So yeah, this week kinda... sucked to be perfectly honest, and I've been in a kind of shitty mood for most of the weekend. Be aware that might color this post a bit. There were a couple highlights, but I've mostly been tired, sick, and wet. Been dealing with a minor cold most of the week. It's one of those latent sicknesses that just kind of builds up throughout the day. I'm normally not feeling bad when I wake up, but after a full day of working I'm aching all over, abnormally tired, and running a bit of a fever. Makes the work week a bit of a pain in the ass, ya know? Hopefully it goes away soon, 'cause I really don't dig it.
I've also been trying to think up ways to combat my unexpected difficulties in making friends here. I've never really been good with social stuff, but I was told by quite a few people to expect my students and co-workers to be very interested in inviting me places and hanging out. Yeah, 3 weeks in, and no one seems to be interested in anything but classes. I understand that these things take time, but I'm getting kind of restless now that I can't wander around on my time off. So, I came up with what I thought was a pretty good idea: inviting all my students to add me on Facebook if they have it. Most of the businessmen/women probably won't have profiles, I thought to myself, but a lot of the college students will, and it will be a good way to show them I'm interested in being friends... yeah, turned out like most of my attempts at being social do. Out of 50 some-odd students, I had a whole 1 (one) person add me. Hooray for small victories I guess? Kind of disheartening.
So, in the approximate month I've been in Japan, I've met about 8/9 people I would consider friends of varying degrees... only one is actually Japanese (and is more of an acquaintance. More on that later). I did, however, meet my predecessor's predecessor this week (she came back with the JET Program). Her name's Sarah, and she's pretty chill. We were gonna hang out on Thursday after I got off work, but she forgot her umbrella at her school and it was pouring. So, I met up with her and some of her friends on Friday instead. Which leads me to another embarrassing story about myself which, rather than keeping secret to hide my shame, I am choosing to share with the internet for some reason... hmm, maybe there's a reason I have difficulty making friends ><
So, we play phone tag a lil bit after work what with bad timing on calls, but by about 9:30 I find out that they're at a place called Fuujin (Wind God. Interestingly enough, they always have a somewhat-phonetic English translation of "Food's Inn". I thought that was admirably clever and inventive). So, I bike my way over there (yay for not driving?). Now, Sarah told me to just show up and say I was there to meet someone. They were the only other foreigners, so, she assured me, the staff would know what I was talking about. Yeah... How did I not foresee this not working? I walk into the restaurant and see that it is one of the "remove your shoes" style places, so I do so. Now, it was also the style of Japanese restaurant where each one of the booths or rooms either has a cloth covering the entrance or a sliding door, so I can't see inside. This has me a little perturbed about my chances of finding the group, but I plow on. At this time, I also notice these very comfy looking brown slippers all over next to the places where you leave your shoes, so I think to myself "oh, I put these on". So, I shuffle over to the reception desk thing (is there a different name for that in a restaurant? Reception desk doesn't sound right), and their faces immediately light up with recognition. Awesome, I don't have to try to stutter out a broken version of "I'm here to meet someone" in Japanese. One of the waiting staff leads me down a small hallway, and let's me know that they're on my right. Great! I thank him, and turn to see... bathrooms? Waitwut? Perhaps I misunderstood. I go back to the desk and give them a look of confusion, and another waiter leads me down the same hallway and points to... the bathrooms. Um... Is this some kind of a "haze the ignorant foreigner" thing? I thank this guy as well because I don't want to seem rude and, well, stupid, then I mill around near the bathrooms for a few minutes pretending to check my phone before deciding to call Sarah. She doesn't pick up. Great. So, I shuffle back to the counter (it's hard to keep slippers on, I'm not used to it) and all I can think to say in my embarrassment is "Sorry, other foreigners?" (In Japanese). They look at me confused. I probably said it wrong. Luckily, Sarah apparently heard me at this point and appeared from one of the rooms to invite me in. I bow sheepishly to the waiting staff, apologize quickly, and shuffle to head into the room. I'm about to step inside when Sarah yelps in alarm and tells me to take the slippers off before coming in... Yeah, they were the bathroom slippers. Fuck my life. ><
The rest of the dinner was really pleasant. Sarah's friends were Michelle (another JET from the Oki Islands) and Toushi and Satoru (two random Japanese guys she met last week. Apparently she was just drinking at a restaurant and they came up to talk to her. Maybe I'd make more friends if I was a girl that went to bars? lol). Anyways, we had some really good Yakitori (although I think I accidentally grabbed some heavily salted fried intestine at one point. It was disgusting, but I didn't want to be rude, so I ate it all). We also had some delicious sashimi and some very inventive pizzas (one was a semi-normal ham pizza that had broccoli on it, but the other was a white-sauce pizza with an egg cooked into and big dollops of some kind of cheese. It was decent). Of course, we also had quite a few beers, some sake, and I apparently greatly impressed Toushi and Satoru by informing them that I prefer to drink my liquor straight, no "rock" (because they kept asking if I at least put a rock - aka, ice - in it). I only found out the more detailed parts of this because Michelle speaks very good Japanese. They barely spoke any English. I guess they didn't believe me, 'cause they ordered a shot of Smirnoff ("straight", they very seriously informed the waiter) and flipped the fuck out when I tossed it back. As dinner was winding down, Satoru started to insist very loudly that we needed to go to karaoke, then he and Toushi wouldn't let us pay anything for the meal. They insisted we could cover the cost of karaoke.
