This blog post is long overdue, but I've finally gotten around to writing it!
A few weeks ago Rob and I went to Ashikita for a beach party for the Kumamoto ALTs. It was so beautiful! I hadn't seen the beach in a really long time, so it was nice to sit on the sea shore. The sand was a lot rougher than I had expected but everyone liked it just fine. I personally did not go swimming even though other people did. After a certain date in Japan you shouldn't go swimming in the ocean because of jelly fish. Even though on this beach there was what I assumed to be a jelly fish net, I refused to risk it. I late found out that someone thought they had been stung so I as reaffirmed in my decision!
The beach had huge barriers that looked like they were made of concrete jacks.
Then to finish off a lovely day was this breath taking sunset. Once the day was over the fun night festivities began.
We barbequed mochi, vegetables, and meat on these picnic tables that had built in charcoal pits. After everyone ate and drank until they were merry, people went to sleep in these beautiful cabins that we had reserved. I would love to return to Ashikita, hopefully when the weather is hotter and the jelly fish aren't lurking. It was a successful adventure, and a wonderful memory to add to our Japan experience.
A few weekends ago we went into the city with our Host Dad and two of his kids. It was very interesting! In the past they would get the horses drunk and they would stagger around all day. However, they are not allowed to make the horses drunk because of animal cruelty, so the horses just stagger around because they are scared. The horses take the lead of the groups, then they are followed by a person that is supposed to rile up the group. It is supposed to look like the people are chasing the horses. We had a pretty sweet spot to watch the parade because the horses were stopped because of traffic and the city tram. After a while we went to the end of the parade route to watch them take the horses away and also to check out the shrine.
"The festival continues for 5 days. On the first day, the head of
Fujisakigu believers prays, and there are ceremonies of lion dance dress
purification, musical instrument purification and purification of
various instruments.
On the next day, there are a tea dedication ceremony and a haiku
dedication ceremony. On the third day, Kenpei Sai (a divine ceremony),
dedication of Japanese traditional fighting matches such as fencing, and
dedication of traditional Japanese dancing. On the fourth day,
purification and decorations of horses, dedication of flower arrangement
and travelling portable shrines.
On the fifth day is the parade, headed by kannushi,
starting at 6 a.m. (starting ceremony), three portable shrines, parades
of followers, lion dances, portable shrines carried by children, and
finally the groups of decorated horses. Decorated horse group people are
dressed in uniforms of their own, dancing with folding fans, drums,
trumpets, shouting "Dookai Dookai" (meaning "how about this?"),
chasing the decorated horse of their group. Some horses run violently
and sometimes injure people nearby. These groups are from town groups,
companies, and graduates of schools and other groups.
The order of the parade is determined by drawing lots. Exceptions are
the top three groups which exist near the shrine; which must do
preparations and cleanup after the festival." - Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boshita_Festival
The festival parade gets a little repetitive after a while, but it is still neat. It probably would have been a different experience if we had been drunk along with the parade participants XD People have told me that at the end of the parade at the shrine the horses are slaughtered (horse meat is a delicacy in Kumamoto), but I didn't see any of that...maybe it happened behind closed doors.
In the videos below you can really get the full experience of the parade, the only thing I missed capturing was the especially rowdy horses.
Our apartment has two rooms, kitchen, desk area, two balcony/porches and a full bath. It's our first home! <3
Our bedroom is sporting some fantabulous sheets from Ikea which have made all the difference. We have a flat screen that in in Japanese. And this room and the living room have huge closets... filled with stuff which is why they are closed. :D
Here is our living room. Our couch folds out to a bed-like thing so when everyone comes to visit they have a place to stay. This table will be a lifesaver come wintertime because it has a heater on the bottom!
I love our kitchen because it has enough space for what we need... maybe it could use some more counter space.... but it's still awesome.
The best thing about our apartment though (aside from having air conditioning in our bedroom) is our view! On clear days you can see the windmills close to the volcano Aso. Musashigaoka where we live is in a valley so we are completely surrounded by mountains. They are so beautiful and breathtaking.
