"Kyoto students were here."

Good afternoon everybody! The humid and muggy hot weather is slowly transitioning to autumn. Seeing this transition is acting as a one-year marker of my time here, and the days are noticeably going a bit faster. Winter is coming!

This past week, from Tuesday to Friday, Nichinan was very lucky to have nine foreign graduate students come and visit the middle school. For three nights, the students stayed in a small house and apartment just across from my house, boosting the population of my little neighborhood above the baseball field by roughly 100% percent. The purpose of their visit was to spend time at the middle school and give presentations on their countries to the students, and on Friday each graduate student, including me, split the students into groups and gave a final speech and presentation in front of the entire student body in English. Above all else, the purpose was to foster the growth of cultural understanding and English communication. The students were shy at first, but slowly they opened up and talked with the graduate students, even in English when they could.

Three of the students were from China, and the rest were from Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nigeria, and Morocco. They are studying at Kyoto University in the graduate management program, I believe. Also, all of their English were superb, and communicating with them was no problem at all.

From left: Emmanuel (Nigeria), Talibi (Morocco), Wenjun (China), Jeab (Thailand), and Park (Korea).

From left: Yang (China), Sreychou (Cambodia), Luija (China), with Mr. Akita behind them.

All of the grad students and some teachers, with the exception of Nga (Vietnam) because she missed her train. She would show up at the school later.

Welcoming ceremony.

Self introduction of the graduate students.

After the welcoming ceremony, we spent the rest of the day in classrooms giving presentations to the students on our countries. Even though the students already know who I am, I was also asked to give a presentation on America while Henry Sensei was acting as facilitator for all the activities.

After the first day of the welcoming ceremony and first rounds of presentations, the students were invited to an enkai (Japanese social party) at a restaurant just up the road from my house, and where they were staying for the next three nights.

All the grad students walking up the road to the enkai. By this time, Nga (the Vietnamese student, dead center) made her late appearance! 

 The Enkai was wonderful. The principal, vice principal, Mr. Akita (head English teacher), and members of the town office were there as well.

The principal of the school has a little trick he likes to show people every now and then. It involves a chain necklace and a metal ring. Essentially, he holds the ring to the top of the chain necklace, drops it, and instead of falling to the ground, it somehow goes through and is looped through the chain.

Emmanuel looking inquisitively at the principal and his trick.

Yang giving it a shot.

The trick has now grabbed the attention of everyone at the enkai.

The next two days were the same with the presentations to different classrooms. On Thursday afternoon, the graduate students were given a tour of Nichinan, and Henry and I were invited to come along as well.

In front of the town office.

Our new mascot! After this was taken, they were introduced to the Mayor and the board of education.

A common sight in my town.

We visited a well-known Ryokan (Japanese style inn), and saw a white board outside of it. 

"Kyoto students were here!" written in all of their languages.  

Kato Sensei, the art teacher, was one of the two drivers for us. Here is showing us on the map where we're going next.

Visiting a temple. Almost all temples in Japan are built on higher ground, so the stairs leading up to it is a common thing.

The Tori (gate) taken from the top.

The temple.

Jaeb and Wenjun. "Hmmm?" says Park.

One of the last stops on the tour was the lumber yard and factory, Nichinan is famous for its lumber industry.

If only a camera could capture smell.

We also got to tour the wood processing building. It was incredible seeing first-hand the process of tree trunks turning into planks of plywood. I wanted to take pictures, but honestly, I am so clumsy I was afraid I would accidentally get stuck in some piece of machinery and be shredded to a thousand little pieces.

Thursday night was their last night, and I invited them to come to my house to grill and drink some beers. It was nice having company over like that for once in my house. It will be hard to forget such a wonderful time.

Friday, after the school wide group presentations, we had to say our goodbyes. Emmanuel said during his goodbye speech that one of the hardest parts about traveling is that in the end you have to say goodbye. I am reminded of the ever-known passage, "This too shall pass."

I hope these students understand the tremendous impact they had on each and every one of us. I consider myself lucky to be able to have interesting and relevant conversations about many topics that would be hard to have elsewhere. Topics from Mandarin, Chinese characters in the Korean language, Pigeon English, East Asian politics, and Korean Starcraft were among a few of the cool things I got to talk about with them. The impact on the students were obvious as well. Students who never tried any English are now getting an interest. Not only the students, but the principal as well. After the students left, the principal told Henry and I he would like to have private lessons with us in the morning when the students start their first period class. Cannot say no to that!

To the grad students, if you're reading this: Thanks for coming to Nichinan. We are all better because of it. I hope to see you all again in the near future, and you always have a place to stay in my house, whether it's in Nichinan or somewhere else that the future takes me.

Goodbye, everyone!

A good day for biking and exploring.

Hello everyone!

