jtmendenhall

Here are pics from my trip to Sopporro, Hokkaido for the Snow Festival.

So everything here si going really great. My musical has come together nicely and I have some more free time now since my 3rd years have graduated on to high school and they dont come to school anymore. So I am two trips and a whole musical experience behind in posts so lets starting catching up shall we...

Steph with her cat


KL at night


Ready for a pinic


Local Waterfall and swimming hole


Room full of lights in a mall


Petronas Towers


View from KL Tower


Petronas Park


Steph, Rob, and I ready for a fun New Years


Batu Caves entrance


Long climb to the top


Inside the caves


SunShine Lagoon Amusement Park


Longest "People Only" ropw bridge in the world


Jak fruit

The musical is in full swing these past few weeks. We had a rough start but things are running fairly smooth now. Gilly and I are co-directors of `Charlie and the Chocolate Factory`. I am also dance choreographer with Stacie and I have built most of the set pieces. Every week my car is now filled with junk, I ride Gilly everywhere she/we need to go, I spend money I hope to get back after the run, and I have a little sleep deprived...but I love it!!
I never realized how much I missed theater till I got a chance to do it again. I really do have to keep theater in my life as much as possible because I just live for it on some days. It has definitely made the winter a lot more enjoyable and go a lot faster.

Cheers everyone!

Oh yeah. A special thanks goes out to Joe Jasek for sending me that pocket knife. So far it as made half the props in the show. Go Cardboard!!

Hey everyone!

As you can see it is long past the days I returned from Malaysia and I have still yet to write a single word about it. What kind of son would I be if my family couldn’t read about all the great things I did on my trip with pictures available as visual aids?

Starting Off:

So to get to Malaysia was actually a big trip even though it is kind of close to Japan. First off I had to get the 7:30 AM bus out of my city going to Kansai International Airport in Osaka, which is a 3 hour bus ride. To do that I had to get on the first train leaving my station, this was at 6:05. To get to my station, which is a 40 minute walk, I would have to either cart my stuff, get a taxi, or figure out if I could possible bike all my stuff there and leave my bike at the station for a long time (not a good idea). Well none of those options needed any attention because the night before I had to go I was hanging out with Shawn and good `ol Genki Shawn himself offered to ride me to the station. This is a big deal because Shawn lives like 40 minutes from me and we needed to leave my house about 5:30 just to be safe. So I owe him big for that ride. So, after the train ride, bus ride, and security clearance I was finally waiting around for my flight. I decided to spend it drinking a Starbucks Macha Frapachino (my favorite) and calling people at home with a card. It took my 30 tries (I counted) but I finally got the right button combo to get them to call out to the states and cell phones. Unfortunately for me no one picked up. The only people I got to talk to were my members of my family, which was really nice. I left messages on my friends phones and a few days later I received e-mails and facebook posts about how they were kicking themselves for missing the call. Nice to know I am missed :).

Before getting on my plane the gate area was entertained by a bell chorus of Japanese girls. Cute and dressed for the season, it was a nice send off. I have a video which I’ll put up later.
Once on the plane I looked out my window to see staff members holding up a large sign and Christmas decorations so that the people on the plane could see. The sign read `Thanks for your business. Happy Holidays`.
This, the bell chorus, and the fact that the plane was awesome and let me pick my own movies are all reasons why I think JAL is the best airline in Asia.

On the ride over I was next to a very old Japanese man who I figured would not understand English and I was too tired to want to try Japanese so we didn’t speak to each other. However after the meal came I became aware that he did speak English and in fact did not speak much Japanese at all. After talking to him for awhile I found out that he and his family (spread through out the plane) were Hawaiian/Japanese mix but only a few members of the family spoke it. They had all met in Japan and were going to travel around Malaysia and south East Asia for a few weeks. And his granddaughter had just sent in her application for the JET program before they left!! Talk about a small world. During a lay over in Singapore I got to speak to the granddaughter about the interview and the program. She speaks Japanese and wants to be a CIR (office worker) not an ALT (teacher), so there was little I could tell her that she would need to know or didn’t already know. However I think meeting me and hearing stories boosted her confidence about getting in.

Malaysia in a Nutshell:

Once in Malaysia I was to call Steph so she could meet me at the train station that connects the city to the airport. I could not find a phone and mine didn’t work overseas, so once in the city I bought Starbucks (more Macha frapachino) to get change so I could use a pay phone. Our first meeting was great. A little weird I guess but we pretty much picked up right were we left off.
I met her boyfriend, Rob, who is British and a hilarious guy. Good cook and makes lots of money. Nice grab Steph!

Their apartment complex was amazing. I will just have to let the pictures do the talking. I would love to live there.

Our first day was a little crazy because we wanted to go out to this secret waterfall/swimming hole for the day but Steph`s car broke down right in the middle of the highway. Like in the middle lane... on a hill. So we had to direct traffic around till a highway guy came to help us move it to the side. In the process of pushing it, the guy pushed on the light and not the body and put his hand through it. Steph flipped on him in English about paying for it but he just kept pointing to his hand and saying he had to take care of it. He took off shortly and left us to figure stuff out. The car breaks down because the electrical system overheats and the computer shuts down. She had a way to reboot it and it got the car working long enough for us to meet Steph`s friends and drop the car off at the shop. With out enough car space to do the waterfall we changed our plans to everyone coming back to the complex to relax by the pools and have drinks. It actually was an awesome day. I busted out the guitar and played a little for them as well.

That night we went to a really neat night club called `Quarto`. It has four rooms; one for each season. Summer is a restaurant with great food. Spring is an open live music bar. Autumn is a normal dance club with far too many tables and is decorate in a Japanese style (haha). Winter is an ice bar in the basement were the room is kept below freezing. You can rent coats if you get cold.

