Yakushima

They say that in the beginning of time when the gods were creating the earth, a god cried five tears which became the five islands of Japan. I think that god must have really felt for that last southern tear of Yakushima. I recently visited the island and I know that its creation, via tear, god, volcano or other, was certainly inspired. It was so beautiful. We had a three day weekend, and a very nice, generous friend invited me on a journey to the southern reaches of Japanese civilization. I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly got way more than I expected! We left my apartment at 6am and drove 2 hours to the southern tip of the mainland, Kagoshima. There we met another member of our party and departed on the ferry for Yakushima. The ferry took two hours and we arrived to find beautiful sunny, breezy, island-y weather. It was so refreshing to walk up and down cobblestone sidewalks, chatting in Japanese with new acquaintances, and taking everything in. After some tea and brunch at a cafe, we departed for our hotel by taxi and arrived to find a charming flower garden, accompanied by a charming gardener who happened to be the owner of this charming hotel as well. (By the way, while we were in Yakushima, we ate at our hotel too. Everything was homemade and delicious and there were ten dishes to every meal. We were so incredibly full!) We got checked in and after a few moments, left again for our first adventure: kayaking. It was such a great time! I'd never experienced kayaking before, but I really enjoyed it and found it was a lot like canoeing. Same basic principles, only with more conveniently engineered "oars". We floated (well, my partner and I had a little trouble and we zigzagged instead...) down a river gently carved between extraordinary green giants. My favorite parts included a giant red bridge we floated under, trickling waterfalls, getting caught in the rain and the occasional monkey chattering. On our return trip, we stopped for snorkeling while our guide made trail cakes with honey and hot tea. MMmmm. Our second day in Yakushima was SUCH a challenge, but I will remember it for as long as I live! It is truly one of the things that made the trip special for me. As you recall, our first day started at 6am and was full of activity and we were all a little tired. Well, our SECOND day started at 3am and I've never had a day so chock full of exercise. We were greeted by our guide for the day at 4am, we picked up two more members of our hiking party (from Tokyo), then chugged our way up the mountainside in a gas guzzling van. We arrived around 4:30 and ate breakfast amongst thousands of stars. We were some of the first people there, though we were surprisingly not alone. After some stretches and edible fortification, we commenced what would be a challenging, memorable day. Our hike included lots of trips and tumbles, green, trees, monkeys, deer, mountains, and moss. We walked through a forest, along a river, and our final destination was the oldest tree in Japan. It was certainly a day of immense proportions. Afterwards we retreated to our hotel's hot spring bathroom and soaked then ate ten courses at supper and to round it all off, drank a healthy amount of alcohol and conked out on our futons. Our last day was also lovely and enlightening. We started by making our very own chopsticks! I'm afraid that I found I have no talent for this particular craft, and no particular enjoyment for it either, but we have lovely souvenirs that will likely give us tongue slivers evermore. :P Our second task was to find the biggest waterfall in Yakushima. To get there we had to rely on the trusty driving of our comrade through winding mountain paths. Along the way we saw more monkeys and deer and Shelby almost got car sick. We managed to avoid regurgitation and road kill and found our way to a lovely little waterfall with picture ops abounding. The waterfall itself wasn't really huge, but it was hugely lovely and we sat on the rocks at its bottom and enjoyed feeling the rebounding spray on our tired skin. Next, we visited a fruit farm for brunch. They gave us a plateful of fruit and a tour of their facilities for $5 each. A bit of a rip off, but fun nonetheless. Finally, we scrounged around in town for some souvenirs, ate the most delicious soft-serve, green tea ice cream, and almost got left behind by our ferry. Everyone slept on the return voyage. :) Our final little adventure was on the mainland where we ate dinner. There were some live musicians playing and we gladly took part in the "local" dancing and singing. It was so much fun! I felt really lucky to visit such a cool place and the people I traveled with were so kind and generous. It's a week later and my leg and arm muscle pain have finally subsided. However, my heart and mind muscles will be churning from my experience for some time to come.

omedetto and happy birthday!

