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NOT the pool I went to...
Well I'm just going to get the first thing I have to say out of the way....
No comments?
I was thinking I would have a few Bombers willing to leave an incipio bomb in my blogs but no. I can understand if it's because I haven't been on the site for something like eternity and have only recently started using the site again. But I'm here now! If you guys have lost interest in the things that I write about, I would be glad to change up the topics if you like.
Ah...regardless. A few days ago I went to the pool with this kid Nori. Thing is, I'm sort of a homebody and I don't exactly go out and socialize much. So this Nori, is the son of this Urologist that my dad teaches English to. Supposedly this Urologist is very well known in the surgeon community in Japan. So anyway, even though my dad started out teaching the father, now he teaches both his son and daughter too.
So the son Nori actually called my parents and asked them when I was available. At first I was shocked and baffled at this horrific news. How in god's name would we possibly have a good time? I could not concieve anything that we would have in common except perhaps for video games. My dad just calmed me down and said that we could go to the pool ( Their family is very big on swimming, both of the kids are in swimming clubs ) or play games at his place. That was about 1 week before the whole thing was going to go down.
Then me and my family really forgot about it. Not just "oh I kind of forgot about it" we really forgot about it. When the phone started ringing early in the day the day we were supposed to meet, nobody in the house realized it would obviously be Nori calling. I was once again thrown into mind-convulsions trying to think of what this would be like. So anyway, I didn't know the way to their house so my dad and I went there together. Then he dropped me off at their place.
They actually live in an apartment on the ground floor of a rather old looking building. Considering their father is a surgeon you would think they would live in a very nice house or something. But no they don't. It's very modest, nothing fancy at all.
And to my complete and utter horror, I did not see anything remotely video game like, save a small happy set toy they got that no longer worked. So that was the first thing that caught me off-guard. The second thing was that Nori's mom kept drilling me for information. You see there is sort of an odd coincidence between m
That would have made some interesting conversation, if it weren't for the language barrier. Oh mighty language barrier, why are so you callous? My Japanese was far better than the English of both the mother and Nori, but I'm not sure about Nori's sister. Anyway, so the mom keeps asking me about my school. I guess my father hadn't mentioned that I haven't been to a school in something like....3 years now. Now that I did the assessment test I guess I have at least some evidence that I'm doing just fine without any proper schooling, but I wasn't in the mood. And since home-schooling is a completely foreign concept in Japan, it would just be more hastle than it's worth. So....I just lied about it.
That's right, I lied to her. Great way to start a nice day of blossoming friendships eh? She asked things like "How far is your school from your home?" and I said "I forgot". They didn't seem to find anything peculiar in a kid who they think goes to school completely forgetting how far it is away from his home. I quickly changed the subject to what we should do. That's when I popped the question. No, I didn't ask Nori to marry me. I didn't ask either of the women either.
I asked "do you have games here?". The magic answer?
No
I was completely blown away. My mind was spinning like a top. Of course I concealed this with a rather fake sounding laugh.
So they didn't have any games, well that's just great. I had been deceived. I had brought some swimming trunks just in case a situation like this should arise...but I didn't really want to go swimming. Yet that seemed the only option we really had. And that idea was solidified by Nori's mom saying "you should go swimming" over and over and over again. In that moment I really couldn't decide if she was just really annoying, a broken record or the Energizer Bunny.
So, we set off towards the pool. Turns out my dad was eating in a restaurant just down the street and had finished eating and saw us going towards the pool. We said we were going towards the pool and it was on his way as well so we walked togeth er for a bit. I didn't mention that the mom was there too did I? Yeah, that was pretty damn awkward. Nori didn't know the way to the pool, so his mom was there to help. I knew the way to the pool, even from their house and mentioned it but I guess that didn't quite cut it....
So finally the parents left. I led him the rest of the way and there we were at the pool. Crowded, and scum infested. Well not quite scum infested, but you see some really dumb looking people there. We went in and changed. When I saw what Nori was wearing it was kind of weird. He was wearing really tight swimming....equipment. You know when swimmers have that really tight streamlined stuff on them? That was what Nori was wearing. I on the other hand was wearing regular flabby swimming trunks. We had also brought a plastic inflatable ball. And in fact most of our time at the pool was simply spent throwing it around. Numerous times did it strike peoples heads, but they always moved on like nothing happened. Once it landed next to someone in their little inflatable tube thing.
The pools layout is quite simple. The outside of the pool area consists of a parking lot and a few kagigori stands that lead up the main entrance to the pool. Coming from the main entrance gate thing from the sidewalk, you see the entrance to the pool at a slight angle with a straight path lined with kakigori stands. To your left is the bicycle parking and to the right is an overly expansive car parking lot. I say overly expansive because there are rarely lots of cars in it, and most of the space there is filled with bicycles as well.
