Hakuba

Not updates here for a while but I thought I would let people know what we are up to since we can't be there over Christmas.

We decided that it would be very depressing to stay in our apartment over the holidays, just the same as any other day! So, being determined not to fly anywhere, we thought it might be nice to go skiing. We decided this in November, but couldn't do a lot about it until December 18th as the last paycheck of the year is variable to say the leats (Japanese tax systme - don't even get me started). Luckily we have a friend who is working in the Hakuba resorts this year arranging holidays, and her boss said she could give a friend discount yay! She sent us details of hotels that would be "wham-like", since we had joked that we wanted a Christmas like the video for Last Christmas. We picked one and managed to book it just yesterday, so it was all still a bit up in the air!

We packed quickly and figured out how we were going to get there, and then one bullet train ride and a bus trip later here we are, in the Hotel Mominoki in Hakuba Happo one. It is a nice hotel and the people so far are very friendly and nice, but since we got here in the afternoon we decided it would not be worth starting to ski until tomorrow. Instead we walked down the hill to the depot and got a bus to the main town (our hotel is up near the lifts, surrounded by lots of other hotels and restaurants but not many shops). It was very strange - the place was like a ghost town! All the shops were shut, and we walked around for ages looking for somewhere to eat lunch; all we could see was a McDonalds and we really really didn't want to go there! eventually we found a little place called gravity works that was sooo lovely. Homemade pizzas and pastas, lots of homemade breads and desserts. The people were fabulous, just leaving us to sit for ages and relax, we wondered around inside (we were the only customers) and investigated all the other bits they were selling and making, oils and herbs and cheeses etc. We bought some homemade sun-dried tomatoes and the lady spent ages telling us all the ways they were different from Italian ones (although she said both were nice!). I am looking forward to cooking something nice with them when we get back.

After that we walked around a bit more but it was getting very cold and the snow was starting to freeze and get slippery, so we came back to the hotel. I went down for an Onsen. The baths here at Mominoki claim to be the most alkaline in Japan (so I took all my jewellery off first!) and it was lovely - not too hot, clear water that didn't smell at all (sometimes the minerals make it a bit pongy), and best of all I had the outside bath completely to myself> I sat in the hot water looking out at the snow until my fingers went wrinkly, then we went to the pub next door for dinner.

We have already arranged our skis for tomorrow and have an early start planned, so I will take lots of photos and do another update soon.

Missing everyone,

Jenny

Japan Day

The weather has been a bit grotty for the last few weeks, we have had thunder and high winds, lots more rain than usual for this time of year. Everyone keeps saying it is so cold for April, but I am sure I remember saying for the last 2 years that it is too cold for a kimono, hope it warms up for Friday...

And it does! Yesterday was Japan Day at school, time to dig out my Kimono and let some of the moms dress me because I have no idea (I felt a lot better about the situation when I realized half the Japanese department were in there too). In Hindsight, possibly I should have hung up my kimono a few days before, as I had a crease right down my bum that wasn't too flattering. Actually, the hole outfit is pretty unflattering. Kimonos were not designed for women with any kind of curves. I really like mine, it is such pretty colours, but I can't help feeling like a trussed chicken after a few minutes. Aja asked me if I felt like a sausage, but I had to say no. Sausages bend in the middle.

Japan day is nice because there are no usual classes. Instead there are mini-courses about Japanese culture. I did kanji cross-stitch and Japanese cookery. The cross-stitch was great fun, they girls who were running it (I am just in there to supervise, students or parents run most of the classes) put on a CD and just wandered around helping some of the younger ones. Most of the students were girls I teach and it was a lovely small group so we just chatted and sewed. We were given rectangular pieces of fabric to sew, and one of the girls asked if there were any designs for the word "book" or "reading". There weren't, but I got one of the Japanese speakers to write out the symbols and designed it for her, then I stitched it too because I thought it was such a good idea! So now I have a bookmark that says "book" on each end.

I had a break in the middle and went to watch some of the karate class. There was a big group of students from a local club, and they were demonstrating as well as teaching some of our girls a few moves. I had heard about the master's finale piece from the first group and wanted to see him do it. He took a baseball bat, painted so he couldn't even see the grain, and broke it with his hand. Unfortunately they only bought one bat so I didn't get to see it, but I watched some of the fighting for a few moments and then went to my next course.

