If You're Having Fun, You Aren't Learning

This wise saying is on the blackboard in the classroom in the movie "Matilda." I warn you now, much of this post concerns that movie, as I just watched it. For me, this was a movie that I have watched for years and years. It came out in 1996, and I would imagine that I have been watching it since then. I would have been 9 when it came out, but I remember watching it often because it came on TV. After watching it again, I realized that I can still quote the whole thing. 

Directed by Danny DeVito, I forgot how good this movie really is. I have always been a fan of Roald Dahl books (I feel like he should have had a penname...if you write children's books, don't have a name like Roald, get a name like Dr. Seuss), and this one always ranked high on my list. I find it especially interesting with books that we grow up with. For me, this was one of those books/movies. If you have never seen it, gather your kids (or not) and watch it. To this day, I have a hard time thinking of a worse villain than the seemingly superhuman and horrifying Trunchbull. 

This screenshot is during a part of the movie where she is chasing Matilda and Miss Honey...it gets me every time. It still makes me feel a little stressed that they are going to get caught. 

I posted on Facebook a few days ago that I felt like throwing 2 of my students into the Chokey, a device the Trunchbull uses for discipline in her school, Crunchem Hall. A few of y'all commented with your favorite lines from the movie and it stuck with me. I nostalgia-ed myself and immediately felt the need to watch it. 

Among the most notorious lines is the "You can do it, Brucie" line where a boy is accused of stealing chocolate cake and is forced to eat a giant cake in front of the whole school. I seem to remember thinking as a kid that I was like Brucie, and I could get fame and glory from my schoolmates if someone would just challenge me to eat a chocolate cake!

Look at old Brucie. You would be hard pressed to be that happy on a daily basis. 

On to Miss Honey. Miss Honey is the sweet teacher that saves Matilda from the wicked Trunchbull. Miss Honey (naturally she is sweet...get it?) and Matilda help each other and they live happily ever after. As a side note, the ending montage song is by Rusted Root called "Send Me On My Way" and it is one of my very best songs to brighten your day. I distinctly remember having a crush on Miss Honey at some point watching the movie growing up. Now that I am all grown, I can confirm that I have a crush on Miss Honey. As a plus, she has a really nice big old house that she inherits...so...there is that. 

90's fashion aside, doesn't she just look nice? 

(Immediately after posting this, I looked up this actress on IMDB and she was in Schindler's List as well as ARMY OF DARKNESS! Amazing)

I highly recommend this movie, and I am suspicious that this is going to start me on a Roald Dahl reading kick for the next few weeks. I guess that is good since I have 0 classes all day tomorrow because of testing. Serenity now. 

Sweet Saturday

Although I missed out on the Thanksgiving holidays, I totally made up for it with possibly the best Saturday I have had in Japan. Although it entailed waking up painfully early, it ended up being well worth it. I will start with the conclusion first in saying that I now feel a great desire to go to Brazil. 

 First, this is a picture of Fuji from a class I taught on Friday. Winter is a great time to see Fuji, I am told. During winter in Japan, there is less haze, smoke and rain, so you can see Fuji more often. I have looked at it almost every day for 4 months and I have to say that I am still not tired of it. It is a beautiful mountain.  Thanksgiving day also marked the 4 month mark for me arriving in Japan. I seems crazy that it has gone so fast, and so slow at the same time. I am now 1/3 of the way through my time here. 

 We started the day by playing soft volleyball in Minami Alps. I arrived 10 minutes early (which means that I was 20 minutes early because Japanese people seem to be chronically late) to find these older folks playing croquet out in front of the gym. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

 Getting ready for the game. It isn't traditional volleyball because we play with kickballs basically. It takes some getting used to. 

 This guy is ready to go! He was stretching and all sorts of stuff. Don't let this fool you by the way, it was absurdly cold in that gym. 

 Mid game. That little kid has skills. 

 The other cool thing about soft volleyball in Japan is that the net is like 6.5 feet high, thus making me a semi-professional. 

 We won all of our sets, until they switched teams and I lost. It was bitterly disappointing to lose, but it got better once we had a good team name. I named us the Subarashii Samurai (it means lovely/wonderful samurai). 

 I wore my track suit, and I. Look. Good. I felt like Tony Soprano all day long. I was missing some gold chains and murder charges, but I was close enough. 

 Afterwards we went to Brother Agren's house. He lives by this crazy overpass thing that connects a road straight down a cliff. I can't figure who thought this was the best solution...it looks like an amusement park ride. 

