Andy's Adventures in Kita Daito

FINALE

2007-07-30T15:39:00.000+09:00

So, it's about time for the last Daito blog...

I don't think there is a whole lot to say. It was an amazing, character-building experience.

I'm moving to Tokyo --the quintessential opposite of Daito-- and I'm already missing aspects of small island life. Although I already miss friends, places and life on Kita Daito, I don't regret leaving.

The opportunities that await me in Tokyo, while far more challenging, are vastly more beneficial in the long run.

Perhaps, time will prove me wrong. Until then, we must act on the promise of the future instead of the convenience of the past.

53

2006-09-08T19:16:00.000+09:00

Here I am at Eisa practice. We have been practicing solidly for 2 weeks with a paltry 7-9 members all in preparation for a festival this Saturday. The festival has since been canceled due to "rain." Now, I find this a tad suspicious as we have not received any more or any less rain than normal this week.

Anyway, I am pretty relieved because I am pretty exhausted. Waking up every morning for strength training and then spending your evenings running for your marathon or training --in vain-- for Eisa takes its toll after a while. Moreover, Sumo training starts up next week.

Ahh, Sumo... I never really get a lot out of Sumo. I kind of do it because it needs to be done, but if I had my choice, I would much rather be running or playing volleyball. I really don't have much of a choice though, especially as last year I won the Edo Sumo MVP award. Basically, all of my chances of not doing Sumo this year are completely down the drain. This is particularly unfortunate as 10 semi-professional (or professional, not sure as my Japanese isn't that great...) wrestlers are coming to our island to train! My boss mentioned it to me today and then he immeadiately asked me if I was going to win... AHHH! What have I gotten into?! Anyway, Monday's practice should be "interesting" to say the least... Will keep you posted.

-ANDY

52

2006-09-04T15:34:00.000+09:00

Ahhh yes, and this is the aforementioned toddler who started it all...

I was tempted too publish the fry-roach, but on second looking, the picture is worse than the reality! If you want to see it, you're going to have to do it in person...

Other than that, today has been pretty chill. There is a welcoming party for two new kindergarten teachers... I am pretty glad that there are going to be some new teachers. More specifically, young teachers as I am by far the youngest in the school by at least 10 years in the middle school and 6 years in the grade school. But these new teachers are really young. I swear that I met one of them last year, WHILE SHE WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL! I don't think Japan has any degree requirements for pre-school and that is probably why she was able to get hired.

-ANDY

51

2006-09-03T21:19:00.000+09:00

Ever have mornings like this?

Ok, so this weekend, was insane to say the least. We had a Japanese comedian come on Saturday, and he was funny, but the audience's reaction was better. When I say "reaction," I mean toddlers storming the stage mid-performance and wandering around the stage whilst their mothers are no where to be seen. It is worse than dinner with the Bohlen's (that one's for the family ;-).

Afterwards, we took my science teacher's friends out to eat at one of the local Izekaya's. The aforementioned Izekaya has so far been one of my favorite places, and I frequent it often. During the middle of the meal, while the hostesses are piling plate after plate of food on our table, I reach for a french fry with my chopsticks. I notice it. A giant burn on the side of the french fry. "Jesus, isn't that odd, this is the only burnt fry..." Upon closer examination, IT WAS A COCKROACH THAT HAD SOMEHOW FALLEN INTO THE FRYING MACHINE AND BECAME "AFFIXED" TO THE FRENCH FRY!!! Mind you, this is in front of our "guests," and I am thinking "Lawsuit, holy sh*t these guys are going to sue that's what I would do!!" So, I show the Fry-roach to my good friend and he discretely puts it into an ash tray with not so much as a frown. I quickly grab a snapshot of it, because I want evidence... Not to get the Izekaya in trouble, but so I can prove to my friends, "Yes, I WAS at a restaurant where a roach was fried to a french fry and no one even remotely complained..." Later that night, when he is driving me home, I take the opportunity to talk about the roach, and he --get this-- didn't say a thing and further told me that it was a secret that I should keep! Wow, isn't that intense? That would NEVER happen in the U.S...

