I slept well for a change meaning hopefully the jet lag is wearing off. The bed's a bit hard so it's a bit uncomfortable
on my back when I wake up in the morning.
Not there was much outside to greet me except more rain. When I talk about the rain with the local people, they say this has been an unusually cold and wet year. Mind you, I think the TV did say that there was a typhoon far off the coast of Japan that may be dumping this water.
As much as I wanted to get more shopping done, the rain convinced me to stay indoors again and get more organized. It was also laundry day anyways. Beforehand, I picked some of my clothes for the trip to alternate washing between whites and colours but the washing machine used only cold water anyway so I got it all done in one shot. The dryer took a few cycles to do, though, but at the end of it, almost a week's laundry cost me 500 yen.
The rain did let up a bit later in the morning and so I left the village to stop at the school to work on the computers
there. I found that the one in the village had crashed the night before. It gave me a chance to write some e-mails
and to start cleaning up the ones at work. As much as I'm supposed to be on vacation, I do not want to return in February
to find several hundred or so piled up in my Inbox (the snail mail pile alone is going to be bad enough). It took a couple
of hours so there was no point in doing any shopping, not if I wanted to have time to get ready for the party that night.
I did take Declan's advise and pick up a pair of mud flaps for my bike at a store
in between the school and village (1700 yen).
Tonight was the 2003 Friendship Party hosted by the
Okazaki International Association (OIA). I wasn't sure about going since I couldn't find any of my classmates or village
dwellers planning to go. Still, it was an opportunity to meet some of the locals and also see an Okinawa musical group,
the Mairuna Eisa Band.
Getting there was a challenge. It was raining still, so using the bike was not an option. The map on the party notice
showed that it was best to get to Higashi Okazaki station then walk. Fortunately,
Declan gave me a guidebook the day before that showed me the local bus routes. It also showed me that the
bus running in front of the village went to Higashi Okazaki station.
During my recent trips to Japan, the buses ran on a flat fare rate, but the system in
Okazaki harken back to a system I remember during my first trip in
1975 (before you think I'm that ancient, I was 10 back then). For this bus, you enter the rear door and pick up a ticket
with a number on it. In the front above the windshield is lighted number table with the stop numbers on it. As the bus
moves to a new stop, the fare for disembarking there is displayed below all the stop numbers. It looks like the cheapest
fare is 190 yen. When I got off at Higashi Okazaki Station, about 12 stops later, I paid 280 yen (it's probably good to
carry exact change).
Even though it was dark and wet, the map was still easy to follow. On the way, I did find a small twin cinema, the
"Gurando" (Grand) showing "Finding Nemo" (dubbed in Japanese), "Bad Boys II", and "Matrix Revolutions". Admission was
still 1800 yen.
I followed the map as far as I could but stopped when it guided me to the base of a steep hill (despite having very healthy
legs, I'll avoid hills when I can). Fortunately, I found someone to follow who was also on the way to the party.
The Kouzan Kaikan looked to be a nice local performing arts centre in a park but it was hard to tell in the dark. I was
lucky to be able to buy a ticket, though. It looks like, generally, it'd be better to reserve tickets for these kind of
functions beforehand.
It took me awhile before I recognized anyone. Jenny, who started at Yamasa the same day I did, surprised me by showing
up in a kimono. She is participating in the school's homestay program and
arrived at the party with her host family who lent her the kimono. I also met a couple other Yamasa students who I had
not yet met at the school as well as Declan, Miki, and
Tomas from the office.
The party was family/community style fun. After greetings and introductions, in Japanese and English, by the
OIA the Maifune Eisa band entertained with their singing and
taiko and shamisen playing. Some of the OIA soon followed by leading some
group dancing. Some Japanese, and some not (the macarena is still everywhere).
Speaking of prizes, they had some pretty nice ones for the draw including a DVD player, Mini-disc player, and a heater.
This was aside the appetizer and snack food provided as well as a gift bag that included a couple of small Tupperware
containers, a can of rapeseed/canola oil and sweet bread. It was well worth the 1000 yen.
Getting back to the village was just as much a challenge once I walked back to Higashi Okazaki station. As much as I tried
to get an explanation from the bus driver, it wasn't clear which one to take and where. My first choice turned out to be
correct but I had a miscommunication with the driver about my stop so I thought I was on the wrong one. It cost me
thirty minutes.
Despite the continuing rain, I'm getting a better feel of the community. A good way to spend a Saturday.
The hall looked to hold about three hundred people and it took about an hour to fill up. I was amazed to see many
"gaikoku-jin" there as well even though most of them were not students from the school. Many of them, apparently, are
from research institutes that aim to bring in international experts.
I also met a few locals including one, Minako, who had been to Vancouver to study English. Some of the parents there
asked me to try to encourage their kids at the party to practice their English. I should have brought my balloons.
A game of "balloon stomp" followed whereby a balloon was attached to your ankle with an elastic band and the goal was to
pop everyone else's balloon before they got yours. This took a few rounds to decide the twenty winners and it looked like
a lot of work (I was eliminated pretty early).