further evidence of winter in Gunma-ken

Yes, it was snowy in Takayama. But you know what Takayama doesn't have? Incredible, frigid Siberian wind. If I had to choose between heavy snow and this ridiculous dry wind, I think I'd choose the snow. There have been a couple of days when the wind was steady at 10mph, with much more powerful gusts that make it incredibly difficult to ride a bike without suddenly veering into stone walls or curbs. A couple of days, I've chosen to walk instead of ride simply because I knew it'd be a struggle to actually get anywhere.

Further, it's a very dry wind. Winters in Gunma are typically very dry - there's currently an advisory out warning about the dangers of dehydration. We haven't seen any precipitation in about two weeks, but it feels like longer. Everything's all brown and dry. Benni-sensei's hands are all cracked from the lack of moisture in the air (and there are more commercials for healing ointments and lotions than I can count). It certainly explains why my hair has been considerably less frizzy lately. I'm surprised my hands aren't cracked and peeling too, as they usually are that way during winter. It's been warmer the past couple days, though, with temperatures in the higher single digits. It'd be quite pleasant out if not for this ridonkulous wind.

Here are some pictures I took on the 24th, just to give you an idea of the view I sometimes I have of the mountains north of Isesaki. I had to climb onto a skywalk to get them, but it's nice to know that there's a view to see. This is Mount Akagi, which is the largest mountain in Gunma. It doesn't come to one tall peak, but as you can see, is spread out a bit. One of my students told me that Akagi-san is famous for its silhouette: because it has many small peaks, it resembles a woman lying on her side. You can't really see that from the angle of these pictures, but in other places in Isesaki, that's exactly what it looks like. The best such view is near the Isesaki bus station, which I pass on the way to the train station. Next time I'm walking that way, I'll try to remember to take a picture of it.

sara-sensei and the futile battle to keep warm

As far as I'm concerned, it is officially winter. Doesn't matter that we still have about three weeks to go before the solstice, doesn't matter that it's going to get even colder as winter draws nearer. For me, winter is here: snow is on the mountains. Not a lot of it, but enough to be visible from Isesaki.




Last week, some wet weather came down from the mountains - I'm getting pretty decent at weather prediction, but I think it's common sense to see clouds enveloping the mountains and looming over the valley and figure that rain is coming. Except, up in the mountains, it's not rain, it's snow, as you can see in the pictures.

You have to remember where I'm from (ahem, Florida). Snow is a big deal for me. Waking up to 14 degrees in my room (that's 57 degrees in Fahrenheit) is a big deal for me. Riding my bike to work in a freezing Siberian wind is a bid deal for me. Staying warm has become a pretty important part of my life lately.

One of Benni-sensei's students, Kazuhiro (I think I've mentioned him before), suggested to us one day that we go to UniQlo and check out something called HeatTech. It's a very thin material, and it's made as both shirts and shorts, meant to be worn under regular clothes. It's designed to keep heat in the body, thus keeping body temperature up. It's very warm and very comfortable, and the XL size fits me nicely.

Can we say awesome? The fact that I can fit into Japanese clothing thrills me to no end, even if it is the largest size in the store. What's really great is that it really does an excellent job of keeping me warm. The heater in my room at school doesn't quite get the job done, and even wearing a long-sleeved shirt and suit jacket didn't help much in keeping warm. The HeatTech shirts have really helped with that. At home, I usually wear one under a t-shirt. My apartment heater works fine, but because I'm heating such a small space, it can get stuffy really fast, so I usually only turn it on in the mornings.

This means that, while riding around on my bike, I usually wear 4 layers: HeatTech shirt, blouse, suit jacket, and overcoat. And gloves. And leggings and tennis shoes. That's how cold it is. During the day, when the sun is shining, I usually leave the overcoat at work, but sunset is around 4:30pm, and it gets cold really quick after that. I am now enamored with vending machines that sell hot drinks, because they are HOT. I'm especially fond of hot green tea, and every once in a while, I'll treat myself to one of the sweet cream lattes from the school machine.

