Christmas Week - 2006

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wow. Time is flying by. It's amazing to me that Christmas has already come and go.

The week was slow at school. I sang John Lennon's Happy Christmas about 10 times (solo with a guitar in front of 20 students on Monday - whew) and held a christmas party on Wednesday. One of my students invited the Danish hotdog guy and didn't tell me (more on that later - snakker norsk with the Danish guy & recently tapped into the Scandinavian network in town and might be joining monthy meetings on Rokko Island). That was pretty random when he showed up at my classroom, but we had a great time and it was a complete coicidence (but nice) that we happened to be making Danish basket ornaments (for the tree) at the time. We also made two gingerbread houses (I had sugar glue EVERYWHERE for the rest of the day.... my hair!), but the students did a fabulous job of constucting a house to reprsent our school building, which we presented to Kyoto Sensei (vice principal) as a gift. Everyone ate it... went pretty well.
Kelly and I went to Christmas mass in Kobe on Christmas eve. The mass was in Japanese, but it was comfortably familiar and we sang a lot of Christmas carols... in Japanese! I guess I have attended traditional Catholic masses all over the world now (Italy, Norway, US, Japan...) and I have to say there really is something nice about being able to know what to expect. Even with different languages, cultures, customs and nationalities...there is a lot of consistency.
I actually found the church we went to by following a string (online conversation) ona travel site. This guy was looking for the church for his grandfather. Apparently the grandfather had been an American soldier in Kobe after WWII. As he was walking through the bombed ruins of the city, he had come across a statue of the virgin Mary amongst the debris, completely uncathed by the bombs (even though the actual church had been flattened). He took this miraculous preservation as a sign and has carried the picture he took of the statue in his wallet since then. Now, 60 years later, this soldier's grandson wanted to find the actual church and confirm the story and location for his grandfather. I was really moved by this posting (particularly on Christmas) and was a little emotional when we arrived at the church and found the statue of Mary, proudly displayed at the base of the main bell tower. As the bells rang halfway through mass (touching my ears and soul), I definately thought of the story.
Taj, a friend and the owner of a (really decilous) Indian restaraunt in Akashi hosted a traditional Christmas dinner (at no charge!) on Christmas eve. We had turkey (rare in Japan!), mashed potatos, veggies, and gravy -oishii deshite!
I took off Christmas day and joined an Ikebana (flower arrangment) class in the morning. It was a really fun experience, although I am not sure I have talent in this art. We made a really beautiful New Years arrangement, though, and I gave mine to my friend at the IFA (International Friendship Association) as an oseibo (end-of-the-year thank you gift). I got an email telling me it was 'perfect' (asking if I bought it), but I still don't think I have the craft.
Even though Christmas week was low key and I was surrounded by friends and people I care about in Japan, it's definately difficult to be away from family and people at home during this season. Christmas is also the romantic holiday in Japan (almost purely commercial) so I will admit it got a little lonely at times (this was my first Christmas away from home!), but I know Thailand will be a big booster. I definately think I will start a tradition of celebrating the holiday out of the country, tho (at least while I live in Japan).