I Don't Make These Things Up, Kids!

Merry Christmas Eve or Mele Kalikimaka from Hawaii!
So this Christmas vacation has turned out nothing like I thought it would. First of all, I was actually looking more forward to seeing my family than being in Hawaii. It's been nearly a year and a half since I've seen them all. Well, 30 minutes before leaving for the airport, I learned that they were stranded in Colorado because Denver Int'l Airport was completely shut down due to 2 feet of snow. They were rebooked to arrive the day after Christmas. So I've got 5 days to myself...which I mean, I can't really complain about - I am in Hawaii. I can't say a bad word about surfing and getting tan in paradise. Just wish the fam were here.

Anyway, listen to what just happened today. I'm telling you, I'm not making this stuff up. So the last two nights I've been hearing things from my neighboring hotel room. There is a door connecting our rooms so I can hear a lot from the other room. Two nights ago, about 1 or 2 AM I heard two men come in and talk for about 10 minutes. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but in my over-active half-asleep imagination was thinking drug deal. Definitely can't verify that. Well, last night I heard people come in late again (once again half-asleep). This time a guy and a girl. They started arguing and I heard other noises (not sure, but the overactive imagination says abuse of some kind going on over there). Honestly, I didn't really make too much of it because I really didn't know what was going on. Just thought, "Man you can hear everything through that door. Better be quieter talking to myself." Anyway, tonight I came back to the hotel room and while I was passing that room, noticed there were a ton of police and the hotel manager standing in the hallway. They saw me try to get in my room next door so they questioned me. I told them what I heard and filled out a police report. I asked what was going on and the policeman said there was a dead body in the room! What's the deal? So who knows, my stay in Hawaii may get a little longer if I get involved with a murder case. And you know, I probably shouldn't be blogging about it either.

Well on that note, have a Merry Christmas!

EBC Christmas Party

While I'm stalling from packing for Christmas I thought I'd put up a quick post.
Last week we had our English Bible Class Christmas party. It was a good time including a gift exchange, games and our Christmas play.

The kids were the stars of the play but we had a good time helping with some big people parts. Costumes were a bit scarce if we didn't bring our own. I looked more like Borat than a Roman soldier but I really liked the extra facial hair. I believe it is important for a thespian to interpret his role, or make the best of what he's got. Adam is Caesar Augustus - spitting image.

This is my 84 year old friend who I've been studying English with. I love getting to learn from him as well. He's got a lot to teach, so often I am his student. His family is in charge of a historically famous kendo school across the street from church. His ancestors have trained many important samarai there. He's pretty amazing really - he doesn't own a car and rides his bicycle everywhere.

Just Following the Boss' Orders

I really wish this picture came out better, but it made me laugh. This guy is washing off the street with a water hose while it is pouring rain.

Carpe Some Diem - Part II

Here’s some “You’ll Never Live in Japan Again” pictures from late.

4th trip to the most magical place this side of the Pacific. Chisato and Gavin at DisneySea.

The FIBA World Basketball Championships were way back in September but I never mentioned them. We got tickets for the championship game fully expecting Team USA to meet us there. We were hoping to hang out with Carmelo Anthony after the game. They were well on their way until they surprisingly lost in the semis to Greece. So we ended up watching Spain pummel Greece in the finals. It was still a great experience.

At the Yoshida Jinja festival, some drunk Japanese guy came up to me and said, “I don’t speak English…I speak Irish.” Then he tried to kiss me. Don’t worry, he wasn't about to get any. Last year at the very same festival some drunk guy gave me a mask so I put it on and started doing my interpretation of a “traditional” festival dance, then he tried to lick my mask. I didn’t know that move. I decided this is definitely the last time I ever go to this festival even though I’ll only live in Japan once.

The Yabusame Festival is held in Kasama near Mito. It’s one of only a couple festivals held in Japan like this. Following the traditional samarai martial arts of kyudo, people decked out in samarai garb ride sprinting horses while shooting arrows at wooden targets. Wish they would have given us a chance to ride.

On Halloween night a few of us went karaoke-ing in our Halloween costumes. Since Japanese people don’t really celebrate Halloween we decided to go out on the town in full garb. I paid my bills at 7-11 (which is how we pay bills here) and we went around to a couple of restaurants and actually got some candy trick-or-treating. It was pretty funny because you could hear people lock their car doors at stop lights as we walked by.

A group of about 80 of us went to Fuji-Q Amusement Park. Seriously they have THE best roller coasters I’ve ever ridden! And a great view of Mt. Fuji (on clear days).

Don't ask me how, but I got the high score of the day on this laser gun shooting ride.

For the first time here Japanese friends ate with us Americans (and Aussies) at our Thanksgiving dinner. We had over 80 people share together. Someone mentioned it was like how the pilgrims invited the Native Americans to their feast because they had helped them survive in the new foreign land. I think it was only fitting we got to show our thankfulness to them. I made pumpkin pie for the first time. Look out Martha Stewart!

My favorite day trip sightseeing spot in Japan is a place called Nikko. I’ve been 7 times now…but what’s one more trip? They have monkeys there, but I’d never ever seen them. Until now. I’ve always wanted a pet monkey. We pulled over the side of the road because there were around 30 monkeys hanging out licking each other.

Long exposure shot: Ghosts in Nikko

Eight months of waiting and I finally got to see U2 live in concert. Originally we went in for a lottery with 12 friends. It was a going away party for everyone leaving last April. Well U2 cancelled their Japan Tour. Fortunately they put it back on for the end of November . We had to enter another lottery to be able to buy tickets and only 2 of us ended up going this time. We ate at Hard Rock before the concert and they even randomly put us in the U2 corner.

The concert was amazing! This concert just further proved why they are the greatest band ever!

Carpe Some Diem - Part I

My very first week in Japan I remembering chatting with an experienced AET (english teacher) friend about our contracts and wondering how long one year would go by in Japan. I wasn’t so worried about it - I was more than ready to get going, but I mean, there wasn’t any good way out if things did go bad. He said it’ll go by so fast you won’t even realize what happened. Well, now I'm asking, "What happened?" I have now been in Japan over 2 years and 4 months. I look back and I honestly can't figure where the time went. It seems like a few months ago I had that conversation, but at the same time I feel like I've been showered with so many adventures and important life lessons from God, I don't know how it all got crammed into such a short time. It is so obvious God wanted me here for this period of my life and it makes me excited to see what He has in store next.

Now having less than 4 months left in Mito, many of us are preparing for our move back home or abroad elsewhere. I’ve been hearing a common ideology popping up everyday. Horace coined the phrase Carpe Diem which in English is typically tranlsated Seize the Day. Among the Mito AETs it's better translated You Only Live in Japan Once. While I have no way of knowing if living in Japan will be a one time thing for me, I’ve found that this philosophy does directly translate to ton$$$ of fun. So after going to Tokyo DisneyLand for the 4th time, because, hey, when am I ever gonna get a chance to do that again, I have fallen trap to this luxurious way of life. I believe I’ve always Carpe'd some Diem, as old friend Rusty likes to say, but I used to choose cheaper Diem. Everyday I am now faced with daunting questions like, “Denver, when will you ever be able to eat a Subway sandwich in Japan on a beautiful Fall Saturday again?" (Closest Subway being 2 hours away.) So I eagerly throw down $60 for a day trip to eat at a sandwich shop I’ll be sick of a year from now. (Although I must say, it does taste that much better though when you have to work so hard to get one.) But that’s what my motto encourages me to do because, hey, I’ll only live in Japan once…perhaps.