Ahhh! My Legs!

So last Sunday was the Mazda Ekiden (relay race). I may have mentioned before that our goal was do better than last year (67th place) and we DID it! it was cool clear day, but there was a bitter cold wind blowing in my face the whole way, but everyone of our 6 members said they were able to pass a few of the competition, bettering our position one leg at a time! The Mazda Ekiden is divided into two divisions, Community - like our team, and Company - for bragging rights around the Mazda plant I guess. Community is actually HARDER because lots of university track teams use the Ekiden as practice and devour the top 10 places or so. This year our score was 39th out of 160 teams though, meaning we got into the 75th percentile, and to cement that our overall score of 85th out of a total of a combined 338 teams!
After that, just like last year, the plan was to go eat at a yakiniku restaurant (like bbq'ing indoors and sitting down for those who don't know, it comes from Korea actually...) and we trudged over, exhausted, ready to eat! We sat down, order drinks that took forever to get there, and had a toast, and just started eating our first pieces of seasoned, thin sliced cow's tongue, when the waitress came to our table and announced, "There's a fire, we need everyone to leave. Please take your things with you and go"! Sure enough, the smoke intake at "table 2", as the servers kept saying, was blazing like a scene from Backdraft! They were doing every retarded thing to put it out (except use fire retardant), but they did put it out rather quickly. The manager then announced that they had to call the fire department anyway, so please leave, don't worry about the bill...which would be awesome if we had eaten a full meal, but we really only get enough to make us MORE HUNGRY! After checking about 4 more place and waking 40 minutes (after a race...) we did find a great place and it cost less than the first, and the service was very prompt, so it all worked out. Just you don't get the wrong impression, Yakiniku has been around a looong time and all the older Japanese guys I was with remarked that that had been the first time they'd seen ANY kind of restaurant fire, so it's not a common thing!
Since then, I've been running a couple times, and to touch rugby practice, so my legs feel like daggers, but hopefully they'll heal up big and strong :P
I went to the Oyster festival on Ondo and I also ran into one of my favorite teachers from my first year teaching, a P.E. teacher named Mr. Hirai. He was helping direct parking at a nearby elementary school, so we got to chat and catch up. Great times!

Frebruraryr

This month was awesome, and painful, like a microcosm of life.
I decided, this being a short month and my gaining a few kilos over the winter, to take the month off alcohol. I don't know if that sounds like an amazing feat to you or note, but i do so enjoy drinking socially, that I for one was curious as to how hard it would be. The first test, Feb. 6th, my friends George and Jemma had a party to celebrate their getting married. The party was a mandatory 2500 yen for all-you-can-drink, and I drank two glasses of orange juice and some of the worst iced coffee of my life! But because I still had a blast and thanks to being there I got invited to play poker the following day with just the kiwis. Funny enough, I left that party early because I had already made plans for poker that night, too, at my friend Simon's house. I lost 3000 yen there, but if you subtract how much I'd usually spend on drinking while playing poker, I was guess it would have normally been a 4000 yen night.

The next day I woke up and went out to Hachihonmatsu (near/in Higashihiroshima) and played poker with those guys. It didn't even dawn on me until about 3 hours in that other than myself, everyone there was from New Zealand. I don't know if these specific Kiwis represent your average dude on the streets of NZ, but these guys know how to live. Lots of laughter, no one being overly serious or imposing, and humble. George ended up winning everything (it got to be a pretty big pot, too) but he didn't even say "I won" when the girls came back from their day out. I have yet to meet a Kiwi I didn't like.

The next weekend Sachi and I took 5 days off to see our friends in Fukuoka and then go sight-seeing around Kagoshima. We ate tons of great food, especially kurobuto, or black-pig pork, which is the Kobe-beef of "the other white meat". We also visited Sakurajima, home of one the most active volcanoes on Earth, constantly spewing ash, and Furusato Onsen, a Shinto shrine with pools of sea water heated by the volcano. On the way home we stayed the night with our friends in Fukuoka, ate Fukuoka's specialty, Tonkotsu ramen, for lunch and nabe for dinner while their two adorable little boys raised hell around us, and the next day stopped in Shimonoseki on the drive home for fugu-burgers, which is exactly what it sounds like. Delicious, poison blow-fish meat batter-fried and served in a bun with tartar sauce, and shredded cabbage. SO GOOD! Of course, all this great food meant my not-drinking only SLOWED my burgeoning gut. By the last night of the trip I weighed 69 kilos, up 3 from the beginning of the year!

