It's the day after Christmas. I'm sitting in my parent's house, typing on their computer. I'm spoiled by my wireless internet and super-fast internet connection in Japan, that's for sure.

Things are very good here. I'm managing to stay relaxed despite all that I need to be doing and the people I need to see. I'm still listening to Christmas music and hope my mom doesn't take down the tree until after the new year begins. A friend recommended the Sufjan Stevens Christmas cd. It was an excellent recommendation. Thank you, Allison. He kept me company on the plane ride here. I want to write many things about my time here and thoughts about what is going on. I do hope I have time to do so. But for now I'll write down a few things that have been on my mind.

For better or for worse, America has tons of diversity and options in everything. My main culture shock may come to me whenever I feel mentally prepared to walk into a Wal-Mart. I hate Chicago airport, but I've gone through it a few times now and know what to do and where to go without thinking too hard. As soon as I land on American soil inevitably I want a turkey sandwich. I remembered a salad stand that sold turkey roll-ups, so I went straight there after I found my correct gate number. I was standing behind a British woman who was a bit overwhelmed by the situation. You could literally chose among about 25 or 30 types of things that you wanted on your salad or sandwich. She asked the store worker, "Do you have any smaller size, like a Child Size?" The worker replied, "We only have one size." Then it was my turn and I was asked what kind of salad dressing I wanted on my roll-up. I don't like dressing so I said "none" but I did take a look at the options while paying. On the menu were literally 14 different salad dressings. 14!! I was awestruck. Is it really necessary to have 14 salad dressings to chose from? I found the 14 salad dressings just very reflective of American culture in general. You get what you want here. You have options. You have many options. Everyone's giant salad is different and individual; it looks different and tastes different.

On a similar note, I went to Cracker Barrel with my parents, Brock, and his girlfriend Amber. It took us awhile to tell the witress our order. Why? This is how things went. Me, "I'd like two eggs, two biscuits, and two pieces of turkey sausage." Waitress, "How would you liek your eggs cooked?" Me, "Medium." Waitress, "Do you want gravey with your biscuit?" Me, "No, jelly is fine." Waitress, "Would you like strawberry, grape, blackberry, honey, or apple butter?" Me, "Um....blackberry." Then Brock went. Brock, "...and a glass of milk." Waitress, "We have whole milk, 2%, and skim." Brock, "2%." Waitress, "Ice in your glass or no ice? Oh, and what kind of ham? We have sugar ham, Canadian, or country." I was amazed by the whole situation. I like having a lot of choice. But I imagined a Japanese person being very overwhelmed in a similar restaurant situation.

Indianapolis is the 11th largest city in America. Not many people know this fact. It is growing quickly. Over the last several years a great number of Mexican and latino people have immigrated to the region. It is amazing to see the number of Spanish-speaking people out and about. I have noticed it so much more even in the 1.5 years I've been away. My eyes have a hightened sensitivity for seeing diversity around here, too. Has the diversity really increased or did I just never notice it before? I don't know. With diversity and growth comes conflict. Such is the story of American history. So in the last 1.5 years crime rate has increased in the city. The Latino community is moving into the once predominately African-American community and conflict is occuring between the groups of people. My parents house is not too far from this crime-sticken area. The area has always been crime-stricken. Poor familys and many drug dealers. When I entered high school the reality of where I lived set in when I began making friends with people in better areas of my school district. Some were afraid to come to my house for fear they would be shot.

