So here I sit, no classes today while the 3rd grade is out exploring their high school options (Japanese junior high school students must apply for a high school of their choice and test/interview to get in... ). I've only been here an hour and a half, but am through all my favorite news websites, have read the print paper, & am on my third mug of tea. I have stolen the office box of kleenex and it now sits right next to me and the laptop I've moved to my desk for the day. Haven't seen three of the four other teachers... I am completely on my own.

What a gift of time!! The rest of the day I'm planning to spend working on my resume and searching for places to send it.

Anyone out there? Feel free to let me know... (see "comment" below).

I had a great weekend, even as I attempted (and failed) to fight off the infamous Misato Junior High School Cold of January 2004. Here are some pictures:

We hit a shrine in the Asakusa area for our first visit of New Year's and then later went to see Asashoryu and the other sumo rishikis do their thing.

The shrine: picture of street leading up to the shrine full of people and venders of tourist "stuff", picture of the entrance gate with large red lantern, picture of the entrance to the shrine itself, and finally a picture from the shrine steps looking back at the crowds.

Sumo: Entrance ceremony for the top rishiki, another shot, the entrance ceremony of Asashoryu- the only current yokozuna, some salt throwing before a match, and finally ATTACK (not intended to represented the actual Japanese used) !!

This week has been very gray so far. The wind is howling outside, and though it has been (slightly) above freezing during the day, it is still frigid at night. My electric blanket is now on my bed- after a year and a half of denying its useful-ness... and it makes me quite happy (especially if I forget all those rules about not sleeping with it on, etc.). I spent Saturday afternoon at the laundromat because the drain on my laundry machine froze... leaving me to fish all my soaking clothes out of just-barely-above-freezing water. It finally melted on Monday afternoon... but who knows how long that will last.

One of my good friends from Wakayama, who now (coinky-dink of all coinky-dinks) lives an hour south of me in Iida, Nagano, came to visit from Saturday night through Sunday evening. We had a relaxed evening and then spent all of Sunday back on the slopes of Kashimayari Ski-Jo. It was an amazingly clear and cold day... and I think I improved ever so slightly. One big key has been finally learning how to slow the heck down! I kept wiping out on purpose just to keep from hurtling down the entire side of a mountain. ouch. After watching 5 year olds tackle the same runs, I finally figured there had to be a more rational way to get down in one peice. I think I may have figured it out.

School has been a not so fun place to be this week... the flu and an assortment of colds are making the rounds. On Monday there were 50 kids who stayed home sick (out of 540), Tuesday there were almost 70, and today there are over 90 at home and another 57 who are officially sick but still came to school (which really should be a lot larger number to be accurate). I keep seeing the flushed faces and hoping the powers that be will just send us all home... but so far they've just been sending students home directly after the last class, skipping cleaning time, homeroom, and club practices. One of the 2nd grade classes has had about 17 people missing all week- out of 40 students. Makes for a lonely little English class... actually more of an ideal number for real class, but now we can't really do anything constructive since they don't want the sick students left behind. Anyway... here's to green tea, orange juice and extra sleep!! Hope you all are well...

Last night's field trip to Nozawa Onsen for the Dosojin Fire Festival was one of the more extraordinary things I've done in awhile. Please read the description of the festival meaning/story on the above link... I don't think I can explain better, especially since I didn't get close enough to see the battles.

After driving an hour north up past Nagano City, we instantly crossed over an imaginary line into snow territory. It was actually signaled by a truck with flashing lights and a man next to it trying to encourage drivers to use chains on their tires. We didn't have any chains so we just forged on ahead (David was driving his massive disco van with Angie, Jaclyn, Danielle and I as support crew). Literally as soon as we passed the flashing lights the snow just began pouring down. Almost immediately we lost sight of the actual pavement and the road was from then on just solid snow and ice. After we exited the highway and began narrowing in on Nozawa Onsen, the only way to tell where the street went was by watching the edge of the 2 to 3 foot high drifts of snow on the edges and the 15 foot red and white reflective poles placed for the plows. We used to get a huge amount of snow in Wisconsin once every other winter or so- but this place has it all winter long every year!

We managed to arrive in one peice and quickly glimpsed a crowd surrounding a man with a 5 foot bunch of straw on fire before snagging a parking place (probably because we were loads earlier than we needed to be... but we didn't know it yet). It was pretty easy to follow the crowd, smoke, and flying ashes down to the village square where the main activities were being held (see the first picture on the website). It also didn't take too long before random villagers were offering us cups of sake... which we gladly accepted in hopes they'd keep us warm.

