red letter day!

as usual, there's too much to tell, and i've been a royal slug and haven't written enough! so let's do a drive-thru of the past two weekends!

the weekend of november 13th&14th, tracey and i took a wee road trip down to kobayashi, where a small flock of jetlings were gathering for the night. we picked up irish john in takanabe along the way, and before reaching kobayashi, managed to meet up with the lovely auzzies lachlan and emma. they took us to a fertility shrine, then along a pretty river.

perhaps you can guess why this is a fertility shrine. note the shape of the rock formation behind me!

once we were done frolicking in nature (and giggling at the rock hard phallus), we picked up some much-needed booze and proceeded to party it up at kiwi jonno's abode before hitting the town. several jets were celebrating their birthdays that weekend, so we made sure to make a night of it! a giant, tangled, collective sleep among sushi scraps and potato stew dregs ensued. all in all, a wonderful time!

the next day, tracey & irish john & kiwi tiff & i stopped off in miyazaki city for a much-needed and much-appreciated coffee break and chat, then tracey and i got back to nobeokely dokely, where i proceed to pass out from pure exhaustion (standard).

to be honest, not much to say of last week...there were probably innumerable funny little details that i'm currently not clever enough to remember!

last weekend, however, was joyous! irish matt returned from his sojourn home, resplendent with priceless gifts like M&S percy pigs, crunchies, and cadbury dairy milk. oh, the treasures! saturday, after a botched attempt at scoring a mcdonald's breakfast (the mcdonald's in jusco doesn't "do" breakfast...EEEEHHHHH?), we watched my lovely seiun boys basketball team defeat a team from saito (yee-haw!). then, after a quick lunch and shop, we watched matt's boys unfortunately get beaten by a rather boorish team from takachiho. as my students would say, flatly, "that's too bad."

saturday night featured a night of boozing festivities for a small group of jetlings here in nobeoka, and i'm proud to say that i didn't even make it past 11:30 pm. lightweight for the win!

sunday--oh, sunday. about six of us attempted to find the kitagawa river, where tracey and i had ridden bikes a few months ago. this time we were in cars, however, and after a few wrong turns, multiple flipped u-eys, and limey sam telling tracey in a reassuring voice: "you're not a failure. you're very successful...at being a dickhead," we finally found a spot under a bridge. a few of the boys braved the cold waters, throwing rocks at each other and shrieking (naturally...), while we girls stood around and had uncivilized chat.

after the boys were sufficiently freezing and tired of tossing boulders around, we bid adieu to half the group, and john/tiff/tracey/me went to find lunch at a jidori (blackened chicken) place nearby. we pulled up, and immediately calls of "gai-jin!" trailed over to us. we were enthusiastically beckoned over to an area outside the (empty) restaurant, where a crowd of people were having a picnic. smiling, saying things in japanese, they sat us down at the picnic table and presented us with platters of food. of course.

they seemed to be having some sort of party, and we were just instantly overwhelmed by the generosity. beers were poured, hashi was distributed, and they urged us to eat. we ended up staying for about three hours. throughout the course of the afternoon, the following happened:

-we watched one of the ladies feed chicken to swooping falcons
-a man missing a front tooth punched me repeatedly in the arm to get my attention
-a woman told me her "fat son" was in my class at seiun
-all of us spoke in english to some poor, confused japanese person on the phone, as the person's friends cracked up
-many photos were taken with disposable cameras
-one of the ladies, who had a cackling laugh, pretended to pour shochu (whiskey) from her chest, prompting a rousing chorus of "BOOB SHOCHU!" among all present
-the party obsessed over all of our blue/green eyes
-a man told me that my sunglasses were like "ah-du-ree hepu-ban!"
-...we discovered we were in fact crashing the jidori lady's husband's death's anniversary party. a class act, we are.