That's why this month has also been all about getting back into jogging. I only managed to get out there 4 (I may go tomorrow, making it 5) times this month, but I've discovered that by tuning out I actually run much further than i thought before, so each time I've gone, I've jogged 4 miles, plus a 5 minute cool-down while I walk home and stretch. I really wanted to keep this up every day, but rain and bad health got in the way! Here's what happened:

Tuesday, my first day back from the Kagoshima trip, I got to go on board a 75,000 TON cruise ship making a round-the-world voyage, and interpret for the English Captain and Japanese government types. That was the biggest cruise ship to ever dock in Hiroshima Port and the first of several similar interpreting jobs for me this year, but next week's ship is less than half the size (although that's still massive). The weather had gotten unusually warm that week, and I mistakenly thought my suit jacket would be enough, but on the coast a super cold wind was blowing and that equaled over-exposure #1 for the day. When I got home I changed into warm-ish jogging clothes and went running in the freezing cold night - over-exposure #2. Then my buddy Kazu came over to give me a haircut. That was fun, but i sat in my cold bathtub wearing only my underclothes, and followed it up with a hot, hot shower. Three strikes, I'm out.

After the shower, I immediately broke a fever of 38.2 degrees (100.7F), and had violent chills where I thought my body was convulsing. Thank god I had my hot carpet on and I sandwiched myself between that and my futon, and after abuot a half hour, I felt well enuogh to crawl under my covers and go to bed. The next day I stayed home from work, went to the doctor, and had a blood and flu test. The flu test was negative, but the doctor told me, (and I think this translation captures the exact attitude and style in which he said it) "What else could it be?" Either way, the medication was both Tamiflu AND antibiotics, so whatever it was, it went away, but not before keeping me home from work, alone, for another 2 days. Again, this sucked, but I DID finally watch Slumdog Millionaire and I loved it! (Oh, everyone loved it? Okay.)
This week I managed to get back out there jogging, but by Thursday my legs were dead and last night it rained all day long. But I DID excercise! My buddy Dan came way out from his island to show me a 2nd floor, indoor skateboarding bowl/restaurant! It's called Fury Pool, and it's right by Diamond City. We spent the 500 yen to use it for an hour, and I must have ate shit about 5 or 6 times, meaning my right side hurts ALL OVER now, and I fucked up my wrist, but it was so worth it to get back on a board and dropping into bowls. What a rush! This year I plan to be back on my skate board MUCH MORE. Wish me life!

Ending my January right.

I don't mean to make it sound like I only live on the weekend! I actually had a great Thursday night out after work with some co-workers who took me to a small restaurant that only charges 500 yen (roughly $5) for all you can drink soda, juice, tea, wines, beer, cocktails, whatever, for 90 minutes! Not only the drinks, but the food was quite cheap, and not bad. I don't know how or why it was so cheap, but I will be going there again sometime for sure! Work itself was a lot of written translations and the usual. I also do an "English lunch" every Wednesday with people at work who want to use what they know, but most are quite shy and need prompting/prodding. And Friday I went to an elementary school in Mihara for work. After giving them my standard lesson about American culture we ate lunch together, then some of the older members of the community came to help us pound mochi and play traditional Japanese games, like japanese spinning tops, gokokunarebi, a variation of Igo, kendama, and others. It was a fun day.

Saturday I worked, and at night played poker with my friends. I lost. heh heh. But the whole time we talked about goofy shit and enjoyed the highs and lows as the game progressed. I went around midnight because I had to work the next day too! Sunday I got up and rushed to work by 7:30am. From there, myself and some other members of the HIC, as well as volunteer staff, loaded onto a bus with 39 foreign residents of Hiroshima to Kita-hiroshima Town's district of Mizoguchi. Basically the boonies, but this was my second time going on the trip. The purpose was to show these foreigners, mostly from India, Indonesia, China, Brazil, and Mexico, what life is like in a region with heavy snowfall. Last year was waist-deep snow we made snowmen and inter-tubed downhill on. This year we had our big snowfall a few weeks early, so when we got there all that was left was the dirty, small patches left in the shade. "Oh no! What did you do??" you might fret, but fear not, the locals figured this out a few days in advance and whipped up some other traditional events, like...pounding mochi! Boring for me, since I had done just two days before, but good fun and a rare occasion for most people, Japanese included! There was Kagura as well, like last year, and I got to watch an Oni who made his way through the crowd to stage, stand right in front of me and reduce a 4 year-old Japanese boy to tears just by looming over him. I almost died laughing.
Don't forget this was for work. What work? I was translating constantly. Announcements before during and after, on the bus there and back, and speeches and explanations about the foreign and local food and cultures Japanese to English AND English to Japanese.

