August 5, 2011

(chopsticks = hashi, salad = sarada)

This morning Gordon and I woke up around 5:00 am and decided to go on a morning walk. We walked around Tonosho and down some side streets where we could see some of the beautiful Japanese homes here. The bushes, plants and gardens surrounding each home are well manicured and are amazing to look at. It was humid out and a little foggy, but it was nice to get some exercise.

Beautiful flowers are everywhere. These remind me of my mom.

Standing beside one of the many rice paddies in Tonosho.

Gordon looking out over an expansive field of rice paddies.

 We came back to the apartment and ate ramen for breakfast and had coffee. Gordon was reading the Japan Times (he’s getting a free trial) and I decided to search the apartment for a Japanese-English dictionary. You would think in an apartment previously occupied by former JETs/ALTs that there would be several dictionaries lying around. Well, I didn’t find one, BUT I did find two guitars. Let me explain. Because the apartment has had several other occupants, stuff/junk/wonderful treasures have accumulated over time. There are several closets upstairs that can hold quite a bit of stuff. I haven’t gotten the chance to go through the closets yet, mainly because the air conditioner isn’t working upstairs :(. It gets REALLY hot during the day. 

So, I opened one of the closets looking for a dictionary and was pleasantly surprised to find an acoustic guitar instead. I was immediately over come with joy and the first thought that popped into my head was, “I can learn how to play the guitar!!!” I grabbed the guitar and hurried downstairs to show Gordon. He thought it was cool and couldn’t believe a random guitar was hiding upstairs (I also would like to think he was a little jealous/impressed that I was/am about to become an amazing guitarist). As if finding one guitar wasn’t enough (upon closer inspection the guitar is a Yamaha) I went upstairs to search for more treasures (a dictionary being the furthest thing from my mind…there’s GOLD in them there hills!). I saw a guitar case/bag and decided to bring that down to show Gordon where I would store my awesome new guitar, but when I went to pick it up it was heavy. Something was in it! HAHA!  Drum roll please…an electric guitar. Now the first thing that came to my mind was, “I’m going to start a Japanese punk band.” I rushed downstairs once more and revealed the treasure to Gordon. Once again, he was amazed and thought I was weird especially when I started to strum the guitar and then started wailing on it (it wasn’t pretty…I can’t play yet). The electric guitar is a brand I’ve never heard of, which isn’t saying much considering I know little about guitars, it’s a Fernandes. That sounds Spanish. Needless-to-say, I now have a new hobby.

Last night, Gordon and I went out with our landlord (who we lovingly refer to as “Mr. Miyagi”…seriously, he has a gray goatee, hair down to his shoulders and wears glasses that flip up and keeps them flipped up) to eat a Japanese meal. He (Mr. Ishi) arrived at our door promptly at 7 pm and motioned us to follow him. He speaks very little English. We got in his van, which was quite spacious, and he proceeded to drive us somewhere. Gordon and I had no idea where we were going. Once again, I felt like I was in a Japanese movie.

We arrived at what looked like a restaurant. Mr. Ishi told us to go inside. It was a small Japanese restaurant with a bar and one table. At the table sat Mr. Ishi’s son and we sat down across from him and Mr. Ishi. There were two plates already on the table loaded with sashimi (tuna, snapper, octopus and other fish). Mr. Ishi ordered Gordon and I beers, Asahi beer, and said, “Dozo” (after you). We picked up our chopsticks (hashi) and Mr. Ishi and his son were very impressed that we knew how to use them. Dinner was amazing. At Japanese restaurants the food comes out plate by plate. The next thing we were served was a long plate with different sections. There was sesame tofu (a block of dark colored tofu), a scallop with cod roe on top, egg salad and a slice of pork. Then we were served a roll with beef stew inside and then boiled spearfish, which was my favorite (it tasted just like the tuna my Granddad makes) and then beef and fried rice. Everything was delicious!

