Matsuri Outfits!

Here are some of my students in their festival outfits!

Shout-Outs

So, the end of our Japan adventure is getting closer and closer and we are experiencing a whirlwind of emotions. I am excited to see my family and friends, nervous about getting back in the classroom, and heartbroken about leaving the friends I've made here. Like we did on our last radio show, I would like to give some shout-outs to the people that have made my time here special:

Ikuko, I will miss our hilarious and sometimes serious talks, and the fact that when Don teased you, you actually thought it was funny. I will miss your super-fast driving in your silent hybrid car and our Wednesday lessons. Thank you for teaching us so much about Japan and for spending hours with us cooking that turkey! I promise I will get that taco recipe to you soon! I love you!

Atsuko, you always had wonderful and wise things to say at our chat club. I will never forget your braveness, whether it was doing charades at the Halloween party, or getting lifted up into a tree! I will miss your subtle sense of humor, your sweet voice, and of course, the delicious treats you make.

Kayoko, you will be my crafting inspiration for as long as I live. I will miss your advice and your recipes and all the times you made me laugh. Thank you for inviting me to many many activities, for helping me get my classes started, and for researching anything I asked you about. You have taught me so much! I will miss the knitting club and nature club and our conversations. Good luck with your new job!

Murasan, I wish we would have met sooner! Our "japanese lessons" were always a treat every week. I really feel like I learned a lot about Japanese culture from you. Thank you for all of the delicious food and tea, and for helping me with my terrible Japanese. I hope you are able to travel to Spain this year, and to New York in the near future! I will miss your laugh and your independent spirit!

Alaina, how I loved our long conversations and your lattes! Thank you for all of the reading material, the recipes, and inspiring me to grow my own food! I hope to invite you someday to my own little farm. Good luck with your all of your hard work in Rumoi. You are doing great things here - the city is lucky to have you, and your family is lucky to have you!

Miki, you have been like a sister to me. I don't even know where to start...our movie nights, our karaoke nights, volleyball, kinball, studying for your exam, booking hotels, translating emails, yoga, snowboarding...I don't know what I would have done without you. I will think of you every time I hear or sing "a whole new world." It's our song! Or maybe "girls just wanna have fun" is more appropriate! I will never ever forget you, your smile, your honesty, and your friendship!

I really really hope to see all of you in New York some time soon...Ok, I'm going to start crying, so I'll end with this. To all of my friends here in Japan:

どうもありがとうございました！

It's a New Year

We just wrapped up the holidays here and are settling back in to our normal everyday lives. After sorting through and labeling the hundreds of pictures we took since late December, I've made these two photo albums. The first is our Christmas experience in Rumoi, which includes making mochi (basically pounding steamed rice into goo), cookie decorating with my chat club and the English club in Rumoi HS, and a gift exchange with Jim and Dave. It was really fun, but both of us felt a little homesick, having to open presents on skype with our families.

The next slideshow is of our Tokyo and Kyoto adventure. This really made us feel like we were in Japan. So many beautiful, crazy, weird, and hilarious things! This is a long slideshow, and the captions explain a little, but here were our highlights:

• lots of women in kimono
• beautiful temples and shrines, all of which have been burned down at least once in their lifetime
• eery bamboo forests
• scary statues of gods that we're sure moved when we looked away
• the biggest buddha I will probably ever see in the biggest wooden building (50 meters high) I will probably ever stand in
• sushi on a conveyor belt
• quiet cobblestone streets with little bridges to doorways of tea houses where geisha might be entertaining
• ridiculously-detailed roofs
• a whose whole second and third story are covered in gold plating
• hilarious signs everywhere
• several people pushing dogs in strollers
• transvestite being photographed by a homeless man with a disposable camera
• a rare sighting of Mount Fuji

Whaling

So I tried to bring up this very controversial topic with one of my Japanese friends. There is a new documentary out, called The Cove, about dolphin hunters in Japan that is stirring up a lot of controversy here for those who actually know about it. Anyways here was our conversation:

me: "So I wonder if the dolphin hunting is actually bringing their population numbers down. I feel like whales are different because there are so few of them, but I'm not sure about dolphins."

friend: "Yes, whales are . . . eh . . . (looks in dictionary, I'm thinking, for a word like 'endangered' or something along those lines) . . . Whales are a delicious dish."

me: "I see. But isn't whaling illegal because they are so few of them?"

friend: "Yes, Japanese hunt whales for research and when research is finished meat goes to supermarket. In December, near New Year's, you can find whale in our supermarket."

me: "Wow. Many people in America and other countries think that it is very bad that Japanese hunt whales, even for research because they are endangered (I look up the translation for 'endangered' ). They even have a show where animal rights activists go on a boat and attack the Japanese whaling boats."

friend: "Yes I know. But whale meat is very tasty."

me: "Ok, so let's talk about something else!"