佐井村 Welcome Party and weekend!

Hello! So these last couple of weekends have been full of fun and new adventures for me! I basically work in Oma during the week and then go to むつ on the weekends. It is the base for all my weekend adventures! I am very grateful to Mike L. for letting me stay and use his apartment all the time! It is very nice of him! It has been extremely useful too!

Friday:
Anway, my weekend began on Friday with me being very tired. It is a pattern I am trying to get over. Carly had told me well in advance about the welcome party and it was going to be at 7:00 PM near the community center in Sai. I left at 6:25 and didn't know how long it would take me, so I left early just to be safe. I got there and Carly was not home. The lights were on, but no one was there. So I tried calling her and when she got signal, she told me she was at the ATM in Oma. haha That was funny! She had forgotten that she needed money for the trip. It was typical Carly! So I just waited in the car whilst it poured down rain! When she got back, we took my car to the place and I met her eikeiwa class. There were 7 in her class. They were all very nice people and they paid for my meal and even had a cake! It was amazing to have that kind of reception from people I had never even met before! We were there for a good 2.5 hours and then I took Carly back home!

When I got back, I thought I was going to rest and have an easy night, but I was soon convinced to come out to Mutsu and hang out with Alex Q. I drove up to Mutsu pretty quick and met Alex at One Love reggae bar. I saw Mike and Alex's cars there and knew it was going to be a good time! I walked in and there were people there as usual, but Mike and Alex were smoking at the bar. Ichiro and Shino were the bartenders for the night. Well it was more like Shino and Ichiro just worked what he wanted! He can do whatever he wants to though, he is the owner! We stayed until they closed up and it was a lot of fun. After we went to the same restaurant as last weekend sans Ichiro and Miyoko. Alex swore he knew where it was and Mike just followed us in his drunken stupor. I eventually led us to the place through my vague memory. I am sure I could get us there now though! Yes for photographic memory! We got there and of course being with gaijin gaijin meant staring at them and staring at me for being with them. It was OK though, we had our own conversations and enjoyed ourselves really. Mike had to be controlled from time to time, but did well overall. Alex and I split some gyozas! It was so delicious! I had sobered up a lot, so I drove myself back to Mike's place. Alex drove Mike back and we left his car there. I stopped at the Lawson on the way back and got three "hangover cures" and an Aquarius to help restore my electrolytes! I was exhausted and went to bed shortly after!

Saturday:
I woke up late-ish and it was amazing. Alex had left early because of a stupid promise to be back in Kawauchi. Mike woke up and I gave him a hangover cure and he said he felt good to be hungover. He is a liar! A DAMN LIAR! haha I made some breakfast and it was good. We went out because I needed help getting my back windshield wiper changed. AUTOBACS! My new favourite store in Mutsu! The people are nice and very helpful. Mike spent time with the guy figuring what windshield wiper I needed and then installed it! It was amazing. I stayed in the warmth of the store, looked at the pretty girls who worked there and oogled the amazing things I could have bought for my car, but did not. I was so proud of myself!!! It shows that I can control myself and rationalize what I want and need. Although I did get some pretty good ideas for the next projects on the tank! Afterward, Mike wanted to go hiking, so we picked up his car and went back to his apartment. Mike went to Shiriya and I just stayed in. We saw Dave and he was studying for his JPLT test. We agreed to go out to McDonalds at 2:00 PM. It gave me time to shower and take a little nap. Dave drove and it was so good because I was really hungry and it was my first western food in a while. If I was in America, eating McDonalds once a week would be disgusting, but the weekends in Japan, for me at least are full of good food and comfort food. I still don't gain weight! I love Japan so much! Dave and I got into interesting talks about politics, the economy and various other topics. I made a stop at Takeda Sports and got some sport sandals, ones I could wear in the rain and don't mind getting dirty. Dave needed to stop at the stationary store to get more flashcards and I got some too along with a pen! There were some cute girls who worked there too! ^^We got back and I just lazed around Mike's place until Toby arrived with the fake poker chips. It was us two and then we made some calls and bam! by the end of the night, there were 9 people! It was a good night and we played to about midnight. Then Alex, Mike and I went out for jumbo gyozas at Masuya! OMG, so good! They were とてもおいしい(very delicious - totemo oishii)!!!! After that Mike convinced us to go to Dio where DJs were playing. It was a horrible decision as I was out 2,000 sen-en and the music was horribly loud and the treble was crap. They didn't really DJ versus playing song and transitioning them poorly. All the Japanese guys thought the NY Yankees hat was the shit and I was like oh boy... I wish I had Chris G. with me to show these fools up. Alex and I had a drink (I had Coca-Cola) and left whilst Mike danced his night away. We went to Mickie's bar and just chilled there, it was nice to hear what each other was saying! We met up with Alex's friend, Yui and chilled. All of her friends had gone home! We then went to another bar where we met Yoshei. That woman is one cold, hard bitch. She was ice. She didn't introduce herself or anything. We stayed there for a bit, played some darts and then went to meet Mike at his car for the drive back. We got back where Queeny and Mike decided to take shots of rum. It was intense. I did not take part of it though! We chatted about stuff then hit the sack, it was actually light when we went to bed around 4:00 AM.

