Happy New Year!

Here we all are at our

New Year's Eve

dinner last night!
I came up to Sasebo to spend Oshougatsu with a really nice family (though Masa-chan, who's looking over my shoulder now, says that I should write a "really crazy family") that adopted me at the Saga Balloon festival. Yoko-san prepared an amazing dinner last night and a wonderful breakfast this morning.

The food that is prepared for the New Year's holiday is called "osechi-ryouri"

On the table here you see several dishes. We started with a soba noodle soup, and then helped ourselves to samples from all the dishes you see there. It's almost like being at a tapas restaurant. Besides the soba, there was also a type of fried chicken in garlic/vinegar/sugar sauce, pickled radishes, cabbage salad with sesame dressing, sashimi (tai, hirasu, & tako - octopus), veggies, and kamaboko (that best translates to fish paste cakes, but they taste much better than they sound)

Here is a closeup of the soba and kamaboko. In the soup there are homemade soba noodles (buckwheat, I think), grilled meat, mushrooms, and pink kamaboko & green scallions for color. The pink and white kamaboko on the plate has a kanji in it that says "kotobuki" which roughly translates to celebration.

Next to the kamaboko you see some lemon (that was for the oysters from the neighbors), and on the other side is the sashimi and daikon. The boiled vegetables on the plate were healthy and edible "good luck charms" of sorts for the new year include carrot, gobo (long veggie for long life), konyaku, renkon (has holes so that you can "see" well), konbu, and mushrooms.

Silent Night

On Christmas Eve I was able to go to Mass at the cathedral in Fukuoka with my Aussie friend and her Japanese mother, pictured here. Though the Mass was all in Japanese, some things still translate.




It was so beautiful at the end of Mass, when we all held candles and sung "Silent Night" (once again in Japanese, of course). Notice the lady in the veil there - it's common for the Japanese women to wear veils at Mass here. Of course I really missed being with Dad and Chris, and seeing/hearing Dad and the music group play, but, I managed to make it through. Maybe they can join me here next year :)


And, ahh, yes - the new traditional Christmas Eve dinner - yakiniku (grilled meat).

Merry Christmas!

Not only do people's hearts grow at Christmas, but so do Japanese apartments...well, mine must have, anyway! Yokatta! I was delightfully surprised to have so many people show up for my Christmas party on Sunday. The bus station manager, the man who runs the Hokka Hokka Tei shop, my eikaiwa students, my adopted Japanese moms, my crazy inakajin friend...even a handful of neighborhood kids showed up! In the top photo they're holding up the Christmas trees they colored, and then you can see them drawing AmpanMan, Santa and Christmas dinosaurs on my windows (with dry erase markers - thanks for that idea, Chris and Stacey - BRILLIANT).
I thought this shot was so cute. I was showing the kids how to trace a star - and they were just so eager. They made these really cool 3-D stars, which you see hanging from the curtain rod in the last photo. They reeeally liked decorating the stars with glitter glue....


Here's the whole gang! We ended with Christmas crackers, so I made the kids don the crowns and grabbed a picture of them in front of all their little Christmas projects that we did. If you look closely, you see a pink paper on the left - apparently they were excited about coming to my party, and they made this for me. It's a picture of me (with Japanese hair) and they wrote about how much fun they were going to have and they hoped I'd like their dance. Haven't yet seen the dance, but I'll let you know how that goes...

a Kanji a day...

I've tried something new at the bottom of the blog: a kanji learning tool.
For those of you who don't know, there are several components to the written Japanese language.
"Romaji" is romanized ("English") characters for the Japanese words.
The "kana" include 2 syllabic alphabets:
"Katakana" for words from other languages, especially English
"Hiragana" for words that come from Japanese or Chinese
"Kanji" characters are ideograms originally from the Chinese, many of which have multiple meanings and/or represent general ideas.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see a kanji character, the "readings" (how to pronounce it - but you need to know how to read the kana - sorry!), and some of the major meanings of the kanji. It'll be different each time you visit the page, so, enjoy! 頑張って、下さいGanbatte, kudasai!
(remember, you might have to set something in your alphabet settings on your computer if you see gibberish rather than really cool Japanese characters!)

