omoshiroi

tennyson

2008-11-14T13:26:00.002+09:00

I was going through some papers today at work in one of our collections, and I came across a little note from Alfred Tennyson to the the former owner of the papers. It was quite commonplace, just a few lines, although charmingly poetic at the same time. But what I really loved...it was written on a little creamy sheet of paper with his address embossed on it...simply the name of his home, Freshwater, Isle of Wight. I have spent some fine days on the Isle of Wight...first with good friends when I spend a semester abroad in England...and later for my honeymoon, when Jesse and I almost got blown off of Tennyson Downs, and later went for fish and chips in Freshwater...best fish and chips I've ever had!

catching up with friends

2008-04-08T14:00:00.004+09:00

With Matt, a friend from Japan.
At his Japan-esque apartment.

With Nevair, Nicole, and Sarah, friends from college.
At Newport Coffee House, which Nevair owns!

With Lauren, Carrie, and Chris, friends from college
At the Melting Pot...yum!

just for fun

2008-02-04T22:55:00.000+09:00

This is something I wrote last year when we were still living in Japan. It's been hanging out in my drafts box, and I thought that I might as well post it. :) Here it is...

Jesse and I took a little trip for Christmas this year, since we had a couple weeks off and there was a place we really wanted to see before we left. A couple things weren't what we expected...

It was supposed to be a winter wonderland. That's what all the pictures showed. It should have looked like this:

But it didn't. It was brown. And raining. And cold. It was so cold, it should have been snowing. But it wasn't...it was raining.

Then we stayed at this really cool place there where we were supposed to eat a super-cool dinner at a fireside hearth. It should have looked like this, plus a fire underneath and fish being grilled on sticks:But it didn't. They cheated and put a wood stove in the hearth, so there was no visible fire or smoke. Cheaters.

But, all in all, it was a great trip, and we're happy we got to see this part of Japan. We went to two places and both were picturesque. The first was Takayama, a charming old town that has preserved many of its old homes and buildings. This was a great place to just walk around and enjoy the town. Which we did a lot. Here are some pictures of Takayama:

A nice street.

An old merchant's home (as in, an old home previously owned by a merchant :)

Asaichi, or morning market. These ladies are out selling their goods every morning no matter the weather.

Another old home.

Then we took a bus a couple hours away to Shirakawa-go, the village shown in the snowy picture above. This was a great little village. Actually a World Heritage Sight. Very small, very charming, yet very real. There are a number of gassho zukuri, or traditional thatched roof farmhouses. At first, I felt a little disturbed by the sight of cars, plastic tarps, and souvenir shops, as signs of modern life. But after a day of walking around, I came to appreciate that this village is a very real place, with residents always trying to balance the historical significance of the place with continuing to live "normal" life. Although we missed the snow, I liked the way the raindrops dripped down the straw on the thatched roofs and seeing colorful umbrellas all over the town. The dinner at our inn, although there was no smoke and no fire, was still great. We even got to have mountain vegetables with miso paste cooked on a magnolia leaf, one of the area's specialties.

We debated about staying a little longer the next day in case it snowed and got beautiful, but we were pretty ready to get home. We hadn't been on the bus back more than 10 minutes before it started snowing. We looked on a live webcam today and, wow, it looks beautiful. :) Oh well.

i'm back

2008-01-10T15:44:00.001+09:00

Well, I am back to blogging, if anyone is still around. :) It's been a while. I just now loaded some new photos on to my new computer. And since it's completely impossible for me to write anything without fun photos as a supplement, I just haven't written. From now on, I hope to post a few things here and there, as a good method of procrastination in my second semester of graduate school. (See below for my first new post about my pretty puppy.)

snow baby

2008-01-10T15:27:00.000+09:00

This is Yuki, our new puppy (he's huge). He loves the snow. Appropriate, as that's his name.

Luang Prabang, Laos

2007-09-13T18:54:00.000+09:00

I finally put some pictures on my new computer and thought I'd share a few of my favorites from Luang Prabang, Laos. It's a beautiful little town in the northern part of the country, often described as the "best-preserved" city in SE Asia. You can still see a lot of French colonial influence. I've been reminiscing a lot lately, and these images come to mind often.

P.S. All of my vertical pictures have been rotated on my computer, but for some reason, when I try to post them here, they revert to their original horizontal orientation. Any tips?

connected

2007-08-27T12:22:00.001+09:00

I have internet, I have a computer, I have a cell phone. Of course none of my photos are on this computer...that's the next step. More coming soon!

new eyes

2007-07-21T05:05:00.000+09:00

I'm back in America, and I feel like I see things differently. I have made the drive between Eau Claire and Chicago countless times, but when we drove that way just a few days after flying in, it was the most beautiful it had ever been. Green, rolling hills, lots of trees . . . it all looked almost foreign to me. Being in small towns off and on the last few weeks, I've appreciated little cafes and motels, friendly (English-speaking) strangers, and lots of things that feel specifically "American."

finishing up

2007-06-20T05:00:00.000+09:00

Tonight's our last night of the trip. It's so hard to believe. Tomorrow we fly to Chicago and we'll be hanging out in the midwest until we move to Urbana in August, where I will be starting grad school in the fall.

The last few weeks of this trip have been very different from the first few months. Leaving SE Asia to go to Bangladesh and India was a big change; we found the regions to be very different from each other. Bangladesh was absolutely amazing. It definitely was one of the most satisfying parts of the trip for us, in large part because of how friendly and helpful everyone was. We met so many nice people.

At the end of our time there, our luck took a turn for the worse. We had booked tickets for a 30-hour boat trip which we were really looking forward to, then missed the boat because our cab got a flat tire and then we were delayed at the passport office, getting a form that we ended up not needing anyway. We thought we'd just re-book for the next day, but they cancelled the boat due to weather. So we caught a bus to Calcutta, and in the meantime I started to get sick. We spent four days in Calcutta, all of which I spent flat on my back in bed. We made our way across India by way of two overnight trains and one day-time train, all of which had major problems and delays. I started to feel better, but then got a sinus infection. When I went to get it checked out, the doctor insisted I stay at the hospital and get an IV for my dehydration. Two days there brought us to the end of our time in India. That night we headed to the airport, only to find that our flight was cancelled. What a crazy couple weeks! I have always dreamed of going to India but spent most of it in a hotel/hospital room. The little bits I saw were fascinating...and very different from what I expected.

Now we're looking forward to going back to the states and wondering what it will feel like! Catching up and keeping up on this blog didn't go as well as expected, but I hope to post a few more things once we're back in America.

bangladesh bound

2007-05-25T23:34:00.000+09:00

We got the plane tickets and visas last week, so it's official . . . we fly to Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday! I'm really excited. Bangladesh has been the most tentative part of our trip and I think it's because I was afraid of being too disapointed if it didn't work out. In many ways, this is the most looked-forward-to part of the trip as well. My dad worked in Bangladesh for two years in the 70's and it's the combination of growing up on his slideshows from there and my mom's stories from South America that that have been my primary inspiration for travel. While we're there, we're hooking up with the organization that he used to work with (called HEED for Health, Education, Economic, Development . . . see their website for more info). They're going to show us around a bit, particularly in the area where my dad lived and where they continue to work on various projects. This is something I've wanted to do for a very long time, so I'm pretty happy it's all working out!

pathetic

2007-05-25T23:30:00.000+09:00

My blog, that is. I left Vietnam two months ago and have been to three more countries since, yet haven't posted a thing. It's a combination of sporadic/expensive/not-always-very-good internet access . . . and pure laziness. But I still have some photos and stories I'd love to share, so I'm going to keep adding them as I can. I'm in Bangkok for the next few days, so hopefully I can get a little more caught up.

cambodia catch-up

2007-05-25T22:19:00.000+09:00

In the spirit of catching up, here are some photo highlights of Cambodia, where we spent three weeks in April.

