Fuji Rock Report...

Oh my god. It's 11 PM on Sunday night. Returned from Fuji Rock about 8 AM today. It was very wild, very wet...it's a huge festival an hour from here in Niigata, at a ski area that is taken over by...I dunno...my guess was 60,000 people. There was a camping village up on the golf course and about 10 different stages down below. I scalped a Saturday ticket from a guy out front for the same price as I would have found it at Lawsons!

Within the last 48 hours encompassing my trip to Naeba...
-I've had 2 hours sleep, in a freezing tent turned to human oven...
-There were maybe 7 or 8 torrential downpours.
-I've seen insanely great live music. The most memorable were:

-Cake...pretty good set, first thing we saw. Immediately as we arrived, the skies opened
-Kaiser Chiefs...really upbeat british rock band
-Coldplay...very, very impressive show. really added a lot of respect for that band...very memorable times seeing them play
-Foo Fighters. Best rock show of my entire life. I've never seen such pure ROCK.
-DJ Madlib...the craziest beats I've ever heard.
-DJ Kentaro...did lots of visual scratching and video stuff.
-The Black Velvets...sort of a smaller Black Crowes...pretty good
-Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra...good ska! Never seen a crowd so into a ska band...
-The Bravery...up front center for this band from New York...sort of synthesizered- Ramones type rock feel, lots of fun
- Asian Dub Foundation...super high energy, funnest to dance to and the source of some good stories
-Beck....up front in the middle, really good show, pretty mellow following Asian Dub but really good. The band played the new stuff from the new CD too slowly, but it was very cool and creative...
-Fatboy Slim...oh my lord, not even a music concert...more like an audio/visual feast.
-Laurent Garnier. Only saw the end of it, but the crowd liked it....

So overall it was good. It was frustrating cuz my cell phone didn't have reception (even though Anna got through to me, thanks for calling!) and I was wanting to take a call from my family so I was worried about that a lot, and no one in the group here could reach me either...I spent the most time just back and forth between groups of people...like Liz, Tiff, Ryan, Martin (who gets extra credit for setting everyone up ahead of time and being cool about everything), Kat, Mel, Debs, Kate, Deet, and Alice, helped look after her when she wasn't with Debs...

Just feeling good about having a weekend like that, as wet and strange as it was sometimes and as distracted as I was...listening to live music reminded me that I haven't done anywhere near enough of that in my life. You can get kind of lazy listening to good music on your stereo all the time without appreciating the human hands that actually create it.

Good stuff. Not looking forward to life at my desk...

Gary's done married. A long time ago.

Here is my friend Gary who lives in China...he recently sent me this pick of him and his new wife. Gary was my roommate in college and one of the 'goodest' guys I know. I just liked this picture from his Chinese wedding....

So, as for the summer...it turns out my BOE has asked all Tokamachi ALTs to work full time every day throughout the summer. I think they are trying to exert new control over the ALTs by making them sit and do nothing for a whole day instead of just the morning, like last summer. However, I think I'm able to work out a secret deal with my kocho sensei...he's so cool.

Unfortunately I'll have to move schools next week because my driver's license is expiring. I'll start driving classes tomorrow at $50 an hour, because I'll essentially only have one chance to pass my driving test or else I'll have to keep going to the other school which is near my apartment, and I don't think I can work out a secret deal with that school. So August 10 is my driving test and it's a must-pass situation.

I will have to start taking a full-day's nenkyuu though...which isn't too bad considering I have a few days left and I'll be getting secret afternoons off this summer...

More goodbyes

just said goodbye to some of my favorite people from the other side of the mountain, like Kate Red, Gina, Stuart, Jess, etc. The goodbyes are hard, but not too many more to go.

Just learned a little more about the Tokyo quake. I guess it was a 6.0, which is pretty big for Tokyo...here's the link.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T340914.htm

Also, Lance Armstrong just won the Tour de France for the 7th straight time...I don't give a monkey's butt about cycling, but that's pretty impressive...I think an accomplishment like that, for a cancer survivor who has shrugged off years and years of mistrust from the snobs who think he's been doping, should be paid a little respect. The dude's a machine! Yay Lance Armstrong!

From right to left, Annie, Mississippi Mary, and Alice, looking particularly cheeky.

In the log cabin...saying goodbye. Aimee and Annie are the offending fleeing folks, they are in the front center.

I gotta change my pants now

Aaaaah! Was sitting in my apartment on a chill Saturday watching a movie, when I felt my apartment moving again...but this was the first kind of shaking like this I've ever felt. It was a mellow rocking, not the shift and shake that we are so used to around here. I felt like I was on a boat and my lamps were swinging. I realized it was an earthquake and that it couldn't be close to us, it had to be far.

