Himeji Happenings

Sorry it has been so long since we updated this thing!  June was a very busy month as we were constantly on the go and trying to spend as much time with our before we head back to the US of A.  We cant begin to tell you how much we are going to miss these beautiful people and amazing country.  Here is a rundown or some of the highlights!

Hotaru shoshite Kaeru (Fireflies and Frogs)

For a couple of weeks in June the fireflies come out.  Its the thing to do just before the rainy season so many of our friends wanted to take us to some of the best spots for viewing.  I had never seen a firefly before so I was pretty excited to see what these things are all about.  I was definitely not disappointed as they were so beautiful.  I am in awe of how living creatures glow the way that they do.  One of our friends daughter has a net and we had a blast trying to catch them.  I really felt like a kid again.  Out in the country side there were miles and miles of rice fields too.  In these rice fields there are millions of frogs and they make so much noise.  So we had to check them out also.  As you can see in one of the pictures, I caught one.  After catching it a couple of our friends wanted to play paper rock scissors to see who had to kiss it.  Japanese people are the masters of paper rock scissors so I didn't stand a chance.  Needless to say that frog got the thrill of a lifetime that night and my wife refused to kiss me until I washed my mouth and brushed my teeth.

Bowling Bonanza

We also had the treat of bowling with the Yamane's.  Takako taught English with Audrey at Kotogaoka and her husband Michihiro teaches math at Himeji High School with me.  We had a wonderful afternoon of bowling and Sushi with our good friends.  I have to brag, I did come out victorious but I was also the only one not to bowl a strike in either of the games that we played.

Kotogaoka High School Sports Day

Audrey's school also had sports day this month.  She had a great time spending time with the kids and cheering them on.  For those of you who don't know, Audrey is an amazing dancer.  She has a passion for it was so excited to choreograph a dance for some of her students for the dance contest.   She was so proud when they won first place.  Its going to be hard for Audrey to leave this school as she built some very strong relationships with her students.

Shogai BBQ

Some of my Shogai students wanted to have a BBQ for us before we left.  It just so happened one of my students lived on a beautiful piece of land out in the country side that was the perfect setting for such an event.  They had huge BBQ pits and we ate everything from hot dogs to octopus, steak to squid... it was awesome!  The best part was spend time with my wonderful students... Oh how I will miss them.

Fathers Day Celebration at HBC 

Our church had a picnic for fathers day, and whats a fathers day picnic without sports.  They love their soccer over here in Japan so we played for a good 2 and a half hours.  Lets just say my face was about as red as my shirt after a long hot day in the sun, but it was totally worth it.  Again, we are so blessed to have made such wonderful friends who have made us feel so loved and welcome in their country.

Himeji High Schools Culture Festival

My school also had our culture festival this month.  My ESS students learned a couple of songs in English and performed them on stage for the whole school.  The sang "Wake up" by Hilary Duff and "Country Road" by John Denver.  I had no idea how big John Denver is over here but everyone knew the words.  Audrey also came down to my school and helped choreograph a dance to the Hilary Duff song and my ESS girls were just giddy about it.  Each class also made and sold different foods from around the world so we were well fed during this two day festival.  I also got a chance to see many of my students who had graduated last year and it was nice to catch up with them.  Overall it was a great weekend that left me wishing we did something like this back in America.

