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I've lost a member of my family. Midori-chan was taken to the scrapper on Monday afternoon after a short goodbye in the Aokata garage. She had no brake pads, her transmission was failing and her shaken (a very expensive, required bi-annual car inspection) was due in January. I didn't want to put the money into her because they said she wouldn't last for the two years. Her coffin, ...okay, her disposal fee cost ¥15000 before Jan 1st and would have doubled in 2005 (because of some new tax law) so I opted to put her to rest now. Now I'm car shopping, but probably won't find anything until I get back from America.

Wednesday was a day off at Nakagoto and I spent the day with my neighbor Koichiro. It was his birthday so I took him a birthday cake at 7 a.m. and gave him a layered present (of mostly food—among other things a grapefruit and a granola bar—and dollar-store purchases) but it was fun and he laughed a lot. We spent the day together—walking and swimming and shopping (almost all my Christmas shopping is done now thanks to Terada Home Center). I took him to the observation deck on Komeyama mountain, right next to our apartments. It was his first time going there despite it being only 3 km away which only reinforces my view that he needs to work less and play more. The weather was perfect too!

Koichiro and I from Komeyama mountain.

Koichiro’s birthday cake, which he ate entirely by himself! The “23” is made out of pumpkin seeds!!

The sunrise from Koichiro’s apartment.

Friday I took my next karate test (still green belt--but the second level) and tonight the karate class is having an enkai (drinking party). I’m looking forward to letting loose before I go home.

Some of my students are doing some practical learning and have opened a store for three days in downtown Narao. They were selling tea, coffee and cake so Satomi and I went down to look around and have a snack. Here we are with one of my students dressed up as Santa.

Two students serving tea and cake.

I think that's all the excitement in my life right now. I have to write an essay for some annual Nakagoto H.S. publication and start packing for my trip home. My neighbor Hirano-san is taking me to the ferry port on Monday after school then it’s three weeks in Oregon!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Sierra


Also want to include a picture of my friend Michelle who is also teaching English in Japan. Here she is making mochi in Hokkaido.

On Monday I got to join our sophomore students in their cooking class. We made fishburgers and I learned how to skin and de-bone a fish! It was fun and very educational!

Here are some locals who brought the fish and gave a demonstration on how to prepare the aji (not sure what the fish is called in English).

Then the class dispersed and we all started doing it ourselves.

And obachan helping the students cut up the fish.

Kuwahara-sensei observes as a students mixes the meat and adds seasonings.

Okay, here are the pictures to prove it. I did actually roll up my sleeves and decide to try cleaning and de-boning my first fish. I was squirmish at first, but I finally got over it and cleaned a total of TWO fish!!! There is my teach to the left of me—he was very patient!

Peeling the skin off the fish…

Then we fried up the burgers and had lunch!

On Monday afternoon Rie gave me a ride home from work and we decided to go to Nakanoura Church for it’s Christmas performance. This week is Church Week in Goto Islands so there are many musical performances and sermons happening.

The church decorated with many lights. It’s right next to the bay and the water reflects the lights…it’s beautiful!

The pianist, flutist and violinist.

And there was even an opera singer! She was very enthusiastic!

I’m looking forward to Wednesday as we have a day off and Koichiro and I have already planned to spend the whole day together! And a week from today I’ll be flying off to Oregon to spend three weeks with my family!!!

Love, Sierra

This weekend I was invited to Iki Island for an English Day at Mishozu Junior High School and family homestay. Iki is another island in Nagasaki prefecture, but it’s closer to Fukuoka—very far north and near Korea. The English Day was on Friday, but I had to leave Kamigoto on Thursday morning (at 6:20 a.m. because it was the cheapest ferry). But I was happy that I got to have an extra day off work and a few hours of shopping in Sasebo and Fukuoka. I got to spend Thursday morning in a Starbucks in Sasebo, sipping my juice and making Christmas lists while everyone else was at work. I ran into some other ALTs there too!

On the bus ride to Fukuoka I met this cool old woman who lives in Saza-ken. Her name is Sadamatsu-san and she loves getting to know foreigners. For the last six years she’s had the ALTs over for dinner every week, but they always learn Japanese and after a few months she no longer gets to practice English with them. I actually know her current neighboring ALTs because they are first-years too. It was neat to hear her talk about them. Although we started speaking in English, she quickly grew tired and started speaking mostly Japanese. It was so awesome to see how much I could understand already. I actually learned a lot of new words as well, just by the context and hand motions. After hanging out Sadamatsu-san took me all the way to the ferry port to make sure I got there okay. I’ve been to the port many times, but she did everything she could to make my journey easy and fun. It was great.

Here’s a picture of us drinking smoothies in a mall in Fukuoka.

I arrived at Iki kind of late, but my host family and the kocho-sensei (principal) of the junior high school were both there to greet me. I was surprised the principal showed up just for my arrival because there were about 18 ALTs coming for the weekend, but as I would soon find out, I couldn’t go anywhere without his incredible hospitality and greatest concern for me.