Immediately I thought about Tokyo because that's where Debs and Alice are right now, and Martin confirmed it on NHK, it hit in Chiba right near Tokyo, a 5.7.

I am getting slightly tired of having to worry about people I care about who tend to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course after the Niigata disaster that was bad enough, but Debs and Annie and others were in Thailand during the tsunami and the moment I realized that Debs and Alice were in Tokyo during a quake that I could feel up here in Tokamachi, I nearly pooped my pants.

Luckily it was just a decent one but not a massive one.

People, stop doing this!

sad in a cabin

so tonight was the sort of formal goodbye to Aimee and Annie in Kawanishi in the log cabin restaurant, as their contract is up and they're leaving Japan. Nate, Debs, Keiko, MARTIN, and the two girls were there.

At Hummingbird (the music camp I grew up in) on Saturday nights we had the friendship circle in front of the shell to say goodbye to everyone from the past week/session. The emotions that defined the moments standing around in a circle on those Saturday nights were so heightened and so real. Tonight gave me a bit of a flashback to that, even though it was just a few people sitting around a table, sipping sake and having old Japanese people oggle us, instead of 150 kids standing in a circle under a moon and a giant tree, hands right over left. But in the end it's exactly the same...appreciating the good things that come about through sharing really unique lifetime experiences, especially the sweet surprise that is spontaneous friendship in a foreign place...sharing a few laughs about the insane things we've done together...not really rushing but enjoying the moment...and expressing the sadness and fear that things might be different from here on out, but knowing that it's worth it because we have shared the most positive things in life: adventure, friendship and admiration.

So anyway, next week I'm going to rock some Fuji Rock action baby! Anyone know which Coldplay or Foo Fighters albums I should download and listen to before next week? Own nothing of theirs and since they are the headliners for Friday I should probably give it a sampling...

Fuji Flop

OK, someone help...I'vegot 1/3 of a good time on the way for Fuji Rock...I was only able to get my hands on a Friday ticket, but also a camping ticket, giving me access to the tents but only 1/3 of the music. Anyone know anyone trying to get rid of a Saturday ticket? Anyone know how easy it might be to just accidentally make my way to the stage on Saturday?

someone sort me out

OK people, I have no ticket to Fuji rock cuz I'm a non-committal dork. Someone help sort me out. Where do I find one? Considering two nights now instead of just the one. 7-11?

die robber boy, die

This was a party of a weekend for sure with Debbie's 23rd birthday on Sunday...Friday night out in town, Saturday night on the beach in Kashiwazaki, and last night out in town again at the beer garden and dance party at Kumakichi.

Kashiwazaki was awesome! Stayed up to watch the sunrise until I realized we were facing west.

Last night tons of people came to the beer garden, lots of English teachers and some ALTs from around here and there...I think a lot of us were tired cuz it was the third night straight celebrating Debs' bday.

Too bad the night had to carry a slight stigma though...turned out that Debbie's very sweet friend Alice who is visiting from the UK saw a random guy at the party going through her bag and her wallet. I guess she tried to confront him about it and he ran out the door. She grabbed me and we went looking for him...I was sort of in disbelief that it had happened in our little town and didn't actually expect to find someone. However we saw a guy walking across the parking lot...Alice said he was the one and I yelled at him in Japanese to stop and talk for a minute. He looked straight at me and started sprinting and jumped over a fence and ran.

Again I was sort of in shock because it was obvious this guy was guilty...I hesitated for a minute and just sort of thought out loud, "do I really need to CHASE this guy?" and started running after him (probably in a zig-zag way as we had just finished the nomihodai at the beer garden) and he was gone immediately, probably zipped into some side alley, the sneaky bastard.

Was pretty angry about it and felt bad for Alice...and walked around for a bit looking but figured it was a lost cause, and that we should just go back and talk to people and figure out who he was. Everyone knows everyone in this town and there had to be someone there who could give us some clues. Ended up talking to one guy who was sitting with him but he wouldn't tell us much and thought the guy came alone. I didn't believe him.

Ended up getting a weird feeling and checking my own bag...and turns out every last yen out of my wallet was stolen too. Just under $200 about. I got really pissed off that not only had Alice's cash been swiped, but I had been messed with too, in my own regular bar, in my own mountain town!

Again went looking for the guy with no luck.

