March 23 – The End Is Nearing

I am definitely not looking forward to returning to Tokyo. I only have one more full day before departure. Sad times indeed. Thursday was the start of spring. Believe it or not, in Japan it is considered a holiday and most people get the day off. There were 7 kids at the Hoikuen. I took it slow in the morning by watching TV and playing Dragon Quest. I finally finished it. This marks the 2nd game that I have beaten in Japanese. A good feeling that I can understand “most” of what is said. In the afternoon I took a walk with Rusty, the dog. He was overjoyed at being able to get outside of the house. We took a stroll down the street and around the block, passing by the Hoikuen and rounding back home. It was the first time I had walked anywhere since leaving Tokyo. It was refreshing to say the least. The rest of the day I really didn’t do anything. Hirai sensei came to get me at 7pm or so. We went to dinner with Taeko sensei and Masako sensei at the nearby Italian restaurant. It was fun, but I really didn’t have anything to add to the conversation. It was mostly about the Hoikuen. Japanese people spend way too much time working and thinking about work!

Friday I woke up late again. When I finally got around, I walked to the Hoikuen. I ended up spending the day with Mirai san because they were playing outside when I arrived. I have decided that I love nice weather. That afternoon I had a meeting with Hirai san to decide the rest of my plans in Niigata. I decided to return to Tokyo on Tuesday because 1. School is starting soon and 2. I need to register for classes. It is really depressing knowing that I will be returning so soon even though I was supposed to return on the 5th of March. Whoops. At the Gakuen we also played outside. I said farewell to the kids and received a picture frame that everyone had written on. I don’t want to go home!!! That night I went out with Hirai san and met one of her close friends, Wakai sensei. Wakai sensei was my drinking partner for the night. We got really drunk and had some good conversations (or so I think). She is a 3rd grade sensei at a nearby grade school. Before eating, Wakai sensei gave Hirai san advice about the Hoikuen-Sai two weeks ago. She pointed out all the things that were great, and things that need improved. I even got the chance to give my opinion. Upon returning home, I learned about a very interesting service that Japan offers. It is a taxi service that drives you and your car home safely when you are too drunk to drive yourself. It is a two man operation where one person drives your car and the other follows and tracks the mileage. I have no idea how much it is compared to a taxi, but after factoring in the gas that it would take to pick up your car the next day, it is probably pretty similar.

Saturday I walked to the Hoikuen once again. It was my first time to attend on a weekend. About half the kids are absent on the weekend. I spent a lot of time in the break room reading children’s stories and talking to whoever happened to be there at the time. During nap time, I got to help move new shelves into all the rooms. They are remodeling the rooms before the next year’s kids come. The new shelves really help make more space in the rooms, or so it seems. The toy boxes and books finally have a nice place to set. Once the kids woke up, I spent time playing with Taiyo and Aozora san the rest of the day. That night I hopped on a bus headed to the farewell and welcome party.

The end of the school year is drawing close, and we had a party to celebrate. One sensei is retiring and two new sensei’s are starting at the beginning of April. I having no nice clothes, felt way underdressed. Al l of the girls had really nice clothes on, completely different from when I see them day to day with their orange aprons. We started the party by going over the finances for the year and then thanking all the people that helped throughout the year. Next the retiring sensei, new sensei’s, and I were called up to the stage for our thanks. We all received flowers presented by the person closest to each of us. I was given them by none other than Masako sensei with her words of thanks. I will miss seeing her face everyday. Finally, we got started with a “Kanpai!” and a buffet of food. Almost immediately the “Japan culture shock” started in. It is custom for women to pour drinks for the men. Now me being the only male sensei along with the few other helpers, were constantly being told to drink. Before going to gather food for myself, I had downed more than a few glasses of beer. It was interesting to see everyone up and talking. The standing people all had a bottle of beer in their hand walking around and pouring people drinks. When there was someone they wanted to talk to, first they poured your drink, then talked for a bit, then headed off to someone else. I was visited by all of the sensei’s at least one time during the night. The food was nothing less than spectacular. There was nigiri sushi, pasta, salad, and some Chinese dishes. I stuffed myself with as much as I could when there was nobody behind me trying to pour me a drink. It was a really fun time compared to the other formal parties I have attended.

