It has finally happened…..

So…..it’s official!  I turned in the paperwork to my supervisor this week, and the Reeds are slated to be home in August 2013.  Woo-hoo!  I emailed my supervisor to tell her about my decision at the end of last week, and she said that she would be sad for me to leave but understands and respects my decision.  Whenever I gave her the paperwork, she wiped her eyes in a pretend cry.  I wonder how much of her sadness is for real and how much is just put on.  I wonder if she’ll actually be sad to see me go.  I feel like I cause a lot of problems for her and am not exactly sure of her sincere feelings.  On one hand, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see me go so that she won’t have to care for the bumbling foreigner anymore.  No more lost-in-translation mix ups, no more me going to her when I have a problem, no more “Can you make me a dentist appointment because I don’t have the abilities to….”  I’m sure that she’ll be happy about that.  On the flip side, the BOE has to shell out more money to pay for my flight home and to bring in a new foreigner.  Once they pay for travel expenses for both me and the new kid, hotel accommodations for the new ALT during orientation, visas for the newbie, and everything else that is required, it’s not cheap.  I’m sure that the BOE would like me to stay if for no other reason than expenses.  Plus, they’ll have a new kid who may or may not speak Japanese and have to set up and train that person.  To constantly bring in new people isn’t cheap or easy, and I wonder if my BOE and supervisor would want me to stay for that reason or because I’m actually a good ALT.  Hmmmmm……

The national broadcasting system here is called NHK.  However, instead of it being like ABC, NBC, CBS, or PBS and being free like in the States, it costs here.  If you own a TV, then you are required to pay a bi-monthly bill.  Even if you don’t watch Japanese TV (like us), you are still required to pay the bill because you can receive the transmission signal.  It’s crap!  Plus, it’s not cheap!  It’s about $35 every two months….for something that we don’t use!!  Every other month, we’ve received an NHK bill and paid it even though we don’t watch Japanese TV.  However, back in August we were talking to a few friends here who said that they don’t pay for theirs, and nothing has ever happened.  Joe has lived in Taragi for the past 4.5 years and never paid his bill.  He said that legally they can’t do anything to MAKE you pay.  Joe said that the worst that could happen would be that some NHK guys would knock on our door and ask us to pay the bill.  IF that happened, we could do one of two things: 1) play dumb 2) deny the fact that we have a TV in the house.  We heard from other friends as well that they don’t pay their NHK bill because it’s a waste of money, and nothing has happened to them.  Awesome.  We thought that we were set.  We received a bill at the end of August and another in October.  We both darn well knew what they were, but chose to ignore them, thinking that we were pulling a fast one on NHK.  Well, NHK bested us.  Instead of knocking on our door, they went above us.  My supervisor emailed me yesterday and said that a NHK guy came to the BOE looking for me about the bill.    Oh no!  I played it dumb about overlooking the bill, but she asked if I would like her to set it up so that it would automatically withdraw from my account like most of my other bills.  I said yes……and just like that NHK won! 

It has finally happened.  It’s starting to get very cold.  Today was the first day that I could actually see my breath in my house.  Outside of our one warm room that we’ve converted into our bedroom/living room/office/dining room/multi-purpose room for the winter months, it’s pretty much the same temperature as outside…..hence being able to see your breath.  Last night we were sitting in our one warm room just feeling the cold roll in from our single pane windows.    Our floor length black curtains kept billowing at the bottom, and at first I thought that the window was cracked. I double checked to make sure that this wasn’t the case.  They were locked tight.  Ian was the smart kid and realized what was going on.  He theorized that it was a convention current.  The heat in the room had risen to the top of the curtains, hit the cold window, and was forced down.  He’s such a smart little fart to figure that one out!! 

Today in my 6th grade class we were going over professions….doctor, nurse, teacher, astronaut, etc.  My 6th grade teacher was explaining about the cards that ended in –ist (scientist and pianist) by telling the kids that –ist is a common ending for professions in English.  He asked me to give examples.  I said journalist.  They understood that one, and then I blanked.  There are probably hundreds of jobs that end in –ist, but for the LIFE of me, I couldn’t think of ONE.  MORE.  EXAMPLE.  UGGGHHHHHHH!!!!  I HATE whenever things like that happen because it makes me look like I have no idea about English, and yet I’m supposed to be the authority on it.  As soon as the textbooks were open, of course there were plenty of –ist examples: florist, artist, dentist, etc.  WHY COULDN’T I THINK OF THOSE?!?!  Why did I have a brain fart and look like an idiot?!!?  Blarg!

Tomorrow morning I’m going up to Kumamoto City for the Skills Development Conference that happens every year.  I’m excited because even though it’s technically still a work day, it’s not teaching and out of the ordinary, so it feels like a little vacation.  Yay!  Ian and I are staying along with other friends in the city on Friday night and are going to see the new James Bond movie on Saturday.  That will be our first Japanese movie experience, so hopefully it’ll be something to blog about on Monday! 