Was frustrated and angry for a while but Alice had the better attitude about it and helped cool me off and we ended up staying and dancing for a while and even going to Lupin after and having a good time...but I was just frustrated that it had to be a bit of a stain on Debbie's super fun birthday night.

I am mostly just shocked that it happened, and frustrated that this will be the second theft report I'll have to file with the police within 11 months of living in this innocent town in the safest country ever. I simply just don't like to be fucked with, and in the same situation back home I would have been able to figure out who it was or exert a little control over the situation.

But in the end it's just cash, and in the land of karma, robber guy is screwed.

why why why

Today I realized that my apartment is riceless. Being out of rice in Japan is just unacceptable...somewhat similar to being out of potatoes in Russia or out of chile back home. So I rushed over to Jusco (big supermarket) on the way home. I walked in and started looking around, and suddenly became very dizzy and everything felt surreal. I didn't really realize what had happened, but the entire Jusco has been rearranged since last week. I'm not just talking about switching the towel shelf with the toilet paper, i'm talking about the entire row of check out counters was moved hundreds of feet and is now vertical, the beer is on the other side, everything is smooshed together or moved to an entirely different location or just moved across the aisle, and some of the stock has changed. There was complete chaos as a million workers were rushing here and there trying to get everything stocked and sorted. I tripped on a few boxes and bumped a few people.

It took me 11 months to figure out that freaking store and now they've completely turned my happy Jusco bubble upside-down. I couldn't find the rice. I mean, I couldn't even find the rice in Japan. I found myself wandering around with a headache for about 10 minutes until I stumbled upon it. I started just putting other random things in my basket and my focus was gone. I said "why why why?" and swore to myself a lot. I ran away as fast as I could.

It's strange how one small change here that affects the consistency you've been able to achieve over time really messes with your head. I have to re-learn the entire store. If I could read labels it would make a difference, but because so much of my shopping was memorizing the exact location of certain things that someone showed to me once, instead of just looking for it and finding it, I have to fully re-map my way to the pizza chips.

Funny thing was, they moved the bleach and I asked an employee where to find it...and he couldn't find it either.

i...can't...breathe...

Today, the one mentally-challenged girl at Nakajo Junior High came into the teacher's room to give me a handmade invitation to her birthday party. However, in the process she got sort of obsessed with me and gave me a rather strong, stifling bear hug. She opened her mouth and lunged for my face, but the teachers grabbed her head and stopped her just in time. So there was a rather odd moment this morning when time froze momentarily and two teachers were seen in gridlock between me and the girl, one teacher tugging at her arms and one holding her head back with both hands. She finally released. I said "Thanks for the card!" Everyone had a little bit of a laugh, and I didn't mind it, it was sweet that she gave me the invitation and even wrote my name in English. The only thing that bothered me was that she is a 12-year-old Japanese girl, and I was nearly crushed by her. So, off to the gym again tonight...

ladies night

Last night the Ladies Night crew went to the cinema in Joetsu to see Star Wars...I was impressed with the flick but even more impressed by the theater. Maybe it's been too long since I've been in a movie theater, but it was tons of fun and mega-plush. PLUS, in an ironic twist, Tuesday night at this theater is actually Men's Night...meaning only guys get a big discount on tickets! ha ha. It's the only 'men's' discount I've ever seen I think. Only in Japan...

Old McDonald at Hakka Elementary with all 12 students in the school, showing my 'o face!'

once again i am pooped. dunno why i'm so overworked lately but i am. i had four morning classes at nakajo junior high which were fairly successful and a great class at hakka elementary, with all 12 students in the school. did old mcdonald, and read a japanese children's story in english out of a book that i had when i was growing up. had a hoot with the teachers at that school...funny that the most rural school with the fewest students has at least 3 teachers who are fluent in English, but no English teachers.

it was a strange weekend...friday night was sally's leaving enkai at tanto, then yamanne, then kumakichi. it was strange dragging all my teachers to these places that i usually frequent and never see them in, but was nice to get them out of the office and having fun with young kids. saturday was a down day, but went to muikamachi saturday night for a bit of a goodbye to the folks leaving from that side of the mountain...then came back and ended up staying in a bar called airk past 4 a.m. cuz i met a load of new people, mostly just cuz everyone wouldn't stop staring at me and i just started staring back and talking. hung with ken the owner, who told me multiple times now that i'm his best friend, and had a fun time with satomi, hisae, and a few other people...some other guy kept sheepishly approaching me, staring at me for a while, fumbling something out in english that his friend taught him, then running away. he would come up to me and then kneel down and beg to buy me more scotch, but cuz i wasn't really drinking i couldn't accept and he was really sad about that.

