Family Day Cruise

Last weekend, Zack's ship had its family day cruise. The wives and all kids eight and over were invited to go with the crew and see what the guys do all day. Other than having to be on the ship at 6:30 with Zack, it was quite a fun day. The weather was about as good as we could ask for: no wind and sunny. We watched Sasebo disappear from the top of the ship, along with all the excited kids:

While the ship was chugging away towards 99 islands (a scenic area near Sasebo), Zack had to do some actual work (after all, his guys were feeding us that afternoon), so I sat and read, but as soon as we dropped anchor, the crew began entertainment for the kids. First, they showed them all the firefighting gear on the ship and let them try it on:

Then they broke out the fire hose and the kids took turns aiming and adjusting the nozzle.

While the kids were having some fun with the water, Zack gave me a tour of the ship, which was really very interesting. Then it was lunchtime. The food service department served hamburgers, pizza, wings and ice cream, much to the delight of the kids of all ages on the ship. It was quite a good meal.

After lunch it was time to go home. We adults sat around and chatted with each other, and the kids were forced to entertain themselves for awhile:

And before any of us knew it, we were pulling back into Sasebo again. Over all, it was a very fun day.

Kimonos

Every once in awhile since I've lived here in Japan, a thought will run through my head that on the surface seems completely natural, but upon further reflection reminds me that I am not in Kansas anymore (so to speak). Today, that thought was "The next time I wear a kimono, I'm going to take a taxi." In the moment, it made perfect sense. After all, driving in a kimono is not so easy. Walking in one isn't a whole lot better, so a taxi would be the appropriate way to go. Then I realized that it was pretty weird 1) that I knew all this and 2) that I had more than one chance to wear a kimono in my whole life. In the States, chances to wear traditional Japanese clothes to events other than Halloween happen almost never. Here, on average, it seems to happen once a year.

This year's occasion to wear a kimono was a going away party for one of the members of OSC. She's been here three years, and in three weeks she'll be gone. The theme of the party was going to be all things Japan. The invite asked us to wear "Something Japanese." I don't have a lot of somethings Japanese, but I do have the kimono I bought last year at a festival. The question was how would I get it on. So I asked the ladies in one of my classes if they could help. They knew the lady for whom the party was being given, and two of them agreed to come to my house on the day of the party to help me get dressed.

What's more, my new helpers insisted that I could not wear the kimono like I did last time: with a t-shirt underneath and no socks. No, ma'am. That would never do. Instead, they provided me with all the under-stuff necessary to wear it right. They did a test run last week with my clothes on underneath to make sure it all would fit, and today, I wore it for real. Here I am at the party with Skii, who rented her Kimono and got professionally dressed:

The thing about kimonos is they're not easy to wear. If you want to see what I mean, find a big bathrobe and try to move around without allowing it to flap open anywhere. You'll get the idea. Granted, a kimono is tied shut a great deal better than a bathrobe, but the same basic issues apply. There are no zippers or buttons, it's all tied on. Here is a picture of everything I was wearing in the picture you saw before (except the underwear):

There was the kimono, obi, and shoes, yes, but under the kimono is the white under-dress thingy which is like its own kimono, which is tied on with its own cord. then there are the two cords that go under the obi to hold the kimono together, then all the stuff required to make the obi look right. The red thing sitting up in the back goes in the front to keep the obi properly flat regardless of a woman's figure. And if you look closely, you'll see two of my face towels in the pile, and a rubber band. They wrapped the towels and a tiny little pillow in one of the ties to make the obi poof out right in the back. Don't ask me how it's all done, but it took about 20 minutes for two of them to put me all together.

And once everything's on, it's hard to keep it all together. The ladies at the party today asked me if I could breathe, and when I said yes they insisted that my kimono must not be on tight enough. I did find it impossible to sneeze for lack of breathing room, though. Then there's the small issue of sitting. The hard part isn't the actual sitting but the getting from standing to sitting and back without the bottom flapping open. "Keep your legs together." the Japanese ladies advised me, but it's easier said then done. And when you add the process of moving feet from one pedal to another in a car when you're driving it becomes really hard to retain some sense of modesty. (Hence the taxi thought.) Keep in mind, too, that part of wearing a kimono is having an obi tied elaborately in the back, making it impossible to lean back. It's really good for the posture, but not so good for the driving.

To make matters more complicated, the weather today was less than cooperative. It's really windy out there. I mean really windy. I mean I couldn't get my car door open after the party because the wind was gusting so hard and I needed one hand to keep my kimono shut. Wind and kimonos just don't mix.

All that said, I still had a great time dressing up today. I can see why ladies don't wear them often here, but it is very fun to be all decked out with the obi and the front arranged all nicely and all the little details. It feels rather exotic and I think it all looks great when it's done properly.

Opportunity Knocks

A few weeks ago, I went to a friend's house to help her with a cooking class for Japanese families. Cooking classes are apparently a big thing for women on base. Japanese women want to know what Americans cook, and how to do it, and they'll pay to see it first hand. This class was created by a group called the Japanese & American Friendly Circle, or JAFCO for short, which hopes to encourage friendly encounters between Japanese and Americans (as the title implies) and help kids get started on their English for school. The leader of JAFCO, a Japanese guy named Mike (no, really), was there and found out that I have the English degree and teach and what not, and expressed interest in hiring me as a teacher. I figured I could use a little more work, so he said he'd call me and we'd work out the details.
So a few days later, Mike called and asked if I could join him and another leader of JAFCO for dinner. We made arrangements, and I spent a few days being tickled by the fact that they were going to take me out to dinner to interview me for a part time teaching position. It's so not the kind of treatment I'd get in America. The dinner interview turned out to be an interview for one of two jobs. One was the part time job I expected, the other was full time!
The job will involve teaching very laid back and basic English classes in the afternoons for students and their parents (or grandparents). One class a week might be in my house, the rest will be at a classroom that JAFCO has rented and is in the process of decorating. If there is an interest, a few adult classes might be worked in eventually. In addition to teaching, I will also be responsible for coordinating among the American teachers to find out what's working and so on, which is pretty exciting. I would never get the chance to be a "department head" in the States at this point in my carreer, so I was really excited about the leadership opportunity. PLUS, Mike would like me to help design the curriculum for the classes! They have the first two months worked out, but they'll clearly need more, and they were looking for someone to work on it. My masters is in curriculum design (in part) so I'm totally psyched about the chance to actually try out the stuff I'm learning. And once we move back to the States, the opportunities to actually design a curriculum from the ground up will be few and far between.
So, to make a long story much shorter, I've officially taken the job as of today. I'll still be able to teach at the junior college and also my private class at my house, and I'll still be working on the masters, so I'm about to be crazy busy, but I'm so excited.
In other news, I woke up to snow on the mountains surround Sasebo this morning. It was wet, but not frozen, around the house. Since it didn't snow last year this time, I'm assuming that we're having an especially cold spring this year. Also, all the cars in Sasebo have recently gotten covered in yellow dusty stuff. I assumed that no one was washing their car because of the water shortage in town. (The water reserves are at 65% and holding this month. If they drop below like 50ish, they'll start having water hours.) I learned today that actually the yellow stuff is Mongolian sand that blows in this time every year. I don't know why I didn't notice it last year, but I thought it was interesting.