Well it has been quite a long time since the last time I wrote an entry but it wasn’t because I haven’t had anything interesting or eventful happen; it’s just that I have been neglectful.
My last entry was about my future and since then I have decided that I will not re-contract for a second year with the JET program. I will tell you that I did not come to this decision lightly. I have been thinking about it for a long time and have had countless discussions with those people close to me, especially my family. After these deliberations I decided that the best next step in my life is for me to go back to Illinois. While visiting during Christmas break, I did a lot of soul searching to see if I really did want to go back to Illinois. And as the days went by I could really see myself living and working in Chicago. I saw a future where I was happy being close to family and friends, while at the same time moving forward with my career and gaining some work experience. This feeling only grew when I stepped off the plane upon my return back to Japan. Don’t get me wrong, I have greatly enjoyed the time I have spent here in Japan and will continue to make the most of the time I have remaining, but it definitely feels good knowing that come July 2011, I will be moving back to America. What exactly I will be doing when I return is still undecided. I have been in communication with a friend (Kris Adamik) who would like to live with me in Chicago and I find that idea absolutely exciting! I have wanted to live in Chicago for a really long time and now it looks as though that is a real possibility. So if you have any leads for a job that you think I might be interested in let me know!

Quick Highlights of the Past Two Months

Hikigawa 5K Race-This was my first race ever and I was so excited to be able to run in it! I did a lot of training before race day and found both training and the race to be fun and stress-relieving! I ran the race in 26 minutes and 23 seconds and I was very satisfied with my time. Because of I enjoyed this race so much I signed up for a half-marathon in February! Yeah, a half-marathon. What was I thinking right? 13.1 miles! Insane just to think about it but my only goal is to finish it…..in 2 hours and 30 minutes. It might be long shot but you have to aim high right? What did I learn?.......If you want to meet your goals you have to work for them!

Thanksgiving…in Japan- This was the second Thanksgiving holiday that I had been away from home and I am immensely grateful to have been with great people both times. This time, 9 of my friends here in the area gathered to give thanks for the many blessings we each have in our lives. There was so much delicious food on the menu let me tell you! I volunteered to cook the turkey, a huge task at any thanksgiving dinner and an even bigger task in Japan because the ovens are pretty small.Nevertheless, I took the challenge and as the other people at the dinner can tell you, I passed. The turkey came out pretty tasty and on time! I also cooked some cheesecake which I was taught how to make by my mother! Both my responsibilities came out great as did everyone else’s! I especially liked Danny’s buckeyes which I enjoyed for a few days after thanksgiving! What did I learn?.....Good friends make a pretty good substitute for family!

Mid-Year ALT Seminar-This seminar took place right after thanksgiving and I had a really good time meeting new people and seeing those whom I have come to call my friends here in Japan. The presentations were fun and interactive and the group dinner was entertaining. What did I learn?......You have to let people find their own path.

Christmas Vacation!- Surprise!

I decided to go home for Christmas back in September probably because I was a little homesick at that time. I wanted to see my family but I wanted to do it big so I didn’t tell anyone I was going home. Well, I told my brother because someone had to pick me up at the airport….really I wanted to make sure that I still got Christmas presents! Haha. It was really hard to keep this huge secret from my family, but I was very conscious of it, so I did a pretty good job. I did tell friends I was coming home so that we could make plans to see each other ahead of time but I made sure that they left any talk of my coming home a secret…aka, off of facebook. They pretty much all did a good job and the surprise worked! My brother, along with my niece, picked me up at O’hare so the first person to be surprised was my niece. They were waiting for me just outside baggage claim and when I first walked through the doors, my niece didn’t even notice me! I went around her and walked up behind her. Her reaction? Complete silence. I think she was stunned. Her dad had told her they were waiting for Justin Bieber so I presume that some of her reaction was disappointment that I wasn’t Justin Bieber. When I asked her if she was sad that I wasn’t Bieber she said she wasn’t so I’ll assume she was being honest. I hope. Haha. The next person on the list was my sister. We stopped at her house on our way home. We walked up to her house and I hid behind a corner where she wouldn’t be able to see me when she opened the door. When she did open the door, I jumped out. “What are you doing here!” is what she said next. Then she started crying. Nice to know I am loved  Then we went to my house to see my mom! My brother walked in first and I waited about a minute before I walked into the living room where she was watching tv. When she saw me she got up, asked what I was doing home, and then started crying and hitting me yelling “Why didn’t you tell me!” She kept this up for a few minutes and then turned on my brother who defended himself by telling her that I forced him not to say anything, which is true. I think overall she was very glad that I was home for the holidays. Just a few days before I went home, I had talked to her on the phone and told her that I was going to be spending Christmas in Tokyo to I make sure that any thoughts she might have had of me coming home were erased. This worked because she really had no idea! Then I went to go get my haircut at a barber shop which is owned by my friend’s brother. My friend was working that day and when she saw me she also started crying! All these wonderful receptions may have helped my make my decision to move back home…maybe. The rest of the time I spent visiting family and friends which was awesome.I saw my fraternity brothers and spent NYE in Chicago with some of my closest friends. Over all, my trip was great and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to go back.
While I was home, I thought about the things that had changed while I was gone and I realized that things were pretty much the same as when I left, but what had changed was me. My view of my life and my world was changed by my experience living and working in a different country just as it had changed during the time I was in China. I can’t wait to see how I grow and change during the remainder of my time here in Japan. What did I learn?....You have to do what makes you happy!

