Halloween in Nishiokoppe, 2005

Today was Halloween, but there were only two children in Nishiokoppe wearing costumes. Nobody came to our door to trick-or-treat. Our pair of jack-o-lanterns was a lonely couple sitting patiently out in front of the house, glowing merrily in the night. However, none of this kept us from having a lovely time today. After hours of preparation, I coordinated, finally, the Nishiokoppe Elementary School Halloween party. Tomorrow will be Kamiokoppe’s, but there are only twelve students, so it shouldn’t be much trouble.

I actually began a couple of weeks ago, gathering candy and planning out my activities. On Thursday, I began sorting candy into bags, one for each teacher. Having ordered a box of 100 Tootsie Roll Pops, I began the lengthy task of making each one into a ghost using Kleenex and string. On Sunday, Ridge helped out immensely by giving each ghost (not all 100, though) two eyes and a mouth. Saturday saw me spend about three hours making cupcakes. Actually, they were cake-like brownies, but let’s not tell anyone. I used some mini-cupcake holders with Halloween decorations and baked about 50, then topped each one with a piece of candy corn (again, thanks to Mom). It only took me about four batches (small oven, remember?). Sunday was my marathon I-didn’t-leave-the-kitchen-for-six-hours day. I made about two dozen larger brownie/cupcakes and two dozen pumpkin shaped cookies. After searching the internet for an appropriate frosting recipe, I frosted the cupcakes with butter cream frosting and topped with Halloween sprinkles. Perhaps I should explain my concern about the frosting. See, powdered sugar, the vital ingredient for frosting, is sold in itty bitty packages here. Each one holds about 1/3 a cup. Most frosting recipes call for about two cups of sugar. Not too feasible for me. Anyway, the cupcakes got frosted and looked lovely. Sorry, I was too tired to take pictures. The cookies are what just about did me in. I wanted to make them for the middle school students. I thought to myself, “There are only 23 of them. I can do that.” So, I ordered a sugar cookie mix from our mail order company (same place I got the Tootsie Roll Pops) and got busy. Unfortunately, my pumpkin cookie cutter was so big that I could only bake four cookies at a time. Each batch took about 15 minutes. I’m not kidding when I say I spent the whole day in the kitchen. After they cooled, I melted some chocolate and drizzled on some lines.

It was all worth it, though. The teachers at the middle school each grinned and absent-mindedly said, “Oh, Halloween. Thank you very much,” as I handed them their large brownie/cupcake. This middle school kids were very excited when I came in with cookies. As part of class, the third years (most are about 15 yrs old), Kurata made them talk to me about the cookies. The boys seemed intrigued when their questions about women in America making these cookies yielded the reply of, yes, most people in America make cookies like this all the time. There was one extra cookie left over and I thought they were going to go nuts to get it. Issei worked very hard to produce the sentence in English, “If I eat this cookie, I will become very happy!” It wasn’t easy for him to put all that together!

After lunch, Aaron, Ridge, and Holt joined me, and the madness at the elementary school began. Earlier in the day, the older students had cut the tops of the pumpkins and began cleaning them. We arranged the common room and brought in the pumpkins. The kids eat lunch in table groups that are multi-aged, so we kept those same groups. That way, the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders could provide some guidance to the younger students. At first, everyone tried very hard to stay clean and not touch the pumpkin “guts” with their hands. Aaron and I fixed that. We walked around showing them how to really dig in and scrape it clean. You can see from the photos they are all wearing aprons. Several of the boys were a bit taken aback by my gooey fingers.
The "before" picture
Aaron and Ridge trying to understand what Akira is saying
Names on the pumpkin. The word, "nen" is referring to the word for "grade".
Mana, smiling at me as I take a picture
Oops, I forgot her name!
The line for face painting
Dangling Doughnuts

As students finished, they wrote their names on the backs of the pumpkins (not my idea – I’ve never heard of such a thing), and began to queue up for face painting. From that moment on, Aaron did not leave his stool until about 3:45pm. His face painting was a huge success. Other students entertained themselves by bobbing for apples. Actually, there were only halves. Apples are so expensive here that I couldn’t afford to spend my entire discretionary fund on 48 apples. My wonderful husband also strung some string across the room, from which we danged doughnuts for chomping – hands-free, of course. Other students played pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin. It was a wild and chaotic 90 minutes, but everyone seemed to have a blast.

The entire time, my children ran around like crazy, laughing, hiding, playing, and soaking up all the attention. Holt ended up sock-less after only ten minutes. Students all wear “inside shoes” at school, which Holt doesn’t have. He hates having anything on his feet, so he ditched his socks and just ran circles around the room with a Tootsie Roll Pop hanging out of his giggling mouth. At first, he had on his puppy dog ears, but they soon became more trouble than they were worth. Everyone got a big kick out of the boys being dressed up.

