Sometimes I try things in classes that don't work out because the level is wrong for my students and it leaves them and me very frustrated. Saturday I was trying something new that I very much feared would end up like that (those lessons are frequently abandoned mid-way through for a game of cards). I was very pleasantly surprised at the results of my experiment though. I decided to teach some of my more advanced classes about haiku (I know it is from Japan and seems silly for an American to be teaching Japanese about something from Japan). We talked (in English) about the things that go into writing Haiku, I taught them to count syllables in English (very simple in Japanese, very complicated in English) and then I had them write their own haiku. It was so satisfying when a light dawned in their eyes that they understood how it is possible to write haiku in English (and stick to the 5-7-5 format). It was also satisfying and extremely exciting when their haiku turned out to be quite good! I have taught this lesson in 3 classes and all of them have done very well. I assigned more haiku for homework so I will hopefully get to see some more wonderful poetry, but here are a few from my parent class that thought were amazing!

Sunrise and sunset
Winter finished and spring comes
Life repeats again

Winter is coming
I feel a little bit cold
I want to make stew

(and my favorite:)
On a silent night
While watching stars in the sky
They change into snow

It just turned out to be one of those days where I felt good about being a teacher, felt I was making a difference, teaching something new and that students were enjoying and benefiting from my class. I don't always feel that, but when I do it is great!

Craziness abounds and much sadness:

So Nic left last night. Selfish of me, but I wanted to say good-bye to her, tell her how much she meant to me and have a good cry as I waved good-bye to her train! Such things were never meant to happen. Her company was supposed to give her the final paycheck yesterday afternoon so that she could pay to mail home her boxes and buy her train ticket to the airport. They didn't give her the money. Very complicated and not worth going into, but when I got to her office at 8pm (she was supposed to catch a 9:30 train) the boxes weren't at the post office (they weren't all packed yet) and she was busy yelling at the people in the head office on the telephone. A bunch of people came to help out and although she missed her train she was able to catch a bus that did get her to the airport in time (barely). It was all so crazy and stressed and horrible. Noone should have to go through all of that on their last day in Japan. She had to run to catch the bus and so there were no long sad farewells just a quick hug and she dashed out the door. I didn't even get to cry (I'd been saving my tears all week, every time I started to cry I would hold off thinking I could just have one big cry at the train station). I got home at 11:30 and wished I had someone to talk to- normally that would be Nic, but her leaving leaves with... and empty apartment upstairs and a big whole in my life. So that is the craziness and sadness of my last 24 hours.

Oh happier notes: I got paid today! I also went to my Japanese lesson this morning (and despite being exhausted) I actually was starting to get it. You'd think I would have gotten it at some point in the past (since I have learned all of these things a million times) but I think it might actually click this time. Having a huge deadline in a week and a half (scary scary test in Kyoto) helps. My sensei looked mildly surprised when I got all the listening questions correct. Just wait until next week...

I was looking up recipes for Nabe (a one-pot stew thing that is tasty tasty). I found a recipe that sounded good until it said that Sumo Wrestlers use it to get bigger. Decided that might not be the recipe I want to use. Instead of losing weight I could come home looking like a sumo wrestler (or a short version of Akebono).... now that would be cute!

Today is Thanksgiving and somehow that fact escaped my notice until now. Happy Thanksgiving!

My friend Nichola is leaving in a few days which makes me incredibly sad! However on a slightly lighter note she has received some adorable good-bye cards from her students. I wanted to quote some of them here (all spelling is in the original):

"Dear Nichola, I'm schoked to hear that you'll leave Japan. Sadly, I've taken your class for only a short period. You are kind, cheerful and a good actress! So I really enjoyed your classes." (Nichola is thinking of moving to Hollywood now to embark on her acting career! Geos has been fabulous training for her apparently.)

