i know it's been a while but i finally got to posting about my trip from a few weeks back when i headed to
大島, which is an island located south of
神奈川県 for the 6th annual jhs girls vball rainbow cup.
2月9日-10日
金曜日-土曜日
met up with 東京都江戸川区小岩第五中 at 竹芝 pier. was good to see hashimoto-sensei, izumi papa & mama, haru, a parent i met before and some new parents i haven't met before. the girls were 元気 as usual and it was shockin' to see how much the 3年生 have grown since the last time i saw them was when they were still 1年生. so we took a boat and left @ 2200. we would arrive @ 大島 at around 0600 the next day. so what does one do when ya need to pass time? being with 'hashimoto-sensei' the answer to that question is quite simple...drink! after killing a whole big bottle of
日本酒 and
焼酎, decided to get a few hrs of rest.
when the lights came back on we all got off the boat and it was still dark. we were greeted by tanabe-sensei, who i haven't seen in almost 2 years. we all got in the bus and headed to the hotel. had a decent breakfast with of course beer.
the girls got ready and headed out for the tournament while the parents from our school and another school (静岡県富士宮第二中; where 'yoshida-coach' coaches) went sightseeing. a little bit before that, tanabe-sensei and i walked down to this little market that hashimoto-sensei and izumi-mama know. it's always interesting to talk to tanabe-sensei cuz he not only is vastly knowledgeable about japanese history/culture, he never ceases to crack me up in the process.
our first stop was
リス村. i never saw so many squirrels in one place in my life. we got to feed them sunflower seeds. some got so competitive they would even jump up onto your arm. there was also a
うさぎの森 with ducks next to them. in the same area there was also a
椿 park where they had all kinds of different camellias. after that, we headed back to the gym and had lunch. hashimoto-sensei came back from the pier with some grubbing
揚げたてコロッケ. after lunch, we headed to
波浮港 and went to this old
明治時代 style house. we then headed to this fish market to check out all the
鮑 and
サザエ. headed back to the hotel after that and took a nice long bath and a little nap before the big
宴会.
アワビ
サザエと刺身
the banquet
the party started with tons of food coming out. more 鮑 and サザエ with tons of sushi and the grubbing コロッケ from before. midway they decided to do introductions, some were short and sweet, some were long and you can definitely expect hashimoto-sensei to ALWAYS comment while somebody is talking. tanabe-sensei introduced me to the oshima ppl by saying, "this guy looks japanese but he isn't...".
yoshida coach & hashimoto-sensei
towards the end of the party, tanabe-sensei and another coach did this traditional oshima song. after that since we had to leave the dining area, half of the group went to sing karaoke (they had a karaoke box in the hotel) while the other half went either to the bath or back to their rooms. i was going back and forth to and from the karaoke room to check on hashimoto-sensei since he was passed out on the floor between the ping-pong tables. the group slowly started to dwindle one by one and when it was only the 20's (haru, hiromi & me) and another coach, hashimoto-sensei comes out of his coma and then proceeds to make us a drink.
2月11日
日曜日
so the next day, we all had breakfast together again in the dining area (drinking beer again). one thing that i appreciate about what toita-sensei and hashimoto-sensei teach their teams is not just vball but more of what they call
社会勉強. from simple things like how to properly arrange the table settings to getting the key to the parents rooms to set-up/put away the futons. however, in the case of breakfast, making sure that the parents (which i'm included in) is always taken care of. for example, whenever we need a refill and when were done, to take our plates away. for the little that i can do to contribute to their 社会勉強, i speak very simple and commonly used phrases. unfortunately this kinda backfired for the girl (the team captain) that i spoke to. i simply said, "thank you" for bringing me coffee and she did the common japanese bowing gesture equivalent to "your welcome". to her dismay, hashimoto-sensei was right there and began to lecture her about not responding back to me in english. after not being able to find the correct words, hashimoto-sensei says in a not so good but not so bad accent, "your welcome". tho i felt really bad for the girl, these little things add up and only later do they appreciate this. haru is a perfect example. when she was a player for hashimoto-sensei, she felt the worst of his wrath but only after did she fully realize the real meaning behind everything.
so after breakfast, we all headed to the gym for the opening ceremony for day 2 of the tournament. afterwards, hashimoto-sensei had to get back on a boat to tokyo for one of his old student's wedding. however, he will be taking the overnight boat and will be back in oshima tomorrow morning. and then get back on another boat with all of us in the afternoon. definitely crazy. while the parents went sightseeing, i decided to just chill at the gym and watch the teams play. watching koiwa play was quite fun. you can see how hashimoto-sensei's system in place. compared to funabashi, the 7th/8th grade team was running quicks, 3's & combos all with a 7th grade setter! the only other team that could hang was yoshida-coach's team, fujinomiya. tho they have only 7 players, they actually took a game from koiwa's 9th grade team. by the end of the day, koiwa won the tournament. afterwards, we headed back to the hotel chill before dinner.
tanabe-sensei & hiromi
the dinner this time wasn't as big as the day before however we had some
伊勢海老. this dinner was much quieter cuz hashimoto-sensei wasn't there. due to the time constraints of the dining area, we all had the after party in our room (since it was the biggest). the night is quite blurry after that because of all the shochu that was consumed. but i do remember talkin' to ichikawa-sensei (who's from
青森県) about going to the
ねぶた祭. his wife is also from
熊本, where my roots are from too. so he invited to go with him to both places. before the end of the night, had a nice talk with tanabe-sensei and voiced my appreciation for the great trip. i really don't remember much when i went back to the room.
2月12日
月曜日
bright and early i hear the door open and in a loud voice, "
お早うございます". it was hashimoto-sensei and i should've known that just after a beer would be handed to me. at breakfast, more beer. after breakfast, packed up and headed to tanabe-sensei's school for practice. all the oshima teams (3), fujinomiya and koiwa. yoshida-coach and hashimoto-sensei helped all the girls out. the way hashimoto-sensei runs practice (besides the abuse he dishes out), one can learn a lot. after practice, took a little tour of the school and went to tanabe-sensei's classroom.
monday sunrise
after practice, we all headed back to the camellia park. they made groups, mixing all the schools together let them walk around. some of the koiwa 9th grade girls got dressed and took some pics. for lunch, we had homemade onigiri with a great ocean view. some of the girls decided to slide down the hill on boxes and even i tried it a few times.
camellias
more camellias
even more camellias
2nd year girls dressed up as あっこさん
our view for lunch
after lunch, we all went to the zoo and saw all kinds of animals. i guess you can say that the main attraction was the
ラクダ. there was also these turtles that had their names written on their shells. it was kinda interesting to see how they listed all the turtles. they put it in a sumo-style ranking system.
the camel
"roku" the big yokozuna comin' in @ 436 lbs.
the biggest aloe plant i've ever seen
大島's cherry blossoms
so we headed back to the pier to see off the fujinomiya team. our ship was leaving a bit later.
pier
unfortunately we didn't take the pink boat
the 1st annual tournament was won by yoshida coach's team. and when he left, he flaunted it at hashimoto-sensei. so this time, hashimoto-sensei gets his revenge.
hashimoto-sensei rubbin' it in to yoshida coach
an 大島 tradition when friends leave, they sing and throw this confetti-like string and both ppl (on boat, on land) until it breaks as the boat gets further away from the pier.
final farewell
thx for the wonderful memories
and of course, thank you hashimoto-sensei for letting me hang with you and your team. good times
ラベル: food, vball, 大島
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