Thanksgiving in Japan

Before I begin my Thanksgiving stories, I wanted to tell about something that I didn’t get to write about last week.  On Wednesday I was at the elementary school, and we went outside to play during recess.  One of the girls had a leaf collection for whatever reason and was pulling me over to the gingko trees that were shedding their leaves.  The golden yellow leaves were absolutely gorgeous!  I forget who threw the first fistful of leaves at whom, but before too long there were leaves flying in every direction.  It was as if we were playing in the snow and tossing snowballs at one another.  It was a lot of fun!  However, more and more kids saw what was happening, and eventually there were about twenty-five kids who ganged up against me.  It was the kids versus the foreigner, and I was losing!  I called a cease-fire and tried to reorganize the kids into two teams so that the leaf throwing could be a little more fair, but they didn’t really go for that idea.  Instead they preferred to just throw leaves at me.  (I had so many leaves thrown at me that whenever I went back inside, I had two leafs clinging to the back of my hair, and that night when I undressed for my shower I found a leaf caught between my undershirt and sweater!)  We were having a good time until a few of the boys decided that it would also be fun to throw sand from a nearby sand pile.  Nope!  I got sand to the head once and promptly decided that THAT was the end of that game! 

I actually didn’t have any classes last Thursday at school, and it was rather nice.  I spent the whole day catching up on things, planning Christmas lessons, and blogging.  As soon as I got home that night, I immediately started baking.  Ian wasn’t home since he had to go to his class in Kagoshima, so it was just me and my kitchen.  I had a long list of things to bake and immediately started them.  I mixed together my chocolate cake and threw that in the rice cooker.  Then I moved onto steaming the pumpkin for pies, made myself a quick dinner (picture below), (yep, noodles was my Thanksgiving dinner!) and went to eikaiwa.  Once I got home, I finished the pies.  Ian didn’t get home from Kagoshima until nearly 11PM, and we went to bed shortly after that since he had to wake up at 5AM to start the turkey.

Ian knows how serious I get about my sleep in time on the weekends, and he joked about setting alarms to go off at 5, then 5:15, and every quarter hour until I was up with him, but I told him that if he dared to do that, I would END him.    I’m a light sleeper, so I heard him wake up and put the turkey on.  Once he crawled back into bed with me, it was like curling up with warm smoked meat because that was exactly what he smelled like!!  Ugh! 

 

Friday morning we skyped all of our family at home.  It was good to see and hear from everyone, and missing this Thanksgiving was a LOT less emotional than last year.  I didn’t even cry this year!    Yay!  (This also proves my point that the longer you stay away from home, the easier it is.)  We took all of our skypers on a field trip outside to show them our smoker and turkey (above, left).  After we had skyped everyone, I finished up my cooking—homemade whipped cream and cranberries—before heading to a concert thing at the elementary school.  I was invited to it a while back by my vice principal at the ES.  The elementary kids did a few song and dance numbers, then the JHS brass band played, and finally some lady from a news station talked.  (I only stayed for the student performances since I had more prep work for Thanksgiving dinner.)  When I first arrived, I sat in the chairs with the rest of the audience.  However, my supervisor (all of the BOE members were there) got me and told me to sit at the tables on the side with the rest of the special guests, including the mayor and town officials.  They were dressed in nice business suits, and there I was looking like a fool with my jeans and sweater.  Ugh! 

Whenever it was time to go to dinner at Margo’s house, one crucial part of the meal wasn’t ready….the turkey!  Despite Ian having it on the smoker for ten hours, it still wasn’t done!  We weren’t exactly sure what to do until Ian had the idea to just take our oven and finish it at Margo’s house.  This idea would definitely not be plausible in the States, but here in Japan ovens are the size of American microwaves.  All we had to do was unplug it and load it in the car.    With all of our dinner items, oven, and two friends who we gave a ride to, our car was quite loaded down!  In fact, the turkey had to ride on David’s lap!

As we were on our way to dinner, I couldn’t help but to think how grown up and mature I felt.  Here we were going to our own Thanksgiving dinner.  All of us were spending the day away from our own families, yet we had made our own little family.  Not only that but we were bringing the meal.  None of us were there to just snag a free meal.  Each of us had cooked or baked something to bring and share.  I felt so grown up!!

Twelve of us Kuma-gun ALTs gathered at Margo’s house for a delicious meal.  While Ian and Melissa carved the bird, a few of the others and myself unwrapped and uncovered plates of food.  It was a feast indeed (below, right)!  We had things that we never get to eat over here like turkey, dressing, cranberries, mac and cheese, tamales, some Portuguese dish that Melissa’s family makes every year, baked beans, and then there were the staples like sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, fruit, cream cheese fruit salad, and everything was DELICIOUS!  When I was getting my plate, I got halfway around the table before dishing out smaller portions of everything so that it would all fit on my plate!  The above mentioned things that we never get to eat were the first to go.  The two boxes of dressing that Ian made were destroyed in a matter of seconds.    The best thing about the food was that it was traditional American food.  There was no white rice or noodles—just plain traditional deliciousness.

 

After we had stuffed ourselves silly, we celebrated David and Devin’s birthdays.  David, Mollee, and Lucas went to a singing festival practice in Hitoyoshi, and we made Devin leave the room for a minute so that we could bring out the surprise decorations.  Once David, Mollee, and Lucas got back, we sang happy birthday to David and Devin and ate cake.  We also decided to play a few games and occasionally made our way back to the food table for one more roll or one more scoop of potatoes.    It was a great night, and if anyone left that house hungry, it was his or her own fault!!

