The best party every has yet to happen, actually. But I’ve had a lot of good parties.

Case in point is tonight. A whole heap of people went out to an izakaya for fun — it was someone’s birthday, sure, but that isn’t why we did it. Why? Well… it was Christmas party for few, but reservations didn’t work out so it became a fun party for many. And actually, it’s probably better that way.

An izakaya, I don’t think I’ve explained. It’s a place where you order many drinks and foods, and the foods you share with everyone, and at the end, the bill is astronomical, and you split it fair and square (unless someone, who was driving, wasn’t drinking, in which case you knock some money off their portion. In fairness). So that is izakaya. It’s superb, because you order a whole pile of food, but it comes out as it is cooked, so there is no telling what will come first, or next.

Standing outside the izakaya after dinner, we planned a brilliant party: A Brown Party. All the food is brown (which includes some of the best things: fudge, brownies, grilled meat) the music is Brown, the clothes are brown, the movies are brown, there is a chocolate fountain, etc. Of course it would take place during the brownest month; February.

I’m excited already.

My shamisen teacher showed me a kimono she got for me to wear. It’s orange. More of a peach actually, but years and years ago, my dad looked at me and told me never to wear orange because it was bad for my coloring. And since then, I’ve never worn orange. I don’t own any orange clothing, or even anything like peach, or orange-ish colors. So I’m a bit weirded out about this kimono. I’m also a bit weirded out about a kimono in general, refer to a previous post for that thought.

But…. what can I say? I can’t decline to wear it.

Less than a week until I fly home. I feel like I’ve forgotten something vital. There isn’t ever enough time, is there.

Oh my God oh my Gawwwwwwd, Awa Odori starts this Wednesday!! I’m so nervous!!!

o________O;;;;;

Our last practice was tonight.
I’ve been practicing really really hard!
So hard, that I pulled something… my right leg is all screwed up, as is my lower back. I have to stretch really well every day just to be able to do normal stuff. Ow ow ow. いたいいいい

But oh my goodness is it ever exciting! I can’t wait to wear my purple kimono and my giant taco-shaped hat and dance like nuts! Every day now I wear geta when I’m not at school.

And speaking of not being at school…
Today I woke up, and it was typhooning. We were getting hit by the edge of tropical storm Etau, and it was amazing!!! So much rain, so much lightening and thunder!!! Nature is really really powerful!

I thought to myself, “Oh, I can’t be bothered to go through this storm just to sit pointlessly at my desk”. So I mailed my supervisor to ask for holiday leave. Stupid! I should have said “Oh no, a typhoon! Abunai!”

But now I have to take one of my holiday days. Mottainai! What a waste!!

Although, it did clear up and I could have gone in for half a day, but I am a lazy bum and couldn’t be bothered.

Yesterday I saw an amazing musical play put on by a local musical theater group. One of my students was in it, surprisingly.

The (original) story was about three girls who meet two girls who may or may not be magical, and for some reason, they decide to go back in time on a flying broom (one of the girls is a janitor, one is a makeup artist, and one just likes history for some reason?). So they go back and meet somebody who may or may not be Genghis Khan, and help some people get a scroll and a princess, and then there was a huge song and dance number.

Then, they went to America to try and stop Kennedy from being assassinated. For this half the play, almost everyone spoke a ton of English, and they were all pretty dang good with their accents and so on. The girls made a jazz group, and performed for Jackie O, and tried to warn her. Jackie O said she would tell Kennedy, but she lied! (for some reason, she was a complete bitch, and she couldn’t see the two magical girls. Who knew?)

Undaunted, the girls use their showbiz connections (3 more extremely tall girls in sparkly Supreme’s style dresses) to get an audience with Kennedy. They warn him about getting shot, but he says that danger is part of being President, and the people of Texas are his people too, so he can’t avoid the trip. Realizing they can’t stop him from taking his path, the cast sings “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory” in a very moving style, giving Kennedy one last performance.

In the audience, we had already looked at each other several times to say “No way”

But wait, there was more to come. John and Jackie got on their car and were on the motorcade, and the girls came and stopped time, to try and save him again. They told JFK that they were from the future, and that we had a black President, and that there was a bullet in his future. But JFK said that he was the President of the United States of America, and he was going to do his job.

