Being the day after Christmas, I figured that I would sleep in a little and enjoying lounging around in my warm pajamas and robe. After all, I didn't have anything going on and surely no one would be knocking on my door. Well, I was wrong! A little after 10:00 am two older men (50-60s) from the college were on my doorstep. They came to fix my door hinge. I quickly got dressed and mainly stayed out of their way. My front door was open most of the day as they tried to figure out how to replace the hinge. They left around 4:00 pm but my door was still not fixed! They are supposed to come tomorrow and try to figure it out. We'll see what happens.

(Update on Jan. 7: My door is still not fixed!)

Christmas was different this year but it was wonderful! The day started with finding a Christmas stocking on my door handle. Heidi and Nick also received one so we opened them together after our pancake breakfast. Someone from church had come and put them on our doors. It was quite touching to be remembered!

This morning I played flute on the Christmas carols. It's been so long since I've been apart of planning a worship service! It was fun to be able to use the gifts God has given me to serve him on this special day. After the service we ate our Christmas dinner together. This was a mix of food, culture, and traditions. It included sushi, pizza, pasta, octopus, Christmas cake, etc. After filling our bellies we started playing bingo. What were we playing for? All of the things that did not sell at the church garage sale! Yep, we kept playing and playing until everything was gone! (That's one way to get rid of things.)

During the evening seven other Americans came over to my apartment for a Christmas party. We ate lots and lots of food, enjoyed sitting by the Christmas tree and lights, laughed tons, and had a $5 gift exchange. It was a great success!

Oh, and just to remind me that Christmas is just another day on the calendar here, the postman came with a package from home. My Christmas presents arrived on Christmas day--wow!

Look, we had snow on the ground this morning!

I turned 23 today. Wow, that sounds old! I woke up to a phone call and my family singing Happy Birthday to me. What a great way to begin the day! I had a wonderful birthday with Heidi and Nick (my friends and co-workers)! It started out with a little treasure hunt that Nick put together, and at some points there was chocolate. Then we went across the strait to Mojiko in Kyushu (another island). We took the boat across, which was fun. We went to a restaurant to eat kowara soba (green noodles served on a roof tile). You dip the noodles into a sauce and then eat it. It was very good! Then we did a little bit of window shopping.

It was rainy and extremely windy! All of our umbrellas blew inside out on our walk home from the train station back to our apartments. We had about 30 minutes to get ready before heading to school. There we put together the Christmas cookie plates for several of the teachers. I think that they will enjoy them. Nothing is extremely sweet. Tonight there was a Christmas program at school. (Somethings never change, like having a concert on my birthday. I'm discovering that some things transcend culture;) Heidi and I sang "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" from an area above the stage. And since there is no heat in the chapel everyone had to suffer together. I wore as many layers as I could! The program went well and afterwards four of my students found me to wish me a Happy Birthday. They also had a present--chocolate chip and raisin cookies that they made for me. It was so thoughtful of them! On the way home there were even a few snowflakes in the air.

After the concert we made tacos. I had the ground beef and taco mix and Heidi had the toppings and made tortilla shells. Our collaborative efforts turned out really well! While watching "Miracle on 34th Street" we had some of the left over Christmas cookies. The day was lots of fun and very memorable!

Fire drills. A whole new picture comes to mind when I think of that word now. There was a fire drill at Baiko today and not just any fire drill! Knowing that the fire drill was going to occur today. I asked one of the homeroom teachers if I could join her class. I heard a little bit about it and wanted to experience it for myself. She said sure. Thus, I joined the IIIE class for this experience.

In one of the rooms they set up a fog machine, so the room is filled with "smoke" to give the students an idea of what it would be like in a real fire. Once the knock is sounded on the classroom door, students grab their handkerchiefs and file out to the smoke filled room. Once in the hallway you can see the curling white smoke coming out the door cracks. One also recognizes the distinct smell of vanilla extract. Yes, that's right, they have vanilla sented smoke. Then a fireman gives the students a briefing on the experience. What he says I have no idea except that six to in at a time. I went in with five of my students. It is quite the experience! Chiaki took the lead and the rest of us got in a line putting one hand on the shoulder in front of us. Once we were in the smoke-filled room, you couldn't see anything expect the smoke. It probably took us about one minute to get through the room. I'm not sure if students actually learn anything from this experience (maybe they do in the talk/lecture they have afterwards with a fireman), but it was much more exciting than any fire drill I had in America!

I have seen snow a couple of times now. Once in a while we will get a few flurries but nothing that lasts. However, this morning I saw two new things. Outside my door this morning there was some slush--it's getting colder. And while looking at the mountains, I noticed that something seemed different but I couldn't figure out what. They were beautiful and it looked more like winter somehow. Later Heidi mentioned that there was snow on the mountains today. Yep, that was the difference--snow!

Upon getting out of bed and looking out the window, I saw snow! Yes, snow! It was fluffy and beautiful and lasted for maybe one hour. It all melted when it hit the ground and no, it didn't cause any disturbances in the city. But it sure was fun to be able to see snow at least one time during the Christmas season.

Hurray for Costco! One of the teachers from school went to Fukuoka to Costco and kindly offered to pick us up some things. This is an opportunity to get American foods that are impossible (or next to impossible) to find. These opportunities do not happen very often, so you jump at the chance when it comes your way. I now have Skippy Peanut Butter, Frosted Flakes, Quaker Oats, and real cheese. It is glorious!

I am starting to feel more and more rooted. I've been able to make some Japanese friends, which has really helped. This afternoon I went out for lunch and to the mall with Ayako. She speaks English pretty well, so it was fun to just hang out. Besides eating and talking, we also shopped at the mall and saw a ballet performance. At one of the stages in the mall, a ballet studio put on a little production using music from the Nutcracker! During this medley the different classes would come out right on cue with their darling costumes. Of course, every one danced to perfection and was very articulate, almost rigid in their dancing. The whole thing was very Japanesey.

There was also a coffee house event at the Christian Center, which I went to. It was an evening of Christmas food, music, gospel choir, and puppet show. It was like having a corner of America in Japan. There I also met Miho, whose English is excellent. She went to college in the US and is now waiting for her working visa so she can teach in Hawaii. She thinks she will be in Japan until August. I really hope that we will be able to connect again!

We started finals today and they will be finished on Wednesday. Then we have three weeks of throw-away classes. Nothing that is taught will be graded, which of course the students also know, so you can imagine how motivated they will be to learn. Thus, I think it will be three weeks of talking about Christmas and celebrating it in various ways and doing Christmas activities with them. Yeah!

After school, we had the Christmas tree lighting. Everyone received a sheet and candle that was later lit one by one. It was a time of singing Christmas carols, listening to the handbell choir, and reading the Christmas story (at least that's what I'm assuming was read). It was fun to start the Christmas season with such a festive ceremony!