Ian saved the turkey bones, so we made turkey soup with them on Saturday and invited people over.  The only people to accept our invitation were Margo and Melissa.  Ian had to go to work on Saturday, so I stayed at home and watched the boiling bones, cleaned the house, and used the leftover pumpkin to make pumpkin bread. 

Ian and I both have become obsessed with the show Supernatural.  Devin got us hooked on it, and ever since we started watching it, we haven’t been able to stop.  Devin has the first six seasons, and one by one, Ian and I have been borrowing them and watching episode after episode.  For those of you who don’t know the plot, it’s about two brothers who investigate the evil supernatural things—ghosts, demons, vampires, reapers, etc and destroy them.  The episodes aren’t scary, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it now freaks me out a bit to be alone in the house and hear a bump.  Ian and I were watching an episode on Saturday night while waiting for Melissa and Margo to arrive.  All of the sudden we heard our hallway door rattle open, and both Ian and I jumped and shot our heads in the direction of the sound.  I always make fun of the characters on the show for saying “…..Hello?” to the things that go bump in the night.  This apparently is the only acceptable thing to say to strange noises….  However, what did I say when I heard the strange noise?  “…..Hello?”  Gah!!!  Luckily for us it wasn’t a ghost or demon…..just Melissa.  She said that she knocked and no one answered, but we scolded her for sneaking up on us while we watched Supernatural.  You just can’t do that!!  

As we were eating dinner that night the PA box that everyone in Yunomae has in their house went off.  We turned off for everyday announcements, so the only time it goes off is when there is something serious going on.  When this happens, it is a high pitch tornado-like siren followed by an announcement from some town official.  It has gone off a few times when typhoons roll through to announce heavy rainfall or once to state that there were monkeys spotted in town and to not engage them because they were wild animals, but on Saturday night, it was very unusual for it to go off.  Melissa said that the announcement said something about searching for something.  Fast forward to early, early, early Sunday morning.  At 3AM we heard the PA go off again.  I woke up Ian to see if he could translate the message.  Neither of us could understand what was going on, and Ian went to the window to see if there was any mass panic outside.  There wasn’t, so we rolled over and went back to sleep.  Around 10 AM there was a knock on the door.  One of the town firefighters was on our doorstep telling me…..something… and then asking for money.  I told him sorry, but I didn’t understand.  Once he realized that I had no idea what he was saying, he thanked me and moved on to the next house.  Ian, who is much better at piecing things together than me, figured out why the firefighter was there just from a few keywords that he overheard.  His theory was that someone’s house burned down (hence the 3 AM siren and announcement) and the firefighter was going door-to-door collecting donations for the family.  I don’t have any proof of this theory, but it sounded right to me.  I wished that I would have been able to piece that together because I most certainly would have donated money!

Anyway……that’s the story of our Thanksgiving weekend.  It most certainly was nice to be able to spend it with other Americans!  Also, I’m definitely looking forward to celebrating it at home next year! 

Guest blogger!!

Whenever my mom came to visit us in August, we asked her if she wanted to be a guest blogger for this blog and write about some of her experiences in Japan.  Unfortunately she didn’t want to put her writing out there for the world to see.  When Margaret came to visit us in October, we gave her the same deal.  She said that she would, and without further adieu, I give you the words of Margaret Reed on her two week vacation to Japan: 

 

Well, I imagine that when you all are finished reading this blog, you'll not want a "guest" blogger again. So, here it goes. Melissa and Ian asked me to write a blog about my trip to Japan.

I was really excited to visit Ian and Melissa and see where they live and have them show me around. I had been to Japan one other time for work. On that trip I only visited Tokyo and Kyoto so this trip was going to be all new things. First and foremost I want to thank Ian and Melissa for allowing me to stay with them and show me around. I had a blast, and they are the perfect hosts.

I arrived in Osaka on a Friday, and Ian and Melissa were waiting for me at the airport with a welcome sign. They weren't hard to find as they were pretty much the only non Japanese waiting in line for someone. We got on the train and I was having the hardest time staying awake, but I made it. We shipped my "big" suitcase to Yunomae so we only had Ian and Melissa's luggage and my small suitcase. Since I was tired, "old" Melissa and Ian took turns being pack mules. As we were trudging up and down stairs on our way to the hotel, I was very glad that I was "old". That night we went to a restaurant in the arcade close to the hotel. It was a Japanese type of restaurant where the customers cook the meat themselves in the middle of the table. Not sure what all the types of meat were that I ate. I'm sure I don't want to know either. It was pretty good but all in all by the end of my trip it was my least favorite meal.

The next day we ate a "western" style breakfast at the hotel and then went to Nara to see the "Big Buddha" and the deer. We walked, and we walked, and we walked. Ian said it was a normal amount of walking, but if that's a normal amount of walking then I'm a monkey's uncle. The deer in Nara are very friendly (can you say overly friendly?). They come up to the people and are willing to be petted. There are crackers that they sell in the park to feed the deer. Once you get those crackers you get a pack of deer around you wanting crackers. They were a little "too" friendly for my taste so I gave my crackers to Ian and Melissa. The highlight of the interaction with the deer was when one of the deer grabbed Melissa's map that she was holding. It was absolutely hilarious. Melissa gave chase and the deer kept eating. Everyone around us was laughing as hard as I was. I wish I had gotten a video of it.

