Well the Santa job was a lot of fun. As expected the mothers from the apartment complex were very thorough. They sent a couple of moms over to make sure I was awake 30 minutes before game time, and then they sent some five minutes before to look over the costume and escort me over there.

When I got there I waited outside a black curtain, and when the moment came I stepped out into a group of 30 or so suitably surprised kids. I walked over to the front with a couple of “Merry Christmas”‘s and “Ho Ho HO!”‘s. Once I got to the front of everyone, they had a Santa Claus Q&A session. That was a first for me – I wasn’t expected to be grilled by little kids in Japanese.

The age range of the kids varied a lot, but everyone seemed to be in elementary school. The questions were fun – “Are you single?” “How do reindeers fly?” “Where are your reindeer right now?” “How did you get here?” “How do you get into the houses?”

I did my best in Japanese and I think everyone understood. It was pretty fun. Then they had each kid come up and get a present from me. I read out the name, and then the kid would come up, snatch the present, and run for it. The organizers wanted to get a picture with each one, so they would have to go chase down the kid who was already tearing into his or her gift.

It made for a long gift delivery session. Each kid took the present and ran, and then everyone would scramble to gather them up and bring them up to stand next to me. I would smile and wave, but I had so much fake hair on my face I don’t think anyone noticed.

After still more pictures we sang “Silent Night” in Japanese (I faked it). Then they ushered me out of there and I was back in my civilian clothes in 20 minutes. Thanks to double sided tape I lost quite a bit of eyebrow hair, but overall it was a success. Too much fun.

I’m sitting here dressed as Santa Claus waiting for the apartment complex ladies to knock on my door. I thought it would be a good time to write an entry for the blog.

It’s finally the weekend, and Kuniko and I got to sleep in a little today before she had to go off to work. Yesterday was a nice, easy day. Work went well (only a half day for me!) and then I came home and bought a DVD for us to watch – it’s one of our favorite movies – Team America: World Police.

We ate sushi and watched the movie and went to bed early last night. We skipped the bath and instead opted for the warm bed.

Once I finish my Santa gig I’m going to spend time cleaning the house and then relax a little bit. We may go over to Himeji to party with Carrie tonight – not sure if that will happen, though.

A full Santa report later on!

I’m wrapping up a week of half days because of the student exam period. I’m going in, having a cup of cocoa, heating up by the big kerosene heaters, and then studying for about four hours. Then I’m out the door and on to household chores and some relaxation at home. It’s nice to get a chance to catch up around the house.

Today I organized the photos that we got back from the wedding place. I put them into some sort of order and in the next few days we’ll go looking for an album or albums that can handle the capacity that we’re talking about.

Tonight Kuniko got home a little early so we went shopping together for some vegetables for a stir fry. Afterwards we walked over to make a reservation at Kentucky Fried Chicken for our Christmas eve dinner. There’s just two of us, so we only need four pieces of chicken to go along with the fondue that we’re going to do. Unfortunately they are only accepting reservations for these giant sets for big families, and so we’re left with the daunting task of waiting in line for fried chicken on Christmas eve. Crazy.

Strangely I’ve been really tired lately, so I might hit the sack early tonight. Kuniko is parked in the kotatsu watching TV, and we’re both looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow is Friday – finally.

Last night on the way home from Kobe, something weird happened. We were walking over to the vending machine before the next Sanyo train showed up. We suddenly noticed a crazy lady, making weird sounds, holding a cigarette, and kind of chasing some other lady around. The other lady was trying to get away, but the platform was crowded and the crazy lady kicked her a few times. People all around looked shocked and stood back, just in case the crazy lady went after them.

Kuniko and I went for the nearest train conductor, but by the time we explained the situation and brought him over, the crazy lady was propped up on a wall doing nothing but staring into space. The conductor looked at her for a while, and then just shrugged and went back to his train.

When the next train came, everyone got on board and watched the crazy lady standing there spacing out as we pulled out of the station.

What a strange situation. Obviously things are different here in Japan. If the crazy lady started kicking me or Kuniko I would probably have had to do something physical to keep her away and protect ourselves. The lady who was getting kicked just tried to escape. Either way, the crazy lady was dangerous to other people – why is she walking around loose?

There’s (comparatively) a lot of crazy people walking around Japan that probably should be in an institution somewhere. There is a crazy guy that stands on the Sanyo platform all day long – he must buy a ticket in the morning and just stand there. He was this strange smile but he doesn’t really look at anyone, he just spaces out. Anyway, it makes you think about some of the more subtle differences between America and Japan.

