What do you mean Santa only comes to good boys and girl?

hello hello.. as i sit here.. under the kotatsu.. well at least half of me under it. isn't this the dilemma with kotatsus? the bottom half gets all toasty warm while your fingers get all frigid trying to write blog posts to love ones at home? .. anyways yes.. as i sit here and it slowly drops below -4..-5... maybe down to -8 (sorry i can never get the conversion to F just right so ill leave it at C).. i think about how this last month has seen its share of adventures and silliness as, as I've come to realize, is a prerequisite when living in Japan.

Thanksgiving happened. We had quite an all inclusive thanksgiving... mashed potatoes, peas, stuffing, quiche, a fantastic chicken dish (made by this little chef).. even topped off with pumpkin pie.. and of course friends. And out of the five times Ive spent this holiday overseas, this one was one of the best. This event also inspired me to make a pumpkin pie from scratch to give to my friends who had never had pumpkin pie... well.. one pie turned into seven and i never want to see and another pumpkin pie again.. ok well maybe for a year.

Pumpkin Pie Marathon

I made my 4th trip to Nikko... to catch the tail end of the foliage and the beginning of some icy mountain roads. I went with a group of my friends- we stayed in a great cabin with a nice hot spring and explored the temples the following day. the crowds were horrendous but nikko always manages to impress.

First Snowman of the Year

Drive to Nikko

Nikko

We stopped by Rome.

Confusion

My first trip snowboarding!... was attempted but we got sidetracked by a cool artisan village in the mountains. We rented bikes and went to different types of workshops for different art .. thingys. It was cool. This weekend also included Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" .. in Japanese.. by the local Katashina theater troup. Now, its been a while since I've read the book but I am pretty sure that in the original, the ghost of Christmas Past wasn't a samurai. But I could be mistaken. It wasn't too bad.. i think.. of course i really don't know because i didn't understand it.

And school life is going... I have already taught "Christmas" 5 times and probably will at least another 10 times.. It really is a thing of power this job- I can tell them that Santa has a pet alligator and they'd probably believe me. But no, I'm keeping to the truth- that Santa watches children all year long, has small people with weird ears building the toys, visits malls when he can, and fits down chimneys.

Mandatory end of the year work parties start soon which means spending loads of money, drinking with old men, and being requested to sing The Carpenters at kareoke. It's an incredible busy time of year both at school and outside of it... when all you want to do is cuddle down under your kotatsu. But someones gotta spread the Christmas spirit around here... so i guess Ill be wearing a Santa hat and singing Jingle Bells till i get on the plane to come home.

ME-RI- KURISUMASU!

hello hello
this is a broke but happy laura speaking.. passing up tonights events to write a little diddy about my time in japan.. well that and because i cant afford to go out tonite.. my wallet allows for either going out tonite or a wine festival tomorrow.. and well.. its WINE festival.. of course it wins out.
Anyways.. its been about a month or so since ive written last and, yes, my life has dramatically changed for the better. I am OFFICIALLY an obachan (aunt- not to be confused with an oBAchan-grandmother). My superduper brother, Aaron, and incredible wife, Lauren, had a baby on the 10th of October. He is a pile of goo.. but a pile of goo that is adorable and perfect and.. so.. almost.. humanlike. and i love him. So congratulations Aaron and Lauren and i will see you soon Grant Edward Tajima.

