This weekend was the long-awaited Nagano ALT Soccer Tournament. It was my best weekend since coming to Japan. I give it twenty-two gold stars!
Friday afternoon was insanity. After a time-consuming and disappointing attempt to send a bank transfer to the U.S. ("I'm sorry, we don't work with that bank."), getting slightly rained on, dashing to the grocery store for last-minute purchases and seeing to the day's emergency load of laundry, I frantically cleaned my apartment like it had never been cleaned before in preparation for a visitor. My colleague Steven's girlfriend, Miori, was coming over for our first language exchange session, and from everything Steven's told me she's a high stickler when it comes to cleanliness. Once all was in preparedness, I discovered I still had some time before she came, so I grabbed a quick shower, threw on some clothes and gulped down a quick supper.
Soon Miori showed up, bearing a gift, which she told me was some cheesecake. (Thanks for telling her my favorite dessert, Steven!). This made my stomach smile, so I thanked her profusely and stored it in the refrigerator for later consumption. We had a successful two hours and then said our goodbyes, and the first thing I did once she left was pull out that cheesecake. When I opened the box, I was greeted with the sight of two desserts: a slice of cheesecake and a little mango pudding. Suddenly Miori's voice popped into my head from earlier in the evening, telling me that mango was her favorite fruit. She'd meant for us to eat the desserts together during our meeting. I felt really horrible as I slurped that mango pudding...
And then it was time for a quick Skype date with my Mom. When that was finished, I popped out for an even more last minute purchase before returning home to pack up my gear for the weekend and chat a little bit with my sister as I waited for Yuhki, my ride, to come pick me up.
By the time he rolled into my apartment building's parking lot, it was a good hour and fifteen minutes past my bedtime. By which I mean that it was about 11:15 PM. Yes, I have become that pathetic. Everyone else in the car looked pretty sleepy, too. Not surprisingly, it was a quiet ride. Fortunately, it was a short one, too, and soon we arrived at a friend's house to crash for the night before rising at an ungodly hour the next morning to head to Nagano.
The first thing I heard upon waking in the morning was an air-splitting crack of thunder. This was shortly followed by Yuhki cursing loudly from across the room. Apparently he'd left his car windows rolled down.
We loaded up the cars in a brief but torrential squall and then we were off to Sano. By the time we'd been on the road for two minutes, the rain slowed and the day turned sunny and clear. Another short trip brought us to the city of Sano, where we met up with most of the other members of the Tochigi prefecture ALT soccer teams. Introductions were made (Being the local N00b, I know no one), breakfasts were bought, bad news of a last-minute loss of the ladies' team captain was conveyed, and then we were off to Nagano. Minor hijinks ensued. Suffice it to say, we all arrived safe and sound.
As it turned out, the tournament was not actually being held in Nagano but in the nearby resort town of Sugadaira, an idyllic little village ringed by low mountains whose forests are scored with long, green patches that in winter will become ski slopes. We headed straight to Sania Park, the sports compound where the tournament would be held. Our mens' team was slated to referee one of the first matches, and we arrived in the town literally two minutes before it was to begin. The ladies meanwhile spent their time suiting up, stretching and memorizing one another's names. In an ironic twist of fate, the ladies ALT team ended up containing a total of 2 ALTs, the other four members being friendly English-speaking Japanese nationals.
We played our first game a little less than an hour after arriving and were quite soundly defeated. In two fifteen minute halves, the other team managed to score 6 goals against us. We scored a whopping zero. On the plus side, Rachel, our goalie, turned out to be pretty good, having saved us the embarrassment of being scored on something more like 20 times.
And then, as soon as the match was over Rachel, looking wan, mutters, "Uh oh. I think I'm getting a migraine" And just like that our six-man team was down to five. Rachel was packed off to the hotel in hopes that a good rest would prevent the migraine reaching full-strength while the rest of us set about being spanked by the next team. We lost 6-0 again. The next game we lost 4-0. Then we ate lunch. Then we lost 3-0. We weren't too surprised by the losses, and our utter patheticness drew the sympathy of the other teams, who spent the day encouraging us to keep trying and even occasionally loaned us players so that we could have a six-man team again and at least one sub. Then at last we were done for the day, and it was time to crawl over to where the men were playing and receive the kindly attentions of our resident nurse, and my sometime co-defender, Miyu. Our fill-in goalie, Emi, had had her big toenail turned into a bloody mess, and one of our forwards, Satomi, required the heavy application of icepacks on her leg muscles. Miyu herself was suffering the effects of having both her feet trampled more than once. My toes were killing me, and when I at last sat down to pull off my shoes, I discovered that the toes of my right-foot socks were soaked in blood. All in all, a most satisfying day on the pitch.
When the men were finished being beaten, we all limped off to the hotel for a good, long soak at the onsen, supper and a nap. I cannot express in words how lovely the onsen feels when one has spent the day getting chased across a soccer field by large women who know what they're doing. When the naps were done, we all arose with new vigor to pile into a bus and head to a different hotel for a surprisingly energetic dance party. Finally, shortly before 2 AM, I literally collapsed into my futon (my aching leg muscles prevented a more decorous entry) and fell immediately to sleep.
Up at 6:30 the next morning and wishing I hadn't gotten low QUITE so many times at the dance party as my thigh muscles felt like they had been treated to the tender mercies of a meat grinder. Fortunately, the onsen is open at all hours of day and night, so I headed down for a little pre-breakfast soak. There was a pronounced limp among those shuffling toward the breakfast room, me included, but for the most part everyone looked quite cheerful and ready for another day of having their butts whipped.
It was a single-elimination tournament this time. The ladies' team strategy for the day was simple: Lose. Which we did. And then we could enjoy the rest of the day at our leisure, watching the other games, taking pictures, sympathizing with the men in their final defeat, eating tasty curry... We all took one big group photo, and then we ladies discussed our conviction that we definitely needed to get together to practice before the next tournament in the fall.
There's a big party coming up two weekends from now, and I'm really looking forward to seeing my new friends again. Yay! OK, that last sentence kind of sounded like something from one of my third-year students' text books. Must be time to go. Peace.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Aww, Miori sounds darling. How's your Japanese progressing?
Miori is great! I'm hoping to become good friends with her. My Japanese is still quite puny. :_( But I learn a little more every day!
Post a Comment