 We were having a legitimate Brazilian BBQ. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I was looking forward to BBQ all week long. 

 We had about 25 people in a really tiny area, but that is how you do it in Japan. 

 Cooking the steak. I initially thought that we would run out of steak, but they just kept on cooking until every single person was full. We also had some deer steak as well. Let me say this...those Brazilians know how to BBQ. They dipped the steak in beer and salt before we grilled it. I love Japanese Mormons. 

 Brother Reme slicing up one of the top 5 sausages I have ever eaten. Evidently there is a Brazilian market nearby where they get all of this stuff. Incredible. 

 And what party in Japan would be complete without Karaoke? 

 Brother Agren (with the gray hair and glasses) has not one, but TWO karaoke machines! I sang a Somebody To Love by Queen. It wen't well. 

 The projector screen for the karaoke machine. 

I have no idea what these songs are about, I imagine love or something. 

 I have been to a few ward parties, but this definitely takes the cake. 

Folks sitting around chatting after dinner. It felt very comfortable hanging out for the afternoon. Despite the fact that there were lots of people crammed into a very tiny space, it felt like home. I guess I am getting used to the small space thing. I was full on steak and Coke Zero and sitting around telling jokes and laughing just like I would at home. 

Let me add this to my list of things I am thankful for: I am extremely thankful for people. I am very thankful for the church and the people in it. I am grateful to get to know these fine people, even though I can't speak to them. I'm thankful that you can get to know and love people without having to talk. 

Thanksgiving and a Sudden Fall Festival

Today, as you all know, is Thanksgiving Day. Being in Japan, Thanksgiving was just a Thursday for me. Luckily, I was at an elementary school. I was able to indoctrinate some first graders into the best part of Thanksgiving traditions. We made hand turkeys. We also talked about what we were thankful for. 

Some folks have commented on my only understanding 2 percent of wherever I am comment. While it remains one of the funnier things I have said, it is quite accurate. I realized earlier this week how many times a day I am surprised. Sometimes the surprises are good (like the one today), and sometimes the surprises are bad (like 1/4 school lunches). Not speaking the language or understanding the world around me, I get surprised a lot. I suppose that surprise volleyball games and choir festivals give the spice to living in Japan. Today I went to work to find an invitation on my desk written in Japanese and in crayon. I was able to deduce that it was for a Fall Festival being hosted by the second graders in the school gym...

 Included on the announcement was an advertisement for delicious pork soup (in Japanese). The soup was surprisingly good. Tofu, pork, potatoes, daikon and carrots. They handed me the bowl, but I still had no real idea what this thing was.

 I ate my soup happily because I saw everyone else eating as well. 

 Some parents came to help.

 This game was like memory. I played (and won) for the prize of origami. 

 He is getting ready to officiate the game.

 This was one of the coolest games. It was darts without darts. They had a felt bullseye on the wall, which you threw these little seeds at. I was hesitant that it would work, but these things flew straight and stuck to the target. I got a bullseye, which earned me a laminated card with fall leaves. 

 It was indicated to me that I could not participate in this game, which was a tunnel crawl. 

 I can't imagine why...

 These are the 2nd graders officiating the game.

 A very stereotypical Japanese pose. 

 You may thing that the person in between the two kids is another second grader. False. It is an old lady. She is extraordinarily tiny. 

 I didn't really understand this game. They just had me pick a stick out of a box. The stick I chose was covered in green tape. They seemed excited by that, so I got a prize. This prize was a collection of leaves on a piece of paper with a face drawn on it. 

They had bowling at this game. I didn't do as well as I would have liked to. This little boy in the red asks me every week to pick him up by my bicep.

 They are setting up the bottles for my performance in bowling. Spoiler alert: I did win a medal. 

 Fishing game. The fish had paperclips and you went "fishing" with a rolled up newspaper, string and a magnet. In the end, you could keep what you caught.

 Oh snap! There is my super awesome medal I won for my bowling skills...although it could have been an award for being the tallest person in the room. 

While you are eating your thanksgiving turkey and leftovers, consider that this was my thanksgiving meal for the day. Onion, seaweed and tofu soup, rice and sukiyaki with an egg roll. Not bad as far as school lunch goes, but definitely pales in comparison to a thanksgiving spread. 

As for Thanksgiving as a holiday, this one is very different than any other thanksgiving I have celebrated. This is potentially the only Thankgiving I will spend away from family and home. Being in Japan has shown me quite a lot that I am thankful for. I am thankful for kind people that I meet everyday, who are patient with my lack of language ability. I am thankful for the kids I teach, they are extraordinarily cute. I am thankful for my family and friends that make me want to go back to America. I am very thankful for America, and the great opportunity it was to have grown up there. 

