Sunday, February 28, 2010
no problems
We're fine here. We didn't feel Saturday morning's quake in Okinawa (it's over 700 miles away) and we weren't in the tsunami evacuation region after the Chile quake. Even though Himeji is on the water, there's a whole other island (Shikoku) between us and the open ocean, so it'd have to be a really, really big tsunami for us to be affected.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Some of the students from my previous school wrote me letters this week. For 6th graders their English is really very good, but some of their mistakes are comical. For example ...
"Chelsey is Valentine's Day people give chocolates people they Jason?"
So close. Jason thought that since she used "Jason" and "chocolate" in the same sentence that she obviously knew what she was talking about.
"Chelsey is Valentine's Day people give chocolates people they Jason?"
So close. Jason thought that since she used "Jason" and "chocolate" in the same sentence that she obviously knew what she was talking about.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Winter Olympics
We had some people over to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics the other weekend. The opening ceremonies were conveniently on in the middle of Saturday here, so we could have a lunch party (make-your-own pizza). Japanese TV was showing it, which was good, because the Internet site that promised to be showing live Olympics was a bust. Watching it in Japanese was interesting; I did miss some things, and I didn't even realize there was a technical glitch with the torch lighting. I did think they were standing around for an awfully long time, though.
It was a good thing we watched the opening ceremonies, because we haven't seen too much else. I've seen some speed skating and skiing in the mornings while I'm eating breakfast, but most of the action happens while I'm at work. Today, however, I walked into the break room and found my vice-principal and a handful of teachers watching the Japanese women's curling team. The students are doing testing all day Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning I have no classes; I wonder if there will be more curling on in the break room?
-Jason
It was a good thing we watched the opening ceremonies, because we haven't seen too much else. I've seen some speed skating and skiing in the mornings while I'm eating breakfast, but most of the action happens while I'm at work. Today, however, I walked into the break room and found my vice-principal and a handful of teachers watching the Japanese women's curling team. The students are doing testing all day Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning I have no classes; I wonder if there will be more curling on in the break room?
-Jason
Sunday, February 21, 2010
weekend getaway
This weekend some of our friends invited us out to Okay
ama (not to be confused with Okinawa). This is an area about a hour south of Himeji by train. We rented an old, traditional Japanese-style villa. It was an interesting place. It had the traditional thatched roof and tatami mat floors. The entire place was sliding panel doors. The walls were paper thin and had no exterior insulation -- which made it really cold. But there was a fire pit in the main room that we had going all weekend, and each of the smaller rooms had a heater that could keep it reasonably warm.
Jason and I were introduced to a kotatsu -- which is a special type of Japanese coffee table. It has a heater on the bottom side and thick blankets coming off the end. So, when you sit under it your feet and legs get very warm. I loved it. I told Jason we need to get one (or make one) when we get back to the US.
On Saturday all 11 of us hiked the nearby mountain and had a great picnic lunch at the top. The picture is from the start of our hike. --I think I look ridiculous. I need to remember to take Big Yellow off for pictures. :) There are a few more pictures on the picasa site.
ama (not to be confused with Okinawa). This is an area about a hour south of Himeji by train. We rented an old, traditional Japanese-style villa. It was an interesting place. It had the traditional thatched roof and tatami mat floors. The entire place was sliding panel doors. The walls were paper thin and had no exterior insulation -- which made it really cold. But there was a fire pit in the main room that we had going all weekend, and each of the smaller rooms had a heater that could keep it reasonably warm.Jason and I were introduced to a kotatsu -- which is a special type of Japanese coffee table. It has a heater on the bottom side and thick blankets coming off the end. So, when you sit under it your feet and legs get very warm. I loved it. I told Jason we need to get one (or make one) when we get back to the US.
On Saturday all 11 of us hiked the nearby mountain and had a great picnic lunch at the top. The picture is from the start of our hike. --I think I look ridiculous. I need to remember to take Big Yellow off for pictures. :) There are a few more pictures on the picasa site.
