Christmas Vacation Part 2 (I meant to have pictures, but I had a glitch. Next time, though!)

Who I Went With
 So when I left off, I mentioned that we spent a few days in Nishihara and Aso. I should also mention that by this time I discovered that I rather enjoyed spending time with Krista and Kyle. There's nothing like traveling to cement a friendship (or tear it apart, as I've heard some unhappy traveling companion stories as well). Krista is something of a quiet one at times, very sweet, a little quirky and amazingly reliable, able and willing to go places and try new things and follows through on her plans - which, I can tell you from having tried to plan things with many people, is a rare quality. She lives about 2 hours south of me, and we met at orientation back in August. She also did a lot of the driving on the trip, so I largely have her to thank for travel this vacation. Kyle is Krista's college friend, who has been stationed way up north in Aomori, the northernmost tip of Honshu (which is the main island of Japan), a stone's throw from Hokkaido. Kyle's the outgoing one, quick to make friends and loved by all who meet him. I think our immediate bonding points were 1) a keen interest in learning Japanese (Kyle is much more advanced and made an excellent teacher) and 2) an interest in observing and studying culture (which we both did in college).

What I Did with Zuma or How I Spent Christmas
I had no plans for Christmas eve, which I actually spent opening packages from family and reveling in various goodies and reminders of home. Christmas morning, I was invited to make pizza at the special care home next door. It turned out to be a small gathering of families and the workstaff. I met the mother of one of my students as well as an English professor who works in the city and was actually the keynote speaker at the midyear conference. The pizzas were quite yummy, and I got to do everything from mixing and molding my dough to cutting the finished pizza and taking it home. It turns out corn is a very popular pizza topping in Japan.

By this time I still had not found someone to take care of Zuma for the 3 nights I would be gone. So in mild desperation, I asked a couple of the kendo moms if they could take him. One of the moms, who I call "Masami chan" and with whom I've become rather close, called me to tell me that she couldn't take care of Zuma because her daughter has dog allergies, but she could call another kendo mom to see if she could take care of him. Ok. So she hung up on me, called the other mom, called me back and said she was coming to my house to get us and drop us off at Komeda san's house. What?! So I quickly gathered Zuma's leash, bowls, food, and blankets and a minute later Masami was there, ready to whisk us away into the night (it was 6:30 pm but quite dark). A light snow was starting to fall, and we sort of managed to find Komeda san's house. Really, Masami chan called Komeda san, who came out of her house to come get Zuma, in what seemed like a midnight ransom exchange in the middle of the street.

Masami and I laughed and laughed in the car on the way back. Masami chan doesn't speak English, though she's trying to learn a bit. So you can probably guess that the whole exchange pretty much took place in Japanese, and that I didn't understand about half of the events until after they had happened. So the fact that we had pulled this off at all was amazing, and we both felt like very successful fools. I thanked her profusely all the way home (about 3 minutes), and she left before it occurred to me to ask how to get Zuma back, since I didn't have Komeda san's phone number. So I ended up making a surprise phone call when I got back, but more on that later.

Right after that, I went to a Christmas party. Jamiel is a 3rd-year ALT (assistant language teacher) who lives about an hour from me. He was spending Christmas here, too, so he invited me to a Christmas party at a diner that serves American food and often has live music. There I met a few of his Japanese friends, and we hung out, even danced to music played by 40-smthg Japanese men with greased hair and leather jackets and pants. It was in interesting night.

Back from Takachiho
 So my last entry talks about the days Kyle, Krista and I spent in Takachiho. When we got back, I called Masami chan, who was coming back from a doctor's appointment with her kids, so stopped to get me on the way back. Her 3 kids were in the car, being goofballs (the boys) or quiet and sweet (the girl). Rest assured, Masami chan will get her own blog entry very soon. We picked up Zuma, who had become good friends with Komeda san's 12 year old boy, Takafumi. On the way home, I offered some dog food to the kids. There weren't any takers.

Jamiel was hosting a movie night that same evening, so we decided to hit up Mt. Aso for a couple hours then head to his place on the way back. Mt. Aso turned out to be freezing cold, though quite beautiful with the snow, and was closing by 4:30, shortly after we got there. So it was nice to see the mountain, but there wasn't much to do in the freezing cold. So we ended up at Jamiel's place a little early. Six people total showed up and we gathered around a very small kotatsu (heated table) cooking meat in a small grilling pot thing. We watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which proved to be very silly and I thought surprisingly clever, even though I didn't understand half of the video game references, at least. We stayed up a long time talking about, well, everything. Religion, the environment, politics, Conan the Destroyer, and other important issues of the day.

