"Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah..."

This year's Golden Week was full of group gatherings.

It started last Thursday with a Japanese-style BBQ hosted by my friend Nao, who is in my English conversation class.

A variety of meats on the closest two grills and yakisoba (fried noodle dish) on the furthest one.

On Saturday, I participated in hiking and hanami in Morioka. "Hanami" is the Japanese name for a picnic underneath the cherry blossom ("sakura") trees.

I met up with a group from Iwate University and other ALTs at this pond...

...where we had a picnic in drizzly rain under cherry blossom buds.
(Not exactly the proper hanami experience.)

Just fifteen minutes away--at Iwate Park in downtown Morioka--the cherry blossom trees were in full, beautiful bloom...

On Sunday, I traveled a few hours northwest to stay with a missionary family who owns a Christian retreat center/camp for churches in Aomori prefecture.

My little buddy. :) So cute!

I volunteered at the center with my friend Takenori, and spent most of my time on Monday and Tuesday working in the kitchen with these lovely folks...

The lady on the far right is Miho, whose husband Bruce (an American) runs the center. I stayed with them and their three kids.

In the kitchen I stayed busy cleaning, washing dishes, chopping vegetables, making rice balls, etc.

My handiwork.

Making macha, a bitter green tea. The painting above his head is also hanging in our kitchen back home, so that was cool to see.

Bruce and Miho's children, who I really enjoyed hanging out with and getting to know. I felt like I was their older sister for a few days. :) We had so much fun singing all kinds of songs together. (They know every single word of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" by Ray Stevens. Great song.)

On Tuesday afternoon, the group of about 50 or so had a delicious BBQ lunch.

Overall, I had a great time at the center and really enjoyed the Christian fellowship. The weather has (finally!) been nice, and the month of May has started out well.

Hello! My name is...

Since living in Kuji, I've given a self-introduction approximately 2,527,028 times.

Ok, so that random number might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I've introduced myself A LOT.

When I first came to Japan, I gave my "hello speech"--in both English and attempted Japanese--to every single class I taught, at every single school. (And to date, I've taught at four different junior high schools and fourteen different elementary schools!) Plus, I'm always meeting new people outside of schools and introducing myself.

The new school year started at the beginning of April, so for the past few weeks I've been teaching 5th & 6th grade students how to do a basic greeting in English. That's the first lesson in the book that all elementary schools use.

The English greeting demonstration goes something like this:

Me: Hello! My name is Dana. What is your name?

Brave student who has come to the front of the class: Hello. My name is (their name, usually said pretty fast.)

Me: Nice to meet you!

Student: Nice to meet you, too.

Handshake.

The whole class claps.

For some reason, I have students who think it's just hilarious to say, "Nice to meet you, tooth!" I still don't understand why that is side-splitting funny.

At Osanai Elementary, the students made name cards to give out along with their introduction.

So now I have a whole pile of fun name cards to add to the collection I started last year when we did this lesson.

I was told 10 minutes before one class started that I needed to make 18 of my own name cards to give out.

So I frantically scribbled out these lovely little masterpieces. Looks just like me, right? And that other thing is supposed to be a pineapple.

Sidenote: Exchanging business cards ("meshi") in Japan is an important part of showing respect, and there are many rules of etiquette.

On Monday at Taiyama Elementary, I took video of meeting some cute "ichi nensei" (first grade) students during recess...

Since I don't teach the younger grades very often, I like to walk down their hallway just to say hi.

When I did that last week at Osanai, the new first graders who'd never seen me before absolutely freaked out. "Eeeeeehh! GAIKOKUJIN!!!"

There's nothing like being called FOREIGNER!!! to make you feel welcomed, ha. I said, "Hello! My name is Dana. Not Foreigner." Then they proceeded to examine me, the exotic creature. They were stunned by my brown hair and amazed by my green eyes.
I love first graders.

In other "foreigner news"...

This article, welcoming the new ALTs to Kuji, appeared in the local magazine last week...

And in other, non-related news...

Next week is Golden Week, so I have some days off! I'm going to Morioka over the weekend for a picnic under the cherry blossoms, and then up to Aomori for a few days. I'll post pictures sometime late next week when I'm back. Sayonara for now...

Keep on believing

When I told my students at Yamane Jr. High that I'm learning how to play guitar, they challenged me to learn how to sing & play a Japanese song.

So I told them to pick out any song, and I would learn it for them. They chose "Tegami" (which means "Letter") -- a really popular song right now. I've heard it being played in restaurants and stores, so I was already familiar with the tune.

"Tegami" is about a 15-year-old girl who writes a letter to her future self because she has worries she doesn't want to tell anyone else. In the second part of the song, the "future self" replies to the letter saying, "keep on believing" in yourself, and don't be defeated. It's an encouraging, uplifting song, and a good one for me to learn.

I've been listening to "Tegami" a lot lately, and it's been stuck in my head even more than "the peach crush song."

I'm going to keep on practicing and listening to it. :)

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Peach, the color of love

Hello. How are you?
Just peachy, I hope. :)

I don't quite know what this girl's t-shirt means, but I like that it has the word "peachy" on it.

At karaoke with my friends Minako and Kuniko, they sang the following bouncy song...


Again, I didn't understand the meaning. But I could pick out a few words -- "momo" means "peach." Of course I know that one!

I asked my friends if this was a kids' song since the video certainly makes it look like one. But it turns out that it's not! It's just a typical Japanese pop ("Jpop") cutsie video. I was curious, so I looked up the English translation of the lyrics to this song, "Momoiro Kataomo." Here's what I found...

