Swimming Lessons Without a Pool

I understand that most schools use pools for their swim lessons, but thankfully we don't have that option. Instead, we use the ocean that is 100m away. Fortunately somebody warned me the day before so I could bring my swimsuit and participate! (Last year I had to sit in my school clothes in the sun on the beach.)

[mandatory stretching routine before all semi-athletic activities]

The first activity was to put our faces in the water and blow bubbles. The two first-grade girls weren't quite up to this so I went off with them and another teacher for much of the lesson while the older kids practiced floating and swimming. Eventually we got our girls to put their faces in the water for 5 seconds!


At the end of today, the two closest girls (below) and the boy came up to me with their teacher. The kids all said "arigatou gozaimashita", which means "thank you very much (past tense)". I asked why and the teacher explained that this is the last time I will see them until September. So sweet of them!

Cultural Exchange

Today some junior high students from Sendai (just north of Tokyo) came to Geruma for an afternoon visit.  It was a pretty interesting lesson in 'the rest of Japan' for the sheltered Geruma kids.  Usually when students travel, they wear their school uniforms, so it was a bit of a surprise when these Sendai kids showed up in casual attire.  It turns out they don't wear uniforms at their school!  (I thought they were mandatory everywhere.)  Some of the boys had earrings, one girl had green hair, they all slouched (who knew the Japanese were capable?), and they didn't show much respect their teacher/chaperones.

The Geruma junior high kids gave a short speech about Geruma, then did an eisa performance.  This is something the Sendai kids had likely never seen before, except on television.  Then the Sendai kids returned the favor with a slow dance involving fans and bells.  It was super cool if you just watched one kid, but as a group they hadn't worked on their timing.  What I liked best about this was having looked at each of the kids prior - with their colored hair and name-brand clothing - then seeing them all get up and be able to a traditional cultural dance from their region of Japan.  Just like our kids did.  I can't think of anything I can do that would hint at where I am from in America (or even that I am from America!).

And finally, just as it was getting time for me to leave, the two groups split themselves in half and formed two opposing (but combined) teams for a game of dodgeball.  I just caught the first minute, but I could only assume dodgeball was Geruma's idea as I saw some of the Sendai kids throwing the balls at their own teammates.. apparently confused by the rules.

2009 Yacht Race and Sabani Race

The Zamami Yacht Race is on the Saturday of the big sailing race weekend, so I had to take the afternoon off school on Friday to sail into a marina north of Naha. I met my friend Vaughn there and we got some shopping done before sleeping [well] on the sailboat.

Neither Vaughn nor I have much sailing experience so our jobs were officially titled 'ballast'. We sat on the high side of the boat, which was never very high because the wind was weak all day.

[the start]

I think I heard that our boat finished third in its class. Aside from talking to Vaughn, it wasn't terribly fun. Five hours of slow going, though I did appreciate that we made the whole trip without using any gas.

Saturday night was the Yacht/Sabani party and I danced eisa for that. It was the one-year anniversary of my first performance and I celebrated by making no mistakes. It was one of my better performances.

[30 minutes to start]

[座間味丸 - Zamami maru - the 4-time defending champions - made up of young, full-time residents of Zamami]

Since I had attended all the practices I assumed that I would be starting the race for my boat, Shimawarabi. But in the final minutes the captain cut me out. It was mildly disheartening, but turned out for the best since I secretly preferred to photograph the start.

The whole crew participated in pushing the boat off, then those of us who weren't paddling quickly jumped into the support boats and took off for the 4.5 hour chase (~42 kilometers).

[Sabanis are traditional canoes that Okinawan men used for fishing - and yes, catching marlin from. The race assures the tradition carries on with strict rules (I might be making this up) on sail size, paddle dimensions, and canoe materials (wood). The winning teams have only been able to adapt technique derived from outrigger paddling, not the technological material advances]

[Zamami-maru off to an early lead]

[The Kaisou women, who finished an astounding third overall. Kaisou Okinawa is a company with a few shops in Naha that sell superbly-designed clothing and jewelry, about 50% of which are themed around the Sabani race]

About thirty minutes into the race I was surprised when the captain of the boat yelled back to the support boat to trade me in immediately. In a 4.5 hour race, lots of member changes happen, but usually not so soon. I put my camera in dry bags and stored it away as quickly as possible, then prepared for the tenuous change, which involves the speedboat trying to match the speed of the Sabani (which doesn't stop), then the members jumping between the boats.

From there, I paddled the duration. Another four hours. Everybody else changed out at least twice, but I felt strong so I just stayed. Our team has only a few young guys, so I figured a tired Dave was still stronger than a tired old guy. But I was pretty beat by the end. All my heavily-applied sunscreen had worn off and everything on my body ached. I had 8 empty water bottles laying at my feet. But I do love that feeling of accomplishment when I have no energy left.

