Nokonoshima

Nokonoshima is a tiny island off Fukuoka that has beautiful flowers and plants throughout the year. Similar to Butchart Gardens, Victoria only this one is more recreational, and flowers are well thought out so that different flowers bloom for different seasons.

Going to Nokonoshima

At the ferry terminal there were a lot of people heading to Nokonoshima that day so we weren’t able to get on the ferry. Instead of waiting an hour for the next ferry we decided to take a taxi express – someone with a speed boat…It was ridiculous fast, and a bit scary. But fun! No life jacket, traveling across the water at what felt like 90km/hr. Fun memories to start the day.

Express Ferry to Nokonoshima

 

Nokonoshima Flowers

Different seasons have different blooms. This time of the year Cosmos are in full bloom until November. The landscape was gorgeous. Though the temperature has cooled off a bit, Fukuoka it is still relatively warm. Another girl and I walked around in our tank tops for most of the trip, which was funny because being Fall, people wouldn’t think to see others in tank tops. Don’t worry my dear onlookers! I am from Vancouver! This temperature right now is comparatively comfortable to a Vancouver summer 🙂

Cosmo Flowers

Other flower that I’m not sure of the name.

Interestingly enough, this park also offers interesting stuff to do… like recreational opportunities in certain areas of the garden, volley ball and basketball nets, and in another section there’s an open space with soccer nets. People were play catch, badminton and frisbee. Now if only Butchart Gardens could allow people to enjoy the flowers and nature together like this 😀

People playing a game of volleyball.

Salsa Dancing In Fukuoka

My first Saturday-nightlife experience in Fukuoka! A friend took me over to TIEMPO in Tenjin (full name: Tiempo Iberoamericano). It’s a latin-learning culture school, specializing in all kinds of latin dancing, art and teaching Spanish.
(**2013 Update: They now offer belly dancing lessons!)

The class schedule varies throughout the week, but every Saturday night everyone is invited to come together for some dancing fun! Admission is ¥500, drinks (alcohol & non) and snacks are available to order at the bar.

Saturday Night Salsa

Similar to Robson Square Dance Series in Vancouver. Where Harbor Dance Studios teaches basic steps for free to the public, then the public gets to test it out. So much fun! Everyone was there to just dance and have a good time. It was a friendly atmosphere and most of the people there were students with the studio. There would be times of dancing, then surprise break outs from the instructors that would teach some new moves.

Never having danced Salsa before in my life, I was petrified through my wits. Hoping that I could go the whole night without being asked to dance. The closest dance I’ve learned that could come comparatively close to Salsa was Samba…and even then it was only a months worth of classes.

 

Great Dancers!

Everyone there was at various dance levels ranging from beginners to experts, so don’t worry about having two left feet ~ because I survived, and had the time of my life! In my many attempts to say in Japanese “No, I’m sorry I don’t know how!” One guy who seemed really pro took me out to the floor. First attempts to dance were embarrassing, so he patiently took me to the side and showed me the basic steps. When he saw that I got it we went back onto the floor.

Great dancers are said to be able to lead even the most inexperienced. I never knew how that was possible, and if that was even true. But I experienced it that night. He was a great teacher and led me pretty well though I spent most of my time looking down at my feet.

It was a lot of fun! I’m seriously considering this to be my new hobby, which is funny because originally I was intending to take up some sort of Japanese culture hobby.

Buenas noches!

 

Saturday Night Dancing @Tiempo Iberoamericano, Fukuoka

Nakasu Matsuri

Nakasu is located in the center by the Naka river, a river that divides Fukuoka creating twin cities of Hakata (East side) and Fukuoka (West side). It is also considered one of the most infamous red-light districts in Japan. There are a lot of host & hostess bars around, as well as regular bars and restaurants.

Nakasu Matsuri (Festival)
This festival is neat because it consists of only girls carrying portable shrines through the streets of Nakasu. Apparently you don’t have to be a local, but there is an advance sign up. Considering how heavy the shrine looks at other festivals, where majority of carriers ARE male, I don’t think I could really do it. Cheers to the ones who do!! 😀

Nakasu Matsuri (Festival)

 

Cotton Field Restaurant

For dinner, a friend booked us into the Cotton Field Restaurant. A cozy basement restaurant in Nakasu that offered foreign beer + dinner sets. Mexican food with Mexican beer, European food with European beer, etc. Ribs were fantastic! I mixed my European dish with a Mexican beer – just because it reminded me of someone back home. That beer was for you Graydon!

Cotton Field Restaurant

Octoberfest In Fukuoka

On Friday after work a few teachers and I went over to Bayern Fukuoka. A German sports bar downtown, and the only international German bar recognized by Germany itself. Well, the owner is German and married to a Japanese woman. Neither the teachers nor I have been, so we were all pretty excited. There are tons of stuff happening all around Fukuoka for Octoberfest though, this is just one of them.

