Chris and Georgia visit Japan

In hopes to better preserve some of our Japanese memories, I'm going to make a better effort to update this blog more regularly and less itty bitty facebook status updates.

At the end of April, my dad Chris and his wife, Georgia, came to Japan for a visit. Their visit lasted 9 days here in Hiroshima-ken, and then a cruise back from Kobe to Vancouver taking about 18 days. While they were here, Mike and I were able to spend some quality time and do some sight seeing. While they were here, we visited Hiroshima Castle, Miyajima, Kure Port Parade, Kure Maritime Museum, and 100 different coffee shops and bakeries!

Here's a brief recap and some snapshots.

Saturday: Dad and Georgia arrive in Hiroshima in the afternoon. Mike and I meet them at the Shinkansen station and take them to their hotel to check in. Afterwards we have some lunch back at the station and then visit Hiroshima Castle.

Sunday: my memory is fuzzy but I think they came to Kure on Sunday. Mostly we showed them around the city and our apartment.

Monday: I had to go to work, so I think they toured around Hiroshima.

Tuesday: On Tuesdays I teach at an Elementary school. That afternoon, Dad and Georgia came to visit my grade 2 elementary school class. We had a really good time, and my students really enjoyed visiting with them, and practicing, "Hello! How are you?! Nice to meet you!" After class, Dad and Georgia shook hands, gave out little Canadian flags and took pictures. After school we walked back to the station and had some coffee and pastires while deciding what to do with the rest of the week. Afterwards we came back to the apartment, relaxed for a little while, then had some lovely food at the Izakaiya restraunt, Hakenden.

Wednesday: I believe we went to Miyajima on Wednesday. Either way, we met my Dad and Georgia when transferring trains in Hiroshima and then carried on to Miyajima. We could tell when we were on the train that the weather was turning sour and we had been on the island for only about 5 minutes when the sky opened up and rained. I have never experienced being right underneath a thunderclap before and I can't even describe how loud it truly was. The rain that followed was so heavy that all the shop keepers had to close down their metal storm door guards and people crowded in shop doorways every where. Soon after the rain slowed down and we continued on our adventure. We tried many different types of food and snacks there, pet many deer, and even saw a traditional Japanese wedding party come through.

Thursday: I think Dad and Georgia took this day to tour some more of Hiroshima while I made some tarts for Noriko's birthday gathering the next day (though it turns out it was her husband's birthday!)

Friday: This day Dad and Georgia came into Kure for the Kure Port Festival.

The festival was very popular and was attended by thousands of people from Kure, as well as other cities. They were able to meet a few other Kure JETs as well as see a lot of Japanese food stalls with all sorts of interesting dishes, and various grilled things a stick. After visiting the festival, I won some fish (Ponyo is the only one still with us however) and we relaxed at home for a few minutes before heading back out again to watch the darade as we walked down to the station. The parade was quite a fancy affair with lots and lots of dance groups of all ages. I saw a few of my students dancing and even one of my school's marching bands.

After the events, we headed out to Tennoh where we met Noriko and her family. We visited Noriko's lovely house and were all dressed up in Kimonos. The Kimono's were a lot of fun. Somehow, when Georgia and I were choosing our Kimonos, I chose the biggest one, and she chose the smallest. So, we had a bit of trouble getting properly dressed. Afterwards the boys came down and they got dressed up. After photos we got undressed and were invited to stay for dinner. Noriko's husband pulled out their grill and they made yakisoba right there in front of us. It was a very unique Japanese experience, just to be a part of a Japanese family for an evening. Noriko even showed them embarrassing videos of me that were on TV. Noriko's husband sang some entertaining songs (though I gather because it was his birthday he had been sipping Japanese whiskey all day.) Just thinking of this day brings back a lot of happy feelings.

Saturday: I think we did our own things on Saturday.

Sunday: Because it was their last full day in Japan, we decided to keep it simple so they still had time to pack and get a good night's rest. Dad and Georgia came into Kure in the early afternoon and we visited the Yamato maritime museum. Afterwards we decided on trying a Korean BBQ place we had seen a few nights before. The Korean BBQ was very delicious. We ordered a selection of meat and they brought it out nicely sliced and with lots of sauces. They also brought out a charcoal grill for us to cook our meat on. It was a lot of fun, though the smoke left me with a cough for a week or so. (even though there was a huge vent, I guess I was a little overzealous in my watching of the meat.)

And on Monday I went back to work and Dad and Georgia hopped on the shinkansen for Kobe!