Today I went to a birthday party! It was a combined party for the nephew and father of my friend, Mariko. Their birthdays are only a few days apart, so they went to a sushi restaurant to celebrate and they invited me to come along! It was so much fun!
I've been to birthday parties before in Japan, but never to a one-year-old's. Number one is special in Japan. During the day today, Grandma, Mom and baby made mochi (rice...pudding...sticky rice stuff). That's a traditional thing to do. When they made it, they used ten cups of rice. Ten in Japanese is "ishyo", which also means forever. So using 10 cups is significant and they do it to wish the baby a long, good life.
Then the fun begins! My friend Mariko bought baby Mitsukun a backpack. It was bright orange and very cute and he was wearing it when he arrived. Grandma also brought all the mochi they had made, which she said was also around ten kilograms. And then, the traditional thing to do is combine the two gifts and see how much baby can carry! Well, Mitsukun WEIGHS 10 kilos, so he had a difficult time at first when they put it all in. After that though, I thought he did extraordinarily well! I think he could carry half anyway, which I thought was mighty impressive. If I had to carry half my body weight...well, let's just say no one could make that much mochi! I didn't know about this traditional birthday ceremony, but I thought it was fun and interesting.

Happy Anniversary to me...

Yesterday, I realized that I have seen/slept through 365 sunrises in the land of the rising sun. What a marvelous realization! I've been thinking about this day for a long time, trying to imagine all the experiences I'd have at this point and hoping with all my being that they be numerous and sparkling. And now the day of retrospection has arrived...for me and for you because now I'm going to recount them all. :)

When first I laid eyes on Japan, I saw what would become my favorite and most treasured aspect of this culture: its people. From the moment I was greeted by the welcome party at the airport, through welcome parties, dinner invitations, and road trips to this very day when I shared a lunch with hospitable fellow teachers, I feel like I've been welcomed most enthusiastically. The Japanese people have taught me about hospitality; its importance, the sacrifice it requires, and the feeling of gratitude that is always present. I'll be ever-striving to imitate the openness of Japanese generosity.





The second thing I experienced in Japan, and also one of my favorite things about living here was school. School, and more specifically the students and teachers at school, are so refreshing and encouraging. I’m glad that my first year of teaching took place at Ozu Junior High. I've observed that Junior High is a magical age where students transform from children to young adults before your very eyes. It takes a few years, through a slow, rocky transformation, but when the journey is complete the evidence of a teacher's impact is clear. For better or worse, a student's progress in junior high is tangible and it's helped me see how very important the role of teacher is for young people.



















































I don't know how to classify the many and various experiences I've had this year. I've traveled, learned another language, met new people, listened to different music, driven on the other side of the road, and eaten all kinds of foods that haven't been cooked. ; ) For example, if my year's experiences in Japan were represented by a conveyor belt of sushi, the sushi would contain the following assortment: tamago (sweet egg-symbolizing memories that always make me smile), tako (octopus-for all the "firsts". Who knew I would enjoy raw octopus tentacles?! But I do and I'm so glad to have had the experience.), ikura (salmon eggs-There are some things that I just couldn't swallow. Of course, Japan isn't perfect. There are bad memories as well as good. I'll keep trying ikura and I'll try to keep an open mind. I don't want to miss a thing!), and finally, "maku ando chizu" (mac and cheese sushi-Remarkable, isn't it? That people across the globe can share so much. From language to pop culture to social values and even to comfort-food-faves, we have a lot in common.)








It's been a year; a great, unique, life-changing year. I'll never have these experiences again and I feel like I lack the pores necessary for soaking it up. There is much I want to do in the next year: I'd like to make an English club at my school, travel to another Asian country, buy a sanshin (Japanese guitar), and learn 365 kanji (Japanese/Chinese writing characters, one for each day!). I'm already dreaming and wishing and imagining the possibilities of my 2nd year anniversary. Will I have done everything I set out to do? Will I be satisfied with my time in Japan? I have 365 more sunrises. All I can do is take it one sunrise at a time.

The Legend of Tanabata-sama

These are pictures of a Tanabata tree at my school. This tree was decorated by the special-needs students and I thought they did an exceptional job. They decorated the tree for a special Japanese summer holiday, the legend of which I will now transcribe. ;) ...

This is a tale of long and long ago, when the King of the Sky was still busy making stars to hang in the heavens at night. The king had a very beautiful daughter. She was called Weaving Princess because she sat at her loom all day long every day. She wove the most delicate stuff in the world. It was so light and airy, so thin and smooth, that it was hung among the stars in the sky and draped toward the earth. It is this cloth that we now call clouds and fog and mist.

