Three: Finally got around to an update
Well, first, the big news: No, I don’t have a new Japanese fiancée.
No, I didn’t get promoted and no, I didn’t illegally gamble away what little savings I have at a nearby Pachinko (doesn’t matter where you are in this country, there’s a Pachinko nearby, they’re frighteningly prevalent). But I did find Tim Tams. The chocolaty amazingness of Australian biscuits – which even better, actually has the taste of Australian chocolate. Unlike the international candy bars I have found here that are some crappy non-creamy chocolate variety. And yeah that grinds my gears, chocolate is important to me, what of it? Fight me. Woah I’m getting aggressive. I’ll stop. Chocolate-is-amazing-and you-can’t-convince-me-otherwise. Okay, now I’m done.
So: Tim Tams. Kaldi Coffee Farm is an almost affordable chain of import stores that offers products from all over the globe; from Thai curry powders to Mexican spices – and yes they have Old El Paso Taco seasoning. Duh, that’s why I went in in the first place, I do have some sense thank you very much. I went in to buy some more avocado tortilla chips because they’re delicious and so are nachos and I hadn’t eaten nachos yet that week and therefore desired the cheesy goodness of a salsa-drenched, overflowing with taco meat and lime-spiked guac corn chip when I turned to look at what I thought my brain was conjuring up in its nacho-deprived state. But nooooo, there, opposite the Mexican shelves, was boxes waist high full of over 6 kinds of Tim Tam’s. I grabbed the first packet I saw and then in a mad dash, grabbed two more packets. Because when you see something of this caliber (something that simultaneously reminds you of home and tastes like gosh-darn heaven in cookie form) you don’t think twice about caloric intake or the strain it’ll place on your weekly food budget or really any of that other BS. You snatch and run, my friend. Snatch and run. Which I did. Mostly because I was finished shopping but also because…well, TIM TAMS. And that is how I came to eat two packets of Tim Tams in the span of 4 days. But don’t worry; I got one pack left, honeys!
Kyoto is definitely one of my favourite places I have ever been to. It’s interesting and beautiful and has so much to offer. In August, my company – and the rest of Japan pretty much – had 4 days off to celebrate Obon. The Buddhist custom of honoring the spirits of one’s ancestors. If you’ve seen Coco or are familiar with Mexican holidays, its quite similar to Dia de le Muertos. I had the fortune of having an extra day and so decided to spend my five days with my training friends. We shopped in the main hub, went to Osaka, participated in the Gion Dotomburi (dance festival; as a white person I have no rhythm and yet continuously insist on activities that flaunt that non-skill, lord knows why. No, actually, I know why. Because dancing is fun as hell and nobody can stop me. Suck it.) We did karaoke with some other company friends and took a 2-hour train ride to Kuramahomachi, a place in the mountains where it was raining so hard that we caught the same train back to Kyoto and went to the Disney store. A worthwhile day that was obviously. I got a sweet badge out of it.
The most fun we had was probably tubing with Friendship Adventures. We rented wetsuits and river booties and joined about 10 other people for an afternoon on the man-made body of water. Though it began right next to a highway it was only about 100 meters down that they view became idyllic. Oh and everyone fell off their tubes during the rapids which was hilarious and refreshing in the heat. The instructors were lovely and funny and they made sure everyone had an enjoyable and comfortable time. We wore helmets and lifejackets and scared those of us who could not swim with threats of drowning, it was a gay old time for all and for sure something we all would love to do again…when we once again have the financial means, for it did cost about 5,000 yen (~$70 AUD) each in total. (Minus the small travel cost to get to and from on the train and bus – which took a very minimal amount of time from my friend’s place outside of Kyoto).
I caught my long bus ride home and dwelled on the fact that it costs about 13,000 yen (~$170 AUD) round-trip to get to Kyoto and for my friend it’s less than 1000 yen (~$13 AUD) and 30 minutes. Boo.
I have no culture.