Among all of the Occupy Wall Street things going on with the "I am the 99%," it seems like we perhaps lost sight of the fact that living in America at this time makes us all the 1%. We are blessed immensely in so many ways. I am thankful for the English language, and that I understand it. 

I have complained in the past about the Japanese garbage system, but I am thankful for it today. I went to pay my bills at the 7-11, so I got my bills and my money and set out. I was cleaning out my car of "burnable garbage" and I went into the store. After I went to the bathroom and was picking out a frosty beverage, I noticed that I couldn't find my bills or my 200ish dollars with which to pay them. I thought I left them in the car so I went out to check. When they weren't there, I retraced my steps and realized that I had accidentally put them in the trash bin. I questioned my resolve and determined that I would dumpster dive for 200 dollars. I did notice as I steeled myself for the plunge that at least 10 of my junior high students were watching me. I opened the cover and prepared to get up to my elbows. Here is why I am thankful...there was no garbage juice, banana peels or other nasty stuff because the trash is meticulously sorted. Also, the trash was recently emptied, so I didn't have to make a fool of myself. An odd thing to be thankful for at the end of an odd Thanksgiving. 

Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy your turkey coma!

Japanese Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is the national holiday of Thanksgiving back in the states (we folks who are abroad get a whole bunch of privileges for being abroad, we get to call the U.S. "the states" and we can call ourselves expats. Jealous much?). Here in Japan, it's just a Thursday. I will teach at Nagasaka Elementary School and pray that we don't eat fish for lunch.

To celebrate Thanksgiving (which is just a reason to stuff your face to the point of a heart attack and/or stroke), the group of English teachers organized an event this past Sunday. We all got together and had a potluck Thanksgiving. The group organizing took care of getting and cooking a few turkeys, and we were responsible for the rest. Not too shabby right? I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was busy eating as much as I could. 

Here you can see the spread of delicious things. The cooler was full of home made ice cream. You can see turkey, mashed potatoes, and other assorted ethnic things that really have no place in the Thanksgiving tradition...like sushi.

You can see right behind the cooler there in a clear bowl my amazing creation of Flakey Jakeys. They were a hit (they better have been because those things were crazy expensive to make). Also, the sacred pumpkin pie from Costco. Yeah. I don't actually like pumpkin. I know you are all going to get on my case for this, but I think that pumpkin is only marginally edible and we go crazy for it because it is so plentiful in America. You know, just because they grow with little to no effort and you can eat it, does not mean that we should. Can is not the same as should. For example see pickled...anything. What world do we live in where if you soak something in vinegar until it tastes like pungent doom makes it better. All preserved and canned fishes (I mean whole, I would never speak ill of tuna) is in the same boat (fishing joke). I'm looking at you sardines.  

My plate. You can see KFC fried chicken, croissant, turkey, mac and cheese, 3 kinds of mashed potatoes and some Spanish (from Spain) traditional potato pancake thing. When I asked if it was related to the latke, I was met with blank stares. Clearly nobody else watched the Judaism episode of Rugrats. Also featured is apparently the one British food that isn't awful. It is hidden, but it was like pigs in a blanket with delicious spiced sausage in it. A girl from England made it, so it's legit. Actually, all of the ethnic foods were brought by ethnic(esque) people. The croissants were made in Japan though. 

 Ah. The cheesebugers. I know you have been dying for this story. I hear you, and I give you this tale. We have heard of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," but this is the story of "How the Irish Didn't Get Thanksgiving." 

Once upon a windy and warbly night,

English speakers gathered in a country far removed from England's sight.

In the nation of the rising sun, 

the people gathered for the best American holiday...or at least the most delicious one. 

The tables were fraught with dishes from home.

Potatoes, macaroni and cheese, pumpkin pie, ice cream and a turkey complete with wishbone.

Among our party-goers were two from the emerald island,

who, never having heard the details of the American tradition, didn't quite understand.

In their haste to share with all,

they hastened their way to the oh-so-sacred American food hall. 

What they brought to share

they went to the store, ordered placed in a bag with the utmost care. 

In their minds they reasoned,

"What food best captures the idea of this American holiday season?"

The answer, as you have already seen,

was to bring a bag of cheeseburgers from McDonald's, where they had previously been. 

Personally, not wanting to reject their offering by being hasty, 

dug into a sweet hamburger that turned out to be extraordinarily tasty. 