The King of the Sky was very proud of his daughter because she could weave so beautifully and was such a help to him. He was very busy making the sky, you see, and needed all the help he could get. But one day he noticed that Weaving Princess was becoming pale.

"Well, well, my little princess," the king said, "you've been working too hard I fear. So tomorrow you must take a holiday. Go out and play among the stars all day long. The please hurry back and help me. I still need much more mist and fog, and many more clouds."

The princess was very happy to have a holiday. She'd always wanted to go and wade in the stream, called the Milky Way, that flowed through the sky. But she'd never had time before.

She put on her prettiest clothes and ran out among the stars, right over to the Milky Way. And there, in the middle of the stream, she saw a handsome boy washing a cow in the water.

"Hello," the boy said to the princess, "who are you?"

"I'm the star Vega," she answered. "But everyone calls me Weaving Princess."

"I'm the star Alitar," said the boy. "But everyone calls me Herdboy because I tend the cows that belong to the King of the Sky. I live over there on the other side of the Milky Way. Won't you come over to my house and play with me?"

So the herboy put the princess on the back of the cow and led her across the stream to his house. They playd all sorts of wonderful games and had so much fun that the princess forgot all about going home to help her father.

The King of the Sky became very worried when the princess failed to come home. He sent a magpie as his messenger to find her and tell her to come home. But when the magpie spoke to the princess she was having such fun that she wouln't even listen. Finally the king had to go himself and bring the princess home.

"You've been a very bad girl," the king said. "Just look at the sky-not even finished yet. You've been away playing and the sky needs clouds and mist and fog. So you can never have another holiday. You must stay here and weave all the time."

Then the king poured more and more star water into the Milky Way. Until now it had been a shallow stream that you could wade across, but the king poured in so much star water that it became a deep, deep river. The princess and the hearboy lived on opposite sides of the river, so now there was no way they could get across to each other.

The princess went into her little house in the sky and sat in front of her loom, but she was so lonely and longed so much for her Herdboy that she couldn't weave at all. Instead she just sat there weeping all the time. And the sky became emptier and emptier, with no clouds, and no mist, and no fog.

Finally the king said, "Please, my little princess, you mustn't cry all the time. I really need clouds and fog and mist for my sky. I tell you what I'll do. If you'll weave again and work hard, I'll let you go and play with the heardboy one day each year."

The princess was so happy when she heard this that she went right to work, and she's been working very hard ever since.

But once each year, on the seventh night of the seventh month, the King of the Sky keeps his promise to Weaving Princess. He sends a flock of magpies to the Milky Way, and with their wings they make a bridge across the deep river. Then the princess goes running across the bridge of magpies to twhere the herdboy is waiting for her. And they have wonderful fun playing together for one whole night and one whole day.

That's the reason why Japanese children celebrate a holiday called Tanabata-sama, "The Seventh Night of the Seventh Month." Children everywhere love to play and it makes them happy to know that the Princess and herdboy stars are having such fun together there up in the sky. So the children on earth decorate bamboo branches with bright pieces of paper and wave them in the sky, to remind the King of the Sky that it's time for him to keep his promise again.

"Yes, we Kan!"

Another English teacher at school told such a funny joke the other day that I feel obligated to share: What's the new Japanese Prime Minister's slogan? ......... "Yes, we Kan!"

While I've been blabbering on about differences and sports festivals, I've neglected to update you all on a very important happening in Japan! Though, if you follow current events you'll have already heard about it: Japan got a new Prime Minister and his name is Naoto KAN! (hahaha!) On my second day in Japan, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama was elected prime minister of Japan by a landslide. A very popular person; he seems very refined, sophisticated, and serious. Apparently, that was eventually his downfall...Now the new Prime Minister, Mr. KAN has taken office.

But I digress. First I shall tell you all about the climb that led to the fall. When Mr. Hatoyama was campaigning, he promised to remove the military base on the southern most island of Japan, Okinawa. This is obviously a strategically important position for the U.S. with China and North Korea close enough to launch tomatoes and missiles and whatever else. But the people in Okinawa feel that it's equally important for them to have their island and their independence back. Understandable, yes?