With no car the beginning days were spent relaxing at the complex and taxing to places. Eventually we rented a day car so they could show me the city. It was only after the car had arrived did they realize they never said `automatic` to the car guys. They brought a manual and Rob and Steph don’t know how to drive manual. Thank god for that silver station wagon in high school because after a few trips around the block I was ready to take on the Malaysian highways in a tiny K-car driving manual for the first time in 4 years. It made the trip exciting and I got to really understand the lay out of the city by driving. I got so good in fact that Steph and Rob sometimes forgot they needed to give me directions.

The places they showed me were amazing. I ate a different countries food everyday. I went to China Town and bought super cheap knock-off watches for me and my band mates. I saw the largest dance club in the whole country. It is called `Zook` and it has 5 rooms with different styles and music; pretty high class. I ate at some nice high class restaurants and local dive places they knew about. All the food was very delicious. The best was Balinese.
I even had High Tea at the house were the British ambassador used to live. The tea was incredible and the cakes, sandwiches, and scones were the best treats the whole trip.

New Years Night:

New Years dinner was spent at this really good Italian place right across the street from where we would spend the whole night. The place we went to was called Bar 21 and it unfortunately was the most expensive bar in the city. Because Malaysia is a Muslim country, the alcohol has crazy taxes on it. So even though everything else there is dirt cheap in comparison, alcohol was actually a bit much. Robs other teacher friends were having private party in a section there and the theme was 007 movies. Everyone there has on some type of crazy costume. The best was a girl wearing all black with playing card all over her. She was a Casino Royal card game. The other great costume was this guy going as the Voodoo guy from that one movie. He had all the body paint on and glow in the dark plastic skeleton parts. I am sure my dad would have appreciated the costumes a lot more than I did.

The next day Steph, Rob, and I spent our time watching season 3 of Heroes and relaxing. We also played a lot of board games with friends on this trip and we found out Rob is a very competitive board gamer. Don’t take a game with him lightly or he will dominate you.

Batu Caves:

One of the cool places we went to was the Batu Caves. These were recommended to me by numerous people and now I know why. They are awe inspiring. You have a mountain with a giant cave inside. 100 meter high ceiling and very open. Leading up to the cave are 272 steps and a 43 meter high golden statue of a Hindu god. This place is very special to Hindus and inside the cave are three different temple like buildings. The back of the cave has an open ceiling with a beautiful forest pouring in. And if this is not enough, multiple families of wild monkeys live here as well. You can feed them but you need to watch yourself because they can be very aggressive.

SunWay Lagoon:

This was an amusement park they took me to on one of my last days. It was a great place. If had 5 parks in one; Animal, Extreme, Water, Horror, and Thrill. The Horror park was this huge haunted house that was really really well done. The extreme park has things like paintball, rock walls, bungee stuff, and a huge zip line. The water park was pretty standard but nice. They even had a pool with waves big enough to surf on. The thrill park was not so great but enjoyable. The animal park was really nice. Lots of different bird and reptile species and really informative signs. There were even a few interactive parts and a butterfly room. I had a great time here and I recommend it to anyone heading to Kuala Lumpur.

Leaving and the Return:

Parting was sweet sorrow with Steph, Rob, and their friends which turned out to be a really nice group. I hope to go visit them again or have them come visit me.
The flight back was the same trip their...long and on every form of transportation imaginable. On the flight to Japan I sat next to another JET member in Kochi. She was a nice girl and she made me realize how lucky I am to be teaching were I am. The stories she told me would scare most people away from the program. In Kochi at the schools she teaches cars have had desks land on them, students have been hospitalized by other students, teachers have been attacked by students, female teachers have been groped, and even one student died when he fell from the roof while a group fooled around.

Well that is a really horrible note to end this post on but I don’t think I can type anymore right now. I’ll have the pictures and videos up as soon as I can.

Bye for now!

My time in Tokushima leading up to Malaysia was pretty standard. I made sure to send some gifts home for friends and family…it you didn’t get anything from me then I’m sorry but I can’t get everyone living on the other side of the Earth.
I spent some time with Kalani, Josh, and Shawn before we all took off for our homes or other destinations. We had a band night at Josh’s where we turned Joshes living room into a giant moon bounce. We put down all the blankets, pillows, and futons he had (which was enough to start his own hostel) and then jumped around on the pile. As a result of time, tiredness, and other influences things got crazy that night and we made a lot of noise. At one moment Shawn was impersonating an angry gorilla and punching the padded floor, however he moved one futon on an up swing and hit only wood on the down. His hand was in a good amount of pain and we are pretty sure it woke Josh’s neighbors. The next morning we went to our favorite ramen shop and official DogSled hang out spot, Fuku Fuku Ramen, however we delayed our trip in order to avoid Josh’s neighbors on their own way out. They had knocked on the door that morning, probably to see if he was still alive after all the noise, but Josh refused to answer the door and we all acted like no one was home. Not the noblest start to a day…

My last day before my trip was spent packing my little suitcase and debating if I would bring my guitar and which guitar to then bring. I was a tough choice but in the end I took the acoustic and I think it was the right one.

It has been over a month since I posted!?!? My apologies to those who still read this thing. You are about to get slammed with over a months worth of stories, pictures, and on going tests of my mental stability. Enjoy!

I guess the best way to do this is to just start with the stuff leading up to Malaysia and then make that a separate post.

