Big John's Blog

He he!

Much love, revisited

Folks I would like to correct a glaring omission from post about Michigan football. Eventhough I was at my friends house, and did not ask TR (nor could I) , I called AP right at the end of the game. You see, we have this tradition whenever something 'important' happens in sports that we call each other. It is one of my most favorite traditions in all of my life. AP is always there wether its jubilation or heartbreak, has been since I can remember. The most recent heartbreak that we shared together was that 2002 Michigan State clock F up. The game was not shown in the New Orleans area and I had to listen to it over the phone with AP screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO!" That was some bullshit.

I would also like to give props to AP for being the longest running friend who I have been in continual contact with. I have a few that have eclipsed the ten year mark but AP will forever hold the title. I remember the first day that he walked into Ms. Bible's first grade classroom. Crazy fro and all. Damn! That was 20 years ago. That blows my mind.

You know I'll always love you AP.

OOOOOOO ;-()

Little kid touched my ass today. . . on purpose. Got a great laugh out of the class and then I turned around and thumped him on the temple as hard as I could. I got an even bigger laugh out of the class as the sound of my finger making that dull smacking sound echoed across the room. I think he got the message. I then proceeded to make fun of him for the rest of the class by thumping myself on the head. Got a good 5 laughs out of that joke. Outsmarted again. Man, this is TOO easy.

Wish I had my camera

I came back to the teachers workroom today just minding my own business and I swear to God this is what I saw on the attendence board for the eigth graders along with attendence data and a bunch of Japanese I dont understand . . .

I Believe
1918

scrawled in one corner of the board. Im pretty sure that Nishimura sensei wrote it but it doesnt make it any less hilarious.

The best I can hope for is a Yankee style breakdown. Glad I am in Japan so I can aviod all those bumb ass Red Sox fans. Well, most of them anyway.

Uji, Kyoto, and Nara

On Saturday took a trip to Uji, Kyoto and Nara not necessarily in that order. Basically we were going there in order to check out some history and walk around and see things. Had a good time. Pictures to be posted when I get home from work.

First we went to Uji, this is the home of an old temple/modern museum. This place was built around 1000 AD and most of the structed (85%) is original. That blows my mind. This temple, surrounded by serene pond, has been standing on this spot for over 1000 years! One thought (I guess its the engineer in me) is how the hell did they build this place? I dont know but Im sure they used hemp ropes. Many of the older structures in Japan are built without nails. I havent figured out why but I think it may keep the wood from breaking down over extreme periods of time. Everything is a mortis and tennen kind of idea. They cut holes in the wood and make everything male/female, if you know what I mean. Even for the roof tiles.

This place is famous for its Phoenix statues (Which I couldnt take pictures of in the museum) but they are very intricate statues of the famous bird. The building itself is kind of shaped like a bird. I think that was on purpose. You cant go inside the temple but I saw the video, highly inricate carving and awesome colors, along with lots of things covered with gold leaf.

Highly worthwhile!

Next we went to Nara. Nara is famous for its deer. There are deer everywhere around this shrine. Let me tell you, the pictures dont do this place justice. It is huge! Anyway, the deer are all sickly looking and smelly and they are crazy. There are all these vendors who sell these deer crackers and the deer sit/watch/wait to make their move. Whenever someone goes up and buys the crackers they get mobbed by the deer. They dont play! They will eat your bags. I saw three seperate instances of deer eating someones paper bag they got while shopping. They will eat anything. Its kind of a deer welfare state. Got some good pics.

The temple, houses a few cool things. One of the largest buddha statues in the world is housed there. 159 feet tall! My pictures of this suck because you can't get any persepective on it. But believe me, its gigantic. There is also this pillar which has a whole in it that is supposed the size of the nostril of the buddha statue. If you can pass through this hole then you will become enlightened in your next life. I was kind of pissed because 1. I couldnt fit and 2. Little kids have it way too easy. I am rooting against them to be enlightened in the next life, believe me it is not lost on me that this thought is probably keeping me from be enlightened ever. But I can't help hating the little skinny buggers.

