Learning Japanese, Christmas, and the Gunma Mountains

The little things that remind me of home are enough to tide me over until I get there. Being able to talk with my friends and family on Skype (when I remember we have a Skype date, CG, sorry), smelling the autumn leaves as I walk through the woods, cooking familiar food, listening to familiar music I can download from iTunes--they all help ward off the sad, homesick feelings that can creep in every now and then. I'm also busy a lot--so busy that I wish the weekend was just a little longer so I could do fun exciting things and also have time to clean the bathroom. Japan is treating me so well, though, and I can't help but love it here.

My community Japanese class is over (I accidentally missed the last class because I went to watch Harry Potter instead) and doesn't pick up again until February. In the meantime, I have acquired a private tutor--a middle-aged Japanese woman who speaks almost perfect English from her time living abroad in England a decade ago. She tutors a lot of ALTs here in Gunma and I have heard her praises sung from a couple of people here. And if I'm going to learn Japanese, I'm going to need real lessons!

I went to her house on Saturday. I did an immediate double-take when I saw the full-sized Kawai grand piano in her living room. I've been keeping an eye out for pianos ever since I was a kid, much to my parents' embarrassment ("Oooh, can I play?!") "Do you play the piano?" I asked her in Japanese. "Yes," she told me. "Do you? How long have you played?" It took me a second to realize I have been playing for -- hold your breath -- twenty years now. I started when I was eight. "If we have time afterwards, you can play," she offered, and I was happy to find myself an hour later flipping through her terrific songbooks and playing. (She wanted me to play "The Star Spangled Banner" for some reason, too, which left me feeling terribly patriotic!)

We didn't have a real class, only an overview of what to expect. I'll start studying for the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) that will be held in August. She'll teach me GRAMMAR! Verbs, adjectives, conjugations, real conversations: I'm so excited! She even has a little whiteboard in her living room, and stacks of JSL (can I say that?) books on the bookshelf. She's been teaching for a while, it looks like. I feel vaguely like I'm being a traitor to my other sensei from the kaikan, because he's such a nice, kind, grandfatherly figure, but . . . . I want a real class. I want grammar. I want English-Japanese explanations. And this will help me more.

After I met with her, J, his gf, S and I went to Costco again. I needed more Christmas cards, but of course they didn't have any . . . so I got vinegar and baking soda instead.

Sunday was beautiful. I woke up at 8:00, graded those papers I had brought home (ugh), then went to A's house. We had planned on going to Mt. Akagi and to Fujioka, but after two hours at Sakurayama Park, we just went back home, being lazy.

It was a beautiful drive down to Fujioka. Takasaki almost touches city limits with Fujioka, a town a few miles southeast of here. Fujioka is more mountainous, though, and the brilliant green evergreens contrasting against the deep blue autumn sky were gorgeous. The city was behind us, and the narrow mountain roads reminded us of just how in the country we were. Most of the leaves have fallen off by now, and only the brown or deep red ones remain, slowly dying and falling off the branches. At this park, though (Sakura = cherry blossoms; Yama = mountain), winter cherry blossoms were still blooming. There weren't as many as we would liked to have seen, but it was still fun to wander around the park and see the white blossoms on the trees.

At the base of the parking lot, vendors had set up tents, displaying their wares on big wooden tables. I bought some mochi from one lady, who said something about miso soup that I didn't understand. The parking attendant had also told us something about go-hyaku-en (500 yen) but we didn't see any place that looked like where we'd have to pay. We finally decided that we had misunderstood him and he had given us free entrance instead of forcing the issue. Thank you, parking attendant man, for having pity on two gaijin girls.

Tonight I'm making what I hope will be a delicious turkey and sweet potato soup, out of the turkey carcass from last week's dinner and the leftover (oji? what are they called?) potatoes I had bought for my party. I bought a huge stock pot at Costco for the express purpose of making soup all winter. That's what's going to keep me warm on these cold Gunma nights.

Christmas festivities are starting up. I want to see the illuminations at Mt. Haruna some weekend. The Takasaki ALTs are also having a Christmas party on Friday night. Closer to Christmas, my host mom is having a party, and then we have a date to eat KFC and Christmas cake on the 24th. Christmas is almost Valentine's Day-y around here; it's all about having a date at Christmas. Considering how nil my Japanese is, I'm kind of giving up on my dream Japanese boyfriend . . . but my host mom and I will have a wonderful evening I'm sure! Then I want to go to Maebashi Catholic Church for the English-Japanese-Portuguese-Spanish mass on Christmas Day. It's not exactly like being home and opening presents with my family, but it's something . . .