Episode 3 - Oddities and Tribulations

Konichiwa Mina-san!

There are so many things to talk about and so little time to talk about them! I'm on a time restriction today, as my new roommate will be arriving today at 2pm. He's an Aussie (like 40% of all Nova Teachers) and his name is Tristan Barry. I spent all morning cleaning up my 'lovely' appartment and setting up his room, so hopefully that works out. I'm going to dedicate a portion of my next posting to talk about Tristan, but until then, let's get back to my story.

Right, so I finally got a chance to see something that many Japanese people are embarassed about! About once a week at my school in Tsuminami there is a large group of people who drive in large cars and trucks in a parade of sorts waving HUGE banners and shouting over megaphones. I was obviously curious as to what all the noise was, and so I went out and asked the Japanese staff at the desk, "Whoa, what's that all about?" She nervously and shyly responded saying that it was a right wing activist political party group that basically hate all foreigners and want them out of Japan. Apparently they have a bit of a following here (not a huge one mind you, so don't you worry!) I thought it was hilarious, and I asked Neil (a fellow teacher) about it. He said that he thinks it's so funny, because sometimes they'll come by during a lesson, and he says his students all start rocking in their chairs and looking down at the floor. Hahaha. A very uncomfortable situation for them, but as long as we don't draw attention to it, I'm pretty sure that nothing bit will come from it. I would guarantee that almost 100% of our students don't belong to that party, seeing how Nova's teachers are exclusively foreigners.




Oh, and hey, I finally got a chance to go walking around through the underbelly of Tsushimmachi! So exciting. I went down a few dark side alleys and found a lot of "snack" bars. (Snack bars are essentially like prostitution bars.) And in case you were wondering, NO, I didn't go in! I also found a cool temple and some neat stores. One store that I found here in Tsushimmachi probably has the best sign I've ever seen. Now, the picture didn't turn out so well (camera phone pic) BUT, I will tell you now that the sign was brown.

Right, so teaching has been pretty good thusfar. I had an observation recently, and I did quite well. I've also had a chance to teach some kids classes. Right now I'm the teacher for 3 Junior classes (ages 6-9) and 1 Senior class. No Kinders, or Chibikos at this point, but hopefully next month I'll get the chance. I may sub in for a Chibiko class sometime soon, so that will be awesome... Chibiko classes are for 2-3 year olds, and they're there with their parents. All you do is sing and do some games. Krazy fun.

Our Soccer team had a challenging night on Sunday, since there were some new Ninhonjin teams out. I must say though, team Gaijin (we wear orange vests) has dominated in the last two nights. On Sunday, we played about 6 games (20min each) and we won each and every one of them! We're kicking-ろば and taking names! (If you can read Japanese, you'll be fine with that last sentence.) I'm in the midst of making a video for our soccer team, but you'll have to wait a few weeks before you get to see it. I've gotta get a lot more footage, and of course, some crazy Japanese music to re-mix it to. I'll try and fly a Canadian banner in there somewhere.





Also, one of my new friends Gill (like a fish gill) and her friend Leigh (Lee) hosted a trivia night on Monday night. I've got a few pics of some of us, but don't let these deceive you because it was a killer turn out with 21 people in total. Although my team didn't opt for the name "Team Optimus Prime" we still managed to take the bronze medal. 3rd out of 7 isn't that bad... Our game was excellent in the beginning, but after a bottle of Sake and some beer, it's sometimes hard to get all the answers, right? Haha.

Well, with that I believe I will bid you fairwell for now, and if you've got an $40 bucks, ship me some Tim Horton's Coffee... the stuff here is terrible.

Ja mata neh,

-benjamin

(Mmmm... deep fried Squid tentacles!)
(Japanese Graffiti is so hardcore, eh?)
(Although one person is lonely, he is making it cleverness.... ???)