India, Whooooaaaa!!!

That was my first diary entry:-)

I don't have time to update the blog while I am here, but I will say that I have had an absolute incredible time here and I am so glad that I did this project. And last night I got sick in India -- a major right of passage for any world traveler :-)

For now, check out our group blog for news and pics about the project -- we are updating it almost every day... http://building-communities.blogspot.com/

Bon Voyage!

I am off to India tomorrow morning!

And the good news for those of you that did not hear - our group surpassed our fundraising goal and now have about $11,000! That is not including all the cash donations we will each be carrying with us, so the real total will be much higher.

I will try to post a few blog updates during the trip, so check back!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, wherever you may be!

Love, Nicole

クリスマス

I had a White Elephant gift exchange with one of my classes today - I wanted to show them an American Christmas tradition that they would not have heard of yet. Their instructions were to find the strangest, most ridiculous or most useless gift they could, and preferably not to spend any money. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't work out actually, and they would all show up with beautiful fancy gifts, but they didn't disappoint me at all. They brought in some of the most useless crap you could imagine, all nicely wrapped in bags from the 100 yen store.

I also found a small fake tree and some ornaments that my predecessor had left in the apartment, so I brought it in and had the students decorate it.

Decorating our tree

Then I told them the story of what Americans do on Christmas, while my co-teacher translated as needed. I talked about the fun of decorating the tree and how many of the ornaments have a story or special meaning behind them, little kids believing in Santa Claus, parents hiding the gifts, leaving out milk and cookies on Christmas Eve, waking up early on Christmas morning and running down to find all your presents and then running into Mom and Dad's room to wake them up.

As I was talking I became so aware of what a complex tradition Christmas really is -- there is so much to tell! But of course you can't really understand the specialness of Christmas unless you experience it first hand, and grow up with it. But I did my best to convey just a teeny bit of what it means to us. As I was describing this stuff I started to get really nostalgic and even a bit homesick - this is my third Christmas away from home! The past two years it didn't bother me at all, but this year it does. It is easy to just not think about it most of the time, but standing there today trying to describe it to a class really brought on the flood of memories. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to be back home sitting in my parents' living room in front of a fully lit tree and listening to Silver Bells. (On a side note, some friends and I went to karaoke the other night and sang some Christmas songs. Now that was weird. )

Christmas is not celebrated in Japan, since it is not a Christian country. But it is recognized, and they have totally jumped on the merchandising bandwagon. All the stores have Christmas stuff for sale, and many houses have lights. And music, oh my god. It is almost worse than back home - the first Christmas display I saw was before Halloween. But the day itself is not a public holiday. Couples go out to have special dinners, but it is not a family gathering day or anything like that. So being here as a foreigner is tough -- you get all the annoying parts of Christmas with none of the special parts! I think of it as the Japanese psuedo-Christmas.

Alright, enough nostalgia, back to the gift exchange --

Me explaining Christmas to the class. I love the fact that nobody is looking at me in this photo. But I swear they were listening!

The students seemed to like the idea of the White Elephant gift exchange, but there was one cultural glich that I hadn't counted on. You know how the best part of a gift exchange is stealing gifts from other people, and how there is always that one gift that everyone fights over? Well, I noticed about half-way through that nobody was stealing anything, even though the gift everyone clearly wanted had already been taken. So I asked my co-teacher and he explained why -- they were all afraid of "breaking their relations" with each other by stealing a gift. In other words, they were being polite for fear of creating disharmony with their classmates. How very Japanese, of course! They could only steal from someone that was their very close friend, but not from somebody that was a casual friend.

The first girl to take the most popular gift, a Winnie the Pooh dressed in a kappa costume.

Juri discovering that her gift is an empty candy container.

This is Haraguchi-sensei, my co-teacher. His gift was 5 pieces of old candy and an expired coupon.

One of the better gifts!

Mayu was the lucky girl to end up with my gift, a bundle of wooden chopsticks.

The first student who had the guts to steal a gift from her friend.

Airi, one of the most outgoing students, shopping for her gift.

"Hand it over beotch!" Someone else gets the guts to steal.

