February 15-21 (Sat-Fri) - Obviously, I Give Great Tours of Sabae

Saturday: I made a kid cry because he lost in the game. Usually he takes it pretty well but I guess today was just one too many. The rest of the class went well though! That teaches me to do anything besides coloring at the end.

My Nanjo classes were super empty. Which made them super fun. Especially the first one… if I just had those two kids, they would learn so so much in a month. As it is, I don’t feel this class has learned anything in the last YEAR.

After my private class, I went to the station to pick up Terra and Duncan. Having borrowed bedding, I was able to keep them at my place for the two nights they were in Sabae. I get a lot of people coming to me for specialized tours, I must be pretty good at it.

We went to tonkatsu for dinner and it was delicious. Then we stayed up really late playing 7 Wonders. It’s been a long time since I played a proper board game!!

Sunday: For breakfast, I made scrambled eggs, sausages, apples, and coffee. Then we met up with Alice to visit Eiheiji. I’ve now seen the temple in all 4 seasons. 

We were lucky enough to catch them in a ceremony, which was awesome! I don’t know what it was for. A funeral or blessing maybe.

Proof I was there:

For lunch Kaori joined us to eat okonomiyaki! There was a long wait, so we went to visit the glasses museum. Sabae is the largest manufacturer of glasses-frames in Japan, and something like 3rd-largest in the world. The museum room was small and free, but actually really cool. They had glasses worn by famous people I don’t know, but also lots of old glasses from the Meiji and Edo periods. 

Also some old machines and tools, and figures made from glass-frame leftovers.

After lunch we went to the used-clothing store so Terra could buy a kimono. She got 4, a couple obi, and some sandals. She could have purchased about 33 times that amount for the price of 1 new kimono. (Of course getting it home would be harder.) 

I showed Terra and Duncan the riverside walk and the local shrine and we played with panoramic photos.This isn't one of them. But I like bamboo.

We went to kaiten-zushi for a late dinner, then we ate supermarket-cakes for dessert while playing more games.

Monday: After another great breakfast feast, we went to karaoke. How long, I asked. 2 hours, they said. If you say so, I said. …And we stayed for 4 hours ^^

Then we ate curry, played card games, and that evening they caught a train to Nagoya. 

On my own again!

Tuesday: I had to do 3 loads of laundry!

Wednesday: Class. 

Thursday: At my nursery school, most of the kids were absent because of the flu. So I had only 2 classes, each with 5 kids. It was a lot of fun, because with 5 kids it’s more personal than 10 or 15. The older kids have a strong girl-to-boy ratio, so the only ones left were girls. They were very cute. We spent part of the time just chatting, and I learned that certain sitting postures are for certain people.

Cross-legged is how dad’s sit.

Seiza (folded knees) is of course how mothers sit. Poor mothers.

Sitting with your legs folded to the side (like a relaxed seiza) is how older sisters sit.

And I can’t remember how older brother’s sit, it may be with legs in front (knees pointed skyward). 

I learn something new every day! And sometimes remember it.

For lunch I ate very Japanese, with rice and tsukemono (pickled stuff), and natto.

For dinner I made kimchi soup. As in a soup with kimchi in it. Yum.

Friday: Class. No specific details jump to mind. Other than a lot of girls want to be nursery-school teachers or patissiers. 

February 9-14 (Sun-Fri) - The Way Back to Sapporo

The plan was to fly up to Sapporo to meet my friends for the Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival). It was a direct flight, putting me in before noon, giving me 1 whole day and two almost-full days in Sapporo. 

Some things just refuse to go according to the perfect plan. Or the next-best plan. 

Sunday: Woke at 5. Alice and I went to the station together, she was heading the other direction for a day in Nagoya at a Transformers convention. In the city, I took a bus to the airport, arriving with perfect timing for my 8:45 flight. Which didn’t exist anymore. And I guess a cancelled flight doesn’t warrant an email…? When I asked, I was told they had an announcement on their website. I know, I really really should have checked my flight status the day before, especially with all the snow, but I was confident that, since I was signed up with ANA, if there was anything amiss they would alert me. And I was perusing the airport’s website the day before, which said absolutely nothing. Safe to say I was equal parts irritated at ANA and myself. Sad thing is, I booked this flight to get me in earlier to Sapporo… whereas if I’d booked the double leg (stopping in Tokyo) it’s possible I eventually would have got there that day.