Finally, the kids were all told by the vice-principal to gather around. With the help of the older students (who sometimes seem to be able to read my mind), I passed out the treat bags the kids had made previously and explained the trick-or-treating. Then, in two groups (one upstairs and one down), they ran throughout the building saying (roll your R’s when you read this) “treeek or treeto.” I gave them each a brownie and bat ring. They seemed to love the bat and spider rings which are always around in the U.S. during this time of year. I don’t know if they had ever seen any before, though.

So many kids wanted their faces painted, Aaron ended up staying after school was over to finish up. I had to write a note to the vice-principal to explain Aaron was happy to stick around and paint everyone’s face if the kids wanted him too. It’s so much easier, sometimes, for us to communicate in writing. I think part of it is that Japanese sentence structure is opposite from ours. For example, they put the verb at the very end of the sentence. It’s a bit difficult to wrap your brain around.

Quick Japanese Lesson
Kore wa watashi no hon desu.
This my book is. (i.e. This is my book).
Fun, huh?

I’m interested to see how the party goes at Kamiokoppe tomorrow, as it is such a small group. The middle school students don’t have an opportunity to enjoy something like this, so I volunteered to go out to the middle school tomorrow after school and carve pumpkins with anyone who is interested. On Saturday, Aaron, the boys, and I walked down the road a ways to the pumpkin patch. Kaori (5th grader, lives across the street) and her 4yr. old brother, Ryuji, joined us. Aaron and Ridge selected and cut two nice pumpkins and we put them in the car, which Aaron had driven. The other children was so interested, we went ahead and began carving them as soon as we got home. Word must have gotten out, because before long, Kaori’s other siblings, Nana and Masanori joined us. It was a great little pumpkin carving party. Kaori helped Ridge as he carved his very own pumpkin. Thank goodness for pumpkin carving tools that are not too sharp! I promise I’ll post a picture of the pumpkins soon. I also took some video, which I can change into an MPG file when I have time. It was really perfect!

Here are some pictures we took at home. Holt wanted to dress up as Robin Hood, and Ridge insisted we take pictures. Can you tell which photo is the one where he kept saying, “Mommy, Mommy, take a picture of me right now!”?
"Mommy, what the heck is Ridge doing??"
Aaron said, "Show some teeth, boys!"
"I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille"

Lastly, here is a non-Halloween picture. I forgot to post it the other night. Ridge wanted me to show everyone how well he is using his chopsticks. (Check out those chopsticks!) Tuesday is his first day at pre-school, by the way! We are so excited!!

Kitami

This photo has nothing to do with today's post. We had lunch today in one of the traditional style rooms at the hotel. The occasion was the visit of Midori, whom I mention at the very end of this post. We were all given bento lunches, and the boys have a kid's version. Ridge actually ate most of his, including some of that huge fried shrimp you see. He also used his chopsticks!

It’s been a super busy week for me. Unfortunately, that means Aaron has really had his fill of the kids for the past several days. I’m hoping things slow down soon, but I never know.

On Monday, Kurata and I took our student, Issei, to a contest in Kitami city. This contest was for English Recitation. What this means is that twenty students in second and third grade (of middle school) took turns reciting a chosen passage from their English textbooks. They are judged on things such as poise, gestures, pronunciation, memorization, eye contact, and general delivery.

It was nice to leave the village for a little while and go somewhere completely different. Of course, it was made even nicer by the fact that I didn’t have to worry about communication, since I was traveling with two Japanese people. After finishing my classes on Monday, we piled into my car (technically, it’s the village’s car), and headed out. I had to give my keys to Kurata. Mr. Kamaya didn’t want me to drive. I guess he’s worried about how good of a driver I am. Laws are strict here. I found out that if a teacher were caught driving more than 30kmp over the speed limit, they would loose their job!

We arrived in Kitami well after dark and Kurata found a restaurant for us to go to. It was a steak house style place, called Victoria Station. I’m certain the theme was aimed at something vaguely Australian. The food was nice, and everyone ate with a knife and fork – a treat for me! Everyone here is always complementing my use of chopsticks, so I decided to turn the tables and kept complimenting Kurata on his use of a knife and fork. As I began to eat, I happened to notice out of the corner of my eye that Issei (he’s 15, by the way) was watching me use my fork. He ate with his just fine, but I think it doesn’t come naturally.

I felt a bit self-conscious sitting there with these two Japanese guys. After all, I’m so pale and my hair is so curly that I stick out like a neon sign. Usually, I don’t think about being one of the only white people around, but for a little while, people’s stares reminded me. Kitami is a much, much bigger city than even Nayoro and Monbetsu, but white people are still not a dime a dozen.

