教育委員会旅行 -- Kyouikuiinkai Ryokou -- BoE Trip

"Don't forget, we will leave at 9:00!"

"That's right -- LEAVE. Don't make us come to your house to get you!"

"Wakarimashita! I understand! Don't worry, I won't be late!"

This was the exchange that took place on Friday afternoon, before I left the BoE for the day. As you may have guessed, I've slipped into my more typical habit of not getting to work on time -- a definite no-no in a Japanese office. It doesn't make a huge difference, seeing as I don't really have a defined role at the Board of Ed., but it does make me look like a bit of an ass. Here's hoping it's balanced out by all the days I stay late...

I was early to the bus on Saturday though, despite feeling like a giant snot-monster.

Note to self: don't get a cold for the weekend of your Board of Education trip.

Good thing we spent most of the day on the bus -- I did my share of sleeping while we drove and everybody else drank. No really. I wasn't joking when I said I'd be offered a beer the moment we left.

Our first stop was to pick up some of our co-workers who live in Asahikawa. Then it was on to a roadside toilet. I only mention this stop because I met a guy living in the smallest village in Hokkaido. His English was great (he told me he learned it naturally -- four years living with a Canadian girlfriend). Even more unusual, he approached me to talk, which is such a rarity it threw me for a loop. Unfortunately, most of what he talked about it was the recent arrest of an area ALT for marijuana possesion. Which is looked at in the same light as heroin trafficking. Well, now I know what the talk at Mid-Year Orientation will be about.

Further notes to self: Be aware that talking to strange boys in public will make your BOE assume you are now dating and will shortly be getting married.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, or at least I was able to sleep the rest of the way. For those who know me, you know I generally can't sleep in a moving vehicle. Yes, I was actually that tired.

We eventually made it to Otaru. Just in time for lunch. Not knowing much about Otaru other than they are famous for glass-making, canals and sushi, I was hoping for some good sushi. And I was lucky. One of the older guys in the office claimed to know the best sushi restaurant in Otaru, so we hopped in a cab and left the tourist district for a little hole in the wall sushi place. It was amazing! Expensive by Hokkaido standards -- my 11-piece set was around 3000 yen -- but worth every yenny. I was glad I had popped an illegal Sudafed tablet that morning so I could actually taste it. And then I was surprised to have lunch paid for by the gentleman who had brought us to the restaurant. It was amazing. He was also friends with the owners, so I think he was happy to show off his knowledge (and maybe show off his gaijin handling skills). Afterwards, seeing as it was my first time to Otaru, we walked down to the canals. Pretty, but they have better ones in Europe. I would have liked to stop at the Otaru beer factory, but of course on a bus tour, there was no time for that. Besides, I wasn't drinking becuase I was sick.

Our next stop was Sapporo. We had a few hours before the enkai, which I used for sleeping. The enkai itself was fun. The food was pretty good, and I like hanging out with my BoE people. They may not speak English, but they try. Nomunication is always a good thing.

At some point the superintendent bought a special dish for me in this latest round of "what will the foreigner eat?". I was presented with a live squid -- only it had just been sliced into sashimi! I have to say, it was some of the tastiest squid I have ever tasted -- moving tentacles, firing chromatophores and all. Even the gonads were tasty. Yes, I will admit it was a bit freaky to be eating something that was still moving. But I guess it doesn't get any fresher... I wonder if my BoE is dissappointed that I like Japanese food so much? I think it's funny that they continually forget that I love sashimi. I know part of it is a way to make conversation with limited conversation skills.

The nijikai was at the same place as last year -- some dancing/comedy show. This year, I could even understand some of the jokes, but I don't think it was as good as last year. I wasn't alone in my thinking either.

I headed back to the hotel after the nijikai, where we ate カレーまん (steamed dumplings filled with curry), and pizza. I was so tired afterwards!

