December 23-29 (Mon-Sun) - Merry Christmas

Monday: Today was a holiday, the Emperor’s Birthday. After a koto lesson, I went to hang out at Kaori’s. She showed me how she makes her silver jewelry and let me try making a piece. It’s not finished yet so I’ll have to let you know how it turns out.

Tuesday: Christmas Eve. I celebrated by… going to karaoke of course! I was there about 6 hours :O. Here’s a picture of the system. And yes, my usual room is #13. 

That night I made orange chicken and ate cake.

Wednesday: Happy Christmas! I woke early to talk to my family, then spent a mostly-relaxing day playing carols on my koto and dulcimer, working, doing laundry, watching movies, and taking a bath with yuzu. The citrus fruit is a popular bath item on the winter solstice so I thought I’d try it. (It’s also apparently tradition to eat pumpkin on the solstice.) It smells really good… but of course you want to cut the fruit open for more of a scent, and that means cleaning out all the insides from the bath so it doesn’t go down the drain. Plus my drain is really slow and backs up… so that’ll be the first and last time I try that ^^ but I was finally able to figure out how to get a bath that stays warm long enough to use it.

Notes on a Japanese Christmas:

Christmas is not an official holiday in Japan. However, it does fall right before New Years, which is an important holiday, and it’s during the school winter break, and of course anything Western (…American) has a huge influence on Japanese society — so Christmas is celebrated. Christmas music is played in all the stores a month before, just like in America. ‘Seasonal’ goods are huge here, so there are special flavors of just about everything for the Christmas season. It’s a good time for shopping if you don’t mind the crowds. 

Christmas Eve is a lovers’ occasion. They have Valentines + White Day so don’t ask why they need another, but I guess the lights, snow, decorations, trees, and mittens make everything romantic. (Although there wasn’t snow in Fukui.)

Be sure to make your Christmas orders in advance at KFC and cake shops. Well, they might be sold out by December, so you’d better do it before then. While not everyone eats a bucket of KFC chicken, everyone does eat a special Christmas cake. 

I get the impression a lot of families do presents, but it seems to be limited to just one or two presents to the children. Some hang stockings. Pre-stuffed stockings are sold in the supermarket. We did ‘secret Santa’ at the office.

Like any holiday, Christmas is what you make of it. And like Thanksgiving, it’s not really special without family to celebrate with. I’m grateful I could at least talk to my family, and open a boxed stocking :)

Thursday: I went to karaoke for a few hours. It was rather crowded, and for whatever reason more expensive than usual (can’t quite figure out why), but I was pacified by finding out the different systems still let me log into my account with all my saved songs. 

That night I went to one of Casey’s classes, they were doing a Christmas potluck. So I spent way too long making pumpkin soup and seeds, but it was nice. Afterward I took the remaining seeds around to the JH students and let them try it ^^

Friday: I slept too long :) so naturally I felt guilty and immediately started cleaning my apartment. I swept and mopped, did dishes, and cleaned the sink and stove area. Yay.

I had classes that evening.

Saturday: In the morning I cleared off my car. Classes went well, and I didn’t die driving in the SNOW!!!

Sunday: Today was yoga, work, errands, then supermarket food and a movie. 

Recent Japanese:

mi no uebanashi (身の上話) = life story, personal narrative

nagusameru (慰める) = to comfort, console

meguru (巡る) = to go around, return, surround

subayai (素早い) = nimble, agile

suujitsugo (数日後) = several days later

gokan (五感) = the five senses: 

shokkaku (触覚) = sense of touch

choukaku (聴覚) = sense of hearing

mikaku (味覚) = sense of taste

shikaku (視覚) = sense of sight

kyuukaku (嗅覚) = sense of smell

Proverb of the week:

hitotsubu wa sentsubu ni nare, futatsubu wa mantsubu ni nare (一粒は千粒になれ、二粒は万粒になれ) = one seed(grain, etc) will become a thousand, two seeds will become ten-thousand

December 16-22 (Mon-Sun) - Gokekkon, Omedetou Gozaimasu ~♥~

(Congratulations on your wedding.)

