Saturday, March 26, 2005
Man Hunting
The movers just arrived. I guess the Takashima family (lives in the apartments next to mine) is leaving today. It’s pouring rain. It’s an awful day to move.
My tennis game was canceled ‘cause of the rain as well. I was really looking forward to it, too. Last night I made cupcakes for the other players. And today, because it was canceled, I ate them all. Well, there are still seven left, but that means I ate like 10 of them.
While at Linfield, I was featured as “Wildcat of the Week” in the school newspaper my senior year. One of the questions was: “If you could add any intramural sport at Linfield, what would it be?” and I answered, “Man-hunting.”
I like this picture.
My tennis game was canceled ‘cause of the rain as well. I was really looking forward to it, too. Last night I made cupcakes for the other players. And today, because it was canceled, I ate them all. Well, there are still seven left, but that means I ate like 10 of them.
While at Linfield, I was featured as “Wildcat of the Week” in the school newspaper my senior year. One of the questions was: “If you could add any intramural sport at Linfield, what would it be?” and I answered, “Man-hunting.”
I like this picture.
So see more really gross and disgusting pictures go to Show Me Your Wound and click away!
Sometimes I get bored here. So this can be very entertaining for me.
But even I can only take a few pictures at a time.
Enjoy!
Pictures from Daniel’s parents, Vicki and Jim, on their trip to Italy, Greece and Turkey last year. いいな！("Ii na!" The onomatopoeia for “I’m jealous!” in Japanese.)
Can you guess where this was taken? It’s leaning… It’s in Italy…
At Erechteion in Athens.
Sorry, my blog's been pretty boring lately. Few pictures and even fewer interesting stories. BUT! Six days until my mom arrives and I'll have plenty of both!
Love, Sierra
Friday, March 25, 2005
A Swift Kick In The Balls
Oh my god! I felt so bad!
Unless you have already kicked some guy’s nuts as hard as you can, you can’t possibly know how bad I felt.
And unless you’ve been the victim of said crime, you couldn’t understand how bad he felt either.
Ouch.
At karate last night, after our test, I asked to spar with Use-sensei. (Our very sexy Tuesday night karate master who’s—oh so unfortunately—married with a 8-month old daughter.) So, we were sparring and it was fun. He was wearing the gear so the goal was for me to attack him and he was on defense. That’s not EXACTLY the way it ended up—he has now joined the Attack-Sierra-When-She’s-Not-Looking Club, but whenever it ends up with him on top of me, I’m okay with it.
He’s married, Sierra. Married.
But we’re just playing anyway…
So, I guess I was kicking his sides and back too much for what’s technically legal and so they said I should concentrate on kicking and punching his stomach/chest area more.
But… that’s really hard because he protects it so well. So, I’m concentrating hard and aiming for his front—I swear I was aiming high—and I landed my hearty kick right in his crotch. I kicked really hard. Not sort-of hard. As hard-as-I-can-kick hard. I play soccer. I kick hard. It completely crippled him. He dived to the gym floor in slow motion.
I just laid on the floor next to him, apologizing profusely and asking if he was okay, as all six of the other karate guys laugh, moan and groan sympathetically.
Then I asked, “I hope you don’t want anymore children?”
It’s awful. I can’t stop laughing as I write this. I shouldn’t be laughing. It’s serious.
Well, that was the end of sparring and I can pretty much guarantee no one’s ever going to want to spar with me again.
I’ve never said “Gomenasai” so many times in my life.
He was able to walk afterward. Then he had to ride his motorcycle home.
ごめんなさいうせ先生！
Matsuzono-sensei came up to me afterwards and said “blah, blah, blah, Rape, blah, blah, blah.” So, I guess if I ever need to use that kick again, I know how to execute effectively.
God, I feel awful.
In the car on the way home, Koichiro invited me over to watch the Japan vs. Iran soccer game that was on at 10:30 p.m. I couldn’t believe he asked me to hang out. I really wanted to, but I had already made plans with Rie. She came over and we watched Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. I fell asleep during the movie for a little while, but I woke up again and was a good host for the rest of the evening.
It's exhausting sparring.
Today, Koichiro left to go back to Iki island (his hometown) for Spring Break. He’ll be gone about two weeks and when he gets back Mama will be here already! Today I’m going up to the gym to have swim practice with Tanabe at 6 p.m. and Sunday I’m playing in a tennis match with Asagami-san. This weekend will go too fast!!
But I think I passed the karate test and I will be a purple belt soon!!!
On the offense,
Sierra
Peter sent me the pictures from his weekend on Kamigoto! So beautiful they are! He’s a wonderful photographer with a great sense of space.
Posting one of my favorites first. Looking up from beneath the akou tree (banyan) in Narao. 650 years old.
Unless you have already kicked some guy’s nuts as hard as you can, you can’t possibly know how bad I felt.
And unless you’ve been the victim of said crime, you couldn’t understand how bad he felt either.
Ouch.
At karate last night, after our test, I asked to spar with Use-sensei. (Our very sexy Tuesday night karate master who’s—oh so unfortunately—married with a 8-month old daughter.) So, we were sparring and it was fun. He was wearing the gear so the goal was for me to attack him and he was on defense. That’s not EXACTLY the way it ended up—he has now joined the Attack-Sierra-When-She’s-Not-Looking Club, but whenever it ends up with him on top of me, I’m okay with it.
He’s married, Sierra. Married.
But we’re just playing anyway…
So, I guess I was kicking his sides and back too much for what’s technically legal and so they said I should concentrate on kicking and punching his stomach/chest area more.
But… that’s really hard because he protects it so well. So, I’m concentrating hard and aiming for his front—I swear I was aiming high—and I landed my hearty kick right in his crotch. I kicked really hard. Not sort-of hard. As hard-as-I-can-kick hard. I play soccer. I kick hard. It completely crippled him. He dived to the gym floor in slow motion.
I just laid on the floor next to him, apologizing profusely and asking if he was okay, as all six of the other karate guys laugh, moan and groan sympathetically.
