I got mail!

Today, I opened my mailbox, as I do every day just for kicks because I know I never have mail, and LO and BEHOLD, there was a small parcel! My kickass friend J sent me a most bodacious and gnarly gift, an Edward Gorey 2010 Postcard Calendar, with 26 detachable postcards!

So effing cool, and so unexpected, it totally made my day. Felt I had to put it on here.



Pics are backwards, don't have the time to fix it. The second one says "The Broken Spoke", and made me think of Austin. aww.

Thanks, dude!

Everybody else, if you'd like a hip but creepy postcard with art by Edward Gorey, send me your address.

Burning Man 2009

Great video from Burning Man 2009, brings a tear to my eye. Oh well, 2010 is just around the corner...

Party Time in the Noto, Kiriko Style!

Quick post just to get this up, been an absolutely jam-packed month so far. It's festival season here in Ishikawa, especially up on the Noto Peninsula where I live. I found this out pretty quickly, as my first weekend here my co-worker Brian, a nice American chap who has been here for a year, took me and Katy, a fellow newbie from KC, MO, to the Issaki Hoto Festival in the nearby city of Nanao. And it was awesome.

This region is famous for the giant lanterns or "kiriko" used in most of the festivals. They are really beautiful decorative things made of rice paper and wood or sometimes (if it's a really nice, expensive one) lacquerware, and they are unique to this area in all of Japan. That's pretty cool! The big ones can...well, I'll let this Japanese tourist website do the work here:

The Issaki Hoto Matsuri is one of the biggest and most lively summer festivals of Noto where spirited men from the area around a fishing town called Ishizaki parade through the streets bearing Kiriko lanterns. One of the attractions of this Festival is the giant Kiriko lantern which is 15 m high and 3 m wide and weighs almost 2 tons. It takes 100 men to carry it and parade it through the streets. As the men shouldering these giants lanterns dance and parade through the narrow streets, the 6 giant Kiriko lanterns dance with them. As the skies get dark, these lanterns are lighted up and they create a fantasy like atmosphere. The Festivals continues till late night as the firecrackers light up the skies and as the climax nears the Kiriko look even grander as the competition among 6 giant Kiriko bearers becomes fiercer.

A fantasy like atmosphere indeed. I would say a 'rowdy good time' is more accurate. One thing that blurb doesn't mention is that there are about a dozen kids sitting on each of the kiriko, playing drums and flutes in their summer kimonos and looking cute as only Japanese kids can. There is also one older taiko drummer who keeps the beat with really impressive style. Here's a vid I cooked up on my shiny new Macbook Pro:





As the night goes on the guys carrying these massive towers consume more and more sake. This makes things very exciting. As the different kiriko teams charge back and forth and shake and rattle their lanterns in their attempts to outdo the other teams, you can't help but wonder as you cheer them on "Is that thing going to topple over and crush us to death?" (Apparently last year some poor old lady was in fact caught underneath one of the kirikos as it stampeded through the streets. As a result, this year there were police all over the place for crowd control, apparently a first in all the hundreds of years they've been doing this.)

Here are some pictures:



I have to get some sleep now, BIG day tomorrow. Today was the beginning of the biggest and best festival of them all, the 4 day long Wajima Taisai! (I live in Wajima.) There are JETs coming in from all over the prefecture for it, I'm gonna have at least 6 or 7 people sleeping on my tatami mat floor for the next couple nights.

Here's the real kicker though, and the reason I wanted to get this up now: earlier tonight, my coworker Brian managed to strike up a conversation with a girl whose father happens to own/manage/run a kiriko (no idea how this works...anyways, dude's got the hook-up). As a result...TOMORROW NIGHT...for SIX HOURS, I will be thrusting 2000 pounds of lacquerware around the streets of my little fishing village on my shoulders. :-O A few days ago, it was kinda nice being taller than everybody else. Now...notsomuch. Did I mention that alcohol, specifically rice wine, is a big part of this festival? They will be forcing it down my throat at every opportunity. Needless to say, I've made my peace with God. I'm pretty sure this will be the end of Adam in Asia, as well as Adam in general. Oh well, it's been a great run! Sayonara!

(expect more pictures and video if I survive)

Wajimacallit?

cue music:

♫ Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside. ♫

Yep. Okay, so I made it! It was a long and arduous journey from Austin to my new home of Wajima, but I've had worse. It was mainly the jet lag that kicked my ass. I figured that if I stayed up all night packing before I left, I would sleep like a baby on the plane and wake up chipper and rearing to go for our 3 day orientation in Tokyo. This did not work. Instead, I started getting sick (which was not helped by general stress and trans-pacific airplane A/C), I couldn't sleep on the plane, and I was completely out of it in Tokyo, probably talked gibberish to the plants in the hotel lobby but it's all so hazy I can't really say for sure. Who needs drugs when you can just cross the international dateline?