They have this cool statue called Binzuru. It kind of looks like skeletor. But Binzuru was one of the friends of the buddha and he had kind of an occult following. It is said that if you rub a part of the statue and and then rub the corresponding part of you body you will be healed. I took it upon myself to rub the right knee of Binzuru and then rub mine because my knee needs all the help it can it. The knee is feeling a little better this week. Nothing like a good placebo to take care of pain. I cant tell you how many Japanese guys walked up the statue and rubbed its crotch. Had me a little worried.

Finally, we made a stop in Kyoto and went to Maurzen a book store that sells English books so I got a couple of Books, Hawking and Baldwin (trying to cover the whole spectrum there), and I was pretty sure that I felt that big earthquake. It was centered pretty far from where we were and I thought that I was the only person to feel it in the building. I asked one of my friends if she felt it but she said no. When I got home I saw that there had been a quake and 15 people died. That sucks! There have been so many natural disasters since I have been here. Thankfully nothing has been too bad in my town.

Go Blue!!!!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen and Everyone In between,

Hail to the victors, my friends! Michigan played an awesome game the weekend and stuck it to Purdue, heretofore known as Undue Perversity (stole that from a friend). I actually got to watch the game over the internet which proved to be a little tricky seeing as how the game started at 430 in the morning. There were other obstacles as well.

I planned to watch the game with my buddy TR. He graduated from Umich one year before me and is a die hard football fan. Up until this point he had been siting in front of his computer late at night, drinking beer, watching college football game tracker. Basically watching a little ball move back and forth across the screen. However, the Purdue game was on ESPN Gameplan so it was possible to watch the game over the internet, and since my computer is a piece we planned to watch it at TR's.

So I caught the last train to Nagahama at 11pm (man that's too early for the train to stop running) and was supposed to meet TR at 1130 at the station. He was going to a bbq somewhere else and was suppposed to be on the last train himself. Well TR doesnt show up and I waited for maybe a half hour for him at the station. So I figure maybe he's at his house. The only problem is that I have only been to his house once. So I wander around the street of Nagahama, cursing the man, but one wrong turn aside, I find his apartment. But aint nobody home. I'm pissed, thinking what the hell am I gonna do? It's maybe 1230 at night, I'm in Nagahama and I have no way of getting back to my house and nowhere to sleep.

I was getting ready to walk back to the station and sleep on some uncomfortable ass chairs for about 5 hours and I realized something. I could jump onto TR's balcony from the stairs (he lives on the second floor) maybe his screen door is open (as mine always is, dont really worry about crime too much now adays). It kind of reminds me about that movie with Gene Hackman and Will Smith, Enemy of the State, when Will is jumping from Balcony to Balcony in his underwear. Anyway, I jump onto his balcony, narrowly averting death, and to my pleasure, his door is unlocked and I proceed in. As a postscript, I would like to say that I did only what I thought TR would have wanted me to do. And as I spoke to him later he told me that it was the only logical choice.

So I got to watch the game at 430 am and being just as loud as I can be screaming at the laptop and banging the floor. It was an awesome game finished expertly by Ernest Shazor (who coincidently, is from my neighborhood in Detroit, went to high school down the road from my house). I left TR's place at about 830 and went back home and was so wired I didnt lay down to sleep until about 2pm. Woke up at 6pm ate dinner, chilled out, watched a movie and went to sleep. This was Sunday. The next thing that I know my phone is ringing and it is one of the teachers at my school (cool dude, always helping me out and shooting the shit) and here is the extent of my conversation . . . Remember I am highly groggy. . .

Sensei: Hello John sensei, are you coming to work today?
Me: On Sunday????
Sensei: (sounding confused) No, today is Monday.
Me: Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Well can I take Nenkyu? (vacation days)
Sensei: Sure, I will tell Kocho sensei. (the principal) Get some rest. (laughs)
Me: Thanks dude!

