week numero 2

Everything is unpacked, photos are up on the wall, some food is in the fridge and i have pink pot plants. Although Maruoka doesn't feel like home yet, i am certainly happy in my apartment. I step out of my doors and see mountains, i am 2 mins walk from a supermarket and i have 2 other JETs about 5mins from me. John and Kim are from the USA and have been lovely to spend time with. They have shattered the stereotypes i had of Americans and have been really patient with my inability to read or speak japanese. This week i managed to join the local tennis club which is fantastic as it means i can meet lots of japanese people, get involved in the community and stay active- yay!

This week i went to my first festival in Fukui, the Phoenix Festival. It was full of bright coloured food stalls selling tempting foods such as the famous squid on a stick, chicken kebabs, soba noodles, octopus balls, sweet bread, japanese style omeletes etc. I had my first ever snow cone too which was worringly addictive. Fukui was buzzing and there were many groups of children and adults competiting in a dance contest. Whilst watching i suddenly realised that being a big gaijin had its uses as i had no problem looking over the heads of the other spectators to watch the dancing! We also watched a bit of a rock concert which was slightly surreal, as we were surrounded by old and young dressed in beautiful traditional japanese yukata, whilst watching rock music. Another odd part of the festival was seeing a large cage full of 7ish year old boys running round with huge black beetles in their hands, chasing one another and stomping on other beetles as they went. I say we should introduce the concept of locking up all small children until they are 18years old.

This week i also took part in 2 englsh summer camps where students around the age of 13-15 go to have fun learning English. The first camp in a nature park in Fukui was amazing. The students were really 'genky' and energetic which made the 2 days heaps of fun. We completed challenges, performed a play, had a camefire and basically had a really fun time. The second camp however was very different. The group of children i had were seemingly mute and would try their very hardest to avoid eye contact or speak in any language. Very little english was spoken and i felt quite defeated. The trouble is that Japanese children are not supposed to be out spoken, and they're not taught english conversation. I think experiencing this made me worry for my time teaching as it will be difficult to remain enthusiastic and positive in such situations.....

On Friday night we took the train to Mikuni on the coast for their hanabe (fireworks). We sat squashed on the beach surronded by hundreds of other people and watched an amazing array of colours and shapes explode in the sky over the water as the boats out at sea let off an abundance of spectacular fireworks. It was really good, and the show seemed to last for hours.

This week also saw the arrival of 20 new JETs from group B. It was strange to suddenly have to do the whole introduction thing and get to know more people after spending a week settling in. But once again there seemed to be a good bunch of people- but what is it with the amount of married couples!!