Christmas Morning

Well it's not, but it feels like it. Yesterday was a really warm sunny day, and this morning when I woke up it looks like we got another one. It's such a nice treat in the middle of winter. Dan and I are alone in the house for the first weekend in God know's how long. We love having people here but being alone is nice as well, it means I can run to the toilet and put the jug on without worrying about which pair of embarrassingly ancient track pants I'm wearing. Speaking of clothes, I realised I live in gross polar fleece like, all the time. Bring on warmer weather.
So I'm gonna make blueberry pancakes from scratch and then hopefully go for a big bike ride. I showed the true impulsive side of myself on Thursday when I went out and spent NZ$300 on a new sparkly big mountain bike. My old one was crappy and I thought, stuff it, I want to actually enjoy getting around. I love treats. Last night we went out to Brens (Cali, US) for her famous eggplant parmesan and a chocolate tofu pie. I was in heaven.

New Friends

Today I went out a tiny school in the mountains, Koma. The people out there are just so lovely, more like a big family than a school. But I was sitting in class toiling over the way that English is taught here, and why it doesn't necessarily produce the greatest results. I was talking to my team-teacher at my base school, Sakuma-sensei, about her upcoming cultural exchange with Korean students. She was saying the level of Korean student's English is really high compared to Japanese student's, and I have heard similar things about the English of Singaporean and Chinese students. I never thought I would say this of the Japanese Education system, but the expectations here are just so low. It's as if no one has ever bothered to explain to the kids why they are learning English. I'm gonna get Band Aid to come in and do a new version, "Do They Know There's A World Out There At All".
Just so that it doesn't appear that all I do is complain about my job, I am going to complain just a little more, and then get on to the important stuff. I am really taken aback at the way I am totally under-utilised. I remember when I was learning French, we once had a girl come to our class from Quebec, we thought it was Christmas, such a rare opportunity to talk to a native French speaker. Not here.
Tuesday was a day when I was well and truly under-utilised, but it still managed to be a really awesome day. I had one class with the handicapped kids at Meirin Elementary, all six of them. I was there from 9.25am-10.40am. So nice to be keeping ladies hours. Anyway, it was just wonderful, they all listened to my self-introduction, asked me heaps of questions about NZ , and did some English practice with me. We even sang Baa Baa Black Sheep. I am going to ask my Board of Ed if I can go back there in the afternoons sometime. It isn't often at Junior High that you encounter people who are really enthusiastic about learning, so I want to really hold on to the good stuff that happens in my job.
Apart from that, all I want to do is get into my trackies and hibernate next to the heater.

2005 Happy New Year (for want of a better title)

Ok. So its official. I suck at keeping my blog up to date. I am gonna try harder, thats my New Years resolution.
So first, our new baby has now been named Demi Lynne Taureka. She's doing really well, putting on lots of weight, or as Mum says "a little fatty". The more rolls the better when it comes to babies, more for me to love when I go home.
Our big news this month is that we walked into the Board of Education with our signed re-contracting forms. We have committed to another 18 months here in Japan, scary but a nice feeling when you think of 18 more paydays! I am trying really hard to be a bit more assertive at work, I have asked to start up an English club and have put up an bulletin board in English. I hope that I keep loving my life here, I would love to do 3 years here. We will see.
So - Christmas - we had 10 people here, was an absolute blast. I made roast chicken pieces, veges, stuffing, and turned out pretty good I thought. I made a trifle for dessert and someone bought an enormous tiramisu. The thing I noticed about spending Xmas with friends rather than family is that you have to be nice to each other, you don't end up having petty stupid fights about nothing. It was so text-book we even played charades in the afternoon.
Then Dec 27 we did the big mish up to Tokyo on the shinkansen (bullet train), we saw Mt Fuji, and arrived in time to pick up Dan's little brother (14) from the airport. Dan was really, really happy to see him. When we got back to Hagi there was a huge snowfall, neither Dan or Tim had touched snow so they had a great time making a snowman and having snowfights. We took Tim through to Hiroshima and he got to see the museum and peace park, overall I think he had a really fantastic time experiencing Japan. He went back to NZ on January 8th vowing to come and visit us again.
So here we are in the bowels of winter, as I like to call it, its pretty cold these days. We generally stay at home and crank up the heat. I am hosting a fondue party tonight, nothing like cheese and chocolate to cheer you up. My goal before the winter is out is to go skiing one weekend, I missed going during the NZ winter because I came out to Japan, so I'm really looking forward to hitting the slopes. Hopefully Dan will be brave and give it a try! How could anyone not love skiing.
Something else to look forward to - a group of us are going late Feb to Korea (south!) for my friend Alex's birthday. She loves yakiniku (barbequed meat), so Korea was the simple choice. We are simply going to live on meat and bebimba (yummy rice and vege dish) for 4 days. After that it won't be long til my Mum comes in April. Can't wait for that. We had Ellen and her parents (Australia) stay with us this week while they checked out Hagi, it was cool to hang out with other gaijin (foreigners) and know that our place passes the parent test. Rock on April.