Tabe-hodai & Nomi-hodai
Here in Japan they have this awesome thing called “Tabe-hodai” (all you can eat) and “Nomi-hodai” (all you can drink). Drinks include both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks 🙂
Prices are different wherever you go, but it’s probably the most interesting-est and coolest culture point about Japan.

Bayern & Octoberfest!

During the day, Bayern is a cafe style restaurant. There’s a menu, as well as bakery that takes up the left-side of the place, while the standing sports bar is in the back.

For Octoberfest, Bayern was offering Nomi-houdai & tabe-houdai for this event! Men were $40, and women were $30; plus, a $10 refundable deposit for a HUGE 1L drinking mug they give you. It felt like it was triple the size of those A&W mugs…Don’t lose it as that is your ticket to Nomi-hodai…but I was contemplating of just keeping the mug and not getting back my deposit. I didn’t know I could have done this until AFTER ><.

Armed with a colorful plastic wristband for the Tabe-hodai we headed in. It was slightly dim and a touch crowded by certain areas of the bar. Everyone was watching the soccer game Japan VS Argentina. The food was buffet style, and served in small portions.

Everything was delicious. The food was mainly German, with a few bits of Japanese options for the locals. It was delicious, and kept eating well into the night while my teachers had stopped after the first hour. I think my body missed Western food quite a bit.There was a huge drink menu for the Nomi-hodai, which included 6 German beers, a few Japanese alcoholic beverages, Western cocktails and highballs, non-alcoholic stuff, and more.

Bayern Fukuoka, International German Bar

Nijiikai – Shidax Karaoke

Usually with parties, there’s always an after party (or nijiikai). People head over to another place to drink, eat…and in many popular cases, Karaoke!

Shidax karaoke chain

After Bayern’s we went for a karaoke nijiikai! Shidax is one of the bigger karaoke chains, and really good in terms of song selection, cleanliness and services. Karaoke is quite cheap here, we got a deal of $10 for two hours. Sometimes you can get sets, like lunch & karaoke package.
The Shidax that I went to had an all you can drink (non-alcohol) station that hugged the side of the grand staircase, all guests were free to use this bar.

We sang for two hours, killed our throats and didn’t get home till 2:30am. The DD and I were both pretty awake considering we both had 2 cups of coffee at the bar. It was hard not to avoid going out for some late night ramen ~ sanjiikai!! (after-after party, or 3rd party).

Shidax’s main foyer & drink bar on the side

In case all the rooms are booked, guests can wait it out, and Karaoke in the waiting area until a room is available.

Teaching & the smell of Fear

When I first got here the thought of teaching haunted me throughout the day and into the night. Fear of teaching wild kids who were uninterested in the class, lesson and me; which would result in me becoming ill from stress every so often and the anticipating fear of the next class to come.
As students stare at you for a good 50 minutes, you’d swear to god (as a newbie) children are really Hannibalistic monsters in disguise. When they watch you they’re really honing their senses to detect the first break of sweat that would mean fear, which if you turn your back for a split second they may attack.

Okay, fear comes in many ways – I was just assuming the worst of WORST scenarios.

 

Stroke of Luck

I am grateful to have such wonderful kids, I have this year. They know when it’s time to buckle down and learn, but they understand the flexibility of time to make jokes and clown around…

~**Mind you, I’m saying this as a newbie, I’m still in the honeymoon stages here.**~

Credit also goes to their teachers as well. All the teachers here are very caring towards the students, and are very supportive in their learning. Makes me kind of miss the good teachers I had back in high school, and how I always thought that if I was to ever teach, I would want to be like them. Teaching on the fly, with no prior experience or practicum, my mind would revert to “What would Ms. Mah do?”, “What would Mr. Buddai say?”, “How would Ms. Uhren act?”. When situations arise I would all of a sudden “become” and “embody” one of my teachers from tone of voice to gestures. Trying to get the kids excited and attempt to instill passion of speaking I would be Ms. Uhren. Waving my arms about in some grand Renaissance gesture, while Ms. Mah’s glare and funny scrunched facial expression would come out during times of “wtf? What are you talking about? Weird.” Mr. Buddai comes the most predominant as his style is casual and humorous, which easily helps me portray the “Alright, let’s do this, sit down I’m teaching.”

Meet the Boys of 1 -1
My last class to teach before the kids enter their midterms. Class 1-1 is a large class and so is split into two when it comes to doing lessons. One half will learn English, while the other learns Math, etc. Though it’s interesting that one class has 25 kids (with only 5 girls), and the other has 15 kids (all boys). Today I had the 15, all boys from class 1-1.

