Oh my!

Yeah, that's supposed to be clever. Last week we were invited over to one of my JTE's house, Ohmae sensei. This was the first time we had been invited to someone's house [previously we were invited along with Nick and Jenny to one of their student's houses, but this was our first solo invite]. I was really excited to be invited over, but I was kinda nervous about making a good impression- aka, not making a fool of myself.

Ohmae told us his wife would be there, but waited until we were en route to mention that his two grandkids, his mother, and his daughter-in-law would all be there as well. Whoa! Talk about pressure!

When we arrived in his village, Ohmae took us straight to the Buddhist temple. The temple has an inordinate amount of ancient statues- dozens carved out of local cedar and pine. It's pretty intimidating to be impressed by a 1,000 year old statue only to be told that that statue isn't so old- there were several carved around 600 AD. I really, really wanted to take some pics, but just felt that it wouldn't be appropriate to do so. So, sorry, no pics.

Then we were off to Ohmae's house to meet the fam. Ohmae's wife was busy cooking dinner, so we hung out with the grandkids. The boy is super into Mushi-kingu, so he schooled us in the ways of bug warfare. The little girl, Hatsuki, was really cute and very lively. And they even had a kitty, so Marlene was in heaven!

Ohmae's mother joined us for dinner. She was pretty friendly, but loved those "Can you use chopsticks?" "Aren't Japanese apples/fish/rice the most delicious?!" statements/questions. Ohmae's wife had prepared a feast- mushroom pasta, tonkatsu, kara-age, salad, finger foods, and sushi. Plenty of sake on the side, ensuring a relaxing time. We might have eaten a tad too much, but who could blame us?

Overall we had a fantastic time. Ohmae and his wife are obviously still in love, and there is something so endearing in seeing happy couples- especially when they've been together so long. The whole family was very relaxed with each other and just very happy. Hooray for successful dinners!

Lurve Detectives

Ah, those poor broken-hearted souls. Their lover left and now they're so lonely. But never fear! Ladies Secret Detective Agency will fix it all!

Check it out at http://www.crisscross.com/jp/kuchikomi/394

Oh My Lord!

I actually had a real conversation with one of my teachers this week. And no, it wasn't "Can you use chopsticks? Isn't it hard for you?" or "You eat bread every day, right? Do you have rice in America?"

No, he actually asked me what I thought [!! an opinion soliciting question!! amazing!!] about the Mohammed cartoons. Wow. Well, honestly he opened with asking me if I were Catholic or Protestant, so it took awhile to get to his real question. We had a good talk for about 10 minutes. Then he asked if the religious situation in America was delicate- meaning, would there be riots over a disrespectful cartoons [my answer was no. Americans get mad, talk a lot, write letters, and protest, but rarely riot over pictures/articles/cartoons]. This conversation is a major breakthrough for me, as
1. This teacher is not a JTE, but a social studies teacher
2. First time any teacher actually initiated a real conversation. Even my JTEs usually limit themselves to talking about weekends, plans, the weather... y'know, polite small talk.

As a result, the day totally rocked. I was thrilled to talk about something interesting with a new person. And after school I was off to a fab girly party. Onsen, Mexican food, girly talk, how could it not be great?

Winter II

Winter has been tough.

The nasty weather has encouraged us to bunker down. Yep, most of our time has been spent sitting around, reading or watching movies, and drinking tea. Accordingly, nothing interesting happened for the last few weeks.

However, last weekend we managed to be a bit more social and had Hillary, Cory, and Alicia over for some warming food- our guest special, Corn Chowder with a side of Crab Rangoons. Gorging followed. Then we hit into Alicia's salad and Hillary's brownies for more indulgence. For a nice digestif we watched the first "Kill Bill." Living in Japan has made me realize that all movie Japan cliches are, in fact, true.

1. School girls always wear their uniforms, even on Sundays.
2. School girls can shift moods in the blink of an eye. Cute --> Killer in .5 seconds
3. Kawaii [cute] things occupy an inordinately high position in the "important things" pyramid.
4. While gigantic monsters don't wander the towns, if you replace the monsters with insects[of the same size!], you get a very accurate representation.
5. The "Samurai Standoff" is actually the teacher-question student-try-to-outwait-the-teacher dynamic.

[Witty Title]

Last week was the last week of class for 3rd years. While they officially graduate late February, 3rd years don't have classes for the last month of their school year. I believe this is to allow them to study up for college entrance exams. However, as my school is a non-academic school, most of my kids are headed to various vocational schools. Accordingly, they have already taken their exams and know where they are headed.

It was very interesting to interact with the 3rd years the last month. In the states, most high schoolers can't wait to graduate. Sure, they'll miss their friends, but the excitement of finally living on your own [ahem, supposedly], as well as the beginning of "real life" is very strong. In Japan, nearly all of my students are very sad to graduate. They're scared to leave their friends, nervous to be on their own, and they don't want their lives to change.

I was sad to see them go, as the 3rd years are by far the bravest of my speakers. Not necessarily the best- 1st years are the only students required to take English grammar lessons; a lot of 3rd and 2nd years only take oral, which doesn't focus on grammar.
I kick myself for forgetting my camera last week- I have no pics of my favorite kids. But the ceremony is yet to come, so I can redeem myself!

3rd years also accounted for 8 of my classes. I am now down to 8 classes a week [4 1st year, 4 2nd year]. I have far too much time on my hands... let's hope this results in amazing lessons, but sometimes given too much time is a bad thing...

Catching up

.... and catching a cold. Last week we went out for yakiniku [aka Korean BBQ aka Grill-it-yourself]. Had a good time, cheered a lucky birthday boy [Happy Quarter-Century, Nick!], and ate a lot of meat. Well, Aaron did. Last time I had yakiniku I ended up losing most of it later that night. Now, while this is most likely due to the Guinesses I enjoyed, and not the fault of the meat, I now stick to ishiyaki bibimba [bi bim bop].

The next day was very cold, but clear. I was biking to school when my tires went one way, but my body went the other. Yeah, I completely wiped out. The same ice that tricked my bike allowed me to slide a foot or two, on my belly, like a many-layered penguin. I managed to pick myself up, thanked all my layers [5 shirts plus the coat, and long johns under my pants!] for keeping me protected. Luckily no one had seen me [I was embarassed enough], so I walked it off and then went to school. I skinned my knee kinda badly, but the school nurse patched me up.

That same day was the first day back at Japanese class in a month. Accordingly, my wits were slow. I haven't embarassed myself so badly in a classroom since ... I don't know.. sometime long ago. I ended up leaving early, in a bid to catch the train. I missed the damn train by two minutes. I had to wait another hour, and ended up at home the same time as usual.

The fall must have screwed up my body, 'cos the next day I wake up with a nasty cold. I was sick [and really sore- I couldn't stand up very well] for a good week, and am just starting to recover. Managed to avoid the doctor, but I think next time I'll be tough and go. If I need to see the doctor to get a sick day, then that's what I'll do.

Phone Home

And if you want to send that lovely flavour back, you can reach us at:

669-5212 [postal code]
Hyogo-ken Asago-shi [prefecture, city]
Wadayama-cho Yanagihara 296-4 [town, neighborhood]
Kyoshokuin Jyutaku A-1 [apartment stuff]
Marlene Bailey Aaron Osborn [us!]

It's ok if you put our names up top, or the code at the bottom. Somehow, the postal guys seem to know where the gaijin are.

Oh, yeah. If you want to phone it's:
81-079-673-3001

We don't have an answering machine, but you should let it ring awhile- getting to the phone [downstairs] from upstairs is always a workout.

We also have Skype. Our account name is sassblaster.