I'm a Pig

As I sit here pigging out on the Christmas candy sent to me (Thank you!!), it occurs to me that I am behaving just as my Chinese/Japanese zodiac sign would suggest - I'm a Pig, but I prefer the politically correct term "Boar". (These are the same zodiac signs you see on the placemats at Chinese restaurants. Click here if you've forgotten your sign - http://www.proastro.com/)

A few personality traits of the Boar/Pig - When wallowing contentedly along, Pigs are sensible, sensual and sensitive, sweetly naive, caring, self-sacrificing, erudite, talented, open-handed, candid, outgoing, amusing, charitable, obliging, graciously hospitable and virtuous.
But when their elastic generosity has been stretched beyond its limit, out pops Piggy's darker side. Then, he becomes hot-tempered, pessimistic, outrageously epicurean, earthy to a fault, sardonic, snobbish, snide, authoritarian, competitive, know-it-all, stingy, victimized and sometimes downright criminally mad at the world.
True? Maybe.

(The other popular way to categorize personalities here is by blood type. I have type A blood:
While outwardly calm, type A people are such a perfectionists that they are likely to be balls of nerves inside. Type A people are the most artistic of the blood groups. They can be shy, conscientious, trustworthy, and sensitive. I don't think this is quite right either!)

The Year of the Boar was also this past year, and it's the twelfth and final year of the Chinese zodiac. Is it significant that I came to Japan in the same zodiac year as I was born in? Maybe.

The Boar's horoscope for the Year of the Rat (2008) -
You have experienced a lot of changes last year in terms of love relationship, living environment or career. If you have moved homes or changed your job, such changes are settled and you might just work with them. Very true
Besides, the Pigs would have chances to learn or to invest this year. You should feel free to take any opportunity you consider viable.
All Pigs are likely to travel more often, either on business or for leisure. Also very true
You are likely to lose some personal belongings, such as wallet, mobile phones or keys etc. you should especially pay attention to your mobile phone. Hope not

I'm off to Okinawa tomorrow, so this is likely the last blog for the next ten days or so. Happy New Year everyone! I hope great things are predicted for you in the year of the mouse/rat!!

Ikebana #2 and Japanese New Year

Last night was ikebana class #2. Our arrangement, although it looks Christmasy to us with evergreen and red berries, is actually a New Years arrangement. This arrangement is "freestyle", so Eiko was more forgiving of our attempts!

Our class was held in the "tatami" room of the community center. Tatami refers to the rice straw mats on the floor. The room was very traditional - it had an alcove for a shrine, as well as an alcove for flowers and a hanging scroll.

In Japan, New Years Day is a much bigger holiday than Christmas. Here's a fascinating article describing all the Japanese New Year customs! On New Years Eve, temple bells will ring 108 times, with the last ring at midnight (I assume they will do this in Okinawa too, since that is where I will be celebrating the arrival of 2008).

I sent out New Years cards in keeping with Japanese custom. The Japanese text says something like "please be kind to me in this year too". Very polite and formal!! 2008 will be the year of the rat so there are two lovely rats on the card! But there is lots of confusion about the difference between rats and mice. Many people say it's the year of the mouse (I think because a mouse is cuter).

This is of a traditional New Years decoration. The pine represents strength and longevity, the bamboo represents uprightness (it's so straight and unbending). The red berries are the same as in my ikebana arrangement. And the white and purple kale have appeared all over town in place of flowers. This arrangement is in front of Himeji castle, but smaller ones are on sale at the grocery stores for people to put outside their doors (one on each side).

And this is a traditional New Years decoration I made with the 7th graders at school. It's part of the Shinto religious festivities for New Years and is to be hung on the door on December 31st. I think it's called a shimekazari. Many families will make a New Years Day visit to a Shinto shrine. I believe some families will go to both a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple on New Years Day. I don't know what I'll be doing on New Years Day, probably trying to observe these visits to shrines and temples.