At the 水族館("Suizokukan")

Hisashiburi desu! ("Long time no see!") I've finally returned from my trip to the States for Thanksgiving, etc. I was actually physically back last week, but I managed to limp through the whole week on auto pilot, and now I think I'm finally over the fog of all the traveling. I had to deal with a lot when I went "home", but I'm glad I went. I got to spend a lot of quality time with Dad, and on one of our outings he took me to the Georgia Aquarium ("suizokukan") in Atlanta. Subarashii desu, yo! I can't think of any better company for that little field trip; he's probably the reason for my affinity for sea creatures. Dad knows just about everything about all the stuff that lives there, so it was nice to have a personal tour guide. :)

All Aboard!

Wow I'm realizing how much I have to do before I leave on Friday. At least I've started packing already. Here's a quick pic of me from my trip to Yufuin this past weekend. I'm so glad I went (too bad none of my real cameras made the trip, though) - the fall colors there were amazing, and the town tucked in the mountains was sleepy enough not to wear me out, but it had so many little shops/rivers/trees/cute kids to keep me interested. The train ride was even really interesting - especially with the photo op - I felt like I was (already) at Disney World. :)

Let's go to Goto!

Right, so it's really corny...but I've a cold and the medicine is making me "happy" (or I'm lacking oxygen?). I just wanted to throw some quick pics up - here's one of me and Jared on Takahama beach in the Goto Islands. We went there on a slow ferry, and later some other mates joined us at a bungalow I found for us on the beach. It seemed like we had the island to ourselves, though, as the Japanese don't seem big on beaches after Obon (Aug 15). Right - so I have more photos, but blogger is not cooperating - gomen ne -
I planned to go to Kyoto this weekend, but I came down with this cold, and apparently it's cold and rainy in Kyoto. So if I make the 6:08 bus tomorrow morning, I'm off to Yufuin, a little onsen town in the mountains in Oita prefecture on the other side of Kyushu. OK - bedtime - oyasumi nasai :)

Yosakoi performance

Here's more from the Yosakoi Dance Festival that I saw in Sasebo. It's only a short clip, but I thought this group had the most creative little side band. Look closely - those ojiisans are 'playing' garden tools...

Happy Hallow-een!

OK - so it's a little late, but I was busy with the conference, so I didn't have time to post the pics before now. I was one of the "chosen" to be on the working committee for both the new ALT Orientation and our JET Mid-Year Conferences. The team grudgingly obliged our Prefectural Advisor, but to be honest, at the end of the day, it was a lot of fun working together. I gave a workshop on lesson planning that seemed to be very well received (or at least many people wanted to buy me "otsukaresamadeshita" drinks at the after party).

But enough about me - look how cute my students are! I was really missing the Halloween/Fall spirit, so I decided to take my lunch on the verandah outside of the library (yes - that really IS all school property there!) and tried to sprinkle about some Halloween cheer. Some students joined me in trying to carve the kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), we sang the "Monster Mash" and had fun with random trick 'r treaters that happened by. Unfortunately, "kabocha" are not pumpkins - they're green (OK), small (OK), and reeeeeeally reeeally thick skinned and HARD (NOT ok!). So here's as far as I got carving the pumpkin...I gave up and ended up with a fabulously delicious soup instead :)

stunt double Halloween aisu kurimu

Here's a quick pic to remind ya'll what I look like. I went up to Sasebo this weekend for the huge Yosakoi dance festival. Very cool costumes, very cool music, very cool moves. Think: Japanese samurai + The PropellerHeads dipped in the Fifth Element.
I have a short video that I'll post once my workshop presentation is done - I've got to present at the mid-year conference for the JETs this week...so I'm a little busy.
Happy Halloween to you - I'm going to try to carve a Japanese pumpkin with my kids at lunch tomorrow - but the best I could find (and I looked ALL over) is a green lumpy thing that doesn't really stand up very well. We'll see. We're going to sing "The Monster Mash" too - can't wait.

OH - and if you haven't gotten the memo - I'm coming to the US - Arriving in ATL Nov. 17, leaving from there Dec. 5. We'll be in Disney for Thanksgiving, and South Florida from the 24-28ish. If anyone wants to see me - let me know asap! :)

Irasshai!