My Future......

I have a lot of time to think and reflect and most recently I have been thinking about what I want to do in the future. I have the chance to re-contract with the JET program come February. If I do re-contract I would stay in Hongu and continue teaching for another year and would finish in July of 2012. While this would basically guarantee me a job until 2012, I don’t know if I want to stay that long. I feel like if I did stay for another year I would only be staying because of the money I am making, not because I love what I am doing. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my job, but I don’t love my job. Teaching English and playing games with the kids is a lot of fun but if you know me you know that I am a very ambitious person. I like to feel as though I am progressing, constantly moving. I don’t have that with the JET program. If I stayed for another year I would be doing the same thing I am doing now but my Japanese would probably be a lot better.
If I decided not to re-contract I would go back home July 2011 and find a job. I really think I should find a job that will give me some good international business experience which I am currently lacking. I would work for sometime while at the same time study for my LSAT and GMAT exams. I need these two exams to apply to either an MBA program or law school. These two options have been on my short list ever since I can remember and I still very much want do one of them. Recently, I have been looking at joint MBA/JD programs where I would get both degrees in about 3-4 years. This sounds like the best of both worlds! Thunderbird in Arizona offers this dual degree program with Vermont Law School, so that is definitely a possibility (if I can get accepted.)
The other option is Teach for America. They introduced a fast-track option for those who were accepted and waitlisted this past year. I guess I really have to think about why I want to do the program and a big part of me says I want the challenge. It’s a tough program and I know that I can do it if I honestly give my all to the program but I would still be teaching. No business experience. What I like about the program is that I would be in the States in either Chicago, Milwaukee or Austin (the only placements I would accept) so I wouldn’t be terribly far from my family and friends. The other thing is how difficult it is to get accepted to Teach for America. This past year it was harder to get into TFA than to an Ivy League graduate school. Part of me wants to be able to say I “Taught for America” and I made a difference.
So that’s where I am at. Thoughts, concerns and advice would greatly be appreciated!

Update: It’s been a while!

