Year of the Horse

1st Calligraphy of the new year at Ijira Elementary (4th graders)

Happy New Year to all.  Charly and I had yet another interesting Christmas and New Year's adventure. Christmas is celebrated by some in Japan, but it is not a recognized holiday, so on Christmas morning Charly and I found ourselves at a pre-school with about 60 two, three, four, and five year olds. They sang for us and did a little Christmas program.  We presented them with small treat bags of candy and stickers which was our way of making it feel a little more like Christmas.  In the afternoon Charly & I went to our favorite soba restaurant in Ijira for a very nice dinner.  We did get to skype with Caitlin & Zane that day, which always makes us happy.  The Christmas tree Charly drew was decorated with old photos of past Christmas cards, which made me smile when I looked at it.

I hated to take it down.

Our next adventure was a much anticipated trip to explore more of Japan with our old dear friend Marsha.  After her short two day rest from jet-lag, we boarded the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Okayama prefecture and our first destination - Shiraishi International Villa.  Most of our Japanese friends had never heard of this island in the Seto Sea, but thanks to our dear BCF friends Vicki & Ian, we were turned on to this great set of international villas, made for foreign tourists.  Japanese people can only go to these villas with foreigners.  We had this marvelous place overlooking the sea all to ourselves.  It is a small mountainous island with many hiking trails, shrines and temples, and large beach area.  Charly was happy that he finally had a beach to use his metal detector.  While Marsha and I hiked and explored the temples, Charly spent his first full day in a hard cold wind looking for treasure.  He found lots of coins, so even though he hurt his back staying our too long, he was pleased with his bounty.  Marsha & I tried to spend New Year's Eve at the Buddhist temple to bring in the new year.  We were not sure about the ceremonial conventions and with little Japanese to help us communicate we did our own version of meditation, lighting candles & incense, and prayer.  After four days on this traditional small island we boarded the ferry back to   the big city of Hiroshima.

Shiraishi Island

Our first day in Hiroshima was spent at the Hiroshima Peace Park.  This was a sobering experience for us, but one we felt we needed to shed a few tears and pray for an end to nuclear weapons.  After this emotional experience, we accidentally walked into a delightful Christmas Light Display on 6 blocks of downtown Hiroshima.  It was an uplifting experience topped off with wonderful Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (delicious).  This was also recommended to us by Vicki & Ian.  They are Japan experts.

Atomic Bomb Memorial 

Downtown Hiroshima

On Saturday the last weekend of the winter vacation we took a ferry with thousands of others to Miyajima Island near Hiroshima.  This is a World Heritage Site with incredible hikes to the top of Mt. Misen, pagodas, temples, and the large red tori in the picture below.  Our pictures from the top of the island don't do it justice, as it was a bit cloudy that day.  We shopped a bit in the craft stores and bought some Japanese door hangings and ate delicious smoked oysters.  Even though there were massive crowds of people, it was a very good day.

On Sunday we got on the bullet train once again and traveled up to Kyoto.  Our wonderful friend & interpreter Ayako arranged to meet us with two of my adult English students there for a tour of the main attractions.  Our first stop was Gingkakuji Temple, (Silver Temple), where we enjoyed the beautiful zen gardens and vowed to return again in the spring.  We then took a walk along the Philosopher's Path, where Charly and Marsha found a local artist who does remarkable pencil drawings of the area.  After lunch we visited the fascinating Nijo Castle.  The history and restoration of this 16th century castle is full of lavish Edo period carvings and paintings.  Our final stop of the day was the Kinkakuji (gold) Temple.  This was also spectacular in its beauty and gardens.  Having Japanese tour guides to explain the history and meaning of these historic places, made the experience much more meaningful.  It was a wonderful day.

Our final day in Kyoto was spent visiting the Traditional Japanese Crafts Museum.  This is a wonderful museum which shows traditional weaving, pottery, lacquer ware, metal work, bamboo fencing, kimonos, umbrellas, fans, and much more.  We returned to Ijira tired, but very happy to have been able to experience more of Japan.  

Marsha's final week with us in Ijira was jammed packed with two school visits, helping teach the English workshop, a trip to Mino to see the paper lanterns, Ijira Lake & Temple, and a good-bye luncheon with new Japanese friends.  It was wonderful to be able to share our generous and friendly Japanese friends with Marsha.  