Welcome to my little apato! Here is the "genkan" or front entry way where you take off your shoes (they go on a shelf on the left). To the left is a hall that leads to the sink and toilet, to the right is the office/wardrobe, ahead and to the right is the kitchen, straight ahead is the lounge, and just before that on the left is my bath. The little red curtain thingys are called "noren" - you can see them at the entry way to many restaurants, too.


Here's the room where I keep my clothes (on the rack on the right) and have an "office" of sorts. When I'm wildly motivated, I even use that exercise ball for more than just a computer chair.



Here's another look at the wall behind the desk - picture of Mom, bus & train schedules, picture of my former school in Takaki, poster Chris sent me from Switzerland, necklaces, headphones, picture of Gabby Reece to encourage wild motivation to exercise (maybe it would work better if I'd printed it in color)...

"the bath"

Japanese "bathrooms" are generally different than the ones in the US. If you need to go to the bathroom, you say "Toire wa doko desu ka" because the toilet is usually in a little room by itself. Notice the little sink on top of the tank - many places use this as the sink (but I like to wash my hands in the one that's outside in the hall). On the toilet you'll also find that you have a choice between a　大 "big" and　小 "small" flush - just another indication of Japanese environmental awareness. (did you see the birthday dragonfly Dad made me? on the right are my pics of Paris buildings on the Seine)


When I first got to my apato last year (before the renovations, so I still had an old toilet), the river rocks in the top sink part above the toilet tank threw me, but I was so relieved to not have a "squatty potty"!


The actual bath area is much better than it was - now the washing machine has its own drain, and I don't have to dodge the tube in the shower. The only thing that's tricky is figuring out how to heat the water with the gas heater. Though the room is spacious, it's FREEZING in the winter! I now understand this concept of "taking a bath" - you shower off quickly to get clean, then soak in a hot tub to get warm. Sounds good on paper (so to speak), but for those of you who know how tall I am, you can imagine how that tub there is not the picture of relaxation for me. This is why I go to the onsens (hot springs) as often as possible. You'll also notice that I have a DRYER - the other reason why the other JETs are jealous - I usually just hang my clothes out on the verandah to dry, but on cold mornings, it's REALLY nice to pop my clothes in the dryer for a quick spin.

...my spacious and modern kitchen...

Have I mentioned that my apato is the envy of most of the other JETs around here? It's huge by comparison - I think the boys' apts could probably fit in my kitchen. It will be really strange going back to the States where everything is so BIG. But such as it is - here it is. This is the view from the door separating the kitchen and living room. On the right side you see sliding doors - the one good thing about my place is that I can open up or close off rooms, depending on the desired temperature. A student made the basket thing on the wall, and underneath it is the rice cooker that I never use. I bet I can use it for more than rice, but I honestly keep forgetting I have it! On the floor next to the fridge is my shopping bag. I live near the grocery store, and to help save the environment (and 'cuz I get to collect these little green stamps that are undoubtedly good for SOMEthing), I just use that when I go shopping (which is almost everyday). Assorted photos, cards, etc. posted on the fridge, next to that the sink, and "burnable" garbage can. But don't get me started on all the ways we have to separate garbage - we have to buy special bags and have different disposal days for each type. It's really easy once you can FIND a schedule and then READ the schedule. Everyone jokes about the hassle, but at the end of the day it's really not all that difficult.



Here is my china cabinet (don't laugh, Papasan), and next to it my microwave oven/oven. Notice my pet fish, "Men" (that's Japanese for "pasta/noodles") on top of the cabinet in one of the pasta jars. He recently won the lottery, sold the jar, and moved to a huge place on the verandah - pics of his new digs later.




Here's my gas stove. For several months I lived in the fear that I would set my place on fire. But now I rather enjoy having electric bills that hardly ever go above about 2000 yen.






And at last - my Japanese microwave "renji" ("range"?). It only took me 4 months to figure out how to use it. I was ecstatic when I figured out it was also a toaster and an oven. As long as I don't need to cook more than one piece of fish at a time, it's brilliant :)

Any questions?

...and the living room/lounge...

At long last! I finally got my art up and remembered to take photos of my little Japanese apato. This is my "living room/lounge" and frequently where I sleep. I either throw my futon on the tatami floor in one of these rooms or fold the couch down and sleep on it.


