Volleyball Tournament

This last week has actually been pretty active. I've been spending a lot of time with Chris, the new Ajimu ALT. I've been showing him around and helping him get settled into the area, and he’s given me the pleasure of his company and conversation, as well as something to do during my summer break. It works out well for both of us, and I've been enjoying my time.

This past week we went to the museum of history in Usa, the city of Fukuoka, a couple waterfalls, and Hit Parade in Beppu city. Chris mentioned all of this briefly on his web log in a short entry, promising to go into more detail when he has time. Since we’d only end up repeating each other if we both wrote about it in detail, I’ll just wait for his entry to appear.

Saturday night I arrived back at Shoko's place a bit worn out from the week. I was looking forward to just spending a low key Sunday, when I got a call from Watanabe reminding me that I had agreed to join her and her friends in a beach Volleyball tournament the following day.

Watanabe is one of the younger teachers at Ajimu Junior High School. When I used to live in Ajimu, she invited me out with her and her friends several times. I ran into her at a festival in Usa a couple weeks ago. She was excited to see I was back in the area, and invited me to the beach volleyball game. I said yes of course, but then quickly forgot about it.

When I received the call Saturday night, I inwardly groaned at the prospect of going back to Beppu. From Hita it was a 2-hour drive, and I had just finished coming back from Beppu. Now was I going to head back to Beppu the next morning? And so early as well. I was supposed to arrive at 9, which meant leaving Hita at 7, which meant getting up even earlier.

“If it rains tomorrow, the tournament will be cancelled,” Watanabe said. “I’ll give you a call at 6:30 to let you know.”

“6:30?”

“Is that too early for you?”

“Well, kinda, yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll only call if it is cancelled. If you don’t hear from me, assume the game is still on.”

It had been raining a lot the past couple days, so I at least had the hope that the game might be cancelled. The weather gods have recently been making amends for what had been a very dry rainy season.

I awoke Sunday morning to rain, but no call from Watanabe. Maybe she forgot. I called her myself. “You’re calling about the rain, aren’t you?” she said. “Is it raining over in Hita? It’s raining here in Beppu as well. But the organizers have decided to go ahead with the tournament anyway.”

Blast! Ye gods have foiled my plans yet again.

The last thing I wanted was to drive yet another 2 hours back to Beppu. I've been doing too much driving already this month. And I was short of sleep from the previous few days. And I don’t even like volleyball really.

I lay back in bed and thought about how much I wanted to go back to sleep. I imagined my day if I stayed home. I’d call back Watanabe and cancel. It would be a bit awkward, but if I said I was sick or something than I would have an excuse. I would sleep in until 10. I’d get up and watch a couple videos. I’d do a bit of exercise. I’d get restless and depressed waiting for Shoko to come back home. I’d go to the internet café again, even though I was only just there yesterday and I promised myself I’d not waste so much money there. I’d buy a bunch of candy and sweet bread and go back and eat them while I watched more videos.

So in the end I forced myself out of bed and into the car. I arrived in Beppu only 15 minutes late. The others were waiting for me.

Besides Watanabe and 2 of her girl friends, Mike, Kim, and a newbie Jared were there. Mike used to in Ajimu with me, so I know him well, and Watanabe had told me he would be coming. Mike took one look at me and said, “You've got to be kidding me. You drove all the way down here just for this? Are things that boring in Hita?”

I really suck at volleyball. And Watanabe knows that because she’s seen me play at the teacher games in the old days at Ajimu Junior High. But I had a good idea I wasn't being invited for my athletic prowess anyway. This suspicion was confirmed when Watanabe and her two friends joined us inside the tent. “Isn't this great being part of an international group here?” Watanabe said. “I feel like we’re in some sort of movie.”

The rain was really pouring down now, but the tournament kept going. Mike, Kim and Jared went out of the tent to practice. Because I had blisters on my feet from hiking, I was the only one still in my shoes and socks. Everyone else had gone barefoot so they could play in the mud. “You’re not going to play like that, are you?” Watanabe asked.

“No, when the time for the game comes, I’ll play naked.” I meant to say “barefoot” but the Japanese word for “barefoot” and “bare body” are only one syllable apart. This produced a lot of laughing, and I rushed to correct myself. “Barefoot, I meant barefoot.”

“No, it’s okay,” Watanabe and her friends said. “You can play naked.”

“No, barefoot will be fine.”

“No, we’d like to see you naked.”

It was a joke of course, but I still didn't know how to respond. I just gave an embarrassed smile.

“I know,” Watanabe said. “You only get naked for Shoko, is that it?”

“Yes, and sometimes Mike,” I answered. That got a laugh.

It was still pouring rain when we played. It was a cold rain that at first made me miserable, but became cool and refreshing once I had become used to it.

The first game Watanabe kept me on the sidelines the whole time, substituting in everyone but me. “Nice play by the way,” Mike joked with me after the game.

“Watanabe’s seen me play at the school games before,” I explained.

The second two games I got substituted in, and really sucked it up. In fact I think one game we lost purely because of me.

There was an announcer wandering around the tournament with a portable microphone. There were four games going on at any given time, so fortunately he wasn't watching our game the whole time. But every once and a while he would wander over and make comments about our game.

“And we have some foreign players at this game,” he said. “And now a really tall foreigner is taking the field. Wow, that is one tall foreigner.” And he wasn't talking about me. Mike is taller than me, so I like hanging around him because he deflects a lot of the attention.

Kim afterwards complained about the announcer. “I wish he wouldn't have made such a big deal about us being foreign, and just treated us like normal people.”

Mike and I were somewhat more sympathetic. “Look, he’s got to continuously talk for 4 hours, so he’s got to comment on every single thing he sees, or he’ll never make it.” Mike imitated the announcer’s voice: “And, over in this corner we have some foreigners. Everyone look at them. And they can play volleyball. And, look, over there is a dog with a poofy tail.”