As it was, I was routed through Sendai, which is a little airport with apparently poor management, ANA was not dealing with the crisis well, and because of all the late flights they ended up canceling my flight to Sapporo. And there was no announcement at the gate, where I was waiting. Luckily I noticed the flight had vanished from the non-electronic board, then I had to wait in line for an hour to put my name in a lot for getting a flight the next day. 

I got into Sendai city around 7, at which point it was too late to see anything if there is anything to see in Sendai, so I tried to get to bed early in order to…

Monday: Wake up at 5 again. Go to airport, although train was delayed for unknown reasons. (I thought they said they couldn’t go because another train was on their track, but that seems rather incompetent, so I probably didn’t hear right.) Stand in line — luckily, early enough it was short. Got my name on stand-by list for earlier flights, although for whatever reason the first flight to Sapporo was cancelled……….

It was a big mess, and I didn’t think ANA took care of it very well. In the midst of all these cancelled flights and people waiting in line, they didn’t once put up proper line-barriers to encompass it. I’m willing to say Sendai is a small airport, and maybe not used to so much disruption (after all, Tokyo never gets snow, and Tokyo got snow). 

Anyway! I did get to see a display of Kokeshi dolls,

and play in the small airport museum. 

But I was too nervous I wouldn’t be able to hear the announcements, so for most of the morning I had to sit in the window listening for them, which was uncomfortable and stressful, but at last, the trumpets blew, and I was put on an earlier flight, with the result I greeted Terra and Duncan around 2:00 in the afternoon of the day after I was supposed to — but at last I’d made it. To Sapporo once again. It looked a bit different this time.

We ate delicious ramen for lunch, dropped off luggage, then bundled up so they could guide me around the entire festival. 

The sidewalks around Odori Park were limited to 1-way traffic, and thousands of people shuffled over about 5-inch-deep packed snow to see the gigantic wonders. There were palaces,

figures,

(Momotaro)

(Anpan-man)

a skii hill,

and more.

We ate the strangest ‘tiramisu’ — hot chocolate with azuki, mochi, whipped cream, and a bit of cake —

 as well as hot wine and free miso soup.

On the Indian tomb-palace thing they played a projection-mapping light show, which is like a light show only awesome. Duncan got a video that I’m dying to watch but for now we must be content with photos.

Exhibit 2: ice sculptures. Eagles, mermaids, phoenix, 

dragons, benches, and fish.

Terra gave me cool lenses so I got micro photos!!

I caught a sad pictures of children wishing for Hana-matsuri dolls.

Actually they are mannequins. A little creepy.

Last, we went up the tower, for a snowy view of what we could see,

 then trudged back to the hotel and got to bed way too late.

Look, edamame-flavored kit-kats. 

Tuesday: This day was Kenkoku Kinen no Hi, celebrating the legendary founding of Japan. With nothing specific planned, we went to the Sapporo Beer Factory, which is a large shopping complex, where we ate crepes and weathered out the storm. At last we emerged, and went to check the ice sculptures again in daylight. 

We also got some photo booth souvenirs, and stopped in at a pet shop. Awww!

The evening wound down with okonomiyaki at the station, then we bid mata ne and boarded our separate trains. Although I was extremely paranoid nothing went amiss and I returned back home at 11pm.

Wednesday: At Kawada the kids are making their own Momotaro story. So I spent the entire class doing nothing but wandering between the two groups and checking their progress. It was kind of fun, because they pulled out their English picture dictionaries and were having fun with it, and I kind of talked to the kids… but mostly did nothing. 

Thursday: I got pictures with all my nursery-school kids! You can’t see it. Sorry.

Then I cleaned my apartment. Then I cleaned my car. I have a feeling the car hasn’t been that thoroughly cleaned for a long, long long time. 

Alice and I went to dinner at a Chinese chain called King of Gyoza (potstickers). 

Friday: Having been so physically productive the day before I had a hard time spending the morning being productive on my computer. I read some emails!!!

Then Kitanakayama and the kids made me laugh. They always do. They are the wildest 5th-graders and I hope they never lose that enthusiasm!