So far it has been extremely hot and humid, or torrentially raining, comfortable and humid. I imagine that the winter time here will be very similar to that of Miami.
I can't wait for our next adventure...this upcoming weekend is the drunken horse festival! See you then!
This past weekend we went on a last minute adventure with our best JET ALT neighbor. We went down into Kuma-gun for a fabulous barbecue, I haven't had such good red meat in a reallllly long time. We had to drive about an hour and a half to get to our destination but it was well worth it. It is always nice to make new friends and it is especially nice to have a plethora of English speaking gaijin around. We stayed the night with another kumajet's house. Her name was Margo and she was so nice, and her house was so amazing and had so many personal touches of home. It definitely inspired me to put a bunch of pictures around our apartment (that blog entry is soon to come). The next morning we woke up and went to the most amazing waterfall I have ever seen in my life. In the front seat you can see Colin driving with a couch surfer named Sam. It was nice to meet him in the midst of his adventures, and such a cool dude. We drove through a lot of wilderness to get to this waterfall, and honestly some roads didn't even look like roads! I picture a lot of scenes from Spirited Away when we drive around in the rural areas.
Once we made it to the trail to the waterfall, people made their pitstops in the unisex bathroom and on we went! You can see all of us trekking down as cute husband Rob takes photos. The path was very slippery in some places and looked very worn away, I do not understand why they don't upkeep that area, and moreso why it wasn't packed with people!
This is the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen in my life. The water was amazingly clear and needless to say freezing cold. We went swimming and some who were daring scaled up a few feet next to the waterfall to jump in. The current was very strong for me, so I passed on that one until next time.
Afterwards, we went to a small onsen close by. I love going to onsen. So much. Words cannot express how awesome it is. So I won't even try. ^.^ In the lower picture you can see ALT Karen and CS Sam having fun in the parking lot. The onsen owners were sooooo shocked their were so many foreigners together that he took our picture. We're famous!
To finish off a lovely weekend we caught more scenic pictures of the mountain filled landscapes and rice fields. So perfect Japan, so perfect.
Working in Japan has
been a confusing, strange, and wonderful experience. I started working
at the Kikuyo Board of Education as soon as our plane from Tokyo landed
in Kumamoto. My supervisor, my boss, an English-speaking Japanese
coworker, and the other JET ALT met me at the airport. We had a
delightful lunch where we spoke extensively about food (my predecessor
did not like fish!), the weather, my family, and the wedding. After
lunch, it was straight to work! The Kikuyo Board of Education is not
like an American board of education.
First of all, it is not elected. It
is a bureaucratic arm of the local government that coordinates between
the schools in there town and the government. The BOE builds and
renovates schools, manages finances, and spends a great deal of time
keeping the matters of the school district in sync.
While I was at the BOE,
I was scheduled time for"Japanese study." That mostly consisted of
learning about the process if becoming a Japanese resident, filling out
forms, and preparing for Jessica's arrival. I did not do much formal
studying of Japanese. I did, however, get the water and gas turned on at
the apartment, and I wrote my name just as it appears in my passport
(IN ALL CAPS, LAST FIRST MIDDLE) and used my name stamp (inkan) many
times.
I also had the
opportunity to meet the mayor and the heads of all of the offices AND
make formal self-introduction (jikosyokai) in front of the whole crowd!
Interspersed between all of the studying and stamping, I made many
self-introductions, but none were as stressful as the one in front of
the mayor. All of them were in Japanese. The Japanese put great value
into their self-introductions.
The G-ma section (all about food):
At the BOE, nobody leaves for lunch, except on very special occasions.
Most of the staff bring their own lunch from home. For those that do
not, the local take-out places deliver. I tried to eat something
different every day, but ended up eating curry and katsudon (fried pork
cutlet with egg on top, over rice in a bowl) more than once. The food
was all delicious. Yes, G-ma, I am eating.
