Number 18

Dana’s last week of work went by pretty uneventful. It seemed strange to have him home for dinner at a reasonable time. This week, I think we are all still getting used to having him around all day.

The girls and my classes have stopped now for the winter break and we will begin again on the 14th of January. The classes are very affordable, only $3-5 although, the supplies can add up with three of us doing it, but I doubt we will have the opportunity to try many of these things at any other time so I think it is worth the investment.

I am particularly enjoying the Japanese calligraphy class. It is not so much just a brush stroke, as a level of concentration. If I am not distracted, I can do pretty well. Christina and Catherine are doing well themselves. Christina is about the correct age to begin such lessons. Catherine is rather young and I can see the differences in her work when she starts to get tired or bored. We are also learning the kanji characters. We are up to four now, so by the time we come home, who knows, we may make it to 20! Some of the people in the class are more advanced and it is nice to be able to see their work.

The Etegame class we are taking is okay. This seems to be a form of painting only in Japan. ‘Ete’ means picture and ‘tegame’ means letter, so these are picture letters or postcards that we are creating. We are drawing still life with a brush that has bristles that are about 2 inches long. You use only the tip of the brush for drawing and ink from a stone that you rub in water. The brush is held at the very end with your arm at a 90 degree angle and you draw the object (we use mostly fruits and vegetables) large, starting at the stem if there is one. The image extends off the end of the card. When you are finished, you write a message on it in kanji. (We do well if we can remember how to write our names.

The style of the art reminds me too much of Picasso and not enough of Rembrandt for my taste. Our budding artist, Christina, is really enjoying it. Catherine doesn’t have the patience to finish the warm up exercises, so she plays with Charlene. I got a ‘D’ in drawing when I was in school, so this is not exactly my forte.

I think we are progressing in our Japanese lesson although last weeks lesson was pretty difficult. I find that I am able to understand people and get my point across a little easier. I no longer have to point to the ‘F’ on my gas gauge to let them know I want my tank full and the other day, I was actually able to speak enough of the opening conversation that someone actually thought I could speak Japanese. I think the next couple of weeks when we have our student here will be a big help to us all.

When I mentioned filling the gas tank, I realized that I probably haven’t mentioned that in the entire time I have been here, I have only seen one self-service gas station. Gas stations are actually fun. When you pull in, there is always an attendant that comes running to greet you, that is if he wasn’t standing at attention waiting for you! They direct you where to go by chanting something that I assume means come and then letting you know when to stop. Your windows are always washed and if you were to get out of your car, they would wipe down your dash and some would even vacuum your car! They also check fluids, etc. When you go to leave the gas station, they run out into the street and stop traffic for you to pull out and bow to you as you leave. Oh, by the way, gasoline is only a little more than $4.00 a gallon!

Saturday, I think it was, we went to a nearby town called Kasama. It is a great place for pottery and I had been told that you could even make your own. We never found a place to do that, but we did have an interesting experience. There is a large shrine there with many shops leading into the area. We parked and decided to wander around. When we were looking through the shops I saw a photographer take a picture of us. I didn’t pay too much attention because this has happened many times before. As we continued to wander, I noticed that more pictures were being taken. When we got down to the end of the row of shops in the gathering area outside the shrine, there were more photographers. We were then ushered into various key locations around the shrine so they could take pictures of us. I got quite a laugh when I pulled out my camera and snapped a picture of them! At one point, there were 12 photographers pointing their cameras at us. All I could think to do was tell the girls not to pick their noses! They even took pictures of Dana helping me down the ramp to the shrine because it was hard to walk on with my cast. When we looked at the shops on the way out we were photographed more. I have no idea what was going on to have so many photographers interested in us. Perhaps we will end up on some travel brochure, but it sure was funny! One photographer joined us again on several occasions as we were wandering through the town and took more pictures. Ah, the life of celebrities! :+D

After our experience at the shrine, we opted for something a little quieter; we visited the local art museum. They had a really nice exhibit of wildlife photographs and when I was in the garden I took a great picture of a flower that I am using as wallpaper on my computer screen. It made for a very nice day.
Sunday, we had a quiet morning and went to English mass in the afternoon. After mass there was a Christmas party for the international community including a roast pig. It was really good.

Today, we went to Fukaroda Falls. It is one of the three best falls in Japan. It was beautiful but just a little cold. As we were going up the hill, we began seeing ice in the river. When we got where we could see the best view of the falls, it was spectacular. Much of the fall is frozen and the blue sky in the background made for great pictures. We saw pictures of people ice climbing the fall when it is entirely frozen, but it has not reached that point yet. Dana and I thought it might be fun to return in February just to see it frozen and then again in April to see spring.

On the way home, we took the scenic route, which really was just a different way home to see the sites. Dana had mentioned to me earlier in the morning that tomorrow will the moon will be full and at the closest point it comes to earth and that he wanted to remember to take a look at the moon at night. As we came over one hill, while it was still light, there was the moon looking beautiful with the autumn colors in the hills. I think we got some great pictures.

Well, I’ll wrap it up for now and say goodnight. Dana is almost through with reading the next section of the Return of the King to the girls. Please let me ask you to remember Cindy in your prayers. She has cancer and is not doing very well.

Blessings and prayers,
Marion