So I got the day off so I did what anyone who feels guilty about skipping school does. I made a list of 14 things to do on my day off, and unlike my younger days, I actually finished 13 of those things. Number 14 to be completed today.

So I get to school today and everyone is asking me how I am feeling. Apparently my sensei told the school that I had a cold and could not come in (a pretty good lie because everyone at school is sniffling and sneezing for the last two weeks and they keep asking me everyday if I have a cold) Something about me getting sick from the Japanese germs makes them feel good, and it puts me on their level. So it worked out great because I dont lose a vacation day (I actually have unlimited sick day, whoo hooo!). That was pretty money. I learned last night that Doug took a sick day yesterday also but for entirely different, hilarious reasons.

Life is good!

Can't we all just get along?

Im currently reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera instead of . . . I guess I could be lesson planning, but getting paid to read is much more fulfilling. What I can't figure out is why the hell men and women can't seem to coexist all that well. Sure, there are a few examples of those who can keep it together; Bill and Hillary Clinton, John and Rebecca Romaijn-Stamos, Britney Spears and whoever she is married to right now, or of course, Elizabeth Taylor and husband number 7 (?). What the hell is wrong with people? Besides the obvious men are insane and always cheat and never remember the four month anniversary and always leave the toilet seat up and didnt notice the new haircut and doesnt call on the phone enough and when he does he doesnt have anything to say?

I dont know, anybody want to weigh in on this issue? I have said many a time that I always try to be as honest as I can be with the women who I am with. Is that a lie? What the hell does that mean as honest as I can be? Do you have to be honest about all your thoughts? Is any woman actually ready for that, I dont know. Is any man ready to hear all the honest thoughts of his partner? There's some scarey stuff there, maybe that is the basis for all our misunderstandings. People are afraid to share the thing that make them afraid, thus the basis for all this inexplicable behavior?

I do know that our current relationship problems have existed for . . . I dont know . . . eternity? Probably wont be solved my me. However, it will keep us in books and music that we can all sympathize with until we're pushin up daisies. I also know that this situation has made it a little difficult to live in the female dominated place that I still exist in. Man, if everyone had three older sisters to pound on them any time they said something 'sexist' or even thought about the word 'bitch' we would live in a strange place. I will call this place my head. The whole Pavlov's dogs thing worked on me. "Please dont hit me Sarah/ Mary/ Deborah! Im sorry, I love women, I will never cheat, I will always buy flowers! I promise. Please stop beating me about the head and release the nails from my skin! I'll never use that word again!"

Maybe this is the reason behind my marathon running in my sleep.

Ouch!

My knee is F'ed. Havent really been able to straigthen it for the last four days. Will I go to the hospital? I guess I should as much as I pay for health insurance (about $130 bucks a month!). I am highly injury prone. Always have been. Got that twinge in my knee round about the age of twelve. It has hurt on and off since then. Thats going on thirteen years. Damn that, that is thirteen years!

The only thing that has me wondering is how the hell it started hurting. Is this like that time that I chipped the bone in my foot in my sleep? That was pretty hilarious because it didnt really hurt whenever it was that I chipped it, but when I woke up in the morning I certainly couldnt stand as evdidenced by my immediately falling to the floor. Maybe this knee thing is another one of those 'things that go bump in the night' kind of deals. Who knows. I have been crowned by my family as one of the greatest sleeping marathon runners of all time. Turns out I am an active sleeper. Hell if I know, Im usually not conscious when this alleged marathon running takes place. I have however awakend to being completely tangled in my sheets on more occasions than I can count. Maybe I have calmed down some in the interim? The knee doesnt lie!

Whaaaaaa?!?

"Even the sun shines on a dog's ass every once in a while"

-Wesley Snipes in White Men Can't Jump, refering to
the Red Sox come from behind victory against the Yankees

Kimono festival participants

When they said 'Young Girls' this is not exactly what I was expecting.