One of the biggest highlights for us was visiting Angkor Wat and the other ancient temples in the area of Siem Reap. We spent three days there riding in a tuk tuk from sight to sight and doing a lot of climbing around and picture-taking. Most of the temples were built from the 10th-12th centuries and while many are amazingly well-preserved and restored, others have been overtaken by the jungle. Both scenarios make for picturesque scenes.

Angkor Wat . . . the big one.

One of many huge faces carved in the walls of Bayon.

An out of the way, overgrown temple called Beng Melea.

Ta Prohm, famous for its jungle roots (and now, for scenes in the movie Tomb Raider).

Carvings at Banteay Srei, a small beautiful pink stone structure.

We also really enjoyed our time in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Some of the Khmer architecture in the city was really beautiful.

The National Museum, a beautiful building filled with beautiful, ancient sculpture.

The vibrant throne hall at the royal palace.

On our way north to Laos, we visited the dusty town of Ban Lung in the Northeast of Cambodia. We rented a motorbike and drove to several waterfalls in the area, as well as a crater lake. We also spend a lot of time at our family-run guesthouse, where we were the only guests, chatting with the mom and eating her delicious meals.

Town of Ban Lung.

A little boy standing under one of the waterfalls.

Jesse beside another waterfall.

vietnam count

2007-04-25T21:13:00.000+09:00

32 days
16 hotels
34 motorbikes
18 buses
5 cars
12 boats
3 broken down vehicles
100 (at least) spring rolls

i love boats and factories

2007-04-25T00:45:00.000+09:00

Rather than taking a bus from Saigon, Vietnam, to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we decided to go on a three-day tour through Vietnam's Mekong Delta that would take us, mostly by boat, into Cambodia. It was a good choce for me, as we were on at least seven different boats and visited three factories....two of my favorite things. :)

This picture is from a rice noodle factory where the noodles are made entirely by hand. I think it would be fun to try it out for a week or so...I am sure it must get tedious eventually.

We visited a big floating market, where the "big boats" show up with their produce (the long rod with vegetables tied to it is a kind of sign . . ."this is what we've got" sort of thing) and the "little boats" pull up alongside and purchase what they want, possibly for use, or possibly to be taken down smaller canals and re-sold.

This was the cheesy Disneyland-ish part of the tour. But we were on a boat with a couple from Japan, who live in a city near ours! We were only too happy to pratcice Japanese with them.

And another boat . . .

Our last night in Vietnam we spent the evening with a lady we met at the post office, and her family. It was really great to be in their home, talking about their lives, and even loking at their wedding pictures. The woman's father was a South Vietnamese soldier and it was really interesting to hear his perspective. Although he hasn't been able to work professionally since then, due to government restrictions, he is so happy for the peace and safety for his family.

On our way out of Vietnam we saw a wedding procession in a Muslim Cham minority village.

Riding up the Mekong River to Cambodia, we got to see lots of people living, working, and playing along the river's edge.

ho chi minh city (saigon)

2007-04-25T00:03:00.000+09:00

I'm reading a travel memoir from the 1950's right now (A Dragon Apparent, by Norman Lewis) and this is what he says shortly after arriving in Saigon: "It was clear from the first moment . . . that the lives of the people of the Far East are lived in public. . . . The street is the extension of the house and there is no sharp dividing line between the two." Many things have changed in the past fifty years, but this is one thing that still seems to be true, at least in some parts of Saigon. In the neighborhood where we stayed (in the upper level of someone's home/guesthouse), the streets formed a maze of narrow alleys. During the day, the homes were wide open to the streets and you could easily look in and see the living areas, sometimes not much bigger than a closet, with tiled floors and a small red-lit alar and a stairway or even ladder leading to the upper levels. The houses were so close together that one night a neighbor was watching TV and we kept trying to turn the volume down on our TV, because it didn't seem possible that the sound was coming from another house. We saw a lot of interesting buildings in Saigon, many of them beautiful old colonial-era buildings. The building pictured below (built in the 60's) is the Reunification Palace, the former home of the South Vietnamese president and where the North Vietnamese tanks broke through the gates on the day Saigon "fell" or "was liberated," depending on perspective. We took a tour of the palace and saw the bunker and offices from which the president directed the war. In Saigon, more than in other cities in Vietnam, we noticed a strong official message regarding the war and specifically America's role in it. No one ever said anything to us personally. . . this was only the case during official scripted tours. What saddened me most about this is that many South Vietnamese suffered due to the war as well, but their message cannot be heard. Former S. Vietnamese soldiers, to this day, cannot have official residency in Saigon and therefore cannot own property or have professional jobs. We were told that many of the cyclo and motorbike drivers are former teachers, doctors, etc.

We took a day trip from Saigon and one of the stops was the head Cao Dai cathedral. Cao Daism is a religion unique to Vietnam. I believe that it is a kind of mix of Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, and maybe Islam. We were at the cathedral in time for one of the daily masses. Altough we couldn't understand anything, the building was a sight to behold. :)

Another stop was at Cu Chi Tunnels, an amazing network of tunnels built by the North Vietnamese soldiers and the community in this area and used during the war. The tunnels have supposedly been doubled in size for tourists to try them out. I can't imagine them being any smaller. This is me trying not to let claustrophobia take over. Can you see the fear in my eyes? :)

hanoi to ho chi minh city in two and a half weeks

2007-03-28T23:43:00.000+09:00

After enjoying our time in Vietnam's northern capital of Hanoi, we made our way to the southern metropolis formerly (and mostly still) known as Saigon, stopping along the way in various towns and cities. It was interesting to watch the landscape and atmosphere change as we made our way south. It got a lot hotter, the rice was taller, the houses were a different style, and the focus on the American War became more and more intense as we entered regions where most of the fighting took place. We pushed ourselves to go to interesting places and see and learn as much as possible. Then we hit the beach and took a vacation. :) Here are some photos from our journey to the south of Vietnam:

First up was Hue, the former capital of Vietnam with lots of history. We visited royal tombs, the citadel, and other important monuments from the age of the Nguyen emperors. Some of these also had connections with the war, as Hue is not far from the former demilitarized zone that separated the north and south. Jesse took a DMZ tour with a former South Vietnamese officer, and saw a lot of the important war sites.

Next we detoured inland to Bach Ma National Park, where we hiked around, swam in cool mountain pools, gazed at beautiful waterfalls, and picked up a leech or two.

Hoi An was just a little bit south, famous for its tailor shops and old preserved buildings. We enjoyed both of these very much. But as someone said to us, “In Hoi An, the Vietnamese are the minority.” Not exactly what we were looking on this trip.

So we went even further inland and off the tourist trail, this time taking a 12-hour public bus to a dusty town in the central highlands called Kontum. For the first time, we actually had to learn some Vietnamese phrases to get by. As Vietnam is home to 54 different ethnic groups (the Viet people making up 84%) we were especially interested in learning about some of the ethnic minorities in the area. We visited several villages with a local guide and even spent the night in one of them, in their central town hall-type building.

