For Papa

Well, my dad's been on my case to update the blog, so here it goes. I went to Sapporo, which was awesome. I ate a lot of Hokkaido soft cream (how the Japanese say soft ice cream) and I rented a bike and rode it everywhere. Once I hit someone by accident and he crumpled to the ground. I apologized profusely, he was okay, but I still got a ton of dirty looks. I liked biking in Sapporo because you don't have to wear a helmet, you can bike on the sidewalk and the city is much flatter than anywhere in Chiran (I've only attempted biking twice here way last year before I had my car, but as I live on the middle of a hill I soon stopped).

I studied Japanese for two weeks. I was put in a bit of a higher level than I thought, so it was a challenge but I gambarimashita(ed). Gambaru is the dictionary form of the verb that doesn't have a direct English translation. It kind of means 'do your best' or 'fight' or I don't know. During Sports Festival (which I will talk about, maybe) the announcer would always tell the lagging runner in the relay race to 'gambatte kudasai' - please gambaru. I know if someone said the English translation to me I would want to punch them in the face for being patronizing, but in Japanese it's okay.

So, funny story. I had this awesome Japanese teacher in Sapporo named Ozawa-sensei. She only taught the first week at the school because her real job is as a Turkish translator. She mentioned that she would be coming to Kagoshima in September and told me to email her but being busy since returning I kind of forgot. But then last week I was in the city on Monday night looking for a photo booth to take a passport like photo for my Japanese test application, when I hear a random shriek and there is Ozawa sensei. I told her I would email her later in the week and we would meet up. Then on Wednesday, I went to the Chiran Peace/Kamikaze museum to help the English-speaking tour guide with translations of pilot-written letters, when I hear another shriek and it's Ozawa sensei again! It was so random running into her once, but then seeing her again was out of this world. We ended up meeting on Friday and it was really nice to catch up. Which reminds me, I need to email her.

That weekend was also the first long weekend since July. So of course, there was a typhoon warning in effect. That Sunday the junior high school's Taiiku taikai (Sports Festival) was scheduled. Last year it was postponed because of an actual typhoon. This year thankfully the weather held out long enough for the marching and the track races and the cool fan dances. I took some pictures of the cooler stuff which I will post sometime soon. If you want to know more about Taiiku taikai email and pester me. Otherwise I won't bother since right now I'm tired. I was supposed to partake in a teachers' relay race, but by the afternoon the rain started falling, and so thankfully it was cancelled. There was a tradition at the junior high for the ALT to run the 1500m with the male students, but as I am neither a runner nor male, I opted out. Maybe my successor will be a better sport enthusiast. I personally enjoy watching from the sidelines and hanging out with the other klutzes.

This weekend was all the elementary schools' sports days. As I have seven schools, and as it was Sunday so waking up very early is out of the question, I only managed to go to a few of the schools. I figured this was better as I actually had a chance to talk to students and enjoy watching the events. While the Junior High's sports day seemed very formal and regimented, the primary schools' were more relaxed and community oriented. Many of the junior high students were at their alma maters helping out, although some begrudgingly. There were all sorts of hilarious relays, like the 'Big Pants' where the student and their parent wear one leg of the same giant pair of polyester pants and then run a relay. Some parents were so into it they were almost dragging their little son/daughter behind. At my big primary school, the PTA mothers did a dance with fans to the Shochu jingle from a TV commercial. At least that's how I recognized the tune; for all I know it's a famous traditional song though I'd rather think of it as the Fat Man Shochu song.