This week in life: Nick's feelings about stuff. In Japan.
This. Is awesome.
Cut 1: Annoyance
But there are two things about speech competitions - and I've been in enough of them to know - that really bug me. Bad judges, and the bullsh*t comments made by said judges. The first screws up 3-15 months worth of hard work, and the second rubs salt in your wound for about half an hour as you listen to them drone on and on about how good the winner's speech was (when it really wasn't). If you're lucky, or have worked hard enough, or are just plain deserving of winning, you'll get to hear all your effort brushed off as "a little over the top." The comments don't sting, but the fact that they're making them sure as hell does.
Spot the judges! (the redhead is just a student)
So I found myself glaring death at some professor of English from the Himeji Doukyu university two weekends ago, as she explained in detail how the judges thought my student's speech was over-exaggerated and over-emotional and over-dramatic. Over and over and over. She wasn't the only judge, but she was the one in charge, so she got my gaze of terror. Ryota, in my opinion as well as that of the audience, had by FAR the winningest speech. Sure the topic was boring (they all were), but at least his was the only speech that was clearly understandable and decently delivered. The simple message got through - which, by the way most important point, it's a speech competition, not a writing competition.
The campus was frightfully pretty though...
And I could not be more proud of him.
I wasn't at the school when he wrote the speech, but I saw him through two months of Nick's Grueling Speech Training (TM). This kid couldn't say "sing a song" without stumbling when I met him, and yet I managed to cram most of my not inconsiderable (that is to say eleven years' worth) speech experience in to his... erm, throat, by the time he'd qualified for and been invited to attend the finals. That's probably the first time ANY student from Shikama Technical High School (read: don't-really-care-about-English-but-I-guess-I'll-be-nice-to-the-gaijin high school) ever made it to the finals of ANY competition that had ANY English in it, and for Ryota to have performed to such a high standard and to have impressed the audience so much was.... heartwarming and slightly tear jerking (I'm NOT crying dammit). It also helped that making the finals boosted both Ryota and his coach, me, to superstardom at school. Oh and his 6th place plaque didn't hurt either. I think I'm gonna sneak it out of his house and sharpie a big "CHAMPION" over the six.
You're not touching my plaque. rawr
Cut 2: Copious Amounts of Joy
October is apparently the month of festivals in Japan. I checked the schedule: there are at least two big events going on every weekend (and one or two during the week) in October if you know where to go or who to ask. Autumn festivals, Jazz festivals, Cultural festivals, Fighting festivals, Lets-burn-stuff festivals, you name it, it's probably in October. Except for the Snow festival, that's in February. But there's nothing in November - I guess it'll be cold enough for people to huddle under their kotatsu at home. That, by the way, is synonymous with "doing absolutely nothing because I'm brrrrrrrrrr."
But I digress. Here are the festivals/events.
A) Kobe Jazz Festival
An entire weekend full of jazz (in my pants). One street. Twelve venues. 4500 yen. All day.
Not exactly what I'm used to, but then again it wasn't Wednesday and I was nowhere near the Mary Lou Williams Center. I heard more styles of jazz there than I could count, which was already worth the money I paid, and the light drizzle that day just set the mood perfectly. And then I got shocked by a fusion performance with the shamisen and shakuhachi. Absolutely delightful doesn't even come close to describing it, but they have been running the festival for 28 years, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. 5 stars.
Maybe not entirely Kosher, but it's good!
I'm pointing at the entry pass. That Adam's arm is hiding
And Simon does a little jazz jam of his own afterwards.
B) Sports Festival
Well it's really supposed to be in September, but I forgot to mention it then. The sports festival got rained out this year. There are two big events at school every year - the sports festival and the cultural festival - and one of them got canceled because no one at school remembered to check the forecast. Apparently. We sat at the stadium for 2 hours while the field got flooded, and they called the day off right as the rain stopped. The sun was up by noon.
And the worst part? They moved my replacement vacation (they had sports day on a holiday) so I had approximately 20 hours notice that I was now going to teach the next day instead of taking my parents around town. It was non-negotiable and made sense to no one except the principle. -5 points.
Hoping to see the real thing next year, it's supposed to be a real blast, if these guys were any indication:
We get to go home? YAAATTTTAAAAAA!