But, it's going to be a struggle for me to not freeze to death this winter, because it's not even winter yet. And everyone tells me that the wind will get worse and the weather will get colder. And then they cheerfully tell me that it's usually dry, so there's not much snow. This doesn't really make me feel better, because there's that whole "cold Siberian wind" thing that bothers me. I'm starting to believe that the overcoat is the second-most important thing I brought with me to Japan (the first being the laptop, of course, I'd be going stir-crazy without it).

But, yeah. FREEZING.

Christmas madness

So, you think it's mildly irritating when Christmas paraphernalia is put on display before Thanksgiving? What if it showed up before Halloween?

That's right. My first trip to the grocery store with William, and what's there to greet me? A ginormous display of Christmas cards, wrapping, bows, and other things that I'm not sure what they're for. There were some Halloween-themed things out in the aisles in the store itself, but it was rather telling that the Christmas stuff was prominently arranged. And since the passing of Halloween, the Christmas items have expanded, creeping into the store to take the place of odd Halloween goodies. I'd take pictures of it, but that doesn't seem like a polite thing to do in a grocery store. The other day, I was in a convenie, and Christmas music was playing over the loudspeaker. I thought I was going nuts, but I went to the grocery store the next day - MORE Christmas music.

Also, now that I have my tv working, I notice that there are a lot of Christmas-related commercials on. I had kinda been under the impression that Christmas wasn't a big holiday in Japan, but I'm starting to disbelieve that. Unless we've already hit a peak in Christmas decorating, in which case, I'd feel a little relief. However, I get the feeling this is just the start of a much bigger thing, especially considering that Benni-sensei is a self-professed Christmas freak. She's already been playing Christmas music nearly non-stop, and she's started teaching her students carols. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my kids' classes other than the special Christmas lesson in the book. I'd like to have them make snowflakes, but other than that, I've got nothing so far. Still brain-storming on that one.

In the meantime, I've just got to attempt to hold on to my sanity for the next six weeks. Beacuse, yeah, I like Christmas and all. But there's such a thing as TOO MUCH Christmas.

not quite perfect

Let me begin by saying that I love Japan. But I am a self-profressed cynic and curmudgeon, and there's no way I'm going to say that Japan is perfect. Much as I love this country, there are some things I'd change if I could. Because I can't, I accept them as they are. But I'd thought I should take a break from singing the praises of Japan and vent a few grievances.

coffee
Nothing wrong with it as it is. It's strong, which I like. Seems to me that most Japanese drink their coffee black, but sugar and cream (even the disgusting non-dairy kind) is readily available. There's also some kind of syrup with flowery labels, but I'm still not sure what it is, and it doesn't do much in the way of sweetening things, so far as I can tell. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate Splenda, which I've come to prefer over regular sugar. No, the problem with coffee is the price. You think Starbucks is expensive in the States? Try paying the equivalent of $4.50 cents for a small cup of regular coffee. Ouch. At Mister Donut, the coffee was cheaper (about $2.60), but the serving size was even smaller! Fortunately, both Benni-sensei and Hitomi-san drink coffee, so it's in ample supply at the school. All I have to do is buy sugar and creamer, and I'm set. Still, it's a ridiculous price to pay for coffee.

my utter and complete lack of a dryer
Domestic duties are not my strong suit. I have no problem with the washer - it's simple enough to use, and it does what I need it to do. However, I would kill to be able to fit a dryer into this place. I cannot figure out how to keep my jeans from drying crunchy and stiff. My towels are flatter than the Kansas plains. I can't deal with it. As soon as I'm mobile on a bike, I'm going down to a nearby coin laundry and scouting for dryers. I know they exist in Japan! I've seen them in stores! I've got to be able to find one to use somewhere! My work suits are fine (they just need some ironing, which I can do without much problem), but the crunchy jeans are beginning to get to me.

the size of my bathing room and my kitchen
The whole apartment is small, and I'm okay with that, really. This is just something that's going to take some serious adjustment on my part, because I can't help being a big, clumsy gaijin. Also, I'm clinging to some fairly American ways of doing things. Like drying off in the bathroom after getting out of the shower. I can only assume that most Japanese don't do this, because it's pretty damn difficult to do given the space available in the bathroom. This is true of the kitchen, too, in which there is no counter space at all. I knew this was going to be a problem, I just had no idea how difficult it would be to actually deal with it.