We made it back to Osaka and met Joe Hosbach (a friend from Paducah) for dinner. It was a lot of fun. We were meeting Joe at the train station, and we were in front of the neatest waterfall I'd ever seen. It was a waterfall that formed date, time, and words. Very cool. We all tried to get pictures, but they were all blurry as the waterfall was moving.

On our last day in Osaka we had waffles for breakfast in the underground mall. It was wonderful, and Ian and Melissa let me go and pay for breakfast by myself. They taught me everything to say, so I went up there with "Ohayōgozaimasu" and "Isshoni" and did just fine. However, this started something that continued my whole time in Japan. Once I said that the waitress assumed I knew Japanese and started rattling off a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand. I just nodded my head and went back to the table to get my high fives from Ian and Melissa.

We spent the last day in Osaka at the Osaka Castle. Other than donning the Japanese costume so Ian and Melissa could take pictures, it was a lot of fun. Again, it was a lot of walking and walking and walking. We ended our day at Hard Rock in Osaka. Lots of fun. However, our fun wasn't over. We went to catch what we thought was the last train to Yatsushiro. However, we had long ago missed the last direct train. So we ended up on three different trains to get to Yatsushiro, and I really did feel old then. Running to catch other trains (or any other running) isn't my forte. However, we made it back to Yunomae in one piece. Even with me in the back seat of the car. I discovered early on that you want to be in the front seat of Ian and Melissa's car and not in the back seat. It doesn't matter which one of them is driving, their main goal is to hit every dip in the road at full speed so that the person in the back will hit their head on the roof.

Melissa had Monday off that week so after Ian and I went to the grocery and the gas station (with me sitting in the front). Melissa took me around to show me all of the sites to see close to Yunomae. We went to the swinging bridge and the views were breathtaking. We also went to the "Fertility" shrine. Basically, this is what Yunomae is known for and they take full advantage of it. Melissa even went back later during the trip to buy a t-shirt celebrating the fertility festival.

During my time in Yunomae I had some of the best food I'd ever eaten. Ian and Melissa are wonderful chefs and fixed tremendous dinners. I won't even try to name the Japanese dishes we had but we had savory pancakes, curry, marinara among other wonderful dishes. We also went to Hitoyoshi to eat Indian with some of the other ALTs. It was nice getting to meet some of Ian and Melissa's friends, and the food was great. We also went for ice cream at Baskin Robbins which was yummy.

Most of my days were spent sleeping in, walking to the grocery, buying lunch for Ian and myself, knitting, catching up on news at home on my IPad and then taking a nap in the afternoon. The grocery was another place where I said "konnichiwa" they took off running and just assumed I understood what they were saying.

The first day I went for a walk Ian was going to the city for a couple of days for work. I needed to go to the post office to get some money from the ATM. Ian told me how to get there walking. However, I didn't hear the "turn right at the first main road". All I heard was turn left at the stoplight. I started out on my trip and an hour later when I had gone through the forest and basically decided I wasn't going the correct way I gave up and called Ian. That's when he reminded me the "turn right at the first main road" directions. So, I turned around and headed home. I tried again that afternoon and got to the stoplight, but I had no idea how far to go. After several text messages to Melissa and Ian I gave up one more time and headed home. I finally did get money thanks to Melissa .

Melissa and I had a really good time while Ian was gone. We visited, and I got her hooked on watching Castle and she got me hooked on watching Grimm.

I also went to her eikaiwa class on Thursday. This class was the children and as it was October, we were doing a Halloween themed class. Melissa had me dress up as a witch, and she was a rabbit. It was a lot of fun and the kids really had a great time.

On Saturday of my second weekend in Japan we made a spur of the minute decision to go to Nagasaki. We drove to Kumamoto and took the ferry. We didn't have hotel reservations and we ended up in a hostel. While I don't want to make a steady diet of staying at hostels, this one wasn't too bad. On Sunday we went to see the site of the bombing and to the museum. It was really neat and while it made me a little uncomfortable being an American, I was glad we went. We finally found a Starbucks in Nagasaki, and I got my cappuccino.

The next week was more of the same as week before. I really enjoyed my walks during the day. The time I was in Yunomae was rice harvesting time. As Melissa and Ian are surrounded by rice paddies I was able to watch all of the different steps in harvesting rice. This was very neat. You could tell who were the "mom and pop" farmers and who were the "big buck" farmers. The mom and pop did most of the harvesting themselves and with minimal equipment. The big buck farmers had machines that did most of the work for them, and all they had to do was to drive the machine. Very interesting to see.

This week I went back to the eikaiwa class with Melissa. This class was the adult class, and we did a Halloween themed class again. Everyone was so nice and so friendly.

I decided to ship both of my suitcases back home rather than having to hassle with them on the train and the subway. Ian and I set out for the Japanese version of UPS which they call the "black cat". We went in and Ian tried to tell the guy what we wanted to do. However, he evidently was talking in the local dialect and not the Japanese that Ian could understand. The guy kept talking and looking at me. He was acting like if he kept talking I was magically going to start understanding him. Didn't work. Ian and Melissa kept my luggage and were able to ship them off to me after I left.

I left for home on Saturday, and Ian and Melissa got up super early to drive me to the train station. We went through the mountains by the river, and it was such a beautiful drive. I ended up leaving Japan at 5:45 pm and landed (same day) in Seattle at 11 am.