The next day, it was back on the bus. We stopped at the omiyage-Emporium so people could buy gifts. I had ice cream -- the best soft cream (soft serve) in all of Hokkaido. Then it was all you can eat and drink at a Ginghis-Khan Restarant. Ginghis-Khan is marinated lamb that you grill on a mongolian-hat-shaped grill. It's another "Hokkaido-specialty". We all ate and drank (or were forced to eat and drink -- some of the guys had to finish all of the food -- it was pretty funny actually. They would get up to go to the bathroom or something and when they came back, someone had added an extra bowlful of rice to their plates) until we were stuffed.

Then it was back on the bus for the drive home. We got back pretty early (thankfully), so I spent the rest of the day doing nothing and concentrating on feeling better.

Today I'm still a snot-monster, but I feel vaguely human. Maybe one more good night of sleep and I'll be all better. One can only hope...

Cruisin' with the BOE

This weekend (actually, in about an hour) I'm off to spend the weekend on a bus with my Board of Ed. co-workers. It would be a lot more fun if I didn't feel like a snot monster had taken up residence in my face. I feel awful this morning. I had hoped an early bed time would make me feel better, but that assumed I would be able to sleep at all. Which I didn't. So I don't.

Ugh.

Maybe a bus tour will make me better?

Have a healthy weekend everyone!

stung, sunburnt and sleepy

In my ever-enjoyable quest for Hokkaido domination (today Hokkaido, tomorrow the world!) I set out this past weekend for the HAJET sponsored Northern Regional Welcome Party. This year, the party was held in Shosanbetsu, a small village on the coast between Rumoi and Wakkanai.

After watching my town's Junior High schoolers show off their singing, speech-making and general craziness at their school festival, I headed off in my little tractor-mobile for the coast. I even managed to make it sound like I had to leave early for official business. Well, I did manage to sell a few books so I guess it was business. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Me and Dierdre drove north through crow-town and -41.8C town. I love that Hokkaido towns are all famous for something, even if it's for being really cold and having a lot of crows. Shosanbetsu is the town of stars -- they must have an observatory, but I didn't see it. Although it was pretty well in the middle of nowhere, so I'm sure the star-gazing is great.

I didn't get in until after dark and the party was already well under way. I tucked into what was left of the yakiniku and yakisoba and cracked a bottle of wine. It was really good to spend a night next to the ocean and meet up with old friends and meet some of the new people. I've been down in the dumps for a bit here feeling isolated and sorry for myself, but it seems that getting out, seeing people and dipping my toes in the ocean was what I needed.

At some point there was an ocean swim, complete with bioluminecense (yay!) and jellyfish stings (boo!). Aw shucks, it was just like Bamfield. Well, as much as a concrete beach in Japan can be like Bamfield. Which isn't really a lot at all.

The next day we piled our cars with people and garbage and said our goodbyes. I enjoyed being in the sun and burnt the crap out of my back. Yes, I put on the sunblock, just not in the middle of my back where I needed it. I drove back with a couple of girls from my area and showed them the joys of Asahikawa's foreign foods store and our very own American-style shopping mall. Not my favorite place to hang out, but a necessity for things like cheese and pickles.

I eventually made it back home where I watched "Tonari no totoro"/"My neighbor Totoro" and passed out by 9:30. Getting up this morning for high school was a challenge, even with all that sleep.

There are three more welcome parties scheduled, and I will be trying to make it to most of them. This weekend I have a Board of Education trip though, so instead of drinking in the middle of nowhere with JETs, I'll be drinking on a bus with my co-workers. You think I'm joking, but I'm sure the minute we leave town at 9:00 on Saturday, there will be beer and snacks being passed around. And that's why Japanese people like to go on bus tours.

Unfotunately, that means I'll be missing the super fun Eastern party at Lake Kusharo. But there will be fun at Toya-ko the week after and Shikotsu-ko the week after that. One of those is even a long weekend. Much fun will probably be had, and many more kilometers put on my car.

Oh, my poor liver is all I can say...