So, we went down the road to karaoke, where another one of Sarah's friends met us (Seiji. Used to own a bar in town that a lot of the foreign teachers frequented). Since all of us were pretty smashed by that point, I actually felt comfortable enough to sing a few songs. Only ones I really remember where "Hotel California", "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" (thought it was appropriate, lol), "Enter the Sandman", and "What I Got". I think there were a few others. I'm positive I was awful, but that's why I only really sing when everyone's wasted; then no one really cares. Satoru... fell asleep within ten minutes of us getting there, which is odd since he was so excited about us going. He woke up a little bit mid way through and went over to start hitting on Michelle. On a side note, Seiji was fucking hilarious during karaoke. He sang a Lady Gaga song at one point, but kept forgetting the words and getting confused. He also got REALLY into singing and fell over a couple of times. It was fun, and we finished up around 2 AM. In a turn I should have seen coming (because I've pulled the same trick before), Toushi snuck out ahead of us and paid the bill before we could. He and Satoru (now slightly awake) said it was a "welcome to Japan" and "welcome back to Japan" present for me and Sarah. The downside to this? I had to work the next morning. Yeah, that wasn't too awesome, but it was worth it. Maybe Toushi, Satoru, and Seiji can be friends I hang out with in the future, but it was definitely apparent that they were more interested in hitting on Sarah and Michelle than talking with me (which makes sense, considering the way they met). I don't take it personally, but I can't imagine I'll be chillin with them unless I tag along with Sarah again.
Oh yeah, I didn't take any pictures of the night because, well, I was worried I'd come across as too "touristy" since no one else was taking pictures. I was kind of self conscious after the slippers mishap.
Now, that one student that added me on Facebook? She's the hip hop dancer I mentioned earlier. I thought it'd be cool to see a Japanese hip hop performance, so I asked when her next one was. Turns out it was this Sunday, so guess where Thomas went? She told me it was from 3-7 at Shimane University. Now, I'm used to the start time of events being when the show starts, so I showed up about 25 minutes early to make sure I had time to buffer any difficulties getting my ticket (she said she was reserving one for me, but after the difficulty at the restaurant, yeah...) and also because she said she'd try to wait up beforehand to talk a bit. Yeah, that was a mistake. Apparently the show didn't actually start until 3:30, and they started late, so I got to sit around for a good 40-50 minutes doing nothing while pretending to be intensely interested with my iPhone (can't actually let people know I messed up, ya know? lol). Language barrier mishap #1. So, while I'm milling around near where the ticket counter was, all the performers are filing by after their pre-show pep talk (I think that's what it was), and my student sees me. She comes over to tell me that it's actually her last performance since she's graduating soon and she's super busy, so she can't talk. Oops, language barrier mishap #2. This is where I started to feel kind of like a burden. Everyone was very obviously stressed and rushing, and I felt like I was in the way. Once people started showing up at an actually reasonable time, I pretty much just fell in at the back of the line and did what the people in front of me were doing. That got me safely inside.