Saturday my mom and I stopped by a new International Foods store in this "rough" area of town about 10 minute drive from my house called Sagara. On our drive we noticed a couple smaller stores with 'internationl foods' signs and a number of Mexican supermarkets. I said, "I'm sure the majority of foods in Sagara are Mexican, but let's see what hey have. Even thought the store name could potentially be Japanese, I'm sure it's Spanish." Oh my heart and eyes were so happy at what I saw in that store! There were Asians and Latino people working there. One isle had a mixture of Jamaican and African food, another isle American products, another Korean food, another Chinese, another Mexican, and low and behold, Japanese! Everything I am every going to crave was in that store--umeboshi, instant miso soup, actual miso, genuine okonomiyaki and yaki soba sauce, okonomiyak mix, good tofu, sushi type yaki soba type pickled ginger, soba noodles, instant yaki soba, Pokey, sake, even those little chocolate cream filled koala bears. Ha, I had to laugh because there were bean-paste mochi sweets and even the tasteless cakes and deserts. These foods were no more expensive than what I pay in Japan, which was a sad reminder of just how expensive it really is to live in Japan and how I hardly notice high prices anymore. A friend of mine said a Korean family runs Sagara. Maybe "Sagara" is a Korean word, then? I work with a Ms. Sagara at one of my junior high schools. I will have to tell her that there is an amazing international foods store in Indianapolis with her same name. With all the Japanese food in that store, there must be a number of Japanese people in the community that never noticed before. I cannot wait to run into some of them.

I know that I will miss Japan when I leave. It will be an emotional time and I will probably question whether the decision to not re-contract was the right decision or not. And I don't know if I will be in Indiana or Washinton at this time next year. The future is exciting and a little scary. But I know I will be ok when I come back, wherever I end up. I feel extremely different than I did 1.5 years ago. I am older and wiser and more culturally aware. I appreciate the diversity around me now rather than take it for granted like I did before. Who would have thought one could find such pleasure out of simplicities such as heat in my house, soap and paper towels in public restrooms, trash cans, the ability to use my credit card anywhere I want, my family who hugs me, turkey, raspberry yogurt, whole grain breads and crackers and cereals, the ability to search down a restaurant of whatever kind of food I am craving, stores open 24hrs a day, coffee shops that are open past 9pm. Of course there are plenty of things that annoy me now that didn't before, but no country or culture is perfect. I want to focus on the positive. Overall I feel really lucky to be here right now and want to enjoy every minute of it before going back to the homogenious Japan.

Leaving on a big plane

I'm headed to Kansai to fly home in a few hours. I may blog some while home in those jet-lagged hours when everyone is sleeping but me. I hate flying but I feel pretty good about this trip. Hopefully more relaxed than usual. There was a great deal that happened in the last week that I never got around to blogging about, including a terrible bit of flu I acquired, graduate school applications, meeting a really cool Japanese kid that is schooled in New Zealand, etc. And I never did post photos of the sake festival or trip to Kyoto. Blast. Well to those of you staying in Japan, enjoy your Christmas here. To the others, have a great time with your family/friends, wherever you are.

After Party and Slumber Party

Looking back on things I should not have gone to the Mid-Year Seminar after party. My stomach was feeling strange, my head was hurting, and I made one too many trips to the toilet. But I figured I was feeling weird from sitting all day and listening to the presentations. And it is not uncommon for me to have digestion problems. So I ignored my feelings of strangeness and went. I enjoyed talking to some folks I haven't talked to in awhile or ever, including Yamane and the other kencho guy that was there. Both of them seemed very intersted in our thoughts about Japan and our experiences within the schools.

Laura and Chris

At the restaurant

Mr. Yamane and me

Following the party, several of us had a slumber party at Becky I's apartment. Futons were sparce and the temps weren't too bad but still a bit chilly. With some improvisation, things worked out just fine and we were warm as we slept. Thanks for always being such a great host, Becky!

Laura in Becky I's kitchen doing what she does best. I can not remember why we took this photo.

Sherona and me

All of us sleeping next to each other for warmth.

AJET Christmas Party in Hagi

Daniel stayed at mine on Friday evening and we made the long journey up to Hagi together in the rain. Jo came and fetched us from the train station. On our walk there, we ran into her supervisor who was kind enough to drive us to the party. It was a sea of red. There was much meat and merriment. Following the party several of us headed to Dan and Rosie's t and others to the bucket bar. Lovely seeing all of you who came out. And many thanks to Jo for welcoming us to her apartment.

