The flower of Kobe

One of my favorite flowers is the hydrangea. In June all over Japan this flower blooms - blue, purple and pink.  It is a big flower that partly symbolizes my physical body in Japan.  

(I can't buy shoes, slacks, long sleeved shirts and bras here and am ready for some shopping with a trip back to California.)

  Because of where I work and live, I can't freely show the artistic picture of my hydrangea on my upper arm.  I, however, am looking forward to showing it in California and that it means a lot to me whether I can show it in public or not.

Hydrangea in June

Jogasaki Cliffs in Izu

Up close of a beautiful flower.

My beautiful tattoo!

Singing in the Rain

Last week Rachel came over and we went out for dinner but it started raining. After we went back to our apartment and knowing Rachel had to walk home in the rain, I forced her to watch Singing in the Rain starring Gene Kelly. I didn't make her watch the whole movie, just the part when he is singing the song. After Rachel walked home, she sent me this video! It brings me pure joy!

Rain Rain Go Away (Teru Teru Bozu)

It is the rainy season here in Japan and we have had a lot of rain lately. Last night it was raining over an inch an hour and I am from Southern California so that is a whole storm's worth of rain in a day or two. This morning is was raining off and on and when we got to our school parking lot, Joanna noticed a few Teru Teru Bozu hanging in the window in the house in front of us. Teru Teru Bozu is a ghost like figure that people (especially kids) make to try to make the rain go away and to have nice weather. Joanna asked me to take a picture from the car because she thought it would be creepy if I took a picture outside of the house window but I couldn't help myself.

I have been lucky this year because I haven't had a P.E. class cancelled due to the weather (last year I had about 5 cancelled by now) but the forecast said it would rain in the afternoon when my classes were to take place. At noon, the weather cleared and the sun came out so our students were able to go outside for lunch recess (Thank you Kumi for your help!) I took the students out for P.E. fifth period but by the end, it started to get really dark and cloudy and I still had one period left. After we went in and I changed classes, I told the students that it looked like rain but one student said that if we went out and had fun, then we would be in a "light" mood and the rain would stay away. I thought that was so cute and I totally bought into it so off we went to P.E. Sure enough, it got light out and we were able to have a whole period without rain. After we went inside for the students to change to go home, it started raining. Maybe it was the Teru Teru Bozu after all!

Watermelons

Oh how I miss California fruit. I remember growing up in my father's orange grove on the weekends and summer and also climbing my the fruit trees in our backyard that my father planted. We had the most amazing plum tree that we would climb and eat plums until we couldn't eat anymore. He also had a peach tree that produced delicious plums. I remember going to the store and there would be bins of large watermelons for $2-$3.

Living in Japan has given me a new appreciation of fruit because it is so expensive here. We pay $5-$6 for an eighth of a watermelon but gladly pay it because we love it so much.

This a watermelon that is roughly the size of a basketball and yes, it is around $33 dollars with tax.

Flowers

It is still spring and we've noticed all of the beautiful flowers as we move around here in Numazu. I thought I would share some of them.

 We see these as were are walking to and from our car at work.

 This one is from when I am walking to school.

 Some more on the way to school.

 Yes...and more!

 This odd looking flower is from Joanna's flower arranging class when she goes to our school's culture club.

 This one has special meaning to Joanna. Hopefully she'll share it with you sometime.

Not sure where I took this photo.

Rachel and Alex Gem?

Found this video tonight. Who is that girl singing and who is that dapper guy in the background in the yellow shirt? Wow!

Shape Up!

I was going through old papers and found a few gems from years ago. Alex has always enjoyed drawing and I think this one is from about 7 years ago when we first came to Japan. I thought it was cute.

Bamboo Shoot Digging

So this is the second year that we have been invited down to Ito to go bamboo shoot digging with a colleague of ours. It turns out that there are bamboo shoots you should be looking for. I thought that once they start coming out of the ground, then you are good to go. It turns out that the smaller the shoot, the better. They are the ones that are barely poking out of the ground and you just dig around them until you can break them away from the roots and out they come.

Today I was with a Japanese girl that goes to our school and she tried SO hard to dig around the bamboo shoots but just didn't have enough strength or girth (luckily, I have a lot of girth). She would even tried to jump on the shovel but kept complaining that the digging was hard so I would jump in and break the bamboo shoot loose for her to pick up. The last one we dug up was next to a large shoot and was difficult to get around but I was determined to let her dig it out. I gave a little bit of help but tried to be really patient and allow her to get under it. At one point she said, "I really want to learn to speak English!" which was so cool because most of our conversation was in English and she tried so hard so I encouraged her to keep trying and told her how great she was trying to use her English. I was able to get the shovel deep in the dirt but let her do the rest and she finally was able to break it loose. She was so excited and looked at me with the biggest smile and of course I had to give her a high five. I could tell it was just one of those moments where she didn't think she could do it but she was able to accomplish it.

 One of the ladies that Rachel works with has a husband that works with us and she makes the most amazing gyoza (dumplings). Joanna tried to make them last year and Rachel and I joined in with Joanna this year to try to make them. Let's just say, our inexperience showed but they all still turned out to be really delicious.

 Rachel in the bamboo forest giving it her all.

 So determined!

 After you dig up the shoots, you shuck them like corn. The only problem is that you have to do a lot of shucking to get to the good part.