I went back to my host family’s house, which was really big and beautiful. My family consisted of father, daughter (a student at the JHS), brother (8 years-old) and younger sister (5 years-old). I ate curry rice, made by Dad, and it was quite impressive especially since I see very few Japanese men who can chop vegetables, much less cook. I later asked about their mother, and they told me she died five years ago. Oh how my heart went out to them!! The daughter, as soon as she warmed up to me, decided she loved me and spent most of the evening in my lap. She would run around me and hang over my shoulders and I was so happy. They kept telling her to stop, but I secretly was loving it. So my host family was truly that: a family, and I fit in perfectly. Again, I had to rely on Japanese a lot, as they didn’t speak much English.

My host family and I from the highest point on the island (not very high compared to Goto’s mountainous landscape, but a good view nonetheless).

The English day was probably my least favorite part of the trip. It was fun, but I felt so stressed during my lessons—like they weren’t good enough. I just got a vibe from one of the JTEs that I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be. Which is true, I suppose; I said I’d do a Christmas lesson, but they were just too good for what I had planned and I improvised at the last minute and did other stuff. But I thought it was better to do something challenging or fun, rather than continue with something too childish.

But teaching was only a small part of the day. The students actually taught us something too. They prepared little speeches and introduced something about Japanese culture. I learned about actors and actresses, musicians, a popular Korean TV drama, and even a famous Vitamin C drink. They gave me (and the other teacher I was paired up with) bottles of this drink and told us about the commercial which has made it famous. On the commercial they ask, “Genki hatsuratsu?” (“Are you lively?” or something.) and then you respond, “Of course!” So now I’ve been going around asking people “Genki hatsuratsu?” and I get them to respond in English, “Of course!” and they smile because I know some random piece of Japanese television culture.

We also got to eat lunch with the students… curry rice again! It was interesting for me because my schools don’t get hot meals delivered, but everyone brings their own bento box from home. I liked seeing how it’s done in most Japanese schools. Students get dressed up in aprons, bandanas and face masks and serve food to each other. They took very good care of me, making sure I had enough food, and a name plate where I was to sit. It was cute.

As I was leaving I saw one group of students making a human tunnel for their ALT to leave through. This is Ben, from Nagasaki, coming out of his enthusiastic classroom.

The second night I had a different host family. It was nice to see two different homes and lifestyles. This time we had mother, and two children who both attend the JHS. Father lives somewhere on the island, but I’m pretty sure they are divorced. The older son was really cool. He was pretty shy at first, but I could tell he wanted to talk to me so I was patient with him while he gathered up the nerve. His hairstyle intrigued me—he combed everything forward and it hung right down into his eyes. I felt like he was kind of hiding behind it, and I kept trying to look into his eyes, but I couldn’t with all that hair.

A few hours later, after a delicious meal of spaghetti and many dictionary look-ups, I was having an intellectually stimulating conversation with this 14 year-old. The kinds of questions he asked me where not of the “Do you have pets? What’s your favorite food?” variety. He wanted to know my political positions, what president I supported in the election and why, how I felt about racial discrimination, if I experienced it in Japan, if I’d been to the Nagasaki bomb museum and how I felt about it, was Martin Luther King famous in America? I was really impressed and appreciated his genuine interest in not only me, but my opinions. I told his mother that I really enjoyed talking to him and that he is a smart kid.

On Saturday morning we had a lunch party with all the other ALTs, the staff from Mishozu, and the host families. Both my host families were there so I was surrounded by love. Afterwards I decided to reunite with the first host family and they agreed to take me sightseeing around Iki. First we went to the highest point on the island where there was a nice view of Gounora Port. I noticed that we didn’t seem very high and they laughed when I said so. The landscape is very different from that of Gotos.

Then we went to Monkey Rock, which I’d heard much about before I left. It really does look like a Monkey, huh?

Here’s the whole family. I was able to buy all my omiyage here.

Next we went to the Dolphin Park on the north end of the island. It was so cool—we even got to feed the dolphins fish for lunch!

Aren’t they cute? (It was freezing!!!)

Then the trainers did some tricks with the dolphins and this one whale. Here the whale gives his trainer a kiss!!

On his back.

Then we found some dogs who also live at the Dolphin Park. This is the first time I’ve played with a dog in Japan. I forgot how much I missed them.

Just like my golden, Elsie, at home!

This is Shinichi, my host brother, playing with another dog.

Can you believe they let dogs drive in Japan?!?

Our last trip was a visit to Iki’s best beach. It was really cold at this point so we didn’t stay for long, but it was nice to see. Apparently these beaches are full during the summer because many people from Fukuoka enjoy coming for the weekend. It’s just a short ferry ride away.

My ferry left at 5 p.m. and again, the principal of the school, and all three of the JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) came to see me off. Not only did they come to say goodbye, but they waited until my ferry disappeared over the horizon. It was so cold, but they just stood there waving and waving and yelling goodbye. It was crazy—there were five adults and three children to send me off. Totally unnecessary, but very much appreciated.

Also, once I got onto the ferry and started opening my packages I saw my host father made me a bento for dinner. He was such a sweet, sweet man.

Well, this is a huge blog that has taken me days to compose so I better post it before I get carried away and take even longer!
Love, Sierra