職員バレーボール大会

Today after work I joined a few of the other teachers from my school for a city-wide junior high school teachers volleyball friendly tournament. Since my school only had 4 participants and we were had teams of 9 on the court at a time, we were paired up with another one of the smaller schools to make a full team. I should also mention this morning we had our first, and only practice where we played against the girls volleyball team and we destroyed 25 to 9.

Each match was 2 sets first to 21 with each team playing twice. To make a long story short we lost all 4 sets. Although, we did lose to the top two teams of the tournament if that can be any kind of consolation. I was hoping I would get the chance to really smash one down hard too (I was even gonna call it a "Gaijin Spike" if I got the chance), but I was playing to close to the net and couldn't really get a good chance to get a decent run up and blast one down.

I was really surprised how hardcore some of these teachers were going. You'd think it would be the younger ones going all out too, but actually the middle aged men were the biggest threat on any of the teams we played. One team had their 60 year old principal playing with them and he was smashing down ace jump serves like he was taking a piss.

The matches finished earlier than expected so each team played once more. This time we played a team more on our own level and beat them pretty good. I was happier with my performance in this match too, as I scored the final 2 points for my team. I managed to get a 50% power Gaijin Spike off too, but still couldn't get one with a prime run up.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to take my camera with me, but there's another match in March or April so I'll take some pictures that time. Instead you'll have to settle for a picture I took in the toilet today of a spider that was just chilling up against the wall while I took a crap. Probably one of the fastest craps I've ever taken too since I was worried he would jump on my leg at any second. I didn't want to kill him cause I was just wearing thin, kung-fu style shoes and because of the position he was in I wasn't sure I could get the job done properly.

山田さんは永中に来校

Last week we had a special guest at Eigenji. Mr. Yamada, a friend of mine, and the father of my friend Aki, came to visit our school to give a talk to the students about his experiences with English, and how they can use English later in their lives to widen their world.

Mr. Yamada spent 8 years in Los Angeles working for Sanyo Electric. Currently his work with Sanyo takes him back and forth between Japan and China. He's had a number of great experiences in his life, and he is an extremely intelligent man. It was an honour to have take the time out of his busy schedule to come and speak at our school as a favour to me.

After each lecture, the students had to write a little reflection on what they thought of Mr. Yamada's talk. I was reading through their short comments the following day and it seemed to me that pretty much every single kid got something out of Mr. Yamada's talk. Even those kids who aren't interested in learning English or don't feel they will use it later on in life got something else out of his speech. I was quite happy about that. I can't force a kid to like English, but if I can help open their eyes to the possibilities that exist in this world for them, then I think I'm doing my job as a teacher here.

There was a nice snowfall the day before so I took some pictures of the mountains that day too. And of course, once again, a huge thank you to Mr. Yamada.

節分

Last weekend was Setsubun. Setsubun is a festival for luck in the coming new year. The day following Setsubun is traditionally the first day of spring, which under the lunar calendar is the start of the new year. Setusbun's most important tradtion is the throwing of beans at people dressed as demons while shouting "Out with the demons, in with the luck!" In households, the oldest male will usually play the role of the demon. At shinto shrines there are always a number of people playing the demons.

To partake of the Setsubun festivities, Keiko and I headed to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, and Heian Shrine in Kyoto. At Kitano Tenmangu they had a small kyogen play followed by a maiko peformance. Kitano Tenmangu is very close to one of the most famous remaining geisha-districts in Kyoto (and Japan). At Heian Shrine (the biggest shrine in Kyoto, I think BTW) the focus was more on the demons who marched from the gates to the main shrine about 300m away, scaring small children in the crowd along the way. Then they were summarily driven out by a group of middle aged men (most likely important people of the community, but I can't say for sure).

After both performances the VIP's gather and throw roasted soybeans into the crowd. Eating your age in beans is supposed to bring good luck for the coming year. Being part of the crowd in both cases was quite the experience. It can get pretty crazy with everyone trying to get their hands on a pack of beans. Surprisingly, it's the senior citizens who you have to watch out for the most. Eating beans for seniors is suppsoedly especially lucky, and as such, they go buck wild. If you don't pay attention you can get nailed in the head by a pack of beans or clubbed by an over-zealous crowd member. At Tenmangu, we were too far back to catch any of the beans, but there were plenty to go around at Heian Shrine. I managed to get 4 myself rather quickly before escaping from the chaos of the assembled crowd.

Today it has been snowing non-stop since I woke up and I love it. I picked up a concert ticket early in the morning, took a warm bath and spent the rest of the day reading, watching Seinfeld DVD's and sipping cocoa while watching the snow fall outside for the comfort of my warm bedroom. A fantastic lazy winter day.