The End of March ...

I'm going to try oh-so-very hard to get all caught up on these blogs so that I'm not still trying to blog about things that happened in Japan in February once I'm home in America in June. I don't know that my life is all that entertaining anymore and I'm not even sure people still read this stuff, but I'll put in a solid effort nonetheless.

I had a week off at the end of March (what can I say, my bosses love me) and I spent two days in Osaka with my friend Tina and three days in Korea with Naoko with one day of sleeping in between. It was kind of the perfect week off.

Tina and I spent a day in Osaka checking out some temples, visiting a Japanese cemetery (which was kind of cool and kind of not ... although less creepy than American cemeteries because everyone is cremated & I knew there weren't any bodies down there), seeing 3D dinosaur movies, checking out a ninja house, playing air hockey, and riding a deathly ferris wheel. All activities that we thoroughly enjoyed. I take that back. I wouldn't say I 'thoroughly' enjoyed the ferris wheel.

The temple/cemetery:

I don't know exactly how the plots work but I think maybe I'm intrigued enough to ask. I'll have to keep you posted on that one.

We spent the next day at Universal Studios Japan. I can't get enough of this place. There's something about amusement parks ... standing in line for the rides, eating junk food, feeling like you could puke after going on some sort of spinning attraction, leaving without a voice because you left it on the roller coaster the second time around ... that make you feel like a big, awesome kid. You would have to be a serious fun hater to not spend the day at USJ smiling.

Tina & I

So I realize that not everyone has facebook (a social networking website for those who live under a rock ... jk, jk) :) but it's so much easier to post albums of pictures there as opposed to this blog. Fortunately for the facebook challenged, I can post the link and you too can view all of the pictures.

Click here to see all the pictures from Osaka

and

Click here to see all the pictures from USJ

much love

-tara-

xx

Daniel's Family ...

Daniel's parents came to visit last month and I was lucky enough to get to spend two of their seven day trip with them. I really love parents. I love meeting them and hanging out with them, listening to their stories, where they're from, what they do, what their kids were like growing up :), etc. Daniel's parents were so exceptionally sweet. I enjoyed every minute that I spent with them and it was fun gaining a little insight into Daniel's world. I was a little sad to see them leave, but they invited me to Alabama and I think I just might have to take them up on that one.

We took them to sightseeing around Okayama (not that there's a whole lot to see), did some shopping, ate some taiyaki (my favorite), went to temple, and had a yakiniku party with our Japanese family. They seemed to really enjoy their time here, which is what it was all about.

Okayama Castle ... I've lived here for 2 years and this is the closest I've been:

Korakuen Garden is considered one of the three most beautiful gardens in all of Japan.

And it is just that: It was just a little too early for the cherry blossoms (sakura)

But the plum trees were pretty:

My Japanese parents ... Naoko & Matsumi:

and their children:

HAHA ... there is a story behind this picture that only those of us involved will ever fully appreciate. These people were getting married at the Garden (that's the traditional wedding get-up) and somehow we all ended up in a photo together.

Tara, Daniel, groom, bride, mom & dad. :) We drank a little tea (jk, I don't drink that green stuff) but the parents were brave enough to try it and were just talking and hanging out at the Garden. Everything was great and it was the perfect March weather. I was just minding my own business eating ice cream (it was a Sunday) and this really friendly, kind of adorable old woman (obaachan in Japanese) came around to refill tea and smile at everyone. I thought she was really sweet and we chatted for a second and I remembered why I love old Japanese women. Then, as a random act of kindness, she started putting kinako mochi in on ice cream while smiling at me as if she was doing me some sort of favor. She was so cute I couldn't be mad at her, but seriously ... kinako mochi is gross. Damn obaachan.

Green tea and kinako mochi (the crap she put on my ice cream):

And then, of course, as we do when all foreigners come to visit - we had a yakiniku party!! Yakiniku is Japanese for 'grilled meat' (yaki- grill, niku- meat) and is commonly known as Korean BBQ. It's pretty stellar and there isn't anyone I know that doesn't enjoy a little yakiniku.

Daniel & his dad, Tom, with the aprons on & ready to grill.

Kazuyo, Signa (Daniel's mother) & a serious plate of niku.

HAHA ... Naoko & Yumi, aprons & all.

Although the time with Daniel's family was short, it was oh so sweet. I know I'll see them again though, so no worries. <3

much love

-tara-

xx

Baseball ...

Hanshin Tigers vs Hiroshima Crap (I mean Carp):

A few weeks ago the gang & I packed it up, packed it in & headed to Momotaro Stadium in Kurashiki to watch the Tigers destroy the Carp. At least that's what I thought was going to happen. I've been wrong about games in the past ... HAHA.

