Superstar me

What a week it was last week. I am sort of glad to be hidden away in this tiny corner of the world, I don't think I could handle the pace of life on the mainland for too long... it was like being back at uni with the daily/nightly drinking but this time with karaoke, high-tech cameras and confusing foreign money.

I spent Monday to Wednesday biking around the city (which is scary, the roads are narrow and people bike in both directions on both sides of the street) shopping like a manic with a credit card (but of course you can't use those here). I have never enjoyed shopping in New Zealand, I think it is just an absence makes the heart grow fonder thing. Having been deprived of shops for so long I went a little crazy at the range of goods on display. Most of the damage was done at the 100 yen shop though so it wasn't as poor-making as it could have been (those shops are incredible everything from cushions to garden rakes, peanut butter to lap-top carry bags... I purchased many, many pairs of toe socks there).

But most importantly of everything... I believe I have found me a sewing machine. Oh blessed day! One of Nic's workmates had one but it doesn't go so well. I will pay the repair costs and it is all mine, mine, mine. I have bought fabrics in anticipation.

My new favourite thing is biking at night and singing. I frightened some locals with a particularly enthusiastic version of 'horse with no name' at one traffic light.

The conference itself was goodly, more useful information to try to cram into my poor wee head. I am sure it will all fall into place once I finally actually start doing my job... I keep telling myself it will anyway.

Saturday I started exhibiting unusual behaviour and played soccer (in a team called the Shimane Samurai Superstars) and watched the rugby. I thoroughly enjoyed doing rather badly at both. Playing soccer I managed to give someone smaller than me a bloody knee and shut my eyes twice when the ball got too close... but apparently I will be allowed to play again should the occasion arise. In the general excitement of the rugby I managed to consume 5 chuhais (the cheapest most potent alcohol I have met) and spent the night talking thirteen to the dozen to anyone foolish enough to be in my general vicinity... so I think it best that I hole up on the island for a while...

In other news I have gone technological and purchased me a cell phone. They don't have text here, they just email from phone to phone so you can email it and I can email back any old time anyone feels like saying hi. I won't put the address here in case the odd message leaving person is as scary as they seem.

Sorry to people who are eagerly awaiting emails from me (you know you secretly are) but I can't get into yahoo from this computer. I think I may just have to suck it up and convert to evil gmail... can someone send me an invite just in case I get into my account one of these days? Sorry to non-gmailers but these are desperate times. Hotmail has stopped working here too.

Matsue

Hollo!
Just a quick note because I am in an Internet cafe over on the mainland. I got here yesterday and it is lovely hanging out with another kiwi! I am staying with Nic who was the Japanese teacher at Hutt High (well after our time to those fellow HVHS personnel)
I spent today wandering round a very old castle and a rather dilapidated English style mansion thing that replaced lots of samurai structures when it became the done thing to modernise just over a century ago. I spent the afternoon biking in a storm that even Japanese people mistook for a typhoon! much fun. very wet.
On Saturday I met the Japanese learning club on Oki. They are a lively bunch of Filipino women and I think it is going to be a fun class! We had a BBQ at which I was plied with alcohol from 11am and then given several children to watch. My new best friends are 3 and 5. I'll see if I can load the photos.
I'll be here until Sunday so I don't think I'll get another chance to write. Am looking forward to Wednesday and Thursday night in a hotel with delightful air-conditioning. Mmmmm. Sweet cool air.
Must go as the Internet cafe very expensive (but has all you can drink slushies and tea)

Run run run run run runaway

Well,
You know how I said I was going to a sesai festival on Monday... to my eternal disappointment (oh no! no more bitter crunchy slime?) we either couldn't find the festival, or it actually didn't exist (I couldn't quite figure this out) so instead we ate oysters and went on a boat ride around a bit of the island. I think the pictures attached themselves to the last entry. Not a bad day at work.
The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful.

On Tuesday I had a meeting with my supervisor and my English teacher friend and I found out all sorts of things. Apparently my not eating certain ingredients has caused a spate of meetings about my school lunches (which I would happily not eat) and this is still causing some headaches. And also I have three summer holiday days that they want me to take next week. So after a flurry of emails I am off the the mainland for a week! It works rather well since I have orientation (flash hotel, free food) Thursday and Friday anyway.

The heat is still preventing me from sleeping well or long so I decided last night that I needed to exhaust myself so I wouldn't notice the heat.... so I went for a RUN.

