Nodding off in Nagahama

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7

I am a masochist, and, as a masochist, I volunteered to get up ungodly early and go spend the day unpaid with Japanese high school children. I expect my sainthood nomination is in the post.

I gave myself just 30 minutes to get ready, which is less than on a school morning but over my dead body was I setting my alarm on a weekend for before 7 am. Seven was bad enough. When my alarm went off, I wasn't happy, but hadn't slept well. I dashed down to the train station through empty streets.

I met up with Martian, who's school was hosting this event at the station. There, we were met by other tired ALTs and some student volunteers from an American University in Shiga. Then the students arrived. From there, we piled onto a train and headed up to Nagahama, where the day's activities would take place.

Our ratio was good: 1 to 1! We separated into groups of four: two foreigners and two students. The students were all levels of junior high school and two high school students, so they were younger than I'm used to, although their English is fantastic.

Before we headed off, they directed our groups on where exactly to stand for an opening ceremony. Japan, bless you, an opening ceremony for a hike? Complete with speeches? You make me cynical!

From there, we headed off. Now, the first thing I realised is that the English meaning of “hike” and the Japanese meaning of the English word “hike” are completely different. This was no hike. This was a scavenger hunt. In Japan, “hiking” means walking and it's what old ladies do for exercise. Mountain hiking like we think of is apparently not on their radar with this word. So, we set off through the streets of Nagahama.

From a monolingual prospective this scavenger hunt was very frustrating because all the answers (on plaques and such) that students were looking for where completely illegible to me. I couldn't help or correct their answers. It made me a rather worthless guide. I did think briefly on how odd it was that these Japanese parents willingly sent their children alone, into a strange city, in the care of ALTs who the school can't vouch for, never having met them. Japanese parents are more trusting, though. It's not uncommon for me to see young children (maybe elementary school) out biking alone, in the dark, at busy intersections, with no helmets. My parents STILL don't let me bike after dark.

We passed a small festival, where I got a few pictures of some giant wheeled floats with elaborately dressed (costumed, I think) people sitting there. All over the square, people were playing little recorders. In my group was a male college student, and two Japanese junior high schoolers. They wanted to stop and browse some shops while we went along, which we allowed. One bought oragami paper for her grandmother, which made us two Americans exchange quick, guilty glances, and another bought some stones from a rock shop, presenting one to each of us. Mine is purple. I have no idea what it is.

We eventually made it to the check point at the Temple. I was excited because I hadn't yet been to this temple. Unfortunately, just because the CHECKPOINT was at the temple didn't mean we were going to explore it. We went inside the gates briefly to look around (and watched a flock of birds fly in circles overhead for ages) then headed back out. I'll have to come back and do it on my own some other day.

We headed back across town, continuing on the new scavenger hunt. We got creative with some answers (We couldn't find the gate, so our girls stopped a police officer and asked him. Nice man, but his answer was wrong.) We also couldn't find the age of the train station, so we stopped by the train museum nearby and asked there. Our ending location was Nagahama castle, which, again, we didn't actually get to go in. This just gives another good reason to come back. We stopped briefly in the gift shop (while our girls asked the staff for answers) and both me and my American teammate picked up Christmas gifts for friends back home. Marie, this one's for you! Our students eventually traded answers with another group (who had googled the answer on their iPhones) and we turned in our sheet.

Me and my partner headed off to the conbini to get lunch and then we all ate and chatted until it was time for closing ceremony bits. They asked my partner to make a speech, which he did and several other people did speeches as well, including a junior high school student.

Our group didn't win a prize (prizes were origami paper for third place, blank flash cards to study English for second place, and a calendar of Japanese sayings (in kanji) for first.) I'd only have wanted third prize anyway. All of the volunteers, though were given bottled iced tea and a Hikonyan fabric something-or-other. Bandana, perhaps, except it's longer and the edges aren't sewn, so they might fray. I don't know, but it's got Hikonyan, so it's cute.

Back in the station, we hung out for ages waiting for the train. I could have caught an earlier one, but if I went with the school, they'd pay my train fare. I am unfailingly frugal. I chatted with Martian in the meantime. This also meant that I had to get OFF the train with the school, which meant waiting another 30 minutes in the station for the next train. Again, I chatted with Martian and some with Mario, who went as Mario for Halloween. Mario was actually biking home, but he stayed an extra ten minutes to keep me company after Martian left for his train (heading in the opposite direction.)

One really good thing that came of this is that I was talking to Martian about my upcoming failure of a gestures lesson and he said he'd just done one and offered to forward me his papers. I was so grateful. He played Gestures Bingo with his class, a perfect activity to keep my 40 boys relatively calm but interested. He said he'd e-mail them to me after church.

Back at home, I decided to take care of a few things and left to go buy a heater. I soon realised I had no idea what I was doing and that these things were expensive! Also, it was amusing to watch salespeople peek down my isle, see me, then suddenly get very busy somewhere else. I never got to ask any questions. I compared prices between to places and am now braced for this being somewhat expensive.

I also stopped off at the movie theatre. Ginny and I had said we'd go see it together and I'd said I'd look into tickets. I found the theatre okay, apologized profusely, then we got into the grit of stuff. It sounds like this is how it is: ticket vouchers were on sale, which you then come back later and exchange for tickets. I don't quite get why. I bought one for me and one for Ginny. The staff at the theatre was very patient with me and I think also excited for me when they understood that I loved Harry Potter.

I texted Ginny to let her know and ask her for her opinion on times. There is no midnight showing, so we'll be going on a Friday night, which, actually is probably for the best. We have to chose between the earlier one and the later one. I've told Ginny she can crash at my place. I need to get a costume together. It feels weird to go without Alyssum, though.

I went to bed with a splitting headache and hoped I wasn't getting sick.