Then he was shot. (In the audience, we looked at each other and said “No Way” again).

Then the janitor girl held up a flag in a spotlight against the curtain, and the Supremes stood in the balcony and sang something along the lines of “Where have you gone, JFK”. (I’ve been unable to figure out what song they actually sang).

Then they went back to the present time, accidentally inspiring young Steven Spielberg to invent E.T. THE END.

Like I said. It was amaaaaaaazing. Not often am I really weirded out and very moved at the same time.

File that under “Oh, Japan”.

Tonight at Awa Odori practice, I wore my geta for the first time.

Remember when you buy a new pair or a poorly made pair of sandals, and the bit that goes between your big and second toe chafes from here to Dixie?

Yes, well it’s like that, except you are putting all our weight on that chafe, and also dancing in time and waving your arms.

A whole new kind of pain.

Tonight’s practice was endurance mode, just dancing up and down and up and down the park pavement. I made it as far as I could, and then decided that since I was sucking so bad because the pain was so distracting, I should probably just change back to my sneakers.

I danced maybe 15 steps in my sneakers before practice ended. I didn’t have a watch or phone, so I didn’t know the time.

All in all, I’m pleased with myself for making it that far.

At the rest point in the middle, one of the really genki men’s dancers came up to me and told me all about how my rhythm was ok, but my power sucked, actually, no, my power was making my rhythm suck, and so I should kick my knees up higher.

I wanted to say “Yes, you put the geta on and see how much genki YOU have!!” but what I really did was agree with everything he said, say “Ossu” (“push / I’m gonna fight hard!”) and try my best. After all, he was right. My rhythm and power were sucking big time.

My old-lady friend chatted me up at break time too. We talked about the weather, and where Supervisor-teacher was, and how dancing was fun. Maybe 75% of the stuff she says to me I don’t understand, but dammit… if I’ve learned anything in a year, it’s that smiling, nodding, and applying the old ganbare (do your best) spirit will get you far.

At the end of practice, I talked with the kids. They wanted to know where Supervisor-teacher was, and to tell me what a good dancing gaijin I am, and to basically joke around. I told them I was going home to eat, and they told me if I ate after 8 pm, I would get fat.

I said “Ah, metabo desu ne” (“Yeah, I’ll get metabo”) and they busted a nut laughing at me, then said “kyotsukete” (“Be careful!”) and sent me on my way.

Thanks, kids, You’re the most awesome.

Now I have to run to the grocery store and sort some dinner. I rearranged most of my furniture today in a brief fit of industry, but now all the bits and bobs of moving are all over the floor and bed and table… I don’t really have a place to eat or sleep. Yet. And I need a shower.

Ahhh.

I enjoy being busy!

Well, the musical is over. My weekend life for the past couple of months is completed.

We did the last show of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in an old kabuki theater. It was an amazing audience, filled to the second level and ready to clap and laugh at all the jokes and dances. As soon as they applauded for the opening dance, I had a giant grin on my face that couldn’t be wiped away.

We followed the performance with cleaning, elated. Then drove the winding roads up to the top of a mountain, where we made merry in cabins and on the mountainside on giant jungle-gyms.

I’m exhausted. I spent all my energy at the musical, and then didn’t get enough sleep. My back aches from the floor, and my head hurts. It’s a raining day. When we woke up, the light was clean and the air was fresh. Eating donuts, we cleaned the cabins and drove down the mountain.

It’s beautiful, having no pressure for a day. To be able to relax in an onsen, enjoying the hot water and the cool breeze, then linger over noodles and rice and tea while discussing religion. then to drive home, taking 2 hours and not worrying.

It’s spring, so we drive with the windows down. At night, with the breeze blowing, car humming, music playing, don’t drive me home just yet. Let me enjoy this a little longer.

Back in the city, the rain didn’t begin until I had climbed halfway up the Bizan. I walked across the mountainside under the trees, listening to the rain and taking photos. Coming home, I got soaked. Now I’m in bed, watching the spring Sumo tournament in Osaka. The Best Dressed ALT and I are texting about the sumo matches, and I am warm and sleepy. It’s only 5:30.

