A weekend of goodbyes and debates

Well, this last weekend was one of many emotions. We found out earlier in the week that one of the other participants in the teach abroad program was going home. We barely knew each other when we boarded the plane at Sky Harbor Airport, but in these few months here in Japan he had become one of my closest friends. Knowing that our time with him was short, we wanted to get together as much as possible before he left. So on Friday after school we decided that we were going to hang out and watch a movie in our apartment with some other friends that live in Shirasagi with us. Andre came up a bit before everyone else got there and he came bearing gifts. Two giant crabs! Now Audrey and I, are not what you would call sea food lovers but we were ready to give it a try. Boy are we glad that we did because they were so good and fun to eat! We had many a laugh as we struggled to get through those legs without the aid of a cracking mechanism. Once we were all cleaned up we made brownies and put on a movie. It was a wonderful night with friends and while we may not get to see him for these next couple of months we sure look forward to spending time with him when we get home. The next morning Audrey was up and out the door by 6:30 (so much for sleeping in on your day off) and headed to Kobe for a debate contest. One of the English teachers at Audrey's school wanted to start something new at Kotogaoka and had been very interested in debate for a while. A few months ago she took Audrey to a workshop on teaching debate with hopes of putting together a debate team at their school. They then chose four girls who speak English well to be a part of their team and and began the tedious task of preparing them for a multi city debate in Kobe. The contest itself was a wonderful experience for Audrey. She was not only a coach for her team, but also a judge at the contest. She was assigned two matches and really enjoyed hearing how well some of these students spoke English and was amazed by how developed their vocabulary was. Unfortunately, her team did not make it past the 1st round, but even after losing they were not down on themselves. They seemed to really cherish their experience and look forward to competing again next year. It was a long day for Audrey as she did not get home until after 8:00p.m. but she feels very fortunate to have had this experience as she learned a lot through coaching her team and watching some of the other teams debates.

Kind of strange how they stare at you while you eat their legs!!

The debate crew and their fearless leaders.

Community Center Take 2

So every year the city of Himeji hosts two Welcome parties at the community center. They had a party for the incoming Americans in October and now again in January to welcome the new Australians. As you may remember, we had a traditional tea ceremony and they presented us with Kimonos at the party in October so we were excited to see what they had in store for us this time around. When we arrived they had a wonderful Taisho koto concert for us. These ladies were so cute and they prepared songs that they hoped the Australians would recognize/enjoy. After the concert and the introduction of the Australians we were invited to an Ikebana lesson down stairs. For those of you who are not familiar Ikebana you can read a bit about it here. In America we would call it flower arranging. This did not seem too manly but Andre and I figured that we would give it a try... "when in Rome" right! The flowers were beautiful and the teachers were a great help. There are many rules to Ikebana, certain leaves are supposed to be 1/3 the length of other flowers and so on. Then there are special ways you are supposed to arrange them in order to portray different meanings. Thankfully there was a spectator that was also a Ikebana teacher that helped me as my creativity and flower arranging skills were not quite up to par. Audrey, on the other hand was a natural! She did not need much help and her arrangement came out looking great. Unfortunately, we didn't take pictures of the finished products until we got home, after the bike ride home had taken its toll on both arrangements. After arranging the flowers the Koto players offered to teach us how to play. Audrey and I both jumped at the opportunity. Audrey told her instructor that she wanted to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and after a couple of minutes struggling through the first couple of lines, she really got the hang of it and did a wonderful job. On the other hand, my instructor wanted me to play a traditional Japanese song. I had hoped that my guitar playing skills would translate to this instrument. It had strings, and a pick so I figured it couldn't be that hard right?! Think again. It was nothing like playing the guitar, but enjoyable none the less. After about 10 minutes I finally got the hang of it and really started having a good time. As I was intently focusing on not messing up the song, a crowd of Japanese people and foreigners began gathering around. Then to close out party, the lady in charge started yelling in Japanese for everyone to gather around for me to play the song I had been practicing. WELL CRAP!!! Now I don't usually mind performing, or being put on the spot like this, but I really wasn't too proud of my koto playing abilities. But not wanting to disappoint the crowd I gave in to their request. Then, to make matters worse, all of the Japanese people started to sing along. Now I was feeling the pressure. Thankfully the song was only a couple of minutes long because I was sweating missiles! When it ended I got a nice round of applause and felt very grateful that they didn't have any tomatoes because I'm sure I butchered one of their favorite songs pretty badly. Once again I was amazed by the kindness and hospitality of these Japanese people. They have been so kind and welcoming since day one and I feel very blessed to being living in such a wonderful country.