the whole experience was very strange. the people were so kind, but also quite a bit rougher than those i've encountered so far. i could tell their humor was bawdier, their language less intelligible and more folksy, and their contact with foreigners practically nonexistent. it was good to see a little bit of variance from the usual reserve!

on monday, i honestly don't know what happened, other than the fact that i rode my bike in the rain to school. haha, oh yeah, and i called one of my very rowdy students a tensai (genius) after he spelled something correctly, which caused the whole class to erupt in cheers and screams.

yesterday was a holiday (hip hip hooray!), so irish matt and i sojourned up to oita prefecture to watch a kyushu soccer tournament in a big old stadium. it was awesome, and hilariously different from sporting events back home. the jumbo-tron would pick people in the crowd, and underneath say things like "good family!" there wasn't any trash anywhere, and there was zero heckling. alongside booths selling hot dogs and fries, there were yakisoba and ramen stands. i saw some man skillfully walking around while slurping his ramen, and it made me laugh!

the game itself was really fun. the teams weren't the most advanced in the world, and ended up tying, but there was a lot of cheering from both ends, and many cries of "SHOOT-O, SHOOT-O!" and "HAI, DOZO! GANBARRE!"

after the game, despite the crowd of 14,000 people, we had exited the stadium in 5 minutes. it was the most organized, civilized sporting event exodus either of us had ever witnessed. yet again, kudos, japan!

and as for today: it started off on the right foot, seeing as i got to school and saw a neat little stack of completed "i am thankful for..." slips on my desk. one of the students had written, "i am thankful for lilly, because i enjoy your classes."

my heart exploded!

then, a sensei who is married to an american lady asked me timidly if i would like some thanksgiving food. my eyes got humongous, and i burst out, "YES!" he scuttled away, and came back with a bag filled with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. i didn't even know what to say. the generosity here astounds me daily.

during cleaning time, a gaggle of boys breezed past me. one called, "hey, ho!" incredulously, half-laughing, i yelped, "WHAT?!" they all ran away tittering.

tonight, my box from home arrived, packed to the brim with clothes, food, presents, and unadulterated joy. life here is too good, sometimes.

with a squealing percy pig in my mouf,
lilly

japanese flower arranging & a short quip about being a spectacle

last thursday, yet again i was invited to join the 2-5 class in some cultural activities. i was only too happy to do so! this time, rather than cooking, our group embarked on a flower arranging adventure. we all bustled into "conference room A," and lollygagged before getting seated. i ended up with a very adorable, smiling, shy boy who seemed both reluctant and excited to share a table with me. i'm like some sort of friendly beast...like a ginger gentle ben!

anyways, we each had a thin bundle of flowers in front of us. an absolutely darling grandmother-esque lady was introduced to the class, then she instructed us on how to use the tools, clip the stems, and do countless other things that i could not catch. throughout the steps, as we worked, i kept looking at my table buddy and watching what he was doing. he tried to help me, using a few english words here and there, but largely just showed me. eventually, after finishing the arragnements' centerpieces (mine was a bird of paradise), we were free to arrange the other flowers how we wanted.

ah, but "free" is a funny word! i arranged my flowers how i wanted--poorly--(never have been and never will be good at crafty things!), and sat back to admire my quick, slipshod handiwork while everyone else toiled away. the sweet grandmother lady made her way around the room, helping the students, then arrived at my two-minute masterpiece (monstrosity). she said a lot of things in japanese (i think explaining why it was all wrong!), then took out almost all my flowers and rearranged them beautifully. i thanked her profusely, and she seemed pleased.

after everyone finished fussing about, we all got up and walked around the room to examine each other's arrangements. there were some truly lovely ones! the and kyoto sensei and kocho sensei (vice principal and principal) were there, too, along with some other teachers, so it was an important affair! throughout the "admiring" time, i noticed that the sensei were all hustled together, conspiring over a clipboard. you guessed it--there were awards to be had!

