Weekend in Shiga

It's Monday morning again and I don't have a ton to do. We have been undergoing a lot of changes in the Prefecture, which means I will pick up a second high school this summer. Until that happens, however, my Mondays are completely free. For me, I guess it's both a blessing and a curse, since I like being busy but the freedom to do what I want (or plan for the week) is also nice.

Changes

As for my new school, I was pleased to learn that the High School I have been assigned to is really close to my house, I will have another foreign coworker (which is a complete change of atmoshphere). I am not so sure I'll be planning the classes at this place (as much as I will just be showing up as their tolken, female American for exposure and immersion purposes), but I got lucky in the lottery for the new place. Pretty much expat I know working in the public school system in my prefecture is encountering some sort of change (some more major, like being forced to move or adding additional places of work), mostly due to reshuffling the budget at the prefectural level (loans from the Hanshin Earthquake restoration efforts are due) .

Collision

Ok, I really love Japan and Japanese culture (don't know if I've ever said that here, but it's true... even if I am not in love with the Japanese language in the way that others seem to drip off the tongue). BUT, no matter how long I live here, there will always be things that drive me crazy and that I won't be able to get used to. For many expats in Japan, this is the attention foreign-looking visitors seem to attract. I have had more than one kid point me out to their parents and have overheard a fair share of conversations (about what the foreigner is doing/buying/eating/wearing) coming from people who assume anyone who does not look Japanese does not understand the language (and sometimes culture). I will admit this is celebrity-like treatment can be exciting on the short-term, but also tiring when you live here and are trying to live your day-to-day. It doesn't (and never will) matter if you have been here ten days or ten years; it's the same.

To be honest, I have reached a point I either find the attention amusing when I get it or have just learned to ignore it all together.

That being said, this is a really long segway into a funny experience I had last night. One thing that was sort of hard to ignore happened when I went running this week. I was sprinting up the hill on the big bridge near my house and had two middle school boys ride their bikes into each other - and fall over! - because they were both so focused on watching me sprint. Can't say that has ever happened before, but I felt like someone in a Nike or Reebock commercial just running past them and into the distance with a snickering smile on my face. Ha!

A Hello, A Goodbye and Kicking it up with the Coworkers

Friday was my big Hello/Goodbye work party in Himeji (known as the infamous enkai). This one was pretty tame and I didn't go out afterwards because the group I wanted to go with was going to karaoke and I had about 45 minutes until last train, but it was fun hanging out with coworkers in an environment where they are SO much more relaxed and open. They call it a Hello/Goodbye party because it's to thank the staff members that are transferring or retiring and to welcome those taking their place. As with other work parties, the party costs about $100 a head (yes, for real... and everyone comes!), you have to go stag (no families - just coworkers) and there is a plenty of booze (the social lubricant of choice) to accompany the typical five-course meal they serve. I got placed at the head table with the office staff and heads at school, but since none of them speak any English and it can be really formal, I switched cards at the last minute. Not so sure that was kosher (even if it gave some of the younger guys that saw me do it a chuckle), but I had fun at the table I was at. Sweet Ms. Tsutsumi is always fun to sit by and it was funny listening to the older man next to me bad-talk another teacher after he came onto me a little too strongly and the older guy thought there was a threat there.

Midwestern Girls on Parade and Hikone Castle

After meeting with the old ladies on Saturday, I headed a few prefectures over to Shiga (home of Lake Biwa) to hang out with my friend Shannon. We met in Minneapolis before either of us moved to Japan, actually, and she and my friend Brianne (the third party in our little Midwestern trio) have been such a blessing to have here. We basically just hung out, hitting up an amazing italian restaraunt (with dangerously delish desert carts) and then watching a Chinese film on Saturday. On Sunday, we spent the day in Hikone, famous for Hikone Castle (彦根城 / Hikone-jō). Hikone celebrated it's 400 year anniversary last year (Kristin and I saw a full-scale snow replica at the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri). I explored the inside on my own since Shannon had already visited it a few too many times and it seemed tiny compared to my local Himeji Castle (which I am starting to appreciate more and more as the most famous castle in Japan), but this castle was also black and it was refreshing to see something other than the usual 60s-era concrete reconstructions most towns boast. The castle tower is an official National Treasure and that a number of the turrets have been classified as Important Cultural Properties (with a pretty Japanese garden on the side), but the inside did look similar to what I've seen before.

After the castle, Shannon and I wandered around for a bit, watching the sun set over Lake Biwa (Japan's largest lake) before I had to head home. I sort of wish I was lakeside right now, but I'm going to head back this summer for water sports on the lake and will see the girls for a little field trip in a few weeks. Lovely time!