Wednesday we were warned of impending snow. According to reports, we were due for a whopping 30 cm. When I came out of my last class at 6:40 in a neighbouring city, there was a note telling me that I would have to wait for someone to drive me home. I looked out the window, and sure enough there was heavy snow falling, and the street was mostly covered. This meant that I couldn't drive myself home? Apparently, the rest of the classes for the day had been cancelled, and since I don't have snow or studless tires on the little k-car I drive I would be escorted home. As it turned out, this was a good thing, the roads were extremely slippery and there were accidents all over the place. My employer whizzed me around in his SUV and we arrived safely in Seki where Jolayne had already gone home and was enjoying a cozy candlelight coffee, watching the snow falling. The next morning snow continued to fall and we enjoyed the sight, once again, of the gardens and homes blanketed in white.

Today I had a second chance to go snowboarding in Japan. I was picked up by Jolayne's student Ryoto and his son Keigo at 6:50. Ryoto is an avid skier--he figures he's been 20 times already this season. He has also skiied in Whistler and Switzerland. As with my last venture to the ski hill, the drive included a little more than an hour of s-l-o-w conversation. He did better than I expected and I enjoyed our talk.

We drove on the highway which was a bit of an enlightenment for me. Driving on the highway is expensive. If I read the meter right it cost almost 20 dollars just to drive on it for 2 hours. All highways in Japan are toll roads, so he was surprised to hear that we can drive across Canada on our major highway for free (yes, they have taxes here, too, so that doesn't count). Highways are often built up off the ground so that they virtually stand on stilts in order to create a mainline overtop of the towns and villages that are scattered throughout the countryside. Some of the highway roads that I saw today were magnificent structures. Despite the cost to drive on them, one can't be sure of smooth sailing--according to Ryoto, bottlenecks abound.

The conditions today were considerably better than my last outing. I left a few nice lines in the pow-wow and alarmed my hosts and onlookers by bolting through the trees. The rumour is partly true: in general Japanese snowboarders avoid riding in powder. As with the last place I rode, the mountain was comparable to Cypress in Vancouver. The sky this morning was unblemished blue and from the top of the lift the view was breathtaking. It was like being at the top of Whistler or Sunshine Village in Banff. This country is blessed with many mountains!

There was Boardercross competition at the mountain today which was fun to watch while riding the lift. The course looked pretty difficult, which a competitor confirmed to us on one of our rides up the lift. She was the only person--aside from Ryoto--that I heard speaking English.

When I returned home this afternoon, Jolayne told me that she had read the news and learned that the Pro snowboarder who died recently in an avalanche along with many others was Craig Kelly. It's interesting how celebrities affect us. When I first began snowboarding ten years ago I bought all the magazines and followed the Pros closely. I had pictures on my wall of Craig laying smooth lines in the powder and new enough of him to respect his attitude toward the sport and life. Being able to put a face on one of the bodies that were dug out of the snow gave the accident a greater impact for me and I sent a prayer out for the families of those riders that were lost.

"Taka" means tall and "Yama" means mountain - atleast thats what Yoshiaki tells me.

Saturday, after my morning mother and kids class, we boarded a train Northbound for the "little Kyoto in the mountains". The train ride was scenic - the tracks run along the base of the hills, crossing many small towns and a running river. We rode along in comfort - plush seats, tones of leg room and a panoramic view. Every now and then a snack tray was rolled down the aisles selling beer, icecream, smelly things and crispy treats.

Upon arriving in Takayama we bundled up and headed to our hotel. The guide book mentions that the hotel "The Four Seasons (not the chain) looks out of place. And it does. It stands taller than anything surrounding it on a residential street - oh yeah - and it is silver. It turned out to be central and very easy to spot from just about anywhere.

The hotel has an indoor hotspring bath - neither Kemp or I were brave enough to take advantage of this luxury. We feel like we should be educated on public bath etiquette before we dare enter on our own. I am in no hurry - cause - well - ummmm..... my birthday suit is at the cleaners.

We wandered the narrow streets lined with shops and sake breweries until dark and our restaurant of choice opened for dinner. At Agura we to listened to jazz while reading a four page english menu. We enjoyed a mixed green salad, a Margareta pizza and Kemp cooked steak teppanyaki style. We splurged for what we meant to be a coffe and ice-cream but turned out to be tapioca pudding - yes the menu was english but all I was able to do when ordering was point.

