One month in!

It has been another couple of great weeks. I’ll start with a quick rundown of activities, with photos then I might try and give a few opinions about some of my personal observations. First and foremost, Diana and I are well. Our time here is fantastic so far and the people are treating us with kindness and patience. These last two weeks have been pretty busy.

Diana has been working on the upcoming event and her course. CIE has been helping her develop a curriculum for her Spanish classes and they have gone shopping for decorations for the grand Mexican Independence day event. I have been working on the menu and trying to help a little with some ideas now and again but really Diana and CIE are doing the majority. It looks like it will be a grand affair!

The week before last was very intense. I had some really long days in there and it was pretty tiring but it was a good week. Work has had its ups and downs but I am getting there bit by bit. I am constantly terrified I will scare students away through some error or oversight but as I get more familiar with my students I am starting to relax back into the role. The students, like in the past, have been a great source of support, information and motivation for our own situation. I think learning from the people and in turn imparting something of my experiences in life is what I love most about teaching and traveling.

So that’s the basics on day to day life…as for fun…

Last weekend we had a welcoming party!! It was pretty fun. We both drank too much and ended up in a Karaoke bar singing horribly. It was pretty hilarious though I can’t really remember the end that well, maybe it was something I ate hehe. It was such a great night but our complete lack of Japanese is really starting to affect us. We ate grilled fish, drank sake and learned quite a few words from one of my student’s daughters.  The real challenge though, aside from the language was the next morning.

I had organized, at 5am, to go fishing with a different student….what pain. At 4 30, and I have no idea how we managed to wake up as the alarm didn’t go off, we stumbled down to the street and piled into his car. It was a fabulous trip. I mentioned Tsurui Mura last blog and posted a couple of photos but this time we got to walk through that jungle of green and down into the real nature.

Knee deep in crystal clear water we simply bait casted for these little fishlings. I think they are some type of trout but can’t be sure and for a short period you are allowed to fish for the tiny little dudes. It is fun, easy and the bait was maggots. I caught twenty of the little dudes and my gracious host caught 15, though I have to admit the majority of his were considerably larger than most of mine.

 Before I move onto the eating I think it might be worth mentioning a few little bits and pieces. As we were driving we nearly hit a giant Bambi. I know technically I should call it a deer but you should have seen it! It was almost that yellow brown, straight out of Disney, with those stereo typical brown dotted stripes and everything. It must have been Bambi’s parent before she or he died or something. It was still very cool, though for our host it was like an Australian seeing a Kangaroo in the bush. ‘Bloody deer, geez they can be a bugger! They’ll jump straight out in front of you if you’re not careful’ (not even close to a literal translation!).

Another note on the wildlife, aside from the very serious outfit; waders, hat, scarf and bait box, we were also equipped with a whistle. This small device was used frequently as we wandered through the bush and Diana had to ask….’what’s the whistle for?’ I had a feeling and wasn’t too surprised when our host found the English word for bear. Diana wasn’t particularly amused hehehe. From what I understood, the chances of seeing a bear here were pretty low but it never hurt to reduce the chances a little further, it sounded like sound reasoning to me though I don’t know how assured Diana was.

We went, via all the look outs around the marsh (AWESOME), back to our hosts house to fry up some of the bigger fish and eat them. We were a bit nervous and awkward at their house but they were so kind and patient it was great. The fish was delicious as well. I am quickly learning to not only eat a lot of fish but to quite enjoy it. The rest of the weekend was just recovering and household stuff.

 This weekend is turning out to be even MORE scandalous. Last night we headed to the ‘Fog Festival’. After the shrine festival, very cool but kinda quiet, we weren’t expecting a huge affair but we were very very surprised. The area was full to over fllowing, the bands were great and the laser show was fantastic. We have another welcome party tonight and then we might return to see if there is anything left at the festival! It should be yet another amazing weekend and technically my ‘weekend’ doesn’t start until Sunday! Yes!!

 As for insights and observations...they'll have to wait...things to do!!