Toilets and Taikos....

Hey-ooooooooh! (Check out my new jaunty chapeau.)

Sorry for the long wait between posts, but the last few days have been pretty crazy for me. When I'm not running around Sasebo with Megan and Gill (two other ALTs close by), I'm running around Nagasaki listening to stupid seminars and checking out the Atomic Bomb museum! Verdict: Oh dear.

First off, just a few random pictures I've taken around the area that don't really deserve a narrative:

My 'all organic dinner' that I had with Yuka Ogawa at a restaurant inside of a hotel. Mostly seaweed, very chewy and rather tasteless. I ate a lot of things that were, in her words, "Very good for your health" that night. Why can't 'tasty' and 'good for you' coexist more often then not!?









Before the typhoon actually hit us, the mist and haze of was surrounding our area, but I wanted to take a picture of the river anyway. This was the river before the typhoon:








: And this was the river just afterwards. The water level had risen like crazy and it was incredibly rough.


There is apparently a toy unique to the Sasebo area, which to me looks like a kind of top that you would wrap a rope around, then yank off to get it to spin. I forget what its called but the city's mascot is a little boy with one of the toys for a head. Around the city they are placed on top of railing posts that line the streets, and this is what they look like:


I don't know how many of you have heard of 'Japanese style toilets', but they're quite the...experience. In my school there is one 'Western style' toilet, but its in need of a little repair. I still use it however, because that is my alternative.

Ain't it delovely.

I've used it a few times, but goodness, it not my first choice. Squatting is not my bag.

One last one, taken at JUSCO, a huge department store here. As some of you may recall, Dove has been doing a 'campaignforrealbeauty' shtick the last little while, advocating that their products are great for women of aaaaall body types. Their posters and billboards usually showcase girls with big legs or boobs or arms, often with nice little tummies but I digress. Here is the Japanese version of 'all body types, real beauty':
I'm not arguing but....dang. Just dang.

So! I have a bit of catching up to do, it would seem! Megan and Gill are both living in Saza, which is a small town just north of where I live, easily accessed on the bus route. Gill is from Scotland, and her accent just worms its way into my brain, I lurv it. They've been practically inseperable since Megan arrived, as they live right next to each other and get along famously. They're both a riot to hang out with, and man has it been nice to have girlfriends again!

One of the first things we did when we first hooked up was, of course, to go shopping!! Since coming here I've bought a lot of stuff, but most of it has been necessities. That day however, I flitted about the accessory shops with unending glee! One place in particular had a wide array of hats, and the girls and I went a little dork.




Here's Gill looking fly in her awesome touque, and (much to my jealousy) a great pair of shoes that were muy cheap and give her about 4 more inches. Only then is she taller than me!









Then we checked out a used clothing place, but it was one that caters to a particular style. Some call it grunge, I call it 'ew, this smells funny.' They did have an awesome array of glasses however, and this cheeky little CD case that gave me the most lovin' I've had since I left Canada.

Megan's predecssor had left behin some awesome tips of where to go in Sasebo for good food, and the girls had become big fans of what is called 'izakaya'. Though I'm not totally sure what that means, they're small restaurants that serve food and alcohol, basically. And I mean very small. We managed to find one relatively close by, but when he opened the curtain at the door we balked. It had about 6 people already in it, and it was almost full to capacity! Right away the owner came to us though, and beckoned us in so we couldn't turn him down. There was one table available against the wall, and it was just big enough for us! I took a couple pictures of the interior, but they don't do a great job of showing off the size of the place. Of course, I didn't exactly have space to back up. ;p
Above is the view right across from us, and you can see behind the glass the owner working away at the grill. We totally scored with this place too, because he actually spoke respectable english! Sometimes in these places the menu has pictures, but not this time, and I was only able to read a bit of it. He was a big help though, and I think we're going to make an effort to return there, he won us over! Plus the food was taaaasty.

In the arcade there is actually a KFC, outside of which stands a rather tall plastic Colonol Sanders. He creeped Gill right out, but I couldn't resist his charm. Nothing like the feel of hard, clammy plastic against a girl to make her long for cuddlier days!



There was a fruit market still open in the arcade when we were heading home, and I couldn't resist taking a picture. BEHOLD, the reason why I will probably get scurvy!! $20 melons!!


So the next day, Megan and Gill came with me to school (at 9 a.m. on a Sunday) so that we could all attend the Taiko drum club. It was my second time going, and goodness is it awesome. Its a student-run club here at the school, and though its quite large, there's only one boy! Apparently boys tend to do the sports thing instead, but heck, I think that girls wailing on drums is just about the coolest thing evah. Megan and Gillian were just as blown away as I was by their practice. The sound of it literally makes you tingle, and I always have this feeling that I'm watching something much, much, muuuch bigger than myself. I love that feeling. The girl in the black and pink shirt there is the President of the club. She's super nice, speaks good English, and is super pretty. I'm sure that if I was still in high school, I'd secretly hate her. :P Luck being as it is, she's awesome!

Its difficult to really show the instense motion and speed that is involved with the drumming, but hopefully you can get some idea of it by observing how their hands and sticks are basically just blurs.

This is Erika (whether that's her real name or an English name she picked out I dunno, but that's what I call her), and she's cute as a button! She's incredibly small, but man can she play (she's on the far right in the above picture), and she's been really friendly with me despite the fact that she's can't speak much English. Rika told me that apparently she really wants to marry a Westerner, so she can have a 'pretty baby'. Somehow she doesn't think that a baby from two Japanese parents is as pretty as one with caucasian blood, which is completely beyond me. I hope she gets lucky and find a good guy, she definetly deserves it!

Here is the one boy in the class, lounging for a sec while they took a short break. He's one of the best there as far as I can tell, his hands are just ridiculously fast.

Each practice that I had attended lasted around 3 hours. That was during the summer break however, and they're all preparing to pay at the upcoming sports/cultural festival. I don't know how long each practice is in the regular school year, but I wouldn't be surprised if its just as long. These kids are hardcore.

Towards the end of the practice the girls offered the three of us their sticks, each has their own, and the President gave us a little practice! Not to brag, but I ain't too shabby I think!!


Of course, that's not to say I didn't have a tough time of it. Behold my consternation!

After we tried our hands at it, we left and went back downstairs to put our shoes on. Before we had made it out though, two of the girls rushed down, giggling like crazy, and asked, "May we ask you a question?" We said of course, and so they replied, "Do you like Johnny Depp?" ..... Not what we were expecting, but all three of us just laughed and said, "Of course!!" And then we stood around and talked about boys for five minutes. *laughs*

Next on the docket is the Nagasaki trip, but I haven't had the opportunity to load those pictures onto my laptop quite yet, so I'll just have to save it for tomorrow. I was informed that I'm actually going to be having my first lesson tomorrow, instead of Monday as I had expected, so I have some preparing to do! I'll let y'all know how it goes. Wish me luck!!

Byyeeee for now. ^^