Uplifting 1

At times, Japan can be a very..... uplifting place. So many items that scream happiness and cuteness at us. Everything is "Kawaii!!!" (cute!)

The "Kawaii!!!" things include ME by the way. I think I will go through "Kawaii withdrawal", when I go back to the states, and every teenager that walks by me will NOT scream "Cute!" at me.

Today 3 students grabbed me to stare into my eyes. And said "Blue!~ I want blue eye!" They would not believe me when I responded: "I want black hair!" They are so cute,... jealous of my blue eyes, even though I'm jealous of their everything!

Especially their pencil cases and folders that scream in beautiful letters "Lets friends be! I love you!" Sometimes the 'kawaii"ness of everything can be overwhelming. But lately, I definitely need support, even from inanimate objects!

Ohayoo Gozaimasu!

So this post is definitely on something I don't understand...but all I can do is record my humble observations. Above, you can see 10 High School students standing outside. They are looking on, waiting for another group of students to trek up the hill to the high school. As soon as said group of students is about 10 meters away, the line will start saying (almost shouting) Ohayoo Gozaimasu! Ohayoo Gozaimasu~! This means Good morning.

It is more awkward for me, because I don't usually walk with a group, and they don't know whether to scream "Ohayoo Gozaimasu" or "Gud-mourneng!" at me. :) If I'm feeling very English teacher'ish I scream "Good Morning" to them first, so they can practice this ever-so-important salutation! Yet, I think they get too much practice with this one, because students still stop me in school at 4:30 p.m. to tell me "Good Morning."

I think that the morning greeting is a great great part of the Japanese school system. I just don't know how each week's "Greeters" are chosen. Most of the time, actually, stationed at the front of the school are two teachers. Usually one male, and one female. They just stand there from about 7:55a.m. to 8:23a.m. (the teachers meeting is at 8:25 so they must rush inside), and say good morning to every student that comes into the school gates! This is pretty spectacular, when you think about how freaking cold it has been. I am always greeted on my way into school, if I am on a normal morning schedule.

(sidenote because I mentioned teachers meeting--there is a teachers meeting every single morning, without fail...I really want to audio-record what the teachers room sounds like from 8:10-8:24 in the morning...there is NO WAY to explain it on here...but to the foreign ear, it is freaking ridiculous!!! I can't even try to explain. ... A lot of grunting GOZAIMASU'es)

So I look forward to my greeting tomorrow. Its a new week at that school, so I am wondering if it will be a group of students, or the normal male/female, seemingly random teachers. I am also resolved to ask tomorrow how they chose the fate of those lucky greeters.

Valentine daY

Happy Valentine's Day! I mean.... Valentine daY! 2.14. :)

In Japan, the tradition for Valentine's Day is that the girl gives the guy a present. Candy, chocolate, cake...something along the lines of a regular Valentine's Day token of love. Let me repeat. The girl gives the guy. Period.

Guys aren't suppose to do anything on Valentine's Day. Its one sided!

Its not until March 14th that the guys need to give back. March 14th... reciprocation day... actually called: "White Day" in Japan. Whoever gave them something on Valentine's Day....They must give something back that is at least 3 times the value of the original Valentine's Day gift.

On Valentine's Day, there are two type of chocolates that can be bought (if the girl isn't doing some homemade goodness). There are chocolates specifically for real love interests, and chocolates specifically for male coworkers, friends, and colleagues. At one of my schools, one of the female teacher gave every single male teacher a box of chocolates that was at least 300 Yen each!

Follow the logic there. She will on March 14th be getting dozens and dozens of boxes of chocolates worth 900 Yen each!

The 3x rule is not official, its just what my coworkers and such suggested. Regardless, that teacher is going to be sitting pretty next month. Apparently all the chocolate and jewelry and stuff given to the girls on March 14th must be delivered in white boxes. I don't know. I've never lived in Japan in March. ;) We'll see.

I brought chips and salsa for my colleagues for Valentine's Day. They get enough chocolate, and besides, most of them have never actually tasted chips and salsa! (I got these delectable items from Costco on Saturday. Thank you so much Monica and Chris for driving!)

