Saipan

This one is a doozy, it's not perfect but I hope you enjoy it. I apologize for the lack of spacing, and paragraphs, I couldn't figure it out. It has been way too long since my last post. In a city that seemingly never stops it is hard to get some time to sit down. What can I say, it was an intense finish to the first semester at school. The kids were buzzing with energy as we came closer and closer to the holiday break. As their energy picked up mine dwindled, but I made it and we had a lot of fun along the way. It has only been a half year so far and it is very easy to see how much the kids have changed. Their level of confidence has increased so much and it is fun to watch them as they charge forward in discovering new things. I was in need of a break, and couldn`t wait to get out of Tokyo for a bit. My cousin Kristen, his wife Kathryn and our friend Charles decided to take a trip to Saipan. Saipan is a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It played an integral part in the Pacific battle in World War 2 and is now considered an American territory much like Guam. The island was beautiful, or looked beautiful and there were a lot of old World War 2 sites to visit. So off we went. I was in a daze and basically just went through the motions of packing my bags and heading to the airport. I was tired and it hadn’t really hit me yet, I remember asking myself two questions, “where am I going?” and “where can I get coffee?” The plane ride was uncomfortable, and it felt like it took forever. It wasn’t until I walked out of the airport in Saipan until it hit me, the thick hot air. Merry Christmas, I was in paradise! I was pretty happy to walk out of the airport, I knew I was in the right place, a nice relaxing trip with sightseeing and swimming was the perfect thing I needed after a hardworking semester. Little did I know at this point that this trip was going to be one I will never forget, it had it all, relaxation, fun and sheer terror, yes, terror, I had to find something to keep me on my toes. We arrived in Saipan in the afternoon Sunday December 18th. My cousin Kristen, his wife Kathryn and a colleague of ours Charles were thrilled to have the opportunity to be on this beautiful island. We went directly to our hotel and checked in. We unpacked and met up in the lobby, our agenda for the rest of the day consisted of eating, drinks, eating, drinks, maybe a walk, sit on the beach, eating and more drinks. We took it pretty easy that afternoon, continued to enjoy some more drinks on the beach at night and went to bed early so that we were well rested for the next day. We woke up early Monday and decided that we wanted to rent scooters to check out the island. Before we started on our way we went to the hotel beach to soak in the view. It was a beautiful day, 30 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and the water was crystal clear. Charles, Kristen and I were looking out on the water. The island was surrounded by a huge reef, the waves broke out far from shore, leaving the inshore waters nice and calm, perfect for snorkelling and swimming. Out by the reef we could see some sort of ship wreck. We stood there wondering what kind of ship had crashed against the reef and sunk, was it a ship from World War 2? Out of the corner of my eye I saw a local man, standing close to the shore by a picnic table. I remember saying to Kristen and Charles, “hey you know who will know what kind of ship that is, that guy.” I pointed to the local man and walked over. I had no idea at this point what was going to happen next, the rest of our week was changed at this moment, we met Norris. We introduced ourselves and asked him about the ship, he told us it was an old oil tanker that got stuck out on the reef a long time ago. Norris was kind enough to tell us about the ship, he then proceeded to give us his sale pitch. Norris worked on the beach, he and other locals helped tourists do the things they want to do while on vacation. He was a funny man, claiming to own a small area on the beach which he called his ranch. Norris told us if we needed anything while we were on the island he would get it. We liked him, and liked the fact that we would be paying for the services of a local rather than a company from the hotel. It was only the morning of our first day but we wanted every day to count, so we set up the next day’s agenda with Norris, he was basically our guide for the week. He was going to take us over to a very small island just off the coast of Saipan for swimming and snorkelling, on our way over there he promised to take us by the ship wreck as well as an old plane that had crashed inshore and miraculously stayed intact. We told Norris we would meet him the next morning at his ranch, we then set out to get Kathryn and rent some scooters to tour the island with. We had day two planned and we hadn’t even started day one. Renting scooters was pretty easy, there were a few places to choose from. As long as you had cash they didn’t care about a drivers license. Yikes! So there we were the four of us, with our own scooter out on the open road in Saipan. We followed the only major highway that wrapped around the island, it was a beautiful ride up to the northern coast. We were free from the concrete jungle of Tokyo. There were few people and no high rise buildings, it was a peaceful ride. Surrounding the road was fairly dense bush, so dense you could not see a meter through it. I could not imagine what it was like for the Americans landing on this island and having to move through this jungle environment, carrying their gear all the while looking out for Japanese bunkers that were scattered throughout the island. Most of the bunkers were still there, ghostly concrete structures that I am sure would tell stories from the war, much of sorrow and loss. It was amazing the see the remains of World War 2 on the island. Such a peaceful place, its beauty, so natural, easily brings you to a state of relaxation. It’s hard to think that so many years ago this place served as a horrible memory for so many who fought here. A place of damnation, a living hell, men were stuck here, fighting through the vines, the bush, and the treachery. We drove along the coast for about a half hour until we came upon the last command post for the Japanese army. It was an incredible bunker, still intact and built into the side of the mountain that overlooked the ocean. It was surrounded by heavy artillery guns, a few machine guns and a tank. The tank was blown open revealing its engine and the new life which had taken it over, plants. Fitting and picturesque the tank now sits there below the mountain, pointing out towards the sea, in peace. Close by was memorial site for the lost civilians and Japanese during the war. Bonzai cliff it was called. Many of the Japanese and locals jumped off this cliff, scared of the American army which they did not want to surrender too they took their own lives, hoping to move on to a more peaceful one. The memorial and monuments on Bonzai cliff were beautiful as they looked out onto the open ocean. This was not a peaceful place, a high cliff, ravaging waves pounding against the islands walls, and large sharks lurking underwater below. I could not imagine the scene during the war when people were jumping into these waters. What a horrible way to go. One monument in particular caught my eye, a large stone with an engraving on it. It said, “Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” Such beautiful words for such a tragic place. Moving on we headed even further north to check out a