Welcome to another edition of the Deskwarming Diaries, where an ALT is quickly realizing she has less than three months before she leaves Japan. This edition features some late cherry blossom pictures, Golden Week adventures, and a look at the future. Let’s jump in!
First, the highlights:
- In class the other day, one of the kids’ new vocab words was “beginner.” The teacher was explaining what it was in Japanese when one of the kids raised his hand. “Sensei, isn’t it ‘newb?'” I gave a very unprofessional snort in surprise. “That’s slang,” I said, which the teacher translated, confused, before moving on.
- I did an exercise with some students where I gave them a category and they had to write three things as a group that fit that category. For example, “fruits,” they could write any three fruits in English that they could think of. The category was “Fruits grown in Nagano” and one of the students wrote… purple…. “Do you mean ‘grapes?'” Pure shock. “YES! AH! I meant grapes!!”
- A few months ago, I surprised my teachers by bringing from-scratch banana pudding for them to try. The first teacher to see me putting it in the back asked, “What is that?” “Banana pudding! It’s a classic American dessert! We eat… When… We eat it when we’re sad and it makes us happy!” “EHHHHHH ARE YOU SAD????!!!” “No, no, I just wanted to eat it, that’s all!” Cut to thirty minutes later when I can hear her in the back explaining to all the other teachers that American’s eat this when they’re sad so I must be sad….
Obligatory Cherry Blossom Pictures
We were able to see sakura in a couple different places this year! The first was at Kitty Park, a large hillside park in Chikuma with Japan’s largest tengu statue. Unfortunately, it was hot and crowded. And, despite us sitting in the middle of a slope, people still insisted on walking within a foot of where we were sitting which was pretty annoying.
The second was in a park in Niigata a few weeks later. The nice thing about this park is that no one ever goes to it, so you’re pretty much guaranteed a quiet picnic. The day we went was cold and cloudy. Just can’t get the weather right!
Golden Week
For those that don’t know, there are three holidays in the first week of May. That week is called ‘Golden Week,’ and it’s when most of Japan travels because there are three holidays in a row. This year, we decided to check something off of Hunter’s bucket list and cycle the Shimanami Kaido!
I’ll write more about it in a separate post, but basically it’s a ~70km cycling path between Hiroshima and Ehime that crosses six islands in the Seto Inland Sea. It is a beautiful path, and I definitely recommend you check it out if you have an interest in cycling!
The Future
Like I mentioned in my last post, Hunter and I are moving back to the States in July! At least we think so… We haven’t heard anything concrete from my supervisor, but I’ve already started the process of organizing the stuff in my house. Five years = a lot of stuff! I’m trying not to stress too much, but it seems like there’s so much to do before the end of July.
Other than packing and stressing, Hunter and I are planning on making one last trip to Kamikochi in mid-July. I really hope we can fit it in! It’s definitely one of my favorite places in Japan, and I want to see the mountains again before we leave.