Fall has begun and with it the truly breathtaking fall foliage. It literally stops me in my tracks sometimes and makes the hour drive to school and back almost pleasurable. The mountains are a million shades of reds and yellows and the skies are a clear blue. as such i am trying to pack in as much outdoor adventuring as i can. hikes here and there and basically any excuse to be outside.

sweeeeeeet foliage.

some friends at shirane near kusatsu

Halloween brought parties and pumpkins. and CONSTANTLY explaining what a jack-o-lantern is. why we dress up and why are foreigners so excited about this holiday. i must say it slightly detracted from the fun-ness of the holiday. but i did carve pumpkins 5 different times this year.. which was awesome. by the end i was basically a pro. hopefully ill get the pics from people cause they basically belong in a museum.

so scary...

pumpkin carving party!

dad came. again. what a rock star.

culture day. the kids took lessons from the elderly in the community on "culture" stuff. like flower arrangement and go. the afternoon was a choir contest. then the teachers (including myself) sang an embarrassing rendition of a japanese song. it was pretty terrible and i mangled the Japanese. but still. what a rock star.


and to top things off are the random days in tokyo. some nights with friends at clubs or climbing on big jungle gyms. and days at the park or the annual Design Fest.

Design Fest... magic bunny!

and thats about it! tomorrow is the annual wine festival where everyone gets a bottle of wine and watches people fall down the hill, and probably do some of the falling as well. lets hope for no broken ankles!!!

miss everyone at home!

Pics of my room

Japan... the september episode.

So.. to continue from the part where I left you hanging about Sado.. I know.. you all must have been craving to know what happened next.. or at least where that last sentence would take you.

So yes, I went back to Sado Island for the Earth Celebration. And yes.. it was as hippie as it sounds. Well- Japanese hippie, which means they have all the necessary dreadlocks and hemp clothing yet missing the Greatful Dead, drugs, and brokenness of U.S. hippies. It was for Kodo; the Sado Taiko (drumming) group, probably the most famous Taiko group and definetly one you should check out if they come touring near you. Sadly, we didn’t get to see a whole lot of Kodo, but did enjoy an awesome Brazillian percussion group. And camped out by the beach (in the rain).. And was serenaded by a sick jam band complete with a tap dancer! .. oh And ate amazing sushi.

Sweet Hippies

It’s Sports Day season! I have yet to have my Junior High School sports day but was able to participate in an elementary one.. which is really not about sports but more a competition of adorableness.

the kids were not enjoying the speeches

sweeeeet girls...

Taiko for the Festival

Matsuri Scene

And of course.. had a crazyface weekend in Tokyo (as they always are). Met up with some amazing friends, went to a matsuri (festival), ate giant hamburgers, and danced/partied/danced some more till the sun came up. And of course finished it off with some delicious Yoshinoya beef bowl at dawn.

6 am Yoshinoya.. necessary

shibuya.. view from our hotel

Other news.. sadly with no photos to back it up.

I moved! I have a brand new home.. a cute one room apartment in the “city”. It’s near restaurants and gas stations and supermarkets and, yes, even friends! I’m really happy here, but yes, I do miss waking up next to the rice paddies with an echo of frogs and some roosters being my alarm clock. It’s a hard trade off.

I passed my driving test! FINALLY. It was *#($*&# hard but.. dekita! I am now mobile on 4 wheels…. Most days.

We had a regional Speech Contest. And we won!! My students killed it talking about the difference of Japanese and Western food (yea, thank god they weren’t really grading on the content). So now its onto a statewide competition. Yea! To choose who was to represent Katashina all the students had to write an essay. Below are some more interesting ones…

aww maan.. i cant figure out these stupid japanese computers.. well.. to summarize its about pore epidermal cells. and how he loves them even though others hate on them. it was poetic to say the least.

so i guess with that ill leave you with this.... an adorable child with a watermelon...

Ok.. so I haven't written in a bit.... ok, a while.... ok for 5 months. But after hearing some complaints that people A. wanna know if im still alive/what I've been up to and B. wanna stop looking at a picture of a dead dog, I am back on track! So here is a quick lil' somethin' about my life... the Japan Chapter.

Hanami! aka Cherry Blossom Season! Yes, for 1-2 weeks the trees, along with the Japanese, are in bloom. Every conversation is where the next flowers will be blooming, what kind of cherry blossoms they are, and.... Sugoi Kiree, ne? (they are so beautiful, right?). Festivals, picnics under the blossoms, and of course a zillion pictures of loved ones under every tree. We tried our best to take part in this celebration and drank sake in Numata's Park. I also visited Katashina's own 700 year old tree. Even with the blooming slightly past, it definetly was... sugoi kiree.