I had a wonderful time and was so glad to spend so much time with Ian and Melissa. They are a hoot. They laugh and pick at each other all the time. They complement each other's personality so well. Japan is such a beautiful place, and I recommend anyone to go. You won't regret it. The Japanese are such friendly people. I was always approached by English speaking Japanese, and we had nice conversations. They were also always bringing me gifts. I had a trip of a lifetime and was thrilled to go.

 

All of the above was written by the lovely Margaret Reed.  Thanks, Margaret for coming to visit and sharing your experiences on our blog!    We look forward to seeing you again in person in August!

The foreigners at the cultural festival

Last Friday night we went to Sara’s house to celebrate her birthday.  We had delicious nabe (hot soup that you dump whatever you feel like cooking into) and fondue.  It was delicious and the perfect hot meal to warm up with on a cool November evening.  We all had a great time, and I wouldn’t have minded staying later, but we had to leave early because I had to be at work early on Saturday morning for cultural festival preparation.  Even though we’ve been to Sara’s house dozens of times before that night and have parked in the same lot, we’ve never had a problem.  However, last Friday night when we went to leave, we noticed a note on both our windshield and driver’s side door.  Although we couldn’t read the kanji, we knew what it said: don’t park here.  We’ve gotten these notices once or twice before.  Ian and I have nicknamed them “shame stickers” since the first one we got had some kind of tape that was ridiculously strong and lasted for several weeks despite us trying to scrub it off and it being rainy season.  They aren’t tickets but rather notes to let us know that we’re being a nuisance and shouldn’t park there again.  We were confused as to why we even got the notice because we weren’t parked in the front row and tried to park farther back to allow the residents to have the better spots.  However, I guess we got someone’s spot.  Sorry to whoever it was! 

Last Saturday I was at work all day.  There weren’t any classes, but I had to come because the kids were preparing for the cultural festival on Sunday.  I pretty much sat at my desk all day, but I do indeed have a story from that day!  I went to refill my water bottle at the kitchen sink, and I noticed that the stove was on and someone was boiling eggs.  I didn’t think anything about it and returned to my desk.  About ten minutes later the fire alarm went off, and the few teachers who were in the teacher’s room immediately jumped up.  I then knew that it was no false alarm.  All of the teachers sniffed the air for the source of the alarm going off, and there was just a hint of burnt something in the air….  When they found the eggs, the water had been completely boiled out of the pot, and it was scalded.    My vice principal got on the intercom to let everyone know that it was a false alarm.  It turns out that the office lady had been boiling eggs and completely forgot about them.  She had to go around to everyone and apologize for the incident.  She even came to me—me, as in the lowest person on the totem pole at the school—and apologized for disrupting my day.  I told her that it was fine and that it didn’t affect me. 

Saturday night Ian and I had to go to school for the final singing practice for “We Are the World.”  As we strolled up to the gym, one girl saw us together and immediately ran out of the band room to run up to us and talk to Ian.  Behind her was the rest of the dozen students also in the band room.  Whenever Ian’s with me, he totally steals the spotlight.  They wanted to ask him questions, tell him that he’s handsome, and giggle at the sight of us together.  Ian says that he feels awkward receiving that much attention from JHS girls, but I think deep down it makes him feel like a boss. 

After singing practice, we went by the supermarket to pick up some dinner since both of us felt lazy and unwilling to make dinner.  Ian had read an article about a new soda from Pepsi that was just introduced only in Japan. (Sorry, USA.  You’ll never see this drink.)  It is being marketed as a “healthy” soda.  The reason it is considered to be “healthy” is because not only is it a diet drink, but it has fiber in it—I’m assuming to help the flow of bowel movements.  (My question is if you’re going to make a “healthy” soda, why not add calcium and vitamin D to it so that I can get my daily intake of calcium without having to choke down a glass of milk?  Plus calcium and vitamin D would reverse the effects of sugary teeth-rotting soda.)  Ian saw it at the drink counter and decided that yes, he wanted to have a “healthy” soda with his dinner.  I tried a sip of it, and for those of you out there looking for a solution to that extra holiday weight, don’t get too excited.  It still tasted like a diet drink, and neither one of us noticed a change in our bowel movements.  I’m not exactly sure how Pepsi was trying to manufacture soda as being “healthy” by just adding fiber to it, but only in Japan would something like that work!     

Sunday was the cultural festival.  Whereas last year everything was new and different, this year it just seemed to be a repetition of things.  The cultural dances and chants were just so-so and definitely lost the appeal that they had last year.  One thing that was a bit awkward was the play.  It started off so innocently…..a couple of school kids on a school trip to Okinawa.  There was even a little public service announcement in there about not bullying or making fun of people from different cultures.  (I was so proud of Japan for saying this!)  However, as the kids were touring different sights, the play took a different turn and flashed back to 1945.    For those of you who don’t know, WWII was NOT very friendly to Okinawa.  Some of the bloodiest fighting of the Pacific Theater was held on the Okinawan islands.  Basically ALL of Okinawa had to be rebuilt.  Ian summed up the battles of Okinawa very concisely: The Americans would go in with flame throwers, and the Japanese would run at them with grenades.  In one scene of the play, I watched two kids die from a bomb as they chased their ball through a field.  In another scene a mother and her two children were running to take shelter in a cave.  The mom died and told her kids to keep going and never give up.  There were lots of people taking shelter in the cave, many of them dying or helping the wounded, and at the end three American soldiers entered the cave with guns in hand.  (By this point in the play, I was hoping that no one happened to notice the two foreigners in the audience.)  There was no massive massacre, and neither Ian nor I really understood the play’s end.  Ian and I both watched in horror at the play.  Both of us were feeling just a little too……. American to be watching the play…….  It was awkward to say the least….