This musical has been great. I’ve made new friends, and they’re pretty amazing. We’ve had adventures, made plans.

The other day, I was riding around in the naka (countryside) with the Shogakko Queen, and we remarked to each other how really excellent Tokushima is. It’s true. Tokushima is excellent. We’re lucky to be here. I love being here.

Well my goodness. I’m very sorry about lack of updates and especially lack of pictures!

That will change, I promise, when this musical is over. On Monday, I slept in until 10 am. I could have wept, it was so amazing. I didn’t even live it up the night before, just did my regular routine and then slept the sleep of the innocent. Or at least, the sleep of those who don’t have work or rehearsal in the morning.

The best part of every day is when I come home, take off my work clothes, and put on my pajamas. It doesn’t matter if I’m going to put regular clothes on again in a moment, for that time I’m in my pajamas, everything is OK.

Today my Japanese Teacher, W-sensei, took me out for dinner. He also took a lady from Shanghai who works at the International Office, Shi-san. We feasted on tempura and yakitori and sushi and sake. An older (though not as old as W-Sensei) man joined us for beer and conversation.

When we left, Shi-san said to me, “へんのにほんじんですが”。”Strange Japanese people”.

Maybe. But they’re very kind, and I had a nice time.

During my lesson, W-Sensei told me a little about where he was born. In the south of Tokushima, where there are mountains. He lived 10 kilometers from the sea, and didn’t see it until he was 10 years old.

W-Sensei is in his 70s. He saw World War 2, and ate mountain birds when there was no meat to be had. He saw the world change. Now he is retired. Now he sees a new world, and teachers his language to fresh-faced punks who don’t know up from down, like me. People who haven’t seen the world, and are too connected to see properly.

It made me a little sad, listening to his stories. His life is sung out in pieces to students. His village is probably swallowed up by the mountain.

I saw someone differently today, for the first time, and I don’t know what to do with that feeling.

A few things from the past week:

Simone and I rode the train home from Ishii after the Burn’s Poetry Supper. Getting into Tokushima, Simone had to switch trains, so we listened to the train announcements as we were pulling into the station, and were able to figure out which platform she had to run to in order to catch her train.

When we first came here, we frantically counted the stops on a map. Now, we can listen to announcements in Japanese and understand the general information.

As per the request of the musical folks, I went and got contact lenses, on the 3^rd floor of the train station, of all places. With extraordinarily broken Japanese and English, I was able to have an eye exam and buy some contact lenses.

To have a proper prescription is amazing. With fuzzy glasses for the past 2 years, I forgot that the world actually is sharper than it had been appearing. It was like seeing all of Tokushima for the first time.

When Russ lost his glasses while swimming in the Indian Ocean, he had to buy a new set, and let us try them on. Wearing his glasses was like a roller-coaster ride, suddenly things were too sharp, the ground was far away, the dirt path we walked curved unnaturally.

With my contacts, it felt very much like that. Biking to work, I thought I might be riding a Salvador Dali elephant, with tall crazy legs. In bicycle form, naturally. The ground was simply too far away. I love looking around me. I love reading things, seeing far-away details, and not worrying about rain clouding my vision.

On Wednesday, I saw Quantum of Solace. I must say, the opening credit sequences from QoS and Casino Royale are quite lovely.

Also, the influenza (Japanese: infuruenza) is running rampant across Japan. Schoolchildren are out in droves, classes are cancelled, half my kids are wearing masks. I’ve been drinking lots of Vitamin C drinks. I think this, and my warm coat, cancel the fact that I am biking to work in the cold and damp every day.

Add to that the fact that I am working with high-schoolers and not grubby Shogakko (elementary school) kids, I think I might be able to squeak through this unscathed.

Love and peace,

emily

It was dark, and we were supposed to be going home. We are responsible adults, after all.

But instead, naturally, we were busy wondering if ar0und the next corner we would fall off the mountain and die.

All our fellows were at the bar, making merry. It’s a small bar, and we’d been stuck with these people for 2 days. We’d seen people that had been out of our radar circles for months, been reminded of old friends, old people we didn’t know very well, friendships-that-could-have-been.

This creates an ache sometimes. To realize, standing there, that you are in one circle of friends and not another. To realize that we’ve formed these seemingly unchanging circles. No-one comes in easily, and no-one breaks, or acts without the circle without some sort of social repercussion.

