We are officially going to Shanghai high school. It was up in the air for a little while, but finally we got our letter. In the city, free housing, free utilities, school lunch, one month Christmas vacation, $2000 a month each, and both of us in the same school. Can't complain one bit.

Cherry Blossoms- American Style!

Early Saturday morning, our friend Adam was dropped off at our local lake and kept our special spot safe.

At 10 am, I met Adam with our prepared foods. He was so happy to have someone with him.



The sofa was a special part of our Hanami this year. We decided to bring our living room to the festivities. As other Japanese parties brought out their blue tarps, we took out our coffee table, carpet, and couch. Many Japanese strollers couldn't understand our strange set up, but we knew that they were all envious that we though of such a great idea. While the rest of our family arrived, the boys enjoyed some light exercise.



Our Family Hanami Picture

The rest of the warm sunny day was enjoyed playing baseball, eating homemade food, feeding the flying hawks, practicing handstands, and staring down the judging faces of the Japanese community.

Only at Ichiko

An example that my students are so smart that it's funny.

I asked two of my students whom I've just finished a class with how much English they understood in class. They took a couple minutes to think about it and then said... four-fifths.

Easter

I forgot Easter again. Last year, we happened to hear that it was Easter the day of and I told myself I wouldn't forget this year. However, I finally realized that I don't actually know when Easter is since the day always changes. I was confused between March and April. I was so used to having decorations around me at home and big scary Easter bunnies at the mall. Not to mention the countdowns at church. I guess being in Japan where people have absolutely no clue about this holiday, it's difficult to sometimes remember those things that were fun all through my life before. It's hard to teach Easter in Japan. I don't want to give them the shallow end and say it's all about bunnies, eggs, and spring. But once I start talking about Christ and religion, it all goes out the window. I've tried it already with Christmas and Hanukkah. Try to explain the Hanukkah story to 16 year old Japanese students- I dare you!

The Forgotten Zamami Island

Forgotten because of the fact that I didn't include it with the other Okinawa pictures. It's a shame too because it was really so fun and I snorkeled which is something I didn't think I would do because of my fear of the ocean. I can swim around the shallow area, but if I see fish and algae and coral, no way!

On this small island though, two hours from Naha, Ron and I really got to enjoy doing absolutely nothing. I realized that although the purpose of this trip was to relax, going from city to city, taking buses for hours, hitch hiking, and trying to make an adventure everyday, a small island of 500 was just what was needed. Ron and I were able to eat at all 5 restaurants and we made several loops walking around the village. The turquoise water was amazing and going underwater was a completely mind bending experience. It was one thing to see these things through glass, but to be swimming with them was incredible. We saw lion fish, squid, and larger fish about a foot long. I would never try to touch them, but my inner challenge was won when I put on the fins and dove into the sea. Holding Ron's hand while swimming also calmed me down.

My Husband's Uwavering Perserverence

Japanese companies can be so brutal in their passivity. It's quite an interesting anthropological study to see how Ron is treated in his workplaces because he isn't Japanese. His bosses don't think he can understand them, so they just don't tell him important things like schedule changes, and when he won't have classes, and when they've decided not to use him anymore. He was guaranteed a job for the returning school year, but his school just decided not to call and deal with directly letting him go. So Ron has had 3 months without a job, and I can't believe that they've dealt with it as if it's volunteer work. But Ron has been great at home studying Japanese and keeping the house clean. He does all my errands and I feel that my Japanese is slipping since Ron does all the lingual work for me. He's been a wonderful house husband.

But since a couple days ago, he got the part time job magazine and has been calling a bunch of companies. Many of them don't want to hire him since he's a foreigner, but he's broken down a lot barriers by telling them what a great smile he has and to just give him a try, and because of that persistence, he has 5 interviews lined up. Who knows if any of these will bite, but his efforts to do something has impressed me. I just know that if I was in the position of having to find a job on my own in Japan, I may not be so aggressive. Here's praying that he finds something great.

The beginnings of a new year.

Today was the ceremony for the new freshmen. Since I am part of the Freshman Staff, I was also included in the photos and even got to go on stage to be introduced to the students. This felt like quite a big deal to me since it made me feel like I was actually a part of the staff and not just the non-speaker that was tossed into the empty seat in the corner. Actually, my seat is in a nice cush location where I can easily harass the students with English as they walk by.

The hardest part of the day, though was trying to decide what to wear. Not because of the girly reasons (kinda), but as a way to physically show everyone that I was the ALT, and not just one of their Japanese teachers. Yet, it was a special occasion so showing up wearing red, white, and blue with cowboy boots didn't seem appropriate. The standard dress code seems to be black suit, white shirt, white tie. I settled on black jacket, black sweater, and red skirt. WHEEE!! I'm a rebel! I always try at school to wear a little bit more color than the other teachers. I guess it's a way to show off my American individuality. Since my face doesn't scream "Foreigner", I've relied on my wardrobe to get that message across. And according to the squeals and かわいい～～　of my second year students, Mission Accomplished.

My last free, yummy, expensive so I would never pay for it bento.

This is important for everyone to know.

Because of the difficult financial times, it's hard to leave a job that pays so well, so Ron and I have decided not to return to America and stay in Japan for a few more years. I know this is a surprise, but we think this is the best decision for now...


...although the joke would have been funnier to me if this message was replied to with panicky emails, it seems that I have to say APRIL FOOLS DAY with the image in my head that somewhere in the States, someone was at least a little bit gullible.