List making and Christmas lessons

Remember that episode of Saved By the Bell where Jessie gets addicted to caffeine pills while she struggles to keep up (in high school, honestly) while pursuing the girl band with Kelly and Lisa. When Zach catches her trying to pop some pills to get ready for their "gig" she declares she needs them, "there's no time, there's never any time" (followed shortly by the infamous breakdown embodied in the lines "I'm so excited.... i'm so.... scared).

In anycase, i feel for Jessie. I may not have caffeine pills, but these days my intake of coffee is steadily increasing as i try to get more done faster. No, its not that things have finally picked up in my lax school schedule (though this week is surprisingly full actually), rather i have only 3 more days to prepare for my trip for India! As many of you can imagine, my life is currently full of lists - on my desk at work, stuck up on the fridge, on the back of the door so i wont forget anything when i leave the apartment, taped next to my desk at home, and obviously spinning in my head. This is the week of lists and teaching Christmas to an entired school of Japanese middle schoolers. I'm a wee bit distracted, to say the least.

Because i'm leaving for India in 3 days! Holy Tits!

On Peanut Butter and Showers - or how we all just want things the way we want them

Over an hour long conversation with my ladies tonight (Keiko and Yoshiko) i stumbled upon a significant and possibly life altering discovery - cultural egoism is natural and universal. We all really think that the way we do things is what is best (at least for us). What does this mean? ow can i really find it even mildly remarkable and worth taking up inches in cyberspace (yes inches, i am american)? Because it frees me of guilt. Yoshiko can complain about having to empty the bath and refill the water when staying in a western hotel with her husband. Its okay for Keiko to regret that the Michigan University shower heads weren't of the detachable variety, and that she spent a whole semester without a bath. Oh, and did you know that in some parts of Australia they banned singing in the shower because it adds an extra 2 to 3 minutes to your shower time? Crazy. Keiko decided that would make showering really miserable.

And I dont have to feel guilty that i dont like showering outside the tub or that it pisses me off that my bathroom floor is always wet. I dont have to worry about my recent dislike of communal baths or that i crave central heating about fifty times a minute. Its okay that i wish i could spread around Japan an appreciation for peanut butter and skim milk, if only it would make it easier for me to get my hands on. I'm allowed to think that my way of doing things is the right way for ME without insulting anyone else or their lifestyle. And this idea, in and of itself, is freeing. It doesn't mean i dont have an open mind, or that i refuse to try new things. It just means that I am not capable of constantly abandoning my own habits, culture, and upbringing, and embracing everything new as better. And I can live with that.

Sundays - the joys of being the only person in the entire chugakko who actually gets a weekend

So i've discovered Sundays are my favorite days ever. No matter what i do, I like it. They are low pressure, unlike Saturdays, so its okay if i spend the entirety of a Sunday afternoon on my futon/couch in my sweats. They are great days for getting things done, making slow-cooked, heart-warming foods for the week, cleaning the apartment, making phone calls home, shopping, or checking to see. The last few Sundays have been fabulous.

Three weeks ago, inspite of my huge need for some R&R after Gabe's bday party, i spent Sunday at my J-Gpas art show. Keiko, Yoshiko and I got the royal treatment, as Oji-san and the other artists served us tea and cake and taught us some origami (i'm now famous for my spinning top). Two Sundays ago, again wishing i could just sleep the day away, I met up with Keiko to follow through with plans we'd had for months. We visited Kongo-Rinji (a temple very near to Hatasho, the town our school is in) on one of the last fall afternoons of the season. It was gorgeous, and well worth the outing.

And this last Sunday, after a quick stop at Starbucks to avoid wishing we were home sleeping off the effects of the weekend, Keiko and I met up with our school nurse and her family to tour the Christmas lights in Yokaichi (basically 3 houses, one of which was her fathers') and have dinner at their house. It was a fabulous evening, complete with good food, great conversation and completely adorable company. Shimizu sensei has three kids: Atsuki (boy 5), Nao (girl, 8) and Yuya (boy 9). They charmed me completely, so much so in fact that i was texting with a friend today about how i want one for myself. I'm thinking Yuya. He's the oldest, the smartest, and wears these adorable glasses.

In the midst of a sometimes depressing holiday season, a string of great Sundays reminds me
of how great i really do have it here.

THANK YOU!

