So Many Tigers!

New Years!

Before Going Out into the Bitter Japanese Cold

This is what a suitable amount of clothing for Japanese winters looks like

It's New Years Eve, let's go to Mt. Ichizuchi

Bret made a friend in Marugame a couple of weeks ago and we got invited to go to Mt. Ichizuchi for New Years. We're meeting him at 11 oclock pm and....I guess going to the mountain? It is cold...I hope we drive rather than hike. I'm not 100% on the details. Wish us luck! I will return with pictures. Happy New Year!

PS. Yes, it's New Year's Eve here already

Presents from my mother

In case anyone needs any assistance using the Moscow metro system, you now know who to call


Is premium quality shirt!

Thank you so much, Mom, for the shirt and the jacket you sent. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Petstore

We went to another petstore at the mall later that week, and there was a strange, nocturnal south american rainforest rodent in a cage. Naturally, we were intrigued. One of them sniffed the air when we approached, but it was deep in a little sleeping nest ball. There was another one in a cage right next to it, so we moved on to it. Upon our disturbance of it's sleep, it emitted a hair raising, ungodly sound. I screamed and jumped back, and everyone laughed at how a 2-inch rodent had nearly run me out of the petstore.

Marugame Castle

Festival

Bret is now the video making master. Props to him for compiling everything. Sorry about the low quality of the video. Maybe someday we'll get a real videocamera, but that will be no time soon. Also the vid was originally 700 mb but Bret messed with it so it would be a smaller file...

thank you, the internet, for bringing me hours of entertainment

margugame castle swans

This is a really dumb video, but it's cooler than looking at a picture of a swan. Plus that duck really steals the show with his guest appearance. If I had the time I would edit out the annoying sound of my voice.

Mochi Festival

To clarify, the mochi festival is held to demonstrate the traditional method of making mochi. People have machines to do it nowadays. In Japanese schools, they like to show the youngsters (and tag-along foreigners) how they did it in the old days.



finished product

very excited about eating mochi

My apologies for holding the camera vertically and not knowing how to flip it. I'm working on it...






This video is cool because it shows mochi in the early stages. The first video with the kid and the pink mochi shows the mochi at it's final stage, with the consistency of a stechy playdough. The pale green mochi in this video, however, is clumpy and soft, and still needs a lot of hammering.

 

This is an uneventful shot of the classroom. Ignore the exciting title.

Merry Christmas Indeed

There are five hundred of them. Names had to be written on the front and a personal message inside. I have about a hundred more (bringing the grand total to 600+) to do.

Everytime I had to write a message inside, I had to see this horrible picture of myself. Brey looks cute though. And Christa and Andrew :) 

Back from my political jabber hibernation

 While stuck at work today, I had the chance to ask my boss what she thought of Japan’s Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama. “I hate him,” she said. I love when my questions elicit strong reactions. “He’s a dummy rich boy who makes snap decisions.” I asked her if she was referring to the uncomfortable issue of moving the military base in Okinawa. She said yes. “Post war Japan has remained the same for so long,” she continued, "making such decisions so quickly and without dedicated thought is not good.” Some Japanese share this opinion because of Hatoyama’s status as the heir of a Bridgestone tire fortune and a descendant of political royalty. Shortly after our conversation I spotted this picture taped on a cabinet.

Make of it what you will. I have the feeling that dealing with foreigners for so long makes one quick to appear judgmental of their own government so as not to engage in a “ours is better than yours” argument. I did enjoy my boss’s description of the prime minister, though. Sound like someone?

I hear a lot about the base from my adult students, and the consensus is mixed. Some people like that the base is there to protect them, as they doubt that Article 9 of their constitution will be revised anytime soon. However, when people learn about the trouble the base has caused in Okinawa, they wonder if it does more harm than good. After all, Japan isn’t really inciting conflict, nor is it being threatened by another country at the moment (unless you include America). In fact, Prime Minister Hotoyama is doing the opposite by warming other Asian nations up to the idea of alliance. I think if Japanese people feel uncomfortable with an American military base being there then they’ve lost the right to stay there. If the people stationed there had conducted themselves respectfully and lawfully, there wouldn’t be such strong opposition to their staying there. Moving the base to a more discreet location shouldn't be the focal point of two countries' policies towards one another. If I were the Prime, crimes like these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_Prefecture#U.S._military_controversy would trigger a course of action against the base. It’s been a long time since WWII and times have changed. The US government can’t arbitrarily assume possession of a highly industrialized and politically connected country and do whatever it wants anymore. Relocating is the least they can do. In light of recent miscommunications between Obama and Hotoyama, though, what should be a no-brainer is tense, controversial, and riddled with political implications.