Time was going quickly and we planned to spend one night in the beach town of Nha Trang before rushing on to Ho Chi Minh City and then to Cambodia before our visas expired. But after spending a couple hours on the beach looking out at blue, blue water and enjoying inexpensive full-body massages on the beach, we decided to get our visas extended and finish our time in Vietnam a little more leisurely.

Our final stop on the way to Ho Chi Minh City, Mui Ne, was one of our favorites. We stayed at a nice little resort right on the beach for only $6/a night. The best part was that there was also great scenery around. We rented a motorbike and rode out to a red canyon, some sand dunes, and a place called the "Fairy Stream,"which was, actually, quite enchanting.

And that brought us to Ho Chi Minh City!

mishaps, involving leeches

2007-03-19T22:27:00.000+09:00

Jesse and I brought a first aid kit with us on the trip, but I honestly didn't think we'd ever use it. How wrong I was. We've actually run out of bandaids. We've both been burnt by motorbike exhaust pipes (Jesse twice). Not surprisingly, we've also had our fair share of welt-like bug bites, sunburn, and poison ivy (or something like it).

But by far the most interesting of all our mishaps was the one that occurred while we were staying in a national park in central Vietnam, hiking to some waterfalls. Towards the end of the day, I was sitting down admiring a really beautiful waterfall. When I stood up, I noticed a large amount of blood covering the front of my pants! I didn't feel any pain so couldn't figure out what it might be. I finally found a tiny spot on my leg that all the blood was coming from. And then I remembered that I had read that there were a lot of leeches in the park, and figured that must be it. We tried to stop the blood with layers and layers of gauze, but hours later, it was still bleeding as hard as ever!

At dinner, I asked one of the park tour guides about it and he said, no problem, he'd get me something to stop the bleeding. Jesse and I waited for him to come back with a tube of ointment, but instead, he showed up with a tree stump that was covered in orange hairy moss and started pulling some off. When I got back to the room, I covered the spots with the moss and within minutes the bleeding slowed down and then stopped. WIERD!

halong bay

2007-03-15T23:33:00.000+09:00

We took a three-day trip from Hanoi to Halong Bay and it was beautiful! Large limestone karsts (whatever that means) jutting out of blue-green water. We went to a cave, went kayaking and spent the night on a boat. We also met a really nice couple from Sweden and another from Australia, two French guys, and our silly tour guide Doan . . . who all made the trip especially enjoyable.

hanoi streets (for rachel:)

2007-03-15T23:11:00.000+09:00

My friend Rachel lived in Hanoi a while back, and when I knew I was going there, it was fun to find out from her what she had enjoyed about the city. I found myself doing all the things she mentioned were nice and enjoying all the things she said she had enjoyed . . . especially the food, bikes, and people. I thought Hanoi had great atmosphere. I loved the tiny street stalls with little plastic tables and little plastic stools where we could buy spring rolls and other treats. I loved the ladies selling fruit from baskets hung from a bamboo rod on their shoulder, bouncing with every step. I loved the conical hats, motorbikes, cafes, yellow plaster-peeling walls, leftover French architecture, and the smiles of the people we met. It was a really great introduction to Vietnam. Here are some pictures:

china highlights

2007-03-15T22:47:00.000+09:00

Jesse and I spent a couple of days in Shenzhen, China, a place with not much to do. But we still enjoyed our time there. We ate a lot of great (cheap) food. We felt like true travelers as we couldn't communicate with anyone (as an untouristed town, there was very little English). And I learned a valuable lesson: children doing cute little tricks on the street are not doing them for fun. After I paused to admire the talents of a little girl doing this cool thing with a board, cylinder and cooking pot, her little sister chased me down and wrapped her arms around my leg until I gave them some money for the pleasure of watching them.

We spent a lot of time on the train in China. We inadvertantly bought tickets for a night train on the Chinese New Year's Eve, so we missed any celebration there might have been. But we shared a compartment with a little Chinese girl and her parents, and we played together all evening (while the parents sat off to the side eating BBQ chicken feet). On another train, we were in the party car. We were surrounded by a crazy family of 15-20 adults and kids. They were verrrrrry happy to be traveling together and the whole six hours was a mess of laughing, talking, card-playing, noodle-sloshing, musical chairs. We cycled the whole family through dinner time by moving from seat to seat to make room at the little table. We couldn't communicate easily, but we got lots of snacks and made a little small-talk with the couple who originally sat across from us.

The highlight of our time in China was the scenery in the Guilin area, the main "sight" we were stopping to see while crossing overland from Hong Kong to Vietnam. The best part was renting bicycles to ride around the countryside, then taking a bamboo raft back down the river for two hours. It was dusk and we were the only ones on the river for most of the two hours. Here's a picture:

slow start

2007-02-16T23:50:00.000+09:00

We've officially been on our Asia trip for over a week now, but we're off to a slow start. We didn't expect to stay in Hong Kong so long, but by the time we were able to get our Chinese and Vietnamese visas, it had already been a week. In the meantime, we got travel vaccinations, I sent off one last grad school application, and we did some final shopping for our trip. In some ways, we were still preparing for the trip, not really on it. On another level, it didn't even feel like we were traveling, since Hong Kong seems to be more Westernized than Japan. We watched American TV almost every night, we ate at Pizza Hut, and we enjoyed being able to speak English everywhere. It was actually a good transition time.

Now, we've had a bit of a hold-up. Yesterday, we crossed the border into China, hoping to catch an overnight bus to a place called Guilin. But after a couple hours walking from bus station to bus station, we think we found out that there were no seats available until the 21st. The Chinese New Year is in a couple days. When we found out we would be here for that, we were pretty excited...but we didn't know how much it would affect our plans. We eventually got train tickets for tomorrow, so we are just spending a few days in Shenzhen while we wait. We are half expecting that to happen a couple more times before we leave China. Oh well. It's keeping us relaxed anyway. :)

in hong kong...

2007-02-16T23:45:00.000+09:00

We decided to fly to Hong Kong for a few reasons: we got good tickets and we knew we could get visas and travel vaccinations there. Other than that, we knew little else.

The first day there, we went to the tourist information office and a couple hours later, we were on a free boat tour around Victoria Harbor to view a "360 degree skyline." It was pretty amazing. That evening, we took a tram up to the peak to overlook the harbor. It wasn't hard to find things to enjoy about the city. Over the next few days, we took a guided architecture walk, visited one of the outlying islands, went to the goldfish and flower markets, and walked around a lot. Of course, we also got poked in the arm and sat in line at embassies. But we really enjoyed our time there. Here are a few things we especially enjoyed about Hong Kong:

...the amazing harbor.
...an 800-meter outdoor escalator running downhill in the morning and uphill the rest of the day.
...bamboo used as scaffolding.
...learning that much of the land (including the airport) has been "reclaimed" (i.e., the sea filled in) AND that almost all of the land is government-owned, most of it on 99-year leases.
...diversity (especially compared to Japan).
...the beautiful outlying islands.
...seeing Jesse's cousin who lives in Hong Kong.
...the ferry you can take across the harbor for 25 cents.
...the public service announcements (everything from cover your mouth when you cough to keep your windows in good repair so they don't fall to the street).

Here are a few pictures:

An old boat in the harbor.

The harbor lights viewed from Victoria Peak.

The outdoor escalator.

A fishing village on Lamma Island.