I took my juku kids candy (since it was Valentines) and they really enjoyed it, which surprised me and made me happy. They were even brave enough to try the cinnamon-bunnies, although they proclaimed them too spicy, and as I taught the next set of kids the Japanese teacher spend most of the lesson with the first set talking about strange foods, which is kind of awesome. I think most things you can’t learn unless someone teaches you, for the simple reason that it never occurs to you such things are to be learned. It makes me reexamine my role as a teacher. I forget that kids (everyone really…) are still learning about the world and about correct behavior. As figures of authority, children will listen to teachers and adapt their behavior to what the teacher wants, even unconsciously. Yes, I’m teaching English… but maybe it’s also my responsibility to help the kids understand what they can be… er… I had something all pretty thought out about showing them the paths so they can choose for themselves but — well that’s all I’m going to say.

Recent Japanese:

kekkou (欠航) = flight cancellation

muchuu (夢中) = daze, trance

medatsu (目立つ) = to stand out

nayami (悩み) = troubles, worries

February 1-8 (Sat-Sat) - It’s Snowing!! or, Prelude to the Cold

Saturday: Saturdays still drain me x_x and today I started my new private class. Like my classes with Miki, I really enjoy this, because it involves a student who actually wants to learn. I would say his level of English is comparable to my Japanese, although he lacks a good deal of vocabulary and isn’t used to using a lot of the English. His parents are really nice, and I enjoy the experience. His mom sent me home with mizu-yokan, 

which doesn’t look exciting, but it’s really good. A new favorite. It’s a bit sweet, like a red-bean-paste jelly, but yummy. There is absolutely no way to convince you with description.

I went to dinner with my friends. We wanted okonomiyaki but it was really crowded so we settled for kind-of-American food.

Sunday: I hung out with Alice most of the day. We went to a concert celebrating the founding of Sabae (an every year thing) 

which we enjoyed although we did not enjoy dealing with crowds or the parking lot. I believe it’s true across all cultures that perfectly nice people turn into crazy demons when they drive. Although, I have to say, in normal lines where nobody is hiding behind a car, I’ve had people cut in front of me countless times, even had people shove past me. I think it’s because living in Japan is like being in Disneyland — you are always in line. So to get anywhere or do anything, sometimes you have to be aggressive. And some people are  better at this than others.

Monday: I practiced my martial arts, using my indomitable spirit and great perseverance to do so… while construction guys wandered the lane outside…. 

Then I did a bunch of chores and went to karaoke. 

Tuesday: At Yutaka Elementary the students performed their versions of Momotaro. I really enjoyed it. All I had to do was watch! And give feedback. Which is hard. I tried to be honest while not crushing their spirits. (Just kidding :) they all did really well. Most of them anyway.) It was cute. I got real pictures in one class, and the other I took a couple but you can’t see anything. So I can show you that!

In our non-school classes we have to prepare for presentations, or an ‘open house’ sort of thing. It gives the kids something to work for, but us teachers are worried nobody will show up. Some parents will, I’m sure, but what happens in the classes where nobody comes? *sad face*

It snowed a lot and the roads were really icy.

Wednesday: But I didn’t die going to work. Safe.

Thursday: Played with little kids. Realized again that kids are smarter than you’re inclined to believe and taught them to say ‘my name is ~’  and answer fully ‘yes I do / no I don’t’ to ‘do you like~’. 

Friday: Extra extra long day. Good day mostly. But long day. Then my phone was low on battery and I was bored so I played with fonts. Natural talent, right?

Saturday: Turned out ok but cold and snowy — I still like my private class — and Alice made pasta.

Recent Japanese:

chinami ni (因みに) = by the way (kept on hearing this until I realized I didn’t know what it meant)

meian (名案) = good idea

tsurara (氷柱) = icicle

kikai (機会) = chance, opportunity

gamigami = complain loudly, nag, scold

busubusu = mutter under your breath

Recent Yojijukugo (idioms):

ichimoku-ryouzen (一目瞭然) = obvious; lit. at one glance, obvious

shiku-hakku (四苦八苦) = have a difficult time; lit. 4-sufferings and 8-sufferings (from Buddhism)

kyoumi-shinshin (興味津々) = deeply interested; lit. ports of interest

shakou-jirei (社交辞令) = diplomatic, empty flattery; lit. societies words of rule (words that keep society together?) 

icchou-ittan (一長一短) = everything has a good point and a bad; lit. one long (merit) one bad (demerit)

isshin-ittai (一進一退) = wavering, back and forth; lit. one progress, one retreat

January 22-31 (Wed-Fri) - We Will Survive, or I’m Still Alive p2

After Dad, life returned to normal. Or as normal as it is around here, where so much happens I can’t remember any of it. 