I'm grateful to be in Japan at this important time in foreign relations. I feel like it's a great opportunity to see this issue from both sides! Of course, I naturally feel an understanding about the U.S.'s need for ultimate power. That's what Americans do...not my cup of tea to be honest. I think (and perhaps the rest of the globe is with me) that America should stick it's big nose in it's own problems. And yet, I think the rest of the globe is a bit frightened for the peace. I know I am. Peace is so fragile and even though I don't support war or violence, especially when it's unecessary, it seems like a shakey time to remove military forces that for better or worse, help keep the peace.

And I can understand the feelings of Japanese. Can you? American military bases are not the most pleasant of neighbors, I'm sure. And the Japanese, in my estimation, are very polite, reposed, and thoughtful about the matter, but sick and tired of American influence in Japan. That is a huge generalization, by the way. There are many Japanese who strongly believe the base should stay where it is and want America's influence in politics, culture, and other areas. With each person you ask, you'll likely get a different answer.

So, poor Mr. Hatoyama was booted out of office and a new Mr. Kan took up his mantle. Since that time, Mr. Kan instigated a plan to move the base to a less-populated area of Okinawa. Mr. Kan's approval rating is also starting to fall like his predecessor's did. I think the public is jaded, and tired of leaders that disappoint them. They've had five prime ministers in the last four years and I imagine it's frustrating and detrimental to the interests of the public to have revolving door Prime Ministers.

No one knows what will happen in the next year, but it seems like an important issue internationally. It seems to me that one political leader's decision and tenacity will change the world, one way or another. Now Japan just has to choose which leader.

Honoring Our Differences

I've heard it said that we creatures are more alike than we are different. After traveling round the globe, I must say that I heartily agree. People, no matter where you go, are people. Different sizes, colors, and languages, but in the end all generally homogenous. We all have hopes, dreams, wants and needs. I find these similarities encouraging. When you think about our similarities rather than our differences, the world is an easy place to live in; full of sisters, brothers, and friends!

BUT small differences are everywhere you look! And it's the differences between our cultures that make interacting with each other so interesting! I don't really find differences to be all that significant most of the time. But it is fun to occassionally point them out. :D

There are a lot of differences that I could write about. For example, Americans are used to driving on the right side of the road, threading a needle, turning a key counter-clockwise to lock something, and reading from left to right. All of these practices are opposite in Japan! (Japanese drive on the left side of the road, hold their thread steady and maneuver their needle instead, keys turn counter-clockwise when locking, and Japanese is written from right to left, top to bottom.) And there are certainly more differences for me to discover in Japan, but the most obvious to me are the ones that relate to my job at a Japanese Junior High School.

Now, like I noted, Junior High students are the same world-wide as far as I can tell. They have generally the same interests, priorities, and behaviors. But the schools that they attend are not as identicle. For example, Japanese students belong to a particular homeroom. They stay in that classroom all day long and don't rotate classrooms (other than for P.E., music, and science). Instead, the teachers rotate from classroom to classroom.

Also, students don't have lockers. They keep ALL of their things in their classroom (crowded!).

And school lunches aren't gross. They're actually (usually) quite tasty! Though I do take issue when lunch includes iriko (the little bitty dried fish that still have their eyeballs. they occasionally get decapitated in my soup--hard to eat floating fish heads).

And musn't forget (but I often still do forget!), everyone has indoor and outdoor shoes. So the flip flop of sandals is heard all round inside our school. Probably about 90% of Japanese school students also have uniforms. Our students have a winter uniform and a summer uniform. Appearance is strictly regulated-all students must have black hair (even if your hair is not naturally black!), girls must tie their hair up and they aren't allowed make-up, and boys aren't allowed longer than average hair. Appearance is important in Japan and I think, especially in J.H., the Japanese value uniformity.

There is one "janitor" at my school (at my school of 600 students). I wouldn't really call her a janitor though...she does a lot of miscellaneous, necessary stuff, but everyday there is a cleaning period and the students clean the school (yucky j.h. bathrooms included!).

See? Wasn't that fun?! ;) We have plenty of differences! Japanese and American Junior High Schools are different in a lot of ways. It's interesting to think about all the differences. And I think it's important to recognize that we are different and unique. In the end, differences are great.

But what's truly remarkable is that we're all the same.

