Enkais and Waterfalls

This week had an extra day of classes on Saturday. My school was supposed to have their Sports Day on Saturday, but it was canceled because of rain. Tuesday classes were then switched in, and we'll have Sports Day tomorrow instead, after a make-up off day today (Monday). Got all that?


This was another nutso weekend for me, as I had two enkais scheduled. An enkai is a Japanese work party, and my two schools scheduled their first ones for consecutive days.

My first enkai was Saturday night, and it was held at a public bath house. You can check out the website (Japanese only, but good pictures) here.

Public bath houses are a very popular Japanese pastime. The traditional "onsen" (hot spring bath house) experience still exists all over the country, but in cities there are bath houses like the one we went to. It's pretty fantastic, with elaborate rooms and different pools and an outdoor area that stays open even in the winter.

I was able to take a bath, go eat and drink and socialize, then take another bath before going home. Glorious.

Balancing game.

I don't think there are enough words in Japanese or English to express my disappointment that this picture came out so blurry. The guy on the left is Mr. Kondo, my supervisor and an exceptional human being. He's one of those people who can't seem to stop smiling ever.

I had a really tremendous time at both of my enkais, and I got to know many of the teachers in a new way. They were much more open and I had some really interesting conversations. Some of the other teachers came out with very surprising amounts of English, and the physics teacher told me some very wise things about a trip he took to India when he was young. I also shocked myself by speaking a ton of Japanese. I didn't know I knew as much Japanese as I started to speak, putting together many different things I've learned into at least partially coherent thoughts when it was necessary to communicate an idea. At school, I usually lean on English and the English teachers to get by, but I was pushed in a different way at my two enkais.


This deals with the idea of the "affective filter" in language learning as I heard about recently. Basically, one of the biggest obstacles to learning a language is the fear of doing it incorrectly and the amount that we censor ourselves. Social situations or necessity tend to relax the affective filter, so you dive in more readily.

The food was wonderful, the company was great, the setting unique. I'm really impressed at how my teachers have willingly accepted me, given all the ways they have to work around my inability to speak.


On Sunday I went down to Daishoji, about an hour south of Kanazawa, to meet up with some JETs for soccer practice. Because of a train mix-up and the fact that I had to stop in at the Sports Day of my secondary school, I missed the practice, but everyone then traveled into the countryside to a special waterfall they knew of. It was gorgeous, and we spent a long time hanging out, jumping in, swimming around.

The same enormous statue I saw several weeks ago towers over the city off to the left during an intense sunset.

I came back to Kanazawa at 7:00 for my second enkai, which I attended with another JET, Maggie, who rotates in and out of the school. After the dinner, most of us headed to karaoke, which turned into a very Lost in Translation-like experience.

I'll let the pictures tell the story here, there wasn't really a narrative anyway...

Those masks were unexpected and weirdly terrifying. But it's all pretty normal here, I guess. The masks and wigs were just behind the bar...

Maggie is on the right, and the principal of my second school is in the middle.

Maggie's six feet tall, so she's the same height as the female teachers when they stand on chairs.

Coming soon: some funny school experiences and my Sports Day!