Photograph

A is for Anne of Green Gables.

I may have scared my Special Ed students while acting out this part of the story.

B is for bus stop.

Sanuki village at rush hour

C is for cheese. 

making mozzarella magic 

D is for doughnuts.

Not as good as Tim Horton's, but they do the trick.

E is for egg-citing times!

cooking class at Garrett's house

F is for farmland.

A twenty-minute bike-ride takes me home.

G is for getting creative with food.

Meet Anko-man. He is made of a popular sweet red bean paste.

H is for hiking.

"Better Living" in Chizu, pre-12km walk

I is for international boards.

September was self-introduction month.

J is for joking around at the Jinpukaku Mansion.

imperative Iron Man pose for my papa

K is for Kyusho Mountain.

A bird's eye view of Tottori City by day...

and by dusk. (Climbing down in the dark was...a once-in-a-lifetime experience.)

L is for live music.

All That Jazz performing a beautiful set of standards

M is for mascots.

at the Tottori University Festival

N is for new friends in new places.

bonding at the beach

O is for Ochidani Park.

my sanctuary

P is for praying mantis.

a popular pet for elementary school students

Q is for quite likely the most comprehensive medical exam of my life. 

Which I passed with flying colours!

 R is for a room with a view.

(inside the Jinpukaku mansion)

S is for speech contests...

My student came second in his age division,

and shrines.

so we went to the nearby Ube shrine to give thanks.

T is for temples.

This breath-taking place is in Wakasa (pop. 4,000).

And for toilet slippers. 

Pink for girls, and blue for boys.

U is for unexpected packages.

Santa's got her shtick together!

V is for vending machines.

Hot or cold coffee, pop, energy drinks, and cigarettes; you can get it all on the street. 

W is for warm welcomes.

A lovely poster left by my predecessor, Patrick, and a pile of presents (omiyage) from staff at Mochigase. 

X is for extra large, please!

This girl's got great big gaijin feet!

Y is for youtube.

my window to the world

Z is for the zookeeper’s son in this book.

A modern Canadian classic that I found in my apartment.

For the Beauty of the Earth

My International Board at Mochigase Junior High School for October

Today and every day, I am thankful for oh-so-many things:

For my parents who, while they don't pretend to understand why I would want to up and leave to yet another unknown country, always support me when I decide I do. 

For my beautiful brothers and their efforts to protect me even when I'm halfway around the world. 

For friends and family scattered across the globe, but only an email away.

For the kindness of strangers, of friends, and of strangers who have become friends.

For all of my international neighbours at Copo Hestia; the Singaporians who feed me while listening to my rants, the Brits who make me laugh, the Kiwis who calm me, the Americans who sound like me, and the Canadians who just "get" me.

For patience - both my own and that of the many people who have to explain and re-explain the way the world works to the clueless, confused foreigner on a daily basis.

For my wonderfully warm colleagues who bend over backwards to understand me in English and applaud my pseudo-Japanese.

For the healing properties of a solitary walk, a slice (or two) of chocolate cake, and a good night's sleep.

For crazily and beautifully chaotic moments followed by blessedly silent ones.

For hiking, biking, dancing, soccer-ing, frisbee-ing, and anything that clears my head and gets my heart pumping.

For Ochidani Park with its endless trees and walking paths.

For the ubiquitous presence of familiar music, be it Debussy, Duke, or Disney.

For just the right song Shuffling its way into my ears.

For okonomiyaki, curry, and salmon sushi -- to name a few new favourites.

For how far a smile can get you.

For a sense of humour when you have little else.

For lazy Sundays.

For climbing into bed at the end of another long, eventful, and ultimately satisfying day.

"You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world, but a world lives in you." (Frederich Buechner)

For this, and much more, I am thankful.

We're Here For A Good Time (Not a Long Time)

Here are some highlights from my first month in Tottori City and surrounding areas. Enjoy!

Tottori Sand Dunes (Tuesday, August 9)

A sea of brave souls trekking down and back up the dunes in shimmering heat

Not your typical Japanese photo
(Courtesy of Emma Fotheringham)

Shan Shan Festival in Tottori City (Sunday, August 14)

Seriously Shan-shan
(Photo courtesy of Mariko Sanchez)

Trying not to pass out or mess up too badly
(Photo courtesy of Michie Takeuchi)

Can you spot the gaijins?
(Photo courtesy of Garrett Groesbeck)

Journey to Yonago for Multiple Re-entry Permits (Tuesday, August 16)

A serious trip to the airport deserves a serious train ride.