After eating, we went to the hotel. A machine that stacks the cars into very small slots parked our car, I think. I saw it loaded on to a lift, with no one sitting in it, so that is my assumption. My room was tiny, but well laid out and comfortable. (Photo of my room) The hotel provided a nightshirt, slippers, and various small toiletries, including two individually wrapped Q-tips. Who would have thought of such a thing? Many signs were in English, as you can see from this example, but the English is often quite humorous to me. Sign about slippers


The following morning we met down in the lobby for my first Japanese-style breakfast. Just like at a Holiday Inn that serves a free continental breakfast, there were small tables and a bar set up with food. However, instead of cereal, milk, pastries and juice, I had a choice of four different kids of onigiri (triangular rice balls). Next to the onigiri were small bowls with different kinds of pickled veggies, such as cucumber and daikon. The onigiri all had things mixed in with the rice – small bits of seaweed, sesame seed, black sesame seed, small bits of fish, and so on. Next to the onigiri were stacks of bowls. Inside the bowls had been sprinkled bits of dried seaweed and green onions. The goal is to grab a bowl and fill it with miso soup base. Presto – instant miso soup, complete with tofu. Then you could choose coffee or tea. That completed breakfast. Of course, if it hadn’t been eight in the morning, I might have thought I was eating lunch! Sometimes it’s hard to tell around here!

Finally, after getting lost twice, we made our way to the building housing the contest. About twenty schools from the area (called a prefecture – like a county) were represented. The students sat up front in numbered chairs, waiting their turn. He rest of the room was full of Japanese Language Teachers (JLT) and about eight Assistant Language Teachers (ALT). That’s what I am. So, of course, I’m surveying the room, checking out the other English speakers. As we filed downstairs for a “Souvenir Photograph” (this happens all the time), one of the white guys who was an ALT approached me. His, “how’s it goin’?” was like music to my ears. Nobody in Japan says that. It’s always more formal: “Good morning. How are you?” We chatted and turns out – believe it or not – he is from Palmer, Alaska!! For those of you reading this in Texas, that is close to Anchorage. Turns out Palmer is sister cities with his Japanese town and they have a similar exchange program. He and I are considered “private” ALT’s, as opposed to JETs (Japanese English Teacher), who are hired by the JET program from all over the world. I also met the other ALTs who had come with their students and their JLTs. In all, there were about eight of us. Interestingly, only three people were from the U.S. Two others were from Australia, two were from England, and one was French-Canadian. He had an unusual accent.

The recitations themselves were funny to watch. Last year, according to the rumor mill, the judges awarded high points for lots of gestures, even if they didn’t look very natural. So, this year, many students over-emphasized their gestures. What you have to understand, though, is that Japanese people don’t usually gesture. They can talk for hours without moving their hands OR their faces. I don’t know how. If I couldn’t move, I think I would become mute! So, trying to get someone to sound and look surprised takes a lot of work. Issei’s recitation included a bit where he had to recite a little boy’s answer to a question: “well, you asked me.” It was completely unnatural for him to shrug his shoulders as if in resignation. He just couldn’t do it. I think memorizing the readings was the easy part for all the students. Learning to use English intonation, emphasis, gestures, and facial expressions is extremely difficult. The overall effect was that some students overcompensated to the extreme. I’m sure they all worked very hard, though.

After we broke for lunch, all the ALTs introduced ourselves and gave short comments regarding the recitations. One of the ALTs then lead the rest of us in a few demonstration games with all the students. It was awfully nice to be around so many other English speakers, even if only for a short time.

Awards were presented (Issei came in sixth, which I think is not too shabby) and the closing remarks were made. I changed out of my dressy clothes and got ready for the trip home. Kurata, however, had other ideas. Behind the building housing the competition were several very large greenhouses, where, apparently, there was a flower festival taking place. After assuring me that it wouldn’t take long (I was anxious to get home), we paid our 600-yen each and took a look. I’m glad we went, because it was really beautiful. The first green house we were shuffled through was full of potted flowers, many of which were enormous mums. Then, in the next building, there were about half a dozen “scenes” similar to what you might find in a wax museum. Except, here, the clothing was all made of flowers! It was beautiful. Whole flowers, gathered and arranged in a variety of ways to look like different clothing. I’m very sorry I didn’t take the camera. What was just as interesting was how much Issei was enjoying the whole thing. When we walked through the bonsai display, he was very excited. He and Kurata spent many a minute commenting on and studying the bonsai. Kurata asked me, “What do you think when you see bonsai? What do you feel?” I answered him, and returned the question. “Nothing,” he said. “Good nothing, or bad nothing?” I asked. Nodding, he said, “Good.” Guessing that there was more to his answer than meets the eye, I asked him what the Japanese concept/word/kanji was. “Mu,” he replied. It is interesting to me that there are entire ideas and concepts that Japanese people can communicate to one another with one word. I can’t explain, “Mu”. It’s too deep for me. Aaron, who has read a lot about Eastern philosophies tried, but I think even his understanding of it is limited by the fact that his is not Japanese. It’s like…well, the Japanese think that when you have lots on your mind and are busy, you are “full”. If you are not – which is the goal- it is Mu. Yet, it doesn’t mean peaceful. It is a kind of empty. Complicated, eh? Yet, how amazingly precise they can be. If I talk to Kurata about the Japanese “Wa”, he knows exactly what I mean. “Wa” is all about group relationships, and harmony. I think, to the Japanese, group relationships equal harmony. It is a way of living. Very complicated. If I think about it too much, I will hurt my head, I think!