Luckily Mr. Ishi's son studied English at University and could understand most of what we said. There was a tv in the restaurant and the show “Bloody Mary” was on. The show consisted of a panel of Japanese comedians who were watching people get the living daylights scared out of them. They would watch a film of people in scary situations (in a haunted house, etc.) and make comments. It was intriguing and freaky at the same time. Everyone at our table laughed several times especially when something really scary happened because a huge “REPLAY” would appear on the screen so you could watch the madness unfold again.

Our conversation at dinner consisted of baseball, the food we were eating, alcohol and the town of Tonosho. The night ended with Gordon and I presenting Mr. Ishi with a gift, salad (sarada) dressing from home.

While Gordon is at work I’m going to go over to the nursery school to play with the kids. Mr. Ishi and his daughter Aki invited me to come whenever I want to. I’m going to take some stickers and a bag of M&Ms. Those kids are going to love me…even if I have to buy their love!

11:00 am (child = kodomo, a little = sukoshi)

I just got back from playing with the nursery school kids. I was there for 2 hours and had so much fun! At 9:00 am I walked across the street to the school and asked for Aki. Aki showed me around and walked me past each classroom and told me the ages of each of the kids. There was a classroom for infants (only 2 are in that classroom) and a separate classroom for 1 year olds, 2, 3 and 4 year olds and I was placed in the classroom with the 5 year olds. The 5 year olds learn some English twice a month. The teachers at the school probably thought I needed all the help I could get! To say the children were adorable is an understatement. They were too cute!

I walked up to the classroom and took off my shoes. One of the kids ran into the classroom and brought me some slippers to wear. Once I was in the classroom kids started coming up to me and trying out their English. They would say, “My name is….” I tried my best to listen to their names and repeat them. They also knew “Good morning” and “hello”. One girl knew quite a bit of English and would point to objects/pictures around the classroom and tell me their names like “egg”, “airplane” and “elephant”.

There were about 16 kids in the classroom, but close to 70 or more children at the nursery school in total. I had a hard time pronouncing the teacher’s name and it came out Toshi-san and she laughed and said that was good enough. She spoke only as much English as the kids, but we could communicate enough to understand each other.

I started playing with building block pieces and most of the kids joined in. They would rattle off Japanese expecting me to understand, but weren’t bothered by whether or not I knew what they were talking about. Toshi-san then called them over to sit down by the piano and sing. Toshi-san played the piano very well and the kids sang two songs, one of them being Bibbity bobbity boo from Cinderella, so I joined in.  The kids also knew the Mickey Mouse song. Toshi-san called role and after she said each kids’ name they would reply, “Hai, genki desu” (Yes, I’m well), so when she called my name I raised my hand and did the same. She then told the kids what I had brought them and let me give each of them a sticker and she gave them each a handful of M&Ms. They held up an M&M and told me in English what color it was. Then I asked what the color was in Japanese and they told me. The only colors I remember are blue, “ao” (pronounced “ah-o") and red, “aka”.

Next, it was time for “Latin Percussion”! The kids gathered around different types of drums. Each child (kodomo) knew his or her place and Toshi-san gave me a tambourine. Toshi-san got on the piano and played a tune and the kids knew exactly what to do. They had better rhythm than I did. They beat the drums to two different songs and I tried my best not to make myself look bad and tried to keep up with the beat.

After that we all went outside to play with all the other kids. Every child put on a cute cap that was a different color and showed what classroom they belonged to. The teachers wore hats also and Toshi-san gave me one to wear. I walked around and played with the kids. We kicked a ball around, played in the sand, played rock, paper, scissors and had thumb wars. Several of the children would follow me around and one girl in particular held my hand most of the time and refused to let go.  Toshi-san let me hold one of the infants. He was the cutest little boy and seemed a little (sukoshi) confused and perplexed by me. 11:00 came quick and it was time for me to leave and time for the kids to take their naps and then eat lunch. I said good-bye to the kids and thanked Toshi-san. The kids waved good-bye to me as I left.

My second trip to the nursery. Everyone was fishing!

Little girls playing house.