Rengejikke Park Sakura! (last post until June)

Sayonara, Sakura…

Enjoy the pics and see you this summer!

Sakura pictures!

Some “early” sakura, in March!

O-hanami with my Yaizu students last weekend.

At the dojo!

Around town…

Sakura

I realized it is almost impossible for me now to maintain this blog well, so I am going to take another extended break, and post a wrap-up in June, after I’ve moved home (return date May 25th) and settled a little!

What’s going on in Fujieda? Many things! The cherry blossoms have been blooming, and longer than usual because of the extended cold (but sunny) weather!! The kids have started their new school year… people have started new jobs… everything begins in April.

I have been working at organizing all my stuff in the apartment, and updating the teacher manual for the next teacher! I have just under 3 weeks to work hard at everything, and then my father is coming back to Japan for Golden Week, so I will take a final tour! After that I will have 2 weeks left for final tasks, goodbye visits, etc.

My emotions are very mixed, and I know it’ll be worse in May, but I am doing my best to deal with it. I’ve made a home here… but I know home is Canada. I miss my Canadian folks, but it will be so strange not to see my Japanese friends anymore. My last visit home in January, I felt so excited to be there… then I came back to Japan and it felt right to be here, too. Anyway, I know I’ll see everyone again… I have to come back! And I’m really, really grateful for all the time I have had here… it just went so fast! Too fast.

There is a provincial tournament next weekend, which I will attend. My last chance to observe a karate event here! Next month, we’ll have a dojo bbq, and Sakurai Sensei is planning a sayonara party on my last weekend. I already know I’m going to cry, so I have massive quantities of tissue ready. I apologize to the trees…

It’s been amazing here. Best life decision I ever made. Arigatou gozaimashita Sensei, and arigatou gozaimashita Nippon.

Here are some pictures from Rengejiike, and random spots around Fujieda! I will share more photos with many of you in person very soon! Ahh Sakura, such a fitting metaphor. Make the most of each day… they will be gone before you know it.

Take care & see you soon! Osu!

The return of Metabo…

Rather, the return of… Canadian Cooking. The Otomi Community Centre has booked me for another public cooking lesson this month, and of course the Otomi folks couldn’t wait to get into it, so we had a practice class. The menu: French-Canadian Shepherd’s Pie (with ground beef and creamed corn) and Beaver Tails.

Mmm… sugar-coated, deep-fried goodness. At least they were whole wheat.

Japanese ovens are so small and cute! Mine sings to me when it’s finished. Seriously. I’m going to miss the adorability of everyday life here so much!

Some patriotic drink picks to top it off! In true Japanese style, the students made their lunch a piece of art. There is a cat face engraved in the mashed potatoes.

Mr. Sakurai (no relation) challenged the soft and crumbly pie with chopsticks, and succeeded.

Everyone seemed to find the food oishii, thankfully!!! As earlier mentioned, I really enjoy the chance to share some of our culture in return. It’s something I hope to do even back in Canada… I’ve already offered up my extra bedroom for a home stay. Japan is a huge part of my life now and always will be, so I have to keep my connections strong.

Kiotsukete! Mata ne! Osu!

Terebi tarento!

Something unique happened for our dojo in January! A TV crew visited for a short segment on a TV show local to our prefecture, called “Michibura Shizuoka Ohako”.  I have to admit, before this happened, I hadn’t heard of this show, or the famous comedy team Pakkun Makkun, who host it with Tomoko Shigenaga. My bad! They’re a lot of fun, and I hope to see more of their work! “Pakkun” Patrick is from the USA, and he speaks perfect Japanese!! The above picture is Sensei with Pakkun, Tomoko, and Makkun (they are not actually black belts, by the way).

Heh, Rintaro (the hand growing out of Patrick’s shoulder).

The segment will air this Saturday! It should be cute… Patrick completely took a beating from Shiina, one of our teen Nidans. We performed kata, and tried to teach them a few things! Tomoko practiced self-defense with me before she took a black belt down, and I attempted to speak Japanese on-air. I’m definitely braver now… Sugoku tanoshikatta!!! I can’t wait to see which parts they actually used!!!

It was a very casual set-up, and only 2 cameras. No rehearsals, but we rehearsed our kata many times before the day of the shoot though! It was over in a couple of hours, and then all the kids got autographs and photos. Everyone’s really looking forward to this Saturday, of course. When I have a DVD copy I will post still pictures from it. Ahh Japan… there’s really no end to the awesome experiences you can have here!