Post Okinawa Disorders

Judging from the long time I have taken to update my blog, you must be already smelling a couple of rats!

Well, let me smoke out the rats. The first rat is that I left my beloved home for three and a half months in Okinawa! It was a very teary day! The rate at which tears flowed through me, I thought that I was going to get dehydrated:)



After the goodbyes had been said, it was time for the next chapter . Embarking on the journey. I wasnt particularly looking forward to the 23 hours journey to my little country! I arrived jet lagged but happy to be home. I will post more entries later.

The last days...

As the count down to the end of the course continues, everything is dangerously close to creating tears in my eyes. The past few days have been so hectic. We were busy with writing project proposals and action plans of activities that we are going to implement back home.

So it was a crazy 2 weeks of consultations, thinking and reading...I am happy to note that yours truly successfully went through the process and came out hardened and fine tasted!

On Friday last week, it was a chance to let our hair down and enjoy our last days in OIC. Since my group comprises of African students, it was time to have an African party. And African it was! First of all, it started 2 hours after the said time of 7pm. Then as usual, Africans showed the usual stamina. In this party, it didnt matter whether one was Zambian, Rwandese, Kenyan or Namibian...at that time, all music was welcome. The Namibian danced to bongoflava as enthusiatically as I danced to Zambian music.

It was amazing how Africans can pull out dancing strokes! And whats funny is that the non-drunks were the ones brining out the most weird and interesting of strokes.

One of the highlights of the night was when our course leader Nana-San joined the party. We were excited and it was amazing seeming Japanese and African dances merge on the dance floor. Oh what a nice night it was. It is sad that it came to an end so soon.

On Saturday in order to fully recover from the Friday fun fair, Karaoke took centre stage. I sang alal the songs I wanted and I am really going to miss my karaoke sessions. Saturday night was also a chance to say bye to some of the participants who left for Tokyo yesterday. Cos by the time they return, we will be gone. Another teary moment there.

On Monday afternoon, Iam making a final presentation of my project...this is the time when everything is being done of the last time.

Well good everything comes to an end...but at the end, it when you look back, you realise that it is better to have been part of it than not at all.

I am going to miss this place and the people in it more.

The Sushi Experience

Friday evening is always the best moment in almost everyone's life! And I am no exception.
So on a cool Friday April 3 I was excited because it was time to temporary forget the action plan business and clear the mind..even if it was for 2 hours.

So Instructors, participants all went down to a sushi restaurant in the vicinity called Uokura. This was a unique restaurant because it only serves sushi.

For those who are not in the know. Sushi refers to an indigenous Japanese dish that consists of cold cooked rice dressed with vinegar that is shaped into bite-sized pieces and topped with raw or cooked fish, or formed into a roll with fish, egg, or vegetables and wrapped in seaweed.

In this restaurant, I saw so many types of sushis some I never knew ever existed! I even got to taste the restaurant's special dish a hamburg sushi! This was meat steak with a ball of rice..it was nice
I had a chance to also eat some fried squid! It was so tasty..I couldnt relate it to that ugly creature that I see in the water bodies! I saw sushi made of raw fish eggs, crab, salmon, Octopus, lobster, shrimps...oh so many some I cant remember

What was unique about the restaurant?
Now I am sounding like Table Talk with Timothy Bukhumune :) And I know some of you might have me for that :)
Apart from it being a sushi only restaurant, there is sort of a bar area where you all sit- bar style. And the cool bit is that instead of having a normal bar table, there is a sort of conveyer belt system. On this converyer belt, different kinds of sushi are placed and they move around the belt.



The chefs were standing right infront of us...just like bar tender style and they were making the sushi as we ate/watched. It was great.Then on the wall above them, there were wooden boards written in Japanese. I was told they contained the names of all the sushi suppliers. I thought that was neat!
The rules of the sushi eating game were:
If you like the sushi type, you pick it off the conveyer belt. However, once you have picked it, you are not allowed to return it.
So this meant that one had to be pretty sure before they picked a plate. And for this our instructors came in very handy! The plates were small, the size of side plates and on each plate where two pieces of sushi

The sushi price ranged from 150 to 250 yen per plate about 1500-2500 Ug X. The price of one sushi was distingushed by the colour of the plate it was placed on. while the plate color and sushi price was reflected on the menu Another rule was that one could pick and eat as many plates as their stomach and wallet could take.
And as one ate, they were supposed to pile the plates they had eaten infront of them. So at the end, each person's plates were counted and a corresponding bill given.

