echoes of spain [2007.11.21]

There are two things that I have had in my head from Hiroshima that I've wanted to write about but never got around to writing, and this is one of them.

"Hiroshima?", you might ask, puzzlement plastered all over your face.

"Yes, Hiroshima", I would reply.  Even though it has been more than a month (a bit longer really, wow), and even though I have just gotten back from another trip to Nara (more on that later), the two things that I still have left to write about are important enough to merit inclusion in the logs, even at such a late date.

But what does Spain have to do with Hiroshima?  Well, after going to Nara and being having Madrid come to mind even there, I am beginning to think that part of the reason that I see little pieces of Spain when I am there is because Madrid was the first city that I really got to know.  Perhaps that is strange, living so close to New York, but it is true.

That isn't all of it though.  The very first night we were in Hiroshima, Alice and I were chatting with one of the other travelers in our hostel, a girl from the US.  At one point I turned to apologize to a guy who was sitting near by because we weren't really including him.  He then apologized for not really being able to speak English.  "Where are you from?", I said.  Why, "Spain", of course!

That pretty much made my day right there.  We launched off into this crazy discussion ("no manches!"), just talking about all sorts of things.  He's originally from Asturias (woo Elena y Marlene!!) but lived for a while in Madrid in the neighborhood next to where I lived (Barrio del Pilar).  Not only that, but he was a policeman in the Canary Islands, and he knew about their amazing honey rum.  Memo, he knew about the rum!!  It was a beautiful moment, sharing that love of ron con miel.  That was only the start of what would turn into cause for a mighty powerful feeling of nostalgia and longing.  

The next day Alice and I went to a sacred island off the coast of Hiroshima (the other thing I still want to write about) and got back to the city with evening well underway.  Instead of going back to the hostel and cleaning ourselves up, we went off in search of this Jamaican restaurant that Alice had heard of.  Along the way we passed a spot where some major avenues intersected with trees lining the wide sidewalks and I could not think of anything but Plaza de Cibeles, where the night buses come in Madrid.  I spent more than a few nights walking down to Cibeles with Ana and Elena, talking in the wee hours of the morning, and the little similarities in Hiroshima brought out some serious nostalgia.

The last thing, and probably the most ridiculous, happened the last night we were there.  Somehow Alice and I got onto the topic of sangria and how we both thought it was pretty great and that turned into a mission to find some.  We saw a place that looked promising, and lo! they actually had it, but they were just closing.  We saw another place with a Spanish sounding name and went upstairs to check it out.

The place was incredibly fancy looking and not what we expected at all.  Dimly lit, cushy atmosphere, it seemed more like a place to drop $25 on a glass of wine rather than somewhere to find some good sangria.  I decided to ask anyway but the bartender had no sangria to speak of, as expected.  It was then that the only other patron, a Japanese girl in her early twenties, turned from her seat alone at the end of the bar and asked us if we were looking for someplace to get some sangria.

Creepy eh?  But we told her yes anyway.  She made a call on her cell phone, and told us that she new a place.  Alice and I looked at each other, both sort of doubting, but then we both shrugged and took the "what the heck?" route.  Now, any sane person with half a brain would be a little skeptical of following a tipsy Japanese woman to an unknown place in a city that they had less than three days experience with.  Well, we were, but we were in the hopping commercial / bar district and I at least figured that as long as we stayed in main areas that we would be fine.

We arrived at our destination without being waylaid by any cutthroats or vagabonds and our guide knocked on the door of "Casa de Fujimori".  I couldn't believe it as I walked in the door ; it was like crossing six thousand miles in a single step.  There was serrano ham on the stone walls, wooden crossbeams all over the place, and a nice big bottle of sangria on the table.

Apparently our friend from the first bar had called her friend who was the owner of the restaurant, who was eating dinner.  He gave us sangria, wine, serrano ham, nabe (Japanese hotpot) and kimchi.  We spoke in Japanese, Spanish, and English.  Simply put, it was amazing, and a wonderful way to finish off our time in Hiroshima... basically by going to Spain with some Japanese people.

