FINALE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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