pictures. . .

i finally managed to go back and add some pictures to my blogs. . . i have about three hundred more pictures (literally) but do not have the time to post them all. . . enjoy!

mochi, usw. . .

hmm. . . i just spent most of my morning making mochi the old-fashioned way. . . which i suppose is a good thing since i have absolutely nothing to do at the board of education but sit at my desk and at least look busy. . . and making mochi is much more interesting than cutting the hair of one hundred plus dolls and tying ribbons around their necks, which i somehow ended up doing last thursday afternoon. . . lesson number one. . . if someone asks you if you are busy, always say "yes!". . . once you offer your services (for the first basket of ten dolls in this case), it is difficult to wiggle your way out. . .anyway, mochi is rice pounded down into a massive sticky blob and then rolled into smaller balls (sometimes filled with sweet beans). . . when i arrived at work at 8:25 this morning, the process was well underway. . . one of my girls handed me a pounding tool (like a ginormous hammer), and i went at it. . . one minute later an old guy took over and showed me up. . .i then moved inside with the old ladies and shaped the mochi for a good hour. . . now i have a nice stock of mochi on my desk. . . p.s. this was all preparation for new years. . . everyone in japan eats mochi on new years. . .

oh, speaking of holidays. . . merry christmas!!! i had a rather interesting christmas weekend. . . unusual anyway. . . i went to a christmas mass at a "catholic" church. . . my friend and i were the only ones there until exactly 5p.m. (when the service was supposed to begin). . . suddenly, the doors opened and about nine couples walked in. . . no families. . . no children. . . no parents. . . only couples in their twenties. . . it was quite odd. . . i have no idea what the pastor said (well, i received a rough translation, but it really made no sense). . . after the service, we headed off to dinner, where i ate blowfish for the first time. . . i guess blowfish has some kind of poison in its blood, so only a chef with a special license can prepare it. . . the blowfish was prepared in more ways than i knew existed. . . in the salad, as sashimi, in nabe, etc. . . it was good, but i think i have had my fill of both blowfish and nabe for a good week or year or so. . . christmas day involved opening presents under my handmade tree (i got an amazing video camera, a ballistic chicken, and some long underwear for those oh so cold days at school). . . and later shopping and watching さゆり: memoirs of a geisha. . . the movie was okay, but the book was better (when is it not?). . . and they used chinese actors! why, when the book was so beautifully written (by an american), did the (american) producers have to go and cast chinese actors as the leads? all of my japanese friends agree that the author did an amazing job with the book. . .oh, if you have not heard of memoirs of a geisha, it is a book about a geisha in japan in the 1900s, before and after the war, revealing much about the arts and traditions of japan through the story of her life. . . hmmm, i was never much for book reviews. . . don't know how well that sums it up. . . just go read the book. . .

anyway, i guess i am meeting some guy's daughter in a minute. . . she is back from texas state university for the holidays. . . that's about all i know. . . her father is really funny. . .he always addresses me as 'miss erinn' . . . 'miss erinn, are you healthy?' 'miss erinn, are you free now?' 'how do you like kahoku, miss erinn?' . . .

i may or may not manage another entry before new years. . . i should, however, have much to report afterwards, as new years is the biggest holiday in japan . . .

a must read ;) . . .

Why good dancers are attractive
Why being a good mover on the dance-floor means you will be a good catch for a mate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/4550000.stm

everything from hospitals to christmas. . .

what an odd week i have had. . . as some of you may know, a former ailey dancer from america came to teach master classes at one of my studios here in japan. . . who would ever have guessed that i would have the dream of dancing with an ailey dancer fulfilled in rural japan??? . . .anyway, he (christopher huggins) was amazing! the only problem was that i returned home to kahoku at 11p.m. after my first class on thursday night with a fever of 38.8 degrees celsius (approx. 102 fahrenheit). . . so, i made my first trip to the doctor in japan . . .