Grotto, a natural cave inland that the ocean water finds itself flooding. When the tide is out you can swim in it, unfortunately the tide was in and the waves were too strong for any swimmers. Bird Island was out next stop on the road. We drove our scooters further north, through steep and winding roads. I was in awe as we climbed, more and more of the island was revealed the view in front of us was beautiful as well as behind us. It was hard to pay attention to driving the scooters. Finally we arrived at a lookout point where we had a great view of bird island, a sanctuary for birds, protected from poachers and well preserved, it was beautiful. Surrounded by clear blue ocean water this small island stuck out high above the water. Large jagged rocks carved out the islands physique and trees, shrubs and other plant life clothed the island. As we were looking at bird island I noticed a small beach just below it, from our view it looked like the best beach on the island, white sand and crystal clear blue water, it also seemed to be free of tourists, a perfect spot to relax and have the beach to ourselves. We didn’t have time that day to go down to that beach but we did make a stop there a few days later and it was exactly what was expected, paradise. Tuesday December 20th, my birthday. The previous morning we had met our new local friend, Norris. We had planned to use his services and go out on a boat to check out the ship wreck as well as the island that was just off the coast of Saipan. It was a very small island, you could walk around it in about 15 minutes. It was beautiful, surrounded by shallow waters and white sandy beaches, it was the perfect place to spend my birthday. The Americans had landed on this island during world war 2 before landing on the mainland. American amphibious machines and artillery guns had been sunk around the island and are now home to schools of fish. We were eager to check them out. Just before we left shore to go to the island Norris mentioned that they sometimes have a bbq on the beach. If we were to pitch in some money we could have a bbq there for dinner and he would prepare some local food for us to eat. It sounded amazing, so we forked over some cash and hoped for the best, we had barely started the day and it was already shaping up to be something special. We spent the day on the small island, laying on the beach, enjoying the warm water and snorkelling around the old wrecks. I had never gone snorkelling before, it was quite remarkable, swimming with schools of fish that were brilliantly coloured and seemingly clueless to us swimming around them. I was a bit nervous, at times in the water. I have a fear of sharks and I was not eager to run into any on my vacation. I remember at times being very scared in only water that was five feet deep, yes laugh, but that seemed deep for me, and there were sharks all over the place. I blame two people in my life for this fear, Steven Spielberg for making the movie Jaws and my father for always chasing me in the pool while humming the dreadful song from that movie. In the back of my mind I always thought of sharks. To me they are the most terrifying creature one could encounter in the water, you could never tell what they are thinking. I tried to block out my imagination and thoughts about seeing a shark and just tried to enjoy the moment. It was all good until...about 15 feet away I saw a rather large fish, slowly, methodically swimming at the bottom of the ocean floor. It’s body, it’s tail, its black tipped fins were everything I had ever imagined. I was choked for about 2 minutes, amazed at what I saw and completely terrified at the same time. It was a black tipped shark, and it was swimming around us for a few minutes before it took off into the deeper water. I popped my head up out of the water and wanted to yell to Kristen, “Shark!” Suddenly realizing that was a bad thing to say on a beach, I tried to discreetly tell him that there was something that he needed to see under the water. From that point forward I struck with a great sense of awe, it was such a magnificent fish, the way it swam along the bottom of the ocean, it was majestic, seemingly at peace but most likely our for lunch. I was so fascinated with seeing my first shark I wanted to see another. I started swimming out a little deeper and didn’t see one again for a while. I did have another run in with one and was able to swim with it and follow it for a few minutes. They were a little skittish but then again I would be too if there was a long gangly white man chasing me in the water flailing his arms, I’m not the greatest swimmer. I was sun burnt, I was tired and hungry, we must have spent at least 6 hours on the island snorkelling and drinking. We caught our ride back to shore. It was a good day. When we arrived back on the main land Norris was there to greet us. He was ready and waiting, the BBQ was in full force. He had bought everything and had the fire ready. We went back to our rooms showered and changed and went back the Norris’ ranch. His friends had come and had brought a few of their kids with them. It was kind of nice. They joined in on our bbq, it was fun meeting new people and having some laughs with the locals. I pitied the tourists who were a mere 20 yards away watching a “traditional show” put on by the hotel company. While eating BBQ and hanging out with Norris and his friends we met Derek and Jackson. The two locals were free divers. These guys would take a boat out to the middle of the ocean and jump off with their harpoon guns, knives and flippers. The boat would leave them there for hours, sometimes all day. They would spend those hours spear fishing, making a living to feed their families. These men were not ordinary fishermen. Derek and Jackson could hold their breath for a long period of time and used weighted belts to dive down as far as they could in the deep blue sea and spear whatever they could find. They told us that they usually like going at night as its easier to catch the fish, scary to me, fun for them. They admit to killing sharks and other large fish, not in abundance but enough to make a living. The left fear at the shore and swam because they loved to. I revelled in the mystique and skill of their craft, it was amazing. They said at one point of the night, “birthday boy” (a name given to me and used throughout the trip) “do you want to come diving with us tomorrow?” With my brow slightly raised and my gut sagging low I said, “hell yeah!” It just came out, and that’s how it happened. There we where, committed to a day of open ocean spear fishing. Derek and Jackson said that we would go fishing in a place where there are large nurse sharks and black tip sharks the size of picnic tables, sting rays and octopus, Yikes! We finished our drinks knowing what we had committed to and went to bed. I will admit it right now, I was scared to death...I needed some sleep. We woke up the next day for breakfast and I was waiting for something to happen that would give me an out for the day’s excursion. While eating at the breakfast table Charles had eluded that I had talked in my sleep. Remembering about my nightmares the night before I sheepishly said, “I did?” He said, “umm, yes, you did, you yelled my name.” That night I had a nightmare. I dreamt of our open ocean spear fishing date with Derek and Jackson. Charles got attacked by sharks. I remember distinctly the point in my dream where I yelled out his name, “Charles!” I must have actually done that. Charles, who was sleeping in the bed next to me in our hotel room woke up. It wasn’t until