The show itself was actually really good. I was expecting a mix of some good and some really bad (it was a school production, after all), but I was pleasantly surprised. The evening was organized into 4 main "showcases" where dance groups performed, all broken up with an extended b boy battle tournament (which started and ended the evening, so five total battles and then the awards ceremony. It was only at the end that I found out the tournament was actually kind of a big deal. The winning team had come out from Okayama, and they got what appeared to be a decent chunk of cash for their victory. Honestly though, I don't think they should have won. They went up against a group that was WAY better than them in the semifinals. I have no idea why the judges voted for them in that round. Breakdancing here is pretty much the same as what I've seen of it in The States. A lot of the guys didn't have much control, though, and a few people in the front row almost got a foot to the face more than once.
The first couple of dances were a little bit awkward. Maybe the energy just hadn't built up yet, or maybe they were just the kinda bad groups I was expecting, but almost no one had any emotion in their movements or on their faces. Their dances were very well rehearsed and performed well in a technical sense, but it was like watching really well trained mannequins dance around. Most of the rest of the performances didn't have that problem though, which was relieving. My student was in two of the groups. The first one was really big, and was maybe the fourth or fifth group to dance. They were called the Realin Spilitz. No, I have no fucking clue what that means. Believe me. I saw their shirts early on and spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out what the hell a Spilit is (I assume the Z is there because a Spilit is pretty damn extreme, and we all know that radiation for volatile sources of extreme mutates the letter "S" into a "Z". Or maybe it was actually an S and my mind has forgotten it. One of the two). They did a great job, and were the first group to really put a lot of energy and excitement into their dancing, which made them stand out to me. Kind of felt like they picked things up for everyone else. The second one was an all girl group, and I didn't quite catch their name. All of the announcements were in Japanese, obviously, so I only understand a bit here and there. I dunno, I just feel like guys are able to do a lot more impressive things in hip hop dancing. A lot of the moves require quick bursts of highly controlled motion, which goes against the more "graceful" movements that girls use in dancing. I've also never seen a girl really include any kind of breaking in their routine. I think they can really enhance a hip hop dance when mixed in with guys, but all-girl hip hop groups just don't impress me often. This group was pretty good though, and I'm not just saying that because I want to support my student.
Some random differences that I noticed about Japanese hip hop as compared to American hip hop:
1.) The moves are... different. It's hard to explain. I mean, they use a lot of the same staples, but they execute them in a slightly different style, and they mix in other things. I liked it, but I'm not sure which one I prefer.
2.) There were changes in the song during performances. I'm not talking something like the song merges into another, the music full on stopped, the dancers stopped (usually in some random, sometimes very awkward looking poses), and the song changed to an entirely different one. I wouldn't necessarily say it was bad, because it allowed single performances to have a lot of different styles, but it made it difficult to figure out when a performance was over. People started clapping prematurely a few times, and one group had to wait for a really long awkward silence to get their applause because they only had one song for their performance and everyone was waiting for another one to start.
3.) The music. Holy shit, the music. A lot of it was typical fare, but there was some very... unique stuff on both the cool and crazy ends of the spectrum. Ever heard a salsa remix of "Gangsta's Paradise"? How about a hip hop remix of the Halloween theme song? Or maybe a remix of "Yeah" using the Chrono Trigger main theme (yes, I'm serious. Yes, it was fucking epic)? Perhaps a hip-hoppish alteration of the Bitagora Suichi main theme used as the music for a hip hop comedy performance (it's a Japanese kid's show that's really freaking awesome)? I have. All of them. In one night. Oh yeah, you know you're jealous.
Overall, it was a really fun night, but, like I said earlier, I pretty much just felt like a burden on my student. She came out during a few of the breaks to check on me, and both times it was "Are you enjoying the show? Okay, I have to go 'cause I'm really busy." I tried to tell her she didn't have to check on me, but she did anyways. Before the last showcase she asked if I was going to be there after the show, so I said yeah thinking she wanted to chat a bit and figuring at the very least I could give her a chance to practice some English since I'd been such an unintentional pain in the ass. After the show she stopped by with a few of her dancing friends and pretty much apologized for being so busy then said they had to go because they had more stuff to take care of. I asked if I should stick around or leave, and she said I should definitely leave. At that point I definitely realized she was probably checking if I'd be there after the show to try to figure out if she'd have to schedule dropping by to say thanks for showing up. Oops. Language barrier mishap #3 (I titled them this because I feel like they could have been avoided if I was able to communicate better, btw). So yeah, way to be a burden on the person who invited you to an awesome hip hop show. I honestly feel like Japan's biggest renewable resource at this point is embarrassing situations for Thomas Andrew Smith. Pretty sure I should be getting a cut of whatever sweet profits they're making off of that. Just sayin'.