Sunday:
I had to wake up early because I needed to get out to Aomori-shi by 11:00 AM, so I ended up leaving at like 10:00 AM and didn't get there until 11:45 AM. It was OK because there was only like two others when I got there, Chris and Helen, the captains of the men's and women's teams, respectively. Stephen came out and we all gave him some pointers. It was funny because all three of us had some GKing experience, so he was overloaded with strategy! We did for a bit, then Helen left and it started to rain. Chris, Stephen and I then chatted to the girl's handball team. We were trying to convince them to play in the rain, it was only raining a little bit and it would have been good cross-training for us! After, I took Chris and Stephen back to their houses and began the long drive back to Mutsu. I got back to Mutsu and I was really tired. Keiko and I had plans for dinner though and so I went to Mike's place and showered to get ready. Keiko came over and we just chatted for a while. It was nice to get to know someone in an one on one setting. It is where I thrive the most! Plus I get to have a friend in Mutsu who is Japanese! We decided to go to あかさたな and it was nice. The Italian is the closest you get to it in Japan in Mutsu. We had some cream based spaghetti and Hawaiian pizza. We headed back after dinner and talked for a little bit, then I headed back to Oma. What a weekend! I am sure more is to come! Nagano next weekend! I will keep y'all posted!

Weekend+nenkyu+Autumn Equinox = four day weekend!

A recount of my weekend, this is more a journal entry and writing my memories!:

Friday:
I was really tired from the week, I had some rough experiences that really took a toll on my body and left me to wonder whether or not I was going to go to Mutsu. We had the SIFA cooking class on Thursday evening and I got home late from that, which was a ton of fun as always. I got to see the whole Mutsu gang and Alex B. led the cooking with some amazing Australian recipes. So anyway, I was really tired when I got back from school on Friday and after messing around on the internet, it was around 6:00 PM when I wanted to nap. I got a call from Alex Q. and decided to go to Mutsu. I got to Mike's place and Alex was talking to Dave. We chatted for awhile and then went to Discovery Cafe where we had some western food, pizza and gratin and shared a dessert with each other! After, we decided to go to karaoke with some of the SIFA women and Keiko was amongst them! After belting out song after song with Alex and friends (Alex Q. is really good by the way), we avoided going out with Satoko and then went to a bar called, "One Love," which by the title, one would assume it is a reggae-themed bar, which it was. I got to meet Ichiro, the owner and the workers there. They were awesome and it was exactly the kind of place I want to hang out at frequently. Alex and I chilled there for a couple hours, maybe more. Like 11:30-3:00... OK, that is more than a couple hours, but it was fun. I made some new friends and Alex bought me drinks. I also got a drink paid by a woman I met there. So nice to be friendly and a little flirt! ;) Afterwards, Ichiro, Alex, Miyoko (sp?) went out for ramen to a nice, quaint place in Tanabu. It was amazing to have some food after some drinking. We headed back to Mike's place to crash. It was so good to sleep!