...so imagine my surprise (and guilty horror) when my name was called along with several students'! i made a "wtf" face, but smiled as the students good-naturedly applauded my (the sweet old lady's) creation.

we six winners got to proudly display our works in the school's entryway, where they still are now! evidence below.

mine's the one on the right!

so this morning, on my crisp bike ride to work, i laughed to myself as i pedaled down the street, thinking about how funny i must look to japanese people, what with wearing sunglasses at 8am. most japanese people don't wear sunglasses at all, seeing as they don't need to, and i was wearing a needlessly humongous pair. i also had on my dusty, puffy blue jansport backpack, had my bangs pinned back (every girl here has bangs, no exceptions), and was wearing my "professional" clothes.

as i rounded the corner and came onto seiun's street, i noticed a small gaggle of teachers perched at the crosswalk ahead. once in a while, a teacher will be posted there to stop traffic and let students ride across the street. today, randomly, there were five teachers there. and as i cruised up on my bike, with my giant sunglasses unsuccessfully hiding a suppressed peal of laughter, i bid them a giggle-choked "OHAYO GOZAIMASU!!!" as one of them held up a flag to stop the non-existent traffic as i blew past. i just knew that i must have looked so incredibly foreign at that moment, with my ridiculous sunnies, pinned hair, childish backpack, and status as the only teacher at seiun who rides a bike to school.

i must seem like an over sized foreign kid. i don't mind a bit!

clownishly,
lilly

pyromania

japanese people love fire. and i love fire. and i love them for loving fire.

last weekend, tracey and i roadtripped down to saito for its annual festival. perhaps you've noticed that i've attended many festivals since coming here...it's very easy to do so! different towns throughout the prefecture have multiple festivals per year, so there's always one to go to. many of them are similar, with taiko performances, music, food booths with yakisoba, jidori, takoyaki, and other festival treats, and lots of families. some of the jetlings have commented on festival burnout, citing the repetitiveness of many of the events.

however, saito's festival was anything but commonplace. i'll let the video speak for itself. peeps set a little house on fire and danced around it. there was also an impressive samurai dance, in which two of our beloved jetlings partook! enjoy.




also, yesterday at school we had a fire drill. i expected it to be similar to american fire drills, and for the most part, it was--other than the fact that the students had to run to their safe zone (our american teachers forbade us from running...which totally makes sense. jokes.)

the students and teachers stood/squatted out in the baseball field, while a fire marshall spoke at length about safety...pretty standard. however, two teachers and two students then came to the front.

this is where japanese fire drills really differ from american drills...and in the absolute best way possible. there was a flat box (maybe 3 feet long, 3 feet wide, 6 inches tall) next to a propane tank. the fire marshall then poured some sort of flammable liquid into the box, added propane, and lit it on fire. a HUGE, billowing flame (over 10 feet high) resulted, and one of the teachers rushed forward with a fire extinguisher to put it out. this was repeated three more times, to the kinesthetic learning benefit of the other teacher and two students, and to the great entertainment of everyone else. it was truly hands-on learning, and the whole experience was more awesome than i could have ever dared hope fire drills could be.

with fire in my heart,
lilly

cooking crass

titular pun intended! you will see...

today, i somewhat randomly partook in the 2-5's home economics class. we made an excellent seaweed soup, the name of which i think is wakame. all i know is that i was under the (glaringly false) impression we'd be making burritos.

before even stepping into the spotless, laboratory-esque classroom, the students and i donned aprons, tied our hair back with kerchiefs, changed slippers, and had to have our hands inspected for cleanliness by the teacher. well...i guess i didn't have to do it. i stupidly jammed my hands out with a big, childish grin on my face, internally congratulating myself for removing all of my chipped nail polish last night. however, the sensei looked a bit sheepish and said, "errr...daijoubou." oops. i often forget that i'm a (cough) respectable teacher here, and not one of the students!

a little pink, i was ushered over to table nana (7), and was joined by three rather humorless students. i don't know why they were so serious...i would've been stoked to have a home ec class in high school! while we watched a girl at our table wash the rice, i tried to get them excited. "i've never made rice," i announced. they nodded somberly. fail.