This morning we slept in a little bit. Since we weren’t making bento lunches today we enjoyed a little extra sleep. I could still taste the sake on my breath from the night before. Yuck.

I was at school early again, and the place was quiet, and warm thanks to the heaters. I heard from Yamamoto sensei that they left around 10:30 from the yakitori the night before, and that they did get a chance to chat with some of the regulars before they left. I was glad about that.

Two of the youngest teachers in the first year group, Ageshi sensei and Matsumoto sensei, came in this morning with bags of stuff. They had spent the last three days in China, and they brought lots of souvenirs. I was totally surprised – I didn’t know anything about the trip. As it turns out, Matsumoto sensei took two years of Chinese in college, so they were able to get by without a guide. It sounded like a fantastic trip, and I can’t wait to see the photos. I scored a couple of Chinese Snickers bars as omiyage, and we are all drinking authentic Chinese oolong tea, which is in a box strangely similar to Lipton tea sporting the English phrase “Iron Buddha Tea Bag!” on the side.

I wrapped up a project to update the school brochure, and so now I don’t have much else that I am required to do the rest of the week. I’ll be able to spend some time studying and relaxing, and that is a very welcome thing.

As I was leaving I talked to the vice principal about my hours during the exam week. I thought it would be a good idea to clarify what my hours have been like, and I think it was good for both of us to have a talk. He had been thinking that I should stay until two or three p.m. during exams, but after crunching the numbers it is more like noon on exam days. I took advantage of his newfound enlightenment and left early.

I went into Kobe early, bought a textbook, looked unsuccessfully for a DVD player that will play American DVDs, and then met up with Kuniko. We walked together to the wedding place and picked up a huge bag of photos, and then we walked all the way to Kitano to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Graciani.

It has been more than a year since we ate at Graciani – the last time was my birthday. We had really been missing it. The place was pretty quiet, and we sat down really hungry and left really full. The meal was delicious. We started off with little pie appetizers stuffed with different vegetables, then had some really tasty rolls filled with crab, peppers and cream. Next up was sweet potato soup, and then we had some sauteed fish with mushrooms. The main course for me was tender pork with little white beans that I couldn’t identify, floating in a sweet mustard sauce with vegetables. Kuniko went with the beef which I ended up getting about 30% of. It was so good.

We had a cheesecake for dessert with fresh fruit and homemade chocolate ice cream, and then we hit the road and walked gingerly back to the station. The train was starting to get full with rush hour traffic, but we weren’t too crowded in there.

When we got back we did a bit of shopping at Ito Yokado, and then looked at the pictures. I have to say that the professional pictures really look great. We’ve got almost 400 pictures, and we’ll have to sort them out and get them organized. There are some awesome photos in there. I’ll work on that a little bit tomorrow during the afternoon – I get to leave early the rest of the week!

We went to the yakitori last night expecting to meet Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei. When we got there the master nodded us towards the private room, and when I opened the door there were a whole bunch of teachers in there.

Ikeda sensei, Arauchi sensei, Oki sensei, the school nurse Yamamoto sensei, Fujimaru sensei, Sakano sensei – it was packed with people in there. We sat down and Kuniko gave me a look like “what the hell is going on here?” I felt the same way.

From what I had understood, Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei were coming to hang out with the Denya yakitori regulars, so when we found them locked up in a private room with a bunch of other teachers we were caught off guard. After a few minutes the Denya guys started to show up, but the Takasago Minami teachers weren’t moving – they stayed inside the private room and talked shop.

I went outside now and then and talked with the gang. They were really happy to see me and chat about the wedding and my family’s visit. They are really cool people. The atmosphere was so much lighter and positive than the teachers in the private room – even though the teachers were laughing and joking around, they were complaining, too.

One time Oki sensei was complaining about something and giving the part time worker – who I get along with really well – a hard time. Although I really like Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei, there is a reason that they were the only teachers I had invited to the wedding party. I found myself wanting to hang out with the yakitori regulars instead.

Finally it was starting to get late, so Kuniko and I said our goodbyes and left the private room. We left some money at the counter for our part of the bill and then said goodbye to the regulars. I felt bad for them – probably the only reason they had come was to chat with my teachers, and they were all holed up in the private room.

As we were leaving the school nurse gave a small bag to Kuniko, and it turned out to be some wedding money for us. The presents are still trickling in – it is amazing how the system works.

As soon as we walked out the door Kuniko and I compared notes. She was just as surprised as I, and we both felt bad about some of the teacher’s attitudes in there. When we got home Kuniko composed a nice message to the master to apologize for their behavior and to thank him for hosting them.

