Saku-Ueda Block

The weekend was pretty low-key: I did some exploring around town, added a few plants, and relaxed. Oh, and weathered my first thunderstorm in Sakuho, which came out of nowhere.

Monday the Saku-Ueda Block of JETs got together to learn how to cook a couple of Japanese dishes (since it's cheaper than buying foreign ingredients, and nice way to pick up some of the local culture). We all piled into a little apartment (and I drove the farthest I have in Japan to get there!), and started catching up. It's nice to know that there are other people dealing with the same issues I have, and to see what they're doing to stay busy (and figure out who I want to visit). We learned about making miso soup, and udon/soba soup and were fed something made out of lotus root and okinomiyake (japanese pancakes that are based on cabbage, seafood and bacon, with mayonnaise and BBQ sauce toppings). Most were good- I was a big fan of the soups, and have since successfully recreated the soba soup at my place.

Tuesday morning we all caught an early bus to Nagano-shi (Nagano City) for the Nagano Prefectural Orientation- a day of classes on teaching/ Nagano culture/ travelling/ etc. It was a lot more useful than what we'd sat through in Tokyo (didn't hurt that it was shorter). At the end of the day, we met a bunch of high school English students who gave us a tour through Zenkoji Buddhist Temple, which includes a tunnel where you can find the key to enlightenment (I did). It was really interesting- and disturbing- to realize that there were swastikas everywhere, until I remembered that the Nazi's had stolen (and inverted) a Buddhist symbol for peace and unity.

After walking back to the Kencho (Board of Education for the Prefecture), we walked over to the bar where they were holding an enkai (work party) for us. On the way we ran across a little festival where students were giving recitals (we caught a band and a dance troupe- both of which were pretty good). Kind of a neat sidetrip. The enkai was an experience- this is a work party where you pay a flat fee, and are given unlimited food and drink. It's fairly common for people to get really drunk- Japanese men seem to be stuck in college mode, where you only drink to get drunk. Ours wasn't nearly that debauched (although it did last 6 hours), but it was a lot of fun, and really helped for getting to know the other JETs around the prefecture. Following the enkai, I finally got to try Japanese style karaoke for the first time: you rent a room, and everyone in the room sings at the same time (Chumbwumba and Jackson 5, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mr. Goodtimes, etc.). It's a lot of fun, especially since the place we went included unlimited ice cream to help soothe your vocal chords. At the end of a very long day, we made a 3 cab caravan to the place I was staying, and ended up packed wall to wall, sleeping on whatever soft surface you could find (I slept on curtains).

Took the train back to Sakuho (first ride involving transfers!), and caught up on groceries and explored some more. Cooked myself udon soup and salmon for dinner, and ended up getting caught in another thunderstorm instead of going out to Saku (but there'll be plenty of time for that). It's the middle of Obon (a festival celebrating people's ancestors) so my supervisor wasn't around when I checked in, which means that I have two days with no (known) work to do- I'm hoping to get up higher into the mountains, and maybe check out one of the nearer castles.

More pictures are up over on Facebook.