Then I asked, “I hope you don’t want anymore children?”
It’s awful. I can’t stop laughing as I write this. I shouldn’t be laughing. It’s serious.
Well, that was the end of sparring and I can pretty much guarantee no one’s ever going to want to spar with me again.
I’ve never said “Gomenasai” so many times in my life.
He was able to walk afterward. Then he had to ride his motorcycle home.
ごめんなさいうせ先生！
Matsuzono-sensei came up to me afterwards and said “blah, blah, blah, Rape, blah, blah, blah.” So, I guess if I ever need to use that kick again, I know how to execute effectively.
God, I feel awful.
In the car on the way home, Koichiro invited me over to watch the Japan vs. Iran soccer game that was on at 10:30 p.m. I couldn’t believe he asked me to hang out. I really wanted to, but I had already made plans with Rie. She came over and we watched Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. I fell asleep during the movie for a little while, but I woke up again and was a good host for the rest of the evening.
It's exhausting sparring.
Today, Koichiro left to go back to Iki island (his hometown) for Spring Break. He’ll be gone about two weeks and when he gets back Mama will be here already! Today I’m going up to the gym to have swim practice with Tanabe at 6 p.m. and Sunday I’m playing in a tennis match with Asagami-san. This weekend will go too fast!!
But I think I passed the karate test and I will be a purple belt soon!!!
On the offense,
Sierra
Peter sent me the pictures from his weekend on Kamigoto! So beautiful they are! He’s a wonderful photographer with a great sense of space.
Posting one of my favorites first. Looking up from beneath the akou tree (banyan) in Narao. 650 years old.
From the akou tree looking east, towards downtown Narao.
The akou tree looking west, with Narao’s shrine in the background and the library (not visible) on the left. Narao is beautiful.
Sierra looking at the fortunes that people tie on the tree and humbled by the silence and beauty of the old tree.
Giants’ toys. These huge concrete pieces are dumped in the ocean creating a wall which prevents big waves from reaching the bay/shores around the island. They look so small from a distance, but up close you realize just how massive they are. This picture kind of shows that.
Mini islands like these are scattered all throughout Goto.
The snowy weekend created some beautiful views of Kamigoto.
A better picture of the Great Road of Kamigoto.
My imagination sees this peninsula as a serpent rising out of the water and gliding quietly east. You can almost see the JET Foil (fast ferry) coming back from Nagasaki on the right.
The snow as it started to fall on Saturday morning. That’s Komeyama mountain and the view from my balcony.
My island. These mountains look like they were painted in—they are so perfect and beautiful.
As reflected in a mirror.
The beautiful shore Peter and I found while exploring. There’s lots of green moss and algae in the winter/spring, but it wasn’t here when I arrived in August, so it must die in the heat in the summer.
Video-chatted with Daniel again Friday morning. It was so hard to get out of bed, but his persistent IMs and video-chat invitations got me out eventually. He’s in his Air Force uniform. So cute!!
Bye Daniel!
And some more pictures that Peter sent me that I think are beautiful.
This is a station along the JR Matsuura Line in Nagasaki-ken. It’s so… Japanese.
This is Nagasaki, but I don’t know where. Doesn’t Peter have a good eye?
A little road in the inaka (countryside).
A garden in Nagasaki.
Bye!
Boys, boys, boys
I only expect the most devoted of you to read this painfully long post on my lack-of-love life!!
Saturday I got Tanabe's business card. With his keitai (cell phone) number on it!!! I joined his swim lesson at 6 p.m. Usually there are three girls, but two were absent and so it was just Yui and I. I swam about 2,200 meters. Yui did a whole other workout on top of it, swimming 4,000-something meters, but I didn't feel like it. Tanabe and Yui asked when I would join again. I (happily) said Wednesday or Thursday (which actually didn’t happen because I had farewell enkais on both those nights).
I asked him to hang out this weekend. It works out well that he gets Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off this week and I'm not going anywhere this weekend. I asked him to go hiking either Sunday or Monday. He said he's maybe got plans to go fishing with a friend Sunday and baseball on Monday. He didn't know for sure. So I said, call me when you find out and then we exchanged phone numbers. He called me on Sunday morning but said he was going fishing with is friend after all. He said again, “But let’s go eat ramen together sometime!”
I'm having all these internal debates about how aggressive to be with him. One nice thing about dating in America, I understood the rules.
Monday was a holiday and in the afternoon I decided to go swimming again. I was feeling so great that I decided to invite Koichiro along. At 2 p.m. I went upstairs to ring his doorbell. Pin-pon! =) I said I was going to the pool, did he want to come? He said at 4 o'clock he was available, right now he was working. I was shocked. I am so used to getting rejections that didn't know what to say. I just smiled goofily and said, "Okay! Right! 4:00! Okay! Cool! See you at 4:00! Cool!" He could tell I was shocked. It made him smile too. So, I did my grocery shopping, made some banana bread and hung my last load of laundry.
Just before 4 p.m. I took some of my hot banana bread downstairs to my neighbors who were hanging out outside. Koichiro came down a while later and we discussed where to go. He thought the pool would be closed because it was a Monday, but I told him it would be okay. I gave him a slice of bread and he SCARFED it down. He said oishii about a thousand times. It was sweet.
On the drive up (he drove) I said, “Keitai ga hoshii”(I want a cell phone.) and so we went to the Docomo shop and bought one. It was just like that. He helped me pick out my phone and my plan, but I didn’t end up getting the phone until today (Friday). He gave Docomo his keitai number and they said they'd call him when it was ready and he'd pass the message on to me. As he and the woman talked, I heard him say, "Let's do all the paperwork now so that she can come by herself when it's ready." And I said, "Alone? No! Let’s come back together!”And he laughed, but agreed.
Then we went swimming. I hardly ever swim with Koichiro. We usually just play around in the pool and have fun talking. He tried to teach me the butterfly again. It's kind of his specialty. It's so not mine! We were in there for hours. And then we onsened. It was amazing fun.