So I haven’t written an entry in over a month and a half....I am sorry to have kept all of you waiting! I know that you live off of my entries and I promise to keep this life support going on a more consistent basis!
So my birthday was on September 17th, 2010. I decided to spend it with some friends in Tokyo which was a great idea. I flew in to Tokyo’s Haneda airport from an airport about an hour from my house. In 2 hours I was in Tokyo and it felt as though I was in a different country entirely. Of course the language was still the same, if you don’t account for the difference in dialects, but the fact that I could almost have anything I wanted from home made the real difference. Being in rural Japan definitely has its perks but there are some days when I just want to be able to go to the store at 8 PM and not worry about it being closed, or even just get a cup of freshly brewed coffee somewhere. This is why when I went to Tokyo I decided that I was turning on my gaijin(foreigner) tourist light on and only eat at American restaurants and speaking English.
I had told Matt and Dana before that I lived in the inaka, or country side, but I don’t think they understood the magnitude of that statement. I literally live in the mountains. No department stores, no 7-Elevens, no taxis, and no ATM’s on the weekends are just some of the things on the list of things that I have no access to. But even without these things I have managed to create a routine which works quite well. I’m in Hongu during the week and I visit larger towns and cities on the weekends. It’s a nice balance of city life and rural life I think. Plus, if I had all of those other things at my disposal I would probably spend a lot more money and my cultural immersion would probably be a lot less successful. Just this past weekend, someone asked me if this was my second year on the JET program because they thought I seemed very comfortable living in Japan and I attribute this to being placed in rural Japan. There are pros to living here of course and they include being able create a lot more personal relationships with Japanese people. I don’t have any “English speaking” friends that close to me so if I want to have friends in Hongu, it means I have to make friends with the people who live here, most of which don’t speak English. This leads to another pro which is a greater opportunity to learn Japanese. Because I don’t have people to speak English to, other than my students whose English is very basic, I am forced to use Japanese every day. Also, when I study Japanese, I have many more chances to use what I have learned and practice with the people around me. I am still amazed when some of my students start talking to me in Japanese and I understand what they are saying and am able to reply with a semi-coherent response. Of course there are still plenty of times where my lack of knowledge of the Japanese language leads to miscommunications, but those are becoming less frequent.
Back to Tokyo. Dana was a great host and she took us to some good places in Tokyo including the really expensive stores where we couldn’t even afford to look at their clothes such as when one of the store clerks told us the less expensive clothes were in their basement. Thanks for telling us we look like American trash, is what I thought in my head. Maybe I will go back there one day when I am willing to spend $700 dollars on a t-shirt (which is never by the way.) On Sunday, Kent, a friend who I met while in Chicago who now lives in Chiba, and I went to Tokyo Disneyland. Yes, Disneyland. I really wanted to go and I promised my niece that I would get her something for her birthday while I was there. So Kent, being a good friend that he is, decided to not let me go alone. It was a holiday weekend so the park was pretty full but they already started their Halloween theme which was fun to see. We got on most of the rides we wanted to and I for one had a lot of fun. I also completed my mission of getting my niece something for her birthday so it was a successful trip.
The next day, Kent headed back to Chiba, and Dana, Matt and I headed to Roppongi Hills. This part of Tokyo is really nice and we had heard that the view from atop the Mori tower was better than Tokyo tower so we decided to go there. While the view wasn’t that wonderful that night because of the rainy weather, the Mori art museum there was quite interesting.
I’ll admit I’m not much of an art fan but this museum had a lot of contemporary pieces which are more intriguing to me than older art. Overall the trip was fun and I was able to see Matt, Dana, and Kent which was nice.
The next big thing that happened after my Tokyo trip was Oktoberfest which I hosted in my humble quarters in Hongu. The weeks leading up to the party were a bit hectic as I tried to make my house clean and welcoming to the 15 guests. I bought some nice home décor items and put up some pictures. Some friends came up a bit earlier on the day of the party and I showed them around Hongu while we got soaked by the heavy rain. But we didn’t let the rain stop us as we toured the World Heritage Center and the great torri gate. After getting pretty wet, we took a short bus ride to an onsen which was amazing as the rain was falling. The mix of heat from the onsen and coolness from the rain made it one of my favorite onsen experiences. After the onsen we had dinner and then the party started. While there were some no shows due to train cancelations, 14 people came to the party and as all the guests can tell you it was an epic gathering which will be talked about in Wakayama for years to come. Haha.
