After school on Friday (I have a half day, I get off at one) I went shopping at UNIQLO. Other JETs have told me that is a store for "big girls"... in other words they have western sized clothes. I have done a lot of window shopping since I have been here and some of the boutiques/shops have nothing that would fit me. So I was very excited. I went a little crazy and spent 10000 Yen...let's just say around 100 USD. But I got 9 shirts and 5 pairs of pants so I was also excited because not only could I fit the clothes but could afford them as well ;-)
Friday night was our enkai or teacher/staff party. We had it in a fancy European style room in a local hotel. It started out very formal with some speeches (including a brief one in Japanese by me) and then the kampai (cheers) to me ;-), the new ALT. Then many dishes were brought out...some new but all delicious. I had to ask how to eat some of the things correctly, like shrimp and oysters with chopsticks. Many of the teachers and staff came and talked to me which was nice because usually in school we don't have time for that. People would go around (this was the more informal part) and if someone even took one sip of beer, or whatever they happened to be drinking (I was drinking tea), they would refill their cup so in actuality I think no one had any idea how much they were drinking. So after the food and drink and socializing there were another round of speeches... it was pretty funny (even though I don't know what they were saying in their speeches) because even though I couldn't understand what they were saying they were fumbling over their words, had red faces and glazed over eyes. It was nice to see these teachers/staff can have fun after all their hard work.
After, a few people decided to continue the evenings festivities so I decided against being antisocial and went along. I said that I would like to sing karaoke sometime so they said we would go that night. So we walked in to this small bar which sits probably around 16 people. It didn't look like the karaoke rooms that I had been to my last time in Japan. Some girls came to sit with us so I just assumed that they were girlfriends/wives of the male teachers. They weren't introduced to me which I thought was a little strange. When other men entered the bar, however, the women got up to serve them so then I figured that this was one of the hostess bars that I had heard about. The customers pay for the woman to sit with them, entertain them and serve them (fill their cup, wipe off the water droplets on their cup, sing karaoke with them, conversate, etc.). To me, it seemed like modern day geishas. It was definitely an experience, but I wouldn't go back. We did end up singing some karaoke...I sang a bunch of my favorite songs in English.
Saturday morning I went on a mini BEE ride. There are a group of former JETs who are biking the whole length of Japan! So a few of us local Fukui people biked with them for about 15 kilometers to a local park. It was nice but I was out of shape and my bike had one gear. They were patient with me and slowed down for me.
I went to the local international center where a very kind woman has been helping me in the search for Papa. She gave me a copy of my koseki (family registry) and his koseki which has his most current listed address. Also, there are no other kids listed. So from what I can tell he now lives near Tokyo and has no other children. The lady said those papers were very important because it proves we are the legal heirs if something happens to him and she suggested we visit his family in Kagawa ken. I will wait til Yuki gets here to decide the next step. (Yuki should arrive in two weeks! Yay!)
That afternoon my friend Natasha and I jumped on a train to Obama City (southern part of Fukui) to go to their annual Hoze festival. In a description on-line it said it comes from the Hojoe ceremony at Yawata shrine. "The main purpose of the ‘Hojoe’ ceremony is to earn merits by freeing captured animals and to preach against the destroying of life, in accordance with ancient Chinese manuscripts." http://www.fuku-e.com/lang/english/en/en_festival1.html
There were many portable shrines being marched down the streets of Obama with people playing instruments and people pulling them. It is quite amazing because they are huge and so heavy with all the people on them! There was a lot of activity going on at the shrine. I believe people were paying their respects. There were performances...one in particular where it told of an epic battle between two guys for a woman. They did a dance/drum type performance with and it was with their faces covered! Also the people providing the musical accompaniment had their faces covered too...they were playing flutes. I wouldn't have known the background of the performance but I asked a local woman who explained to us (in English). Japanese people seem to be very proud of their culture and willing to share.
There was tons of good food. I don't even know what some of it was but I tried tako yaki...these fried octopus things and the crepes were awesome! (creme, fruit, chocolate and ice cream). And these one things on a stick (the outside was like a crepe, had vegetables inside, and sauce and bonito (dried fish flakes) on the outside)...very good, very Japanese. I know I said this before, but the MN State Fair needs to get hip to all this Japanese food on a stick.
Obama is on the Sea of Japan so it was quite beautiful as well...lots of mountains and water. So sometimes we would leave the festival to check out the great view. There was even some random Japanese guys on jet skis so one of my friends took a ride. Every day is an adventure!
Obama City has pics of Obama (Barack Obama) all over their city...with banners and signs. There is even a group called Obama for Obama that supports Barack Obama as the presidential candidate for the U.S. It is so random but so awesome. I had to buy a shirt... and a head band.
Today is Respect for the Aged Day... a national holiday. I am not sure what happens on this day but I do have work off. Some other teachers are here again on a day off!
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