I had been looking forward to the cookery class the most as it was one I hadn't done before (I took the kanji cross-stitch last year). It was being run by parents and when I walked in they thought I was a student. They were a bit mortified and very apologetic but I take it as a compliment! There were 7 moms in the room, and a class of 20 students, so there wasn't actually any space for me to join in with the cooking itself, I was just there as crowd control (unnecessary at ISSH) or in case of emergencies. There was supposed to be another teacher there so at least I would have had someone to chat to, but she bought her 2 year-old along and then left because he wanted to put his hands in everything. I am not entirely sure why he was there, but I was utterly bored for the next hour. I got a bowl of ice-cream and a pancake at the end, but I was disappointed!

Lunch on Japan day is Ennichi (mixed ticket) lunch. Parents cook all different types of Japanese food and dish it up in very small portions so you can try a bit of everything. I had some Japanese curry, yakisoba (noodles), corn on the cob, yakitori (chicken skewers with a sweetish sauce), mini bentos with rice and sweet egg and pork, sushi and edamame (cold boiled soybeans). It is hard to eat lots of bits in a kimono but somehow I managed!

Just after lunch the Junior school gather outside and do some Japanese festival dances that they have been practising. The rest of the school watches a couple and then they are all allowed to join in. Every year it has been lovely and sunny and the cherry blossoms are out around the edges of the playground, it is beautiful.

In the afternoon there is an assembly with entertainment. This year we had a group called Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko, an Okinawan style drum group who use more modern music and incorporate some karate moves in their act. They were amazing, so energetic and they had people of all ages, all incredible. A couple of the pieces had two guys in a lion costume with a big snappy mouth, and they were doing rolls and running around amongst the kids. Most of them loved it, although there were one or two of the really little ones who were scared, and once they got hugs from their teachers a few more followed! The men took the costume off at the end so they could all see that it was them, but the kindergarten teachers were completely body sheltering the kids so they never saw that bit and were still scared when they came out again. The first lion put his jaw around a few kids heads which went down well, and then picked up a little boy completely and dangled his legs around in the air for a while. The kids looked very giggly and pleased when he got out, so I wonder what they said to him when he was in there. For the very last dance they asked the students to get up and join in, and the lions got absolutely swamped, trapped in a crowd of children all trying to stroke or pat or tug at the costume! They didn't seem to mind too much.

Most years there is a party afterwards, but this year there wasn't one so we went to the pub instead. It was warm and pleasant and the perfect end to a lovely day. It wasn't too late a night as Will had to go back into work today for an event that the school organizes each year, The Kanto Plains Model United Nations. Each student is the delegate of a country (not their real country) and they have debates and research issues, and then in the afternoon they have an "emergency" that they have to sort out. Will does all of the AV stuff, but he also acts out the news correspondent for the emergency as though they are being shown in real time. Apparently some of the girls this year thought it was real, even though he was in the room with them as it was shown! They were discussing the North Korean missile situation so I suppose it was plausible at least.

The nice weather seems to have gone for now though. We have had another thunder storm tonight and rain is forecast tomorrow. I hope it doesn't wash away the cherry blossoms before I get a chance to go and see more of them! The avenue at the university gate is beautiful, and there is a tradition of having hanami parties, where you take a picnic and sit underneath the trees. If the forecast is wrong, that is the plan for tomorrow!

It is finally our short attempt at half term, and it feels like along time since Christmas! We were originally thinking we would like to go away overnight to Gunma or somewhere similar, to an onsen resort like we did in October '07. As it turned out though, now is a very expensive time and we don't have as much spare money as we did then. So instead we decided to hire a car for the day and go back out towards Fuji, to see the Fuji five lakes (Fuji-go-ko) and other bits and pieces we liked the sound of. The day before was gorgeous so we had high hopes, but on Friday morning it was windy and rainy and dark.