Monday: After a workout, cleaning, and 4 hours of karaoke, I was invited to go to dinner with Mako and Hugh and his visiting family/friends. Lots of fun! His whole family has a good sense of humor.

Tuesday: Last class for the year at Yoshikawa. That night Hugh and I combined our first class for a Christmas class. It went well. 

That night I made pumpkin soup with daikon, apples, potatoes, carrot, onion, ginger, and cinnamon. Yum! Supplemented by pork because meat is necessary. 

And by pumpkin seeds, first time ever, a success.

Wednesday: I had special Christmas classes at Okabo Elementary. I taught the kindergarden, 1st, and 2nd grade. I’m tired of teaching Christmas stuff… but the kids were pretty good. In the last class they sang for me, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Except in Japanese it’s just ‘the red-nosed reindeer’, so even the teacher was surprised to learn the reindeers have names. 

More Christmas classes that evening. Games are good.

Thursday: At Yanagi, I taught the kids bingo. I was a little shocked they hadn’t played it earlier, and mortified that I have introduced it to them. Iyaa….

At my private class the kids got really into the game. Yay! And Mrs. Miwa sent me home with another bag of goodies.

Friday: Today was cleaning day at UFO. I went early to start, and helped scrub the floor of the office room. It was really, really dirty :O I was tired at the end. But we did get donuts afterward.

Saturday: Classes. The owners of the Nanjo location gave me cakes; ‘hitokuchi’ means ‘one bite’. 

Sunday: I attended my first ever wedding ceremony in Japan. It was beautiful. You’ll forgive me for not posting photos of people for privacy reasons.

First, here is the envelope with my cash gift. Traditionally, the envelope should be white tied with red, and the amount should be in odd one-man bills. (One man is approx. US$100.) The story is that if the amount is even, like 20,000 or 40,000, if it can be split between the couple, then they will (eventually) get divorced. Also 4 is a no-no for various other reasons.

The top reads ‘congratulations on your wedding’, cranes symbolize long life, and the bottom is my name (in Japanese). 

I can’t say it was a traditional Japanese wedding. For one, people don’t usually have ‘traditional’ Japanese weddings anymore, most brides choose to be wed in ‘churches’ by ‘priests’. Hugh and Mako designed their own wedding and schedule, and were married by the groom’s father. They actually submitted the paperwork — or, ‘created a family’ — in August.

Here is my place setting. The character at the end of my name reads sama and is honorific. 

Here’s one of the dishes.

Here’s one of the gifts I received:

It was a cheese baumkuchen. 

Part of the reason the cash gift to the couple is so large is to pay for the elaborate ceremony and things like the fancy part-favors. 

I really enjoyed the wedding. Kaori acted as translator between Japanese and English, so she was quite busy. I sat with the family and friends and helped with some of the translating. 

It was a beautiful ceremony.

I got to take home some flowers!

Recent Japanese:

nomikomu (飲み込む) = to gulp down, to swallow; nomikomaseru = to be swallowed

mugen (無限) = unlimited, infinite

yuugen (有限) = finite

awateru (慌てる) = to become confused

gyakukouka (逆効果) = backfire, counterproductive; lit. opposite result

hakuchuumu (白昼夢) = daydream; lit. white noon dream

gyakugire (逆切れ) = being angry at somebody when it’s your fault; the perpetrator being angry at the victim

oroka (愚か) = foolish, stupid

December 9-15 (Mon-Sun) - Hail, frost and snow

Monday: TKD, bunches of errands, then hitokara for 4 hours. That’s right. I did it. I was only a little tired at the end. And I think it’s already helping with my reading speed.

This morning was the first frost.

Tuesday: I was really happy for some reason. Stayed cheerful all throughout the long day. Most of my classes went well too. Big mood booster was playing the piano at Yoshikawa :)

And by the way, I have eaten at McDonald’s more times in Japan than I have the rest of my life. It’s really quite good, and a good place for Casey and I to hang out between Yoshikawa and Yutaka. Oh, how I do love french fries!

