Adventures in Japan: Week 16: Deck the halls!

Welcome to December!

time for SUGAR

Still looks like fall out there, but OH WELL!

This week was SO fun! Very busy, and MONDAY was the best day EVER. Well, ok, not EVER, but it was pretty darn awesome.

"WHY?" I hear you call out. "HOW can Monday be good?"

Let me tell you.

First! I had my bike back, and it wasn't raining, so I got to bike to school.

When I got to school, the kids were doing so well in classes, they were having fun, they were learning, and it was just great.

After classes, I got a little bored, so I started wandering the halls, and I saw the Home Ec kids were in the kitchen and I thought "huh. wonder if I can just...see what they're making. And if they have enough to share..." But they didn't they were done and cleaning up. Across the hall, however, I could smell something sweet. Science class was melting sugar to make lollipops! And they had an extra! Just for me! :D

I got to wander around and watch them make more and I gotta say, I was very impressed with how responsible they were being. No one caught on fire or got burned and nothing exploded. :)

They cooked over FIRE.

AFTER school, I was biking home and this place I had heard about previously, that makes great hamburgers, and was right on my route home, was finally open! And it was a bacon burger! on a home made TOASTED bun! And it was good.

This is a little shack that holds a bit of heaven.

I got a new fridge! Well, new for me. Someone was moving out, so the manager put up a sign "does anyone want a mid-sized fridge?" and I was like "ME! PICK ME!"

I have FREEZER SPACE

I can now buy AND store icecream!

And THEN I decorated some for Christmas! and listened to carols!

I bet you're thinking the day can't get any better. YOU'RE WRONG.

I got a notice on my facebook from someone else who lives in this building. "You're so lucky, I just directed two boys towards your door. They're carrying pie."

I shared with her. and a few others. the rest was MINE

AAAAAHHHH!!!
THE ELDERS GOT ME PUMPKIN PIE FROM COSTCO!!

THAT is how you have the best Monday EVER.

The rest of the week kinda paled in comparison, but it was still good. :)

Tuesday, after classes, I wandered again, so I got to see an art class preparing to carve some boxes. I mean, the boxes were in a kit, the kids were to plan and decorate the top and sides with carvings. They were at all stages of the project, and all plans had to be approved and checked by the teacher.

They each have a set of carving tools.

They sketch it on before starting.

This one's gonna be interesting, I just know.

A few kids decided to get fancy and use English words, so I got to spell check them. :) (otherwise one girl would have had a box that read "swimer" )

Starting Wednesday was parent/teacher conferences, so the kids would go home after lunch. This, of course, meant I got to be bored after lunch, but oh well.

My Wednesday/Thursday school hasn't done their running yet, so they're still practicing, so right between 2nd and 3rd period, half the school got out into the yard and ran.

and no one ran into each other!

And I thought it was an excellent practice, because it wasn't DISTANCE, it was TIME and they had to focus on pacing themselves and finding the speed they can maintain for a long time. And the teachers did it too. Lead by example after all!

I had a busy week, so Thursday, I took the time after school to go to a Bathhouse I had found on Google maps near me. There are all kinds of bath houses, so you never know EXACTLY what kind you're gonna get. This one was pretty nice.

Those of you who don't know about bath houses, I can hear you "why would you want to go to a public bath?" Because I've heard that question many many many times.

Ok. Do you like spending time in a Jacuzzi? Hot tubs? Well, that is what a public bath is like. Only the baths are bigger. And there are more of them. You have options of different temperatures. There's usually a warm tub, a cold tub and a HOT tub. The jets are set a different heights in different sections to hit different body parts. They even have a spot where they're like reclined chairs so you can let the jets hit your legs. They have saunas of two different temperatures. They have a section to get cleaned off before you go into the tubs. They don't use chlorine, they cycle and filter the water. Many public baths also have shallow tubs for kids. (this one didn't have one, but oh well) It's all in an enclosed room so you don't get cold going from one tub to another. AND they're separated by gender. They're usually open until about 1 AM. It is a little patch of heaven you can get into for only $4.50 and they don't limit your time. THAT is why I like public baths.

Friday, oh Friday school. OH Friday school. Remember last week, how I said "if only I didn't have to teach one week of 6th grade, the lessons would line up"? and then I ONLY had to teach 6th grade? So I asked for a day off school next Friday, and it finally got approved Thursday. So Friday I didn't have to teach 6th grade. OF COURSE. :P

I planned for my Christmas lesson in my free time.

One thing I loved about this week was seeing all the Christmas decorations the schools put up!

I love how they have the bigger decorations up where no one can play with them.

time to turn random bits of nature into winter decorations!

pretty good idea considering they're not gonna get snow! (I especially love the glasses)

THIS I want to try sometime.

Saturday, I headed into Osaka! I had heard about a "snowman festival" and got info on it, so off I trotted for a solo adventure.

I saw some interesting things.

I saw a giant cat

that dispensed boxes

And an ice skating rink

And an escalator going into a portal of some sort.

There was a great view up there.

would NOT live in the city

Guess what I did NOT see!

SNOWMEN.

I finally went over to something else I had heard about, the "German Christmas village" It was a little hard to find, but well worth it. There was this AWESOME juggler

There were lots of stalls

There was a lovely Creche

And a Santa train

And a giant tree

And there were foods that WEREN'T JAPANESE.

And cocoa!

Don't get me wrong, I love Japanese food. but boy it was nice to have a change.

And I finally found some snowmen!

They were busy talking, so I didn't bother them.

And I decided, I was feeling more cheerful, so I'd try that ice skating.

You can't really tell here, and *I* didn't realize it until after I got there, that it was too WARM for ice. So they had some sort of plastic substitute. Which...actually worked pretty well. I mean, I still prefer ice, but, yeah, not bad! I still had fun, which was the important part.

Now interesting parts of me hurt though.

As it got later, I noticed something odd off to the side. Get ready for your "ok, it's Japan" moment.