On the way out the door, he called Nice Day to tell him he didn't need his daily bento. (Everyday he buys a bento from our grocery store and so he never has to cook for himself. He makes his own rice, which somehow makes me think he's not completely lazy, even though that's not hard to do with a cooker.) I asked if we should eat dinner together and he said sure. AGAIN! SHOCKED! Didn't think he had time for this silliness! We got some groceries and went back to my place to make tacos.
It was already 9 p.m. when we got home, but he came over and we made tacos together. I have some masa to hand make tacos, so we hand-rolled and cooked our own shells. When he first came in my apartment he asked to turn on the TV and I said no problem. But then I immediately asked him to start grating some cheese, slice the tomatoes and wash the lettuce. In the end he helped with the all the cooking. I was worried he wanted me to cook everything FOR HIM! That was not what I meant when I said, "Let's make dinner together!" He said he enjoyed rolling out the tacos and watching them cook. Cooking is fun! I guess I can't be too surprised if it's the first time he's been in the kitchen. This is Japan.
We ate a ton. He was so full it looked painful! Then I said, "You get to do the dishes!" There were SO many dishes, but he did them all. I told him I would do half, but he said he liked them! Trying to get on my good side, I see! =) He went home around 11 p.m. It was so much fun.
Oh! And he fixed my cordless phone. It was having a dead battery and I didn't understand why. It was sitting in the holder for days and never charged so I assumed the battery needed to be replaced, but it was a complicated battery. Actually, I had just unplugged the phone on accident, and he went and plugged it in for me. Embarrassing. He asked how long it was like that and luckily just a couple days!
But did I mention how much fun the whole day was?!?!
It even inspired me to talk to him in the staff room on Tuesday. Something I haven't done in a LONG time! Actually, things were almost natural again! It was really pleasing and I still don't know what brought out this change! I asked if he was going to karate and he said yes. We decided to go together. He drove and at karate it was basically just the two of us practicing the whole time for our test on Friday. We continued to practice this yoga pose that I tend to do absentmindedly when I'm bored or stretching. It's sort of impressive so I've been teaching him how to do it correctly recently. Good times.
In the car on the way home I asked him about his past girlfriends. He thought I asked if he HAS one and he said “zenzen” (which means both "never" and "not at all") which surprised me because I assumed he'd have had one at one point in his life. We clarified the misunderstanding (he meant zenzen in the "not at all" way, not in the "never" way) and he told me about a girlfriend he had a year ago in Fukuoka. I asked why they broke up and he said distance, but I say, "It's NOT that far!" and he admitted there was a fight too. We arrived home and then we couldn't get far into the conversation, but it was fun to talk about for a little while even. He asked about my boyfriend in Nagasaki, and I said, "Who are you talking about?" He was talking about Peter on Takashima, but I said, "Nope, just a friend," and he seemed satisfied with that answer.
On the way home I invited him in to show him some ceramics I made while visiting Shingo with Catherine a while back. They turned out really well, by the way! I can't wait to take pictures to post on my blog! He said they were jozu (good) and it's because they really are jozu! Then he left and I started cooking dinner and, "Pin, pon!" Koichiro has never rang my doorbell, I don't think. I've ALWAYS been the first to go to him and the few times we agreed to meet for something he just waits outside in the parking lot until I come outside.
So, it was him. I needed my passport for the keitai. I had stuff on the stove that I had to watch so he came inside to explain why. Then he had me call Masami, who speaks English and is friends with Docomo woman to confirm that I would bring and fax my passport at school on Wednesday. While I was on the phone, catching up with Masami about lots of stuff (haven't seen her since he stopped working in Feb) Koichiro stayed in my apartment, looking at my cereals, my shelves of food, and practicing our yoga pose in the kitchen. He was being really at-home in my place and staying for much longer than was necessary. I thought it was odd, but men ARE odd.
Wednesday comes. It was HORRIBLE then WONDERFUL. Nothing went right for me the whole afternoon. It's an small exaggeration, but much of the afternoon was very sad and painful for me, then everything turned out alright. Despite the conversation last night, I forgot my passport so I had to go back and get it. Such a waste of gas! And Koichiro and I were so confused about when we'd pick up the cell phone and the logistics of getting to the enkai on time. Every few minutes there was a new problem: They couldn't read the fax so I would have to take my passport up there. The phone couldn't be picked up before 5, but we had to be at the enkai at 6:30. To get a ride from Hatake we had to be at the apartments at 6. Then they couldn't give me my phone because they needed the passport by noon to process the paperwork! Gadfrey! It's was so frustrating. Everyone in the office knew all the details of my cell phone purchase and it was really embarrassing. It doesn't sound awful, but Koichiro and I were really confused and I had this huge zit on my face so it was even worse that we had to spend all this time discussing it! And Hatake was trying to figure out if/when we'd need a ride to the enkai too. We basically agreed to meet at 4:30 and then drive up together and if we'd get the call on the way knowing if it was ready or not. Well, then one last thing he said to me before leaving work, "I'll call them and we'll find out if we can get the phone tomorrow." Well, that's what I thought he said because somehow I thought we weren't driving up together anymore. Then I saw he had left work already and I couldn't really clarify what he meant.
Then the piece of really bad news comes. Catherine emails me and says, "Do you know that you're not teaching at Wakamatsu (my junior high school) next year?" She got some paperwork from the BOE and they've taken my school away from me! I'm so angry! I asked Hatake about it and he knew nothing! How can he not know anything? When were they planning on telling me this? It's so unfair! I was--and still am--very upset about this. I'm not busy enough at the high school to be full time here and I really get a lot of pleasure working with the JH schoolers. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That piece of news alone, would have been bad. But I had to hear it on top of an already frustrating day.
At 4 p.m. I just left work and drove up north myself. I didn't even listen to music I was so sad. I dropped off the passport copy myself and the mean old woman said I couldn't have my phone today. Grrrr. Why do they need my passport anyway?!?! This is ridiculous.
