Baseball!

So this last weekend I spent some time in Fukuoka City. I live so close, but I rarely venture over to our city next door. This weekend, however, about 30 or 40 JETs got together for an AJET even; we went to see Fukuoka's baseball team, the Softbank Hawks, play in the Fukuoka Dome Stadium. Going to a baseball game in Japan was something I had wanted to do last time I was here, but never got the chance to. Leah and I were the only two Kitakyushu JETs going, so we met at Kokura and hopped on the Sonic train for the 45 minute ride to Fukuoka. We met some friends on the subway and met everyone else at the stadium. I didn't know a lot of the other JETs since we came from all over the prefecture. We all quickly made friends, grabbed a beer and some popcorn, and watched the cheerleaders and mascots dance before the game started.

We were sitting near the away teams', the Seibu Lions, cheering section by the outfield. The game started off very poorly for the Hawks. The Lions scored three runs in the first two innings and the Hawks were still at zero. The game continued poorly for the Hawks and us JETs talked though much of the game. The crowds at times were more fun to watch, every player had their own little song that the crowd sang when they came up to bat. People also had small plastic bats that they clapped together in different rhythms. Seeing a whole stadium doing a synchronized cheer was pretty cool. There were also bracelets you could buy that looked like clear watches. The "watch" face would light up different colors based on what was happening in the game and so when a big play happened, for example if we scored a run, all of a sudden the whole stadium would start flashing colors from these bracelets. At the beginning of the seventh inning, though, the cheering was by far the best. Everyone in the stadium had a really long balloon and blew them after the sixth inning. Instead of tying the ends of the balloons, everyone just held onto them. Just before the Hawks went to bat their song started playing and everyone let the balloons go flying into the air. Pretty much everyone in the stadium had sent out a balloon and it was really amazing to watch.

Some people were going to a nijikai (second party) after the game at a nearby beer garden. The game was running long and not looking good for the Hawks and it was getting close to the reservation time, so many of the JETs left at the begging of the eighth inning. The score was 5 for the Lions and 3 for the Hawks. The Lions scored again in the top of the eighth. I stayed at the game with about a quarter of the JETs. I was with my friend David, who had been to four other Softbank Hawks games and said he had yet to see them win. I was still hopeful. It was my first Japanese baseball game after all, I wanted my team to win! We did manage to tie in the bottom of the ninth and the game went into extra innings. I was so excited I bought a Softbank Hawks hat and some more popcorn and went back to cheer with the few JETs still there. The Lions were up first and didn't get any runs. The Hawks had two outs, but managed to get a run and we won! Everyone went crazy! It was so much fun! (Clearly we won because I bought that hat.)

After the game there was a ceremony for a retiring player. It was very nice, some team mates sang to him, he got a whole bunch of flowers, and he walked around the stands while people threw streamers. The real reason we stayed, though, was because if the Hawks win they light fireworks in the dome. There were strings that came down from the ceiling with the fireworks on the end and seeing fireworks inside of a dome was very surprising, but very fun to watch.

After the game I went out for ramen and gyoza with David. He was leaving that night with some friends, but let me stay in his apartment because there was a Fukuoka Board Gaming meet up the next morning and I didn't want to go back to Kitakyushu just to return to Fukuoka in the morning. Not only can that be expensive because of the long train ride, but I would have had to get up really early. I played board games for twelve hours the next day before going back to Kitakyushu and just for my mom, my pieces made friendship circles.

All in all it was an amazing weekend! I can't wait to go to another game and spend more some more time in Fukuoka!

Sports Day

I don't think I've ever experienced anything like Sports Day. This past week we've forgone classes in favor of Sports Day practice, setting up tents, and constantly reapplying paint to the dirt track. I spent probably seven or eight hours in the gym with all the girls in the school learning a dance that we performed today while the boys were outside doing handstands and making the largest human pyramid I've ever seen. We spent two hours doing yard work make the field beautiful and then ran around the track hundreds of times. Even the teachers got in on the action and had relay races against the student captains. It was all fun and games, but I never expected the actual day to be so amazing!

I started off by jumping out of bed. Even though it's Sunday, it feels like a Friday. I have the next two days off and today I just had sports! What could be better? I put on my yellow shirt (I was part of the yellow team) and hopped on my bike. When I got to the school there were signs up and people directing traffic into the parking lot. I found my way to my seat through the craziness of parents and siblings claiming spots around the track to set up blankets and lawn chairs. The students all started marching in, we did some warm up stretches, then got the games under way.

