bears, bears, bears

Well, Thanksgiving here was a total bust consisting of Alex puking and laying on the couch moaning all day, me eating muesli for dinner and both of us watching a taped vcr recording of animal planet over and over. I expect you all to help make up for it next Thanksgiving! In the meantime, Nate got to sit for hours in an outdoor hot springs, in the rain with a six pack of beer. He brought back one can of beer and this story:

There is another JET here who worked last year in a school that was way up in the mountains. Anyway, one day she went to work and her students starting getting worked up about something. She looked out the window and there was a giant bear walking around the school grounds. Everybody was freaking out and a call was made to two grizzly-looking Japanese mountain men. Soon enough they arrived, dressed in furs, and shot the bear while everyone watched from inside. Then they proceeded to also skin and butcher the bear, also while everybody watched. They recieved a portion of the meat and the fur as payment for killing the bear. The rest of the meat went to the school and everybody had bear for school lunch that day.

Note to Mothers: You aren't going to like this

Well, I guess one way to get a new bike here quickly is to get hit while riding one. Although I really hesitate to say this, in the last week both Nate and I have been hit by cars. Luckily, neither of us were injured at all, beside a small cut for him and a small leg bruise for me. He was on his way to work, I was on my way to the grocery store, and thank god, without Alex. Luckily, I saw my car coming and tried to brake and turn to avoid it and didn't even fall over. But my bicycle front tire did not come out so well, it was practically bent in half and the bike was unrideable. The woman spoke no English, but seemed extremely apologetic and said she was going to repair my bike. I left it at Mos Burger, she insisted to have the bike-lock key and I would have Yoko, my teacher, call her tomorrow about the repairs. Much to my surprise, the next day Yoko called her and she said it was my fault- I ran my bike into her car!! Yoko asked her if she reported it to the police, she said no, and therefore had no right to make judgement. She said she would have a new bike delivered, and here it is! But, I guess we will have to buy a new child's seat. Anyway, I am not happy to be hit by a car at all but a new bike is kind of nice. Fortunately, it will be winter soon and no bike riding anyway, so you can all try to be a little relieved about it. I was quite shocked that she lied about it, though.

Now I have to deal with this kerosene heater! It is so warm, but kerosene? Supposedly it is safe, you just have to air out your house every so often, which seems to defeat the purpose, but it is quite warm when it's on and electricity is so expensive here. I never thought I would use it when we first got here, but here we are. Poor Nate is freezing at school with no heat at all there, either. And all those girls have to wear skirts all winter long. In the good news, I am very excited because it looks like my dad is coming for Christmas!!! I can't wait, visitors at last! And I got up the nerve to invite my friend/neighbor Yuko and her 3 kids over for Thanksgiving with me and Alex while Nate is out of town. Her husband works and lives in another town during the week (which is actually pretty common here). I am a little unsure about what to make, but I am very excited to have such fun things to plan for! I hope her kids will eat my food!

The last week was rainy, not really much happening except maybe too much Japanese television and too many ramen noodle bowls from the convenient store. I could never eat these at home due to 1. not knowing what the hell was in them and 2. the outrageous amount of fat and calories. Now, I could really care less what is in them as long as there seems to be no weird fish-like pictures on the cover and I cannot read any of the nutritional information, so I can pretend they are healthy. They are actually pretty good, although not that filling.
Alex caught a cold, but has been in really good spirits despite being sick. He has learned how to peel satsuma oranges all by himself, which he is very proud of and has been watching many video game clips with his dad, something both of them seem to be able to do over and over and over. Nate gets very excited when he thinks about Alex finally being old enough to be his "gaming" partner. And I have no doubt that Alex is going to kick Nate's ass in any game he sets before him He has a way with buttons, as you all know. I bought him 4 crayons for $3.00, and haven't seen them since. I have no idea where they could be, he didn't even color with them at all, they just disappeared as soon as I handed them to him. I cannot figure out why something like a single crayon has to be so ridiculously expensive, but maybe at least they were good quality, I would have liked to tried them out myself!
Last week I found myself trying to stall my Japanese tutor by getting her to gossip (not a hard thing to do) because I hadn't studied enough. Not very smart, considering I am paying her, so, this week I have made up for it and been studying tons. I actually had my first real conversation in Japanese with a guy at the train station, which I could more or less understand and also answer everything he said.





I have been thinking a lot about winter, it will be so strange to be here over the holidays. It is the first time we have been away from our families, it seems like they (the holidays) just won't exist this year. Nate has to go to a conference on Thanksgiving Day which is overnight, so it will just be me and Alex and some chicken nuggets. I was looking up recipes on Epicurous.com and there was a beautiful picture of a pecan pie, it made me sigh. What are we going to have for Christmas that involves as microwave, toaster oven and a fish broiler? How I am going to get to the grocery store or bank in all that snow, something now that is done on almost a daily basis? (and oh yeah, let's not forget I am pregnant) I guess with many layers, boots, and planning ahead we'll waddle our way down to the store. Maybe we can quack like ducks, too, Alex would really like that- and I am sure the neighbors would!

fall

Fall here has been very beautiful, when it's not raining. There are persimmon tress in almost every yard and the smell of burning fields in the countryside. This red farmhouse surrounded by rice fields is near Valor, a supermarket we like to shop at. It provides a very unjapanese-like, kind of surreal scene that reminds me of Idaho.

This is the Valor supermarket, which also looks like it could be anytown U.S.A. until you step inside. I have finally gotten to the point where I can go in, know where everything I need is, and not totally lose track of time because I am stuck gawking at one of the million different products because I have no idea what they are. Sometimes, they actually stare back at me. Nate saw a fully dressed geisha shopping here at Valor the other night, sans make-up, the first one spotted so far.

In other news, as many of you probably already know, Nate and I are expecting another baby. I went to the doctor Monday, an experience I was dreading, but actually turned out to be just fine. I had the embarassment of having to have the receptionist physically show me where and what to do with the cup for the urine sample, but luckily that was cancelled out with me having to help the doctor spell syphillis (not because I have it, but because they test everyone for it!). The doctor spoke English well enough, and was friendly. I have heard rumors that often doctors are very cold and uncommunicative, compared to Western standards, so I was relieved that it went so well. Also based on Western standards, you would have thought they were running a meth lab by how unorganized and in disarray the exam room was. But, this extreme messiness is very common in Japan, and I have no doubt that under the piles of tools, viles, and papers everything was very clean. Based on an ultrasound, the due date is June 8 and based on my last "mens" it is June 6, so I have to go back in two weeks and then the doctor will be able to tell me exactly what the due date will be and blood test results. Then I will be able to give my official statement of pregnancy to the major of Kanazawa and recieve a Boshi Techo (maternity/child handbook) and then we will see what comes next.