Suwanaide kudasai!!!

A few students came inside the staff room looking for Mr. So-and-So and the other teachers were like, "He's not here right now." Then, one of the students was like, "Is he outside smoking again?!" Hahahahaha. Dude, smoking right outside the school building does NOT equal smoking discreetly!! Stop smoking and being a bad role model for the kids...they're not stupid!!

The Longest Train Ride EVER

Continuing with our training horror story...

In order to make it on the last train back to Ota, we had 3 transfers. The first one gave us only 3 minutes to find our next train. We moved to the middle of the train in order to run to the nearest flight of stairs the second the train stopped. Once we ran up the stairs, we realized there were TWO trains that left at the same time and we had no idea which was ours. We took a chance and went for one of the platforms. As we zoomed down, Jeff asked a lady if she knew whether that train was heading to our destination. She didn't know. THANK GOODNESS he asked another guy as we were standing on the platform waiting for our train. The guy said no, and pointed to the platform ACROSS from us and said we should go there. Just at that moment, OUR train was pulling up ACROSS from us. At that moment, I think all of our hearts stopped. We then FLEW up the stairs and SLID down another staircase in order to reach the opposite platform as we literally had seconds before it would leave. AMAZINGLY, we made it. First obstacle, check.

We had a 5 minute window for our next transfer. This is in Tokyo, with a transfer from a JR line to a subway line, meaning our next destination could've been on the other side of Egypt. We took out the fares that we owed on our tickets and gave it to Jeff. Our plan was to have Jeff hand (more like throw!) the money at the worker at the exit booth and say, "Sorry, last train!"...in Japanese of course, as Sean and I pushed thru the gates in order to buy our next tickets and locate our line. That is exactly what we did. I think the worker guy probably thought we were insane. Anyway, we bought our tickets and frantically looked for our platform. We asked another random guy and he pointed us down a flight of stairs. We must've acted FAST b/c the whole thing only took us 3 minutes. Luckily, we were at the right platform this time. Second obstacle, check.

We had 9 minutes for our final transfer, which seemed like a lot of time, but with our luck that night, that transfer ended up being the FARTHEST frickin' transfer on the planet. We got off at Asakusa and saw a sign pointing to our Tobu Line that said "550 meters." I seriously cannot remember the last time I've ran THAT fast in my life. The three of us were "sumimasen-ing" our way thru Japanese citizens and going up and down what felt like a million staircases. Once we got onto the street (yes, this particular transfer required us to go onto the street outside!), the only chance we had to catch our breath was at the stoplight. We continued running as if our lives depended on it and bought our tickets to head to Ota. We ran up the last and LONGEST flight of stairs/escalator EVER, and actually MADE IT to our train. I literally had trouble breathing after that run. We must've looked soo frenzied as we stepped onto our train b/c were were sweating and panting, with the lower halves of our bodies covered in mud from the hike. Yes yes, I'm sure we scared all the people around us.

If only that train took us back home to our stops....b/c it didn't!! Especially after ALL that, right?! Anyway, lucky for us, we have some really cool friends (THANK YOU EMILY AND NACCHAN!!) that picked us up from Ota Station and drove us home. After SIX HOURS on the train, we finally made it back home. I've never been THAT happy to come back to Ota in my life! We literally could've gone to Kyoto in that time. Clazy clazy!! If that wasn't the longest train ride EVER, then I dunno what is. Whew!!!

On Sunday, I did nothing b/c I could hardly move from being sore after the hike. I think I definitely deserved a day off after the longest day in history. However, I guess Sundays are lazy days for me no matter what. At least this time I have a valid reason. Bleh.

It is Monday night/Tuesday morning right now and I am still sore. Dammit, I knew I should've stretched before the hike!

Hiking, and then some

On Friday night, I biked out to Ota and met up with Sean and Emily for dinner, not knowing the next day would last for over 18 hours and leave me sore until now.