Best of all were the old men outside. The were there last year too, and only came inside for lunch. Despite the freezing cold, they preferred to stand outside around an stove pipe stove on wheels and they cut cups out of bamboo that morning to drink sake out of. This year though was an added treat. One of the old men had just come back from hunting wild boar in the mountains, and cooked up ribs for anyone who wanted them right there on the top of the stove! I ate about...5 ribs. They were sooo good!

As if my weekend, despite working everyday, couldn't be any better, Monday I finally got a day off. This was good timing being February 1st, the 2 year anniversary of my relationship with Sachi. We met for lunch at Swiss Fondue restaurant specializing in all you can eat dessert, and traded gifts at our table while the girls at the table next to us said "aww, that looks fun". Then we went bowling, strolling, shopping and finally stopping (see what I did there?) off at an elegant one screen theater with couch-like upholstery where we watched The Lovely Bones. It was long, and lame, but just like 2012, having Sachi there next to me made the whole movie seem better. We were still too full for dinner so we took another long walk together and parted ways so she could drive home to Kure. Later she texted me to say her mother was most impressed by the dozen roses I gave her. Bonus points.

How much was a picture worth again?

==> CLICK HERE <==
...if you wanna see a few recent pics. I will keep adding to this batch every couple weeks too so you can come back here, hit it again, and see if you get more! Just like an old vending machine >:)

What my weekend looks like:

**UPDATE**
Everything I wrote here came to pass and it was all fun, and all glorious! The only part I failed to mention was Monday. Monday I had three hours of interpreting for an American woman who was very nice. Other than that I finished book 5 of my interpretation studies and cleaned my house and TWO, count 'em two loads of laundry!


Friday I will go to work at the Ken-cho where I may or may not have anything important to do. Then I will go to the Hiroshima International Center, hop in a car and go to Kure to teach children at an elementary school about American culture (in Japanese). Then I will Have dinner with Sachi and take a bus back to Hiroshima to play darts with Steve and Tim.

Saturday I wake up at 9 to meet everyone at Hiroshima Eki (train station) for snowboarding at 10. We'll get there, eat the lunch we buy at 7-11 on the way, and troll the parking lot until we score lift tickets off people going home early. After that we will shred the mountain for 4 or 5 hours and drive back to Hiroshima for Chika's birthday party with two hours of food and open bar. This will be my last trip snowboarding for the month. I think it's trip number 11 this season.

Sunday I will wake up early, get on a train to Onomichi and meet up with other JETs to go to an orphanage and spend time with the kids. Hopefully this will become a monthly tradition. After that I will come home and watch Babylon 5, season 2. :P

I know this all very dry and straightforward. I just wanted to add a little something about what I'm doing.

My Trip To America!

Don't say you weren't warned! Get out your calendars! Here's my itinerary:

I will be in Seoul for the day of April 28th and on the way home the 24th of May.

I will be in Honolulu April 28th to May 3rd.

I will be in San Diego May 3rd to the 10th (give or take a couple days).

I will be in Tucson from about May 10th to the evening of the 22nd.

Because I am taking such a big long vacation, with the exception of my flight back to work May 22nd, I will accepting any and all bribes/opportunities for free shit the airlines offer me! Adventure awaits!