Wakayama

This weekend we had another wonderful Japanese adventure. On Saturday morning we loaded a bus with a bunch of our friends and headed towards Wakayama. We had never been on a bus tour before, so we didn't exactly know what to expect. Our first stop was Shirasaki Ocean Park along the Kii peninsula in Wakayama. We got out and stretched our legs a little bit and enjoyed the beautiful ocean views. Audrey and I were starving so we snacked on some pastries and then loaded back on the bus. Our next stop was the Sandan-Peki cliffs. These cliffs were famous for housing Japanese war ships in its hidden caves but more recently for being a hot spot for suicide jumpers. YIKES. We are pleased to say that we saw none of that while we were there and getting close to the edge was enough for my stomach to do flips. So along the theme of staying away from the edge, Audrey and I had some Ume (plum) ice cream that really hit the spot and enjoyed browsing a few souvenir shops. Then it was back to the bus... pressing on toward the final destination. We were about 7 hours into our trip by this point and were getting a little restless on the bus. So in true Japanese fashion, they busted out the karaoke machine. A giant screen folded down from the ceiling of the bus and we were rockin and rollin toward our next stop, Hashikuiiwa, or "bridge stake" rocks along the Kii peninsula. It was a beautiful sight as the sun was setting and the waves were rolling in between the rocks. After some leg stretching and a few pictures we were back on the bus... next stop Urashima Hotel. Now this hotel was named after a boy named Urashima Taro. A story that dates back to the 8th century explains how a young fisherman named Urashima Tarō was fishing when he noticed a small turtle being tormented by some children. Urashima Taro rushed over and saved the turtle and let it go back into the sea. The day after a huge turtle approached him and told him that the small turtle he had saved was the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, who wanted to see him to thank him. The turtle magically gave Tarō gills and brought him to the bottom of the sea. There he met the Emperor and the small turtle, who was now a lovely princess, Otohime. Tarō stayed there with her for a few days, then he was caught by the desire to go back to his village and see his aging mother, so he asked her permission to leave. The princess said she was sorry to see him go, but wished him well and gave him a mysterious box which she told him never to open, for whatever reason. Tarō grabbed the box, jumped on the back of the same turtle that had brought him to the Palace, and soon was home. But everything had changed. His home was gone, his mother had vanished, the people he knew were nowhere to be seen. He asked if anybody knew a man called Urashima Tarō. They answered that they had heard someone of that name had vanished at sea long ago. He discovered that 300 years had passed since the day he had left for the bottom of the sea. Struck by grief, he absent-mindedly opened the box the princess had given him. Out of it came a cloud of white smoke. He suddenly aged, his beard grew long and white, and his back bent. He was now a very old man. And from the sea came the sad, sweet voice of the princess: "I told you not to open that box. In it was your old age ..." I guess the story didn't have much of a happy ending, but it was entertaining none the less. When our bus arrived at the hotel, we had to load onto a ferry boat to take us to the island that our hotel was on. Now this wasn't just any hotel. Yes it has a cool name based upon a popular Japanese story, but even better than that it has seven onsens. Now if you are just tuning into our blog you need to know that I have been absolutely obsessed with onsen since we got here. So the idea of having seven different hot baths to choose from was pretty exciting for me. On top of that, two of the onsens were in caves that over looked the the ocean. Needless to say once I set foot in that hotel I had only two things in mind... Onsen and Dinner. There was an all you can eat buffet with everything from sushi to fried chicken, tempura to french fries. It was awesome. Once we were stuffed we headed back to our hotel room to put on our turtle yukatas and then headed for the first onsen to begin our stamp rally. The stamp rally consists of taking a map to every onsen you go to and getting a stamp for each of them. If you got all seven stamps you could turn in your map and get a prize.  By 8:00 we had begun our whirlwind tour of the onsen. Audrey went with the girls and I went with a couple of guys from Shirasagi. I was on a roll and ended up soaking in six of the seven onsens that night. It was probably the most relaxing 4 hours I have ever spent. The cave onsens were amazing. The water was warm and the cool ocean breeze was perfect. That coupled with the waves crashing against the rocks created the perfect combination for relaxation. Audrey ended up only going to three onsens but her and her friend decided to get all of the stamps anyway. We met back in the room around midnight and curled up on our traditional Japanese futons for the night. The next morning we headed back to the cave onsen, I got my last stamp and one last soak before the long bus ride home. We boarded the bus again at 9:00 am and headed back towards Himeji. Much like the bus ride to Wakayama we made many stops. The first stop was the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage path a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The scenery was incredible. We were surrounded by trees and natural beauty. At the top of the path was a shrine and many beautiful Japanese buildings. After walking around for a bit we jumped back on the bus and headed just around the corner to Nachi Falls, known as one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan. After loading back on the bus we stopped for a bit at a pickled plum factory and a soy sauce factory. Both were very interesting as we could learn a bit more about the Japanese culture, through food. We ended up back in Himeji around 9:00 Sunday evening needing another weekend to recover from this exciting weekend.

