Spring in Japan

Spring has definitely arrived in Japan and I am absolutly loving it. The days are warm, I am only sleeping with two comforters at night, and everyone just seems to be in a good mood. The students are currently in the middle of a two week "spring break" but most of them are still at school almost all day everyday doing club activities. The break has been very enjoyable for me as it means two hour lunch breaks in the park, a lot of good reading time, and endless hours of sports including some new ones like soft tennis (kind of like outdoor squash). Everyone, including the newscasters, are just buzzing with excitment over when the sakura, or cherry blossoms, are going to arrive in my area. They usually start in Western Japan and slowly move East until they reach the Northern island of Hokkaido in late May. They only last about a week before falling down so people take full advantage of packing in the parties and festivals...I am very excited. The trees are covered in buds in my area which means that they should hopefully start blooming this weekend.
The outdoor pictures are from my first long (and painful) hike of the year--this is an old deserted restaurant that looks like a castle and some eerily blue river water


This weekend I went to my first real tea ceremony after doing some little ones with the students at school. The thing that impressed me the most wasn't the actual ceremony, but the overall event since it seemed to be THE place to go and be seen on a Sunday morning. The ceremony took place at the third largest paper company in Japan in a huge beautiful room. The mother of the seven children who own the company put on the ceremonies in five shifts of 60 people each. My Japanese teacher, her two friends, and I arrived about two hours early to meet and greet many of the "elite" of the city. Almost all of the women were fully done-up in beautiful spring kimonos with intricate hairstyles and makeup. Tea ceremonies are fascinating and I think they really portray some of the everyday aspects of Japanese culture. They are based on full equality between the tea server and the guest and there are many designated times and ways to bow. There are also detailed steps for folding and refolding the napkins, for receiving the sweets and the tea, and for turning the teacup appropriately while drinking (two turns of 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock beforehand and the opposite rotations after finishing the tea). Afterwards, we saw many of the tea-goers out for sushi lunch and then out for coffee. Then, I finished the day with a 250 person Chinese/Japanese potluck party. It was an excellent Sunday.
I hope that spring is warming your area and finding you happy and healthy!



The always available beer vending machine
The teacher's room where I spend way too much time


Graduation




Dinner and karaoke with some English teachers

I'm not sure why I've been so lucky to see so many friends from home over this year. As Amelia travels West around the world and Scott travels East, they were able to overlap in Japan for five nights and we were only one member short of the spring break crew in Baja a year ago (we missed you Club!) After meeting in Osaka, we spent three great days in Nara and Kyoto before coming back to my city. For the most part, there was a lot to catch up and so we were usually too busy chatting to pay much attention to the shrines and temples but they were beautiful cities and it was a great little trip. We then came over the bridge to my city and they braved four junior high classes which went really well. In addition to the regular lessons, they explained their trips and we played some American Jeopardy. We then had a pretty big night out with the Japanese/foreigner crew that I regularly see and the next morning we delivered Scott at the train station where he took the bullet train back up to Tokyo. Amelia and I went to elementary school and taught some sixth graders how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Unfortunatly, the "peanut cream" that I bought ended up being more like incredibly sweet peanut-flavored-goo but luckily the kids didn't know any differently. Although there was some hesitation and they seemed a little weirded out by the American classic, the sandwiches quickly disappeared and I think they were a success. Scott is now safely in Peru after an unfortunate passport delay and Amelia and I spent a great weekend in my city and a nearby temple town after she went to Hiroshima and Miyajima for two days. I'm very sad that she leaves tomorrow for Australia because the past two weeks have been so great seeing both of them.

Nara
Discarded fortunes that people tie onto something outside of the temple if they arn't happy with what they say
Handstands in Nara


Kyoto
Ginkakuji temple
Thanks to Scott's gift from China, we "Tapped the Rockies" in our nice little Kyoto guesthouse, only with weird juice-like pull tabs

Scott might have accidently pressed too many zeros when taking out yen and ended up with a just a bit more than he bargained for
Teaching at junior high

Creative peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, these students are obviously first-timers at this

View in front of my favorite restaurant on the hill

Kompira-san temple

Tako-yaki party: we made these octopus and pancake balls with some women from my adult class and their families
We went to an amusement park with my mountain school and despite the periodic snow blizzards, there was a beautiful view of the sea and we went on some excellent roller coasters with my favorite students

Out to dinner with my Japanese teacher and friends