It sucks to realize this.

And so we were driving in the dark, up a mountain. We had run down the highway, along the mountains to the west of the city. A crossroads with another city name made us turn south, and burrow through the mountain via a tunnel. Coming out, we were in a valley. There was water. The entire city, or town, was hugged up in a horse-shoe up and down the mountain side, avoiding the water and clinging to the slope.

We curved around. Followed the road. Selected a turn-off into a park, pretending not to understand the signs.

Don’t enter this park after it is dark.

It’s dark later now, but still, it is dark at 5. At 6, you begin to wonder if you ought to be asleep. At 7, sometimes you ARE asleep, or you feel very defiant as you roam around.

We entered. Started going up. Past the cars parked a Make-Out Point (every mountain has one). Past vending machines, road construction, and 2 other cars. We were alone on the mountain with the gods and the oni and the glowing strips warning us of dangerous turns. We saw the town lights glow below us.

We went up some more. Our ears popped. Suddenly, there was snow. Snow! It was just resting there, without a care in the world. We went up some more. Our ears popped again.

The top was a park, a parking lot with buildings. A giant Sudachi-kun statue smiled creepily at is, illuminated only by our headlights. The sign said 4 kilometers. And still, there were stairs in the mountain, going up. There was more yama, but our little car could not climb stairs.

We could see over the next mountain range, see the city lights beyond it. We could see everything.

Since the road didn’t stop going, we didn’t stop. Slowly, we were going down, but also curving, sometimes up, following smaller mountains. We picked a fork in the road. It got smaller. The guardrails vanished, but the sheer drops did not.

I trusted her, and her driving skills. That is all.

We began to think, we should turn around. But, we didn’t.

Gradually, things changed. Signs appeared, but we were too deep in the naka for them to have an romanized letters. She reads Japanese. We kept going.

It ran across the road, a fat flash of red.

“TANUKI!” we shouted.

Our first wild tanuki sighting.

We saw farms, and other cars, and lights in the distance. A two-lane road, but not the one we came from.
We took it anyway, took another, larger tunnel through the mountain. We didn’t know where would come up, but anyone can tell you how to get to the city. Where we finally recognized ourselves was at the Bizan, the very eastern edge of the mountains.

They’re very long mountains.

I put all the photos on a separate page, so as not to clog up slower internet connections.

Zoos give me mixed feelings. On one hand, the zoo is a place where I can see all sorts of exciting animals. I really like animals, and thinking about animals, and thinking about going to see animals. Sometimes, I like animals more than I like people.

On the flip side, zoos can be very depressing. Sometimes animals seem manic, depressed, bored, or lazy in their environments. Sometimes the cages are cages, and not habitats with stimulation and room to run.

Dan Eldon’s book says “The Journey Is The Destination”. This of course is wisdom that we apply to all things, but I like to think about it in terms of zoos. I’m really happy to go to zoos, and the idea is always really great, but somehow I always feel sad when I actually see the animals. I can get so close, but there is always a cage between me and them. So the destination is never actually realized. I can see animals, but I can’t really… I don’t even know what it is that I can’t do, but it never seems like satisfaction.

I’ll go back to this zoo alone, and sit and ponder the animals on my own time for a while.

I’m not saying I had a bad time at Tokushima Zoo. I actually had a really good time. It was a gorgeous day, the zoo was clean and the animals seemed for the most part to be contented. I was with a good friend and I saw a lot of animals that I had never before seen in person.

The monkeys always weird me out a little bit though. They are quite close to humans, and so they are sometimes uncomfortable to see in cages.

Today is another gorgeous day, and I’m going to get outside and enjoy it. See if I don’t!

Hooray! It’s Saturday! And I have internet, so I can blog from the comfort of my floor! I am wearing super comfortable sweats. I bought them in a 2-piece gray set, the kind where you just get a bag containing pants and a shirt for cheap. I bought them in size LL, and the check-out man asked me if I was sure I wanted that size. Don’t be such a kidder, Japan! We all know I don’t fit your sizes anyway!