The day after the party, and after everyone departed to their respective homes, I went to Hiki, a beach town about an hour from me. There we had a bonfire under the beautiful star studded sky. It was the first time I have ever seen a shooting star and it was truly a mesmerizing night. The next morning we went back to the lagoon where we had the bonfire and went swimming. This lagoon is simply amazing which clear water and awesome cliffs and caves which we explored. The entire weekend was pretty epic and probably the best weekend I have had in Japan to date. The grandness of the weekend is just too much to describe with words.
The following weekend 5 of us decided to go on a hike. They wanted to do a 5 hour hike from a town about 20 minutes from me to Nachi falls, the largest in Japan. What they failed to mention was that this was one of the most difficult hikes in the area because of the 5 mountains it covers! We literally went up the side of a mountain for what seemed to be an eternity. Every time we seemed to be reaching the top, more steps appeared that kept leading upwards. As sweat and tears ran down my face, I kept pushing myself so that I can say I actually finished the hike. (In reality there was no turning back so I had to keep going.) As we crossed the markers indicating the distance left until the finish line we decided to recount tails of the events of our life at that age. So as we passed marker 20, we told a memorable memory from that age in our life.
This was actually really fun and it kept our minds off of the distance we had yet to cover. By the time we got to the waterfall, roughly 8 hours after we set out, most of us didn’t even care to see the waterfall. All we wanted to do was get to our Island hotel with beautiful onsens. I could barely feel my legs but the thought of soaking in an onsen kept my body running. The Island hotel was really nice and I would love to go back when I’m not as worn out from a day of hiking and explore more of the hotel. The next morning we had breakfast and set out to go back home. But no one wanted the weekend to end so what did we do? Karaoke. Yup, we went to Karaoke in Tanabe at 2 in the afternoon.
This leads to this past weekend, Halloween! Such an exciting weekend it was! It started off with a welcome party from one of my elementary schools. It’s a little late for a welcoming I know but they had originally scheduled it for the weekend I was in Tokyo so they were kind enough to reschedule it. So Friday one of the teachers picked me up and took me to the party. They rented a cabin for the party which I thought was pretty cool. There were speeches, a song for a teacher who was recently married, food and of course drinks. I taught them how to play never have I ever which went better that I thought it would. Then they taught me a Japanese drinking game which was a lot of fun. Four people, including myself stayed at the cabin so we stayed up pretty late talking which was great because I got to know them a bit more. The next morning we went to have breakfast and then I went back to sleep. After I woke up I felt energized and refreshed so I decided to go on a short run which turned into an 8km run. It was a beautiful day so I figured I should take advantage of it before the really cold weather starts. After my run, I started to work on my Halloween costume and got ready for the roof-top party in Nachi! Nachi is not very far from me so I drove there and picked up a friend on the way there. A lot of the other ALT’s (assistant language teachers) from the area attended and it was nice to see everyone. My costume was a great hit and I won the award for the funniest costume! I was an SNL skit, a d… in a box!
Haha. If you don’t know what it is you should watch it on YouTube. The next day we all went to an onsen on a nearby island which was pretty sweet and then I drove to Tanabe where we had a Karaoke marathon (3 hours) and then dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The restaurant wasn’t that bad and it was nice to eat some cheese because it’s rare to find out here in the country.
Taiko is going well. We have been performing a lot for some tour groups that come through the area. They “rent” us out to watch us perform and we give them a little Taiko lesson. A few weeks ago we had a group from Spain! I was excited to be able to speak in Spanish! They didn’t have a translator so I become the MC for the session. Boy was it stressful; mostly because they started asking these questions that I couldn’t translate into Japanese because I’ve only been here 3 months! But they understood that my Japanese wasn’t at a level where I can ask the Japanese Taiko members how the drums are made and what kind of wood is used, or the history of Taiko in Japan. But I had a good time and they seemed to have a good time so it was successful in my eyes. We have also had tour groups from Israel and people from within Japan as well. I am learning a lot in Taiko and they have started to teach me some of the theatrics of the performances so I am excited to record a performance someday soon and post it here on my blog! Look out for that!
I have a lot of exciting things coming up including bbq at that beautiful lagoon in Hiki this weekend, a 5k race, a trip up north to Wakayama, thanksgiving in Japan, and a mid-year ALT seminar! Stay tuned!