On my way home, I saw a gathering storm... of crows.

Wednesday: The Itou teachers have gotten tired of the textbooks, which are really too sparse, and thought up even more extra activities for their students. The 5th grade teacher introduced a bunch of new vocabulary to his students, and is having them study the komoji (lowercase) as well as the oomoji (uppercase). Lately I’ve been trying to give my students more things to do as well, and to speak much more in English. I’ve seen what the Jr. High school students have to study, and there is absolutely a HUGE gap between what is required in 6th-grade and what these kids have to do in Jr. High — namely, understand full sentences and grammar, and be able to spell words I’m not sure I could spell at that age. For the kids going to juku (cram school) they have a good heads up, but for all the kids who don’t... I hope I can help them at least a little.

I helped Miki study following and, more importantly, giving directions. It’s really difficult! Not only are there many words, but you have to remember all those ‘at’ and ‘on’ and other preposition words.

Thursday: I taught my Yanagi kids the days of the week. The flashcards I have are my favorite flashcards, because they show a picture that incorporates the Japanese letter. For example, Thursday is ‘Mokuyoubi’, 木曜日. The first character moku means ‘tree’, so the picture is of that character as branches of a tree. What makes this fun with the little kids is they don’t even know that yet — and well, most of them don’t even know the order of the days of the week either — so I can teach them Japanese at the same time ^^

Nathan was really ill. So I taught at Katakami Elementary. I regretted not having the afternoon off, but unexpectedly I enjoyed the classes. I guess I’m getting used to teaching after all.

Friday: Morning classes were so boring I just got tired out. The rest of the day was better.

Saturday: Look, snow!!

Kept my little kids mostly under control. Then kept the other little kids mostly under control. Got a little irritated as usual, especially when I told them if they behaved we could have a Christmas party the next week — then they were bad as usual. And as usual the second Nanjo class cheered me up and I laughed with the kids.

Sunday: Kaori and I went to visit her mom in the hospital (fractured hip?), and the hospital looked like... a hospital. But I haven’t been in many so it could be vastly different. Then we shopped for envelopes to put gift money in, stopped in to say ‘hi’ to Hugh’s family who has arrived from South Africa, and in the evening we went to Kaori’s Spanish teacher’s house for a dinner of Spanish and Peruvian food. It was delicious and I ate too much. 

Recent Japanese:

ippanteki (一般的) = typical, general

saenai (冴えない) = unsatisfactory

uwabaki (上履き) = indoor shoes — been wanting to know this word forever!

getabako (下駄箱) = shoe rack or cupboard (where the outdoor shoes go)
ikitomari (行き止まり) = dead end (of a road)

sonkei (尊敬) = respect, esteem

shigeki (刺激) = incentive

otsukai (お使い) = errand, mission

reisei (冷静) = calm, cool

oyobi (及び) = and, as well as

tezawari (手触り) = feel, touch

hazawari (歯触り) = texture (food)

mizore (霙) = sleet

arare (霰) = hail (small); hyou = big hail

waribashi (割り箸) = splittable chopsticks (disposable)

This week's phrase or idiom:
kuchi no naka ni wa mitsu, kokoro no naka ni wa doku

December 2-8 (Mon-Sun) - Dawn of a new era

Monday: I stand... at the brink... of death....

Or I just really wanted to get a picture of my funny socks with the railway tracks. 

I slept in, then forwent breakfast and walked to the park. Most leaves had fallen, but there were still some beautiful colors.

They were preparing the bushes and trees for the expected pounds of snow.

These rope-trees may be called yukigakoi (雪囲), lit. snow enclosures.

It’s also decorated for Christmas.

Then, quite unexpectedly — for I have walked this park perhaps a dozen times — I found a new area. Completely new. Walked past it and never noticed. There’s a cute little stream and everything.