Last interesting tidbit--in South Korea, they have one additional day on top of Valentine's Day and White Day. They have Black Day~! Black Day is celebrated on April 14th. Its for all the single people out there. If you don't give or receive anything on Feb. 14th or Mar. 14th, you are suppose to eat black noodles on that day. And be grouchy? I'm not sure about the grouchy part. :)

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

On the 14th I ate some ramen with Hofu friends, went farming and pickling, and shared an amazing Mexican meal with other Hofu friends. It was a good day. Pictures of some of those events, probably (hopefully) coming up soon!

Hofu Area Scenes

I want to go play in these.... weeds? I don't know what they are. Hay? It doesn't seem like any type of food to me. I just thought this was a beautiful scene in front of one of the High Schools that I teach at.

Here is Hofu Tenmangu at 3:00a.m. I decided to climb the mountain behind it at 3am a couple of weeks ago. It was actually pretty cool, climbing up a mountain equipped with a flashlight and a cell-phone (for pics like this....not for emergency calls...knock on wood). I climbed it once more during dark hours since, and now these stairs have turned into my own personal stairmaster,... as part of my exercise routine.

"Some Holiday"

Not until yesterday did I think about asking a co-worker: "What is National Foundation Day?" I knew that I had this Thursday off, for a while now. I just didn't care why! Day off!

Turns out that I'm not the only one. "hmmmmmmmmm, I don't know" said the first co-worker I asked. Then my supervisor walked by. "hmmmmmmmmmmm" she said. The first co-worker I asked got out his little electronic dictionary/encyclopedia.

Apparently there may or may not have been some bloke called Jimmu Teno, somewhere in Japanese history. Teno, by the way, means Emperor. So this Emperor Jim(mu) was the first emperor of Japan, and he was either crowned or born on this day. And he may or may not have existed.

Thats what I got from my co-workers.

:) I just think its interesting, and I'm not making fun of it! Its just nice to know that Americans are not the only ones that appreciate days off because they are days off. What the heck is Presidents Day? I don't know! Is it like..., celebrating all the Presidents? Or just certain ones? It is this Monday, back in the New World right?

So after getting back from enjoying my day with good friends in a new city...I decided to look up National Foundation Day. My co-workers were actually quite right. "They" say that this Emperor Jimmu was throned in 660B.C. on this day, so very long ago. But no one seems to deem these historical records accurate. I'm okay with that! Keep the National Foundation Days rolling on in!

Here are some pictures from my day in IwAkUnI! I'll do a separate post on my Iwakuni adventure later...but just to add some color to this post:

Iwakuni--bridge area. More on this later.

Just like home! Taco, enchilada, sour cream, jalapenos. Thank you cities with military bases. Thank you white guys who demand good food in the city in which you are stationed.

Mike double fists it with Mexican beer and a margarita.

I hate margaritas, but its not something I can get anywhere in my area! Gotta go all out, if you're gonna go out. Hi Matt and Sophie!

Setsubun- Feb 3rd

It's a Tuesday morning. I’m just finishing up teaching 4^th period at the Prefectural Deaf school, here in Yamaguchi Prefecture. I was excited to get back to my g-chat. Suddenly, my supervisor is tugging me over to a building of the school that I had never been in. Not being able to understand what she was telling me in the hustle, all I can think about was not being able to talk to my friends. Just before being pulled into, what I would soon find out was the Kindergarten class, I recognize a few words: beans, devils, and more beans.

Forever more: screw friends, when there are Kindergarteners around!

Now, in retrospect, the only thing I have to be annoyed about is that I didn’t have my camera or cell phone on me! There were 5 tiny kindergarteners screaming/laughing, and throwing beans at 3 devil’s (3 of my high school students dressed up as devils).

I am adoring the cutest kids ever, trying to find clues to what is going on. On the blackboard are some artfully constructed letters, which translate in the American alphabet to: “Mamemasa”. Having realized that my supervisor was talking about beans, beans, and more beans, I connect the “Mame” part of the word, to what I already am familiar with: “Mameshiba!”