First day of Teaching!

So I started teaching on September 6th, about three weeks ago. In the days leading up to my first day I was somewhat nervous but I was more anxious than anything because for the 6 weeks prior I had been sitting in the office thinking about my first day. I was glad that I was finally going to be able to meet the kids and see the environment where I would be teaching for the next 10 months.
In preparing for my first day, I asked a lot of questions. How will the kids behave? Will the students be enthusiastic about learning English? Will I be able to actually teach them English? I asked many people some or all of these questions and the most common response I heard from the people who knew these kids first hand was that they were very shy. That they will be very quiet and unresponsive at first and I must work very hard to get them to come out of their shells. Understandable. I mean I can remember those days in middle school or high school when we would get a new teacher or even a substitute teacher and no one would raise their hand to answer a question. It’s unknown territory. Here is a new person of authority who we don’t know very well at all and who we haven’t interacted with before. Of course they will be shy. So I prepare myself to do all the talking in the initial days until they warm up to me. I make a PowerPoint of my self introduction or “jiko shokai” and try to make it somewhat appealing to my audience which will be students from 1st thru 9th grade. I included a lot of silly pictures of myself and I tried to make it easy for them to be able to relate to me and feel comfortable with me. The Friday before my first Monday I felt comfortable and ready to meet my students.

When the first day actually arrived, I woke up and felt as though it was my first day going to school. Memories flooded my mind of how important it was to me to wear nice clothes and make friends whenever I started a new school year at home. Strangely, even though I would be the teacher this time, I still wanted to make friends. Haha. When I got to the school I walked into the teacher’s room and am greeted by the 15 or so teachers. The atmosphere was very relaxed and it immediately brought upon me a sense of calmness. The bell rang signaling the end of first period and I got my things ready for my first English class with 5th and 6th graders. I walked to the classroom and the students stood up as I walked into the room .The class leader said something in Japanese and then all the students responded in unison “Good morning Mr. Luis!” I had just walked in and they already knew my name; great start I thought. The homeroom teacher said something in Japanese and then I started my presentation. I got through my PowerPoint and I felt it went pretty good. Then I let the students ask questions. Of course they are a bit hesitant at first but as soon as that first student mustered up the courage to ask the first question, the rest of them began to ask question and before I knew it I was answering questions I never thought I would be answering like “What do you look for in a girl?”

After the class finished I thought back to all those people who said these kids would be super shy. They are not shy. Not one bit. During class periods they say hi, they hold my hand, and get me to play games with them. This happened at every school I went to that first week. I visited my elementary schools first and then the junior high schools but the process worked the same. Of course I played a lot more games like dodge ball at the elementary schools. One of the elementary schools I went to I literally played dodge ball all day. Literally all day. I was exhausted by the end of the day but I definitely enjoyed getting to know the students outside of the classroom. I figured that this would make my actual lessons a lot easier because the students will be comfortable around me.

Overall my first week of teaching was a great success. I’m definitely ok with playing dodgeball all day. Haha.

Osaka and the Onsen!

This past weekend a group of us from Tanabe decided to head to Osaka for the weekend. I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time because well, Hongu is pretty remote. I was excited to be in a large city that stays open past 6 pm! When Friday came along I went into Tanabe early to have dinner with Jocelyn who is from Hawaii. She said someone had recommended this place on the main road heading into the city so we decided to check it out. The restaurant was called Osla and it was pretty tasty. I had Japanese curry and coffee and Jocelyn had fried chicken which she said was also good. After dinner she asked if I had ever been to a Hyaku en shop, Japan’s version of a dollar store, and I said no. Well fortunately there was one right across from the restaurant so we went in and do they have a ton of stuff! Eventually when I get around to making my apartment a little homier I will have to make my rounds to the 100-yen shops in Tanabe! I did pick up some picture frames and some other things at this store to start decorating but I needed more time to really think of a concept for my apartment. That night I stayed at Carolina’s apartment because our bus was set to depart at 650 A.M. on Saturday. The bus ride to Osaka wasn’t too bad but it did last a little over 2 hours. When we arrived in Osaka we didn’t really know what came next. We knew we couldn’t check into our hotel until 2 PM so we had to find something to do. Also, we didn’t really know where we were so that added to the confusion. We decided to walk out of the station and see if we can find Namba parks, an area Carolina was familiar with. After about 30 minutes of walking around we foundd what looked to be Namba parks.Of course it was still early and most of the shops weren’t open yet but some did start to open. We looked around, did some shopping and then met up with another JET, carter. He had stayed the night before and spoke great Japanese so it was a relief that someone could help us if we needed help. As lunch time approached we began to look for a place to eat. We came across this pizza place that looked decent. I know what you are thinking, pizza in Japan? Turns out it was an all you can eat for 1,000 yen and all you can drink for an additional 500 yen so it was a really good deal! I had pizza, potato salad, curry and rice..oh and beer! Haha. It wasn’t too bad for the price we paid! After lunch we met up with another Jet, Joel, who is also from Hawaii!

