Note: the title is a play on Japanese language...its pronounced Susukino Ga Suki No?
On Saturday, I woke up at 7:00am and arrived at the BOE at 8:20am, just in time for the departure to Sapporo at 8:30. A lot of people from the BOE went, along with some people from the junior high. It was nice to know a lot of the people for once.
During the bus ride everybody consumed a fair amount of alcohol. I had 2 beers and Japanese Sake. It was a first time for me to consume so much alcohol in the morning. The worst part of the trip was having to pee on a bus that doesn't really have a washroom. (My kidneys and liver go into overdrive mode after consuming alcohol, which means more urine production.) Actually a lot of people had to pee frequently, so we made many stops along the way to Sapporo. The whole trip there ended up taking about 3 hours when we could of got there in about 2 and a half hours.
When we arrived, we went straight to the Sapporo Dome to watch the Nippon-Ham Fighters battle the Seibu Lions. It was more fun this time around, because the Fighter fans tended to be a little more louder this time. Unfortunately it didn't help the outcome, as the Fighters still lost the game. We also couldn't watch it all because we had to get on the base shortly before the game ended. Sucks...
We checked into our hotel (located in Susukino) and then went to the first location to what would turn out to be a long, but entertaining night in Susukino (getting the theme?). It was called Te-chan and it was really neat, because the entire restaurant was decorated with old toys and pages from manga. The walls were covered with old mangas and covers of magazines, the shelves were filled with old toys. On the roof hung old fishing nets which held toys and other nostalgic (nostalgic for those who had grown up in Japan in the 70-80s) things.
We ate our fair share of sashimi, including moving octopus tentacles. This time I wasn't as scared. We drank our fair share of beer.
We then moved to our second location, which was a "entertainment club". I forgot what it was called, but unlike the other clubs in Susukino this one didn't have to do with hostesses or strippers (although it did have a lot of alcohol). It was sort of like a Japanese variety show with dancing, singing and skits. Some of the skits were easy enough to understand, but others required some knowledge of Japanese pop culture, probably from the beginning of my generation. So I had no clue what they were talking about. I still found the whole experience really good though.
Our third location was at another entertainment club (we lost about 3/4ths of the group, it was mostly the younger of the BOE left, including my supervisor and I). The show was a little bit better than the previous one, because I got most of the Japanese pop culture references. They had a DJ Ozma skit, which made me start listening to some of his songs. His dancing is really cheesy and funny if you watch the music videos and the performers mimicked it very well.
After that everybody went back to the Hotel. Ike-chan, Chikka-chan and Ikk B pulled me out of my room for a night of card playing. We played till about 4:00 in the morning before we went to sleep. I got up at about 7:45, Sunday morning, but it seems that other 3 got up at about 6:00 and went to have breakfast.
We checked out of the hotel at 8:50 and then went to the Winter sports museum. There, we saw some ski jumpers do some ski jumping on a nearby ski jump. It as neat because they did it without snow, just on some sort of slippery rubber soaked in water. I guess that's how they train all day for big tournaments in the winter.
After that it was off into the Winter Sports museum, to look at the exhibits and participate in a couple of the simulations. The simulations are really pretty fun, some of the notable ones are a ski jumping simulation, a hockey goalie simulation and the speed skating simulation. I did horrible in the hockey goalie one (good thing I'm not a goalie) stopping 0/5 shots. I swear the sensors are under-sensitive, maybe I'm just making excuses. Ski Jumping I did ok at. Ike-chan challenged me to speed skating and I ended up beating him hands down, though after I almost lost the use of my legs due to fatigue.
After that we boarded the bus again and then went back home, with a stop along the way to the local gift shop to buy Omiyage (souvenirs) for everybody. I bought a fair share for all the schools I go to.
Once arriving back home, I was so tired, I took a 3 hour nap and woke up to find Watanabe-san from the Rotary club calling, to invite me a few events this month and give me some squash. I was pretty groggy then but I accepted and he came over in a few minutes to discuss the details. After that, it was dinner from Seicomart (Convenience store) and then sleep time.
Today was a pretty eventful day. I met the rest of the high school, and they seem really uninterested in English. They're always talking and don't give a crap, which makes me not want to teach them, as it's a waste of my time and theirs. But I guess these things are what make teaching in general, challenging. Anyway I'm sure they're fine as people, so I'll have to find another way to reach them.
We had two incidents of violence today at the high school, one was to a teacher and the other was student to student. The prior, I didn't really have to do anything, though I was a little concerned about the teacher's safety (he was a fellow english teacher). The latter, I had to help intervene because Sasaki-sensei (another teacher that I work with) and I were the only ones there. It was rare to see this sort of thing happen I heard, funny how it happened on the 3rd week since I started to teach. The students don't seem that strong here, so I'm sure I could take a couple of slugs before I lose conscienceness, good thing it didn't come to that. Apparently if I hit a student I could get deported.
I'm sort of glad to have the experience to see and participate in these things, but at the same time I don't really want them to happen. So far, almost all of my students seem pretty friendly or have no ill intent. I'm sure that my students are just as intimidated by me as I am them, probably even more so.
I also happened to mis-place my DS today and thought I had lost it or a student had stole it. Luckily, I only left it on a computer desk in the staff room and a teacher had kept it for me. I went back and forth from the BOE to the school 2 times before someone finally told me the teacher had it in his desk. Oh well, better found then lost, even if it took me two trips.
When I got home today, I broke my house key in two (about 1cm from the hilt) while trying to open one of the locks and had to really take a piss inside my house. I inserted the broken part (that became stuck in the keyhole) and the hilt into the lock and turned to open the lock and take a piss. I later had to fish out the part inside the keyhole and call my supervisor to get a spare set.
Wasn't a great day today, but it could of turned out worse. I'm a little worried about the students I met today, but I don't think they'll be too bad. I really don't have to discipline, them, just embaress them enough or intimidate them enough that they shut up. I think I can get good at it.
Anyway, I'm off to unwind and play some video games. Blog to you guys later.
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