geisha-hood

When Karen and I went to Kyoto last month, we had an appointment to be made up as geisha at a photo studio. The photos were part of my Christmas gift to my parents, so I didn’t post the photos on my blog then, but here they are (or at least the ones where I don’t look too frightening. It’s no secret that I’m not very photogenic. Plus it’s really hard to smile with your mouth closed! And honestly, the whole look just looks better on Japanese women!)
The whole process took about an hour and a half. First was the makeup which included the white base, pink eye-shadow, red eyeliner on the lower lids, heavy black eyeliner on the upper lids, and bright red lipstick.
Next we got to choose a kimono. There was a walk-in closet full of them making it hard to decide. I already thought my blue eyes looked freaky with the makeup, so I purposely did not choose a blue kimono, although those were my favorite. There were numerous layers to the kimono, so that the whole outfit was quite heavy.
Finally, the wig, which was like a helmet, was PAINFUL! I couldn’t bear it for very long, and had bumps and scabs on my temples for a few days afterwards.
Then it was our turn in the photo studio. We were told to show our feet, and to turn the outer foot inwards (I think this is because the geta (flip-flops) make you pigeon toed). Except for the parasol, I’m not sure what I was holding in these photos. And the very sad look is me realizing I can’t smile with my mouth closed.
We were able to go outside in the alleyway behind the studio and shoot some photos on our own cameras afterwards. We put on the very, very thick-soled geta and posed for each other. The Japanese women who were also getting done up wanted to pose with us! I don’t know why – the Japanese women looked so beautiful, and Karen and I looked so weird in the makeup! I fear we spoiled their photos.
All in all, it was a really fun experience, no matter how sad or scary I look in the photos!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

In case you're wondering how Christmas is celebrated here in Japan, here's the scoop. It's a workday!! In fact I just finished working. This week is school break so we are giving English classes to community members. As assignments go, it's quite easy. The classroom is the meeting room on the first floor of the apartment building so there is no commute involved. We're team teaching and each assigned just one day to lead. And class is from 9 to noon! Today's lesson plan included a discussion of Hannukah, Boxing Day, and then a compare/contrast of Christmas and New Years here in Japan and in the US, followed by learning the lyrics to some songs. How easy was that?


Here in Japan, with most people believing in Buddhism and Shintoism, I was surprised by the holiday spirit. The stores play Christmas songs, but two are by far played most - Last Christmas by Wham! and All I Want for Christmas is You. There are some holiday lights up and stores have a window decorations and other decorations for sale, but it's probably 1% of what I'd be seeing in America. And of course there is no religious significance to the celebrations.

Christmas here is more of a romantic holiday. Young adults will go out to dinner with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Many restaurants are advertising very expensive Christmas dinners. And everyone eats "Christmas cake", whatever that is!! They look beautiful but I'm told they're not too tasty.

Some homes have Christmas trees, and Santa brings presents to children. But Santa lives in Finland, and he comes in through the window because most homes don't have chimneys. Santa does not have little elves to help him, but the reindeer do guide his sleigh. And Santa does not make guest appearances at the malls here. Nor do they have candy canes.

So how will I celebrate Christmas? Well, on Sunday night there was a little Christmas party here which I made chocolate covered pretzels for. By now, you shouldn't be surprised to hear that they make green tea flavored chocolate here... so I used that for the green!

Then, last night I went out for Indian food with some friends. This morning, I called my parents (it was Christmas Eve for them) and watched my nieces open my Christmas presents through the webcam. Then I taught class until noon. Now I'm feasting on all the little American treats I've saved up or friends have sent - like a can of Pepsi from Costco, Cinnamon Life cereal, a noodle-roni pasta dish, candy canes and chocolates! Wow, that sounds kind of sad, but really I'm quite happy with my little cornucopia!

I hope you're all having a very merry Christmas! Look for more posts later this week, as I will have plenty of free time!!

Last Days at Yumesaki Junior High School

This past week was my last week at Yumesaki Junior High School. Next week I'll be teaching community classes, the following week I'll be in Okinawa sightseeing, and the week after that I'll be at my new junior high school.

This week was a fun one. The students had only half days of school, and the mood was pretty light considering they have the next two weeks off, so I was able to wander around and take photos of the kids goofing off during cleaning time and club time.

This drawing cracks me up! Outside the teachers room is a blackboard and calendar which is updated every month by a couple of students. One student drew this picture as I watched. It started out so sweetly, a little child in bed with Santa standing over him. Then she drew the "virus" haunting the child and added some snot on the child's nose. Next she drew in an unnamed superhero to chase away the virus! I guess the text must say "Merry Christmas and Stay Healthy"!

All term, I've been meaning to take photos of our textbooks. Instead of fun, easy and potentially useful vocabulary like food or clothing, the publishers of the textbook decided to go for heavy topics, like starving children in Sudan, landmines, and civil rights in America. I guess they want to reinforce that learning English is a difficult and depressing chore. A couple photos of the textbook to illustrate my point:

And some of the vocabulary the publishers think will be useful: "civil rights movement", "equality", "slave", "slave owner". I gotta tell you I hated teaching that lesson on MLK!!

