Hey! Where'd My Parents Go?

Tricia is off to Tokyo to meet up with brother Michael and sister-in-law Lisa, who will spend a few days there before going to Hiroshima and Kyoto, and then it's up north to visit us in scenic Akita, which will be the last hurrah for the Straits (and DeGraff) before leaving Japan for good. So with Tricia gone, it's just me and little junior from now through Sunday night (a group of students have taken to calling Jonas "Jason Junior" for some reason, which I like and am hoping becomes a trend. Tricia doesn't seem too wild about it). As was the case last time, people have reacted with shock and outrage that Tricia would leave us all by ourselves for so long. I calm their fears by telling them I'm an ace with a can opener, and that we have enough cat food to last us for weeks.

A couple of weekends ago we went to our local aquarium, GAO. Here is the evidence.





Did my best with the photos. Signs everywhere warned people not to use a flash, though we seemed to be in the minority of people following this rule. They must have missed the numerous drawings of a flashbulb with a giant X through it.




This was some sort of bizarre end-of-the-exhibit game where kids colored in a paper fish, which was then scanned into an impressive-looking computer. Then in the next room, the fish appeared on the screen where it took a virtual tour of the ocean. Allegedly, kids were able to control their fish during the tour by slamming the directional arrows as hard as they could. It was very weird and very Japanese. Kudos to Tricia for figuring out just exactly what was going on.

The kids' fish then shot up into the air and exploded in the night sky, showering the children with fish bits and horrifying all the parents.

Jonas before eating a spaghetti lunch.



Jonas after eating a spaghetti lunch.



Some fisherman way out there.






Jonas got a free balloon dog, which he immediately tried to eat.

Moments later, he was asleep.

Cage Free

 
Jonas graduated from his crib last week and was rewarded with the Japanese equivalent of his own bed – a spot on the floor with the rest of us. This became necessary as the process of him climbing up and out of his crib became a thrilling game for him, one that he enjoyed a little too much. At bedtime, Jonas would climb out, sit by the door and stick his hands through the opening between the door and the floor. He’d then wait for us to tell him to get back into his bed, which is when he would laugh and laugh and laugh. The sterner we were, the more he’d laugh. So, while Tricia was at yoga, I pulled all the toys out of his room, broke down the crib, pulled a futon into his room, left him in there with a handful of books and barred the door. Within about 20 minutes, he was asleep. It was a miracle.

 

And ever since then, he’s gone to sleep pretty easily. He probably was wondering what we were waiting for. Now if only we could get him to sleep in on the weekends.

We went to another baseball game over the weekend. My school won. Sunday's semifinal was rained out, which I didn't find out until I biked all the way to the stadium. I assume they'll make them up Monday and hold the final on Tuesday. I expect they'll let us out of school to go watch if they make the final. We spent an hour practicing cheers last week. I'll post those in action in the next couple of days. You haven't lived until you've heard We Will Rock You sung in Japanese by teenagers.
 
 

Rice Planting

On Fridays I teach at an agriculture high school. I was excited to learn about this assignment before moving to Akita, because I grew up visiting my Grandparents' dairy farm. I was even active in 4-H as a kid and in Future Farmers of America for one year of high school. So I was excited that I was able to participate in a little bit of Japanese farming - rice planting. Every year, the first year students spend a Friday afternoon planting rice. It seems that it is a tradition.

Here are the rice plants.


These students are planting the rice plants. Notice the standing water. All the rice fields have been flooded.



After the students left the rice fields, a teacher explained to me that last year people who live near the school's rice fields complained that the students did not do a good job of planting the rice. If you look carefully in the picture below, you can see straight machine-planted rows on the left and student planted rice on the right.


To avoid this problem this year, a teacher planted new plants on top of the student plants. Or the machine straightened the plants that were already there. I am not sure how it worked, but while he was doing this, he invited me to drive the rice planting machine. Unfortunately, in the pictures I have, I am only standing to the side. But, he did let me drive. I don't think my rows were as straight as his.



Here are some students washing their feet after standing in the muddy rice field.

