Kyoto

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This past weekend I went to Kyoto. As I mentioned before, it is one of the only main cities in Japan not to have been destroyed during the war. It still has many of the original temples and shrines, not reproductions. I will be taking most of you there when you come to visit, so I was excited to get a preview of the city. Unfortunately, it rained all weekend.

Friday night about 15 of us went to Nabari to celebrate Amy's birthday. There was a huge dinner and we had a great time. It was so nice to have a huge home cooked meal. On Saturday morning, we were all exhausted so we didn't end up leaving for Kyoto unitl noon. It took a couple of hours to get there and then we had to make our way to the place we were staying. We weren't staying in a hotel or hostile this time, we were staying in a ryokan (dormitory style). It's basically a house that has been turned into a dormitory. We were staying there because it was the only place in Kyoto that could take all 15 of us. Because of the leaves changing, we were there on one of the two busiest weekends of the year and we didn't book far enough in advance. So....how do I describe it? When we walked in, all we could do was laugh hysterically. It was so bad that it was ridiculous. You walked into a tiny closet sized room and this is where the owners lived and slept. You practically had to step over the old sleeping man to get to the next room. The girls were inside the main part of the house on the 2nd floor. The room consisted of 5 tiny mats which were placed right beside each other with no room in between. They took up the entire room. Blankets and pillows were placed on top. There was surprisingly a small tv on the wall, but I don't think it worked. That was it. The walls were disgusting and the dust was almost enough to choke you. Luckily for the girls, we got the nice room! The boys had to go to another set of stairs where there was an addition to the house. The basically cut off a wall and raised a metal building up to meet the house. There was about a 5 inch gap all the way around. Their room was basically outside and it was freezing. The oddest part was that right in the middle there was this little praying area that was really cool. They should have used that money to build a real wall,haha. There were ply wood bunks with blankets on them for the boys to sleep on. The upstairs looked like they got in the middle of building and just stopped. There were wires, boards, and junk everywhere. It's a good thing our group has a good since of humor. We just laughed and talked about it and agreed it would make a good story. There was no shower to use. If you wanted to shower you had to walk down the street a while and use the onsen (public group bath). There was a tiny sink, a tiny and very dirty sink, for us to brush our teeth. The smell of the entire house was bad, but by the sink/toilet area, it was almost more than I could take. So, if anyone wants an adventure....just let me know and I'll book this place for when you come!!

All that said, we still had an amazing weekend. We had so much fun laughing about our house that I didn't even mind it at all. By the time we finally got our stuff dropped off at the house, we didn't have time to do much. We decided to do some shopping for Christmas presents and then head back to get ready for dinner. We had reservations at this nice French restaurant and dinner was again great. After, we went to a small bar and then out dancing.

On Sunday, it was raining even harder. We decided to grab some umbrellas, hats, and scarves and head out anyway. We only ended up getting to go to one place, Kinkaku-ji, the famed golden temple. It's one of Japan's best known sites. Since I plan to take many of you there, I'll just tell you a little about it. First, the area is surrounded by Maple trees and the leaves were about 50% changed. The area was gorgeous, as you can see from pictures. The temple is in the middle of a small pond, so you can't actually go in it, you just walk around the grounds and look at it from a distance. Even so, it's still one of the best places I've seen yet. After, we were going to go to this mountain area that was suppose to be amazing, but the rain really started pouring and it was starting to get dark already. So, we decided to eat at a Mexican restaurant we had seen the day before and then head home.

I really liked Kyoto, although it was a little different than I expected. I had always heard it was a very traditional city, so I didn't expect it to look like a city. When I got there, I realized that the downtown area looks just like a city (but nicer) and all the traditional sites are accessed easily by bus on the outer parts of the town. The downtown area was still beautiful though, much more so than Osaka. I think that's why it's so popular. It's a big city but still has lots of traditional sites. It will make a great place to visit when you all come here. Kyoto has more shrines, temples, etc. than any other city, so hopefully I can take you all to different places when you come.

I had been kind of upset the past couple of weeks because of Thanksgiving. It turns out that the 23rd of November is a Japanese holiday, so were were all off work. We decided to get everyone together for a big Thanksgiving feast. Unfortunately for me, however, my elementary school is having a festival on that day so I have to work and take Friday off instead. Thanksgiving had originally been planned for a JET's house that was kind of far away, so I wouldn't be able to work and still make it there in time. I was really sad that everyone else would get a Thanksgiving and I would be working. Luckily, I just found out that they decided to have dinner at Audrey's. She lives just a couple of minutes from me. They are going to eat at three and I think I can get off work a little early and make it there in plenty of time! So, although we ended up not being able to get a turkey, at least I will have some sort of Thanksgiving this year. By the way daddy, please make sure we will have turkey for Christmas!!!! You know it's my favorite!