Check out this commercial (there are many many commercials featuring these adorable Mameshiba’s (bean dogs): HERE

About a minute after I get there, the devils are driven out of the classroom, no longer being able to withstand the bean-throwing. Five minutes later, during bean clean-up, the kindergarten teacher works to get their attention (which is not the simplest thing to do with 5 excited deaf children). She points through the window, to the foot of the mountain. Yes, this school sits at the base of a beautiful mountain! The 3 devils are seen retreating into the mountains! (I’m sure those 3 volunteer high school students would rather be running into the mountains than sitting in Japanese class).

This was so beautifully arranged. And I received all the explanation that I could hope for after I was escorted back to the teacher’s room. The next day, would be Setsubun.

February 3^rd is Setsubun. Setsubun is the festival of bean throwing. “Mamemasa”, what was written at the front of the Kindergartener’s class, means that exactly: Bean throwing. Setsubun, the name of the holiday itself means the “division of seasons”.

February 3^rd is considered the last day of winter here. Americans have “Groundhog Day,” but the celebration of Setsubun seems far more widespread to me.

In fact, up on the International space station, beans were thrown today. Well, M&M’s. Soichi Noguchi, the Japanese flight engineer was filmed throwing M&M’s, repeating the famous Setsubun phrase: “Oni wa soto, huku wa uchi”.

Ideally what happens in each Japanese household is: The father plays the role of a devil. The family throws beans at him chanting “Oni wa sota, huku wa uchi”, meaning “Devils out, Fortune in” until he runs away. While throwing beans at him, once he is just out of the house, one also throws beans back inside, over their shoulders. This if for the “fortune in” part of the chant.

After you expel the demon, you traditionally eat the dried soybeans—one soybean per year you have lived.

Here was my lunch today:

My bean packet only had 24 beans in it, and I’m 25! I was so sad, because I wanted my deserved luck. Seeing me count my beans, my supervisor skipped over with an extra pack, to make sure I had enough. So I borrowed a bean!

At the same moment, while I was stuck in stuck in this super rural school, over in the heart of the city, “Hadakabou” was going on in commemoration of Setsubun. This means that there were a bunch of men sauntering around Hofu with a lucky calf. Yes. A cow god, in fact. They made their way up to Tenmangu shrine …a shrine that I have talked about numerous times. There, occurring 3 times throughout the day were massive bean throwing events. Everyone there was in the running to win the calf-god. I was not there, but I didn’t want the cow anyways. Hehe.

photo source: http://www.kanko-hofu.gr.jp/topics/200902/tenmangu/setsubun/index.html

I’m sad that I missed the event, but I had English club. Next year, I will make sure to use my PTO and make my way to the festival.

I did hit the end of the festival after work, but it had almost completely died down (see below).

I know I know, this post just goes on and on! But one other famous thing to do during Setsubun is to Eat “makizushi” or uncut sushi rolls, while facing a certain direction. This year we needed to face southeast. You need to stand up and finish your sushi, staring southeast, without saying a word. If you speak one word during this time, you will have bad luck all year, and vice versa.

I bought the wrong sushi! But the convenience store on my way home from Tenmangu didn’t carry the right kind! As you can see, I bought more nuts too, so I could rain soybeans down on the roofs of my neighbors while calling “Oni was soto” and mess up my bedroom while calling “Huku wa uchi”.

Lets see how my luck goes this year. If the wind blows the way I want it, when the new school term starts again, I will be able to pick up more elementary and Kindergarten classes! And I will always have enough to do, without g-chat filling my time! Okay… now that I’m done with this post, back to g-chat. *Whew! J

P.S. I want to leave you with one alternative view of Setsubun, brought to you by a friend (Shimonoseki Alex) in the Prefecture.

“Setsubun: The Japanese festival wherein one of the teachers dress up as a scary demon and scare the shit out of the little kids who are supposed to throw soy beans at them while chanting "out with the Demon! In with Happiness!" though they instead just stand there and cry... and cry... and then hide behind the other teachers who are laughing their asses off. Priceless.”

Anko 餡子

Anko- Red Bean Paste. It is used in a bunch of sweet foods/snacks here. All around Asia I think. Vietnamese moon cakes have Anko inside. It is very sweet and distinctive. I don't like it very much. Sometimes, I can enjoy a red bean confection if I have a steaming cup of coffee in front of me.