Saturday:
Waking up to the doorbell ringing and then Alex B. jumping on me was not so good. After making a quick and groggy decision, I decided to go on the hike that Amy had organized! The hike was amazing! The people that went were Amy, Alex B., Toby, Mike and Carly R. It was a hard trek to the top, but well worth it. I think it took us about 1 hour to reach the summit, but the view was breathless. It was ridiculous! We did some cliff jumping! And Amy led us on her more, "manly" adventures which was scaling and bouldering... We came back down and then went to Bon Cafe for their famous beef curry ball with melty, gooey cheese on the inside. Afterward, Mike and I headed back to his place to shower and take naps. We were both really exhausted. I took a nice, long one and then settled for poker around 6:00, but more like 6:30 PM. It was good. It was Mike, Alex, Toby, Kazuyo and I. I felt bad because Kazuyo, Keiko and another girl I can't remember the name of started to make food for us to eat. Gabriel and Keiko later joined us. It was not a good night for Alex B. or Gabriel as they bought in a couple times each. It was good for me until Dave started playing late and I got hammered by him. Also, Keiko killed me on a couple head to head rounds. My decision making abilities were a little questionable as I consumed three large cans of 酎ハイ (chu-hai, or flavoured souchu with a fruit taste, usually) in very short periods of time. Everyone left around 12:00 AM and then we went to bed!

Sunday:
Sunday was Mike and I's lazy day! We woke up late and kind of stumbled around. We decided to do a lot of shopping that day. First, we found Autobacs where they could changed my way overdue oil and we walked to the Aeon on the four corners of Mutsu. After that, we went back to Autobacs, got the car and went to other shopping venues in Mutsu. The big Maeda was one of the places we went to and I had to get more money from the ATM. One social faux pas, wait until the people in the ATM are finished before barging in and scaring the shite out of them. Nice surprise though, I got more money from my CO for something. It was like two paychecks! So I splurged a little! ;) I had soccer that night in Ohata, so I asked Mike if he wanted to go and he said yes, so we were going to leave to go back to Oma, then back to Ohata for practice and then back to my place to spend the night. Dave decided to come and I was happy for people to just come to my place. We got to Oma, I started to cook some brown rice! Mike and I went to the practice and saw Akiko there whilst Dave walked around Oma. It was a fun practice except I didn't have socks and got blisters from wearing my shoes on my barefeet! I also hurt my lower back and was barely to walk afterward. We made our way back to Oma and I cooked mabodofu and reheated some miso soup for my guests. I also made some soba with fish sauce to dip in. Afterward, I set up the beds upstairs and we went to bed.

Monday:
We had to leave early in the morning the next day because Dave was going to Hakodate with his girlfriend, Miki. We got back and realized we need more things for the trip to the beach. We went to Sunday and picked up more bungee cords, a cooler a lighter and a towel. After that we got some ice and drinks and was ready for the trip to the beach in Rokkasho. We decided to take the 279, then the 179, but not before stopping at the Yokohama visitors center! I really had to go to the bathroom and when I came out, we were both hungry. We sat down in the restaurant and ordered. I had some カツカレー (katsu kare) and Mike had some type of gyodon. I can't really remember. After a delicious meal where army guys stared at us for speaking English and maybe because Mike was white, we headed off to the treacherous 179 where the tank tackled it! We stopped to take a picture of the scary bear sign and were off! I would rank the 179 in being the third best route to take to get to Rokkasho for time, but for the fun factor, definitely the best! We got to Rokkasho and the surf was great. We went to the beach we surfed at last (can't remember the name) and the waves were pretty poor. (I think it has to do with the tide breakers off the beach), so we went to the other beach after some disc throwing. When we got to the other beach, the surf was much better! Shinniya beach is more suited for surfing and you could tell it was the "haven" in Rokkasho as many of the locals were there. Mike hit up the waves and I sat on the beach and read a little bit of, "A Scanner Darkly." After a while, I got sleepy and decided to try out the flatbed in my tank. It was nice, but I drifted in and out sleep. When Mike was done, we went to Roca Poca. After a good 1.5 hours there (where I didn't lose my keys!!!!) we headed out to dinner. We re-enacted the date between Mike and Ayuko, where I was the women and it was a lot of fun. Then we headed back to the beach where we started a bonfire. The wood we collected earlier really helped us out, but we had to make a couple trips back to the beach to keep the fire going. It lasted a long time until we decided to sleep. The flatbed was kind of uncomfortable for me plus I got bitten by mosquitoes all night long. A lot of mods coming to that bed and tank soon...

