Welcome to another edition of the Deskwarming Diaries where an ALT is shocked to discover that winters in Nagano are still, in fact, freezing cold. Today’s post includes highlights, a look at my bullet journal, a trip to Tokyo, winter plans, Thanksgiving dinner, and a few small triumphs.
The highlights….
- Jessica and I got surprised a couple of weeks ago when there was a lunar eclipse happening as we were leaving school! Fun fact, lunar eclipse in Japanese is 月食 (gesshoku). The kanji are ‘moon’ and ‘eat’ which I thought was interesting.
- In an elementary class, we told the kids that we were going to play a game (musical chairs) and that they needed to move their desks to the back and bring their chairs to the front. Immediately they started saying, 「椅子取りゲーム？椅子取りゲームでしょ？」(Isutori game? It’s the isutori game, right?) like they always do when we make them move their desks. I’ve been here for five years and I have never been able to figure out what isutori was. In my defense, when the kids say it it sounds closer to ‘mystery’ or ‘history.’ When we asked their homeroom teacher, she clearly said, “Isutori?” and it clicked. ‘Isu’ is chair in Japanese, and ‘tori’ is take — aka, musical chairs.
- But that’s not all! I turned on some pop music and the kids started awkwardly circling the chairs. I guess this is a game they often play, because the homeroom teacher was trying to get them to move on the beat and clap their hands. A few rounds in, one of the kids called, “Sensei!!! Play Michael Bublé! I love his Christmas songs!” So I did. And the game immediately fell apart haha. It was such a slow song that the kids didn’t know where the beat was! I had to change it back, but not before they began doing the classic musical chairs move of only moving when the person in front of them has passed the next chair. They looked absolutely ridiculous, but everyone had lots of fun!
My November Spread — Ghibli!
I’ve been in a Ghibli kinda mood for the past month and a half, so I decided to put it in my bullet journal! Each of my weekly spreads were a different Ghibli movie. First was Totoro, then Spirited Away, Nausicaa, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. All were painted using watercolor! The paper is definitely not made for this medium which made it pretty challenging, but I learned a lot. I’m really happy with how they turned out!
A Trip to Tokyo
To celebrate our eighth anniversary, Hunter and I took a trip to Tokyo at the beginning of the month. The highlight of the adventure for me was our visit to the Ghibli Museum. I’ll write more about it in another post, but I’m very happy I was finally able to check this off my bucket list.
Hunter’s highlight was definitely the Yokohama Ramen Museum. And I have to admit, it was pretty dang cool! A lot of history about the origins of ramen, and each display had English on it (always a bonus). The bottom of the museum was an experience all on its own — look forward to a post!
Winter break is coming…
Snow fell in town for the first time on Saturday, which means that winter is here. In thinking about what we were going to do over winter break, we decided to run from the snow and spend New Years in Kyoto. So many temples and shrines to visit and so little time. We are also thinking about doing a little bit of hiking there too. And of course, eating all the Kansai foods. Thinking about this trip will definitely help me get through these last couple weeks of school!
Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving doesn’t really exist in Japan, so we celebrated it last weekend with Jessica and Jesse! We ordered some things from The Meat Guy (like turkey), but we ended up making a lot of dishes. There was so much food on the table it felt like a real Thanksgiving.
We had…
- Turkey breast (The Meat Guy)
- Turkey legs (TMG)
- Stuffing (TMG)
- Pecan Pie (TMG)
- Cranberry Sauce (TMG)
- Mashed potatoes
- Gravy
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Deviled Eggs
- Corn Casserole
- Dinner Rolls
- Meat and Cheese Spread
I honestly hadn’t realized how much I missed sitting at a table and passing food to people. It was definitely the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in five years. Everything was heckin’ tasty, and we’re already thinking about doing something similar over winter break!
Small Triumphs
Lately, I’ve been really stressed out about the ‘what ifs’ of living in Japan. What if I get in a car wreck? How do I tell people where I am? What if me or Hunter gets sick? Will we be able to explain what’s wrong? Basically, can I rely on my Japanese to help me in a crisis?
To help me through those times, I think about instances where I was able to communicate effectively in Japanese. I’m not talking about asking my co-workers a question or talking to the kids, I mean approaching someone I don’t normally talk to in a situation where I need something. I’ve had two of these situations come up recently, and I’ve been able to navigate them alright! Not perfect, of course, but it was a nice little confidence boost. The first was getting a tax form for Hunter at the town office without the help of my supervisor (who I usually rely on in cases like this), and the second was calling a kindergarten to reschedule a class next month. I’ll be drawing on these small triumphs for a while!
Also, nice job on the watercolors! Kiki looks awesome 😁
Thank you!!! It’s been fun looking at them all month.
Small triumphs 🤔 I put up our minimalist Christmas decorations the day before Thanksgiving so we’ll have a whole month to enjoy them 🎄
Awesome!! I haven’t set my little tree up yet, but hopefully I’ll get around to it this weekend.