but anyways, we soon abandoned our station to crowd around the front table with everyone else. the class commenced with the usual bowing (i don't know if i've mentioned this before. each class begins with the students bowing in unison while saying onegaishimasu, and the teacher bowing and responding in turn. the classes also end like this, but instead "gozaimashita" is used. it's quite formal! so we bowed and stuff, then the sensei showed us how to do everything...and of course i understood nothing, other than the fact that we weren't making burritos.

my group hustled back to our table, and began preparing the food. i was meant to cube the tofu, which should have been easy enough. i would say i'm a decent cuber. however, i decided to get all fancy-pants on the kiddles, and try out a trick my japanese mama showed me. well, as they say, pride goeth before a fall.

i cut the block horizontally, from top to bottom, rather than vertically, showing off my wannabe sushi-chef skills. the students, much to my satisfaction, said, "Fight, fight!" while i successfully created four semi-equal cross sections. i then sliced the block into four vertical pieces, thinking i was done. i went to pull off a cube, and came up with a dangler. i quickly realized i'd have to cut the blob across four more times, but by then the whole thing had basically crumbled and i was left hacking haphazardly at the tofu logs. ah, well.

my next task was simply slicing string beans, which went smoothly enough. for the most part, i let the students take charge, and waited until someone gave me something to do. watching the students cook was really interesting. they were so precise, so delicate, with measurements and stirring and slicing. everything was done slowly and methodically. this is not the cooking i'm used to! i'm used to the comparatively wild kitchen of my beloved extended famiglia, which usually is peppered with cursing, shouts, running, and directions like "eyeball it."

not so much in japan.

rather than ever winging it, every time the students had a question, they beckoned the teacher over to show them exactly how to do it. it was so different from what i remember of high school. whenever my classmates and i were unsure, a lot of the times we'd do whatever and hope for the best. there was a lot of emphasis on figuring things out for ourselves, which i don't think is valued here as much.

another interesting point: the extreme cleanliness of it all. before we even started cooking, we rinsed off all of the utensils, dishes, and pots that were brought out of (very clean) cabinets. i saw them, they weren't dirty! but we rinsed anyways. chopping boards were rinsed after every use, even if there was no residue left on them. when we brought out the multiple plates and dishes we'd be eating on from spotless, doored cabinets, those were washed with soap and water. after we ate, everything--EVERYTHING was cleaned. we took apart the stoves (on which nothing had spilled, btw), scrubbed the griddles, washed the grills. it all seemed so unnecessary to me, though, admittedly, i'm a scab.

at one point, the towel i was using to dry things was pretty much saturated. i went to grab another from our table's towel rack, but the other towels were differently colored. i had a feeling there was a reason for that, and i asked a student if it was okay for me to use the blue towel to dry. she tilted her head, sucked in air in a "sssss" noise while grimacing slightly, and i knew it was a no go. i found out later that the blue towel is for wiping off the (already clean) eating table. no cross-contamination, onegaishimasu!

while we cleaned, the fella in our group was looking for something to do. he clearly wanted to put away the dishes, but didn't know which drawers in our counter they were meant to go in. rather than opening the drawers, looking at what was inside, and going from there, he waited patiently until the sensei came round, then had her show him where to put the spoons (with the other spoons), the bowls (with the bowls), and the pans (...you already know!). it was so interesting and frustrating to see. there is a pervasive fear among students of taking initiative, and of being wrong. even though i would love for them to be willing to step out a bit more, i don't really see it as my place to subvert what their culture has ingrained in them. imagine what american students would do if a japanese teacher told them to never speak their minds! JOKES!

