Epic trilogy

I've decided to split my life into three events since the last time I wrote. As indicated by the title of this piece, they were of epic proportions.

1. Volleyball day. Sports Days at schools in Japan are pretty common apparently, and my schools variation on this theme last week was having almost all of the 550 or so students play volleyball for about three hours. Some of the older guys played basketball, but almost everyone...volleyball...three hours. I practiced with them for a bit, and my forearms were sort and imbedded with dirt for the rest of the day. As you can see from the following pictures, my sunglasses were a big hit.

This is one of the teachers I work with. Shes crazy. Her boyfriends include: Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch), me, and some guy in Yamanashi

A field of Japanese early teens with their (my) school in the background
After bowing, the team is ready for battle

2. I climbed Mt. Myogi this past Saturday. Its a fairly high mountain in Gunma prefecture, which itself is half in and half out of the Japanese Alps. While maybe not actually the most physically difficult hike I've done, I think it was the scariest. I'm not used to clinging onto chains on vertical cliff faces, assured by the knowledge that if I lose my grip, I'll never have to worry about anything ever again. We went to view the beautiful 紅葉 (kouyou, seasonal changing of the leaves), though we were perhaps a week early, and while pretty, wasn't quite stunning. But the mountain was still beautiful. The following day I got up early to make pottery at a local museum. A little random, but the woman who has become my defacto supervisor here invited me along and I would agree to do almost anything for this person who takes time out of her day to make sure Aaron is 日本の生活をだんだん慣れています。After that I biked to the next city over (for the manyth time) and played ultimate frisbee for a while, tiring out my already slightly worn legs. But it felt good all the same. I can't prove the frisbee part, but here's the rest:

This actually isn't me, but it is epic nonetheless

This is my foot hanging off of an edge. It's a long way to the bottom.
About as intimidating as it gets. The top of the mountain!
In case you didn't think I made it to the top too.
Little Chau. Big mountain. One of those death defying chain climbs I mentioned.
A view from the top.
Call me vain, but I like this picture.
The crappy piece of pottery I made

3. The last part of my story goes through today. This afternoon was the culmination of a week or so of preparation that involved me staying late at work most days, and past 7:30 last night in particular. This was all for the "team teaching demonstration" that i performed with two other teachers in front of the 36 students we normally teach, as well as most of the other teachers at our school, a few from some other schools, and a dozen or so administrators from the area, including my supervisor. We were also filmed for some kind of review, and everyone was taking notes the whole time. I wasn't really nervous about this presentation until right before and during the first few minutes, when I saw all the serious and staring people, and watched my co-teachers lose all their confidence and anxiously bounce around in fear. It of course went fine, after all there was tons of preparation for something that's not particularly complicated. But the teacher did take over a number of my parts, i guess out of anxiety to move along as quick and as smoothly as possible. And we did go slightly over time. But I thought it went fine, and maybe even good, though perhaps not spectacular.
I got a hearty round of otsukuresamadeshita's (you're a hard working person!/good job!) afterward, but when i walked into the meeting room for teachers and administrators afterwards, everyone looked really grim and super serious. I was immediately dismissed as my teacher told me that they would discuss many serious things, and I should wait in the teachers office. I wouldn't have understood anything anyway, so no prob.
So i waited, mostly by myself, in the teachers office for about 3ish hours. I asked another teacher i work with how she thought it went, and she seemed to think not very well. She said that there was a time at the end that they finished the last activity and had nothing to do, and should've had an activity. I estimate that indeed SOME of the students had perhaps 30 seconds to a minute at the end of the class with no exact specific activity thrown at them. I guess this was enough for my co-teacher to tell me that the huge thing i had been working on with other teachers for weeks didn't go so well. I appreciate the honesty...?
It was past 530 (im scheduled to work to 4 or 430) and I had been wating for hours with noone around and nothing to do so i packed up to leave, though the teachers got out at the same time I was attempting to escape. My co-teachers seemed a little surprised I was leaving early, and said we still needed to talk about tomorrows lessons. So i told them all the ideas I had, and said I can come early tomorrow morning. I asked if that was ok. She asked if I had typed and printed an exact lesson plan out. I said no. She said "of course." Doubt she meant that sarcastic twist that the phrase "of course" can mean, but she was giving off some passive-aggressive vibes. And slightly after that awkward moment I left work at about 6 o clock.
So in celebration of this utterly confusing day I walked around the brand new mega-mall that opened up just down the road from my house with my friend Ross. It's three stories tall, houses a huge department store, a cinema complex, and maybe a hundred or more other various shops and restaurants. It's bright, garrish, expensive, and very clean. But my dream of becoming a mallrat in Japan is now able to come true, as its only a 10 minute walk from my house! All my hard-earned (maybe not all of it so hard) yen can now be entirely blown at my convenience.
Oh Japan. Oh Gunma. Oh Minami Chugakkou. Oh Ishimatsu-sensei.

I now remember my favorite English conversation at school, which will make me happy for the rest of my days here. Two weeks ago the principal's assistant (who is also a teacher... i think?) came up to me, and in very careful English said:
"Aaron. Your job..."
Me: "yes?"
[pointing at noisy kids and chaos in the hallway] "Destroy Japanese education."

そうします。