Today was a very interesting day! I had some classes, and they were pretty standard. I played outside with kids in every free moment, including some time practicing unicycles! These kids can fly around so fast it's amazing! Meanwhile I was sticking close to the bars that I could hold on to as I "rode." It was fun and with a little more practice I might be able to go forward for one full pedal without falling! Haha! I still have a long way to go!

Another thing that was different about today was cleaning the pool! The outdoor pools are not covered for the winter, and there is a thick layer of dirt and leaves and sticks all over the bottom and all around the edges of the pool... Basically it is one big muck-covered concrete hole. So the 4th 5th and 6th graders all went out with scrub brushes, sponges, squeegies and hoses and set to work... I helped out! Wow, it is not easy and it took several hours with everybody working, but the kids worked hard and sometimes even seemed to be having fun. It is definitely satisfying to see a dirty mucky area suddenly turn sparkly blue!

There was one more event that brought all the kids together to work for the common good... The 6th graders brought out the hundreds of cans that had been collected [easily 80% beer cans] and dumped them on the ground and everybody stomped on them and crunched them down flat. The noise was incredible! I remember as a kid I liked crunching cans after finishing a drink, but I had never experienced such a mass can-crushing before.

Still, the most surprising thing of the day had to be school lunch. Well I found out that school lunch was shrimp dumplings, rice, [so far so good] and sweet and sour... Whale! Wow! I couldn't believe it! What's wrong with sweet and sour pork? Chicken? It really was whale. I struggled for the longest time before it was time to eat, wondering what I should do. It is generally appreciated when I eat everything, because the kids are discouraged from pickiness and they have to eat everything. So I eat everything whether I like it or not. But this was the first time that I had to struggle with my conscience. Well I decided that it was too late to help this whale whether or not I ate it, and didn't make an issue of it. I assume it is not illegal or they would not be serving it all over town. SURELY it is not an endangered variety... I can only hope!!! I definitely stared at it for a long time before I could bring myself to take the first bite. Poor whale! It was not terrible, but it was pretty chewy. And black! I definitely would have been happy with just sweet and sour veggies. After lunch the vice principal asked me "what's the difference between that and a cow?" Well... I remembered the dogs hanging in butcher shops in Vietnam, and how I realized that it was just a cultural difference. Somehow whale seems different though... There are plenty of dogs and cows in the world... I welcome other people's thoughts... It is a complex and convoluted issue... I don't intend to make a practice of eating whale though.

I have had some fun days at school! Monday was club day at Doho, so I walked around and observed several clubs... There was a club for goard games, one for traditional Japanese games, one for tea ceremony [I learned along with them], arts, crafts, sign language, cooknig and several for sports... Lots of fun! Today before school the kids all met outside and had a little mock sumo tournament! It was so cute and fun to watch! I got some nice pictures... There were some surprising upsets! Apparently sumo skills really do go far beyond size! Maybe it's not too late for me to be the next great one...

Today I spent time with old friends, and it was a very fun girls' day! First we went to a flea market "AKA Free Market" Noda at Sante Park... There were lots of nice things to buy at great prices, and I was surprised by the variety of languages I heard spoken there! Japanese [of course], Chinese, Tagalog and English! It was fun! While shopping we got hungry so we decided to go to a cafe in Tahara. I ordered my favorite... A chicken sandwich on toasted bread... a mound of white meat chicken thinly sliced and topped with a delicious basil sauce, lettuce and tomatos. I will miss those sandwiches when I leave! I will have to try making my own basil sauce! :) Well we all had the same sandwiches, but were still a little hungry [we had a "betsu bara" which technically means "separate stomach" but in practice it means "there's always room for dessert!!"], so we went to the crepe shop next door. I got a strawberries and cream cheese crepe. We walked from there to the kite festival going on around the library. It was really nice walking through the area where groups were flying the kites, cooking food, watching, talking, and just enjoying the festival atmosphere. This was my third time to see the kite festival, but it was by far the best weather we've had for it since I have been here. It was a very sunny and summery day with JUST the right amount of wind. Considering they were forcasting rain I think we are really lucky! Possibly because my friends and I are all "hare onna" [sunshine girls] and getting us together creates an unstoppable force for sunshine!
At any rate it was fun talking with people [including plenty of my students], watching the competitors strategize and give orders to teammates [it was a kite battle!], and seeing the whole culture of the kite-battle world... I still can't figure out the techniques that they use [I am by no means an expert kite-flyer] but I know that they lace the kite strings with glass powder. My best understanding is that each team has a specific number of kites that they can fly throughout the competition, and the team that cuts the most kites down without having their own kites fall is the winner... Just looking at the kites is interesting. Some teams represent families. Others represent a company or organization. Toyota has a team [there is a factory in town] and so does City Hall. It is a very interesting festival that brings the community together in a unique way. Well after walking all the way up and down the line of team tents and vans we went back to the open space in front of the library and practiced flying kites of our own. It was fun but my kite was a bit broken and preferred to do donuts in the sky... Oh well! After some kite-flying time we took our "betsu-betsu baras" and drove to Toyohashi to get some famously delicious cakes at a shop there. Then we went to an imports store to get drinks and took our loot to a nearby park for a picnic... It was deliciously fun! I purchased a bottle of sparkling grape juice for all to share. As soon as we sat down a small flock of pigeons came to check us out... Apparently they could tell that we had brought food... We tried several methods to scare them away but nothing was working. Well when Elizabeth uncorked the bottle it was a major projectile-launching POP [it had not been chilled so the pressure must have been intense] and they all went flying! Perfect! We got a good laugh and we were left alone for at least five minutes after that. Only one particularly bold bird returned at all. After that we came home happy and satisfied from a nice relaxing day with great friends!

