday in Tokyo! (Sept 15-19)

DAY 1

Sheila and I met up at Haneda airport in Tokyo…and so began our 5 day long birthday trip!!

We used the very efficient (though at times a little complicated..) public transportation to get around. Considering it was our first time, we did really well! Only missed our stop once!

In the evening, we met up with some of the Baha’i youth in Shinjuku. Junko, who had come down to Nagasaki with the Dance workshop last year, was there. As well as Arwyn from the summer camp in Yamaguchi. Takuto also came, it was great to finally meet him in person!

DAY 2

There’s a lot of French influence in Tokyo…not only is the Tokyo tower modeled after the Eiffel Tower (but slightly taller and weighing something like 300 tons less thanks to advances in technology), but also many of the buildings in the Ginza district, where you can find the most expensive real estate in the world are also modeled after French architecture.

Tokyo Tower

and mister Tokyo Tower himself!

Within short walking distance from the the Tokyo Tower is Zozoji temple, the main temple of the Jodo sect of Buddhism.

Having lunch at a kaitenzushi (rotating sushi) restaurant.

The famous Harajuku...where people-watching is as interesting as any site seeing spot. It was crazy busy! According to our guide book, there are 2 million people a day who pass through the Harajuku station.

There's a trend called 'Lolita look' which you see all over the place in Harajuku

Sheila chatting it up with some stranger :)

DAY 3

The first two nights, we spent at a hostel in the Roppongi district, in Azabu Juban which we affectionately called Azerbaijan. It was a gorgeous area... The cobble stone streets, the French-named bakery shops lining the streets, the surprisingly large number of foreigners wandering the streets…you’d almost forget you’re in Japan!

On our way to Asakusa, we came across some statues of Japanese characters and couldn’t resist taking pictures :)

In Asakusa, we visited Kaminari mon (literal translation: Thunder God Gate). The crowds were ridiculous…

Akihabara, known as the Electronic district. Famous for all the cheap (and not-so-cheap) gadgets.

As we made our way back to the hostel in Roppongi to pick up our stuff, we saw some of the small festival that was taking place this weekend.

The Ogami family spent 3 years living in Malaysia. Sheila met them while they were there. They now live on the outskirts of the downtown Tokyo, we spent the last two nights at their place. On the first night, they picked us up from the train station and took us out for dinner. From Right to left: Yuko, Haruto, Momoka, Me, Sheila and Kenji.

When we got to their place that night, they surprised us with a birthday cake!! It was so sweet of them!

DAY 4

We decided to go to a photo studio and get dressed up in traditional costumes. We were given the choice between dressing as a geisha or a maiko (an apprentice geisha). We could choose 3 poses from about 20 or so, as well as the colour of the kimono we wanted to wear. The whole process of getting dressed, taking pictures and taking off all the makeup took a little over 2 hours. It felt like the longest part was getting the costume on.

The 'before' picture:

Ready to be transformed into a maiko!

The white paint was COLD.

Layers and layers of materials are wrapped around and around...lots of tugging and pulling involved.

At times, needed more than one person tugging and pulling at the same time.

When they placed the wig/headgear on, I was suprised at how heavy it was..!!

We choose what coloured-flowers we wanted dangling from the side of the wig.

Three pictures were taken by the professional photographer (below is one of them).

Once we were done, they let us take as many pictures as we wanted with our own cameras and allowed us full use of the props they had!

Ready to have the makeup taken off!

Because it was our birthday, they gave us a large discount, a laminated wallet-sized picture, as well as a CD with all the pictures they took (usually sold separately)! It pays to go on your birthday..:)

After treating the Ogami family to lunch at a Chinese restaurant, we went our separate ways. We wandered down to Shibuya, famous for its shopping. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of shopping that either of us would normally do..but, once again, watching the people was entertainment on its own....!

Later in the evening, we met up with some of the Baha'is and their friends to go out for Indian food. There were about 15 people, and it turned out that one of Junko's friend's birthday was September 20th! So we had three birthday girls at the table :)

Met some great people (in particular Melanie, John, Alan and May), had lots of laughs! I hope to get together again with them!!

DAY 5

By the end of the trip, the lack of sleep, all the walking and laughing eventually took its toll on us. We slept in this morning, and took the rest of the day real slow.

We went to visit the imperial palace (entrance behind us).

We had left our omiyage (souvenir) shopping to be done at the airport. By the time we got through security, there was only a couple of minutes before take off time. Sheila was heading back to Kochi, and me to Nagasaki. Our gates were on opposite sides, mine being right by the security gate. After saying our goodbyes I hurried to board as Sheila wandered off towards her gate. As I was handing my boarding pass over, I saw a stewardess with a walkie talkie to her ear rush to Sheila and after exchanging a few words they both started running! We were a little later than we should have been I guess…!

View from my window seat as we neared Fukuoka…

Couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday! :)