After I came home from work, which is not a very long walk to say the least, I couldn't fight the urge any longer to get on my bike and do a little exploring because the weather today was phenomenal. Very cool, slight breeze, and the lighting outside made the lush greenness of the mountains stand out very stunningly. And when I remembered that I started a blog, I realized I now have an excuse to look like an idiot taking pictures of usually mundane things for friends and family back home!

Taken standing on the bridge near the front side of the school. The tallish building up ahead is the culture center (which has a nice little theatre inside), and the white building is the small shopping center and grocery store.

Taken after crossing the bridge, facing Nichinan Junior High School. Next to it is the elementary school, and next to that is the baseball field, and behind the baseball field is my awesome house.

The front of the small shopping center, Paseo. Paseo acts as the bus stop for the middle and elementary school students to get to and from school, as you can see from the benches on the left-hand side of the picture. You can also barely see the theatre of the culture center to the right of the picture.

My only purpose for randomly getting on my bike was not only to take photos, but to explore and maybe find a new restaurant. The choices for eating are limited here, but I thought maybe I might get lucky. As I was about to cross the street, one of the elementary school students, who also happens to be my next door neighbor, came to me and asked where I was going. I told him I was trying to find a restaurant. He then pointed his finger and said, "Go down that street over there. Where the white van is pulling out, there is a good restaurant!"

And he wasn't wrong!

Idani Ryokan (Idani is the name of the family, and Ryokan is a Japanese style hotel). The ryokan entrance is on the right side with the red carpet, and the restaurant side is where my awesome foldable bike is.

I would have never found this restaurant hidden behind all the houses on that street. I couldn't believe it, a new place to eat that was close to where I lived all along!

I walked in a little nervously because I wasn't sure if they were open or not, seeing as one time I walked into a restaurant for dinner but was told that they were only open for lunch that day. This place heavily advertised Ramen (!!!!!), but because I was just getting over a headache I didn't want to eat something so incredibly salty, so I ordered katsu-don. 

What is katsu-don, you ask? It's this heavenly dish with a fried piece of battered pork simmered in a delicious broth with onions and a fried but slightly runny egg on top and chopped green onion, all over a bed of rice. I realized just now that my mouth started getting watery as I finished that sentence. There was only one other patron inside, and the woman who took my order was busy in the back making everything, so I tried to be sneaky and take a couple of pictures. 

From my seat, facing the door.

Every small mom and pop restaurant I've been to so far has a TV on with either the sports or the news. This segment was about the problem with North Korea kidnapping Japanese civilians from the mainland. This is especially an issue in Tottori Prefecture where I live, because some of the kidnappings have occurred here. It's surreal and scary to see something that appears to be a problem in a far off place be in the local news.

The katsu-don set meal! Katsu means pork, and don means food over a bed of rice. Oh god, just looking at this picture is torturous for me, and I'm the one who already got to eat it. The right was a clear broth soup with a piece of fish in it, the middle plate were some pickled vegetables, and the heavenly blob of greasy-goldness on the left was the katsu-don. This katsu-don was different then what I've had in the past, being topped with chopped seaweed in place of green onion.

As I was eating this magnificent creation from heaven, the other patron left, leaving me alone in my shame and glory. One thing I've learned after living in a small town in a foreign country is that if there is no one else around in a store or restaurant, the owners will want to talk or ask questions. 

As I was scooping the last of the rice from the bowl, the woman who took my order and was now cleaning the counter said, "Wow, you're really good at using chop sticks!"

I wanted to be careful with what I said, although I don't know why. I said taishita koto nai, which I believe means, "It's not a big deal!". I hope it means just that, and even if it does, I hope it came out funny and not rude...sigh.

Observation of the foreigner's chop stick skills then turned into observation of the foreigner's command of Japanese. Rest assured, dear readers, I sound like a monkey when I talk in Japanese, but luckily these people are super nice about it.

"Your Japanese is very good! Do they speak it in America?"

"No! Mainly English and some Spanish."

"Spanish? Really?"

"Sure! Because Mexico is just south of America, many people come to America and still speak Spanish. I learned some Spanish in middle school and high school just like the students here learn English."

"Ehhhhh? Sugoi, ne." Sugoi means cool. 

We talk about this and that. She asks me if I know Ross, who was the English teacher before my predecessor. She talks about him and also about Nick, my predecessor. After a little talk I ask if I can take some more pictures of her place for my blog, and she happily agrees. 

The counter where the other patron ate. I sat at one of the tables for four like a jerk. Behind the red curtain is the kitchen. There was someone else back there, but I couldn't see him. I assume him to be her husband.

I love the draft beer flags here.

Sake!