What did I eat?
Well, since it was time to experience..I ate some sushis that I dont recall. But some of the notable ones were fried squid. It was tasty and no different from fried chicken drumsticks.
I also ate a seaweed that tasted like one of the local green vegetables..may be steamed dodo.
I cant recall the taste of the raw shrimp with a bit of soy sauce but it was also wonderful. Then the cram shells I ate tasted just like gizzard..and I would know because I am a heavy gizzard eater:)

So after nine plates of sampling different sushis, I called it a night.It was a good experience...I am glad I went .
Regards
Satisfied Sushi client :)

Beating stress by flying kites

There is something about kite flying that was so relaxing. Could it be because of the childhood memories that it evoked in me? I just dont know what it was but seeing each of us , flying our kites today in the windy afternoon was fun.

I had forgotten how funny and interesting flying a kite can be. It is an exciting and interesting experience when you see your kite gliding in the sky and beating all odds to stay afloat.

I am sure some people reading this will say: You guys went to Japan to fly kites! Well, yes..ha ha ha!! Actually, flying kites was a kind of stress buster. At first I was sceptical because being an African, I believe that when you start on something, you have to work like a donkey on it until closing time. But one of my instructors suggested that in order to get a clearer perspective on what we were working on by going out for some fresh air.

So this afternoon, we got our Kites, that were kindly made for us by one retiring professor who is loves kite flying. Went to the play ground and flew them! Oh so much laughing and screaming as some people's kites collided and were written off. Others helplessly saw theirs disappear into the skyline in the neighbourhood when they accidently let go of the strings.

What an interesting stress buster it was!

Gags at Japanese Conversation Class Finale

I have never laughed so hard than I did today! My final Japanese conversation class turned out to be one of the most interesting Japanese class I have ever attended!

Yesterday each one of us was told to write an essay about our respective countries. And here is the catch word...in Japanese!! Another bombshell was that we had to memorise (read cram) this essay in less than 24 hours and present the next day.

Well, you may think that all is easy..but it isnt especially when you have competing priorities. My course has become busier. Since its winding up, there is so much stuff to do. i am now eating, sleeping, thinking and talking Action Plans! So with such a mind state, memorising Nihongo was bottom of my brain priority.

But as the hours grew nearer to 7pm ( thats when the class starts). I was forced to put aside the Action plan and think of my Nihongo class presentation.

When I realised that things were not going so well for me, I made a power point presentation. I figured that I am better off adding flavour to my poor Japanese. After all, since a picture is worth a thousand words, it would make up for my lack of Japanese words!

Come 7pm, everyone is nervous...a random selection mention is done.. the presentations begin. No sooner had they started than the laughters begun! People were misprouncing words, forgeting their lines, so nervous that some appeared to be performing a special dance... It was a beautiful atmosphere.

My turn to speak..I wasnt nervous but the little Japanese I knew seemed to have hidden under a brick wall!! I kept forgetting the sentences. Eeh,things were tough! And to show that they were really tough, every sentence I would think of was in my mother language..now if thats not a classic deifintion of hard, what is!! :)

But I was saved by the photos! Especially the pot dance! Well, if you cant speak Nihongo, atleast you can dance and get away with it! So I danced the best pot dance I could and definitely got away with it:)

Some presentations were out of this world...my colleagues and I laughed so hard that some of us had to leave the room for some fresh air!! Inspite the laughter,we learnt about other countries' cultures and places which was great..

What a fine way to crown my Japanese conversation class. I am glad I was part of it. Now the challenge for me is to remember whatever I learnt for many, many more years to come.