Today, we went fishing... Not necessarily the best day as there was basically nothing but wind and rain, but if you have a heavy-duty pole chances are you would have gotten one. I forget the name of the fish, but there were loads of them, they look like miniature Tuna... Anyway, the highlight was tonight when a local caught this Tuna that was easily 40-50 kilos, and bigger than most of my 5th graders. No joke about this, it was easily the biggest fish I have ever seen in person. On one hand, I was happy for the fisherman because it was a pretty intense struggle to catch this fish. Easily, 40+ minutes of fighting this mammoth in his own turf. That, and he is a good friend and fellow member of the baseball team. But on the other hand, it was kind of saddening seeing this majestic creature flopping around on the port as it was slowly choking/bleeding to death. If you are going to kill any part of nature, no biggie as long as you have some class about it. Get it out of the water and kill it. The fisherman let this Tuna struggle for it's life for at least 10-15 minutes before taking his hook and stabbing it in the brain. Although it is just a fish, you still have to admire a creature that even after all hope is lost, it keeps fighting relentlessly for it's life. And this Tuna was that fish...

50

2006-09-01T15:14:00.000+09:00

Today, my English teacher asked me to share pictures of my summer vacation with the students...

This is something I was happy to do, until I had the horrible realization that my students and teacher had no comprehension of what a burrito --possibly the greatest delicacy known to man-- is. What follows is pretty on target with what the actual dialogue of my class was when I showed them the aforementioned picture:

ANDY: "...and this is a burrito,"
JAPANESE KIDS: "Ooh," "Sugoi!" "Kore wa nan des ka?"
JAPANESE TEACHER: "Andy-sensei, the students want to know what that is?"
ANDY: "Well, you know a burrito, it's Mexican food."
JAPANESE TEACHER & STUDENTS: "Tacos?"
ANDY: "No, no, there are many types of Mexican food. You see you take the chicken and mix it with the cheese (mix gestures), add a little salsa (adding salsa gestures), and, you know, wrap and microwave (wrap and microwave gestures, plus sound effect). Just that easy, totally the best thing ever."
JAPANESE TEACHER & STUDENTS: Blank Stare "Tacos?"
ANDY: "You see you make a Taco like this," I grab a piece of chalk, "You take a little meat (draw meat on board), put it in the shell (draw aarow to shell), add some cheese (draw "+" and "cheese"), perhaps some other tasties ("other tasties" written diagonally above with "+"), and viola 'Tacos!'"
JAPANESE STUDENTS (The teachers is just staring in utter confusion at this point): "Tacos?"
ANDY: "Yes, Tacos" --and against my better judgement, I continued with-- "and this is a burrito."
JAPANESE STUDENT: "Tacos?"
ANDY: "No, I'm sorry Uji, it's a burrito, but real close! Here's a sticker. Alright class, let's move on, but before we do, --one last time-- what's this? (point to picture of burrito)"
JAPANESE STUDENTS: "Tacos?"

I could have had an army of Mexican chiefs in that room frantically creating burrito-godliness, and I still would have received: "...Tacos?..."
---

ON THE HORIZON: Tomorrow night is the Japanese comedian.

Sunday, we are doing traditional Bamboo fishing. This is easily one of the coolest things we did last year, and I will try to get some pics this year. Essentially, we are all given Bamboo poles with little tassles on the end and we go snorkeling, "herding" the fish into a giant net on the other end of the port. And then we eat it as Sashimi afterwords. I didn't eat too much last year, and I can thank my lucky stars because loads of people got sick. Apparently, the particular type of fish we catch needs to be cleaned over and over to be eaten as Sashimi-- and last year it wasn't. I just gave my share to the cats.

49

2006-08-30T14:52:00.000+09:00

Straight from the tree...

Ok, this entry my be counter-productive, but not even 10 minutes ago, I saw single-handly the most disgusting thing of my entire life. It is so bad, that for the sake of my dear mother and family that read this blog, I will not write about it. However, if you are curious --and I am able to not block the horrific encounter from my mind between now and then-- feel free to call me tonight and ask about "red paint."

48

2006-08-29T15:23:00.000+09:00

The Three Amigos +1

Alright, it's 3:20 and it has already been a pretty eventful day...