Jonathan and I sitting in the outfield ... the best (& craziest) seats in the house:

The Tigers are known in Japan for having the craziest fans, so of course we fit right in. These people are hardcore, too. They know every cheer (yes, they have rehearsed cheers that we got a print out of when we walked in), they know all the stats, they got all the gear, and they are super excited about beer and baseball. Obviously I'm a Tigers fan.

A Fujimoto fan ... they decorate themselves up with a whole bunch of kanji and wear pretty ridiculous 'player pants'. Oh, she has hot pink tiger ears on too.

Daniel & I enjoying a little baseball fun in the sun ... with my super huge visor that Yoko's husband insisted I wear to the game. :)

And this crazy man was also pretty insistent ... only he insisted that we sit next to him and drink all of his beer and sake and eat all of his snacks. And we had no problem doing just that. He was a riot, and a serious Tigers fan.

A little game action ... and yes, there is in fact no grass. The sad thing is I didn't even notice until Kurt pointed it out. I'm so used to living without grass that I didn't think twice about an all dirt field. Sad, I know.

And these were our 'cheer leaders', seriously. I'm going to estimate that we were engaged in some sort of cheer for at least 80% of the game. Every batter had their own cheer that a band and drum corps would start playing when they came up to bat, the whistle blowers would instruct you on when to clap, the trumpets would let you know when to yell, and anyone who did anything outside of what you were supposed to be doing at any given time would get a very strange look from almost the entire section of crazed Tigers fans. That's real Japanese style. I kind of liked it at first ... & then after about the fourth, I started to hate it.

Kevin Mench is an outfielder for the Tigers who played for the Rangers from 2002-2006. He signed for a year with the carp back in December and when he was up to bat EVERYONE in the stands looked at us (the group of foreigners) as though we were supposed to be cheering extra loud. So since we didn't want to disappoint, we did. :)
Although we didn't have an American flag to wave like these people did:

Who doesn't love a little 7th inning action? Stand up, do a little stretching. Catch a t-shirt if you're at a Bucks game. :) Warm up your vocal cords. You know, singing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' is as baseball as beer & bad calls. It's not something you question because you are guaranteed that it will happen. You don't think 'hmm, I wonder if we will sing 'Take Me Out ot the Ball Game' today?' in the same way you don't think 'hmm, I wonder if they will be serving beer & dome dogs'. It's an essential part of the game.  You can't NOT sing it. The idea is ludicrous. But obviously in Japan they don't get it.

Everything in the 7th inning was so wrong. First of all, the Tigers were down by 2. That wasn't right. Secondly, no one was standing up for the stretch. Hmm.... Instead, the were reaching down in their pockets for balloons. Yes, balloons. As they started blowing them up I seriously thought someone was going to start making balloon animals like that weird guy does at iHOP on Sunday mornings. But nope, they blew them up (did NOT tie them) & then just sat there.

Like this ... Daniel & I had no idea what was going on:

And then they started singing while fist pumping their strange shaped balloons in the air. It definitely wasn't and rendition of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' I'm familiar with. All I could do was shake my head. This is the worst 7th inning I've ever been a part of. Even worse than that one night at the Bucks game. :)

Oh yea, and when the song was over, everyone let go of their balloons and they made the strangest hissing, whizzing, annoying noise ever. Yea, I don't get it either.

The Tigers ended up losing by one, but the whole day was one big winner. The boys and I had SO much fun. From the crazy old man with the free booze, to the professional cheer leaders with the serious chants, to the trumpet players that would pop up out of the middle of nowhere Love Actually style ... everything was perfect. I love baseball season.

much love

-tara-

xx

St. Patrick's Day ...

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day at a small Irish pub called Skipper's here in Okayama. It definitely wasn't like I typically celebrate at home, but it was me & my amazing friends, with good drinks, having a great time. That's all I need.

Tapio (F1) & I:

St. Patrick's Day is always just a little 'off' in Japan. For example, we celebrated on March 14th. That's weird. And we didn't have any green beer, which is even more weird. The "Irish pub" did redeem themselves by having Guinness, but obviously that's not green.

And why wasn't anyone wearing anything green? Maybe a small handful of us knew the rules of the holiday apparently. F1 & F2 said they didn't know St. Patrick's Day works. Are you kidding me? They're Finnish. Apparently they don't celebrate being Irish there? :)

F2, F1 & myself ... & I'm the only one with any green. Weirdos.

There weren't any decorations anywhere. No leprechauns hopping around, no pots of gold, green beads, or $1 shamrocks that benefit Cystic Fibrosis. Not that those are essential to your St. Patrick's Day, but they always had them at Mulligans. We brought our own stickers in an attempt to Irish things up.

And Lauren took it to the extreme.

It's ok, she's Australian:

My nerd squad ... & I forgot my glasses. DANG!

