Post No. 50! Can you believe it? My rambling adventures have taken me a lot of places over these first 50 posts. I wanted to want for something really special to happen but being as life just trundles on as usual I will make this post exemplary of my daily life. In other words, I will just fill you in on all the usual stuff. I had a big Matsumoto weekend last weekend and it was the first one in a long time. This was the third outing in one week which felt like a bit much come Monday morning. I had a Welcome Enkai on Monday, an Old Rock night on Friday and a Sonic night on Saturday. I also made a delicious carrot cake with the help of Gisela. All I want to eat is more and more delicious carrot cake these days! Is there anything more delicious I ask you? Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of this latest carrot cake but let me tell you it was the picture of perfection for a change. The one we made back in January was pretty much a disgusting sloppy mess that we managed to eat anyway. This time it was a wonderful layer cake with cream cheese frosting whipped up by Gisela. I am going to out with Emi to buy a new over tomorrow night which should be great. That way I will be able to cook a little more normally than before. I have envisioned some kind of roasted meat with the veg around it. Can you tell that I skipped breakfast this morning? All I can talk about is eating and drinking.
Thank you all for your Easter cards and gifts. I really appreciate receiving mail from back home as usual. The chocolate is gone now and the only trace of it is the bits of foil left in my desk.
Here is what has been happening at school. After two weeks of holidays the kids came back. We had an opening ceremony similar to the leavers assembly. The kids were all marched in in pairs and we had to clap the whole time. Then everyone bowed 72 times and we sang the school song. The new people were all introduced and I had to stand up and speak as well. This caught me off guard and I couldn’t find my voice as I had been zoned out for some time at that point. I managed to croak out a “Hai” and bow to the right people but that was about it. The amount of stuff each kid gets to start junior high for the first time is unreal. Their desks were neatly piled up with all kinds of textbooks, aprons, face masks, cleaning hats, name tags and many lists of rules and instructions. I got a name tag too for some reason. I guess it will help me out on those occasional foggy mornings I experience. The first week and a half is all orientation on how to behave at junior high. We had an assembly yesterday morning on how to properly stand in lines in an assembly. It was riveting. Now we all know the approximate distance that we must stand from each other and the different types of standing that are expected. It is a little military like. We have 1) stand at attention 2) Stand at easy 3)stand in singing position (for the school song) and 4) sitting at attention. I always imagined they just did that naturally.
This week we have been enjoying the cherry blossoms and Hanami parties in the park. Young people pack a picnic and beer and go out around 8 at night to the castle and enjoy the sakura by night. (Sakura means cherry blossoms). Cherry blossoms are very near and dear to the hearts of Japanese people. They only blossom for about 10 days and scientists can pretty much pin point which days they will be. The news monitors its progress across Japan in what is called the “pink front”. After that 10 day period, all the petals fall at once. It represents the ritual death of the samurai in the collective minds of the Japanese people and therefore embodies the whole bushido code of conduct. My home-stay mom told me this.
Sakura has finally come to Nagano and we are loving it. Every town is having a viewing parties and local events to celebrate. There are beer gardens, roof top patios, tea ceremonies, koto concerts and all the rest. I am now planning my Golden Week vacation. We are torn between two options. We will either be going to Korea or Burma. I know Burma sounds a little sketchy but apparently it is safe for foreigners. Personally I am voting for Korea though. I will only be going for about 5 days because after a few weeks off I am craving a Tokyo trip again. Or maybe Osaka. It all sounds good. I have decided to keep renting my car because I am now addicted to the convenience of it. I will keep it until July and then perhaps by my friend Louise’s car when she goes home to England. Also, regrettable, I am getting rid of the ferrets. It isn’t working out. I gave it a shot but I am just not a responsible pet owning kind of person. I want to strangle them most of the time. I am currently in search of new owners, preferably those who have never met me and I will never see again. I will ship internationally if anyone is interested.
Easter was a little strange here given that no one celebrates it or even merchandises it. I found this strange because they don’t really celebrate Easter but they merchandise it like crazy. I think Easter will catch on here once they realize it can be bought and sold. We made a roast of pork, veg, gravy and dress as well as an apple crisp for dessert. It was good stuff and better still, there are left overs. Everyone forgot it was Easter so there were only about three of us but it was still a good time. We decorated some eggs too just for fun. It was a huge meal and I was completely stuffed. Tonight I am heading back to Matsumoto Castle for more cherry blossom viewings. We got there a little later than we had planned so it was hard to get good pictures. My camera takes terrible night photos. I don’t know how to use it properly. I also rode my bike around Shiojiri to take some day time shots of it all. They turned out the best so I will include mainly shots of Shiojiri. The first one is Matsumoto castle at dusk. I will have to borrow Gisela's pictures to show you some quality shots though. I threw in a picture of my school lunch just for good measure. That should bring back fond memories for Lauren and Karen.
The school year will finally get started for me tomorrow as orientation is over. It’s a good thing too because I haven’t really done much of anything at work for the last six weeks. It is very boring but I am really keeping up on world news and correspondence. Speaking of which, I hope for a few comments on this post from you slackers who used to comment all the time and now barely write anything. Or better yet, drop me a line and tell me what’s new. Send me a picture of your recent antics or something like that. I now have a date for my return in the summer. I will be coming home for about 10 days on August 4th. I want to go clothes shopping, eat the foods I love and see all of you. Clear your calendars!