Sunday, July 31st: So I'm basically pro at the Japanese tea ceremony.

Yeah, so I'm basically pro at the Japanese tea ceremony.  But before we talk about that, let's rewind a few hours.  So at 4am this morning, Madelyn and I were awakened to our Japanese cell phone going off and the biggest earthquake we've experienced during our trip.  Later we found out that the reason the cell phone went off was as a warning that it was going to be a big earthquake because it hit in our prefecture.  That's a pretty cool gadget their cells have...but we kinda already knew there was an earthquake with the shaking and creaking walls and rumbling of the ground etc.  Madelyn and I lept out of beds and within 15 seconds or so it ended so we didn't go outside.  But it was the most scared I've been with an earthquake yet!  Pray for no bigger please!
Next was shopping and church, during the service Madelyn and I each shared a meaningful verse with the congregation and why it was special to us.  I shared 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether you drink, or eat, or whatever you do, do it to the Glory of God!".  It's just an sucinct way to put one of the greatest reminders for how to live my life, especially on this trip!
After church was lunch and chill time...then at 4pm we were picked up by Katsuko Sensei.  She took us to her home where we had a Japanese Tea Ceremony and dinner with her husband...while wearing her yukatas again!  Their English is pretty good, and with the help of their electronic English/Japanese dictionary, we were able to communicate quite well :)

Just me looking Japanese

Katsuko Sensei making me tea

Mmmmm tea :)

 Okay, now it's my turn to make tea for Madelyn!

Put a little hot water in the cup,
swish it around to heat the cup, and
dump it in the larger cup.

Place a tiny spoonful of the tea powder
in the bottom of the cup and add hot
water to it, enough for about 3 or 4 sips.

Stirring like crazy until the tea
forms a slight foam on top,
then write the character "no" in
the tea and remove the whisk.



Turn the cup with your right
hand 2 and a half times.

And yattah!  The tea is made.  You place it in front of the recipient, saying "dozo" (doe-zoh).  They pick it up and once again turn it 2 and a half times and drink it. 

After making tea for Madelyn, she made
it for me.  Then we made it for Mr and
Mrs Katsuko.  They drank it so I think
we did an okay job :)  but they might
have just been polite!

 Next came prep for dinner.  We helped a little and then were sat down with photo albums.  It was fun!

Prepping shrimp to be fried
into tempura.

Their "hashi" holder made
me smile :)

Katsuko Sensei,
Katsuko San (san is like mr/mrs),
Emely Sensei
and dinner!

 We had hiyashi chuka (He-ah-ss-chew-kah) and tempura.  The hiyashi chuka is cold noodles with sauce and cut up meat, cucumber, and egg.  Yummy!

Us and our hiyashi chuka

And then we ate tempura...they made shrimp tempura, potato tempura, onion tempura, mushroom tempura, weiner tempura, and octopus tempura.

I was adventerous and tried
the octopus!!!!!!!!!!!
Didn't have much of a taste.
Just very rubbery.

The weiner tempura was probably my favorite.  It tastes similar to pigs-in-a-blanket which I like and now am really craving.  Dessert consisted of the fish.  Which was made out of a pancakey/waffley breading with sweet bean paste in the middle.  Pretty good, surprisingly enough! :)

Me being a fish with my fish

And dessert part 2 was honey ice cream and fruit and kanten (vegetable gelatin?).  Oishii!

Katsuko San, Katsuko Sensei, and Emely Sensei

A very fine way to spend the evening :)

Saturday, July 30th: Lightening bugs and dressing Japanese

In the morning, Madelyn and I went on a bike trip to the mall area (only 6 miles to get there and back).  We got to go to all the stores we had wanted to before we left Japan, so now I think our shopping is done.  Yay!  The only thing that might be purchased is a yukata because Minako said she might know a place where we could get them for a good price.  Oh, you don't know what a yukata is?  Well just look below and you'll see :)



Me in a yukata!
(you-kah-tah)

This evening we were invited to Dr. Shin's condo for dinner.  It turned out to be a dinner party with the entire Nishimura family and 2 couples from the church/school!  Dinner of KFC, pizza, tacos, salad, fruit, french fries, donuts, and applesauce cake.  Yeah, lots of food :)
After dinner was yukata time for Madelyn and me!  The kids put on their little Japanese jammies too :)

Us and the Nishimura grandkids
(Nono kun, Yui chan, and Naomi chan)

Check out our bows!