1) Today I saw a Japanese military helicopter (I am fairly certain it was an American Blackhawk, but don't quote me) take off from my island. The helicopters themselves are nothing new or unusual to the Daitos. You'll see them fly by from time to time, and originally I thought it was the American military doing training excercises. That is until my friend told me that whenever someone gets seriously injured (basically anything which our tiny clinic can't take care of), the Japanese military gets sent to airlift them to the mainland. Pretty nuts, eh? But as many times as I have seen them (also Huey's, and another type I don't know...) circling the island, I have never actually seen them take off. Judging from the crowd at the airport I am assuming that it was a sugar cane worker who got injured, but I am sure I will hear about it as the gossip mill turns on KD...

2) I can almost guarantee and hysterical entry this Saturday/Sunday. My island has invited a famous Okinawan comedian to come and perform. However, I have a feeling he won't be the only funny thing that night-- or at least for my teachers. You see one of my really good friends on the island, coincidentally the "jokester" of the teachers, decided to prep me for the event. Every time the comedian says something funny, he is going to gently tap me behind my back, and that is my cue to laugh obnoxiously. I am positive this is what he wants because he had me practice it with him while we were out to lunch today. And the louder and more obnoxious my laugh was, the more he approved...

-Andy

47

2006-08-28T17:02:00.000+09:00

This is one of my cat's kittens.

This entry is going to be really short:

1) I had a great run last night (7 miles) and running at night really makes the difference temperature wise. Never mind that there are virtually no street lights and you are running blind for the most part; you still have an insanely beautiful starry night to guide your path. It's Complete with shooting stars, eerie heat lighting over the ocean, and what you swear is a UFO or two...

2) That is one of my stray cat's kittens above. This one, in particular, has no fear about "exploring" my apartment should I leave a door or window open. Need I say more?

46

2006-08-27T17:17:00.000+09:00

Muro Taicho strikes again!!!

Due to many personal requests, I have decided to start back up my blog. Aside from pleasing a few close friends and family, I think this decision is for the wiser. Without a blog, I won't be able to catalogue the nearly daily insanity of Kita Daito. Stories that 13 months ago would have wracked my brain with their incomprehensible insanity, no longer phase me. I have become either acclimated to them, or comfortably numb to them; however, you choose to describe it, I have been missing stories like this:

Today was the school clean up. In a very Japanese way, we are all assigned to teams with an area to "sogi" or clean-up. Now, my Japanese still isn't the best, but when you are handed a large hand saw and told to go over to a tree and wait, you have a sinking sensation something "interesting" is about to happen. When about 30 of the parents come over with similar saws to the same tree, you know something is about to happen. I was told in a few words, we were going to, "cut down the trees." At this point, I am thinking, "No, way, there is literally no way they are expecting us to chop down this entire tree or the 5 or so trees around it with merely handsaws..." Luckily for me, I was right. They just wanted to chop down all of the the branches hanging over the street!

So, I am staring at these branches and wondering when the cherry picker is going to roll up with the heavy duty machinery when Okinawan-PTA Member #1, throws a rickity tin ladder against one of the trees and scurries up. Within a minute, branches are raining down around me. NOT the little branches that birds make nests in, but rather the branches kids build tree houses in. While I am dodging the falling logs, my art teacher sees me and decides that I need something to do. He points me to a rather large weed (small tree) that was growing out of some shrubbery. This, I thought, I can handle.

I get down and visit my prey eye-to-eye, much akin to a lion stalking his prey. With a few quick pulls of the saw, that meddlesome weed was no more. I held this vile monster over my head with pride, and then tossed it into the growing log pile. But destroying that weed was not enough, I was blood, err vine-thirsty for more. The remaining two trunks of this weed had to go. I saw furiously away and after a good 10 minutes; I cut through the last two trunks. I reach in for my prize and pull. It occurs to me, when I have both trunks almost out of the row of bushs, that I had in my hands what they call in the gardening business, "collateral damage." In my frenzied state of mind, I had totally cut down two of the bushs I was trying to protect! But no matter, I was quick to come up with a remedy. I stealthily made haste to the teacher's lounge where I found the one cure-all for everything: duct tape. With near-ninja like dexterity, I was able to quickly duct the bushs back to their roots. Hey, I know their going to die, but at least this gives them a fighting chance, no? Moreover, the duct tape proved useful in yet another function: deftly hiding any damage I had done until, an unknowning gardener stumbles upon the dead bush weeks from now, and sees the call sign of the "duct-tape bandit."