So, anyway, let’s just say the flower festival was a really interesting cultural experience, and sparked some interesting, if not somewhat frustrating, conversations with Kurata. Though is English is good, it’s difficult to talk about complex thoughts when you are using a language that is not your primary one.

This post is getting really long, so I will mention just a few words on the Kamiokoppe harvest festival and then be finished. Most schools around here have a school garden. The past few weeks have been serious harvest time for all gardeners. Strings of vegetables hung out to dry dot the eves of houses. Stores are selling huge containers for storing root vegetables and other goodies. Outside of grocery stores, local growers have set up booths where they sell enormous bags of shallots, cabbage, potatoes, and daikon.

To celebrate the harvest, Kamiokoppe students harvested their own garden and, with the help of many mothers, cooked a few different dishes with their homegrown vegetables. They set up tables in the gym and served up a pumpkin dish made with adzuki beans, curry and rice (with potatoes and carrots grown in the garden), and another dish that I can’t describe because I’m not sure I know what it was. After eating, the kids, dressed in their festival jackets, sang a traditional song and a more contemporary song. (Short video of song) The walls of the gym were lined with butcher paper illustrating all their projects. At the end, to echo a real village festival, the students had invented a few games for people to take turns playing. This is a picture of Ridge standing next to a couple of the kids as he tries to throw a ball into a basket. Ridge and Masataka


That’s all for now. The week continues to be busy and full of commitments for me. A woman from Juneau is here visiting for the first time in twelve years. She is a Japanese person who has lived in Juneau for many, many years and she was instrumental in setting up the Juneau/Nishiokoppe teacher exchange. Needles to say, there was a party last night, a lunch today, both to welcome here, and she is due to come over to our house for “tea time” at 4:00 today. Mr. Kamaya wants to make sure we have ample opportunities to hang out with someone who speaks English. Then, one Saturday, I have yet another party to attend – this one is for pre-school moms. Ridge begins pre-school on Tuesday next week. On Monday I will conduct a Halloween party for Nishiokoppe Elementary, and on Tuesday, one for Kamiokoppe. I have a lot of cookies and cupcakes to make this weekend! Busy, busy, busy!

I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures of the Halloween parties!

Short and Sweet

I apologize for my delay in posting. We have been a bit busy lately and I have just not made myself sit down and write. Even tonite, I will not be able to type much. I have just returned from my first over-night trip. My teaching partner, Mr. Kurata, and I took a student to Kitami for an English Recitation Contest. Out of twenty students, Issei came in sixth (so he even got a plaque). We were quite happy. Anyway, I will have time to write more about the trip later. Believe it or not, I met a man from Palmer, Alaska! More on that in a day or two. To tide my audience over, here are a few pictures of some of my students. The one here is named Tomoyasu, and he is a third grader at Kamiokoppe.

This is a picture of my third grade class at Nishokoppe Elementary School. They are awesome, and I love all of them! We always have a blast!
Third Grade


This is my class of 16 first and second graders. Most of the first grade is boys, and they are very challenging!! This picture was a serious feat for me, as most of them speak less English than I speak Japanese, not to mention their activity level. There was no Japanese teacher in the room with me, so I was on my own to explain what I wanted.
First and Second Graders

This video was taken at the Kamiokoppe student’s “harvest festival”. More on that later. This woman is the fourth grade teacher, and Holt just loved her, as you can see!
Piggy Back Holt

Fall and More

Fall has come to Nishiokoppe. The trees here are absolutely beautiful in all their reds, yellows, oranges, and the green of the evergreens. Every time I leave a building lately, I find that I have to stop for a minute and just look around me at the surrounding mountains. It is such a treat to live somewhere that truly experiences fall. Those of you in Texas know that fall doesn’t really exist. You go from summer being green, t0 a dead sort of brown, to more brown. In Juneau, you go from the vibrant green of summer, accented with purple fireweed, to green and gray. That is, if you can see anything through the rain and clouds, right? Here the temperature is falling little by little, right along with the leaves. Ridge and Holt love stomping ‘round, gathering fallen leaves one by one in a desperate attempt to create a leaf pile fit for jumping into.

Today, another marker of the coming of winter was the annual gathering of Nishiokoppe men for the purpose of preparing the local cherry trees. Aaron was invited to join. Happy to spend some time with adults instead of two small children, he happily traipsed out this morning to congregate with the others in the village office parking lot. After a short speech by the mayor (everything begins with a speech), the men, and a few women, loaded into vans and buses to be taken to their appointed section. Aaron was paired with Mr. Kamaya, who proved, to no one’s surprise, to be a tireless and precise worker. They seemed to have made a good pair. After two hours of wrapping trees, the crew was brought back to the office building for a snack of a hearty miso soup. Upon remarking, “lunch time,” Aaron was told that this did not count as lunch because there was no rice, only soup.