the next morning at the breakfast table that we put two and two together, the story unfolded. Of the four of us Kathryn was the only smart one. She decided to take a day of relaxation instead of the trip out to the ocean. We also figured we needed someone on shore just in case we never came back. Thanks Kathryn! We were to meet Derek and Jackson by the beach the next morning. We had ate a nice big breakfast and were ready to go. After meeting him we had to get our stuff ready, within a few hours we were on our way. I will never forget the feeling I had while on the boat. I was terrified, mortified, I felt so sick. I thought to myself, this is what the Americans must have felt while they were taking the boats to the island, we were going to war...we were going fishing...I have never swam this far out in the ocean before, the water was extremely clear and you could see everything under the water. Not sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. The boat engine stopped and Derek and Jackson jumped into the water, the captain told us to jump in too. My heart at this point was beating so fast I felt like it was going to spontaneously combust. We jumped in and the boat drove off. Yes, the captain had to run some errands... Immediate shock hit me. Kristen, Charles and I did have life jackets on, but I hadn’t put my goggle and snorkel on yet. I was just floating there, I had no idea what was below me. We were going to be there for a while so I figured I might as well swim around. I put on my goggles and snorkel and peered below. I saw the ocean floor, the water was as clear as the blue skies and there were hundreds of beautiful fish and coral surrounding us. I could see it all. About every ten minutes Jackson or Derek would poke their heads above water and ask if we were ok. We were just following along, they never had life jackets or a place to stand, they swam the whole time and we floated and swam along with them on their amazing hunt for our dinner. Watching them spear their fish was pretty amazing, everyone that they caught they would string around on their belt. I remember thinking that they were pretty much bait for any sharks. After about 20 minutes Jackson poked his head above water and said, hey, there are black tips around...meaning, there are black tip sharks around. At this point I really wish I would have been able to swim to shore, but with shore at least a few miles in we had no other choice but just float. I remember frantically looking around, where are they, where are they? Jackson said they were pretty big ones, I didn’t see them, they were stealthy, Jackson told me numerous times just to keep my head straight and not look around so much. He told me that I missed them several times because my head was moving a mile a minute. This whole thing was maddening, the worse part was Charles...Charles could not swim, he has spent maybe a few hours in his whole life in water and had no idea how to swim in a small pool let alone the ocean. He was brave and did not want to turn down the opportunity to go spear fishing. Incredible, probably one of the bravest guys I know. He would just float around, we always made sure to stay close to him. We would always look back at him and raise our thumbs for a check to make sure he was ok. Little did we know that at some point, somehow, he had cut his thumb. He was bleeding about an hour into our trip. To stop the blood from seeping into the water he raised his hand above the water, he raised his thumb in the air. Every time Kristin and I would look back to see if he was ok we would see him with his thumb in the air and we would raise our thumb as if to say, yes all is good. All was not good...At some point I remember Jackson pointing at me, he pointed then pointed out about 10 feet in the water and said “hey!” A black tip shark was leaving the oceans floor and , making a run at Charles. Jackson bolted, and scared the shark away. Thankfully Jackson is a good swimmer and got their before the shark did. If something had happened we would have been pretty much doomed, there was no way to radio the boat or anyone on shore, we were stuck out there, just floating around. This was the idiocy of our adventure. The only thing at this point that kept me going was adrenaline. It’s funny, usually people this scared just pee their pants...swimming trunks in this matter. Since we left that beach that morning I had to go. I figured I would just go “out there.” I was so terrified I couldn’t. I held it for almost 2 or more hours until I was on dry land. If you are wondering, yes, I made it to a toilet. Amongst all this fear I did see some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my entire life. I swam above a sting ray, swam through schools of beautiful fish and saw parts of the ocean that the movie the little mermaid clearly inadequately portrayed. The sting ray was the highlight, like most ocean creatures it was majestic as it glided along the ocean floor, peacefully, not wanting to bother anyone or not wanting to be bothered, we swam above it, in awe, in love, in the moment. I can’t say how happy I was when the boat came back, I was even happier to get my two feet back on dry land. We were dead tired, swimming for two hours and had nothing to drink out there but the salty sea. The whole week was filled with adventure, either snorkelling or riding scooters. At night time Charles and I got into a habit of getting massages, we would go for dinner, have some drinks, get a massage then go out on the town for more drinks. It was a life of luxury, one that I will rarely get to experience so I made sure I got a good taste while I could. On our last day we decided to go back to the small island we visited on the day of my birthday. We went back to the same spot and spent the day snorkelling. In the afternoon we ran into Derek and his friend Nemo. They joined us for a few beers on the beach as we chatted and reminisced about our adventures spear fishing. To us what we did was out of the ordinary, spectacular dangerous or crazy if you want to call it that. To Derek, it was life, it was work. Derek asked us if we saw anything cool out around the island when we were snorkelling. We told him we saw an octopus. As soon as we said this a spark hit his eye, “dinner!” He says. “Let’s go get it! He took out a knife and quickly made a spear out of a small stick. We took him back to the area we saw the octopus and sure enough it was still there. It was hiding in a whole. We all watched Derek underwater as he stuck his hand in the whole trying to reach for it and pull it out, jabbing his spear then thrusting his hand in to see if he could catch one of its tentacles. He kept putting sea cucumbers in the whole to scare it out. Octopus have a allergic reaction when they touch sea cucumber, Derek says it’s an easy way to scare them out of a whole. Soon enough Derek had it. All the sudden we saw the octopus emerge, it wrapped its tentacles around Derek’s arm as if it was eating him. As soon as the octopus was out of the whole we saw two huge explosions, black ink. The water became very murky as we watched Derek struggle with the octopus. Derek then proceeded to bite its head to kill it and end the struggle. It was exciting to see, Derek was very happy, it was a large octopus and would be a lot of food for us and his family to eat. He told us he would cook it for us that night on the beach. The perfect meal for our last day on the island. I will never forget my trip to this beautiful place. Well, that’s enough for now, hopefully my next post won’t be long away. Lots of love, Matt