Doing some yukata sitting

I liked my bow :)

 After yukata pictures had been taken, we headed off to a festival of lightening bugs.  They're uncommon here, apparently, so everybody thought it was a big deal.  I just liked wearing the yukata :)

Madelyn, Majelyn, and me in the elevator

Cute kiddos :)

Owner of the yukatas :) she also tied
them for us cuz it's kinda a huge task

 After the bugs, we returned to the Nishimura's to watch fireworks shot off from somewhere in the surrounding city.  It was pretty :) Just a late celebration of the 4th of July for us!

Boom!

Nono kun with sandle-hands!

All in all, a very good day dressing Japanese :)

Friday, July 29th: Doubutsu Bisuketto

Last nights cockroach took a while to hunt down....check out how the room was rearranged:  

It was intense.  Thankfully, he's dead now.
Suitcases, dresser, water cooler,
dirty laundry, and chair all moved.

Today was fine...Madelyn and I changed classes so it was something to get used to and it was nice to have the change of kids.  These ones are much more affectionate because we see them every day.  It has been confirmed that Madelyn and I have the same name according to the kids.  We are called "Emely-Sensei-To-Lin-Sensei".  The "to" (toe) means "and".  It's what we are always introduced as by the teachers, so the kids just repeat it :) Makes me laugh!  Some of them have been able to separate us in their minds, but to most, we are the same.

Look, my name (E-Mi-Ri) in jam!

It made me laugh because I spell is Emily, everybody here spells it Emely because that's how it's pronounced.  But Mai chan (May) wrote the "E" and "Ly" part in katakana (characters for non-Japanese words) but the "Mi" part is written in hiragana (characters for Japanese words).  It made me laugh and was such a cute gesture, I had to take a picture :)  Not to mention, I've never seen my name in jam before!

Nana chan...one of the blobs
is supposed to be a heart :)

Several times throughout the day, I was left alone in the classroom with 25+ Japanese children.  Not exactly my ideal choice.  I guess I like finally having responsibility, but when one kids is crying and smacks another kid and all I can say is "quit it"...well I just feel like it's not the safest choice for the kids to have me in charge.  Thankfully, not much happened besides that....I think they're left alone a lot.  The people seem to be very trusting here.

Gachi kun was jealous that the
girls got pictures, so wanted
one :) of course I didn't mind!

Yeah, so when I first read his name weeks ago, I read "Ga" and "Chi" so I knew his name was Gachi.  I had been told you add the suffix "chan" to kids names from multiple sources.  However, there's apparently some rule where if the child is male and of a certain level that he deserves more respect or whatever, then you use "kun" (coon) instead of "chan".  So these past 5 weeks, I've been calling all the boys with "chan"....Gachi chan, Kouki chan, Nono chan, Kotoro chan, etc.  The boys always made a face when I said it, but I figured they just didn't like me.  But Gachi always corrected me saying "Gachi KUN!" I had no clue where he got the "kun" from so I just ignored it.  Finally, I asked Minako about it.  Apparently, the boys at the school are referred to with "kun" and the girls with "chan".  Yeah.  Learn something knew every day!  Sorry, boys!

Kanade chan (Cana-day)
also needed a photo taken :)

Kento kun and Gachi kun during snack
with all the mischevious girls behind them

Takehiro kun and his osembe
(Tah-"K"-He-Roh)

I could never get just his face
...but he's super cute...
you just have to trust me!

Yeah, today was pretty uneventful and similar to the past few days.  But good :)  Ending the day with a super bubbly ramune (a Japanese soda thing).  Two weeks from today, I'll be ending the day with American food and MI city water.

Thursday, July 28th: Dumb Cockroach

At present, I am quite full from one of the yummiest steaks ever eaten.  And some ghiradelli chocolate Madelyn and I broke into...I brought it to be a gift but it got "too smashed" so we needed to eat it instead :)
Today began similarly to the past 2 days: playing with kids, new student assembly, play with kids, lunch, nap time, and watching water games.