Valentine's Day
On Valentine's Day in Japan, the tradition
is that women give chocolate to the men. **
**Note: Every person back home I have told about this said "Jason fed you that line and you believed him?"
But, it is true. The payback comes on White Day, which they celebrate on March 14, when the men have to give chocolate to women.
Jason was very pleased with his large bag of chocolates, and he took me out for a very nice dinner. There is a restaurant right across from the castle that has a beautiful view. We hadn't visited it yet, and Jason thought this would be a good time since th
ey're starting the remodel on the castle and the view will be gone pretty soon.
I know the pictures are a little strange. I took them shooting directly into the glass in front of us. So what you're seeing is our reflection in the glass and the reflection of the restaurant behind us. But, you can also see out through the glass to the castle.
is that women give chocolate to the men. ****Note: Every person back home I have told about this said "Jason fed you that line and you believed him?"
But, it is true. The payback comes on White Day, which they celebrate on March 14, when the men have to give chocolate to women.
Jason was very pleased with his large bag of chocolates, and he took me out for a very nice dinner. There is a restaurant right across from the castle that has a beautiful view. We hadn't visited it yet, and Jason thought this would be a good time since th
ey're starting the remodel on the castle and the view will be gone pretty soon.I know the pictures are a little strange. I took them shooting directly into the glass in front of us. So what you're seeing is our reflection in the glass and the reflection of the restaurant behind us. But, you can also see out through the glass to the castle.
bonfire
On Thursday there was a festival at the temple between our apartment and the castle. We stopped by on the way to our Japanese lesson, so we couldn't stay too long.The highlight of this festival is the big bonfire. We didn't really figure out what you were supposed to throw in, but some people appeared to have brought things from home and some people would buy things at the festival and then pitch them in.
I was just excited because I thought the fire with the castle in the background made for some great pictures.
Mt. Masui festival
I know I'm a little behind on our blog posts .... This festival was on Feb. 11.
Despite the rainy weather and not really knowing how to get to the temple, I decided to go to this local festival. Jason had a lot of school work to do, so he stayed home.
When I arrived there was a flute concert going
on. The monks, for some reason I never did figure out, were wearing baskets on their heads.
After the concert we went into the temple for the start of the festival. Usually, it is very hard to actually get inside the temple for this festival because it's very popular and there are too many people. But, the rainy, cold, miserable weather kept most people home and I had no problem getting inside.
The monks chanted for about 15 minutes and then had a procession around the temple waving torches. I thought that waving an open flame around an old, wooden building with lots of curtains hanging down was an incredibly bad idea, but they managed not to burn the place
down. However, I was highly amused by numerous monks who followed around behind the torches and put out the embers that fell to the floor.
After the monks they brought out two men in devil costumes. They also paraded around waving torches and had the added danger of not being able to see where they were going (I'm guessing, because they monks had to lead them around all the turns). After them came a large group of children who were dressed like mini-devils. Then we repeated this process. Then we repeated it again.
By the end I was freezing and thought that we had more than sufficiently warded off the devils for the upcoming year.
Then we headed outside where the devils threw candy to the children. I though we had just had the whole ceremony to get rid of the devils because they're bad -- but how bad can they be if they pass out candy afterward?
There are a few more pictures on the picasa site.
Despite the rainy weather and not really knowing how to get to the temple, I decided to go to this local festival. Jason had a lot of school work to do, so he stayed home.
When I arrived there was a flute concert going
on. The monks, for some reason I never did figure out, were wearing baskets on their heads.After the concert we went into the temple for the start of the festival. Usually, it is very hard to actually get inside the temple for this festival because it's very popular and there are too many people. But, the rainy, cold, miserable weather kept most people home and I had no problem getting inside.
The monks chanted for about 15 minutes and then had a procession around the temple waving torches. I thought that waving an open flame around an old, wooden building with lots of curtains hanging down was an incredibly bad idea, but they managed not to burn the place
down. However, I was highly amused by numerous monks who followed around behind the torches and put out the embers that fell to the floor.After the monks they brought out two men in devil costumes. They also paraded around waving torches and had the added danger of not being able to see where they were going (I'm guessing, because they monks had to lead them around all the turns). After them came a large group of children who were dressed like mini-devils. Then we repeated this process. Then we repeated it again.