The boys and I spent the morning playing at the Nishiokoppe shogakko (elementary school – if I have to learn Japanese, you do too!) playground, then at the village park playground. These photos were taken at the shogakko, and the streaming video of Ridge on his bike was taken at the village park.

Ridge on Tire Toys
Boys on Jungle Gym
More Jungle Gym - Holt just can't get high enough for his liking. I had to stop him!
Ridge Hanging from Bars
Short video of Ridge riding his bike
This is how Ridge helps Holt climb up things that are too high

Last night I attended yet another party. This one was larger. Myself and a doctor new to Nishiokoppe were officially welcomed by the staff of the village offices. Mr. Kanou was also officially congratulated on his retirement at this gathering of about 40 or 45 people. As I have now been to three semi-formal gatherings, I understood right away that I would have to say something as well as walk around the room and serve everyone a drink. My wonderful friend Fusae helped me write my “speech”. By the way, when you read her name, you should know that the “e” makes the same sound as in the word “met”, as opposed to the “e” in the word “eat”. It is a distinction that is important to her. Anyway, she and I are comfortable enough now that she finally just sent me away and said she would write it for me. So, as she giggled to herself, bent over with pencil and paper, I went back home to wonder what she had in store for me. Of course what she wrote was fine, but she sure had a good time! Just to show off a little, here is what I managed to memorize. For the last three sentences I had to look at my paper.

Minasan konbanwa. Watashi no namae wa Michelle Felker desu. Nishiokoppe ni kitte nikagetsu nari. Koko ga daisuki ni narimashita. Nihongo mo madamada desgua benkyo o shiteimasu.

Impressed? I actually know what it means, too! “Good evening everyone. My name is Michelle Felker. I have been living in Nishiokoppe for two months. I like it here very much. I am studying, and my Japanese is getting a little better each day.” It doesn’t really say that literally, but that is the meaning.

It is a Japanese custom to pour drinks for other people and to avoid pouring your own drink. So, if you see your neighbor is getting low on beer, juice, etc., you just pour them some more. During parties where there is a guest or guests of honor, the person or persons being honored walk once around the tables pouring each person a bit of whatever they are drinking. They then take a drink, and both of you say, “yorushku onegaishimas”, or a shortened version of it. This phrase doesn’t translate well into English, and has multiple meanings. It’s a polite expression that asks the other person to “please accept me,” basically. When you walk around, if the person’s glass if full, they have to take a little drink and make room in their glass for you to pour. Last night, it took me nearly twenty minutes to make my way around. It’s fun, though. Fusae was there, so I understood most of the conversation at my table.

Another exciting event of this week was our first dinner invitation. We went to the house of the music teacher at the middle school. She came to pick us up and drove us to her house in Oumu, nearly 40 minutes away. As hostess, she wanted to make sure that if Aaron and I wanted to drink, that we would have the choice. Japan’s DWI laws are VERY strict. As alien residents, Aaron and I would have to spend three days in jail, and then we would be deported if we were caught with any alcohol in our systems while driving. Of course, we would never drive like that anyway, but the Japanese have really taken the Designated Driver concept to a new and improved level. Many times, one or two non-drinkers will drive around and pick up a car load of others and take them to whatever party they are going to. So, when Ayaka offered to pick us up, it was easier to accept than to tell her that it wasn’t a big deal for us.

At her house, we dinned on the floor, of course, while sitting at three low tables that had been put together in a line. This is fairly typical for large meals. The amount of food was amazing as well as delicious. We had fried rice unlike any you have every had in the US, Japanese potato salad, some kind of whole fried fish, cucumbers with miso dipping sauce, and more. One dish was cooked at the table in two different electric skillets. I think it was trout with vegetables, covered with a miso and mirin sauce. Mirin is an alcohol that is used frequently in cooking. We were joined by two other middle school teachers, and two teachers from Ayaka’s husband’s school, where he is vice-principal. Dining is a leisurely affair, and done in multiple stages, as some food is cooked while other food is being nibbled on. The boys were adorable and have decided that Ayaka is their new best friend. She is Aaron’s age and just loves them, not having children of her own yet. I brought some banana bread, which was a wonderful success. Next time I make it, I’ll take a picture of the long, narrow loaf pans I must use in our little oven. They work great, though!

