Japan leave the tournament, England advance to the Quarter Finals
Over the past few weeks I've been watching the football closely. I watched Japan's game against Croatia, a match that really determined Japans future in the World Cup. As usual me, Lori and Melissa congregated in BB with the same crowd and settled in for a tense match. If I'm honest I was expecting Japan to get beaten from the off. They really didn't shine in their first game and I had expected them to beat Australia, I was quietly sure of Croatia's success. The game held alot more than I expected, with Japan playing a far stronger game than their first and coming away with a draw at the end of the 90 minutes. Unfortunately their 3-1 defeat by Australia means they were still at the bottom of the group. Their only chance of winning was if they beat Brazil by 3 goals or more and the Australia - Croatia match produces a draw. This evidently didn't happen, Brazil won 4-1. At least Japan scored a good goal.
The atmosphere in BB was a tad more aggressive than the last game as everyone knew the importance of this match. At the end of the game some people threw their drinks at the T.V., poor Melissa got a tad wet. I reassured her that if we were in a British pub and England had been beaten...it would probably be worse. I feel bad for all the people there who love football so much and have to see their team leave the tournament so early.
On Monday night I went to BB to watch the England-Ecuador game. I was very grateful that we are playing Ecuador. The thought of facing Germany at such an early stage gave me the jitters. That would not have been a match I could enjoy. I was still pretty nervous about the game because Ecaudor have been strong and England have been playing (as my dad would say) like a bunch of fairies. They did win the match, but were certainly not impressive. I'm also pretty gutted that Holland are out of the game after a defeat by Portugal. Holland were my back-up team and I had only seen one of their games so far. The whole time zone thing means that the 8pm games in England are on at 4am here, which sucks. This means that England will be facing Portugal on Saturday which I feel uncomfortable about because it was Portugal that got us knocked out of the European Cup two years ago. I also don't want to see that smarmy Ronaldo's face if they beat us again. I have to admit that even with all my support for England, I've still placed a bet on Argentina winning. I'm really hoping they beat Germany. Anyway, I'm having to put my Football watching on hold the rest of the second round because the matches aren't on till 12pm and quite frankly the late nights are killing me (I have to get up at 6.30am). I'll be ready to watch the quarter final on Friday and Saturday, looking forward to it.
Anyway, here are some photos from the first Japan game, when hopes were still high for Japans success.
This is from the first England match. Behind us is the World Cup decoration in BB. They asked me for a slogan, this is what I thought of.
Here is Kentaro covered in body paint and Shinya, the owner of BB.
A better shot of Kentaro's body art from the front.
Here is the back, I was told the meaning of the kanji.....but I forgot, sorry.
Here's everyone watching the match.
Me and Ipei before the match started.
Here's me and Nagisa (she hates photos, hence the camera avoiding)
Here's Genki holding on to Takuji.
Let the rain fall down!
I'm currently sat in work in the midst of a rain/thunder storm that started on Saturday evening and hasn't stopped. This is what they meant by the rainy season. To be honest I quite like it, the sticky humidity, thunder rolling through the sky and random flashes of lighting. The island feels coated in mist and driving round the windy cliff edge roads in this weather is breath taking. I love it, the island becomes far more mysterious and ghostly, and all the dense inpenatrable forests, shinto shrines and statues to ward off evil spirits seem to add to this atmosphere. This island is a place where you can really let your mind wander.
Back in the real world though, I've had a mixed week. I've realised how important job satisfation is to me. As I had mentioned before, I've recently had a new JTE (English teacher) at one of my Junior High Schools(JHS). He's been working with me since April, and he barely lets me go to class. I haven't had an english class at this school for three weeks! I'm still doing P.E. class (now on to volleyball which I'm awful at, I keep catching the ball) but it's not what I'm there for. I'm spending so much time in the staff room that I feel disconnected from the kids, my head's in a different place. I am trying, I still eat lunch with the kids and talk with them in the library at lunch time, but even with P.E. classes I'm still spending most of my time doing, well nothing.
I didn't realise how much this was effecting me until last week. The evenings after Kita-Uonome JHS I've been grumpy, depressed and down about myself. The days after elementary school and Uonome JHS I've felt fine, if not great. This week in particular I had a very dull Thursday (followed by a moany evening) and then a great Friday (with a good evening). I just want to have some work, I want to see the kids. If I don't work I feel guilty, like I'm getting paid for nothing, and I don't want the other staff members to think of me as the lazy ALT who just faffs all day and gets paid a load. I'm going to have to talk to my JTE or my supervisor, I just don't know whats best to do. Should I speak to my JTE first, or go straight to my supervisor. If I speak to my JTE but nothing changes, he'll know if I've reported to my supervisor. However, if I haven't even said anything to him, I feel it's unfair to go to my supervisor and get him in trouble. It's a tough decision. I know I have to do something, my apathy towards this school is growing, I feel so unmotivated it's ridiculous.