I get back to the apartments and ready for the enkai. I'm NOT in the mood for drinking and fun-having so I dress in black and go outside just before six to get a ride with Hatake. And I see I'VE KILLED A BABY BIRD! Well, it's sitting on top of my Kuro kuma-kun's bumber and it's dead. I can only assume it didn't choose that location to die, but that I hit it somewhere along the road! An AWFUL DAY! Now I can add "killer" to the list of reasons I'm a bad, bad person.
Everyone comes out and in the end, it's just me and Hatake who ride in his car because there's not enough space for everyone. Hatake goes, "Did you apologize to Koichiro? He was waiting for you for a long time." So, I was wrong about not meeting at 4:30 anymore and I feel like total jerk.
It's quiet in the car, so I asked if I could just talk because I needed someone to listen. Hatake said of course yes. I told him he didn't have to say anything, I just needed someone to listen. Then I spilled everything about feeling like a half a person in Japan, the cell phone/passport complications and the junior high school decision (it's killing me!!!!) and the baby bird and that I stood up Koichiro without evening KNOWING that was standing him up and he's just trying to help me! Oh! I'm sure I scared his wife. I just talked and talked and it felt really good. I was starting to smile because I realized how crazy the whole situation was, but I was really sad about loosing the JHS.
At the enkai I sat next to cool Iwahashi-sensei who always makes me happy because he's wonderful. He noticed I was being quiet and asked what was wrong. I told him it was just a terrible day and he listened to all my problems while pouring me lots of beer. Although it was more of joke now. I said I was wearing all black for the baby bird and I even told him about my crush on Tanabe. So my interest in a Japanese man who WASN'T Koichiro sparked some interest, and Iwahashi asked if Koichiro and I had a fight! A fight!! Huh? I mean, I did stand him up today, but I apologized and ...it's not like it was a fight...
So I inquire further asking WHY everyone asks me all the time why we're not together. "Common sense," he says! It's common sense that Koich and I get together because we're both young and single. Hmm. So I asked why it wasn't common sense that Rie and Koichiro get together--she's 24 and Japanese, afterall--but she's quite a bit overweight and combined with the height difference it would be a rather funny looking couple. I knew why that wasn't common sense, but I still didn't know why it's common sense for US to be together. I feel like when teachers talk to me about Koichiro, they already know something they're not telling me, but I can't get any hard evidence out of them EVER!
A funny side story about the lovely Iwahashi-sensei. He pulls money out of his pocket and says he must give money to the teachers who are leaving. "OH!! It's SUCH a terrible day, I complain!" just to get lots of laughs from him. "I didn't know I should give money to people leaving!!!" and they all laugh because I'm so clueless, but want to learn so badly. Then I pick a bone with Hatake who promised me he'd TELL me whenever I should be giving money to people!!!!
I got really drunk. Not so drunk that I was sick, but drunk enough that I gave a really amazing speech when I handed Tomonaga-sensei his farewell flowers. Or so they say, I only vaguely remember I had to pee really bad as I was giving the speech, I can't remember what I said. But I did cry during the speeches and as I was handing the flowers off to Tomonaga. The enkai went really quickly. Too quickly. And I stayed by Iwahashi-sensei the whole time. He was so sweet. Whew. It was fun. I hardly even saw anyone else there.
On the way out I was kidnapped by Miyomoto-san who said I had to go to his house afterwards. I hadn't talked to Koichiro at all at this point (except in the street beforehand to apologize for standing him up, which Hatake actually did for me because I couldn't explain and I just did a lot of bowing), but I casually asked Miyomoto-san if he was coming. I'm not sure if that's the reason he came, but I was just happy he did.
As we arrived at Miyamoto-san's house, I said, "I’m going to the sea”and Koichiro grabbed my hand, like, no! we're going inside. But I convinced him to walk down to the ocean with me and we sat hanging our legs over the dock, talking and watching the stars before going back to Miyamoto-san's. Things were looking good. I was speaking Japanese really well--I am a great speaker when I'm drunk, but there were only the two of us (plus Miyamoto and his wife and son Seiya, a high schooler at my school) at the party. So we called Takeda-sensei and he came a bit later with a huge sword. It was just an imitation sword, but it was amazing and everyone loved playing with it.
Somehow I got interested in Koich's phone he opened a game of tetris for me. I was exhausted and everyone was talking in Japanese so I just zoned out into this tetris game. When I would push a wrong button and the game stopped or when I lost and it needed to be restarted, he absentmindedly fixed it for me. It was very sweet. Oh! I was wearing his tie and jacket too. He put those on me at some point in the evening!
I think I fell asleep for a minute because I woke up and I saw Koichiro in his boxers standing above me. He was trying on an old suit from Miyamoto and I just came to during the middle of it. I couldn't believe the first time I see Koich's boxers is in a room full of people. I suppose I've seen kyoto-sensei in his boxers too, so maybe this isn't that big of a deal in Japan. Just an interesting side note.
Then it's time to go (Miyamoto is asleep on the table) and his wife offers to drive us home. It's not a far walk from our apartments though and so I say, "No, no! We'll walk. It's not a problem." They struggle to get me in the car, but I'm crafty because I'm drunk don't get in the car. I try pulling Koich out of the driveway too, but I realize there's no way I'm getting Koich to walk by trying to drag him home. So I say, "You drive. I'll walk" I thank the family and I start walking. For a minute I thought maybe I would be walking home alone, and that scared me because I didn't actually want to walk, I just wanted extra time with Koich. A few seconds later Koich runs after me and I feel pretty smug that I was right.
We get home and I'm still in his jacket and have his cell phone, but they've kind of been forgotten. He didn't come to school today because he's done with classes and it was just the closing ceremony. (And maybe because I had his only suit jacket held hostage.) I just got back from another enkai (the Wakamatsu farewell party which is loosing EIGHT teachers, plus me, plus one of my JTEs in July) and I took him his jacket and cell phone. It was an uneventful meeting. I said, "See you tomorrow." and left. He seemed surprised I had his cell phone--oh, like he didn't notice!!! He's not coming to school tomorrow either, I don't think, just to the karate test in the evening. Then it's back to Iki Island for Spring Break and I won't see him for a while. BUT MY MOM IS COMING!!! He said he wants to meet her so that'll be fun.