First off, about a week after my last post, Dec. 17th I think, I got to do something truly touching to me. I was sent to the local kindergarten dressed as Santa and I spoke to the kids and gave them all a gift. The school really went all out for it too. The costume was pretty good quality except the beard strap was too loose and my white mustache slipped down a lot during the appearance. I snuck into the school through a back entrance so the kids would not see me and then I got dressed. I got a run down on the hour event and the kind of questions I would have to answer. I was told specifically that Santa is from Finland and not the North Pole, haha. Apparently the entire world, except the U.S., believes this so I was not going to argue. I was also given warning to the question as to how I would get into a Japanese persons house when they have no fireplace. I thought it would be simple, I could say a few Japanese words and then they translate whatever I don’t know. However this idea was shattered right when I was giving the mic on my entrance. I said `Ohaiyo` (good morning) and a teacher took the mic away and said to the kids `Santa can speak Japanese! Amazing! What other languages can you speak?`. After a second to contemplate that this teacher just gave this 5 and 6 year old kids the impression that I can speak Japanese fluently and in fact all languages, I decided to just run with it to see where it would go. I through out a few Spanish words, from Danish, German, French, and of course English. The kids went nuts even though no one had any idea what I was saying (even myself). Though an extremely cute moment, it unfortunately made the Santa gig harder because we then has to hid the fact that I couldn’t speak Japanese that well. For example, a teacher tried would quietly translate their question while I mimed a thinking pose and listened to her from a considerable distance. This also made answering the questions harder. Like when they asked how do I get into their houses all I could think of that I could actually say was `Christmas Magic`. The kids actually went nuts over this concept so anytime I was in a bind I simple said those two magic words (one of them of course being magic itself) and a roar of clapping and cheers would result. All this attention did make me a bit bold and I tried to answer a question in a way that was a more than I could handle. After I finished the teacher took the mic and said something about my Japanese being confused and rephrased what I actually meant. I did make one mistake as well. I told the kids that Santa spends the year eating, sleeping, and surfing in Hawaii. They thought he spent the whole year making toys. I said the elves make the toys to which I immediately remembered from my elementary lessons that Japanese kids don’t know about elves. So to get over this hic-up I explain that Santa has a staff of highly skilled workers who make the toys with him.
After this I passed a toy to every child and asked them their age. There were like 200 kids…so it got really repetitive. To make it worse, the one side of the room was all 6 year olds and the other was all 5 year olds. The kids picked up on what was happening so quick that soon I didn’t even have to ask their age. They just said `I’m 6` and stuck out their hand, haha. After this came group pictures with each class. I let one lucky kid sit on my lap while I tried to get the other kids to stop looking at me and to look at the cameras. One kid managed to snag at my beard before I could block him and saw my black goatee underneath. He then proceeded to shout it form the rooftop about how I had a different color underneath which prompted the other kids near by to try and see it. A teacher quickly fixed the situation and we moved on.
It was an amazing experience I would do it again next year.
I am just taken back by the effort these teachers made to keep the idea of Santa being completely real and magical in their minds for at least one more Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!

So 3 other ALTs and I have come together to form a band. Our name is DogSled and we have had one show, 8 practices, and already have a good sized fan base. Our first show was at an awesome bar called Bell’s. We played between sets of a local Japanese group called “The Ugly Men”. They are a great group and their lead singer is Yoma, a nice Japanese man who makes dinner for ALTs every Sunday night. Here are some shots of our show. I’ll get a video of us up as soon as possible.

Yeah so it has been a real long time since I last posted and I have a ton of pictures and things to post about. I'm not sure if anyone out there still reads this thing but if there are then please enjoy.

Kyoto!!!

So I spent a long weekend in Kyoto with a few other JETs. The trip was amazing even though getting around the city is a hassle. They don't have much of a transportation system and we relied on buses to get around. The trip was the busiest weekend of the year for the city too so every place was crowded. Over the 3 days I went to a couple of temples and saw some nice foliage (the reason the city was so busy that weekend).

The first temple was Kinkakuji (Golden Temple). We arrived around sunset so the lighting was amazing. I got some great shots...









We then spent the evening at a bar and had a nice night drinking Guinness, Strong Bow, and Sam Adams. The next day we took a lengthy trip to Inari Shrine. This place is neat for two reasons. Fist, it is the only shrine that uses the fox as their symbol. Second they have hundreds and hundreds of these orange gates all over the trails of the mountain side it is located on. We spent 2 hours walking through the gates and didn’t even make it half way. It is located deep into the forest too so it is a very peaceful place. Here are my best shots...









Later we went to Ryoanji. This is the Buddhist rock garden some you might have heard of before. We were surprised the rock garden was very large. All the people there just sat quietly and reflected on what the rocks, ripples, and silence meant to them. Really amazing sight and I recommend it to anyone who goes to Kyoto.





After that we got caught up in a huge group of people making their way to the top of a hill in the city. On top of the hill is a massive temple that over looks the downtown area and is open at night during this time of the year with special light displays of the trees there. The temple was also famous for the pure spring water that you can drink from the temple. The line for the water was really long so we picked eating food over drinking the water. I thought it was interesting though that to speed up the movement of people they used a UV light box to clean used water cups of the people that drank before it was passed on to the next person. So right in the middle of this ancient tradition was a sophisticated UV box.









Our last day was spent at Nijojo Castle. I had been here before when I was a Rotary exchange student so it was weird to experience it again and have memorizes flow out of my head. The castle is really interesting because they use rusty nails under pivoting floor boards to make squeaky sounds when someone walks on them. It acted like an alarm system at night to protect the feudal lord. Everyone is challenged to walk down a hallway without making a sound and of course no one can do it. They say the only ones that can are ninjas!