alright, that turned into a way bigger blog than it was supposed to be! but in case you didn't pick up on the punnage of my title, the joke is that "crass" is "class" in engrish. also, i am the one who is cooking crass(ly). my cooking is messy, multitasked, loud, chock full of swears, and imprecise. coupled with my japanese students, though, we managed to pull off a dang tasty seawood soup and rice bowl.

before we left, and once all of the cleaning was finally done, we washed and dried our table's kitchen sink. one more time: we dried the inside of a sink.

bewitched, bothered, and bewildered (in the best way!),
riri-sensei

"engrish," as it's called

sometimes, broken and slightly wonky english is endlessly amusing to me. sometimes, despite its strangeness, it sounds like the most beautifully strung-together words i've ever heard. it just depends! for example, last week the students had a little comic strip which showed a girl named miki choosing a dog, then taking care of her dog. she fed the dog, and cleaned the dirty dog's house for it. here are some primo sentences:

"miki chose a drown puppy."

"she noticed blemish on the doghouse."

"she cleaned the hut."

"she thinks, my dog will pleasure the beautiful house." (ummmm JOKES!)

"she thought her puppy is pathetic. GOOD LUCK, MIKI!!" < my favorite

so, obviously, those are all hilarious. however, during friday's cleaning time, one of the boys i always clean with came up to me with a very stoic face. he asked, "riri-sensei...do you have a dream?" as seems to be my habit, i inexplicably almost burst into tears!

also, in my beloved essay class, one of my students wrote a few weeks ago that he wants to be an illustrator. i wrote in his notebook that i wanted to see one of his drawings. he drew me this two weeks later:


oh, these kids. they will do me in.

mushily,
lilly

i'm a snotty girl

there's nothing like the excitement of getting sick in a foreign country! last year, in london, i had the hilarious and awful experience of contracting the worst case of pinkeye the world has ever seen. luckily, one of my darling flatmates went out to buy medicine for me, and the rest lifted my spirits by constantly pointing and laughing at my goo-and-crust-coated eyeballs. all in all, though, it wasn't a big deal.

"here in japan" (quotation marks because my students always use that phrase, haha), it's easy to feel helpless. i don't like asking people for help, and i especially don't like taking sick days! so when i woke up on thursday with no voice, an aching bod, and a sore throat, my first thought was "EFF. WHAT AM I GONNA DO?!"

everything seems exaggerated in importance and direness, at least for me, over here. at home, i'd think, "awwww, i have a sore throat! better get some 'throat coat' and spend the weekend at mama and papa's."

but here, i don't know what the hiragana/katakana/kanji are for lozenge, cough medicine, or anything else. i don't even know how to ask for them in japanese! so, with these thoughts tumbling around in my noggin, i decided to do things the japanese way--don a surgical mask and get to work.

in LA, whenever i saw someone wearing a surgical mask, i rather unfairly and derisively chuckled to myself, "SARS is over! get that mask off, fooligan!"

japan has changed me forever--the masks are a really good idea! besides looking funny, i don't know why they haven't caught on in the states. there's none of that "OMG KEEP AWAY I'M SICK DON'T TOUCH ME!" you can go about your daily life without worrying that you're contaminating everything and everyone in sight. however, despite my attitude change, i don't think i'll be carrying the custom back to the states...i'll just yearn for it.

my sexy surgical mask. so japanese! (wow, i could carry groceries in those bags under my eyes! attractive.)

so on thursday (rambling!), i staggered into the teachers' office, croaked out "ohayo gozaimasu," and everyone sort of let out this pitying "ahhhh!"

throughout the day, i felt babied by my co-workers' concern, and i LOVED it! hahaha! highlight: one guy came up to me with a little cake treat from kagoshima, and said, "be...powerful."

luckily, yesterday i felt a bit better, and today i'm a little more improved--just a mildly sore throat, run-of-the-mill malaise and endless snot. i researched some homeopathic japanese methods for helping colds, and learned that hot ginger tea is popular. so, yesterday i bought a giant, cheap ginger root (78 yen ~$1...is it that cheap in the U.S.?). i've been fine chopping it, boiling it, and then drinking it with green tea and honey. it feels oh-so-right! but i do keep yearning for chicken soup...and my pop's special honey-lemon drink.