Well, in just over 4 weeks I will be home. I'm really excited about seeing everyone, although a little stressed about the car situation and trying to make sure I spend enough time with everyone and that no one gets upset with me. Soooo....don't forget that I was only going to come home for one week, but changed it to two weeks just so this wouldn't be an issue. All of my friends in Japan are going to Cambodia and Vietnam before Thailand and I will miss both of them and have to fly to Thailand by myself now. I did this so that my time home would be enjoyable and not rushed. The extra week should give me plenty of time to see everyone. I miss you all and can't wait to be home again!

Oh, and I added a few more pictures up top from culture day. Another teacher had some really good pictures and he made me a cd of them, how nice! I didn't take as many pictures in Kyoto as some other people because I hated my camera getting wet. So, once they email me their pictures, I will add another blog with more pictures of Kyoto.

CULTURE FESTIVAL!!!!

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This past weekend was culture festival at my school. As with all the school festivals/events, it is planned and prepared for long in advance. For 3 weeks before the festival, the students practiced every single day. The festival started with the 2 hour experience classes. Students got to choose which class they wanted to participate in. There were classes like bread making, computers, making a Christmas wreath, some type of martial arts, etc. I was teaching hip hop dance. As I said before, I was really nervous about the kids that were in my class and for the first 10 minutes of the class, they were really wild. I knew I couldn't handle 2 whole hours of that, so I stopped the class and told them to either dance or go sit down. Since I don't ever fuss at them, this quickly got their attention....after it was translated that is. They were great the rest of class! They were so tired after the first 45 minutes, they literally fell to the ground when it was break time. No one was even talking, they were all just panting. It was great! They had so much fun and I finished teaching them the dance just before the principal came in to watch. They did such a good job performing for him and the photographer. The next day during a break from festival, I even saw 7 or 8 of the boys doing the dance for their friends on the stage. I'm very happy it went so well.

After the experience classes, everyone walked around to look at the different art exhibits. There are so many incredible artists at my school....of course, I'm easily impressed when it comes to art. I had a great time chatting with students and looking at their artwork. Then it was back to the gym for a show from a professional comedy troop. It was basically just 5 guys doing stand up. I didn't understand a bit of it, but the kids thought it was hilarious.

The 2nd day started with the chorus contest. Each homeroom class had chosen a different song to perform. This is what they had been practicing everyday. The students were so nervous that several of them were crying hysterically. The competition is taken very seriously. There are 5 classes per grade and 1 winner is chosen per grade. Before the contest started, the chorus teacher came up and said "chorus judgement you." She wanted me to be one of the judges....obviously she had heard of my incredible singing ability. I of course agreed and just did the best I could. Luckily there were around 10 other judges, so hopefully my scores didn't count too much. I had no clue how to score many of the classes. One group I thought was horrible ended up winning.

After the chorus contest, it was time for "power live." That's what they call the last 3 events. It started with the student rock band. When they were announced, you would have thought it was the Beatles. The kids rushed the stage and screamed like they were watching celebrities. The guitar player and drummer were great, but the singer, yikes. Anyone who knows my taste in music knows I don't mind a unique voice and I'm even fine with screaming...but this was ridiculous. Halfway through the 2nd song, the microphone cut out and I was thrilled. Unfortunatley, it only lasted a minute before someone brought him a new one. Although the singing was rough, it was alot of fun to watch. When they left the stage, the crowd called for an encore, which I was told was typical. While they were changing the stage for the next event, one of the students went around interviewing the crowd. It was so funny. The next event was the teacher rock band. It went pretty much just like the student band, except the singing was better.

After that, it was time for my Souran dance. There were 11 students and 4 teachers dancing. It was the last event of the festival. I didn't think the kids would really care about it, but they treated us like the rock band, haha. I didn't realize what a big deal the Souran was. When we were announced, the kids rushed the stage again!! They didn't know that the teachers were performing in front of the stage, so it took us several minutes to get them all to back up so we would have room. They were cheering so loud and were so excited. I was thrilled when I finished the dance without messing up. When we left the stage, they started shouting encore again. I laughed because I knew there wasn't anything else for us to perform. Suddenly the students turned around and said, we do again. We ran out and did the entire dance all over again. This time, some of the students from the crowd joined in. By the time we finished, I was covered in sweat. Did I mention there were over 500 people in a gym with no air conditioning? After it was over all the students told me how great I did and all the teachers said I was the best one out of the teachers. I guess if this teaching thing doesn't work out, I'll have a back up career as a traditional Japanese dancer.

After the festival, there was an enkai for the teachers. It's just a party where all the teachers go out together to eat and drink. It's the only time you'll see many of them getting a little crazy. They are always alot of fun. My principal, who is really old, drank to much sake and kept singing karaoke. After we left the 2nd place, one of the teachers I team-teach with, Mr. Nishizawa, went to my friend Shun's bar with me. We hung out there for a couple of hours. I like getting to hang out with the teachers away from school. It makes me more comfortable when I am trying to communicate with them in school.

