Shift to Autumn

Friends,

Life in Japan continues to be busy and wonderful.  The things that have consumed my days and weekend over the past few weeks are just the ordinary, day-to-day things that consume so many of our lives, but I since I am living on the other side of the world, I suppose it couldn't hurt to share some of those things will all of you who are back home!

Sarah's birthday was on September 22 (the day my mom left), so after I got up at 5:30am to bid her farewell, I went back to sleep in the hopes of desperately catching a few more hours of sleep before our birthday party that night.  We all worked until 9pm, and then we went out to eat with our friend Aki at a super fancy Italian restaurant called "Prego."  Afterward, we participated in the one activity Sarah wanted to do for her birthday: KARAOKE.  It was my first time in one of the small little karaoke rooms that are so commonly used in Japan.  You know how in America we often do karaoke in bars, in front of a bunch of strangers?  Well in Japan, they commonly rent a small room with wonderfully high-tech equipment for a few hours where you can sing comfortably with just your friends.  We had a wonderful time, and I think Sarah really enjoyed her celebration.

Dinner with Aki

A special birthday dessert!  They sang to her and stuck a sparkler in the creme brulee!

Coffee here is so cute.

Yoshiko also invited us over to her house to celebrate Sarah's birthday.  We had yakiniku, which is like shabu-shabu, but with grilled meat instead of soup.  She set it all up in her living room, and the supply was endless!  She is such a generous and sweet hostess, and dinners with her have started to feel like home.  We were able to open the windows and enjoy the cool autumn breeze, and then take in a little bit of the full moon afterward.  What a great night!

The Japanese have an interesting story about the full moon.  I don't know all of it exactly, but it has to do with being able to see a rabbit in the full moon.  Can you make out its silhouette?  I did, and ti's kind of amazing!

September 25 gave us the chance to see our Beatles cover band again!  We learned at this concert that they're actually in Tsu City every month, so you know where you'll fnd us when they're in town!  It was another great concert, and this time we invited my student Yuko to join us.  We had a lot of fun chatting with her.  One of the coolest parts of this concert was that when we walked in, there was a table right in the middle that was empty.  After we sat down and watched the band finish its set, Yuko picked up a small piece of paper on the table.  Turns out that the table had been reserved for "3 foreigners"!  They were expecting usand gave us reserved seating - perfect for the concert and the flare bartending show that followed!  Needless to say, we will be making an appearance every month!  The next day we actually went out to lunch and karaoke with Yuko, her classmate, and 2 of her friends for our welcome party, so it was a great weekend of hanging out and getting to know her better.

Guinness on tap!  In Japan!

Sarah and Peter entertained us as our friend Yu sang Michael Jackson again.

Peter's birthday was a week after Sarah's (so much celebrating!), so yet again we called Aki and went out to "Chablita," a Mexican restaurant in Hisai (a town that is next to Tsu but now technically part of Tsu since all the small towns merged last year) that Peter discovered on one of his runs one day.  We ended up being the only people in the entire restaurant, but we ate well and had some great conversation.  I was surprised to have Mexican food in Japan; I'd heard that it was uncommon to find it here.  You could tell it was Japanese Mexican - I mean, they had sushi on the menu - but it was still great to have something really cheesy and a little spicy...and I don't even like Mexican food that much!  Plus, it has turned into a wonderful topic for my students this week.  So many of them know nothing about Mexican food, so I've been teaching them.  I've even introduced a few of them to the wonder that is Chipotle!

Happy Birthday, Peter!

Last weekend, I took myself on a little shopping spree (something I taught my students the meaning of).  I've been wanting some new clothes because I've found that when I packed for this trip, I packed like I was studying abroad, not like I was going to live here for a year.  Now that the study abroad length of time has passed (it's been 3 months already!), I'm finding that I want some close that are less travel-practical and more real-life practical.  So I rode my bike to Aeon, a new, huge shopping mall that Yuko introduced us to the weekend before.  I splurged (another word I've taught) and got some wonderfully new Japanese-style fall clothes.  How fantastic is their current style?  Flannel-print, loose, button-up, and layers.  Perfect.

We've made some friends here in the past few weeks ever since we discovered the "melting pOt," a foreigners bar near the train station.  We've been able to get to know some other foreigners from America, Canada, and Brazil, and some young Japanese people.  Plus, the bartenders there are really great people and fun to talk to.  It's nice to see some familiar faces when we go places now, and the connections are wonderful.  One of the guys we met even gave me the name of his Japanese teacher, and I'm actually going to meet with her later today to discuss the possiblity of me taking lessons!  It was one of my goals to learn the language while here, and though I know it's already October, it's never too late!

One of the things I've found to be very interesting here in the wake of recent current events is listening to my students talk about Japan's relationship with China.  I'm sure you've been following or at least heard of the events that happened with the Japanese and Chinese ships on disputed lands in the past month, but living over here and getting to know one side of the story well is a really unique experience.  Needless to say, many Japanese people are not especially fond of China, but they're also realistic and see faults with Japan's handling of the situation as well.  They're such a peaceful people by nature that it's incredible to hear how that shapes their political views.  Their peaceful demeanor shapes so much of daily life here, and I'm constantly amazed by it.  They're quiet, keep to themselves, treat each other with respect, and take honor very seriously.  I don't mean to generalize about an entire population, but in my experiences, these qualities have proven to be true.  And so far, it's been a pretty great nature to adapt myself to.

October has brought with it a new class schedule for me.  I've been handed 3 new classes to add to my previous load, and while I can't complain because I did come here to teach English, 2 of those classes are on Fridays...at 10am and 8pm.  That means that I'll be at school for about 12 hours on Fridays, which used to be my easy days.  My classes are spaced oddly enough now so that it makes coming home in the middle of the day for lunch kind of difficult.  But again, I really do enjoy my students, and it'll just take some adjustment.  But that has been the excitement in my life lately!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying all of the fall festivities back in America: homecoming, marching band, Twins baseball...ah!  I wish I could be a part of it!