This is one such story that would be totally lost without a blog system. Three hours later I had practically forgot about it... But in other news, here are some updates of the last week:

1) Today, I saw quite possibly the grossiest thing I have ever seen in Japan. The Japanese use basically an over-grown weedwacker to cut their lawns (think weedwacker plus serrated circular saw), possibly the most dangerous, non-essential, irrational thing ever invented. As, A) the lawn never looks even when your done, and B) you are wielding and open circular saw with little to no safety acutriments --enough said. And yet, I have seen countless Okinawans listlessly swining away at entire fields... Well the lawns are pretty thick around here --and as we are living on a small, sub-tropical island in the pacific-- they are usually flush with all sorts of life (snails, toads, kittens, etc.). I have always wondered what would happen if a critter in said lawn got hit by one of these death-mowers... As I walk home from the aforementioned log-fest, I look down and notice the biggest toad I have ever seen on KD. It is hunched over and walking slowly in the same direction I am. The hunch was suspicious, but then I realized, "Wow, this must be a mother toad and she is carrying her eggs on her back; just as I had read in countless Zoo Babies books! What an awesome natural experience to witness first-hand! Let's get a closer look..." Upon closer examination, the toad was not carrying its young at all, but rather its guts as they hung from a clean, wide death-mower strike. I will never use a weedwacker again.

2) Some of my teachers have conned me into training for the Naha marathon. Training has been tedious at best... I have trained for a marathon before, but never in the tropics. The only realistic time to train is either late at night or early in the morning-- the heat and humidity is THAT BAD. I have been pretty religious about my training, but the heat has kept me from completing most of my scheduled runs. I am only 2 weeks into my 16 week training scheme; so much can and will change. But, I will keep you posted on the "shinkasen's" (bullet train) progress.

3) Ahhh, and here's a supremely good omen. With the fishermen on the island, I was giving the nickname, "Muro-Taicho," or "Captain Muro." Now, I am fairly certain this nickname was given in jest, but I don't think it is offensive at all, as Muro (a type of fish; pictured above) are prized for their sashimi (raw meat). Although there are many theories of the reasoning/origin of "Muro-Taicho," I think the nickname has more to do with Muro being the first fish I ever caught on the Kita Daito. Well, I went fishing last yesterday with my boss, the first time of the new year, and I nabbed three Muro in a row. Coincidence? Good Omen? Just Lucky? That is for the higher powers to decide...

-Andy

45

2006-01-13T16:00:00.000+09:00

Nothing says India quite like a man and his chicken.

44

2006-01-13T15:55:00.000+09:00

This is the view from where we ate everyday. And those are our leaf plates that the goats are eating off of.

43

2006-01-13T15:52:00.000+09:00

This is the road to the orphanage. In the creek to the left we saw two fairly large snakes, one of them eating yet another snake...

42

2006-01-13T15:48:00.000+09:00

The main road in Panskura

41

2005-12-13T18:36:00.000+09:00

Here's a thatched house on KD.

40

2005-12-13T18:27:00.000+09:00

Here is Kiyome, owner of "The Breese," and Kocho-sensei. Kiyome is extremely nice and cooked me dinner once when she thought I was loosing too much weight. Kocho-sensei is also one of the best people I have met on KD. He speaks English extremely well and has always been extremely kind and helpful.

39

2005-12-13T18:25:00.000+09:00

Kyoto-sensei, easily one of the coolest and nicest people on KD. He loves jazz and plays the trumpet really well, but one of the coolest things about him is: although he is Japanese he speaks Japanese as a second language. He spent the first 11 years of his life in Bolivia. Cool, huh?

38

2005-12-13T18:21:00.000+09:00

Here's Kinjo-san, Moto Aki, and Koari-sensei at the PTA party. Moto Aki and Koari are both teachers and Kinjo-san is in charge of all things sumo on the island.

37

2005-12-13T18:18:00.000+09:00

Some people may wonder why I affectionately refer to my kindergarten class as "the lion's den." I believe this picture, although blury, says it all.

36

2005-12-13T18:16:00.000+09:00

Nakamine-san, he is my immeadiate boss and my first contact with the KD B.O.E. He is a really nice guy with a great sense of humor.

