In the school year at ISSH there are two days outside of the usual teaching events that the faculty must attend. One of these is family festival which I wrote about in November. The other just happened a couple of weeks ago and it is Bingo. I have never seen bingo quite like it before.
All staff must sign up for a work session, and for the rest of the night (it runs from 5-9pm) we have to be around just in case we are needed (apparently they had a big earthquake once right in the middle and over a thousand people had to climb under the tables). My session was checking the tickets of the winners from 8-9pm, the last shift of the night so people were really desperate to win because that was when all the big prizes went, like a holiday, digital camera and other good stuff donated by parents and their companies. The games before had all used a single line to win, but for the big one they had to get a square shape. We had sooo many calls from people not paying attention, who then got stroppy because they thought they had won. For most of them there hadn't even been enough numbers called for a win to be possible! One woman came up with a line, then came up with a square but had missed one number so we sent her away. She came back a couple of minutes later because she couldn't see the number she had missed, so we explained again but she refused to move and stood in front of us checking loudly while the game carried on. Eventually she went away, only for that one missing number to be called next. When she came back, she had tied with someone else and had to draw cards to see if she won. She didn't win. I know it is mean but I was quite pleased because she had been rude and obnoxious and she was a parent so didn't really need to win, whereas the actual winner was a teachers husband so we were pleased. Bingo just seems to bring out the worst in people here. All night there were shouts of "No Bingo, No Bingo" whenever someone called and cheers if it was rejected. Anyway, it took so long that my hour long shift ended at 9.30pm after being shouted at by parents. I went straight to the pub.
Since then I have still been getting sorted for the junior school musical, Jack and the Beanstalk. It was based on the revolting rhyme version and was so funny, the kids were great. I was supposed to play piano, but because I broke a finger playing basketball I ws going to play the clarinet part one handed on a keyboard. We realised when we went to rehearse though, that it would still need to be transposed to fit the piano and violin parts, so I transposed the whole thing and went in on a weekend to enter it into a program so I could print it. It took a while but it was worth it, we had a mini orchestra and the music teacher was chuffed. Everyone said it sounded great too, so I was pleased. I was given some beautiful flowers for playing, and another set from the parents. Its nice to be appreciated!
In school at the moment we have decided to do a cross-curricular project for the 10 year olds. They are studying Egypt in social studies so we are mummifying a chicken in science. Apart from that I have realised that we have a lot of days off for various things coming up, so much so that I think I only have about 5 full teaching weeks left, and for 2 of those I only have 2 classes as the rest of the school go off timetable for exams. I have to get a move on! Still it feels like we are winding down already which is strange - it's only march!
Japan day is coming up at school. It is a day when everyone learns about the culture and history of Japan, and we all do mini courses in things like Taiko drumming, Kimono wearing, board games, Japanese pottery etc etc. I am looking forward to it, although I have no idea what I am doing yet. The teachers get spread out to supervise so I could be anywhere, although I did get my preference form in early so I hope that helps.
It is my friend Tony's 40th birthday today. We went out to celebrate on a boat in Tokyo harbour with lots of food (nabe and tempura and sashimi) and karaoke it was a freezing night but the boat went all the way out into the bay and under the rainbow bridge. it was so pretty and really worth doing for a special occasion.
Vikki is visiting at the moment - Happy Birthday Vikki!
It was raining and foggy when we picked her up from the airport, not a very nice welcome. We took some flowers for her, but to collect the van I had taken them in my backpack on my scooter in the rain so they were a little bedraggled! Still they looked fine when we got them in a vase. She arrived on my birthday so we just relaxed in the day, wandered around Hiroo and had lunch in the stand up bar, had a nap in the afternoon and then went out to the Icebar Tokyo at night. It was great! The entire place is made of ice, the bar, tables, sofas, sculptures, even the glasses. We all dressed up in silver capes and thick gloves and lasted about 40 minutes and 2 drinks before we got too cold. It was really fun though, I would go again. Although Megan panicked when I started eating my glass - she has a phobia about breaking teeth.
On Monday we went to try sushi (not a hit so we gave the fish market a miss) and walked around Yoyogi park and the Meiji shrine. We went to starbucks above shibuya crossing and then to Roppongi for steak and ribs at Outback. On Tuesday we lay in for a while and then rode scooters out to Shimbashi and got the monorail over to Odaiba. Odaiba is a strange place - an island of reclaimed land with a fake beach facing the city and a shopping centre made to look like an English promenade. There is a mini statue of liberty at one point. It was very grey so we didn't stay too long, but the rainbow bridge was still visible. Today we got the train out to Kawagoe, an old fashioned little town known as Koedo (little Tokyo) full of temples and museums and the remains of Edo castle. It was a beautiful day, really sunny and warm, and we went out with a group of friends and walked and walked and walked. Unfortunately, the Emperor and the Swedish Royal family were there too today. We saw them go past in their cars, and everything we wanted to see was blocked off for them. Even the monthly antiques market was just closing so that the way would be clear. We did manage to see Candy Cane Lane, a tiny street of traditional Japanese sweet shops, and had a nice ice-cream. Kawagoe is famous for its sweet potatoes but we drew the line there and had vanilla (they really did have sweet potato flavour ice-cream). We had Yakisoba in the car park of a shrine and came home. Tonight we are going out for Izakaya food and Karaoke for Vik's birthday.