Ladies playing the Taisho Koto
Audrey rocking "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
This is much harder than it looks!!
Great example of my Ikebana experience... she points and I obey!
Audrey hard at work:)
The finshed products... after a rough bike ride home.

Lets go fly a kite...

On Sunday Audrey and I had the opportunity to go to a kite flying festival here in Himeji. Two of Audrey's wonderful Shogai students met us at our apartment to show us how to get to the festival. We were very excited to see what this was all about, but at the same time we were a little nervous because it was soooo cold! So after about a 20 minute bike ride we arrived at a horse track. On the infield there were hundreds of people with their kites. It was very windy so the conditions were prime for kite flying. There were a few special kites that had to be at least 3 stories tall. They had pictures of the Himeji castle, samurai and many other beautiful Japanese prints. It was magnificent watching the team work that it took for them to get these monstrous kites up in the air and even more interesting watching them drop from the sky like a rock and smash into the ground. These kites had to weigh hundreds of pounds so people in the crowd had to watch their heads as they came crashing down. After 30 minutes or so of watching others fly their kites Audrey and I decided that we wanted to get in on the fun. We bought a beautiful kite and Audrey took it for its maiden voyage. It was so fun watching her face as the kite flipped and spun all over the sky. But after about 3 minutes of precise maneuvering she lost control and it came down with a thud. Next, I got a chance to give it a try. I got it up in the air and kept letting the string out until the kite was as high as the string would allow it to go. It was such a great feeling. I really felt like a kid again as I stared up at the kite, watching it twist and turn. As I was holding onto that string I couldn't help but think. What it is about flying a kite that is so exhilarating? Maybe its the fact that we are holding onto something that is actually flying, or that we have so little control over it and we are at the mercy of the wind. Or maybe its just takes us back to our childhood, when things were simple and we imagined what it would be like floating far above the earth, being gently pushed here and there by the wind. Just as I was getting lost in my thoughts, the wind changed directions, I lost control and SMACK! My kite flying experience and daydream came to a screeching halt as the kite slammed into the ground. WELL CRAP! As I stared at our kite, sprawled out on the grass about 30 yards ahead of us, I quickly remembered the agony that comes along with flying a kite. As a kid and still to this day, I have not had a kite flight that has ended well. I mean think about it. The wind picks up, the kite gracefully lifts into the air, you slowly let out the string and watch in amazement as gently floats higher and higher. But as the saying goes "what goes up, must come down" and usually in the case of kites, it comes down much harder than it went up. I then began to think that in many ways, life is flying a kite. One minute you are floating high in the sky without a care in the world, then the wind changes just slightly and you start to lose control. We quickly realize how little control we really have and that there is something much bigger than us that is guiding our kite. It doesn't matter how hard we pull or how much line we let out, we cant seem to make the kite go exactly where we want it to go. Then, all of the sudden the kite goes up and then down and around and just when you think you have it righted it starts getting squirlly again and no matter how hard you try, it finally comes crashing to the ground. Now, all kite crashes are different. Many times the damage to the kite changes depending on how far the kite fell. Like when Audrey flew our kite, she didn't let it go much higher than 20 ft. and when the kite came down, we easily dusted it off and sent it right back with no problems. On the other hand, when I was flying the kite I let it go out as far as the string would allow and it came down with much more force. Granted, it was very exhilarating for me, as I could barely see a speck of our kite up in the sky, but there was a price to pay after it came down. It took us about 10 minutes to wind the string up and untangle all the knots and when we tried to fly our kite again we could barely get it up in the air before it would nose dive again. Upon closer inspection we realized that there was a rip in the paper and one of supporting pieces was broken. This meant that our kite, in its current condition, would never fly again. This left us with a decision to make. Do we try to repair our kite and try to get it airborne again, or do we give it up and call it a day. We could probably get some duck tape and reinforcement pieces and make it fly again, heck we probably could have made it even stronger than it was when we bought it. But on this day we were happy to have had the experience and were ready to take our kite home and hang it on our wall. Much like life, we always have choice to make after we come down from the highest points. Do we pick up the pieces and try to build our kite stronger for the next flight, or do we take our kite and hang it on the wall to remind us of better days. Maybe we will fix our kite and take it out on a warm spring day and see what it can do. Will it be different this time? Will I be more careful as to how high I let it get, knowing what happened last time. Or will I just let it all hang out again and enjoy the ride while it lasts. I know that each and every one of our kites are in different places right now. Some are flying high, others are a bit out of control, maybe yours is just starting new assent while others are ready to hang it on the wall for awhile. Wherever your kite maybe, I hope you know who is really in control, and the best part about that is HE has wonderful plans for our kites, plans much bigger than we can even imagine!