A fruit stand.

sayonara japan

2007-02-13T00:23:00.000+09:00

Since the fall, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on grad school applications, planning our trip around Asia, and preparing to leave Japan. While the former two items were really important (especially applications) it is the latter that has really been the focus of almost all my thoughts. The two years I spent in Japan were really special in so many ways. I went there knowing next to nothing about Japan, and started out not knowing how much I’d like it. After a few months, I started seeing things that I really liked, and by the end of the year, I was enjoying my time there a lot. But I think it was the second year that my love for the place really grew. We made good friends. I started learning the language a little better. Things became more and more accessible as I understood more about the culture. I grew really attached to Japanese style, and appreciated it every day in many ways. I became really comfortable with the daily interactions.

Which is what makes leaving so sad.

BUT. I want to be closer to my U.S. friends and family. I want to go to graduate school. I want to get settled in somewhere where I know I’ll stay for a while. And because of that, I have had a stronger and stronger sense that it was time to move on. The last few weeks in Japan, Jesse and I kept saying how satisfied we were with our time there. It was fantastic, really. But because it had been so great, we both felt like we could leave and be happy. It was hard in many ways. Some sad goodbyes. Lots of “lasts.” And a bit of a panic when they took away my resident card at the airport. I have loved being a foreign resident, and it was sad to let that go. But overall, I have a really warm feeling when I think about the past two years.

MY FRIEND'S ON JEOPARDY!

2007-01-29T20:05:00.000+09:00

Watch Nate Metcalf on January 31st!! This is the guy who came to my wedding in a white pin-stripe suit and told everyone that he was my Uncle Nate! That personality combined with a another snazzy suit he's said to be wearing (purple this time!) are going to make for an awesome show! Nate and I worked together for a couple years in St. Paul at NBC General Contractors, and he definitely did have a load of trivia stored in his brain, which we enjoyed over Grand Shanghai and Acme Deli lunches. If you go to the Jeopardy website, you'll find him in this week's contestants! GO NATE!!

two sides of tokyo

2007-01-22T22:40:00.000+09:00

We were in Tokyo last week to get some vaccinations for our upcoming trip and stopped by a couple other places while we were there . . . one familiar and one new. They were quite different from each other, but both were lots of fun.

Place #1: Tsukiji Fish Market (a 1st for us)
We were definitely in the way at this market, which is mainly a commercial market for restaurant owners and such, although it's open to the public. Lots of people, carts, buckets of water being thrown around, and, or course, loads of fish and other sea life. One of the highlights is being able to see all the big tuna that end up as sushi all over Tokyo (and probably elsewhere). When we got there around 9:30am, most of the tuna were in pieces, but there were still lots of cool things to see.

Frozen tuna on a cart.
(Jesse had the camera that day and a disproportionate number of pictures are of fish heads and eyes . . . I'll spare you.)

Place #2: Harajuku and Aoyama
Although places we've been over and over, we always see new things to enjoy. These are modern fashion districts with lots of great buildings and good people-watching.

We've really come to enjoy hanging out in Tokyo, especially just wandering around back streets. I love the interesting shops, the edgy architecture, the hidden restaurants . . . and I just love the combination of traditional and modern. Spending the day wandering around the city will be something I miss. I'm still hoping to go back one more time before we leave in February, but when we got on the train to head home that day, we both knew it might be our last time . . . for now anyway.

hello emperor

2007-01-16T19:49:00.000+09:00

We went to see the emperor on January 2nd, one of only two days in a year that the public is allowed to enter the imperial palace grounds. The emperor and his family come out periodically to wave to the cheering crowds and for about five minutes, you get to yell and wave the Japanese flag and watch the royal family smiling and bowing. For me, the coolest part was crossing the bridge that is usually gated and guarded. There were sooo many people, and a lot of energy.

The imperial palace from the normal viewing point.

On the "other side."

I didn't have the best view. :)

Jesse's view through the zoom lens. Nifty, eh? The emperor and empress are in the middle, with their sons on either side.

new year's

2007-01-03T19:02:00.000+09:00

I think it would be accurate to say that New Year's, or Oshogatsu, is the most significant holiday in Japan. It's all about time with family, special traditions and rituals, and starting the new year off clean and refreshed. At the end of the year, many groups of friends and co-workers have bonnenkai, drinking parties to forget the troubles of the past year. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom, and nearly everyone visits a shrine or temple to pray for the new year.

We were privileged this year to join our friends, Mio and Tetsuo, and Mio's family, at Mio's mother's house for New Year's. They were perfect hosts. We had a great time experiencing many New Year's traditions, relaxing, playing games, and chatting. Mio's family is so down to earth and relaxed that it was easy to feel comfortable.

We took a lot of pictures, so here they are, along with some descriptions of a Japanese New Year's. Much of what we did was pretty traditional, but then there were some more Western elements too. For example....

New Year's Eve dinner was sashimi . . .

. . . and pizza and chips & salsa. It was a global dinner, as Tetsuo called it.

That night we watched a really popular New Year's Eve program, a singing competition featuring famous pop bands/singers and traditional enka singers. Next to the TV is a New Year's decoration. Traditionally the white sections are mochi and the top a mikan (small orange).

This was not Japanese. :) Mio thought it was a Chinese tradition, but I don't claim to know for sure. Anyway, she bought us all new socks which we put on just before midnight. The idea was to stomp out bad luck for the new year.

And New Year's soba. The noodles are supposed to be long in order to symbolize long life.

We tried to visit a shine that night, but the line was waaaay down the street. I think we would have waited for several hours and it was already after midnight. It was pretty fascinating that that many people would come out in the middle of the night to pray. I am sure that many people do it out of honest devotion, but there is definitely an element of fun and superstition to it as well.

After Mio and Tetsuo dropped us off around 1am, we walked down to the temple in Yukarigaoka to see what was going on. There was a bonfire and people were lining up to ring the big bell. Most of the people hanging around were young people with their friends. We sort of hid in the bushes to observe, then snuck back home. We were up early the next morning to head back to Mio's mom's house for another full day of new traditions.

new year's continued

2007-01-03T19:00:00.000+09:00

New Year's Day started with a special Japanese meal, called Osechi Ryouri, in the morning. It felt sort of like Christmas morning . . . the same sense of excitement and getting a meal together. Osechi is very time-consuming to make. Japanese women traditionally make it in the three or four days leading up to New Year's. It is all made to stay fresh for several days so that they can relax on New Year's Day with their families, with no meal to cook. Nowadays, many people buy osechi, or at least part of it. It can be very expensive. My guess is that the meal that we ate that day costed about $200.

Here are Jesse and Tetsuo getting ready for the meal. Osechi is kept in a stack of boxes . . . you can see two on the table here. These can be really elaborate boxes made of lacquer, costing several thousand dollars. I actually just received a set from my students, not one that cost a thousand dollars :), but really pretty. The box on this table is one that came with the food that Mio's mom bought.

From L to R, Mio's mom (Naomi), her brother (Yuto), Mio, Tetsuo and me. The Osechi boxes are separated and laid out in the middle.

Some close-ups of the food follow. There were both salty and sweet foods. This box included small dried fish, pink and white fish paste, egg cakes, kelp, etc.

Lotus root, vegetables in the shapes of animals (cranes and turtles for long life, a boar because that's the animal of the year), small octopi, shellfish in the shell, smoked raw salmon, persimmon, herring eggs, etc.

Squid, salmon eggs, mushrooms with crab, shrimp, rice paste balls, etc. Mio's mom also prepared two kinds of plant and flower bulbs. And we ate miso soup with rice cakes and chicken and vegetables, and drank tea with whole cherry blossoms in it. Everything we tried was really delicious.

