Guess who just re-contracted!

Here’s a definitive, but not all-inclusive, list of things I’ve learnt during these past 6 months living in Japan. Don’t judge me for the pettiness.

Things I genuinely don’t understand:

• The obsession with PPAP – It makes my life a living hell because I hear it almost daily, and god forbid I have to teach a lesson about fruits. I will admit though, I have found myself dancing along to it, and found the “Pan Pineapple Apple Pan” (pan is bread) at a nearby bakery to be quite ingenious.

• Don Quijote - a wonderful emporium where you can buy eggs, Tiffany jewellery and sex toys under one roof. I may not understand it, but it’s fabulous.

•  Why, Japanese people, do you complain it’s so cold and set the staff room heater to 25 degrees? Maybe, if you actually closed some of the windows in school, it wouldn’t be so baltic.

• Pee fright – Everyone pees, please stop with the obnoxiously loud river sounds produced by the toilets, or frantically flushing the loo when you hear someone enter.

Things that make me irrationally angry:

• Tatami mats – I practically have a pet in my house that I neither wanted nor asked for, but requires a ridiculous amount of sweeping and drinking red wine in anywhere but my kitchen levels up the risk factor by 100%.

• Shampoo and moisturiser – The cause of the most recent rant in my life. I am not dry, I do not need to be extra moisturised a.k.a made greasy. Happy to report I got shampoo and moisturiser for Christmas though yay.

•  Nobody holds doors open for anyone - I’m mainly looking at you, young females. How about making both of our lives a little easier and open the door, rather than squeezing through the smallest gap so you don’t feel obliged to hold it for me.

• Laces. I didn’t realise how many of my shoes are not practical for Japanese life, especially winter ones.

General life:

•  I’ve been craving a crumpet for about two months now.

•  In summer, I live in what is comparable to Satan’s sweaty paradise.

• In winter, when it’s -4, your apartment will also feel -4 because there’s no insulation.

• Finding underwear to fit your junk is impossible.

• The inevitable ‘what’s the best konbini’ discussion. I’m a Family Mart girl all the way (unless I want a yoghurt drink or chicken teriyaki onigiri. That’s the only time 7/11 makes a break for 1^st place).

• The lack of bins – However, the “garbage disposal Granny”, who inspects my varying bags of recycling daily, has finally left me alone because I’m more abiding than most of my neighbourhood. It’s sad that I even think that’s an accomplishment.

• I still don’t know why my ‘bathroom’ sink is by my front door.

  

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. I wouldn’t have signed a contract to spend another 18 months here if I wasn’t having a ball here in Kumamoto!

In fact, this is more something for me to look back on in the future, when many of these things having seemingly become the norm, so I can laugh at my foreignness in the early days.

Here’s hoping that I manage to continue my winning streak of "not dropping a bathroom slipper into a squat toilet" until July 2018.

We climbed up a volcano. Well, we thought we did.

Something that’s proving a little difficult lately is actually exploring the hidden gems of both Kumamoto city and Kumamoto prefecture. Whenever I seem to have a free weekend, or take any nenkyuu (holidays), I always overlook my new home as a place to discover.

Thanks to impromptu plans with Sheridan and her friend Willem, who’s over from Australia, I recently got to finally visit Mount Aso and some other sights along the way.

True to form when you’ve made plans, the weather was absolutely shocking. Kudos to Sheridan to actually getting us there and back in one piece, since the mist was so bad up the mountains you could barely see… more on that later.

First we stopped at Yasemegane Bridge, but sadly couldn’t really see much since the earthquake damage in the area was so bad. It’s an ongoing theme in Kumamoto, with most areas at least having some areas closed off due to collapsed bridges and landslides. We then headed to Tsuujun Bridge, which will be a lot more spectacular in better weather, but we were treated to some random sculptures on the riverbank.

Sheridan played a blinder yet again with a fabulous little restaurant in Aso. The ceiling was covered with hundreds of knickknacks hanging down, dumplings, and “I don’t know what this is but its bloody good” dishes filling us to the gunnels. Anyone who visits me and wants to go to Aso, heads up, we’re eating lunch there.

