Tea Ceremony Style

This wasn't my first tea ceremony and it won't be my last. Tea ceremonies are always more than I expect and they are always really overwhelming, in both an exciting and an exhausting way. It started with a multi-course lunch of rice, miso, grilled fish, tofu, vegetables, pickels, fish eggs, a fish stomach (?), a stinky flower, and sashimi. After lunch we had our first course of sweets and a thick tea. After thick tea we had another course of sweets and thin tea. After some more ceremonies and formalities, we finished with a plate of huge strawberries, some more formalities, a photograph and good-byes. Here are the photo highlights:

Day # 4 Tsugaike Kogen 栂池高原

Saturday morning 8 of us piled in cars with all our gear and headed for Nagano. With the weather conditions as warm as they have been, it's not even worth considering anything at a lower elevation. We didn't even see snow until we were about 20 minutes from Hakuba. It's sad, but at least we can still board. And luckily, it had been snowing all night and snowed most of the day! So there was a wonderful layer of powder to play in. It was my best day yet. After I got my board waxed and adjusted my left bindings, I was able to do right turns again! Hurray! It was such a good day, we only stopped once for lunch. Nobody needed any breaks, nobody complained of sore feet or needing to adjust anything. Everyone was genki and we all wanted to enjoy the powder as long as possible! Pray for snow at Seaside!!



Here are some pics:

Another New Blog

"Life has been busy" is an understatement. Since I got off the bus two weeks ago, I've been running from school to school, class to class and teaching almost everynight after school. And on top of that I've been trying to get back into a study routine. My only relief has been snowboarding and sleeping (more on that in another post).

But my classes are doing some exciting projects and it's always fun to work with them. My adult conversation class has been meeting for 20 years with several that can remember the first class in 1986. In addition to their weekly classes, the write, edit and publish a zine every few months on a topic that the teacher (me) usually assigns. They have reached their 25th volume and in celebration I suggested they go html and start a blog!

To celebrate their 20th year as a class, and their 25th zine, I'd like to welcome you to the
Nyuzen Eikaiwa Class Blog. They have been writing, editing, and re-writing for about two months. Their posts are their own, I have done nothing to them! While we work on editing and perfecting their essays, you will find mistakes. But this isn't a writing or grammar class, and I always stress in my class that English is about communication, not perfection!

Please, please visit their blog, post comments about their ideas--not their mistakes! And add it as a link to your favorites and come back to visit again. Their are only two posts as I write this, but their should be 6-7 more being sent in throughout the week!

(this picture was taken last May when my parents were visiting the class)

Immigration in Japan

Recently, some friends and I were discussing the discrepancy between what immigrants make in Japan vs. Japanese nationals working at a factory. For example, Chinese factory workers might make $2-3/hr while standing next to a Japanese employee doing the same job but is making $12/hr. And this morning a friend sent me a link to a Yahoo News article about immigrants working in Japan. I thought I would share the article, there are some interesting quotes:

Japan Mulls Importing Foreign Workers

I write this as my Japanese speaking Brazilian neighbors (and their friends) are installing a new bass (or woofer) into their black sports car parked right below my window and next to my bumper stickered little yellow plate (the only one in town). They started this project at about 8:30 this morning while drinking beer. The seem to have gotten the bass working just fine and they (and all the neighbors) are listening to their favorite tunes via car stereo on a Sunday morning.

Unlike the views expressed in the article, I find their Sunday morning activities and the loud music a bit refreshing (although mildly distracting for studying). It's kinda nice to feel a bit of life in this town! It's so quiet most of the time, a little rowdy noise is welcome. It makes me feel like I'm living in a big metropolitan city somewhere. And if listening to a little bit of music in the parking lot makes them happy after a week of underpaid factory labor...who can get upset about that!!

Snowboarding To Date

Day #1

Mt. Hood Ski Bowl on New Year's Day!

Anglea, Evie, and Katherine drove up for a day of fun at ski bowl. Okay, so in actuality, I think it was a painful day for A & E because they were learning. And it was raining. But we had a good time and enjoyed a few really good runs. A day on the hill is never complete without a few good stops for drinks/snacks. Ski Bowl has a great little "warmer hut" on one of the runs with a massive wood burning fireplace! It was fun to just sit and catch up with the girls.