Tuesday:
I was woken up by the call of Angella-nuna and she told me she was not coming to the beach that day. It was OK, I was too sleepy to even care at that point. I got back into the truck and fell back asleep. When I finally woke up later, Mike was up and ready to hit the waves. The waves were very good and there were a lot of locals in the water all vying for a spot to catch a wave. Unfortunately for Mike, this meant he would not be able to get as many as he would have liked. It started to rain and when Mike came in, I told him Ayuko and Kiyomi were not going to meet us because of it. We headed out and went to Eunjin-nuna's place to say hi. It was good. We headed back to Mutsu and to Alex B's house in Ori to drop off his stuff. A boy was playing Wii and we just went on our business. After, we went to this restaurant, which had skillet meat and all you can eat salad bar. It was good since our breakfast was very small and minute, so we kind of pigged out. After that we headed to a carwash and power-washed all the salt, sand and grime built on my car from the beach and whenever Brian Y. washed it last. We got back to Mike's place and it was like coming home, or my second home. We got to relax, shower and take a short nap. I decided to stick around because Keiko was coming over, so we decided to make some pork curry with onions, carrots and potatoes. It was delicious. Hayako came over with some rokkayozuke... hmmmm soooooo goooooddddd! Dave and Alex joined us a bit later and I finally went back to Oma around 9:30 PM. Whew. A lot to write about!

The west vs. the east or is it the east vs. the west?

You may wonder how I chose this title... and even think to yourself, what is this about? Are you intrigued? Let me first reflect on the title, I started with the "west vs. the east." I believe this is because I was raised in a predominantly western society/culture. I definitely identify as Asian-American and maybe sometimes as Korean-American or Chinese-American. So that is a little background, but the more important things come next...

The topic of discussion is the difference between girls in both societies/cultures. First of all, I am generalizing when describing western and eastern society. I make them entities and I know and acknowledge that they are comprised of separate countries, cultures, ethnic groups, etc. but I am noticing differences between the general populations. This topic came from an idea my friend gave me from Rokkasho. We were talking about the differences between Korean and Japanese girls and she said she would write an article about it. She is also a Korean CIR and she has her own article... dangerous...

Being raised in all of western societies, i.e. Mexico, Canada, England and the US, I have been exposed to the norms of dating, romance and sexuality in the context of the west. I would say up until college, I was only interested in caucasian girls because a number of things. I was always around caucasian people as they make the majority of the population and there was not that much diversity around me. Also, I didn't connect with other Chinese or Asians because I didn't know who I was yet. My parents also were a little protective of me in high school, so it pushed me to resent Asian/Asian-American girls and focused on caucasian girls.

When I got to college, it seemed all the girls I was able to get were all Asians or Asian-Americans. I don't know why, but I think karma came around for me. It was then where I was exposed to Japanese, Korean and Hmong girls. I liked other girls too, but all I ever dated were all of Asian descent. In terms of assimilation, the Hmong people are a very young ethnic group in the US and I think they are still very much traditional in their ways. For people like me, being Asian-American, I have found a balance to my parent's traditions and the American way of life. My parents say they want me to marry whoever makes me happy and loves me, but deep deep down, I think they want to marry another Asian girl. The saying, "Birds of a feather flock together," comes to mind. I don't mind marrying an Asian girl as long as I find what I am looking for. And I would assume everyone is in it for the same thing. Love, marriage and kids. Well, at one point in everyone's lives... some are quicker to find it than others.

I will talk about some differences I have noticed. One of the things that I notice most is the shyness of guys when it comes to talking to girls. I know this is not specifically about girls, but it is interesting nonetheless. I teach high school in 大間町 and have noticed that the boys are a lot more shy than the girls. I have been told this before I came, but it was very prevalent when I was on my trip to Rokunohe with the rugby team (see previous post). The girls were also ready for a photo opportunity where the boys would shy away from it and hide behind each other. Another example is when I asked the two 3rd years if they had boyfriends and suggested it was on the rugby team or in the high school, they laughed and waived it off as though the boys were not even worth their time. (Both of them are dating older guys who are closer to my age, which made me very uncomfortable.) I think with time, the guys opened up and relaxed around me a little more. But the willingness for girls to do that immediately shows the differences in cultures. In the United States of America, girls and boys are not as shy as they are in Japan. If a girl or boy is shy, it is because they usually lack self-confidence. But most of my high school friends were loud, seeking attention and wanting to be cool in the popular crowd. This brings me to the next point, if guys are so shy in Japan, then how do they ever get to ask a girl out. In the USA, it is almost always assumed that the guy will ask a girl out. The girl does not want to look desperate, slutty, fill in the adjective of your choice and plus many girls like the guy to show the initiative. It is very rare to find a girl who is good, "normal" and not sexually overactive to ask a guy out on a date. I am not saying it does not happen, but most of the time, the guy does most of the work. I don't know how it is like in Japan, but I assume the guy asks the girl out only after they have known each other for a while.

