Think of the Children

I never knew how easy American kids have it. I know that as a nation we are incredibly fortunate, we have more than we need, etc. etc. etc. But, honestly...our kids have it easy! I remember whining about swim team practice (well, 6:45 was way too early) and doing the occasional yard work, but for the most part life was pretty easy as a kid. To prove it, the following list:

Things I Never Had To Do That Almost Every Japanese Kid Does Every Day (of Summer Vacation):

1. wake up at 6:30 am, walk to the nearest park, and stretch with the other neighborhood kids, some parents, and many old people while listening to the radio

2. upon finishing, clean aforementioned park

3. after cleaning, study for tests (that will take place before summer vacation ends)

4. spend 3 or 4 hours at club sports practice in the middle of the day!! (it's seriously hot here)

5. go to extra classes for additional English practice, or help with other subjects

6. do enough homework that you need to work on it every single day of vacation

I never realized how easy I had it.

(Mom & Dad, if Gabe needs help realizing, feel free to let him read this.)

You Rock, Rock!

This past weekend we went to Fuji Rock, Japan's biggest music festival. The name is actually a lie, it's about 3 hours away from Mount Fuji and on the side of an entirely different mountain, but the show was amazing.

After a two hour train ride, an hour wait in line in the heat for a 45 minute shuttle, and then about an hour of finding and securing a campsite (which was, as most were, on the side of a mountain, so we were at about a 35 degree angle while sleeping), we finally made it inside. And just in time for the Presidents of the USA. They even changed "Peaches" to "Momo," the Japanese word for peach. How cute. The lineup was great (though the past years, honestly, looked a little better), some highlights being:
Grandmaster Flash (amazing)
Bloc Party
the Go! Team
Kate Nash (that girl rocks on stage)
Jamie Lidell (so talented)
Rodrigo y Gabriella (amazing amazing amazing, please check them out - you will not be disappointed)
and Underworld (anthem techno and big bouncy balls, can't beat it)

What I really thought were some of the coolest parts, though, were the small details. First, the area was incredibly beautiful. It took place nestled in this little valley among beautiful green mountains, with a small river running through it that you could hang out at when it got too hot. You could see the fog roll in through the trees and everywhere you looked was just green green green (as well as people people people). The different stages were quite a ways apart, so you had to walk on these cute little trails through the woods (with a huge group of your closest friends), or else on this cool boardwalk they had that wove in and out of the forest. And everywhere you looked there was something interesting. Big beautiful lanterns lined all the pathways, and every now and then you would come across a little woodsy surprise, like a stream of disco balls cascading from the trees. Also, it was so clean. No one put their trash anywhere but the garbage areas, and those areas were manned by people sorting every single last piece of trash into different types of recyclables. The whole system was incredible, and even more so that every single person followed it.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and totally worth the looks of suppressed disdain given by my Manager (henceforth "Chuckles") when I asked to take off a Friday and Saturday, two of my busiest days at work. It was something that made me look around and think "Oh yeah, I'm in Japan!"...which sounds obvious, but can get lost during the day to day. But I am in Japan...and it rules!

Most of My Compliments Lately...

...have come from those under 10. This little guy, one of my favorites (shh, don't tell anyone I have those) called me cute a few weeks ago, and today told me I am beautiful (in Japanese).

His classmate, another one of my favorites, showed his affection only moments later by pulling down his pants in front of me. No lawsuits, please.

Those Japanese Are Allll Right

The Japanese typically have one reaction when they see someone going for a run: staring. Running is not at all common here; I have probably seen less than 10 other runners during my time in Toyama (not counting the foreigners). So usually, as I make my way through the city to the river, I attempt to tune out the fact that all eyes are on me. It's a nice, awkward feeling.
Today, I was stretching in a park after a run when a man walked up to me. He was middle aged, dressed nicely, probably out for a stroll before work. He was holding two Gatorades in his hand and was offering me one. What a nice guy! I happily drank it instead of the lukewarm bottle of tap water I had in my bag. And, one of the best parts of speaking minimal Japanese, a simple thank you is all that needs to be said. No conversation necessary. Thanks, guy.
At home there are at lot less stares while running, but no one ever offers you free refreshments.

Fashion Tips from an Eight Year Old

After my beautiful blog-inspiring morning yesterday, I decided to take the last 20 minutes of my lunch break to read a little bit. Sounds nice, but I'm reading the last Harry Potter book. 20 minutes later I walked back to work sad and slightly angry and J.K. for putting Harry through so much. He's only 17!

