Okonomiyaki- last nights in Kanazawa

My last day at school was on Wednesday and it was a sad day. Since then I have been cleaning, packing and trying to fit in as much time with the people here that I love as possible. Last night, I went to okonomiyaki with Dan, Grant and one of the new JETs, Zach. Dan and Grant have been two of my best friends in Kanazawa and I am really going to miss them. Oh dear... I am getting quite sentimental these days. Anyway......


Zach and Dan and okonomiyaki and beer

Me and Grant and peace signs

My buddy, Dan, and me :)

After okonomiyaki, we went to one of my favorite bars, Banana Chips. The bartender there is really nice and does not speak any English so it is a good place to go to practice Japanese.

Grant tried to be artistic with my camera, I think

Last ikebana lesson

Faithful readers of my blog know that I have been taking ikebana lessons for the last year every week. My teacher is great and I always went with Jane so that was a lot of fun. Last week was my last lesson and it was very sad. I have had a great time learning about how to arrange flowers- a little random but fun nonetheless!

Ikebana

Marie's Birthday

We like to have proper birthday parties for our friends here in Kanazawa and Marie's 29th birthday was no exception. A little shabu shabu, a little cake, a few friends and lots and lots of random stuff to wear Marie wear! Honestly, she ended up looking like a bachorette on her last night on the town...... or a Christmas tree.


Marie, Fiona, me

The Girls (TM)

The Birthday Girl herself!

Marie jokingly said she wanted strippers for her birthday. So we took her in the back room of Apre, tied her to a chair and people danced around her (no clothes came off though). I don't know if that was what she was hoping for but it sure was funny.

Yay!

My ESS girls

Last week Zach and my ESS girls had a good bye party for us. We all went to an okonomiyaki restaurant and made our own delicious okonomiyaki and yakisoba. I am really going to miss these girls. They are so so sweet and nice.

Japanese Post Office

Ilove Japan. I am not a fan of the Post Office. At the beginning of the year, Matt sent me a package. It arrived on a Monday. I was busy that week and went to retrieve it from the main post office the next Monday (a week later). "Sorry," they said, "Your package has been sent back to the US. We only hold them for a week." I thought this was ridiculous. What is I had been on vacation for a week? What if I was busy for a week (as I was)? Matt had to send the package again. It was a pain.

Today I opened the little slot on my front door only to find a package slip from APRIL! I never look in this slot. I have a mailbox and every other time I have received a package it has been put in my mailbox or taped on my front door. Yes, I should have checked my door mail slot more regularly but literally nothing ever got put in it.

So, to the person who sent me a package, I AM SORRY! Please identify yourself so I can thank you.

Class Pictures

All of my students are so cute!


Class 11

Class 12

Class 13

Class 14

Class 15

Good byes!

It has been a busy two weeks of goodbyes and farewells, both at school and outside of school. Last week I gave my goodbye speech in front of 1000 students in Japanese! It was a little daunting but I think I did well. We have also had goodbye lessons in all of our classes. I taught my last lesson yesterday. The kids here are so good at English, so sweet and smart- I am really going to miss them and this school.


After I gave my goodbye speech, the school gave me the largest bouquet of roses that I have ever seen in my life. I did not have a vase big enough for them so I made to put them in my hot water maker and cover it with a table clothe. They were beautiful.

Class 15 was by far my favorite class. The students were always excited and eager to participate and they loved me and the JTE that I taught with. It was Kitagawa Sensei's birthday on our last class so they made us a big drawing to say happy birthday to him and goodbye to me.

This is apparently what I look like. Not bad!

One of Zach's students wrote him a note and drew a picture of him. It might be time for a haircut :)

The view from the window of Class 12.

Enkai, continued

After dinner, we went to karaoke.

Mifuji Sensei (my supervisor) and me

Lots of Singing!!

Farewell Enkai

Since I am leaving Japan in a few weeks and Zach is leaving next week, the teachers at my school had a goodbye party for us on Wednesday. It was at a German restaurant in Kanazawa (we still ate our sausages with chopsticks) and it was a lot of fun. I really like the teachers at my school so I will be very sad to leave them.


Koikeda Sensei (we like to call him the Koikedanator because he is the disciplinarian of the school), Shimamura Sensei and Sugaya Sensei

Azuma Sensei, Me and Yamagishi Sensei

Nakagawa Sensei and Zach

Koshikawa Sensei (the Vice Principal!), Me and Miura Sensei

Koikedanator, Hori Sensei, Me and Tabata Sensei

Earthquake!

Japan is the most earthquake prone country in the world and it has been trying to prove it this year. I felt another earthquake this morning at about 10:15 AM. It was just a little one where I was but it was a 6.8 in Niigata prefecture (2 prefectures over). Five people died which makes it the most deathly earthquake since the one in Kobe which killed thousands. Anyway, I am fine.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070716/ap_on_re_as/japan_quake_32;_ylt=Av3GejmxerwSBiYOS6xNhK5kMfQI

Ballet

One of my good friends here, Fiona, is a ballerina and has been practicing with a school in Kanazawa for many months. Today was her performance and it was beautiful!

Japanese night out

I thought I would highlight some of the finer points of Japanese culture with examples from last night's outing.

JANKEN

This is what is know as "rock paper scissors" in the US. In Japan it is called Janken and it is law. Everything from where to go to dinner to who the winner of a game is is decided by this game and everyone knows that what janken decides go. I am pretty sure that Abe sometimes uses it to make policy decisions.

THE PEACE SIGN

I do not know why Japanese people make the peace sign in every single photo but they do. I suppose Japan is a fairly peaceful country.

MEAT ON A STICK

Various meat on a stick is popular in Japan (and delicious, I might add). But one must be careful for one does not always know what one is getting. I have made the mistake more than once of just pointing to the menu and hoping for the best and that resulted in me eating chicken heart, pig cheek and cow tongue. Mmmmm.... last night was just chicken though.

THE FOREIGNER BAR

This is perhaps not part of Japanese culture but rather, part of MY Japanese culture. No good night out would be complete without a trip to Apre, the foreigner bar. However, since they have recently changed locations, I am not sure that that tradition will continue. The western style toilets in the new place are not nearly as nice as the ones in the old place and, let's face it, that was a big draw for me.

Abare, Part 2

Well this festival was so cool that it deserved a second post........


Drunk half dressed men flinging a large wooden thingamabobber end over end- this did look quite dangerous.

View from above

They parade the lanterns through the streets and to various temples where they burn them up and destroy them. More than a few people were seen burned and a bit bloody.

Fiona, me and Marie

Lots of girls wear yukata (light robe like a kimono) to summer festivals. This is me with Mayumi.