We kept waking up last night as the wind rattled the windows and howled outside. I asked Kuniko if we had left the laundry out, and without saying a word she went outside, gathered it up, and brought it inside. I’m not sure if she was even awake.

Kuniko showed me how the timer works on the heater so we’ve got it turning on 15-20 minutes before we wake up, and it makes it a whole lot easier to get out of bed when you know there is a warm kitchen waiting for you.

We walked together to the train station right into the freezing wind, and it was burning our faces – it hurt so much. We had gloves and big jackets, but we didn’t bring our scarves. Tomorrow the wind is supposed to die down, so I’m looking forward to that.

At school I arrived, warmed up by the heater, made myself a cup of cocoa, and then sat at my desk and realized that there is no real reason to study today. I’ve been studying towards the test for so long that now it feels refreshing to be able to relax a bit. I decided today to just think about what I want to study over the next year, choose what to focus on, and think about new strategies. It was nice to sit back and think for a while.

I worked a little bit on a project to update the English language version of our school brochure, and also did some marking of exams. I left without guilt in the afternoon, and did a little bit of shopping at Ito Yokado before coming home and cleaning up there.

Kuniko is going to get off early today, and together we are probably going to head over to the yakitori tonight and drink with Yamamoto sensei and Maeda sensei. They really got along well with the yakitori guys during our wedding party, so it’ll be nice for them to check out the food. Yamamoto sensei was funny – he said that he doesn’t drink and he doesn’t eat chicken – those are the two main staples of any yakitori. We’ll have to find some other things on the menu for him…

A quick wrap up from the weekend: Saturday I stayed inside and studied all day while Kuniko did housework. She did loads of laundry, did some shopping, brought home goodies for lunch, and really got a lot done. We had a dinner of gyoza from Osho, nikuman, and some leftover kimchee. It was a great dinner – I’m in love with the gyoza from Osho.

Sunday I got up early to go out in the pouring rain and take the big Japanese test in Kobe. In Akashi I met up with Anthony, who is Kuniko’s former co-worker Risa’s husband. He was taking the second level test for the third time. I was also taking the second level test, for the first time. The exam is made up of four levels, the first level being the most difficult, and the fourth level being the easiest. Last year I passed the third level and this year I had studied towards passing the second level.

It turns out it is a huge jump from the third level to the second. As it was I barely passed the third level, so it was a bit ambitious to go for the second so quickly, especially considering Anthony who has lived in Japan for many years has had trouble passing it. The problem is the test is held only once a year, so I had no choice but to try.

My goal all along was to pass the test next year. At this level my listening is not very good, and my reading is way too slow. Although I did well on the practice exams, the actual test was a different story. I built some confidence by really doing well on the first section, but the next two sections were really tough. The last section I had only two minutes left and 10-15 answers still unanswered. I had to fill in guesses on all of them and then go back and try to knock them out. I was really disappointed in that – that cost me a lot of points.

So it looks like I won’t pass this year, but I expected that. It gives me a lot of information on what I need to focus on, though. My listening and speaking skills are probably the worst, but vocabulary and kanji are my strong points. I’ll focus from here on speaking and building my reading speed. The results won’t be ready until sometime at the end of February, so I’ll just forget about them and move on.

When I got home from the test Kuniko was ready. She cooked an incredible dinner Рa pork saut̩ with vegetables and miso soup. She had the kotatsu all warmed up for me, made me some yuzu tea, and had bought a movie for us to watch. It was a great way to come home from a rainy day at the exam.

I had three classes on Friday, and after that a holiday party for our school. Somebody had arranged a bus to drive us from the school to the hotel where the party was being held, right near the train station in Kakogawa. Due to how the train lines are set up, you cannot take a train from my school to Kakogawa. This makes for some really tricky train connections and some very long walks, but the bus saved everybody a lot of time.

This year the party was a much calmer affair. Nobody got completely blasted, and I can usually count on at least one person doing something memorially stupid. Mainly, I just concentrated on it not being me. The food was Japanese style, but there were some other things mixed in and I thought overall it was pretty good. They had oden, nabe, lots of fresh sashimi, and between those three things I ate really well.

As usual the big attraction was a bingo game, and everyone checked their cards carefully to see if they won. I realized this year for the first time that there are enough prizes for everyone – the advantage of winning early is you get the first choice of prizes. Even that is a crapshoot – they are all wrapped so you have no idea what might be inside. Last year I got a puppy-shaped neck warmer, but this year I went on the principle of picking the heaviest thing I could find, and I got three small jars of honey, which I suppose is a marginal improvement.

