Snow day, skiing, Coming of Age Day and Yokohama

Konnichiwa!

Today is a magical day because it is snowing!  It is also lovely because it's a paid day off.   More on that below.  When I first woke up it was just rain, but now snow!   We're near the coast, so we're at a pretty low elevation.  Also, we're about the same latitude as South Carolina.  So snow is not very common and rarely sticks.  However, right now, the road is covered.    I started making cookies last night, but halfway through, I realized I was almost out of flour.  I planned on going to the grocery store this morning to get more, but I only got about 100 yards down the road and realized my hair was covered in giant snowflakes and was starting to freeze.  So I turned around.  The cookies will have to wait until later. 

The view from my bedroom balcony, a parking lot for the apartments. 

TIME OUT:  This just in: 

130114@1123- ***EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY***
By the order of the Executive Officer, NAF Atsugi is closed for all EXCEPT mission essential personnel. NAF Atsugi will resume normal working hours tomorrow unless directed otherwise.

Hahahahaha!  It's only an inch of snow.  But I suppose there's probably ice underneath  snow.  Slippy, slippy!  Edit:  Maybe not so funny.  Bryan is on duty this week, so he might be stuck at work.   :-(   We shall find out soon.  Edit #2:  Bryan is now home.  We only live a mile away, but he said traffic was backed up a lot, but in the opposite way that he had to drive.  It's a very heavy, wet snow with huge flakes.  I had to help him get the car all the way into out parking space, but we made it!  We shall stay at home all day.  They aren't used to this kind of snow, so I guess everyone freaks out a bit and there isn't snow removal equipment like back home.

 As mentioned above, it is a national holiday here in Japan.  I'm stealing a quote and a couple pictures from TokyoFashion.com

 Called “Seijin no Hi” in Japanese, Coming of Age Day is a time for families and friends to celebrate the transition from childhood to adulthood of young Japanese men and women who have reached their 20th birthday within the last year. Coming of Age Day starts with “official” ceremonies at local government offices all over Japan. After that, many 20-year-olds visit a shrine with their families. The day usually ends in a more relaxed manner with young people gathering together to party with friends.

I had heard that the girls dress traditionally, so I was hoping to see some out and about today.  However, the rain and snow has kept me (and probably a lot of them) inside.   The kimonos in these pictures are most likely modern and rented, as a full kimono outfit like these are very expensive (close to a thousand dollars).   I was also told that the girls go to a salon to have their hair and makeup done and to have their obi tied.  The obi is the piece that goes around their waist.  See pics below!

The guys are more westernized anymore and wear suits.  The girls are beautiful though.

So pretty!  Their sandals are called zori.   They actually make sock specifically for them where the big toe is split from the others.

The obis are always a different print and there are many ways to tie them.  It's quite an art as they're usually around 13 feet long. 

We went skiing 2 weekends ago.  It was a fabulous time, despite me falling many times at the beginning.  We went almost directly north of us to Naeba Ski Resort.  I hadn't skied in 2 years, so I had a rough start, but by the end I was doing pretty well.  I was still on the green hills, but there were many to choose from and would definitely be considered blue hills back home.  My favorite hill was near the top where it was beautiful powdery snow, rather than the icy stuff that I'm used to from back home and the bottom of the hill.  Also, it was so high we were in the clouds so you could only see about 30 feet in front of you.  Crazy!  I did that one several times, all on my own!

It wasn't nearly as busy as we were expecting.  There wasn't any lines to get on to the lifts!

Shout out to Marshall for allowing me to use his pictures!

I didn't make it this high, but the rest of the group did. 

Jimena took this one. 

Bryan took this one.

Another view from the bottom.

 New Years is a big deal here, but celebrated very differently.  It's more of a somber time.  Most people visit a shrine and pray for a safe and healthy year, often at midnight, but within the first three days of the year.   New Years day is also a big shopping day, most comparably to our Black Friday.   Wikipedia says:

Fukubukuro (福袋 lucky bag, mystery bag^?) is a Japanese New Year's Day custom where merchants make grab bags filled with unknown random contents and sell them for a substantial discount, usually 50% or more off the list price of the items contained within. The low prices are usually done to attract customers to shop at that store during the new year. The term is formed from Japanese fuku (福, good fortune/luck) and fukuro (袋, bag). The change of fukuro to bukuro is the phenomenon known as rendaku. The fuku comes from the Japanese saying that "there is fortune in leftovers" (残り物には福がある). Popular stores' fukubukuro usually are snapped up quickly by eager customers, with some stores having long lines snake around city blocks hours before the store opens on New Year's Day. Fukubukuro are an easy way for stores to unload excess and unwanted merchandise from the previous year, due to a Japanese superstition that one must not start the New Year with unwanted trash from the previous year and start clean. Nowadays, some fukubukuro are pushed as a lavish New Year's event, where the contents are revealed beforehand, but this practice is criticized as just a renaming of selling things as sets.

 I wasn't aware how big of an event this was until New Year's afternoon, so I didn't get any Fukubukuro.  I still have 2 more years though!

They also decorate store and office entrances with pretty vases/urns and wreathe-like decor made of bamboo and other greenery.  

This is one of the office buildings on the Japanese part of base. 

Close up of the over-the-door decoration.

Last weekend we went to a part of Yokohama, Minato Minai 21.  It is home to the tallest building in Yokohama, Lankmark Tower, Queen's Towers (set of three towers), Cosmo World (a small amusement park), the Cup of Noodles museum, lots of shopping, a convention center, and many other cool places.  The whole area was part of a shipyard until the 1980s. Yokohama means "harbor of the future", so many of the buildings tend to resemble parts of ships.

We rode the ferris wheel.  It takes 12 minutes to go all the way around. 

Pretty at sunset!

The Landmark Tower (far left) is 970 feet tall and has 70 stories.  The Queens Tower has a hotel, lots of office buildings, restaurants and shopping.

One of the entrances to Landmark, with the New Years decoration.

Two of the buildings designed to look like the decks of a cruise ship and a giant sail. 

Some of the amusement park.  People were even riding the water ride!

View from the ferris wheel.

There's a mini golf course on top of the shopping mall!  The Red Brick Warehouse and the bay are in the background.

Another view of the ship building from above.

I started working last week!  I started Wednesday, so it's only been three days, but so far, it's good!  I found out that if I don't have classes to teach, I don't have to be there. I get to be home an hour earlier than I thought I would be every day except Thursdays.  On Wednesdays, I'm done at 10:40.    Each class has around 35 kids in them and the classrooms are just big enough for their desks.  It's a tight squeeze and leaves me very little room to walk around.  But it's cool.  The kids have all been very nice to me, but apparently they're used to being allowed to talk a lot, including when I'm teaching. I've got to work on that.  And two of my classes are all boys because they're part of a specific career program.   I work with three translators and they've all been very helpful and friendly.  I've also met a few other teachers as well, including the other English Conversation teacher.  She's super friendly and has been informative.  Perhaps you read on Facebook how I had to give a small speech to the teachers on my first day.  I didn't record it, but here are my notes!

This is what I read for my "small speech" in Japanese.  One of the Japanese ladies that Bryan works with translated it for me and then coached me on pronunciation.  I'm very grateful for her help!  I was very nervous, but I only stumbled on one word.

 Okay, off to eat lunch now!    Have a lovely day :-)