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 ...

Akemashite omedetto gosaimasu! Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Happy New Year! I know you probably thought you were done greeting everyone with “Happy New Year!” But I greeted at least 20 students with that phrase today in Japan, so even though I’m a procrastinator, here is a belated post about my new years experience in Japan!

To preface things a bit, I’ve heard it said that Japan’s Christmas is like America’s New Years, and vice versa. So, I went to school on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and so did all of the other teachers and students, and if you can imagine, I was the only person in the entire building wearing a Santa hat. I was a little shocked to find that things were so normal at school, but it was fun sharing what Christmas means to me with my students. All things considered, I’d rather not spend another Christmas in Japan without my family and friends, but there were many things about my Christmas this year that I’ll remember and it was great to have a unique Japan Christmas once.

And so Christmas came and went and Japan was into the real holiday season: New Years! Like an American Christmas, the focus of New Years is being with family. Relations travel to meet one another and usually spend at least a few days together. In Japanese families, there is a “trunk” of every Japanese family tree and all of the branches travel to meet up at the trunk’s house. The trunk is responsible for taking care of his/her parents (they live together), has the family shrine in their house, and will usually host family get-togethers such as New Years.

Once everyone’s together, they eat a lot of food. :) (Also like Christmas, right?) They eat “o-sechi” (I think) which means food traditionally eaten at the beginning of the new year. Each kind of osechi represents a different aspect of the coming year: for example, you eat “mame”, or beans, to help you work diligently and fish eggs if you want to increase your fertility and have a baby this year. My favorite new years food was “zin zai”. Sweet bean soup with mochi rice cakes in it.

Some families will visit a temple and/or shrine during New Years. Not all Japanese families subscribe to the religious aspects of New Years, while other families might not pray all year long, but go to a shrine just on New Years. It depends on the family (just like families differ about going to church at Christmas in America!). On New Years eve, I went to a Buddhist shrine and temple with a friend’s host family. (See pictures) We rang a giant bell (108 times to represent the 108 vices of mankind), listened to the story of Siddhartha and how he became the Buddha, and ate snacks and chatted. Then we were off to the shrine (Fujisaki-gun) where we prayed for luck, bought lucky arrows to put in our homes and burned the arrows from the previous year, and paid to draw our fortunes and tie them on strings. We also ate okonomiyaki and squid and sweet bean pancake balls in the shape of a popular cartoon character.

New Years day and until the third of January is time to spend with family. I spent January second with my host family and their extended family. We went to a shrine in Aso where we prayed for luck for the coming year. I thought that the shrine I went to on New Years eve was really busy with LOTS of people. This shrine was much more sedate (maybe because it’s in Ozu, not the city, and maybe New Years eve is the most popular time to go…not sure), but we still ran into a lot of people we knew at the shrine. After we finished at the shrine, my host family let me join their family dinner. This is where I learned all about osechi! We ate lots of food, had lots of great conversation (the extended family also speaks lots of English-lucky me!), and even enjoyed some Japanese music!

All in all, Christmas and New Years in Japan was a very interesting time and I feel a bit more Japanese for having experienced it. And I know that all of that praying for luck has worked already, as I have wonderful friends who were so generous to share their special holiday with me.