Sports Day

Ah, the good ol' days of Junior High. Can you remember? Being a j.h. teacher opens the floodgates to all of those precious and peculiar memories of adolescence and awkwardness. Being obsessed with makeup, hair, boys, boy bands, acne and all that. Usually all of this energy and worry is balled up in a classroom and it can get suffocating at times. But thankfully, tis the season of Sports Day. :) Sports Day is a single day full of track and field events. It's held at the school and it's an all-day affair. The actual event takes only one day, but the preparation for said day is unbelievable. Students prepare for weeks in advance practicing, exercising, organizing. It's truly a big event. I think some schools in America have something similar, though I don't know that it's as big of a deal as this is. My school in Japan recently hosted the annual event a few days ago. We practiced a BUNCH. In fact, the school year started about a month and a half ago...and so did sports day practices! Typically, in one week the students would practice about three times every day; in the morning before school, during one (or SIX depending on the day) of the class periods that was cancelled to accommodate practice, whenever they had P.E. class, and also after school. They worked SO HARD!! They practiced a lot of things during that time-dancing, acrobatics, stretching, aerobics, running, and special events. They even practiced marching...in complete unison...in perfect lines...for hours. To me, it's an excellent example of the Japanese way of life. Be the same as everyone else. Diligence is highly regarded here. The students and teachers work really hard to make the day a success. It's always scheduled for a weekend so nearly all the students' parents can come to watch. But that also means that all the teachers at school should come to school on Saturday and Sunday. I honestly wasn't looking forward to that part beforehand...but it was so incredibly fun! I kept forgetting it was the weekend-everyone was way to busy enjoying the day to worry too much about giving up their days off. I won't deny that sometimes when we practiced marching and nothing but for hours on end, I thought the end result couldn't possibly be worth it. But it was. It was SO fun. And it was a great opportunity to mix with the kids. Usually, classroom etiquette and professionalism serve as necessary but formidable blockades between students and teachers. Also, junior high is a rough time in life! There's so much to obsess over and worry about. But this day was a great way to build a cooperative spirit between everyone at school and to give the students a chance to be silly kids. I was wrong, like so many previous instances during my stay in Japan. Sports Day was great and I can't wait to start marching practice again next year. :)

Tid Bits from School

There are no noticeable eating disorders at my school. Not even the skinniest or most rebellious students have an eating disorder. I think that was a problem at my school when I was in Junior High, so I've noticed its absence. I don't why that is exactly, but there must be something great about the way things are done here. I think it's permissable to be extremely thin: many of the students are skinny. In fact, most are skinny. In fact, the Japanese have a very strict body image (average-sized Americans are obese in Japan), yet I haven't seen or heard of eating disorders. Everyone is required to eat all of their huge school lunch, so maybe that has something to do with it.

At school, I normally help serve school lunch and I've learned something kind of strange from that experience. There are different washcloths for everything! For kitchen surfaces, for dining tables, for washing dishes, for drying dishes, for drying lunch trays, for wiping of the lunch cart, and for wiping the floor. They're all different and if you confuse one with the other, you can be sure that someone will take notice. :)

There aren't any substitutes at Japanese schools! In a way, I'm sure it's a cost-cutting measure, and pretty effective. On the other hand, it's just crazy! This week there were teachers gone for seminars, teachers at a student track event, students anywhere but school. So the other teachers just taught all day and combined classes and it is just madness. I want to teach in America someday, but this may be one experience I decide not to share with my administration. ;)

I recently watched a report from CNN (thank you, Pater) about teachers in Japan. It made me think of the conception I had of Japanese teachers before I came and how it changed afterward. I think the role of a teacher is different in America and Japan. Teaching is really demanding in both countries, but possibly more so in Japan. There are just enough teachers in a school, no extra, so everyone is busy all the time. Also, teachers are in charge of clubs, teams, student organizations, there are teacher meetings ALL THE TIME, and generally the class sizes are bigger (lots of grading!) But it is just the expectation of Japanese people that teachers should be fully committed to their work. I think it has its positive and negative points. Anyway, I love being called Shelby sensei all the time. It makes me feel like I'm a teacher from karate kid.

Some student stories: A funny one first. I work at a Junior High School, so as you might assume, it can be a challenge for students to keep their eyelids open, especially in the mornings. (I know the feeling! It's really embarassing to doze when you're a teacher!!) First period starts at 8:55 and the other day I was walking along with two other teachers. On our way, we walked by an empty classroom...only it wasn't empty. There was one student asleep at their desk. I pointed them out and the other teacher started laughing. Everyone else had gone to P.E. and left their classmate to nap.