We set off along the Tomei expressway when we eventually found it (driving in Tokyo can be difficult at the best of times - possibly leaving during the morning rush hour wasn't our best idea) and the spray made the visibility horrible. We were heading towards lake Yamanakako, the closest of the five lakes. There is an onsen place right at the foot of Mt Fuji which we wanted to try. I love onsen, but Will is not so keen on the whole nudity thing, so when I read about Tenkei I was quite excited. It has the usual single sex onsen, but it also has lots of different temperature small pools in a mixed area where you can wear swimsuits. As it is so close to the mountain, the outside baths look right up to the snow-capped cone, but obviously the weather didn't allow for that. Even so, sitting outside in a hot natural spring bath while cold rain came down and bounced on the water all around was fantastic. Will even seemed to enjoy it! Although he did get bored long before me. I love coming out of nice onsen too, as there are lots of pots and potions in the dressing room to try, and you feel all clean and warm. There was also a relaxation room with big chair/bed combinations and blankets for when you didn't want to bathe (which also faced the mountain), a massage centre and restaurants etc. We spent a couple of hours there and got wrinkly, then moved on to the lake itself. If anyone else comes over to visit, we will definitely take them there. This is what it would have looked like if the weather was better!

We drove around the four closest lakes, and had a quick look at the visitor centre. We were driving around the northern edge of mt Fuji but we couldn't see a thing! Even when the clouds started to lift in other directions, there was still a big dense pile around the cone itself. We stopped for lunch at the most remote lake, Motosuko, and at in a restaurant above the edge. For the last 2 years we have been skiing in this holiday, so we had food we would probably have been eating up in Hokkaido if we had gone, Katsu Kare (pork cutlet with rice and curry and salad) and Flatted Ramen in miso with lots of japanese mushrooms. Mmm.

When we got back outside we looked around and it seemed much brighter than before. Will wandered up to the edge of the carpark to see if Fuji had cleared. I was so busy watching him I walked straight into the drinks machine I was headed for. So I didn't find out that it had cleared, and when we got back into the car and drove out, there was Fuji, right in front of me and perfect. A little further up the road we came to a straight section with no buildings obstructing the view, so we stopped to take some photos. That's right, my camera is finally fixed! Yay!! (Well yay again). As we rounded the north western section of the loop around Fuji, we crossed into Shizuoka prefecture. We were heading for a waterfall which again I had read about and wanted to see. They reminded me of a sort of mini Niagara, as they fell all around a horse-shoe shaped lake, although obviously on a much smaller scale. It was a lot cooler down there, and a long walk back up to the car! But it was all worth it. I had spent ages getting sorted when we left the onsen, using the hairdryer and all the other bits and pieces on offer. The spray from the falls meant that by the time I got back to the car I was a big wavy frizz ball again, but i was just happy to have seen Fuji and cool water falls all in one day!

As we came back up the road towards Fuji again the mist started to lift, but it was cloudier again than it had been before we stopped. We saw Fuji for another few minutes and then the cloud obscured everything. It was a very strange feeling - in the space of two hours Fuji had gone from being completely covered by cloud on a generally sunny day, to being out in glorious sunshine and visible for miles, to dense fog that meant we couldn't see further than the edge of our current valley. Because we were driving around Fuji in a circuit we knew exactly where it was, we just couldn't see it.

And then as we got further away it lifted once more as the sun was starting to set. We were half way back to Tokyo and the view out of the back window was Fuji all pink and glowing from the setting sun. It was a lovely last view!

We had booked the car until late at night, but we were tired and felt we had already been lucky with the things we had seen that day, so we went right back into the city. We gave the car back at 6.30pm, and were amazed to find they gave us a refund for the hours we didn't use! I can't imagine that happening anywhere else in the world.We had a brilliant day!

Today I am being very naughty and filling this in while I watch a class. I have been told off for not keeping up to date, but things have been very busy, and yet again I don't have a useable camera! It broke again, so I am waiting to see if the shop will fix it. It is still withing a year of purchase, but things in Japan aren;t built to last. There is a real throwaway mentality, everyone wants the newest version of everything and nothing is kept. If it goes completely i am just going to get a new one in Britain, then even if it doesn't last least I'll be able to communicate with customer services!



