Week 17: What a busy week!

So, last week, after talking to family and posting my blog, I ventured BACK out into the winter night to see the Kobe Luminarie.  It's a big lights display to memorialize the victims of a giant earthquake years ago.  When I found out about it, I read the notice that although it is a nightly occurrence, they suggest we not go on weekends as it will be very crowded.  Well.. Pfft! We went the first Sunday it was open, obviously we laugh in the face of notices.  And guess what!

It was crowded

First thing that happened, we got off at the train station and there were a bunch of cops.

Holding signs

Luminaria, THAT WAY

In order to provide crowd control, they had blocked off looooong stretches of street so that they could control the speed (and amount, and direction) of people arriving at the luminaria.  To give you an idea of how much street they blocked off, the illumination was pegged, mapwise, as a 5 minute walk away from the station.  The crowd control started AT the station.

Then you got in line and walked.

This is the line. it fills the entire street

and walked

aaaaaand walked

We walked for approximately 40 minutes!  And this wasn't stop and go. (much) This was a nice, gentle walking pace! They blocked off over a mile of center city streets to control traffic!  We walked around and around, sometimes seeing the illuminations and then being led off in another direction, like "nope! Just kidding!"

Felt kinda like Disney, except the line kept moving.

Anyhow, finally we arrived at the illumination!

ooOOOOooo

And they were beautiful!  Even better in person, of course.

you could see the lights cycle through the camera, that was weird.

They of course, had people asking for help with the cause, you know, keep the lights on, etc.

when you donated, they changed color!

And they even had the Japan post office mascot!

EVERYTHING has a mascot in Japan

And then there were MORE Lights!

OOOooooo!

This part was free standing, while the last one was on a building.  They had a stage in there, but nothing was happening on it.

They also had, to the side, normal festival stalls, lots of food.

Bread things, they're good, but they need custard filling.

sugar dipped, and decorated, fruits

candied oranges, tomatoes (?), grapes, and persimmons (?!)

I just had a meat bun, and we called it a night, after all, we had come to see the lights. :)  It was all very fun.  I got home just a little after curfew, so after all that walking, I was ready for bed!

Now, as I tell you about my week, keep in mind that I have a self-imposed curfew, as I get up at the same time every school morning, and I LIKE not being exhausted when I wake up.

So! School on Monday! I did a lot of planning for the Christmas lesson, as it begins this next week!  We want it to be fun, informative, and...well, crafty. That one doesn't change for countries apparently. :)  We'll be making cards.

I'm not sure WHAT this is for, but it was presented to the school as being a future decoration in the library.

Phoenix!

And I was impressed, so I wanted to show you.

anyone else struck by the irony of a fire bird made out of balloons?

After school Monday I had to do a lot of grocery shopping, as I didn't have time last Saturday. (remember, I was in Osaka, hunting snowmen)  And it was my ONE day off after school ALL WEEK.

So, Tuesday was entertaining, because I spent one and a half of my four classes teaching the WRONG lesson.  My co-teacher handed me the lesson she had scheduled, but due teaching a culture lesson, I was a week behind, so I was rushing through review of stuff the kids hadn't learned yet!  It took me that long to realize because I had already taught it in another school!  I was like "wait! Why are they having trouble with this?! Oh, right..."   We both laughed over it and I got the right lesson for the other two classes. :)

After school Tuesday, at 7, I went to Church to help the elders with their English speaking class.  It's fun, and they don't need me for much, but the students get to talk to another person. (and my enunciation is better, as I'm not from Utah) :P  (That's right! I said it!)  And I got home right before curfew.

Wednesday, the 6th graders taught me about Japanese culture!  Over the last three weeks, they had picked topics in their groups and looked up the basic vocabulary to tell me about their thing! So I learned a few Japanese folk tales, about festivals, lots on Japanese food and toys, it was just neat!  I finally got to really see things from the teacher's side of group projects. I gotta tell you, you can usually tell who actually did the work... :)

Wednesday night, at 7, was movie night at the church.  The Elders have just instituted it, mostly as a way to bring together people to befriend the investigators.  We watched Mountain of the Lord.  In Japanese. However, I've seen it enough times, I just about have it memorized.  And I got home just before curfew.

Thursday, the school had their marathon!  It was fun!

First we had the mighty migration of students

5th grade

Then they ran!

It was, as always, very well planned.  Japanese schools seem to cover all the bases really well before trying these things.

Even better, they got all their running in before the rain started.

For classes that day, they students were making Christmas cards.  They learned the names of stationary tools, like paper, tape, glue, etc.  Then they learned "excuse me, may I borrow__?"

