Melissa'a Ikebana lessons

I am now taking Ikebana lessons! Ikebana is a Japanese flower arrangement that is based on creating harmony through the use of the vase, stems, leaves, and flowers. From what I understand, which is very little considering my teacher only speaks Japanese, is that the arranging is based on thirds and triangles; representing heaven, earth, and humankind. Since I am a beginner, my teacher first cuts the flower stems to the correct length, arranges them for me, then shows me the triangles within the arrangement. I then take the arrangement apart and try to imitate it. It may sound easy, but it's actually a bit challenging! It is a lot of fun, though, and I really like learning this aspect of the culture. We usually end our lessons with dessert and green tea.





A few weeks ago we all went to an Ikebana exhibit. My teacher, Misayo, is considered one of the head masters of Ikebana in Japan and is actually very well known for her work. She is in the picture below with one of her flower arrangements featured at the exhibit.

The Kids

Here are some pictures of the kids we work with. Teaching has been very interesting; we both love it! The atmosphere and teaching style is very different than teaching in the US. We usually work anywhere from 5-10 hours a day (Mon-Fri), which includes going into the office to plan our lessons and meet with the Japanese teachers, then driving to different elementary schools to teach 3-4 lessons that are 45 minutes each. There are also small skits we perform for the elementary schools to get them interested in English. The kids have so much energy and are really sweet! The lessons we teach are focused on having fun, so we play a lot of games and sing songs. Most of the kids are between 5 and 10 years old, but we do have some High School students and adults. Frank is really funny with the kids! They love to jump on him and chase him. Below is a picture of Frank getting "rockstar" treatment at a kindergarten.




Here are some pictures of a couple of Melissa's classes. This class, at Honozono kindergarten, has 6 students that are 5 years old. They have a lot of energy and are adorable!





This is a class of seven and eight year olds. There is only 1 boy, named Akifumi, in a class of really quiet girls. They are finally starting to open up to me and talk louder than a whisper! They are really sweet and love learning English. The kids we work with love getting stamps at the end of each lesson, so we use it as a reward system. If they behave and try really hard, then they will get 4 stamps in their stamp book. Once they complete their stamp book, they get a prize. Below is a picture of the children putting stamps in their book. Each level of students have a different form of rewards. For example, the older students (10-11 year olds) receive paper money with a picture of the teacher on it worth "$1." They can deposit their money at the end of the lesson. They also keep a log with their different transactions. It's cute hearing them say "May I please make a deposit into my bank account." They have a chance to spend their "money" on certain dates.


The children wear uniforms at most of the schools we work at and they are so cute! When they get to the lessons they have to take off their hat, backpack, bag, and thermos filled with green tea. Green tea is the only drink allowed at school. The older children all have leather backpacks that cost about $400! They are expected to keep these for up to 6 years.


At the schools, everyone has to take off their shoes and put slippers on to walk around inside. There are cubbies for the children to keep their shoes in, as shown in the picture below. The bathrooms at the kindergartens are coed. There are urinals on one side and stalls on the other. Everyone has toilet slippers that they have to wear in the bathroom. The toilets in schools are usually squat toilets. These took some getting used to!

Melissa in a Kimono

During the Gifu Festival, we also found a street vendor selling inexpensive kimonos. A kimono is a traditional Japanese robe with wide sleeves and a broad sash called an obi (they were once common clothing, but are now only worn to important festivals). They can range from $100 all the way up to $1,000,000. All 3 girls found some great deals! As we were purchasing them, a couple of young Japanese women dressed in kimonos invited us over to a local hotel to try them on. It happened to be a new hotel trying to promote to foriegners. It is a complicated process to actually put on a kimono (which takes about 15 min.) but it was really fun getting dressed up! Afterwards, they asked us if they could put us on their website. If you click on the link below, you will see us in the second picture!

http://www.weekly-sho.jp/en/eventphotos.html

Gifu Festival

On October 8 we went to our first festival, which was in downtown Gifu (about a 15 min. bike ride from our apartment). It was held to honor one of Gifu's old emporers. At the festival, we could see a lot of different aspects of the culture. At first, we watched several girls dancing on stage to American rap music. It was really funny because none of them knew what the lyrics meant, and the parents were all smiling and videotaping, as profanity was blaring from the speaker!

Next we watched a parade that had women dancing in kimonos, samurais, beautiful floats, and people riding around on horses to represent the old emporer.

After the parade, we walked around and looked at all the vendors selling food, candy, toys, dishes, kimonos, etc.

We ended the festival by watching a drum performance. We were really impressed by the strength and intensity of the drummers. This was a great ending to our first festival!

Osaka

Our first traveling experience was to Osaka in September with Matt and Chelsea. Osaka is about 2 hours away by train from where we live and is the second largest city in Japan. We bought a tourist package that allowed us to do up to 20 different attractions and have free access to the Osaka subways. Here are some of the things we did:


First stop: Making and eating okonomiyaki (one of the foods Osaka is known for). It is prepared a lot like a pancake. The batter and ingredients are fried on both sides on a hot plate. The okonomiyaki contains sliced cabbage and a layer of fried noodles inside and is topped with ingredients that include okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), fish flakes, mayonnaise and ginger. It sounds weird...and it tastes weird, too, but it's actually good. This seams to be one of the most well-liked foods here.

Second stop: Osaka Castle

This is a really beautiful castle and has a breathtaking view of Osaka from the top of the castle.

Next stop: Shitennoji Temples, Garden, and Tea Ceremony
This is one of the best things we have done so far in Japan. The garden was absolutely amazing. There were waterfalls, streams with fish, lakes with lilly pads, rock gardens, flowers, etc. Everything we imagined a traditional Japanese garden to look like! The best part was the tea ceremony! We just happened to walk by this building that looked like a house. A woman came out dressed in a kimono and asked us to try some Japanese green tea. We went inside and she brought out desserts and tea.

Fourth Stop:
Isshinji Temple (800 years old)- This was really interesting! We went inside during a Buddhist service and actually got to observe how they worship. There was a strong smell of incense and 2 large statues of Buddha were at the head of the temple. This temple is very popular because one of the statues was actually made with human remains. The remains of 200,000 people who were laid to rest in the Isshinji temple were powdered and kneaded to form the Buddha.



Last Stop: Dotonbori District

During the day, we also visited the zoo, botanical gardens, world's largest ferris wheel, and went kimono shopping. At about 11pm, we finally made it to our final destination after 14 hours of marathon sightseeing. We walked around this district which is filled with karaoke clubs, pachinko parlors, and restaurants. We ended up going to a 1930’s recreation of Osaka. We walked around for a while and then went to a restaurant where you make your own tacoyaki at your table. Takoyaki is a popular Japanese food made of batter, octopus, pickled ginger, and green onion that is shaped into a ball and topped with okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise. We call them "Octopus balls."

Our Apartment

This is our apartment. We live on the second floor, all the way to the right. It is a lot smaller than we're used to, but we're getting used to it. Our fridge only comes up to Frank's waist! The floors in our living room and bedroom are tatami mats. Every weekend we have to hang our futon beds outside on the balcony to let the tatami mats "breath"...they're very prone to mold!