Sweet Dreams!

Where do I start? It’s been a while since my last blog post and quite a lot has occurred in the last month. The days are flying by and I have sunk into a pretty good routine. I’ve fully adjusted and now feel comfortable where I am mentally and physically. I love my new apartment and the area I am living in and feel at peace with the decision I made to come here, I love my job and have yet to begrudgingly trudge to work. I find myself laughing at times when I think back to my job at Free The Children, sitting at a desk for hours at a time jamming on my keyboard, never again! “The now” is good, and tomorrow seems to be getting better. Learning new words... I started asking my students to teach me new Japanese words that I can use on a daily basis. It seemed like a good idea at first, free Japanese lessons...this was obviously a naive thought. This lasted a few days when I realized they were not the best at helping me... I asked my students how I would say “have a good night.” They gave me a simple phrase to use and I eagerly wrote it down, said it a few times in my head and used it that evening when I left the gym and the store. I started using my new word and felt quite proud that I not only learned something new but can now show my gratitude and friendly demeanour to those I come across. Back home in Canada I would usually wish a store clerk a good night or have a good day after I leave a counter; I figured I could do that here. So I started saying “Oyasuminasai” to the guy behind the counter at the gym, the liquor store clerk and the ladies at the grocery store. All this time I thought I was saying Thank you and have a good night. I reported back to my students that I had been using the new word they had taught me. When they found out I was saying “Oyasuminasai” to the people at the grocery store they burst out laughing and they were quick to explain that that phrase is used only before you go to bed as if you were laying next to someone, the literal translation was sweet dreams. As they told me this I was laughing and running through my head that facial expressions of all the Japanese people I had said this too, especially the guy at the liquor store, a ponderous look on his face, he probably thought I was a psycho waving goodbye to him and telling him to have sweet dreams. I have quickly erased this word from my vocabulary and sheepishly just say thank you now. Lesson learned. Thanksgiving weekend in Japan: My trip to Hakone. Hakone is a beautiful mountainous region full of hiking trails, hot springs and good eats. My cousin, his wife and I left early Saturday morning for Hakone. The most notable event of this trip was our hike. We took an extensive route through the hills reaching 3 major site seeing peeks as we trekked along the spine of the mountains. The trails were lined with thick walls of grass stretching at least 10 feet in height, the grass was so dense you could not see more than a foot in front of you if you dared to try and stick your head through it, you could not see anything around you only the trail that was laid out ahead. Along the way we would stumble out to open areas where we would be fixated by the epic view of the mountainous area and the outline of the small town we left below us. The trail it self was incredibly rough. It looked like an old river bed, a variety of oddly shaped rocks were thrown throughout the trail making it very hard to navigate, climbing down boulders or stumbling over small rocks that hadn’t yet found its place in the ground yet was a common occurrence. Along the path from time to time we would pass other hikers. Aside from the view the most spectacular part about this trek were the other hikers that we met along the trail. They were not young, they were elderly at times appearing to be closing in on at least 60 years of age. These elderly hikers were in amazing shape. Most elderly people in Japan seem to be still highly mobile at a very old age. This was no easy trail for an older person, it was hard enough for myself I imagine it must have been tough for them. At one point during the hike we had stopped to take a short water break. Close to us were another group of hikers. They were elderly and obviously much wiser than us.... Let’s step back here to our pre departure... a few hours earlier we had stopped off at a small shop to get a few snacks before out hike, we bought water but for some reason thought it was a good idea to grab some of the fried chicken that was for sale in the hot food section of the store. It looked good at the time and to be honest I thought it was going to be a tasty snack to eat at the top of the mountain. It wasn’t...instead it was pretty much deep fried chicken fat....so there we were drinking our water and disgruntled about our choice of snack. We stood there on our short break and watched a group of elderly people enjoy some fruit, a smart choice on their part. It’s pretty safe to say that I learned my lesson here, friend chicken is not the best snack for a long hike, bring some juicy fruit instead...who knows maybe these elderly people had the same life lesson in their younger years. I believe one of us mumbled under our breath, “I’d kill for a slice of that apple pear.” We all had the same thoughts, it did look pretty good. I’m not sure if they heard us, maybe they thought we were going to kill them for their apples, nonetheless as per usual the kindness and hospitality of