Today was a blessed day. I had two deliveries from the yubinkyoku (post office): my visa for india and a Christmas package from my parents. The former carried with it good tidings - finally our hotel reservations and flights are arranged and booked and i can start worrying about the weather and what suitcase to pack in. The latter filled my belly with sweetness (mmm puppychow. and only the beginning) and my heart with love.

Then i finally got dressed around 3 and headed to my friend Nick's for a gourmet french feast, arriving early enough to whip up some creme brulee. Nick wowed a fairly large crowd (13 is alot for a japanese apartment) with coq au vin, beef bourguigon, potatoes dauphinois and crepes suzette. Candice added to the dessert pile with some fabulous chocolate mousse (made with tofu) and we had enough different kinds of Bordeaux to have our own sampling. All in all a fabulous evening, and the kind of night i haven't been able to enjoy since coming to Japan - cooking, eating, laughing, drinking, cleaning, sitting, talking, and more laughing. and then ditching out before the last round of cleaning.

Thanks to Nick and Merico for the lovely night, to my family and the Josephsons for the Christmas treats, and to the Indian Embassy in Tokyo for getting my visa processed on time!

Home for the Holidays - or how i wont be :(

So last year for Christmas we went to Mexico to spend a week relaxing on a beach and having fun as a family. I was paranoid in the months i heard about the trip that we'd leave before Christmas, interrupting our Christmas celebration (which i had missed the year before). I got lucky - we flew on the afternoon of Christmas day, allowing us to keep intact our ever-important Christmas eve rituals.

beach holiday?
or home?

I love Christmas. I love twinkle lights and red balls and evergreen branches and presents under the tree and mistletoe and baking cookies and going to holiday themed parties and watching 'White Christmas' and 'Miracle on 34th Street' and driving around to see the Christmas lights and spending many days shopping for the perfect gifts and wrapping them just so and planning the Christmas eve appetizer menu and the smells of cinnamon and pine and Christmas music, from the beautiful and orchestral to old school classics to the endlessly corny, and going home for the holidays to fight with my brother over the remote and whine about the empty pot of coffee and fires in our fireplace and wearing slippers and new pajamas and the mess in the living room after christmas eve present swapping is all over and the wine and Christmas eve church service and the requisite watching of a Christmas eve movie and feeling warm inside and out.

The only thing i dont like about Christmas is being away from it. Here in Japan nothing i do seems to get me into the Christmas mood. Its just becomming winter here and there has been no snow. Very occasionally i stumble across a house with lights on at night - invariably they are tacky and flashing. The most decorated places are the 711's and the grocery stores, which endlessly play the same bad Christmas covers that even I find annoying. Thanksgiving in Japan fell on Labor Day, but even though i had the day off the whole holiday was a non-event for me and therefore a lackluster beginning to a holiday season.

Doreamon is part of the Christmas display

I shopped for Christmas gifts in the wrong frame of mind, leaving me disappointed in my purchases. I couldn't really even wrap things because customs will open it all, so my gifts were sent in unimpressive packaging. I wont even be able to have a Christmas celebration with friends here or be at home to call my family as i'll be travelling.

And don't get me wrong, i'm still thrilled about India. I know that if i can't go home its very good that i'm not staying in Japan where i'd probably spend the holiday at Keiko's house, trespassing on their hospitality, eating Christmas Cake (i htink the Japanese equivalent to fruit cake), and being void of holiday cheer. I've just started to wonder why i'm not going home. Why i ever thought another Christmas away from home was a good idea.

So to all of you who will be home for Christmas - enjoy it. Revel in it. Soak up the warmth and the good smells and eat more than your share of calories. To anyone else away from home, family and friends this Christmas - i feel for you. Maybe you can help me remember that it will only make next Christmas and all the ones after all that much better.

Okonomiyaki Week - or how i may have to start watching my cholesterol

Okonomiyaki is one of my favorite Japanese foods. Its a pancake type food, made from a batter of egg, flour, water and cabbage, fried up with veggies and meat, served with mayo and a dark/sweet sauce (and, unfortunately seaweed and fish flakes). This week, without planning it or anything, i ate Okonomiyaki nearly everyday.

Monday night i decided to make it at home for the first time. It was absolutely delicious. So delicious that i enjoyed the leftovers the next day for lunch. Then Tuesday evening, after shopping with Keiko, she convinced me to go to her house and scrounge up something to eat. Her mom laid a full dinner, of course, complete with okonomiyaki. Wednesday night i was in a rush to get to japanese class and had no time to buy groceries, so of course its Okonomiyaki again. And, since leftovers are like my rule at lunch, it was okinomiyaki lunch on Thursday. By this point i was a little less thrilled about my plans to have okinomiyaki with Keiko and Takashi, another teacher, on Friday night.

