You can be ANYTHING - or how i learned to not hate the tradition of dressing up for Halloween

Halloween has never been my favorite of Holidays. Given that it comes a month before Thanksgiving, and only 2 before Christmas, it has constantly been overshadowed in my mind by my love for the warmth of the true holiday season. Yes, it does fall into place as yet another autumn holiday based around eating (though not cooking, which makes me sad) but particularly the dress-up aspect of it has never really caught my fancy.

Ask anyone. In college i was generally the least likely to join the fun of planning, buying, brainstorming, and getting excited over costumes. Freshman year i didn't dress up at all. Sophomore year, while the rest of my sextet vied for different members of the Spice Girls I volunteered to wear devil ears and a red shirt so as not to double up on any of the Spices. Junior year i was lucky enough to ditch the dress up aspect of the holiday all together while in Thailand, and instead spread the excitement of bobbing for apples and painting faces. And senior year my last-minute costume idea was mostly based on a desire to join my friends at the bar.

So when this year's JET Halloween Party was introduced, i was surprised at my own excitement. Not to plan the greatest costume or one that would win my the prize (which was a sweet one - a train pass for the JR line) but just to go out with friends and enjoy a holiday that, for the most part, Japanese people just don't understand. In the end I pulled off a costume largely from my own wardrobe and the hyaku-en store (always remembering that i could steal Stiff's idea and go as Tom Cruise from Risky Business if i felt like going pants-less) and went as a 1950s Housewife ala Lucille Ball or June Cleaver. Sadly the curled hair, red lipstick, poufy skirt, pearls, cardigan, and apron were lost of most non-Americans, but I didn't care.

Some of my more favorite costumes on exhibit included: two PowerRangers, Tokyo Tower, Scott's Cardboard Robot (he won the costume competition, i think for sheer perserverance at wearing gigantic cardboard boxes and dancing all night long), and more.
Heiwado Birds (from a grocery store chain)

"Ghost" or your own guess

Scott (box robot) and Casey (German Girl)

Group hug (Island girl, Peter Pan, Pooh-san)

Sleep time at Bar Acura. Really wishing the first train came earlier.

Be True to Your School

On Friday we enjoyed yet another special day at school, Game Day for club sports. Three times a year, all sports teams spend the day (or whole weekend for some) competing against other schools in our block/region. This means that students are obliged to go to clubs at least 6 days a week, all year long, to 'maybe' play in three real games a year. And spectators are few and far between. Friday was the fall term competition (there wont be one in the winter) and the first games without the third year players, who are kicked off the teams after the summer term to give them more time for studying and high school prep.

I may not have made it around to all the sports (I was particularly sad to miss soccer and baseball which some of my favorite students play) but I was fortunate enough to see some Kendo and Judo at Echigawa JHS and also to cheer on our basketball teams at Hatasho. I even returned Saturday and spent the morning and much of the afternoon watching the completion of the tournament in which both our girls and boys teams took first!!! Woohoo! Besides learning team cheers and enjoying the japenglish words used frequently in sports (shooto, rebundo, etc), i also got to spend more time with the students outside of class and had alot of fun. And in the end it was a great way to spend Friday, with no class, no wasted time at my desk reading Anna Karenina, or looking at the clock.

Kendo is pretty intense and i love to watch it, even if i have no clue what the rules are or how to tell when they score. On the top is the adorable girls kendo team. Most of them are pretty quiet in class but sooo sweet. On the bottom Gen, a first year boy that is pretty active in English, is kicking another boy's butt. Woohoo!


Here are my judo girls. They rock the world and, in the less biased words of Shannon, annhilated the other girl judo-ites.


The girls bball team was pretty fabulous. They won their first game about 80 to 27 so even the new first years got to play. My favorite part of the whole thing was whenever there was a time our or a break between periods, the 2nd string girls would jump up to give their seats to the players, pass out their water bottles and towels, and start fanning them like slaves. Pretty sweet.

Boy's bball. Their warm ups were way fun and accompanied by chants that i could kind of say, and according to one of my english teachers, mean absolutely nothing in Japanese or any other language. On the bottom the team and coaches (Oota Sensei standing and Ikeda sensei sitting on far right) watch the game. I think there were 18 players on the boys team and during the two big games on Saturday only 7 of them actually played ever.

The Small Things - or the trick to being the only foreigner, living alone, without a car, in the boonies of Japan.

I've asked around and can find no one who knows why the farmers plant a field of cosmos after they harvest their rice. I'm guessing its some kind of crop rotation/soil rejuvination or something (i know SO much about farming afterall) but everyone just says the same farmers do it every year to make the town beautiful. And they're right, it makes my bike rides around Hatasho, to the Echigawa train station, to Liquor Mountain, and everywhere in between so much more fabulous. The other day i just had to be that girl (who i am virtually daily) and stop at the field, get off my bike, take a few late afternoon shots of the flowers, and go 'prancing' around the pink, fuscia, and white fields. It was really glorious.