My first thought when I heard about Sports Day was that the students would be playing soccer, baseball, and other games, but really it was much more track and field oriented. First the students started with 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, and 800 meter dash. There would be fifteen or so races for each category. The students would line up at the starting line and as soon as one race finished the next would start. Other events included relays, an obstacle course, a variety relay, a "downstream," and a "whirlpool." The obstacle course consisted of jump rope, hurdles, a horse to jump over, and crawling under a net. The variety relay was a relay, but ever lap the students had a different challenge while running. For example, some students had to run while carrying a volleyball on a tennis racket, two students with their feet tied together, one student carrying another on hi back back, and many more. The "downstream" race consisted of students standing in a line and bending over so their backs created a path. The smallest student ran along their back and the students bending over had to constantly move to the front of the line to keep up the track. Finally the "whirlpool" consisted of four students holding a huge bamboo rod and running in circles around cones. On the way back to the rest of the team, the other team members had to jump over the rod and duck under it before it was dropped for the next four people to start running.

I had a ton of fun today hanging out with the students, their families, and the other teachers. I ran in a relay with the teachers and did a huge dance with the students. I've yelled 「黄色がんばれ！」(kiiro ganbare, Go yellow team!) so much I think my throat will be sore tomorrow. I apologize for the lack of pictures, I was not allowed to take pictures of the students. I have an enkai (work party) tonight with the teachers I saw at Sports Day today, so I'm off to meet them at the Chinese restaurant and then go to karaoke!

Beppu: First Road Trip of Japan

I apologize in advance because this is going to be a VERY long post. As I said before, this past weekend was a long weekend and six of us decided to rent a car to drive down to Beppu. We had so many adventures, planned and not. I could not have had a better time!

I woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning to get ready. I made some tea and Caol came over before heading to the station. We meet Vixay, Juha, and our new rental car Betsy at 8:00 A.M. and were soon joined by Leah and Emily.  Once everyone had made a final run to Family Mart for a last minute breakfast we were on our way!

We made one quick stop along the way to visit Nakatsu castle. We walked around the castle grounds, where there were many shrines and a beautiful pond. We went to the main shrine beside the castle and Caol and Leah got fortunes. The fortunes came out of a machine that had a small doll in a display case. When you put in your money, the doll would walk to the back of the display through a door, then return holding a fortune, which she dropped down a small slide that lead to your hand. No one had bad luck and we continued into the castle. There was a small museum inside where we saw swords and armor from different feudal lords and at the top we could walk around outside on a small observation deck. After walking through the castle and outside we decided to continue on our way to Beppu.

We arrived at our hostel around 1:00 P.M. and were delighted to find that we had one room all to ourselves. We all claimed our beds, then headed out in search of lunch. We walked around for a while trying to find a curry toast place that another JET had recommended to us with no luck. We eventually gave up and found a nice place near Beppu station. We had ice cream afterwards and watched a band that was preforming in the station.

We all piled back in the car and drove straight to Hell, a group of natural hot springs so hot they cannot be touched. The hot springs were many different colors because of the different minerals and clay in the soil around them and it was amazing to see them all. Many also had gardens around them as well as shrines. There were also foot baths that were run offs of these hot springs that you could put your feet into. We all sat around with our feet in the water and by the time we got out our legs had turned red from the heat, but it was incredibly relaxing!

There was a tour guide standing at one and he showed us how blowing ash into some of the hot springs would cause them to smoke, or if they were already steaming it would double or triple the amount of steam. He even went inside the gate almost into the water to show us! Juha even took a turn blowing the ash in to see if he could get the entirety of the hot spring to steam. We ended our day at the Hells with an egg that had been hard boiled in the hot springs.

After going to the Hells we decided it was time to go to a real onsen (hot spring), one we could actually sit in and enjoy (and that didn’t smell like sulfur). After making a quick stop back to the hostel for our towels and soap, we went to Takagawara only a few blocks away. Takegawara is a small onsen and is famous for being the oldest in Beppu. We were hoping to try the sand baths as well, but unfortunately they were already full for the night. We agreed on a meeting time and split up.

It was not too crowded on the women’s side and we had a great time. Before you can even go in the pool, you have to wash off. Some onsen have small shower taps on the sides of the walls, but this one didn’t. So you take a small plastic stool and a bucket and sit near the pool, scooping out water and dumping it over you to rinse off. Once you’re clean you can jump into the onsen. Although I would suggest starting off slowly rather than jumping, Takegawara’s pool was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit! After an hour and a half of relaxation we met back up with the boys and headed out.

We drove up one of the nearby mountains to get a look at the entirety of Beppu. We could even see the city of Oita across the bay! It was beautiful, but we didn’t stay too long because we were eager to get some dinner. We again went in search of curry toast. We found the curry toast restaurant across the street from Takegawara (and where we were parking the car), but unfortunately it was closed. We wondered around a found a great little restaurant. We ordered a bunch of different things from ramen to mayonnaise shrimp and had a beer to celebrate our first successful day of Beppu. We decided to call it a night after dinner since we were all so tired and by now it was well after midnight.