Reversal

I have learned (I think) that one should never speak too boldly about things that one hates or things that are certain. I am still certain that the Red Sox will lose this series although Im sure that all the sports writers have jumped back on the Sox Bandwagon. But the Typhoon came during school today. They actually sent the kids home, yes! I got out of 4th and 5th period and they are now sending me home. Telling me that I have worked so many hours that I dont have to even take any Nenkyu (holiday time). Sweet! Im outta here! Peace!

As a post script. I walked to the bus stop in the pouring rain. Whistling all the way. Thought it was great I got to leave work early. Anyway, as I was standing at the bus stop, I noticed that my bus wouldnt be arriving for another 17 minutes (schedule posted at the bus stop, imagine that!) I walked to a little convience store by the stop and realized they have one of my favorite things that America has none of . . . beer vending machines. So I spent the next 15 minutes under my umbrella, chugging down a tall boy of MG super draft by Suntory. I know it was only two oclock in the afternoon but I thought, typhoon, early release from school, what the hell. Got a little buzz while waiting for the bus. Highly cood!

We goin' Thai - land!

Folks, today I bought my ticket for Thailand. That means for two glorious weeks (December 22-January 5) I will be chillin on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Doug just bought his ticket also, we will be meeting up with each other in Bankok on the 22nd. Jeb has helpfully acquisitioned his brother to tour us around Bankok for a few days. Which is sweet. We think we will go down to the islands to hang out after that. There is a full moon party (these are epic tourist filled hoedowns on this one particular beach during every full moon) on December 26th. Should be awesome, Im quite excited. After that we will travel to the North and check out old ruins and jungles and whatnot. I think I will get to ride an elephant through the jungle! Cant wait.

This does however mean that my family will have to do without me on Christmas. This will be my first Christmas away from home ever, so I was a little worried about my mothers reaction. She just said, in her usual way, "Be careful." Thanks for understanding mom.

I will keep you all apprised of the planning and Im sure you will all being sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for another update.

Typhoon Part . . . who knows?!

Well, its Tuesday, and anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about Tuesday. To compound matters, it has been raining rather hard all day. You know what this means, ANOTHER typhoon is going to hit Japan and my area sometime Wednesday night. What I dont like about the last few typhoons has been the fact that they keep showing up at 6pm. This allows for school on both the day of and the day after the typhoon. This aint New Orleans, these days dont have to be made up. Its not like my job is all that difficult but I welcome free days off whenever they come and hope like hell for them when they are possible. I wonder why that is?

My major problem is that it makes getting to and from work a serious bitch. I have to catch the bus which leaves pretty early and then I have to walk in the rain as well as pay six bucks round trip. Never thought that I would long for the fairs of the D-O-T! God, I havent riden a bus in Detroit in eight years now but I still shudder at all the 'good times' spent waitng in the cold ass winter, or being passed by five buses in a row, or any of the general dangers associated with BWID (being white in Detroit). Those were the days.

Rifles and Kimono's Oh my!

On Sunday there were two festivals in Nagahama. One of the teachers from my school, who lives there, offered to show me around. The first thing we went and saw was the rifle festival. Basically, a bunch of old time armor clad dudes shooting off antique rifles at the sky. This freaked out many of the Japanese because of how loud it was. I guess not everyone is from Detroit. Where a gun firing is a little less strange. This festival is to commorate the Shogun of the time (around four hundred years ago) commissioning the Nagahama Rifle Company to make a butt load of rifles. Good work guys!

After that Kawamura sensei took me back to her house and I got to meet her whole Fam. Husband and two kids (boy and girl). They are the protypical Japanese family. Her son and daughter are taught by other ALT's who I know. The affect that this program has had on Japanese culture is interesting. I have met many young adults who still remember their ALT's and it has really helped many young people go one to study English extensively. Though I think the program could be better run and that teachers sometimes minimize the impact that ALT's can have on students, I think overall its a pretty neat thing.

Kawamuras husband is a cool guy, of course, loves baseball and we sat down and watched the end of Game three of Yankees and Red Sox. The Japanese follow the playoffs pretty closely. Anyway, the long and short of it is we went out on the town. Checked out a tea ceremony and though he had to leave early he still managed to buy me a nice bottle of sake. Which I will wait for a special occasion to christen.