Sandan-Peki cliffs

Lovers in Japan

Hashikuiiwa

Wearing our Turtle Yukatas

Our traditional Japanese room

Turtle ferry to and from Urashima Hotel

Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Path

Rubbin' the belly

I love the waterfall in the background

Nichi Falls

Tea Ceremony

On Sunday, Audrey and I were invited to a tea ceremony. One of my former Shogai students, who is now Audrey's student, is a tea ceremony instructor and wanted to share one of her passions with us. While we were excited to experience another part of Japanese culture, I was pretty leery of sitting on the floor for a couple hours. For those of you who know me well, you know that I just don't do floors very well. I have never been able to sit "Indian style" or "criss cross apple sauce" whatever you want to call it doesn't really work for me. I think my thighs are abnormally large and not flexible enough to comfortably contort for extended periods of time. Now Audrey on the other hand, having danced for years has no problem with the whole floor sitting routine and finds it hilarious watching me squirm around every 5 seconds as I try not to topple over or lose feeling to my lower extremities. So after waiting in line for about 20 minutes we finally headed into our tea ceremony room. There were probably 20 little Japanese ladies in our group and me... a giant, stiff, American. Man I felt out of place. Somehow I ended up sitting next to a lady who is famous throughout Himeji as one of the most honored and revered tea ceremony ladies. What are the odds that I, the stiff giant American would end up sitting right next to her! As if I wasn't already uncomfortable enough, I had her shifty little eyes on me the whole time as I tried my best to sit still and follow the eating and drinking rules. Twenty minutes later the ceremony was over. Thankfully I had not moved around too much and followed the rules pretty well. Unfortunately, my right leg had to take on for the team as it had been asleep for a good 10 minutes. I figured that I had made it through the worst, the ceremony was beautiful now on to bigger and more comfortable things. Well, I figured wrong. That was just the first of two tea ceremonies we were going to that day. So after leaving one tea room we went deeper into the building to another room. This time there were already people inside finishing up so we had too... you guessed it... sit on the floor outside and wait for them to finish. Now this hallway was small and cramped so there wasn't much room to stretch even if I wanted to. I decided at this point that if there was any possible way for me to avoid sitting on the floor I was going to go for it. I noticed there were some small stools at the back of the room that we were entering so I figured if I could wrestle one of them away from a little old Japanese lady then I would be in the clear. I waited until everyone sat down and I had scoped out one that was not being used. I asked one of our students if it was okay for me to sit there and she said that it was fine and that I could bring the seat over next to her and Audrey. Just as I grabbed the seat and started to move it there was a large murmur of Japanese throughout the room. A bunch of these ladies were waving their arms and shaking their heads at me. After a couple minutes of confusion and discussion amongst themselves they decided that I could not move the seat and that I had to sit where I was. This was fine with me as long as it meant I could maintain feeling in my legs. I enjoyed this tea ceremony much better from my new spot. Overall it was a great experience. We love learning these small nuances of the Japanese culture.

Me and Audrey sitting (un)comfortably with our students!
Outside of the Tea house
Himeji Castle from the tea house
Beautiful pond out side the tea house

Okayama

Last weekend we made a day trip Okayama with some of our closest friends. Our first stop was a garden called Korakuen. The garden, which was built in the seventeenth century by the local feudal lord. It is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful landscape gardens. It contains ponds, tea houses, pavilions, woods, several small shrines and wide lawns. Okayama Castle, also known as "the Crow," stands just next to Korakuen. We spent about an hour and a half walking around the garden, enjoying our time with friends in such a beautiful setting. After leaving the garden we took a short ride to a famous old city that seemed to be almost frozen in time. Kurashiki was founded in the early 1900s as a store house town. Known as a center for storing rice form the surrounding areas. These store houses have now been turned into shops that sell everything to traditional Japanese crafts to Hello Kitty merchandise. We had so much fun just walking around soaking up the traditional Japanese atmosphere. All in all it was a wonderful day. We feel so blessed to have been able to experience such a beautiful part of Japan with our good friends.

Korakuen
Audrey and I in front of "The Crow"
Making wishes and trying to get our rocks to stay on top so that our wishes will come true
Great Friends!
Lovers in Kurashiki

Yukata's and Kimono's

On Saturday Audrey and I were invited to spend the afternoon with our best friends here in Himeji. We had told them that I wanted to learn how to tie an obi so that when Audrey wanted to show off her kimono, I could wrap her up. Well this turned into a fashion show for Audrey. The lady that came over to give us lessons brought a slew of kimonos and dressed Audrey in each of them and had her pose for pictures. She looked so beautiful and had a great time "playing dress up." In between outfit changes we had lunch and enjoyed our afternoon. For those of you who are wondering, I did learn how to tie the obi, now lets just hope I can remember how when we get home. Overall it was a great day with friends.

A couple days later, a couple of Audrey's students invited us to lunch and to play dress up with them as well. Never wanting to turn down tasty Japanese food or a chance to build relationships with our friends/students we jumped at the opportunity. This time it was just one wardrobe change but Audrey rocked that yukata! We had a delicious lunch and great conversation with Audrey's students. Just another example of how blessed we are to have this opportunity to live here in Japan.

