Birthday festivities began on Friday at the end of work. I was about to leave at 4:30 like usual and Fukushima-sensei suddenly says, "Do you have any plans tonight?" and I'm a little hesitant, thinking she's going to invite me out when I just wanted to lay in and do nothing, so I say, "No...not really..." and she basically begs me to stay at work until 5 PM, but she can't tell me why because it's secret. At this point, I get it, they're probably going to do something. I have to get home to receive a package from the post office, but I didn't want to ruin whatever they had planned. So I wait, and at 5, she and Shiomura-sensei come running in with a cake! It was cute; the teachers sang happy birthday (happy ba-su-day, haha) to me and then we ate cake. It was a really nice gesture and made me feel a little more like it was my birthday.
Me, Shiomura-sensei (sannensei English teacher), and Fukushima-sensei (ninensei English teacher) with the tasty birthday cake.
On Saturday, there was a fire festival in Aso, the mountain/caldera near Kumamoto. Most of the ALTs in the area were planning on going, so I decided to go as well. We all carpooled there and met up at the festival, but unfortunately we got there a little too early and nothing was happening yet. So my carload and I decided to do a little sightseeing in the Aso area, which is relatively rural. First, we went to Aso Shrine, where on Thursday night there had been the Hifuri Shinji, a ritual where people can go and spin burning bales of straw tied to rope over their heads. I know it sounds really dangerous and it was, and something like that would never fly in America without millions of lawsuits, but amazingly no one here got hurt. I think everyone realized that they had to be really careful. I tried it as well and it was really fun, as I stood there I thought, "Whoa, I'm spinning fire around my head!" Basically you spin it until the rope burns through and the bale goes flying, but there's tons of firemen around to kick it away from the crowd or stamp it out. I didn't get a picture of myself but here's some pictures of the event from Thursday:
Aso Shrine
The Hifuri Shinji. Looks sort of like some medieval riot, doesn't it?
The nice Japanese firemen who ensure we didn't kill ourselves.
My friend Anthony who came with us got some great pictures using a tripod and the night setting on his camera, so when I get those I'll update again.
Anyway, back to Saturday. We revisted this shrine in the daytime and just looked around a bit. Then, we decided to check out Koga Falls, a 100m tall waterfall that often freezes over in the winter. It wasn't frozen when we got there, but we had a fun time hiking and ran into our Dutch friend Edwin, a happy surprise because we hadn't seen him in forever. This guy is amazing, he can speak something like 7 languages and play 10 instruments. Those Europeans!
Me with Edwin the Dutchman and our buddy Zane, hiking towards the waterfall.
We got to the top of the trail where the waterfall was, and unfortunately it wasn't very impressive, though it was still nice to see. It also wasn't impressive enough to take a picture of it, sorry. More impressive were these adorable little snowmen that some clever soul had made at the top of the trail on a post. They're about the height of a finger:
After our group finished hiking it was almost time for the part of the festival we came for to start. Saturday's event was called Dai Himojiyaki, and the kanji for fire, "Dai" was supposed to be burned into the mountainside. It was cool to see, but hard to take a picture of:
There's two kanji burning, one on the mountain on the right side, and one on the left side on a smaller hill.
Then, there was a fireworks display, but it was freezing cold, so we all left to go celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the newly opened Sligo Inn Pub in Ozu, the next town over. I didn't drink because I was driving, but I had a fun time catching up with people I hadn't seen in a long time and I FINALLY got to see some green and clovers!
Yes!! Now it feels like St. Patrick's Day!
Hanging out at Sligo. Clockwise from top left: Hannah, Taz, Natalee, Me, little baby whose name I can't remember, Millie, and Sofia. Millie and Sofia's mom is a friend of ours, and their dad is Japanese. They're spunky and adorable and they speak both English and Japanese fluently. The baby I'm holding is only 2 and can speak Japanese, English, and Spanish, because dad is Japanese and mom is American but has Spanish heritage. Amazing kids!
Since it's St. Patrick's Day, here's a picture of me with a real Irishman, my friend Glenn. He says that he think that St. Patty's Day is more fun outside of Ireland, because in Ireland people just get super trashed and it's ridiculous.
Afterwards, we drove back to Kumamoto City so that I could drink on my birthday, since it's easy to get home from Kumamoto. So I was finally able to indulge! The bar that all the ALTs usually frequent, Jeff's World Bar, was crazy packed, so my friend Zane and I met up with his friends Isabel and Sarah at the bar they were at, which was considerably less packed and way cooler. This place, Bar Daze, had an entire wall lined with shelves full of CDs, and there was a house DJ who takes requests and will play anything within reason. So we requested The Beatles' "Birthday" of course, where this post takes its name from. Some other good songs of the night were The Knack's "My Sharona" and Take That's "Back For Good." (Keep in mind that, being in Japan, I don't get to hear much English music except for boy band pop on repeat at stores at the mall or uncensored dirty gangster rap, also at the stores at the mall, because no one understands what is being said anyway. I gotta say it's quite a shock to be shopping for detergent or toilet paper only to hear a song about pimps and hoes blaring from the speakers, haha.) Anyway, it was enjoyable fun with enjoyable company, and I had my one drink of the night, a glass of kir. Overall it was a decently fun birthday, with my favorite parts probably being the hike to the waterfall and relaxing at Bar Daze with good company. I think maybe next year I'll do something special, like take a small trip or see something new (thanks for the suggestion, Tim!). Wow...I'm 23!
The DJ and CD collection at Bar Daze.
Isabel and Sarah, two new friends made that evening through Zane. Isabel's from England and is so far the only other Classics major I've met who's on the JET Programme. Sarah's from North Carolina.
Ahh, finally! Happy St. Patrick's Day from Japan!
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