sunday morning i got a phone call from setsuko, one of my private students. i had set up her daughter kanako with the american high school girl who's staying in town so they could make friends...now they are buddies and krista will go to kanako's high school for a day with her! anyway, Dr. Takahashi is hosting krista and he wanted me over for lunch, so we all went over there...he is the biggest surgeon in town so he had a really nice, big house...obviously a high member of the local community becuase both of his daughters had been 'Ms. Tokamachi' during past snow festivals. So I felt pretty speciall eating lunch with the big doctor and a Ms. Tokamachi...and they were happy to have another American in their house.

tonight, teaching kanako and miyu...tomorrow a very busy day at mizusawa, then maybe off to joetsu for star wars! my first movie theater experience in japan. should be fun!

the shift

was just layin around my apartment before i go to a goodbye party in muikamachi, when I felt the ever-dreaded 'shift' that happens when you know an earthquake is starting. the thing I hate most about the shift is that you never know if it will lead to something bigger or just stay small. I became really sensitive to the sensation after the big earthquake and immediately your senses go crazy...you just feel the one shift, then it's still for a microsecond and your heart jumps because you know what's about to happen, and then the shaking starts...this one got a little bigger, enough to rattle the windows and make me feel sick because I was lying down, and went on before about 10 seconds. I hate the shift!

am i a robot?

A teacher just approached me, holding his shoulder.

"I heard only Japanese people shoulder aches. Our life is most stressful. Do you shoulder aches? Japanese people very busy" he said.

I didn't say a whole lot back...other than, good luck...

gaijin alert

So I'm just back from a workout at the gym (yeah, I go to a gym, so stop laughing because someday I will be He-Man and you will be very afraid of me) and was having fun blabbing up Debs and a bunch of Japanese people, when in walks a new foreigner. My gaijin alert radar went off and I was already feeling like my territory was being invaded, unannounced.

A little later I talked to her, turns out she's a high school kid from California here for a summer exchange program and will be living in my town for a few weeks, with a homestay family. She was real spunky and had just arrived, and her eyes were wide open and excited to be young and in a new culture. Reminded me of the feeling I had when I first went to Russia, and also of the excitement I felt 11 months ago when I came here. It was fun to talk to her and get some of that feeling back, and I left the gym feeling really happy about my time here and really excited to be here.

Though, one of the things you have to get used to in being a foreigner in Japan is being stared at like some kind of alien freak. I didn't realize it at the time, but after meeting this girl I realized that when I see a foreigner, I do it too. I had joined in the gawking and the questioning to your neighbor and the same curiosity that has been directed at me for the past 11 months. I realized that I can't criticize them for it because it is merely a product of one thing: isolation. Rural Niigata can be considered a culturally isolated area because it is on the end of a train line, and not really on the way to anywhere important where tourists want to go. So the only foreigners that are here for more than a couple days are teachers, exchange students, and those that have no choice, usually through marriage...like the Indonesian woman I am teaching private lessons to.

But the last few days here, just meeting a few new people, have made Tokamachi feel so big and cosmopolitan. Like meeting Yuko last night, she had lived overseas and was fluent in English, and meeting this American kid and finding out that her family hosts tons of students.

I like chip star

Right now I'm enjoying some sweet, sweet Chip Star (Japan's Pringles) with real American Gatorade. GAHHHHHHHHH...

I'm a little grumpy today because my Tuesday school worked me too hard. After four straight periods of chaotic speaking tests and grading, I was told - not asked - to eat lunch fast, do speaking tests during my lunch break (my only time off to breathe during the day) and then stay late tonight to finish the rest. Because of who I am I agreed, but I only wish they had asked...If I wanted to I could pull out my contract and point at things and get picky but I'm more patient than that I guess, until they do it again. It wasn't the first time.

Last night was awesome...I helped put together a little 4th of July party for the 4 Americans and 2 Brits in town. I nominated Amy to host, Nate to grill and myself to blow things up. We had a decent American-style barbecue with real American barbecue sauce...and we fought through the rain of the rainy season to light some wee wee fireworks. The brits kinda enjoyed it I think and it was fun to introduce them to a real barbecue, the way it oughtta be.

My first step in the long and arduous process of obtaining a Japanese driver's license has already taken a foreboding step...I sent Katie D. off to Niigata with my New Mexico driver's license to get it translated along with my Gaijin card (like my green card I guess). Got an email from her later saying that she accidentally left them in the post office and wasn't sure about where they were. AAAH! Next morning I got a call from a very concerned post office and my freaked-out supervisor, as these are my most important pieces of ID aside from my passport. Well, they are still in Muikamachi in some post office and I've been ID-less for 5 days now, but apparently they have it and Kumi is going to pick them up today...in time for me to take the trip with them to Niigata City to start filling out the tedious paperwork on Friday. And this is all the beginning...I will have to take driving courses and a driving test all in Japanese over the next 3 weeks before my International Drivers License expires. It won't be easy.

Otherwise I have been sitting on my couch, staring and drooling at my brand new air conditioner, which was installed Saturday morning! I just went to the store and bought 3 bottles of nice local sake for the Board of Ed, not only to say thanks but to try to guilt them into not making me pay for the installation. I'll meet with them tomorrow.

Tonight, I'm meeting Yuko for English lessons and then off to Fight Club (aka Ladies Night. Yes, I go to Ladies Night with my friends. So does Martin. It's actually usually half guys.)

I'm pooped. It's been busy...speaking tests galore. I have to create and administer speaking tests for about 500 kids over the span of a couple weeks. It's a lot of work. Yesterday I did about 130 and today about 100, over 8 classes or so. Tonight I'll teach a Juku cram school and a private lesson before going out...

Also, I've just concluded Junior High Burrito Experiment #2 for what they call "GT International Understanding Classtime"...In January I helped 60 kids at Minami Junior High learn how to make a New Mexican dish...a classic burrito. It went very well...well enough that they thought we should do it again with a whole new group of kids, and we did it today.

My main input was creating the recipes and directions and random facts about burritos (like, "Burrito means Little Donkey!") which were then translated into Japanese by a teacher. Then, it was sort of my job to be support for the teacher and to run around helping avert disasters and keep the kids on track.

Last time, Ms. Kawase was at the helm in doing all the Japanese shouting directions. However, 10 minutes before we started today, Ms. Ikeda said to me (while she was brushing her teeth after lunch), "So Erik, Ms. Kawase is out today, you will be the main teacher, OK?"

"uh...like I'm supposed to run the cooking class in Japanese by myself?"

"Yea, it's ok!" she said. "But the Home Ec teacher will be there with you. Good luck!" She paused, then laughed..."Ha ha, you always have such challenging situations here!" she blurted at me as foamy toothpaste spittles shot out of her mouth.

So, in those next 10 minutes I scrambled to learn the vocabulary I thought I would need..."Oil...Flour...Cook...Mix...Warm Water...Fry...Stop...More...Less..." I also printed out as many color photos from last time to give them a sense of how it should all look in the end...or at least, to set them up for disappointment since last time went so well.

The kids started pulling out the ingredients that they had bought the day before. Some groups were organized and prepared and some forgot the flour, and the recipe too. They started to prepare the onions, tomatoes, rice and cold canned soy beans (no pinto beans or black beans here) and cut the avocadoes and ready the cheese (some bought pizza cheese or really expensive European cheddar, one group brought blue cheese). Then the tortilla making began...

I was most nervous about this part cuz it's hard for even the most experienced Northern New Mexican to make a good tortilla from scratch. I was busy here because I was running around checking all the dough and using lots of Japanese for "more flour! more water! warm water, not cold! put down that knife!"

They rolled out the tortillas, some into perfect shapes, and some into something resembling a shawl or a curtain. They grilled them up...some into perfect toasted brown spotted circles, some into folded piles of grey matter.

Then, the burrito assembling began. The teacher had bought a huge pile of Japanese 'Southwestern Style' salsa which was mixed in with random combinations of the vegetables, grilled rice with onions, soggy soy beans, different kinds of cheese, mayonnaise and cocktail weenies.

They sort of folded them up into burrito-shapes and bit in...some cringed and some really enjoyed it. It depended on the group and what random concoction they threw together. The burrito I had was actually delicious...with enough cheese and salsa it masked the soybean taste and the saltiness of the tortilla dough. The avocadoes were great and I was really psyched that it all seemed to work out again! Other people enjoyed it less, with one girl bent over the sink drinking water to sooth the 'spiciness' of the most mild non-salsa I've ever tasted.

So, all-in-all Burrito Day #2 wasn't a complete disaster, but it sure wasn't as good as the first...I guess it makes a difference having someone who can translate for you. Anyway, I guess my kids know what I eat back home, though I wish I could show them a real, green chile cheese smothered burrito.

Who ever knew tortillas were so much fun...

Rollin' em out

A successful burrito

The disastrous burritos, blue cheese and all

A first-time burrito experience