day 4 + cranes

today i actually did something besides fold cranes for most of the day. ha ha... i met a friend in osu to do some shopping and have lunch. after i went to LOFT and the 100 yen shop to pick up a few more packs of paper. i bought a bunch more hello kitty papers cause i was getting low and i wanted some extra to take back to the states. i also totally nerded out and got a special plastic origami paper case. yes, i am a bit crane crazy! ha! today i could only manage making 40 cranes. the last few days i have been making more but i've also been going a little nuts - having trouble sleeping and thinking "hey, i should just get out of bed and fold a few more cranes." see, crazy talk. so i am thinking that i will shoot for 40 a day and if i want to do more the max i will do is 60. i hope this keeps me in check.

new supplies from the 100 yen shop - check the sweet paper case on the right - awww yeah!

loft add i want to cut up for papers and 3 packs of origami from loft - way nicer that 100 yen stuff, of course.

made blues, greens, purples and yellows today with some of the new papers. i already had way too many pink and red ones so i am trying to balance it all out.

day 4's 40.

total count: 242 - almost 25%!

day 3 + cranes

the 40 cranes i made today standing up.

the rest of the supplies i needed - string, needle and more papers although i bought way more than i actually need. hey, i wanted options.

some fancy, more expensive metallic gold accented paper. really pretty.

the first two of twenty five strings of 40 cranes on each.

i think they look really pretty and cheery. after i finished the first one and stood back to take a look i was kind of giddy! he he he like a little kid finishing an art project. i can't wait to see more! i decided to make a rainbow pattern using solid colored papers and patterened ones in between.

total count: 202

day 2 + cranes

february 26. 40 cranes in pinks, reds and oranges to meet the day's goal.

but... i kept pluggin' away all day (it was rainy!) and made lots more.

total count: 129

day 1 + cranes

february 25. day 1: buy supplies, learn how and start

bought paper at the 105 yen shop.

16 different colors in this set but i decided to not use the brown, black and white right now...

learning how to make the cranes.

blue crane is wrong, yellow crane is correct. i got it down now!

first day's 40 cranes. i have a good technique down but this goal is time sensitive and i am a bit of a perfectionist so making them fast is hard for me, i want each one to be perfectly folded, precisely creased and all lined up. i am getting pretty good at it. doing this detailed work reminds me of architecture studio in college. working with my hands, doing very careful work on what can definitely seem like an endless, impossible task. oh, it feels good! i miss this feeling... must keep folding! :)

total count: 40

no more school + cranes

i finished at my schools on feb. 12. i have just completed two work free weeks of being "on-call". i haven't been called yet although several of my friends have been asked to subsitute at elementary schools in the surrounding suburbs. it's nice to not have anything to do but geez, it is very, very boring. it's sort of a double edged sword - good and bad at the same time. i find that when i have very little or nothing expected of me i do very little or nothing instead of being productive, etc. it is a bit hard here to stay entertained without going out and spending money that i need to save. i have been riding my bike around town. sometimes i will just go around for fun or ride into town.

on wednesday i rode to atsuta shrine. it took just under and hour to make it one way. i met up with a friend there, took some photos and then after got a kebab at a nearby cafe. it was so tasty. while at the shrine i noticed something colorful hanging at a prayer area. i went to have a closer look and realized it four sets of 1,000 paper cranes. it was the first time i have seen that at a shrine and i was pretty amazed. i vaguely remembered hearing the story of the sick girl who tried to make 1,000 cranes to make a wish for her illness to go away when i was a kid. seeing 1,000 cranes in person was so cool. they were so colorful and very interesting. i took so many photos. when i got home i looked up the history of the tradition called "senbazuru" and learned they are made for a wish or as a wedding gift to wish the new couple 1,000 years of happiness. i was enamored and decided yesterday that with all the spare time i have and the last 30 days i have in japan i was going to try and make 1,000 paper cranes.

so off i went on my bike to town to buy the supplies. i read it's possible to buy a set with all the paper, thread, needle and beads needed to make senbazuru. i didn't find a set but bought some individual supplies - a variety of papers and some yellow beads (i still need to buy the thread and needle). i came home excited and googled "how to make a paper crane". i have made a couple in the past but it was under supervision and given step by step instructions so i needed to re-learn it. after two different youtube videos, a set of written instructions and charles on skype we learned together how to fold the little suckers. he mentioned that the head and tail on mine looked wider than his but i didn't really think so. after making about 10 of them i started to question it and looked for some photos online. sure enough i had been making them wrong. ha ha... i was missing one last fold over so it was an easy fix. i started over and last night made 40.