First to the actual run. I was apparently quite a sight. I caused cars to miss their lights, people to stop and exclaim and in the dark I nearly ran down and old lady. (I credit myself with one actual crash so far. Last week this man on a scooter was staring so I called out konnichiwa! He konnichiwaed back and then made a right turn into a small side street with an SUV in it. No one was hurt but I think the SUV got a bit dinged.)

The run went well to start with, I ran away from home and down the river and as I got around to town I realised the only way I knew how to get home (apart from the considerable distance I had just come) was through a badly lit tunnel and up a rather overgrown road. So I chanced running through the town. Not a good idea - I got so lost! So many tiny, narrow identical streets!
And as soon as I slowed to a walk I noticed my heels seemed to have turned into giant blisters. Eventually I found the river again and ran a few hundred metres at a time before resting my blisters and then deciding that the faster I went the sooner I got my shoes off and running again.

Just before I got home I bought what I thought was water from one of the many many vending machines. It was that super-sugared sports water that makes me really jittery but I drank it anyway. I have resolved to belatedly desensitise myself to sugary drinks. I will endeavour to drink at least 1 over-sugared beverage every day. I may even try to drink coke. This will protect against future accidental sugar jitters from sports water should I ever run again.

I took photos of my blisters, they are well worth photographing. I should have done mugshots of them holding a ruler... the cover most of my heel and are red and angry. I am wearing socks now and you can see them sticking out. Mmm.

Anyway. Blah blah blah had a visit from SUV man while I was cooking today's lunch (generously seasoned with running sweat mmmm) all very embarrassing. Had cold shower and then made discovery of the day... running makes you hot. Not just while you are running but forever after. It was like all my cells were combusting or doing their thing at a faster hotter rate. No amount of standing under the air conditioning in my native-frightening-stubbies would cool me down. I am still hot today. Amazing. I will keep this in mind for winter. So less sleep, more heat last night but I am now so body-tired that I think I will sleep tonight no matter what (surely I will have cooled down by then?)

Wow. That is a lot about nothing. Next week I will be all exciting and on the mainland! Promise!

PS Simon! what could possibly be wrong with Korean BBQ? It is not like a REAL BBQ I know, but surely there is nothing offensive about a gas fired hotplate and a cook-your-own pile of marinated meat and veges? It is one of my favourite foods! I like to well overcook everything - to a state of extreme crispiness - to make up for all the raw stuff they feed me.

Sesai

Goodness it is a while since i wrote.
I tried on Friday, honest I did but I was just too tired to lift arms to keyboard and brain was reluctant to form coherent sentences. In a good way... I just rather over exerted myself on Thursday.
Where to start. Hmmm....

I had my welcome party on Tuesday at which the head teacher got decidedly sloshed and kept asking me questions like "So tell me, do you find sumo wrestlers arousing? no? why? they big strong men!" delightful dinner time conversation. But it was a very pleasant evening. They all seem like really good people (although one doesn't speak much English) and I am much reassured about starting school.

Surprisingly, the head teacher recalled the next day that he had invited me to attend the ceremonies and activities of an exchange between his school and one on the mainland. Wednesday was not so exciting but Thursday was marine sports day!

What a way to start the day! I ended up arriving at the sports beach by speedy little boat. Unfortunately it was cloudy and really windy (wellington styles) so I was semi-drenched by the time I got there...
My first marine sporting of the day way a tandem-style jet ski ride. My driver seemed to be suicidally intent on heading as fast as he could for large obstacles like the jetty or the odd rocky island and at the last moment turning and yelling LEAN! LEAN! (at least I think that is what he was saying).
I spent the remaining hours before lunch diving for seafood with with boys. I was rather surprised when they made it clear I was expected to keep my t-shirt and shorts (almost longs) on over my togs. Made swimming much tougher since I didn't have flippers.
I managed to collect nothing truly edible and have conclusively proved I suck at finding things in the seaweed-infested ocean (more on that later) but it was much much fun.
Finally back on land I managed to feel cold(!) for the first time i think since i got here. Sitting in the wind in soaking clothes will do that in most conditions I think. So I got showered and changed and failed to re-sunscreen my arms. Within an hour I had my very own two-bar heater. It was fascinating for the kids. They poked my glowing red skin and said atsui? (hot) in surprised voices. Yes I said, hot. And sore. Stop touching me!