having to bag my own groceries
Okay, this is just because I'm lazy. But, at least I'll admit it. I just really hate having to bag my own stuff.

mosquitoes and spiders
Holy crap, mosquitoes are everywhere, and they come in droves. Whenever I kill one, it seems like two more come to replace it. It's freezing outside, and yet, there are mosquitoes. It makes no sense. Even Hitomi-san was complaining about them the other day. Also, there are spiders. Duh, it's not like I expected Japan to have no spiders. And most of them aren't too big. The biggest I've seen have been in house gardens or in the bushes in front of restaurants, and they're about the size of the banana spiders that are all over the place in Florida. I'm fine with that, as long as they're hanging out in their webs and not bothering me. I'm just wondering how they manage to survive this COLD and very STRONG wind that has been blowing every night for the past week. They're apparently more resilient than I would be.

And, um, that's about it so far. I have yet to come up against the "you need your gaijin card to get in here/do this/buy that thing," so I consider myself fairly lucky in that regard. Most people have been very nice and polite and willing to help as much as possible (though, according to Hitomi-san, the woman who processed my information for my gaijin card was "making things more difficult than they should have been - she was very grumpy," but the woman has a government job and I can't say I expected anything more than what we got).

Overall, Japan's pros definitely outweigh its cons, as far as I'm concerned. I'm just feeling grouchy after dealing with the internet, which is irritating no matter which country you're in.

seriously?

Okay, so I was going to post two videos of my apartment today, and I even came down to the office on my day off to do it.

You'll notice there aren't any videos posted, yes? Because I just spent the past TWO hours waiting for blogger to upload ONE measly three-minute video, except it wasn't finished but I cancelled it anyway because I have other things I want to do with my life besides sit in front of a computer watching it process something that I don't know what. I have no idea if it had another hour to go or if it would be done in thirty seconds. Either way, I was done with it.

I guess I'll just go back and take pictures of my apartment instead. Not as exciting, but until I can get vids uploaded to blogger without it taking half a century, that's what I'm doing.

Also, because I'm now in a grouchy mood, I'm going to post my grievances with Japan as well.

rewind: movies I watched on the flight to Japan

I fully intended to sleep most of the flight, but I ended up sleeping only about 90 minutes. Instead, I tortured myself with bad movies. Hooray!

The Incredible Hulk
Two words: utter crap. That's a crappy way to begin a movie (seriously, overdone pantomime with the credits? it was cheesier than a goofy silent movie) and end a movie (um, what?). In fact, the whole movie sucked in ways that can't be enumerated. If this is how you're going to treat graphic novels, you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near them. I'm talking to you, Hollywood!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I can't imagine that anyone who has any sort of respect for the Indiana Jones series would enjoy this movie. In fact, I can't imagine anyone who has any sort of respect for anything in general would enjoy this movie. It's time to quit when you've gotten so formulaic that you might as well be a Dan Brown novel. You know what doesn't belong in an Indiana Jones movie? Aliens. Forget Harrison Ford and the utter ridiculousness of his stunts. Even his scene-chewing antics can't overshadow the fact that this was an Indiana Jones movie about aliens.

Hancock
Um . . . why? What's the deal with the screenplay here? Did some pages go missing during filming and nobody noticed until after post-production when it was too late to do any more shooting? I love Will Smith (his choice of scripts lately has just not been all that great), and I liked the rehabilitating superhero angle, but the rest of it was just confusing. The plot twist? Stupefying. And predictable. But mostly stupefying.

Leatherheads
Didn't get to watch all of it, but what I saw was entertaining. Nice vaudevillian touches, very true to the era. I also appreciated the World War I scenario, that being a special interest of mine. I'm actually sorry I didn't get to see how it ended, even though I could guess because it's still a predictable Hollywood movie. But at least it wasn't confusing. And there weren't any aliens.