This was the show's name. "Scrumble, Vol. 14". They had a cool opening movie and everything. Apparently the dance club on campus is called Scrumb, so I thought that the person who thought of the name "Scrumble" for their performances was pretty damn clever. I'm fond of plays on words, which is why I'm going to share an awful story with you that would surely get me hit by my friends if I wasn't a 13 hour plane flight away. There was a really big collage made from tickets that spelled out "Scrumble" up on the wall that everyone was performing in front of (it was in an auditorium). Towards the end of the show, the "S" started to drop down (one of the b boys made an awesome attempt to wall jump and stick it back up, but it fell down again). So, as the show was ending, the "S" was pretty much completely hanging off the wall. Which meant that the word that was falling apart now, very fittingly, read "Crumble". Best unintentional pun ever? Perhaps that wall is a genius punster. I got a laugh out of it either way. There was only one other white guy I saw in the audience, I wonder if he noticed the same thing? Probably not, you have to have a horrible sense of humor like me to find that funny. PS: I didn't take any pictures while there because only people in the front row were doing so, and I didn't want to do anything that would possibly be inappropriate. I'm aware I need to get over my shyness and just take some damn pictures of things. Just give it time. I've always had big issues with standing out in a crowd or doing things that draw attention to myself. Namely, I don't like doing them.
Other things I did this week:
1.) Felt dirty for spending quite a while checking out what I later realized was probably a high school student (Seriously, why do I share these things with people?)
2.) Spent about $230 online to get two dumbbells and enough weights to equal out to about 80 kg... damn weights are expensive here. Gyms are more expensive though. There's only about 3 in Matsue, and they cost around $100 a month for a membership. Add on to that the fact that their hours are so ridiculously limited that I'd only be able to go for about a half hour after work and whenever on the weekends, and it was way more intelligent to just eat the cost and buy the free weights. Still not sure what I'll do for cardio. Probably jogging when it clears up (even though I despise jogging), but that doesn't help during the winter when it's raining almost every day. The pool is $5 per use, which would be $100 if I went 5 days a week (which is how often I'm planning on doing cardio). Le sigh.
3.) Not really a thing. More of a rant. I'm getting somewhat sick of feeling like I'm not wanted places around here. I think it's just cause I'm already in a bad mood this week, but it's been rubbing me the wrong way. Everywhere I go, people stare, most of them refuse to stand or sit anywhere near me, and if I smile or nod at them, they just look away. On top of that, I feel like a damn child not being able to communicate with anyone around me. It's really aggravating. I think that's why I'm so keen on making friends suddenly. If I just had a couple of people that actually seemed like they wanted me around, I feel like it'd make a big difference. Meh. If there's one thing my life has prepared me for, it's not being wanted.
Thomas' Play at Home Food Challenge Day 5: Frozen Food and Green Tea
So yeah, I got back from the performance at about 8 (started late and ran late), and I hadn't prepped a recipe or done shopping for dinner. Poor planning and a bad mood (I get really down on myself when I do something that I deem as rude or embarrassing. My brain's a jerk like that.) led to me just cheating and making some frozen ebi pilaf I had gotten earlier in the week. It was decent, but I can't in good conscious include it as a victory or a loss.
Thomas' Play at Home Food Challenge Day 6: Beef Vegetable Stir-Fry and Green Tea
I kind of feel like stir-fry is a Chinese recipe, but the site I used insisted the recipe was Japanese, so yeah... It wasn't bad, but I've definitely had much better. I think I had too much carrot in it. The recipe called for one carrot, but I didn't realize until I had everything in the pan that the writer probably had an American carrot in mind. Carrots here are MUCH bigger. Oops. Also think it could have used some other veggies. I didn't buy the green peppers because I don't like them; maybe I should have subbed in something else. As a side note: I don't like green tea. I really don't. But, it's healthy, and it tastes... different than water, so I'm drinking it to break up the monotony (juice and soda is kinda expensive over here). Anyways, since this was mediocre, and I cheated yesterday, I'm just calling this whole week a wash. Hopefully next week will be a return to your regularly scheduled cooking failure.
Score to Date: Thomas - 2 Vengeful Food Gods - 2
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