After the meal, we all got in the car to go visit a shrine. The annual New Year's shrine or temple visit is called Hatsumode. There are line-ups, even at small community shrines. The temple in Narita, a city about 30 minutes' away, is the #2 most popular location for Hatsumode, with 3 million visitors in January.

In the picture above, taken discreetly :), you can see an elderly woman praying. While waiting in line, a person can wash their hands at a water fountain with bamboo cups. They then approach the shrine, throw in some money (5 yen is the most popular coin to toss), ring the bell, clap twice, and take a moment to pray.

After praying at the shrine, people deposit their charms and decorations from the past New Year's holiday.

In the shrine area, new good luck charms for the coming year and fortunes can be bought. Many people were grilling rice cakes and warming at the fire.

Most people were dressed warmly in regular clothing, but a few were wearing kimonos. I liked the picture of these two boys facing each other, looking so alike and so different at the same time.

Our last stop at the shrine was ringing a bell at the top of the bell tower.

In the afternoon, Mio made macha (powdered green tea) with a bamboo whisk, and we ate omanju, colorful New Year's sweets made with red beans and fashioned into perfect shapes (flowers, fans, bamboo, etc.).

Afterwards, we ran out to a couple shops to check out their New Year's sales, and try our luck at a few various drawings. (We got consolation prizes only.) Almost every shop does something called lucky or happy bags. Shoppers pay a certain amount of money (up to $100) to get whatever is in the mystery bag. It's really popular and you can get some really great stuff. Of course, it's all leftovers from last year, so not always what you might hope for. Back at Mio's mom's house, we took naps, watched TV (including the cable CNN coverage of the ball drop in NY!) played card games, and ate leftover osechi for dinner. It felt so good to be hanging out with a family, even though we still miss ours, and we were so happy to get a picture of Japanese New Year's, something that is so special to many people in our life here.

chicken, cake and romance

2006-12-29T02:39:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Here we are in front of Tokyo Tower, which we happened to walk by on Christmas Eve night as it was across from the church we went to for a Christmas Eve service.

Christmas in Japan is a bit different than what I'm used to in America. There are still lots of Christmas lights in public places, Christmas music playing in department stores, and Christmas decorations for sale. But when the actual day rolls around, it's life as usual. People go to work, school activities, etc. I had students with band concerts and basketball games on Christmas day. It feels almost sacrilegious. :) I feel like everyone should be cozied up at home with their families, but that comes later, for New Years'.

Here are three things I've noticed about Christmas in Japan: 1) Romance - Christmas Eve especially is a romantic holiday here, almost like Valentine's Day. I knew this, but not to what extent, until this past Christmas Eve just a few days ago when Jesse and I were in Tokyo and noticed that almost everyone walking down the street was a part of a couple. It was kind of creepy actually. There were no individuals, no groups, no children, no friends, no elderly folks, just a continuous stream of young couples. 2) Christmas Cake - Generally white cake with strawberries, it's for sale everywhere. 3) Fried Chicken - I just learned about this one this year. It seems that many people think that's what we eat for Christmas in America. I heard a rumor that this started with KFC. It must be working. I tried to order chicken nuggets on Christmas Eve (long story) and they were sold out. I had been wondering why McD's was doing a big promotion for nuggets.

So that's Christmas in Japan. My Christmas in Japan is a different story. But that's not to say it didn't involve chicken, cake and romance. :)

pottery town

2006-12-22T19:20:00.000+09:00

Last weekend, Jesse and I went to Mashiko, a town famous for its rustic, natural-style pottery. We had a great time checking out all the shops and galleries, and even a couple kilns. The whole town was centered around the pottery, with even the restaurants serving food on handmade dishes. We ended up leaving with a teapot and cups that we love.

ode to rice fields

2006-12-12T20:20:00.000+09:00

The rice fields turned brown practically overnight last week. The rice has been cut for quite some time, but the weeds/grass that grew in its place kept the fields fairly green and decent-looking. Then it got cold. One day, I was looking out the train windows at a sea of green, the next day at a sea of brown. I knew it was going to happen. It's just that it makes me a little sad, knowing that when the fields are green again, I won't be here to see them. I've really enjoyed watching the rice fields through the seasons. It's something I'll miss. Here are some pictures of the rice fields behind our house.

The picture above is normal winter, the picture below is one day last year when we got snow!

happy thanksgiving

2006-11-24T23:50:00.000+09:00

We had some friends over yesterday to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Japan. Thanks to imported ingredients that Nicole and Mike brought us a couple weeks ago, we had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, sweet potatoes, chicken, and no-bake pumpkin pie. Our first time hosting a Thanksgiving meal and it was here in Japan! With no oven! Of course almost all of the foods were out of cans and boxes... :) But it was great. Jesse even downloaded a couple of last week's football games to watch as we ate and played games. Although of course we missed being with our families, it felt very nice and family-like.
Going in a left-ward circle starting in front: Donna (teacher), Romanda and Meaghan (teachers and friends of Tessa's), Tessa (teacher), Fukiko (Matt's friend), Shogo (he teaches Japanese at the high school where Jesse used to teach English once a week), Jessica (teacher), 1/2 of Reika's head :) (one of our school managers), Manami (a school manager), and Matt (teacher). There were a couple more that are hiding.

shichi-go-san

2006-11-14T22:02:00.000+09:00

November 15th is Shichi-Go-San in Japan, a holiday that honors three, five, and seven-year-old children. Girls who are three and seven, and boys who are five, often dress in traditional clothing and visit shrines with their families in hopes for a long, healthy life. Most families visit a shrine on one of the weekends near November 15th. So last weekend, when Mike, Nicole, Jesse and I were in Tokyo, we stopped by Meiji-Jingu shrine to see the kids dressed up. It's a pretty big deal for the families (and can be a big expense). A lot of my kids are in this age range, so I'm looking forward to seeing pictures that their mothers promised to bring in.

On the left, a five-year-old boy taking pictures of his family. On the right, a seven-year-old girl walking with her father.

A large (for Japan) family all celebrating with their seven-year-old sister/daughter, in the middle.

The weekend before, in Nikko. A seven-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother leave the shrine after a ceremony.

Bonus: There was also a traditional wedding going on at the shrine.

takumi and natsumi

2006-11-07T20:06:00.000+09:00

I met these kids while walking around Sakura, a nearby city, when I was there last week with our friends, Nicole and Mike. It was so fun for me to chat with them and somehow became a really memorable time. I couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to kids in Japanese, as compared to adults. They spoke at a good pace and we could understand each other well. They showed us the bugs that they had in their plastic bottle, and then we found a praying mantis which I think they put into shock with while "playing" with it. In the end, they covered it up with leaves and put it to bed. I hope it was able to wake up. :) We talked mostly about bugs and their favorites. And they had fun taking some pictures with my digital camera. When we left, they followed us. For a long ways. I started to get nervous that we were going to be accused of kidnapping, and kept asking them which direction their home was. Eventually, the boy (Takumi) said it was time for them to go and they headed back. I spend time with kids all the time as a teacher, but it was really fun to spend time with kids just as a normal person...especially kids as sweet as these two (I'm sure the praying mantis has a different opinion).

halloween

2006-10-29T21:39:00.000+09:00

Jesse and I both had Halloween parties at our schools the past couple weekends. It meant an extra day of going in to work, but they were really fun. At the school I went to, we took the kids out trick-or-treating. The school managers had asked some neighborhood stores to give out candy when we came by. We were a crazy-looking group...about 36 Japanese kids, 30 of which were witches and princesses, some Japanese staff and a few foreigners. I was a rather boring pumpkin, but one of the other teachers was a big eggplant! One little girl shouted "Happy Halloween!" to everyone passing by. We got a lot of smiles. There are a lot of foreigners in this town, and they seemed the most amused. My favorite part of the day: this little 2-year-old, Madoka, held my hand the whole time we were out walking around. She is adorable!

