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.