It all started bright and early at 5:50am. Well, let me back track. I was supposed to wake up at 5am, but I "accidentally" turned off my alarm w/o realizing it (b/c really, who wakes up at 5am on a Saturday, anyway?!). So yeah, I woke up at 5:50am when the train I was supposed to catch left at 6:14am sharp. Imagine how frantic I was in those few minutes, trying to pack everything up in order to hike a mountain! Fortunately, I made the train. Us Ota and TattyB JETs caught the same train that arrived in Maebashi at 7am. We met up with the other peeps who were driving and we all shuffled into 3 cars and headed to Hakone for our hike up Mt. Myojin-ga-take. The car ride lasted for 3 hours so I'm glad I had good company in the car. =)

After a game of Splash! Uno when everyone arrived at Shinmatsuda Station, we all took a couple of short bus rides that led us to the base of the mountain. This whole hike was set up by Daniel (thanks for planning everything, Daniel!) and is part of the "Reach the Peak" series of hikes he has planned for Gunma JETs. The first hike they did last summer was up Mt. Fuji!! Clazy!! That's 14 hours of climbing, yo! Luckily, Myojin-ga-take is more of a beginner-level hike. However, I am soo outta shape these days that it was still a bit challenging (in a good way!) up the mountain. It totally didn't occur to me that we were "hiking up a mountain" until we started climbing up and up and my calves started to tighten up. It was just the kinda push I needed...since I have been sitting on my butt the entire winter. Once we reached the top, we had lunch up there and were lucky we didn't get blown off the mountain by the strong winds. After a few pictures, we began our descent down the mountain. Everything went well and amazingly there were no injuries or mishaps from the hike....I say this only b/c of the amusing stories from their other hikes (one of which I didn't go to b/c we drove in the wrong direction and ended up north, instead of south.) That's another story tho.

In all, the hike took 5 hours. It was a great hike with a great view...we were able to see the ocean as we climbed up which was really cool. I'm really glad I did it b/c like I said, my body has been inactive for way too long. After the hike, we were all gross and nasty and ready to head home. Those of us from Ota and TattyB decided to take the train all the way home b/c we wanted to make sure we would arrive back in time and a car ride back to Maebashi Station couldn't guarantee that. Thus, we trained from Hakone ALL the way back to our place. Well, that was the plan anyway.

We left Hakone around 6pm and caught the train with everyone. Then the 5 of us from Ota and TattyB continued on our train journey as the others headed back for their cars. Even though we left around 6pm, our keitais told us that we'd still be catching our last trains home, which was fine. We made our transfers and everything seemed fine as we headed for Kuki, a station that would lead us back to our local Tobu line. We were chattin' away and even played charades on the train as all the Japanese ppl pretended not to look but were totally staring. All was well until the train suddenly stopped and EVERYONE got off. We were like...wtf?? We asked the train conductor guy if this train was heading to Kuki and he didn't even know where Kuki was!! Bad sign. Somewhere along the line, we took the wrong train. It was at that time that Jeff, Sean and I separated from the TattyB ppl as they were still able to take another train back home. The 3 of us, however, were a bit panicked as it had already been a long day and none of us wanted to spend the night in Tokyo. Luckily, Jeff found a last train that would get us back to Ota Station (which isn't the station any of us live by but at least it got us back to our city). Then began the MOST STRESSFUL TRAIN RIDE OF OUR LIVES.

To be continued...

Spring is in the Air

The first week of spring break was actually a break for the teachers, except for the fact that they still had to help the kids with their club activities and who knows what. Anyway, the second week of spring break in the staff room was quite amusing. Don't get me wrong, I still had nothing to do the whole time I was there, but I can't say the same for the other teachers. On Monday, the old teachers said their final goodbyes and the new teachers arrived. Let me explain. In Japan, schools rotate teachers every year and teachers cannot stay at one school for more than 8 years. However, that doesn't mean that one can't be moved even if he/she has only been at a school for a year. The worse part about this whole moving thing is that the teachers don't find out if they'll be moving until one to two weeks prior to leaving! This year, we only have 3 new teachers, a new assistant teacher, a new counselor, a new groundskeeper and a new principal. That's it.

Not only do the teachers get switched to different schools, every teacher pretty much gets a new position as well! For example, my 1nensei JTE will now be the 2nensei JTE and so forth. A couple of the new teachers came from elementary schools and have never taught at a jr. high before. Teachers find out about the grades/subjects they're teaching pretty much a week before school starts. Clazy. This is very surprising due to the fact that Japanese people are usually so organized and detailed about things; I'm surprised they take in these MAJOR changes so casually.

