I realize that it is now officially December (how did that happen?!), but I am still going to make this my Thanksgiving post. You can take my delay between blog posts as a sign that I have countless things to be thankful for, all of which are keeping me busybusybusy and away from the computer. Kinda. Let me explain.
November is National Novel Writing Month according to my friends over at http://www.nanowrimo.org/. Each November, thousands of people all over the world make a promise to write a novel of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I accomplished this feat during my sophomore year of college (way back in 2007, people), and I decided that I wanted to try it again this year. Well, my procrastination tendencies got the best of me right from the beginning, so the entire month (or, to be honest, two and a half weeks) was a mad dash to catch up on my word count. But on the afternoon of November 30, I pulled ahead and finished my novel with just over 50,000 words. Those of you who know me know that I am very secretive about my writing, so you won't hear of any plot points or character descriptions or writing trials from me. But believe me when I say that the goal was accomplished, and while it led to a terribly messy bedroom, halted communication with nearly everyone back home, and sore eyes for weeks, it felt AWESOME to click submit and see this:
Writing didn't consume the entire month for me, though. I have had so many great times this month, and especially with students. We've socialized a lot with our students lately, and they have all been great experiences. I'll give you a rundown of a few.
November 11: Pocky Day! The best treat in Japan, and they have a day to celebrate it. Need I say more?
At the beginning of the month, I went out to lunch with three of my students one Saturday afternoon. They took me to a fantastic sushi restaurant and then to an even better coffee shop. It reminded me a lot of the kind of place you'd find in St. Paul - hardwood floors, unfinished wooden tables, oversized bowls, warm sunlight, a cinnamon smell in the air. We chatted for hours about everything from my trip home for Christmas to how I am "manly" (a lost-in-translation moment when they tried to tell me they didn't think I was a girly-girl) to their frustrations with co-workers. They are fantastic and fun ladies...so much so, in fact that they convinced me to climb a mountain with them last weekend.
That's right: I climbed a moutain. But again, for those of you who know me and my undying love for the outdoors (cough, cough) you had to figure out that it was a very small mountain. Actually, Komono-fuji is 4000 meters, to be exact, and the walk uphill on the road to the mountain from the train station was more of a workout than the mountain itself. But regardless of its unimpressive height, the view was still fantastic. All three of us accompanied two of my students to the top where we had a great bag lunch and laughed a lot. Afterward, Sarah and I went with one of the students to the
onsen. Yes, I engaged in the relaxing but strange-to-Americans traditional Japanese custom of public bathing. It's so therapeutic, though - like a hot tub without all the chemicals. Each onsen has several different baths, and each bath's water is comprised of different minerals that are good for your skin. You'll have to take my word for it; it's fantastic. But this was actually my second onsen experience.
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I'd say five of the top ten reasons I love Japan can be found on this table.
Japanese pottery and tea cannot be beaten. |
The first came the weekend before during Peter's half marathon. Peter ran a half marathon in Hisai (kind of like a suburb of Tsu, but still technically part of the city) earlier this month, and Sarah and I went along to cheer him on. His student and my student (they're married) live there, and they invited us over for lunch after the race. (This is the same student who performed the tea ceremony for my mom and me.) Sarah made signs for us to hold up for Peter as he ran (we were the
only ones screaming and with signs), but in the hour that he was running and we couldn't cheer, we visited Sakakibara-onsen, which is one of the top 3 in Japan. Again: so relaxing. Peter did a great job running, and we had a fabulous 3+ hour lunch with our students afterward. We laughed, we talked, and we were invited to come back. :)
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| Gettin' ready... |
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| Finished! |
On our holiday last week, Sarah and I went with Peter's student whose house we visited the weekend before to go to a sake maker's opening. It was a really big event and it was fun to taste the new sake and see the MASSIVE tubs that they are kept in, but we didn't stay very long. We kind of hurried through the sake area because it was so busy and went right to the buffet for lunch - a lunch that lasted about three hours (like they all do here). Oh, and you've got to love how "buffet" in Japan is most commonly referred to as "Viking style"! Naturally!
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| Sake |
For Thanksgiving, we went over to my student's house for dinner. It wasn't actually supposed to be a Thanksgiving party; we'd been planning to get together for a while, and the date we chose just happened to be Thanksgiving. But I can't think of a better way to have spent Thanksgiving in Japan. This is the student who gave me a cooking lesson (she owns a restaurant), so the food was absolutely delicious. Her husband and his brother were there, and they are
hilarious! They kept us entertained all night as they drank glass after glass of wine. And my student's daughter also joined us. She doesn't know much English, but the English she does know showcases her quick wit. It was a great time.
Perhaps one of the most highlighted highlights of the month, though, is the electric blanket that the sisters at the monastery let me borrow for the winter. It was been a lifesaver! I had lunch with them earlier in the month, and they are such a delight. Hanging out with them is always so much fun. They are so kind and welcoming, and it feels like I'm back home at CSB|SJU for a while when I'm with them. Plus, it's great to have a familiar face in mass on Sundays. Speaking of...Happy Advent!
Teaching has been wonderful, as always. I can't say enough times how much I love my students and how I truly look forward to seeing all of them each week.
So, dear friends, I have many things to be thankful for, and not least of which is you. I hope all of you back home (or wherever in the world you find yourself) are doing well, staying healthy, enjoying the holiday season, and looking forward to reunions in the future.
Arigato gozaimasu!
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| Snapped today on the way to sensei's house. |
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