We started the next day by walking to Beppu station to grab some coffee. Emily and I both had ice coffee, but rather than cooling it down with ice they put ice cream in! I was surprised, but it was delicious and a great start to the morning. Vixay met us at the station with the car (he had been at the airport that morning waiting for a friend to join us, but she never showed) and we hoped in and headed to Hita for B1, a Kyushu food festival. It was about an hour away and we had gotten a late start. Vixay’s friend was supposed to arrive by 8:00 A.M., but she didn’t have a cell phone and couldn’t call to tell us she had gotten sick, so we ended up waiting and not leaving until about 10:30. We still made it to B1 in time for some food, although many had been sold out. Despite this setback, we still had a good time walking around the parks and sampling famous food from all around Kyushu.

After heading back to Beppu, we went back to the Hells to see the hot springs we had not seen the day before. On our way back to the hostel we took a wrong turn and ended up at a lookout point. It was a beautiful place to look at the city from! It was really cool to see steam rising out from all over the town from all the hot springs underground.

We tried again to have a much earlier dinner at curry toast, but again it was closed. We ended up walking to a YouMe (a nearby mall) because some of us needed to buy more soap and shampoo and had a really nice dinner there. We walked along the beach to another onsen and headed in. This time we brought bathing suits because there was a mixed outside pool at the onsen. We started by splitting up and spending about an hour in the separate rooms. This onsen was much bigger and had a separate shower area, a few indoor pools, a beautiful outdoor pool, a steam sauna, and a “squall shower.” I’d never heard of a squall shower before, but basically it was a small alcove that when you pulled a string, a bucket of warm water dumped down on you. The girls hung out inside for a bit, then went to the outdoor pool before putting on our bathing suits and meeting the boys outside. The mixed outdoor pool was amazing. It was huge, with a hot tub sectioned off by stones in the middle. The pool was also warm, it was filled by water overflowing from the hot tub. This pool was also able to be open to the city and had an amazing view. Over the edge of the pool we had an incredible view of the city, Beppu tower, and the ocean.

We walked back to the hostel along the beach and decided to stay out a little longer. We found a small bar and had a few drinks. There is a big international school in Beppu and almost everyone in the bar was foreign. Because school is still on holiday, though, it was mostly staff who had come in on their day off to celebrate a birthday. The birthday boy was from Boston originally and it was very funny to have come all the way to Beppu only to have a Sam Adams with another Bostonian. After the bar we went back to our room in the hostel where we played card games and hung out.

Our last day in Beppu was definitely our most adventurous. We woke up early because we wanted to climb a mountain in Yufuin and we needed to bring the car back to Kitakyushu by 8:00 PM. So we woke up and left around 9:00 A.M. We again tried to go to curry toast, but again it was closed. We needed to grab gas before heading to Yufuin, so we stopped at a gas station and Vixay filled up the tank. We left again, but quickly noticed our car was making a weird noise. We pulled over and got out, but couldn’t find anything wrong. The car was still making the noise and was having trouble driving over hills, so we decided to go back to the gas station to see if they knew what was wrong. We went back, but the car died at the intersection before the gas station. Turns out, Vixay filled the car with kerosene. We eventually got everything fixed and we had gotten insurance on the car so we didn’t have to pay for the damage, but we did have to get a new rental car (which the company brought to the gas station we were at very quickly). It took a tow truck about an hour and a half to get to us and we blocked a lane causing traffic for the entire time. Caol and I walked to a grocery store and bought everyone some breakfast while we were waiting. Vixay will never forget the kanji for kerosene again.

After we finally got back on the road we definitely did not have time to climb Yufudake, the mountain we were hoping to get to the top of. We did drive part of the way up and walked around for a while. We stopped at another lookout on the way down the mountain for some ice cream and a great view of Yufuin. We got down to Yufuin around lunch, so we ducked into a ramen shop. After lunch we went shopping for omiyage to bring back for our teachers. While shopping, we ran into another Kitakyushu JET (who I didn’t know, but Caol, Juha, and Vixay did). He was visiting for the long weekend as well with his wife and as it turned out he had been stuck in our traffic jam earlier that day!

He gave us a great suggestion for one last onsen and we headed there to spend our last hour. The onsen was right near a lake at the base of Yufudake Mountain and was by far the most beautiful onsen we visited. It was very small, but the pool was outdoors and the day was gorgeous. The pool was made from a natural inset in some rocks and the boy and girl pools were side by side with just a small wall in between, so we could still talk to the boys. After the onsen we quickly walked around the lake and then headed home. We got back with no problems and turned in the car about 10 minutes before our time was up.