On Thursday, we all moved our desks in the staff room according to the new grade levels everyone would be teaching. It was a pretty chaotic scene as we literally moved each desk around the room...just imagine playing Tetris...no no...um...you remember that game where you had to move different pieces on a board in order to get the correct pattern, but it had to be done in a certain order or else the pieces would get stuck?? Ok, sorry to go off on a tangent. Anyway, so yeah, desks were moved here and there as a year's worth of dust bunnies floated in the air. And they pretend to be so organized and clean...

My desk also got switched to a new position and now I'm sitting next to the new assistant teacher who speaks no English. Oh well, she seems really nice. The original position they wanted to move me to was at the way corner, right near kyoto sensei, but my JTE convinced him to move me somewhere else as the kids wouldn't be able to talk to me as easily if I were in that far corner. Thank goodness I wasn't put there or else everything I did would be monitored. Whew!

That day, the 2nensei and 3 nensei also showed up to school to clean everything in preparation for the opening ceremony for the new school year. Child slave labor indeed. I don't understand why they don't have janitors in Japan. How clean can your schools be if you only have teenagers cleaning them??

On Friday, we had our opening ceremony. That was very boring as all types of ceremonies are in Japan. The new 1nensei showed up and they looked soo scared and tiny! I remember the switch from elementary school to jr. high as well and what a scary time that was. Aww, they were so cute! Can't wait to have them in my classes!

Hanami in Tokyo

Last Saturday, I trained to Tokyo at 8 in the morning (and Cindy doesn't wake up before noon on Saturdays normally!) in order to meet up with Jeff and Kris at Shimokitazawa. I'm glad I went to meet up with them early b/c Shimokitazawa is a really cool area! It's cute....made up of small streets with random shops that sell cute clothes, home stuff (I fell in LOVE with a couch there), etc. Also, they have many coffee shop type places which doesn't usually exist in Japan...well, not in Gunma anyway. In all, I'd totally recommend going there for a visit b/c it totally isn't Japan!

Kay, so I know many of you have been waiting for me to report on the penis festival, right?? Right. Sorry to disappoint, but sadly, the dates got mixed up and it wasn't on Saturday, but Sunday, meaning I didn't get to go! Sad indeed, but it's okay, since we're gonna make sure we make it next year!!

Thus, instead of the penis festival, we went to hanami (flower-viewing) at Ueno and Yoyogikoen, two of the most famous places to see sakura (cherry blossoms) in Tokyo at this time. It was soo pretty! Too bad this whole hanami thing lasts for like literally a week or two at the max. It'd be so nice to walk around town with sakura everywhere! Hanami is just an excuse for Japanese peeps and gaijin to get wasted while chilling on their "leisure mats" with their buddies. It's great!! Hehe. Anyway, after bumping into EVERY JET from Gunma that day, we went to an awesome Indian restaurant in Harajuku. However, like always, we ate WAY too much. It was a painful train ride back home. Here are some pictures for ya!

Boredom = Weight Gain

As I've mentioned, this past week has been the most boring week at school EVER. The kids have spring break yet I still have to report to school everyday with nothing to do. As a result of my boredom and need for human interaction, I went out to lunch/dinner almost everyday this past week. I've probably gained like 10 pounds from going out and stuffing my face...no joke. Spring break lasts until April 7th; I hope my stomach doesn't explode before that. *sigh*

Kusatsu

Last weekend Jeff, Kris, Ann and I trained and bused to Kusatsu, one of the most famous onsen areas in all of Japan. In short, the onsen we went to in Kusatsu was huge and amazing, and the food was to die for (mmm...Japanese Korean food that actually tasted Korean-ish! We also discovered black sesame mochi...SOO yummy. Oh yeah, not to mention the kick-as bar w/ plenty of drinks and yummy chips and dip...they even played Lauryn Hill at our request!) Hmm...oh yeah. One bad thing about the cute little area of Kusatsu....the smell. The whole town smelled like one GIANT stink bomb b/c of all the sulfur in the onsen water. So in the end, our skin was nice and soft due to the onsen-ing, but we smelled like rotten eggs as well. A trade-off, I guess. Here a few pictures for ya.


For some reason the view of the background seemed much more impressive in person...


Stink bombs come from Japan!!


The making of a stink bomb...


Yes, it really DOES smell that bad.