A Day of Thanks ...

Kinro Kansha No Hi is the Japanese equivalent of American Thanksgiving. In Japan the day is more about giving thanks (in the form of prayer) to the working industry. A day for people to thank one another for the work done throughout the year and the results of the labor. There is a Thanksgiving-type festival in Nagano that encourages people to think about issues affecting peace, human rights, and the environment.

Although the focus isn't necessarily on family, turkey is unheard of & people aren't prepping for 'Black Friday', there is still a similarity between the two cultures. The day is about reflection. About being grateful for what you have and giving thanks for the people you rely on.

Even from the other side of the planet, I'm giving thanks for all of the wonderful people in my life. Arigato gozaimasu (the Japanese way of saying thank you very much). Thank you for the mail you send me, the phone calls I receive, the faith you have in me. Thank you for believing in me and saying things like, "You make me proud". Thank you for supporting me and the crazy things I do. Thank you for being a part of my life.

much love
-tara-
xoxo

ohhh yea ... In case you were wondering exactly what I had for Thanksgiving dinner, Amanda's mother came through and sent us everything Thanksgiving & microwavable. Together, and with the help of a couple microwaves, Amanda and I cooked a feast & watched a Thanksgiving themed episode of Grey's Anatomy. I'm exceptionally grateful for Amanda. :)

Here's the proof that we ate well (or as well as can be expected for a microwaved Thanksgiving dinner):


Amanda in the kitchen ... making some stove top something or another:

Serving the microwaved turkey :)

Of course we ate dinner on the kotatsu. It was very Japanese. (& Yes, that's wine)

Our dinner!! We are amazing cooks :)

We even managed to create this dessert ... in the microwave!!

Thanks Momma Linda Daniel :)

In Recovery ...

I've been feeling a little under weather lately (ok, for the last three weeks) and finally I went to the hospital. (Don't worry ... not like the hospital hospital back home, but the Japanese hospital which is like the doctor's office. It's all hospital here.) I went to the same doctor I went to before (when I couldn't sleep) except the last time I went Naoko went with me. This time I had to go without her. :(

Everything was fine. I waited forever, took my own temperature (in Celsius), and got the standard inspection. Eyes, ears, nose, whatnot. He listened to me breathe for a long time and told me I have bronchitis and a sinus infection which was causing an eye infection. Any of this sound familiar to anyone? Like last year when I finally went to the doctor after being sick for a while & turns out I had an eye, ear, & sinus infection. Kind of the same thing this time around. Except I got 3 different prescriptions (not including eye drops) & I have to take 11 (that's right, eleven) pills everyday for the next five days. As long as it makes me feel better, I'm all for it. That's right, you heard it right, coming from the same girl who used to refuse aspirin. What can I say, I'm in Asia.

So anyway ... I've been coming to work and today I had a lesson with a group of teachers and we were talking about being ill. I explained to them my condition (of course they made a big fuss and insisted I drink tea and eat some sort of medicine/candy. Who knows ...) and one of the other teachers said she was sick as well. Actually she said:
"Too I feel sickness. (Imitates coughing) Pain."
I understand that she has a cold as well.
"Many times I (imitates sniffling)."
She has nasal congestion.
"Very much .... hmm ... uhh..."
I don't know what she's thinking. She's making all of these rapid motions with her hands that I don't understand. She's making interesting Japanese noises that are often made in times of frustration when the right word just won't come to you. Then silence.
"Umm ... very much (mumbling in Japanese) uhh .... eee .... OH!"
That 'oh!' sounded promising.
"Nose water!"
Sickening.

I thought my dad would appreciate the story. What's the correct term for 'nose water'? Snot? Mucus? Phlegm? Boogers? I wasn't quite sure what to translate back so instead I said, 'Ah ... I understand" & left it at that.

much love
-tara-
xoxo

The Onsen ...

Onsen (according to Wikipedia) ...

An onsen (温泉, onsen) is a Japanese hot spring. A volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth. Onsen were traditionally used as public bathing places and today play a central role in directing Japanese domestic tourism.

Onsen come in many types and shapes including outdoor (露天風呂) and indoor (野天風呂,) baths. Baths may be either public run by a municipality or private (内湯,) often run as part of a hotel, traditional inn (旅館,) or Bed and Breakfast (民宿,).

Onsens are a central feature of Japanese tourism often found out in the countryside, and are a major tourist attraction drawing Japanese couples, families or company groups who want to get away from the hectic life of the city to relax. Japanese often talk of the virtues of "naked communion" (裸の付き合い,) for breaking down barriers and getting to know people in the relaxed homey atmosphere of an onsen inn.