A character from manga comics by Sakaiminato artist Shigeru Mizuki, and my seat-back in the train 

Yonago's a hip and happenin' city.

We approve.

Inaba Manyo Historical Museum (Wednesday, August 17)

Gaijin bicycle gang

Playing dress-up in period costumes is another serious business.
(Photo courtesy of Rena Yamasaki)

Daisen Mondo Music Festival in Sakaiminato (Saturday, August 20)

In our element

A Japanese hard-core band my baby bro would have enjoyed

Lunch in Mitakien, followed by the Chizu Town Festival (Saturday, August 27)

An organic vegetarian meal apparently eaten by monks

Edibles

 

So, have a good time,

the sun can't shine every day.

Taking Care of Business

(Friday, September 2, 2011)

On this week's agenda:

1. Knowing enough about baseball (thanks, dad!) to draw a diamond on the chalkboard and have male students too cool to answer anything else call out their positions. Instant respect - or something like it.

2. Getting my first snail mail from Canada; sheet music for Bach’s Six Suites. I have awesome friends!

3. Taking another friend’s advice and downloading Stitcher (an application that streams talk radio and podcasts) onto my iPhone. Instantly, I have access to all sorts of goodies, including CBC Radio 2 and 3 (offering a much-needed dose of home in the form of Jim Bryson and the Weakerthans), Savage Love podcast, and the NPR Religion podcast. And I’m just getting started...

4. Devouring school lunches with enthusiasm. Be it seaweed, eggplant, mackerel, pork, beef, or plain white rice, I’m sure to be asked incredulously, “can you eat that?” and to be complimented on my (appalling) use of chopsticks skills.

5. Bringing omiyage* to three of my “first days” of school, including one of my four elementary schools,** which resulted in that school’s Kocho sensei (principal) and Kyoto sensei (vice-principal) pulling out their planners as I was putting on my outdoor shoes to discuss when it might be possible to include me in a enkai.*** This resulted in my running after my bus in the rain, thanking the waiting bus driver profusely, and inexplicably apologizing to the old woman trying to kill me with her eyes.

Canadian and Japanese cookies "for the people I adore"

6. Starting Japanese lessons, including a five-week crash course I’m paying a lovely lady to take three times a week, and those I get free from other ALTs, like “sumimasen, gokiburi hoi hoi, onegaishimasu,” or “excuse me, I’d like a cockroach motel, please.”

Poison never looked so cute.

7. Being asked by a grade seven student (with the help of his hilarious and slightly better English-speaking friend), “do you want...[pause for courage and/or recollection of vocabulary]...my baby?” My JTE**** looked taken aback and then immediately chose not to understand. As is often my case, face reacted faster than brain, but I recovered quickly, responding sincerely, “No, I don’t. I don’t want babies for five or ten years.”

8. Playing my violin at an assembly at one of my junior high schools. Stepping into a gymnasium where fifty-some students knelt on the floor in complete silence (contrary to popular belief, this does not happen often), I wished for a pin to drop. I played only a simple rendition of “Danny Boy,” but afterwards received many compliments, including my Kyoto sensei telling me that I had “made tears in [her] heart.” Since I can’t communicate in Japanese (yet), I’m so grateful to have music as a universal language.

9. Concocting “anything-goes” stir-frys that contain whatever is about to spoil, and which are surprisingly tasty, despite looking, in the blunt words of one of my otherwise extremely polite and already incredibly dear Singaporian friend, “disgusting.”

No one wanted any, so I had to eat it all myself. Sigh,

10. Finishing Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan and thinking, “I have no idea why I’m blogging when Bruce Feiler, a New York Times bestselling author, has already written a book on the subject.” Highly recommended.

*small tokens of (often edible) appreciation generally offered as a “nice to meet you” gift and as a “nice to see you again” after having been away on holiday. Mine included maple products and paraphernalia from Canada, as well as colourfully-iced animal crackers from a day-trip to an organic restaurant in a town called Mitakien about a 40-minute drive away from Tottori.

**Those yellow hats? They’re mine! And they are even more kawaii and genki in class than they are on the bus!

***As far as I can tell, there are two types of enkai; nomihodai (all-you-can-drink-and-eat) and tabehodai (all-you-can-eat). They can get a bit pricey, but they are fun, and an invaluable opportunity to interact with other teachers, and learn about Japanese culture in general, outside of school.  

****Friendly reminder: the Japanese Teacher of English is the regular English teacher who, as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), I assist.