Sorry for being quiet so long, I've been alternately busy and lazy.
Christmas was great, we got invited to Adrian's friend's party in Shiroishi, the next prefecture over. We met a lot of english teachers from all over. It was a potluck, and we brought gyoza (dumplings). They were a lot of fun to make. We learned how to make them a few days before at Dane's friend Fumi's house before we went to a potluck. It was a christian potluck, which was okay, because they're always friendly, but it was very 'god this god that' because the only word we understood was 'kami-sama'. We heard a Japanese flute player, a lady who performed a Chinese way of speaking/singing poems, and a guitar player.
Moving went all right, we had no map but we did have a GPS (in Japanese of course) and pretty good idea of where we were going. It took us two trips to get everything. We drove back the next day again because Dane forgot his shoes in the cupboard, heh. We absolutely love the new apartment, it has an amazing layout and somehow seems bigger. It came with a larger fridge and a gas stove (which is AWESOME) and some other furniture. It's a 10 minute walk from the school, 5 minutes from the train station (at most), and 5 minutes from the grocery store. Woohoo.
Also, driving is awesome. I need a new adjective. It was very easy to get used to driving on the other side of the road. There are very few differences between driving here and driving in Saskatoon. No turning on red lights, people go around people a lot because the roads are so narrow, there is no public parking, and you signal right before you turn (in advance is not good, they think you're turning into a parking lot instead of at the corner and pull out in front of you.) Gas stations don't have bathrooms or convenience stores, and they empty your ashtray and will fix broken lights for you.
My Wednesday class had a year-end party (Bonenkai) at Uotami, a private dining restaurant. It was super cool. We all shared food, and there were doors to our booth. It was one of those tables that has a hole underneath so you can put your feet down or sit on the edge. I went back a couple days ago so I have photos, but it was a smaller booth. Dane almost didn't fit inside. Some of the teachers in Yamagata had a small Christmas gathering too, we went to a Gyukaku restaurant which was super fun and had a gift exchange. I really wish I'd had my camera. Gyukaku is Japanese BBQ; similar to Korean BBQ, except it's a grill with coals instead of a metal plate to cook on. We had some pickled vegetables, and they brought out cow's tongue, two different cuts of beef with different sauce, pork, chicken, and scallops. The cow's tongue was my favorite. New years and winter break was pretty uneventful, Dane and I just got used to our new place and city. My mom sent me a camera for Christmas (thanks so much!) so I have a loooot of photos to put up.
more later!