When we walked home for lunch that afternoon, we were greeted by a huge sack of sweet potatoes in our foyer.  One of my adult students said that she had a lot and promised to drop some off over the weekend.  I took off my shoes and went to the kitchen to make lunch when I heard a knock at the door.  It was my student!  Our conversation was something like the following:

Her: I dropped the sweet potatoes off for you.

Me: Yes!  Thank you very much!  I appreciate it!

Her: Do you want to meet my husband?

Me: Um….sure!

It turns out that they had been waiting in the parking lot for who knows how long!  They were just waiting for us to get home!!  (It wasn’t creepy but rather neighborly how they waited until we got home.  )  I apologized and told her that I was at the JHS cultural festival.  She said that she understood.  I did get to meet her husband, though, and that was nice. 

That afternoon we had to preform “We Are the World” with the other teachers.  While it sure seemed like we were on the stage for a while, it was really only less than six minutes.  Ian was able to set up his camera and record the whole thing.  Don’t worry….it will eventually be posted to facebook!  He has to go through and edit it because the first seven minutes of the video is just everyone getting on stage and assembling.  It was a really weird feeling to be on stage with the lights out, the spotlight shining on me, and not being able to see one single person in the audience.  Weird.  When Ian and I stepped forward to solo our part, we got several “WOOOOOOOOOOOO’s!!!!” from the crowd.  I’m guessing that the majority of that came from the JHS girls.  They do indeed love to see us together!

Finally to wrap up this blog, I wanted to discuss one last thing.  Since the decision has been made and we are coming home in August, I have been thinking more and more about going home.  For example, I have a folder that holds all of my English board stuff in it.  Each month I pull the things off of the board and put them back into the folder if I can reuse them.  This week I went through the months that I’ll never hang back up—August, September, and October and threw away everything about them.  I had been saving them just in case we decided to stay for a third year so that I wouldn’t have to reprint Labor Day, Halloween, etc pictures, but now that the decision is final, I can toss them.  It seemed so strange to just throw away something that I’ve spent so much time on.  It seemed like the first big step to going home.  I’ve been thinking about what it will be like to see my family at the airport, what I’ll tell friends and family when I first see them, what it will feel like to get off the Lone Oak exit on I-24 and know that I’m home….finally home.  How weird will it be to know that I won’t have to use Japanese in my daily life?  How much different will it be to drive my car on the right side of the road?  I don’t feel like I’ll truly understand how much I’ve changed or how amazing this experience is until I get home and have time to step back and look at all of it.  I might even second guess and ask myself why I didn’t stay one more year.

8.5 months.  That’s how much time I have left in Japan.  I’m going to try my hardest to enjoy each and every day here, and when that time is up, I’m going to come home and enjoy each and every day at home.  At least…..that’s the plan for now. 

Not your typical Turkey Day

Today is Thanksgiving.  As I’m writing this, I know that my family is together at home prepping up for that big feast.  It suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks being abroad more than anything at this time of the year.  I can deal with it other times.  It’s not a problem other days.  However, whenever I know that my family is together in front of the fire place watching the Macy’s Day Parade, having the annual contest to see whose pie will get eaten first, or play post-dinner card games, it makes it a bit difficult.  In addition, I’m stuck at work all day today.  I don’t even have classes today.  I’m just supposed to sit at my desk and look pretty.    Last night as I was packing my lunch for today, I realized just how crappy of a Thanksgiving it was going to be.  Not only do I have to work all day, but my Thanksgiving lunch is going to consist of a peanut butter and honey sandwich, banana, and orange.    Not exactly the traditional meal……  Plus no one here understands that today is a holiday for me.  I’m surrounded by others who know nothing of Pilgrims and Indians and think that today is just another day of work.  This afternoon when I go home, I’m going to go home to a lonely house.  Ian has class tonight and will leave right before I get off of work.  He won’t get back until 10ish.  My Thanksgiving dinner will probably consist of some noodle or rice dish that I throw together.  UUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!  I WANT TURKEY!!!! 

I suppose I should stop whining and be thankful for the things that I have.  I have the love and support of Ian.  Not being 100% completely alone during the holidays makes it easier.  I’m thankful for the opportunity to live and work in Japan.  I’m thankful for this sweet job that I have.  I’m thankful for my amazing friends over here.  I’m thankful for my health.  (I’m going to probably worsen my health by ingesting a million calories tomorrow, but that’s tomorrow!)  I’m thankful for the fact that in a month I’ll be hoping on a plane and heading to sunny Australia!  I’m thankful for my friends and family at home in Kentucky and look forward to being with them next holiday season!  I’m thankful to be an American and have unlimited opportunities that other nationalities don’t get to see.  I’m thankful above anything else for a God who has granted me such a blessed life. 