Richard, myself & Jonathan

Any guesses as to what's in my glass? :)

The best part of St. Patrick's Day was being with some of my favorite people. Regardless of what holiday it is (or isn't), where we are, or what it is that we're supposed to be doing, we always have an awesome time. I super love them.

much love

-tara-

xx

Sotsuenshiki ...

In Japan students celebrate many graduations. They graduate from preschool, elementary school, junior high school, and high school. Each graduation is celebrated equally with an official ceremony, lots of important people in black suits, diplomas, flowers, an incredible amount of bowing, gifts, singing, and lots and lots of tears.

Rocking out the suit in the office:

Sotsuenshiki is the official graduation of children from preschool. The idea is similar to preschool or kindergarten graduations back home, but they take it to a whole other level. It was comparable to West High class of 2001 graduation. There were city officials, superintendents, prefectural representatives, and other principals in attendance. Everyone was wearing a suit, 99% of which were black. The children and teachers marched into a hall, full of parents and former teachers, as a class and there were opening speeches and piano accompaniment and the second the diplomas started being individually handed out the tears started.

Naoko and I after Tomiyama's graduation:

Maybe it was something about knowing that this was the last time we would ever be together as a class and, as a teacher, about knowing not only the impact you had on the kids but the impact they had on you. Maybe it was realizing that this was the last time I was going to see most of the kids that I've seen regularly for the last two years that did it. That thought was heartbreaking. Maybe it was remembering back to the first day we started working together and thinking about how far we've come and how proud I am of all of them. Thinking about it makes me teary eyed even now, a week later. Or maybe it was the fact that everyone was crying. The teachers were crying, the parents (mothers and fathers) were crying, the principal was crying, the children were crying. There was so much emotion. So much bittersweet emotion in celebrating this milestone in the children's lives that you would have to have a heart of stone to not have felt it.

On the last day of school at Freeburg I shed a few tears with a couple parents and my voice cracked when I had to tell Maliek that no, I wasn't going to see him tomorrow and no, I couldn't when he begged me to ride the bus home with him. And I needed a tissue and a serious hug when DaJoniss and his mom finally left the classroom, both in tears. But it was different. It was Shirley and I comforting each other in my office and me praying that I'd done enough to let every single one of my kids know how much I loved them and how much I invested in them and how unbelievably proud I was of each and every one of them. Sotsuenshiki was just that. A celebration of and for the children filled with so much love and adoration from so many different people that it was just moving.

Kazuyo and I - with no tears!!

The Tomiyama children sang a sayonara song that was all about their school experience and how hard it was to say goodbye to their teachers and their friends. Even if you don't understand the words, it's beautiful. If you look close enough, some of the children are crying and if you listen close enough I'm sure you can hear a sniffle or two considering that almost all of the people watching were in tears. The sayonara song marks the very end. :)

I posted some other pictures on facebook and since I'm suppose to be packing for Korea instead of blogging, I don't have time to put them all up. But I think maybe, just maybe, if you click here: Sotsuenshiki Pictures then you'll be able to see them too.

much love

-tara-

xx

Picking Strawberries ...

First grapes - now strawberries. Japanese people sure do love their fruit.

Naoko made Sunday afternoon plans for her, me, Yumi, Daniel, Ayaka and Misaki to visit a strawberry farm. The only thing we had to do while we were there was eat strawberries. Sign me up for that. :)
We got there, paid 1500 yen a person and a farmer looking man led us to our designated 'strawberry houses'. Once inside, we were handed a small pair of scissors and a plastic bag. I think the farmer man probably had a stopwatch because when we said 'GO!', we had exactly 30 minutes to eat as many strawberries as we could. The door way was like a starting line at a relay. I quickly figured out that these people were serious about strawberry consumption. On your marks .... Get set ...

Inside the strawberry house was what seemed like endless rows of strawberries ...

The directions were simple: walk up and down the rows of strawberries, find one that looks good, snip it with your scissors, blow on it to get any dirt off, and eat up. Put the top in your plastic bag and move on. Take two steps and repeat.

Naoko's a strawberry lover:

Daniel was pleasantly surprised by how sweet they were.
Japanese strawberries are way better than American strawberries.

I don't know what it is about Japanese fruit, but it's all huge. The strawberries were no exception.

I was dared to eat it all in one bite:
Ayaka, Misaki & Yumi

Daniel tried the green ones (which reminded me of the story of eating green tomatoes at grandma and grandpa's house) and the verdict was that they are nasty. I wasn't feeling real hot so I wasn't up for eating green things.

Despite the fact that I wasn't feeling particularly well that afternoon, picking strawberries was definitely a success. It's always fun to do things with the fam (especially when your family is as awesome as mine) and it's even more fun when we manage to drag Daniel along.

Total strawberry count ... Naoko - 40. Daniel - 45. Misaki & Ayaka combined - 50 Tara - 30. I thought I ate a lot and I came in last place. Good thing we didn't have any money on it. :)

much love

-tara-

xx