I know that this was supposed to be a brief update, but oh well. Click here to see the full album!

Spring in Kure

Hello Everyone,

I know it's been a little bit of time since I updated. I don't have a lot of literary updates for you this time, but I do have a lot of pictures.

On March 31st, Mike and I made our way into Hiroshima where we had our affidavits signed by the Canadian Consulate. Basically we checked to make sure that our pre-submitted forms were correct and then we were ushered into a room to wait for the Consul. He then (waddled in in a rather grumpy-old Japanese man fashion) signed our papers and left. After that we taxi'd back to the train station to head to the City Hall in Kure, where our foreigner cards are registered. After giving them our affidavits and trying to semi-explain what we were trying to do they consulted their books and had us fill out some forms. Of course we didn't really realize that we'd need witnesses, so our friends Ryan and Lindsey came down and signed for us. After that we were shuffled off to another booth at city hall to wait while it was registered on our foreigner cards. It was a pretty bureaucratic day, but in truth the sun was beautiful, we didn't have to wait more than a few minutes for a train to and from the city, Mike wore a tie and I found a dress, and at the end of the day Ryan and Lindsey ended up taking us out for a nice Italian dinner. For not having a wedding ceremony, we still couldn't have asked for a nicer day.


To see all the pictures we have you can try this link: It should be publicly viewable.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=632635&id=721050359&l=e1d2a4539c

Next up on the update list is some pictures from my ceramics class. I talked pretty extensively about it before, and all the pictures on my facebook page have descriptions on the photos, so I'll just share the photos here.

The cups I'm making are for Noriko, from the international center. She's the one that helped me find this class and is always doing everything in her power to be 150% sugar and spice ALL THE TIME.

Here's the album!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=635092&id=721050359&l=1a0013fe18






Lastly, It's spring break here in Kure, and the Cherry blossoms, while late this year, have finally started to bloom. I took a lovely bike ride today and later a walk with Mike to get ice cream, see if the outdoor pool was open, and appreciate my last day of semi-freedom before I go back to school tomorrow.
These pictures are 97% cherry blossom pictures. There's a few of some Koi that we saw in a river on our walk at the end of the album, some other flowers, a pigeon, and a picture of Mike .

Here's the album!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=635099&id=721050359&l=216cf4499b

Update with news!

Now, just as a forewarning. I wrote this entry about a week or two ago, but decided not to update it because I wanted to wait for Mike. So, all my plans about what I'm going to do next weekend here, have already happened. I also have some pictures now! but I'm also too lazy to rewrite this entry in the present tense while I'm at work. On that note, let's go!

Hello everyone,

Here is an update of my past week and my plans for next week.

I suppose I'll start off with my big news. On Febuary 1st, Mike and I decided officially that I would recontract and that we would stay in Japan for another 18 months. The other side of this very shiney and lovely coin is that because of Mike's visa restrictions and our mutual want to be together we are going to get married here in Japan. Hoorraaayy!

How the process works here in japan is much different from that in Canada. In Canada, you sign your documents on your wedding day during your ceremony (whether it be civil or religious) and are hence forth legally joined. In Japan, you sign your papers at the city office thus registering you legally joined, and then you have a wedding ceremony (purely for religious reasons and/or shits and giggles) some time later. So, Mike and I are going to file the papers here, and then once we return to Canada we'll have a Canadian style wedding ceremony with friends and family. I know some of you are probably asking, but wait, won't you have already been married for over a year by then? haha, well, Yes, but consider it then either a long engagement, or a wedding celebration of our first year together. I plan on wearing some form of a dress to the city office when we submit our paperwork, and Mike said he would put on a nice shirt as well.

So that's my big news on that front! In case　anyone is wondering, Mike is waiting until I choose a ring before he officially asks. (And he did on Febuary 16th.)

Last Saturday I went to the optometrist to have my eyes checked. I've noticed that only my right eye has become blurry. Some of you may remember that I was having similar troubles in Canada last year with one eye changing then the other eye changing to match a few months later. They ran a whole series of tests on my eyes and have decided that it's either because of eye-stress/strain on tired eyes, or some form of auto immune problem that's causing my eyes to swell. They gave me a prescription for some eye drops to help with the swelling. Should it help, then it's just tired eyes, but if not, then likely some auto immune thing. I have a feeling it's a poor mixture. I've had this problem for a while and the constant blurry vision is causing stress on my eyes which in turn causes more swelling. Gah. Anyways, I was very lucky that my eye doctor spoke very good English and was able to translate other questions that other eye doctors had.