Hope I can see you all! Here are my flight details for anyone who wants to surprise me with 1st class upgrades ;P

Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Asiana Airlines # 161
Hiroshima International (HIJ) to Seoul Incheon International (ICN)
Departure (HIJ): April 28, 9:40 AM JST (morning)
Arrival (ICN): April 28, 11:20 AM KST (morning)

Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Seoul Incheon International (ICN) to Honolulu/Oahu International (HNL)
Departure (ICN): April 28, 8:50 PM KST (evening)
Arrival (HNL): April 28, 10:05 AM HST (morning)
--------------------------------

Monday, May 3, 2010
Delta Air Lines # 4014 Operated by: NORTHWEST AIRLINES -- NW 2116
Honolulu/Oahu International (HNL) to Los Angeles International (LAX)
Departure (HNL): May 3, 8:40 PM HST (evening)
Arrival (LAX): May 4, 5:21 AM PDT (morning)
LAX
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Delta Air Lines # 4690 Operated by: SKYWEST DBA DELTA CONNECTION
Los Angeles International (LAX) to San Diego Lindberg Fld S.Diego (SAN)
Departure (LAX): May 4, 6:15 AM PDT (morning)
Arrival (SAN): May 4, 7:10 AM PDT (morning)
--------------------------------

Saturday, May 22, 2010
United Airlines # 6391 Operated by: /UNITED EXPRESS/SKYWEST AIRLINES
Tucson International (TUS) to Los Angeles International (LAX)
Departure (TUS): May 22, 5:20 PM MST (evening)
Arrival (LAX): May 22, 6:49 PM PDT (evening)
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Delta Air Lines # 7860 Operated by: KOREAN AIRLINES -- KE 12
Los Angeles International (LAX) to Seoul Incheon International (ICN)
Departure (LAX): May 23, 12:10 AM PDT (morning)
Arrival (ICN): May 24, 5:10 AM KST (morning)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Asiana Airlines # 162
Seoul Incheon International (ICN) to Hiroshima International (HIJ)
Departure (ICN): May 24, 6:40 PM KST (evening)
Arrival (HIJ): May 24, 8:05 PM JST (evening)

Happy New Yearin' It

Hey all! Just so you know, I'm still alive, despite my reckless snowboarding habits, and enjoying life as always!

The last week of 2009 was great! I spent Christmas day with Sachi, we exchanged gifts, ate lunch, and watched Avatar (2D).
The next day I was in charge of my International Center staff's year-end party. I had planned for it for a couple weeks, so it was just making sure things went off without a hitch, and herding everyone around (good little sheeple). Of course, one thing went wrong - best laid plans and all: after bowling we moved to the Chinese restaurant where they squeezed us into 2/3rds the space the promised us. But they gave us more food than anyone could finish and it was all delicious and authentic and a good time.

I spent the rest of the year snowboarding everyday. I went with my supervisor at the ken-cho one day to Geihoku Kokusai, my first time snowboarding in Hiroshima as opposed to crossing the border to Shimane where i normally go for Mizuho. It was fun and we hit every run they had several times each! I took great pictures on my new cell phone too.

Oh YEAH! I got a new cell phone! The number is the same. The new email is cirbeck@ezweb.ne.jp if you want to email my phone. My old phone broke about three weeks before the 2 year contract on it ended, and they told me that unless I shelled out almost 100 bones for a replacement on my phone insurance, I'd have to pay for a rental until the new year when I would be eligible for discounted rates on a new 2 year plan. WTF?!?
So I went down the block (Hon-Dori) to the AU shop, where they offered to give a new phone, FREE, with all the functions of my old phone, plus it's water-proof, plus it's got a 5 megapixel camera, plus a pedometer (what am I 50?), PLUS a solar panel charger!!! I can't make this stuff up people. On top of all of that, they are giving me a 200 dollar (more after the exchange rate) stored value debit card for keeping my old number, so even after the charges of canceling my contract with them I come out waaaaay ahead! In short. I love my new AU phone. Screw you SoftBank, a.k.a. Vodafone.

Back to the slopes, I hit up Mizuho every day after that and enjoyed countdown at the usual bar with some friends, but went straight home after the non-existant ball-drop to get some sleep and be ready for New Year's day with Sachi's family.
As usual they were great. They poured me copious beer, fed me til bursting and shared a wonderful day with me that had, really, the exact same atmosphere as Christmas day back home. This all took place at Sachi's grandmother's house, so we also swung by her husband's grave topay our respects, light him some incence and make sure his plot was clean and had fresh flowers. one of Sachi's cousins wandered off and came back to report that some of the other graves had artificial flowers and everyone seemed to thing that was poor form. Interesting.

Since then I've been snowboarding a few more times, came back to work, and things are settling in to a familiar pattern again.

Hope you are enjoying 2010 too.