Bringing America Back

The events of this weekend, in three parts.

This took a bit longer than I anticipated to update. Apparently being a teacher really takes it out of you. I already have 1000 times more respect for every teacher I've ever had. I imagine that I'll become more accustomed to the rhythm as time goes, but I'm constantly tired now. My introductory lessons are going well, though, as I show them pictures of Colorado and teach them "Sweet Home Chicago". The kids are perhaps more well-behaved than American kids, but not robots by any means. I often wish they would speak louder though, shyness is an epidemic here. More impressions of school life to come.

This past weekend had some of the most glorious weather I've seen yet in Kanazawa. Early afternoon on Saturday was JET soccer league practice. We're going to try to get a full team together to compete at the JET tournament in Nagano in early October.




At around 5:00 we headed off in a huge group to go to a baseball game. The local team is the Ishikawa Million Stars--they're not major league, more like AAA baseball. It doesn't matter with a name like that, though. And their opponent? None other than the Fukui Miracle Elephants.

I'll let that sink in for a few seconds, I'm glowing just typing it.

Before the game, we managed to get a few pictures with the enthusiastic but grubby mascot, "Starbo".

I'm actually pretty crushed that this picture got focused weirdly, it would have been perfect otherwise.

The atmosphere was decidedly relaxed, and really felt like a baseball game in any mid-sized town in America, down to the delicious fried food.

Jeff decked out in Million Stars gear. I got a jersey, but shied away from the little Starbo stuffed animal, because...well, it's a little creepy, right?

I caught a ball thrown up into the stands before the game and gave it to this little girl. She proceeded to hang around our group for most of the game until her brother dragged her away. Another focus issue, but she was adorable nonetheless.

The actual game was a bit of a disappointment, as our beloved Million Stars got shellacked by the Miracle Elephants 6-0. Those not from America were decidedly unconvinced of baseball's greatness, and given the sample I couldn't really argue with them.

Luckily Starbo came by to say hello and raise our spirits late in the game.

On to Sunday.

My apartment is huge, we've covered that. I'd been wanting to host a barbeque for a long time, and it just so happened that the first one fell on Labor Day. I ended up getting around 25 people to come by and eat my delicious burgers. Several comments were made to the effect of "I don't feel like I'm in Japan anymore". Perhaps that's a detrimental thing overall, but it was a lot of fun.

Something interesting asserted itself during the barbeque. We had music playing, a fair amount of people around, and were barbeque-ing out in the parking lot. The music wasn't terribly loud, and the people weren't wasted and breaking things or even being that loud, and it was 4 PM on a Sunday. Still, several Japanese people walked close by and gave what were reported to me as "looks". The Japanese hate direct confrontation, and will often bypass the first step of asking someone to be quieter and go directly to calling the cops. That is more or less infuriating to me in concept; luckily the police never showed a hint of coming by. Apparently one man across the parking lot cracked his door and stared out at the people in the parking lot--when one said "Konichiwa" cheerily, he quickly shut the door. I don't want to upset my neighbors, and I'll have to investigate this situation further, but man I'll have to keep my tongue in my mouth...the passive aggressiveness doesn't work well with me.

Everyone together now: cultural interchange!