I want to introduce you to one of my favorite places in Tahara 

come on in!! 

This is one small part of an amazing library! 

it's a multi-functional gathering place 

this way to the auditoriums, the TV lounge area, some classrooms and another exit. 

from the central area there is easy access to the library, the culture center, auditoriums, a gymnasium and many multi-purpose rooms... This building is a perfect place for community functions 

a beautiful garden courtyard provides a touch of nature that enhances the atmosphere greatly! 

this is a view down the hallway, with the TIA [Tahara international association] office upstairs and popular study/ meeting areas downstairs 

Life keeps moving and I keep growing... I am facing major changes in my life and it is exciting and a little scary at the same time. I have been debating for months about what path is the best to take, and I have had some doors close and some new ones open. I have tried to stay positive and am constantly on the lookout for new opportunities. Meanwhile I have kept in mind a few of my top options... Incredibly some great jobs have shown up on my radar- jobs which had not previously existed but I had dreamed of in my imagination... Most recently I have been amazed by the way that a potentially perfect path has fallen into place for me. I will definitely be able to have some travel time between this job and the next, which I hope to divide between visiting friends, exploring on my own and doing some volunteer activities. If I am accepted for the jobs that I want, I will be able to fulfill multiple dreams within the year! I am realizing how important it is to have imagination and faith, and what a powerful combination they can be! I have come to understand the phrase "If you can dream it, you can do it!" Now my challenge is to create bigger dreams and to act on them!

The sky was full of battling kites!! 

I recently went to Hamamatsu's kite festival... beautiful kites, fun times!! 

I experienced Tokyo Disney Sea! Indiana Jones brings out the full range of emotions 

underwater playground 

Mediterranean Harbor area 

I don't think we're in Japan anymore Toto!!! 

6th grade acrobatics at the sports festival 

Over the weekend I had one more required Japan experience... I went to Tokyo Disney! There are actually two separate Disney theme parks there, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. Because it is more unique we chose to go to Disney Sea. It was a very busy and exhausting but extremely fun day! We left home before 6 am and headed to the train station. We took the Shinkansen, which is the best way to travel in Japan if you can afford the steep prices... It took awhile to get to the theme park, but we were excited! Once there I was amazed by the detailed planning [and incredible amounts of money!] put into the place!! I also noticed the same phenomenon that I've always heard about but never quite believed... It is at least as popular for dates as it is for children! Well date or no date it certainly made for an entertaining day! In one amusment park it was possible to stroll through beautiful stereotyped recreations of a number of different world regions/ imaginary worlds... a Mediterranean town, a Central/ S. American jungle village, Middle-Eastern streets/ marketplace, an old style US seaboard/ NYC street area, a volcano and of course Ariel's own Mermaid Lagoon... We managed to ride almost every ride [definitely the most popular ones], and we saw two very interesting shows. The food was great too... I had some quite tasty fajitas and delicious coconut popcorn! Who can forget meeting Jiminy Cricket, Pinochio, Goofy, Chip and Dale [Dale played with my bouncy curly hair], Scrooge, a VERY convincing princess Jasmine and less identical but just as smiley Aladdin, funny monkey [he could sign autographs "Abu" too!], a rather disconcerting Jafar, and a couple of different [region-appropriately dressed] Mickey and Minnie!? Unfortunately because of extreme wind and a small earthquake we were unable to take a boat ride or gondola ride. At the end of the day we tried to eat at a nearby shopping center before catching the train back to Tokyo and then home, but to our chagrin all of the nice/ appealing restaurants had waits of about 1 hour because of wedding parties! I guess that shows that Tokyo Disney is a popular place for weddings as well!! So I ended up having ramen in the food court... haha! Overall it was a great experience and I would go again. I am glad that I went and enjoyed Disneyland Japan style! :)
If you would like to know more or are ready to plan your next vacation, check out the website: http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/tds/index_e.html

Hello! Life is proceeding very nicely. I have had some really fun times at school. Now the kids are practicing for their Sports Festival. The things they do and the organization with which they do them are amazing. Sometimes it seems very militaristic. At other times much more like circus tricks. It is an amazing experience to see all of the kids working together and doing what I would consider stunts. Very athletic, very fun, and lots of team-building elements! Another interesting Japanese cultural tidbit is the "Radio Taiso" [?], stretches set to music which are broadcast every morning on national TV [was on the radio] at 6:30. The kids learn these stretches as part of their basic education and perform them at the sports festival. It is fun to watch them all stretching in sync. If you are going to be in Tahara on the 27th let me know, you can come to the "undokai" [sports festival]!