my friend called the hospital in kahoku around 23:30 to make sure it was okay we made a visit then. . . we arrived to find one nurse, one doctor, and a dog . . . as the nurse/desk worker was taking my info, this guy (who turned out to be the doctor) kept translating the questions to english. . . a very pleasant surprise since the language barrier was one of the main reasons i feared getting sick in japan. . . anyway, he understood everything i said (symptoms, allergies, etc.) until we got to the poking and prodding. . . i still had my leotard on from dance. . . he was quite confused. . . people really don't expect you to come from dance at 11:30 at night in rural japan with a 38.8 degree fever. . . got through that. . . got some meds. . . was ready to head out the door when i got the last word of advice. . . "oh, don't take a bath or shower. . . maybe for two days. it's bad for you." . . . excuse me??? don't shower? since when are baths and showers bad for you? also, i'm planning on going back to dance tomorrow. . . you think i'm not going to shower??? hmmm. . .

so, i finally get home. . . ready to take my meds to find that he didn't write the name of the meds or give me any of those little instruction sheets that tell you what not to take it with and what to watch for in case of a reaction . . . i sat for a good fifteen minutes arguing with my friend at 12:30 at night about medicine in japan. . . refusing to take it and repeating over and over how stupid i found the no shower thing . . . let's just say a friend who takes you to the hospital in the middle of the night and has to go to work the next morning does not enjoy an argument over differences in medical practices . . . i did feel kind of bad, but really. . . why was the name of the medicine not on the individual labels or on the package or anywhere??? i have never heard of such a thing! . . . guess i will know better next time. . . p.s. i did not die and am now finished with the round of antibiotics. . . and i did shower on friday and saturday, etc.

returning to the more important experience. . . dance of course. . . my fever was down by friday evening/ saturday morning. . . meaning i missed friday's lesson and returned saturday. . . it was great to find that dancers think alike. . . when i got to dance on saturday, christopher said, "you just need to sweat that's all!" . . . two hours of class on saturday and five hours on sunday!!!!! he was amazing!! guess he comes every year, so i will hopefully make all of his classes next time! i got a bit extra attention between being the only american, being sick, and having the confidence to stand in the front row with my japanese teacher . . .

when i sit down to write these blogs, i always have so much to say. . . and often the most to say about dance. . . but it never quite comes out right. . . it may be because dance is such a bodily experience that i can't quite find the right words. . . if you want more information, look up christopher huggins. . . oh, here is the link to my studio in kochi http://www.geocities.jp/dancecream2/

what else??? oh! we had our first snow on sunday! yet another complication during ailey lessons! everyday the people at my office say, "kahoku no snow. . .maybe february . . . one centimeter". . . not true!! on sunday (still december mind you) we had a good two or three centimeters (maybe more. . . i never really keep track. . . all i know is it was enough to make the mountains white). . . my car. . . a "minica" . . . does not have snow tires. . . kochi does not believe in doing anything to fix the roads when it snows. . . no plows or salt. . . "the sun will melt it". . . huh? i'm supposed to sit at home until the sun melts the snow? are you people crazy? . . . in the end, it was true. . . by the time i left for dance at 13:00, all sections of the road touched by sun were completely clear. . . only one dangerous stretch where the oh so narrow road winds between the river and the mountains. . . went about 20 kilometers an hour through that and made it safely to dance. . . exciting, huh?

i think that may be all i have to report for now. . . christmas party with my community class tonight. . . the junior high school english club on thursday after closing ceremony in the morning. . . oh! i really want m&ms. . . i have no idea where this craving came from, as i almost never ate them in the u.s., but i would love to have some peanut butter or just peanut m&ms. . . i wanted to fill little christmas bags with pretzels and m&ms for the other teachers and workers at the board of education, but apparently pretzels and m&ms are non-existent in kochi. . . and popcorn is sometimes not normal popcorn. . . i had to buy (literally) "american popcorn" for the party and movie tonight. . . crazy. . . one last one. . . can anyone translate (or tell me the ingredients for) graham crackers??? i found some at the supermarket and brought them to the staff room as a snack. . . everyone loved them, but it's a complete mystery as to what they are. . .