Now, if you read between the lines, you will get what really happened there. A couple of Irish JETs wanted to contribute, but not cook. They went to McDonald's and got some cheeseburgers. Personally, I think it was a great idea. Hamburgers are delicious any day of the week. 

Massive Picture Post Featuring Fall Foliage Part 2

In true style, I never disappoint! What follows after this is an even better version of the previous best picture I have taken in Japan. Here is part 2. Again, just skip over it if you don't like crystals, freedom, pictures and me. 

 I really like this picture. For serious. ShutterBugz!

 A rusted out car sits above the parking area. I think it is serving as a warning to those who would park illegally. 

 Meta-picture

 Another patio thing under the trees.

 You can see in the distance that the path goes through the rocks.

 Cool waterfalls. Don't worry, this is not the waterfall I have been waiting to see.

 Nice right? you might even say it is a tunnel...

 But it isn't. The rocks don't come together.

 There were 3 waterfalls that came in really close to each other. 

 Looking back in time

 A quaint little bridge (there is that word again!)

Video of the waterfalls.

Video of a bunch of 1 yen coins stuck in the cracks of an overhang. They are all over! They make it look like it is glittering. Too bad they are super worthless. 

You can tell something is going to be good. It is an old saying, "Where many Japanese people are gathered taking pictures, there an attraction shall be." 

The promised waterfall!

It was actually pretty cool...maybe not walking 3 miles cool though. 

 A gate leading out from the waterfall stairs.

 I love pirates. I can't read what it was indicating, but I know pictures of pirates! 

 I think I figured that it was a place where you would pay and then pan for gold or other booty. 

 Yarr...young ones that seem to be pannin' farrr gold!

 Odd collection of statues.

 Super cool dragon carving. RAWR! (Dragons say rawr)

 A giant line to get in and touch this crystal rock thing.

 Long line...

This guy just wants to have a good time. Outside the Yamanashi Wine Place. I think you are supposed to take a picture with him...but I was alone. *sigh* 

 They go bonkers for rocks.

 Spoiler: The guy with the broom is not a statue. I did a double take.

 Like all good places to visit in Japan. An entire village exists to take your money at the top of the world!

 This. Is. Cool. 

 They have these little handy places to tell you where to take pictures. 

 This was the recommended picture...I think I will just find places for pictures on my own thanks. 

 Crystal MUSEUM! When was the last time you went to a big crystal museum? Yeah, this was my first. It was...ok. Luckily, it was free for some reason. That was the best thing I can say about this crystal museum. 

 The walls even had crystals on them!

 The hall of crystal!

 I am suspicious that some of these are just rocks.

 There ya have yer amber which helped bring back the dinosaurs or somethin'

 Yer blue crystals, real famous with the ladies.

 Pagoda mad of rock.

 Giant jeweled rock warrior guy!

 Crystal temple carving.

 The samurai is fighting the horse rider guy. They are both covered in rocks. I am not sure how the samurai is going to fight the horse guy with just his fan...I guess I don't understand Japan yet. 

 He's gonna die.

 Cool picture right? If you are one of the 3 people that saw Land of the Lost (Liz), this may be funny as it relates to a scene in that awful movie. 

 I just don't even...

 That arrow is pointing to a bubble that formed in the crystal. Fascinating.

 They should redo the Washington Monument in this.

 I rode a little tram ropeway up to the top of the mountain. They gave us this as we were waiting. Considerate right? Wrong! This would be a pickled plum that tastes like vinegary hot garbage. Yuck.

 The ride was much more fun than I thought it would be, it felt like flying!

I am superman.

 Great view of the valley behind.

 Fall colors

 The top has a great view of Kofu valley and Fuji-san! Not too shabby eh? 

 This is looking into the sun (obviously) toward my house.

 More big rocks and fall colors.

 A love shrine. You can tell by the heart silhouette. I suppose you ring the bell and then you get love or something. I understand about 2 percent of wherever I go. 

 A better picture that includes the fall colors. 

 A shrine at the top of the mountain. I also was accosted by a Japanese man who seemed to be Ustreaming with his buddy who was following him with an iPhone. He chatted with me for a while in broken English and Japanese. I may be an internet celebrity already!

 They really exaggerated the size of Godzilla (Gojira) in those monster movies...that is just a normal sized girl.

The sunset as I walked the 5km back to my car. It was dark, and kind of cold by the time I got back. 

The trip was fun, but I would definitely park in the right place next time. Oh well.