I was sitting at a table with all men, and everyone was pretty reserved. I think they were afraid to speak to me, and to be truthful I’m not so confident in my Japanese that I can strike up a conversation with anyone. I did talk to the chemistry teacher, and he insisted that I do a lesson for his students next year on fermentation. In Japanese. Yikes!

As usual everyone was walking around pouring beer into each other’s glasses, and I made sure just to drink a sip or two. One of the waitstaff walked by and delivered a plate of sushi for the table, and she started talking to me in English. I was really surprised by it. The other guys at the table were watching us carefully – this girl was really good looking. She was probably 28 years old, tall, and she spoke English pretty well. We talked about her homestay in America (Wisconsin) and about my school. After a while I could see where the conversation was going so I started playing with my ring while we were talking, but she took no notice. Finally her boss walked by and gave her a look and she took off. After she left all the guys at the table were talking about it as if I couldn’t understand them.

Across the way there was another end of the year party for another school, and as it happens a lot of the teachers knew each other. Even I knew two of the teachers, so I chatted with them a little bit. After the party I was hanging out with a bunch of their teachers and talking only in English to give them a little confidence. There is one thing I’ve learned about living in Japan as a foreigner and speaking Japanese – you’ve got to choose the right times to use it. By using Japanese you can really change the experience of the people you are talking to, sometimes it makes them feel like their English wasn’t good enough.

While we were chatting the other school’s ALT came up and introduced herself. She had an American accent and seemed like a nice enough girl. Earlier I had seen her smoking with some of her co-workers in the lobby so there’s a strike against her. She said that she had heard a lot about me, so I wonder what that is all about.

Soon Kuniko came and picked me up, and together we went back home – stopping for some kerosene to run our new heater. It’ll be fun to check that out.

As the date of the big test looms, I’m getting less and less confident. Although I passed the practice test yesterday, I was totally baffled by another practice test today. I’m just going to have to balance some studying and some brain rest over the next two days.

At school they have installed the big heaters in the staffroom, and today they were fired up for the first time. It’s starting to get notidceably colder at school, and the students are already complaining about not being fast enough to catch the warm seats near the windows.

I had a nice discussion with Tanaka sensei, the kendo and Japanese teacher who sits behind me. I alternately think he is a really nice guy and an intolerant nit-picker. The nit-picking is towards the students though, and he always treats me and the other teachers with respect. I enjoy his conversations because he is genuinely curious, unlike the history teacher who talks to me just to impress other people and pump up his own ego.

I had a visit from an old friend of Kuniko’s at school today. There is a part time teacher that is working at our school temporarily. She is working as a home economics teacher, and she came by to introduce herself and say hello. She wants to get back in touch with Kuniko, so I said that I’d pass on the message. She got married this year to a Canadian guy who has been living in Japan for seven years. Maybe one of these days we can have them over for dinner or something.

After school ended I went over to Tsuji-san’s place to do another Japanese lesson. We talked for the whole hour in Japanese just because my test is coming up. I think it was good practice. Kuniko and I had thought that we would just talk in Japanese at home for the week running up to the test, but we are just too comfortable with our weird mix of both languages.

We often speak both languages at home, and so it makes things hard to follow. I’ve honestly lost track of what language any person is speaking at any given time. We do have one rule that we try to stick to – don’t mix two languages in the same sentence unless we’re translating something. That seems to be a good strategy to avoid confusion and bad habits.

Tomorrow night after school I have my school’s end-of-the-year party. They tend to be pretty mellow affairs, because most of the teachers at my school are in the 50+ age bracket. I’m not saying that 50 year old people don’t know how to party – it’s just these folks tend to be pretty conservative. The groundskeepers always get loaded and they are fun to watch, though. Anyway, it should be a fun time tomorrow night.

I’m going to take a crack at garlic cheese naan bread and store-bought curry tonight. The bread is already cooked really, I don’t have the facilities to make naan bread from scratch, but I will do some bread surgery to add some cheese and garlic to them. I hope they turn out well!

I was joking around in my two classes today. All the students are gearing up for exams, and they were listening carefully for clues to what might be on their exam. I gave my students loads of clues. I circled important words that they should memorize, and spent about 30 minutes trying to get them to study.

Usually they end up complaining that it was too hard, but I think it’s a good experience for them.

I had the latter half of my day with no classes, so I locked myself in my classroom and took the Japanese language proficiency test from two years ago. I’ve been practicing with last year’s exam, but the one from 2003 was completely new to me. I followed all the rules, used the same time as the actual test, and after almost three hours I passed the test. It was just barely, though, so I know that the actual test may be even closer. Yikes – I hate close shaves.