Speaking of steaming...

Unko- Watch this if you want. Its pretty gross. Its a short video about Unko-san (the character in the picture above.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4KRQHvGUb0

But yes, Unko is poop.

So Anko, and Unko. Anko, Unko. Anko, Unko. Red Bean paste, poop, red bean paste, poop.

It was a Wednesday morning. A 42 student class. We were talking about food. In front of my 42 students. I said "I don't much like to eat Unko, its okay, but not great."

I said it in all seriousness, but the entire class couldn't stop laughing at me. They didn't know where that came from either, because, of course, to them Anko and Unko are two completely separate words. I tried to explain myself when I realized what I did. But the damage was done.

:)

Japanese Class

Here is my Japanese class. I go to Japanese class for free every Tuesday night. Its basically the beginner's class, but you have to know Hiragana at least, for it. Fujimoto Sensei, in the middle speaks some English, which helps me out a lot, and I can speak some Vietnamese which helps Ri-san out a lot (2nd to the right), and the 2 other girls can help each other out in Chinese.

Haha, yes! Its a very interesting class. Trying to chit chat before and after class is fun! I don't know what they are saying, and they don't know what I'm saying! But eventually we'll get there. We just need to learn a bit more Japanese to be able to communicate. I've always found that interesting...., 2 people communicating with each-other in their second languages.

I have some married friends...who both have mad sexy accents. Her first language is Brazilian, and his is Hebrew. Yet of course they communicate in English! So I guess now all thats left for me is to find a mad sexy Russian who can not speak English, and communicate with him in Japanese only. Yep, I can see it now. ;)
Here is our Christmas party, back in December. Someone ordered a pizza from Pizza-LA which made it all worth it!

Food

I have gotten more use to the food here. A little. This was my lunch a little while ago. I wanted to take a picture of today's lunch, because it was so incredibly bad...but I didn't have an opportunity.

This is a pretty standard lunch. The cold calamari rings with no breading. The sour pear salad with raisins. Some Japanese curry. I don't know what's hiding under that package. The rice tasted like the calamari. And the yummy thing was the chicken, which is why there is only one small piece. :)

Today though, was my worst kind of terror---Oden. Here, check out the horror, and make sure you look at the delicious pictures on the right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oden .

There. Now you know all you need to know about Japanese food. Its not all sushi and ramen. :) Anyways, I said I was getting more use to it now, so I'm not so much complaining. Besides, I have a years supply of "Del Scorcho" (thank you mom and dad!) and I always keep some in my purse for emergency. Today was an emergency. Having not eaten for 24 hours, I had to eat my Oden, spiced up with Scorching goodness.

And lastly, check out below what was in that mysterious package with my lunch last week:

Life doesn't get much better than this!

マイマイ新子。。。Hofu anime!

Mai Mai Shinko and the Thousand Year Old Magic.....thats the name of this anime. Mai Mai is the Japanese word for cowlick. And Shinko is a girl that...you guessed it, has a big cowlick on her head.

Plot Summary from animenewsnetwork.com:

" Ten years after the end of the Second World War, in a backwater rural town which used to be a major regional capital in Feudal Japan, Shinko, a girl with an active imagination who daydreams about the town as it appeared a millennium prior, befriends Nagiko, a shy girl from Tokyo whose father relocated to the town to become a doctor for a factory. The film follows their day to day lives as they take care of a goldfish in a makeshift pond, fantasize about a cloistered and lonely young princess who moved to the town in the Feudal Era, and help a boy cope with a family tragedy. "

So guess what? The "backwater rural town" is HOFU! It was really exciting for me to find out about this movie, because it is a major anime, in wide release in Japan, and probably all my anime freak friends at home know about it too. hehe. Maybe--Jen (sis!)--do you know about this movie?

Anyways, I went and saw the movie on Wednesday...even though it was all in Japanese. I couldn't pass up the chance to see a movie set in Hofu. I will admit, only because someone (Christina!) may call me on it...that I fell asleep for at least a 1/3 of the movie. But its still exciting that its my home, and I recognized the mountains right from the opening scene.

If you have a few minutes, please watch the opening scene...this is where I live!