Then came the waiting. We waited for what seemed like for-e-ver until they started doing ANY-thing. My patience wore thin quickly due to the fact that I was freezing my butt off! My feet were so cold from standing on the hard packed snow. The fire looked more and more inviting as we stood there (and accepted more cups of sake). Finally, people started attacking the shrine with fire and the guards did their job to protect the wood from igniting. Having read a bit of info on the festival before going, we knew that this meant there was at LEAST another hour before the big fire started.... so we were all yelling "burn! Burn!!" and hoping that they would mistakenly let it start early.

Not so lucky. We stood around longer watching people and snow and ashes and smoke... I tried taking pictures but my hands were so cold that it just wasn't worth it to take off my mittens. Yes, it was 8 below zero out (which would be all of 17.6 in fahrenheit). Folks around us continued to get drunker and drunker and I was completely out of touch with the toes on my left foot.

When it finally started on fire, we were practically delirious from a combination of cold, exhaustion, loss of patience, and the distraction of trying to sing aloud every possible song that has ever used the words fire or burn. ha! So it finally caught on fire, (the men on top got off safely first) and the thing was definitely impressive. It warmed our faces cover 50 feet away. But I was cold... Jaclyn was cold... we were shivering... and it was just a really big bonfire.

I feel like I've failed my job as cultural ambassador by wussing out on this thing, but it was now 10:30 at night (on a school night), we had an hour and a half ride home through white out conditions, I couldn't feel my toes or distract myself by taking pictures, and....it was just a fire!

So we headed for the van. Story over with a ps: David decided that the only way to keep the windows from fogging was to run the air conditioning. So, after being freezing cold for 5 hours, we proceed to stay bundled up in the car all the way back home. Of course, my house is not heated nor is it insulated, so it was below freezing inside when all I wanted to do go to sleep. Solution: at 12:30am after getting home I turned on all my heaters and my electric blanket and took a 20 minute steaming hot shower. Dried my hair to make sure it wouldn't freeze when I stepped out into the hallway. When I was finished, my room was at least above freezing so I fell asleep with my hat on my head. My supervisor tells me it was about -11 C (12.2 f). I am praying for heat this weekend.

We had another great day on Monday- perfect views of all the mountains in Nagano (could be exaggerating, but that's how it felt). I didn't take my camera because we took the train again and I've got a lot to carry now that I own my own skis & boots. Don't worry, I'll be out there a lot between now and whenever the snow melts. It still seems just unbelievable that I live ON the train line that heads to some of the biggest and best (and with the Olympics- probably most famous) ski resorts in Japan. I just get on the train at my little station with hot chocolate and skis in hand, plop down for a hour of breathtaking rural Japan rushing past my window, then get off at the bottom of the hill at the main entrance to one of my favorite parks. Its just too easy!

Speaking of snow, we got dumped on last night. Predictably, since Jaclyn and I had planned to take the car in to get our snow tires put on. It snowed about an inch in the time it took us to get home and go grocery shopping, so we decided to postpone the tire run and just not drive. Woke up to a bright white Misato- one of those mornings when it looks like God opened up a jar of marshmallow goo and dumped. Not trusting Herby in his summer tires, we walked to school and got to really enjoy the fresh snow (and the lack of adequate plowing/salting). There's more snow predicted on and off this week so it should stay pretty for several days at least!

Tomorrow I'm off after school for the Nozawa Onsen Dosojin Matsuri- one of the three biggest, most important fire festivals in Japan. I don't know a lot about it except that it apparently features men running around with portable shrines and a lot of fire. Nozawa Onsen is one of the most picturesque places I've been in the prefecture, and they get feet of snow at a time, so it should be quite something. I will be sure to take my camera, though I've been warned that anything I bring or wear could go home with several burn holes...

Skiing was fantastic. It started snowing mid-day which made visibility an issue, but for the first day back on the hills, it was a lot of fun. And boy am I feeling it today! We're going to go again tomorrow (Monday is a national holiday: Coming of Age Day), so perhaps I'll try to bring my camera. Downside of owning my own skiis: I have a hell of a lot to drag along with me! Check the Snow Japan website (click on English, then "Hakuba Now" to read the snow reports and if you scroll all the way down, you can see some pictures of my mountains).

I am so thankful that today is already Friday. I can already feel the shadows of "senioritis" and "lame duck"-hood creeping in under the door. Of course, since I still have 7 months before I'm done with this job, it would be pretty weak to shut down already. As my students say, "Fight-o"!

The good news is that it is a new season (it finally snowed yesterday so everything looks a lot cleaner and brighter than when I left) and this job is still challenging me (currently trying to come up with a fun activity to practice using verbs as nouns a?@la: "Visting Grandma is always fun." or "I finished studying for my test." Somehow the schedule is such that I keep missing the grammar points I taught last year and am planning all over again for things that I didn't do. I'm a bit dissappointed that I'm not able to reuse some of my favorite and successful lessons. So, I'm back to stretching out my brain to come up with ways to jazz up random grammar patterns.