On to lighter subjects! On my last day, I brought in thank you gifts for the four English teachers at the school. I decided that they would all appreciate a bottle of wine (except for one English teacher who I couldn't imagine drinking wine, so I got him a bottle of Smirnoff!) After making my purchases, I headed off to the hyaku-en store (the equivalent of the dollar store, but much nicer!) There I found these absolutely adorable wine bottle covers!! The teachers also thought they were cute, and even thought I made them!!

First thing on Thursday morning was the usual staff meeting. Of course these are in Japanese so I just tune out during them. But suddenly everyone was looking at me and laughing! I asked for a translation and apparently they were laughing because they were trying to figure out how to tell me that I would be giving a speech in Japanese to the 7th graders that morning! Great! They jokingly asked me to make it an hour long, but I quickly got them down to five minutes! Please note that my Japanese has not improved at all these last four months, so basically I wrote my speech in English and asked a teacher to translate. When fourth period came, I waited for my cue (being nudged in the elbow by the teacher next to me), went to the front of the gym, and just sounded out the unknown words on the paper in front of me. Then the 7th graders presented me with letters they had written me (some in Japanese so I have no idea what they were telling me) They were very cute, most had drawings on them showing me as a beautiful blonde! I was encouraged to "hold on" by many of the letters. And what was most interesting was the spelling variations of my name. The 1-1 class decided to spell my name as "Sera", and class 1-2 spelled it as "Sala". The other three classes got it right though.

Then yesterday, the last day of the term, was an all-school ceremony. The brass band played a number from the Sound of Music, then I was invited on-stage to give another good-bye speech - also in Japanese! Once again I wrote my speech in English, had it translated, and just sounded out the words. I was then presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers, and the leader of the student council said a speech to me in English and Japanese. It was very sweet!

After the ceremony, students had homeroom. I happened to be walking in the hallways and saw that in one classroom, the teacher was standing in front of the class holding an open umbrella over her head. I can't imagine what she was telling the students!

Once they were dismissed from homeroom, I got lots of hugs good-bye from students. I was told to "gambatte" which is basically the equivalent of "good luck", but can also mean "work hard", or apparently "fight"! I was very puzzled as to why the students were wishing me to fight, but we finally resolved that they were wishing me good luck.

Then last night was the enkai (staff party)! Once again, I amused everyone by taking photos of the food. In this first picture, there is sashimi (raw fish), but the real reason I took the photo was because of the flounder under the sashimi! Apparently some of its flesh was in the bed of leaves and the remaining flounder head and tail made for a nice presentation.

The photo above is nabe, a sort of hot pot. It's really quite tasty and contains just a hodge-podge of food cooked in a broth. This one had fish-balls, crab, mussels, chicken, cabbage, mushrooms and bean sprouts. I think it's a winter dish since we had it at the last enkai last month too.

Besides the food, heavy drinking was on the agenda (I was told to go home from school early and rest up for the "heavy drinking"!). At the beginning of the dinner, I turned my head to chat to the vice principal, and when I turned around again, there were four drinks lined up at my place! Here the helpful teachers are pointing them out to me!

At some point, a rousing game of rock-paper-scissors was played (they LOVE that game here), for the prize of the evening - $200 in cash!! Mr. Enomoto, one of the English teachers, was the winner. Here you can see the semi-finals of the game.

I was a guest of honor (the party also functioned as my farewell party), so here I am posed with the principal and vice principal (yes, I did get a haircut!).And just a few photos of the drunken silliness that ensued:

Mr. Maeda drinking straight from the pitcher.

A little later, Mr. Maeda passed out and being mocked. A photo at "phase 2" - the bar after the restaurant. We had french fries and edamane as snack food!

I really had a nice time at this school this term. The teachers are a great group of people and the students so friendly!! I'm going to miss them. I hope the people at my next school are half as nice!

December 12 on 12

Unbelievable that another month has passed by. This year is flying by!!

A couple of anecdotes from the last week or two before we get to the photos.

Yesterday at elementary school, a third grade boy asked me “Do you like god?” I was confused because the Japanese people are mostly Buddhist and so don’t believe in a god, and also, they never mention religion. So I gave him my blank stare and we called the teacher over to translate. She told him the word he was looking for was “sheep”! I think he probably meant “goat”, but I was happy we sorted that out and I could tell him confidently that yes, I do like goats!