My camera screen got broken while we were out a couple of weeks ago. I took it to be repaired but I was told it would be around £75. It is not that much more for a new one here, so since it is 2 years old I am going to treat myself with my birthday money. Thank you to everyone who gave me some!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Holidays
I am so jealous that all my old friends had half term. I don't think I felt it as much this term, in fact the first half seemed to fly since Christmas, but I was still jealous. We did have a 4 day weekend which was nice though, and a big group of us went skiing to Hokkaido (the northern island).
We looked in the English magazine metropolis at the classifieds and saw an ad for 2 pairs of skis for Y2000 a pair (about £10), so we trekked over and looked at them, and ended up carrying home 3 pairs, one of which our friend Megan took. Will's are 195cm long - The Ferrari of skis, as Adam put it. He really did fly down those slopes! Mine are 170, but there was a problem with the bindings and the resort didn't want the liability of fixing it (I suppose in case I got injured and sued them) although that was handy for them because then I had to pay and hire some. Still, I had poles and boots and all the rest so it wasn't too expensive.
There were supposed to be 18 of us going, but one dropped out with too much work and one had a chest infection, so that left 16. We got up at 4.30am (and called one of our friends who couldn't be on time if her life depended on it) and staggered into a taxi to Shinagawa station, then onto a train for Haneda airport (much closer than Narita, used for domestic flights). Our flight was fine and we landed in Sapporo on a snowy runway with a ground temp of -2C. Then there was a 2 hour bus journey, but by then it was mid-morning and we were tired but excited, so we all enjoyed getting there. We were staying at Rusutsu - a resort where everything is owned by the hotel. That meant that 3 days of lift passes were included in the price which was great - I had been thinking it would be really expensive! Will and I shared a room with another couple, Mark and Megan, who we skied with at Christmas.
On the first afternoon some of the others went straight up to ski but I we decided to save our lift passes for full days and explore instead. Unfortunately, I fell asleep so Will explored with Megan instead and went Ski-dooing (snow-mobile - like a jet ski for winter). He had a brilliant time. In the evening the 16 of us went for an Izakaya meal, made a lot of toasts and had a lot of fun.
In the morning we went for breakfast (Japanese take on western food - not very appetizing. I gave up and had Japanese for the rest of the time). Then we went straight out. It was raining. Not snowing, really bucketing down. Will and Megan tried out their new skis on the green runs while Mark and I went to the top to meet up with them, and when we got off the lift we were in cloud and couldn't see more than a few feet. I also had my boots done up too tight and my feet went completely numb, so the first run was awful. I went inside for a while to recover and then we headed over to the second of the three mountains on the gondola. We did a few more runs then realised that while our jackets are snow-proof, they are not drench-proof and we were wet. We gave up for the day, went for lunch and then just had a swim and Onsen in the afternoon. There were 2 families from school there and I ended up next to a father in the hot tub - not an comfortable experience but not as bad as for Adam who ended up naked next to him in the Onsen!
That night it snowed lots, so we had a nice Italian meal, relaxed and had an early night. In the morning the slopes were lovely, although it was sunny so a little icy on the popular parts. We took this as a cue to go over to the third mountain, mount Isola. It was mostly red runs there so Will was nervous, but the snow was much better. We skied across and met up with a group at the bottom, and then went all the way to the very top in the gondola. The bad thing about mount isola is that it is far away from the rooms and you have to go to the top and ski across to get back to the other side. Megan was feeling really ill so they went straight off to go back to the hotel. We decided to head that way too, but somewhere along the way missed the turn and ended up back at the bottom, which took ages as Will was not confident on steep parts in his super-long skis. We had to get the gondola all the way back up and then try again. The second time we made it, which was just in time for the afternoon activities...
