Inoshishi- wild boar

It has been awhile since my last post as usual. Let me see, Oh yes, Last Friday I was sick, pretty sick. No yacking though. I think I sick from drinking out of some kid's canteen the day before when I went on that school trip. On friday at Kasamatsu Elementry school I was just dizzy and tired. I did actually go to bed right when I got home from school. I woke up at 3 am and watched a part of a movie until I feel asleep again at 4am. I woke up at 10am. The plan for the day was to have a picnic in Tanabe with some other ALT's. So I met up with Aaron in Ryugin at about 1pm and we headed to the grocery store were bought some mini pizzas and food. When we got the park though it was really windy and cold. Infact a cold front was moving in, so the nice warm weather was getting replaced with and artic blast. So we headed over to Alec's house for the afternoon and chatted it up while eating. Alec bought a 50cc motorcycle and has been learning how to ride it. I am thinking of seriuosly doing the same thing. I do want to learn how to ride a motorcycle at some point, and the roads out here in the mountians are perfect for motorcycle riding. Also, another ALT, Pete came over to Alec's house and brought his new Japanese girlfirend. She didn't say much, but it was funny to watch Pete speak slow English to everyone so his girlfriend could understand a bit. Pete's an interesting guy. His school position is pretty relaxed too. He teaches like one day a week or something and can take vacation when ever he wants to. He has too much free time. I would be too bored. So then after Alec's I went back to Aaron's where we played some Rummy and listened to a histerycial comedian named Mitch something.
On Sunday I to work at the Miyama Marathon. This is a huge event, and I had to help out. I was still pretty sick, but nonetheless I was there at 7am in the freezing cold. It must have been like 35 degrees out. It snowed off and on throughout the day. I put on this bright green jacket and hat and headed off to man a table, giving out the competitor's registration bags. We had bento for lunch oustide. Afterwards we had to hand cups of water to the runner's as they finished and get these tracking chips from them. It was a long and cold day. I went home and took a long hot shower and then slept, hard.
Monday was more of the same old. I had to go out to Sogawa that day. There like 5 kids sick from that school. So there was then like 9 kids there. It was a slow day. At recess the kids like to stuff each other in this big cardboard box and close it up and then roll the box around. That is how thrilling it can be in Sogawa. That night I headed to Gobo for my Japanese lesson. I think my Japanese is the worst it has ever been and I am getting now where with it. It sucks. I really want to learn it.
However on Tuesday, school was all good at he junior high. Nothing too exciting there though. I taught to classes and studied Japanese. Afterwards I then headed out to Ryujin again. I usually go to the dinner at Miyoko's in Gobo, but this time Aaron was organizing a thing in Tanabe. So I went there, and met his girlfiend Melenie, who was visiting for a couple of weeks. The 3 of us took the twisty ass route 29 to Tanabe and meet a couple of other ALTs at a mall and then had Yaki Niki for dinner. The were variuos meats. We everything from intenstine to liver. There was also tongue. It was all good though. Afterwards went went to the mall for some vidoe game action and then to a karoke joint where I sang my throat sore. I was still sick. I couldn't sing. Driving back in the rain and fog ws horrible on those twisty dark mountian roads, but I made it.
Wednesday, Wednesday was food day. I ate so much. For lunch, I went to Kasamatsu for their Viking lunch buffett. I don't know why they just don't say buffett, but they use Viking instead. Well that is cooler anyways. So yeah I actually went back for seconds too. Then in the afternoon I had to go to Aaron's again were I we met and went to a teacher's house. Sugimoto's house. I know Mr. Sugimoto, he is the principal at Sogawa Elementry school. His wife works at the junior high with Aaron. She can speak English well. So we got there and checked out his huge as goldfish that live in the pond at their house. Their house is cool and is set near the mountains in Ryujin. The main course was inoshishi or wild boar. It was slightly shewy but still pretty good. I also tried the Shika Sashimi, or raw deer meat. I had a few slices, which wasn't bad, but I don't know about eating raw meat. She then cooked it and then I ate the rest. It was really salty though. I was drinking sake the whole time too. There was so much food. We mostly talked about how much of a hunter he is. He sometimes shoots the wild monkeys in the area, but he doesn't eat them. The inoshishi went down great. I thought that was good. I can still taste the shika sashimi though. That and the cooked version. The cooked version was so salty. The sake wasn't that bad at all either. But sometimes the cheap stuff can hit you hard the next day. But I think that I drank a lot of water last night so today I am all good. I don't feel like I drank yesterday at all.
At some point though Mr. Sugimoto thought that I drink every night and was asking me about that. He was asking me how can I go to work with a hangover everyday. I was like what? I don't. He then started apologizing, but I didn't really care too much about the misunderstanding. He got pretty drunk though. I don't know why. He later busted out his home-made spear that he uses to kill the animals that he catches. He says he feels bad every time he has to use it. One weird thing was, that after he was done showing me the bamboo spear, he carefully put the cap back on, and then opened the sliding door behind me and then just threw it outside. He is a nice guy though. He kept saying 'Kawaii' though. I don't know why he did that. Supposedly his bedtime is like 8pm so he went to bed at about 9pm and I talked to Mrs. Sugimoto for a little awhile about the ALT that was in Ryujin before. He stayed for 3 years and could play Taiko very well. I forgot his name though. Their daughter also talked to me a little, her name is Maki. She asked me a couple of really good questions too, normal questions, instead of the stupid Gaigin questions like: do you cook? do you eat sushi... She asked me what I was going to do when I was done here in Japan and had to go back to the US. And then she asked me how America's economy was holding up these days. I couldn't answer the first question. And apparently she works at a hotel or ryokan somewhere in Ryugin washing dishes and cleaning in the kitchen. So then I talke to Mrs. Sugimoto a bit more and then hit the hay. She made up a super comfy futon with a heated blanket on it. That blanket was so money. I feel asleep with it on though, on medium, and woke up in the middle of the night sweating like a pig, or an inoshishi. I busted out of there at about 6:45 in the am and showered back at my place before going to my chugakou. They wanted me to stay for a quick rice breakfast, but I was really pressed for time. I felt bad for not staying. Infact I got back quicker than I thought and figured that I really should have stayed for a quick bite. I would like to go back sometime. He invited me to go hunting with him when he goes again at sometime.
It has been getting warm this week, but today it has been raining.