Yosakoi Encore and Jitensha Troubles

Last night I had another performance with the Yosakoi team, this time at a very small matsuri (festival). In a little park, there were several food and drink stands set up, as well as a small stage. It turned out that we would be one of five performances that evening; there were two solo dancers, another Yosakoi group, and an a cappella group. Before the performances, there was an audience participation dance, where we all did sort of a Yosakoi dance in a circle. I didn't know the steps, but I watched the person in front of me and it worked out fine. It was pretty fun because all the little kids and old ladies joined in.

The two performances ahead of our group were solo dances by women in kimono. They did slow, stylized routines using a fan as a prop. I don't know the name of that type of dance, but I'm guessing it was something traditional. After they had finished, it was our turn. On this occasion there were only 8 of us dancing, which made for a rather pitiful team. Both Andre (a guy from Canada) and I cracked up when the announcer said something about there being "ippai gaikokujin" (a lot of foreign people) on the team. There were only two foreigners in the entire group, which didn't really seem like "ippai" to us. In any case, we performed our routine twice through, and it went smoothly.

After us, there was another much larger Yosakoi group. They had really sharp-looking costumes and their routine was especially cool. I was glad that we didn't have to perform after them. I enjoyed watching them, especially the little kids in the group. Some of them looked to be 6 or 7 years old, and they still knew the routine pretty well. There were a few who were even younger, and those ones just kind of spazzed out to the music, sometimes matching up with the rest of the team. They were really cute.

The a cappella group turned out to be pretty interesting. A lot of their songs sounded more or less the same to me, but I was very startled when they sang (in Japanese) La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. At first I was thinking, "I recognize this... what is it?", and when they got to the chorus, it became clear. I don't know if the lyrics were translated faithfully or if the song had been rewritten, but I did hear them say "la vida loca" a few times. That made me laugh.

When we arrived, one of the organizers of the matsuri gave us each an envelope with tickets to spend on food and drinks. I bought some yakisoba and set it aside to eat after the performance, though I never got around to eating it. We each got a ticket for one beer, as well. Other booths were selling grilled sausages, yakitori, something rice-based, and cotton candy.

Toward the end of the evening, it started pouring rain. We all huddled under the canopies while they called out ticket numbers for the raffle. I think the prizes were fans. I had a hard time keeping up with the numbers they called out, but I generally understood enough of each number to know that I didn't have it. After the raffle, the rain let up and we all left. Unfortunately, our stuff had been sitting beneath the spot where two canopies met, so everything was soaked.

Later in the evening, I met up with some of the other JETs. Kemper, one of the JETs who has been here a few years, had just returned from vacation in Mongolia. We hung out for a while at a little bar attached to the back of Hirome. The owner/bartender, Koji, is very friendly and likes to speak English. He gave us all some advice about encouraging our students not to be embarrassed about making mistakes. Honestly, I think that's one of the biggest obstacles we face in teaching; even if the students are interested in English, they may be too shy or embarrassed to attempt speaking with us.

Later we went to a tiny club called Onzo. It's the only place I know of in Kochi that has a dance floor, and the dance area is about the size of my kitchen. It was very crowded because there was a special DJ and some performances by hip hop dance teams. We hung out there for quite a while and danced some. I got tired and sat on a couch for a while, which resulted in a conversation with some friendly Japanese girls. I didn't understand a lot, but it was fun. It also gave Kemper an opportunity to get their phone numbers, ha ha ha. Around 2:30 I decided that I was tired and went to find the others to tell them I was leaving, but they were gone. I left the club and ran into them on the way back to my bike. They had gone for a walk and were returning to the club.

Today I slept in and eventually went out to the mall to get a skirt that I had had my eye on for a while. Of course, I ended up buying a few other things, as well. On the way back I stopped and took shelter at Obiyamachi (a long, covered shopping gallery) because it started raining. When it stopped raining and I went to ride home, I made it a few blocks before my rear tire exploded. I've never had that happen before, but the sound it makes is unmistakable. So I walked my bike home, put my bags upstairs, and went to the bike shop to have it looked at. From what I understood, I had the option of replacing the tire or just the inner tube, but the tire was getting thin. I opted to get a new tire. Since I didn't have to pay anything for my bike to begin with, I don't mind spending a little money on fixing it up. After twenty minutes, my tire was replaced and I took my bike home. The folks at the bike shop are really helpful and patient considering that all I have to go on are a few words, gestures and sound effects. They don't seem to have much trouble understanding me, but the difficult part is when they try to tell me anything. Fortunately, they're willing to simplify what they're saying and restate it a few times when I don't understand. So far it hasn't been too difficult to get things fixed as needed.

Tomorrow will be my first day at YJHS. I'm a little nervous about the classes because they are larger and (from what I have heard) less well behaved, but I'm most nervous about getting to the school. I have to take the bus and I'm worried about catching the right one. All of the signage is in kanji. It shouldn't be a problem since my supervisor wrote out the name of the bus I need to take in kanji and romaji, but I'm still nervous because I've never done it before. It's always the details that worry me. In any case, we'll see how it goes. All I'm certain of is that it will be a very different experience from TJHS. Tomorrow night we'll also be having the welcome party for all of us new JETs. I hate to think of the amount of money I've spent on enkai alone, but that's just how things work. And I have to admit, they're pretty fun. It's a shame this one is on a Monday.