A blatant contrast between girls and relationships between the east and the west is how many boyfriends they have had. Now the girls who are hanging out with foreign men are a bit different in that they know what it takes to be with a gaijin guy. But the ones who are just a normal, Japanese or Asian girl really takes the relationship very seriously. I get the feeling that everytime an Asian woman has a boyfriend, depending on their age and situation, their mindset is marriage or long term relationship. I know in the US, girls have a very independent mindset. They have their own goals and want to have their own careers. If they have a relationship, great, but it is not the end of the world if they do not.
Maybe it is different because I am a boy, but in the USA, everyone has some fun and has their fair share of boyfriends and girlfriends. I am only 22 years old and I already feel that if I get into a relationship here in Japan, I will be expected to be in it for a long time. I am not opposed to a long term relationship, but I don't want to commit too early, too soon. It is also that I have not met the right girl yet... maybe I will in Japan or Asia... maybe I won't. I can't tell you my future because I honestly don't know. When people ask me, "How many girlfriends have you had?" I have to ask, "In what period of my life?" I am not at all a playa and definitely don't sleep around just to screw over girls. (Sorry, no pun intended) I am just a normal guy. I will admit I do flirt a lot and this has gotten me into trouble more often than I can remember, but that is who I am. I am not going to change for someone. I hope that someone would not change themselves for me.

This is all I can think of right now... I will be adding more to it as I experience more and more! Addendum: Please don't take this to be fact or truth or at all objective. These are my experiences and observations from what I have experienced. The things I talk about have been happening in patterns and I thought they would be interesting to share. Please do not be offended. Thanks!

Respect For The Aged Day Weekend!

Hey everyone! Brian here with another update! I have decided to try to write in my blog more. I will be adding my experiences and any other things I notice/observe. Sometimes I will try to connect it with sociology, so please bear with me!

Friday:

So this past weekend, we had a three day weekend because of the national holiday on Monday. On Friday, I drove to むつ (Mutsu) and met up with Mike at about 7:00 PM. It was nice to see him because I wasn't able to go to the Shichinohe the weekend earlier. We knocked on Amy's door to see if she was home and she was, so we ended up talking in the stairwell for a bit and Dave joined us. Amy finally invited us into her home like a good hostess. We chatted for a bit, then Mike and I went to みすやレストラン　(Misuya restaurant) and we had the usual char siu ramen and jumbo gyozas. The lady was unusually snippy and did not allow us to park in the spot, so we ended up parking in Ize Cafe and walking down to the place. Afterwards, we picked up a long and short board from Alex B's place in Higashidori. We got some gas for my tank and realized how big the longboard was... We got back to Mike's and Dave came over to go to a 温泉　(onsen). It was a natural one outside and it was really hot compared to the one other one I had gone to in Misawa. The onsen made us very sleepy and when we all got back to the apartments, we went to bed.