Audrey in one of many kimonos for the dayThats right... I tied the obi... I know you are impressed!
Lovers in Japan
Audrey and her students

Our Anniversary

Audrey and I definitely picked the right country to live in this past year. Our anniversary actually falls on a national holiday so our schools were closed and we had the day off. So that morning we got up and headed to breakfast. There is a delicious bakery down the road from our house and they just opened a Cafe that Audrey had been dying to try. The menus were totally in Japanese but through the pictures and some help from our waitress, Audrey was able to order french toast and I got some sort of breakfast hot dog. The food was delicious and the coffee was stout. After breakfast we headed to Tegarayama Central Park in Himeji. We had heard about it from some of our friends and wanted to check it out for ourselves. Our first stop was a beautiful garden in the middle of the park. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed just walking through the garden and enjoying our time together. After walking for awhile we headed for museum. This museum was of the people who lost their lives across Japan because of the nuclear bombings. It was very interesting learning more about Japanese history and some of the stories behind the lives of the people that lived through this terrible time. After leaving the museum we headed for a botanical garden. Inside we saw some of the most gorgeous flowers we have ever seen. Some of the colors we saw were so vibrant and the plants almost looked fake. We enjoyed our time in the garden and took tons of pictures... which you will see later in this post. After leaving the garden we were starving and ready to grab some lunch. One of my coworkers had told me about an all you can eat Italian restaurant in the area that we were really interested in checking out. Unfortunately the directions we got were not exactly correct and the Italian restaurant was no where to be found. Now in Arizona we probably could have just asked for directions but it didn't matter how many times we tried we were unsuccessful in finding someone who could point us in the right direction. So we finally gave up our search and headed to a nice restaurant at the Himeji Castle Hotel. It is also buffet style so we enjoyed our fair share of steak, seafood, chicken and a plethora of salads and Japanese food. Not to mention, all the ice cream we could handle. After leaving our late lunch we decided to head back to our place and put on a movie. For the rest of the evening we just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of our day together. So it was a pretty low key day, but enjoyable none the less.

bombing memorial
Lovers in Japan
Beautiful flowers
Stunning colors

Swords

Last Sunday a couple of my Shogai students invited us to a place where we could see Japanese swords. Little did we know that we were in for our own personal sword fighting show. When we arrived the owner of the studio explained how many people come and take classes to learn this art and swordsmanship. She then introduced us to one of her students who proceeded to show us some of his moves. From what we could gather, the students don't actually fight with each other, but instead learn different techniques that were used years ago. It was so interesting to watch as this man moved across the studio with grace and precision as the sword sliced through the air. Audrey and I were able to try our hand at some moves, but our movements were less graceful and without precision. We just swung the swords around while everyone else ducked for cover. After our sword experience we headed to lunch with my students. They took us to a delicious Japanese food restaurant where we enjoyed sushi and tempura among other Japanese cuisines we had yet to experience. All in all it was a great day and we were happy to spend it with some of our good friends here in Japan.

We look really scary don't we!
Pretending like I know what I am doing

Look out!

Now this is what its supposed to look like

Audrey and I with some good friends

Spring Break Fun

Instead of writing a blog for each activity that we took part in for spring break we have compiled some pictures and a brief description of some of the activities into this entry.

Josh's Surprise Birthday Party

March 18th, some of Josh's Shogai students prepared a surprise birthday party for him. They arranged to meet at the Castle Hotel for a buffet style lunch. While we were there we enjoyed hearing about his students plans for their spring break, ate some delicious foods, and Josh opened some presents!

Sushi Lunch

March 30th, two of our students invited us to have lunch with them. As you can see it was quite a variety of sushi. Unfortunately for me, each piece had wasabi on it so I ended up swallowing a lot of them in very big chunks. I even tried scrapping it off but it didn't help much, my mouth was still on fire. Josh on the other hand really enjoyed it!

Tennis

March 31st, we were invited to play tennis with some of our Shogai students. Josh played most of the 2 hours we were there. I am so impressed with his Tennis racket swinging skills. My husband is so talented!!! I on the other hand, had a difficult time. Not only was it hard for me to keep the ball between the lines, I even had a hard time keeping it on our court. I am pleased to say that I only hit it over the 20 foot fence and down the street once this time though!

Himeji Wind Chime Factory

April 2nd, after our morning English lessons at the Shirasagi Residence we went to a windchime factory with one of our students, Yoko. This shop is famous throughout Japan for its wind chimes and we were lucky enough to meet the craftsman and see him at work. As you can see, Josh tried his hand at the windchime buisness, only to realize that he shouldnt quit his day job!

Sakura

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom in Himeji during spring break. The bright white and pink colors were breathtaking. We loved riding our bikes around town and looking at all of the trees. We even had a picnic with a bunch of our friends and students under the cherry blossoms at the Himeji Castle.

Origami Lessons

One day after our community lessons a couple of our students came up to our apartment to cook lunch with us and then teach us how to fold oragami. We learned how to make paper cranes, frogs, hats, balloons and boxes. We love spending time with our wonderful friends here in Himeji. We feel so blessed to learn more about their culture and to be surrounded by such amazing people.

If you want to see more pictures that didnt make the blog you can check out our Shutterfly webpage.