In the 8th grade class, we’ve been doing a Christmas lesson. The teacher starts the lesson by playing the song “All I want for Christmas is you” and we talk a bit about the lyrics with the students. After doing this lesson for the fifth and last time, the teacher looked at me and said “this song isn’t appropriate for kids”. What?? (and I might mention that he chose it!) He thought the lyrics “Santa Claus won’t make me happy” were too suggestive for the students. I didn’t know what to say to that…

Last little story – the staff room is pretty bare here – ugly gray government issue desks for everyone. And teachers have to bring in their own laptops if they want to use the computer (well, there are four computers in the teacher’s lounge to be shared by everyone). But on Wednesday morning, I came in to work and was surprised to see everyone’s desk cleaned off. Apparently all teachers were getting laptops! (Not me, in fact next week is my last week at this school). So a team of men in blue jackets went around and set up the laptops – including securing them to the desk with a cable. Guess they’re not meant to be portable laptops. And I was just told, for unknown reasons, they can’t use the laptops until February!

Here are a few miscellaneous photos I’ve taken, trying to show some everyday scenes.

A little sign on the table at our favorite Indian restaurant. "How much you like spicy?"

This is a common sight - a bunch of water bottles all lined up in a row, sometimes with a pile of salt at each end. I've asked several different people what they're for, and I always get the same cryptic answer - they keep the cats away.
It’s getting cold, but we’ve had only one frost so far. I’m told February is the coldest month. Up to now, I’ve managed with just a fleece, but I think this weekend I’ll be buying a proper winter coat. However, it appears that I might survive just using the hand warmers for sale everywhere here. And not just hand warmers, but foot warmers (for inside your socks), and back or belly warmers (to be taped onto your T-shirt). And of course, you can get them with cute cartoon characters. There's an entire aisle of the drug store devoted to them, plus numerous endcaps!
Remember the photos of Asia a few years ago during the SARS scare - everyone was wearing face masks. Apparently they're a part of the culture here. When you're sick, it's considered polite to wear a face mask (I guess the thought is that it makes you less contagious. I haven't heard any scientific proof of that. I think they look rather dorky. I'd just call in sick, personally. But I don't have the Japanese work ethic). You can buy a variety of face masks - check out this display at a local drug store. I'm still trying to get a photo of people in public wearing them. Stay tuned for that!

And as long as I'm taking photos in stores across town, I might as well take a few photos of the snacks available at the convenience stores. Dried octopus, squid, eel, seaweed, and whole fish. Plus "beer sticks". I don't know what they are!

After the January 1995 earthquake devastated Kobe, Italy sent the city a light display. The lights are lit just for a few weeks each year in December. We were told it was spectacular, so we went to check it out, along with a couple hundred thousand other people! It was incredible how many people came out to see it (and come out every year). There were nine policemen at the intersection of the nearest train station to direct all the pedestrians. Several blocks of roads in downtown Kobe were closed to cars and had metal gates lining the road, so that the people heading to the luminaria could walk down the streets, while those people shopping had the sidewalks. The crowd of people going to the luminaria zigzagged for several blocks. We were part of this mass of people for about 45 minutes before we even caught our first glimpse of the luminaria. The crowd was murmuring “Sugoy” (Wow). When we saw it, Heather said “Daijobu” (it’s alright). While it was impressive, it wasn’t quite as impressive to those of us who grew up on Christmas lights. I was more interested in all the nice stores we were passing – Armani, Louis Vitton, The Gap, Banana Republic, etc., and in all the people holding up their cell phones to take a photo of the luminaria. Here are my photos from the night. You be the judge whether it was “Sugoy” or “Daijobu”.

While we were in Kobe, we headed to Harborland (a shopping center at the port) where I took this photo of the Kobe Port Tower all lit up.

That concludes this month's twelve on twelve. Stay tuned. January 12th will be here before we know it!

Winter break

Oh and by the way, I'm headed to Okinawa for eight days over the winter break!! I can't wait!! A tropical island, some serious sightseeing, and New Year's Eve in an unknown city!! Wahoo!!

Nagoyama Cemetery

On Sunday, we did a bit of sightseeing closer to home. We've noticed a large pagoda on a hillside many times on our walks around town, particularly on the way to The Mall (yes, the mall's name is The Mall), and today we decided to check the cemetery and pagoda out. It's a Buddhist cemetery (Japanese people practice both Shintoism and Buddhism, and typically funerals are Buddhist affairs).
The main building was incredible. Inside were statues of Buddha's 10 followers. Each statue had an offering of a box of Custard Cake in front of it - I guess even Buddha's followers like a little junk food now and then.