It's Christmas Time in Oita

As it would turn out, the JET community has the ability to come together for a purpose other than getting completely blitzed together on the weekend. It seems that on occasion we can come together for real, honest, purposeful activites. Take for example, last Sunday. A fellow Oita JET arranged for a fairly large group to go to a local orphanage for the day and spread some Christmas cheer in the form of crafts, games, and Christmas carols. And, because no Christmas cheer-spreading would be complete without it, Santa paid the kids a visit.

To facilitate our merrymaking, the kids were divided up into age groups.When I found out I was placed with a group of kids ranging from 0-6 years old, I will confess that I was more than a little bit nervous. What if I accidentally stepped on one? What if they peed on me? Do I look like the kind of guy who is good with young children? NOOO. However, two second after meeting them, I learned the joy of becoming a human jungle gym. For the next 4 hours I had kids crawling all over me. I must admit that although I'm not a huge fan of kids, these were some of the cutest kids I had ever seen (please see the pictures of my two favorite munchkins).

As for the orphanage itself, I was surprised at how immaculate it was. I do believe that if they started renting out rooms, I would be the first in line. When I hear the word orphanage I conjure up images of Annie and showed up there expecting to see shackles and whipping posts scattered about the grounds. Much to the contrary, the facilities were, in a word, lux. The orphanage had a full size gymnasium, a video/computer room, and dorm-style bedrooms that were way nicer that the dorms at SLU. Though it is still sad to think that these kids don't have families it is comforting to know that they are so well taken care of.

In other Oita christmas news, the Burger-chan and I have bought a most gorgeous fake Christmas tree. We lucked out because we were able to snag the last 60cm model in the store, which happened to be the display model. Rather than boxing it up, the clerk took the more Japanese route and put are pre-decorated tree and put in a bag and gave us the box to take home seperately. The decorations that came with the tree were very... interesting. It appears that the tree was decorated in the motif of Early White Trash. Only pictures can tell the whole story:

Before
(straight out of an Arkansas trailer park)

After

(If it were a little bigger, it would proabably
be making its way to Rockefeller Center)

Until next time... I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

Take me out to the ball game

"Do you have plans on Sunday," asks my supervisor who is also my high school's assistant baseball coach.

"No I do not," says I.

"Do you want to come to our baseball game."

"Yes. Where is it?"

"It is quite far away. I will pick you up Sunday at 7:30 in the morning. Do you have a glove?"

"No."

"Ok then. Here is a number to put on your back. I will see you Sunday morning."


After reading the above conversation, what do you think will I be doing on Sunday morning? Select from the choices below:

A) You will be going to watch a high school baseball game and
perhaps throwing some balls around with the students.

B) You will be going to a high school baseball game and acting as
the 1st base coach.

C) Other____________

If you answered a, as did I, you would be completely, utterly mistaken.

If you answered b, you would be equally as wrong.

However, if you answered c and filled the blank in with the sentence, "You will be going to and playing in an all-day baseball tournament for teachers, many of whom played baseball in high school and presently participate in local adult teams, and compared to whom you are completely worthless as a player so we are not exactly sure why you got invited but you did so try your best even though it will still be ugly," you would be spot on. And such was my Sunday.


In truth the games weren't that eventful. I spent a good part of my day standing in right field, strategically placed so that very few balls would come my way. Though we in fact lost our first game, we managed to finangle our way into the second round because the team we played against had lots of high schoolers on it because the team was short on teachers. Our second match was some three hours later and we won 7-4. Boo yah! (sp?). This victory of course means that I can not retire my bat and cleats for good because in a few weeks we must return to play in the championship. You can only imagine what bliss I am in.

On the bright side of this, there will be at least one drinking party to celebrate our victories on Sunday and another to generally celebrate going to the championship. So, until next time... batters up!

How to Spot a Foreigner in Japan

One would expect that it would be my white skin or the enormity of my
nose that makes me stand out in Japan. And while those features do indeed contribute a great deal in my conspicuousness, it is my ineptitude in the subtleties of Japanese life that betray my gaijiness even when I am not around.

Case in point: I was working out at the gym a few days ago and a woman came up and asked me if I was airing out my futon that day.

Somewhat surprised I said, "Why yes indeed I am good Madam" (in short bus Japanese of course).

To this she responded, "I thought that was your house. A Japanese would never air out their futon on a day like today."

Apparently, there are certain types of weather in which, no matter how skanky your futon is, you simply do no air it out. One might think that if they rain lets up for only one day out of nine, you should take advantage of that one day. One would be mistaken. It turns out that humidity, to the same extent as rain, factors into a Japanese's decision to deskankify their futons. No guidebook would ever tell you this.

So, now not knowing exactly what to write, I will tie this blog up into a nice tidy bundle and provide you with a take home message. The moral of today's blog is:

When in Rome, carry a barometer.