but anyways, that's enough of that sick talk! oh wait, except for these laughable tidbits: once, jennifer said to me, "lilly, you're hilarious when you don't feel well!" apparently my students agree. when they heard my weakened voice in the hallway, and in class, they all started cracking up! what the heck? but their reaction made me laugh, too!

also, my friend carmen gave me some golden advice: "when you have a cold, you have to consume as many calories as you can so that your body has the strength to fight it." i'm pretty sure that's not true, but i've taken it to heart, anyways!

okay, so: mah life. i'll fill you in on last weekend, aka the weekend i had been looking forward to for weeks--HALLOWEEN! the fun commenced on friday night, when a group of us went out in miyazaki city for carmen's birthday. nomihodai (aka all you can drink) was of course the protocol, so needless to say we had a lovely night!

the next day, carmen went off to hyuga, so i was left to explore the city by myself until it was time to go to miyakonojo. i began by (somewhat nervously) taking a bus by myself....successfully! it was such a simple task, but i still felt very accomplished when i disembarked. i like doing things by myself, but navigating a city--and really, traveling in general--without a partner in crime isn't as good as having someone to experience everything with. i still had a good time, though!

i headed into a tsutaya (chain store of music, books, etc) to find an english book. i spent a good amount of time in there, carefully combing the english section, and happily walked away with on the road. then, i window shopped for a bit in bon belta, an epically huge department store. everything was so nice and so expensive, i felt like a total imposter in my raggedy, stinking clothes and dirty backpack.

so, after bon belta, i headed to starbucks to get a sandwich and sit outside to read and people-watch. there were a ton of folks out and about since there was a parade to start at 2pm. after i polished off my sandwich and read a bit of kerouac, i walked about 30 feet and arrived at the parade. pictures!

i like his hat.

sweet dragon thing scaring children

papered tree, the symbolism of which i do not know. sawree!

kiddles! KAWAAAIIIII

after watching the parade for some time, i caught a train to miyakonojo, where i met up with melissa, keith, and jacks for some scrumdidilyumptious tomato ramen. it was basically soul-warming tomato soup with homemade ramen in it. sooo good!

we then began to get ready for the epic halloween party, and i apprehensively donned my ginger spice costume. it ended up being alright though, thanks to my handy-dandy opaque tights, and the party itself was everything i thought it could be-- nomihodai, dancing, and fabulous jetlings!

the next day, a group of us (some still in costume...i was wearing my friend chris's jacket over mine, which probably just made things worse) went to the mall for some eats. then, after a stop-off in saito, i came back to good ol' nobeoka. it's a hard life, all right.

snuffling contentedly,
lilly

everyone loves a holiday!

especially me, and especially when they come on a wednesday! this will be a short little blobby, because i must do a bit of work before bed, but let me just say that today was a lovely little yasumi (holiday).

i was somewhat productive, and did a giant batch of laundry in the morning, as well as cleaned most of my (formerly pigsty-ish) apartment. then, i bicycled to right-on, a cute clothing store, with tracey, and bought a warm shawl, gloves, socks, and totally unnecessary high heeled sandals. they were on sale, though! and i have to start assimilating...gotta fit in with the japanese fashions, yo!

after that, i ate a scrumptious noodle lunch and went for a run. the weather has turned borderline frigid (i wear leggings, a jacket, and slippers in my apartment at all times, and am still freezing), but this afternoon was perfect running weather.

along the way, TWO people bid me "ganbatte" (literally "fight," but is the equivalent of "c'mon, go!"). i felt so honored!

i had tracey over for some pesto pasta tonight (prepackaged japanese pesto = not bad!), tickled the fake ivories on my beloved piano, and now must get down to some work. catch ya later, gai-jinators!

love,
lilly