IrishOboe

Saturday I woke to the phone at 10:30am.  It must have been a wrong number, because I got an earful of Japanese.  I managed to say (in Japanese) that I didn’t understand Japanese so the lady went on and I caught the word mother.  I tried to explain that I was living alone by saying some thing like “no, I, one, no mother.”  Whether she had a clue what I said or not I don’t know, but we ended the conversation courteously and I felt triumphant at my first phone call in Japanese.  Well anyway, I’d just gotten up after a 10 hour sleep so I suppose I would have been happy with anything.

I decided to still go for a run so that I would remember how miserable it is to run once the day’s heat has settled in.  The hope was that I’d never stay up late again when I planned to run because it’s not worth a) the lack of sleep, and b) the pain of running in heat and having no air conditioning to come home to.  However, it wasn’t too terrible and I had a good run.  During the run I finally put my finger on one reason why I fell like I’m so much in the city.  There are no trees!  Sure there are bush-type things and the mountains are covered, but around me and around town there are no trees.  That makes me very sad indeed!

After my run I ready my book, and read my book, then Mark and I went to the library, stopping at the (air conditioned) ATM on the way so that we could figure out how it worked.  I returned my books and tried to request an English book from the library network.  They didn’t seem to have much: no John Holt, Narnia was the only C.S. Lewis work, the Princes and Curdie was the only work of George MacDonald, and a few other authors had no representation.  Oh well.  There are so many classics I haven’t read, this might be a good reason to.

That evening Chuck invited me out with the gang to a yakitori (grilled chicken) place.  Boy was it good!  The brought sticks of all kinds of chicken with sauces and we all shared around.  One thing I love about the JETs here is that they split the bill evenly, but they split the drink bill among those who drank.  This may seem obvious, but so many times I’ve ended up paying for others’ alcohol, it’s been refreshing.  Not to mention that their part usually comes out to be almost twice as much as mine . . .

Sunday I woke up to the loud speaker, which I’m not sure I’ve mentioned before.  They have a sort of announcement system and it’s not used for only emergencies.  They seem to announce something at least once a day, and usually for quite a bit of time.  I’m told they announce things like “Mr. so-and-so is missing.  If you see him, please contact . . .”  Anyway, this morning they were chanting, much the same as at the temple, at 7am.  Then there was a good deal of talk, then more chanting, etc.  It was like a service over the loud speaker.  I really don’t know what that was about, though this weekend is a big holiday weekend for Japan.  Still, it seems strange to lead a service over the city-wide loud speaker.

Let’s see, I did laundry, folded a cat out of a dollar bill for Niko, and that’s about all I got in before she picked me up at11am for lunch.  We went to the supermarket and I was excited to notice that the way to her house was the road I had taken on my run.  I’ve been frustrated at not having a map to look at.  It makes it more difficult to get an accurate picture of the area in my mind.  I usually go exploring, then come back and study the map a while and see what I did, then go out again and study more, etc.  Without a map to come back to and confirm which way is what, I’ve been loosing my bearings.  Anyway, it was nice to shop with Niko and learn about some of the products.  We then went to her house and Lena joined us in making pot stickers (I forgot the Japanese name) with cabbage, beef/pork, green onions (they were two feet long, I kid you not!), some other kind of green grass-type veggie, probably something I’m forgetting, and spices.  The mix had to sit for a while, so we made ramen since I hadn’t had any since I’d gotten here.  Now ramen to me means poor college students’ food, and even here it doesn’t have a reputation for being healthy, but they sure make it taste better.  It was nearly as easy to make, just boil the noodles (though they weren’t in one big cake), put the sauce packet in a bowl and had hot water, then add the drained noodles, a few slices of boiled egg, some green onion, and some “like bamboo” stuff (though the add-ins are optional) and you have yourself a bowl of some very tasty soup.

After the ramen we made the pot-stickers and she steamed them then added oil to crisp them up, then the other batched she fried them a little and then added water to steam them.  She was upset that she didn’t have the spicy oil, but it tasted fine to me with the sesame oil.  Yum!  Still, I think I’ll just buy the packaged stuff since it’s so much easier . . .