Sunday morning we decided to head home earlier than planned because I wasn't feeling very well. While we wander around until it was time to catch the train we happened upon a french bakery. There was a tall man with a black moustache, in a black leather outfit and biker boots seated at the coffe bar. He stood up as we made our way in and greeted us with "Bonjour". I think my mouth may have actually fell open - I was soooo shocked - I half expected a "hey" or a "hello". I think I could have mustered up enough franchais to atleast reply to his greeting - I wanted to but I couldn't. Kemp was just as shocked as I was - He lost his footing and bumped the gentleman - instead of saying I'm sorry, Excuse Moi or even Oops he said "Sumemasen" Japanese for excuse me.

I immediately put on my glasses and leaned forward so I could stare out the centre of the window. The train was moving quickly but I could make out just about everything in sight. Just one, Oh please let me see just one.

I hoped we might catch a glimps of one or 20 but I wasn't on guard. The tracks run so closely to peoples properties along the hills, I..I...I just assumed that they wouldn't venture out that far.

"Ohhhhhhh Jolayne I'm sorry, so sorry.......I just saw a monkey"

He said it stood toddler height and was covered in greyish brown hair - its face was big and pink.

I stared and stared into the forests our train drove along side of for the remainder of the trip but I was unable to spot a single pink face or a hairy toddler.

This morning I sat by the window in our hotel room looking out over the city of Takayama, drinking a cup of coffee. I was feeling relaxed and peaceful, enjoying a few minutes to myself while Jolayne was in the shower. To my astonishment, the telephone rang. I answered it and agreed, somewhat hesitantly, to accept a connection. The voice on the line asked if he could make a reservation. I apologized and explained that he had been connected to a room at the hotel. He said he was calling from the United States and asked if I could somehow return him to the front desk. I couldn't, and he wished me a good day. I hung up the phone and marvelled at the oddity of a misplaced phone call from the United States while touring Japan.

My first week back I taught some extra classes to cover for a teacher who didn't return from holidays in the U.S. One of those classes was a group of five teenage boys. They were typical teenagers with bad mouths and too-cool-for-school attitudes. I had them make 20 questions and one of the questions was : when will you become an adult man? They all laughed at this one; no doubt they had their own meaning for the question. But when it came time to answer they all gave a very serious reply: when I am 20 I will become an adult man.

Monday, January 13th was Coming-Of-Age Day. Every family with a child turning 20 in the coming year receives an invitation for a ceremony in their community. In Seki, around 1000 young people gathered at the community center for the Coming-Of-Age ceremony. The event is taken quite seriously, and the day is a national holiday to accomodate travel and attendance. In one of my classes a father reported that his son was returning from Okinawa in order to attend. In another class, a mother whose son is studying in Australia expressed some dissapointment that her son would not be able to return for the celebration. Attire for the ceremony is traditional kimonos for young women and suits or samurai-style dress for young men. Many treat their appearance with as much importance as if they were getting married. Beauty salons are extra busy and mothers go shopping with their daughters to buy expensive shoes, bags and makeup to accessorize their outfits. On their birthdays, young women will again wear their Kimonos -- often throughout the whole day. After the ceremony, they meet up with their grade school alumni to celebrate their passage into adulthood together.

"Rubbish Disposal" is the title of a four page booklet we received from Seki City Hall - it is an english guide for the disposal of - well - rubbish.

For the last three months we have delivered our rubbish on a weekly basis to school - and Yuka drags it across the way to the cake shop and I don't know where it goes from there.

We decided it was time to be grown up and dispose of our own rubbish. One might think this would be an easy task - to figure out when garbage day is all one need do is to keep an eye out for neighbours walking their garbage down the driveway or an ear out for the garbage trucks.

If one has a 9-5 job one could spy on the neighbours and may figure out when garbage day is but one would still have a lot of questions.

On our block alone there are atleast 5 pick-up points. One is obviously for plastic bottles, aluminum cans and syrofoam trays. One is possibly for cardboard and one maybe for leaves and one maybe for magazines.

Japan implemented a recycling program a year ago. Regular household garbage is in the Burnable Rubbish category. Cans that have been cleaned and dryed may go into the designated crate. Bottles have a few crates and are seperated by color. Milk Packs must be cleaned, dried, folded and tied together by stirng and placed in their designated crates. Magazines, Newspaper and Cardboard must be tied together by strin and have their own crate.