Wednesday-Friday: Since I can’t remember anything particular, here’s a picture of a deformed tomato.

Saturday: After my regular classes, I had an extra demo class with two adorable little boys. They were all the more adorable because they wanted to learn and play games. Then that evening Alice and I went to the mall and ate this Korean food:

Then we watched a movie at my kotatsu :) We watched Frozen. It was cute. I laughed. It’s fun watching a movie with someone.

Miss you, Dad.

Sunday: Today, I went snowboarding for the first time in my life. I was dreading it horribly. Two things I fear as much as tornados and bugs in my ear: heights (more specifically, going down them), and not being able to move freely. Just the thought of strapping my legs together was about as much as I could bare. However, it wasn’t bad at all. In fact, observing the one member of our group who chose to try skiing, I think snowboarding is much easier on the beginner, because it’s very easy to sit/fall-down and very easy to get back up. It does kill the knees though. Here I am my first round, cheerily making friends with the snow!

The first run was really long but it got better, thanks to help from Mako and her sister. There were so many people, more often I was worried of being run over than anything else ^^

It worked out well. The only thing I didn’t like, aside from the biting cold :p was that the place had announcements going all the time, interspersed with pop music. Horror. The speakers are not synced to account for distance, so if you are between them you get a horrible echo effect. Horror. Hard to enjoy the beauty of nature. Seems… really… Japanese. Not that I ever generalize. 

We were all exhausted at the end, but it was fun, we survived, and I’m glad we got to do that. Before Hugh injured himself. (Writing two weeks from the future.)

Monday: I had koto lesson today, and liked how the dandan-batake look in the snow:

Tuesday-Friday: This is what I get for falling behind. Big. Gaps. In. Memory. 

Oh, Hugh and Nathan and I tried putting our classes together for a test and movie night. It worked out pretty well. We’re watching My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) in English. I’ve never seen it, despite it being the most famous and earliest of Ghibli films. 

And during Miki’s class, we talked about French, since she is going to Paris, and she thought the language sounds like spells. (At least my Japanese app has word lists. Memory returns.)

Recent Japanese:

yaruki (やる気) = willingness to do something

uwagaki (上書き) = overwrite

haragurio (腹黒い) = mean, malicious, lit. black stomached

hokenshitsu (保健室) = school infirmary

kusu[no ki] (楠) = camphor tree

shinkoku (深刻) = serious

jumon (呪文) = spell, charm

January 11-21 (Sat-Tues) - Dad Visits Sabae

Saturday: He’s here! My Dad returned to Japan. The first time he came in the absolute hottest it gets, the second time, well, it’s cold. However it’s much nicer ^^

For our first meal we went to all-you-can-eat with some of the other teachers.

Sunday: I met Dad at the hotel and we walked Nishiyama Park. Some areas were perilous with snow, but the red pandas were out. I asked the worker there where the babies (born in Sep.) were, and she said they don’t go on display until the fall, but would I like to see them? So she brought out Mama (Minfu?) and Baby (Mitsuki?). 

Which one is the baby?

The baby is the one in the back, munching constantly away at the bamboo. At 4 months old she’s only a little smaller than her mother. Red pandas, or Lesser Panda as they are called in Japanese, reach maturity at 2 years old. We spent some time talking with the zookeeper and watching the pandas pace.

We ate a home-cooked lunch, then went to a movie. First time! The screen was small but the chairs were nice and we had good seats. 

Dinner was tonkatsu!

Monday: We met up with Kaori and Alice and took a trip to the great wide yonder…. to a cat temple.

That’s right! A temple with lots and lots of cats. 

And temple stuff. 

It was lovely in the snow.

We lunched at a Nepalese Indian restaurant, yum. 

The bathroom was nice. And I liked the toilet paper.

Coming to this restaurant made me realize that Japanese restaurants don’t decorate. Not with pictures and things, anyway.

After lunch we did some shopping — Dad is no stranger to waiting for girls to shop — and for dinner we went with Alice to revolving sushi.

Tuesday:  We walked along the Hino river for a good view of the valley, and found a Fight Culb.

In the afternoon, Dad accompanied me to my class at Yutaka Elementary. He gave his first introduction (he continued to build these over the trip). 