35

2005-12-13T18:12:00.000+09:00

Shiroma-san, my head boss, former Sumo champ, and one of the only people on Daito taller than me; he is definitely a good guy.

34

2005-12-13T18:10:00.000+09:00

33

2005-12-13T18:08:00.000+09:00

Katsuya decked out as a king for the 6th grade play.

32

2005-12-13T18:05:00.000+09:00

Third graders anxiously awaiting their performance.

31

2005-12-13T18:03:00.000+09:00

Here are my first-graders waiting to perform at the cultural festival.

30

2005-12-13T18:00:00.000+09:00

The results from the most recent Biology field trip on the island. These are some of my six-legged friends here on KD.

29

2005-12-13T17:57:00.000+09:00

Well, if you put cavity prevention that way... Pay special attention to the tooth in the middle, ha!

28

2005-12-13T17:54:00.000+09:00

Here's Paul, the mad Irish-Canadian bartender of Naha. In other words, a good friend.

27

2005-12-13T17:51:00.000+09:00

This is Uama-San, he is the head fisherman of the island and the guy I go pearl diving with. It's no wonder he used to be a former sumo-champ.

26

2005-11-02T20:21:00.000+09:00

Founder's Anniversary Party

25

2005-11-02T20:18:00.000+09:00

Easternmost Part of Okinawa

24

2005-11-02T20:14:00.000+09:00

Tide's Coming in at the Okinawan Umi

23

2005-11-02T20:10:00.000+09:00

No Explanation Necessary

22

2005-11-02T20:01:00.000+09:00

Daito's Police Station: Mayberry or China Town?

21

2005-11-02T19:55:00.000+09:00

Daito's Mountains are in the Sky.

20

2005-11-02T19:52:00.000+09:00

Kita Daito's Only Stoplight

19

2005-10-31T16:09:00.000+09:00

The Three stooges at it Again.

This pic is from my most recent trip to Naha. As some of you know, the outer islanders try to meet up once a month for shenanigans. This is the result of our most recent brainstorming. We thought it would be really funny to adnore matching adidas jumpsuits and Japanese headbands. Moreover, we thought it would be funnier if we wore these to an Okinawan Metal band concert -which in and of itself was a riot. Additionally, I got the bright idea to wear white t-shirts and have Japanese strangers graffitti our t-shirts in Kanji. To this day, I have no idea what is written on that shirt. Either way it was a pretty fun -at the least memorable- night.

On another note, I have some more pics of the island that I will put up shortly. The other night I went out to see if I could take any pictures of the stars from Kita Daito. This was big no-go. On the bright side... My fruitbat sightings/encounters are up to 5; three of which have been up close and personal. If you come to visit KD and go for a night walk, be prepared for one of those big guys to pop out at eye-level and scare the living be-jesus out of you. It's happened to me 3 times out of three months. On the other hand, it is also really easy to see shooting stars out here, and I see them quite frequently.

Lastly, some new birds arrived on KD this week. I haven't seen them before and am assuming they are migratory. They are these huge, white, crane-like birds. I was able to make out from my neighbor that they come to feed on the grubs in the sugarcane after it is harvested.

18

2005-10-14T08:37:00.000+09:00

An Abandoned Boat

Some updates:

Back in Ohio-If you all see, hear from or talk to Ben; send him some love. His mom's fiancee (sp?) died the other day in the hospital.

It looks like I will be spending this Christmas at an orphanage in India running an English camp with a few other JET's. I should be back in Naha for New Year's Eve, so if you want to meet up, don't hesitate to call, etc.

I am not sure how many more international calls I will be able to make. I went to pay my phone bill yesterday and the clerk literally screamed when she saw it. That's probably how I should have re-acted as well...

And finally, I may have just re-contracted for next year on Kita Daito! My boss randomly showed me a flurry of paperwork to that extent and had me sign the letter of intent in front of him -within five minutes of him showing it to me. So we will see, the principal has the final say on such issues, and if there are policy/budget changes for the next academic year, that could make it an entirely different ball game.