When they were renovating my house last year I came in to find a huge hole in my floor - the workers had taken a section of the tatami out, and were underneath my house fixing pipes...well, no WONDER I froze last year...underneath the straw tatami mat is maybe a 1/4" piece of plywood, and then 3 feet of AIR and then soil! BUT I LOVE the tatami anyway. You can see I have a TV set, but since NHK charges you for just HAVING one, I disconnected the cable and never watch Japanese TV. Not that I watched much in the US anyway - the TV is now mostly just a stand for my year-round Christmas tree. On the right side of the top photo is a sliding glass door to a verandah, and out the window in the back is a hill up to an elementary school playground.

One piece of furniture of interest is that square table in the middle of the back room. It's a "kotatsu" and it's your best friend in winter! Underneath is a framework holding a heater, and you put a blanket between that and the top of the table (it really IS safe-). Many a night I sat and read there - getting as much of my body underneath it as possible! Please post questions - I'm beginning to forget what's "foreign" about my place!

acess denied :(

Of course now that I FINALLY got my act together and finished "fixing up" my apato, photographed it, and downloaded pics, Blogger seems to be having technical difficulties...hopefully it will be resolved soon... gomenasai :(

Deodeo darling?

So since Dad isn't here with his shotgun and I'm having a hard time getting the Surinak filter to work overseas, I wonder if you all could tell me what you think about this nice fella I met on the bike ride from Hiroshima to Miyajima last week. Certainly the tallest guy I've seen, he's a snappy dresser, and oh, what a nice smile, desho?
(This one is definitely a candidate for the BG All Stars Roadside Attractions rag, eh, T?)

...where the tide ebbs and flows...

Just letting you all know that I'm back home safe from my "pilgrimage" to Hiroshima. I actually spent more time on Miyajima (island), home of this famous gate, because I found it to be a much more peaceful place than Hiroshima City.
I'm told the torii (gate) and shrine are "floating" because the island itself was (is?) considered sacred ground, and so people couldn't set foot on land.
Somehow I don't think Mom would have ever chosen to come here, but I somehow felt a bit of peace as I sat on the stones here watching the tide come in...and go out again...

一周忌- "Isshuuki" - the first anniversary

The first anniversary of someone's death is called いっしゅうき.
Today is my mom's.
(I can't believe it's been a year, either)
Since I can't be with my family, I've taken off of work and am making a pilgrimage of sorts to Hiroshima. I'm taking my bike and tent with me and my goal today is to camp out on Miyajima - the island that has the famous "floating" red torii. Where these's a torii, there's a shrine, so I'm taking this photo with me and some chocolate that I got for Mom in Korea. In the Japanese homes I've visited, they've set up little shrines in their homes dedicated to loved ones lost, and they frequently place food and drink (sake, beer) in front of them.
Well, with a heavy heart, I'm off. Mom always did say that 'that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger' -

...just a random shot from the boardwalk area over in front of Fukuoka Tower...

Nakamura Biyoshi

A couple of months back, desperate for a decent hair cut and more natural color, I went to this place recommended to me in Fukuoka. Yasu, the owner, is the first Japanese man I've met who actually has curly hair, so I trusted that he'd set things straight - well, you know what I mean. He worked in NYC for about 8 years, and so his English was really good, and his shop was filled with antique-y things like I used to have in my places back home. They even serve me tea and have funky 40's music or jazz. So if you're ever stuck in Kyushu in need of a trim, kochira wa watashi no osusume desu, yo

holding auditions for a new roommate

For about a month I've been trying to put together a little container water garden to I can enjoy a few plants and maybe even some fish thrown in for bonus entertainment. Considering my restriction in transportation and the lack of Home Depot stores around here, garden progress has been a little slow. I did finally find and get a big pot, but of course I picked one that needed repair because it was neat looking and significantly cheaper. Still not sure what the Japanese is for "epoxy", but I think I fixed the "hibi" in my "toki" (sp?) so now it won't keep "moremasu"-ing.

So, since I was impatient for my real garden to begin, I started holding auditions for the role of my new tenant. So far this little guy is doing alright. He's even finally figured out that he's allowed to eat the plants there.