Saturday:
We left the next day at about 9:00 AM because I wanted to see the rugby in　六戸　and did not know how long it would take us. We ended up taking the 279 to a little past Yokohama and then turning by the wind turbines. It was a fun drive and we got there with about 30 minutes to spare. The weather was beautiful and quite sunny with little clouds. It was the perfect start to our weekend adventures. Mike was intrigued with the new sport of rugby and was very confused with its rules. I explained as best as I could, but knew it was impossible for anyone to understand it after only one game. We ended up losing about 41-7, I cannot remember the score, but a lot of the students were very upset, especially the san-nense. They were all crying because it was their last game as high school students. It made me remember the harsh reality of my last high school soccer game and I could sympathize with them. I got a little teary eyed when I saw Nakamura sensei shake the two manager's hands and was glad I was wearing my sunglasses. After that, we met up with Karesa and Eric in 三沢 (Misawa). We tried to go to a Mexican place, which would have been amazing, but they were closed down since it was a little later than lunch time. We ended up going to すきや (Sukiya) where it was gyodon (beef on top of rice). Mike was blown away that people speak English and the fact that the menu was in English. I kind of anticipated that because of the air base in the area and the number of families in the area. Afterwards, we headed back to their apartment and chatted for a while before heading out to Rokkasho (don't know how to put in the kanji for it!). Mike was driving and it was around 4:30 when we left Misawa to go to Rokkasho. Little did we know that Rokkasho is a village and we kind of passed through it without even knowing! I admit Mike and I were tired, so maybe we were not as sharp as we could have been! We ended up meeting Eunjin-nuna in the parking lot of the conbini (convenience store). We went to her house where her friends were already there. We met Kiyomi, Ayuko, Sachi (sp? gomene gomene!! ^_^) and one other person I forgot her name. Later, we were joined by Angella, Daniel, Stephen and Gabriel. It was a good time and we potlucked it up! A little later, we all piled into my tank sans Saichi and lady I can't remember and went to the beach. It was a good time and I realized how cool my tank is. We set up a bonfire and had some smores. Gabe and I decided to go skinny dipping and it was so much fun! The moon was full and amazing. I bumped some hot tunes and it was a good time. We went back to Eunjin's then back to Gabe's to sleep! I think we were all exhausted!

Sunday:
We woke up to find that Mike had left us to start surfing early. We knew he would and it was just so early. When the rest of us finally got up, Mike came back and asked me to drive him to the beach. When I got back, I found Gabe making french toast for us and it was really nice of him. We ended up going to the beach and just spent the whole day there. I had picked up the ultimate disc and we played some disc for a bit and ultimate football. After spending almost the whole day there, we headed back to Gabe's and had some dinner. I took a shower and joined everyone else who was already eating. It was a good time! Mike and I were still deciding if we would go to Kawauchi matsuri or stay and do another onsen. I had a bad feeling about the onsen, but I thought it would be good to go because of the sun and all the muscles that were starting to be sore. We ended up going to Roca-Poca and it was nice except that I lost my keys and it sucked. We searched frantically, but to no avail and ended up staying another night with Gabe. I want to say thank you to him and all the Rokkasho peeps for making us feel welcome and putting up with us even longer! I ended up going to Eunjin's place and just chatting with a group of girls whilst Mike and Gabe went to bed early. It was fun!

Monday:
I was woken up by my phone ringing and it was Amy. I explained to her that I had lost my keys and apologized for not being able to go on the hike with her. We decided to borrow Eunjin nuna's car and drive back to Oma for the spare keys... I know it was long, but we made good time in her car. It goes fast! On the way back we took the 179. I recommend it if you have a 4WD car... that is all I am going to say. We got back (Rokkasho) and drove the tank back... Finally... We were both tired as we returned the boards to Alex's house in Higashidori. Mike filled up my tank with 30 L of petrol and I was happy. The last part of our trip was a last minute decision to go to Ohata matsuri. We went and it was a lot of fun, standing around for a couple hours whilst slowly moving towards the end. At least there was okonomiyaki! :)

All-Aomori Speech Contest in 2008

Hey everyone!
Yesterday, I went to the All-Aomori Speech contest with Tandoh-sensei and Saori Fukuda. She is a second year high school student (ni-nense). I was given a shorter time to practice with her and it was only 2 weeks long... I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, but more on that later.

I woke up at 5:00 AM that morning and made myself breakfast. I knew it would be a longer day, so I made myself some eggs and bacon instead of my normal cereal or oatmeal. We left at around 6:00 on a school van and I was very tired still, so I tried to take a nap. The roads from Oma to Mutsu are very curvy, so that was not a good time.

We arrived in Aomori-shi and had to go to a conbini (convenience store) and buy our lunch for later. I don't remember the name of the place, but it was like a community centre or something official that had a nice auditorium in it. The speech contest itself was very long and there were 13 recitations and 25 original speeches. Saori went 12th and I thought she did a good job.