Next day we slept til 12. Big surprise. The plan was to hit up Kurokawa onsen town, but it was snowing and raining alternately, not a day to be strolling through quaint streets, so we called up Jamiel and headed to a closer onsen and ate a nice dinner afterward. I'll write about onsen soon, since those are very much a part of the Japanese experience and deserve their own entry.

The next day, we headed to Fukuoka!

To Fukuoka and Back
 On our way to Fukuoka, we added a new member to our group. We ran into Jamiel's friend Yuusuke (pronounced "you skay") at the restaurant the night before. It turned out he needed a ride to Fukuoka where he was meeting his family for New Year's, so he got my number from Jamiel, and we drove to Aso to pick him up. On the drive, we got to know Yuusuke and helped add to his extensive knowledge of English swear words and phrases. I think WTF was the phrase of the evening. It was New Year's Eve, so once we got settled into our hotel, we invited Yuusuke to have dinner and drinks with us. We had a great time, but Yuusuke unfortunately had to leave before midnight, because his parents were sleepy and called him home.

So the three of us continued our revelry until 5 am further cementing the bonds of friendship, slept late the next day and spent a liesurely January 1st walking through Fukuoka and doing a bit of shopping. I finally ate conveyor belt sushi for the first time, which is a really chill and fast way to eat sushi, though not necessarily cheap since 2 pieces of sushi cost $1-5. But it's all-you-can-drink green tea for free :D

The next morning, Kyle caught the bullet train back to Aomori. Krista and I stopped to Costco to search for American food we could take back. I believe oatmeal and cheese and baked goods formed the bulk of our purchase. As great as it is to have a Costco here, it's still missing a lot of things from back home. And they sell a number of strange Japanese foods in bulk. So it was reassuring and unnerving at the same time.

Reflections
 This certainly was an unexpectedly pleasant winter vacation. What was especially nice about it was that I didn't spend it alone, and I had great company. I didn't know what to expect. It was my first time away from family at this time of year. The first time in over 8 years maybe that I haven't flown somewhere for Christmas. So Christmas Eve I felt very alone, no one to celebrate with. In Guatemala, Christmas Eve is the Christmas celebration, so that was very hard for me. The one or two people I wanted to call I either didn't have a phone number for or I couldn't bring myself to explain to them: I don't want to be alone today - please just let me come to your house and play with your children. I definitely don't know how to convey that in Japanese.

But I made it, and spent every day after that in good company. Talking with other ALTs made me think about how far I've come in such a short time. I watched Anna and the King the other night, and saw it in a whole different light. This time I know what Anna was going through (sort of), being so obviously foreign, unsure what to do, teaching students who don't speak your language. Making your way through strange customs, and struggling to keep your own. I've often thought this experience will somehow separate me from so many of my friends, because this experience is so far from their own. But on the other hand, it brings me closer to Mamá, who went through some of the same experiences when she came to the U.S.

Being here has changed me. I can feel it, but right now it seems more like a plainly visible tattoo - an unmistakeable plot change in the story of my life, though I don't feel different on the inside. I don't feel the urge to find a career in Japan, and I don't see myself becoming a Japan-o-phile. I don't get sudden urges to bow all the time and my taste in men hasn't changed. I still love limes and eat way too much chocolate. I haven't disguised myself as a vending machine or dated a pillow. My attitude toward Japan has changed only insofar as I know more about it, which I guess is pretty significant. I've decided that I couldn't live here the rest of my life. It's too far removed from many of the things I value most in life. But the experience of being here has been and continues to be intellectually and socially challenging, and has opened my eyes in ways I never expected.

And as I reflect on where I've been, I also wonder where I'm going. In the short term, I want to plan my lessons a little more in advance, bring in more props, challenge the students to use more English, inside and outside the classroom. In the long term, well, I can only hope that my future career is as stimulating as my current job, and that I continue to be surrounded by and in touch with the wonderful people who fill my life.

Happy New Year!
Feliz año nuevo!
明けまして　おめでとう　ございます！！