Here's Jesse with some of the kids at his party.

Interesting side-note: We learned that day that eggplants are sometimes used as part of the o-bon rituals in August, when Japanese remember their ancestors. Eggplants represent horses, if I understood correctly, and the idea is that they are sort of a gateway from "the other world." One little girl was really scared of the teacher dressed as an eggplant. I doubt this has anything to do with it, but it seemed sort of appropriate.

film festival

2006-10-23T23:59:00.000+09:00

Jesse and I have been trying to catch as many events as we can in Tokyo lately, especially knowing that our time here will be drawing to a close. Last year, we went to the Tokyo International Film Festival and saw a European film (Bye Bye Blackbird) and also sat in on a Q&A with the director. We just happened to find out at the last minute that the festival was back this past weekend, and decided to head into the city to see one of the films, which we did...eventually....

This year, we hoped to see a Japanese film. I suppose that sounds strange since we live here, but we can never go to Japanese movies in the regular theatres, because, of course, they don't have English subtitles. We decided to go to "Notebook of Life" at 4:30pm, knowing nothing about the movie except that there were a lot of beautiful snow scenes (as was obvious from the Japanese-only website).

We got there early, got reserved seats, and settled in. But there were two problems: a) They had double-booked many of the seats, including ours. It took them quite a while to get it all figured out and find a place for everyone. b) When the movie finally started, there were no subtitles, even though we had inquired about this ahead of time.

They apologized and we lucked out in getting the last two seats for another movie at 6:20, and they gave us the tickets for free! Which was great, since they were $15 each. I have to say, all this is quite unusual for Japan in my experience...usually stuff like this is so organized. So since we had time, we walked around the area (Roppongi), which has a lot of interesting architecture (I'll post pictures of it another time).

The movie was great. It's called Chosyu Five and is about five Japanese samurai who went to England to study in the late 19th century, just before the Meiji Restoration. Four of the five main actors and the director were all there before the movie for comments! We had no idea that was going to happen. Afterwards, there was a Q&A with the director, which was also really interesting.

The director, on the left, with four of the actors.

ka ki ku ke ko

2006-10-22T23:00:00.000+09:00

One of the things that's interesting to me about the Japanese language is that there are a limited number of sounds. Almost every syllable is made up of one consonant and one vowel, accept in the case of a few blended sounds, and a few de-voiced sounds. Often, the words differ by only one syllable, and this can be confusing. Is it karimasu or kirimasu? Kakimasu or kakemasu?

One of my friends has been going to ramen shops lately and ordering a spicy kind of ramen. The word for "spicy" is "karai." Incidentally, the word for "hate" is "kirai." So lately, he's been going into restaurants, ordering his ramen, then turning to the waitress and saying "kirai." I.e., "I'd like such and such ramen please. I hate it."

charming yukari

2006-10-10T19:33:00.000+09:00

Jesse and I went for a walk this afternoon, just as the sun was starting to set. I remembered while we were out enjoying the neighborhood that I used to feel disapointed that we lived in a suburban area "with no charm." While I'd still love to live out in the country, or even in the city, I've come to really love our neighborhood. I was struck by a few interesting scenes today (and I was testing out our new camera) so here they are:

Lots of vending machines in Japan. This one was sort of in the middle of nowhere.

This was at a nearby temple in the setting sun.

These buckets were at the edge of a cemetery. They are labeled with family names, and used to wash family graves.

A random Japanese house.

A family shrine, at the back of their gardens.

Jesse, rice fields, an apartment building and a lady with a dog.

yamagishi

2006-10-08T22:39:00.000+09:00

We spent a beautiful fall day at Yamagishi Farm near Narita today. Tetsuo's parents live there, along with two other families. Yamagishi is a community that was founded in the 1950's and that has many locations throughout Japan and in other parts of the world. Mio and Tetsuo met at a Yamagishi when they were growing up, and Tetsuo's parents have continued to live and work in several locations. This is one of the smaller ones. We had a delicious lunch that consisted solely of food from the farm - fresh tomatoes, cooked eggplant, pumpkin, and numerous other Japanese vegetables. Then, we spent the afternoon digging up sweet potatoes and touring the other areas of the farm.

Digging up the sweet potatoes.

These "beans" were nearly a foot in length.

Tetsuo and his father and mother.

A vegetable. We learned so many new food words today. This one slips my mind.

Mio and Tetsuo and grass whistles.

rainy day

2006-10-08T11:22:00.000+09:00

That hardly captures it. September is typhoon season. A couple days ago, there were two typhoons near Japan, and we felt the effects. The train line that we live on had an accident on Friday - one of the electric wires they run on broke (due to the strong winds and rain), so the trains stopped running. Our head office called and told us we'd need to take a taxi to the nearest station on another train line. We got ready quickly, packing our work clothes, including a second pair of socks and shoes, in plastic bags and then in our backpacks. We sloshed through water on the sidewalks, our umbrellas flopping around in the wind, for about 20 minutes, on our way to the taxi stand. We took a $30 taxi ride (at least the company will pay for it) thoroughly soaked, and then hopped on a train for a couple stops. Jesse went to the airport that day to pick up a new teacher, and ended up sitting in the airport for over five hours. The plane was due in at 2:10. Apparently, they diverted it to an army base, where it sat for a bit and re-fueled, then flew back to Narita, circled, and finally landed at 7:20. Jesse and the new teacher didn't end up getting to their destination until 10pm, due to trains that were both very late, and very slow. He took another taxi home. While I was at my school teaching that day, rain pelted the windows, water steadily streaming down them all day. All in all, it rained from Thursday night to Saturday morning. I don't know how many inches we ended up getting, but I am going to guess a lot. Today, it's 75 degrees and beautiful. It looks like a different world out there!

bike rides

2006-09-18T15:59:00.000+09:00

It all started a few weeks back when I had a little extra time before work and decided to ride down a mysterious path near our house. Shortly after I got on the path, it headed away from the busy street we live on and through some rice fields. There was a beautiful white crane standing in the middle of the path that lifted off as I approached.

That's when I realized that in the midst of this noisy suburbia in which we live, there is a bit of country after all.

I continued on the path past some very old, traditional Japanese homes, a pen of ducks, lots of gardens and flowers, and maybe even a small rice processing shed. I ended up at a driving range. (Hm, hello suburbia.) On my way back, I took an alternate route and proceeded to get very lost. After a while, I turned up at a lake...none of those near us. I shouted at a passing cyclist who very kindly stopped to answer my questions, although the answer was primarily "I don't know." He didn't even know what Yukarigaoka was (the town I live in) and when I asked where I was, I didn't recognize the name of that town either. But we were near a bike trail, so together we guessed which direction I should probably go (I was totally turned around). I headed back quite happy to discover that not only was there a bit of country around...there was also a bike trail!