So I think they liked it, even though some of them were disappointed in their gift (who wouldn't be disappointed after getting a handful of dried out pens?) I wonder if they think Americans are weirdos for doing this sort of thing? But whatever, we still had fun!

My Hood!

I was talking to my dad yesterday and he reminded me that I have never put up photos of where I live. I kept meaning to, but somehow never got around to it. The weather was super clear today so I took out the camera and finally got some shots. I really enjoyed it too, so if the weather holds I will get some more pics once I get back from India. For now, I have a few. I will put these in two separate posts. First, some pics of the area I live in.

榛原町This is the view of Haibara town from a nearby hill, taken at dusk. My apartment is in the middle of all this. The biggest buildings in the area are the town hall and the high schools.

This is Highway 150, the main road that runs through the whole prefecture.

Where I live is pretty rural and the train line does not come here. So there is a build up of stores and restaurants along 150, and then nothing but farmland and residential areas everywhere else. Pretty slow and simple place. As Micah said - it has pretty much everything you need to live, and nothing more.

Greenhouses

Shizuoka Prefecture is one of the largest areas of farm production in all of Japan, so this is a common sight.

It's daikon harvesting time!

I still just love the cartoon signs. Have you ever seen a dog so happy about picking up his own poop?

A river leading out to sea, and if you look close you can see Fuji in the background.

Shizunami Beach

This is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. Right now it is pretty much deserted because it is winter, but in the summer they erect temporary structures that serve as restaurants/bars, and the entire beach is packed with people. It is a really popular surf spot as well. And I have no idea why there is a Statue of Liberty there!

More goofy signage

A small shrine set up next to the beach, which I imagine is for someone that died while surfing there.

This is one of the coolest parts about living in the farm belt, at least for a foodie like me. A lot of people have these stands built out in front of their houses where they sell whatever they have grown in their garden (and there are some HUGE home gardens here). It is all on the honor system, with a locked box for to put your money - and everything costs 1oo yen, which is a bit less than a dollar.

私のアパト

And finally, some pics of my cozy little home away from home!

This is the view of my street.

And, looking the other way down my street.

My apartment building

Just to show the layout of the apartment, this is taken from my entry hallway.
To the right is my bedroom, to the left is the kitchen, and in the middle is the living room. (There is another room as well, but I use it as a wardrobe / laundry hanging room, so I didn't take a photo of it.) The main rooms form a big square and are all separated by sliding doors that can be removed. So in the summer, I open it all up to let the breeze go through, and in the winter I shut off the kitchen and the living room to save on heating cost. A really versatile design!

My kitchen, in its usual state of "not clean."

Can you believe that this is actually a big kitchen for a Japanese apartment? Not much counter space, but it is a big room so you can create more with the right furniture. And I have tons of storage space as well. Check out my tiny fridge! You might notice that the stove is a two burner portable gas stove, which is standard here. Also notice the lack of an oven! Ovens are not traditionally part of Japanese cooking, so most homes don't have one. But I am lucky because someone before me invested in a microwave/oven combo, so I can bake small sized stuff.
That big white box on the wall is a water heater for washing dishes - this is on old building, which means there is no central water heater. So my kitchen sink and shower each have their own small water heaters.


A view of the kitchen and living room, looking towards the balcony. You can see my teeny kitchen table and my computer desk on both sides of the divider.

My living room

That low table is called a こたつ (kotatsu). It has a heating element underneath, and you can lay a blanket over it to create a little heated den for your legs when you sit at the it. Pretty neat, but I can't find the power cord for mine :-(

This is my favorite corner of the apartment.

My minimalist bedroom

I sleep on a futon. You are supposed to fold them up and put them away at night to save space, but I don't really need the space and I am lazy, so mine stays out. I don't like sleeping on a futon, it makes my back hurt pretty much every night, but that may just be that I have a bad back.

My sink area, with the shower on the right and toilet on the left.

This is my bathtub, and it has become my favorite thing since the weather got cold. (The water looks green cause I put scented bath salts in.)

I avoided the tub at first, because, well, it just looks too much like a cooking pot! But then I discovered the joys of Japanese bathing -- it is designed so that you can leave the water in there for a few days. It has a cover, and can be reheated in about 30 minutes. Traditionally, the whole family uses the same bath water, but for the pleasure of soaking and relaxing, not for washing. Any guests would go first, then the father, then the children from oldest to youngest, then the mother (of course Mom has to go last). And everyone would shower first so they would be clean when they got in. But I don't have to share with anyone thank goodness, so it is only my own essence that I am marinating in!