Size LL, I’ll grant, is a little large. But it’s not TOO large, just nice and roomy. I look like a complete Ojii-san (grandpa) in the sweats and my house slippers, but they feel wooonnderfulll!

Today, I am going to the zoo! I will take a lot of photos, I hope. Until then, here are some photos from things I’ve done recently. Please enjoy them!

Here is the beach where I went swimming all those weeks ago. Isn’t it great? We pondered swimming out to the rocks, but they were far away. In the distance, we could see land…

My typewriter! I love it. Also pictured is a monte blanc cake, which I bought from a little bakery over by the mountain. Mmm, it was delicious. I’m addicted to monte blanc cakes, they are made with chesnuts and lots of fluffy cream and soft cake. Even the weird ones from the combinis taste great!

This is when I went on a long ramble towards the ocean (but didn’t quite make it). Right past this bridge was where the sidewalk ended, and I had to scramble along the side of a highway and make my way past all these shipping warehouses. From a distance, the bridge looks horribly bent, like an arch that’s getting ready to spring up in the air and fling all the cars into the bay.

Last weekend, the park by my house had a Cow Festival! You could come and pet the cows and see cows in a semi-natural environment and take cow quizzes and learn about cows and eat ice cream and drink milk. WOW! The park is seriously the best. Every weekend I stick my head out on my balcony and look, and SOMETHING is going on. The week before Cow Festival, it was some sort of woodworking “build-your-own” get-together. Before THAT, I enjoyed listening to various indie punk and rock bands hack at guitars and scream in front of disinterested but fancifully attired youth.

Yeah, baby cows!

These cows were very interested in what was going on around them. All the fair cows I’ve ever seen before have been very chill and bored, but these guys were all going “Hey, what’s happening? Let me stick my face at you!”

And of course, no festival in Japan would be complete without somebody dressed up as something. Viva la Cow!

So that’s that, basically… I’ve had a busy week at school. In brief:
I played lots and lots of Halloween Bingo and Halloween Memory (the flip-it-over card game)
I graded about a zillion papers
I saw half of a super-great documentary about Bob Dylan, and ate delicious pasta with a home-made vegetable sauce.
Upon finding a wild CD featuring my friends from home in my mailbox, I danced and sang in my kitchen.
I paid $30 for a postage stamp. Don’t laugh, it’s for my re-entry permit!
I watched The Fall, which was a pretty neat film. Sometimes I thought it was trying too hard, but visually it was very nice.

They sell books that are just photos of people’s dwellings. Each book has a different subject, such as “Children’s Rooms in Belsk”, or “Couple’s Apartments in Paris”. Why are they so enjoyable? I don’t know. I bought “Petite Apartments in Paris”, and I’m lusting after “Apartments with Color in Paris”. Some of them are very lovely or eccentric or quirky. I don’t know why I like looking at the arrangements and styles of people’s apartments. I just do.

It’s a gorgeous Saturday here.

Love
Emily

I’m alone in the staffroom right now… because everyone else is at the staff meeting.

There is a lot of stuff waiting to be said about Tokushima. Where the heck do I start? Well… I know I say this to everyone I talk to, but THE HEAT. I simply can’t believe it. It affects everything you do (or rather, makes you NOT do things that you otherwise might, such as going for a run, or even leaving the apartment). I refuse to put on my air conditioning, because I want to toughen myself up, and also as a general principle.

Despite the heat, I do go outside. Girls here carry umbrellas to beat the heat, even on their bikes. I tried that this morning. On my way to school, I was trying to go around a slow-moving guy who was taking up the sidewalk, and I wound up crashing into the fence that borders the road. Not quite as embarassing as the time I flipped over the handlebars in front of my roommate’s mom (it was a truely cinematic slow-motion catastrophy), but none the less… I can do without that sort of stuff.

I’ve explored a bit around the area, getting horribly horribly lost after an old man put a voodoo curse on me. Ever since then (Friday night), I haven’t had a single peaceful outing. Mostly, the area is overwhelming. I bike and walk for hours, and just can’t take it all in by myself. I haven’t yet been brave enough to go to a cafe and eat out by myself, but I will soon.

Until then, I’m trying to beat the heat and beat the blues. I’m really happy to hear from everyone so far, I miss everyone a lot. See you soon, I’m sure!