Maybe because it’s on the other side of the hill, the leaves here were the most beautiful. Being on the trees still... for the most part.

It was simply gorgeous. I even found a rose.

When I left, I happened to find this lovely pale splash of color...

...followed by this spindly tree.

How can a day start this great and not be great?

After practicing some Taekwon-do, and finally eating lunch, I did hitokara for 3 hours. That’s right. 3 hours. Next time I try 4.

It was a beautiful day of rest.

Tuesday: “What do you want to be?” Maybe a singer. Maybe a doctor. Maybe a comedian... or a farmer... or a bus driver?

Wednesday: I’m starting to know students’ names at Kawada. It helps they all wear their name-tags (nafuda) every time. And I guess it has been about 8 months. But considering I have more than 300 students, I’m surprised.

I saw Miki for the first time in a few weeks. She was in America — again! For her 7th or 8th visit to New York. 

Thursday: The war between girls and boys at Yanagi has ended. Thank you Lord. I think it’s because they were united for a common cause, a performance where they put on Shiroyuki Hime (lit. white-snow princess). I wish I could’ve seen it.

Friday: I can’t believe it’s December with colors so beautiful.

Saturday: This image isn’t as pretty.

I told Rich I’d never seen it... so now I have. Anime-faced models. They’re just kind of creepy.

This evening I boldly went where no man has gone before... and made yakisoba with apples.

Sunday: Short and sweet. Yoga, work, shopping, nabe with friends. We ate cake. And played with a stuffed animal.

We've stopped doing zumba, as students are studying every Saturday and Sunday at the office. They have tests this time of year, and entrance exams sometime soon as well. Some girls are here almost all the time. Makes me tired just looking at them.

This was a lovely week. Get ready for winter.

Recent Japanese:

shoumikigen (賞味期限) = best if eaten by [date]

tansuikabutsu (炭水化物) = carbohydrate

meibutsu (名物) = famous product, speciality (of the area)

bousui (防水) = waterproof; bouon (防音) = soundproof

yokin (預金) = deposit, bank account

surikizu (擦り傷) = scratch, graze

kobosu (零す) = to spill

samayou (彷徨う) = loiter, putter, prowl, roam about

tadoritsuku (たどり着く) = struggle on to, arrive somewhere after a struggle, barely manage to reach, finally arrive at

afureru (溢れる) = to overflow

iroaseru (色褪せる) = fade, grow stale, grow dull

kasaneru (重ねる) = to pile up, to add, repeat

jishuteki (自主的) = independent, autonomous

haguki (歯茎) = gums (teeth)

fuchi (縁) = rim, brim, edge (of a glass)

tsujitsuma (辻褄) = coherence

November 25 - Dec. 1st (Mon-Sun) - The end of all hope, and Happy Thanksgiving

Monday: Class, write, class, write. Excellent day.

Tuesday: We must give all our UFO students tests. We basically make our own tests. So I that is what I did today. 

And I didn’t step on him.

Wednesday: I went back to Ito Elementary for the first time in 4 months. I was happy to be there! Which is good because I’m basically going every week until the middle of March. There are no elementary school classes in March. Except mine. But at least it’s Ito! I only worry about driving the beautiful windy mountain roads... once it snows.

Oh, but while I was leaving, I spotted 7 hawks all at once in the sky.

Thursday: At nursery school, the kids are learning ’10 little monkeys’. I guess it’s the internationally-friendly or politically-correct version of ’10 little indians’. 

I changed my tires to snow tires, and guess what? It snowed. For about 10 minutes total over the course of the day. It’s cold, but not that cold. Yet.

I did eat winter special candies.

For the first time in my life, I did not have Thanksgiving Dinner. I didn’t even eat turkey. I made myself Thai green curry with chicken, onion, eggplant, and carrot. 

Behold, onimanjuu:

That is, ogre pastries. I guess they are a speciality of Nagoya. (This isn’t Nagoya.) The wonderful sweet potato*(note, according to wikipedia, most ‘yams’ in the US are actually sweet potatoes) is ruined by some fish-pasty plastic-y outer shell. 