Today is Freaky Friday, a charity day in the middle school to raise money for a Sacred Heart school in Uganda. The students were given free dress for Y200, but they were supposed to come as "someone else". Unfortunately, most of them just swapped clothes with a friend so they still look just like any other free dress day! The teachers joined in too, with a few of us coming as students. Ben M is wearing a full high school uniform, complete with short skirt and untucked shirt (the students keep telling him off - it is untucked because it is too small and won't do up). One of the other teachers has come as her daughter (in grade 10) who is a goth. She looks sooo good, I am going to try to get someone else to take a photo and send it to me. I am wearing a junior school pinnafore. Apparently it was specially made for a huge 8 year old years ago, and when she left it got passed on for teachers to wear. The girls who are new to middle school and wore this uniform last year think it is fab, I have had a lot of coos in the corridors. I have had my photo taken with Priya (dressed in her brothers oversized suit), and am going to add it to my collection of silly outfits I have worn recently. If I can get a copy I will put it on here.



A few weeks ago it was One World Day, always a favourite of mine, when everyone dresses in national costumes or flag colours and there are traditional performances etc. Last year a group of us were Robin Hood and his Merry Men, so this yea we wanted to do something again and keep up the trend. Even more Brits were interested, so eventually there were 7 people who all dressed up as Morris Dancers, with matching ribbons and bells and sticks. It took some coordination to get all the bits, but all in all it was easier than last year and looked terrible, which we think is great on days like that! The more ridiculous the outfits, the better.

Spirit Day and BBQ

There is a very American style of doing things at ISSH. AP exams instead of A levels, excursions, boosters club, and spirit days. The idea is to raise school spirit, get everyone involved and dressed up, and for the one at the start of the year especially, to introduce the sports teams.

The theme for this one was the Olympics, and the students get dressed up in costumes. We had kids in swimming caps, tracksuits and running outfits, snowboarders (even though it was 26 degrees that day!), curlers complete with brush, one of the biology teachers came in his normal clothes but carried around an ancient box of match play tiddly-winks all day (it is not contested at the games but is still an Olympic sport apparently). The girls who were running the day were in togas and olive wreaths. I always seem to be unable to plan non-practical lessons for the days the students dress up - I don't know how I do it! Costumes and Bunsen burners don't mix.

In the afternoon there is a special Spirit assembly, and all the sports teams come out and do a very cheesy dance to introduce themselves. Usually in the time that is left there are competitions. Last year there was a screaming competition, which one of the smallest girls in the school won. This year, it was a limbo contest.

As we left the house to go into school in our football costumes, and Will with blue hair (very spirited - school colours) we passed our new cleaner in the street. She had never met Will before, so I dread to think what she thought of the blue hair, or how we dress for school. She is so sweet, and she looked completely embarrassed to see us, possibly because of our perceived dress sense!

Another nice occasion at the start of the school year is the welcome barbecue. The management team buy lots of food and drinks and the kitchen staff come out from downstairs and we all have a big party. Well, that is the general idea anyway. This year there was a typhoon heading for Tokyo, so it all got moved inside. It wasn't really a barbecue after that, and it meant that people had to eat downstairs and then come upstairs to listen to the band and have drinks. It is still lots of fun, but because it was a whole family event, there were lots of over-excited children, and nowhere for them to run off to (outside there is a playground a little way from the main activities). When the band was playing they were weaving through our legs, picking up the tambourines etc and making as much noise as possible, and generally causing havoc. They had a fantastic time! We on the other hand, with their noise and the poor sound system indoors, couldn't hear ourselves or each other. The audience said we were good, but we have no idea! Fingers crossed for the weather next time, or at least a typhoon day. If it is going to screw things up, the weather could at least give us a day off school!

Random photo time. First Will, Ben and James enjoying the post-typhoon weather. It is always gorgeous the next day, so they went to the baseball.

The other photo is Will playing with Hana at the party.

The last picture was taken at a friends house. The baby is called Violet, and she just loves shoes. She gets quite stroppy at her Japanese nursery when she has to take them off. When She found Kate's pink stilettos she was very excited. I just love it!