The whole point of the Kimono festival is, apparently, to see many beautiful young ladies. That is all everyone talks about. Here's a typical conversation I had maybe 12 times. "Hey, Im going to the Kimono festival this weekend." "Ahh soo, many beautiful young girls, he he he." And the whole time that we were there my teacher friend was pimping me out to these girls. She says, "You have to take your picture with the beautiful girls." After awhile it got to be commonplace. She would walk up to the girls and give them so schpiel about how the honorable John sensei would like to have his picture taken with the girls. I would walk up and make some joke, which of course they wouldnt understand, and the would laugh histerically. It was pretty fun.

The kimono festival, it turns out, is a fairly new thing, the silk industry in Nagahama has been going through some rough times so that they decided they would have a contest for the most beautiful girl wearing the most beautful kimono so as to stir up buisness. Ah, just another Hallmark Holiday. They did have some good prizes though. Trips to Hawaii and Guam and some other cool places. There were 1200 'beautiful young girls' in this contest. Check the pictures.

No matter where you look part 2 . . .

there are disappointed Boston Red Sox fans. There is this teacher in my school, we will call him Nishimura sensei, well because, that's his name. Anyway, Nishimura sensei loves baseball (daisuki) and he happens to hate the Yankees. His English is not great but whenever I see him the conversation inveriable ends with him yelling, "Damn Yankees!" I got to thinking maybe he thinks the civil war is still on. Everytime he says it I crack up laughing.

After game 3 this weekend he shows up to work, and he sees me, slumps his shoulders down and beings to fake cry, gives me and hug and then falls limply on the the floor. Now I am laughing uncontrollably. For those of you who dont know the Yanks beat the Sox 19-8 in game three effectively ending the series (but you never know, the Sox HAVE come back from a 3-0 deficeit and beaten the yankees before, no wait, that is every BoSox fan's dream, it'll never happen. I still believe that the Tigers will win the series again before the Sox.)

Anyway, to make a short story a little longer, while Nishimura sensei is on the ground wallowing in his own crapulence, he mutters what all Sox fans have been saying since 1918 or so, "We'll get them next year." That made me laugh even harder. Spoken like a true Red Sox fan.

By the way, no one in Baseball should want the Red Sox to win the World Series or beat the Yanks. It is BY FAR the best story in baseball. The game itself sucks right now. Steriods (how many players arent doping?) Rediculous contracts for terrible players, steriods, the Expos debacle, the Yankees spending 60 million more than their nearest competitors, etc. The only thing that keeps people tuning in is the loss of those pitiful Sox, and the torment of the fans (for whom I place the blame this whole losing streak, they have been the only constant since it started. Generations of people who love to hate to love those Sox) There will be nothing left to ever talk about if the Sox win, so please do us a favor and lose already.

Friday again!

Friday was an awesome day. For the 9th graders they had to take tests. Which is cool with me cause I dont have to teach em. And the seventh and eighth graders had sporting events all over town. So I got to ride my bike all over Hikone and check out sporting events, and get paid! I started in the morning heking out badminton. Let me tell you, I have never been so scared in my whole life. These middle schoolers are AMAZING at badminton. Jumping and spiking and dinking and dunking. There would have been no damn way I could have competed with any of these boys or girls. I didnt know people cared about badminton that much.

The highlight of the afternoon was watching the boys baseball team. They played in this stadium at the foot of the mountain that was cut in the middle of a forest. It was an awesome field. It was also great because there were only five spectators in the stadium, it being eleven oclock in the afternoon and all. Therefore I got to make a huge ass of myself for the team, of course. The players kept looking over at me and chuckling especially when I would do the double bicept pose. Also, the weather was incredible. About 65 degree and not a cloud in the sky. Perfect! Not to mention we won the game 8-0 a truely outstanding butt kicking. Highly proud!