The more I travel the more connections I make with people and places, making ever more difficult to really get everyone I care about in one place.  I'd much rather have it this way though.  I think my friend Ana Belén said it best: "el mundo es pequeñito y nosotros somos como aviones".  If you don't speak Spanish, well, it's really pretty.

seriously long-winded future love,

-greg.

ps: all right, if you don't speak spanish, to me it means that as big as the world is there can never be real distance between friends.

do the monster mash! [2007.11.09]

I had a few opportunities for some fun Halloween activities here in Oshima at the junior high and West Elementary.  I wish that I had that song, actually; I feel like the cheesiness of it would translate even across languages and cultures.  Or maybe they would just look at me with that "who is this crazy person?!" look.  Good times either way, really.

The first three classes I did were at West Elementary for the 3rd, 5th, and 6th, graders.  It was on the schedule that they gave me, so I ran with it.  They learned some Halloween vocab, the homeroom teacher and I gave them a "trick or treat" demonstration, and then everyone made masks out of paper plates and yarn that they decorated with markers and then used to do a little trick or treating of their own.  I did the same thing with the 4th graders this past Thursday (11/8), but this time with the added benefit of a loads of goody bags and some other props that Mom put together and sent.  She made 53 little goody bags, one for every student!!  They all were super appreciate and really enjoyed it.  I put the extra stuff in the teachers' room for them to share, so I hope they enjoyed it!

The other Halloween bit was at Oshima Junior High.  Kita-sensei wanted to do have a Halloween party for the second year English Elective class's first lesson.  She had so many crazy props, it was awesome!  We did this class after I got my Halloween supplies but before my second visit to the elementary school, so I was able to steal some treats for the junior high kids and petition Mom for more supplies.

Kita-sensei went hardcore on this one, it was really awesome.  We took over an empty room and covered all the windows with black trash bags to make it darker.  She had this giant hanging fabric pumpkin person thing as well as streamers and garlands and a light-up jack o' lantern!  We taught them some words, they did a word search, and then they went "trick or treating" with some of Kita-sensei's props but the real kicker was at the end when they all went bobbing for apples!!  Oh, and they all seemed to like candy corn, which I thought was surprising; I thought for sure it would be too sweet.

Unfortunately I only have pictures of the junior high's trick or treat getups and nothing from West yet.  I'm working on it!  Until then, check these out.

flickr

sugar-rushing future love,

-greg.

mid-year conference [2007.11.03]

This doesn't really have so much to do with the JET ALT Mid-Year conference as it has to do with the events of the first night of the conference.

Basically, the beginning of the night was a complete debacle, exacerbated by my lack of a cell phone.  Not having a cell is not really a big deal until one needs to coordinate several groups of people into one cohesive merry-making unit; in that case its utility becomes immediately apparent.

There was lots of calling (thanks Dino!) and fumbling and trying to figure things out, as well as confusion and misinformation.  In the end, I managed to meet up with Jess (friend from New York), we gave up on Christine (also NY) and burgers, Dino got delayed in the hotel for a long time, Jyoti couldn't find a shirt, and Ellen had no issues whatsoever.  So Jess, Jyoti, Ellen and I ended up going to Nagasaki's Chinatown to get some Chinese food, but not before Dino and Jyoti went up on the roof of the hotel where I joined them for some fantastic views.



Chinatown was ridiculous.  "Ridiculous" as in "incredibly tacky and stereotypical".  I actually couldn't believe it when I saw it at first, I thought I was at a theme park.  Past the big plastic looking entry gate and the neon dragon there were flowing water displays and traditional-ish sounding music emanated from many of the buildings.  I guess I was supposed to feel like I was "really in China!", but I just felt like some stupid tourist in a really glitzy trap.  The food was good and not too expensive though, so I guess alls well that end's well.  The portions were a bit small and overall the experience just made me miss Far East Taste like whoa.

Afterwards there was a Halloween costume party organized by Miss Jennifer Willett wherein much money was raised for Laotian Commotion to build a new school.  There were some awesome costumes (I hope the Blues Brothers won), but Jess and I ducked out early to play some Initial D and Taiko no Tetsujin!  Taiko no Tetsujin being possibly the greatest rhythm game ever made, featuring taiko drums and musical treats ranging from "Turkish March" to the "Super Mario Brothers" theme, with a whole lot of crazy in-between.  I'll have to get a video of Mario next time...

Oh, and the conference was actually pretty good too.  How about that?

newly-inspired love from the future,

-greg.