At local temple in Ijira

                                       Fall in Ijira 

We have been in Japan for a little over two months now and have gotten very good at finding our way around the spread out, (3 villages combined into one), Yamagata City.  I have spent much of my time driving to the 13 different pre-schools, elementary, and jr.high schools in Yamagata City.  It has been lots of fun and very enlightening at most of the schools.  The Japanese students are smart but their educational system which is geared towards test taking to enter a preferred high school, has many students under constant stress by Jr. High School.  English is a fun class in elementary school, but once they hit 7th grade, it all becomes memorization of the English text, writing, and grammar.  Far too little conversational English is practiced or learned, so it is not surprising in a culture that is reticent to make mistakes, that many students leave high school with very poor conversational skills in English.  I have started to visit all the pre-schools in the district which has proven to be great fun.  Little 3, 4, & 5 yr. olds, have sang songs and danced for us, done complicated plays, and let Charly and I join in their games.  Great Fun!

Exploring more of Yamagata City and the surrounding cities is getting much easier for Charly and I to navigate.  We have visited a delightful old town part of Mino where they make traditional paper called washi and turn it all into many kinds of art.  The lighted paper lanterns that line the streets of old town Mino are all very unique and beautiful.  We are also exploring all the different temples, waterfalls, onsens, and other attractions in Yamagata City as I will be translating the cities attraction map into English.  Below is a Goddess statue here in Yamagata City.

The Florence Friendship Groups, past and present, are all very strong here, and we have had the pleasure of  seeing many pictures of past visits to Florence as far back as 16 years ago.   We had a delicious traditional Japanese meal with members of the first Friendship Group just last week.  One of my main endeavors here will be to rebuild the Florence side of this friendship and hopefully start to send Siuslaw students back to Yamagata City by the summer of 2015.

The weather is starting to turn cold but so far no snow.  I am not looking forward to driving these narrow, windy roads when they are snowy.  We are planning to explore much more of Japan during winter vacation but we will be the bullet train instead of driving.  Below are just a few of the beautiful paper lanterns in Mino.  The pictures don't do them justice.  They are exquisite.  Here is wishing you all a peaceful, happy, and healthy holiday season.  

Happy Holidays

Julia & Charly

Ijira / Yamagata City / Gifu / Japan

Young Taiko Drummers at Chestnut Festival 

Charly at Community Sports Day doing the difficult hoop &
stick relay

One month now in Japan and the changes have already kept this old brain a whirling.  The first change has been the weather.....it has gone from hot and humid to cool and cloudy within a week.  Granted there have been numerous typhoons that have hit the island.  Luckily we are inland enough that we don't get the devastation that the coast gets.  Other changes are numerous; lack of understanding & reading the Japanese language (going food shopping is a hoot), learning how to operate the microwave, stove, car, even the toilet, driving on the left, going to 13 different schools in the Yamagata School Dist. and reading a simple map, all in Japanese.  Charly and I are both in the adjustment period but all in all, we are very happy that we are here.  

Our friend and interpreter Ayako has been invaluable.  She found us a great house to live in, sold us a great car, and helped us at every unfamiliar turn.  She has gone to all the schools with me this month, and organized many social activities and welcoming dinners and luncheons.  So far we have participated in a community sports day, biked all over the region, visited a sword museum in a near by town, eaten many wonderful new Japanese foods, like octopus, squid, soba, jelly fish, and many unusual fruits and vegetables, baked sweet bread at the local community center, Charly is taking calligraphy classes once a week, and I tried my hand at Japanese flower arranging.  Below are a few photos from these activities. 

Seki Samurai Sword Museum 

These flowers bloom everywhere in the fall & spring

Our wonderful landlady who fixes delicious lunches when she
comes from Nagoya for the day

As far as my lofty goals of a true cultural exchange between the Siuslaw School Dist. and Yamagata City Schools, I have pretty much given up on making any real impact.  I visit 9 elementary schools, 3 Jr. Highs, and 2 pre-schools every month.  I spend one day a week at city hall writing for the city's newsletter and website about my experiences and teaching English conversation to anyone interested.  My original plan was to try an internet exchange of projects or programs using the National Geographic site called e-Pals. This is not going to happen.  The Japanese system is very rigid and with little time for anything that doesn't come from the English textbook.  So my plan now is to get Siuslaw Schools to send me any videos, power point presentation or field trip experiences to share with the students here in Yamagata.  I am going to do something that pertains to my glorious title, "Coordination for International Relations"  from the city of Florence.  

The Japanese people have been very welcoming, and for the most part, very helpful and kind with our limited Japanese.  We are looking forward to exploring Japan, but we are very happy in our home in Ijira with rice patties and forested hills around our house.  Charly and I find ourselves talking about Bhutan more than we do about the United States.....given the current events back home tis no wonder.  Let peace and goodwill return to our government so we don't need to feel embarrassed  by the foolishness that has been happening.

Sayonara for Now  

New Adventure.....Japan!