The Masai do

Yesterday, I had a chance of attending a health promotion symposium in the northern part of Okinawa. Infact the African participants were the main attraction in that symposium. So we had to prepare some drama skits and Educational Learning materials inorder to share our health education experiences with people in that part of Okinawa. The venue of this symposium was Meio University.

It was a two hour drive to this unversity and on the way we stopped at one of the local beer making companies. Since it was a saturday, free tours of the factory were being carried out. So we got a chance to see how the beer is processed. I guess being a non drinker, I didnt think much of the process. However, what impressed me was how the beer company is making by-products from the bottles and bottle caps. They are making tins, new bottles, paper and many things. Here, nothing is useless...everything is recycled to make something.

Then the whole guided tour around the industry impressed me . After the tour each one of us was entitled to a bottle of beer or lemon tea/ water for the non drinkers.The whole guided tour and free drink I realised were a form of publicity for the organisation because later in the evening, I saw people choosing that beer brand...consciously or sub consciously :)

Now fast forward to the masai do... while at Meio university, e the participants had been divided into 2 groups..East Africans and West/South Africans. Each group was given 2 hours to present their countries' experiences. For the Eastern Africans, we chose to dress as masai and even did a little masai dance.. All went well at the symposium.

The only down hill experience was that we never got to fly out kites. One of the Profs at the university had been so kind. He made each of us a kite. We had painted these kites and were ready to enjoy the fun. unfortunately, the weather decided that we couldnt!

Another American Doctor had come to show us some solar technology equipment. On display it really seemed interesting. Its a pity we never got to see it work. But at least I got to eat a cake baked from solar energy!

Pregnant me

" I cant wait to see you pregnant!" is one of the common comments that I receive.

I dont know why they always say that. I have tried but failed to figure it out.

Could anyone volunteer to tell me why?

Because I am starting to believe that its because of those motherly skills that they see in me :)

On one of the visits to one organisation in Japan called Japan Organisation For International Cooperation on Family Planning(JOFICFP), I got a glimpse of what I would look like when pregnant.

The organisation has this material that they made..its kind of like a costume. It was made to give people especially men a good idea of how it feels to be pregnant. A strategy meant to encourage males and ordinary people to understand the difficulties faced by a pregnant woman.

So when my class visited, the males were given first priority. After they had finished, I too begged for a chance to be pregnant.

My Verdict

After about two hours of putting on that costume, my attitude towards pregnancy changed tremendously. The costume was about 13 kilograms to symbolize the weight gained during pregnancy, there was another 3 kgs of a water bottle filled with water that is placed below the stomach area..to symbolise the pressure a pregnancy puts on the bladder!!

It was hard standing and the only comofrt I got was in sitting down. I really sympathised with the pregnant woman. Though I never got to lie down in this outfit, I imagined how difficult it would be. I had 13 kilos added to my body weight and the moment I stood up, I felt intense pressure on my pelvic area. I also not consoled by the fact that the weight gained is gradual either! I still feel that its a big change for a pregnant woman has to cope with!

Inaddition, though this costume doesnt capture the raging hormones experienced by the woman nor the swollen legs and the baby's movements, it gives a glimpse into the world of pregnancy.

So after all is said and done, I came to one conclusion. I would like to put in on record that, I will be a beautiful pregnant woman some day :)

My Impression of Tokyo

Whenever I think of Tokyo, I remember all those people I saw dozing in the trains! I mean it was so bad..I practically saw a mass of people wh0 are over worked and I felt so sorry for them.
I remember this particular student dressed in a school uniform; a black suite. He was seated right opposite me and had a Portable Music Player in one hand, earphones and his blue racksack was on the floor.

It was nine in the morning but this boy was dozing so much. Its good that there was no one seated next to him because he kept falling sideways. The sleep seemed so nice but I was amazed that he never let go his music player and when his train station was mentioned, he woke up and went out like he had never dozed at all!
This young man is not alone. There are thousands of such cases in Tokyo.Since Life is so busy, to some, a train ride is the only break they have to catch a nap.