Next to the main entrance is a ticket machine. Even though for train tickets I am now considered an "adult" I am still a child at the pool. Even though I'd done this a lot of times, I still felt a mild fear that they would stop me from going in, stating that there was no way I'm a child. I'm about as tall as lots of adult men here in Japan, even though I'm not even 5'9. And since I have a feeling Japanese people don't really know the difference between a 14 year old foreigner and a 18 year old one, I always fear that they will stop me from using a kid's ticket.
When you enter, there is a rather large circular room with a skylight at the top with the entrances to the locker rooms on either side. To the left is the sweaty and disturbing men's locker room. And to the right is the fabled women's locker room. We of course went to the men's one, verifying our masculinity via conformity and searched for an available locker. When we found two fairly close by we started to change.
*Description of what it was like here*
Then we entered the real pool area. Before enjoying the awe-inspiring freedom of being able to roam around like a complete idiot you must go through a little 5 meter...thingy that covers you in water. Then again, I could simply go over a little fence thing they have and avoid it, or go through the perpetually open handicap door. 50% of the people get themselves wet, and the other 50% are slobs who don't want to get wet until they enter the pool proper.
I am a slob, thus I went through the handicap door. Nori followed my lead. Now, the most majestic part of the pool, which isn't saying a lot, is presented to you. as you exit the water machine straight ahead of you is a small store selling goggles and other crap like that. The sun beams hot burning rays of light on you, and you can feel your skin burning every second that you stay outside of the pools. The ground consists of very bumpy and rocky blocks colored white and black. Stepping on the black tiles is a complete torture, as they absorb all of the heat instead of reflecting it as the white ones do, making them quite a lot hotter.
A bit further away, a bit behind the small store is the water slide. Me and Nori went on the water slide once. Now this isn't a big twisty-turny water slide. This is about as basic as they get. Three "lanes" and every one of them slightly different. The general path is completely straight, and you fall into a painfully shallow pool at the end of your something like 8 second ride down. I took the one on the left and when the lifeguard breathed into his whistle the three kids ( One for every lane ) went flying down the slide. Then when you fall into
Very much not like the pool I went to
Water slides that exist in Japan could never pass in America. People sue other people a lot in America so you know somebody would exaggerate their injuries and say that the water slide ruined their life or something. Same for roller coasters, some of them make you literally feel like you might die here in Japan.
Anyway, back on topic. From the water thingy at the entrance to the pool proper if you turn left you see some stone stairs leading up the the river pool. I say river pool because it's shaped like a river and has an artificial current. This is generally the most crowded pool. We waded around in it for a while and then decided to set off to the lake pool.
The lake pool is what it's name suggests, a lake shaped pool. Now note that all of these names were simply made by me. I could name them whatever I want. I could call the river pool the Benicio Del Toro pool and nobody would care. The lake pool also has a simulated waterfall thing at the very end of it. And behind the waterfall thing, there are a few shops.
On sort of a humorous note, above the shops is another little skylight like area. When you look up, you see a lot of fungus like growths in it. Now, at first I though "Holy crap, that's where the water is coming from" because at first glance it does look like the waterfall is coming from there. Turns out it's just some pipes on the very edge of the "waterfall" that send the water flying over.
There is also a very shallow pool with the traditional mushroom shaped things with water coming out of them. What is the deal with the mushroom things?
I'm sure there was other stuff worth mentioning about the pool but I really don't feel like typing any of it. So we left the pool, Nori bought a sausage and ate it. Then I said that I would go to my house and pick up some games and bring them to his house. He agreed, and I returned home. I packed up my gamecube along with SSBM and 1080 Avalanche ( Yeah, that's one's a bit obscure ) and once again went to his place. I was exhausted when I got there. So I set up everything and realized to my dismay that there was no memory card in the Gamecube. I always just kept the damn thing in the Gamecube itself, where the hell could it have gone to! So we ended up playing with the boring characters.
I really have nothing to say about that...we played 1080 Avalanche a bit but SSBM turns out to be a much better multiplayer game. So, after that was done I just said goodbye and it was all over.
Then a few hours later he called my parents again. It would be nice if I actually got to talk to him on the phone but I'm always on the computer doing some random crap when he calls. Supposedly he said I was "cool". That sounds kind of fabricated but I'll just have to take their word that he said it.
And that's how it all went down. I'm sorry if it wasn't the most compelling read, there was no helicopter battles or political intrigue in this whole experience.
Your tired of typing friend,
Termite
*Didn't proofread, and I think the formatting might be bit funky, sorry about that*