Since the eruption of Mount Aso a few months ago, it’s a little bit more difficult to get close to the crater. We made it, despite roads being half cordoned off from landslides, to what we thought was the way to the view point.
After trekking up a hill and convincing ourselves we were almost definitely walking up the volcano, turns out the actual crater was in the completely opposite direction and we just couldn’t see it because of the fog. Pretty much sums up that dynamic you get when you put Sheridan, Willem and I in a car together and hope for the best.

Earlier on in the day we’d joked that the scenery resembled a Spirited Away plotline and we’d end up in a magical land in the mountains. Honestly, we all thought we had when we stumbled across a little German café in the middle of nowhere. Very Hansel and Gretel-esque, and I’m still not quite sure why it’s even there.

Either way, it was a laughter filled day despite us being cold, wet and stressed when every road we drove down to leave Aso was closed and we thought we’d be stuck there forever.
Let’s hope next time I go, I actually have better luck seeing the sights we’ve drove all the way for!

New places, new faces.

Tomi's Shortbread House
On my way downtown I pass a small, very British looking shop, but most days it's already closed before I finish work. I finally ventured in not too long ago, and I was so glad I did. As I walked in, I was greeted by the sweet Japanese owner who had the most London accent you could imagine. We spoke for over an hour reminiscing about England and she welcomed me with open arms & big hugs.
Today Tsuruya, one of the department stores downtown, currently has a British food fair. I spent my afternoon sampling craft beers, ciders, Welsh cheeses, marmalade & made a visit to the shortbread stand to spread my love to my new favourite baker in Kumamoto. It's nice to have somewhere to go where I can feel a bit of a home away from home, even if it's just to look at some tartan & smell some proper butter.

My new nail salon - Calm Place Palette
Following Okinawa, I had to find a nail place to frequent in Kumamoto, and the one I found did not disappoint! After exchanging numerous pictures I went to meet the most adorable girl ever, and spent my time teaching her some English. She was thoroughly amused by the word "thumb" of all things, and my Japanese is really benefitting from just chatting to her. I left so happy with how they looked, and all of my students love how I have Rilakkuma nails... cue the squeals of 'kawaii' at me daily.
Check out her Instagram @kao_comocomu and await the next designs we'll have in store!


Taiko
I went taiko drumming for the first time with Chloe & Kim, which is probably something you'd recognise being performed at various festivals around Japan. Within two minutes of walking into the room I already had a rather large drum thrusted upon me with no clue what to do. It's actually a lot more difficult than it looks, so we spent almost an hour practicing how to hit the drum properly, the positions they use, and how it all ties together.
The second half was more my thing, when I got given a tiny tambourine size drum and a stick with a ribbon. We began learning a dance that is going to be performed next year sometime, and bloody hell, talk about multitasking to the max! Everyone was so welcoming and even though that is miles away from me too, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to try again. Next time, I've promised myself to not just be aimlessly twirling myself around with a stick in my hand.
  

Kumamoto Sweetie Lady Bears

I know, what a name. I finally bit the bullet and dragged Sheridan along to try out some rugby with me. The girls were all so lovely and despite being a hot mess to say the least, I really enjoyed it! We actually train at the same sports park where the Rugby World Cup venue in Kumamoto is. The only downside is that there's a treacherous 40 minute trek to get there going through rice fields in the pitch black. If I don't blog again, you know I've been murdered by some haunted scarecrow.
I've no idea who saw me, but all the rugby lads at my junior high the next day were nagging me about when I'd come to watch them. This month, my schedule ties in really nicely with theres, so I'll actually be able to go and support them like they want.

In terms of the activities I've chosen, I'm a bit worried for my clumsy self being in proximity of my students. I now play rugby with two students, and go taiko drumming with another. The rugby girls kept it quiet until I saw them in school, cue me feeling like an awful person. My junior high school has 600 students alone, so I have to cut myself some slack when it comes to recognizing my elementary school students which are in utter abundance.
I can see it happening now though:
"Why do you have a broken arm?" "Keito-sensei tackled me."
"Why have you got a black eye?" "Keito-sensei hit me with a drum stick."
Nothing is sacred in this city anyway, since the Chinese whisper culture of what the foreigner is up to is ridiculous. Let's just hope I don't actually injure the kids.