This material hangs near the
teachers desk, covering up the
clutter.  But read the story.
Start in the top right pragraph,
read the 2 following it to the left
It's a great example of Enlgish :)

Nap time was special today :)  At first I was frustrated because my 17 kids did NOT want to sleep.  Plus there was only 1 Japanese teacher in the room with me and she kept leaving to run errands to the office etc.  Leaving me alone with 17 Japanese speaking energetic kids who are supposed to be napping.  I used to think babysitting was tough when you try to put 3 American kids to bed...but WOW this gave challenging a new name.  After splitting some chatty children up, things calmed down, although the kids were not too thrilled with me.  However, after about 15 minutes, most of them had at least found a place on the tatami mat to lay down and even lowered their voices to a whisper.  So I sat down with the noisier ones and rubbed their backs and sweaty heads to attempt to calm them down.  Success!  I got 2 to fall asleep that way...out of 5.  But still, I was proud of myself.  Then came the cutest part.  There's a little boy who always looks sad and always stands on the side of any activity and never lays down to take a nap.  So of course, today he was sitting there on the edge of the tatami mat, watching the other kids "nap", but all of a sudden I looked at him and he was nodding off sitting up.  I got up from the bratty girls I was sitting by and tried to lay him down.  He fought it, so I just scooped him up and held him in my lap.  Within 30 seconds, his body relaxed and got heavy and his breathing became slow and steady.  YAY!  There's nothing like the feeling of a child falling asleep in your arms :)  He even started snoring!  But then he started sweating.  A LOT.  Through his clothes, my apron, and my shirt.  It was pretty gross, but then I'd try to move or fan him a little and he'd begin to stir.  So instead I sat there for 40+ minutes with precious, sweaty boy fast asleep in my arms :)  I loved it!  Wish I had a picture, but that would have kinda ruined my already failing attempt at nap time.
Sigh.  I'll miss some of those kids.
After nap time was watching water games and After School English Club.  The ASEC is 6 girls, grades 1st-3rd that come every Thursday and "learn English".  The textbooks they use are pretty terrible in my opinion, but at least they spend time with Majelyn Sensei who speaks decent English.  It was their last class for the summer and the last time they'd see Madelyn and me, so of course we had to have a party!

Juice and salty snacks.
They gave us cute notes (written in
Hiragana, but Majelyn translated for us)
We gave them pencils, suckers, and sticker books

  After work, Madelyn and I got cleaned up...or attempted to look as good as possible after a day of work in pure humidity.  We went to dinner with most of the full time teachers (there are probably 30 teachers total, only about half are full time), hosted by the Nishimura family in honor of Takano Sensei who's quitting the kindergarten to get married and also to say goodbye to Madelyn and me since we only have 1 week left with the summer staff.

BACK ROW: teachers of Yohanne and Hosanna classes of
the younger kids, didn't really spend much time with those
teachers, except 4th from the left, she taught Shion B and
I ate lunch their with those kids often.
MIDDLE ROW: Left is Shion C, lady and guy that teach
younger kids, Shion A teacher is in glasses, then 2 office
secretary ladies, and Minako
FRONT ROW:Lin Sensei, Emely Sensei, Takano Sensei,
and then Dr. Shin & Keiko Nishimura

Madelyn and I sat among teachers, so at first it was awkward since it's hard to communicate with the ever-present language barrier.  However, after a few awkwardly worded questions were asked, it helped break the ice.  I feel like my English has gotten worse because I'm used to speaking in more broken speech and using simple words with lots of synonyms so I can be understood.  Anyways, the food was good and the company was good :)
But this company is not so good:

 Apparently cockroaches can fly.  I didn't know that before.  And he won't come down to a spot where Madelyn can reach to kill him.  I really hate cockroaches.  Sigh.  Goodnight to Thursday...hopefully I'll make it to tomorrow!!

Wednesday, July 27th: Piano sneaking

I overslept today.  Oops.  I had a bad dream that I was back in America and my daddy told me we were only gonna eat rice.  It was bad.  Please, daddy?  No rice for a while, okay? :)  Today began similarily to yesterday.  Play time, culture class instead of Kumon class, new kids assembly, outside play, and lunch.