Even if today is crap, I have tomorrow to look forward to.  Since it’s a national holiday here, we’re getting together with our American friends and having Thanksgiving dinner.  Ian is waking up early to smoke the turkey. (Turkey is hard to come by in Japan.  Since it’s not indigenous to Japan, it’s not like we can just go to the grocery store and buy one.  We had to order ours online.    It came in the mail yesterday.)  Everyone else is bringing side dishes.  There will be traditional Thanksgiving staples: canned cranberries (also ordered from the Internet), dressing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit and vegetable dishes, and oh so much more!  CAN.  NOT.  WAIT.

To those of you at home: enjoy your wonderful holiday!  To all of our friends back in the States: we miss you and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!  We cannot wait to see you soon(ish)!  To all of our family back home: we are truly, honestly thankful for your constant love and support.  We also wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and look forward to spending next Thanksgiving with you all!  (As in…..you cook us a big dinner, and we eat it.  )  We love you all and are thankful for the blessing of having you in our lives!!  Happy Thanksgiving all!!

And so the Reeds make a decision…..

I do believe that a decision about our future has been reached.  After flip-flopping back and forth for the past two months about our future and what we were going to do about next year, we (finally) have come to a decision.  After the dread of having to make a decision by December 1st, we’ve reached it.  After weighing the pros and cons time and time again without coming to a clear conclusion about what to do, we’ve finally found an answer.  After asking advice from friends and family and having some people encouraging us to stay and enjoy our time and others giving us pouty faces when we say that we’re staying, we have decided.

Drum roll please……………

We’re coming home! 

It hasn’t been an easy decision, believe me!  I’m okay with the decision right now, but I know that when my time is running thin, I might regret this decision and just think why didn’t I choose to stay for another year?!  It will be difficult to say goodbye to friends who I will probably never see again, to leave the best job I’ll ever have, to pack up our tiny house, to drive that one last time through town, get on the expressway, to the airport, and leave my beloved Kumamoto behind. No, it won’t be easy! 

However, we’re coming home!  In nine months, I’ll be back in Paducah where most of my friends and family are, showing them pictures, and probably annoying them with more tales from Japan than they can handle.  Yay! 

So……. what’s the plan for after we come back?  I want to get my teaching certification.  I have no doubt about that now.  In order to do that, I’ve been looking into the Teach for America program.  TFA takes candidates to inner city or lower income schools and allows them to teach there while they work on their certification.  There are dozens of places across the States—Sec-Tac, Los Angeles, Colorado, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Greater New Orleans area, South Florida, Mississippi Delta, Appalachia, NYC, DC…..the list goes on and on.  I could basically point to any state on the map, and that state has at least one TFA program in its boundaries.  I feel like this program would be the best one long term.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to start this program until the FOLLOWING August due to the fact that I’ll miss the summer training program, and if you are unable to attend that for whatever reason, you can’t teach.

Another idea that we’ve discussed is applying to a teaching program in South Korea.  I know, I know, I know!  I understand that I JUST said that we’re coming home, but we would be home for six months until February when contracts begin.  It would basically be doing the same thing that I’m doing here….just in a new and different place.  We could stay there for up to another two years.  One last little adventure before finally hanging up our traveling shoes, you know?  Plus the TEFL degree that I’ve worked hard on would actually be put to use if we went to Korea!

Before I return to the States, I plan on applying to both programs, and hopefully that will decide our future.  However, for now….those of you who were championing for us to come home, enjoy the fact that come August, we’ll be seeing your pretty faces! 

Winter woes

I live in southern Japan and am THANKFUL for that.  Even though it gets cold here, I can’t IMAGINE living farther north.  In truth it doesn’t get that cold here.  Last year we had a couple of days where the temperature was below freezing.  We’re at the same longitude as places in the deep south like Savannah, Georgia or Montgomery, Alabama, so by my standards the winter really isn’t that bad.  HOWEVER, (as I complained last year) Japanese buildings aren’t insulated, and the culture as a whole has the mentality of don’t-turn-on-the-heat-put-on-another-layer to save natural resources.  It’s difficult to escape the cold temperatures, and I’m constantly looking for a heat source….even if it means holding my computer charger for a few minutes just to warm my fingers.  In addition, generally only one or two rooms in a house are heated.  The rest are left the same temperature as outside.  Therefore, I can go from my living room/bedroom/office/multi-purpose room to my kitchen and instantly feel a severe degree difference.  It’s not uncommon to see my breath in my bathroom during the winter.  (THANK GOD FOR HEATED TOILET SEATS!!!  )  Even though the highs are in the upper 50s and lows in the lower 40s right now, it’s COLD.  As I’m writing this, I’m wearing four layers on top and two on the bottom, and I’m still not warm.  ……and this will be my life for the next four months.  I probably won’t feel warm again until April. 