We spent some time with Yuka at City Hall last month - we had to register and pick up our garbage bags. We are allowed 100 bags per year at a cost of 4.5 Yen (close to 45 cents) per bag. If you use up your yearly allowance of rubbish bags you must purchase excess at 300 Yen a bag.

When we left City Hall that day we still weren't sure where to dispose of our rubbish or what day we had to deliver it to its place of pick up. Yuka called City Hall and wasn't able to find out so on Wednesday night she knocked on our neighbours door and had our questions answered - kinda sorta -

Thursday and Monday our garbage is picked up half a block away - but check this out - you may not put your garbage our the night before and it must be out by 8 am for pick up.

Apparently the neighbourhood is a "team" and is responsible for its team members garbage - if you aren't following the rules your garbage is returned to you and you must sort it our - the bags are see through.

Two teacher cleaned out their apartment - the previous tenants had left a nasty mess - they but their bags out with everybody elses - Im not sure what happened but the head office was called and the garbage was returned for sorting - crazy

We were very careful as this was our first time - I rolled out of bed at 7:45 Thursday morning - put on a toque and a sweater and headed out -

We are in a foreign country and find ourselves with two weeks holiday - YIPPY!
We take advantage of this time and travel farther than we usually do.
We also enjoy lazy days at home and take some time to wander down neighbouring streets that are new to us.

Sunday January 5th rolls around and we have to start preparing - mentally - for work - WORK - but we are tourists!

I don't really live here - but I'm not just visiting either.

I have enjoyed seeing my students and hearing about their holidays. I am lucky to have 3 adult classes that are high level and can enjoy an hour and 15 minutes in conversation. I am slowy getting back into the groove - speaking slower.

If I wasn't working I couldn't afford to be a tourist in Japan - I must keep reminding myself of this everytime I think of the places I want to visit but can't because I gotstago to work.

His name is "Chubby" because he is just that - chubby. He's made of parking lot snow and has a cucumber nose and film container top eyes. He is 4 days old and hasn't lost a bit of weight since the day he came to be. Last night I found his soggy cucumber nose lying at his feet - no problem - I think a hole is much better for him than having a cucumber shoved inside of his head.

He is wearing a nice big muffler - scarf - so I don't worry about him getting cold at night.

All of Japan was hit by a blizzard last weekend - I woke up Monday morning to lots of snow - the fun kind - the packing kind. I dressed in Kemps snowboarding pants, a fuzzy sweater, winter boots and cozy mittens and headed outside with the intentions of clearing the walk way and sweeping off the car (since we don't have a shovel) - and I did.

There was sooo much snow - I couldn't resist.

As I started to roll "Chubby's" body one of our neighbours came out to shovel out her car. She smiled and said "Goodmorning " as did I. The ball of snow was getting bigger and bigger and my neighbours stares were becoming longer and longer. I wanted to ask her to help but I wasn't confident she would understand.

I lifted Chubby's body up onto the patio and began packing him in place - she came over - I was so happy - she smiled - took some snow in her hand and started packing too.

We didn't speak - she said "Kawii" a few times which means cute and I said "Hurray" a few times which means nothing to her but I smiled a lot. Kemp came out to see where I had gotten to - he came down with the camera and the neighbour and I posed with Chubby for a picture.

You don't need to speak the same language to make a snowman!

Yesterday, our last day of holiday, we enjoyed a bit of a blizzard. In the afternoon we went for a walk just as the snow started, and by the time we got home the flakes were big as a dime (I think I still remember the size of a dime) and snow was beginning to settle on the ground. I lay down for a nap and when I got up an hour later the ground was covered. It soon became dark and we kept the blinds open to catch the whispers of white as they flitted close to the glass.

This morning there is 30 centimeters of snow on our miniature car. At this very moment Jolayne is dressed in my snowboard pants brushing the snow off with a broom. The lady across the way is cleaning off the apartment steps with a hand broom and dustpan! It is warm, and there is some sunshine, so of course it won't stay around long - though I expect driving to be treacherous. I will be careful ;) Despite the snow on the ground, laundry is hanging from the lines which for me adds a little bit of comedy to the beauty of the landscape from our window.

Yes, today it is back to work here, as I'm sure it is for some of you. We've really enjoyed having 2 weeks together without the pressure of daily responsibilites and different schedules. It's amazing having each other to experience new sights with. Though we spent a lot of time just relaxing at home (and organizing: my closet is completely revamped with compartments for everything - and I'm writing from my new computer desk, cheap but efficient) we saw many new things, if not extremes.

