Miyakonojo

Maybe I'm back to writing... maybe not. We'll see when the mood strikes me.

Good news though. I got a new camera(yesterday) that does HD video. I wasn't happy with the quality from the iPhone. So although I don't know how often I'll have a blog update, but I should at least have some videos up fairly regularly I hope.

You can access my videos at my youtube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/SandTiger42

I will also be posting private videos that won't show up on my youtube homepage. You'll have to do 2 things to see these videos.
1) Create a youtube account. It's free.
2) Add me as a contact or friend on Youtube. If possible with a msg of who you are so I know who I'm adding.
After you've done those two things. Every time I post a private video I'll send you a link to the video via Youtube.

Only some of my videos will be private. If you want to know why I'm doing this, send me an email and I'll let ya know.

Make sure to watch all the videos in HD! Click the *360p* button on the bottom of the video and change it to *720p* or *1080p*. Unless your computer is from the stoneage, then it won't be able to play the HD.

Ok. Now on to some good stuff.
School lunches are nasty. Some days they're beyond nasty. There is very little I'll refuse to eat, but today was #1 on the freaky list. It's a fish called shishamo. Shishamo is a whole fish(head, tail, bones, eyes, internal organs, everything), and then you batter it up and lightly fry it. Not only that, but you eat everything. The head and the tail also.

Not gross enough yet? The fish is also pregnant. It's chock full of fish ovaries. It probably takes up about 25-50% of the weight of the fish.
Here's a picture of todays Lunch. I also have a private video up of this.


Today was also club day at my school. Once a week elementary schools have club day. Basketball club, badminton, other sports, computer, art, boardgames, tea ceremony, etc etc etc. I usually hang out with one of the sports clubs, but I'll try to visit every club at least once.

Today I realized there was a dance club and I had never been. Usually when kids say dance they are into hip-hop . That's what I expected. I was looking forward to a cute lil hip-hop performance from 9-11yo girls. But when I got there... there was newspaper scattered all over the room.. and some of the girls were wadding it into balls... making paper airplanes.. just... playing. I was completely confused. The teacher asked me "I bet you can't tell what club this is can you?". If I hadn't already known I'd of had no idea.

The teacher then says for everybody to stop their "preparation" and asks who wants to "go first". I'm baffled. A group of 3 girls volunteer and start their "performance". One girl grabs a sheet of newspaper and the other 2 girls get into position. One girl starts wadding up the newspaper, tearing it, throwing it, doing everything you can with a wad of newspaper. At the same time the other 2 girls are on the floor, now they're not, now they're jumping around, now they're rolled into little balls, now they're hopping around while in little balls. I'm so confused for the first 30 seconds. It was the most painful and embarrassing thing to watch, couldn't begin to explain how awkward this was. Then it dawned on me, they are doing interpretive dance. One of the girls kept asking very quietly under her breath, "Can we be done NOW!?" while the other girl kept making her do the most awkward and embarrassing things. Another girl just tried to shrink from existence itself.

This went on for another 10-15 minutes with other groups of girls. At this point I'm curious WHO CAME UP WITH THIS CRAZY IDEA. So I go over to the teachers and ask. They are the youngest teachers in the school, a male and a female. Pretty fun, both really great teachers and I love teaching with them or just hanging out in their classes. The female teacher is particularly fun, shes probably my favorite teacher out of the 150+ teachers I've worked with. She's like me if I were Japanese, Female, and EVIL.

Back to the story, I ask about the freaking awkward interpretive dance. But instead of an answer, I just get "Brian, you should really do this. Go for it. Go up there with Male-teacher and show the kids how its done". Are you absolutely crazy lady!?!?!?!? I turned purple just thinking about doing something so embarrassing. Noooooooo way. Never gonna happen. I tell them so, with much enthusiasm. The next words out of her mouth were "Hey kids, Brian says he totally wants to do this!" The kids cheer. I can't say no now. How do you say no to a whole bunch of girls who adore you? So I leave my dignity back with my chair, and go make an utter fool of myself. And the kids are like, "Wow, hes really good at this". Soooooooo embarrassing.

When I'm done, in what seems like an eternity but is probably only 1 minute, I go back to my seat and the Female teacher has the most evil, maniacal laugh I've ever heard. I'm now convinced that the whole interpretive dance thing was her idea to start with.

However the best part of the day happened earlier when 2 little girls found out they could wrap me around their finger. They are probably the two cutest 3rd grade girls in the whole school. They saw me in the hallway, ran up to me and gave me the warmest hug ever, and said "Brian, Join us!!" In the cutest most sweetest voice ever. IN ENGLISH. That's probably the first time I've ever heard that since the 2 years I've been in Japan. Their homeroom teacher was with them and he asked "What does 'Join us' mean?" The girls didn't even have any Japanese accent when they said it. They said it in a perfectly little girl voice. Full of pleading and big puppy dog eyes. They didn't really care what we were doing, as long as we were doing something together. Wow. How can I say no to anything they ever ask me again? Good thing I'm not their dad. I spent my lunch recess with them.

This is my favorite school. I get to go back tomorrow. The sun will be out and I'll probably go swimming with the kids in the afternoon. That's always a trip. The boys think I am a perfect shining example of all that it manliness. That's because Japan is a land where growing a beard is near impossible and chest hair is thought to be only a legend. I'm like the Burt Reynolds of Japan. heh