the Japanese people was shown. The elderly man from the group came to us and offered some over some of his fruit. I had a slice of the apple pear and that pretty much picked me up for the rest of the trip. The trip took us just over 3 hours, powering through the hills we must have walked at least 10 km’s, it was intense and I would say my legs almost gave out a few times on the way down. We hobbled back to Tokyo the next day, exhausted but eager to have a day of rest back at home. Thanksgiving Monday I decided to have a few people over, my cousin Kristen, his wife Kathryn, my friend Loy and Shanna were able to cram ourselves into my apartment and enjoy a thanksgiving feast. I had made a trek earlier that day to a gaijin supermarket where sure as you’d have it there was a special display full of Canadian Thanksgiving treats, I was able to find stoughing, cranberry sauce and turkey gravy! I wasn’t about to miss out on a feast, Turkey or not I was going to cook up something. I had a craving for a good food coma that comes with the tradition of any Canadian Thanksgiving feast. I had one burner and two frying pans, there was no way I could cook a turkey, instead I made chicken cutlets on the frying pan. I made mash potatoes, gravy, and stoughing. It all turned out pretty good for what I was working with. Sure enough after about a good 45 minutes of eating I was sitting on my floor barely able to move, ahhh, it felt like I was home, there’s nothing like a good old Canadian food fest on Thanksgiving. Some tid bits about my class. I don’t know what it is about being a teacher, I could be extremely tired, but as soon as those kids walk in the room I seem to gain momentum. This is obviously my first year teaching, I have only seen really a few classes back home but my class seems to be bounding with energy, I am feeding off it and enjoying it each day. Each student is just bursting with charisma, witt and eagerness to learn, it keeps me going and on my toes, they always want to test themselves with something harder. We just started a new science unit on light and sound, they were just bursting at the seams the day I told them we had our first science experiment, I advised them to listen closely to instruction and follow along and they did so as if they were adults, I was extremely proud of them. I have a few running jokes with the students, one student in particular using the phrase easy peezy lemon squeezing all the time. Whenever I give him something challenging to do I tell him that it should be easy pizza lemony treatza...he laughs, and tells me that I must be really old because I forgot how to say things that kids usually say. On that same day, one student asked me my age, I told them I couldn’t tell them and she said, “well you must be at least 40”...haha I laughed, then another student piped up and said, “no way he is not forty,” thinking that this student might catch on to my youth I was a little relieved...he continued to say, “there is no way Mr. Montgomery is 40, but he’s at least 35”...still way off, but nice try. I also had the class believing that I lived in a secret underground house, the door to this place was underneath the classroom carpet. This was kind of funny as I really think they actually believed me. I caught one of them lifting up the carpet one morning when I was out of the room...haha, maybe they were looking for me. I had them going until I walked out of my apartment one day and one of my students was passing by. The jig was up and sure enough the next day I had all my students in my class telling me they knew where I lived...ugh...I hope I don’t have to move again. Soccer baseball... Kathryn (my cousin) teaches my class P.E, she invited me out on Friday afternoon to play soccer baseball with the kids. It was pretty fun watching them play this game, it was their second time playing and they were still getting used to it. It’s fun to watch them outside the classroom setting like this, they get pretty competitive and you see some real intensity light up in a few of them. I played along with them and was trying to go easy on them. I was actually really worried I would just kick the ball and nail one of my students in the face. Every time I was up to kick the ball my team would beg me to kick a homerun, I wouldn’t instead I would kick it pretty softly and let them catch it or try to tag me out. This was a bad game plan...my team fell behind by 7 points. It was closing in on the last two innings and two of my most competitive male students were begging for a miracle...as luck would have it, bases were loaded and Mr. Montgomery was up. We needed to score, I figured oh well let’s have some real fun, I blasted the ball out of the park, grand slam! I felt pretty bad for the other team as my team rounded the bases... we had just won the game...I really wondered if I should have done that, that was until one of the kids from the other team came over to me at the end of the game and said, Mr. Montgomery, that home run you had was the coolest thing I have seen all week. He lost the game, but he didn’t care, he just couldn’t believe a “35” year old could have a kick like that. Lesson learned son. I will try and keep my blog more up to date so that I don’t have to post huge posts like this. That way I can include shorter stories with more detail and likely really take a good look at the grammar before I publish them. Hope this one was ok. I will write again soon!