Samurai kite...

Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!

My beautiful wife with a samurai kite

This is the kite we actually bought

SNOW!!!!

Adventures in Kyoto

As I told you in a previous post, Audrey and I had really hoped to travel while we had some time off during the winter break. Thankfully, I was feeling well enough for us to make it to at least one of our destinations. So we got up early on Saturday morning and headed for the train station. Unfortunately, it was a pretty cold day, and there was a threat of rain but that wasnt going to deter us. Its about a 2 hour train ride from Himeji so we decided to make a day of it. We were able to put our "Frommer's Guide to Japan" (thanks Rick and Donna) to good use as we mapped out the many places we wanted to visit in Kyoto. Our book said that when we get off the train that we should go to the 9th floor of a certain department store in the station. On that floor there was supposed to be a a foreign travelers office that has maps of Kyoto in English. Well, after walking around the station for about 20 minutes we were not able to find the said department. Luckily, in our explorations of the train station we did find a tourist spot that also had maps in English. So with our map in toe, we headed strait to a bike shop where you can rent bikes for the day. The man that worked there spoke wonderful English and so we were ready to begin exploring. Just as we turned the corner onto the main road the clouds opened up and it started to rain. Well CRAP!! We rested under an overhang for a bit but then decided that we had come this far and already rented these bikes so were were not going to let a little bit of rain stop us. Our first stop was a place called Sanjusangendo. Sanjusangendo is the popular name, meaning "Hall with 33 Bays." It was founded in 1164 by order of the retired emperor Goshirakawa. The original temple was destroyed by fire in 1249; the present structure dates from its rebuilding in 1266. At 394 feet long, it is Japan's longest wooden building. Sanjusangendo is also known for the archery contest that takes place behind the temple each January. This contest is a ritual exercise that is meant to show young participants that an adult's life requires patience and self-control. We were very impressed by the history of the building and the beauty of the architecture and craftsmanship. After walking around for awhile we then had a 40 minute bike ride to the Japanese culture center where we looked forward to seeing an exhibit of traditional Japanese crafts. When we got there we quickly found out that it was closed. Not wanting to have ridden all this way without seeing something new, we took out the map in hopes of finding a place of interest in this area.  We decided, with a little help from our Frommer's guide, that Heian Jingu was only about 5 minutes away so we should check it out. When we arrived we quickly found that this was the place to be. There were many people going for their first shrine visits for the year and out in front there was a bunch of street vendors lined up selling what I call "Japanese fair food". So we walked around the grounds and marveled at the architecture and for a bit, grabbed some Karage (fried chicken) and headed to our next destination. By this time it was almost 4:30 and we had to have our bikes back by 7:00. So we headed back toward the station to our final stop of the day, Kiyo-mizudera. Now this temple was very difficult to find as it was tucked up in a mountain side. The building is a Japanese National treasure that was built almost 400 years ago. Due to its placement in the mountain, the main building has amazing views of the city of Kyoto. Beneath the main hall there are three waterfalls. People believe that they have therapeutic properties and that one stream is for health, one for prosperity and one for longevity. But you can only drink from two because if you drink from all three that is considered being greedy and you would have bad luck. After walking around the complex we headed back to the bike shop and hopped back on a train to Himeji. Audrey and I had so much fun spending the day together exploring such a beautiful Historic city here in Japan. We learned so much about Japanese culture and traditions and were awed by their architecture and craftsmanship. We look forward to many more trips like this and hope that they help us better understand and appreciate Japan and all the beauty it has to offer.