I had agreed to try dog-sledding with Mary. I am still not sure what possessed me to do this, although I have to say it is fun to have done it once. You have to stand on two thin rails behind this rickety sled and hang on and lean around while 2 dogs pull you over the ice as fast as they can (to get to the soup at the end). We had a ride around the track on a ski-doo to see the turns, a couple of minutes instruction, and then we were off. I went first, and I did all the parts where they told us 'foreigners usually fall off here' (Mary is Canadian - I don't know where they think dog-sledding comes from). Then I got to the end and saw the signal to brake. To brake, you have to take a foot off the rail and press down on a wooden pedal that you can't see from standing position. I took my foot off but I missed the pedal and stepped down on the snow. I realised straight away and picked it up for another go, but felt my balance going and made a split second decision that I would be better jumping than falling. On this, I did a kind of swallow dive effect and landed flat on my chest on the ice at high speed (the instructors only words about falling had been 'fall safely' - great). I hit my head on the floor but luckily my padded goggles took the brunt, but I was completely winded. I could see people asking if I was ok but I couldn't get the breath to answer properly so I just lay there for a while until I got some feeling back. That is why it was fun to have done once. My dog-sledding days are over! Saying that, and considering Mary is Canadian, she fell off before they had even got started. The dogs had to run around the track for her to get back on and try again. Then she pressed hard on the brake and fell off at the same point as me, so overall I probably didn't do too badly.
Back at the hotel, Megan was getting steadily worse, coughing and feverish. We decided to try to get an extra room so she could rest better, but when we explained the situation the receptionist just gave us medicine for her. Our Japanese friend Kumi came back with us and managed to get us a room for a fraction of the price which we split with Mark. We went out to a Korean barbecue restaurant - all you can eat lamb, beef, chicken and piles of veggies, plus drinks. It was great. I got horribly drunk and felt really ill, so I was very glad of having our own room too!
The next day we were leaving but not until late afternoon, so we checked out and then went back up the mountain. Will and I skied alone that day. We found one perfect run that suited both of us fine, and just kept going round and round. It was great, we both improved loads and were swishing around all over the place by the end. We decided to quit while we were ahead, so we stopped at 2pm and went ski-dooing with Mary and Mark. We took the forest trail, a half hour session with an instructor through the trees and fields, it was fantastic. Mary managed to fall off the ski-doo too - that girl has no balance! It was great though, I would definitely do that again.
The journey home was more of a chore. We were all tired and just wanted to get there. The plane was stupidly hot, Megan was still fluey and everyone else was coming down with it, we had turbulence and cross-winds landing so it just took forever. Then at the other end there were 2 flights coming out onto 1 baggage carousel and ours was last so we just had to stand around. When we eventually got on the train we all just sat there in silence! We eventually got home at 11.20pm.
The next day was a training day at school - good as no children but for me, actually more work than the standard Monday. I sat through the most boring, patronizing morning of my life, then went home coughing and slept all afternoon. This helped - I didn't get the fever with the cough and have been back at school all week. Will wasn't so lucky, he had a fever and was off for 2 days. I am not surprised, we shared a room with Megan for 2 days as she was getting ill, and lots of the others had it too.
This weekend i have a training day saturday so I only have one day to rest. I can't wait for the spring break. Vikki is coming and I am going to lie in and relax as well as taking her out to see things. I am not complaining, I have had a great week, but I am very tired - you can see why I am jealous of the half-termers!
We looked in the English magazine metropolis at the classifieds and saw an ad for 2 pairs of skis for Y2000 a pair (about £10), so we trekked over and looked at them, and ended up carrying home 3 pairs, one of which our friend Megan took. Will's are 195cm long - The Ferrari of skis, as Adam put it. He really did fly down those slopes! Mine are 170, but there was a problem with the bindings and the resort didn't want the liability of fixing it (I suppose in case I got injured and sued them) although that was handy for them because then I had to pay and hire some. Still, I had poles and boots and all the rest so it wasn't too expensive.
There were supposed to be 18 of us going, but one dropped out with too much work and one had a chest infection, so that left 16. We got up at 4.30am (and called one of our friends who couldn't be on time if her life depended on it) and staggered into a taxi to Shinagawa station, then onto a train for Haneda airport (much closer than Narita, used for domestic flights). Our flight was fine and we landed in Sapporo on a snowy runway with a ground temp of -2C. Then there was a 2 hour bus journey, but by then it was mid-morning and we were tired but excited, so we all enjoyed getting there. We were staying at Rusutsu - a resort where everything is owned by the hotel. That meant that 3 days of lift passes were included in the price which was great - I had been thinking it would be really expensive! Will and I shared a room with another couple, Mark and Megan, who we skied with at Christmas.
On the first afternoon some of the others went straight up to ski but I we decided to save our lift passes for full days and explore instead. Unfortunately, I fell asleep so Will explored with Megan instead and went Ski-dooing (snow-mobile - like a jet ski for winter). He had a brilliant time. In the evening the 16 of us went for an Izakaya meal, made a lot of toasts and had a lot of fun.