--> http://www.mai-mai.jp/movie08.html

Of course its a little more built up now. One last really exciting thing to me is that the high school that I teach at got a shout out in the movie's credits. I still haven't figured out why yet. But perhaps one of the teachers at my school gave some interviews for the movie or something. But it was cool to see my school's name up on the big screen.

This is the most exciting thing for me since I found out that Next Friday was set in my real hometown of Rancho Cucamonga, CA! haha.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

GO HOFU! Or as they call it here. Ho-who.

The Hike

On Sunday I really felt like going on a hike. No, thats a lie. I didn't feel like doing anything! But I couldn't in good conscience just sit on my bum another second! So I got off my bum up and went on a hike. And when I say hike, I mean casual walk. And when I say walk, I mean more of a hobble at some points....because I realized that I left all my tennis shoes at home in California! When it got to the really uphill rocky parts, these shoes turned into a bit of a hazard.

It was really good day to climb that mountain. At the base of the mountain is a famous shrine~Tenmangu. I have another post or two that takes place there. Unforeseen by me, there were festivities going on there. I'm pretty sure the festivities were related to the holiday on the following day--Seji no hi. 成人の日 is always the 2nd Monday of January. Its for "Coming of Age". Its a day devoted to celebrating the arrival of a new group of people into adulthood. Adulthood in Japan is 20.

Anyways, it was either a Seji no hi thing, or some kind of late new years celebration, but there were loads of people at the shrine, and many girls wearing kimono. I should have asked. I am getting better at Japanese, but still don't have the balls to simply find a friendly face and ask "What's going on?" grrrrrrr. The fact that I can't tell with with assurity what was going on really bothers me. New leaf. now. (wow, assurity is not a real word, I just figured out!)

My view from the not quite top. This picture is just prettier than the one from the actual top. This is my city!!!! There is a fable... of water. Somewhere. :) Behind those mountains in the back of the pic.

The Beauty! The Beauty!

There are so many terrible things in the world. So so so many terrible things. But all my emotion over tragic events (Haiti) can not do much. I don't even have $10 to give to relief efforts right now. If you are reading this, and you can, please do.

All I can do is testify to you that THERE IS beauty all around. I'm sorry to any of you who had had to listen to me complain and cry and be bitter about this situation, or that. Because we all have it good. Anyone reading this has it good.

I was so amazed when I saw this branch. I'm sure some of my students snickered when they walked past me pulling out my camera. But I don't care if I saw this every day....I would still be amazed.

Above: Wednesday morning seemed especially cold, even with my heaters blaring. I swung the curtains back and pulled the sliding door open, to reveal this scene.

"You're not ordinary. You're not small. You're not anything normal at all. You're exquisitely extraordinary,... you're fabulously fine... mine. You're not overly serious. You're not cold... You're exquisitely extraordinary,.. you're fabulously fine. Mine. You're so real.

-- All India Radio's "Morning Drops" off their album Fall.

Fight to find the beauty. Don't let one second of life point you towards breathing Kurtz's last words, in the end.

お笑い講 ---or for most of you: Laughing Festival

The real problem with me writing this post, is that I'm still pretty clueless on "what just happened?"

I'll just do my best. I'd say around late November, a man walks into my teachers room and starts talking with one of my coworkers (Japanese Teacher of English Co-worker). Mr. Akimoto, the JTE then approaches me and asks me "Would you like to participate in a laughing contest?"

Ok. Hold up. Yeah. No holding up. Thats all the information I got. You do not decline things in Japan, if you can help it at all. Its just not polite. Plus...the one thing he did tell me is that there would be cash prizes! So... more info please? The info never came. :)

I was told to assemble an American team. My original team was me, Brooke from Iwakuni and Cyndi from Hikari. Due to many circumstances, the team ended up being me and 2 completely different girls (Callie from Shimonoseki, and Whitney from Oshima did awesome!). But we won, so thats good. Oh crap. I just spoiled the whole surprise! hehe

So since Akimoto Sensei is always busy, and the guy that came in and recruited me...I had never seen before in my life.... yeah, since those things... I just sort of waited and waited and waited for information. I wouldn't be hung out to dry right?

I really didn't know if a "laughing competition" entailed laughing the longest, the loudest, or heck if it meant NOT laughing while people are doing funny things.