Our boat finished seventh, three places down from the year prior. The Kaisou men upset Zamami-maru with a 10-minute lead at the finish. The Kaisou women slaughtered the womens' field (and the mens').

[our boat was towed from outside the harbor to this, the exit point, where the boat was lifted out with a crane, then prepared to go back on the ferry to Zamami]

[Ryukyu (Okinawan islands) glass trophies]

We had a closing party Sunday night at the port, then our team went out to an izakaya (like a bar, except with real food). I slept really well, then had to take the fast ferry back and go straight to work and class Monday morning.

Diving For Treasure

Last Monday I went fishing after school. I kayaked around the west side of Zamami to the point where I caught the big Giant Trevally last year. I wasn't really expecting to catch anything because I never really catch anything, but I had a 15-20lb. grouperish-looking fish come up and slam my lure. I probably could've controlled it easily by cranking down the drag, but since I saw the fish and knew its size I thought I'd let it put up a fight. Big mistake because these bottom-dwellers go right back down and hide under something. In this case a coral head, which the fish promptly attached my lure to and disattached himself.

And this is when a GT fisherman swears at himself for using 65lb. test line, a 200lb. test leader, and hardware that is all rated at a minimum of 330 pounds. I am not going to break any of that by just pulling from a kayak. While I was surveying my options I came up with a brilliant idea. I would have to cut the line, but if I could find something to tie the line off to that floated, I could come back later and dive for the lure. So I emptied my water bottle and tied it off with about 6-8' of extra line. Then I triangulated my position based on landmarks and took off.

Wednesday I went back but the current was too strong to let go of my kayak for too long. Ditto Friday. Bad weather all weekend kept me away until I finally decided to try from shore yesterday.

[my lure was somewhere on the bottom 40m off that point way out there]

I went at low tide and was able to walk 3/4 of the way around the bay before entering water and snorkeling the rest. But between the 10' swells (a typhoon is in the area) and the strong current, things were a little tenuous. The water bottle was gone with the high swells and I was having trouble triangulating, but suddenly I spotted a lure 5m off the bottom. It was the same make as my lure, but a different color and I thought for sure this was another fisherman's loss. I dove down 10m, grabbed it, then surfaced and discovered it was in fact my lure.

On the return trip I had a curious turtle swim circles around me, coming within a meter. I also saw a Bluefin Trevally, Rainbow Runner, grouper, lobster, and whitetip shark. Quite a good snorkeling trip!

[me and my $50 lure - definitely worth going back for]

Jail in Japan

A couple of Okinawa ALT's (English teachers) were arrested Friday for drug importation. Though the details were slim at first (and still are), I was glad to hear via an official email sent out by our lead JETs in Naha. Because that night it was the lead story on Okinawan news, and on the front page of the Okinawan newspaper Saturday morning. Apparently the two girls ordered a drug called 'mind candy' from the U.K. The pill has a substance illegal in both the U.S. and Japan. Authorities intercepted the package in Tokyo, then passed along the information to the Okinawan police.

I've been thinking about it all weekend - how you can be going about your life, making plans, getting annoyed at little things, and suddenly it's all turned upside down. It seems that these girls' (one of whom is my friend, and the person I stay[ed] with when I go to Naha) Okinawan lives are probably over. They've apparently admitted to ordering the pills, but 'denied' guilt by saying they didn't know they were illegal. I believe them, but that doesn't appease the laws.

I've also concluded that I really need to thank my parents and my upbringing - especially my choice in friends - for never getting me involved in drugs. For various reasons I've mostly figured out in adulthood, drugs don't mesh with my lifestyle (health and athletics). But they are also a terrible thing to mess with when you're in a foreign country. Here, when you're under contract, and you go to jail, you lose not only your job, but also your life. You lose your friends, your apartment/utilities/cell phone contracts, and any belongings you can't fit quickly into two suitcases, if you're even that lucky. Plus you might get jail time. I see it as a much bigger loss than getting busted in the U.S.

Free Flowers

A few months ago an old lady cultivated this small patch of dirt next to my apartment. I was really happy that somebody got around to it because I had considered it many times. But I was deterred by how unhealthy the soil looked and the effort it would take to get water to the ground.

Anyway, last week the 'crops' came up in the form of sunflowers and wildflowers. So selfless of that lady to turn those weeds into beauty.

The Right Choice

After my last post, where I spent much time discussing the rip-off entry fee and only one sentence mentioning the women who came to Zamami, Wren made an apt comment about my priorities not being in order. But I got them in order on Sunday, a day I could choose between hanging out with all the skinny, fit swimmer girls at the beach or going marlin fishing with three guys.

I will always choose fishing or hunting over girls. Arguably there is no season on girls (though, if they only come to your island once/year, arguably there is a season) like on fish and ungulates.

It was the first marlin fishing trip this year [that I've been on] that we didn't touch a single fish all day. Our consolation prize was getting into a pod of these: