Soy-bean Throwers and Eggplant Cows!

oh happy day, my toe is not broken - only slightly sprained! So, no, I am not bound to a wheelchair; no, I am not a morphine addict, yet; and, most certainly no, I have not stopped doing my crazy dancing. haha. so yes, blah.

I have been kept quite busy what being back at my schools and all.

Yesterday, I was at a school call Sundai. It is a lovely, really happy school, full of sunshine and bright smiles (no, again, I am not a morphine addict, yet). Really, it is a great school. I spent the day telling kids about how christmas and new years is spent in Vancouver.

Okay, more like "How the Hiebert's spend their Christmas Vacation" (i.e "before we were aloud to open our presents on Christmas morning, us kids were forced to eat a most elaborate breakfast. After which, we all had to wait and watch while each gift was opened one-at-a-time. Suffice is to say, It usually took 2 hours to finish opening all our gifts." :)

Good times.

Then we had a class discussion on how the students spent their winter holiday. Supposedly the thing to do on new years is eat as many rice cakes as possible (1 cake = 1 bowl of rice), watch TV (they throw this crazy singing competition = think american idol) until midnight, and then, if they were especially good, they got to visit a shrine or temple the next day. Crazy eh? I told them how I spent new years (i.e. dancing all night in Tokyo) They thought that was a bit odd.

Well, then our little discussion moved onto other holidays that are celebrated in Japan throughout the year. Here is a run-down:

Bean-throwing Festival! (Februrary 3rd) Like it sounds it is a festival where you get to throw roasted soy-beans. You don't get to hit people with them, just toss them on the ground. But the cool thing is, while your throwing them you get to wear the scariest mask you can find and yell loudly "demons out! Good luck in!". what a trip.

naughty kids throwing beans at eachother! ---------------->



Girl's Festival (March, 3rd): Families display these cute (hina) dolls wearing kimono and wish for their daughter's healthy growth.

Boy's Festival (May, 5th): Yup, the boys don't get left out of the fun. They have their own festival where samurai dolls are displayed in their house. They also put out these massive (2 meter long) colourful carp streamers in their garden.
All this is supposed to bring good health to their boys.



Bon's Festival (Augsust 13-16th): My personal favorite. Here is the premise: this festival is held to remember the spirits of dead ancestors.

The cool thing is, the dead ancestors need something to "ride" on to make a visit from the "spirit world". So, what do people do? - make animals out of vegitables - thats what! Basicly, kids here take eggplants and cucumbers and put chopstick legs on them, therefore, stransforming them into "cows" and "horses''. They display these lovely animals in a little space in the house that is set up as a shrine for the ancestors.

Also, just incase the ancestors are hungry when they come riding home, families leave the best new fruit that is harvested (think grapes in Yamanashi). Pretty cool, eh?

Seven-Five-Three Festival (November, 15th): aka the Kodak moment festival. This is when all the three-year-old boys and girls, five-year-old boys, and seven-year-old girls, dress in their best Japanese duds and visit their local shrine. I totally missed this one in november, but next time you know I'll be hitting my local shrine to get some absolutely adorable snap shots. kawaii(cute!).

So, ya, that was a fun culturaly-informative lesson for me.

Today I was out at a school called Shizen Gazuen. Which is an alternative school, where there is only one-teacher per student (in my case, there were two teachers to one student). I work with a special needs boy. He was really excited today, because it was my first day back with him after the holidays. It was a little hard gaining his attention, but he tried his best. He is great.

After class, the JTE (Japanese teacher of english), Shindo Sensei and I went out for lunch. We went to this great little italian restaurant on the 5th floor above Yamako department store near Kofu station. This place is CRAZY cheap. I got a salad, a soup, a big piece of garlic bread, and unlimited drinks for 500yen (around $5)!!

Then, Shindo Sensei and I went to a small art gallery called "Gallery Innocent". A friend of her's, Utsumi Hitomi, was exibiting her work. Utsumi's work are these amazing abstract screen prints in really soothing pastel shades.

Many of them gave me the feeling I was on an alien planet surrounded by strange, beautiful flowers.

I loved walking around with Shindo Sensei and taking in the art. We walked paintings - pastel colours of blue, green, and orange - and shared our immediate feelings for them.

Shindo Sensei, is an amazing person. She is like a bright orange painting - full of life and passion for all she does. I am so lucky to work with her.



All of the art inspired me to creat my next lesson. I'm printing out famous works by various artists and the students, in groups, will describe and give their impressions of the works. Should be a lesson full of much fun and creativity. Wish me luck.