What was really cute was when they had borrowed everything from me, and then I walked among them and a student would lean over to their partner "excuse me, may I borrow___?"  Or when they tried to do it in Japanese and their partner would stop them and guide them through "excuse me, may I borrow___?" :D

Thursday, after school, I went to the mall to meet up with a friend to get Christmas decorations for the Ward Christmas party!  They wanted the views of Americans, and we were like "Lady, it changes between people SO MUCH..."

Anyhow, I got there, late, tired, and wet, and she had sent me a note (that I hadn't gotten until I was there) saying that she couldn't make it.

 !!!!

I mean, she had sent the note on time, can't blame her.  But it had been a long week!

I limped home and rejoiced in the fact that I had requested Friday off and would have a chance to rest.

WRONG

I mean, I slept in.  I cleaned my room. And then at noon, I went to meet a Japanese friend at the train station, we were going to Kyoto!

We met at KFC

It's Santa KFC! 

And while it WAS raining, it wasn't bad.

and it made for some lovely pictures!

She walked me around some

it had been raining a LOT.

And we saw a "famous bridge"

"because it's old" apparently

And I while I was checking out a store, I got ambushed by some students from Tokyo!  They asked me survey questions!

This hadn't happened since Korea! :)

We saw some great Japanese gardens!

The ground is covered in moss. It's what they do.

 And lovely color contrast!

That's the friend. She likes posing "tough" but she's a teddy bear. :)

And we saw the golden Pavilion!

You'll never guess how it got it's name.

No reflection in the pond today, but still lovely.

Can I just...have a rafter? To pay off some debts?

The pavilion was in some beautiful countryside

And one wondered what it was like "back in the day." 

When David and I traveled Japan, I kept wondering what it woulda been like to live in Japan in old times.  And be Japanese. Because the old times I'm thinking of, I'd get killed as a demon if I was in Japan....

Now, as mentioned before, Japan is a gift giving culture, so a lot of this day was spent being interested in stuff, but never looking QUITE interested enough for her to BUY me stuff.  It was a real struggle!  (Dani, stop laughing at me) One tussle over a toy ended with her grabbing it from me, shouting "I'm Japanese!" and ducking into the store!  

I wouldn't let her buy me any more things.  So she compensated by buying me food.  At this point, I just went with it. :P

Black sesame ice cream!  Very tasty actually. For being gray.

Then we went to a zen rock garden!

feel the peace.

Only they had a lady talking about it in Japanese over a loud speaker, so it was less peaceful.

I wondered about this kind of gardening for a while, but then I realized...Japan is a JUNGLE.  So THIS is different for them!  It's also about the simplicity of presentation.  Not upkeep, because that's gotta be a BEAST to keep clear from debris.

There was a well that is very famous.   The inscription around the four sides of the "coin" say "I learn only to be contented."  Or, "he who learns only to be contented is spiritually rich, while the one who does not learn to be contented is spiritually poor, even if he is materially wealthy."

We walked through some of old Kyoto

a Kabuki theater!

famous river. in a lot of old poems

part of the ...Geisha quarter

famous temple entrance.

And then we went home, because we had walked a lot, and we were tired.  Of course, we couldn't separate ways before she bought me food. Even though I'm a full grown person, wasn't THAT hungry, and had food at my place. :P

She looks so comfy in that scarf! She's such a dear. :)

AND I got home in time for FHE...which was at 7 at the church. Where they fed me.  And I got home JUST before curfew.

So, when Saturday rolled around, I was SO GLAD for a day to relax.  I slept in, I did laundry. I went grocery shopping... and that turned into more of an effort than I thought it would be.  Then, I was like, "you know, I'm doing pretty well still. I'll make those Christmas treats I've been meaning to."

So I spent the evening juggling 3 different dishes!  I wanted to make hot fudge sauce for some gifts, but it required evaporated milk. Which they don't have here. So I evaporated my own milk. While doing that, I made gingersnaps.  Because the oven doesn't hold many cookies at a time, when I was done with the main portion of that, I began making dinner, a fairly simple cheese and rice mix. And when ALL THAT was done, I then used the milk to make fudge sauce.  When I finally had everything finished and got it up to my room, I had been cooking for 2.5 hours!  yeesh!  And then I had to clean my room from all my shopping.

So.

Good day, but not nearly as resting as I thought it would be.

This probably explains why I woke up with a tickle of a cold bugging me.  So TODAY, I took it easy. Sunday is a day of rest, right?  Well, napping is resting!  I feel better now, so no worries!

Next week I start the Christmas lessons!  I'm very excited!

Partly because that means winter break is coming. :D