Corona Virus!
That sums up all of the time since I've posted last. It's been a real pain to deal with the repercussions of all the cancellations and things being moved around, but for now it seems to have died down a little bit.
On 1/11 I went drinking with some ALTs and some other Japanese people at a bar that was fashioned to look American. It had blues album covers over the walls and a bunch of American music things hanging up, and it was a lot of fun. One of the Japanese guys was from Tokyo so it was cool to talk to him.
So I think the next interesting thing to happen was that I went out to the mall on 1/13. After D&D we decided to go to the mall and afterwards hang out in Akita City.
And then nothing happened for a week besides tests for the kids.
On 1/25, me and some friends went ice skating at a place in Akita. By coincidence, we met some other ALTs there who were also ice skating, and we decided to play Tag on Ice. It was fun, even though I'm not really good at turning and doing anything other than moving in a straight line. After that we went to get bubble tea, walked around the nearby stores, and then later that night went to a nice small karaoke place near my house.
On 2/1 there was a trivia night with some of the ALTs in the area, which I feel like I would have been better at if it was more Jeopardy style trivia. In this case it turned out to be pop culture and local trivia, which I wasn't as good at. After that we decided to get some food at a conveyor belt sushi place, and then went drinking with everyone afterwards, because this is the countryside and that's really the only social event possible.
2/4 was the day that my internet went down. I had no clue why, and this is when I realized how complicated internet service is in Japan. In America, if you have a problem you just go through Verizon and you're done. In Japan, you have at least three different companies that you have to contact if there's a problem with your internet. There's the company that made your router, there's your internet middleman, and then there's the company that provides your internet. In my case, they are Buffalo, Docomo, and Plala respectively. I tried contacting Docomo, but was told that they weren't the problem. So I contacted Buffalo, but their service was text based so it was taking a very long time to get anything solved from them. After that I decided to contact my supervisor, who was busy and was giving me basic advice. These problems continued until 2/8, where I was told just to buy a new router, which fixed the problem. Luckily I had points from buying my kotatsu, so I was able to get it cheaper.
During this time I went out a bit because I couldn't do anything at home, going out for curry on 2/5 and drinking on 2/7.
The night of 2/8 I went to a festival very popular in Akita called Namahage. It was a really cool experience, even if it was snowing heavily and just extremely cold in general. THere was a large bonfire in the middle of the area to keep everyone warm, and the namahage costumes were really cool to look at.
2/9 I got a group to go ice skating again, and we again went for bubble tea afterwards. I think at this point I just wanted a social thing that wasn't drinking.
Because of all the going out I took the next week off, and then on 2/15 was a cooking event that I was a part of. I made Tuna Cakes and Shiitake Burgers. They were really simple to make, but we were told there would be 40 people that would come. Maybe it was because this was the start of the Corona virus panic, but only 20 people came. There were plenty of leftovers. Also, this event got my picture in the newspaper, which everyone began noticing me again afterwards. That night was a birthday party for an ALT near me, and it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of people I knew and it was a good time all around.
2/19 was the day where an ALT and I tried to fillet a mackerel by ourselves and with the help of Big Chef Dai on Youtube. It was a really cool experience, and we got some baby bok choi along with it. It was really delicious, even if we didn't put any seasoning on the fish. It definitely sparked my interest to try and fillet fish more often.
2/21 was the "pray for the third graders to pass their exams" celebration, which was cool to watch. It was very formal, with a priest waving the paper streamers back and forth. The food afterwards was good, and an interesting time was had.
2/22 was the day we went to Sendai. Me and two other ALTs went to Sendai and spent the night in a sharehouse, which turned out to be really cheap. We went to a Mexican bar and a pub, and also went shopping around the mall. I was able to have the most delicious thing I've had in Japan so far, the Zunda Shake, which is honestly what I've been craving since I had it the first time.
Which was kinda bad timing because the following week was when everything turned upside down. The night of 2/27 was when PM Abe told all the schools to shut down because of Corona virus. So all of us went into 2/28 not really knowing what to expect. It turned out that the following Monday would be the last day of the year, and then schools would be closed after that. The graduation ceremony would be held as normal, but everyone else would be off for the rest of the school year. Because I'm an assistant teacher, it didn't affect me that much, but most of the other teachers started panicking because of the implications that losing this much class-time had.
And so began the Social Distancing period. I still had to go into work everyday, but because there were no classes for me to help with, there is literally nothing for me to do. Starting today is the official spring break, so the teachers can start working towards the next school year now. As of right now, the plan is to start school up again on the 6th of April.
The graduation ceremony was interesting, as it was only students and faculty, with everyone required to wear masks. The real interesting part for me was after the ceremony where everyone went outside to take pictures, cause that seemed the most genuine from all the students.
But otherwise I've been not going out much because of Corona. I've gotten coffee a couple times, I've gone and gotten curry, but other than that it's been quiet. I went drinking on 3/14, and again 3/19, and then on 3/21 I went out to a farm nearby that specializes in milk. And now I'm here, with March almost over.
As of right now the plan is for school to start on April 6th. Official cases in Japan have been rising slowly, but there are people saying that Japan is purposefully not testing to keep their numbers low. There aren't any official cases near me yet though, so maybe it will be safe. Nothing to do but stay inside and wait, I suppose.
