As any of you (are there any of you?) who are regular readers may have noticed, I've been a bit... Well, let's just cut to the chase. I haven't updated at all in a while. In fact it's been so long that the notion of trying to catch y'all up has become kind of daunting. But thanks to the wishes of my wonderful friend Meg, here you go; the longest update in the history of humankind. Ready, steady....GO!
As of my last update, December 16th, I was a few days away from returning home to visit the USA!! That trip went swimmingly, despite the fact that the kaki (persimmons) and mikan (mandarin oranges) I tried to bring for my family were confiscated in Customs because I declared them. I tried really hard not to yell at the Customs man lecturing me on fines for not declaring things. Since he was wearing a uniform, and I was not yet through Customs, I was unfailingly polite. My internal narration went something like this...
"You facking idiot, I am only over here BECAUSE I declared my oranges. If I had not declared them, you never would have noticed. WHY ARE YOU LECTURING ME ABOUT DECLARING MY ITEMS??!! The people who need that lecture are already halfway to baggage claim you asswipe!".
These are not things one should generally say to uniformed persons in airports, however. And so I bit my tongue.
At any rate, I was welcomed home to Seattle (albeit both persimmon- and orange-less) by my mom and dad waiting as I came up the escalator. I have never been so happy to see two people in my entire life! We drove home, where I was also so happy to see both of my baby brothers! It was the most beautiful thing in the world to be home, with my whole family around me. I was biting back tears (sorry guys - 7,028 miles and 17 hours' time change of separation warrants a wee bit of sentimentality). We spent a glorious winter break together, joined by one of my best friends ever (DL!!!). We went skiing, ate tons of delicious food, watched movies, went to see Avatar, drank lots of good wine, and went to the rock climbing gym. Luckily, two of the coolest people ever, Kim and Dave, also carved out some time to see me, as did my old high school friend John! I have never had such a wonderful vacation in all my life!! Thank you to all I saw, and sorry I missed you to those I didn't. It was very hard to say goodbye and return to Japan.
Of course I did. On the way home I spent a night in Seoul, South Korea, before returning to Akita Prefecture. I had begun seriously reconsidering my decision to recontract - I miss all of you at home so much! But the next few weeks held enough good things that I think I will probably stay after all.
Shortly after I returned to Japan, I was so fortunate to be invited into the Takanos' (one of my coworkers at Yuri Elementary, Mr. Takano's) home for a mochi-making party! We made traditional rice cakes using a mortar and giant hammer, then ate a huge, delicious supper featuring our very own rice cakes. The Takano family is a very talented bunch - they shared with me everything from Frisbee golf in their living room (Mr. Takano's father is the Japan National Frisbee Golf Champ), to juggling (Mr. Takano's mother can juggle one-handed), to magic tricks, string games, strategy board games and traditional Japanese toys with his son and daughter. (Note: I am purposely not mentioning names, as I don't have permission from the persons in question, and Japanese people are very careful about Internet privacy.) It was a wonderful evening, which culminated in the grandfather giving me a sixpack of beer for the road, the whole family seeing my taxi off in the snow, and a fifteen-minute chat with my taxi driver on the way home - hooray for immersion language learning!
That weekend was my skiing debut in Japan - I went to my friend Alfonso's for the weekend. We went skiing, played my new PS2 karaoke game, and ate way too much sushi.
It was a practically perfect weekend! The following weekend was similar, although the weather was much less cooperative, so we gave up (the wind was blowing us UPHILL at the ski area!) and went to Odate for arcade games and dinner instead.
This past weekend, I attended a Shinto ceremony with my fellow teachers, followed by an enkai (work drinking party). The Shinto ceremony was very interesting, and I had to participate as well! I was kind of watching everyone else out of the corner of my eye, trying to time my clapping and bowing correctly. The ceremony is specifically to help our sannensei (third graders) pass their high school entrance exams... So much for confidence in our own teaching prowess. After the ceremony we treated ourselves to a sumptuous feast in a gorgeous tatami room at Anraku Onsen, right near my house.
I spent the rest of the weekend mostly on housekeeping and errands. Some things never change, even overseas.
This week, I'm looking forward to an organized snowball fight among JETs in Akita City on Sunday. I'm not sure yet what I'll do before that - on Saturday, Alfonso and I may meet up at Lake Tazawa for some real skiing (as opposed to the limited bunny hill offerings of our local areas).
Today, I got the final step (my visa application) of planning for next month's trip to Beijing out of the way - China, here I come!!! I am very excited to visit Beijing. Stay tuned for pictures of me on the Great Wall of China...