By this time it was 2 already so we went to check in to the hotel. So before this weekend I had heard something about the hotel we were going to be staying at which is a capsule hotel. From the pictures I saw online I was pretty freaked out even before we got to the hotel! Basically the beds are in the wall like a morgue. They are divided into men’s and women’s quarters and you share a room with 15 other people. You ask about privacy? Well you do get a little curtain that you can slide to close the capsule. This curtain is necessary for those people who would like to rent porn form the tv that is inside the capsule. Haha. You pay 100 yen and the porn comes on, at least that is what I was told!
Luckily, for 4 of us, we had a special room for 4. The beds were still in the wall but at least you were in the same room with people whom you knew! While we were in the hotel, another Jet showed up named Justin from….Hawaii of course! It felt like a Hawaii reunion! Haha. They all were part of group B orientation which is where they met but they are all really cool so it was fun. After we got over the space flight sleeping arrangements we went back out into the city to do some more shopping. We went to H&M which had some pretty good deals! I bought a shirt to go out that night and some underwear. The part of Osaka we were at is pretty famous especially for the amount of people who go there. When we were standing on a bridge looking straight ahead, you could just see a bed of people as far as the eye can see. It is insane the amount of people in the city. After a few more hours of shopping we head to dinner at this Mediterranean restaurant near our hotel. A few of us head to the restaurant while a few stay back to wait for another Jet who was just getting in. The restaurant had a really cool “modern” vibe to it and by the amount of foreigners there is looked like it was very much a gaijin locale. The restaurant was called Absinthe and it served Absinthe. Carolina, Joel and Carter decided to order it. The fact that it was illegal in the states until recently made me decide that I didn’t want to get one. But they did and the show was pretty entertaining. They poured the absinthe over a cube of sugar and then lit the sugar cube on fire. When it was melted they poured it into the absinthe and then poured water in the glass. When they tried it, it only confirmed that I had made the right choice. The drink was really strong and it took Carolina some time to finish it. Haha. I went with beer instead :-) The others arrived and we ordered. The food was all really good and after we decided to get some Hookahs! It had been a while since I had some but It was really good until it stopped working properly and the smoke got really rough. After our hookahs we headed back to the hotel to get ready for a night out on the town!
This is where is gets interesting. The Japanese Onsen. I had been talking to my fellow Jets about the onsen all day. I was worried that I would be “uncomfortable” at the onsen because the first thing you do when you go in is…strip. All your clothes. Everything. Yeah. I wasn’t worried about the act of being naked in public because we all have the same parts right? What did worry me was the fact that I wasn’t like all the other men in the onsen….get it? Matt said it was like him being in a bathroom with all women….exactly my point. All the guys went in because if you wanted to shower, you had to use the onsen so I could either go out smelling like the sweat from being in the hot humid weather of Osaka or I could man up and get naked. I got naked, but not before I got a small towel to at least help cover me a little bit. At an onsen you are supposed to shower first and then get into the onsen which is like a hot tub. So I picked a corner and starting showering, surrounded by about 15-20 naked men. You sit at this little plastic bench and shower. After I showered I went into the hot tub for what seemed a life time but in reality it was only about 5 minutes. I thought to myself this is enough, I am clean enough. Haha. So I get out, dry myself and head upstairs to change. That was my first onsen experience. I had read some stories of onsens and I am glad that I don’t stand out as much as a white guy would so I didn’t get a lot of awkward stares but still it was weird. Lol.
After everyone got dressed and ready to hit the town we left the hotel to find a place to drink and dance. We decided on this club called Pure that had an all you can drink special. The cover for guys was 4,000 yen and 2,500 for the ladies. When we first got there it wasn’t too crowded and they were playing music from the 90’s. But as the night progressed the music got better, or my judgment got worse because of the alcohol, but in any case it was better. After being at the club for what seemed an eternity, most of us felt like we had taken advantage of the all you can drink, so we went to a karaoke place. We got a room for an hour and sang to songs like “We are the Champions” and of course Michael Buble! Haha. After Karaoke we met up with the rest of the people and headed back to the hotel. At this point I believe my judgment was really clouded because I decided to go to the onsen…..I mean I was drenched in sweat so I thought it would help me sleep better! Plus there was only like 3 people there so I felt more comfortable. After a quick shower and dip in the hot tub I went up to my space capsule. It was pretty comfortable because I went straight to sleep and woke up the next morning.