The 44th Annual Inter Junior High School English Oratorical Contest

On Thursday, my school had two students go to the Prefectural English Speech contest. We got to go to Adogawa, which is on the west side of Lake Biwa (I have never been there before). Somehow the views are nicer from the other side of the lake. I also got to miss a day of school for the contest, sweet!

There are two parts of the contest. The speech part, where the students write their own speeches, and the recitation part where the students pick some preexisting English speech to recite (like The Princess and the Pea, or Cinderalla or something like that). The top three students in the speech contest go to Tokyo for the all Japan contest. We had one student in the speech and one in the recitation.

Sato-san ended up winning the recitation part of the contest. Takagi spoke well but did not place in the speech part. Needless to say my principle thinks that I am the greatest ALT on the face of the planet. He keeps bowing to me a lot (he didnt used to do that, I think he likes big trophies) and he tells anyone who will listen that I am a great ALT. People from the Board of Education keep pulling me aside to tell me, "Kocho sensei thinks you are great!" That makes a man feel good, I guess. Wonder if now is the time to ask for a raise.

I was out star gazing last night and got this awesome pic!

Son of a

Got a cold sore. I had a friend who once had a really bad cold sore. This cold sore was horrible. The kind that you look at and you know is totally painful. It starting in the corner of his mouth inside the upper lip and migrated right into the corner on the outside of the lips. Therefore it was highly painful even to open his mouth. So when he talked it was something like when you have dental work and a mouth full of cotton. When he laughed he had to brace the force of the laugh by contorting his lower body. The strange stuff you remember.

Anywy, we got to talking about cold sores. He pointed out a very interesting fact. Whenever one gets a cold sore he or she curses the day. Cant stop tounging the thing or thinking about the extreme pain it causes whenever it comes into contact with any liquid or food or a rush of air or basically anything. It usually lasts for a couple of days and there is this mental anguish that goes along with it. Needless to say, the worst thing that has ever happened to you.

His point was, when you dont have a cold sore, you dont give it a moments thought. You dont prance around your house saying to yourself, "Hey, I dont have a cold sore, there is no pain in my mouth whatsoever." There is no joy that exists from just being without cold sore, without that painful canker jabbing you. Maybe thats a little backwards.

I guess the take home message is . . . well take anything away from it you darn well please. I just wanted to reminisce about the old days. :-)

What I do with my day off

Well folks, Ive got Monday off from work. Another national holiday. Health and Fitness Day or something like that. Its about midnight and I am sitting here reading all these blogs of JET's. I am continually perplexed by those who live such awesome lives as to be given a cushy job and being put up in an amazing place can bitch so much! There are some JET who are working in areas of Japan that have been hard hit by the typhoons and people have been killed. Which is difficult. No doubt. There are also people feeling the love, as I am, and getting to really dig this place.

But maybe that is the point of a web journal, as with any journal is to complain, which usually makes one feel better. I just want to go on record as having said that, even if I get upset at something stupid, I have much love for the Japanese and all they have done for me and for everyone else in my life that have allowed me to have this awesome experience. Of course, I will eat these words at some point and turn against the world in a fit of rage after I hit my head on the doorway for the last time. Everyone has their limits.

I am waiting for the NFL games to start ( in about two hours) when I can start following my fantasy players over the internet. Highly sad. I did however run into this awesome weblog on Sarah's site of this guys who goes around Detroit taking pictures of all the decaying buildings. Seems like a kindred spirit of mine. He loves the city for what it is. I respect that. You should check it out.

http://detroitblog.blogspot.com/

Kin Youbi desu yo!

Folks, I love Fridays.

Today was my first full week of teaching in four weeks or so, so I was pretty darn tired this week, having to work five days and all. Anyway, the lessons went well, the students in my classes are pretty engaged. What it takes to get these kids to pay attention is a lot less than the standing on your head, while juggling six flaming torches that it takes to get the kids in New Orleans to pay attention. Oh yes, I still have kids that sleep. I just make fun of them in English that no one understands but the kids think its pretty funny.

