Christmas Omedito Gozaimasu--Merry Christmas!!!

I had a very nice and relaxing birthday in Japan! I opened presents, spent time with friends, sang at a Christmas program (some things transcend cultures;), ate Vietnamese food, had brownies for dessert, and talked with family.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go... Here are a few pictures of what Shimonoseki looks like for the holidays.

A couple of nights ago I went out with friends for nabe (hot pot--vegetables, meat, etc. in a soupy sauce). The food was wonderful! The nabe we ate is the kind sumo wrestlers eat. It also helps colds, so it's pretty popular right now. The owner loves sumo wrestling and baseball. He asked where I was from in the States. I replied by saying Minnesota. Usually I then go on to explain where it in in America. He immediately said, "Oh, the Twins." He even gave us a sumo wrestling calendar for 2007. It's pretty cool! Afterwards, we went to karaoke and sang for a couple of hours. It was a fun evening with friends.

On Friday, all of our grades for the semester were due. After figuring out the grades we have to go through the process of entering them into the Japanese computer. This is always a bit tedious as we have to try to decipher kanji. Of course, the names of the files sometimes change and our boss usually fails to notify us of this change. Well, this part went fairly smoothly. We got them all printed, signed, stamped, and delivered to the correct teachers. Then we wait to see if any of them come back to us.

This semester I tried to fail a student. She showed up to half of the classes, slept through the other half, didn't take her final, didn't do worksheets, the list goes on and on. She received a 28% in the class. She earned that F. Well, that grade sheet came back. I was notified that we cannot fail students under any circumstances. The lowest grade that can be given is a C, so her grade would need to be changed. In return, I told my boss that she could change it but in good conscience I could not. The Japanese education system has plenty of problems, just like any other system.

Have you seen an apple this small before? It was a first for me. (FYI: It tastes like a regular apple.)