After we checked out, the group split up with some people going home and others to different places in the city. Jocelyn and I decided to go see Osaka castle and it was a really good thing we did go. I mean it was definitely a workout but it was worth it. The castle and the area around it are very scenic so it was a nice change from being surrounded by tall buildings. After a tour of the castle we went to the train station where we met Carolina and headed back home! It was an exciting but exhausting weekend!
For more Osaka photos, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076387&id=40804678&l=88fb9bc50c

Taiko and BBQ's!

Yes, I know it has been a few weeks since I last wrote an entry but it’s only because my life has been so exciting! Where do I even begin? I’ll start with a Taiko update! As you know I have been rehearsing with a Taiko group here in Hongu which has rehearsals twice a week. It’s so much fun to be at rehearsal trying to learn how to play the drums as they explain it in Japanese. I think it is hard enough learning them in English, but try learning them in Japanese!
Thankfully, the language of musical notes is universal and I have been able to use my 11 years of being in choir to good use. Having some music sheets in front of me makes it a lot easier but I still have trouble with the crazy rhythms they throw in there like 5 triplets followed by 16th notes and then back to triplets. It’s some tough stuff. Then they have different movements that they do throughout some pieces which I haven’t even begun to practice because I don’t have the music down yet! There is a performance at the Hongu fire festival this Saturday which I may be performing at....emphasis on the MAY. Maybe they will have me do some easy rhythms that I can’t mess up.

In addition to Taiko, I have been busy because people have been inviting me to parties and bbq’s left and right, which I take as a sign that they like me! The first one I was invited to was one which Hane-sensei threw. She is a teacher who works at the local elementary school and she has a home stay student from Nepal. She thought it would be a nice “welcome” party for the both of us. Konchan, the student, is attending high school here in Japan and part of the curriculum is a home-stay. He says he’s from Nepal but he lives in India and is also Tibetan which is really cool. It was nice getting to know him and speaking English! The bbq was on a riverbank near Hane-sensei’s house so it was sort of a picnic and bbq. The food was all really good but she did make me try sushi. I resisted at first but she had this really nice platter and I felt bad refusing to eat some! So I let me fears of the rawness subside and tried some. The ones I ate had shrimp and egg, which are two things I don’t mind eating. I left the ones that had raw squid and fish to Konchan and Hane-sensei’s husband. After the sushi, we had beef, chicken, egg plant, grilled squid, sausage, cabbage and green peppers. The Japanese don’t put spices on the food before they cook it but what they do is dip the food in a sauce. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s really good and I may have to take the idea back home to use when I grill!
While Hane-sensei was grilling, Konchan was really inquisitive asking what I thought about some events taking place in America and China. He asked me if I agreed with Obama on the mosque being built near ground zero and what my feelings were on the Tibet-China situation. For being 19, Konchan was very much in tune with what was going on in the world around him. A few days ago I read an article asking how the millennials, those born between 1980 and 1995, think about international relations and this conversation with Konchan gives me some hope that not all people my age are spending their time watching Jersey Shore or the Kardashians. There are things going on in this world that are much bigger than ourselves and much bigger than the US. We may not all be able to help the people affected by flooding in Pakistan but we can at the very least be aware of what is going on in other parts of our world. The very thought that every article of clothing you are wearing right now was probably made in countries other than the united states should make you think about the kind of world we are living in…but I digress.

