Running in the snow
Mood:  energetic
Snowflakes on my nose and eyelashes. Big fluffy flakes floating down this morning. A puffed up white crane in the river as I jog by. What a morning!

Women's Marathon
Sakamoto, Naoko won the Osaka International Women's marathon today. This qualifies her for the Olympics. She is a graduate of Masago Chugako where I am teaching. I'm guessing there is going to be some celebrating tomorrow. She lives close by our school and comes to speak to our students once in awhile. How exciting and inspiring for our students.

I in America
Here's a bit of a revelation that i've experienced this week. As a reader, you may have noticed that i have been writing the pronoun "I" in lower case lately. I will attempt to do that from now on unless it's the beginning word in a sentence. The conversation that led to this revelation was with one of the English language teachers this week. It circled around teaching pronouns to Japanese students and the difficulties this entails. In Japanese it seems that pronouns are used very infrequently. There are subtle - nonverbal - ways to indicate who you are speaking about. The conversation wove it's way to the pronoun "I" in the English language. The teacher told me that a lot of students ask her why the pronoun "I" is capitalized. Her answer is that in America "I" is the most important word. It got me to thinking...."yo" in Espanol is not capitalized. Neither is "ich" in Deutsch, and come to think of it... "moi" in French. This may be a subtle insignificant thing but i choose to write in lower case from now on. We have become the "me" society to the rest of the world. Maybe a bit of humility is in order.

Delightful Friday Evening
Mood:  special
Now Playing: French cuisine in Osaka, ooo la la
First, some Osaka trivia:

Osaka is about 1400 years old. It is Japan's second largest city after Tokyo. Thirteen percent of all the people in Japan call this city "home." In 85 square miles live 2.5 million people who reside in 1.1 million households. Ok, you can do the math.
The main industries of Osaka are General Machinery, Electrical Machinery, Chemical Products, Metal Products, Iron and Steel. Osaka is the leading producer of manufactured products with 30.86 billion yen worth in 1999, out producing Tokyo by over 30%. Per capita income is 3.5 million yen, that's about $33,000/year.
So back to dinner...

I feel so lucky to have met this wonderful woman, Miki, and her husband last month. They are friends of my Spokane buddies, Ildiko and Wayne, who came for a visit in December. Miki is studying to be an English translator and her English is already really great. She invited me to dinner this evening. I haven't done much exploring in Osaka so here we go! I got on the train and met her in front of the "Biggu Manu" (that's Big Man in English) at the train station entrance. So what is the Big Man? It's a very large TV screen outside a wonderful bookstore that carries quite a variety of books in English. Yahoo! This is quite the phenomenon. The Big Man is an easy place to find and so to connect with people. On Friday night it is a major "hang-out" for many young people waiting to meet up with friends for a night out. Miki used to work in the downtown area of Osaka so with her guidance we got on a subway and headed out. We first tried to get into a "tofu" restaurant but Friday night was hopping and the waiting list was way too long. So we wandered down to one of her favorite French restaurants - what a treat. We had delightful hors d'eouvres, an oishii (delicious) seafood bisque, and other French/Japanese delicacies. I say French/Japanese because there were a few surprises like... the sausage was made of fish! Only in Japan. We shared some fine wine, and it was so great to just sit and chat about Japanese and American culture and just get to know another true gem in Japan.

So How Cold is It?
Mood:  chillin'
"Well, this is as cold as it gets, right?" Answer, "Well, maybe not." Arghhhh.
I woke up this morning to wet and sweating windows again. This is an everyday event now. There is a channel at the bottom of the sliding glass door. At first I thought there was a bad seal because every morning there was a stream of water trickling to the outside from the window. I realised quickly that this channel is a necessity. It allows all the excess moisture which condenses on the inside of the window to escape to the outside by dripping and flowing in this channel. This morning, because we dropped down to 0 or below last night, my little puddle of water outside the door was frozen solid! oh, my. I don't even want to know what the wind chill was this morning riding my bike to school. All i can tell you is that my ski mittens weren't enough to keep my poor fingers warm. At the risk of repeating myself, THERE IS NO HEAT in the classrooms. On sunny days we get solar heat through the windows which is a real blessing. On windy, cloudy days it's just down right freezing. The little handwarmers and patches that you stick to your back between shirt and jacket are the only sources of heat while teaching. The staff office is heated and it is a relief to run back for a "warm up" between classes. I don't know how the kids manage. Some of the boys actually were wearing cotton gloves today. Many of the girls use chemical handwarmers(they have iron and sulfur in them and when you open the airtight package - oxygen is introduced and they create about 5-8 hours of welcome warmth). I used one of the patches on my back today and it is incredibly warm and helps take the edge off. The cold is an energy drain and i feel pretty drained at the end of the day from just trying to stay warm. I go to bed with a sleeping pad to get my core temperature toasty for a real good night's sleep. The philosophy seems to be, it's only a few months of cold weather and it would be an enormous expense to install heating and air conditioning in all the schools. They sure must saving on the heat bills!