Luckily Thursday with the J-gparents was a break from okinomiyaki to make another of my favorite Japanese foods (kind of): GYOZA!!! Keiko and I got to learn how to properly stuff the wonton dough and fold it, and all together i think we made over 200 gyoza for 5 people. Seriously. But since dinner was nothing but gyoza and soup, it worked out okay. And i somehow beat through the veil of my post-gyoza food coma to remember to take a picture!

Yoshiko, Keiko, and Donata (an elementary ALT who used to teach at my school)

Then tonight i was saved from day five of okinomiyaki when the aforementioned restaurant was closed - although to tell you the truth i was still excited about okonomiyaki. Even just saying it is fun. Luckily the alternative was fabulous: my first ever Japanese buffet. I'm disappointed in myself for failing to get photos, but the spread was amazing. We're talking sushi, raw meat (for korean barbeque at the table!), chinese dishes, pastas and meatballs, fried snacks (french fries, gyoza, tempura shrimp, takoyaki, fried chicken, etc.), salad bar, fruit section, massive drink bar, and a dessert corner featuring at least 10 different cakes and a cooler of ice cream!!! 6 different hand-scoopable flavors. It was pretty heavenly and turned out to be a fun excursion.

My favorite thing about nights/weeks like these is that what i think is one event (ie: me going to Keiko's for a quick bite, dinner with Takashi, Donata joining us for Thursday dinner...) is really just the beginning of a tradition. Keiko's mother and father have now started planning a time for me to go with them to make pottery and welcome me for dinner whenever i don't have enough food in my house. Takashi said next time we have dinner he'll make sure the okonomiyaki place is open first. Donata, Yoshiko, Keiko and I have high hopes of a girls night at Cannery Row in the near future. And this is just a handful of examples. Every day it seems someone knew wants to let me into their life. And feed me :)

**recently i have been notified about the rudeness of using others' photos on my blog without properly crediting them. Apologies to anyone offended. i meant no harm, only put up the pictures to help explain to readers at home what was meant by okonomiyaki and gyoza. If you're confused you'll have to figure it out on your own **

My Mantra... or how i really need to go to India and get a new one

Sometime during senior year my roommate had a week of 'mantra' searching. She decided at some point that she needed a cheer in her head to keep her going and remind her of what was important in life. In the midst of her full out search she would send me snippets of things she'd found, one of which i sort of took on as my own. "May i be filled with loving kindness. May i be at peace." So it sounds kind of lame, but its done me well this last year or so.

But now i'm in search of a new mantra. Something to embody my life in Japan and after college and to brace me for the ever shifting road ahead. Something along the lines of 'Change is a good thing," or "to everything, turn turn turn, there is a season..." Well you get the idea. Thus i have been avoiding writing this past week as i attempt to write a new, optimistic, life-embodying mantra for myself. Unfortunately i have failed, and tonight i realized that i am officially mantra-less.

But here is what i do have: Life is all about change. I am six months out of college already. Six months!!! And i am living in Japan. Everyday is a challenge and most days i can meet the challenge and see everyday as fun and adventerous too. And next year, i wont be here anymore, i will face another change, and where it will take me (or more importantly, how i will pay for it!) i dont know. But i know that i am lucky because throughout college and now in the months after college I have buttresses all around me (okay, cut me some slack, i am studying for the GRE). At home i have a family who never cease to help me, care about me, love me, surprise me, support me, and send me packages from home :) I have friends throughout the world now who listen to my stories, who laugh with me and cry with me, and who never judge me (even when i admit that my top two favorite Christmas albums are Amy Grant's Home for Christmas and Hanson's Snowed In). And in Japan i may not have dozens of hands to hold, and may find the lack of hugs shocking, but i have a few wonderful souls who touch my life and help me to get through every day and to do the little everyday things.

So really, with or without a mantra about the changes in life (like the metamorphosis of a caterpiller...) i just want to say thanks and i love you.

Rediscovering Kyoto - or how i remembered the amazingness of having a Lonely Planet guidebook by your side.

I was lucky enough to spend a killer long weekend in Otsu and Kyoto. I say long weekend because even though i wasn't blessed with one of the bi-weekly holidays (this coming week we have Thursday off for Labor/Thanksgiving Day) i did spend Thursday and Friday in meetings in Otsu that felt more like an extended holiday than anything else.