The Adventures of Panties and Em, Kyoto style - or how we gained 19 metric tons in less than two days and loved it

So i spent the weekend in true Emily (and Pants) style - eating, drinking, cooking, and sleeping. Pants came up for a visit, meaning i was able to welcome my 3rd guest ever into my apartment. We're talking literally the 3rd friend to ever enter my abode. Yeah.

But anyway, Friday Pants arrived. Luckily for both of us, and our stomachs, Keiko was able to hang out too, meaning instead of taking the inconvenient, expensive and long bus ride from the station we had a car (and our kind of ride - she suggested stopping for Baskin Robins before dinner). Then i actually entertained (Emily lets out a squeal of glee) making salad and pasta for Rach and Keiko, digging into some wine, and just chatting for hours with the girls. It felt really good.

Saturday Pants and I slept in, waking to French Toast and a slow trip into Kyoto (weekend plan of sleeping and eating continues - Pants napped and i read the Lonely Planet India on the hour long train). We spent the afternoon shopping and wandering the parts of the city i was less familiar with. And when i say less familiar i mean we spent over an hour trying to find a French restaurant that, in the end, I dont think really exists. We settled for Indian (helping increase our excitement about our upcoming trip) which was delicious, though probably mostly fabulous for being exactly where i thought it was :) Then of course some free entertainment by the river. Saturdays are fire dancing days it would seem.

After crashing at a much obliging Kristin's place we stopped at the 100 Yen bakery in ZeZe (like i said, sleep and eat) before going back to Kyoto and heading straight for - you guessed it, lunch. We easily discovered the Thai place i'd been longing to try and enjoyed some great Thai favorites like som tam and sticky rice. Yum. We waddled from the restaurant and somehow discovered an oasis: surrounding the imperial palace, a block from the thai restaurant, is a public park. not only did we find a place to wander and waste the time, but just after we discussed napping on a park bench it was provided for us - a beautiful 10+ foot bench that was really just a log cut in half lengthwise which for us acted as a bed for at least half an hour. After the sun became just a bit too warm we wandered a bit again, before collapsing on the grass in the shade for nap number two.

This time we woke up a bit more refreshed and started the journey toward our afternoon caffeine and snack. Needless to say we were a little over-full again after cheesecake and cappucino/chai. Honestly. We finished up the day with a fruitful stop at Uniqlo (basically the Japanese blend of Gap and Old Navy), headed back to Kyoto Station, enjoyed the view from the 12th floor gardens (riding escalators up the whole way), and parted ways.

I arrived home around 8 and wanted to crawl immediately into bed. Who knew eating and napping could take so much out of a person?

Happy Thursday

Reasons to rejoice about the fabulousness of life:

a) i found Shiraz in a box and its not too awful (at least i dont think it is... my dad would probably spit it out if he tasted it!)

b) the smell of roasted garlic

c) Rachel is coming tomorrow for the whole weekend!

d) i'm not at work right now

e) dinner with the J-gma tonight

f) my double layer down comforter and beige sheets

q) Not only am i going to India for Christmas with The Pants, but Molly is meeting us there!!! How could life get any better?

Bunkasai!

So the Cultural Festival has come and gone. Weeks of preparations, rehersals, paintings, memorizing lines and songs, working stage directions, creating the program, etc. went into creating one fabulous day. Unfortunately for yours truly I had just come down with some kind of cold or flu that kept me home on Thursday, so I got to sit through the day with a fever and cough. And i had to lip sync for my big japanese choir debut. Lame. But all in all the day was fun. The program was a mix of plays, songs, speeches, dances, and more put on by classes, groups of friends, clubs, and teachers. In the end it turned out to be alot like some whole school talent show - complete, just like any talent show in America, with a group of under-clothed girls dancing innappropriately. I appreciated it largely due to the fact that it was performed to the 'Sister Act medley' in Japanese. And the girls first came out with habits covering their heads. However, i was unaware of certain unique Japanese requirements at such an exhibition - at least one boy dressed as a girl per play, having no idea how to run the stage equipment, and bringing at least 2 recording devices (video camera, cell phone, digital camera, tape recorder, film camera with extensive zoom lens, etc.) to the show. Here are some pics from the day that i captured on my (gasp!) single camera:

Princess Tomoko - named for the third grade english teacher and this class' homeroom teacher. Yes it was actually Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. And yes Snow White was played by a boy.

The mirror and wicked witch from Snow White/Princess Tomoko

My personal highlight of the day: two gym teachers, Ichimiya and Mizuntani sensei borrowed school uniforms and did a skit/song. Fabulous all around.

The first years' play. They're just so darn cute. Oh, and i helped make that backround by stamping my painted hands around. Pretty good, i know.

No, this is not a boy dressed as a girl again. This is a boy dressed as a transvestite. Yup, one of the third year classes wrote a play about a love story between a computer nerd and a transvestite.