Another funny memory: I asked one of my students at the end of class, "Did you understand?" She looked at me, stuttered a bit and paused... then bent her knees and stood half way up.

Another story is about one of my favorite students. It's hard to have a fave, but he ranks near the top. He's ALWAYS smiling. That is, when he's not sleeping. I think he has a hard time learning, so rather than struggle along, he gets his beauty sleep. :) Anyway, if someone helps him he's always willing to give it a go. So during class I knelt by his desk. The students were translating English to Japanese, and since my Japanese is terrible we were in the same boat! We worked together though, and in ten minutes we had 5 or 6 sentences translated! I felt good about it, and I think he did too. When I stood up at the bell, he looked at me and said "Thank you." Not arigatou, but thank you. It made me glow. I think he learned something, but if nothing else, it was fun for both of us.

Familiar Faces

This past week, a small miracle happened: Mom and Chelsea visited me in Japan. I had the most astounding week! It turns out that I'm quite a bad tour guide, but my Japanese friends happen to know a lot about getting around in Japan and they were so very generous and we consequently had quite a fine week! (Of course, I think I could have just stared at them all day every day and really had a marvelous time.) Our week started a bit awkwardly when Chelsea wasn't able to board the long flight to Japan. It was a very complicated situation but to make a long story short, she couldn't board the flight and Mom could. So Mom went ahead and Chelsea was stuck in the L.A. airport (which consequently is an AWFUL airport) for the night until the ticket offices opened up about 10 hours later. Eventually, Mom made it safe and sound (though with pretty puffy eyes) and about 8 hours after that, Chelsea arrived as well! It could have been pretty messy, but thanks to some really nice people and Mom and Chelsea's endurance, everybody made it to Japan! On Sunday, we had big fun in the Aso mountain range! My host family volunteered to take us and we enjoyed a lot of things. First, we went to the actual caldera of an active volcano. The Aso mountains were all at one point volcanoes, which makes sense. But one of them is still active and available for tourists to peek at. The day we went happened to be a particularly active day and we were smothered in toxious fumes so we didn't stay too long. But it was fun to be close and "see" the volcano! :) Next, we had lunch at a very popular restaurant with a rocking Japanese garden in the back. It was Mom and Chelsea's first Japanese restaurant experience so I think it was interesting for them! After lunch, we went to Aso shrine. It's a huge wooden establishment and it just feels ancient and sacred-I like it! We found out how lucky we were and bought some interesting snacks as well.

On Monday, we went to Kumamoto Castle. We trooped about and saw what there was to see and enjoyed the sakura in full bloom. It was memorable. Then, that evening, we went to a dinner at a friend's house. They had obviously been cooking all day by the amount of food that was prepared when we got there! And we got to help make some soba noodles for dinner. :) My soba noodles looked like udon (way too thick!), but Mom and Chelsea made some delicious ones! Some more friends came over and we enjoyed a fiest! It was fun to talk with all of them. After we had eaten all that we possibly could, we enjoyed some harmonica music and hula dancing (the guests present at dinner were quite talented!), and finally, we got to write some Japanese calligraphy! "Shyodou" we learned, is much harder than it looks! But we practiced our very best, and Mom and Chelsea got to take home handmade plaques to display their own Shyodou. I'm just starting to learn how to write and recognize these characters, so it was really interesting for me. Mom was a little intimidated at first, I think, but her kanji looks great now! And Chelsea's kanji, predictably, were amazing. It was a fun day and a special evening. I think we three enjoyed it very much!

On Tuesday evening, we had a special adult English class. Every week I taught this class, but this week was the last class of the "term". To celebrate Mom and Chelsea's visit, we decided to have a potluck! Everyone brought delicious goodies and we all enjoyed speaking in English! This group of people has really quite outstanding English and they're very easy-going, fun people. It was such a great time!