17

2005-10-10T13:34:00.000+09:00

Ok, so I lied about being able to post new pictures, but this isn't new and I thought it should go up. These are the ruins of a huge pre-war phosphorous (sp?) factory on Kita Daito. Before the war, Kita Daito actually had a rather large population of phosphorous miners (much larger than today's population of 500), and phosphorous was thier main method of income. The history lesson is over now...

My stray has picked up a strange new habit. She follows me... everywhere. I am not kidding. If I am on foot, this cat will be bumbling behind, and if I go into any store or city office, she will just sit outside and wait for me. I think I am the first human alive that can take his cat for a walk...

Sadly, I don't think I will be able to make it home for Christmas this year, because of the financial "dire straits" of being an English teacher 3000 miles away from home and 360km away from any sort of civilization. You never realize how far you are away from home until you try to buy a plane ticket back! Either way this frees up a lot of "nenkyu" ("vacation time") so I will be able to either come home at a later date, or hang out with some JET's then!

Alright, well there is a Sumo Tournament dedicated to the God of Fire in about 20 minutes so I am about to head to that. Wish I had my camera for pics!

16

2005-10-06T18:24:00.000+09:00

Ok... I have to be quick. First, my camera is shot. So, there won't be any awe inspiring, amazing, grotesque, crazy pictures up until I get it fixed. I'll try to send it home this weekend...

It is very unfortunate that I don't have my camera because I am about to eat four of the largest lobsters I have ever seen with my co-workers. They were a gift from the PTA. All I could say upon seeing them, "Rook! Godzirra!!!"That got a few laughs... Chow time!

15

2005-09-30T17:01:00.000+09:00

Another perfect example of something really wild that would have gone totally unnoticed. This little shrine is right behing a garage and is barely visible from the road.

14

2005-09-30T16:45:00.000+09:00

Another picture from the north shore. It is probably the most beautiful part of the island.

13

2005-09-30T16:39:00.000+09:00

Here's the island's light house. I don't know the construction date, but I was told by my boss that the island put it up because cargo ships kept crashing into the island at night.

12

2005-09-30T16:34:00.000+09:00

This is one of my favorite pics from Daito. It is right near the east shore, and I think it characterizes the island pretty well.

11

2005-09-30T16:09:00.000+09:00

Here is my scooter. I think the picture speaks a thousand words: "I have learned the delicate art of driving blind."

10

2005-09-30T15:55:00.000+09:00

If I can remember correctly, this was the "Blue Darts Bar." We wanted to get a quick drink before we went out for the night and figured that a round of darts couldn't hurt either. As we walked through Naha, we saw an advertisement entirely in English for the "Blue Darts Bar." There was not one speck of Hiragana, Katakana, etc. When we went up the bar (it was on the 5th floor) this sign is what greeted us, "Japanese Only." This was single-handedly one of the most frustrating experiences in Japan. IF YOU DON'T WANT GAIJIN COMING TO YOUR DARTS BAR THEN DON'T ADVERTISE SOLELY IN ENGLISH! It was like they wanted to trick us into hiking all the way up the stairs... We joked about stumbling on a Yakuza hang out, but when we told a few Okinawan friends they told us that the "Japanese Only" sign was more likely to be directed at military personel than tourists.

9

2005-09-30T15:50:00.000+09:00

This is one of those little things that usually goes unnoticed in Okinawa but is really interesting. In the middle of the Narumi Ryokan's foyer (this is where the islanders stayed for our last trip) is this dead sea turtle just hanging on the wall. Aren't these critters on the way to extinction? It's no wonder...

8

2005-09-30T15:42:00.000+09:00

Remember the first picture? This is after a few hours of drinking the Habu-Shu. What happened to my drinking hat? To Brett's? And what the hell happened to Craig?!

7

2005-09-30T15:36:00.000+09:00

Here's Craig, Brett and myself sporting our drinking hats for our annual raid on Naha. On this particular night we are going to consume the Habu-Shu pictured below and it is in the bag that Craig (the one flicking you off) is carrying. This is the beginning of the night and we are all optomistic.

6

2005-09-30T15:22:00.000+09:00

This is my beloved stray on the island. Since day one, she has been hanging around my apartment. Being the softie that I am for cats, I have also been feeding her since day one. The hysterical thing about this cat is that when I first arrived on the island my neighbor was trying to teach me the word for cat or "Nekko." I had horrible mispronounced it and called her "Nekku" which apparently means "meat." Think about it, I am in an asian country and for the past month and a half, I would scream "MEAT!" everytime I saw a cat around a co-worker or a boss to display my new found knowledge. I have since been corrected. I think "Meat" is a good name for a stray, don't you?