Dinner was very fun and also a wonderfully enriching cultural experience. We were all comfortable and the communication issue did not hamper anyone’s good time. One of the guests was very interested in traveling to Alaska to go fishing, so he picked Aaron’s brain for a long time. It’s fun to tell stories about what happens in Fairbanks at forty below zero! I am hoping to begin inviting others over for dinner soon, but feel a little intimidated by the menu. There is no way I’m going to cook anything Japanese for the people here. I’m not ready for that! However, what with not having a good size oven, I am having a hard time thinking of what to make. I can order taco shells from a place we get food from occasionally, and serve tacos. Also, I could make spaghetti with sauce that is much better than the Japanese sauce. I’ve toyed with the idea of trying to make meatloaf and mashed potatoes. That’s very American, don’t you think? Lastly, I want to try and make chili, but I am struggling with trying to find the right kind of chili powder. It’s funny that I never really thought about “typical American food” until I decided to serve some to some non-Americans. If any readers out there have any suggestions, please post a comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you! A nice recipe for Mexican rice would be good – I don’t know what they would think about that, but it might be interesting to try!

Tomorrow is the Nishiokoppe shugakko culture festival. Check back in a day or two and I’ll have some pictures posted.

Turning Left in Okoppe

Today we went exploring a bit. It is a national holiday, "Physical Fitness Day", for what it's worth. Aaron was very excited that we decided to turn left in Okoppe, instead of doing what we always do, which take a right to go to Monbetsu. So, we cruised along the coast for a ways until we found a nice spot to have our picnic lunch of, of course, onigiri. This lovely playground was awesome and provided a great deal of enjoyment for all of us. We walked across the road and explored along the beach, collecting shells and rocks. Finally, we toured the tourist shop that is shaped like a giant boat. Inside we found loads of trinkets and gift boxes of sweets or seafood.

I have a few photos, and several streaming videos. All the videos are short, no more than 10 seconds at the most. As you can see, we really enjoyed the zip line and slide made of rollers! Ridge and Holt are so brave!

Boys on Beach
Ridge Looking at Water
"Marine Island" - restraunt and tourist shop
Boys going down slide
Ridge on climbing wall
Ridge on zip line
Ridge and Holt, sliding again
Holt and Aaron on zip line - check out the look on Holt's face!

Pictures and Ramblings

Aaron really enjoys taking pictures of things he finds interesting wherever we go, so you have him to thank for these shots. We went to Monbetsu yesterday for some shopping. On our way home, we drove up above the village and took these pictures from an overlook. The one posted here is pretty much the entire village. By clicking the link, you can see a shot just a little to the right of the village, showing the valley we live in.

I’ll try and describe some of the things show in the first photo. The round building with the dome on top is the Komu, otherwise known around this house as the ‘wooden playground’ featured in a previous post. To the right of the dome you can see a glass roof that reaches up towards the sky, and that is the Atomu, or the play area with all the wooden balls. The building with the glass ‘pyramid’ on top is the hotel. If you look carefully on the left side of the picture, you can see a building with a small tower-like structure. It is near the edge and not much is behind it. This red-brick building is the village office building and our house is directly across the street from it. Here's the other photo: Valley Shot

Now for the shopping pictures. The first one is mostly packaged veggies and some items which I’m afraid I cannot identify for you. The prices are written in red and are usually per package. So, for example, the carroty looking stuff at the top on the left side is 208 yen for the package. Misc. Food

Here we have some sort of fish. There are so many different kinds of sea food, I can’t even begin to try and guess what each one is. Fish

I apologize for the blurry picture, but, as usual, decided to include it anyway. Aaron says these are sardines. They have been skewered through the mouth and gills, presumably to make it easier to cook them on a grill or broiler. Sardines

For 580 yen, you can treat yourself to one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of some very large snails. Need I say more?? Snails

Here’s looking at you! Gotta love the fish eyes! I think this is a collection of fish bits for soup or something. Something I won’t be eating, that is. Fish Eye

Salmon roe, probably from Alaska. Spendy stuff, those salmon eggs. If you look at the label, you can see that the price is about 580 yen for 100 grams. I don’t know if the fish eggs on the bottom are the same, as the price is several hundred yen cheaper. Most meat here is priced per 100 grams. Salmon Eggs

Squid and octopus. Mmmmmm. Two of the first foods I learned how to say in Japanese (‘inka’ and ‘taco’). So I could avoid them, of course. Inka, Taco

This grocery store, as do many of the larger ones, has a nice selection of prepared foods for customers to purchase. These plates are variations on little rice pouches. Well, at least the plate in the foreground is. That shrimp, wrapped in nori (dried seaweed), is setting on top of a fried pouch of rice. I think the other items in the back ground may be similar. Can you spot the one topped with salmon roe? Deli Food

These are tempura fried veggies and shrimp, complete with tails and eyes. I went to (another) party this week to welcome a new middle school teacher. One of the items at dinner was huge shrimp. They had been boiled, but still had their heads and tails on. I told the teachers next to me that it I didn’t really like it when my food looked at me. However, I persevered, and, with a little assistance, managed to eat one. Without the head and tail, thank goodness. You can never be sure what foods they eat with the head/tail, and which ones they don’t. Tempura

This last shot doesn’t need any explaining, I guess. Sushi. I can’t tell if it is sashimi (uncooked) or not. Judging by the low price, I would say that the fish in it is cooked. 530 yen is less than $5.00. Sushi