I’ve got a peach crush, I love you
I can’t stop staring at you
If our eyes meet for a moment
My heart thumps
I’m in a peach fantasy

It looks like I’ve got a crush
This is the first crush I’ve had
I love him so much
That I don’t know what’s what

I wonder if
He has a girlfriend?
He’s even in my dreams
As of now, he’s on my mind

I’ve got a peach crush
It happened before I knew it
If we run into each other
My heart thumps

I’ve got a peach crush, I love you
I can’t stop staring at you
If our eyes meet for a moment
My heart thumps
I’m in a peach fantasy

I can’t ask him out, I can’t possibly ask him out
I get too nervous
I know, yes I know
It’s time to tell him

I’m going to talk to him
In an upbeat way
I get up my courage, say “hello” and then “goodbye”
I can’t get a conversation started

I’ve got a peach crush
I want you to feel the same
We’ve gotten closer than we were yesterday
My heart is thumping
I’ve got a peach crush
I can’t stop dreaming of kissing you
Can you see me?
This season
The color of love is peach

I’ve got a peach crush
It happened before I knew it
If we run into each other
My heart thumps

I’ve got a peach crush, I love you
I can’t stop staring at you
If our eyes meet for a moment
My heart thumps
I’m in a peach fantasy

I think this might just be one of my new favorite Japanese songs. It's been stuck in my head all day. Like many things in Japan, it's almost overwhelmingly cute. (not to mention catchy!)

And what's not to love about a peach fantasy!? :)

Take it from me

Over the weekend, I met the three new ALTs in Kuji -- Adam and Gary from England, and Lee from Wales.

From left to right: Takenori, Lee, me, Gary, Adam, Kenji in front

We had dinner together at Kenji's house on Saturday, and Kenji asked me to give the guys some advice about living in Japan. My first thought was, "Say yes to everything and bow constantly." :)

Here are some more serious tips I have to offer of Ways to make living abroad easier:

• Get involved. Lead a conversation class, join a dance team, a sports team, etc. It really makes you feel like part of the community, and that makes all the difference.
  
  
• Be patient. It truly is a virtue. Things that should be very simple are made complicated by the language barrier. I've found that Japanese people are patient with me as I try to communicate in Japanese, or English, or Japanlish -- a combination of the two. ;) I do my best to be patient as well.
  
  
• Do as the Japanese do. There's really only one way of doing things here -- the Japanese way. My boss Yamadate likes to say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." So when Yamadate told me that I shouldn't eat fruit at my desk (unless it's lunch break) because no one else here does, I had to respect that and stop.
  
  
• Keep smiling. Smiling transcends the language barrier, and it make you more approachable.
  
  
• Use Skype. This free program is such a great way to keep in touch with family and friends back home. Being away from my loved ones would be SO much harder without Skype!
  
  
• Enjoy each day because time truly does fly!

A fish tale

Today was market day right outside my apartment.

After buying some produce, I passed by a stall where "my fish lady friend" (as I refer to her) was selling fish.

There she is, in her element. This is actually an old picture; unlike at home, it is unfortunately not warm enough here to go outside without a coat on.
(It snowed last Wednesday! (???) But I don't want to talk about it.)

I digress.

While attempting Japanese conversation with this sweet lady, she asked me if I like fish.

"Of course!" I said. "I love fish."

So she gave me these lifeless guys as a present...

"Umm, you really don't have to do that," I said. (I mean, really).

"I insist," she insisted. "It's a birthday present!"

At that, I chuckled. "My birthday is in June."

"Happy birthday anyway!!" She would not be deterred.

I tried paying her for them, but she wouldn't have it. (Very typical Japanese behavior.) So I had no choice but to say "thank you so much" -- "arigatou gozaimasu "-- and take the fish home. I later went back to the fish stall and gave my friend some chocolate as a return gift (which is the polite & Japanese thing to do). I think she got the better deal.

Back at home, I put the slimy presents on my counter and got out my heavy duty knife, prepared to dissect...

Don't they look upset? :(

There was just NO WAY I could do it.

I was thinking about how "roly poly fish heads" would be in my trash can, and that totally grossed me out. And at the same time, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor creatures...

So as much as I like the taste of fish, and even though I've seen fish being gutted before, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Instead, I took them to the eikaiwa at Kenji's office and gave them to the newest member of the English conversation class.

Here you go...

"Happy birthday!!" :)

Living the dream

I grew up eating whole wheat bread.

We never ever had white bread in our house. Not that I remember, anyway.

But I can remember being on a field trip as a young elementary school student, watching as classmates opened their lunch boxes and pulled out sandwiches made of the mysterious white bread. And I thought, "Mmm, that Wonder Bread looks wonderfully soft and fluffy. They're so lucky!"

I never would have guessed then that years later I'd be in Japan, living the white bread dream....

Of all the white breads here, this one is the softest and fluffiest.

You see, there are very few whole wheat products in this country, and I have yet to find wheat bread.

The truth is, I miss it. I miss all of my favorite snacks made with whole grains. (Teddy Grahams!) I realize now that white bread is not the most nourishing choice. But now I have no other choice.

It's been a long time since I've had brown rice, but I eat white sticky rice every day. This is thanks to my new rice cooker (well, it's new to me, anyway) that Jarlath gave me when he left...

So happy to have this newest addition to the appliance family. :) Cooking rice is so much more convenient now.

I'll end this post with a photo of a "dessert." I never shared about April Fool's Day and how I fooled Jarlath into taking a bite from this scrumptious-looking candle, which I even pulled out of my refrigerator...

See the teeth marks on the "chocolate" part? Hehe. (p.s. The candle hadn't been burned yet when I gave it to him.)

Just a little joke and a little fun...not a white lie. :)

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