Christmas cookies

Before summer vacation, the curriculum head at this school approached me. He said he wanted the students this year to learn more about American culture and holidays and asked if I was willing to teach it. "Of course!" I said. I was so happy that a school had shown such interest. (This is the same school that we had Halloween Day last month, and I dressed as a dinosaur). Christmas was a perfect opportunity to cook. The school agreed, so we made plans for 5th and 6th grade to make Christmas cookies. Each student in the whole school would get two cookies (about 300 cookies total) and were to eat them following lunch. They asked me to buy all the ingredients and cookie cutters. Luckily I found a generic cookie mix off The Flying Pig that I had tried out in October to make Halloween cookies for a party. We used the same cookie mix and only needed to add water to the mixture. The school only owned one microwave oven, so every teacher brought their own ovens from to the school.





We couldn't cook the cookies as fast as the students cut them. Every free moment in the day the teachers and I were running up to the kitchen, baking the cookies. This was on top of me teaching four other classes that made cards and crafts instead of cookies. The day was a huge success. We ended up making well over 300 cookies. Turns out we actually made nearly 600!! Most of the students had never made such cookies before. They were very proud of their creations, as they should have been.

Japanese Class Year-End Party

Last night was our final Japanese class for this calendar year. Following the lesson, we received certificates of completion for those of us who attended the majority of classes. Woohoo! The teachers organized a meal for us at St. Valentine, the famous posh wedding chapel right outside of Shimonoseki Station.

Becky, me, and Mariette.

A delicious fish dish underneith mashed potatoes. Quite Western.

Small shrimp salad, potato salad, and some kind of potato thing.

Members from all four levels of class plus the many Japanese teachers.

Shinmura-sensai and classmates. She said this was her 15th year teaching Japanese to foreigners. I feel incredibly lucky to have her as a teacher. She is one of the kindest, most patient women I have met here.

I earned my pay check this week

I don't know about for everyone, but the last few months have been crazily busy, especially November. This past week rendered me absolutely exhausted. Monday was a full day of elementary school followed by Japanese class. I go to Japanese class directly after work every Monday and don't get home from class until about 10pm, so it makes for very long days.

Tuesday was five classes of elementary school plus kindergarten. During the final class, twenty-four observers watched Mr. Okada and I team-teach the 6th grade together. These people included every principal, vice principal, and head of teachers from each school in Kikugawa, Yokouchi-sensai, a man from Kencho, and parent volunteers. Sadly this 6th grade class is the least genki class I have ever seen. It is like pulling teeth for Mr. Okada and I to get them to react. Considering the dynamics of the class and all the observers, my nerves were a bit rattled, but I think we did well. I should have had someone take photos of us teaching together, but I didn't think about it until after. Here are a few from that day, though.

Kindergarten doing a dance for me.

Newspaper sumo. Yeah, I didn't do so well.

Singing "The Wheels on the Bus." The kids really enjoyed it and caught on quickly. The book helped, too.

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Friday I had five more classes of a visit elementary school. Laura and I did a workshop for all the teachers of this school in the summer. We had a really fun time that day teaching them many games and ideas. I even made them a CD with English songs for them to use. (Flash back to the workshop--gesh it was hot in that room, but we had an enjoyable time).

I had high hopes for this day, thinking that surely they would use one of our new/different/cool games or songs that we taught them. Needless to say, I was disheartened to see that the lesson plan showed five games of Fruit Basket. Did we do that workshop for no reason?? Anyhow, the day went well, but I was knackered after five games of Fruit Basket and shaking 160 second-graders' hands.

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The job of ALT isn't just about teaching. Sometimes public appearances are involved. Mr. and Mrs. Ok invited me to attend a special dinner at the nursing home they run. The famous sumo wrestler, Kotoshogiku, was going to be in town. About 20 people were allowed to come to the dinner. Lucky me! They thought it would be a good idea for me to go and show my face to the "high class" people of town.

Kotoshogiku is from Fukuoka. A newly turned 23-year-old, he won one of three prizes at the past tournament. His overall ranking is 8th, much higher than Shimonoseki-inaka native Homosho. Kotoshogiku was a charming fellow, completely unphased by my foreignness. He took seven onigiri with him back to his hotel room as an evening snack!! Before he left, he gave us each a calendar, a keitai charm with his name on it, and the plate below. He also gave me a wink on his way out, but I don't think anyone saw it but me. ;)