And whoever said that what happens at an enkai stays at an enkai? Because that’s just not true. Takada-sensei just told some story about the two of us at Miyamoto-san’s house and everyone is laughing!! And I know he’s got some serious dirt on us too!
I feel like I'm back in junior high!
Sierra
Saturday I got Tanabe's business card. With his keitai (cell phone) number on it!!! I joined his swim lesson at 6 p.m. Usually there are three girls, but two were absent and so it was just Yui and I. I swam about 2,200 meters. Yui did a whole other workout on top of it, swimming 4,000-something meters, but I didn't feel like it. Tanabe and Yui asked when I would join again. I (happily) said Wednesday or Thursday (which actually didn’t happen because I had farewell enkais on both those nights).
I asked him to hang out this weekend. It works out well that he gets Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off this week and I'm not going anywhere this weekend. I asked him to go hiking either Sunday or Monday. He said he's maybe got plans to go fishing with a friend Sunday and baseball on Monday. He didn't know for sure. So I said, call me when you find out and then we exchanged phone numbers. He called me on Sunday morning but said he was going fishing with is friend after all. He said again, “But let’s go eat ramen together sometime!”
I'm having all these internal debates about how aggressive to be with him. One nice thing about dating in America, I understood the rules.
Monday was a holiday and in the afternoon I decided to go swimming again. I was feeling so great that I decided to invite Koichiro along. At 2 p.m. I went upstairs to ring his doorbell. Pin-pon! =) I said I was going to the pool, did he want to come? He said at 4 o'clock he was available, right now he was working. I was shocked. I am so used to getting rejections that didn't know what to say. I just smiled goofily and said, "Okay! Right! 4:00! Okay! Cool! See you at 4:00! Cool!" He could tell I was shocked. It made him smile too. So, I did my grocery shopping, made some banana bread and hung my last load of laundry.
Just before 4 p.m. I took some of my hot banana bread downstairs to my neighbors who were hanging out outside. Koichiro came down a while later and we discussed where to go. He thought the pool would be closed because it was a Monday, but I told him it would be okay. I gave him a slice of bread and he SCARFED it down. He said oishii about a thousand times. It was sweet.
On the drive up (he drove) I said, “Keitai ga hoshii”(I want a cell phone.) and so we went to the Docomo shop and bought one. It was just like that. He helped me pick out my phone and my plan, but I didn’t end up getting the phone until today (Friday). He gave Docomo his keitai number and they said they'd call him when it was ready and he'd pass the message on to me. As he and the woman talked, I heard him say, "Let's do all the paperwork now so that she can come by herself when it's ready." And I said, "Alone? No! Let’s come back together!”And he laughed, but agreed.
Then we went swimming. I hardly ever swim with Koichiro. We usually just play around in the pool and have fun talking. He tried to teach me the butterfly again. It's kind of his specialty. It's so not mine! We were in there for hours. And then we onsened. It was amazing fun.
On the way out the door, he called Nice Day to tell him he didn't need his daily bento. (Everyday he buys a bento from our grocery store and so he never has to cook for himself. He makes his own rice, which somehow makes me think he's not completely lazy, even though that's not hard to do with a cooker.) I asked if we should eat dinner together and he said sure. AGAIN! SHOCKED! Didn't think he had time for this silliness! We got some groceries and went back to my place to make tacos.
It was already 9 p.m. when we got home, but he came over and we made tacos together. I have some masa to hand make tacos, so we hand-rolled and cooked our own shells. When he first came in my apartment he asked to turn on the TV and I said no problem. But then I immediately asked him to start grating some cheese, slice the tomatoes and wash the lettuce. In the end he helped with the all the cooking. I was worried he wanted me to cook everything FOR HIM! That was not what I meant when I said, "Let's make dinner together!" He said he enjoyed rolling out the tacos and watching them cook. Cooking is fun! I guess I can't be too surprised if it's the first time he's been in the kitchen. This is Japan.
We ate a ton. He was so full it looked painful! Then I said, "You get to do the dishes!" There were SO many dishes, but he did them all. I told him I would do half, but he said he liked them! Trying to get on my good side, I see! =) He went home around 11 p.m. It was so much fun.
Oh! And he fixed my cordless phone. It was having a dead battery and I didn't understand why. It was sitting in the holder for days and never charged so I assumed the battery needed to be replaced, but it was a complicated battery. Actually, I had just unplugged the phone on accident, and he went and plugged it in for me. Embarrassing. He asked how long it was like that and luckily just a couple days!
But did I mention how much fun the whole day was?!?!
It even inspired me to talk to him in the staff room on Tuesday. Something I haven't done in a LONG time! Actually, things were almost natural again! It was really pleasing and I still don't know what brought out this change! I asked if he was going to karate and he said yes. We decided to go together. He drove and at karate it was basically just the two of us practicing the whole time for our test on Friday. We continued to practice this yoga pose that I tend to do absentmindedly when I'm bored or stretching. It's sort of impressive so I've been teaching him how to do it correctly recently. Good times.
In the car on the way home I asked him about his past girlfriends. He thought I asked if he HAS one and he said “zenzen” (which means both "never" and "not at all") which surprised me because I assumed he'd have had one at one point in his life. We clarified the misunderstanding (he meant zenzen in the "not at all" way, not in the "never" way) and he told me about a girlfriend he had a year ago in Fukuoka. I asked why they broke up and he said distance, but I say, "It's NOT that far!" and he admitted there was a fight too. We arrived home and then we couldn't get far into the conversation, but it was fun to talk about for a little while even. He asked about my boyfriend in Nagasaki, and I said, "Who are you talking about?" He was talking about Peter on Takashima, but I said, "Nope, just a friend," and he seemed satisfied with that answer.