Once at work the first thing I noticed was big, handwritten sheet that said "Let's clean the walls and carpets!!!" Underneath we were all assigned a room to clean, and I noticed that my name was misspelled. You would think that after 6 months of working in a place it would be known by all the faculty (all 6 of them) that my name is not Lear. It is also, though this is not related to yesterday, not Rear or Dia, which are common mistakes.

Anyway, my classes went by quickly enough, and at the end of the day I teach Soshi, an 8 year-old biligual student who recently moved back to Japan from San Francisco. He's wonderful; we spend the first five minutes of class playing baseball with flyswatters and bean bags and the rest of the time joking around in English. Halfway through the lesson he looks up and goes, "You have holes in your ears!" (Ear piercing is really uncommon in Japan) He continues looking at me and follows with "And you changed your hairstyle!" (I haven't had time to make it to the hairdresser recently!) "And why is your hair gold and brown and black?" (Once again....)

"You look bad."

Thank you, Soshi. Tonight's homework will be twelve pages.

Just Because

This is just a quick post during my lunch break because today is perhaps the most beautiful I've seen in Toyama. It's not raining, it's not hazy, it's not even humid! Everything is green and people seem to be smiley. Even my kids have been really good so far today.

Also, I'm really behind on blogging, and I promise to catch up soon! I haven't had a free weekend in at least a month so I just haven't had a chance. I have a lot of things to share, so hopefully this weekend I can get something down.

Tropical Paradise, Anyone?

So after fours straight months of dealing with wild children all day, no breaks, no pauses, no time-outs, I went on vacation. And it was worth the wait. Okinawa is probably the most beautiful place I've been. Thinking back on the places I've been...'probably' is swinging closer to 'definitely.'

I think in total 13 people ended up going, a rag-tag group of English teachers who either knew each other or had some connection to the others in the group. Luckily, all 13 of ended up being not only very nice but also incredibly laid back, which meant we almost completely avoided the normal stresses of group travel. And the bonus was that we had with us not one but TWO Japanese speakers! You have no idea how much easier this makes eating, shopping, or doing almost any activity at all in Japan.

We stayed in the main city, Naha. It was a nice place, similar to those in mainland Japan in the sense that it was seemingly endless - city blends with town, blends back into city again. It had a much more relaxed atmosphere, however, and there were definitely a lot more non-Japanese people walking around.

Two days were spent taking ferries to small, outlying islands, and then lying around on various beaches. The first, Zamami, was beautiful, though the day was a bit cloudy. The second, though, Tokashiki, blew it out of the water.

Not bad, huh?

It was absolutely incredible. We rented snorkels to check out the coral underneath the water, and - wow - no one was lying when they said coral is home to thousands of species. The sea life was incredible!...and scary. Being, in general, pretty afraid of stuff, it took me a while to get used to being close to fish and other things. Especially because some fish, particularly these little guys - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >
seemed to find people super interesting and wanted to be REALLY close to them. And if you swam away, they chased you. Ok, so these fish are harmless and I'm a pretty big baby. But, right before leaving, Ashleigh and I went out snorkeling, and before you knew it we were really far out there. She suddenly made a noise for me to look at something she thought was cool, and luckily she did, because it made me lift up my head just in time to notice a big, square, orange jellyfish about a foot from my face. That was enough to make us hightail it for the shore.



So, a few other things I learned about Okinawa:

1. American military base = American things. I found M&M's, and Andy and I even had a root beer float (which was amazing, except that they put ice in the root beer first....so then the ice cream was all crunchy. Come on, guys).

2. They really love pork. The have key chains and postcards and t-shirts with pictures of it, or slogans like "We love pork!"...so you know I'm not exaggerating. They even play dress up with pig heads. So there.

3. People in clubs can do synchronized dances to certain songs. That's right, just like a movie.

4. You can see mongeese on the streets and live penguins inside a bar. Unfortunately, the penguins do not serve you drinks, as I had hoped.

5. If Mexicans thought they were badass putting worms into their tequila, they were wrong. Try a whole poisonous snake. Or how about two? ...pussies.

6. They can do amazing things with sweet potatoes.

7. Mango KitKats.

On the whole, the trip was fabulous. At the moment I am back in Toyama, where it is, once again, raining. But at least the rain is warm.