Friday gives me an opportunity to act like an ass, which I enjoy thoroughly, and if you have ever been to a game at the Big House with me you know this to be true. And if you have ever been to a game at the Big House with Rob you will know that the apple doesnt fall very far from the tree.

The students are always very quiet at the beginning of class, which always starts with a set of questions, something like . . .

Me: Good morning class!
Them: humm a mumble mumble (They are trying to say, Good morning John-sensei!)
Me: How are you today!? (Big smile and cheery)
Them: (In the lowest voice possible) Im fine thank you, and you?
Me: How's the weather!?
Them: Its cloudy (mumble mumble)
Me: What days is it!?
Them: (almost inaudibly) Its Friday.
Me: Hold on a minute, its Friday! Today is Friday! The weekend is here! All you give me is mumble mumble. Nope. Let's do it again. What day is it today!?
Them: (still all inaudible except for the bad kids who are extremely loud now) Its Friday.
Me. Nope, nope, nope. Try again. What day is it!!!!?
Them: (finally with a little enthusiasm) Its Friday!
Me: Thats right, its Friday so give me some enthusiasm!

As if they have any idea what enthusiasm means but I think they get the drift. I also like friday because anything that happens (and I definetly learned this in New Orleans) doesnt really matter that much because I have two day not to think about it. Its amazing the things that you will let go on Friday. Its just not worth sacrificing the weekend over something stupid a kid did.

Good bless Friday!

Miidera Temple

This weekend Doug, Colette, Eric, and Myself went to Miidera Temple with a teacher from Doug's school, Tanaka sensei. Miidera Temple is in Otsu about ten minutes from Kyoto. Tanaka sensei's daughter works at Miidera as a statue restoration person (yes, that's the technical name). We set out at about 9 am on Sunday morning to Otsu. The temple grounds themselves were quite small but it housed many interesting things. Most noteable of which is that they were performing the tea ceremony a few times in order to raise money for the restoration process they also had this cool bell that you could ring with this huge wooden rod for 300 yen. So I got to go to my first tea ceremony. Let me tell you, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing or supposed to do, not to mention that I can not sit on my legs like all Japanese people do. I've really got to work on stretching. Maybe some nice young lady can teach me some Yoga or something. What is nice though is that Japanese people think that Westerners cant sit like that so they dont get upset when I sit cross legged, they actually insist.

The ceremony took place in this small room. We were joined by five other people who just happened to be at the same place at the same time. One of these people, as you can see in the pictures, is named Charley. Charley is a Brit who has lived in Japan for about ten years studying off and on and teaching English. He also is certified in many forms of the tea ceremony, so it was good to have him along because he was EXTREMELY knowledgeable about the ceremony and all the subtleties. At the beginning of the ceremony you are given what the Japanese call a sweet (like candy). This sweet was made of some sort of chestnut something or other, it was decent. While everyone is passing around the sweets the lady performing the ceremony begins the make the tea by, I think, poring water into a dish and adding the tea mixture and wisking it to a frothy texture. The tea itself when it is brought to you is a froescent green color, and its taste is not so bad, not so good, if you know what I mean. I am absolutley certain there was more going on but I was a little bit overstimulated so I missed a lot of stuff. Very important in the tea ceremony is what bowl they give you. Eric told me, the crappier looking the bowl that they give you, the nicer and more expensive it is. Some of these tea cups (I guess one could call them) cost more than a hundred bucks. Eric is right some of them look like crap. In retrospect, I wish I had taken a picture, but alas . . .

They make the tea and one of the servants brings it to you and places it in on the tatami mat in front of you. You bow to each other. Then you take the bowl and place it on your left and along with the person to your left you bow to each other. When the servent person brings you the bowl they always show you the nicest side when they hand it to you (these bowl are not symmetrical, actually the less symmetric the better the bowl, as many of these a not spun from clay but actually dug out of a large peice of clay before they are made.) so before you drink the tea (there is only a little bit there, a few swallows) you must rotate the cup 180 degrees. Then you drink the tea (finally) in three gulps. Then come the most important part, you must admire the bowl for a long time. Turning it over in your hands, rotating it, looking at every side and the bottom, and then you are supposed to give a compliment about the bowl. This is the most nerve racking time because these are basically pieces of art and you really dont want to break it. Also, Im sure that it would be a bad omen if you did. But everything went smoothly.

