Happy Mother's Day

Dear Mom,

As I get older, more and more I recognize the difficulty of raising children. When I was younger, I didn't see us 4 kids as too much of a challenge. Boy was I wrong. I can't even imagine doing what you did, raising 4 children to be independent, free thinking, well-educated and contributing members of society.

As they say in Japan, いつもありがとうママ！itsumo arigato mama - pretty much means thanks for everything, past present and future.

Though it may not be enough, every year older I become, the more I appreciate everything you have done for me and continue to do. I suspect that this trend will continue, my eyes will open wider and wider. I think this is a sign that you've done a superb job in parenting. When I was little, you made everything look like a breeze, now I see the sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears of it all. Thanks mom!!

Today/yesterday have been the hardest days for me in Japan, I think. The reason is because I wanted to be with you, especially on this day, to show my love and appreciation for everything you've done. Moving to Japan hasn't been easy, what with the deaths, illnesses and general out of the loopiness, but it's the hardest when I'm not able to show my love and support when I feel it's needed.

Anyway, know that I Iove you and miss you and have been thinking about you nonstop for both Mother's Days, the Japanese and the Canadian one. Of course this isn't the only time you're in my thoughts though :)

Do you recognize the picture? In my last post I said I would elaborate on the latest flower arrangement in the next post. Do you know what it is? It's supposed to be a poodle, for Mother's Day. Yesterday when I was at the grocery store there were tonnes of poodles made out of carnations. I suppose the reason is that toy poodles are sickeningly popular here. So of course mothers would like carnation poodles. It is cute, but if you ask me, a bouquet of wild flowers is the best. As a side note, carnations are more expensive than other flowers here. It's the opposite at home. Don't really know why, just one of those Japan things.

So happy Mother's Day mom!! Please enjoy the picture of the carnation poodle Mother's Day arrangement. I wish I could've sent it, but I don't think it would have survived.

I love you and miss you soooooo much!! (You too Dad!)

Love,

Wendy

PS happy Mother's Day to all the other moms I know <3

Ikebana - Japanese Flower Arrangement

Ikebana would usually be defined as the art of Japanese flower arrangement. This idea is nothing new as my prowess (or lack thereof) for the art has been posted in picture form for all to see. I feel as though I should redefine it for myself: ikebana - the art of having your flower arrangement rearranged ever so slightly by the sensei to look a million times better. My new definition aptly describes what happens in Ikebana club even though I'm now a sempai!!

*a sempai is the elder, experienced person in a Japanese organization. The sempai-kouhai relationship is a well respected and time honored tradition everywhere - schools, clubs, jobs, and life in general. The kouhai is the newbie - the inexperienced person who looks up to the sempai as a role model. These relationships are not taken lightly. At graduation, the sempais get gifts from their kouhais and the kouhais honour them with performances and thank you speeches. Also, at drinking parties (nomikais), sometimes the kouhais pay for the sempai and the kouhais make sure the sempai's cup is always full. Very serious indeed.

So this post is actually supposed to be an ikebana update, as I haven't done one in awhile. I'm not actually a sempai in the club, that doesn't happen because I'm a teacher. It's a position that puts me ahead of the sempais... Awkward. Anyway, my esteemed position and status doesn't get me anywhere with ikebana. If only...

First up, a flower arrangement that uses a cross made out of wood to separate the vase into 4 quarters. This occurred sometime in December I think. Note the sunset in the background... At about 4-4:30 pm. Sigh.

2nd: This is our Christmas flower arrangement. It's not ikebana, just flower arranging. The sensei liked the way I used the star garland and wrapped it around. I think she showed the class and probably remarked something about those crazy western esthetics. It took me quite awhile to understand that being different and designing my own arrangement is a no-no. We're supposed to copy the sensei's pretty much exactly. You know the old saying, "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down." Yes, yes, yes. It's exactly true. Though with this particular arrangement we were given more freedom to do as we pleased, hence my peculiar application of the star garland.

3rd: This flower arrangement was in January. It served as a reminder that spring was on its way. Not really though, as I bet I was wearing 2 pairs of pants, and 5 shirts on that day. I'm not sure what kind of blossoms were on the branches. They and the tulips are symbols of spring.

4th: This arrangement was fun because we used the grid again (see #1) and we also manipulated the flowers to our will by bending the stalks, but not breaking them. This arrangement was in honour of setsubun, a topic I was going to blog about but then failed to do so. The pussy willows are supposed to represent beans, which are thrown at the devil on setsubun to cast him out of your home. Setsubun is February 3, is the day before spring starts in Japan. In fact, setsubun means seasonal division. On setsubun, you cast the bad spirits (onni) out of your home and bring the good ones in. Beans are thrown as well as eaten. You must eat your age +1 beans on setsubun for good health and long life. Also on this day, long uncut sushi called ehomaki are eaten, while facing the lucky direction (this year it was SSE I think). The holly in the arrangement is also representative of Setsubun. Traditionally, holly and fish heads were hung at the front doors of houses to keep the onni away. When I went riding about on Setsubun, I was disappointed to discover that no one does this anymore, even though it sounds unpleasant.