On Sunday I went to my ceramics class and finished up my two bowls. Next time I go in I will glaze them and fire them again and start on something else. Any suggestions? I was thinking of making some nice big hot chocolate mugs for mike and I, but it's starting to warm up now, and soon we'll want big ice tea cups.

On Monday at about 5 am I woke up with tearing pain in my lower abdomen. After about an hour I contacted my supervisor and she found a clinic that I could go see where they spoke English (twice in one weekend? So lucky!) As I suspected at the time, I had a urinary tract infection. I was told I could take the day off to rest and take my medication and I was feeling much better by the evening. Though there is still lingering discomfort.

The rest of the work week so far has been pretty tame. This Friday is Japan Foundation Day so I get a day off. I also previously requested the Monday off so now I have a 4 day weekend. YAY. I'm looking forward to getting some rest. Though, I have Japanese practice on sunday and am going to Miyajima on Saturday.

On Saturday, Noriko, myself and possibly some others will be going to a festival on Miyajima Island. We're planning on wearing kimonos and painting the little town red. I believe there is also an oyster festival there this weekend too.

(Here's a recap of how Saturday went)
Going to Miyajima was a hoot! Though we must have chosen the worst day for the worst weather to go. All morning long we had snow with high winds and thunder/lightning. It was truly a sight to behold. But myself and about 10 others trudged out in our wooden geta (shoes) and kimonos with umbrellas and went to Miyajima.


Click to see larger!









I can say at least that the weather improved over the course of day. While on Miyajima, we watched a Kagura style dance performance, ate all kinds of oysters, and drank tea. It was very busy! At the end of the day, Noriko and I went to the public hot spring baths and soaked away our weary muscles. I'd never been to these baths before, but as with most public baths here in Japan, there is an indoor and an outdoor section. Personally I'm always a fan of the outdoor baths, and these ones were very nice!

catching-up!

Hello everyone, Here's just a bit of an update!

Things are on and off hectic here. Some days I am a chicken without a head, others not so much. Usually I’m only super busy on the days that I go to multiple schools. Two Tuesdays a month I go to a JHS in the morning and an Elem. in the afternoon. Though, for those elementary schools I often have to come back at other times in the month to plan lessons. (Because they don’t know where they will be in the schedule by then.) Often my teachers at one school will be unable to meet and plan (or I need to go to another school for a meeting and have to leave early) and I’ll have to come back another day. Sometimes it is a pain, but it’s also nice to know that you will meet that teacher some time before class and don’t have to worry about anything until then.

Mondays　I prep for my Tuesdays and Wednesday, Tues and Weds, I prep for Thursday Friday, and on Friday I prep for Monday. Usually I’m lucky and don’t have any work to take home or do on the weekends.

My teachers here are nice. The ones that previously have been distant are opening up. Today a teacher I was with let me introduce a new game to the class, and it went well.

One of the things I had overestimated about Japan before coming was my students English levels. It’s easy to forget that just because I learned something in Japanese, or students learn how to say something in another class doesn’t mean that all students will know it. I must say I underestimated the amount of mysteriously English proficient teachers, (other than the Home room or Japanese English teacher.) Every once and a while someone will speak English to me when I least expect it. I accidentally got caught staying for a meeting at one of my schools. When the vice-principal noticed I was still there she said I could go. Being not so sure, and asking “ Is it really OK?” the grounds keeper across from me said “ run! Run while you can!” I was flabber ghasted. Especially considering that my teacher that I teach English with, doesn’t speak any English outside of class.

Tomorrow I’m being interviewed by another English teacher infront of an assembly. She will be asking me about schools in Canada and volunteer work. The grade 9 kids will start their volunteer work soon and need some pepping up. I think some of the information that she wants me to say isn’t quite correct, especially not for such a diverse population. It’s hard to pigeon-hole qualities onto various regional Canadians. Either way, I hope it goes well.

I started ceramics on Sunday. Sadly, it’s only once every other Sunday. The style of building they use is different from what I learned at school. Instead of “scoring and slipping” (making crosshatches and getting it wet to apply one piece of clay to another to prevent air bubbles) They just mash on new pieces of clay to build it higher. It seems to work fine for them and the pieces come out whole, so perhaps I’ll just trust my teacher’s judgment. There is a bit of a language barrier, but my teacher speaks pretty good English and is encouraging others in the class to practice their English with me. On Sunday I made a big and a little bowl.

That's all for now!