The following day, while at work, I received a phone call from Aki-san, a member of the taiko group, informing me that there was a welcome bbq for me that night. She said someone would pick me up at the gas station by my house at 630. Luckily, living in Hongu has placed limits on my social schedule so I was free that night. I was really excited that I had two nights of going out in a row! I thought to myself that I should cherish these moments because they are pretty rare in Hongu! When 630 rolled around I walked to the gas station and waited. After a few minutes, a car approached with two people I didn’t know. The gas station attendants, who have become my friends or “best friends” as they would say, told me that those were the people I was expecting and motioned for me to get into the car. It felt strange getting in their car but I figured that they looked like pretty safe people. When we arrived at the place they had already started grilling. They gave me a cup of that bbq sauce and told me to start eating! This pretty much followed the same lines as the previous bbq except that there were some different items on the menu. By the end of the night I would try 4 things that I had never tried before. The first thing they made me try was nato which I had been warned about by the current JET’s. It didn’t look like it tasted bad so I decided to try it. It was pretty bad; I should have listened. Then they made me try deer liver. This wasn’t too bad but the aftertaste it gave me wasn’t very good. After the deer liver came.....raw deer meat. Yes, fresh raw deer meat. I was hesitant at first and I think that they could tell by the look on my face that it wasn’t something I was interested in trying. But they made me try it anyways. One of the men grabbed some with his chopsticks and fed me the raw deer meat. He literally fed me the meet. After this I think they really knew I didn’t like it. Haha. When the meat was grilled it tasted wonderful though! It was really good and I made sure they knew I liked it cooked, rather than raw. Apart from the raw deer meat, this bbq was a lot of fun and the beer wasn’t bad either ;-)
For more Taiko photos, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076384&id=40804678&l=e256ccd564

Taiko Drums!

So things have definitely been looking up! This past Tuesday I was invited to attend a Taiko Drum rehearsal in a nearby neighborhood. Seki-san, the man who invited me, came into the office and Manago-san who works in the office told him I was interested in taking Taiko lessons. In broken Japanese from my end, and broken Japanese from their end, we sort of made plans for Seki-san to pick me up and drive me to the rehearsal. At least that’s that I gathered. This brightened up my day very much and I eagerly waiting for the work day to end and for it to be time for the rehearsal. Around 745 pm that night I was worried that I might not have understood them correctly and that the rehearsal wasn’t really that evening. But fortunately it was and Seki-san arrived to take me. It was already dark out and I felt strange getting into his vehicle as I had only met him that afternoon. We drove for a while and the majority of the time it was silent because neither one of us spoke each other’s language. Eventually, after about 15 minutes of driving in pitch black darkness we arrived at a place that resembled a log cabin. Immediately I could hear the sounds of the Taiko drums being played. Up to this point the only thing I knew about Taiko was that they were drums with which traditional Japanese music was made. I had never really heard Taiko music but I had seen pictures of people playing the drums. As I looked through the windows of the building I could see about 4 massive drums. They were huge, probably the size of 4 regular sized barrels put together. The people who were playing them looked to be about 50 years old and looked almost stoic as they beat on the drums. They stood facing the drum, with their left foot in front, right foot in back and their knees slightly bent. As I entered the building I took off my shoes and watched in amazement at the sheer size of the drums. Finally, the two men finished playing and one of them came up to me and Seki-san introduced me. The man, Ueno-san clearly looked tired because he was sweating profusely. Apparently playing the drums is a good workout! After the introduction, he gave me these huge drum sticks and began to show me how to properly stand and how to properly hold the drum sticks. Seki-san got on a drum, Ueno-san got on a drum, and they counted to three and we started playing. I had no idea what I was doing but Ueno-san motioned to me trying to get me to do what he was doing. I was definitely nervous at first but I got the hang of it quite quickly and I was surprised that it sounded good. As we were playing, more and more people started arriving and sitting on the floor around a coffee table. After we finished playing, the three of us went to sit down and I introduced myself to the people who then began to ask me a bunch of questions as usual. After about 5 minutes of chit chat they all got ready to rehearse. They moved the drums around as I sat and watched. Then they started playing. Man did it sound amazing. The three women who were in the group started to sing some sort of chant with the music and it was something out of this world. I was taken aback by the big sound of 12 people playing the Taiko drums and chanting. 10 minutes later they finished and came back to the table to chat again. They kept repeating my name because apparently its hard to pronounce, which is fair because even some Americans have trouble pronouncing my name. During the break, one of the women taught me a piece of the song they were rehearsing which was really cool. After they all rehearsed again, they invited me to attend a festival they are playing at this coming Friday. They gave me a t-shirt and said that it was their uniform and then they said I was officially a member! How exciting! I can’t wait to be a part of the Hongu Taiko group!