"Hi, Nichola. In fact, I don't want to write a farewell letter, but I want you to memorize to me forever. So, I write this letter for you. I still remember well the day we first met at the GEOS. Then you had a tender smile and, you kindly exposed to me. I was very glad. And I want to be a best friend with you. The meeting with you made a chance I earnestly study English. Then every Nichola's lesson, I always thought "if only I could talked everything with you!" At the same time I was impatient because I couldn't told what I want to say. I'll really miss you... I wish you stayed here forever. Nichola is the best teacher in the world! Please don't forget about me when you back to England. Someday, I'll become a good speaker in English. So, please talk to me again. I'm looking forward to meet you again with you. And I'm going to send e-mail. I had very, very, very enjoyed your lesson! Thank you very much for everything. Please say hello to your family. Your friends, Yuya." (This is from a 17-year-old boy who is madly in love with Nichola and asked her to sign his basketball bag.)

I am going to miss Nichola madly. I will never forget all the nights that she brought me Hagendaz Ice cream to cheer me up (always Green Tea because she knows me so well), the nights we drank red wine and played on the swings in the park, the nights of game after game of cards (just one more, really) and the crazy nights at Bear's Bar. She has been such a good friend to me while I have been here (perhaps better than I deserved) and has made this time in Japan all the more special. I only hope that I will in the future be able to find more friends as wonderful as she is. I also hope that she doesn't mind when I visit her and crash on her couch in London for a month =)

The hills light on fire
One last display at the end
The leaves fall again

Stars cross the heavens
Marking the time I have spent
Too soon I must leave

The Chrysanthemum Festival! 

Wednesday I had the day off so Nichola and I decided to go on a fieldtrip to Takefu. Despite being only 20 minutes away by train I have yet to visit the small town. First we went to a small section of the town that has really old houses. It was really pretty but felt like a ghost town (only a few shops open and 3 other people wandering around). We went to a fabulous restaurant near a shrine that gave us Katsu (fried breaded chicken cutlets) on om-rice (an omlet wrapped around fried rice). Yummy! We also wandered into a small shop where the woman insisted that we sample lots of sake, hee hee hee. No Japanese field trip would be complete without a sake stop.

After that we found our way to the Chrysanthemum Festival. There were all sorts of rummage sales outside and Nic and I had a good time digging through stuff and bargaining the prices down. The festival was 1000yen to get in (which I thought was fairly high). There were a million Chrysanthemums inside and some of them were larger than my head (which is pretty big). The Chrysanthemum is the crest of the royal family of Japan (which also makes it the crest for the Shinto religion). I have also heard that it is related to death somehow. At any rate, the Japanese people take their Chrysanthemums very seriously. I was amused (but not 1000yen worth) until I found that I could take a ride on .... GINGER! Go here for more info: http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/12/03/scooter.unveiling/
I remember reading about the Segeway when it first came out, so I thought it was terribly exciting to get to ride on one! To go forward you lean forward and to stop you stand up and to go backwards you lean backwards. The steering is a little hard because you do it by twisting the left handle. It is very sensitive though so I kept accidently making really sharp turns all over the place (I even did some of them backwards, which amused all the Japanese people watching).

After the Festival we went to Murasaki Shikibu Park. Murasaki Shikibu was an 11th century author who wrote the Tale of Genji. It is considered to be the world's first novel and was written by... a woman! I have read parts of the book and it is really good. It turns out that Murasaki Shikibu lived in Takefu, Fukui for 1 year to 18 months (perhaps even writing parts of the Tale of Genji....), so they dedicated a park to her.

After the park (we were busy busy busy) we went to a beautiful onsen in the mountains. It was raining outside and we sat in the outside onsen for a long time. There were 12 different onsen tubs and we tried almost all of them (the hottest one was too hot and Nic wimped out on the ice cold one). Some of them have water massagers, one had some sort of green herb in it, plus the outdoor pools and the jacuzzi and the sauna...absolute heaven. I always get to hot and water-logged long before I want to leave. Something that amused me were all the naked kids (everyone at an onsen is naked, no swimsuits or towels allowed). Boys up to a certain age (maybe 6ish) are allowed to go into the woman's onsen, and yesterday there was a huge crowd of children (boys and girls) running around naked. It was like they were at the beach, playing with buckets, splashing, climbing on things. It was really cute, but made me realize how different it is from America. In America 6 year old boys and girls would never run around naked together, but here no one batted an eye-lash. They really don't stare at eachother in onsens
(although they do stare at the foreigners, it isn't every day you see a naked foreigner in a town that small). It is nice that everyone is so comfortable with their bodies though. We eventually were forced to get out of the tubs (or we might have passed out). We asked at the front desk about buses and were told they had all stopped running (it was only 5:30!). We were getting a little worried, a taxi would have been expensive, when the man who worked there offered to give us a lift to the station because he was leaving in a few minutes to go home anyways. If we had been Japanese he wouldn't have offered, and if we had been in America no one would have offered. It is sometimes very nice to be different. When we got back to Fukui Nic and I went to Swing and Bass, a jazz bar near the station. I have never talked to the Master (bar owner) a lot before, but we had a great conversation about jazz. He recommended a bunch of artists for me to listen to! I finally returned home and studied Japanese (the Japanese I was supposed to be studying all week and put off until the last night). A perfectly lovely day!