The schedule in Tokyo was pretty jam-packed, 2 full days of informative seminars taught by current JETs with titles ranging from "Driving in Japan" to "What is that on my plate and why is it moving?" and "How to keep your tatami mat sparkling!". (Okay I made that last one up.) If I could remember anything I learned during these sessions I would be more than happy to share them here, unfortunately my brain was like a sieve. I had several former JETs recommend skipping these seminars altogether and just going out to explore the city. Ah, that would've been fun. Once again, non-functioning everything kept me indoors for the most part. I actually slept through the official Welcome dinner (and then some--went to my room for a power nap and ended up sleeping from 4pm - 230am...whoops. I was awake then so I went outside for a walk and stumbled onto a dozen or so JETs getting sauced in front of the 7/11 across the street, including a classy fellow from Northern Ireland who ran around shirtless until someone informed him that he could get arrested for it.)

On the last night in Tokyo there was an all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner with the other JETs from my prefecture (state), Ishikawa, which would've been a lot more fun if I could've kept my eyes open.

Pics from Tokyo Orientation

The next morning we were up early for checkout. After throwing away the 20 pounds of paper I was given during orientation, including several books from the U.S. Embassy on American History and Economics (I'm an English teacher, not a propaganda tool?), it was off to the Noto!

The Noto is a peninsula sticking off the northwestern coast of the main island, Honshu. Looks kinda like a lobster claw (if you can come up with something more inventive I'd be glad to hear it).

I live on the knuckle, in a city called Wajima (Wajima-shi in Japanese). Here is a map I made:



(the map sort of makes it look like an island, but it's not. definitely a peninsula.)

and google maps


View Larger Map

I'm not sure the exact population of Wajima, but it is something like 30,000. and it is very much in the inaka. This is a Japanese word I will probably be using a lot on this blog. It means "rural" aka "the countryside", "way the eff out there", "BFE", "non-existent nightlife", etc., and it is one of the many interesting perks that comes with being a member of the JET program.

Just to give you a little info on how I ended up here, on the JET application you have the option of requesting your "placement". You can put down a specific city, or a region, somewhere cold/hot, even urban/rural. However, getting placed where you requested seems to be a pretty big roll of the dice. At orientation I talked to JETs who requested Big City and got placed in a town of 500 in Hokkaido, the snowy sparsely-populated northern island. Others got exactly what they wanted. I didn't put down anything, because I didn't really care and I wanted to leave it in the hands of fate, cuz she's been pretty good to me so far.

And once again, fate appears to have thrown me a tasty curveball.

(Pictures of Wajima)

While I am not jump up and down high five everyone in the room excited about my placement, I am very, very happy and optimistic, and I think I will really love it here. Why? Several reasons.

+ Nature! It is absolutely gorgeous here. Lush and green like few places I have ever been. I have yet to fully explore the peninsula, but the few drives we have taken to other towns have been incredibly scenic. The air is clean and fresh and filled with these huge wild hawks that screech in a most awesome way. Apparently some of the best hiking, camping, and birdwatching in the whole country is all within easy reach.

+ I can walk to the ocean in five minutes.

+ Obviously, there are many advantages that come with living in a small town that big city JETs don't have. I look forward to getting to know the people in my community, maybe joining some clubs (taiko drumming perhaps?), and just immersing myself in daily Japanese small town life. Which leads me to...

+ Learning Japanese. A huge goal for me here. And pretty much a necessity since I am 1 of 4 foreigners in this whole town, and hardly anybody in my Board of Education office speaks English. Obviously this is a much better learning environment than hanging out with lots of foreigners in a big city, which I know I would do if I lived in one.

+ Festivals! Lots and lots of festivals. In the past week I've already been to one and missed one b/c of jet lag. More on this later.

+ I get a car! I have freedom. It does not come cheaply, but that is definitely an overall plus in my book.

+ My predecessors have all told me that the kids here are really awesome. Can't wait to start teaching. Too bad I have to sit in this stupid office for the next 3 weeks with nothing to do until school starts.

+ I live two hours from the capital, Kanazawa, which is supposed to really, really nice, they call it 'Little Kyoto'. for the record, I think Kyoto is the most beautiful city I've visited in all my travels, so that bodes well. I'm going to Kanazawa for the first time later today and again next weekend, so expect some pics.