On the way home I invited him in to show him some ceramics I made while visiting Shingo with Catherine a while back. They turned out really well, by the way! I can't wait to take pictures to post on my blog! He said they were jozu (good) and it's because they really are jozu! Then he left and I started cooking dinner and, "Pin, pon!" Koichiro has never rang my doorbell, I don't think. I've ALWAYS been the first to go to him and the few times we agreed to meet for something he just waits outside in the parking lot until I come outside.
So, it was him. I needed my passport for the keitai. I had stuff on the stove that I had to watch so he came inside to explain why. Then he had me call Masami, who speaks English and is friends with Docomo woman to confirm that I would bring and fax my passport at school on Wednesday. While I was on the phone, catching up with Masami about lots of stuff (haven't seen her since he stopped working in Feb) Koichiro stayed in my apartment, looking at my cereals, my shelves of food, and practicing our yoga pose in the kitchen. He was being really at-home in my place and staying for much longer than was necessary. I thought it was odd, but men ARE odd.
Wednesday comes. It was HORRIBLE then WONDERFUL. Nothing went right for me the whole afternoon. It's an small exaggeration, but much of the afternoon was very sad and painful for me, then everything turned out alright. Despite the conversation last night, I forgot my passport so I had to go back and get it. Such a waste of gas! And Koichiro and I were so confused about when we'd pick up the cell phone and the logistics of getting to the enkai on time. Every few minutes there was a new problem: They couldn't read the fax so I would have to take my passport up there. The phone couldn't be picked up before 5, but we had to be at the enkai at 6:30. To get a ride from Hatake we had to be at the apartments at 6. Then they couldn't give me my phone because they needed the passport by noon to process the paperwork! Gadfrey! It's was so frustrating. Everyone in the office knew all the details of my cell phone purchase and it was really embarrassing. It doesn't sound awful, but Koichiro and I were really confused and I had this huge zit on my face so it was even worse that we had to spend all this time discussing it! And Hatake was trying to figure out if/when we'd need a ride to the enkai too. We basically agreed to meet at 4:30 and then drive up together and if we'd get the call on the way knowing if it was ready or not. Well, then one last thing he said to me before leaving work, "I'll call them and we'll find out if we can get the phone tomorrow." Well, that's what I thought he said because somehow I thought we weren't driving up together anymore. Then I saw he had left work already and I couldn't really clarify what he meant.
Then the piece of really bad news comes. Catherine emails me and says, "Do you know that you're not teaching at Wakamatsu (my junior high school) next year?" She got some paperwork from the BOE and they've taken my school away from me! I'm so angry! I asked Hatake about it and he knew nothing! How can he not know anything? When were they planning on telling me this? It's so unfair! I was--and still am--very upset about this. I'm not busy enough at the high school to be full time here and I really get a lot of pleasure working with the JH schoolers. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That piece of news alone, would have been bad. But I had to hear it on top of an already frustrating day.
At 4 p.m. I just left work and drove up north myself. I didn't even listen to music I was so sad. I dropped off the passport copy myself and the mean old woman said I couldn't have my phone today. Grrrr. Why do they need my passport anyway?!?! This is ridiculous.
I get back to the apartments and ready for the enkai. I'm NOT in the mood for drinking and fun-having so I dress in black and go outside just before six to get a ride with Hatake. And I see I'VE KILLED A BABY BIRD! Well, it's sitting on top of my Kuro kuma-kun's bumber and it's dead. I can only assume it didn't choose that location to die, but that I hit it somewhere along the road! An AWFUL DAY! Now I can add "killer" to the list of reasons I'm a bad, bad person.
Everyone comes out and in the end, it's just me and Hatake who ride in his car because there's not enough space for everyone. Hatake goes, "Did you apologize to Koichiro? He was waiting for you for a long time." So, I was wrong about not meeting at 4:30 anymore and I feel like total jerk.
It's quiet in the car, so I asked if I could just talk because I needed someone to listen. Hatake said of course yes. I told him he didn't have to say anything, I just needed someone to listen. Then I spilled everything about feeling like a half a person in Japan, the cell phone/passport complications and the junior high school decision (it's killing me!!!!) and the baby bird and that I stood up Koichiro without evening KNOWING that was standing him up and he's just trying to help me! Oh! I'm sure I scared his wife. I just talked and talked and it felt really good. I was starting to smile because I realized how crazy the whole situation was, but I was really sad about loosing the JHS.
At the enkai I sat next to cool Iwahashi-sensei who always makes me happy because he's wonderful. He noticed I was being quiet and asked what was wrong. I told him it was just a terrible day and he listened to all my problems while pouring me lots of beer. Although it was more of joke now. I said I was wearing all black for the baby bird and I even told him about my crush on Tanabe. So my interest in a Japanese man who WASN'T Koichiro sparked some interest, and Iwahashi asked if Koichiro and I had a fight! A fight!! Huh? I mean, I did stand him up today, but I apologized and ...it's not like it was a fight...
So I inquire further asking WHY everyone asks me all the time why we're not together. "Common sense," he says! It's common sense that Koich and I get together because we're both young and single. Hmm. So I asked why it wasn't common sense that Rie and Koichiro get together--she's 24 and Japanese, afterall--but she's quite a bit overweight and combined with the height difference it would be a rather funny looking couple. I knew why that wasn't common sense, but I still didn't know why it's common sense for US to be together. I feel like when teachers talk to me about Koichiro, they already know something they're not telling me, but I can't get any hard evidence out of them EVER!
A funny side story about the lovely Iwahashi-sensei. He pulls money out of his pocket and says he must give money to the teachers who are leaving. "OH!! It's SUCH a terrible day, I complain!" just to get lots of laughs from him. "I didn't know I should give money to people leaving!!!" and they all laugh because I'm so clueless, but want to learn so badly. Then I pick a bone with Hatake who promised me he'd TELL me whenever I should be giving money to people!!!!
I got really drunk. Not so drunk that I was sick, but drunk enough that I gave a really amazing speech when I handed Tomonaga-sensei his farewell flowers. Or so they say, I only vaguely remember I had to pee really bad as I was giving the speech, I can't remember what I said. But I did cry during the speeches and as I was handing the flowers off to Tomonaga. The enkai went really quickly. Too quickly. And I stayed by Iwahashi-sensei the whole time. He was so sweet. Whew. It was fun. I hardly even saw anyone else there.