The last cool thing about the trip was the hostel. The Sandal Wood is where we stayed and will always stay if we go to Kyoto again. The owners are extremely nice people. The husband is an awesome guitarist and the wife is very friendly and has been learning calligraphy since she was 5 year old. She showed us her work and then gave us each a few copies as a gift. We also met 2nd year JETs from other parts of Japan there and they might come visit us in Shukoku because it is they only island they haven't been to yet.







Here are some random shots of Kyoto. Like the Kyoto Tower, Kyoto Station, and the Christmas displays there.

Hello everyone!!

Hisashiburi! (Long time no see)
I haven't done a post in almost a month and I guess the reason behind it is half me being lazy and half me being busy. I have a ton of photos and events to talk about so I might as well get stated...


JET ALT Thanksgiving Dinner!!

On the 16th most of the ALTs in the area got together for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone brought lots of great food. Josh made mashed potatoes and they were the best thing the whole night. The host of the party, B, evne ordered two mini-turkeys that we cooked in our super tiny ovens. The night even finished with some touch football in a local field.

Here are some pics:

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Shots from Frisbee and Halloween

Frisbee Team



Beach we played on and the longest suspension bridge in Japan



Video of us in action...



Elementary students making Halloween Ghosts/Skulls



Costume I made for teaching about Halloween. The kids loved it!



I found small pumpkins at the store for about a buck fifty



Some of my Eikaiwa (adult class) students





My awesome pumpkin burned like this for 2 minutes before the powder inside burned up.



Kalani as the Headless Horseman for the english conference.



Genki Shawn went as Iron Man!!!



My Halloween bar night costume. Sign reads "From: God, To: Women". The horse hat is just the one I got in Hiroshima which I now wear to certain drinking events.

Hey everyone,

So my Halloween week was the best week I have had teaching in Japan so far because I had all my prep work done in advance, I got to wear a costume, the students enjoyed the whole lesson, and I got to skip school on Friday to teach high school students at a mid-year conference. I really enjoyed getting to teach older students but just one day should me that though some students are more mature and really like taking part in class, there are always a few that will hate English no matter how old they get. So I guess it is really not that different from junior high.
My Halloween lesson was a fun presentation on Halloween`s history and traditions that was followed by a Halloween version of Janken Tsunami with the winners getting candy. For the elementary school kids I had them make jack-o-lanterns out of orange and black paper or make skulls/ghosts out of white balloons and black paper. While they worked I told them about Halloween traditions and taught them monster vocabulary. If there was time we played a Wash the Witch game that had them throwing wet towels at a chalk-drawn witch in order to melt her away. I also had a trick basket full of candy (and my hand) that I scared many students with. I even scared all the teachers I work with when they reached in and found a living hand grabbing back at them. Man I love this holiday.
I wore numerous costumes too. I wore a jack-o-lantern costume one day and a vampire costume another (supplied by elementary schools). I wore a cowboy costume that I had to make for a private kids party on the weekend. It was thrown by a nice woman who has a bad habit of not telling us the how truth. She invited us to a halloween party...then it became a kids party where we needed to wear certain costumes...then it changed to us having to make those costumes...and then it ended up being a 4 hour long english lesson with a script and everything....we were not that happy about it because it really was us working for an organization that did not hire us and we were just doped into it by a lie...we did get 20 dollars for doing it though so in the end we were okay (when I say we I mean Josh, Kalani, and I).
I also wore a great costume I made out of dollar store stuff and a nice coat left for me by Kiet (guy before me). It was of Frankenstein holding me captive in a cage. I had a fake lower body because my legs were Frankie`s legs. You have to see the pictures (up later today) to understand. The little kids loved the costume and were fascinated by the fake legs. They kept punching me in the fake balls and twisting and punching my fake legs.
At the mid-year conference the costume was also a hit. A few of the JETs seemed really impressed with it and another good number of them seemed weird out that I would put so much time into a stupid costume. It did take some time but it didnt cost much and I had time to spare so I dont think it is weird. Plus my students loved it!
Halloween night is like a distance memory faded by time. I got drunk...really drunk. I was safe the whole time...just drunk, so I don`t remember a lot of the night. I wore another costume I made which took a literal play on the phrase `God`s Gift to Women`. I also wore my Hiroshima horse hat because it just seemed like a good idea at the time.
The night was spent in the city at Ingrid`s international bar. Things I remember are:
1) two high school girls on the street handing out candy. One was dressed pretty scary and the other was like a real horse head...
2) Shawn and I picked up a Japanese chick because she said Happy Halloween to us on the street. We coxed her to Ingrids were Shawn hit on her and eventually made out with her...later he found out she was like almost 45 and married. Apparently cheating on your husband/wife is not such a big deal here.
3) Shawn and I sang Dead or Alive at Ingrids. Shawn has does not remember this but we have photos to prove it.
4) Something weird happened with Jill and may have happened with Gilly
5) I met a Japanese girl spent most of the night talking to her and got her contact info...have no memory of this person...but there is a new entry in my phone
6) I found a secret onsen/bathroom in the building next to Ingrids. You go through this Hobbit like door to get to the bottom floor of some business. I went in numerous times and never saw anyone there.
7) Kalani, Cassie, and I got in a cab to go back to Rex`s house where we were spending the night. Though drunk, I was complete aware of myself at this point and was the only one of the 3 of us that knew where she lived and how to get there. I am a human GPS even drunk. Well, in the ride back I passed out...like really passed out, Kalani tried opening my eyes and I still slept through it. I woke up when the cab got to Ishi Station...but I was disoriented and unsure of what that meant so I told him to go to Fugi Grand (big mall area). I fell asleep again. We got there and I told him to go up the wrong road and everyone was getting annoyed so we went back to Fugi Grand and just walked 5 blocks to Rex`s house. They weren`t upset with me because it wasn`t really my fault. Just bad luck that they only one who knows where to go is cant focus long enough to give directions. Walking woke me back up so I easily showed them the way and quickly passed out again when we got back.

The rest of my weekend was spent hanging out with people trying to figure out what happened that night...I was not the only one with large blank spaces of memory. We also watched a lot of scary movies and took it easy.

Monday was a holiday, National Cultural Day to be exact, and a group of us went to Mitsushige to take part in a festival. We pulled I decorated boat filled with little kids playing drums all over the town and at each stop people gave us food to eat and bags of stuff to take home. It was a really cool idea but not as much fun as we thought it would be. The Japanese people there were really nice however and everyone enjoyed talking to them. Before returning home for the night we all went to Dave`s mexican place (Sombreros) and had awesome mexican food for dinner.

So now you are all caught up...expect for pictures and videos. Those will be up later today or tomorrow...

Hey everyone,

I am sitting at school today (Tuesday, Nov 4th) and I have two realizations about this journal:
1) I am getting behind again. I still need to tell you about last weekend before I can talk about Halloween.
2) Besides maybe my dad and Lindsay, I am pretty sure no one reads this journal anymore.

The first one is okay because I plan on using my time today (no classes so 8 hours of free time stuck in an office) to update what you have missed. The second is also okay because people are busy...but I guess it is still a little sad.

So over a week ago I had a great weekend. First I had a birthday party for Okamoto-san and his friends house. Okamoto-san is the guy who works for my BOE (Board of Education) and is the one who got me my car. He is a extremely nice guy and speaks pretty good english. He invited me to his friends house a few weeks ago on a Friday night to have dinner. See his friend has a nice family and his two daughters, Aoii and Akai (means Blue and Red, no joke), go to Gosho and are my students. When I got to their house the first visit I immediately recognized Akai because she is the cute little 1st year that always asks me to come teach their class when I go to Gosho. Now I work on a rotation so I only get to teach her class once a month, but it is still a nice gesture. The first visit was great!! They gave me tons of delicious food and alcohol and so I went home fat and drunk. While at the first visit they mentioned the following Friday would be a dinner for Okamoto-san so they invited me to join them. I told Okamoto-san I would bring everyone a special American treat. We had been talking about how Japanese peanut butter (whipped topping full of sugar and little nut flavor) is nothing like American peanut butter (creamy spread we all know and love) and that I used to eat it on toast with nutella all the time. Well for their gift at the next dinner I brought nutella and what I thought would be american style peanut butter. It turns out the peanut butter was more like peanut filling but a friend of the mother of the house actually had cruchy skippy in her house so she donated it to us. They loved the treat and Okamoto-san said he would eat it on days he was feeling down because it was so delicious it would cheer him up. The second party consisted of less food but more alcohol. We also played games after we were drunk. One was a Super Mario Bros. version of janka which I want to sent back to friends in the U.S. I also taught them some drinking games and we played Wii Sports. I got my ass kicked in boxing by both Akai and Aoii.

Saturday was a recovery day that ended with Shawn, Josh, and Kalani staying at my place. See the next day Shawn, Josh, some other JETs, and I were going to an Ultimate Frisbee Tournament to represent Tokushima. We had formed a team and had practices and everything. However we needed to be in Naruto (north city about 40 mins away) by 7 a.m. SO the boys stayed at my house and we took my car. We drank, watched movies, jammed on our guitars, and got about 4 hours of sleep.
The tournament was incredible! We played on a beach (which was a first for some of us) and not only was their a tournament but also freestyle frisbee demos, dog frisbee demos, and Ultimate frisbee skill challenges (Distance, accuracy, and best diving catch). We did alright in the challenges but it came down to me to do the diving catch. I had been diving all over the place that day so it seemed I was the best choice for it. Matt (team captain and crazy lover of everything disc) was incredibly accurate so we made a good team. After a few practices we were ready to do take our one shot but I missed read the disc (assumed it would go one way but it didn`t) and I missed out on a good dive...oh well.
The tournament was really good. We played well as a team and got better as the day went on. We played 4 games and went 2-2. Out of 18 teams we think we tied for 8th place or got 9th place which is pretty damn good when you take into account that most of our players never played a real game together before, some were playing for the first time, and we were playing against league teams that practice all year round.
At the end of the day I had a new disc (bought an official one for the event), lots of pics and videos (will up here later), and lots of bodily harm...all those dives on to packed sand cut me up a bit.
However a little blood never hurt anyone and the memories were well worth it.

So I arrived at Donari Elementary last week to find the hallways were filled with yellow, red, and yellow balloons and policemen running around. My teacher told me that the students had written prayers for there to be no wars and less crime on slips of paper and attached them to these balloons. Then is a big ceremony all the students would release the balloons at the same time after making a formation on their feild. A helicopter even flew by to film it and take a few photos. I got to take part in this too. My balloon didnt have any prayers on it though; they were the extra ones incase a student let go too early (which happened 6 times). I was really impressed with the ceremony and the action of releasing the balloons. However part of me was a little upset by the it because we live close enough to the ocean for those balloons to cause a problem. They will eventually deflate and fall to earth. After some time a few will be washed to areas populated with marine life which may investigate the rubber on the service, try to eat it, and then choke on them. The chances of this happening are kind of small but it still bugged me a little. Oh well.

Peeing Boy





Waterfall is a lot stronger our second trip...



Shrine at the start of our climb:



Top of Kunimisan...



Our view to the north...





Post at the top of the mountain...



Echoes:
(You need to have your sound up real high after our first yell to hear them all)






Silly horror movie scene we made to get down the mountatin faster...

Hey everyone!!

Well it has been another long period of time with no updates so you can assume I have been busy. I have about 4 posts I need to do and a mess lot of pictures and videos to put up. Please bare with me.

So the weekend after Hiroshima a group of us had planned to go hiking and see all some of the sights on our island. Of course we all know what happens to the best laid plans...only 3 of us ended up going (Shawn, Katrina, and I). We planned the day to see the piss boy, vine bridge, waterfall, and climb the mountain in the Iwa valley. I had mapped it all out and I got pretty lucky because our climb to the top of the highs mountain in the area (Mt. Kunimi -`See the Country`) was timed almost perfectly with sunset. But first came the peeing boy. This is a statue of a little Japanese boy taking a piss. It is placed on a rock at the edge of a high cliff leading down into the Iwa Valley. We were all surprised because the peeing boy is right next to the road. We thought it would be a hike to find it. We took some shots and did our best imitation of him.
Next came the vine bridge and waterfall next to it. You have seen pics of this before when I went with Shawn and Josh. We went here because Katrina had yet to see it. She loved it and Shawn and I were both surprised by the flow of the waterfall. It was a really small waterfall that first time we were there but this time it was huge in comparison. You can look up my old shots and compare for yourself. We all decided to picnic on the road bridge by the vine one. It was a nice day; lots of sun but cool wind. Shawn and I split a fish-on-a-stick. This is where they take a gutted whole fish, stick it, and then slowly cook it over coals. It was really tasted. I ate the end and gave the head to Shawn. This would be a sign of respect but actually I really didnt want to eat fish eyes and brains. While we hung out on the bridge eating lunch a group of Japanese girls asked Katrina to take a photo of them. Shawn and I waited to the last moment and then jumped in on each side of them. Do our surprise they were really happy with this and did not ask us to take another photo sans two weird Americans.
Our day ended with a climb up Kunimisan. We parked at the bottom next to the shrine. The shrine was awesome! It looked like a place for an epic battle and was eerie silent. The climb was hard! They did not make many switchbacks so we went straight up for a good amount of it. Towards the top Genki Shawn got a sudden burst of energy and took off for the summit. We found him a little bit later waiting at the shrine near the top. We also found a small cabin that hikers can just stay in for free. It is nothing more than a shed but it got us thinking that we should bring up some food, booze, and fire stuff and camp out some night. There are almost no lights are far as you can see so the stars would be amazing up there. The top was cold and we found out after a joke yell to our friend Kalani, visiting a friend north of us by a few kms，that the mountains around that one allow an echo to bounce back 5 or 6 times!! It was incredible so we tried to take a video of it. You can watch this video but you need your sound up high to hear all the echoes. The first yell will but huge then so take precautions.
After a few more echo tests we climbed down the mountain. On the way we made a fun little horror movie that you can also check out. At the end of our hike the sun had set already so we had to do the last hour very slowly and the last 30 mins was guided by the camera light on my cell phone. It was a crazy day but we all had a great time.

SAKE FESTIVAL!!



12 Shots in...


24 shots in...


Cool Poster I bought


Atomic Bomb Dome




Site the bomb exploded


Sadako Peace Statue




Cranes on display...