Last weekend, Jesse and I looked up the bike trail on our map (it said "saikuringurodo"...if you say it out loud, you'll hear "cycling road"). We hopped on our bikes and took it up past the windmill I posted a picture of and on to a history museum we've been meaning to go to for quite some time. Most of the trail was through rice fields and along a river....so nice. The museum was great too. The only bummer was when we looked out into the courtyard of the museum and saw a downpour. The rain lightened up by the time we left and we had a pleasant trip home. Feeling brave, we stopped in a mystery restaurant which turned out to be a pretty good, although quite expensive, sushi shop. The owners (a husband, wife and son who also live there) and the other patrons, were very friendly and nice. The woman even came out to wipe off our by-then wet bicycle seats. What a nice day!

where are we?

2006-09-18T15:54:00.000+09:00

We're still in Japan...we just visited a windmill yesterday that's in the next city. It was a gift from the Netherlands about ten years ago.

sports day

2006-09-18T15:45:00.000+09:00

Unfortunately, I didn't get to experience Sports Day firsthand, but all my junior high school students have been telling me about it the past couple weeks. Most schools in this area held it last Saturday and this past week, I saw some pictures and video of some of the activities. It's a pretty talked-about, looked-forward-to event and has been going on for a long time (my friend's dad remembers participating in the same event, with the same activities). I was interested to hear what kinds of things they do because some of them seem to reflect certain aspects of Japanese culture that are a little different from American culture.

Almost everything is very team-oriented. Remember doing the three-legged race? They do a NINE-legged race. Along the same lines, they do a caterpillar-type activity where they line up 20 students and tie all the students' legs together...one leg to the person in front of them, and one to the person behind. Then they all march forward. It's pretty amazing. Jump roping with large groups of students all on one rope (I heard of 40 students!!) and tug-of-war are also popular events.

We were also surprised at the number of activities that would be definite liabilities in the states. One of the boys' events is similar to "chicken" fighting in a pool. Four boys create a rather complex formation with one held above the others. They run around trying to knock each other off...but not into water...onto very hard dirt (at least it's not pavement, I guess?). For another, two teams hold large logs upright, while offensive members from the other team lunge at the log trying to bring it down.

Most schools break the students up into red and white teams (i.e., Japanese flag). I've been finding out my students' results this week. Some won, some lost...several had injuries!....but everyone had a lot of fun.

two trips to the beach

2006-09-11T22:37:00.000+09:00

We live on a peninsula to the east of Tokyo, so are only a couple hours from the Pacific coast. Last weekend and this weekend, we headed out to the beach for a little swimming. The first time around, we went by a bus, three trains, a taxi and even a little bit of hitch-hiking. This weekend, we took the train for twenty minutes and then rode in a friend's car...MUCH easier. The waves were great...strong and high...the sand was soft and the breeze pleasant. It was a good time. Here's a picture of Tessa and me.

And here are some pictures of a family I was enjoying watching (the undertow was very strong, even in the shallow sections).

Nothing particularly interesting happened this year, but we took a couple trips to the beach last year as well and were surprised by a uniquely Japanese beach-going experience on one occasion. There were loudspeakers playing music, so you couldn't hear the sound of crashing waves (who wants to listen to the beautiful sound of nature anyway). There was a smell of grilled squid. And they promptly "closed" the ocean at 4pm, preceded by "closing music" (the traditional New Years' song). A cultural, if not quite natural, experience.

hanabi=fire flowers

2006-08-31T01:44:00.000+09:00

Japan loves fireworks. They've been around here for a long time. We went to a museum a while back that had paintings of fireworks in Tokyo from centuries ago.

Every town has a fireworks festival at some point during the summer. Well, almost every town. Some are dropping it because of how expensive it is. People reserve a spot as early as the day before and show up in their yukatas to meet family and friends and have a little picnic.

We went to the Yachiyo Fireworks on Saturday night with some friends. Mio and I and some of the others we were with wore yukatas. The weather was cool and pleasant. We walked from Mio and Tetsuo's house (she in her geta, me in my tevas). There were loads of people heading in the same direction. Near the river where the fireworks were being shot off were lots and lots of food stands....noodles, squid and other seafood, rice cakes, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakitori, choco bananas, fried chicken, etc. One thing I love about all the festivals is that so many people wear yukata or other traditional clothing, even the young people. Many people talk about how wonderful it is that Japan can be so traditional and so modern at the same time. I love it that wearing yukata is still "cool" and I can't imagine that ever changing.

We sat alongside the river, in nearly the best spot available. Lanterns were sent down the river before the fireworks began, as part of traditional o-bon festivities honoring the dead. The fireworks themselves were so amazing. The hour and a half long show is made up of many sections sponsored by different companies (if I understand correctly), and at the end of each section is a mini-finale. The whole thing is spectacular.

After a great time watching fireworks, we headed back to Mio and Tetsuo's home. On the way home, was a special bonus....we came across a huge rice "vending machine." I could say that we see these all the time and make this area sound really foreign and exotic, but the truth is, this was my first time. Mio and Tetsuo said they've never even bought from one. Maybe they're more popular in the country? Anyway, just the fact that they exist makes me happy. :)

tokyo today

2006-08-28T00:44:00.000+09:00

It'd been two months since I'd gone to Tokyo (an hour and a half away by train) and I missed it, so we headed out there today. We saw a little bit of all the things we like about Tokyo...people, shops, art, craziness and more. On our way in, we stopped at Akihabara, the electronics district, to check out some cameras at Yodabashi Camera, a huge, new electronics store that's going to put all the little interesting ones out of business (from a pessimistic standpoint). Then, we headed across the city to Yoyogi Park. We'd been to the area before, but never to this section of the park and we had heard that it could be very interesting, especially on Sundays. A lot of amateur singers and bands come here to perform. There was something special going on today, so a lot of groups were dressed up for dance performances. These two girls (beaming something on their cell phones) were with a large group that I think was going to do a performance...we didn't stick around to find out.
And these guys were practicing kendo...samurai sword-fighting practice.
Our main goal today was to see a dance performance at a local theatre (or so we thought). We're always wanting to go to performances and exhibits but feel deterred by the expense (quite high in Tokyo). But we've decided to just go for it now and then, since we always regret it if we don't. It's a little complicated since we can't always get good English information about what's going on. All we knew about the performance today was that the price was decent and we could get a good discount by mentioning the English magazine we had read about it in. We decided ahead of time that it was a gamble, but even if it was stupid, we'd be okay with spending the money on it. At the time, we didn't know how stupid it could be. At 5pm, we were waiting outside the building, lined up on a cement stairway, when pearl and clear marbles and beads of different sizes started dropping from above. A woman in a rather vintage-looking skirt and shirt with a completely serious (and creepy) expression moved slowly and dramatically down the stairs and into the theatre. We all followed her in...to a very small room that must be a dance studio. There was complete silence for about five minutes as she stood against the wall looking a little crazy and then slumped to the floor. The "performance" went on for an agonizing 45 minutes as she made very slow movements or none at all for long periods of time, punctuated by sudden movements that made me jump. Not to be a total downer, she had amazing control of her body and I was pretty impressed by some of the positions she could keep for long periods of time. And it gave me a chance to think about the meaning of art (as I struggled to see how this qualified). There was one point when the crazy lady was only a foot or two from me with her arms stretched out and I questioned whether or not I was going to make it out okay. :) In the end, after talking about it for a bit, we could see some of the meaning that probably went into it. This woman certainly cares a lot about her art and I suppose it was an honor in some way to be included in it (that's the optimistic view).