This year there was a spoon in the persimmon seed.  For those of you who don’t know the persimmon seed legend, a seed will have one of three patterns: spoon, knife, or fork.  A spoon means you’ll spend the winter shoveling snow.  A knife means you’ll spend the winter cutting ice.  A fork means a light winter because any snow that falls on a fork will go right through the tines.  Guess what I found in the persimmon seed this year?  A SPOON!      NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!  I love snow as much as the next person and don’t mind it in the States.  Actually….I look forward to it!  Snow=the possibility of canceled school days, which makes me as giddy as a ten-year-old hoping to see my school name scroll across the TV screen.  The January before we left (Winter 2011) was WONDERFUL!  It seemed like each week a different cold front blew through, raking snow across the quad-state area and canceling school at least one of the five days each week.  However, whenever you live in a place where a) school is NEVER canceled, b) my daily source of transportation is a bicycle, and c) the outdoor temperature is often the indoor temperature, it makes me want snow and a heavy winter less and less.  It rained on Wednesday this week, and once the clouds cleared on Thursday morning, I could see snow at the top of Ichifusa!  I feel like that’s not a good sign this early in the season……..  I’m hoping and praying that if we do get snow, it will happen on a Saturday or Sunday…..a day when I can go outside and enjoy it and then come back inside and get snuggly.  Also, nothing is sadder than a foreigner trying to ride a bike to work through a couple of inches of snow.   That’s just pitiful!

With the lower temperatures, Ian and I have taken measures to stay as warm as possible.  We “winterized” our house—meaning we’ve gone back to living in one room.  It’s miserable and feels like living in a cramped cave.  Our living room is now our bedroom/dining room/office/multi-purpose room.  Instead of opening the curtains and letting fresh air in, we keep our heavy black curtains shut to let the sunlight radiate heat through them and also to block cold air from coming in our single pane windows.  Since windows here are ALL single pane without any form of insulation, it does work in my favor sometimes.  Finding a spot of sunlight and standing in it is one sure way to warm up.  In class I regularly make my way to the pools of sunlight and stand in them just to warm up for a few seconds.  During break time this past week (since the kids were busy with cultural festival activities) I went to the library, sat in a sunny spot, and read my book.  The sunny spots really do warm me up!  After eating a hot meal for lunch and spending break time in a sunny spot, I was feeling great today….until I came back downstairs to the teacher’s room.  It seems like once the sunlight starts streaming in, the Japanese like to close the curtains.  In addition, in the morning when the day is at its coolest, for the most part the windows are closed.  However, once it gets to be about noon and the chill is starting to fade from the room, all of the windows get cracked to let in a little fresh air.  BLARG!  I CAN’T WIN AT THIS GAME!!!

Which leads me to my next point.  Some days I’ll come home from work and Ian will say something like “It was really cold today,” or “I turned on the kerosene heater because I got a little cool this afternoon.”  I want to SMACK him after he says something like this.  Not only did he NOT have to get up early when it’s still cold, ride a bike to work in the frosty air, sit in a cold building in which the windows are still open, but he gets to control his own temperature.  If he feels the slightest draft, he can fix that.  If he wants to feel snuggly warm, he can do that…….whereas I’m at the mercy of the other teachers for closing the windows and turning on the heat.  On any given winter day I spend the majority of my seven hour work day as a human popsicle, and Mr. Ian gets to stay warm.   

Other ways to combat the cold—Ian got out our kerosene heater (which is VERY effective).  It makes the house snuggly warm.  I guess one of the benefits of living in a non-insulated drafty house is that we don’t have to crack a window to allow air to circulate the fumes of our heater…..it’s naturally vented out!  This makes me both happy and sad.    Ian also set up our kotatsu, which is a heated table.  A fire-proof blanket is placed over the heating element, and it creates a warm pocket of air under the table in which to place your legs…….or entire body…..whatever (see pictures below).  This is my favorite heating element because it feels SO GOOD.  It’s like living in a warm hug.  Even though our kotatsu is only the size of a small coffee table, I love to fold my entire body under it and just embrace the warmth.  Ian and I constantly battle over who gets more leg room under the kotatsu.          

 

Every night before I go to bed, I have a choice: would I rather sleep comfortably or stay warm?  Since I’m a pretty big baby when it comes to being cold, I usually opt for the latter.  We can leave our kerosene heater on, but it automatically switches off after three hours.  That means that if I turn it on when I go to bed at 11:30, it’ll cut off at 2:30, and by the time my alarm goes off at 7:45, the house will be back to ice cold.  The past couple of nights, I’ve slept under the kotatsu.  This means sleeping on the hard tatami mats (above, left).  Ian usually stays up later than me, so I always ask him to pull me out from under it when he goes to bed so that I don’t fry or something from sleeping under it.    Each time he wakes me up, I’m stiff from sleeping on the hard floor, but honestly I’d rather be stiff and warm than cold and comfy.  Is it sad that I have to make that decision…?  Last night, I pulled the futon to the very edge of the kotatsu, covered myself in blankets, lifted up one side of the kotatsu blanket, and nestled my back into it.  It was a sad way to keep warm, but it worked!   

There are only a few leaves left on the trees now, and the mountains are starting to look very spotty.  Ian and I joke that it looks like they have mange.    The majority of the mountains are evergreens, but there are vast pockets of bamboo, cherry, and other deciduous trees that shed their leaves and give the mountains that mange-y look.  This morning was our first frost.  I’m assuming that my tomato plant (that has grown rather well since I planted it in August!) will soon die and any green unripe tomatoes that didn’t have the time to properly grow will turn to mush.    I HATE winter.  I hate the cold.  I hate how everything dies.  I hate the longer nights and shorter days.  I hate pushing back the covers in the morning and being greeted with chilly air.  I hate the whiney sound our car makes because it also hates the cold.  I HATE winter and can only hope that spring comes early this year!  Here’s to hoping!