Then one day, Mr. I still don't know his name recruiter-came and told me to be ready for an interview the next week. An interview? A news interview. Or some kind of special program.

Here is a screen shot that a friend of mine took real fast when I was on the news. He didn't even know I would be on, he was just watching TV somewhere over yonder across the prefecture, and then all of a sudden "Wait, I know that crazy white woman!"

That whole interview was so strange. Above, is me practicing for the laughing competition that would at this point be 5 days later (oh, laughing competition was December 19th, 2009). So finally...with cameras rolling, I get my first taste of what I am suppose to be doing.

You laugh to please the gods. You get three laughs, each laugh lasting as long as you can hold out one breath. The first laugh for the god of the past, and the second for the present, and the third, for the future.

There is an actual laughing festival at a shrine that is taken very seriously on December 1st. This competition is more new, nodding at the religious festival, but really just for fun. Which country has the best laugh in the world kind of thing. Oh yeah, Which country. This was an "International Laughing Competition"...they were able to get away with claiming that because there was a team from Malaysia, China, Korea, Japan and the U. S. of A. There may have been others. 8 teams.

I'm getting a second ahead of myself, because I want to express my exasperation at the whole TV interview thing. The interview woman spoke English. She had been speaking English to me!! But as soon as the cameras were rolling she starting asking me all these things in Japanese. I don't get it! My supervisor happened to be walking by at the time, and jumped in and saved me acting as a translator. Uuuuummmm... what did they expect would happen if my supervisor didn't walk by? Weird. :)

So here's two other teams during the actual competition. You can see that there are three team members, and you go against the person sitting across from you on the other team. I'm not sure who the judges were, but they just decide who's laugh would be more pleasing to the gods.

Okay, so our team got 3 rounds. The first and third round, we were facing this window, which gave us an unfair advantage. Unfair advantage you ask?

There is a man dressed up as a reindeer pacing around outside, staring at us, making funny movements. I used him. I used him up. I pretended that somehow this whole night was an episode of Arrested Development, and I just belted out the most crowd-pleasing laugh that you can imagine! I mean, this whole experience. Actually better than Arrested Development. I can't tell you how weird/silly everything was. ;)

Here is us being interviewed by the news after, since we were the champions of the night. We won 200 bucks, a certificate... but best of all, whenever I meet someone new in town.. I get to tell them that I am a laughing champion. Heheh. Most people around here know about おわらいこう。So I'm just slowly getting more and more famous. Heehe anyone remember me being on TV during the shrimp catching festival?

Anyways, I can't upload videos that are too long on this blogspot site. It never works. So if you missed the video on facebook, you can just go to my page, and keep clicking "Older Posts" until you get to December 2oth, and you should be able to watch feed from this spectacularly spectacular event. :)

Here are a couple of websites that are in Japanese, but you can see a little bit of the kind of coverage we got... hehehe.

http://www.oidemase.or.jp/jiblog/index.php?itemid=1599

and

http://yamaguchi.keizai.biz/headline/753/

We got a blurb in the national newspaper too, but they took down the page. :(

Sumo

I went to a Sumo Wrestling Tournament way back on November 28th, in Fukuoka, Japan. The trip was set up by the Hiroshima JETS, so I got to make some new friends. :) It was a great experience albeit, one that is fine as a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I mean, I would go again, but only if it was a cheap overall, and I could again sneak drinks inside.

"According to Japanese legend the very origin of the Japanese race depended on the outcome of a sumo match. The supremacy of the Japanese people on the islands of Japan was supposedly established when the god, Takemikazuchi, won a sumo bout with the leader of a rival tribe. Apart from legend, however, sumo is an ancient sport dating back some 1500 years." -Nihon-Sumo-Kyokai (Sumo handbook).

The one thing about it that makes me okay with not seeing it again, is that it goes so fast. There is all this buildup, and most of the matches last less than 5 seconds.~! The video that I posted on the bottom was one of the more exciting matches, because it wasn't immediately over. :) Sorry that the video isn't clear. We got the cheapest seats there were, at about 22 bucks.