On the way out I was kidnapped by Miyomoto-san who said I had to go to his house afterwards. I hadn't talked to Koichiro at all at this point (except in the street beforehand to apologize for standing him up, which Hatake actually did for me because I couldn't explain and I just did a lot of bowing), but I casually asked Miyomoto-san if he was coming. I'm not sure if that's the reason he came, but I was just happy he did.
As we arrived at Miyamoto-san's house, I said, "I’m going to the sea”and Koichiro grabbed my hand, like, no! we're going inside. But I convinced him to walk down to the ocean with me and we sat hanging our legs over the dock, talking and watching the stars before going back to Miyamoto-san's. Things were looking good. I was speaking Japanese really well--I am a great speaker when I'm drunk, but there were only the two of us (plus Miyamoto and his wife and son Seiya, a high schooler at my school) at the party. So we called Takeda-sensei and he came a bit later with a huge sword. It was just an imitation sword, but it was amazing and everyone loved playing with it.
Somehow I got interested in Koich's phone he opened a game of tetris for me. I was exhausted and everyone was talking in Japanese so I just zoned out into this tetris game. When I would push a wrong button and the game stopped or when I lost and it needed to be restarted, he absentmindedly fixed it for me. It was very sweet. Oh! I was wearing his tie and jacket too. He put those on me at some point in the evening!
I think I fell asleep for a minute because I woke up and I saw Koichiro in his boxers standing above me. He was trying on an old suit from Miyamoto and I just came to during the middle of it. I couldn't believe the first time I see Koich's boxers is in a room full of people. I suppose I've seen kyoto-sensei in his boxers too, so maybe this isn't that big of a deal in Japan. Just an interesting side note.
Then it's time to go (Miyamoto is asleep on the table) and his wife offers to drive us home. It's not a far walk from our apartments though and so I say, "No, no! We'll walk. It's not a problem." They struggle to get me in the car, but I'm crafty because I'm drunk don't get in the car. I try pulling Koich out of the driveway too, but I realize there's no way I'm getting Koich to walk by trying to drag him home. So I say, "You drive. I'll walk" I thank the family and I start walking. For a minute I thought maybe I would be walking home alone, and that scared me because I didn't actually want to walk, I just wanted extra time with Koich. A few seconds later Koich runs after me and I feel pretty smug that I was right.
We get home and I'm still in his jacket and have his cell phone, but they've kind of been forgotten. He didn't come to school today because he's done with classes and it was just the closing ceremony. (And maybe because I had his only suit jacket held hostage.) I just got back from another enkai (the Wakamatsu farewell party which is loosing EIGHT teachers, plus me, plus one of my JTEs in July) and I took him his jacket and cell phone. It was an uneventful meeting. I said, "See you tomorrow." and left. He seemed surprised I had his cell phone--oh, like he didn't notice!!! He's not coming to school tomorrow either, I don't think, just to the karate test in the evening. Then it's back to Iki Island for Spring Break and I won't see him for a while. BUT MY MOM IS COMING!!! He said he wants to meet her so that'll be fun.
And whoever said that what happens at an enkai stays at an enkai? Because that’s just not true. Takada-sensei just told some story about the two of us at Miyamoto-san’s house and everyone is laughing!! And I know he’s got some serious dirt on us too!
I feel like I'm back in junior high!
Sierra
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Teacher Torture Day
The teachers that are transferring this year just found out last Friday and so it’s been a crazy week of last classes, closing ceremonies, farewell parties and packing up to move off the island. I’m having the three Nakako teachers and kyoto-sensei who are leaving write in my Gjestbok (The "Yearbook of My Life" given to me by Harald). Tomonaga-sensei wrote in it yesterday and I was really touched by what he said. He wrote,
“To Sierra
Times flies like an arrow.
I have spent sixteen years on this island.
This land is indeed my hometown.
You're one of the most friendly ALTs I've ever met.
You're always so cheerful, warm, happy and cute.
You're the sunshine of Nakako.
I can't think of Nakako without you.
I miss you so much.
Keep on studying Japanese.
Your Japanese is improving marvelously.
I hope you'll enjoy your Nakako life.
Thank you for everything.
Masaaki Tomonaga
No music, No Life.
たくさんのおもいで ありがとう。
また会える日をたのしみにちています。"
He also included two pictures. One of himself and one of his music students playing at a nursing home in August last year for the volunteer day. I went to watch them so it's especially a special picture for me.
He’ll be going to a school in Shimabara somewhere—obviously is really sad about leaving, but his family is anxious to go after 16 years here. He's being replaced by a 22 year old, recent college graduate. Her name's Ai Sasaki. She can't be head of the English department, so she's going to be my supervisor. (The two full time English positions divide these responsibilities.) I’ll have to move my desk to sit next to her now. I’ll be really sad to leave Hatake. I enjoy sitting next to him. I’ve got the best location in the staff room.
I met Sasaki-sensei today. I went to the port to pick her and the other two new teachers today. They seem really quiet and shy, but Sasaki does speak English! =) She’ll be living in Narao, but her grandparents live in Arikawa, so maybe she’s familiar with the island already.
Ah! It’s almost four and the weekend’s almost here!
Love, Sierra
P.S. Don't you love the new "next post" feature? It was pretty hard to easily scroll through posts if you got behind before. This new feature, which Daniel, of course wrote up for me, is dedicated to my mom who easily gets behind. I hope you're having a great time in Mexico mom and this button eases some of your pain when you get back and realize how much you have to catch up on!!!
“To Sierra
Times flies like an arrow.
I have spent sixteen years on this island.
This land is indeed my hometown.
You're one of the most friendly ALTs I've ever met.
You're always so cheerful, warm, happy and cute.
You're the sunshine of Nakako.
I can't think of Nakako without you.
I miss you so much.
Keep on studying Japanese.