People live large
I have never seen so many fancy cars. Every five seconds, a merc , beemer , chevey or Jaguar passed by me. I stared until my neck hurt! I dont know when Uganda will receive this latest models ..probably 10 years from now :)I was told that the majority of wealthy people in Tokyo dont buy Japanese cars. I guess that explains the cars! So if you want to see the literal version of living large, visit Tokyo

After my visit, I can see why its recommended as one of the places one should visit before they die. I was blown away by the beautiful architecture!

The crowd...
Tokyo is also a crowded city. I have never seen so many people at ago like that. I felt so overwhelmed. Imagine making a u-turn, and you find yourself being suddenly approached by over 2500 people. In one minute, a train subway can change from empty to too crowded reason being that there are so many trains picking and dropping off people.

Speaking of trains, there is alot of running involved. A train stops for approximmately 30 seconds. So if you are slow, you can be left behind. And its worse if you have luggage, you have to negotiate staircases and push through people in order to get to the train in time.
One thing that however amazed me was the orderly nature people get off the train. All people coming into the train keep left and allow those leaving to alight before they enter.

Even on the staircases, all people keep left to pave way for anyone who is in a hurry. Imagine if this was Kampala..what organised disorganised mess would we have? May be it would be like the case of the traffic jam situation where we are used to our disorganised organisation:)

I could go on and on about Tokyo but I guess I have said enough..for today.
Will end here
till the next entry

Tokyo Trip

Today has finally arrived! The much anticipated journey to Tokyo-one of the busiest cities in the world has happened! Yesterday, I was apprehensive as to what to expect from this place. I have been hearing alot of stories from other participants that visited Tokyo and I must admit, they were scary.

The common one was how busy life is and that time and tide literary wait for no one here. Now coming from Okinawa, a place with relatively slow pace ( though Uganda is slower), I was worried of this Tokyo trip.

At 9am, we (my group and two instructors) left the sunny Okinawa and headed to the airport. After an hour or so's flight, we arrived in the chilly Tokyo! It is 10 degrees outside but am already with the flu! I dont know what I will do in the next 3 days!!

We had to take 3 train rides to get to the Tokyo International Centre (TIC). There are so many people coming in or going out of the trains! Luckily for us, our instructors were so nice. They kept counting us to make sure that we are all there. So every stop, the instructors' fingers and mouths were at work! In the trains, I could see alot of people dozing! So the people who told me about this aspect didnt lie! The "Tokyoans" are so over worked that they have no time to sleep!!

A Japanese lady I met in Okinawa once told me that in Tokyo, its the norm to be busy. People thrive on being busy. Its like, if other people see you walking so fast, they admire you.. so some people are caught up in this kind of fastpaced life and dont have time to rest! I dont know if I can manage live like that.

At 4pm, we arrived at TIC. It is a very big place compared to my OIC!! And it looks so busy!! There are also so many people in this centre! I think every country is represented here:-) ..I have even found 4 Ugandans here! I am so excited that there are atleast people I can give "lwaali" with! Though they are leaving for Ug on Saturday. Their course has ended.

One difference that I have noted is when I compare food and drinks prices here to those back "home" in OIC, I thank God for not being in TIC! But again, what do I expect? This is Tokyo!!
Well, I hope that my stay in Tokyo will be pleasant...I intend to make sure that I have an experience worth sharing.
I will keep you posted.

When the rain is pouring down...

Its day three of pouring rain. I must congratulate Mr. Rain - Given its sturborness, it has to be male:)). I surely do congratulate you mister for totally ruining my saturday! I couldnt even go out to shop or look around. I have been cooked up in my room for the past over 12 hours!! I am sad is that? I guess not really sad..but I am determined to tug on your heart strings and make it look sad:)

I guess if such rain happened in Uganda, then people would have a field day having excuses. Uganda is the among the few countries in the World that I know of where late coming "because it is raining" is accepted as a valid excuse! And if you live in Bwaise, it is another A plus for you. For those who dont know "Bwaise". It is an area that was originally a swamp. And because it was poorly reclaimed, whenever rain falls, there is a flood and roads become impassable.

Well I guess, thats it from me. I hope tomorrow will be a better day.