It seems that every few days, the boys pick up another Japanese word. “Genki” is a word often heard on children’s programs. Literally, it translates to “lively”. Ridge finally asked me what it meant, so I told him. Later that day, he was running circles around the house, from one room to another. As his little bare feet pounded into the floor in a fair imitation of a cattle stamped, he yelled, “Look, Mommy! I’m genki!” Holt now giggles whenever Aaron calls him, “my little onigiri”. Onigiri is a ball of rice, usually wrapped up with a little nori and sometimes filled with a little tuna, salmon, or other meat. It’s like a cheap version of sushi, and is the Japanese equivalent of a sandwich. We call Holt an onigiri because he is always, always, covered with rice. We have to make our rice sticky so we can eat it with chopsticks, so it easily sticks to small children, as well. Not that we always eat with chopsticks. Sometimes we do. Once you get the hang of them, they are darn useful. For example, when cooking bacon (though you wouldn’t think of it as bacon – it’s cut differently and uncured), we usually use chopsticks to stir and pick things up. Anyway, the other day in the car, they were playing with each other, saying, ‘kawaii’ over and over again. What was really funny is that they were saying it in exactly the same way that they hear it all the time. I think they know what it means – cute/pretty. Needless to say, the boys get a lot of attention from anyone who is female, and even some men. Holt totally knows that people think he is cute. People will smile at him and say ‘konnichiwa’ and he just beams his cutest smile up at them. Shortly thereafter, the gushing begins.

I think both boys have been changing a lot lately. Holt can pretty much dress himself. Kind of. Ridge helps out every night after dinner. If he is misbehaving, I can threaten him with not being allowed to help wash dishes. Believe me, I am treasuring every moment of being able to use taking away a chore as punishment. He also wipes the table off after dinner and has become very interested in learning to fold his clothes. How lucky am I?? They really seemed to have settled in well here, and Ridge is anxiously awaiting entry into pre-school. It’s very rewarding to see them happily playing outside, with each other and sometimes with the children on the street. I never have to remind them to take their shoes off when walking on tatami or into a building where we have to take our shoes off. Ridge is really fast with taking them off and putting them back on, too. When we use a restroom in public, in a building where shoes are removed, toilet shoes are used. The always slip them right on as if they had been doing it all their lives. Ridge is trying very hard to learn to use chopsticks and eats just about anything I put in front of him. As far as I can tell, they are happy here.

I have finally started trying in earnest to learn more Japanese. Everyone I work with now knows, and it has become a little bit of a joke. It’s okay, though. I can’t say it enough times that everyone here is very kind and generous. I am determined to move beyond, ‘watashi wa Michelle desu’ (I am Michelle). Problem is, I keep sticking in Spanish. So, in my head, I’ll think of trying to say I’m feeling good. What tries to come out is “yo soy genki”. Yo soy – Spanish for I am; Genki – Japanese. It’s a little confusing. At the party the other night, the teachers I was sitting next to were teasing me and trying to get me to list every Japanese word I know. I’m proud to say that I know enough that I couldn’t list them all. For now, I’ll say konbanwa (good evening), and wrap up this post.

Places in Town

Here are some links to pictures of places in town. I originally took these photos for the purpose of making flashcards for the elementary students. The kids loved learning the vocabulary for places in town using pictures of places in their home town.

Police Station
Bus Station
Fire Station
Bank
Gas Station
Hotel
One of several small grocery stores
Post Office
On of many local dairy farms
Nishiokoppe Elementary School

Picking Pumpkins, Potty Humor, and Bread

As we enter the month of October, plans for the Nishiokoppe and Kamiokoppe Elementary Schools Halloween parties are already underway. I don’t know all the details as to how the pumpkin patch originated, but the village has a garden with wonderful pumpkins grown for the express purpose of carving. The vice-principal’s (of Nishiokoppe Elementary School) eyes widened as we arrived with a van load of about 30 pumpkins. “Ah, Japanese pumpkin small. This big!” he said.

After a group communication effort last week, the men at the village office board of education (though, mind you, it is not a Board of Education in the same sense as an American Board of Education) and I set a date for Tuesday morning for pumpkin harvesting. Apparently, they are very interested here in Nishiokoppe in Halloween, and thus grew pumpkins just for carving. Many were huge orange monsters, but some were also green still. Not knowing any better, all large pumpkins were picked, regardless of their color. Oh well, I have always wondered what a green Jack-o-lantern would look like. Anyway, we popped down the road yesterday and gathered about 40 or so. The weather was perfect: blue sky, chilly wind, the trees are beginning to put on their autumn outfits here. Aaron and the boys walked over from the house to join us, as you can see. They loved seeing the pumpkins and wanted to help carry them.

Pumpkin Patch
Holt and Pumpkins

For Halloween, we are planning to have a two-hour “festival” in the afternoon at Nishiokoppe Elementary School. Following the traditions set by former Juneau teachers, we will carve the pumpkins, bob for apples, Aaron will come do face painting (with our boys in costume, of course), and I will pass out candy to the teachers so the kiddos can go “trick-or-treating”. I’m sure I’ll have an interesting post to write after the party!