On my way back home today I noticed that there were lots of kids and mothers preparing for the upcoming Xmas party at my apartment complex. The amount of work they are putting into it is amazing. For the past few nights they’ve been working in the meeting room – painting, drawing, hanging things up, decorating the tree, etc. I’m looking forward to being Santa for the party, I should be pretty relaxed by then and ready to chug eggnog with a bunch of kids.

Home life is still in a little bit of disarray around here. Kuniko still has no voice, and has a nasty cough. I’m fighting off my cold and I think it is in it’s last throes. We’ve cleaned up most of the boxes and gifts, and are compiling a list for thank you notes. I never thought getting married was so much work!

I forgot to mention that Kuniko and I took the plunge and bought a heater for the house last weekend. We had been planning on getting one since the little electric space heater I have wasn’t going to cut it for two people. While they were here my family gave us money to buy one as a wedding present, so now it is sitting in the kitchen waiting for it’s first drink of kerosene. We got an empty kerosene drum to fill at the gas station, and as soon as it cools down enough we’ll fire it up and try not to asphyxiate ourselves.

We’ve been on an early schedule lately, and I’ve been leaving the house much earlier than usual. Part of the reason has to do with our bathing habits. Since I converted the shower to a bath, we’ve been taking baths in the evening, and then I just jump in the morning to wash my hair. It works pretty well so far, and I am kind of enjoying taking a long hot bath before bed. It heats you up to the core, and suddenly I don’t need that electric blanket quite so much.

Anyway, we don’t need to get up so early but we end up getting up anyway, and I hate to just sit around the house when Kuniko is gearing to go, so I’ve been following her out the door.

This early arrival has not gone unnoticed at my school. I think it makes a couple of teachers nervous. They are used to being the early guy at the school and when someone else beats them there, they lose the bragging rights. I don’t mind – I use the time to study, especially with the upcoming test.

Today in one of my classes I went in without much of a lesson plan at all. This is a big deal, usually I plan everything down to 5 minute intervals. I went in with a small photo album of wedding pictures and a worksheet to test their memory. It worked out that the groups that finished the worksheet got to see the wedding pics. Girls were screaming and saying how cute Kuniko was and I didn’t know what to say but “Yes, she is cute!” I guess more modesty is called for in that situation, but I can’t do it…

I had a good recording session with Yamamoto sensei for the listening test. We did it all in just two takes. He only flubbed pronunciation of “blueberry pie”. Now we’re all set for next week’s listening test.

Back home I bought some ingredients for tortilla soup, and Kuniko helped me cook it up when she got back from school. Her voice is still missing, so we’ve had a couple of quiet evenings lately. There are signs of improvement, though, so she should be good to go tomorrow. I hope.

The first round of pictures have arrived. There’s so many and I’m still sorting them out, but you can leaf through them and at least get an idea. I put them into a web gallery using some free software. I’m sure it’s not as easy to view as when I usually post them, but this takes me about one minute to post, as opposed to the other method which can take over an hour.

Picture Gallery

There will be more pictures later next week when we get the professional photos in, but until then, I hope this will do!

Kuniko and I survived the weekend, and got a lot of work done. The house was a disaster, the laundry had piled up, and we both have a cold, so it felt like we were totally crappy homemakers.

I think we’re getting close to catching up. Over the weekend we had time to catch a movie, I converted the shower into a standard Japanese bathtub, and I took my first Japanese-style bath in my own home. It was nice – it really warms you up.

Today I went back to school, and things were just how I left them. The schedule today was light so I got some much-needed study time in. I delivered all my return gifts to people that had given me wedding money/gifts. Now that that’s off my back, I can get cracking on my school work.

Tonight Kuniko came home late after stopping in to see a doctor. After her lessons today she lost her voice, so I cooked her some hot and spicy dinner and then tucked her into bed.

In other news, I got tapped by the apartment complex mothers to play Santa Claus during the kid’s Xmas party in a couple of weeks. Kuniko and I were smirking about that for a while – that should be funny. I hope I can get some pictures. The apartment manager ladies came to my door and asked, and they were so excited when I said yes. I cannot wait to freak out some little kids.

What a couple of weeks! I thought rather than break everything down day by day and struggle to remember every detail, I’d do an entry for the wedding, and an entry for everything else. As usual there were tons of pictures, and I’ll post some of them here. Later I’ll have more that we had taken professionally – I’ll get those posted as well. For now, it’s time to settle into the old routine, and get things organized and cleaned up after all the activity.

I was really looking forward to showing everyone around, but it was more challenging than I expected. Any time you have a group that diverse, people are going to have different things they want to do, different speeds they want to do them, and lots and lots of questions. Sometimes I felt like a really strict tour guide – I hope they didn’t resent me after it was all over.