Traditionally, onsen were located outdoors, although a large number of inns have now built indoor bathing facilities as well. Onsen by definition use naturally hot water from geothermally-heated springs.

Onsen water is believed to have healing powers derived from its mineral content. A particular onsen may feature several different baths, each with water with a different mineral composition. The outdoor bath tubs are most often made from Japanese cypress, marble or granite, while indoor tubs may be made with tile, acrylic or stainless steel.

Many bathers come for only an hour or so to soak in the waters. While other services like massages may be offered, the main reason most people visit the onsen is to enjoy the baths.

Traditionally, men and women bathed together at the onsen, but single-sex bathing has steadily become the established custom since the opening of Japan to the West. Mixed-sex bathing persists at some onsen in the rural areas of Japan, which usually also provide the option of separate "women-only" baths or different hours for the two sexes, although young children of either sex may be seen in both the men's and the women's baths.

People often travel to onsen with work colleagues, as the relaxed and open atmosphere helps to break down some of the hierarchical stiffness inherent in Japanese work life. However, most visitors to onsen are not work groups but friends, couples and families.

With work colleagues. Can you just imagine a Freeburg get away to a onsen to bathe together?

So anyway, Naoko invited Amanda and I to go to an onsen with her, her three daughters, a teacher from the school we work at, and her daughter. So all 8 of us made plans to go to the onsen and bathe together. When in Rome ...

So what do we bring? Amanda and I were kind of freaking out and had no idea what to expect. Naoko said no swimsuits were necessary, just a washcloth and any bathing supplies. I packed a rather small bag and we went to experience this firsthand. The place was really, really nice. Like a nice spa back home

Obviously cameras are not allowed, but they do have a website. Granted it's in Japanese, but you can look at the pictures and click around & get the gist of it.

Click here to check it out.

What's your initial reaction? Definitely different from back home, huh?

much love
-tara-
xoxo

The Schools ....

Here are a few snapshots of my schools. They're really different from schools back home, but in a good way. I'll try to post more soon.

This is the artwork hanging up at Chitose Nursery School. The colored pieces are egg shells and those are the children's faces & hands. Cute, huh? Shirley - why didn't we do this with our chick shells? Just joking :)

I'm upstairs looking down on the playground. The children spend a lot of time outside. The building in the background is another part of the school.

Outside Futaba Nursery School. Yes, that is a swimming pool. In the summer season the children go swimming during outdoor activity. I wouldn't have minded a pool at Freeburg. C3 could have been the lifeguard. :)

Inside Kanada Nursery School. This school has a good vibe. I like it. That is the entrance and the shelves on the right are for your shoes. Everyone must wear indoor shoes inside the school.

A lot of the classrooms have a patio or balcony or outdoor area attached to the classroom. The children can go outside anytime. I love it. I definitely wouldn't mind one of these at my next school.

I think most of the schools have a tatami room. I don't know the sole purpose of this area but I know that children (or me) can go here when they are tired and take a nap or if they are not feeling well. There's also a piano in this room. It's quite relaxing. It's not super comfortable for napping though. I tried once.

The children collect bugs and insects all the time, just like our collection of creepy crawlies in my kindergarten room last year. The only difference is instead of collecting ladybugs, grasshoppers, and bees these children collect beetles, spiders, and praying mantises. At first they really freaked me out, but now I'm used to it.
The beetles are huge!!
Eww ... He tried to get me to pick it up and I was not having it.

Isn't this sweet? Little did they know my hair would be wild & curly. :)
much love
-tara-
xoxo

Harvesting the Rice ...

Way back when Amanda and I had inquired about harvesting rice and all of our curiosity earned us two spots on the school field trip to the local rice patch.

Of course we walked there, using the buddy system.

Three of my adorable four year olds, hanging out in the rice field.

Constructing knowledge:

This little boy's name is Souta (pronounced Sow-ta). Hi kind of reminds me of my sweet baby Darion from last year (only without all the crying & those weird tantrums ... anybody miss those? I know Shirley does! Joke, joke).

The children were finding everything gross that I had thought lived in the rice. Huge spiders, deformed frogs, insects I couldn't identify ... everything except the people that I could have sworn had fallen into the rice fields and were unable to escape.

Why not make a hay pile? I would have done it if I was four.

And then I would have done exactly this:

Peace bench or not, problem solving is so hard. This little boy was crying and, between Amanda and I, we could not figure out what was wrong. Don't worry, we got it all worked out. Somehow. An act of God.

