other bits and bobs...

I realize that I spent my first month or two posting about the everyday things that made Japan a fascinating experience, but have lately only been writing about special events... so I'd like to take a moment to comment on the variety of little things that have been keeping me entertained of late.

The most important thing that I could mention in a post like this is my kotatsu.. but I've decided to give that matter special attention next week (when my apartment is clean enough to take a picture of my winter lover).

Next up, Snoring Sensei.
There are several things that you should know about this image:
1- my desk is no less than one inch outside the frame to the left. So when he settles in for his long winter nap I'm sitting about 3 feet away from him...giggling the whole time.
2- teachers quietly put their heads down to sneak a quick nap at their desks pretty frequently, but this particular teacher wanders over to the couch, snuggles under that blanket and snores away for up to 2 hours. I've seen him do it several times, probably more than once a week.
3- to his credit, he usually sleeps after school. In my opinion, these Japanese teachers stay at school waaaaay to long, sometimes past 7 or 8. Finish grading your papers at home! get some sleep!
4- the other teachers in the room will either politely ignore Snoring Sensei or giggle occasionally when he gets loud, but no one would dare wake him... not because he's scary, but because waking him is somehow ruder than him snoring (??)
In all, this is probably the most exciting thing that happens to me during my many hours in the teachers' room...thank you Snoring Sensei!

Christmas Cards.
Although this happened before Christmas, I never got around to blogging about it... I only had a few days at one of my schools before the holidays, so rather than teach a class I showed "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." While certain things were lost in translation (one class asked me why he gave the presents back at the end) the movie is visual enough that the kids could laugh and follow the general story. I had wanted to make Christmas cards afterwards, but my teacher insisted that we wouldn't have time. These kids are so creative and energetic that I had really been looking forward to making cards so I was pretty disappointed, but she stood firm. At the end of the class one of my 2nd year boys came up, handed me a card and wished me a Merry Christmas... then another boy did the same, and another, and the girls... next thing I know I'm holding a stack of beautiful handmade Christmas cards, holding back tears (because I'm a mushy wimp). I already loved these kids, but the surprise Christmas cards really put me over the edge. They were so beautifully done and it was obvious that some of the kids really put a lot of time into them. I even had a few of my more courageous little flirts sign their cards "with love" ... hee hee

A single purchase that inspired many questions.
They may not look like much to you, but these rubbery-plastic booties make me feel like both a huge dork and an old Japanese housewife. With a grippy sole and sexy design, these booties help keep your feet from getting wet and soapy when you're scrubbing bathroom floors. As its freezing in my house, standing around with wet feet is especially unappealing... and I do hate having to walk around in the cleaner. I know that using them will be spectacular, but I can't help wondering who I've become. Am I really a person who buys fashion accessories for cleaning the bathroom?? and perhaps more importantly, where am I going to keep the things after I use them?

JASC-love in Tokyo over the holidays.
I went to chukagai (Chinatown) in Yokohama with some friends pretty shortly after returning from Thailand. We ate lots of yummy nikuman and I made a wish by banging this gong... the picture captures the moment when I was told that I banged the gong like a wimp and needed to do it again, for real this time.
Then I tricked my friend Jeff into believing that there was something that made Kiryu worth visiting in the winter (great Indian restaurant?) and he took some of his valuable visiting-Japan time to come up and entertain me for a few days when I went to work between the holiday weekends in January.Friday came and I ran back down to Tokyo for a weekend filled with good friends and JASCers that I hadn't seen since our conference in 2004. We had a dinner party and ended up staying out all night with a bunch of people singing karaoke. The trains stop between 12 and 1 am in Tokyo, so its pretty easy to find yourself faced with the decision to pay a ridiculous cab fare or just stay out until the trains start again after 5. I also did a bit of shopping that weekend... good news because I found a great pair of jeans on holiday clearance at Zara, bad news because I can't restrain myself to just a pair of jeans during the sales. Great week, though!
(thats me, singing my heart out... these photos were shamelessly stolen from a friend's blog.)

Weather update.
These are the lovely sliding glass doors that separate my (always) messy kitchen from my (surprisingly) messy bedroom. Moderately successful at providing a barrier to keep the AC in my bedroom, their main purpose so far has been to serve as my earthquake alarm. They sometimes rattle a bit when someone runs down the building stairs with remarkable heaviness, but otherwise remain silent until an earthquake hits (at which time they make a TON of noise). I was pretty pleased with myself for finding a good method for differentiating between the roaring wind which sometimes shakes my outside doors along with the rest of the building, sounding very earthquake-like, with an actual earthquake. However, this past week the wind was blowing SO HARD that these glass doors in the middle of my apartment rattled along with the rest of my building... this means one of two things: 1- the wind is shaking my building with the same force as an earthquake -OR- 2: the wind is blowing THROUGH my apartment. Either way, I don't like it one bit.

Going skiing in Niigata-ken this weekend, so I'll try to take pictures and get back into the groove of posting regularly (feel free to leave encouraging comments).