I ask her if I can take a picture of her, but she looks uncomfortable so I say sorry, but I do thank her for letting me take pictures. To say, "Thank you for letting me yada yada yada" requires the use of a more advance verb conjugation (causative form yo!). Many times I open my mouth and begin a sentence only to realize I don't know how to say something, and then I just sit there with my mouth open and nothing coming out while all parties enjoy a brief moment of awkwardness. However, this time, instead of giving up, I thought long and hard and was able to say what I wanted to correctly (I think)! She saw my thought process, which included looking up in thought, and then stammering out the sentence with a  mix of nervous confidence. She commented again that my Japanese was very good for being able to say that, which made me feel super nice and not like a moron, which is something I oftentimes feel when I try to communicate here. That leads to a discussion on why I'm here, what I want to do after I leave, and the mysterious man in the back was feeding questions to her to ask me. I'm super glad I went out and came here instead of staying at home and doing nothing, because I got to enjoy a nice conversation with a nice person. While we were talking, I discovered that she has two children, both of whom are students at the middle school! One is a first year and the other is a second year (for Americans, think 7th and 8th grades). As I was about the leave, the first year student comes in and looks very surprised to see Tim Sensei sitting in her family's restaurant. I decide to let her show off in front of her mother, who admittedly told me earlier she cannot speak any English.

"Hello, Idani-san. How are you?"

"I'm...fine, thank you."

After hopefully getting cool points from her mother, I get up and say I want to take some more pictures of the town before the sun went down (it was getting a bit darker). I pay and say mata ne! (See you later!). 

Standing in front of the restaurant and inn, taking a picture of the very street the student pointed to from Paseo.

Rice fields. A very, very common sight where I live, not just in Nichinan but the entire prefecture as well.

Fukuda Construction Machinery Ltd. Lot's of cool old buildings here.

Going to pour myself a whisky and water now. I am rather enjoying this exercise of writing and reflection, and I hope I get better at it. Goodnight everyone!

. 

Hello World! ... Nichinan Junior High School Sports Day

Here it is, my first blog post! After much deliberation on what to name this blog, I realized I don't exactly know what it is I want to talk about. I suppose the purpose of this blog for the time being shall be to slowly figure out what it is exactly I want to talk about.

So, I've settled on "Life in Nichinan" as a title. It's boring, yeah, but at least it's honest and direct. I'll share tid-bits of my life here in Japan as well as some pictures and videos, because for some reason I don't really care to do it on Facebook. If you constantly post on Facebook or other social media sites, you're considered a narcissist. However, if it's on a blog, then it's totally different!

Sorry if it seems like I'm being curt or what not in my writing style. It's just been awhile since I've written anything, so I suppose I'm just trying to get used to the whole writing process again or what have you.

Oh! So here's something interesting. This Sunday was our school's Sports Day. What is Sports Day? Well, I can only speak for my school, but basically the entire student body splits up into three teams, which were Red, Blue, and Yellow. I was assigned to the Red team. During their summer break (which only lasts five weeks, and the students still show up to school for summer school and club activities), each team worked on creating a gigantic, colorful poster, and prepared a dance to a pop song. Each team also competed in games and races for points. At the end of the Sports Day, all the points are tallied up to determine a winner. The winner at my school was the Red team, so go me! Although I didn't do anything, it still feels good!

Let's enjoy some pictures!

All the students assembled according to their teams, Yellow, Blue, and Red. They wore head bands corresponding to their color, including the teachers. I was assigned to Red team!

My house which overlooks the baseball field, which is where the Sports Day took place. 

Students in the 100 meter dash.

I don't remember how many meters it is, but this is the race around the entire field. This is also taken from my house, which you can see in one of the previous pictures.

The spectators, which are mostly the parents and family of the students. 

Akita Sensei overlooking the tire grab game. Each team is in a corner, and when the whistle is blown, they all dash to the center where a bunch of tires are piled up. The goal is to grab and fight for as many tires as possible. A quick side-note: Akita Sensei is one of the two English teachers at the school, and is the senior of the two. He also might have certification in being a bad-ass, but I have yet to see such documents. Either way, cool guy!

Stands where you can get flavored ice (basically Japanese snow cones), tako-yaki, and other yummy Japanese fair food.

This was Red teams sign. These kids are really talented, and totally know how to work together.

Henry Sensei taking a picture of his team's sign. Can ya guess which team he's on?

This is, I believe, blue team's group dance. Not sure if it can be seen in this picture, but some of the boys are most definitely wearing skirts. Weird you say? Just another day in Japan!



The Human Centipede! Students are tied by their ankle and must race around the field.

After lunch, an exhibition of each club was held, with the band playing in the background. The students marching up were the girls volleyball team, while the girls tennis team ahead of them put on a little show for the spectators.

Tug of war!!!

The Red team after their dance, doing a traditional Japanese cheer.

It feels good to get this blog thing up and going, though, which is something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I hope as time goes on, I'll get better at writing and delivering a clear picture on what my life is like here. Also, I hope to begin sharing some music on here soon, as well as what I'm learning in Japanese for those who are interested in learning with me. 

Here it is, and there it was. Good night everyone!