Fu-ra Ga-ru !!

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Hula Girl

My second day in Iwaki I went to our city hall to register for my Alien Registration Card, try to imagine my confusion when I was filling out forms in the waiting area and noticed something very familiar. It was distinctly the sound of an ukulele, but it wasn’t just any sound, it was Jake’s sound. I looked up to see a huge banner maybe 15-20 feet tall with hula dancers on it, and in romaji “fu-ra ga-ru”, hula girl. Then on the TV screen they were showing what appeared to be a movie trailer. I was so confused. I assumed that it was some kind of advertisement for Hawaii Tourism Japan. I turned to Chima (one of the Japanese teachers) and asked, “What is that for?” pointing to the banner. She said it was a movie coming out, even more confused I asked, “About Hawaii?” She said no it was actually about a place in Iwaki.

Chima went on to explain that Spa Resort Hawaiians is built on an old coal mine, and that the movie is a true story about how it came to be. Come to find out that Jake was asked to do the entire soundtrack for the movie. A couple days later I went to purchase the soundtrack, and it’s amazing.

Even though I had a bunch of lesson plans to do, I decided to go see Hula Girl. I went by myself to our modest little four-plex theater. It was a Monday night so I didn’t expect there to be many people to be at the last showing, boy was I wrong! I went to buy my ticket and when I saw everyone in front of me putting 2,000 yen in the machine I thought that it was that much per person. Turns out that they were all buying two tickets, one for themselves, and one for their friend waiting in the long line to get into the theater! The line went up three flights of stairs! So there I was, waiting alone, with two tickets in the back of the line. I got in and decided to sit in the very front. The movie was all in Japanese, luckily I knew the basic storyline and I understand a lot more Japanese than I can speak. It was so weird watching a major film and having it open with Na Leo’s “Hawaiian Eyes”. The movie was so emotional. A lot of it reminded me of “A League Of Their Own.” I started crying in the middle of the movie and didn’t stop until I got back to my apartment. This movie links together the only two “homes” I’ve ever known-Hawaii, and now Iwaki. If there’s anything I’ve learned from moving is that you have you have to leave a good thing to truly appreciate everything it has to offer. I am beaming with Hawaii pride up here, and the more I travel to other big cities, the more I learn to appreciate the beauty of Iwaki. Iwaki’s appeal isn’t as obvious as some other places but I am quickly growing to love that’s it’s now home. I just sat there through the credits, and so did everyone else because you could hear the sniffling and men trying to muffle their tears through masculine throat clearing. You just see Jake’s name repeatedly for the song credits, and production staff. Then in English all the people in Jake’s crew all of whom I got to meet just two weeks ago, so cool! When the credits were finished there was applause from the audience and people finally got up and started to leave.

It's playing in Hawaii on October 29th at the Hawaii Theater, go see it! Jake plays before the movie so it'll be worth the trip. Oh yeah, and don't worry there will be subtitles :) The movie was filmed in Iwaki so it's a big deal here.




Loco Moco! I know I said I wasn't going to travel until November, but I ended up going to Koriyama again last week Monday. Chris is going to Tokyo tomorrow, and I really want to go but I'm using self-control and staying back. Why you ask? Dakara, I'm going to travel clear across the country and meet Christine Toyama in Hiroshima on November 3rd! Stay the night, visit Miyajima Island, then head to Kyushu for the ending part of the weekend :) I have 4 days off, November 3,4,5,and 6! So I need to SAVE!!!!!!!! It will take me 7 hours to get there, and is 250 dollars ONE WAY, but it's going to be worth it! I just have to suck it up and not go anywhere for the next couple of weeks, eat natto and instant ramen everyday, and not go shopping :) haha i can do it!

However, no travelling means no good pictures for a little while...Here are some pictures from around Iwaki to tide you over:



PUPPIES!


Our main department store...SATY

ONOZAKI fish market-fresh fish and fresh produce

Oh yeah...Chris is hitting his one year mark soon and he was hit with the realization that there is so much of Iwaki that he hasn't explored and a lot of stones unturned. Therefore, our new mission is to become Iwaki experts. You won't find anything in any travel guide about Iwaki, so we're starting with "places to eat". We are avoiding routine by swearing to check out a different restaurant each week. Then I'm going to write about them and submit it to Fodors and Lonely Planet....hahahahaha. just kidding, but maybe make a web page or something for foreigners in iwaki. yes i'm a dork and i need a hobby. i need my guitar and golf clubs!! dad, please ship them ok? joking. but i think i'm going to invest in another guitar soon!

i look forward to the emails so keep them coming when you have the time :)

love you and aloha!
andie

umbrella graveyard

hello everybody!

i hear it's really humid in hawaii! i hope it clears up :) this past weekend i went to koriyama to visit my friend melanie. it was so cold and windy in iwaki on sunday morning that i couldn't help to stop and take pictures of all of the "dead" umbrellas...chris kept telling me that we didn't have time to take pictures because we were going to miss our train to koriyama. i was like, "oh stop worrying we have time..." we missed our train by literally a minute. i was like, "whoopsie sorry!" hahaha for some reason the next train to koriyama wasn't for another five hours, so we went to mr. donut :) chris took my camera away...haha









we finally arrived in koriyama around 3p.m...and it was twice as cold and twice as windy!! but koriyama eki was awesome! it's relatively new and there is tons of shopping and restaurants in the station...also there was some kind of music festival going on so there was live music going on all day! it was so cold so we didn't have time to discuss what we wanted to do so we went to koriyama space center. they have a planetarium it was cool...reminded me of bishop museum, i haven't been there in probably over a decade.








melanie works for amity koriyama, she's from outside of vancouver canada and this past weekend was her thanksgiving so we helped to celebrate it with her. it was my first 'home cooked" meal since i've been here. no turkey though :(










oh yeah, notice the blue garlic with the rosemary?? hahaha it's a mystery how it turned blue but it's just like in bridget jones diary, no? i was lucky to meet a lot of people that night...two from britain, one from ireland, and other japanese girls...it was so much fun!











the next day we walked, shopped, and walked some more...koriyama is beautiful! you will notice that a lot of my picture have the backsides of mel and chris...they call me "camera girl" because i'm always way behind everyone snapping pictures...chris again threatened to take away my camera hahaha...it's ok he's "donut boy" because he always wants to go to mr. donut. notice the leaves are turning colors! :)

















koriyama has shot to my number 1 favorite city so far in japan :) it only costs me 16 dollars to get there by local train so i'll be there a lot. mostly to shop and grab starbucks...the greatest thing about the station aside from the "loco moco" restaurant, is that they have a pretty good import foods market. i bought tortilla chips, refried beans, salsa, capers, swiss miss cocoa, and honey. but they have pretty much everything...spam, gravy, taco mix, jams, even hawaiian host chocolates!

work is still pretty rough, but this week was rewarding for our junior high students because we just got their TOEIC bridge scores back (it's like the Pre-TOEFL/ English language SATs) 4 out of the top 5 scorers are my students for their practical course :) i take no credit for it because i've only had them for a month, but i'm still very proud of them! i also have a handful that were in the bottom half, but at least i know now who needs more work especially in the listening sections...

i'm not planning on travelling for the next couple of weeks because i need to save money and my apartment needs some heavy duty cleaning!! i just wanted to update my blog with pictures for now, but i will write more this weekend.

talk to you all soon, love you!
andie