Kinako pan and peeing
Another taste sensation. The students get this only one time a year, I hear. It's a fried bread kind of like a donut in the shape of a small loaf of bread. It's covered with a brownish topping that is made by mixing toasted ground soybeans with sugar. Wow, very delicious.

So, riding my jitensha home from work yesterday, i discovered an abandoned car running in the middle of the street. Casually I looked over toward the culvert next to the road and there was a "salaryman" standing peeing into the culvert. This is an everyday occurence here but it did startle me a bit and make me laugh. Now, I haven't seen any Japanese women squatting over these ditches but men everywhere are totally free to pee when the urge hits. It reminds me of Mexico but there the women will squat in their long skirts and do it too!

Adult English Class
Mood:  happy
Wow, I just rolled over 1,000 miles on my little bicycle odometer. Hard to believe I've pedaled so far since August.

Japanese Tongue Twister
nama mugi
nama gomen
nama tamago
(say this fast 3 times!)

Adult English class for lottery winners.

Sogo Center (our bosses) have asked Frankie, John and i to teach a conversational English class for the next 9 weeks on Monday evenings. City workers and citizens were invited to apply for this free class. There were so many applicants that they did a lottery to see who would get to take this class. Wow, we were a bit nervous but our first class went off well. There are 25 people whose skill vary from not being able to read our alphabet at all and not knowing any English to a few with very good skills. We have people who work for the city, a custodian, an engineer, a junior high teacher, a few housewives and retired people. Quite a diverse group! There will always be two of us teaching at each class. We hope that we can make it fun and relaxing while teaching some basic conversational English. This will be a fun cultural exchange and we will learn as much as our pupils. What a great opportunity for all involved.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Remembrance
Mood:  sad
January 17, 1995, at around 5am the earth shook and a huge disaster befell this city and surrounding areas. Masago area (my junior high) was not hit that hard but the apartment that I live in now is less than 9 years old because the old one came tumbling down that day. The northern part of Nishinomiya was in ruins, with many fires and scenes reminiscent of the last big San Francisco earthquake. Freeways collapsed, buses and trains were left hanging in thin air, and people were in shock everywhere. Many families slept in gyms just like the one we sat in this morning, where the students, teachers, and some parents spent some time remembering and saying some prayers for those who died and those who lost so much. My first graders were only 3 years old when this happened so they don't remember much. The third graders, I think, do remember, but not much because their homes were not damaged. The kids spent last week folding paper cranes in memory of the loss and, at the assembly today, they were displayed in long strands that will be delivered to a memorial shrine tomorrow on the anniversary of this sad event. Help came from all over the world and I have already seen two incredible monuments to say "thanks" for all the assistance that this area received in their time of need. One was the luminaria in Kobe that are displayed every year. I wrote about this last month. Also, I have seen an incredible "Sculpture of Hope" in Kobe that we saw on a hike in December.
It is humbling to think about how powerful nature can be and how vulnerable and fragile we really are. I count my blessings and give thanks for health, happiness and a roof over my head.