What was more exciting to me was what came before the actual match. When the contestants first enter the "dohyo", they first must purify their fighting area. So they ceremoniously grab some salt and throw it into the ring. But during this part of the competition, they can she their colorful side. Some of the wrestlers just threw the salt, no big deal. And some made a show out of it, stomping around, trying to intimidate their contender, and trying to get cheers from the audience... all during the salt throwing.

There were a lot of people there. Apparently the competition I went to was a big deal. Too bad I wasn't the best person around to appreciate it all. All I wanted to do was take pictures with the card-board cutouts of the hot wrestlers. hehe.

One upsetting thing to my American sensibilities--they only get one chance. I mean, these wrestlers train train train train train. They put their lives into this one competition. And like I said. 5 seconds. 90% of the matches were 5 seconds long. And once you are out, you are out. No rematch. No taking on another wrestler. Their time in the competition is done.

I can't imagine a baseball players life all revolving around hitting one pitch.

Christmas at Home

My vacation home to California for Christmas break was truly amazing. Amazing amazing. I could easily make a blog about each and every separate day, but instead, I'm just going to give a happy nod to my time at home. I was at home in Southern California from December 22 through January 5th. And I wish I would have stayed an extra week. It wasn't long enough.

From the 22nd through the 27th, was mostly family time for me. My parents left on a cruise on the 27th, so I had to milk every last drop out of the time before they left. The first thing that I did upon being picked up at the airport was go through the Del Taco drive-thru and then make a stop at my grandmas house (dad's side). That was cool because my grandma's house was the last place I stopped before leaving for the JET program.

Del Taco was not good for my stomach. At all. But mmmmmm.

Day 1- Watched the latest (at the time) episode of Doctor Who with my dad. Saw Avatar. Spend time with family.

Day 2- Did last minute Christmas shopping with my mom. Spent most of my "fun money" at Costco to bring back stuff for my Japanese co-workers and students. Went to my best friend's husband's birthday party.

Day 3-Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is held for my dad's side of the family at our house.

Day 4- Christmas Day. Christmas Day is held at my grandma's house for my mom's side of the family. The picture below is from Christmas day.

Day 5- Saw the Blind Side with my mom. More Shopping. Caught up with my Vietnam buddies during the night. Love you Diane, Kristy, Noah!

Day 6- ... okay. I really could go through every day. I remember everything clearly.

But lets just say every single day was full of excitement for me. I spent a lot of time with my sister because I was her babysitter while my parents were on the cruise. She's 15 so not really a babysitter. But an eye-keeper person. So I dragged her wherever I could so she wouldn't get into trouble.

It was really really nice to see my best friend's new baby, and hold Leena in my arms. Baby Leena is amazing and sooooo little. How are babies so little?

It was really nice to spend New Year's Eve Night with Jamie. I had a wonderful time being at a church on that night, not drinking or being crazy. Just pure fun the way fun is meant to be had.

I'm happy that I got to spend a lot of time with Julie, the most rad gal L.A. has ever known!!

I'm really happy that we had a Young Democrats reunion, and ate Vietnamese food in Little Saigon. Oh, how I miss little Saigon, and its inhabitants like Jamison. :)

This is much more than a nod. But I gotta thank everyone. Everyone! It was nice seeing you Will and Garrett even though I thought Sherlock Holmes sucked.

Thank you to everyone who came to my New Year's Day party! You are all very talented people, I found out. Still can't beat my sister playing the Piano backwards. hehe.

Some people I wish I got to see an extra time... Like Diana and Devina.

And some people I missed completely and I'm sad, but we'll see each-other next time, like Steph. Other people I couldn't see because they moved out of SoCal. Poo on that.

It was great to go visit my old store. I miss my store! But it seems like its in very capable hands...thanks Jim and Carlos!

Wow I could definitely go on for a long long while. Thanks for all the memories guys. Home is where the heart is...and that is in Sunny California. :)

Here are my lovely parents, the night before their cruise. I was to reiterate that I have the most amazing parents in the whole of the world.
Tamales!!! Will I ever see a tamale in Japan? Noooope. But I only need my grandma's tamales once a year to stay happy.

Now, back in Japan...so I must catch up on some of my Japan Time posts! :) Allons-y!