Not Much to Say

Sorry I haven't written much lately. Not much has really been going on that has been too exciting (I know for some of you this blog is the highlight of your day, haha). All I have been doing lately is going to work singing the ABC's and Down in the Jungle 12 times a day and reciting nursery rhymes I haven't heard in 20 years (ah, the working life is grand) for 8 hours then go and hang out with my Japanese and Aussie friends/co-workers. But don't worry, I will be getting paid soon and with money comes a little fun (don't worry Mom I will be responsible : ), plus there are some fun festivals coming up in October where I get to travel to some new and exciting places so there will be stories to tell-stay tuned. For the mean time I will post a few pics to keep everyone happy : )

A big shrine in Osu Kannon-Nagoya

My classroom and kids (arn't they sweet : )

Aged People's Day

A little note about Aged People's Day. Today I did not go to work because it is a National Holiday to celebrate the senior citizans (You had Labor Day and I got Aged People's Day: ). I think it is is a wonderful thing to celebrate and I think we should celebrate and respect our elders more in the U.S.

In class we held a little party for all the grandparents and it was soo nice to see the kids with their grandparents. All the parents and grandparents had cameras and camcorders in hand to cherish thier grandkids and this moment forever, and I'm a happy I and Yasuko (my co-teacher) could be the one to make it happen.

Love you Grandma and Grandpa Mueller and Sheets

A Gaijin in Japan

Here is your first Japanese lesson (today was my first-Arigato Kae!!) Gaijin in Japanese=foreigner & Arigato=thank you.

Being a Gaijin in Japan where I am instantly recognized as a gaijin is a totally different than being a foreigner in Europe where I at least have the same skin color and facial features as Europeans. Everywhere I go I am recognized as a outsider, and its ok-most Japanese are very nice, some are not, but I'm sure you run into that everywhere you go. Many Japanese are not used to seeing gaijins everyday so they are not sure how to react-two reactions usually take place 1) they completely ignore you, 2) they stare at you and don't hide it,-- or they 3) ask you where you are from (3 is quite rare). When I tell people I am from America they usually get very excited and ask which part-when I say California they get very excited. For some odd reason the Japanese love America especially california-probably has to do with movies.

The fun thing about being a foreigner in Japan is that you can recognize foreingers (non-Asian)right away, and you can meet some very interesting people. Since it is rare to run into a foreigner two things usually happen: 1) you give them a nod and walk by or 2) if the you are more out going you walk up to the other foreigner and strike up a conversation (this is more common among the younger peps). Number 2 has happened a number of times and I have meet people from Alaska, Chicago, Portland Oregon (she went to high school in Roseville-small world), Australia (not my co-workers), Canadians... And everyone is just so happy to talk to someone you can understand and can vent your frustrations with.

***Side notes
-Grandma, I'm very excited to hear you got a computer, good luck figuring out
how to use it. And Happy Birthday on the 23rd if your not able to hear from me before then.

-Picture of my bike will be coming soon-I just need to take it : )

Seto Ceramics Festival

I went to my first 'festival" on Saturday in Seto with a few of the teachers from my school. Seto is about an hour north from Nagoya and is considered countryside-but its more like a suburb. Seto is a cute little town and is famous throughout Japan for its beautiful ceramics and pottery.

This festival was not what I expected a festival would be like. There were no traditional dancing or singing performances, very few people wore the traditional yukata (summer kimono) and there was no huge parade through town carrying the religious statues-although the local boy and girl scout troops paraded through playing instruments-very cute. The festival was basically six streets filled with tent vendors selling the most gorgeous ceramic plates, bowls, tea pots, cups, figurines... you will ever see, at a very cheap price. I had a blast and ended up sweaty and sunburnt and stayed in Seto till 9pm browsing the tents, eating fried chicken and french fries/drinking, watching the fireworks and buying way to much stuff (My excuse, it's my birthday-and its not all for me-hint hint : )

And the party didn't end there... 4 hours later (after eating and drinking once again in Sakae) on the subway Lizzie (teacher from KIS and soon to be roomate) and I met a girl from Portland, Oregon who went to high school 10 miles from where I grew up-small world-Lizzie and I went got a drink with her

It was a loooong day, but it was great and a wonderful birthday that I will never forget

p.s. I will put up pictures tomarrow, my computer is being stupid and I need to get to bed, its 1 am here

The Kids and their lunches

I finally had a chance to meet the little kiddos on Tuesday and all I can I say is, sooo cute. There are 13 of them and they are 3/4 years old. I have only had them for two days but you can diffenently see their little personalities shine through already. I have 10 Japanese students and 3 foreign students so basically 3 out of 13 can understand what I am saying. They all run up to me and start talking miles a minute in Japanese and I stand there with this look on my face like I want to understand you but I have no clue what your saying. It's also absolutely adorable when they speak Japanese I don't know what it is but they sound like they are speaking gibberish.

I was completely taken aback when I saw the lunches these kids bring to school. I knew before coming to Japan that their attention to detail is surpass anything in the U.S. These lunches are gourmet meals to say the least. Presentation is very important in Japan and this does not exclude 4 year old kids lunches. First of all they are packed in very cutely decorated plastic containers with separated areas for the food. They are put in miniature cupcake wrappers (not really cupcake wrappers) to make the food look good. These kids bring rice balls, sausages, fish, seafood, sliced fruit, veggies...all of which is cooked and prepared by their mothers (I work at a very posh school, most of the mom's are stay at home mothers). I have never seen anything like it, but that is coming from someone who has spent time in Title One schools (inner city) where the kids only nutritious meal is from the school.

I just remembered I read an article about this from my Anthropology of Food class in college-where the mothers in Japan try to outdo each other with the school lunches because that is thier "day job" and it is thier way of showing thier kids how much they love them. (A very water downed version of the article-I never really understood any of my college reading) I wish I could remember the name of the article, hmm.

This one is for you D (got your email :)

Time for bed, my kids are throwing me a birthday party tomarrow-must rest up for that and a big weekend, my first festival. I am very excited it's a ceramic festival, wahoo!!

A shoot out to the Japanese toilet(s)

I have only been here for a week, but I have certainly seen a fair share of the Japanese toilets. The Japanese do things their way in everything they do and that certainly applies to their toilets. I decided to write this post because a friend thought it was funny that the first picture I sent her was of the toilet in my bathroom-and thinking back on it that probably was a odd first picture to send. Since being in Japan I have seen at least 10 different variations of the toilet. Back at home we have the basic 2, the regular toilet and the port-o-pottie (there are varies degrees of cleanliness but more or less they are the same) but here in Japan not only do you have the basic western toilet like you see every where in the states, you have toilets with sinks on top (my apartment-see pic) and water rushes out of the sink when you flush so you can wash your hands (don't worry the water is clean-it fills the toilet once its been flushed), holes in the ground where you have to pop-a-squat (a memory I would like to forget) and it flushes away, then you have the holes in the ground that don't flush (sort of like the western port-o-pottie), then you have the high tech ones that spray your bottom with the push of a button and can warm your tushie on those long cold winter days (I've heard are quite wonderful around December). Before coming to Japan I have never really thought much about the toilet-but only here would there be such a variety-a little old world meets high tech world.