Me and GINGER... what a lovely pair we make. (My cell phone camera got a scratch on the lense which is why the picture turned out all fuzzy and bad).

What a lovely day, and in fact the beginning of a lovely week! One of my most difficult students called in sick today (joy of joys) and I only have 3 more (easy) lessons today. Then tomorrow is a holiday! Thursday, Friday and Saturday I have no group lessons! Saturday night I am going to Nagoya! The weather is nice (no more rain ever please!) and I am in a fabulous mood!

I would like to impart some advice to my readers (that sounds so egotistical, makes you wonder if Dear Abby was an egomaniac). Advice on how to survive riding a bike in Fukui, Japan, home of the most reckless drivers in the country. Whenever possible while riding a bike use "car bait" to avoid accidents. Car bait is a bicycle that you ride 4 feet behind, allowing them to do the dangerous work while you trail safely behind. When cars pop suddenly out of driveways or careen violently around corners car bait can help in one of two ways:
1) The car sees the car bait and slams on its breaks. No one is hurt, but you avoid being scared out of your senses (Exercise is a better way to raise your heart rate than near death experiences)
2) The car hits the car bait and not you. You avoid death, which is always a plus.
This may sound terrible to use other people in this way, but I have found myself being car bait in many situations (no matter how fast or slow I go, the bicycle behind me is always several feet behind and won't pass, because then they would become the car bait). Just another average day in the life of moi.

I just got back from a lovely (if somewhat short-only 1 day) weekend in Kanazawa. I went up Saturday night after work. My host family ordered sushi to be delivered to their house (in the US people get pizza and delivered and in Japan of course Sushi is delivered). Sunday we went on something called the "Hakusan SupaRindo". Initially I thought it was a roller coaster ride (the Super Rindo), but it turns out to be a driving way through the mountains. It starts in Ishikawa-ken (the prefecture Kanazawa is in) and ends in Gifu-ken. The small windy mountain road winds about through amazingly beautiful mountains. There are waterfalls all over the place and (in autumn) the foliage is incredible! The road closes for the season in a few days so there were lots of people looking at the last of the leaves changing. It took about 3 hours to do the entire drive! Almost as exciting as a rollercoaster =) (and possibly as scary on those narrow roads with large charter buses careening about). I love love love autumn and Japan's changing leaves. On our way home we took a different path and stopped at lots of funny little omiyage shops. The Japanese love giving presents, and everytime you go on a trip you are expected to bring back presents for your friends and co-workers. So to support this custom an entire industry of omiyage shops. They are so much fun! You can't just bring back any old thing from a trip, you have to bring something that is very specific to the area that you visited. You never know what you are going to find in different areas. I ended up buying a huge bag of medicinal tea (it looks, smells and tastes rather like cut grass so I am slightly suspicious) but it was only $3. I also bought an extendable back scratcher for Sean (it extends and retracts so you can carry it in your bag and if you get an itch on the subway no worries....).

This morning before coming back to Fukui (and to work, ugh) I went to my host grandmother's house and picked persimmons. I'm not sure if we have persimmons in the US but they are possibly the best fruit ever! I love the way they look hanging on trees during the autumn (I keep taking pictures of persimmons and persimmon trees). One of my favorite paintings is a Chinese painting called "Six Persimmons." I actually painted it onto a table during college (I wonder who has that table now and if they appreciate the persimmons). So I was very happy to come back home with a large bag of persimmons in hand!