The next day we took the train bound for Nagasaki. The train ride was quite incredible-mountains on one side, the ocean on the other. It was an adventure in itself! When we reached our destination, the town where we THOUGHT the ferry left from, we discovered that we couldn't buy a ferry ticket in that town! We did have a nice picnic lunch there instead and climbed to the top of a random pyramid dance club (see video). It was an unexpected change of events, but once we were there, I thought it was really pretty awesome to be with my Mom and Chelsea. It didn't really matter that our plans had been rearranged-I had a marvelous time just being with them. We eventually took the train back the way we had come and reached Kumamoto city in time for it to start raining! Our prefered course of action was to stay out of the rain, so we headed for Shimotori, a long, covered expanse of shops! We found some souveniers and when we'd had enough, we headed back for Ozu.

On Thursday, we hung out around my apartment and stared at each other! Mom and I thought it was great and Chelsea got a little stir-crazy (understandably), so she and I took off and went to a cute little stationary shop and a couple of grocery stores. Chelsea knows more about Japanese food than I do, so I learned quite a lot on our little adventure. When the evening came, it was time to go hang out at a restaurant downtown with some friends. One friend is the owner of the restaurant, so she was able to obtain some vegan food for Chelsea (and PLENTY of food for the rest of us!) We were absolutely stuffed when all was said and done. We had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed each others company.

The next day, with A LOT of help and guidance from Japanese friends, we finally made it to Nagasaki. Who knew that taking the bus would be so complicated!! After we made it, we visited several atomic bomb memorials. It was a very sad day, but we were glad we went. First, we visited the city's Peace Park. It was constructed around the remains of a prison which was the closest building to the hypocenter of the bombs explosion. All of the people in the prison died and the building was completely destroyed. All that remained were the foundations which still remain in the Peace Park today. Also in the Peace Park were statues from many different countries. There were lovely flowers, and thousands of gorgeous paper cranes folded by students and other visitors hoping for world peace. Next, we saw the site where the a-bomb was dropped. And by the site was the city's bomb museum. We thought it was very sad! It was also very graphic. There were lots of artifacts found in the remains of the bombing such as bloody clothes and a helmet with the remains of a human skull still attached. There were lots of pictures too. The whole thing was rather shocking and uncomfortable. Which is a good thing. We were glad we went, I think, but it was all in all a sad day.

And the next and final day was no less sad! For me anyway! Because that was the day that Mom and Chelsea left Japan. :'( But they came. And that will be what I choose to remember about that week. :D We had a marvelous time, and even more than that, I remembered what it was like to spend time with some people I know and love. I hope they will be able to come to Japan again! And I hope that YOU will too!

Graduation

I'm sorry-I have determined I'm not the type of person whose very good at writing blogs. I don't say that as an excuse, it's just true. I'd like to write lots of things, but nothing that anyone wants to read about! And the things you might like to read about, I find that I don't really care to write about. Oh, irony. Of course, I should do a better job of writing more often. I really like to share my experience. I'll keep trying to do a better job and write more often. ;) Well, a lot of monumental things have been taking place here in Japan. First, Ozu Junior High School had a graduation in March. It was very sad! I have only known those students for 6 months, but it seems much longer than that! I may never see many of them again and I had trouble saying goodbye to be perfectly honest! Also, in Japan the buisiness and school year start in April. Every year around this time, teachers are assigned to their next schools. Sometimes teachers stay in the same school and sometimes they don't. Teachers can stay in the same school for up to about 7 or 8 years and they are assigned a school rather than choosing when or where to. The whole system was new to me as it's a lot different than the American system. So we not only had to say goodbye to our students, but about ten teachers as well! It was a hard month to say the least! But, in a couple of days the new school year will start and I have a feeling that school will be as bright and beautiful as it was before even if it is a little different. I took some pictures and videos of graduation. The ceremony was similar to an American graduation in someways, but oh so different in others! :) Hope you enjoy!

Wait...Check That.

Sorry, but a necessary addition to the last post: people in Japan are even more incredibly thoughtful than could previously ever be imagined. My birthday was February 9th. Today is February 26th. Two friends just went with me to a fancy restaurant, bought me the most AMAZING birthday cake! (hopefully photo to come!), and gave me a birthday present. A very thoughtful one at that-a friendship necklace! It is one of a set of four and each person in our group has one. :D They're lovely as well-made out of a real "hanna bira" (flower petal). (hopefully another photo to come!)

No new information; rather just confirmation that the people here really are quite outstanding. :D

Birthday in Japan!