And yes, of course that's a pasta jar :)

のんのこまつり

This past weekend my town celebrated the annual "Nonnoko Matsuri." I have yet to get any straight answers: Who/what/where is a nonnoko? Why do we do the nonnoko dance? It's apparently a mystery to the Japanese as well.
These are the people from the city hall here on stage with the taiko drummers in front there that were keeping the beat.










I thought the lady was a lovely dancer, but I'm not sure why she was accompanied by - what are those guys, PowerRangers?

Dancingu wo shimashou!

So, ok. They're known for having beautiful women in gorgeous kimonos dancing around here in Japan, but I should warn you they also sometimes have other random creatures, such as tarako (which I believe is a character having something to do with fish eggs - like caviar) sharing the stage, too. One thing I've learned here is simply smiling and waving. Even after a year I still usually don't REally know what's going on, but I strive to maintain an attitude where I can just take a deep, contamplative breath and think..."hmmm...yes..well, THIS is interesting, now isn't?"






I am apparently a Japanese dancing fiend. Actually, they'll use any excuse to dress up the foreigner and make her dance around. One of my friends from school roped me into dancing with the inakajin (country folks) in her town for the "Keiro no hi" (Respect for the Aged Day) party they were having. After about 1.2 practices, I donned my yukatta and set foot on stage and did my best not to drop the sticks or boink someone over the head with them (I have NO idea what they symbolize - or are supposed to MATCH for that matter!).
Miraculously, I did quite well...but I'm definitely not quitting the day job. After the "beautiful" ladies danced, we held up paper "onigiri" (rice balls) while the "tarako" fish egg people danced a silly dance. You can see all of us at the end of the dance holding up a sign that basically says "Happy Old People's Day". The organizers even gave each of us a box of cookies to thank us for our efforts. I gave mine to the boys here - they're always hungry.

The other photo here is of me with my students as we prepared to dance in the parade for the Nonnoko Festival here in Isahaya. Kyoto sensei roped me into doing this one. Lovely lavander "happi" coats, obi, and kakkoii matching bandanas. Somehow the look really works for Japanese people, but despite my best efforts to make my hair play nicely, it just kept escaping. The kids told me the headband thingy was "a good match" for me however...that's just another one of those phrases that kinda gets lost in the translation. I once again had almost no practice, but the kids had fun teaching me the dance as we went along. (and yes, those are little white ceramic plates - think along the lines of Japanese castanets)

Kujukushima Matsuri (99 Islands Summer Festival)

Sorry for the absence, but I just got my heart started again after hearing about Dad's surgery last week. If everyone's telling me everything, then it sounds like he'll be OK, but we'll just say it brought up scary memories of what we went through this time last year...so this blog was the least of my worries the past week. Thanks for the prayers, everyone :)

So - even though I had to miss the fireworks on the 4th of July, I must say all the summer festivals and their "hanabi" shows have been worthwhile. Here's a bit of the show at the Saikai Pearl Sea Resort's 99 Island Festival. I am continually delighted to see all the young ladies dressed up in yukatta, since I thought that many girls that age would think such traditional dress was outdated. Apparently not! Whenever I see them at the festivals, they remind me of bright little flowers.

Here's a photo I took from an overlook of some of the 99 Islands...as you can see, Sam's appetite is never satisfied, and the Japansese tourists were even game for a little improv. And here's photographic evidence that I got to the bridge on my bike. After I took a nap underneath the cherry trees at the park by the bridge, I went down to the water to get a better look. The water here is aMAZing. The Saikai Bridge area is famous for its whirlpools caused by the extreme tidal currents.
Mesmerizing.

Sam's Summer Holiday

I think that my わに ("wani" - alligator) friend Sam here was sulking for several months because I've moved him to a place that is REALLY cold for a REALLY long time. He came out of hiding, though, when I mentioned the trip up to Sasebo for なつやすみ ("natsuyasumi" - summer holiday). We were away only 2 days ("summer vacation" being a bit of an oxymoron here at Kanko!), but you can see Sam had a blast.

As you can see, he made fast friends with the locals! (yes, that IS the famous Totoro!)

I took my bike on the train to Sasebo and rode around (photos to follow), then went to Huis Ten Bosch eki (station) and rode my bike from there to the Saikai Bridge shown here. Afterwards, Sam told me, "Onaka ga suita!" (I'm hungry!) So I treated him to one of the world-famous (?) Sasebo burgers.