In the evening we barbecued our catch (well supplemented by market-bought local delicacies) and the teachers got drunk on two beers in front of the students. Good family fun.
Then we played games and I had the best most exhausted sleep (apart from the occasional ow! sunburn! wake up).

Friday night I met Eri the High-school assistant English teacher who has another English-speaking friend staying and we went out for Korean BBQ, Saturday we played pool and talked the night away.

The swimming... I like the sea. I love the sea. I hate being away from it... but I can firmly say that I never want to go to that bay again. I don't remember exactly when I started disliking seaweed. I have scrambled semi-formed bad childhood memories but I didn't realise just how horrible it is until yesterday. Who knew fear could come in so many shapes, forms and colours. I spent a terrified hour or so in the water desperately trying to convince myself that these were discrete, mindless, plants and not some malevolent being out to entangle me. It was horrible. everywhere I turned another infested rock loomed. At one point I couldn't handle and scrambled madly out of the water on to a rock and scraped up my leg. I wanted to howl, not cry, but actually howl in desperation. Maybe that is what people feel when they shriek at the sight of a spider? But do they dream of evil spiders? Getting back to the beach was the worst, the shallower it got the closer the seaweed was... I would swim and perch and shudder on a rock and then get the courage to go a little further. yuck yuck.

On a nicer note, I danced around another lantern-lit tower last night and impressed at the locals with my energetic interpretation of the dance steps.

But the absolute highlight of the night has to be my stirring rendition of the Guns 'n' Roses classic "Don't you cry" in a private Karaoke box down the road once the festival was over. I was shocked and disgusted to discover that some of those present had never experience the wailing beauty of G 'n' R. Aye me.

This afternoon I am off to a sesai festival. Sesai are the gross periwinkle things and the festival is all you can eat! I can't eat so much... and tonight there will be more dancing. Good season to arrive I say.

Hope all is good welly and your various other locations? Thanks for the emails it is nice to hear from y'all.

Taiko

Rarrgh how annoying I was at full tilt describing my weekend when I was informed (in Japanese) that using a computer was very bad. Then someone managed "electricity!" and I shut it down fast without saving anything...

umm...

the weekend.

Friday was the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I spent the evening watching horrific TV shows about it with the dairy lady and the Chinese CIR. The dairy lady, (who is in her 60s) is from Nagasaki. Not much you can say. That was one of the few times when it is better not to have words. Some things are best communicated in silence.

Saturday... due to some miscommunication I believed I was swimming on Saturday and so waited for Rika to call. by the time I realised she wasn't going to I had the house spick and span and had wasted away the afternoon reading. At around 6 my predecessor's friend Ken turned up in his big black SUV to go to a taiko drumming festival.

The festival was over the other side of the island at a village/hospital/hospice type place for mentally disabled people. There was a big tower with a drum and chanting men set up with lights all around it and the place was full of extended families and locals.

When it got dark the villagers (including an English teacher yay!) all began to dance around the tower using what looked to me like an impossibly complicated step... after some hours of my future students pointing and giggling and the patient attentions of the English teacher and a lady in scary white pants and a mickey mouse t-shirt I was a pro! (until I fell in behind some boys and accidentally mimicked boy-steps causing much laughter from the sidelines)

Sunday I went swimming and got to explore the island. it is just beautiful. There is one little rocky bay that is incredibly home-like. Kuoatunu with pines for pohutakawa (and a concreted walkway), or the west coast. Nice.

Swimming went better than last time... but we now think it is the little animals on the seaweed that are eating me, didn't I always say seaweed was evil!

Righty
Have decided to learn taiko and failing that, will take flower arranging classes.
donna