Making some Japanese mud pies

 Lunch was a challenge today.  The kids ate in the classrooms instead of the large hall where they normally eat.  So I was the only one eating school lunch, since my kids pay by day they have to bring lunch.  They were lucky.  Lunch today was some mysterious thing covered in KETCHUP!!  AHH!!  I don't like ketchup.  At all.  I never thought I'd be faced with my least favorite American condiment in Japan.  Ketchup?  Really?  I couldn't eat it.  I tried it and could barely keep it down.  Even after taking a bite I couldn't tell you what was underneath the ketchup.  But after returning the dishes (I ate the rice, cucumber noodles, and soup just not the ketchup thing), I saw that I was not the only one unable to finish lunch which is really rare for these kids!  When a kid is done eating they must show their dishes to a teacher for approval.  If the teacher thinks the few scattered noodles in the bowl need to be eaten, the teacher gathers them up and uses their own chopsticks to feed the kid.  At first I thought it odd that they are so paranoid about germs that they occasionally wear masks, but then they will share chopsticks...but now very little surprises me.  I'm not in America, so yeah, life is different :)
Nap time was spent in our air conditioned room!  Hallelujah for a break!  I wrote a journal for my Japan class :) YAY BEING PRODUCTIVE!  After nap time came snack time of osenbei (soy sauce flavored rice cracker) and the super yummy pretzel m&ms.

Girl on right: posing like a monkey with
the always delicious pretzel m&ms
Girl on left: wondering why the other
girl is so weird
Me: laughing hysterically at both cuties!

 Then came water games!  Since today was not incredibly hot, just super humid, I chose not to remove my apron so I the kids knew not to spray me.  Instead, I took pictures!

Welcome to water games!
(sorry for any naked children in the
background, but that's how some roll)

The other "dry" people

Check out the cutie attacking the
leader of the "cool boys" point blank.
I laughed.

 

Apparently they weren't getting wet enough?

 Since the kids have to sing our English song at the incoming students assembly in the morning, we didn't have to teach English today.  So after everybody was dried off and changed, it was play time and I made origami with the kids.

We split a piece of origami paper and
I taught her how to make a bow :)

Then she wanted to put them in her pigtails
Sidenote: her name is Emi chan
pronounced "Emmy" chan :)
so we basically have the same name

Okay look at this kid.
How hilarious is he?
I thought he looked like
a little boy ballerina in
tight tights. So adorable!

This evening was also productive with kumon homework, dinner, and reading letters I got in the mail (Thanks mom and Aunt Donna!)  After doing dinner dishes, I got on my computer, pulled up some chord sheets to some songs, and snuck into one of the classrooms that connects to our kitchen.  A few days ago, I noticed that the classroom I work in has a piano!  Like a real upright, only slightly out of tune, legit piano!  So yeah, I snuck into it and jammed for a while.  It was fun, although a little scary since it's pitch black outside by 7pm and the emergency exit lights glow an eerie green in the otherwise dark, empty classrooms across campus.  But once I got on the piano, I was fine :)  It was wonderful to have that time to be alone with my music.  Overall, a pretty good day.  Tomorrow night is a goodbye dinner with the teachers!
Should be interesting, I've been asked to bring the pictures I brought of my family, friends, and especially my good looking boyfriend (the teacher's words, not mine! I promise!)  It made me laugh but I'm happy to show my pictures because apprently it's a meaningful and respectful action to open up like that.  I like it.
Goodnight to my Wednesday!

Tuesday, July 26th: A not too bad kind of day

Today was a not too bad kind of day.  Nothing crazy good about it, but not too bad.  The temp wasn't too bad although definitely more humid and hot than last week.  We didn't spend much time with the kids at all which was strange, but definitely less exhausting!  We did spend a bit of the morning with them before heading off to the assembly of incoming students and their mothers.  Madelyn and I danced and sang and read a book...all in English, of course because having native English speaking teachers is a great thing to advertise!  Afterwards was a bit more time with the summer kids, followed by lunch, followed by office work which consisted of stamping instead of nap time, followed by a break for prep, followed by outside snack time, followed by English Kids Club, followed by playing on the playground, and that was that!

Our giraffes are complete
and back in their home!

Accidental funny faces at snack time

Boys being boys.

Posing with a hand flower and hand towel.

 After work, Madelyn and I walked to the convenience store for some waffle ice cream.  Yummy!

Well the focus was supposed
to be on the flower, but it
still turned out pretty cool

Emely and Buddah

More pretty sunflowers :)

 The rest of the evening consisted of laundry, dinner, facials, origami, and other fun stuff like that.

Japanese face masks!

Lookin all nice and pale and ghosty

So yeah, a not too bad kind of day :)