Zabeth

 Lake we walked around

 stopping around the Lake

 Zabeth in the back of her car

Camping at Fuduoson Park

 Birthday

Cocktails

Dining Zen

My first real cultural experience in Japan came in the middle of the first week. It was just after Zabeth and I took our picture that says “Zabeth and I going out for dinner.” We cleaned up and left the apartment, walking through town looking for a new restaurant Zabeth had seen and wanted to try. When we found it, it was shut down for the night. Zabeth had one other place in mind though, and the sign was written in local language, but at the bottom contained an English caption: “Dining Zen.” We walked in. A few people were at the bar, and a small group was sitting on the floor eating at tables. You didn’t have to remove your shoes to go to the bar, so we chose that option. Zabeth greeted everybody, and I remained silent. She ordered us two beers, and the bartender brought them, along with menu’s. Unlike the restaurants in Tokyo, the menu’s contained no English translation of the dishes offered. Realizing we were truly in for it, Zabeth and I pointed to the two diners on either side of us, and both indicated that we would like what they were having. We received Tofu, and some sashimi to go with our beers. All in all a delicious meal and we were both just happy to have survived and dined at a place where we didn’t really no what was going on. We got up to pay hurriedly, so as not to get into any awkward situations due to our lack of understanding at the restaurant. When we got to the register, the previous diner’s tab was 4800 yen. As we waited for ours to be tallied, the bartender and now cashier looked at us from behind his register. We were both ready for any price, but instead he said to us “No Money.” We looked around, and soon realized that he and the other bar patrons were signaling to us, don’t worry your dinner is on us. Zabeth insisted that he take 1,000 yen (about 10 dollars). The true cost of this hospitality was that the three other people at the bar and bartender all asked us to return to our seats and stay awhile. To sweeten the deal the bartender poured everyone a round of Sake, which Im sure no one was displeased with. We started drinking, and cell phones came out complete with apps for English to Japanese translation. I pulled out one of my dads cigars and lit it up, offering some to everyone in exchange for the drink. Each person to a puff, and then coughed, and we all took turns being laughed at. I got to know Hiroki, a father of four and air conditioning repair man. Zabeth had a conversation into an iPhone, which was then repeated in Japanese to a girl the same age as her, who was a waitress at a snack bar. She used the translator to make fun of her boyfriend for his receding hairline, but by the time we got that far in the conversation and Sake drinking every joke was taken pretty lightly. We had a great time, and stayed well past closing. After noticing the bartenders face as he finally put away his bottle, we all got up, exchanged numbers, took pictures and headed home for the night.

The Japanese Era

My awesome brekafast in the Brussels airport

Zabeth with her Gambian bracelet

Zabeth and I before going out for dinner

Zabeth hiking in Zao National Park

Getting to Japan

I got to Tokyo three Fridays ago, August 1st. On the several hour flight I got to drink several beverages, eat several meals, and watch several movies including Her, American Hustle, and The Place Beyond The Pines.  I enjoyed the films, but if you need a more thorough review of any of them you can check out Amateurcinephile.com. I arrived at 8 am and Zabeth was right outside the baggage terminal and customs checkpoint waiting for me. Her trip was almost worse than mine, since she had to take an all night bus from her home in Kakuda to reach the airport at 6 am and then wait for me. I am thankful she did though because I have never been so happy to see somebody. We didn't waste time on greetings though, instead she motioned for me to sprint behind her to the train terminal so we could be on the first train from Narita Airport into the city. When we got to our train stop, we met up with her friend Roxy, put our bags in lockers at the train station and took off as a group to see the city on foot. We ate, walked past a lot of electronics stores, and ended up at Ueno Park to meet with Ethan. He was a teacher close to Zabeth, but was in Tokyo because he is headed back to the US. It was hot in Tokyo and everyone was pretty tired from traveling in so we checked into our hotel and rested until it was dinner time. We went out for Yaka-tori, which meant a lot of cooked meats served on a skewer. Some of the more interesting things we tried were chicken cartilage, horse meat, and pig rectum (all very good). We walked around some more, threw a couple games of darts in a pool hall, and then decided to make the most of our first night in Tokyo. On the streets all day people had been handing out flyers, and one flyer in particular was for a maid cafe. None of us knew exactly what this entailed, but you kind of figure it out just based on the name. It is kind of like a Hooters, but all the waitresses are dressed up as maids. We went to the maid cafe, ate ice cream sundaes, giggled a lot, and then could really consider our first day in Tokyo a success. On our second day Zabeth and I spent some time at the Imperial Palace, just relaxing and trying to sit together for a little while. That night even more of her friends came in to Tokyo to check out a big fireworks festival. We got on the train at 5, and were jam-packed with what seemed like 100,000 other residents once we actually got to the festival. There was a big grass field covered in people, and we took our shoes of and waded out into the sea of people to find a spot for everyone to sit down. The show was incredible, going on for almost two hours. As we watched our own show, we could see several others taking place in different parts of the city. Though I don't know the name of our festival Im sure it was the best.