When I got up in front of them that Hannibal theory began to creep it’s way back into my mind. I smiled and gave my introduction and made small talk with the comments that came my way. They were an energetic bunch, with energy that could go in any direction and would be hard to contain if I don’t keep their attention.
We went over mandatory vocabulary that will be used on their midterm, as I got them to repeat and pronounce my English teacher (a kind and funny old man), would translate it in Japanese to make sure they were understanding. Every so often his explanation would would be interrupted by a student who would joke in Japanese “Sensei, English only!”, “Sensei, no more talking, we want to hear the ALT (me) talk”, etc.

My boys are class clowns all together, but then I realized how smart they are. How their ability to comprehend what I was saying was far better than some of my other classes. They just hate the textbook – as do I. Sadly, they need it for their exams. They were eager to answer my questions, but mainly because the English teacher had chocolates for those who volunteered their answer. That was the first time I saw kids actually willing to volunteer so energetically.
Their excitement died a bit when one student finally questioned where the teacher was hiding the chocolates, considering there was no bag insight. The room went silent when they found out the treats were being kept hidden in the teachers back pocket… Then like an explosion the boys starting complaining to the teacher to take the chocolates out and not keep it near his ass.
I burst out laughing, and I think the boys got a kick at how I found them so amusing. I relaxed a bit more and we continued through the class with intervals of us all joking around.

Repeat after me…
When getting kids to repeat after me, getting them to follow along is a bit of a longer process due to cultural & language differences.In North America we say “Ok, on three – 1, 2, 3…”, in Japan they say “Say-no…”. It works perfectly! When I first did it the class went silent, as the students were in awe that “wow! she knows how to say that?!”

Japanese Sink – It’s Straining…

Warning: Not to be read while eating, just prior to, or after eating.

Sometimes when I head to the store and attempt to read the cleaning products I always see this stainless steal strainer that’s a long cylinder…and I always wonder, where could that possible go? I mean I’m use to the strainer that sits on top, with a little dip to catch any unwanted hair going down the drain. WELL, to my unwanted desire I found out tonight.

Japanese Sink: The Well of Wonders
I was doing the dishes before bed like normal when I noticed that the water wasn’t draining properly. As I watched it slowly disappear under this rubber lid that covers the drain, I thought to myself…”I need to find out what the Japanese version of Draino is.”

Don’t ask me why but I decide to stick my hand (with gloves on!), into this elusive black hole. Thinking that I wouldn’t be able to go far – because North American sinks won’t let you, but silly me, I forgot that I was in Japan. Not in Kansas anymore Toto.

I was in up past my wrist when I hit something…mushy… being an oddly smart and curious weirdo I made a grab, thinking that I found the clog. And naturally I pulled out gunk that had been accumulated most likely since I started living there – and potentially way before. Slowly the smell crept into my ol factory, and it was NASTY!!

The smell that resembled someone barfing during a house party, but wasn’t cleaned up properly and by morning the lurking smell of that barf mixed with the smell of alcohol. Not that I’d know, I just assumed it would resemble that smell most likely. It’s this bitter, wrenching smell that can easily cause a gagging reflex. I quickly tossed the gunk in the garbage and then figured that there was probably more, so I went for another grab. This time as I pulled my hand out the lid popped off. I found out I could remove the lid and below was a nasty swamp.

Surprise! No Magic Lamp…
I saw a little handle and gave it a pull. Next thing you know I’m pulling out a long cylinder, plastic strainer. What resembled a long narrow strain bucket that a kid can take to the creek and catch tiny fish. Only this thing was 2/3rds full with festering gunk, which most likely accumulated before I was there considering I only got my dishes and cookware a little less than two weeks ago. Before that I was using only cups, and ate bowls of cereal while the rest was mainly takeout.

I held my breath, dumped the load in the trash and tied it up. Putting everything back, I kept one glove on, grabbed the trash and ran for the door. Slid into my flip flops and was out the door. Racing down four flights of stairs I halted halfway down. Who should be coming up the stairs but my landlord, who is also my next door neighbor.

I moved to the corner to let him pass, bowing and greeted him good evening. As he returned the gesture I saw his eyes gaze for a long time on my gloved hand with the garbage. Probably assuming what a princess I am about garbage, *yesh…*. We smiled at each other and went our separate ways.

After dumping my trash I ran like the wind back to my apartment to clean the sink. The smell lingered, so I squirted it down with stainless steal kitchen cleaner that made it smell both of chemicals and swampy barf. So I doused the entire sink in my citrus orange scented dish soap! Scrubbing it down until the entire thing was lathered well. Rinsing it down the citrus helped for the first little bit, but at least it’s not as bad as it originally was. *Sigh, I need another shower.

…so I think I’ll go buy one of those sink strainers next time.