okay. . .time to go find something to do. . . after my four nursery school classes tomorrow, i am finished until january 10th! . . . but i have six days of work between the end of this trimester and the beginning of the next. :( anyway. . .

merry christmas!!! my plans are not set yet. . . i think i will be going to universal studios japan at some point and possibly to a christmas eve mass in japanese??? should be interesting. . . oh! fyi. . . most of my students do not exchange presents on christmas but receive money on new years. . . some decorate a christmas tree, but i think it is mini-mini-tree. . . noa said her tree was about a foot tall. . . and she (along with many other students i am sure) will attend juku (after school school) all afternoon saturday and sunday . . . when the christmas holiday is not on the weekend, it is a work day. . . japanese people eat a christmas cake (and think that that is a tradition that they inherited from america). . . i had to search hard to find christmas cards written in japanese (and not in english). . .the funniest thing to me (as i have no idea how this would ever have developed from the true christmas celebration). . . christmas in japan is a date holiday. . . my third year junior high girls are having their own party since they do not have boyfriends. . . how crazy is all that??? oh! one more interesting tidbit. . .their english textbooks teach them that christmas is christ's birthday. . . of all places to learn that, huh? a couple of my students were shocked. . . they asked their japanese teacher, "sensee, sensee, did you know that christmas was christ's birthday?" . . .

okay. . . enough cultural differences for one blog, eh?

Testing US presidential powers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4545540.stm
scary, huh?

Bush defends phone-tapping policy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4542880.stm
think they're after me?? ;)

The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2005
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3315

this country never fails to make me smile . . .
Japanese Get Fat Penguins to Exercise
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/wireStory?id=1408331

more ramblings. . .

hey all. . . sorry, i know it has been ages since i have written. . .where to start??? mornings? random assumptions? dance? announcements? winter?

i ride my bike to school every morning and get to pass my kids and their parents. . . it is probably my favorite part of the day (when i am not running late). . . anyway, our conversations normally go as follows. . . "ah, erinn-sensee!" "good morning! ohayoo!" "good morning!". . . recently, however, after i pass them, i hear things like "how are you? i'm fine!" and "let's begin!" . . . it's so funny to hear a four year old japanese boy mumbling to himself "how are you? i'm fine". . . it's nice to know they are learning something. :)

let's see, next? . . . the random assumptions are really rather old stories that i have not had time to write about. . . have i ever mentioned that my little minica has no cd player, no tape player, and no fm radio??? only am. . . it's a blast driving an hour to dance and an hour home every week listening to the nhk, old school japanese music, and insanely corny english lessons. . . anyway, i was telling yuria about this and how when i first came to japan, i thought that all cars had only am radio. . . that didn't last long. . . as in maybe one day. . . guess it was a rather odd assumption, but i still have no idea why my car only as am radio. . . if you can put in a radio, why can you not make it with am and fm? is it that difficult??? hmmm. . .

possibly one of my favorite moments was the day that sayaka and i were at dinner, and i asked her why japan didn't have their own birthday song. . . she insisted, "oh, we do!" . . . i asked her how it went and heard the following. . . "ハッピーバースデーツユ、ハッピーバースデーツユ. . ." (a.k.a. "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. . .") . . . i started cracking up. . . "sayaka, that's english!" . . . "huh? oh, it is. . . yeah, i guess we don't have a song." (end story. . .funny, huh?)

dance. . . not much to report except that i am dancing four days a week (five lessons). . . jazz (which is really quite modern) with mostly adults, ballet with 7-12 year olds (but is more difficult than many adult classes), modern ballet/ martha graham classes with myself and two teachers, and body control with adults. . . my martha graham teacher started choreographing my solo last week. . . my posture and general muscle usage have improved a great deal thanks to ballet and body control. . . one of my students said "recently erinn, more beautiful". . . i'm guessing she was talking about my posture??? . . . anyway, i love dance and have the best teachers around. . .

ha, my supervisor was attempting to inform me of the "year-end office party". . . but kept saying "lost year party" . . . japanized english once again. . .