But Friday after the meetings broke up i high-tailed it out of Otsu to hit Kyoto and meet up with Pants and co. Now to beging the meeting i was to meet her cousin Peter for a drink based on the following description, "Peter has longish hair and glasses and will look a little scruffy." I was unaware of his age, skin color, hair color, height, weight, etc and hoped desperately that her description of me would include more than "Emily will be the girl with brown hair drinking a gin and tonic." Luckily after some trial and error, more involved with me being late and Peter getting lost than our innaccurate physical descriptions, i finally met the prodigal cousin and enjoyed a leisurely Happy Hour before meeting Pants, Philip and David for Indian and wine by the river.
Pants, Phil, David, and Peter

We continued our in depth discovery of Kyoto by climbing up the twelve floors to the top of Kyoto station (turned out they shut down the escalators at night) to enjoy the view and some seasonal apple chu-hi. Then we meandered the streets of Southwest Kyoto with a map not known for its immense detail in order to find our stellar hostel. When we finally arrived after midnight there was already a party in full swing, complete with more free chu-hi and instant japanese friends. Like the junior high school teacher i am i suggested playing the name game, which may have gone over better if there weren't dozens of guests already asleep in the hostel :)


Saturday morning we awoke to toast, instand coffe, and MI:2 in Japanese. Yes. We began marching around the streets in our PJs to find the neighborhood sento, or bath (because of course the hostel didn't have its own shower facilities) only to discover its not open in the morning. We decided ignore our own offensive odors and head out for site seeing, after stocking up on coffee and pastries.

not a good pic but my only group shot

Through the cool November mists we arrived at Fushimi-Inari Temple, a site famous for the pathway of torii that winds 4 km up a hillside. It was absolutely gorgeous - a peaceful forrested mountain embracing the calm and spirituality of the temple. Amidst the cool day and autumn leaves i could even drown out the ever-present babble coming from the direction of David and Phil. Most definately a location on my "must see" list for visitors and somewhere i hope to return.


Plus, many Japanese families were there to have their children blessed in celebration of Shichi-go-san, a coming of age holiday for seven, five and three year olds (literally translated shichi-go-san means 7-5-3). The kids were so adorable, most decked out in traditional robes and a few boys in full suits (though with shorts instead of pants). My new phrase: they're so cute it hurts.


At this point even though we were exhausted we just hadn't had enough of high quality Kyoto fun. We headed north, back into the heart of the city to check out the changing colors in the park surrounding the Imperial Palace. Just as the cool gave way to actual rain we found one of the covered shopping arcades and caffeinated ourselves just enough to survive some shopping. After that it was time for my departure and another night of fun for my visiting friends.

Me and Pants, reliving our nap in the park

In the end, I'm thrilled to remember what Kyoto offers that i so frequently forget - more than foreign food and good bars, its full of places to go, and nooks and crannies to discover further, and continues to be a destination for new and old friends to come together and have fun.

Midterm Political Fallout - or how you can't even escape US political stupidity halfway around the world.

Just back from a phenomenal evening at my J-Gparents. I was picked up by Yoshiko and arrived to the scent of sweet onions and chicken. I hate to admit it, but i've discovered that i inevitably love gpa's cooking more than gma's. Maybe its her responsibility toward health and lowering their cholestorol or his kindred love of onions, but once i realized he was behind the stove I hurriedly rushed to the kitchen. He let me 'help' by beating eggs (with chopsticks, something i still find funny), a completely foreign concept in the their house where we can't even clear the table without Yoshiko (gma) chiming in with "now i'm in my sixties, i dont need any help. When i'm in my seventies, then you'll help." She seems to define her life in decades.

After gpa left for his evening social dancing class we switched from green to herbal tea, put away the nuts and broke out the chocolate and really indulged, hitting the bilingual button on the remote and listening to English language news. A long discussiong ensued, winding between the tragedy of a tornado in Hokaido, Yoshiko's memories of US soldiers stationed in Nagasaki-ken, education in Japan, and more. And of course the news was dominated by reports of the midterm elections (and still a few notes about Kerry's month old comment and Bush's recent 'comma' analogy) opening up a new and very infrequently discussed issue - Politics.

