May
10
2008
--

The Outdoors!

Last weekend was Golden Week (*cue trumpets*)!!! A four day long weekend seen once a year in Japan. Thusly Chris and I set out to go camp at Lake Shuemarinai (sp?) for the duration, aiming to relax, drink beer and watch the Japanese bass fishermen fail miserably at their pastime

From Shuemarinai L…

Lake Shuemarinai. About 30 mins drive from Nayoro

It was in all a very chilled weekend. Even the weather was chilled. Freezingly so! We constructed giant bonfires with stolen wood and sundry supplies and were not terribly freezing. Watching the Japanese neighbour-campers park, unload a CRAPLOAD of camping equipment, sleep for 8 hours and then pack up and leave at 8am sharp the next day. Crazy people. Likewise watching the fisherman hurl their lines out and then proceed to reel them in faster than any fish could possibly hope to match, repeating the process for the day. It was great entertainment watching from the campsite! It does however make me want to get my own fishing gear.

From Shuemarinai L…

Note the snow…

From Shuemarinai L…

Generic John Tourist Shot


Speaking with the town’s veterinarian during my weekly conversation class, the trout season starts in June, so I’m quite tempted to make fly fishing my summer preoccupation. I still miss snowboarding though. Alas!

I also got my first look at the Sakura which is slowly starting to bloom way up north here. We drove past this awesome little Shinto shrine (the countryside are peppered with them) which was sheltered by Cherry and Pine Trees. It was literally in the middle of nowhere!

From Shuemarinai L…

School-wise the Junior High Lessons have picked up in pace somewhat. It seems to be some manner of weird energy generated both by the students and us teachers. It’s odd, but great nonetheless. It might also be due to my increased elementary visits and am thus just happier with work regardless! On the way to one elementary school I passed the Hamaonishibetsu (town next to Onishibetsu) harbour, and next to it, much to my amazement, were 10-15 surfers! Bear in mind the water was in single digits and they were decked out in full body wetsuits, but I was really amazed to see surfers this far north. I know on the Western coast of Hokkaido there is quite a surfer scene, but here! I certainly won’t be trying that anytime soon!

Written by admin in: Things Japanese |
Apr
28
2008
--

Park Golf and PE Teachers

It’s Spring, and that means the park golf courses open. Park Golf is a cutthroat sport native to Hokkaido involving the head of what could be a 3 wood driver, the shaft of a putter and a ball slightly smaller than those used in hockey but of the same texture and solidity. It’s really just a larger version of putt-putt, but woe betide any gaijin who takes this sport lightly. Weekends see the courses full of ernest-looking men and a few women, replete with their clubs, golfing attire and utility belts full of tees, extra balls, gloves, collapsible Gundam and so on. I have been on golf courses with less-devoted players! One basically whacks the hockey ball-thing with your club much like you would if you were putting on a 45m green and had quite a distance to the pin. I like to pretend I’m really aiming for a line through the course, when the reality is I’m basically just hitting a ball along a flat line over and over again. This sport is very popular in Hokkaido, I should add, with professional leagues and equipment costing upwards of R1300.

Park Golf in all its glory

So Chris and myself headed out and played a round. This is because there are no golf courses within easy driving distance and all the snow has melted, so it’s either play park golf or watch the town garbage truck make its rounds through the town. The truck plays Mozart on loop from 6am on Saturday, so it was a tough call to make.

My pale body was unused to so much sunshine as well, which resulted in a slight dizziness later in the day. It’s sad to think that just 3 hours of being out and about in real sun would do that. Testament to the ravages of Hokkaido Winter I guess. Park Golf is entertaining enough for a while, and the scenery is certainly quite beautiful. I wouldn’t play more than one round a week though, as it can get rather monotonous!

School wise I got to teach the tiny new 1st grade elementary kids. They’re six years old and the one school had 5 of them, 4 of which were little girls. ‘Cute’ doesn’t quite cover it. They enjoyed watching the South Africa DVD I brought and wanted to know if SA also had rabbits. In the Junior high the PE teacher seems to be on a mission today, ranting and screeching at everyone. I don’t think he likes Mondays. Kinda sucked for my second grade class, as they’re usually really excited in English and we get along great with them. Today we entered the class to find PE teacher chewing out some of the kids for god-knows-what. Most likely running in the hall or something equally silly, but the end result is that we were handed a class of kids who looked very sullen. Some, of course, were on the verge of tears.

Next weekend is a super long 4 day effort, so I’m scheming to go a camping with Chris and hopefully some others to a huge lake in the middle on Hokkaido. Should be fun, unless it rains. Pictures will be taken, with luck!

Written by admin in: Things Japanese |
Apr
21
2008
--

Working Weekends

For some unfathomable, ungodly reason, this past Saturday was a school day. Now I’m a lazy oaf at the best of times, so working 6 days a week is ridiculous unless I get paid overtime or it’s in order to finish my honours research paper. So with much consternation did I rouse myself at 7am to go to school on a Saturday!

Curiously enough, nobody else seemed to be bothered at all in the slightest, or if they were they hid it with sleek professionalism. I was only able to mask my grumpiness after a few cups of coffee. The students at least looked how I felt, with many a bottom lip being dragged through the hallway.

Following the day’s classes was a PTA meeting/pseudo-cocktail party held at the school (collectively known in Japan as Enkai’s), to which I gladly retreated to! I have been to many of these things since arriving to Japan, as it seems to be the substitute for going out on one’s own. The transformation witnessed by staff always amazes me. During the day my colleagues are stone-faced educators, oozing professionalism and work ethic. And yet, when the ties are loosened and the beer starts flowing, they’re you best friend(s)! I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this disconnect, as I’m more accustomed to folks acting pretty much themselves regardless of whether they’re in the office or sharing a beer. This particular enkai was a small affair, barely lasting 2 and a half hours, of which I spent the majority learning Japanese culture from the new science teacher. Of course, this ‘culture’ I speak of mostly involved us taking turns downing beer glasses, a thing I’ve never seen from a co-worker before. He is now my best friend!

I’ve written before (LINK) on how kids here cry at the drop of the hat, regardless of gender, and this week was no exception. The elementary kids are the worst, who will bawl at the merest hint of physical injury. At elementary schools it’s kind of cute, as they’re still lil kids, but if I see another damned Junior High teenager crying because a teacher reprimanded him, or he has a boo-boo on his arm, or the wind changes direction, I might just swear out loud! In Afrikaans, of course, lest my cursing cause even more tears!

In the classroom I have taken to pinning up an English comic-of-the-week at the back, next to the many pictures of naked Zulu warriors prancing about, all in the hopes that the students find some manner of humour in learning this language. I doubt many, if any, actually read the damned things, but at worst reading Calvin and Hobbes or Garfield once a week entertains me, which is really all that matters when one thinks about it!

A 5 day public holiday is fast-approaching in early May. Entitled ‘Golden Week’, I had hoped to visit a friend in Taiwan and get some more stamps in my passport, but it seems flights are rather… inflated… in prices for the holiday. I’m tempted to just drive to someplace new in Hokkaido and see what I can see. I have yet to visit Asahikawa, which might be nice…

The maths teacher just erupted in what I think was rage during his class. It seems the students weren’t paying sufficient attention to his ministrations. I wonder how many students will be crying now…

The Nerve Centre of the Chaos. Maths teacher not included.

Written by admin in: Things Japanese |

Powered by WordPress. Theme: TheBuckmaker