No, that’s not true. I have big family Christmases (a conventionally religious Christian festival of which I have no spiritual connection to and have exploited for material gain – which is fun, sure), I remember approximately ¾ of my country’s national anthem, I believe in democracy, and just by seeing a single image from a movie or tv show I can correctly guess the title – its like [film] Asperger’s, only useless. So, perhaps I have this brand of 20th century culture combined with a few generations of tradition. But compared to Japan, yeah, I have no culture. Australia is not even 120 years old yet so that explains why the most we are known for is confusing the rest of the world with our mixed terminology of shoes and wild fauna. Japan was founded in 660 BC. Let that sink in. I mean, I knew it was old and established but BC? BC?! These guys were around before anyone had even heard of the big man in the sky. Obviously not these people exactly but still. They have stories and tradition, they have heirlooms and food and ideas that are older than almost any other country in the world. Now, that is culture.
On Sunday I woke up at 3am. I turned on my air con (the cheap woman’s hair dryer), washed my hair and lay in bed for 15 minutes. Then I got up, put on a jumper with no shirt underneath, tried on 3 different pairs of jeans, contemplated whether or not being sad that I shrunk my jeans was a good idea, decided it wasn’t and then walked to the conbini (convenience store, think 7 Eleven and Lawson’s) to get some of the coffee I had been depraving myself of for months because it has a track record of keeping me up into the early hours of the morning. But, hell, I was in them now.
At 4:15am, my Japanese friend (who also teaches with my company at one of my classrooms) picked me up and off we went to Dogo. We shook with anticipation. It’s not important to note but I made the wrong choice with the jumper, it was hot that morning, just like it is EVERYDAY in this country. At least I could snack on my nutritious ice to cool down my body. Reminder to self: stop being so optimistic that it’s going to be cold. It’s not going to happen. Deal with it.
Why were we getting up so early you ask? Because those ancient Japanese folks told us to. We were headed for a Japanese fight as part of the Akimatsuri (Fall Festival) to watch the “Hachiawase” – aka the ‘clashing of shrine’. Because why not smash together two holy relics? Eight local towns provide eight large portable shrines to clash each other. For each shrine, two battles take place, with eight times in total. They are known as the Kenka-Mikoshi (fighting shrines). The portable shrines are shoved against each other while the “Mikoshi Mamori” (Mikoshi defenders), the men supporting the Mikoshi shrines, push like the Dickens.
I decided a few weeks ago that I had to be more social, if not for my sake then for my mother’s. Who, rightfully so, worries I have no friends. I do, though, have friends, they just live a 5-hour bus ride north and so we only catch up when we have coinciding company holidays. The main imperative of this ‘being social’ business was that I had to say ‘yes’ whenever my friend asked me to go to something – and then actually go. Thus, when you think of me getting up before 11am remember that I didn’t give myself a chance to fall back asleep and it’ll make a little more sense.
Lucky for me, getting up early this time meant I got to interact with some of my students outside of the classroom as I caught their sleepy eyes with my non-black hair. I watched the father of a sibling duo fall from the top of his team’s shrine only to climb back up on that bad boy like a cat. His son and daughter covered their faces with excitement. It was a bit of a dramatic start to my day, I have to say.
Halloween is surprisingly big in Japan. Big enough that my company even puts on lessons specifically dedicated to the cause. The kids dress up and do activities in theme, plus, you know, decorations.
I love decorations and I love Halloween, so you must know I’m going to combine another one of my favourite things to make this a real celebration and if you saw my Snapchat stories you know what I’m talking about. Unfortunately, as I’m not a Japanese teacher I do not get to teach these Halloween lessons so I went all out doing my best to at least make them aesthetically pleasing. Craft, Halloween, AND cats? What more could a girl want? I guess she could book a plane ticket to Tokyo to spend those few days off with her favourite people in Japan. AND SO THAT’S WHAT I DID. We be hittin’ up Tokyo Disney for Halloween my friends. #yasqueen
In conclusion, I ate too many chocolate biscuits, returned to the beautiful city of Kyoto, rocked some rapids (that’s two jokes in one folks, you’re welcome), am absolutely loving teaching – still – and am pumped af for Halloween. Oh I also won a free avocado cat bed after buying Jack-cat-o-lantern earrings for my sister from the Purrth Cat Café shop back in Aus. So, yeah, that was also pretty dope.
Comments