A Big Blooper
Mood:  silly
Now Playing: If I only had a brain!
So, I had the bright idea to buy a Japanese/English electronic dictionary in California while I was there over my winter break. My Japanese friends whip out their compact, light "jishos" and translate away when we are together, and I wanted my own. I figured that buying one in the states would be better since it would come with an English manual (very important feature!). I tried to no avail to find one in Santa Rosa so I reverted back to the Internet to research. I found that most electronic translators can be ordered over the internet and sent to Japan for a reasonable price. One of my New Year's resolutions was to go back to Japan and order one. So last week, I did some more research on prices and features of these electronic marvels. There are from one to 9 dictionaries installed on some of the puppies. There is a website created by an English speaking man in Japan who has written a lot of evaluations on many models and I read all the different comparisons and recommendations that he offered. I decided on a Canon model that I could buy right here in Japan and then download an English manual. So off I went to Midori and, luckily, I found a really nice English speaking employee, Ms. Shimizu, to help me with purchasing this wonderful device. She didn't know much about them but got a salesman to help me and she translated. He was very hesitant to sell me the model I wanted for 22,000 yen (a mere $200+). Well, I was confident, and purchased one anyway over his strong hesitant concerns.
The very next day, my friend, Didik, came over with a Japanese friend who graciously helped me install the batteries and fired it up. You just can't beleive how excited I was - even tho this guy, too, was very hesitant. We went through all 9 dictionairies and, much to my chagrin, discovered that, yes, I could type in "cat" into any of these dictionaries but the only thing that it generated was kanji words!!!! Oh, no. Not like my paperback dictionary where I can look up an English word and get a Japanese word spelled out in Roman letters that when sounded out come out Japanese. Oh, no, this just expects you to read the kanji characters. Well, if I knew 40,000 kanji characters then I could probably speak Japanese and not need to spend $200 on a #$%&$#&%# dictionary. So, it's back to Midori the very next day with my proverbial "tail between my legs." I was very relieved (after sitting patiently for about 15 minutes while a few different managers discussed my stupidity) to receive a full refund. Actually, they were very polite and helpful and didn't make me feel any stupider than I already felt. So, my friend, Didik, suggests that I check with a few friends before making anymore expensive purchases, and I may just follow his advice from now on. So, if anyone knows where I can get an electronic dictionary that will translate from English into something Japanese that I can read, I would be most deeply grateful. Arigato gozaimasu

Coming of Age Day
Now Playing: Your a Big Boy Now!
Monday, January 12,2004

Coming of Age Day is a National Holiday here in Japan. We celebrate all those who will turn 20 years old this year. Lots of families have been visiting the shrines in celebration for the last few days.
I mostly stayed home (still feeling a bit under the weather). Went to temple this morning and had tea with the minister. He gave me some basic kanji to start memorizing and a simple text in kanji written by Shinran Shonin. Oh, dear. I guess I'm going to have to study this too! Came home and went for a short run to try to get some of the cobwebs out of my brain. I've gained 10 pounds in less than 2 weeks and I haven't been running for awhile because it was so rainy in California and then I got sick (sinus headache, groan).
It feels oh, so good, to get out in the fresh air and blow off some steam.
I baked chocolate chip cookies today and Didik and a friend came over to make sure that they were good. I made tamale pie for them. Neither had ever had this treat. I'm not sure if they really liked this spicy dish but they both went back for seconds.

NEW YEAR'S TRADITIONS AND CULTURE

I missed this holiday because I was in the states, but I've heard from the kids that there is a lot of tradition in Japan revolving around New Year's. I will try to fill you in on a bit of this interesting culture...
There is a tv show in Japan (I think similar to Dick Clark). Lots of people watch this on New Year's Eve. It's called Kohaku (sorry if the spelling isn't quite right). They play all the past hits of the old year just like we do in the states.
Otoshidama is a biggie with kids here. It is very traditional to give gifts of money to kids. They can get quite a bit of money from parents, aunts and uncles and so on. I gather that it is not uncommon to get 5,000 to 10,000 yen as a gift. That adds up to a few hundred dollars if they are lucky.
Nenga are cute postcards that are traditionally sent out during the holidays. I received quite a few of these postcards with cute drawings (monkeys were popular this year - it's the year of the monkey!)
I was surprised to discover that many of my students went to a shrine at midnight to purchase their fortunes called omikuji and to pray for a good year. Toshikoshi soba is also a tradition to eat at midnight.
The most interesting tradition that I would like to start for myself is getting up early (or maybe not going to sleep at all) to see the first sunrise of the year. This is called hatsuhinode. Many of my students said that they stayed up all night and then watched the sun come up and then went to bed. Oh, it must be nice to be young and full of energy. yawn.

Happy New Year!
Now Playing: It's great to be back home
Well, I'm back in Japan after a trip to S.F. and a visit with folks, friends and other relatives. So now it's time to catch up. I'll be working on this for awhile so please be patient with me.