The new place! and a sumo match!

I have found a new place to move into, it’s a little more expensive than I wanted to pay but I really liked it and it is within walking distance to my school.

Although I was excited to move into my new neighbourhood I would definitely miss the area I had lived in for my first few weeks in Tokyo. It was always buzzing, full of vibrant coloured signs and young university students running amuck. I decided to take a good walk around the area the night before I was to move with a good friend Loy. We decided we wanted to go to bed early that night but wanted to just grab some ice cream and take a short stroll. We had started walking in an area I had never gone down before. A good 10 minutes went by...then the most beautiful waves of sound ran through my ears, I could hear Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan, someone was doing some justice. I had to seek out this source, where was this coming from.

A tavern, a few blocks away from my place was the scene of a local blus jam session held once a month and I just happened to walk across it. I walked down into the basement of the large business building poking my head through the door and gazing through an ominous cloud of smoke I saw a hoard of Japanese men with loosened neckties releasing their stresses on the fret board of a guitar. And just like that, I sailed through the clouds of smoke up to the counter, “I’ll have a Guinness please.”

On a side note, if I haven’t said this before, it is legal for people to smoke inside restaurants and bars, it’s disgusting and I try to avoid it at all costs. Nothing mattered at this point though, I was in heaven. These guys were good, masters of their craft they were able to play anything and everything. There was a master, or director who had a list of about twenty names, he would randomly call upon people to play, piano, drums, guitar, harmonica or sing and they would just go up there and do it, seemed too simple really. The funny thing was that all these men were drinking Smirnoff ice, and loving it, they only needed about 2 and they were on cloud nine, yes its true Japanese people have a low tolerance. I ended up staying there for the whole night and not leaving until the jam session was over. I was able to make a new contact and friend Dimitri, a local who I hope to share a few beers with and talk about music in the near future.

Moving day...

I have now moved out of the sardine can to a lavish and larger apartment. It is two floors higher than the one I am in now and includes a much nicer balcony that I might be able to fit a chair on. The place I was living in was 16sq meters the place I have moved into is 22sq meters which is big for a single bachelor in Tokyo. There are a few new and amazing amenities that I now have, like a freezer and a real fridge, as well as my own washing machine, oh and I would also like to note that my kitchen is no longer in my bedroom! This new place is still pretty small but large enough to make it my own and feel comfortable in...I will post some photos on facebook of my new place...

Moving Day Continued...I dropped all my stuff in my new place and ran off to the sumo tournament!
A sumo wrestling tournament is a must see when in Japan. This age old classic tilt between two obese men in diapers is truly remarkable, hilarious and quite a boisterous event.
In all seriousness these “athletes” train their whole lives to have the chance to get in the circle and amaze a crowd of thousands. All sumo’s are aware of customs and rituals that are done before a fight and complete each with profound dignity and respect. This event is truly a celebration of the past and a great example of how a piece of cultural is carried through the times.

The sumo tournament I went to on Saturday started early at 8am and went until 6pm with a few breaks in between. I became aware that the heavy hitters did not come out and battle until the end of the day so I showed up with some friends around 2pm.
We managed to find our seats and comfortably hunker down with some beers to enjoy an afternoon full of grapplin’ slap happy sumo’s.

When the sumo’s enter the circle they first must complete a few rituals before the grappling begins. The most frustrating part, as an observer is the anticipation of the engagement between the two sumo’s. When each sumo enters the circle they lift their legs, smack their bums and stomachs as they prepare to grapple. These “comical” traditions are used to scare away demons and intimidate your opponent.