5

2005-09-30T14:43:00.000+09:00

Here's one of my swimming holes on the north shore. There is really good pearl diving here.

4

2005-09-30T14:33:00.000+09:00

This is the infamous Habu-Shu (snake venom sake) that many of you have already heard about. I thought I would put a picture of the dead viper up, so you knew I wasn't joking, ;-)

3

2005-09-29T13:46:00.000+09:00

Ok, it's about 2 PM and I think I just cracked the photo dilemmas...

This me waiting to Sumo WRASTLE!!! If you have ever wanted to know what expression, "Holy Sh#t I am about to wrestle a bunch of Sumo Wrestlers who have done this thier entire lives and I have been only doing it for two months," is then look directely at my face... lol Look to entry number 2 for the results, ha ha ha.

Other than that, I had a deep thought today: "People's thoughts are dictated by thier language. Therefore people's conceptual abilities are both limited and bolstered by the very languages they speak." What do you think?

2

2005-09-28T13:55:00.000+09:00

Success!!! I finally was able to get a pic up! Why I put it in my second entry, I have no idea...This is of me Okinawan Sumo wrestling this thiry year-old who has been doing Okinawan Sumo since he was four. It is right after a body slam; note the location of his face... ha ha ha...

I am going to regale you with a tale from last night. So the "Breese" had its one-year aniversary (sp?). It was the closest thing I have seen to a frat party in Japan. The one-room bar moved everything outside where there was a make-shift stage, and rows of tables. I would estimate that at least 350 of the island's 500 residents showed up to party. Beer and awamori flowed like water. Here were some of the funnier observations/moments during the night:

1) The band. These guys were hysterical. I have no idea where they came from and I am not sure if they were trying to be funny intentionally but they were. There was the lead singer, an older man who was either too drunk or too old to hit any of his notes quite right. He was really cool and played the sanshi really well. Then there was the drummer that I am pretty sure was cross-dressing. He totally looked like a woman in his Okinawan kimono, but when he opened his mouth to sing, Barry White took the stage... (After running into the band again at the airport, I can definitely say that this "cross dresser" was in fact... A WOMAN!!! Man talk about a Lola...) Finally, and this was my favorite, there was the back up drummer. It was a younger girl, who had her hair died in the most outrageous 80's "Rainbow Bright" combo. To compliment the wild do, she was playing a set of drum synthesizers!!! Not just any drum synthesizers, but they were konga drum synthesizers. So during the performances of all these traditional Okinawan folk songs, you would here this really out-of-place 80's drum beat in the back ground.

2) The deaf, old break-dancer. This guy was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. It started to pour in the middle of the celebration and we all found ourselves huddled under the one tent that the "Breese" had put up. As I mingled, I met this guy trying to show some of my co-workers how to break-dance. He looked like he was in his later fourties, and he was sporting two barely recognizable hearing aides. But this guy could dance. It was awesome. I have never seen anyone at age with that kind of body control. Not only could he dance but he was also a pretty accomplished mime.

3) I had made a pretty cool invention yesterday. My ghetto scooter has no headlight. This has been no problem so far. One night, I saw a locale riding around the island on his without his headlight on. I figured if he could do it, then I can do it and I have. The nights are almost always clear out here, and the moon is so bright, I find it is actually more pleasent to ride at night without a headlight. However, last night, it was totally overcast and the visibility was atrocious (sp?). What did I do? I took a flashlight and taped it to my helmet. Yes, tape. I had to laugh every foot that I drove. I was thinking, "This is one of the nuttiest things I've done."

Ok, I will try to put up a pic of my ghetto scooter....

1

2005-09-27T18:36:00.000+09:00

Hey All! After much presuasion from here and home, I have decided to start up a weblog. As this is my first weblog, I will most likely be slow on the uptake. Tonight is the one year aniversary of a locale bar, "The Breese." That was not a typo, that is how is it spelled... Ok, well I will try to get some pics up before I head out for this bad boy!