So here's a bit of trivia about New Year's here in Japan. There is a traditional box of food eaten here that has loads of meaning. It's called "ossechi" sorry about the spelling, I'm doing the best I can. I remember eating this at the Spokane temple years ago when we had a traditional Japanese minister. Some of my students said that they ate osechi so it is still fairly common to eat this on New Year's Eve. It has some of the following foods that have much significance for the New Year. Mame or black beans are eaten for good health. Seaweed called kombu signifies joy. Herring eggs are, of course, to ensure lots of babies in the future (I'll skip those - thank you very much). Long soba noodles for - you guessed it - long life. Little tiny fish (I forget the name) but it has something to do with prosperous rice fields - which I take to mean lots of healthy food for the coming year. I'm not sure about the shrimp. I was told that because it curves around it symbolizes the curving of the back as we get old and so stands for a long and healthy life - I don't want to be curved over like a shrimp when I get old but pass them my way - I love these guys.

Thursday, Jan. 8th
I'm back at school for Opening Ceremonies. No classes but I stick around most of the day. I'm feeling terrible. The bike ride is extremely cold because IT IS really cold and because I'm very weak. I must look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy, wrapped up in ski hat, gloves, three jackets and a warm scarf wrapped around my neck and over my mouth and nose. BRRRR


Wed. Jan. 7th
Still sick. Sleeping in late and slowly unpacking.

Monday, Jan. 5th
Bye, bye, U.S.A.
This is pay back time. I gained a day coming over here and now I'm about to kiss Tuesday goodbye. Ah well. Airplane trivia: It's a straight flight from S.F. to KIX which is about a 9-10 hour flight. That is about 5,400 miles to add to my Frequent Flier miles! The price of this round trip is about $1200. I've been told that this is cheap but I think that it's a bit high because of the holidays and because I didn't book it very far ahead. They turn down the lights and show movies and I can usually sleep off and on. There's a light meal when we get on the plane and another light meal before we land. But today, after a full night's sleep, we are boarding the plane around noonish so I'm not quite ready to sleep yet. The seats on this plane are extremely crowded and it's very difficult to get comfy when you can't even stretch your legs in front of you. (I have to think about upgrading next time to more comfy seats) That's what I get in Econo flight. Also, there are many kids on this flight and an extremely sweet but rambunctious 3 year old boy is sitting in front of me and so I'm periodically being "attacked" by T-Rex and other assorted plasic dinosaurs and various other plastic toys. We arrive in Osaka at around 3:30pm and it's a smooth trip through customs. I am amazed that there are no questions at all about what I'm bringing back from the states. I really wanted to bring back some salami and pepperoni for an authentic homemade pizza for friends here but because of the Mad Cow Disease scare in CA, I didn't dare bring in any beef. The carts are free in the airport and so my heavy bags are easy to roll out to the sidewalk and it's no time before we're all on the limo bus back to Nishinomiya. After a transfer to a taxi, I'm back at my cozy apartment by 7:30pm on Tuesday evening. My how time flies. I am so tired and a bit feverish. Sinus problems are making my head just feel like it's going to explode. I'm getting uncontrolable fits of coughing that are eased a bit by cough drops which I'm getting sick of sucking on. Ah, well, it's been a great trip, and I'm so very glad that I got back a day early so I can sleep in tomorrow, Wed, and unpack. School won't begin till Thursday. Boy, it's great to be back home.

Sunday, Jan. 4th
A visit with my friends, Heidi and Gerry, in Sebastopol. Overnight visit with my dear friend Lally in South San Francisco. Lally has been so gracious to let me stay overnight so that I don't have to battle the morning San Francisco traffic to get to the airport in the morning.


Saturday, Jan. 3rd
Family dinner with turkey and all the fixings.
Relatives visiting and tasting all those weird sweets that I brought from Japan.

Thursday, Jan. 1st, 2004
Happy New Year
Sleeping late, Rose Parade and I'm tired, tired, tired and a bit sick (I think the typhoid pills are getting to me). I've got a temperature of 99.9 degrees. Rats.

Wednesday, Dec. 31st
New Year's Eve
Burgers and fries with my Bro.
"Pirates of the Carribean" video and kick back time.