There were some newspaper reporters there taking pictures of Amanda and I. We were told later that our pictures will be printed in the newspaper - in "maybe three months". Talk about getting the story in advance. We're going to be local celebrities. Come to think of it, we already famous. We're the two foreigners!

Little did I know that each and every person would get the opportunity to drive the combine. The kids loved it, but it took quite some time for every child to plow the perimeter.

This kid was hardly working!!

Maybe if he'd been paying a little more attention this wouldn't have happened! :)

Everyone kept asking me if this combine was like the combines in Iowa. I said yes, even though I have no idea. Does that make me a bad person? I couldn't let them down by saying I don't know anything about farming, even though I don't.

When I said everybody got the chance to plow, I meant everybody. Amanda and I saddled up when it was our turn. I'll just add this to the resume.

Me and my babies after a hard day of work. Talk about free labor.

much love
-tara-
xoxo

A Few Randoms ...

Ok ... after going back and looking at my blog I realize that I made a crucial mistake. My address!! It appears (my own fault) that I once had a slight typo when publishing my address. Allow me to correct this now. My address is NOT 704 Axis Ima, but 705 Axis Ima. Whoops!

Tara McPherson
705 Axis Ima
4-15-23 Ima Okayama City
Japan 700-0953

Don't worry... I have received all of my mail thus far. Thankfully because there is no apartment 704. Actually there is no apartment anything-04. Four is considered very unlucky in the Japanese culture. The Japanese don't like the number 4 because of the pronunciation. Four is pronounced "shi" which is the same pronunciation as death. Therefore, many hospitals don't have these numbers as the room number or even the floor number and there are no seats with number 4 on passenger planes of the All Nippon Airways. Similar to 13 back home.

I didn't even really notice that my mail was coming to 704 because it was being delivered just like normal and none of the post workers said anything until the other day when the delivery man came & continued to point to my address & talked animatedly for about a full five minutes. I had no idea what he was saying but I responded with the typical head nod & after he left, I made up my own translation. Basically what he said (in my mind) was, "Tell those few people out there that are sending you mail to send it to 705. I know hardly anyone sends you mail and the mail that you do get is extremely important to you and you want to get mail everyday (as opposed to once every month), so please tell them to send it to 705." I just know that is what he said. :)

In the future .... 705.

And - one more thing. I have been trying to blog in chronological order but all that is doing is stressing me out. Sometimes I want to blog about something & then I think I can't because I haven't finished writing about the trip I took a month ago and my blood pressure starts to rise and I become nauseous (ok I don't really). Anyway, if anyone cares, I'm going to start blogging about whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. I run this thing. :)

Looking forward to the mail that will start flooding my mailbox at 705 now (if you picked up on the hint) :)
much love
-tara-
xoxo

Blowing Glass ...

Between Amanda and I, we work at a total of eight schools. About once a month or so a group of teachers from one of those eight schools usually asks us if we want to get together and do something on the weekend. It's a really great offer that we usually take them up on. Last month they asked if we wanted to go blow glass. Obviously we do.

Three teachers pick us up one Saturday morning and we drive to a town close by called Kurashiki. We arrive at what looks like some sort of unmarked shed and I can instantly feel the intense heat coming from the small doorway. Great. Not only is it incredibly hot outside, here it's also incredibly hot inside.

We met the man in charge (who only speaks Japanese) and filled out some paperwork. Amanda was convinced we were signing some sort of waiver, although neither of us could understand what we were signing exactly (and the translation was poor). We were asked to draw a picture of what we wanted our glass to look like and, fully aware that I didn't get the artistic gene, I am instantly convinced I will be leaving with a misshapen glob of multicolored glass, but still excited nonetheless.

We have a few minutes to look around the 'shed' and there are a couple shelves with his handmade glass that are quite amazing, as was the price. I was definitely intrigued by this whole process.

I'll let the videos speak for the experience. You can see how difficult it is to understand each other's spoken words but at the same time you can see the power in nonverbal communication. I didn't understand one word that man said all day, but I could still follow his directions.

They come in a series, so watch them in order.

(or not ... some technical difficulty with the videos ... I'll keep work on it. Sorry!)

The pictures will have to do for now!

The source of the incredible heat ... & the double door apparatus on the left is a freezer. Once the glass is finished it is immediately transferred to the extreme cold to set.

Amanda demonstrating how it's done.

There was a lot of 'slow blow'ing, some confusion, and tons of dripping sweat (gross, I know, but it was literally 120 degrees in there!), but it was amazing. I love the outings that the teachers plan for us.

I'll keep working on the videos.

much love
-tara-
xoxo