By the end I was freezing and thought that we had more than sufficiently warded off the devils for the upcoming year.
Then we headed outside where the devils threw candy to the children. I though we had just had the whole ceremony to get rid of the devils because they're bad -- but how bad can they be if they pass out candy afterward?
There are a few more pictures on the picasa site.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
armed and dangerous
Watch out! 
They let me have a bow and an arrow. They even let me take a shot (with sensei's help, of course).
They let me have a bow and an arrow. They even let me take a shot (with sensei's help, of course).
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Sapporo video!
There's also a video of Jason playing goalie in the hockey simulator at the Winter Sports Museum. It's the very last item in the Sapporo folder on the picasa page.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sapporo Snow Festival
We had a great and busy weekend up in Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of Japan. We went with a group of other teachers from our building for the Sapporo Snow Festival, which was supposed to be one of the best events in Japan. We weren't disappointed with our relatively brief visit.
We flew in Saturday afternoon. At the Kobe airport, we were warned that Sapporo had bad weather, and although our flight was definitely taking off, we might end up returning to Kobe. As it turned out, there didn't seem to be any problems, not even many bumps that I noticed, and we got to Sapporo on time. We got to our hotel, checked in, and headed out to the festival. There are three festival sites; the closest one to our hotel was the ice sculpture display. A main street down the center of Sapporo's entertainment district featured dozens of pretty amazing ice sculptures. We walked down and admired them.
Our next stop was dinner, so we jumped in taxis and went to the Sapporo Beer brewery ("the beer that made Sapporo famous"). They had a restaurant with "Genghis Khan" barbeque, which was a specialty of the area. It was delicious, I really liked the sauce, and didn't even spill too much on the plastic bib they thoughtfully provided.
Sunday, while our comrades went skiing, Chelsey and I headed out to the furthest festival site, out in the northeast part of town. This was the activities/kids site. They had snow and ice slides, including one we rode inner tubes down and another with a little flying-carpet type sled to sit on. They were both a lot of fun, so we did them multiple times, despite the lines. There was also "snow rafting", where we sat in an inflatable raft and were pulled behind a snowmobile. Good times. They wouldn't let us use the bamboo skis, however, claiming they were just for elementary school children. Kids get to have all the fun. We did play a round of snow golf. Chelsey edged me for the title. When we needed to warm up, we went inside for lunch: a nice piping bowl of ramen, Sapporo-style. It was delicious. Ramen is becoming my favourite food over here.
After returning from that site, we toured the main site at Sapporo's big city park. This was were the really big snow sculptures were. Our favourite was the one sponsored by the zoo, with a variety of incredibly detailed northern animals. Or southern, in the case of the penguins. It was amazing. There were also really good depictions of a couple of palaces, a church, Mickey and Minnie, and several smaller sculptures. I'm not sure how they did that. There was also an international competition. We saw some really good sculptures from a lot of countries, plus the Dutch, who seemed to have given up and were giving away presents of blocks of snow. They were funny.
Monday morning our group split up again, with some people heading to the snow festival sites they hadn't seen because they were skiing, some going to a chocolate factory, and others watching the Super Bowl. Chelsey and I saw a bit of the beginning of the game while we were packing up, but we decided to skip the game so we could see more sites. We decided to go out to the Winter Sports Museum at the site of the ski jumping from the 1972 Olympics. Sadly the big attraction, a virtual-reality ski jump simulator, was broken, but there was lots of other fun games in the museum. We pretended we were hockey goalies, did a little cross-country ski race, did the boblsed, tried some speed skating and did a ski jump game. I also climbed on the spinning figure skating simulator, which was probably not a good idea. The biathlon game was out of order, and apparently they haven't put in the curling simulator yet. Outside, they had tubes for people to slide down the ski jump hill. The bottom, that is, we weren't going off any jumps, but we had a lot of fun. I managed to brake at the bottom, but Chelsey just went full speed into the padding. That's why it was there.