Tuesday, Dec. 30th
Dinner and meditation with the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Petaluma, CA. I met my friend, Lee, in Santa Rosa. She was so thoughtful to pick me up and drive me to Petaluma. We met about 15-20 others at a really nice Greek restaurant. It's great to reconnect with this wonderful "extended meditation family" and share a healthy, yummy meal with them. Then we drove to the church in Petaluma that has hosted us for so many years. We visited briefly and then watched a 1/2 hour video of Sri Easwaran followed by a 1/2 hour of meditation. This is such an inspiring, uplifting recharge for me. I am so happy to find out that we may be having a meditation workshop in Japan next January. How very exciting.

Monday, Dec. 29th
Ouch, it's time for immunizations today. Mom was great about finding a doctor in Santa Rosa who can give me the shots I need to go to Tanzania this summer. So I have my tetanus and Hep.A shot and I'm starting an oral series of 4 pills (one every other day) for typhoid. I also have ordered anti-malarial medicine and high altitude pills for my attempted climb of Kilimanjaro. This is much simpler to get done in the states and much cheaper. I'm very happy to get this out of the way.

Saturday, Dec. 27th
After a nice breakfast with my Aunt, I am refreshed and ready for the 2+ hour drive north through San Francisco and up to my parent's home in Cloverdale. I get to spend the next week with them and it's an easy drive with almost no traffic. yippeee.

Friday, Dec. 26th
This is the first time I will live through a day twice! I slept in a bit because I knew that it was going to be a long, long, long day. I'm packed and ready to go and call for a taxi around 8am. I'm so proud of myself that I've managed to write out some basic sentences in Japanese and successfully convey the details to the operator. ta da. The taxi picks me up at 10:30am and delivers me to the train station in only 15 minutes for about $8.00. Well worth the price with the heavy bags that I'm carrying. I catch the limo bus for Kansai Airport in Osaka. This bus takes about 1 1/2 hours and costs about $15. I arrive at KIX International airport in Osaka in plenty of time to browse and buy last minute souvenirs for the trip to S.F. Customs is very easy and I fly off at about 4pm and amazingly arrive in S.F. airport as the sun is coming up at 8am on Dec. 26th and I get to start the same day all over again. Wow.
I've rented a car and drive south for about an hour to Palo Alto. My dear Aunt Mary is over 90 years old and her heart is failing. I feel very fortunate to spend the afternoon with her after a couple hour's nap. We have an early dinner and then I'm off to bed for a very sound sleep.

Thursday,Dec. 25th
Merry Christmas is not in the schedule at Masago Chugako. This is the last day of school. There are no real classes today except "homeroom" but kids are here and raring to go anyway. We have an assembly in the gym at 8:30am that lasts for about an hour. (By the way, the gym is not heated, brrrr). All the kids sit on the floor in lines. There is a girl's line and a boy's line for each of 4 sections of 3 grades (1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders - equivalent to our 6th, 7th and 8th grades). So there are many long rows of students happily sitting on the floor listening to speeches given by the principal, vice-principal and head teacher. Awards are handed out and all the accomplishments of the school year so far are acknowledged. One of the English teachers has been very gracious in translating some of the speeches, so I'm not totally in the dark today. The newly elected Student Body representatives are introduced and "initiated". This ends the 2nd term. In January, we will begin the final 3rd term. The 3rd graders will graduate and - if they pass their tests - will advance on to the high school of their choice, hopefully. If they don't pass their tests, I understand that they still will go on to a high school of some kind but it won't be the "elite" high schools. Some kids will just go on to vocational schools and I think that they have to pay for this schooling. Some few will drop out and get jobs at age 14 or 15 years old. So very different than in the states. High school is NOT required.

Since there aren't any classes to teach, I just hang around and wish all the kids a Merry Christmas. They love exchanging greetings and also wish them a Happy New Year..."Dozo yoi otoshio" or something close to that anyway. You say this upon seeing someone for the last time before the New Year. There is a different greeting than when you see someone just after the New Year.

I am taking a 1/2 day off today because #1 there's nothing to do here and, more importantly, #2 I need to get packed for my flight to S.F. tomorrow.
Merry Christmas, ho, ho, ho. I'm too busy to really think about missing the day. No biggie. Actually, I stop by the train station to pick up some fresh made goodies for some last minute gifts and see some cute Xmas costumed cartoon characters performing for the "little ones" that gives me enough of a touch of Christmas to put a smile on my face.