Dre came to visit!!!!! We had a whirlwin trip through Japan where Dre got to experience a little about what my life is like. We traveled down to Kanazawa where we saw some beautiful gardens, ate amazing sushi, and enjoyed a raging night of kareoke. Then back to Katashina where Dre visited my students, watched my teaching, and even practiced with the elementary relay race teams (I practiced too and my team totally beat dre's). Then over to Nikko for some shrines and down to Tokyo for a last night that lasted to the early morning.

I've been playing a bit of field hockey with a local team. I try to keep up both with their skills and the Japanese-only conversations.. i pretty much fail at both but still manage to have a good time. One day I arrived to a reporter from the prefecture newspaper. He wrote an article about the crazy foreigner playing hockey in Japan. Although an interview took place I don't think he used anything I said. When the article came out it basically stated I was the best player on the team and a motivating force. I don't really know how my panting on the sidelines, being schooled by Junior High School Students is a motivating force so it was fairly embarassing. Plus, withing minutes of the reporter leaving I got a ball squarely in the mouth. Lots of blood and talk about pulling a tooth but turned out ok; only a few weeks of a soup and I even got a tooth I've been meaning to get capped for the last 5 years taken care of! (no tooth was pulled)

School trips with the students... The first I went on was to Tokyo. They let loose a class of 12 and 13 year old country bumkins in groups of 4, with no supervision, on one of the biggest cities in the world. Basic rule: be back at the bus by 3pm. And yes, they all showed up, all with their eyes glowing and stories flowing about their adventures of the day. For some this was their first visit to Tokyo, and most this was their first trip without parents. The teachers, on the other hand, had little responsibility other than to be on call for emergencies. We enjoyed our time in Tokyo with shopping, eating sushi, and visiting a cheesecake museum. The next school trip I went on was a science project to a local mountain. They took samples of.. things.. (I still don't really know) and then analyzed it at the local high school, known for its amazing science building and environmental science studies. I enjoyed the students company, hiking, and snowball fights with the remaining snow on the ground!

















Dad also came to visit! This time he didnt fall asleep at dinner with my friends! yay!! We went down to Kamakura, where my grandparents had lived. Its probably one of my favorite places in Japan; right on the beach with small shrines and temples tucked into the mountains that surround the city (Dad says that the Kamakura rulers did this so the monks would die first if they were attacked). The hydrangea were in bloom and so were the crowds. So, we mostly stuck to the smaller temples and did a lot of walking. Fast walking (Dad insisted that we walked fast because "we don't have enough time!! i only have 40 years left!") ah dad... i miss you.


































































Climbed Mt Fuji. Check. Started up the mountain at about 10am in a tshirt and long pants. Got to the top at about 4am in everything that I owned. The climb wasn't too tough, and not to pretty either. By the top we were packed in, standing in lines to get to the top of the mountain. Everyone around was slowly trudging up, then, as the first slice of sun peaked over the horizon everyone went completely silent and stopped moving. Some applause began over the mountain and you knew what everyone was thinking... it was worth it. Soon the sun began to warm our bodies and light up the lakes and mountains below us. We happily hiked up the last bit and celebrated for about 5 min at the windy top before heading back down. Going down was like one big sand/rock/dirt slide. Walking down it meant slipping and sliding all over the place... so I ran. We got back down completely exhausted and headed home.

Some other bits and pieces...
Started kayaking.. whitewater.. taught by this crazy Aussie I met. its a bit terrifying but i think ill stick with it.
Went to Fuji Rock... big music festival that is in actuality nowhere near Fuji. but saw some good live music, enjoyed camping, and was AMAZED at how clean everything was!
Visited Sado Island.. twice.. the 6th largest