Once dinner ended we headed to karaoke for the afterparty. The bus that I had ridden earlier was much more full this time around as people could not drive themselves to the karaoke box. We had two rooms reserved for the afterparty, a huge room for the older generation and a smaller room for the young’ins. There were 13+ people in the young room and it should have been a really good time, but almost nobody would sing. What is this? Are they scared of singing bad or something? Sure I was really restrained the first time I went to karaoke, but now I will sing anything whether I know it or not. Shiori sensei and I sang most of the time. We begged and begged the others to sing something, and most of them sang at least 1 song. The failure this time was Masako sensei. She is the most talkative person in the room in my opinion, always taking charge and telling people what to do, but we could not get her to even speak into the microphone. We sang for around 2 hours before returning home. Once again we returned with the taxi service previously used.

Today I could not get anyone to go out and have fun with me. Masako sensei said she would previously, but pretty much flat out refused at the party when questioned. Elena sensei also refused, saying that I would probably have a private farewell party with the Hirai family. Gah! In any case, I woke up still feeling drunk, but that was soon fixed after downing a couple of glasses of water. Dehydration is the reason you get hangovers you know. I was glad that Tamaki had returned from Tokyo last night because it had been lonely the past week without her and Umi. She said that she had a fight with Hirai san this morning. I didn’t question further. So once again I had no plans for the day. How does this always happen? Tokyo or Niigata, in both places I cannot for the life of me make plans with any of my Japanese friends. They are always so damn busy with work. I was once again asked what I wanted to do for the day. I yet have no idea what there is to do in Niigata short of young people things (bowling, game center, karaoke, etc.) I replied saying that I wanted to do something outside. Hirai san then decided plans for me, I really love her for that.

We picked up Hirai san’s friend so it wouldn’t be so quiet in the car and headed off to Fukushima prefecture. It is the neighboring prefecture by Niigata and is about a 2 hour car ride from Gosen. Before heading out I picked up the weekly Shonen Jump for some reading material. It turned out to be more interesting than I thought. A new manga called “Double Arts” debuted and looks like it will turn into an interesting series. Anyhow, we finally arrived at our destination a couple hours later. It is the female equivalent of the Daibutsu (Giant Budda Statue). A 57 meter tall white statue of a woman holding a baby stood in front of a magnificent hillside. We took a tour bus around the place looking at the sights. It is still really early in Spring, so most of the flowers were not blooming. There were however a few starting to pop up out of the soil. The highlight of the tour was a short stop at a red bridge spanning a small pond. There were tons of Koi swimming around that we summoned by clapping our hands. For a 100 yen donation you can buy food to give them. I could not believe how many fish there were fighting for a little morsel of food. They swarmed like a pack of ravage beasts, swimming over one another and even up onto the rocks to have a chance at getting some food. At the end of the tour we were dropped off in front of the giant statue. After getting my picture taken we headed inside. It was amazingly cold inside the statue. The metal walls trapped in the coldness. I braved the temperature and started my climb to the top of the statue. There is a 256 long spiral staircase leading up to the chest of the statue. Along the way there are little windows which you could open and look out. It was really cool because the windows are set facing in different directions. The wind made different sounds depending on which window you opened. Also, there were tons of little gold statues leading up the staircase, each with a name written on it. Presumably, these are the people that donated to the making of the statue, but I could be wrong. Upon reaching the top, I came across a small shrine set up. Even though I had no money on me to donate, I prayed anyways.

On the return trip home we visited a bunch of towns looking for a good place to eat. The return trip must have taken at least an hour longer because of this. Eventually we ended up returning to Muramatsu and eating at the “Suisha” udon restaurant which I had been to before. Not bad for my last Sunday in Niigata.

Today I realized the one thing that I miss the most from America, driving. It really isn’t a problem in Tokyo because the trains can get you anywhere you want to go, but in Gosen everyone drives. I want to drive too but I am not allowed to! The rules and code of conduct are slightly different than in America, not to mention driving on the opposite side of the road. For instance, there is no turning left on a red light, you have to stop before crossing train tracks, and there are super tiny two way streets that are so small two cars cannot pass each other. Oh I miss my car!