Japanese Baseball

Sunday, August 17th Zabeth and I took the train down to Sendai to watch the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles play the Chiba Lotte Marines. Tohoku is the home team, and they are named after the region of Tohoku, Rakuten is the company that owns the team. I assume Chiba is the same way but I don't know. Anyway, I first heard about the team because Zabeth went to a game a few months ago. Then, as soon as we arrived here from Tokyo there was a huge team poster, and coincidentally there star player is none other than Andruw Jones. We tried to go twice last week, but the teams entire series was rained out. It looked like the same would happen this week, and each day of the series the sky was gray, and drizzly. Yet, it miraculously held off during each game time long enough for them to get in a full series. We actually decided not to go on Friday and Saturday because it was so rainy that we figured they wouldn't play. Sunday was the last chance though, so we got down to Sendai about five hours before game time and figured that if we missed the game at least we could have a full day in town. We really didn't though, because it was Andruw Jones bobble head giveaway, and gates opened at three. Which means we started heading to the stadium at 2. We finally found the bobble head line, and then realized we had to walk way back to the other side of the stadium just to join the line. We did, and when it was our turn the usher told us we needed a card to get in... It seemed we were out of luck, but a passerby flashed a plastic card of some sorts at the usher and she said ohh yes and let us right in. They gave us our dolls, and with two hours to spend before the game we went to the world beer tent and drank Brooklyn Lager and Blue Moon's. At five we went in, paring the rain would hold off at least for one inning. It held off long enough for the Eagles to go up three runs, and win the game 3-1!!!!! The main differences I couldn't help but notice: 1) the fans in the left field bleachers all had coordinated cheers for each batter complete with flags, drums, and led by a conductor. 2) The leadoff hitter in the first inning got on base, was bunted over to third, and the infield was immediately brought in, with one out in the 1st inning. 3) The seventh inning stretch is celebrated by everyone in the stadium blowing up balloons and then releasing them into a high pitch squeal at a synchronized moment.
Japanese Baseball=Awesome
Andruw Jones: 2 for 3 to raise his season average to .215...

Photos

I ordered these glasses to replace a pair I lost. i ordered them because they make me look like somebody else... Pap..a

 This is the South Bank highway from Basse to Fatoto, its what I take home from Basse to Sami Koto

 My sister, new sister in law (both named Syrra) washing clothes at the well

Storm building over my hut

Storm hitting right on the compound

 African Locust Bean

 The fence on the far left is Sami Koto, the building on the far right are Sami Kuda, and in between is the space, or soccer field that separates the two villages

This is what the river looks like, on a Sunday evening

Last Week

I had a good last week. Saturday morning, I planned to ride my bike to Basse so that I could spend the day here before taking the bus down to Kombo. However, Malcolm's village played mine in soccer on Saturday night so we had to stick around and watch that first. That didn't change that we still had to catch a Sunday morning bus, so after the game and dinner we put on our headlights and rode about an hour down the road from my village to the village of Sare Alpha, where our buddy Selina lives. We stayed with her and at 6 in the morning got up and hit the road to Basse, caught the bus, and made Kombo Sunday night. Monday and Tuesday was an event called All Vol. They just have all the volunteers come together, and in the morning some administrators will go over small things that everyone needs to know, like phone numbers  or password changes. Then the afternoon volunteers would have the option to visit people from other groups and listen to presentation about projects they are working on. After the conference most people went to the beach. I caught an ultimate Frisbee game at the MRC. Monday night we caught the USA Ghana world cup game, and then Tuesday night we had an open mic. It was a fun couple of days, and it was good to come together and see everybody. It made me realize that I was part of a bigger group, instead of just someone living in the bush. I actually really like the feeling of living alone in the bush most times, so I guess the group thing helped remind me who paid for my ticket here. Wednesday morning most people hung around and watched movies and talked. It was tempting to delay my return for another day, but I knew the party was over and it was time to get home. I caught a mid day bus, and made it back to Basse late Wednesday night. Yesterday, no one else was around the house, so I took time to wash clothes, write some blogs, clean up and organize my locker, make a bag to be delivered by the next vehicle, trim my beard, eat some beef jerky, listen to music, drink coffee, get on the internet, etc. Strangely enough I didnt sit still very much yesterday. Since that's one thing I have to do alot of in the village, I didnt want to leave this morning without having relaxed a little here to ease the transition of going back home. Thats probably the hardest thing is going from town where you can find things to entertain yourself, eat, and spend money on, and then going back to the village where you have to create all your time for yourself. Conversely, having that time is what makes it really great there, but the adjustment can be a little tough. I do have my bike here with me, and knowing that I get to ride home makes it alot funner than when I will be sitting in the car park all afternoon waiting for a vehicle. It's going to be 106 today, so Im gonna take some time in the shade this afternoon at the Basse house, then head out this evening. Ill try and stay in the village for most of the next month. I'll be leaving for Japan soon, so Im going to try and spend all my time in the village until then. I want Zabeth to meet a hardened bush resident when I show up, not some suburban commuter!