Sunset on Miyajima Island


Temple Gate in the bay




Josh and I wearing our new hats

Hey everyone,

To those that read this on a regular basis, which I think is probably no one, I’m sorry I have not posted in such a long time. I have been busy. I have done some amazing things. And even though I have had plenty of time to write in my journal, I have put it off so I could digest my experiences.
Two weeks ago I spent a three day weekend in the best city I have ever been to in Japan and possibly the world. I went to Hiroshima.
The reasons I make such a huge claim as it being the best city in Japan are plentiful. First off the city is beautiful! And it appearance is not that of a typical city. There are no really tall skyscrapers. There is a subsystem, railway, bus system, and a trolley track so getting around is extremely simple. There are tons of parks and green spaces. The city is spilt with multiple rivers and there is a great bay area. You really just have to walk around that place for 30 minutes an already you feel comfortable.
So starting from the beginning, a large group of JETs and I went to Hiroshima mainly to attend a Sake Festival where we would be allowed to drink as much as we wanted for $16. The festival lasted for two days, 10 hours each day. In any city, in any country that is the best deal on drinks you will ever find. We took an early bus on Saturday morning from Tokushima. My travel companions were Josh, Kalani, and Genki Shawn. The bus ride was only 3 hours long and went by quick since we spent most of it asleep or quoting movies at volumes not really appropriate for such close quarters. Once we arrived we check into K`s Backpack hostel (better than an American hotel) and set out to find food and the festival. I basically planned the trip, so at any point in the next 2 days if someone had a question I was the go to guy. I am quite proud of myself and I think I gained more respect for the time my father took to plan out all the trips to Hawaii and other countries. I never realized till this trip but if no one has a plan, no one does anything. You need a leader or at least someone with strong suggestions to make a trip come together. I did such a good job that the group has asked me to help them get to Sapporo in February for the winter festival.
Our first meal was Hiroshima okonomiyaki, which is unlike okonomiyaki in the rest of Japan. It was amazing and I wish I could explain exactly what it is but I can’t. I’ll try to find a pic of it and put it up later. Then we went to the festival. We paid our fee, got our souvenir sake cup, and started drinking. The next 4 hours start out clear and then blur quickly. First off I had no idea sake could have so many different flavors and styles. Secondly, I did not know at the time but I have a limit on how much sake I can drink, and unlike beer or wine that limit does not give warning signs. I went from sober to tipsy to drunk in 2 hours. Then the following 2 hours at the festival are to hard to remember. I have pictures though and the shots bring back memories. Basically that time was spent meeting up with more JETs and other foreigners that happened to be there. Meet a lot of really nice people that I can no longer remember. Their faces, names, personalities, have all been blended into a soup mess that I can only acknowledge as a conversation in a park on a sunny day.　I had 36 shots of sake that day. The most of anyone in the group. I paid for it later.
The rest of the night is a continuation of that blur. It makes me feel like a cast member of Lost…or at least that night was filmed in that style. We went back to our area of the city. Found a place to eat dinner. Josh hit on every Japanese woman we say, including ones in their cars waiting at red lights. My sake cup fell and shattered. I picked up every piece and get it in my pocket all night. When I got back to Tokushima on Monday, gluing it back together was the first thing I did. I fell through the doors of an elevator as I tried to lean against it…just perfect timing. We went to some bars….ate McDonalds, which I did not remember at all until 2 pm the next day when my group convinced me it had happened. The night was to end at a dance club. There are not many in Japan so when we find one we go. I, however did not make it inside, while climbing the stares to the club the check I had been writing on my body all day was finally cashed. I got a migraine…or at least what I think one must be because I had never had one before. I guess it could have been cause by my sever dehydration. I went back downstairs and after some time Kalani and Genki Shawn came down to take care of me. I owe them big for this act of kindness that sapped the rest of their night. I could barely move. I could not move my head, my eyes, my neck. Ever time my plain of vision changed I was crippled is throbbing pain in my temples that forced me to just squeeze my head in different locations just trying to relieve the pressure. I know it sounds worse then it was…but when you have that much pain and cant stop it you get scared. I tried drinking water. I tried drinking water with vitamins in it. I would not take pain killers because I didn’t know what Japanese medicine would do with all the alcohol I drank. So I sat outside on corner in pain for an unknown amount of time…I might guess 2 hours. I also vomited at some point…literally lost the lunch I ate the day.
After determining all I could do was sleep, Shawn and Kalani got me home in a cab. They funny part about this was that I had to help direct the cab with my Japanese. Even though I couldn’t bare to open my eyes I could still speak broken Japanese…I guess that is a skill.　Josh, who was left at the club, never made it back. He spent the night at a friends hostel and did not make it make to our until 9 pm the next night.

The next day I woke up feeling fantastic. I learned my lesson and I was ready to see the city. Shawn, Kalani, Katrina, and I took a trip to Peace Park. They all wanted to see Peace Park…I would have refused to leave the city without going. I spent 3 months on my 1,000 crane project in high school. I have folded +3,000 cranes. I was not leaving until I saw the park dedicated to the event that influenced my actions.
The park was amazing…I cant even begin to explain it. A drunken night of sin is simple to explain because it has little substance. Places like Peace Park, the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, Sadako Stature, and Miyajima Island (later in the day) resonate an aura so spectacular that it is a trying task to explain the significance of what you did there.
We were extremely lucky that day because outside of the Atomic Dome, one of the last buildings still standing after the blast, we ran into an English speaking survivor of the bomb that gave free tours of the surrounding area as a way to spread his message of peace. He showed us things we never would have seen and told us things that we did not find in the museum. He showed us the marker that showed exactly where the bomb exploded above. He showed us the graveyard near the blast and the grave stones whose tops had melted under the heat waves. He was an incredible man, spoke very good English, and I hope he continues to educate people in the amazing history surrounding them at that park.
The Sadako 1,000 crane statue was very moving. So much so that I have organized my fellow JETs in Tokushima to fold cranes to send to the park. If you fold 1,000 cranes and mail them to the peace organization there, they will put them on display in the viewing area behind the statue. I intend to make the sure the Tokushima JETs` voices heard.
At the museum we met up with the rest of our crew and I convinced them to take a trip down to Miyajimi Island. It would take time but on the island is a famous shrine with a giant temple gate set out in the bay. It is large enough that a fishing boat could drive through it. We made it just in time to see sunset too. This is another place that I just impossible to describe so I will let the pictures do the talking.
After we returned to our hostels we got ready for another night of drinking fun. This one was a lot tamer and no one got sick or lost. It ended at that same dance club as before and this time everyone got to go inside. The night was fun. Only bad incident was when Josh and I were getting out of the cab at the end of the night. We don’t remember why, but for some reason he threw my hat down the street. I kept ordering him to go get it but he wouldn’t so I started to hit him with my jacket. This was done in a light happy mood and everyone was really laughing at the fight until the jacket’s zipper caught Josh’s lip and split it open. There were no hard feelings but it did a spark louder conversation which resulted in us getting yelled at by our neighbors.
The next day was spent bumming the shopping district and hanging out with Shawn’s friend Hitome. We went to lunch at an awesome garlic restaurant that actually didn’t have that many garlic items. It was still amazing though. They also had fun techno music on so we danced in our seats and there were lots of cute girls there. This prompted Josh into a conversation with Hitome, a girl, about how to pick up Japanese women and which ones were cute. At one point in the hour an older woman came in with her daughter and Josh says `That young girl is hot but that older Japanese woman is totally not fuckable`. Hitome turns to look at whom he means and is shock to see the woman is her aunt. She goes over to talk to her while the rest of us laugh our asses off at Josh’s ability to talk his way into trouble. Hitome was not upset however and did see the humor in the random happen stance. When Josh and I got bored we decided to buy silly hats at a costume store and wore them around the city. Stupid and childish, but hilarious to our group. They are official drinking hats now and plan to sue them again. In the afternoon we got on the bus to take us home. Shawn stayed behind to spend another day with Hitome.
It was a long bus ride back.
That was my crazy Hiroshima weekend.