From what I hear, birthdays aren't really a big deal in Japan. If you have a birthday and you're over 30, it's even less of a big deal. So for my birthday, (which by the way was over two weeks ago...oops! I should really write on this blog more often!!!!) I wasn't expecting anything special. I think even if I had had expectations, they would have been exceeded by reality.

The kind people of Japan look for opportunities to help each other. For example, today I was looking for a lunch tray. I hadn't been looking for 10 seconds before three other teachers were involved in the hunt. We found one very quickly! And I'd say that's quite a small example of something that I feel is a very big part of Japan: people looking out for one another.

Another truly exceptional example was my birthday! The festivities started when I gave a friend a late birthday present. I had FORGOTTEN her birthday. And she reacted by planning ME a birthday party!! We went to another friend's house and some members from the Ozu International Exchange Organization came. We had a veritable feast prepared by and at the expense of a full-time mom. And the kids, parents and guests all signed a sweet card for me! (And the kids drew pictures!--see photo) And they bought a cake! And they bought a present for me! A lovely teacup that was thrown by a friend of a friend. (see photo)

On my actual birthday, I forgot it was my actual birthday until my Mamma and Pappa called me! They reminded me what day it was with a rousing rendition of the appropriate song. :D I enjoyed hearing their voices more than words could express. When I got to school, I had more surprises waiting for me! An English teacher, Ms. Nambu, had organized all the other English teachers together, and they all bought me 3 lovely gerber daisies and a cake...with my face on it!! They also wrote a very nice card, with a small message from each of them. And Ms. Nambu put up a huge poster in the hallway to advertise what day it was. And when I went to classes that day with Ms. Nambu, we sang "Happy Birthday" as well as enjoyed Stevie Wonder's version, and a student from each class gave me a gift!!! (see photo) I was so shocked! The students were so sweet. And Ms. Nambu organized it ALL!

Finally, I teach an English class for adults and the first meeting of the new year was on my birthday! A wonderful gift in itself, as I really love this class! I was surprised though because the mother of my host family brought me the sweetest smelling flowers you can imagine! And they were in very lovely wrapping and it was so thoughtful of her!! (see photo!)

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the many emails and words of kindness from friends and family round the globe. I really had a wonderful birthday and so many people made it very special. I feel bad writing a blog post about something that seemingly has nothing to do with Japan, but this day was just such a shining example of the kindness I feel from other people here. I am so lucky to be living in a place where people are so generous and thoughtful.

Shopping

Japan winters are not half as dry as Nebraska winters, but they're dry enough. A few weeks ago, the dry weather spurred me into shopping for some moisurizer. I shop at a variety of different places in Ozu, but this particular time I went to the everything-you-could-ever-want-is-in-one-building store. They stock a plethora of face and skin care options and I was getting a bit dazed.

You see, shopping in Japan can be a tad confusing. Of course, most product and food labels are printed in Japanese (Kanji, Katakana, or Hiragana). Kanji is way above my head and hiragana is usually as clear as mud. But as it turns out, Katakana is a bit of a hidden language, accessible to English-speaking folks. Katakana is used to spell foreign words, or words that are sometimes referred to as "loan words". For example, if you're looking in the grocery store for chocolate, and you know katakana, you can read a package that says "cho-ko" and know that you are looking at package of "cho-co-la-te". The pronunciation is a bit different to accomodate the syllables of the Japanese alphabet, but cho-ko really sounds quite a lot like "choco"late. There are many other loan words found in the grocery store, such as "mi-ru-ku", "jyu-su", "fu-ru-tsu", "ko-hi", as well as many spices and almost all liquor.

But back to the moisturizer story, I finally selected what I thought would hydrate my skin and get my peeling eyelids through the winter, only to bring it home, apply, and nearly have my skin burned off. For awhile, I continued to use this "moisturizer" because the package said, as plain as day, "mo-i-su-tyu-ra-i-za". But today, I finally surrendered and returned to the store to spend more money in the search for something that would be more moisturizing than moisturizer. When I looked again today, I realized that what I had taken for moisturizer was on the same shelf as all of the "moisturizing face wash". Ah ha! The story has a happy ending, and my eyelids are feeling much refreshed already. I really quite enjoy my shopping adventures. It's fun to shop amoung the unknown and to occassionally go home with a surprise.

Here are some pictures of packages that I had in my house. Can you tell what they are??

A Picture is Worth ...