It has been a year and a half since I've added to this blog.  I don't feel like I have much to share unless we are traveling or embarking on another grand adventure.  Another grand adventure is fast approaching.  Last spring I was substitute teaching at my old elementary school, when the principal ask if I wanted to go to Japan.  Florence's sister city is Yamagata City, in the Gifu Prefecture, (not the large Yamagata up near the nuclear mess). The Siuslaw School Dist. had an exchange program for high school students every summer for many years.  Unfortunately, due to increasing cost of travel and the group responsible to fund-raise for the Siuslaw students, disbanded, so the exchange became one sided.  Last summer when the Yamagata delegation came to Florence, the mayor of Yamagata proposed a new position in the city government's Life Long Learning Department. Therefore, after much paper work, complicated translations, and a very non-specific contract with the City of Yamagata, Charly and I are heading to Japan in two weeks, for a year.  

It is my fondest hope that my title "Coordinator of International Relations," (given to me by Yamagata City), will truly become a cultural exchange.  After our wonderful experience teaching in Bhutan, we are again wanting to immerse ourselves in another culture and be a small part of better understanding and cooperation in a global community.  I am trying hard to set up some project exchanges between our two school systems.  The Japanese curriculum is very rigid and I will have to be pretty creative to convince the Japanese English teachers that science, technology, engineering, math, and art are what our young people will need to succeed in this global economy and how cultural sharing is paramount in our planet's ecological survival.  As usual I go in with lofty goals, but I am smart enough to know that slow baby steps are necessary to make any lasting changes in an educational system.  Wish me luck!

Charly is going as my volunteer "every-man."   He has already been ask to read English picture books to pre-school children at the local library, walk our wonderful translator's dog, drive me around to the many schools, shop, garden, and explore Japan.  Hopefully he will draw and read which he doesn't seem to find time to do when we are at home.  

We are trying hard to learn some basic Japanese before we arrive, it is a slow process for our "old brains."  Below are some photos of the Japanese students who came to visit last week.  We had two fifteen year old girls and an English teacher stay with us.  They giggled every time I tried to speak Japanese.  Ah, well, I like to make people laugh.  

Pictures and blogs will come at least monthly while we are in Japan.  Doumo Arigato Gozaimas, Yamagata City, for this wonderful opportunity.  

Our visitors from Yamagata City

Yamagata delegation with Florence's Mayor Xavier

Missing Bhutan

As I sit by a pool in Krabi Thailand one month after leaving Bhutan, all I can say is how much I miss the people of Bhutan and my fellow BCF teachers.  Charly and I have been traveling since we left Bhutan in Thailand and Laos.  I know it is impossible to judge a people and a culture as a tourist, but I am definitely inclined to believe that the Bhutanese people are some of the funniest, kindest, and most friendly people in the world.

Charly is also telling anyone that will listen that the Bhutanese people are the best.....hands down.  As I read the blogs of the new BCF teachers, I am reminded of my first few months in Mongar.  There will be numerous frustrations, mis-communications, or no communication, large expectations that you know "everything,"  simple challenges in diet, cleanliness, and health, and consent awareness that you do not understand the local language, customs, and religion.  Hang in there.....it will all get clearer, more inspirational, and funnier after the settling in period.  All I can personally say is that it was truly the most rewarding experience of my teaching career and I am now wishing I could have stayed one more year, especially in "The Year of the Dragon," my year.

Kendra & Kiera

Meghann & students 

Me and two of my SEN girls

Julian teaching 5th grade 

8th grade boys at Mongar LSS

Shauna teaching high school English 

Vicky playing a game with her high school class

Scott with students in Yadi 

Shauna's Bartsham high school 

Jean Daniel's students

Charly teaching art 

Lisa in the classroom 

I am posting some pictures that Zane our son and my brother Dean took during their visit to Bhutan.  The intention was to create a fund-raising calendar for BCF, but we simply ran out of time to put together a 2012 calendar that fast.  BCF teachers please feel free to email me in any way that I can help.  I am now truly retired and will have lots of time to answer your questions.  Please enjoy the photos.  

Dean & Zane's Visit

One of the perks of teaching in Bhutan is we are allowed two family members to visit us during the year.  Many of us have taken advantage of this opportunity to show our loved ones what a unique and beautiful place Bhutan is.  My brother Dean and our son Zane recently spent three weeks crossing Bhutan and back.  Charly rented a car and picked them up in Paro and drove them back to the east where I joined them.   


I thank all the wonderful BCF members who entertained us and let us crash on their floor.  Zane and Dean were able to see places and experience real Bhutanese living that few tourists ever get to see or experience.  


The following pictures are just a few of the hundred that Dean, Charly, and Zane took during their visit.  They are not in correct geographical order for you that know the geography of Bhutan.  It was great having them both here and it also gave me a chance to visit places I hadn't been before.  Enjoy!