Largely politics in Japan don't exist the way we think of them in the States. Its not the politics of issues and economics and international relations and war and trade and domestic policy and welfare and religion and education. Its the politics of relationships. When i asked Yoshiko the main difference between the leading party (LDP) and the top opposition party (the DP. Note, the only difference is that the ruling party is the Liberal Democratic Pary while the opposition is just the Democratic Pary) she said it was all in relationships. that actually the reason one party had ruled in Japan for so long (basically since the second world war) is because no one can really tell the difference between the two parties or other parties that crop up. In both parties there are liberals and conservatives in fairly equal balance, and the only real issue is power - the power of relationships and the power utilized by the current leader. Because Prime Minister Abe is a 'hardliner' and very conservative the DFL is getting a conservative reputation, but as soon as Abe is out of the hot seat, it will change.

In the midst of discovering some realities of Japanese politics i was reminded of the realities of American politics. Even here, halfway around the world, US politics dominate the evening news (and both in English and Japanese). Even the midterm elections which seem less influential on the international sphere or at least less inflammatory and publicized, are still on the news two days later. And Yoshiko, my 65 year old japanese psuedo grandmother knows who won the gubernatorial election in Florida, Rumsfeld resigned as Secretary of Defense, and that the House was re-taken by the Democrats. I'm not even sure my actual American grandmother knows all that. And there is something shockingly unfair in realizing how much attention the rest of the world pays to what happens in the US. Do we deserve either the attention or the scrutiny (okay, i'm not one to fault the US, so yeah we probably do deserve it)? Is it fair that with one election the rest of the world is already concerned, perhaps more than many americans, with the election two years down the road? Yoshiko doesn't fault me for my liberal ways, even though she's admitted that things are better for Japan with a Republican White House.

But in the end, fair or not, the conversation makes me feel lucky. Lucky to have the experience of politics (at least in theory) as ideas and ideals. Lucky to have the freedom to vote and attempt to elect the most intelligent and qualified leaders. Lucky to have friends even in this far away country who understand, are interested in, and discuss such issues with me. Lucky that I will return to the land ruled by a man who called a war he started "a comma in history" to do my damndest to make sure our next leader is less asinine than he.

Two Oles burning up Mie-ken or Em and Pants in Japan part san

So this weekend i celebrated "Culture Day" by visiting Pants in Mie-ken. This three-day weekend proved itself to well timed and quite enjoyable. Friday we hit up a tabehodai/nomihodai (all you can eat/all you can drink) restaurant with the other JETs around Tsu before enjoying a few hours of karaoke above a hyaku-en store.

all the food!


Other Tsu JETS - Kalli, Molly and Chito


classic train photo... kalli really has the japanese peace sign thing down.

Marina, Tiffany, and Pants in our tiny karaoke room.

Shawn and Lolly. No clue whats with the scarf.

and finally my only saturday shot. Its amazing that we even got up the energy to leave Pants' house, but after lunch with her J-mummy we made it to Yokkaichi for some shopping and Thai food. And while we wandered around we needed a place to store the heavier belongings that we brought to enjoy at David's later. Thank God for train station lockers.

Catching up

Here are some photos from Halloween games in school

and from a gathering on actual Halloween - enjoying candy and company at Candice's adorable apartment:

Louisa - a brit who lives in Hikone

Candice and Nick... he was an epileptic pipe bomber.



and of course, lots and lots of candy.

To Everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn... or how i finally noticed time flying

I can't believe its really November. I'm beginning to experience the first expressions of a chilly fall here in Shiga. I am drinking tea and eating Chicken Wildrice soup. I'm wearing leg warmers. I desperately wished i'd thought of wearing a jacket on my bike ride to work today. I bought a new 100 Yen store scarf.

In other news, I actually worked for 4 straight hours (taught 4 classes) today, and am looking forward to 5 tomorrow! The kids finally figured out that witches and ghosts aren't all you can be for Halloween - you can dress up as Sensei's too, and they picked some good ones. I'm preparing Thanksgiving decorations, which makes me sad for the Holidays to come but thrilled at the possibility of eating thanksgiving dinner with friends here, meeting Molly in India for Christmas and New Years, snow and the Sapporro Snow Festival in February and much more.

Tonight i'm going to Shannon's to watch the tape of Grey's Anatomy her parents have been dutifully recording for her. I have no idea if we'll maintain self control and watch only the first episode, or go for the whole tape. Its a four day week so tomorrow i can usher in the weekend. Friday i'm going to Pants' for a fun-filled weekend of karaoke, eating, drinking wine, shopping, meeting her Mie friends, and whatever else fabulous we come up with. Things are looking good.

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