The choir i 'sang' in. I'm in the back row, 4th from the right. Not that you can see me anyway.

The second years lined up to sing their very sad and very annoying song after a 20 minute play and 10 minute power point on World War II. Not so light hearted.

Here the students broke into a choreographed dance in the middle of the Pinnochio play. Pretty sweet. Except it was to the damn Mickey Mouse song. They really need to get a new song.

some weird chant and dance from the soccer team. mostly they looked crazy and sang the techno song whose name i dont know that goes "Right here, right now, right here, right now..."

The whole school lined up to sing the closing song called 'Signs', by the creepily named artist, Mr. Children

guh...

So tonight i biked to the teeny Brazilian Market in Echigawa. I spent about thirty minutes wandering the three entire shelves and freezer section, debating which goods to purchase today and which to wait on till later. I filled my basket, returned a few items to the shelves, grabbed some new ones and finally settled on the highlights - cornbread, black beans, popcorn, frozen brocoli. I was thrilled. Then on my way to my friend Shannon's house i stopped off to pick up dinner. In my haste and laziness, and continuing in my overtrusingness of Japan, i left the bag of groceries in my bike basket. When i returned, not much more than five minutes later, it was gone. Someone decided they didnt' need my bike, or my umbrella (which they left in the basket) but that they needed my amazing brazilian groceries. Honestly! i dont know who i'm more mad at, the theif or myself. I also dont know if i should punish myself by not getting more groceries from the expensive Brazilian Market or not.

This entire episode coincided with my first McDonald's meal in Japan. Maybe it was just karma.

Cassareen

So the kids at school have taken to calling me Catherine, or as they pronounce it Cass-e-reen. I spent a few days figuring they'd just mixed it up, but finally dug through my old JET records and found nothing of an ALT in the area named Catherine. I mean there was a Mike, an Esther, a Thaddeus, a Danata, a Julie... no Catherine. Then one student discovered what she thought was a funny pun and started calling me Elmo. So i knew they couldn't have completely forgotten my name. Plus in class they still called me Miss Emily. I was confused.

A teacher told me today that Catherine is what they think of as a typical American name, so maybe thats why. This seemed even more bizarre as nowhere in the textbook (full of Janes and Mikes and Emis and Ms. Greens, etc) was there a Catherine.

But after school today i got to the bottom of it all. It isnt a mistake or really meant to be funny or an insult or anything - in the end the students have decided that they dont really like the name Emily and that its just not right for me. When i asked why they said it was because Emily isn't "cute" enough. I can only imagine what they called Esther...

a perfect weekend

I may have fulfilled my fantasy of the perfect weekend (in Japan anyway). Yesterday i enjoyed a lazy and lovely Saturday morning eating french toast, drinking a whole pot of coffee (keeping in mind my pot only holds 4 cups), watching Emma, and relaxing. I even cleaned a bit. I went on a walk to enjoy the gorgeous day. Then i packed up my things to hit the road. The bike ride to the station was glorious and i arrived at Echigawa station to board the little yellow train exactly one minute before it arrived - perfect. Then, when i got on the train I put my head phones in as we wobbled our way to Hikone, i discovered two butterfiled dancing about in the two-car train! They were beautiful and yellow and orange, perfectly complementing the decor of the little Omi train.

I arrived in Nagahama after a train switch at Hikone to my awaiting friends- Brian, Kristin and Andrea. We walked off into the sunset toward Saizerya, an italian restaurant chain that I am not in love with. There we enjoyed pizza, pasta, salad, garlic bread and massive bottles of the cheapest wine known to man. They brought the wine glasses all chilled, even though we ordered red, which thrilled me to no end. Yup, thats right, the 1500 mL bottle of red wine was served COLD!!! Chillable Red at an italian restaurant... so classy :)

Then we were joined by more friends, Myles and Nancy, Mike and Deo, who enjoyed further bottles of wine and some fabulous desserts. Finally when we'd filled our bellies and heard from even more folks we headed off to hit up karaoke - not for just one or two hours but for THREE WHOLE HOURS OF KARAOKE HEAVEN! And what should we have snuck into the karaoke room? The rest of the bottle of wine from Saizerya of course! After a fabulous evening a few of us crashed at Brians after some conbeni snacks and lots of fun conversation.

This morning I woke up quite cheery. The knowledge that coffee was only minutes away (genously purchased at the 711 the night before along with breakfast ingredients) only elevated my mood. Then we scrambled a massive amount of eggs, cooked up some extra thick slabs of toast and feasted. I returned home this afternoon in a slight drizzle to enjoy a cup of tea, a nap, and a bath, and now to make dinner and watch a movie.

What a fabulous weekend in Japan.













Kristin, Me, Nancy, Andrea and Brian at Saizerya. Notice the gigantic bottles of wine.














Casey, Mike and Deo watching karaoke