Kyoto: Tofuku-ji and Fushimi-inari

The modern Kyoto.  The first picture is the Kyoto Tower, we could see it from our hotel room. We stayed in the Kyoto station area of the city.  The picture above is the Kyoto station decorated for Christmas.  Yes, they appear to celebrate Christmas in Japan.  It is very commercial with all of the stores decorated and playing Christmas music.  Japanese people give gifts to children and celebrate by eating KFC and cake?! I am not sure where these traditions originated but I assume it is some sort of mimicking of western traditions.                                                                                                              

An example of the people flocking to take a picture of the fall colors! A picture of someone taking a picture is the closest we could get.

As you can see, the fall colors at this temple were particularly vibrant! 

Despite the crowds we were able to relax in the sunshine of the zen gardens at Tofuku-ji temple. After a break, we headed fifteen minutes down the road to Fushimi-inari shrine.  It is famous for the long winding trail of tori gates.  We didn't have enough day light to hike up the mountain side through the gates but we enjoyed a portion of the trail. 

You may be wondering shrine vs. temple, what is the difference?  The temples are Buddhist where they worship Buddha and the shrines are Shinto where they worship many gods or spirits. In Japan most people practice a combination of the two beliefs adopting rituals from both. 

Fushimi-inari is the fox shrine, the fox is believed to be the patron of business (originally the god of rice).

In Japan, it is customary to give "omiyage" when you return from a trip.  Here I am shopping for omiyage to give to my coworkers. Usually omiyage is a small individually wrapped edible sweet. I bought fortune type cookies.

Goodbye Kyoto, we are off on the Shinkansen to Tokyo.  We stopped in Tokyo to enjoy a meal with Todd's friend Justin, our late Thanksgiving.  Then it was back to Hachinohe...until our next adventure!   

Kyoto: Arashiyama

We spent our second day in Kyoto in the western area of Arashiyama.  We started the day with a delicious Starbucks chai tea latte, our first since September! They don't do chai in Japan.  We took a city bus out to the area, once again wall to wall tourists.  We started at the Tenryu-ji Zen temple, which had spectacular fall colors and gardens. Next we wandered through the bamboo grove and nearby park.  We ended up at the river and watched some brave people take boat rides in the cold.  Then it was onto the monkey park! The park has 120 Japanese snow monkeys. In order to reach the monkeys you have to hike a mountain about 20 minutes.  It was fun to be so up close with the monkeys. After feeding them and taking lots of pictures, we made it down the mountain and grabbed a bus to downtown. Our mission was to find an Irish pub. We were following the Lonely Planet recommendation and directions.  Japan cities aren't the easiest places to find specific locations with a rare street marked with a sign or numbers to show addresses.  But we found the pub and to our surprise they had several Oregon beers in addition to Japanese and Irish on tap.  Todd enjoyed the beer, I enjoyed the hummus (another favorite I hadn't had since July)!!          

A beautiful ginko tree in bright yellow!

We took a snack break to enjoy the temple pond. 

 

 

The glorious bamboo grove.

One mode of transport available in Kyoto.

"Children beware of the sleeping monkeys ?!" We can't read this sign but there were several signs warning not to stare at or touch the monkeys. Todd was taking a picture, looked too long and upset this monkey.

"Le petit singe," is Todd's nickname for me, he was comparing profiles.

You can feed the monkeys within an enclosed area, they sell peanuts, apples and chestnuts.  It was cute how their little hands grab the peanut right out of our hand.  Then they quickly open the shell, eat the nut, and beg for more.

Kyoto: Higashiyama and Gion

I hope you enjoy some of the pictures we took during our visit to Kyoto.  We spent three days in the city.  We stayed in the central area and took public transportation to three major sightseeing areas and then we walked and walked.  The best way to experience a city, walk.  We had beautiful sunny, crisp fall weather.  We took so many pictures that I will start with our first day in the Higashiyama and Gion districts where we visited three temples, wandered through old Kyoto streets, spotted lots of women dressed up in kimono, met a few Geisha, enjoyed an Indian meal for dinner, and ended our evening with a Japanese cultural arts show.

Autumn is one of the busiest tourist seasons to visit Kyoto, people flock to see the temples surrounded by Japanese maple in full color.  The crowds and the colors did not disappoint.

Kiyomizu-dera temple is set up on the hillside, rising above Kyoto. You can see Kyoto Tower in the distance.

Many Japanese school children visit Kyoto during their school trips, here is a bunch enjoying the blessed water.  We witnessed many forms of Japanese worship during our visit to the temples.  There are many trinkets for sale that they buy for luck in health, business, love, etc. They pray to statues, ring bells, clap and bow.

Our first Geisha sighting.  I loved the shops along this street.

Todd was excited to show some Steeler pride alongside his new friends, if only he had brought the terrible towel.

From one belly to another, some Buddha belly luck.

We ended our day with a show that included performances of traditional Japanese arts.  We saw a tea ceremony, flower arranging, harp, court music, a noh play, geisha dance, and a puppet skit.  I especially enjoyed the dance and learning a little more about Japanese arts. 

Mameshiba

Tonight, I stumbled upon these funny and adorable Japanese bean trivia videos.  I hope they make you chuckle! Mameshiba (little bean)!!

This one is for Nathan, Jacque, and Rodrigo! Mameshiba!!