I'm So Excited

Jonas was so excited for Mother's Day that he woke up at 4:30 and refused to go back to sleep. As much as she loves him, Tricia didn't exactly consider this the ideal Mother's Day present. So my gift to her was to get up with Jonas while she slept in a little longer. Eventually, though, the euphoria wore off. So much so that halfway through breakfast, pretty much mid-bite, Jonas fell asleep. If you look closely you can see egg on the tip of his nose. He didn't even get to his favorite part of the meal, the frozen berries. After he ate his egg and cheese, I left the room to fetch the berries (he'll eat those and only those if he has access to them first thing), and when I got back, he was snoozing away.




Part of the reason for Jonas' early rising is the ungodly time the sun comes up here, currently, just after 4 a.m. This often wakes me up, too, although I have the good sense to go back to sleep.

Once Jonas woke back up, we went to watch the Spring baseball tournament. I watched my main school play the day before. The main difference I noticed (aside from the Japanese obsession with bunting) was that these kids didn't make any mistakes. There was one error all game, and even that was a tough one. The ball took a bad bounced, and the second baseman still knocked it down and made a play on the runner. I guess that's what practicing year- round will do for you.



In the fifth inning play is stopped so members of each team can rake the field.


Tricia, Jonas and two players from one of her schools. Again, if you look closely you can see a pen and pencil clutched in Jonas' left hand. He's obsessed lately with drawing and wants to do it wherever he goes. Also, notice the kids' shoes. Didn't know velcro was still in here.

Crash Jonas

"Your shower shoes have fungus on them. You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. Think classy, you'll be classy. Win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful. Until you win 20 in the show, however, it only means you are a slob."
-- Bull Durham

About a week ago, we went over to a fellow teacher’s house for a curry dinner with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. During dinner, the wife, who spoke no English, smiled broadly, pointed over at Jonas and declared, “Kevin Costner.” So what do we think? Does Jonas look like a young, Bull Durham-era Kevin Costner. I intially dismissed this, as I’ve been told I look just like Matt Damon. But after a second look, I don’t know. Maybe she’s right.

 

A future Jonas?

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A young Costner?

The daughter was a full year and two months older than Jonas, though exactly the same size, and I think this confused her terribly, because Jonas, being younger and being Jonas, wasn’t much interested in talking with her. He ignored nearly everything she said and instead opted to play with all of her toys. She also appeared completely flummoxed that we couldn’t understand what she was saying. This happens to us a lot. Kids walk up to us and start jabbering away in Japanese. We tell them, in Japanese, that we don’t understand. And from the looks on their faces, and can just see them saying to themselves, “Why the hell not?”

 

She sat still from start to finish. He sat still for a few minutes.

We went camping last weekend, cutting the trip short after just one night. Jonas bolted awake at 3:30 a.m. and decided, instead of sleeping, he’d scream as loud as possible. This was a problem as the campground was packed. So I put him in the car and started driving, hoping he’d fall back asleep. He didn’t. He just sat there, staring out the window for the full two hours as I drove completely around Japan’s deepest lake, then drove to another prefecture, Iwate, before returning back to the campground. So we ate breakfast, went to Nyuto Onsen, featured earlier in the year in The New York Times for good reason, as it’s definitely the oldest and most authentic-seeming onsen we’ve been to, and then headed for home. Here is the photographic evidence.

 
 
 
 

I think anyone who does one of these blogs has to, at some point in time, apologize for neglecting it for a period of time. I wish I could say that I (Tricia has forbidden me from speaking for her in any way whatsoever in this space, so I will honor this directive by only commenting for myself) have been terribly busy and haven’t had the time. This would be untrue. I’ve been no busier than at any other point I’ve been here. Maybe less so. I’ve simply run out of steam. After nine months, Japan and all things Japanese are no longer new and interesting. They haven’t been for awhile. They just are. I’m still enjoying it all. But I think the end is in sight, and I’m ready to cross that line.

Finally, one of my schools canceled classes last week to honor all the sports teams and hold its annual river cleanup. This attracted the attention of the local newspaper. And if you look closely, that’s me in the middle of all that trash. Among the items discovered: a rusty, triangular saw, a Japanese wash basin and a hot tea dispenser. Thankfully, no bodies. This is Japan, after all.

 

Jonas runs to get his shoes

In the last few weeks, Jonas started a new thing at daycare. When he sees Jason or me, he runs to to get his shoes from the shoe cubbies. Here is a short video -



We are leaving for a camping trip in the next hour. The weather is beautiful and we have Monday and Tuesday off. Should be fun.