Day # 2

Tsugaike in Hakuba, Nagano

Linea, JP & I jumped in Bertie (the VW Beetle) and got on the road by 7am to enjoy a day in Hakuba. Normally, we aren't big Hakuba fans, but there is NO snow at lower elevations this year and so we had to make the 2 hour drive up into the mountains! The snow was good, but not a lot of powder. It was a bit cold and windy, but we managed a full day for our first day out in the Japanese Alps. But like day #1, one of the best parts of boarding is making a full-day experience of it. We had a lovely lunch of gyudon (a beef rice bowl) in a quiet little restaurant on the side of the hill while catching up after our winter trips to the US, Canada and Vietnam!

(sorry, no pics)

Day # 3

Charmant Hiuchi Resort, Niigata

After a late night out catching up with friends after winter vacation, 7 of us gathered outside our apartments and packed the boards, gear and our sleepy selves into two cars and headed for Charmant. With a base of 190cm, it has more than Hakuba! It's known for it's powder runs, but because there has been no new snow and the temp is consistently above freezing, all those runs were closed. So we stayed on the groomed courses and practiced our "skills" or lack there of in my case. I'm still in warm-up mode. It's kinda sad and pathetic. But I have a rental board and crappy boots...and I just can't make a right turn. I absolutely can not go from my heel to my toe! I fall everytime!! It's so frustrating. I'll try adjusting my board bindings...but maybe I've just lost it. Maybe I'm just not inspired this year! And to top it off, the snow kinda sucks. It isn't like last year. I just want to go back to Seaside, where I know the runs like the back of my hand! Where is the snow???? I haven't had to dig out once!

On another note, we ran into a "friend" on the slopes. He saw us in the parking lot and literally bolted over to give us a big bear hug. After that we didn't really have anything to say to each other. ha ha ha

Amy-chan, guess who??

Just The Photo Highlights

Christmas Festivities!!



















Lots of Quality Family Time!!!

Time with Great Friends!!!!
























And Delicious Delicious American Food!

Happy 2007!

I've been in the US for over 2 weeks, but I'm headed back to Japan in 4 days. It's gone so fast! I've done a lot, but there are still a few things left on my list (see below). It's been a whirlwind trip with lots of relatives, lots of eating, lots of shopping, and did I mention lots of relatives! It's been great to see everyone, but I haven't gotten nearly the quality time in with everyone that I would have liked cause there are too many people to see in too little time. And did I mention lots of eating; the holidays are a constant feed! Everytime I turn around it's meal time again or someone is offering me a holiday sweet that I've just gotta try. I've probably gained a few pounds, especially considering I've done absolutely zero excercise except a day of snowboarding. Well, that salmon wild rice meal I've been waiting for is just about ready, so I'm going to go eat some more. I'll be posting pics and maybe a few stories when I get back to Japan. And hopefully be announcing a plan for "what's next?" in the coming weeks!

Things I WANT to do/Places I WANT to go when I'm back at "home"
(does not include EVERYTHING and is in no particular order )

UPDATED LIST 1/3/2007

Norm's kung pao chicken
NW Breakfast brunch 2-3x's (umm, so good!) egg tofu scramble
Unitarian Xmas Service christmas carols and the bell choir
Make Xmas Cinnamon Rolls/Fudge/Cookies with pecans and real carmel
Snowboard on Mt. Hood thanks for boarding with me!
Over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder shopping (desperate!!) multi-colored!
Costco so big, so much stuff
Eat Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Indian & Ethiopian Food done except Ethiopian food
Dairy Queen love the soft serve
Bagels & Coffee done
Brew Pubs--Movie & Good Beer wow, the beer is so good!!!
Rimsky's Raspberry Fool fabulous company and amazing dessert--sugar overload!
Peacock Lane on xmas eve!
Old neighborhoods old houses look the same
Chiropractor an amazing adjustment
watch a movie in the hot tub I think I like onsens better!
watch a movie in the big chair with mom YENTL and dairy queen!
take Max for a walk or 5 he can barely walk :(
Boot Camp Aerobics ha ha ha--no time!!
Fargo, ND (visit the fam--NOT THE PLACE) 20 relatives in 3 days!
meals at home (salmon & wild rice and AM eggs) it'll be ready in 5 minutes!

Grocery List:
Malt-o-meal/Cream of Wheat
Brown Cow Yogurt delicious
Morningstar Chick Patties
brown multigrain bread wonderful
avocados squash/zucchini fabulous
Odwalla juice green healthy juice!
Shredded frosted mini-wheats
Pepper Jack Cheese i love cheese!