Outside gate of Sanjusangendo
Wall around Sanjusangendo
Lovers in Japan
Heian Jingu
A rainbow above a building at Heian Jingu
A tower at Kiyo-mizudera, Kiyomizu means pure water.
More pictures at Kiyo-mizudera
I love the orange and green
Another night photo at Kiyo-mizudera
Returning our bikes at the bike shop

Happy New Year!

This year we celebrated New Years with two of our favorite people here in Himeji. Andre and Emily came up to our apartment and we watched a Japanese singing competition, ate dinner and played Bananagrams. For those of you who have never played Bananagrams, you are totally missing out. Its much like scrabble, minus the game board. Each player gets their own individual letter tiles and you have to make up your own Scrabble type word set-up. After you use all of your tiles to make words you say "peel" and everyone has to grab another letter from the middle until all of the tiles are gone and one person has used all of their tiles. After playing for over an hour we decided to watch the end of the singing competition and then count down to midnight. It was pretty strange counting down without the help of Dick Clark and the big ball in New York but it worked none the less. It was also strange thinking that as the clock hit midnight it was only 8:00 back home in Az. But after a quick smooch from Audrey we cleaned everything up and got ready for bed because we had to get up early on New Years Day to go to an onsen with Andre's host family. Andre was lucky enough to come to Himeji 10 years ago as a youth ambassador through the Phoenix Sister Cities. After his 3 week home stay he has built a wonderful relationship with an amazing Japanese family that live about 20 minutes from us. Audrey and I were so excited to meet them and what better way to start the new year than a couple hours of public bathing! The next morning we took a train four stops down the line, where Andre's host dad was waiting for us. He took us to their home where they had a traditional Japanese New Years breakfast waiting for us. We had things like black beans which symbolized hard work for the new year, bamboo shoots that symbolized growing strait and strong, lotus root that symbolized looking into the future and little dried fish which I'm not sure symbolized anything. They were probably the hardest for me to eat because they stare at you as you are trying to put them in your mouth. After breakfast we found out that our plans had changed. We were not going to an onsen right away, instead we were going to a couple of shrines. So we loaded up two cars and headed to the first shrine. After Andre's host parents did their thing at the shrine we loaded up and headed to another shrine... and then another! I guess they can get a stamp at each shrine they visit and when they get 7 stamps they get a prize. Mr. Ayukawa later told me that they call this a "stamp rally". Luckily for us our "rally" ended with three and we headed back home for lunch. We had an incredible assortment of wonderful Japanese food and really enjoyed our time with Andre's host family. His host sister, her husband and 2 little girls also accompanied us on the stamp rally and then for lunch. The little girls were so cute and Audrey and I had a blast playing with them. After lunch and play time we were finally on our way to the onsen. It was up in the mountains and very old and rustic, but the baths were amazing. This onsen experience was a little different than Audrey and I are used to. Most of the time we dont have anyone to talk to because we are split up. It also seems like any bath that I get into clears out pretty fast. Im not sure if I smell or if Japanese people just dont like sharing their baths with me. That being said, it was nice to have Andre and Emily with us so we each had someone to talk to as we relaxed. After an hour and a half of good company and relaxation we headed back to the train station. It was a wonderful day with wonderful people. We cherish these new relationships we have been building here in Japan and look forward to them continuing to grow!