Anyway, after this...experience...we wandered back in the direction of a train station. We came across a cool store called Funky Street Star, and saw a few interesting cafes and restaurants and one crazy basket store. We ended up in Shibuya, where we went to eat and then sat and people-watched at the crazy intersection with all the lights and noise.
We also went to a huge famous store where I found some stationary with funny English. I'll leave you with my pick for the night: "I hate traffic jams. It is good if the traffic jam is lost from all over the world. However, being able to talk slowly with an important person in the car is a good thing. I love traffic jams. It settles me down when the tailight of the car is looked at. However, not being possible to go to the rest room is embarrassed."

america

2006-08-27T23:30:00.000+09:00

Jesse and I just got back from a great trip to America for two weeks. We had a lot of fun everywhere we went. Thanks to all of you who let us use your cell phones, your cars (and gas), your trunks for our luggage, your beds for sleeping, your showers and so on. It felt so great to be back.

Here's our list of what's changed since we've been gone:

Dominic's taller than me.
Soda brands have many new flavors. Dr Pepper in Cherry Vanilla or Berries and Cream? Mmm...yum.
All the young ones that we said goodbye to at 6 months or a year old are now talking. A lot. Intelligently. At higher levels of English than many of our students.
We have a new brother-in-law and a new niece.
Gas prices rose from $2 to $3 plus.
There were bats in my parents' wood stove. (What didn't change: the boys turned getting rid of them into a late-night adventure. Ew.)
There are fun new things, like Guitar Hero.

connection

2006-07-27T21:42:00.000+09:00

My last class of the day today is a junior high class with two students. The boy was gone today, so Nanami and I were on our own. I asked her a few questions in the beginning...what she did today and things like that. Poor Nanami. She says, "huh?" a lot and overall has a blank expression on her face. After I had gotten everything out of her I could, I asked her to ask me a few questions. She asked me what I did today and when I will go to America. Then she paused, thought a little, and said, "Do you know Sponge Bob?" I said yes, so she unzipped her bag, which had what looked like a small animal attached to the zipper. I guess it was a stuffed animal, but it sure looked real. She pulled out her pen case, and then her Sponge Bob pen. She told me about his friends, and what kinds of animals they were. Actually, she didn't know many of the words in English, but that was fine. It was a teachable moment. After this, she started telling me about all the other characters that are popular in Japan (many of which were hanging off her cell phone and various other zippers)...Elmo, Miss Bunny (the rabbit from Bambi?), Lilo & Stitch, Charmy Kitty, etc. I listened like it was news to me, but really, you can't miss the prevalence of characters here. We ended up talking almost the whole class about these things. The cool thing is, I had started to feel today that I was never going to get her to talk about anything in English...and then we hit upon something she was verrrrry interested in. It felt good.

After I got home from work, Jesse and I stopped by the 100 yen store. I bought a pencil case for myself that says "friendry sea" on it. My other options were "fancy bear," "pretty flower," and "monkey friend." Another said, "Let's make the flower bloom in the mind. People who spent always the same time." I bought flashcards for studying Japanese...the ones I normally use say, "You are also perfect at this flash card!" Yay!! Very encouraging. Then, I bought stickers for my students. I bought the summer-themed stickers that have fireworks, yukata, goldfish, wind chimes, and wooden clog sandals.

Tomorrow I am giving a presentation at a seminar for Junior High School English teachers. Should be interesting, as I would tend to think they'd be the experts, not me. My notes for the presentation are in a pink strawberry notebook that says "Fruit Ranch: The coming of wisdom with time." Let's hope that wisdom comes forth from that little book for me tomorrow.

language barrier

2006-07-25T20:06:00.000+09:00

Sometimes small children here will talk to me in Japanese. I think that they don't realize that English and Japanese are two different languages. They will look me earnestly in the face (which takes me by surprise as eye contact is sort of less popular here than in America, except with small children), and chatter away. Even after all this time, I am not always sure how to react. Lately, I've been opting for the act-as-though-I-understand response. The language barrier is even more difficult with small children because there are so many levels to the Japanese language, one of them being the language of children. Even though my comprehension of Japanese increases over time and older children are often a big help in learning new words, it can still be difficult with very small children.

So, last week, I was teaching a group of four-year-olds and they were sitting up to the table coloring a picture of jet (we were learning "j"). One of the girls started speaking Japanese to me. My guess was that she was finished, so I told her to keep going as I was enjoying the few minutes' break the coloring was giving me. A little boy looked up and told me something about the girl. I assumed he was saying the same thing, that she was finished. After I told him it was okay, he went back to his coloring. A few seconds later, he looked up and tried again. "Momoka ga..." he said really clearly, pointing at the floor under her chair. I looked over and saw a wet bottom, a wet chair, and a large puddle forming on the floor. Momoka was soon excused from class. I pulled a chair over the puddle. But in the spirit of being helpful, the little boy pushed all the chairs in to the table. Two kids stepped in the puddle in the meantime. Oops.

clothing tags and umbrellas and hobbies

2006-07-18T19:22:00.000+09:00

I bought a new pair of pants yesterday, after trying on every pair in the store that didn't have lace or huge holes all over the place. It can be tricky buying pants here. Generally, I hold up a pair of "L" size pants and wonder if I ended up in the kids' section somehow. But I found some. I figured out that I have to go department stores instead of the mall-type stores where I had been looking. After the purchase, I was rewarded by this phrase on the tag: "if you want beauty legs & hip, you just gotta let me know." Weeeellll...I wouldn't mind "beauty legs & hip" but I am not sure these pants will do it for me...

It's been raining pretty heavily today. I work in the city near the airport on Tuesdays and it was pretty busy both when I arrived and when I left. Both times, I saw a whole parade of umbrellas walking from one train station to the other. As people exited the station, I could hear the "huwoop" of the umbrellas popping open...looking down the sidewalk, all I could see were dozens of umbrellas moving as one.

Also today...one of my more creative six-year-olds gave this answer when asked what her hobby is (my voice in italics): "My hobby is read (reading) AND cook (cooking) AND English (yay!) AND eto, eto, nan da ke, eto (flower arranging....), flower arrange. Sore dake. (What's your...) What's your hobby?" I am not sure I have ever heard a six-year-old claim that their hobbies included "cook" and "flower arrange" before! And I have heard about a lot of six-year-old hobbies the last year and a half...

taboo!

2006-04-17T00:04:00.000+09:00

It happened at a yakiniku restaurant (Korean-style BBQ). One of my friends was trying to separate a piece of meat with her chopsticks before putting it on the grill. I reached out with my chopsticks to grab the other end and help her pull it apart (shaking it around was getting her nowhere). She immediately started saying, "taboo! taboo! taboo!" but the pronunciation was a little off, so I kept saying, "what?" until I finally got it and dropped it. Apparently, two people using chopsticks to pick something up at the same time is a part of a ritual performed at the death of a family member. How come Lonely Planet left that one out??! Here's a website with some more info.

seaweed for easter dinner?

2006-04-16T23:21:00.000+09:00

We went to a Japanese Easter church service today and afterwards attended the lunch that had been prepared (where the men and women sat separately). At each place setting was a small bento (boxed lunch) which included an egg salad sandwich, ham sandwich, cold chicken nugget-like balls, a couple cold potato wedges, and yes, seaweed wrapped around rice. We also found wasabi in the sandwiches. It was...interesting. Definitely not my first Easter away from home, and not even my first Easter in another country, but I would have to say that it was the first Easter that I really longed for a "real" Easter dinner.

omoshiroi

2006-04-14T11:46:00.000+09:00

Omoshiroi means funny and/or interesting in Japanese. A lot of things here seem to be one of those two things to me. Here's hoping they are to someone else as well!