Autumn in Aomori

Last week was a national holiday in Japan, National Culture Day.  That meant that I got the day off! So, we planned a trip with our new friends, Oliver and Lindsay.  They are a Canadian couple working as high school ALT’s in Hachinohe.  They have a car so we all piled in and drove northeast to Lake Towada and the Oirase Gorge to celebrate the famous fall colors.  Everyone kept telling us we had missed “the peak.” But we didn’t let the naysayers divert us from going.  We ended up seeing lots of beautiful fall color, taking a nice walk in the woods along a river and enjoying the company of friends. 

On the way home we stopped at the Oirase Brewery where Todd and Oliver were in heaven trying all of the freshly brewed beer.  Kind of like a little taste of home in Seattle, I do have to admit I miss the yummy pumpkin beers available to taste at this time of year.  Then we went to a small Italian restaurant that makes traditional Italian style pizza.  A great day off with wonderful company!  

A day in the life of me



As you may know my official title with the JET or Japan Exchange and Teaching Program is an ALT or Assistant Language Teacher.  I am one of nine ALTS’ employed by the Hachinohe Board of Education.  Each ALT in the city is assigned to several junior high and elementary schools. I have a base school, which is Hakusundai JHS and I visit 5 other schools (1 JHS and 4 ELS).   The base school is like my home school where I spend more time, attend special events and have my own desk.  I am treated as part of the staff and more like a guest at my other schools. 

During the school open house, each subject displays its work for the year.  This is the English room, the theme was Halloween. 

At the beginning of each trimester a teacher from each school meets with me and we plan my school visits for that trimester.  That means that everyday is different, I repeat schools throughout the trimester but not necessarily back to back.  Each week I receive schedules from the schools that inform me about which grades and lessons I will be teaching.  The schedule also includes the time I am expected to arrive and leave, who I will eat lunch with, and my bus schedule.

This is 7th grader`s writing about their family.

For my first visit at each school and class I did a power point presentation to introduce myself.  I also gave students time to ask questions or introduce themselves. Then they took a true/false quiz to test their listening comprehension of my self-introduction and I gave out stickers to top scoring students.  I am finally finished with my self-introduction lessons after doing them for a few months.  It took especially long at the JHS because there are 4-5 classes in each grade. 

At elementary schools I teach the 5^th and 6^th graders.  This year it has become mandatory in Japan for 5^th and 6^th graders to learn English through the adopted curriculum.  The difficulty is that many elementary school teachers aren’t very good at English themselves and are expected to teach it.  The goal is communication through fun activities. So instruction is not focused on reading or writing just listening and speaking. I am more utilized in elementary schools to work with the teacher to teach the lessons. It depends on the teacher but I have had a few opportunities to run the class but the goal is to team-teach.  An example of a lesson’s goal would be for students to use the phrases “I can play the piano.  Can you play the piano?”  They would also learn vocabulary to go with I can..

This is 9th grader`s writing about a famous person like Lady Gaga!

At Junior high schools I am less utilized for teaching because the teachers who teach English are specialized in English and can generally speak it well.   I tend to be more of a support pronouncing words, working with groups, helping with speaking and listening tests, etc.  Also emphasis is placed on passing a test at the end of JHS so students focus on rote memorization of dialogues, vocabulary and grammar rules.  The fun is taken out of using the language to communicate. 

A highlight of my day is eating lunch with the students.  Most schools I visit will assign me to eat with a class.  Students sit in rows during instruction but move their desks into table groups at lunchtime. They give me a desk at a table group and we awkwardly try to converse in English/Japanese. I decided early on that I would try to eat the Japanese school lunch.  Most of the time it is a tasty well-balanced meal that always includes a soup, rice/noodles a side and milk.  I find myself picking out meat from the soup pretty often and offering the whole small fish to a hungry boy at the table.   I enjoy lunch because it is the only time I find to spontaneously converse with the students. 

As an ALT I am also expected to teach a few special things throughout the year, like an adult conversation class or participate in community/school events.  For the most part I don’t have to do any planning or grading. I usually read over the lesson on the way to school, meet with the teacher for a quick planning discussion and then teach.  At the JHS I occasionally edit students writing.  The job is very low stress and relaxed compared to having my own classroom but it is also less challenging with lots of down time. 

This is the students` Japanese calligraphy.  I was able to sit in on a class and try it.  It is very difficult and takes lots of practice.

What do I do in this down time?  I usually take this time to study Japanese if I feel motivated, occasionally chat with a teacher, read a book (I just finished the Hunger Games book 1), write blog entries or search the Internet on my I phone.  I just try to look busy. 

Hopefully this gives you more of an idea of what my day to day is like in Japan.  Have a great week!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was determined and after hunting for the ingredients all weekend, last night I made a batch of real chocolate chip cookie dough!!

Todd and I spent time in the grocery isles trying to sound out the katakana for vanilla (banira バニラ). I especially had to hunt for baking soda, which I found in a foreign food store.  Then brown sugar, which I didn’t really find the American version but made it work.  In the end it all came together and I proved that I CAN bake in the oven/microwave/toaster appliance we inherited with the apartment. 

I mixed all of the ingredients and after a few spoonfuls of dough, Todd confirmed that it tasted pretty good.  Although he questioned why I would bake the dough, why not eat it raw? I happen to prefer the taste of a right-out-of-the oven baked cookie and milk.  And enjoy I did!  But not too many, I baked them for my birthday party! 

Speaking of birthday’s, today is my 33^rd birthday.  I woke up earlier than my alarm (which is happening more regularly with a certain sense of urgency in my bladder) but today before my feet hit the ground, I felt an overwhelming excitement for this new year of life. I am excited for our upcoming travels, our little momo, becoming parents and returning home to our family and friends! Here’s to our year.