Emily had to go straight home, but the rest of us went to the arcade and played a few rounds of jubeat. Before I got home I went to Patrick’s apartment. Patrick is my neighbor and fellow new JET. He offered to make some dinner since he had been home all day. So I came back to my neighborhood around 9:30 P.M. completely exhausted, but was lucky enough to to have dinner and video games waiting for me.

I gave out my omiyage at school today and the teachers were all so happy! I have Thursday off because I’m going to school all this weekend and Wednesday night we have plans to start figuring out our next trip together! Hopefully Kagoshima in our next long weekend in August!

Shinozaki

Today was my first day at my second school, Shinozaki. I had such an amazing time at Futajima last week, I was skeptical that I would have a good a time at Shinozaki. I have also been listening to some of the other JETs complain about their placements. Some people say they are used only has a human tape recorder and some say they don't get brought to class at all. Leah wasn't in the classroom for two days. When she did finally get to go to class, the teacher had her read passages and nothing else.

Thankfully, my first day proved me wrong! I still have more friends at Futajima, but everyone at Shinozaki has been incredibly welcoming! I sit across from the school counselor, Kawai, who doesn't know much English but is really happy to be sitting near me. He used to be the principle of another school. He photocopied a seating chart of the teachers room for me and went through all the names to make sure I could read the kanji. He also pointed out all the English teachers to me and made a note on the seating chart. He gave me the school schedule for the next two months and even showed me the menu for school lunch for all the day's I'm here. Everyone is always worried I won't be able to eat kyushoku (school lunch) and is amazed when I can.

For my classes both here and at Futajima I have been doing a self-intro lesson over and over. I'm a little tired of it, but I still have about fifteen classes to go. I have big pictures I printed out showing many things about me and things from America that I talk about with the students. Then they can ask me questions. They always ask me how tall I am. If there is still time I have a self introduction worksheet for them where they can both draw and write. That way lower level classes can relay more on drawing, while more advanced classes can write more and still get the fun of drawing the pictures. It's been a big hit so far! I even had one class ask me if I liked Pokémon. I said yes and as part of their introduction to me they all drew their favorite Pokemon.

So far the teachers and students at both Futajima and Shinozaki have been amazing! Everyone is helpful and always willing to answer any of my questions. All the students run up to me in the hallways to say, "Hello teacher!" The staff at Shinozaki even pitched in and bought me a mug as a welcome present. I think I will enjoy Futajima a little more only because I sit next to Sugiyama, the first year English teacher. She is completely fluent in English and we have a lot of the same interests. We already have plans to hang out outside of work. That being said, Shinozaki is still an amazing school with wonder people.

I have a long weekend next weekend, so some friends and I are renting a car and driving down to Beppu! Beppu is about two hours away by car and is south east of Kitakyushu. It is in Oita prefecture and is famous for its hot springs. So next Monday or Tuesday I will let you all know how that trip goes! I can't wait!

First Day of School

My first day of school was finally here! I went to Futajima to start and next week I'm off to Shinozaki. Futajima is pretty far away and takes me close to an hour and a half to get to. Thankfully I went there twice before today. The first time I had work in the morning, but no school to go to. So I tagged along with Vixay since he was going to Futajima. Then last Friday I went with Tsuruta, my supervisor, because she wanted to meet the principle, vice principle, and teachers. So despite the long commute I had no trouble getting to school.

I had a nice welcome message on my shoe locker when I came in and everyone I had met previously was very nice. My desk is with the first year teachers next to Sugiyama, another English teacher. I did a quick introduction in Japanese for the teachers and then it was time for opening ceremonies. All the students and teachers gathered in the auditorium where awards were given out, the principle spoke, and the school song was sung among other things. I had to go up on stage and give a short introduction, thankfully in English. As we were leaving the ceremonies, many students came up to me to say hello.

Unfortunately the students were busy with more ceremonies the rest of the day and tomorrow they will be in exams, so I will not meet them until Wednesday. Despite just hanging out in the teachers' room all day, I was incredibly productive. I met a lot of the other teachers, including a very nice math teacher who asked me to come to one of her lessons some day. I learned how to use the school computers, printers, copiers, and laminators. I printed out a few worksheets for my first few days, made PowerPoint presentations, and printed and laminated big pictures for the classes that won't have projectors. I also helped some of the other English teachers make other worksheets.

Sugiyama and I get along really well and she's been incredibly helpful! She was happy to show me everything and how to use it and she says she is excited to start teaching with me. All in all I had a great time at school and cannot wait to go back tomorrow!