after learning how to make them i found it takes about 5-7 minutes to fold one making the goal of 40 per day a serious commitment! i'm going to give it my best shot though. it's common for senbazuru to be from 25 strings of 40 cranes each. my goal is to make one string per day for 25 days. we'll see if i can keep up the crane production. it's not impossible but... i don't know, it's going to be close. wish me luck!

also, i have been watching the olympics on tv. right now they just had the award ceremony for the ladies figure skating. mao asada is from nagoya and got silver! go japan!

photos from atsuta shrine and the paper cranes that inspired me.

last + day

well... it's the night before the last day of classes at my main school. i am pretty ready to finish up and start preparing to return to america but i am definitely sad to say goodbye to some of the adorable faces at school. the kids are so sweet and i will miss them. i wish i would have gotten to interact with them more over the year and do more teaching but c'est la vie. i have been taking some extra photos so i can remember everyone and everything for years to come. tomorrow will probably feel a bit surreal. i wrote little notes for each of the teachers i worked with and for the vice principal and principal. i am also taking andes mints as a goodbye treat. my grammie used to always have andes in her fridge so they are sort of a comforting, sentimental candy for me :) i hope they like them. it's only a small token but it's the thought that counts, right?

this photo is from my 1-day-a-week school. i am already all finished up over there! i was sad walking out the door but i will always remember my time there! :)

free + zing

last night when i came home after work and seeing a movie about 9 pm, my apartment was 45.5 degrees. also know as miserable/freeeeezing/wear-four-layers-beanie-scarf-blanket-INDOORS-temperature. when i went to bed it got up to about 55 or so, which is still damn cold.

today when i came home from work at 5:15 pm it was 48 degrees. i have been blasting 90 degree air out of my heater for 6 hours and its finally a warm 63 which feels pretty much tropical.

i will always wonder where my heat goes and i will never forget how cold my japanese apartment and workplace was.

4 days + funny convos

i have one final regular work week left at my schools. next week there is a national holiday on thursday so that makes just four days until i am done! this past week i have been having some of the last lessons in the classes. i have really been enjoying it lately because i have been doing more activities that normal. the lessons are so much more interesting, fun and faster when i actually do something aside from reading like a tape recorder. i felt busy and valuable in the classroom - it was awesome! i have been handing out the certificates i made the students and they seem to be liking them. the students are being more friendly and talkative with me than normal. maybe some of the shyer ones are just finally warming up to me or maybe since they know i am gone soon, they finally have an incentive/deadline to talk to me. one sweet little 7th grade girl stopped me in the hall and thanked me for the award i had given her the previous day. it was so cute and i imagine took quite a big of courage! (she seems very shy!). the little moments like that are what i hope to remember and take away. overall, the kids are awesome and super funny. they are what makes the job rewarding and memorable. i wish i could have connected with the students more - if i was staying longer i would surely handle some stuff differently. now that i know how the school works and generally how the teachers and students are, i feel i would be more comfortable going into a second year and be able to get to know students and staff better. i was somewhat afraid of stepping on toes so i was cautious, shy and a little intimidated when i first arrived (horror stories were told during our training) but if i started over, i would be even more friendly, outgoing and be less scared of the whole situation. it was a little frightening to show up to a job i had never worked, to be thrown into a completely different work environment and culture and just get the job done. it was a lot, A LOT to take on. it was a learning experience, that's for sure and i know i will take many valuable lessons, ideas, things away from this crazy time i have had here in japan.

i have been trying to make the most of the little time i have left at school. today after school i went outside to talk to the kids and take some photos. it was so fun (also freezing - snow flecks were falling) and the students were hilarious. a group of five 9th grade girls had gathered around me, asking questions and telling me things. one girl said she wanted a foreign boyfriend because they are "berry handsome, have big eyes, are tall, macho and have a long nose". i had to laugh! they were cracking me up. i showed them a photo of charles and i and they asked if it was "love-love"? ha ha ha - how cute is that?! they were so sweet and entertaining. they all worked together to translate and help each other make sense of what i was saying or what they were trying to tell me. we chatted about food and they asked me if i knew any of the J-Pop (japanese pop music) stars (which i don't know!) and one said she liked michael jackson, then proceeded to do a version of the moon walk and the crotch grab-hand to the sky dance move. one word: awesome! ohhh the kid's these days! gotta love 'em!