Niko played her flute and violin for me and Lena played some piano after some coaxing.  Then we went to the bookstore.  There wasn’t much of an English section, but I bought Staurt Little since I loved the book as a kid and my older students might find it interesting.  I also got a map set of the Kofu area and Kofu itself.  It doesn’t have Shirane on it (where I work) but it has the detail around me and in Kofu that I wanted.  It turns out I had a decent map in my head, but this will help me greatly.  I’m excited to explore new places as I run then look them up when I get back.  My goal is to be able to run to Niko’s place and back.  Andy could do it easily . . .

After the bookstore I convinced Niko to take me back to my apartment for a while before we went out to the festival in her town.  I took my laundry down (I know, it was risky to leave it out), ironed a bunch (hang drying clothes just isn’t leaving them respectable), then of course, I read my book.  I cleaned up a little, too, but mostly I just took a break.

Niko picked me up at 6:30 and at her house she set me up with a yukata and little wooden shoes.  Lena was wearing one, too, so I didn’t feel to strange.  It was fun to be wearing one having just read about the beautiful kimono in Memoirs of a Geisha.  A yukata is a summer kimono, and is basically a robe with a colorful, thick sash around the waste (called the obi).  The wooden shoes didn’t really fit me, but they said I had to experience it.  They are just thong sandles with a wooden sole that has to perpendicular cuts of wood underneath.  This makes it hard to roll your feet, which you do naturally when you walk.  Instead, you have to walk flat, which means you have to take tiny, fast steps and you still don’t get anywhere.  I felt fine in the yukata, but I felt like an idiot trying to walk.  It wasn’t so comfortable either since the thong was placed in the center of the shoe rather than to the inside where you big toe gap actually is.  Plus, my heals hung off of the back edge . . .  But I survived and it was fun to have done the whole bit for once.

At the festival we looked around, had “crepu” (pronounced like crape with a poo on the end) with banana, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce.  They even had candy apples there!  Mostly, though, it was traditional Japanese fare.  There was dancing like the night John and I discovered the festival in Kofu.  This time I had the guts to join in (because Lena came with me) and it wasn’t too hard to pick up the patter on the dance.  What I found interesting (in the little brain power I had left to think after actually trying to do the dance) was that the pattern of the dance was X beats, but the phrase structure of the music was Y beats.  This meant that the beginning of the dance set always came at a different time in the music.  This created a variety that made the whole thing much more interesting than it first appeared since the dances are usually not very complicated.  It was fun, and the official photographer had a fun time with the gaijin in a yukata dancing with everyone else . . .

I happened to see a few other JETs there, so I chatted with them, oh, and Niko paid for Lena and I to do the “shot the cork at the cheep prizes and win what you knock off” game.  It was actually more fun than I thought it would be, and I won some candy . . .  Please don’t think I’m rude, but I’ve really be unable to pay for anything, or stop Niko from spending so much money on me.  I’m thinking I’ll have to give her a really huge present when I leave and sneak it on her door step right before I fly out of the country.

Anyway, it was a lovely evening and I feel very special to be learning and experiences things with a native family.  Speaking of experiences, after the festival Niko had me try nato and ume.  Nato is fermented beans and it is famous for smelling like garbage, tasting not much better and being so sticky that it’s like making rice krispy treats with rotten marshmallows.  Well, I didn’t find that it smelled like much of anything, and though the sticky, stringy mess was rather unappetizing, it didn’t taste bad.  They usually have it with rice, which I think would have made the whole thing taste rather good, actually.  Of course, I always like liking things that other people don’t.  Somehow it makes me feel special . . .

Ume is pickled plum and I expected to dislike it intensely, but I actually like it quite a lot.  It is very salty, but you can taste the sweet plum, and even writing about it I think it should taste terrible, but like I said, it was quite good.

When I got home I finished my book (only a chapter or to), and am sad to be done with it.  It was quite beautiful!

So that was my evening and I won’t be in bed early, but I didn’t write last night and I must remember to put first things first!

Love always.