Back to School

When we come back to school in August, I always like the idea of having 3 whole days with no students to start us off. We have one day full of meetings, and then we have time just to discuss our classes, plan all our work and get the mounds of photocopying done. Of course I sneeze all the way through the welcome Liturgy (my friend Trish thinks I am allergic to Catholicism since I do that at all school services), fidget my way through the meetings and then start doing the dull bits and pieces like arranging my planner and writing all the dates in my diary.

It is nice, because I never used to have this time to get myself organised before there were 30 kids in the room. On the other hand though, being organised (and I am generally getting better at this) can have a downside.

The students aren't in for another day, and I am BORED! I finished all my work at approximately 10.30 this morning, and have spent the rest of the day procrastinating, wandering around, sneakily playing computer games and finding other interesting ways to waste time. I spent a lot of time at the end of last term starting a new filing system (see, I really am getting organised. I even love spreadsheets) and it has saved me more time than I expected. It's not as though I rushed my work either! So now I am blogging, and from time to time lending my geological knowledge to a Japanese teacher who needs to know lots of English words for things to do with volcanoes. That at least is interesting!

I think we are just about over our jet lag now. I don't know why it takes so much longer when we travel east than when we travel west, but it always seems to take me at least a week to be able to sleep through the night and not hit a wall in the middle of the afternoon. At least we were back early - some of the others only got back at the weekend, and they are really feeling it now! It was good to be back before then, because then we could fully enjoy the Azabu Juban festival.

My camera is still broken and I have done posts about this for the past two years anyway, so I don't have any photos. It looked exactly the same, just imagine rain on there too! It is quite a claustrophobic experience really, as so many people cram into the little streets and around the stalls selling drinks and toys and so many different foods. An Australian friend says she avoids the Juban festival as she has just come back from a small town full of wide open spaces and she can't take the closeness of everyone. It is a great weekend, but when it is raining, it lends a whole new problem.

People in Japan are used to the rain, and used to walking around a lot, so during the summer months almost everyone has an umbrella on them. In a small space filled with so many people, it is quite alarming when a few spots of rain fall and they all suddenly pop out the umbrellas at the same time! Will tends to get hit in the neck, but I am just the height that the back of peoples umbrellas either jab me in the face or pour water off onto my chest. Twice an umbrella got caught in my hair clip, but it is impossible to stop in the sweep of people so it just sort of ripped out. And of course you still get wet! We did take an umbrella but it just seemed to make it harder to move around or carry anything from the stalls, so we gave up. The rain itself wasn't so heavy, it was the gathered drips falling from trees and other people that really got you wet.

We almost didn't go because of the rain, but Will had told one of the new teachers all about it and said we would be there. She doesn't have a phone yet, so there was no way to let her know if we didn't go, and we couldn't just leave her standing in the square waining for us on the off chance, so we went. When we got there, there were loads of school people who all strolled down to see if anyone had turned up. Almost everyone said they had come to get some food and have a look and then leave if there was no-one there, but with a big group, we all ended up staying until the end (not very late, this is Japan - 9pm!). After that some of the group went on to Roppongi to the pub, but I was tired so I went home. Will got in at 3.25am. I have never seen him quite so hungover. In fact I didn't really see much off him the next day at all!

So you are either wet because it is raining, or wet because the heat and humidity is a killer and you are sweating so much, but either way, the Azabu Juban festival of Obon is a fantastic night. And the new teacher had a great time too!

Bangkok

We were a little worried we wouldn't make it to the airport on time, as we had left later than we intended (there's a shock!) and the rain on the way down the motorway was torrential. We couldn't see enough even to change lanes and the traffic all slowed right down for a long time. We also got lost trying to get on to the M40, but that is another story!

The check-in girl was sooo nice, and she put us into an aisle and window seat so that we would have three seats for the two of us. It makes such a big difference, especially with Will's long legs and on an overnight flight. We actually managed to get some sleep, and we were hoping that a stopover in Bangkok would make all the difference to the jet lag when we got back to Japan.