On Monday, I had planned to go to the shrine with friends, but it was raining. We ended up taking a drive to the top of this mountain called Sunrise Forest. The view from the top was amazing. There were mountains as far as you could see. I was told this was a very popular place to watch the sunrise. Since we hadn't planned on going, I didn't have my camera. I hope to go back so that I can take pictures to show you all how beautiful it was!

This weekend I don't have too many plans except for going to a party at a fellow JET's house. Next weekend, however, I am taking my first trip to Kyoto. Kyoto is one of the only main cities not to be destoyed by bombs during the war. Because of this, it remains a very traditional city and many people say that it is the one place you have to go if you go to Japan. I plan on taking most of you who come visit. So, I'll let you know how it is.

Halloween and upcoming events

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I have been so excited for Halloween, even though they don't even celebrate it here. Last Friday the JETs had a halloween party, so we were on a mission to find a costume in Japan (not an easy task). Kristine and I decided to dress up together. We decided to wear a costume that would be meaningful to our little Ise group of people. A while back, Taylor put the song gold digger by Kanye West as his ring tone. It quickly became our little anthem. We play it all the time and always go crazy for it. So, Kristine and I decided to be gold diggers for Halloween. We bought hard hats and spray painted them gold. We also bought goggles, a belt, mini shovels, and a pail and painted them all gold as well. We bought the ugliest gold jewelry and makeup that we could find and wrote gold diggers on our black tank tops. It was the first time I have dressed up in years! The party was great because EVERYONE was in costume.

As I was shopping for my hard hat, I came across an actual pumpkin in Japan. They are especially hard to find because Japanese pumpkins are green, so this one was probably shipped in. I bought it and was so excited to carve it. So, on Saturday I invited two of my Japanese friends over to carve their first pumpkin. They thought the inside was totally disgusting, but we had a great time cleaning it out. Etsko and I designed the face, but we made Shun actually carve it. As you know daddy, I'm not good with knives! That's Shun in the picture above. I was so excited to put the jack-o-lantern in my window. I lit it Saturday and Sunday night. On Monday when I woke up, the pumpkin was filled with water and had completely molded and fallen apart. It was the strangest thing. We had cleaned it out so well. They tell you that food stays good much less in Japan than in America, but this was ridiculus. So, I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to light it on Halloween night, but oh well.

A couple of weeks ago when I was teaching my junior high students about Halloween, I told them that if they would find me on Halloween and say "trick or treat," I would give them some candy. I saw a few write it down, but I figured most would forget if I didn't remind them. I bought enough candy for the whole school, just in case though. As I was riding my bike to school that day, I was barely 20 feet from my apartment when I heard children shouting "trick or treat." I told them they had to wait until recess or after school. All day I was hounded by students and when the time finally came, it was like a madhouse of students shouting "trick or treat!" It was alot of fun, but really crazy. Next time I will have to work out some other system. That was too much work!

The past couple of weeks I have really been enjoying my Taiko drum class. I'm still learning the basics, but it is so much fun. I can't wait until I can actually play and entire routine, which will be a while! My school is having culture festival this weekend. It's a mandatory event that is all day Saturday and Sunday. One of the main highlights of the event is every class singing a different song. The classes practice every single day after school and they are all really good. When I was in the office the other day, I heard a familiar tune. A class was singing the song that goes "country road, take me home, to the the place where I belong, West Virginia..." I'm not actually sure what the title is. They were singing it all in Japanese except for "country road." When the teacher saw me standing outside the door, she came over and I told her I instantly recognized the song. When she told the students this, they told her they wanted me to sing the song in English! So,next week I have to sing the song in front of a class of 7th graders!! I don't even know the words, but they assume I can sing it. Singing childrens songs in front of people is one thing, but an actual song....I'm going to humiliate myself, haha.

At culture festival, all of the teachers have to teach some sort of experience class like creating a wreath, bread making, learning korean, etc. One of the teachers I work closely with approached me about teaching hers because she said she had nothing to teach. She said she would translate for me and wanted me to teach a hip hop dance class because she knew I had been taking a class. Well, I hadn't been to class in weeks, but I couldn't say no. So, on Saturday I will be teaching 31 students to dance! This should be interesting. The kids got to choose from all the different classes and I expected it to be mostly girls. Somehow, I got almost all boys, and not just any boys. I got the wildest boys in the school, the ones that get in trouble all the time. So, next week I should have some ridiculous stories to tell.

I was also asked (by students and teachers) to participate in this traditional dance performance they are doing at festival. I thought it would be a very slow, low key dance like I saw the women doing at the various festivals I have attended. I couldn't have been more wrong. The dance involves shouting, stompping, and this one move that I will take a picture of. It kills my legs and I am so sore from practicing all week. I hope I don't screw it up because I still don't know the whole thing. I'll try to get someone to take a video with my camera, but I'm not sure if anyone will be able to. I'm really looking forward to this weekend and will of course tell you all about it next time!