The leg stretch is quite remarkable, I would have never guessed that a 300+ pound man could raise his leg 4 feet in the air. In any instance where some gas is released at this point I am pretty sure they could scare away anything. And with the diet that these boys have I am sure they would push a few sour ones out. Lets just hope this happens on their own time.

After the sumo’s scare away demons and intimidate their opponent they are given 4 minutes to get ready for the match. Salt is thrown by each competitor into the ring in hopes to purify the ground. After purification both men get closer in the middle of the circle and bend down towards each other in an aggressive stance, the match is about to start! Just as everyone thinks they are about to fight both competitors stand up walk back over to their corner and throw more salt on the ring. This is done to the point that no one knows when these guys are going to go at it, they continually psych you out. Finally the moment comes and you start thinking, ok, they have done the salt throwing thing 4 times they must be ready to go by now, you are on the edge of your seat and the anticipation can be felt within your lower bowels... nope, they stand up again and walk off to the corner, more salt is thrown. At this point every gaijin in the stadium is screaming, “what the hell! Have at it!” Finally the sumo’s come back to the center of the ring... the moment you have bitten all your finger nails off for begins. The sumo’s lunge towards each other, slapping their opponents face, stomach, and well pretty much grabbing at anything they can get their hands on. This happens for about 10-15 seconds, then it’s over and you are stuck sitting there again biting off your nails watching another round of rituals take place. The tournament was a doozy, I had boat loads of fun and have taken some incredible pictures, please check out my facebook page if you wish to sneak a peek.

Getting adujusted...

I realize I am a little behind on my blogging, I will catch up! Caution, ramblings ahead...

Japan so far has been a whirl wind of hustle and bustle since I got here. I escape only when I arrive home to my apartment however, I don’t feel like it’s not much of an escape. The bathroom and my kitchen and everything else I was able to cram into this place from home is within a two meter radius of each other... No matter how hard I try I am really always stuck in the kitchen, I really could have breakfast in bed every day if I wanted to.

For some reason the Japanese like to call these tiny apartments “monthly mansions” these are merely much smaller versions of what we know at home as bachelor apartments. I am slowly getting used to it and have picked up a new frying pan and coffee maker to save some money from eating out all the time.

The only problem with cooking inside a sardine can is that anything you cook you will smell like, that day...and the next...so when picking out what you have for dinner you have to realize that if you go with chicken curry it will not only be your dinner, but also your choice of cologne for the next day. One these days I will move out, just waiting to find the right place, a place of course with a few more square feet! Trying to adjust to the small living space has probably been the hardest thing to deal with as of yet.

I have spent a lot of free time just wondering around the city, a good chunk of that time was spent actually hunting down a French press so that I could make some coffee in my “mansion.” Japan is a tea country and in every store I went through I had to ask where the coffee makers were located, my response was, “ahh, follow me sir...” the first few times this happened I naively followed the store clerk through a few isles that were loaded to the ceiling with everything from Royal Dalton Dolls to pace makers, only to be lead to the kettle section where the store clerks would then just point and say “instant,” I would reply in a curious tone, “coffee?” Then he would reply, “ahh, yes, instant.” Not good enough! And so very disappointing. It took me a while but through the grapevine I was told that Starbucks sold a few different kinds of French press’ so I immediately started looking for one. It was somewhat embarrassing asking a Japanese person for directions to a Starbucks, typical gaijin move, but it worked and before you know it I was fixed on a nice caffeine high, smile on my face a French press in hand I strutted home.

After a few days of walking all over the city I took the opportunity to get out and visit the country side for a day. It was a Sunday afternoon and my cousin and his wife wanted to hike up Mount Tokai. It was a good 8 km hike up and down. I would say after the first .25 km the humidity had me sucking for air and I had felt like I had the Mississippi river running down my back side. Despite this we trekked on, walking through the crowds we hiked up the hill.

I consider myself a pretty easy going person, I take most things in life lightly and don’t think of every simple task as a serious objective that must be completed with extraneous effort. This type of lifestyle is at the complete opposite spectrum of the majority of Japanese people here. They must look at me sometimes and really wonder which mental facility I had escaped from in the U.S... So there I was hiking up this mountain in jeans and a t-shirt, not the most glamorous of gear but it got me up the hill. Surrounding me on the hike up were hundreds of other Japanese hikers, who escape their hectic work week to enjoy the outdoors, outfitted with all the gear, they were extremely serious, clambering up the hill in their huge hiking boots outfitted with multi coloured spandex under their hiking shorts and swinging their hiking polls alongside themselves as the manoeuvred up the staircases that had been built for the path.

Despite the heat and the hilarity of the Japanese hikers the forests were amazing, extremely thin but tall trees and forested areas full of bamboo stretching more than 40 feet high just waving in the winds. It kind of had a euphoric feeling to it, relaxing, even though you were huffing up a mountain in humidity that could stop a train in its tracks. I look forward to going back in the fall, the air was thick and it was hard to see the scenery at the top, mount Fuji was slightly visible and in the distance, apparently you can see it clearly in the fall, so thats when I will head back.