+ and last but not least, my apartment! its not too terrible! it's about 4 times as big as the coffin I lived in in Korea! it has tatami mats!

okay, for the sake of Fairness and Balance and just generally getting it off my chest, I am NOT happy/looking forward to the following things:

- WINTER. SNOW. LOTS OF IT. NO CENTRAL HEATING. gonna be rough for this Texas boy. real rough. it is also the rainiest part of Japan. All that green lushness comes with a price. trying not to think about either of these things right now, because ain't shit I can do about it. plus the sun finally came out today.

- time and expense of traveling into civilization. I'm going to Osaka this weekend, 7 hours by bus and even the buses aren't that cheap here.

- did I mention the lack of central heating?

- I will be teaching at 8 different Jr. Highs and Elementary schools, traveling to a different one every day. This means I won't be able to get to know my kids as well as, say, a high school JET who works at the same school all the time.

So there it is. The pros and cons, as I see them currently. I'm sure both columns will have things added or removed day by day.

Now it's time to head home (using school internet until I get it hooked up at home). I think today has been a productive day at work, considering I spent most of it writing this post. You're welcome, Gramma.

JETting off to Nippon

Alright, I'm writing this from my room at the Keio Plaza Hotel, in downtown Tokyo. The plane flying to my new hometown of Wajima-shi, Ishikawa-ken, leaves in an hour so I'm running out the door. Just wanted to get one first post up. Here's a note I wrote my family a couple days ago, hope it suffices until I get internet set up in my new apartment (it might be awhile).

Howdy y'all,

I hope this message finds you healthy and happy (and near some air-conditioning if you are experiencing an epic heat wave like we are down here in central Texas....we've already had something like 40 days of triple digit temps...ouch). Just wanted to give all you important people a real quick update, because exciting things are happening for moi and I hate to think of anybody being left out of the loop. ;)

Earlier tonight I was eating sushi at the grand residence of the Consul-General of Japan here in Houston, and in about 9 hours I'll be getting on a plane bound for Tokyo, with 43 other fine young folks (ehh..I guess I'm not that young anymore, since I joined the quarter century club and all..) as a representative of the USA (and Texas!) in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, also known as JET.

What is JET? Here's a quick description a la wikipedia:


The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme or JET Programme is a Japanese government initiative that brings college (university) graduates—mostly native speakers of English—to Japan as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and Sports Education Advisors (SEAs) in Japanese elementary, junior high and high schools, or as Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs) in local governments and boards of education. JET Programme participants are collectively called JETs.

The English Teaching Recruitment Programme was started in 1978 and initially was exclusively for British university graduates. This programme became known as the "British English Teachers Scheme." American teaching assistants were later added under the "Mombusho English Fellows Program." As more countries were included, the programmes were folded into a single entity, the JET Programme, in 1987. Its aims were revised to "increase mutual understanding between the people of Japan and the people of other nations, to promote internationalisation in Japan's local communities by helping to improve foreign language education, and to develop international exchange at the community level."

As of July 1, 2008, there are 4,682 participants (384 CIRs, 4,288 ALTs, and 10 SEAs), making it the world's largest exchange teaching programme. Of that number, about half are from the United States (1808), with Canada (618), Britain (577), Australia (316), New Zealand (242), Ireland (95) and South Africa (94) for ALTS as well as China (77) and Korea (59) mostly CLRs, making up most of the remainder. The focus of the program is on English language learning and teaching, so about 90% of the participants on the programme are ALTs; the remaining 10% are divided between CIRs and SEAs. The number of alumni totals over 40,000.


Yes, that's right, I will once again be teaching the tortured nuances of the English language to well-behaved miniature Asian people who will sadly never, ever be able to say rice correctly no matter how hard they try. It'll be a really nice change after substitute teaching the punks over at Bastrop High school this past spring. And yes, as an English teacher I am allowed to say things like tortured nuances.

I'll be living in Wajima, a very pleasant (or so I'm told) little coastal town of 38,000, on the Noto peninsula, on the main island of Japan (Honshu, the one with Tokyo and Osaka and Kyoto and that big mountain named after the film company). Wajima is very famous for its lacquerware. If you're into that kind of thing. and there's this, from wikipedia: "This town celebrates an annual light festival (matsuri) in which the residents place one candle in each of 10,000 sake bottles and then arrange them in geometric configurations after dark while listening to traditional Japanese music." Doesn't that sound fun??

In all seriousness though, this is a great privilege and I feel incredibly, incredibly lucky and blessed to have this once in a lifetime opportunity. I couldn't have done it without the support of my family and friends, so thanks from deep, deep down. I will be serving a 1-year contract initially, and after that I can choose to re-contract up to 5 times. At this point I plan to stick it out at least 2 years, to put some roots down, get to know the community, and learn the language. After that, who knows. Maybe I will get an apprenticeship at a lacquerware factory...