We arrived in Bangkok and were surprised but pleased that it was not as hot as we had expected. We got a taxi to the hotel, and had a bit of a rest before we met up with some friends and let them take over the schedule. They know Bangkok quite well and had been there a few days by the time we arrived, so they had some cool ideas for where to go to eat. We decided on a restaurant called Spring/Summer, which is actually two old converted houses. One is a restaurant which serves modern Thai food, and the other is a dessert and drinks cafe style place. We called ahead to book at 7.30, but they said they didn't take bookings and we should hurry because they get very busy after 8pm. We went straight outside to try to get a taxi.

Taxis can be difficult and quite annoying in Thailand. You can tell them where you want to go, and try to negotiate a price (which is usually cheap), but they will always start to try to convince you that the place you want is no good and they know somewhere better! It doesn't matter if it is a tourist attraction, shop or hotel, but the main problem areas are restaurants and tailors. I have never asked to be taken to a tailor, but the taxi drivers are notorious for trying to take you there. We just had to stick to our mantras of where we were trying to go!

The first taxi driver we spoke to told us it was a 1-2 hour drive and (here's one we didn't see coming!)he knew somewhere better. We told him we would get the train instead. We went to where we thought we should be and started walking, but Mark had misinterpreted the address (they make about as much sense as Japanese addresses so it wasn't hard to do) and we were miles away. We stopped to ask directions from a tuk-tuk driver who told us (surprise surprise!) that it was a rubbish restaurant and he could take us somewhere better! We were quite coordinated when all four of us chorused "Nooooo!" and then we started to make fun of him by saying "tailor?" too. He laughed. One of the better things about Bangkok is that everyone is very friendly. Eventually we agreed that it was too far to walk and set a price for the tuk-tuk.

A tuk-tuk is a sort of motorbike with a cart, not like a trailer but part of the bike, covered over and with a small seat inside. They are tiny. Somehow we managed to squeeze all four of us inside, although it meant Mark sitting on a sort of metal ledge at the side next to all of our feet. We hung on to the bars in the roof and set off.

The poor guy driving us was not the one who had agreed the price, and clearly (after about half an hours driving) had no idea where he was going. He weaved around streets and in and out of lanes of traffic, and eventually conceded defeat and called back his boss on Mark's mobile. He followed those directions for a while, then stopped to ask outside a different restaurant. It seemed we needed to turn around, but that is difficult for a tuk-tuk, so instead we drove through the courtyard of the restaurant. There was a big aerial antenna with a streamer attached to the back of the tuk-tuk, and it was bent right over and bouncing off all of the struts in the roof.

As it was my first time in a tuk-tuk, I was quite enjoying the ride, looking at all the sights and smelling all the smells! Mark was less comfortable by this time though. I am not so sure he would have offered to sit on the ledge if he had realised it was going to be for an hour! When we eventually arrived it was 9pm. There was no space in the restaurant, but they found us a table in the other area and said we could order from the full restaurant menu. They food was great, and of course we had to have dessert since we were in a specialist chocolate place! We all had different things so we could try lots (including mine, the biggest brownie I ever saw). They were all spectacular too. The taxi ride home was much shorter than getting there!

The next day we met up again and went shopping. Bangkok is knock-off heaven, but they still seem to have the same size issues as Japan - ie they don't fit us. Will managed to get a few t-shirts and we got some DVDs, but that was about it.

For lunch, Mark had set his heart on going to an art deco hotel which had been used in lots of films and is supposed to be really interesting. We found it far more easily than Spring/Summer! It is called the Atlanta, and it was as nice as described. Inside we found a sign which said something along the lines of "this restaurant is for room guests only. We may on occasion serve non-residents, but if we don't like the look of you we will refuse to serve you and no explanation will be given". There was also a long list of the types of people they didn't like. After some confusion (one woman would serve us, but the other didn't seem too happy) we were allowed inside, and you could tell we were all on our best behaviour, extra polite and quieter than usual! In the menu there was another full page explanation of their policy. It seems that they are determined to protect their guests from all of the things they consider to be the negative side of tourism in Bangkok, and anyone who doesn't like it can get lost. It was a very funny place. They even told us we couldn't take photos, but the food was nice and it was very interesting to see it. If you didn't know about it, you would never find it. Definitely worth the trip. Even in our hotel, people were constantly trying to get you to take a taxi if you walked through the lobby, so I can see the appeal of the Atlanta!