C) Aki Matsuri
Aki is the Japanese word for autumn, and the delicious sanma (saury) dishes aside, the next biggest thing is the aki matsuri. In brief, it is a celebration to honor the spirits of fall, and the Japanese do so by parading gigantic, two tonne shrines around town. On their shoulders. And by bouncing the shrines up and down on said shoulders while chanting with the intensity worthy of a Cameron Crazy.
It's behind bars right now, but it can kill you if it decides to
At Nada, which is a short 5 minute train ride from Shikama, they take it fives steps farther: it's called the kenka matsuri, which means fighting festival. Yep, the BASH the shrines against each other, as if just carrying them weren't rough enough on the body. Luckily Nada is the only place bonkers enough to do it, and the festival is a national attraction - possibly the largest event in the fall.
Unfortunately, I had to miss most of it during the day. The aki matsuri takes place all through the month, at different dates for different temples, and the one at Nada (which is on the 15th) just happened to be Friday this year - which means next year it'll be on Saturday, w00t. But I still managed to catch about 4 hours' worth of shrine bashing. Typical of a Japanese festival, the matsuri featured lots of food, koi fishing, and drunk Japanese people. We managed to find a spot to sit and watch while I eat my dinner of yakisoba and karaage. More pictures to follow once I get them of my DSLR.
See the faint outline of the hill? It's filled all the way up there too.
D) Himeji International Festival
It's similar to the Rayleigh International Festival, except out in the open air instead of a stuffy convention center. Basically a showcase of international food and language booths and butchered, romanticized portrayals of someone else's culture. Which, may I add, is mildly insulting. If you think about it. I don't.
Anyways, I worked at one of the English booths as a volunteer for an hour this Sunday morning, talking to children and their parents for 100 yen/10 minutes. Good training to come up with conversation topics - they relied on me completely to keep the conversation going. And, uh... I ran out. So I started talking about onigiri (rice balls) I was being "paid" with - I'll always take food as payment :P
E) Canadian Thanksgiving
Christine throws amazing parties. Not in the college sense, but in the "we're mature adults having a good time until someone breaks out the booze" sense. At which point it dissolves into a college party.
Anyways, Canadian Thanksgiving was two weeks ago (right after the Jazz festival, actually), and we somehow managed to cram in twenty people in her apartment in Aioi. And feed all of them too, from her typical-Japanese-sized (i.e. tiny) kitchen. Food was amazing, company was great, and I too shall celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving henceforth.
You can sort of see the kitchen behind Bri's head. The stove is barely 2 feet across.
Simon's saying peace. Not the Brit thing. I promise.
Cut 3 - Excitement, A Tinge of Regret, and the Train Ride of Glory
Oh partying. The thing that gives a college student hope on Monday, trains the average Joe in the ways of the all-nighter, the grotesque hole in my budget. Yeah, that thing.
Unfortunately, I've discovered that the only way you can ever have a good party in Himeji is if the gaijin organise one. The scene here SUCKS. Believe me, I wasted a whole weekend searching. You want host clubs, hostess bars, love hotels, you got it. No party scene though, and I don't think anyone should ever pay for something we can all get for free.
So it falls to Osaka to keep the party animal in me sedated. Which is fine because the parties there are awesome: nothing is open till 11 pm (as all good clubs should), no one shows up till 1 am (because it is simply uncool otherwise), and the party ends only when the last customer leaves. The dj's are awesome, the crowd is wacky, and I love it. You really do meet the most interesting people out there. Blahblahblah details blahblahblah, and then you're on the first train back. Sunday's lost to sleep, but whatever.
By the way that's about how much I remember of my nights :P
This is at Joule. The dj's (right) are really friendly ^_^
Last but not least... IT'S HALLOWEEN THIS WEEKEND!!!!
Got a crazy schedule coming up for the weekend, here it is:
Friday
Dinner wherever, Chip's Halloween party at the bowling alley above Time Machine (best karaoke place in town), putting people up at my place afterwards.
Saturday
Wake up whenever, see (potentially hungover) guests home, waste the day, maybe hang out with whoever's staying in town, go to Osaka for the Halloween party there. Stay out all night.
Sunday
Probably nurse hangover, get home on first train for internet installment, back to Osaka for Nate's birthday, sleep somewhere in there. Get home for class on Monday. At some point.
There'll be plenty of pictures.
... if I don't break my camera.
Speaking of which, Scott Rong owes me a tray.