announcements. . . this morning the other workers in the board of education thought it would be hilarious if i made the 8:25 morning announcement for all of the kahoku town office workers (maybe one hundred or so??) . . . i am not particularly fond of pa systems in general. . . and even less so when i have to speak in japanese!. . . but my office gave me a nice round of applause when i finished. . .

what do i have to say about winter in japan?. . . simply that while we may have highs in the 50s and 60s everyday, every moment before and after the high is quite harsh. . . especially thanks to the nonexistence of heaters in the schools and pretty much every building controlled by the town! it's so flipping cold!!! worst of all, there is no snow. . . actually, i should not say that because i will probably not be able to drive my little minica once we have snow (i.e. no dance!!!) . . . but snow makes the cold beautiful. . . can cold be beautiful? kind of like the linguistic phrase about 'colorless green ideas'??? anyway. . .

i have more to say, as usual. . . i also have pictures that i keep meaning to post. . . i know!! i know!! i'm sorry!!!!

maybe once classes stop (but i still have to come to the board of education to 'work'), i will have some time. . .

happy winter! hope you all have snow . . . and heaters!

scary. . .

Japan to probe foreigners' crimes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4492324.stm

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20051122zg.htm


funny. . .

Pakistan deletes 'pro-Bush' poem
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4501132.stm

Six police cars in 12mph chase
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-1895365,00.html

Here's a Christmas video to "lighten" your day
http://www.StupidVideos.com/?VideoID=1344

watashi no nihon no otanjyobi. . .

ugh. . . more later since i never have time to write what i like, but. . .

both of my offices had mini-parties for me today! i thought they forgot (or maybe most of them didn't know) about my birthday, but that was not at all the case. . .

this afternoon, i saw some tasty looking snacks in the common おみやげ/日本茶 (souvenir / japanese green tea) area of the teachers' office at the junior high school . . . i wandered over, picked one up and started munching on it at my desk. . . one minute later (with frosting on my face and hands) the english teacher (河村先生) walks out of the kitchen area with forks and plates and leads the office in "happy birthday". . . oops. . . my stomach was a bit greedy on that one. :)

earlier today, the board of education called and said i had to be at the office by 5:30 this evening. . . since that is right in the middle of english club - and i have only two or three more days to work with the girls before our big contest on saturday - i spent most of the afternoon complaining about the time. . . do i have to go then? can't i go now? do you know why i have to go? . . . oops again. . . i am so horrible with surprises. . .

anyway, i had a wonderful weekend. . . friday, my friends took me to a beautiful onsen way up in the mountains. . . i had some amazing food. . . saturday, もみじがりに行きました。(i walked in the mountains and looked at the colors of the fall leaves. . . at least i think that's what it translates to). . . sunday consisted of dance and lunch at yet another french restaurant with my martha graham dance instructor and a famous japanese artist (originally from kahoku of all places). . . fun stuff. . .

now that i have consumed three full cakes in about four days i must go to dance. . . wish me luck on getting more than an inch off the ground!

thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!!! i will do my best to reply individually asap!!

one last thing. . .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4454738.stm

packages from america. . .

grrr. . . i tried to post this last week, but my site seems to be randomly blocked by the system. . . anyway, here it is now. . .

yay!!! i got a birthday package from my mum with all kinds party supplies (plates, napkins, noise makers, decorations. . .) i searched in kochi for party supplies several times and have never been particularly successful in finding the bright and crazy english decorations necessary for a real party. . .now, how do i give these to people who are throwing me a surprise party??? :)

also, i hurriedly picked up a package yesterday after work. . . as i was driving to dinner (stopped at one of the million stop lights in tosayamada), i looked at the label to see what my grandparents had sent and read the following. . . postage: $36.00. . . value of contents: $10.00 . . . contents: cookies!!! i was so excited. . . i ripped open the package and ate one before dinner in the restaurant parking lot! my coworkers and students at the dorm loved them as well! the best part is that i still have enough left at home for a good week or so. . .

oh, never fear about my heating situation. . . just check out the following links! ;)

Heated Bra Aims to Save the World
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4420820.stm

Warm, Fuzzy Winter Bra Unveiled in Japan
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1298948