5th: This arrangement is a springy one, blossoms and irises. Like #1 and #4 it uses the grid for placement. I had a string of bad luck with my arranging materials, in this one you can see there are only 2 sticks... Not supposed to be the case in ikebana. There should be three, but sadly my branches were terrible and only 2 could be made. Poor, poor flower arrangement.

6th: This arrangement is not traditional ikebana, but it is in honour of a traditional festival. Hinamatsuri (March 3), or Girls' Festival, is a festival where girls are honored and good health, fertility, etc are wished for. Hinamatsuri is marked by large, often expensive displays of dolls meant to be the emperor, empress and their attendants. The tulips in the arrangement are meant to be dolls dressed in kimono. The red tulip is the empress doll and the yellow is the emperor doll. Behind them there are ume blossoms (Japanese plum).

7th: This was the first activity of the new school year. I was pleased to get back to barebones ikebana. This is basic ikebana at its finest - my favourite type because it is so simple, sparse, and somehow esthetically pleasing to me. The basic tenets of this style of ikebana are the branches: the tallest is 2 x the length of the vase, the middle is 1.5 x the length of the vase (or 3/4 the length of the tall branch), and the small branch is 1 x the length if the vase (or half the length of the talk branch). Then the spaces are filled with flowers, in this case, carnations. Quick and easy.

Last: My most recent arrangement. Can you guess what this is supposed to be? More on this arrangement at a later date. Hopefully the suspense won't get to you! He he he.

Golden Week

Golden Week is a smattering of National holidays that occur very close together at the end of April and the beginning of May. During this time, many Japanese people go on trips, so the cities empty and the destinations fill up. JETs, taking their cues from their coworkers, usually go off gallivanting as well. I know people that went to China, Taiwan, Thailand, Egypt, etc. I however, didn't go anywhere. I had a staycation.

During golden week we had a 3 day weekend followed by a 4 day weekend. For the three day weekend I did some cleaning. I'm still not finished cleaning, hopefully that will happen this weekend. Over the 4 day weekend I was in two dance battles, went to practice, went shopping and became a Costco member.

The first battle I entered was with my Saitama boys. It was a 4 vs 4 battle in Kisarazu, Chiba. Very far away. There were only 12 crews signed up and 3 of them were professional (I think the ¥500,000 prize was the reason). I was sick with nerves. The day of the battle, I couldn't eat anything! Luckily my friends were very supportive and I met some new people. Naturally, we didn't get past the first round, but it was a learning experience.

Below are the links to the battles between the pros:

This video is Found Nation Crew vs Floorriorz. I think Found Nation should have won... But the judges decided differently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY4-AdoRK50&sns=em

This video is the final battle, Floorriorz vs TFZ (also Floorriorz... I don't like this...).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIWFcjOYJIQ&sns=em

After the battle, we went to the outlets in Chiba, but we only had a very short time to go shopping. I just saw the adidas and Nike outlet. I bought some running shorts from adidas. Interestingly enough, there were no outlets in Japan until about 5 years ago. Now outlet malls are popping up everywhere. It's crazy.

The next day, I lazed around and slept in. I went to Utsunomiya in the evening for battle number 2. This event was much smaller and friendlier. It was a 2 vs 2 allstyles battle. I really enjoyed it, the venue was a nice little night club with a live DJ. As it happened, my Saitama Bboys showed up to battle too. I was a lot less nervous with this battle but it didn't stop me from panicking as soon as it was my turn to dance. My friend and I did not advance past the first round :( I stayed afterwards and many people were talking to me in Japanese. I guess my Japanese is improving, because it wasn't too hard for me, though it was just basic Japanese.

In Japan I seem to get way more nervous and panicked about battles than in Canada. I think it's because I cannot hide. I'm the whitey that you can't help but look at... The pressure is magnified because there are very few girls in break dance and a foreign bgirl is the rarest specimen of all (I've met foreign Bboys, but no foreign bgirls, just me). I feel like everyone is watching me and I want to just hide! I want to be the wallflower that nobody notices!

So that was my dancing golden weekend. The next day, Sunday, I ran, biked, and practiced. I ran sooo fast! I haven't run in months and this run was great, except I had a nosebleed afterward. I don't remember ever having a nosebleed in my entire life!

On Monday, I went shopping. I bought a dress, shoes, and a rain jacket. I also became a real Costco member :) hurrah! Now I can shop at costco whenever I feel like it, within the hours of operation of course :)