The 6th graders are on the lesson most feared by us English teachers, learning the folk story Momotaro in English. This means much repetition (of “We are strong. We are brave. We are strong and brave.”…) but only in the first class. In the second, the students were excited and only had questions for me on how to pronounce things. That’s encouraging!

That evening Dad came to my UFO classes. It was fun having another person there.

Wednesday: Long day! Ito Elementary was great, the teachers were pleased to have Dad visit, and the principal sent him home with a gift. Kawada was lackluster and I wanted to fall asleep in class too. But afterwards the teacher told us we could look around the school. We found the library!

The evening classes went well, as I had the kids ask my dad questions and practice what they knew. I was proud of my kids when, without warning, he would ask them their name or how old they were. 

Thursday: I went to Yanagi and Miwa lessons without my Dad, so the highlight of the day was Sabae Higashi. Class 1, wild and crazy as ever. Class 2 spent the whole time asking my dad questions, which was a lot of fun for all of us. 

That evening we went to dinner with my friends, and Dad got to try yakitori — meat on a stick. Well, meat and anything else of course, e.g. I like the lotus root, and we tried the quail eggs too.

Friday: The morning was another walk around the park, to some previously unwalked areas… and we found an ancient statue of Doraemon.

We went to ramen for lunch. In the afternoon we were off to Kitanakayama, where Dad told the kids about New Years in America and answered all the questions they had. They had a lot of questions. It was a lot of fun. 

For dinner we went to okonomiyaki.

Saturday: I had my little kids introduce themselves to my dad, and — lo-and-behold — the first volunteer was the youngest, Chiaki, who a couple months ago wouldn’t say 2 words put together. It’s fun to see kids grow.

Next was off to my class of terror and my class of happiness, then rushed back so I could go meet the parents and student of my new private class. Their house is really pretty.

When I finally eventually returned, we gathered our things and set off to Lake Biwa!!

We arrived rather late in Nagahama, shopped for groceries before we were chased out since it was closing time, managed to figure out how to leave the parking lot, and settled on a close-by purported-Italian restaurant. It was a cute place and we were hungry so it worked.

Sunday: Our hotel was in the perfect location. Here was our view out the window: Lake Biwa to the left, Yutaka Park in the middle, and Nagahama Castle (museum) to the right.

This first day, we breakfasted in our hotel room, stopped at the train station to get Dad’s tickets, then went to Hikone. Hikone castle is one of the several (yet few) original castles left in Japan, and it was very pretty. 

But cold. 

Yes, very cold. 

My feet still shiver at the thought of walking those chilled wooden floors.

We also visited the gardens there,

and the museum— which was heated! And quite interesting. And the signs had some English, unlike in the castle (surprising, for such a tourist spot). This was our favorite scroll:

That night we did some intensive research and finally ended up at tonkatsu. With many tonkatsu dishes you get to grind your own sesame seeds.

We ate that. :O

(plus an appetizer and rice and soup and stuff)

Monday: This morning was full of intensive reading. It was lovely to sit on a real bed, in a heated room, and read. Yay~

Then we walked around the nearby park and discovered… monkeys.

I couldn’t tell you what kind of monkey or their names, because the only signs plastered all over their cage was DO NOT FEED THE MONKEYS and THEY’LL BITE YOU SO STAY BACK. (In Japanese of course.) 

After pausing at this curiosity, we went to the Nagahama Castle (museum). It seemed interesting but had no signs in English unfortunately. (And no pictures allowed.)

Following lunch in our hotel room (sandwiches) we went to scout out the town, and locate our targeted restaurant, and we found a really cute little tourist area. Later we returned for a delicious steak dinner. Ah, real steak. It was excellent. 

Tuesday: Early, early in the morning, while still darkness floated the surface of the lake, we rose and bid a fond farewell. Dad was off to the airport, and I was off to Sabae for my class that starts at 9:30. A set of snow-plows threatened to make my life miserable, but I made it home in time. I’m thinking my Yoshikawa classes weren’t that great, but luckily I had Alice to watch and she gave a little introduction so I only had to fumble through some of it. 

I really enjoyed the visit with my Dad. Thank you for coming. 

Recent Japanese:

(courtesy of Dad) tsundoku (積ん読) = buying books and not reading them (lit. stacked up reading)

kotodama (言霊) = power of words

kurimi (クルミ) = walnut

Dad's Words:
arigatou = thank you
ohayou = good morning
zero = zero
and one more I'm missing... ^^