Okinawa was, as we had been told, completely different from the area we live in. The city itself was a strange mix of old Japan - mostly run-down and dirty - with a US Military presence. The road from the airport to the resort we stayed at was lined with fast food restaurants, convenience stores and recycle shops: junk stores, which in the case of Okinawa, were overflowing with American refuse - bits of military garbage and used equipment. Jolayne kept remarking how dirty it all was. The construction of buildings was the thing which struck me the most as different; everything it seemed, was made of concrete. Close to the coast there were some very cool houses with flat concrete rooves and large balconies. Even the homes that were uncared for shared this interesting construction. The overall impression was a poor, neglected, hot place that suffered from a large disparity of classes. On our last day there, we took a short drive into the city and found things to be a little more settled and less disturbing. Every home was a little different, with a wide variety of western style buildings.

For me, our overnight stay in Kobe was the most refreshing. We didn't pay for the Shinkansen, so it took a little over 4 hours by local trains. Kobe is a harbour city that borders on Osaka (Japan's second largest city). Many will remember that Kobe captured the world's attention in 0000 when it was hit by an earthquake that killed 000 people and left the city in ruins. Kobe's rebuilt harbour is the main attraction with restaurants, shopping, a massive hotel, tower and small amusement park. Before we went to Okinawa, everyone told me that it is just like the US. Well, I suppose I've seen some parts of the US that looked like that - New Jersey, the Bronx - but it was Kobe that struck me as distinctly western. Walking through the city I felt, alternately, like I could be in Vancouver, Toronto, Prague or Italy! And yet, it was still very obviously Japan: signs, sounds and postboxes made that very clear. There were so many funky cafe's and restaurants near our hotel. And the funniest thing was that everyone there seemed like a tourist, only they were all Japanese! Everyone walked with a map through the streets that were home to European style houses. For a small fee you could enter the Victorian styled homes and experience a little bit of Europe. Our stay was brief, but particularly enjoyable. The train ride home, however, seemed to take forever.

Over the holidays, we also had time to experience a little more of Seki. There is a large park with a great playground for kids and a small pond (about the size of ____ in Vancouver) to walk around. We also walked a street lined with old shops that we'd never ventured down before. We bought a little dish for my sand garden from a man who ran a shop stacked with pottery and odds and ends. We drank coffee in a very modern cafe that was tucked in along the old buildings - we were the only customers. And I took photos of the interesting signage that lined the street. It's exciting finding something so close that you haven't seen before, and there are many more streets like it for us to explore.

Well, enough of my little summary. I really must be getting to work. I have extra classes this week because one of the teachers didn't make it back from Christmas vacation because of an accident in the US. Here we go, yo!

We don't have a stove - we have two burners and a toaster oven. Neither Kemp or I want a microwave so we have been making due with stove top dishes - spaghetti - stir fry - grilled cheese - and toaster oven pizza.

We are bored and in need of suggestions ----- please keep in mind that we are illiterate in the grocery store and one of us is a simpleton in the food department.

Thanks

At midnight on December 31st, temple bells all over Japan are tolled 108 times to welcome in the new year and obliterate the evil aspects of the old.

New Years Eve

I was wipped - we left Kobe around 3pm and didn't arrive home until shortly after 7 - I crawled into bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Kemp coaxed me out of bed with a cup of hot coffee.

At 11:30 we bundled up and headed out to the largest buddist temple in Seki. The streets were deserted - as we walked we could hear televisions and cheerful voices coming from behind closed doors.

I replayed the many conversations I have had with my students on New Years Eve in my head - I was positive they told me that everyone makes a trip to the temple to welcome in the new year - where was everyone?

It was almost midnight when we arrived. I was relieved to see parked cars and bicycles lining the street infront of the temple. People! There were men gathered around a bonfire blazing on the temple grounds - food stands were busy selling barbqued chicken and pork on a stick, children ran around and teenagers sat with their friends and cell phones.

Kemp and I walked through the crowd - people had begun to line up on the "alter" so we stood off to the side to take in the festivities. We found the bell tower and could barely see a man standing in the dim light beside the bell. I wondered if he was the temple priest, if it was his first time and how he was feeling - anticipating the responsibility he had to toll the bell 108 times at the strike of midnight.

The first bell tolled - Happy New Year! People rushed in to line up at the alter - we walked home to the sound of the bells.