Yesterday evening was my second time to attend the “exercise club”. This is a group of people who get together once a week for two hours for the purpose of physical fitness. Last time we spent about one hour learning how to stretch and do some simple exercises. That was followed by 20 minutes of aerobics. Everyone gathers in the big room at the hotel, we sign in, get our blood pressure taken (I’ve been trying to get my friend Fusae – she is one of the better English speakers in town- to say ‘sphygnomonometer’. That’s the technical name for a blood pressure cuff), and then we get weighed. The evening is facilitated by a group of three people who drive down from another town that is about 2 hours away. Last night, we did a series of “tests” that will determine how “old” our bodies are. Fusae was worried. She is thirty-one years old and told me that last time she did this test; her “body” was over forty. We will get our results next week. I can hardly wait! We did sit-ups, a standing long jump, tested the strength of our grip, and did two more activities that I can’t really describe.

While waiting for others to finish, I sat with Fusae and another group of women who were there. We chatted (sort of, as much as I can with my limited Japanese) and ogled a baby who had come with his mom. I pointed out to Fusae that I can not squat like she and the other women were doing. All evening she had been remarking on how “great” I had done on the “tests”, so I wanted to show here there was something I can’t do. When I told her that I, and most Americans, cannot squat like that, she translated this to the other women and then you should have seen their faces! It was almost comical. Fusae said, (about squatting) “common sense!” I said that I think Americans spend so much time in chairs that the muscles in their legs are too tight for low squatting. There was a great deal of chattering amongst the women as this, too, was translated. Then I heard it – the word, “toire”. Toilet. Of course! They all began asking me how I managed to use Japanese toilets if I can’t squat (most toilets in Japan are a hole in the ground – squatting is most definitely required). I guess it had never even occurred to them that using a Japanese toilet would be any different for me. I’ll spare you the details of the entire conversation, but needless to say, it was hysterical. I explained that in most places, I have been able to find a Western style toilet. Then they shot questions at me: what about the shugakko (elementary school)? The chugakko?? (Middle school). I just kept laughing and said – the middle school has a western toilet and I have never needed to go at the elementary school. That comment got some looks, so I had to point out that I am only there for about two hours three days a week – no big deal. I wonder what they were thinking. Then Fusae, who works in the village office building where I do all my prep work wanted to know what I do there, because she knew that there are only Japanese toilets. I giggled, then mimicked looking sad, and told here that sometimes I manage, and sometimes I just walk across the street and go home. The questioning continued, getting a bit more detailed, but I think that is enough about bodily functions for one night. What a cultural experience! I never would have anticipated having a conversation about my toileting issues with a group of women who barely speak any English.

Speaking of cultural experiences, today, I experienced my first fire drill in a Japanese school. They only happen once a year, which surprised me, until I saw it in action. Here is how it went.

1. Alarm rings, and a woman’s voice says something I can’t understand.


2. Alarm continues to ring.


3. Woman’s voice again…I’m still clueless.


4. Alarm continues to ring.


5. This time, a man’s voice is announcing something. He sounds very serious (the voices are all recorded).


6. The classroom at the end of the hallway, furthest from the entrance, exits, followed by the second classroom from the entrance, then the first. The students crouch low and cover their mouths with cloth.


7. The students gather outside, line up, and sit down. Orderly, of course.


8. The vice-principal says something, then turns it over the principal.


9. The principal speaks and then turns it over to the vice-principal


10. The vice-principal says something, and then turns it over to one of the firemen who have come for the drill.


11. The fireman does a lot of talking (are you getting a picture of how much I understand of what is being said around me? Not much!)


12. The students take turns spraying water-filled fire extinguishers as fast as they can while trying to knock over signs with kanji (“Be careful around fire”). This is middle school, by the way.


13. More talking – fire fighter and principal


14. Clean up –students all help


15. Return to class after cleaning your inside shoes thoroughly on a damp towel provided. We were all inside, so we were all wearing our inside shoes, which are not supposed to go outside, but since it was a drill it was okay (I asked when I realized I had, gasp! worn my inside shoes outside!)


16. About 35 minutes have now lapsed.

Quite the fire drill, wouldn’t you say?

The last picture I have is of a package of bread I purchased the other day. I thought it might be interesting. This is very typical of bread here. The packages are very small, containing eight pieces at the most. All the bread here is “wonder bread” white and very thick. Aaron and I were actually wondering if maybe once upon a time, a meeting was held to standardize the size of bread. That’s a joke, just so you know. Traditional floors, i.e. tatami, were legally standardized back during the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate (in other words, a long time ago). So, rooms are sized by how many tatami mats can fit in them. Futons are sized to fit exactly on one tatami. Every single futon is exactly the same size, thanks to standardization. All the bread is so similar….well, you get the picture.