Regardless, I am going skiing tomorrow! Tom's heading over late tonight and then Jaclyn, Danielle, and the two of us will drive or train to Kashimayari, our favorite ski resort from last season. Hopefully I can remember how to get down the runs in one peice. I am really looking forward to it.

Apparently, Mother Nature also heard that we were planning to spend the day outside tomorrow: it just got COLD. Its strange, because in Minnesota and Chicago, freezing didn't really seem so severe. Waking up to below 0 (32 for you non-Celsius folks) temperatures in my room makes it a bit more serious though.?@ I woke up around 6 am this morning and my forehead was aching it was so cold. All I could do was to shove down further under my futon and wait for my heater to start at 6:45.... (if I turn it on early it will turn itself back off by the time I'm ready to get up). I was surprised that I was so cold- it wasn't so bad last night. I was reassured that I wasn't being a wimp after returning from the land of central heating, when I saw that my heater in my kitchen was registering a lovely 0... for inside my house. All my windows were frosted and my toothpaste is the consistence of that paste kids like to eat in elementary school art class. Stepping naked into my shower room was just brutal...

But- its Friday, my boyfriend will be here tonight and I'm going to play in the snow tomorrow, so I can deal with anything.

Whew- I finally made it. My connection from Dulles to JFK was WAY too close for comfort, but somehow (through the grace of God) I made it just fine. Actually, once we got in the air to Narita, it was a pretty decent flight (as 13 hour flights go). We had individual video screens in the back of the seats so there was a fair selection of movies (I enjoyed Matchstick Man with Nick Nolte and was only mildly amused by Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis). I also managed to beg for vegetarian food- (my reservation was marked veggie but when I had to switch flights they couldn't transfer it) and I think they ended up giving me leftovers from business class- it was delicious and even in a glass bowl!

The best part was getting my luggage back. I only had to wait an extra hour because at JFK I'd asked the desk folks to see if they could be sent on the Chicago flight- which they were.

Spent the night with Tom last night and then a simple train ride this morning and I'm home in Misato with all my stuff. I had such a relaxing vacation, it feels pretty anticlimatic to be going to school again tomorrow. But- I have loads of new goals (my IU correspondence course, studying for the GRE) and things to work on (getting a job!). I know my last 7 months here are going to fly.

Not before I get some skiing in though... we're headed for the snow this weekend!

and to think I used to get excited about snow in Chicago! Not anymore, let-me-tell-YOU!

I was scheduled to fly from Indy to Chicago back to Tokyo this morning, but the weather gods frowned on me and I'm "back home again in Indiana..." I wish I could say it had been that easy, but alas... today was a really awful day. We sat at the gate for hours waiting for a runway to clear in Chicago, until it looked like I would miss my connection to Narita. Hoping that the Japan flight would also be delayed, I got in line at the desk to check whether I should board or not. Unfortunately, the ladies at the United desk were having a very bad morning. There was a borderline psychotic man with several other adults flying to Hong Kong- who was pitching a fit about the delay and stalking the check in attendants, completely oblivious to the rest of us who needed some attention. The UAL folks were doing everything they could but in the end, they were understaffed and didn't call security on the psycho before he shot their nerves - they were doing way too much at one time and blew it. I didn't even get to the front of the line before they called final boarding and in my panic to decide whether to run for the plane or not, I overheard the UAL worker say to another woman on my flight that there was "no way" we would make any flight to Japan today... or tomorrow.. maybe not until Thursday.

sigh. So I relaxed and went back to waiting patiently to see if we could get our luggage back. It took forever, but I finally got myself booked on what promises to be the Longest Possible Way to Japan: I will (hopefully, with breath held and fingers crossed) be flying out of Indy at a mind-numbing 6:10 AM tomorrow- to Washington Dulles (which in case you aren't geographically minded, is the complete opposite direction I want to be going). Then, just to have one-last-chance to spend all my dollars... I'll be flying from Dulles on to JFK International in New York... where, if I am lucky, the Chicago storm will have peetered out, allowing me to finally board a very long flight to Tokyo. If that is actually how it all goes, I will be delighted.

Of course, meanwhile, they couldn't get the bags off of the plane in time and they ended up going to Chicago. No one really has been able to tell me how I will ever find them... could be a long week. And to round out the day, by checking the information online, turns out my flight from Indy to Chicago made it to Chicago by 4:30 (which means they sat on the runway for 4 hours) and the flight to Tokyo didn't leave until 6:30. So, had I jumped on the plane I would be most of the way home by now. How dissappointing!

The good news is I got to go to church one last time tonight and the Packers and the Colts both won!!