This is another exciting two parter blog! Once again, so much is going on that I'm not able to keep up with it! This month my dad had his 70th birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!) and Scott turned 27 and next month is my birthday.
In May, my mom came to visit us here. It was great to have her and show her our town and life here. We went to Nagasaki City, Shimabara, and drove up to the volcano in Unzen. We had a nice drive through the mountains that were covered in wild flowers. My mom was also excited to see the nice, golf course up there. We also took advantage of the free foot bath in town and had a nice lunch.
My mom also generously cooked dinner for some of my friends and Japanese teachers from school. It was such a treat. We bought lots of fresh vegetables from the farmer's market near my house. Everything there is so fresh and good, picked right from the farms around the corner. We especially liked these adorable mini kabocha pumpkins.
One night, we also stopped in a tiny shack for a late night snack. We'd been there before, but only for take out so we didn't realize we could even sit down and eat inside. My mom noticed the sign that said they served inside so we decided to try it out. It was a tiny place and there were three very drunk men already inside. They were talking in the dialect here so none of us could really understand them until they started saying some English phrases they learned on TV. Then, there was silence... until one of the drunk guys turned to us and asked if we spoke English.
From then, we became buddies and they especially loved Scott because he could keep up with their drinking. They shared shochu (a potato-based alcohol) and lots of silly chatting. The owners of the shop joined in too. I can't remember all the silliness, but I remember one of the guys was a pretty big guy which is kind of rare in Japan. So he said, pointing to his gut, "American size", and then pointing to his crotch, "Japanese size". You probably saw that joke coming. And then they were teasing their friend who was the most drunk because he's in his 30s and not married yet which is seen as a bit strange in these small towns. So they kept asking if Scott or I had any sisters we could introduce him to. Scott said, "there's no way you'll ever meet my sisters!" Ha! It was one of those random meetings that made it a great night. We stayed there until about 1 in the morning! We were saying, they probably wouldn't have talked to us if my mom wasn't there to mediate and translate. I guess it's intimidating sometimes for them and us. It was good fun!
On one of the last days, I invited my mom to be a guest teacher at my junior high school. She was introduced as the "new English teacher" which freaked all the kids out. Haha! They listened to her introduction and then we got to do a lesson together. My mom said a lot of them had potential, but then needed more emotion in their English. She'd be a great ALT! Actually just the other day I told them they sounded like robots and robots aren't good. So now they're walking around saying, "Me Robot!" Great.
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