In the morning we went for breakfast (Japanese take on western food - not very appetizing. I gave up and had Japanese for the rest of the time). Then we went straight out. It was raining. Not snowing, really bucketing down. Will and Megan tried out their new skis on the green runs while Mark and I went to the top to meet up with them, and when we got off the lift we were in cloud and couldn't see more than a few feet. I also had my boots done up too tight and my feet went completely numb, so the first run was awful. I went inside for a while to recover and then we headed over to the second of the three mountains on the gondola. We did a few more runs then realised that while our jackets are snow-proof, they are not drench-proof and we were wet. We gave up for the day, went for lunch and then just had a swim and Onsen in the afternoon. There were 2 families from school there and I ended up next to a father in the hot tub - not an comfortable experience but not as bad as for Adam who ended up naked next to him in the Onsen!
That night it snowed lots, so we had a nice Italian meal, relaxed and had an early night. In the morning the slopes were lovely, although it was sunny so a little icy on the popular parts. We took this as a cue to go over to the third mountain, mount Isola. It was mostly red runs there so Will was nervous, but the snow was much better. We skied across and met up with a group at the bottom, and then went all the way to the very top in the gondola. The bad thing about mount isola is that it is far away from the rooms and you have to go to the top and ski across to get back to the other side. Megan was feeling really ill so they went straight off to go back to the hotel. We decided to head that way too, but somewhere along the way missed the turn and ended up back at the bottom, which took ages as Will was not confident on steep parts in his super-long skis. We had to get the gondola all the way back up and then try again. The second time we made it, which was just in time for the afternoon activities...
I had agreed to try dog-sledding with Mary. I am still not sure what possessed me to do this, although I have to say it is fun to have done it once. You have to stand on two thin rails behind this rickety sled and hang on and lean around while 2 dogs pull you over the ice as fast as they can (to get to the soup at the end). We had a ride around the track on a ski-doo to see the turns, a couple of minutes instruction, and then we were off. I went first, and I did all the parts where they told us 'foreigners usually fall off here' (Mary is Canadian - I don't know where they think dog-sledding comes from). Then I got to the end and saw the signal to brake. To brake, you have to take a foot off the rail and press down on a wooden pedal that you can't see from standing position. I took my foot off but I missed the pedal and stepped down on the snow. I realised straight away and picked it up for another go, but felt my balance going and made a split second decision that I would be better jumping than falling. On this, I did a kind of swallow dive effect and landed flat on my chest on the ice at high speed (the instructors only words about falling had been 'fall safely' - great). I hit my head on the floor but luckily my padded goggles took the brunt, but I was completely winded. I could see people asking if I was ok but I couldn't get the breath to answer properly so I just lay there for a while until I got some feeling back. That is why it was fun to have done once. My dog-sledding days are over! Saying that, and considering Mary is Canadian, she fell off before they had even got started. The dogs had to run around the track for her to get back on and try again. Then she pressed hard on the brake and fell off at the same point as me, so overall I probably didn't do too badly.
Back at the hotel, Megan was getting steadily worse, coughing and feverish. We decided to try to get an extra room so she could rest better, but when we explained the situation the receptionist just gave us medicine for her. Our Japanese friend Kumi came back with us and managed to get us a room for a fraction of the price which we split with Mark. We went out to a Korean barbecue restaurant - all you can eat lamb, beef, chicken and piles of veggies, plus drinks. It was great. I got horribly drunk and felt really ill, so I was very glad of having our own room too!
The next day we were leaving but not until late afternoon, so we checked out and then went back up the mountain. Will and I skied alone that day. We found one perfect run that suited both of us fine, and just kept going round and round. It was great, we both improved loads and were swishing around all over the place by the end. We decided to quit while we were ahead, so we stopped at 2pm and went ski-dooing with Mary and Mark. We took the forest trail, a half hour session with an instructor through the trees and fields, it was fantastic. Mary managed to fall off the ski-doo too - that girl has no balance! It was great though, I would definitely do that again.
The journey home was more of a chore. We were all tired and just wanted to get there. The plane was stupidly hot, Megan was still fluey and everyone else was coming down with it, we had turbulence and cross-winds landing so it just took forever. Then at the other end there were 2 flights coming out onto 1 baggage carousel and ours was last so we just had to stand around. When we eventually got on the train we all just sat there in silence! We eventually got home at 11.20pm.
The next day was a training day at school - good as no children but for me, actually more work than the standard Monday. I sat through the most boring, patronizing morning of my life, then went home coughing and slept all afternoon. This helped - I didn't get the fever with the cough and have been back at school all week. Will wasn't so lucky, he had a fever and was off for 2 days. I am not surprised, we shared a room with Megan for 2 days as she was getting ill, and lots of the others had it too.
This weekend i have a training day saturday so I only have one day to rest. I can't wait for the spring break. Vikki is coming and I am going to lie in and relax as well as taking her out to see things. I am not complaining, I have had a great week, but I am very tired - you can see why I am jealous of the half-termers!
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