MY FIRST POST PARCEL IN JAPAN (it didn't feel right putting the alternative word in there)

YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, I've finally gotten one. Bret's gotten about three, but I suppose they were for both of us.

Opening up a present

Stockings!


Thank you so much, Lisa Green! Love you and Merry Christmas!!!!


Yes, my Paint skills are impressive, I know

Nightwalks Episode 1: Cat in the Parking Lot

Wait, what is that? Is the a cat? Yeeeeeeeessss I am pet deprived and maybe it won't run away.



It didn't run away! Success! Aaaaand I look like a mega idiot in this picture! Aaaaand I probably looked like an idiot in real life. I suppose sitting down with the cat in the parking lot didn't help. I got giggled at by a Japanese girl, but she also bowed...so I don't know what to make of that. She thought I was a weirdo but was still respectful of it?


It was so sweet and cute!!! I wanted to steal it, but it had tags :(


PS. we've been taking random walks at night a few times now, this is just the first time we've brought the camera along. Last night we even went to a shrine at night, it was neat :)

Sports Day Recap (Thanks Julie! )

You can't exactly tell from the picture, but this here is a really cool hill/slide thing. There were a bunch of yellow plastic sleds in the shed next to it. Bret and I would race kids down. Sometimes the sleds would get turned around midway down and they'd slide down backwards, it was pretty funny.

This was the sign next to the ninja training course we found. It totally was too, believe me. You could become a full-on ninja if you did the course every day. It was intense



Why is Carl the cutest Japanese child in the world? Why? Maybe some of the GEM school teachers can help me out with this one, but it's a mystery to me. LOOK HOW CUTE!!!! skjhfeskfhu!!!!


Bret hanging out with Roger on Sports Day. We ran around with a bunch of Japanese kids that we teach and played games with them. It was fun being in a different environment and just being silly and not serious. Of course, I had a hard time with names outside the context of the classroom. I'd feel so bad when a kid would toddle up and be all, "Hallo, Angela-sensei!!!" and I'd be like, "Hey....you.....!!!"

Uniqlo

I love Uniqlo. It's cheap and all the stuff they sell is awesome. Plus I love taking screen shots and I've used less of an excuse than a blog post to take them. Sometimes I do it just to pass the time... (kidding...sort of) This is from their website. Thank you, sniping tool.

Sometimes when he's busy on the computer I make him look like a samurai warrior...

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

We open every day!




I spent way too much time trying to find alternative definitions and reasons for the store being called this other than the movie--I didn't find any. I now know what "lock stock and barrel" means though, that's something.

Japanese people just love English words, most of the time they don't know what the expressions on their t-shirts or business signs mean. That's why apparel manufacturers and sign makers should employ Bret and I, to put the world right!

Random Castles

Castles are awesome. You usually have to travel somewhere in Europe to see them (I'm guessing) so you can imagine my surprise to see random European-style mock-up castles in our sleepy town of Saijo.

I've tried to find out why they're here. I really have. But when I type in "European-style castles in Japan" into google I don't get much. It only comes up with information on feudal period castles in Japan, which are awesome in and of themselves, but they don't explain the anomaly. The only explanation we've been given is that Japanese people like to get married in them and that market niche is big enough to warrant their existence.

Oh, and I don't want to toot my own horn or anything over here, but this picture is awesome. I didn't think I'd be successful taking a picture from the car, we were driving past the castle pretty fast, but I am delighted with it. Check out the guy in front. That guy is totally ready for whatever life throws his way. I wish I had a powerful stance like that.

The Princess and the Pea

Not really, more just, "The Tale of our Bed in Japan" but the other title seemed more catchy and it does bear a slight resemblence to our current situation.

Despite our comical bed set-up, it is actually MUCH better than the single sheet of granite that they called a bed in our guest house in Tokyo. Ugh. I loathed that thing. As you can see from the pictures below, we have a mattress, and about four futons (japanese mattress pads) beneath our fitted sheet. I don't mind it, but Bret complains, making him the princess in our story (KIDDING). He has back issues, and luckily I don't, so it's not really fair to tease him.

Anyways, we've been allotted about 7000 yen (approx 75 dollars) to buy a new bed, but it's sort of impossible, even with all the used/goodwill stores in our area. Bed sets just don't come in that price range. If we wanted true upgrade, it would be a couple of hundred dollars, not 70. However, CHALLENGE--ACCEPTED. We're on the hunt! Stayed tuned for further adventures of "Bret and Angelina Buy a New Mattress"! Yes, our lives are exciting, we know :)



Haha, look at the little gimp mattress on the bottom. I appears to be Christmas themed! At least that's something, haha.

Of course, when you've put sheets and blankets on it, who'se to know?