Election results, jiggly men, and showtunes.

The results are in, and I'm the new National AJET Vice Chair! I was very excited to get that email this morning. I'll be working with two JETs I met at last year's Tokyo Orientation, so I think it will be fun to work together. In May we'll have our first meeting (in Tokyo!) where I get to meet the current Vice Chair and we do a sort of changeover. Apparently we'll be working together for a month or so, and then I'll be on my own some time in June. I can't wait!

Last Tuesday was a holiday (the first day of spring is a national holiday), and a bunch of JETs went to Osaka to see some sumo! It was really fun. Walking in and around the stadium is kind of nuts because every once in awhile you turn around and there's a huge sumo wrestler walking behind you. When we first went in, I was walking towards the door to our seats, and I happened to turn around and Baruto was right behind me!

This guy, only real. 

So here are some highlights of the day.. beware of the excessive amount of scantily clad butts:

*I realized that if you click on a photo, you can see a sort of slide show of all the photos in the post, and they're larger and easier to see.

Front gate leading into the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.

The ring inside the gymnasium.

All the wrestlers from one stable entering the ring.

At first they face outward. 

When they turn inward to face each other, they do a cute little dance.
It's probably not meant to be cute, but it is. 

Notice the size difference. The guy on the right weighs almost twice the guy on the left.

And this is the guy on the left throwing the guy on the right out of the ring. 

More throwing.

Lots of throwing. 

This is Baruto and the flags are all of his awards or sponsors or something. I'm not entirely sure.
He's extremely famous, and I've even seen him on TV a couple times, which is why I thought it was so cool to be almost run over by him in person. 

This is Baruto putting his competitor in a headlock....

...and throwing him down. He then stood up and walked away without looking back. Because he's Baruto.

Overall, the individual matches went very fast. The actual wrestling part, anyway. When the wrestlers get into the ring, they spent a full 4 minutes (that's the maximum time they're allowed to have) trying to intimidate each other by squatting, staring at each other angrily, standing up suddenly, slapping their thighs, throwing some salt and then squatting again and beginning the whole thing all over. It's meant to be some psychological thing, and apparently they used to be able to do it indefinitely, but the time was limited to 10 minutes in the early 1900s, and then finally decreased again to 4 minutes in modern-day. The younger, lower on the totem pole wrestlers usually don't take as much time, but if there are big names in the ring, you can bet they're going to take the full 4 minutes, and maybe even a little bit more if they can.

Leaving the gym. The sign above the gate is wrestler's names. 

Some gaijin giving it a go. They're wearing too many clothes, maybe. 

This Saturday, I decided to go see my school's brass band club's concert at a nearby university.

It began like any other brass band concert....

...until they remembered that they were Japanese. That's when Mario and Luigi came out.

Together they defeated the boss.

And saved Princess Peach.

Afterwards they did their version of an AKB48 song (a girl band with 48 members) while 5 of the girls in the band dressed up in AKB48 school girl uniforms and did the dance.

And then they proceeded to do their well-rehearsed encore (complete with fancy trumpet dance moves) that happens at every single performance, because in Japan "encore" seems to mean "the song that you play last."

The whole thing was a lot more showy than I expected. They even stopped in the middle to have a quiz game and a sign-language sing along. It was basically set up like a variety show, which is certainly quite the contrast to the long, boring concerts I used to play in. I'm not sure I would have wanted to be part of a variety show, but the Tomogaoka kids seemed to be having fun with it, and I suppose that's what counts.

So now it's March.....

I'm not entirely certain what happened to February, but here we are in mid-March, and I still haven't finished my vacation posts. I've got one waiting to be finished and one waiting to be written, and then I'll be done. In the meantime, here's a small update that will hopefully remind me where the last month as gone.

As usual, my classes ended in February. Exams were the last week, and the week before the teachers like to have time to review and whatnot, so I'm usually finished teaching around Valentine's Day. Graduation was on the 28th. It was a bit strange, because the students who graduated were first-years when I got here, so it's strange that they've left. I really liked this year's group of first years, and I hope the incoming students are just as nice.

My first campaign poster.
Expertly  photoshopped by yours truly. 

In the middle of February, I decided spontaneously to run for National AJET (Association of JETs) Vice Chair. I currently am the Hyogo AJET Representative, which is kind of a fancy title for event planner for Hyogo Prefecture. I mostly organize parties, trips, and get-togethers, which has been fun, but I decided I wanted a change. National AJET is a bit more involved, not so much event planning and more Tokyo Orientation planning, as well as being in charge of meetings and things. It seems interesting and I wouldn't mind having a bit more responsibility my *last year on JET.

(*every year so far has been my last year on JET)

I spent a week finishing my campaign platform, and my friend Ryoko was gracious enough to help me translate it into Japanese. The election officially started on the 29th, and everything's been a little nuts since then. Lots of messaging and posting and emailing and bugging people to vote for me. There are three people running against me for my particular office of choice, which is good because it divides up the vote a bit, but I'm super nervous. Only another week before the election ends and another week after that to find the results!
(@.@) ::stress::


Also in February, there was kani.

And my first trip to the Sea of Japan!

View from the front of the very much in the middle of nowhere restaurant.

This is kani. Very big kani. 

Assorted vegetables, tofu, and more kani for kani nabe (kind of soup).

Grilled kani.

Sashimi boat with sashimi kani. 

Shabu-shabu kani.

(This is how you cook shabu-shabu kani.)

Steamed kani. 

Everybody eating kani.

Matilda apologizing to the kani she's about to crack open and snap in half. 

The shells just from me and the guy sitting next to me.

As we were finishing up, we had a bunch of leftover risotto that everyone was too full to eat. The restaurant said there was no way for us to take it home, so being the resourceful gaijin we are, we decided to take it home in empty soda bottles. 

An entire day of doing nothing but eating kani. And then I went home and visited the new Costco that opened just down the street and had some of the only pizza in Japan that does not cost an arm and a leg. A great day for food.

Which brings me to March. Exams are finished and I'm mostly just waiting around for closing ceremony so we can officially be on Spring Break, during which I still go to school everyday because it's Japan. I've downloaded lots of Grey's Anatomy, so hopefully that'll last me.

Last week I went to a work party. It still never fails to surprise me that teachers who never speak to me at school and who claim to only speak Japanese have one beer and are all of a sudden English-speaking machines. Phrases they apparently DO know include, "Sarah, I love you", "Sarah, what's the meaning of life?", and "Sarah, I think maybe you should have 3 more boyfriends ::points to self and two other male teachers sitting nearby::"

Work parties are fun.

Okay, back to Grey's Anato--- I mean, work!