We ended at about 3:30 in the afternoon and the judging took a long time. My student did not get a prize. There were five prizes to be won and she did not place in any of them. I was very upset because I thought she had done a good enough job to at least place in the 4 honorable mentions. At the time, I was very upset and even angry at the judges because I did not think they judged all the students on a fair or consistent basis. The five students who ended up winning did either speech "A" or "D". I do not want to take away from the students who won as the ultimate goal is for the students to learn and appreciate the English language, but I do think that there is some underlying politics that I am not aware of or cannot control at my level of bureaucracy.

We got back to Oma at about 8:00 PM and I was exhausted. Overall, I experienced my first speech contest and know what needs to be done to win. I was a little unprepared with the student because of the short time I was given whilst other people had a longer time. We will win next time!

All Aomori/Tohoku High School Rugby Tournament

I know there is a huge gap between my last post, but I will just have to fill in the rest of the details later. I want to write this down whilst it is still fresh.

From Thursday afternoon to Saturday evening, my school's rugby team went to Rokunohe to play in the All Aomori-ken high school rugby tournament. We left Thursday afternoon at around 3:10 PM and it took us about 3 1/2 hours to get to our Misawa hotel called, Tensui. It was nice, we arrived and then had dinner very soon afterward. It was a very good dinner and I ate almost everything! You can tell Misawa has an air base in it because a lot of the signs were in English and more accommodating for English speakers. Afterwards, Nakamura and Tandou sensei went to their room to drink chu-hi. Drinking here in Japan is very different than in the U.S. We sit down in the room and just pour each other drinks. It is more social and we have Japanese snacks such as dried squid (my favourite!), rice crackers and other things too. We have a TV on and we sometimes watch it and comment about it. It was nice because as we drink more and more, we were able to open up and joke about each other. Mostly about Tandou sensei and his lack of a girlfriend!

The next morning, we had breakfast at 8:00 AM and would meet at 10:00 AM to leave to the field. We got there and our game was at 12:00 (noon). They did they warm-up and everything was on the field immediately. The timimg in Japan for important events is very efficient, which was very nice. The game we played on Friday was an easy one for us and they easily disposed of the team (which I forgot the name) and won 84-0. There was no contest and I soon began to see how good we really are. After the game and post-game bows, we stayed around because every team helps out with lining, scoring and match reports.

We had some problems on the way back with the bus, the piston was broke or that is what I understood it to be. We took another bus and I went back to my room and took a mini-nap to be interrupted by knocking on my door. Tandou-sensei informed me that Nakamura-sensei wanted to go to the onsen now, so I got ready and we went. It was a very interesting experience. The onsen is a place where anyone can go and relax and destress. This time it was only men and most of them were old. You are naked the whole time and you are supposed to have a towel. I did not, so I was naked all the time. The first thing you do is take a shower and scrub yourself down very well. You want to be clean for the actual hot springs, so no one gets your dirty grime or anything like that. There are multiple pools, two cold pools and one sauna. I spent my time in all of them, but most of the time, I tried to get into the sauna and the cold pools. I felt very refreshed after the experience. I ended up buying ice cream cones for everyone because they covered the cost of me getting in. It was 350 yen. (I don't know how to write the yen sign yet on a US keyboard! haha) We got back and I had another 1 1/2 hours until dinner, so I just layed in my room and then went to dinner. It was good. Through the middle, I got a phone call and it was Karesa. We planned to meet at 9:00 at the Misawa train station. So after dinner, it was to drinking again and we drank a lot more. By the time 9:00 came around, I was buzzed and it was good. I made my way to the train station and soon found out there are two sides and two exits. When I finally met up with Karesa, I met her husband and their friend from the airbase, Han. We ended up going to a ramen place which also serves Thai food, but the kitchen was closed to Thai food, so they ended up having ramen. The place is famous for putting a lot of garlic into their food. When we finished, Han drove me back to the hotel and I went to bed shortly after.

The next day, the same schedule. Breakfast at 8:00 AM and then we left a little bit earlier, at 9:50 AM. We had all of our stuff and when we got there, we took it with us. The day was not as nice as before, it was cloudy and overcast, but still sunny enough to get me sunburned for the second day in a row!!! The game was a tough battle between the two teams, it was us and another Hachinohe team. Hanchinohe has many different high schools, so I couldn't remember all the team names. We won the game on only one try and conversion, final score was 7-0. After, some of the students whose parents came up took them back and we got back onto the bus. I took a nap and we were back around 5:30 PM!

Please check out my pictures of the trip on the facebook and I am putting one up here!