I'm positive that I am forgetting something but, oh well. I guess you will just have to go to your own tea ceremony. I recommed it totally!

All in all, I would say it was a highly cood experience and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Please enjoy the pictures.

Say, "Cheezu!"

Cool building

I wanted to show you a message from the head of the temple. If you look on that scroll the message says, 'No Self" which they tell us that they want to send the message of selflessness to us on this day of the tea ceremony. Maybe they wanted a donation or something.

This was our tea ceremony mistress (I dont know what else to call her). That's Charley sitting watching.

This is one of the buildings. You can also see Tanake sensei trying to horde in on my picture.

This is the burial place of the first head monk of the Temple. He was responsible for overseeing the fundraising and building of the buildings back in 786 BC. I tooks some closer pictures but they sucked.

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Crazy Dream

I had this crazy dream last night. I was in New Orleans with Tom Beer and Rob. Kreisman made a Cameo appearance also. For some reason we (Beer, Rob and myself) were living in Doug's red Ford Ranger (Oh how I miss that car). Tom and Rob slept in the cabin and I slept on the roof (though in retrospect it probably would have been more comfotable for me to sleep in the bed of the pickup truck but who I am to turn down putting a Big John sized dent in Dougs's roof?) That is how the dream started, we were sleeping in/on the truck. When we woke up we decided to take a trip around the city. We were near Audoban Park, near Loyola University when we saw Kriesman, he didnt seem to want to talk to us but it appeared that he was trying to infiltrate a group of mentally handicapped people. He was looking very pasty (a hard tick for as swarthy as he is) and thin. He also had his pants pulled up far past his waist and his shirt buttoned up to the top button. He was milling around with this group of people. He looked at us but did not speak.

So we took off from there. As we rode down this street we went past these people going into their yard. They had a six foot high brick fence with a rotweiler in the yard barking histerically. I was standing on top of the truck which is why I could see everything that was happening. I started barking at the dog mocking it, the dog got pissed and all of a sudden jumped up on on pile of something (bricks maybe) and jumped over the fence and took off after us. At this point the truck seemed to be standing on two wheels while driving, so I was a good fifteen feet off the ground so I wasnt so worried about the dog getting to me. That is, until he made his first leap for me and damn near bit my leg off. Rob was now in the bed of the truck below me. I decided that the next time that the dog made the jump I would swat it away and hopefully discourage all this foolishness . All the while Beer is driving like 15 mph down the street while I am shouting at him, through his open drivers side window, to hurry up (I used a little more colorful language than that, we'll say). Another interesting aside, the drivers side was on the right, I think Japan is strating to get to me). So as I go to swat this dog, of course I swing too early and the dog engulfs my whole hand in his mouth. At the point I am so pissed at Beer for driving so slowly I am screaming at him. The dog wont let go of my hand and rob is pulling at him trying to get the dog off me, which he eventually does but then proceeds to take Rob's hand in the process. I was thinking, "Cool, at least he let go of me!" And Rob eventually cuts loose of the dog and we speed (finally) away from the dog for about a block or two. We think the dog is gone so Rob and Beer run off to Walgreens to get some food.

As they are coming back I see The dog running up and I tell Beer to step on it. Time passes and the truck is not moving. The dog runs up to me and bites down onto my thumb and is thrashing back and forth. I look back, not to see Beer putting the car in gear, but he is eating a salad. I was livid.

We I woke up I came to a horrifying conclusion. Tom can Beer me even in my sleep! I got a cold feeling all over and I had a good shiver. I can never escape the Beer.

Strangely no matter how weird these dreams get, I rarely ever seem to realize that this is all too preposterous to be reality.