Luckily, all was not lost, for Miwa-san had sent me home with a bag full of cute little pastries.

Friday: The sun came out today.

And I ran about a lot.

Saturday: If I’d been studying this hard since I came to Japan, I’d... I’d... well, I’d be able to read a lot more kanji.

Sunday: Today is the day. This is where it all ends.

()==[:::::::::::::>٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶

It’s ended.

Fukui’s symbol of the phoenix on the manhole covers:

We shall be reborn from the ashes....

Recent Japanese: (+ a million test vocabulary words that didn’t help much)

fushichou (不死鳥) = phoenix, lit. undying bird

tansuu (単数) = singular

fukusuu (複数) = plural

~suru keizairyoku ga aru (～する経済力がある) = to have the financial/economical power (ability) to do~

[feeling] ~ to kuru (何何と来る) = e.g. pipi~n to kuru (to feel a spark), gasshu~n to kuru (feel cut to the heart), kichin~ to kuru (feel irritated)

pan no mimi (パン耳) = crust ; lit. bread ears. Alt. pan no heta.

recent phrases that make you sound like you speak Japanese:

osore ni irimasu ga, tantou no kata ni otsunagi itadakenai deshou ka? = I am ever sorry to both you, but might I ask you to put me through to the person in charge?

keiyaku ni tsuite, gojitsu ni aratamete renraku itashimasu. = I will contact you at a further date regarding the contract.

sakihodo odenwa shimashita ga... = I just called, but...

shinisou ni natta koto ga arimasu ka? = have you ever almost died?

November 18-24 (Mon-Sun) - Calm before the storm?

Monday: I had koto class. On my way, I saw my first wild boar.
*sad face*

Tuesday: The suzuki is big and fluffy now.

Classes exhausted me.

Wednesday: Hugh and I had extra classes at Okabo. At least it’s fun. With the kindergarten kids we made an autumn tree. (Well, Hugh made it, and the kids colored leaves.)

Then I was late to my afternoon elementary school, AND I mistook which lesson it was, which was bad enough — and the teacher wasn’t there. So the first class was a huge mess... but in the 10 minutes to the next one I fixed it and it went well. The end.

Thursday: Was ok.
Friday: Miyazaki classes were good. Actually they went quite well. People from a junior high board or something came to watch the 6th-grade class and after the class the man spoke to me. He said (in English) he was surprised we had an actual class, as he thought the English classes were games and chants and stuff. So that was nice.

Saturday: A day off! A 3-day weekend! Wow!
Yoga, food, studying. Then we missed the train to Fukui to see Hugh’s band perform. We hung out until late, watched Dexter at Kaori’s.

Sunday: Yoga and studying. Rented 2 discs (TV series discs have only 2 episodes)... and 1 was one we’d seen before. Oops... so we called it an early night... and I spent the next 5 hours writing. I began to see hope for Nanowrimo.

Recent Japanese:
namako (海鼠) = sea cucumber; lit. sea mouse.
seiuchi / kaozou (海象) = walrus; lit. sea elephant.
tatsu no otoshi ko (竜の落とし子) = seahorse; lit. fallen child of dragons.
uni (雲丹) = sea urchin; lit. sea chestnut.
(In addition, dolphin is ‘sea pig’, seal is ‘sea leopard’, hippo is ‘water horse’.)
boribori = munching; crunchy
sakusaku = crisp, flaky
haku (吐く) = to vomit; or, less strongly, you can say ‘modosu’ which means ‘to return’.
eiyou (栄養) = nutrition
uttoushii (鬱陶しい) = gloomy, depressing, irritating
fukouhei (不公平) = unfair
yamitsuki (病み付き) = get hooked on, addicted to e.g. cookies.
gomakasu (誤摩化す) = to deceive
dogeza (土下座) = to kowtow; lit. down on the ground.