My new address to which you can send me boxes filled with American delicacies:

Hisaoka Haimu 7-3, Fukamida 41
Sugihira-machi, Wajima
Ishikawa
928-0011

My new phone number, not sure why you would ever need it but: country code +81 768-22-3067. If you have Skype, my username is "adamnforay" without the quotes, add me so we can chat. If you don't have Skype...you should get it. It's free. www.skype.com

Finally, I hope to breathe some life into my waaay out of date travel blog (still lacking reports from India, Nepal, Canada, Burning Man, and Costa Rica): http://asianadam.blogspot.com
I store most of my pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/adamfore

I will miss all of you mucho grande. By the way, if you have ever thought about visiting Japan but put it off because you thought it was too expensive, well now you don't have an excuse! free place to stay! plus I will have a car. Road trip to Hiroshima! (just fyi, it's not as expensive as you probably think. prices have come down a lot since the astronomical highs of the eighties. google is your friend)

Alright, that's it. Can't believe I managed to write this whole thing without making a single crack about Japanese brides, Godzilla, or bird flu...

愛 (Love),

--Adam Fore

Adam in....Oz???

Yep. Flew in this morning.

AUS --> PHX --> LAX --> MEL

that's MEL as in Melbourne, Australia. not Mel Gibson's house, as I originally thought. apparently mel gibson's house does not have a 3 letter airport code.

[a quick note: this blog is ridiculously out of date. many adventures from the rest of India, as well as Nepal, Canada, and Burning Man still beg to be written. Hopefully, I'll get to them before they evaporate from my mind grapes (thats a 30 Rock joke. 30 Rock is awesome). until then, I'm moving on]

My current trip began on a very auspicious day. In the hours before my flight left Austin, I accomplished two major feats:

1. Mailed off my application for the JET Program, which I spent a ridiculous amount of time on over the last couple weeks. Hopefully it will land me a gig teaching English in Japan. Which would be beyond awesome.

2. Damaged my parents' newly (and somewhat poorly I must say) built mailbox by lightly tapping it with a trailer.



Yep. Mailbox explosion at the Fore-Wakehouse residence. I'm tempted to make a bad joke about going out with a bang but I know my Dad and Stepmom will probably not find it very humorous. Okay, make that definitely.

Sorry guys, really and truly.

Anyways, back on track. I'm in Melbourne, Australia. Why am I here? Long story short, to kill time and make some money (picking fruit) until I find out about JET. And Shawna will be flying down to meet me in Sydney on new year's eve day. how's that for exciting?

By the time I walked out of Melbourne Airport this morning I had heard the following words/expressions used in normal conversation: "Crikey!" "Here ya go, Tigah." "Dingo's breakfast" "Ridgy-didge" and "a fair dinkum." This bodes very well.

I'm couchsurfing with an awesome British guy named Zak who lives in a sweet apartment that his work pays for in South Yarra. He's only been here for 5 weeks so he knows nothing about the city, he claims to have done $2400 worth of nitrous in one evening, and when he drove me to the city centre just now he bumped sweet techno tunes at earsplitting levels the entire way. Srsly, MAX VOLUME. We garnered many a stink eye from the pedestrian populace. He's basically my new best friend.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with my friend Raquelle who lives here that I met at Burning Man.

Off to go wander around. I'll leave you with the LP's description of this city that I am in:

It's one of the world's youngest cities yet also one of the longest-inhabited places on Earth. Sophisticated and slick, edgy and rough, Melbourne’s physical and cultural landscape is shaped by a dynamic population, ever-ravenous for a bite of global culture. The result is Australia’s most accessible multiculturalism. Ornate Victorian-era architecture and leafy, established boulevards reflect the city’s history, and cutting-edge developments such as Federation Sq exemplify its enigmatic contemporary style. But, Melburnians still keep their urban frenzy to a deliciously sedate pace. Trams lumber back and forth on routes radiating out like spokes from central Melbourne, and cycling is a common way to get from A to Z.

Character-filled neighbourhoods, such as Fitzroy, St Kilda and Carlton, hum with life and the city produces some of the best art, music, cuisine, fashion, performance, design and ideas in the world. Melburnians are also devoted to their sport and they go ballistic around the Australian Football League (AFL; ‘footy’ to the locals) finals and during Spring Racing Carnival. They love to shop, eat and attend the myriad festivals that the city offers. You’ll even find them defending the city’s temperamental weather, and if you’ve ever experienced Melbourne’s inclination to plummet from searing heat to drizzling rain in the space of an hour, you’ll understand that this must be the true definition of unconditional love.