To make sure it was really a snow festival, it pretty much snowed constantly Saturday and Sunday. Chelsey said it was the most snow she's ever seen. And we had a great time!
-Jason
(I am working on the pictures -- I took hundreds. I'll get them up as soon as I can. -Chelsey)
We flew in Saturday afternoon. At the Kobe airport, we were warned that Sapporo had bad weather, and although our flight was definitely taking off, we might end up returning to Kobe. As it turned out, there didn't seem to be any problems, not even many bumps that I noticed, and we got to Sapporo on time. We got to our hotel, checked in, and headed out to the festival. There are three festival sites; the closest one to our hotel was the ice sculpture display. A main street down the center of Sapporo's entertainment district featured dozens of pretty amazing ice sculptures. We walked down and admired them.
Our next stop was dinner, so we jumped in taxis and went to the Sapporo Beer brewery ("the beer that made Sapporo famous"). They had a restaurant with "Genghis Khan" barbeque, which was a specialty of the area. It was delicious, I really liked the sauce, and didn't even spill too much on the plastic bib they thoughtfully provided.
Sunday, while our comrades went skiing, Chelsey and I headed out to the furthest festival site, out in the northeast part of town. This was the activities/kids site. They had snow and ice slides, including one we rode inner tubes down and another with a little flying-carpet type sled to sit on. They were both a lot of fun, so we did them multiple times, despite the lines. There was also "snow rafting", where we sat in an inflatable raft and were pulled behind a snowmobile. Good times. They wouldn't let us use the bamboo skis, however, claiming they were just for elementary school children. Kids get to have all the fun. We did play a round of snow golf. Chelsey edged me for the title. When we needed to warm up, we went inside for lunch: a nice piping bowl of ramen, Sapporo-style. It was delicious. Ramen is becoming my favourite food over here.
After returning from that site, we toured the main site at Sapporo's big city park. This was were the really big snow sculptures were. Our favourite was the one sponsored by the zoo, with a variety of incredibly detailed northern animals. Or southern, in the case of the penguins. It was amazing. There were also really good depictions of a couple of palaces, a church, Mickey and Minnie, and several smaller sculptures. I'm not sure how they did that. There was also an international competition. We saw some really good sculptures from a lot of countries, plus the Dutch, who seemed to have given up and were giving away presents of blocks of snow. They were funny.
Monday morning our group split up again, with some people heading to the snow festival sites they hadn't seen because they were skiing, some going to a chocolate factory, and others watching the Super Bowl. Chelsey and I saw a bit of the beginning of the game while we were packing up, but we decided to skip the game so we could see more sites. We decided to go out to the Winter Sports Museum at the site of the ski jumping from the 1972 Olympics. Sadly the big attraction, a virtual-reality ski jump simulator, was broken, but there was lots of other fun games in the museum. We pretended we were hockey goalies, did a little cross-country ski race, did the boblsed, tried some speed skating and did a ski jump game. I also climbed on the spinning figure skating simulator, which was probably not a good idea. The biathlon game was out of order, and apparently they haven't put in the curling simulator yet. Outside, they had tubes for people to slide down the ski jump hill. The bottom, that is, we weren't going off any jumps, but we had a lot of fun. I managed to brake at the bottom, but Chelsey just went full speed into the padding. That's why it was there.
To make sure it was really a snow festival, it pretty much snowed constantly Saturday and Sunday. Chelsey said it was the most snow she's ever seen. And we had a great time!
-Jason
(I am working on the pictures -- I took hundreds. I'll get them up as soon as I can. -Chelsey)
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Nice dye job
I was ready to teach a class Tuesday, but my partner teacher wasn't in the teachers room. So I went up to the eighth-grade floor to see if she was in the prep room there. I walked into the prep room and saw why she didn't make it to the teachers room during break: she was busy spray painting a kid's hair. He must have come to school without jet-black hair. Eighth grade kids are such trouble.
-Jason
-Jason
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