Aside from work I made a decision about the summer. I'm not going to Thailand for a few reasons. a)expensive, b)Cristin arrives at the end of July and I would rather spend my nenkyu (paid leave) celebrating her birthday, c)I want to be here to say goodbye to the leavers and hello to the newbies and d) me and Genki are going to Yokohama for a week in August, and then my nenkyu's spent. I could eat into next years but I want to travel then too. I'm planning to visit Korea and Taiwan in the 4 day weekends we get in Autumn and early winter, and then do a volunteer trip to Indonesia over Christmas. I figure I can stay in Japan this summer and relax, and then travel alot next year instead.
On a final note I am officially sporty, I'm playing badminton and I'm starting judo on Tuesday. This on top of the P.E. classes, gym trips and Tai chi means that I don't feel so much of a lazy bones. I've lost 10kgs (thats 22 pounds) and although I still resemble an inflatable whale, I'm working on losing the rest. Me and Melissa are doing evening mountain walks in preperation for her Mt.Fuji climb in the summer and the kids are trying to teach me volleyball during school lunch (I think they're saddened by my lack of volleyball skills, man its a hard game and it hurts!). Me and Lori played badminton with the BB crew on the weekend which was great fun. We're hoping to do it regularly. Lori's named the club "itsumo roku nin club" which means "always 6 people club" a bizarre name but thats Lori for you. It's actually quite nice to be involved in sports, just got to take up swimming and I'm done.
I s'pose it's time to look busy, any projects people want to give me to help entertain me during these slow slow days?
Hangover cure!
Right now, I'm desperately craving a big jacket potatoe, with baked beans and cheese. It was one of my favourite healthy meals and when I was in uni me and the girls used to get one the day after a big night out. Unfortunately Japan has only smal potatoes, and no baked beans, and anyway I'm in work and I doubt they'd let me nip home to eat my favourite hangover food! Still, I miss it!
Last night me and Lori headed to BB to watch the England game. I feel really lucky to have a pub full of football fans to watch the world cup with (this is rare in Japan, even more so on a small island). The game last night was great and made even better by the company. They even had that awful England song 'Vindaloo' to put on at the end of the match. Unfortunately the excitment of the game meant I had to drink and by the time the match finished (3am Japan time) I was a little tipsy. I went to bed armed with a bottle of water and managed to eat a banana before stumbling to school this morning, but nothing beats a jacket potatoe! I hope lunch is good today.
I've gone slightly football crazy at the moment, it's all I talk about in school. Watching the Japan game last Monday was gutting. I really wanted Japan to win that game because Croatia and Brazil are going to give them a hard time. The next Japan game is on Sunday but I can't imagine the same atmosphere will be present at BB. For now I think the football fans at BB have adopted England as their plan B team, which suits me fine. It was great last night when everyone was dancing and celebrating with me, yey!
Football aside, things on the island have had a far more positive feel to them recently. Last week hailed the start of the 'rainy season' which I assumed meant that it would start to rain and not stop until mid July. I later found out that the 'rainy season' is when it rains sometimes but when it's not rainy it's sunny. I'd rather call this 'changeable' and label all of Spring as the rainy season as it never did anything but rain then...and there wasn't even sun. Thankfully this 'rainy season' we've had far more sun, the weather has been beautiful and I think this has cheered everyone up. My students are especially more genki about english recently, and last week me and Melissa took four third year girls to karaoke! I'm talking to the students so much more and I feel a lot more involved in whats going on.
Right now I have to make some decisions for summer. Whether to travel to Thailand and do some volunteer work, or stay in Japan. I'm tight for leave and money, and I'm hoping to do an Indonesia volunteer trip over Christmas. I've given myself until next Friday to decide because I have to contact the volunteer co-ordinator soon. Oh, decisions decisions!
Appreciation
I've seen the sunrise and set so many times in the past 10 months, but the beauty never escapes me. This island is a paradise that I should never take for granted.
This is from the first England match. Behind us is the World Cup decoration in BB. They asked me for a slogan, this is what I thought of.
Here is Kentaro covered in body paint and Shinya, the owner of BB.
A better shot of Kentaro's body art from the front.
Here is the back, I was told the meaning of the kanji.....but I forgot, sorry.
Here's everyone watching the match.
Me and Ipei before the match started.
Here's me and Nagisa (she hates photos, hence the camera avoiding)
Here's Genki holding on to Takuji.
