Birthday Joys

My 25th birthday has come and gone. It was the longest birthday ever –well about a day and a half from when it started here in Japan and ended in Canada. My friends here made it a great time for me. Yoko took me out for lunch and surprised me with a cake. Funny thing, every now and then Yoko and I stop by a bakery. Two weeks ago when she was in they asked her how I was doing because they missed me. She let them know my birthday was coming up. As a result they learned to say "Happy Birthday" and gave me some wonderful baked good. I love Japanese bakeries. I was also able to share a birthday meal with a few of my students at Grace. And Maki and I had tons of fun that night. A wonderful birthday.

Golden week has started. So I have the next few days off from teaching. We're going on an adventure and will be back in two days. Stay tuned.

Friends, cake, and candles...what more could a girl want? 

My birthday "card" from Steve and Tiffany 

Olympic Swimming and Leaky Buckets

Learning a second language is an up hill climb. It is two steps forward one back –no more like three steps back. A friend told me that language learning as wanting to go swimming in an Olympic-size pool*. Only when you get to the edge you see that it is totally empty. A few yards away there is a garden hose and a bucket. How full the pool gets depends on you and what you want to do. If you only want to splash a little it only takes a few trips. Wanting to drive to the bottom of the deep end would require more work. If this is true I think my bucket has a hole or two in it.

After Hitomi moved my language classes ended and it seemed hopeless for me to even learn enough to splash in the language. Yet things changed this Saturday. Recently we heard that the community center has free Japanese lessons Thursdays and every other Saturday. I teach during the Thursday lessons but I was able attend the two hour lesson on Saturday. Turned out to be a very overwhelming two hours. I have eight pages to show for it, hopefully with some study I’ll be able to remember it all for my lesson. Muzukashii!

Word Up: Muzukashii -difficult

*If I’ve shared the pool illustration before, forgive me, I must be suffering from short-term memory loss. Yet if this is the first time, just disregard the footnote.

With A Cherry On Top

Yesterday I as I was out with the kindergarten children admiring the falling Japanese cherry blossoms, it was like snowing pink peddles. The Japanese cherry blossoms are called sakura. Their shape is used in most Japanese art. The flowers start budding at the beginning of April. I am sad to say the end of the blossom season has come too fast. The beauty of the delicate Sakura only last about two weeks.

Just before all the trees where in bloom Hideki took us and Stephan (who’s from France) to Himeji Castle in Hyogo prefecture. Castle is also know as Shirasagi-jo (White Heron castle). Castle was big, old, and white. Looked like it had good defenses. Below are some pictures

It seems all my Japanese friends anticipate cherry blossom. Especially the chance to eat lunch under the cherry trees. It has deep history with the nobles and samurai from earlier centuries. Hideki and Kayoko took my kindergarten, Steve, Tiffany, and Stephan for a picnic lunch.

Word Up: Sakura –Japanese Cherry Blossom

 

 

 

The gang 

The Castle, Melvin, and Me 

 

 

peek a boo