Here are some pics that I said I would put up.
AND at random we got to have an open English lesson with my 5th graders at Gosho elementary school, so we decided to teach them to play Ulitmate Frisbee with dics bought by the school. The English teacher had bid form them and the school said okay. We have over 20 discs which is great for teaching large classes...however they are dog frisbee discs so they are not the right size and shape. It really doesnt matter though because real Ulitmate Discs would be too large for little kids.

Enjoy.










My sweet Fender Guitar that I play everyday for an hour or so...






Phase one of the pimping of my BMV (Baby Mini Van)...lights and extra speakers attached to the back of the front headrests. I got most of this stuff from a 100 yen store ($1 store) and just MacGyvered it into the awesomeness it is now...



Lights overhead that flash...




Used glow sticker stuff to decorate the steering wheel...notice the "M" on top...you know what that stands for...yeah, the car was MMMMade for MMMMendenhall...

Hey Everyone,

So it has been a quite some time since I last posted on my journal. I have been up to a lot, so much in fact that I am finding it hard to remember everything.

JUDO
I started going to a judo club on Tuesday nights. I student from the adult class I teach took me there and it the whole evening was nothing but me getting my ass kicked by junior high school students and the black belt instructors. I could hardly move when it was over so you can only imagine how hard the next day was…
I’m not complaining thought because I enjoyed ever minute of it. 5 years being absent from a sport is brutal for your timing, memory, and muscles. But I had fun and I’m excited about going again. The people there are very nice and the little elementary school kids are extremely cute. Every time I turned my back they snuck up as a group and tried to tackle me. A few brave ones took me on alone so I let them win.

Guitars, Guitars, Guitars
¬Okay so I know I am jumping on this guitar fanatic thing a bit too much and I think I had a sign that I need to slow down. Due to my extra income and need to be a nice guy…I bought two guitars in two days, haha. Now one was for me. I bought a used Fender Stratocaster from the Hard-Off (used goods store that everyone here love). I got an amp chords, straps, new strings…the works basically. It was cheaper than if I bought it in the U.S. but is was not cheap in comparison to my normal buys. It is the second most expensive thing I own now…the first being my car. It hit me up for about $350 but I am in love with it and I play it for a few hours everyday. I am also getting a LOT better at the guitar and I have considered recording and making a CD or web posting some stuff…you know just for the fam and friends.
The second guitar I bought for three reasons. 1) It was damn cheap! About $38. 2) I an old JET needed to get rid of it right away before he moved to a new city. 3) Mina, a JET in my area, wants to learn guitar as well but you can’t learn if you have no guitar to learn on. So I bought the thing and gave it to her. I do like it though so when she goes back home I may ask for it back, hehe.

Undokai
Basically this is the Sports Day Festival all schools have. My elementary schools had the last Sunday in September. I did a half day at each school and even got to take part in events. It is kind of like a school wide Olympics where the school is broken into 6 teams and they compete in normal races, relay races, tug-o-war, crazy physical challenges, and races with very strange rules or challenges. My favorites were the students raced to pick up a sheet of paper on which an item was written. The students then dove into piles of random junk to find it and then take off for the finish. One group had to put on close and the boys had to throw on some dresses and kimonos. Another group got cups and had to find someone in the crowd with tea and get them to fill their cup with it and then drink it as they ran to the finish. I’ll put up some pics later today.

My Car
I have spent about $25 total pimping out my BMV (baby mini van). It now has extra speakers and light strips all over the inside. The best part is that they can easily be removed if I wish to change them or just don’t like them anymore. I’ll put up some pics later. My next installment won’t be till Nov. but I think nice seat covers are next.

Other
The musical for this year is Charley and the Chocolate Factory. We are changing it though so there is more of physical conflict rather than internal conflict. I`ll keep you all posted.
I’m going to Hiroshima for a 3 day weekend next week. Two attractions there will be a Sake festival where I will try my best to sample all 700 kinds they will have and Peace Park!! For those who don’t know, Peace Park is donated to the girl from the 1,000 crane legend I did for my senior project. I am choo (super) excited to go!
The following weekend I’m going on a 2 day bike trip from one city to another. Total of 70 km. Not a big deal, just a nice ride.

So here is a quickly little tale from my elementary school.
I make games in order for the kids to practice speaking English and one game that has been a struggle to figure out has been English Battleship. Basically the kids break up into 5 or 6 teams and I give each team a battleship sheet. On the sheet is a grid with the start of each row having a phrase like `I like _____` or `I can _____` and then in the five boxes that follow are words that can go in the blank like `sushi` or `swim`. So the teams pick out 5 boxes on the grid to place their `ships` in. Then going from group to group the students say the phrase and select which word to finish it with. The box that word was is then attacked and any team that had selected has not lost the `ship` they had there. The game continues like this till you run out of time or there is one team left. Now the idea works fine but the rules keep getting lost in translation and the other day a result of this translation problem one student cried for 10 mins and half the other students started to argue about who won. It seems that some teams thought that if they said a box that had their own ship in it then they lose that ship (kind of a sacrifice kind of thing), while some other teams thought it only hurt them if other teams said it. So when it became clear that not everyone was following the same rules at the end of the game, a few teams were very outraged by the injustice that had fallen on them and they openly protested the winning teams victory. After 5 minutes of the teacher trying to get control and kids crying. I went over each rule step by step and it was decided that almost all the teams won.
So I guess I learned from this is never use a complicated game in elementary and make sure everyone understands the rules because little kids have a strong belief in what is right and wrong and will stand by it till the end.