Time Away From Routine

Hello everyone! Konnichiwa!

We hope that you all had a wonderful winter holiday season. We certainly have! There were several things to look forward to coming up on our vacation time and all during.

The first big event was my birthday on December 20th. I was lucky enough that every night during that weekend was special. The school's end of the year party (bon en kai) was on Friday, my birthday celebration was on Saturday and a pizza dinner (yummy!) was Sunday. Friday night was a great experience where I got to know the other teachers at my school on a more intimate level. It was located at a traditional Japanese restaurant (think low table, cushions on the floor) and there were several courses served as well as plenty of alcohol to go around (peer pressure!) and Christmas presents! I was begged to dress up as Santa Claus and help hand out the presents. It was a really fun night! I was completely spoiled and taken to a traditional Japanese restaurant (two nights in a row, lucky me!) on Saturday where we were served a delicious 9 course dinner. There was a whole bag full of presents, as well as a wonderful box Mary Ann sent full of books and DVDs! Sunday was yummy too with comfortingly familiar pizza.

We worked on Christmas day, and honestly I didn't know what to expect. It was surprisingly noneventful but fun. I played Christmas jeopardy during most of my classes and had fun teaching the kids and teacher about Christmas culture and traditions all over the world. We enjoyed a cozy Christmas dinner (improvised to be as authentic as possible) together and exchanged presents. It was very nice! Starting the day after Christmas we were off work until January 8th. We had almost a week to relax and enjoy Ashikaga. For New Year's Eve Jon and I went to the only dance club in Ashikaga and had fun dancing and bopping with the Japanese / American music and experienced a Japanese rap group and a b-girl group performance. We rang in 2010 with people from many different countries, since there were many ALTs as well as Japanese people at the club!

Kristin arrived on January 2nd and as soon as she arrived we were off to a whirlwind 10 day trip to Kyoto, Ise area (near Mikimoto Pearl Island), Lake Hakone area (by Mount Fuji), Ashikaga and Tokyo. It was wonderful to see her and share both things we had previously seen as well as our home town and many new things as well. Among my favorite things on this trip included the trip to Mikimoto Pearl Island (famous island where Mikimoto Pearls have been cultivated since the 1950s - of course Kristin and I bought pearl jewelry), the stay in a traditional Japanese style inn (ryokan) where we experienced rural Japan and a natural hot spring spa, and the visit to the Harajuku district in Tokyo where avant garde fashions run rampant. We indulged in all sorts of authentic Japanese food including ramen, Japanese curry, bento (box lunch), onigiri (rice ball), all sorts of sweets, and of course, sushi. The trip included plenty of the old Japan (temples, shrines, restaurants, inn, etc.) as well as the new (fashion, entertainment districts, bar). Our accomodation ranged from traditional Japanese style accomodations to capsule beds and bunk beds. We also rode on various transportation from trains to subway to cable cars. Needless to say, I don't think it's an experience we'll ever forget, and I think that all three of us feel more confident about navigating in foreign places, trying new things and exhilarated from all the new experiences we've had. Kristin left today to go back to the frigid weather in Minnesota. It was so nice to have someone else to share our experiences with, and wonderful to be around someone who knows both of us in our 'normal life'. We will miss her a lot!

Now we're ready to settle back down, get back to the routine of school, start looking up job openings online and begin wedding planning! 2010 is off to a great start. We hope your year has started off just as well, if not better!

Kiotskete, ne! (Take care, ya hear?)