Your Japanese is improving marvelously.
I hope you'll enjoy your Nakako life.
Thank you for everything.
Masaaki Tomonaga
No music, No Life.
たくさんのおもいで ありがとう。
また会える日をたのしみにちています。"
He also included two pictures. One of himself and one of his music students playing at a nursing home in August last year for the volunteer day. I went to watch them so it's especially a special picture for me.
He’ll be going to a school in Shimabara somewhere—obviously is really sad about leaving, but his family is anxious to go after 16 years here. He's being replaced by a 22 year old, recent college graduate. Her name's Ai Sasaki. She can't be head of the English department, so she's going to be my supervisor. (The two full time English positions divide these responsibilities.) I’ll have to move my desk to sit next to her now. I’ll be really sad to leave Hatake. I enjoy sitting next to him. I’ve got the best location in the staff room.
I met Sasaki-sensei today. I went to the port to pick her and the other two new teachers today. They seem really quiet and shy, but Sasaki does speak English! =) She’ll be living in Narao, but her grandparents live in Arikawa, so maybe she’s familiar with the island already.
Ah! It’s almost four and the weekend’s almost here!
Love, Sierra
P.S. Don't you love the new "next post" feature? It was pretty hard to easily scroll through posts if you got behind before. This new feature, which Daniel, of course wrote up for me, is dedicated to my mom who easily gets behind. I hope you're having a great time in Mexico mom and this button eases some of your pain when you get back and realize how much you have to catch up on!!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The Implications
Oh! The implications for secretly changing one’s blog! I’ve heard everything from I'm being stalked and I want to keep a secret boyfriend to I need to gossip about my fellow islanders without them being privy to it! If I had known there’d be this many people in a flurry about it—I’d had done it much sooner! =) Not really, it’s actually been mostly frustrating explaining why, Why WHY? People just love to assume, and unfortunately the reason’s not nearly as dramatic as you’re all hoping for. No stalkers. No secret boyfriends. No desire to gossip endlessly about the Kamigoto Kids.
I just wanted ya’ll to answer my questions. (Could it really be that simple?) Who are you and why do you read it? I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately. The 2005 Bloggie Awards came out recently and I’ve loved going through the winners and nominees and reading what everyone thinks is cool. I’m obviously not cool, because the few people who do read my blog, just emailed me and said, “You know who I am, now send me the fucking URL.”
So, because I’ve spent the weekend (and even more today) trying to calm people down about the blog migration, I haven’t written anything meaningful in a while. Not to assume I ever write anything meaningful. I’ve got my little list then:
Stuff to Mention on my Blog (i.e. To my mother and Daniel’s mother as they are they only ones who read it).
1. I survived the earthquake. Someone did not. It was not me. I survived the earthquake.
2. In two weeks I will have a new supervisor. She is 22 years-old and fresh outta college. This is not a welcomed change. I WANT TO KEEP HATAKEYAMA-SENSEI!!!
3. Ignoring Koichiro was a method I should have tried long ago. He’s all of a sudden very interested in me again. We spent all evening Monday together and he's talking to me at school again!
4. Found some more reminiscent pictures…
I just wanted ya’ll to answer my questions. (Could it really be that simple?) Who are you and why do you read it? I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately. The 2005 Bloggie Awards came out recently and I’ve loved going through the winners and nominees and reading what everyone thinks is cool. I’m obviously not cool, because the few people who do read my blog, just emailed me and said, “You know who I am, now send me the fucking URL.”
So, because I’ve spent the weekend (and even more today) trying to calm people down about the blog migration, I haven’t written anything meaningful in a while. Not to assume I ever write anything meaningful. I’ve got my little list then:
Stuff to Mention on my Blog (i.e. To my mother and Daniel’s mother as they are they only ones who read it).
1. I survived the earthquake. Someone did not. It was not me. I survived the earthquake.
2. In two weeks I will have a new supervisor. She is 22 years-old and fresh outta college. This is not a welcomed change. I WANT TO KEEP HATAKEYAMA-SENSEI!!!
3. Ignoring Koichiro was a method I should have tried long ago. He’s all of a sudden very interested in me again. We spent all evening Monday together and he's talking to me at school again!
4. Found some more reminiscent pictures…
Boy, my hair was long!
5. I’m all of sudden very interested in someone else. Tanabe has officially entered my life. Not officially, but I have his business card, cell phone number and he called me this weekend! Oh, the stories shall come.
6. I’m in Japan, therefore I bought a cell phone. There is a 1:1.5 person to cell phone ratio here. It’s about time I got connected. It’ll be useful when my mom is here and when I do my hitchhiking around Kyushu. And ALL the other time too.
(Honestly I just wanted the phone for the camera!)
7. I changed my mind about my new supervisor, Sasaki-sensei. Maybe she’s really cool and we could end up being good friends? I hope she speaks English. (Yes, she’s an English teacher, but that doesn't mean anything here.)
I just got back from karate with Koichiro. Our next test is this Friday. Now I’m not sure if it’s for the purple belt or not. It doesn’t really matter what color, but I SWEAR it’s for purple. No one believed me tonight. Hmm… I get the cell phone tomorrow (they were out of stock of my favorite—a sleek black photo phone) right before the school’s farewell party (enkai) in the evening. I’ll take some pictures at the enkai for sure—hopefully it will mean Koich and I will have some bonding time over the phone!
Hitting the showers,
Sierra
Oh! 8. I video-chatted with DT this weekend! We haven’t done that in forever. Got to see his new apartment and it’s cool!!!
What's that on your screen? Ha! Made ya look!
His room is orangy-red. It matches his sheets. It's so cool! Did I say that already?
Monday, March 21, 2005
Super Short Note
Just a super short note to say that I survived the earthquake, had an amazing three-day weekend and am going to bed now. I know I’ve got to tell you about Teacher Torture Day, Tanabe’s lesson, and my evening with Koichiro!! And everyone is asking why, Why, WHY did I change my address? I’ll share soon enough!
Love, Sie
Love, Sie