Empty Calories

Today I was teaching at the Junior High School. I was all excited -- today was the elective English class with the san-nensei's. Today was scheduled to be our cooking class. I was asked to show the students to make something Canadian and told that I would have a class period to work with.

Well, everyone likes desserts, so I decided on Nanaimo Bars. Yum! I trekked into the city to find the necessary ingredients -- strange foods like "icing sugar" and "graham crackers". One cup of icing sugar costs 280 yen, for those who are keeping track. Conveniently, some previous resident of my house left behind a load of coconut. I planned a lesson where the students would learn some cooking vocabulary: ingredients, verbiage, utensils and such; and then they would follow the recipe in English and make Nanaimo Bars. Sounds great, right?

Well, you forget my new JTE is quite possibly the laziest man on earth. (Not really, he just suffers by comparison to the JTE he replaced).

This morning I was at school, printing off some things for the lesson. My other JTE approached me. She was worried about the lesson. Apparently, there was no actual structure to this lesson aside from "let's have a fun day of cooking"! Her concern was that the students hadn't prepared anything (other than the food), and that we would run out of time. She asked me to help keep the students on task so we could finish on time. I told her I would do what I could, thinking to myself -- wait, won't there be three teachers?

So we had a cooking class. The students made a lot of different desserts and had a really fun time. What they did not do was learn anything. I was under the impression that the goal was to a) speak some English, b) have some fun and c) maybe internationalize a little (because that's the word around here -- internationalize). I ended up scrapping my lesson and making Nanaimo bars by myself because there was no time for me to do any of that crazy "teaching" stuff.

It was a really frustrating day. Yes, I realize my JTEs are busy, but isn't their job mainly, well, teaching? And isn't an elective class WITH three teachers and nine students an ideal teaching environment? The other JTE was also feeling frustrated, which makes me feel better, but really doesn't do anything for the lesson. What a waste of two classes.

I mentioned my troubles with my JTE to someone at Sapporo Orientation last week, and the advice I got was to present more of my ideas to him -- pre-empt his laziness. I don't know though. It feels to me like it wouldn't do much good. There never seems to be enough time... case in point: I haven't been to an elective class in months (despite the fact that the schedule drawn up at the beginning of the year was basically to accomodate things a native speaker would talk about -- like Canada).

Harumph.

(Incedentally, the Nanaimo Bars were excellent. I had enough to share with the students in the class and all of the teachers as well -- not bad for an 8" x 8" pan.)

***

It was an exciting journey to the post office today. No, I wasn't shipping boxes of books anywhere -- I was taking care of my own finances. People don't pay for things by credit card or cheque here. It's all about post office banking.

Note to self:
- parking tickets are stupidly expensive in Japan: the one I got a few weeks ago ended up costing 15,000 yen (somewhere in the vicininty of $150 CDN).

- Strange that I had to go back to the issuing office to get my parking ticket, but I could pay it at any post office in Japan.

- that 5500 yen to take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) seems like an awful lot of money to put yourself through some pain and anguish. Why are you challenging Level 3 again??? Yay! for self punishment.


***


Apparently my office never sees me in anything dressy. I was wearing a nice skirt and a relatively nice top and heels today (the shoes are new, I got them in Sapporo a couple of weeks ago. They give me blisters).

One of my office ladies remarked that I looked like a grown-up. Well, I guess when I'm at the office I'm generally headed to an Elementary school or a kindergarten. Or on "school holidays". No wonder they were surprised to see me "dressed-up".

Sapporo O: Redux

I have returned.

Yeah, I was in Sapporo since Saturday (well, Saturday I was much closer to Sapporo anyways). Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was orientating/indoctrinating newcomers. Well, mostly I just sat at the back and made snarky comments, which is really what I'm good at.

I sold a lot of books (I gave the treasurer 70.000 yen out of my cashbox -- not all from this week though), had a lot of fun, didn't sleep for five days and managed to pick up a cold. And so now it's time for bed. After I do that "recovery" thing tonight, I'll fill you in on any important details. Please don't hold your breath!