 That was a lot of shucking. They ended up boiling the bamboo shoots but this was the leftover mess that we ended up cleaning up and it got put back into the forest.

 One of the kid's mom made crepes and we were brought them after our dig. The were absolutely fantastic and had whipped cream, strawberries, bananas, and chocolate sauce.

 So after I got my crepe, I ate it pretty quickly. One mom came out with ice cream to go on top of it but I had already finished. Unfortunately, there were no spoons. One of the kids came out with spoons but then only gave one and I figured, what the heck. I'll just eat mine without a spoon. I know this looks like a staged picture but this is actually what happened when I was trying to eat the ice cream out of the bowl.

 Barbecue group shot.

 Trying to get everyone in the photo. Let's just say that this wasn't easy.

What fun kids. My bamboo helper is the one in the hat.

Japanese Drumming

Joanna and I decided last year to try taking Japanese Drum lessons. It has certainly been a challenge. It looked so easy when we watched others do it but once we were there, it was so hard to follow the directions and even warming up tended to be difficult. It is all about the form and how to use your wrist. Fortunately for me, I played badminton in high school and then racquetball which is all wrist action. Poor Joanna took tennis which is much more arm action so it has taken awhile for her to get used to using her wrists.

Our instructor, Waka, is so patient with us and tries to use his English the whole time and we really appreciate it. Even though we are normally to tired on Monday evenings, when we go we come home so pumped up after having a great lesson with Waka.

Waka had a concert where some of his students performed at the beginning and then his group Wakashi put on a performance. He asked us if we could go and we weren't sure because we had to work all day on Saturday but we felt good enough and invited Rachel to go with us. We are SO glad we went because the performance was amazing! It gave us a new appreciation for our teacher watching him putting his heart and soul into the drumming. I hope you can watch our videos and hopefully they'll upload. Please enjoy!

Fantasy Sumo!

So we decided to compete against each other in Fantasy Sumo during the most recent sumo tournament and it was exciting to see Joanna and Rachel (Jorach) in second place after 4 days of the tournament. Today I looked at the recent standings after 6 days and who passed Jorach, but Januck of course! We are currently 3rd and 4th place. Who knows if it will last but hey, Life Should Be Fun!

 After Day 4

Woohoo!!!!!

Bamboo Fun!

Last year we went bamboo shoot hunting (or digging) and we had so much fun! I even put a bamboo shoot on my head with one of the kids there and got a picture along with a picture of our bamboo shoot hunting crew. Joanna shared with me that the kid who I put a bamboo shoot on my head with made a picture inspired by that day. Enjoy!

 The picture!

 The Crew!

So...much...FUN!

Tree Blossoming Time

Last Saturday we decided to take the train down the peninsula to see the trees blooming at this time of year. It was such a beautiful day but so crowded. On the train down we didn't think we would get a seat but luckily many people got off at the first stop and we were able to sit. On the way back, we were last in line to catch the train back up but once the first train stopped, many people got on and we were third in line for the next train. It was awesome because there were no seats left but as we got on we saw two seats and we were luckily enough to get them. I asked Joanna about Rachel and she said she found a single seat so we were all able to sit on the hour plus train ride back. What a beautiful day!

 It was Girl's Day and this shrine had dolls lined up on the steps to the shrine.

 Crazy busy.

 Beautiful.

 More beautiful?

Most beautiful. Not me but them and it!

Silly but smelling the blossoms.

Down by the water.

 The insane train platform.

Poor guy! Tuckered out from the day! (Okay, I took this picture of myself but I was still really tired!)

Weekend Walk

After a wonderful dinner on Friday night, Rachel and I decided to go to Baskin Robbins which is a bit of a trek but it is always worth it. We took the bus and then decided to get off before our regular stop because of traffic. We think the bus driver was a bit annoyed because we rang the bell close to our stop and as we started walking to exit the bus while it was still moving, the driver slammed on his brakes and we both almost ended up on the floor. Rachel remembers me swinging around the pole in the bus as I lost my balance.

On our way we always pass by a batting cage that I once went with my coworkers and it took convincing but I finally got Rachel to stop and hit a couple of balls. My wrist was still sore from falling during P.E. during the week so I favored my other wrist and we had a lot of fun. I have to say that there is a huge difference between hitting in the 65 km/hr cage and the 110 km/hr cage. I don't know how the major leaguers do it. Oh, and my body was so sore the next few days, especially the sides of my back due to my batting stance.

After finally getting to Baskin Robbins, we couldn't believe the line out the door. It turns out that our cell phone company has Super Fridays where they have promotions at local businesses. This time it was Baskin Robbins that was having a Free Scoop night and we just happened to walk apon it. We get the coupon on our phone but we usually delete it because we normally can't read it but wished we had kept it this time. Rachel said that for the next month, every Friday is Super Friday at Baskin Robbins so it looks like we'll be going there every Friday for awhile!

 Rachel Trout!

 Our line.

 Out the door!

 Packed inside.

 Packed outside with barely any parking.

Our ultimate reward!

Family

I am so thankful for my family. I think about the 29 years that Joanna and I have married and how we have two amazing kids who continue to amaze us. Rachel is about to embark on her new career and Alex just released a new song and video today. Time flies and I think about all of the things I could have done or should have done but I've realized that I need to look forward to all the things that will happen. I've had a great year teaching with Joanna and no matter what happens next year, I will always cherish this year that we have been able to teach together. Can't wait to see what next school year brings!