So-ba

Hello all I had a brilliant day yesterday! I was trying to do my japanese learning at work and it was the hottest day this year on Oki (don't belive the thermometer thing on the homepage those reading are taken at the port, our thermometer said 35) when I realised someone had been calling Donna-san for some time and was approaching me rather menacingly with a telephone. On the phone was Rika, one of the English teachers that I met at my predecessor's farewell, and she was asking if I wanted to go buckwheat noodle (soba) making. I surely did! five teachers and me set out to find this buckwheat mecca and ended up deep in the forest on the other side of the island in a tiny soba restaurant with a gnarled old soba-making couple to teach us. I have to say it, my soba dough was the best. I had the perfect combination of buckwheat flour and water and made a smooth, firm, yet moist dough. (cullinary genius) sadly the rolling it into a wafer thin disk didn't go so very well and I was rather scared of the ruler/razor sharp knife combination used for the noodle cutting, but everyone seemed impressed. AND I got to wear a cute apron. Very housewifely (I later heard that the male teachers were doing a manly activity in the forest). After eating my own soba served in two traditional styles (I couldn't finish it soooo much soba) we went to visit some of my future students at their class camp. Oh my. Every single one asked me "do you have a boyfriend?" when I got bored of saying no, I started asking "do you?" the girls blushed and the boys lookind confused. Two boys who wanted to be my boyfriend, but I said were to young, came up with "together we are old enough". Delightful teenagers. Made me look foward to the primary schools, but they assured me "you very popular teacher". Then, while the other teachers went off for a communal bath in the hot springs, the English teacher and I went to the sea! Sweet sea! Bath-warm on top but blessedly cool underneath. I swam for two hours. This seemed like a long time to be stared at but somehow my many starers didn't lose concentration. At least I put on a good show. It was all going well until the giant jelly fish showed up and the biting animal got into my togs and gave me big red spots all over my tummy. Still, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. As soon as my bike is fixed I will be there every day. Mmmmm sea. Apparently Rika, my English teacher friend, is going to try and persuade my various bosses that exploring the island is offical work. It is indeed very important that I am geographically orientated .

Sun scorched, itchy, tired and happy.
donna

lisa! I was indeed rather alarmed when they showed me what to do in my litle house in case of an eathquake and gave me a textbook in Japanese about emergency proceedures... but I am assured that Oki hasn't been shaking for a while? I hope I understood them right!

Make party

Life continues to be hot hot hot and my body doesn't seem to be programmed for hot climates. It has come out in peculiar rashes and refuses to sleep for more than a few hours at a time with demanding to be watered. Oh well, it will have to learn or pop or something. At the moment popping seems to be the favoured option my feet are swollen and huge, and not just bigger than anyone else's feet huge, but sideshow bob huge, and my hands feel like I am wearing rubber gloves. Maybe they have secretly sent me to clown island... on top of that i have somehow managed to catch a cold! It must have been the single only piece of coldness on the whole island. Goodness this sounds moany.
Enough about the heat!

I continue to be that talk of the town with my peculiar feeding habits and people are coming up with ever stranger things for me to eat. There has only been one wee stomach churning disaster... the other night the old dairy lady, who seems to be feeding me at the moment, pulled a periwinkle out of it's shell and left the room because a customer came. Not wanting to be rude, I ate it... the whole thing, not just the edible bit, but the bit full of periwinkle poo and mud. So gritty and so gross. I had grit in my mouth all evening.

Next week there is a welcome party for me with the other English teachers. first we have a meeting and I introduce myself then we "go somewhere and make a party" I am intrigued.
Speaking of party making, tidying my house I found a quite considerable stash of alcohol much whiskey and shoyu (fruity white spirits) so I can make my own party anytime. And I just may.

Thanks for the messages! It lovely to hear from you all.

Sylvia, sorry i accidentally deleted you! i am not so good at making this site go.

Mate! (that is ma-te, japanese slang for see you soon, not aussie-style mate)
donna

All by my se-el-elf

Not much point in starting this thing if I don't tell anyone about it! I'll send out an email today. This is my first day at work as the only English speaker... the English guy who I am taking over from left on Saturday and the Canadian girl who I'll be working with has gone home for a month so I am all by my confused lonesome. But! this means people are being ultra nice to me.

I don't seem to be able to leave the house without being whisked away to some wee house for dinner. I set out on Saturday evening to buy cornflakes for breakfast and ended up watching crazy TV and being fed (and fed and fed) three courses by this lovely lady who runs the local dairy. She is a friend of the Chinese JET who lives upstairs and apparently I am eating every meal there for the foreseeable future!

On Friday night we had the leaving do for Phillip - a BBQ Japanese style. This means small chunks of flame grilled vegetables for starters and then buckets of still-living sea creatures tipped onto the fire. I can't name most of what I have eaten in any language. I will post a picture when i can. As the evening went on and the sake flowed people began discussing karaoke. Due to language difficulties my conversations consisted of people naming songs and me singing a phrase to make sure we were on the same wavelength. By the time we got to the bar I had apparently promised to sing just about every Beatles song and an unhealthy amount of Billy Joel... all good. I specialise in making an arse of myself in public and it went down well (as far as i could tell).

Anyway. life continues to be hot (33), muggy(90%), confusing and exciting.
Hope you are all keeping well.
donna