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!

16 + teaching days

yes, that's right - i have 16 days of teaching left. i am starting to really be ready to be done here in the classroom. i wish i was doing more with the students but unfortunately i don't plan or lead many activities so my time in the classroom has become fairly boring. i will not be sad to say good bye to that but i will be sad to say good bye to my fellow teachers and the students. even though i don't know many of the staff or kids very well i have grown fond of them. i have started to receive little good bye letters from the kids. some of them are really cute and one even said "i hope that you teach us english next year." awwww, right? that did touch me but i don't actually know who wrote it cause i know the kids by face and not by name (feel kinda bad about that but hey - i see about 700 kids so i think it's understandable). even if i did stay on a second year i have heard that (and if my company did get the same contracts) they switch the AETs. why would that make sense? don't ask me so i wouldn't be seeing the same students anyways so i don't feel so guilty for leaving the kiddos hanging. i am in the process now of making certificates to give all the students. i designed them and across the top the say "Excellence in English" so they're a little corny but i think the kids will like them. i hand print in each students name in english, sign them and add some stickers too. i think some of the students will really love them. i think students that achieve here are recognized (i have sat cluelessly through a few assemblies where kids were getting plaques and awards) but i think it might be quite rare that all the students get something so i am really making them for the kid that doesn't think they'll get one. i hope they all like them though as it is a bit of an undertaking (700 students, remember!). that is keeping me busy.

i have found out more about the official move out of japan process. i think i will be flying home march 27 or 28th. the countdown is on - 68 days to go.

home + back again

i spent an absolutely wonderful three weeks home. it was awesome to see almost all of my family and friends. everything felt right again once i stepped off that plane. okay maybe i am being a tad dramatic but i loved being home. i loved loved loved it and i am excited to return to oregon for good in about ten weeks. it had been nearly 9 months since i had seen portland and wow, did i miss it?!

the visit started off with a nice welcome wagon at the airport bright and early at 7:30 am on saturday dec. 19th. with mom, dad, suzanne, grandma, liz and carly. then it was off for breakfast all together. it was only about 9 but i had a philly steak sandwich and it was nice! after that we drove home and i saw mom's new house for the first time. it is so cool. i was a little skeptical hearing she fell in love with and bought a floating home (up near savies island) but it is sweet. it really feels like you are at a resort on vacation. and it's only about 10 min from downtown portland. quite a package. it was a great place to relax and enjoy the northwest weather and environment.

i made visits to the mall to see friends and had some great meals out. i got my haircut. i also drove for the first time in 9 months. i was a little nervous but of course it comes right back. i went shopping at the nike employee store and that was quite a treat, as always!

christmas eve we went to my uncles house and celebrated with family. after that i met my dad, stepmom and grandma for the midnight church service and stayed over at my dad's house. on christmas morning i open gifts and was happy to find a new pocket digi camera. it's awesome! in the afternoon we went to my aunts house and i got to see my cousins. i had to leave a little early to go pick up charles (yay). it was so nice of him to fly to see me on christmas. we went back to mom's house and exchanged presents. i had to get him geared up in some green and yellow and also got him some sweet old school nike kicks. he searched high and low in LA to find me an big O oregon hoodie. what a guy!

after a few more relaxing days and a snowstorm charles and i pulled out for our rose bowl road trip. we left at 6:30 am and arrived in LA at 11:30 pm. it was one l-o-n-g day but we did it. the next morning it was nice and warm, quite a change from japan and oregon weather. charles showed me around LA a bit, took me to the best mexican place in town and we visited santa monica. for new year's eve we went to some of his friends house for a low-key party. we didn't want to do anything too intense since we had to get up and be at the big game the next day.

so... the rose bowl, it was AWESOME. sure, the ducks pretty much choked but it was such a sweet experience if you enjoy college football. the energy in the air once we got into the stadium was so electric. we happen to enter on the oregon side (yay) so there was tons and tons of green and yellow. i loved it. everyone was cheering and routing for the ducks. one of my favorite moments was as we were crossing over (on a little bridge path thing) a line of duck fans waiting to get into the stadium. everyone was smiling so wide, yelling "OOOOOOO" and giving the "O" hand signal to each other. such camaraderie. it was so cool! as we arounded the corner approaching section 22, it started to become more of a mix of green/yellow and red. in our section there were ohio fans to our left and front but duck fans to the right and back of us. the whole section was similar. the seats were awesome, row 37, right about halfway from the field and top seats (row 77 i believe) and we were on the corner section right above the "n" of the oregon end zone. we had a great view. i had charles cheering with me "OOOOOOOOooooo" and i was quacking away with my special rose bowl quacker. it was so fun. i think the ohios are jealous they dont have a cleaver noisemaker for their own. i was sure to quack about every 5 minutes or so (even as things went downhill for the ducks) and secretly the ohios loved it. especially the old man right next to me. he he he... 4th quarter was a little sad and i could have been really bummed out but i didnt let the loss get me down for too long (right, charles?). i'm glad we went but next time i want to see a W!

the rest of the time home was spent relaxing, seeing friends and eating my missed foods. the last night home i requested cinnabon for dinner and even took one home in my checked luggage (thanks ma) along with a 2 lb. brick of tillamook. i am set on good cheese for a while now, yay!

the flight back to japan was uneventful and on a rather crappy delta plane. the overhead movies quit working with 5 hours left so that was a tad annoying and disappointing cause i love watching the movies on planes. i got back to my freezing apartment about 9 pm and am now doing my regular japan routine. it consists of riding my bike to work where i do essentially nothing all day and freeze my butt off in the process. my main school used to give me a game or activity to prepare every once in a while but now i am hardly asked to plan anything so all i do is attend the lessons and assist as needed with reading aloud to the class for them to repeat. it. is. so. boring. this week i went to three lessons where 42 out of the 50 minute class the students did worksheets. the room was silent, completely silent for 42 minutes. why was i even there?! frustrating. i have 19 school days left.

the cold here is what gets me down the most. being bored is one thing but being bored and completely freezing is a totally different thing! the schools insist on keeping doors and windows open to let 40 degree F (or colder) air billow throughout the school. the halls are basically open air and the classrooms are hardly better. the teachers have, for the most part been using the gas space heaters but it hardly takes the chill off. i feel so sorry for the girl students in their skirt uniforms. they aren't allowed to even wear tights! and no one can wear jackets or scarves in the classroom. it's insane! yesterday when i got home from school the temperature inside my apartment was 46.5 degrees F. yes, that's INSIDE my apartment!?! have you ever even been inside a living space at that temperature?! it is freezing and an hour after i had the heat blasting it was up to cozy 49 degrees F. seriously, that's cold. i have to wear 4 layers, a beanie and get in bed under the covers immediately. i really do hate it. it's unnatural! but it's okay cause i know i will never have to spend another winter in a poorly insulated, inadequately heated japanese apartment ever again and there is some comfort in that!

i am definitely looking forward to moving back to portland, the city i love. thanks everyone for a great trip home!