The shape of the tub is way better than the long rectangle ones we have back home, at least for someone my size. I always thought it was uncomfortable to lay in the tub because you had to lay your head on the porcelain and somehow brace yourself to keep from slipping down. But this tub is square, so I can just put up my knees and sit really comfortably. I love having a soak before bed on a cold night, but I don't do it that often ... I hate using up that much water and energy to make a bath for only one person.

My own very humble balcony garden! I am growing peas, lettuce, radishes, bok choy, chard, spinach, carrots and turnips. Can you believe I fit all that in such a small space?

This is the view from my balcony and out of my kitchen sliding door. It is basically my neighbor's HUGE garden, and a small cemetery. I really like observing the garden as the months goes on, seeing each plant get put in, grow, and harvested.

And this concludes the exciting tour of my Japanese apartment!

Quote of the Day

Seen on a canvas shopping bag for sale at my local grocery store:

"It is a human characteristic to have a special hope or wish in life."

"Let's Enjoy Shopping!"

Pics from North Korea

My friend sent me this link -- photos from a Russian guy who visited Pyongyang. It is all in Russian but the photos are cool. There is one about half of the way down that has some white writing on the top, which I am told says something along the lines of "Look, its a pink nigger!"

http://www.tema.ru/travel/north-korea-1/

Remember us at Christmas time!

A photo from my cousin David, who is stationed in Iraq...thought it was a really cute photo and wanted to share it. And I thought being in Japan for Christmas felt odd!


The sign says "Seasons's Greetings from Camp Fallujah."

Good News

I got some great news a few days ago - our India volunteer group has raised $8,364 towards our goal of $10,400! It amazes me how quickly we were able to get this far ... when I first saw the goal, it seemed impossibly high, but now we are totally within reach. Awesome!

Another piece of amazing news, that I announce almost with tears in my eyes -- I just found out that I am the top fund raiser in our group. I have long since surpassed my goal of $500 - more than tripled it in fact! After making the announcement, I was totally overwhelmed by the response, the generosity from friends and family and even people I had never met. I don't know how I came to be so blessed as to have so many wonderful people in my life, only that I am more thankful than I can say.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone who helped out, you will be with me in spirit as I am sweating under the hot Indian sun on Christmas Day!

That being said, we are still collecting donations, of course, so if you would still like to help out, go to http://www.golongitude.org/www/JET_Winter_2007.html

Thanks again everyone!

Obi-Matsuri

I realized that I haven't been blogging much lately! Somehow my life has managed to become really busy, mostly with preparations for the India trip and a recent visit of a friend from home. And I guess I don't really have much to write about ... or maybe it is more accurate to say that there is nothing going on in my life that inspires me to write. Sometimes I forget that what seems mundane to me is actually pretty interesting to people NOT living in Japan ... !

But I do have some pics to post. These are from the Obi-Matsuri about 2 months ago. "Matsuri" is the Japanese word for festival, and most towns in Japan hold their own matsuri sometime around late summer or early august - right around harvest time. The Obi-Matsuri is one of the most famous ones in my area, and it is held in the nearby town of Shimada.

This kid is about 8 years old - cool digs!

Putting traditional clothes on the gaejin and taking photos is a favorite past time of some old men at the matsuri. This is Kate, who is going on the India trip with me.

A big part of the matsuri involves pulling a shrine through the streets. There will usually be 20 or more people pulling it by huge ropes, with dancers and musicians riding inside and on top. And most shrines have an alcohol cart pulled along behind them.

Making おこのみやき (okonomiyaki), one of the standard and most loved matsuri foods.

The most anticipated event is the parade, which was one of the slowest moving I have ever seen!
What everyone is waiting for - the men with the おび。Obi means "sash" in Japanese, and this festival celebrates the elaborately beautiful obi that are worn with kimono. 10 or so men march in the parade displaying obi hung from swords by their sides. And they do a really unique walk as well, so it is fun to watch.

Good times!