On the way down we took a much less public route, with very few Japanese on the way down we headed in this direction to catch glimpse of a waterfall that we had spotted on the map. We did find the waterfall, unfortunately it was being habited by a hoard of men wearing only towels and drinking beer, a perfect bathing spot for a male local, but no place for a gaijin.

...Going into a store here can often be like someone is shining a bring light in your eyes, it almost seems as if each company is having a contest with each other on how bright they can make their packaging... And dare I enter a pharmacy to buy Tylenol, nothing here looks like it does back home. I could be buying a bottle of ex-lax, when all I wanted was dish soap, let’s hope I was the dishes well if I leave any residue I may be in trouble. Is this toothpaste? Wrong again that’s calking for your bathroom tub...

I moved into my apartment the day after I had arrived, the school had arranged a taxi to take me to my new place. In a country full of new age bubble cars and pocket bikes I found the taxi’s to be somewhat comical. The Taxi itself a Nissan model called “Cedric” was sporting an old 1980’s Volvo look, boxy and quite larger than the tiny gas saving “fisher price” cars I saw other Japanese people driving around. Cedric was pretty expensive, that was the last time I had used a taxi, thank god the school paid for it! I will likely have to call upon Cedric if I move again.

School has started and after much preparation day one came and went like a flash of lightning. I have 13 very spirited young students, I am dead tired and I feel like my feet are made of cinder blocks. Heavy and tired I have shuffled home to rest each day only stopping to buy a much deserved beer(s) to quell my mind.

The first day of school was a lot of fun, tiring but fun, the kids showed up with such enthusiasm and energy, extremely eager to start work and happy to be around all their friends once again. Before any introduction I decided to have them complete an activity. Working in groups they were to come in and attempt to put toothpaste back in a bottle (I had squeezed it out previously onto a plate) they were to do this, only with a toothpick. It’s pretty much impossible, this activity lead to a discussion about the difficulty of taking back harsh words and the idea behind respecting our peers, they had a lot of fun doing it and I think really got a good handle around the morality of the activity. They all seem to get along really well, smart and outgoing they have been challenging me every day since then. Week one is almost done, we spent most of the week doing simple activities, making surveys and bar graphs depicting information about each other and introducing the class to different cultures that others found interesting. Next week will get a little more challenging as we start some writing exercises and "serious" math word problems.

I promise to write again as soon as I can, I think by sunday I should be able to send out a smaller blurb of info so that you don't have to read long blogs like this again...until next time.....

My Arrival

Walking out of airplane I immediately hit a wall of humidity. I was amazed at first of how thick and sticky the air is here, I am slowly getting used to it but I still feel like a drumstick from KFC just dirty. Despite the humidity I felt alive; entering a new country I was ready to start my adventure. Walking into the airport I noticed right away how clean everything was, every last square inch was buffed to perfection. Vending machines, phone booths, you name it, it looked as if they were just loaded off a truck, brand spanking new.

I quickly gathered my things and got through customs, although there were thousands of people around me, there was a sense of organization and routine amongst my new Japanese friends. Everything within the airport was marked to perfection even the most navigationally challenged individual would feel like a budding Christopher Columbus.

I made it to my bus and climbed aboard, Tokyo bound! Just as I was sitting down on the bus I noticed an iphone on my seat, how wonderful and such a nice welcoming to Japan, a free iphone for each new arrival! Ya right, someone had obviously left it behind. I went to return it, meandering up to the front I tucked my head low and avoided any forehead collisions with the ceiling racks. When I handed it in to the bus driver, he had no idea what I was trying to say and looked very confused when I tried to hand him the phone. He eventually figured it out and was grateful that I had returned it, little did I know at this point that I was keeping up with Japanese culture...

The Japanese have embodied whole heartedly the morality and ideals behind respect, for one another, for themselves and for their families. They do not take things that are not there’s and if they find a lost item they do as much due diligence as possible so that it returns to the rightful owner...for example I found out that...

During the earthquake/tsunami last year many people lost their safes which were full of money. These safes often washed up in others people’s backyards. Those who found safes broke into them to figure out where they came from. The people who opened these safes would find a life’s savings worth of cash within them along with id, passports etc. The people who found these huge sums of cash were quick to return it, every last cent. This is remarkable considering I come from a place where if you find cash it’s yours and the other person who lost it is out of luck.
I look forward to the personal growth and development I will obtain from this culture, rich with morality they build foundations of respect, honour and integrity within each other...

I arrived in my hotel room and immediately went to use the bathroom, I approached the toilet which looked like some sort of rumble chair from a theme park, it had variety of buttons on the side which resembled a gamers remote... After use it took a good 5 minutes to figure out how to flush the device, I then carried about checking out the rest of my hotel room...that took 5 seconds...it was small.

I was able to hook up my laptop to the room’s internet and connect with my cousin and his wife, they were close by and quickly came to my aid with a beer, refreshing and delicious after such a long day. I left the hotel briefly before bed to grab something to eat. I went to the closest restaurant I could recognize...McDonalds, probably the easiest place to order from, I just pointed at the picture and smiled, the teriyaki burger it was!