Over the last 3 months I have to come to learn more and more about the Japanese culture as each new day passes. One of the first being that saying goodbye is quite the process here. It's not just one goodbye and that's it...there are about 3-4 "goodbyes" while maintaining eye contact the whole time until you literally can't see that person anymore. I've had some adult students actually run into the wall on their way out of the classroom because they are saying goodbye and walking while looking back at me the whole time. They then bump into the wall, laugh nervously, and book it outa there. I wish I had a picture to insert here but unfortunately I don't. :)
Serving Christmas cake at a Japanese Xmas party isn't as easy as it sounds. There is a way of doing absolutely everything here...and the serving of Xmas cake does not fall short on that list. To make a long story short, it took over 20 minutes to systematically place a piece of cake on every student's plate. I was quite impressed, although not at all surprised to see that not ONE child touched their cake until everyone was ready to eat. It finally came down to me actually having to tell people they could eat!
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| Japanese type version of Christmas Cake :) |
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| Santa and his helpers...and yes his beard is real! :) |
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| Wreath Making :) |
Going on a hike in Japan is also a very orderly ordeal. I went with my two Japanese co-workers and before we even started the hike, one of them said "Ok this should take us approximately 300 minutes. " Extremely precise to say the least! She then laughed about it and apologized because she admitted that was a very Japanese thing to say. :)
The mountain we climbed was SUPER crowded...and as some of you who are familiar with hiking know, usually when slower people are ahead of you, you can pass them or they will even step aside and let you pass. In Japan, that is of course considered rude and it's best to wait in line. SO, although there might be someone moving as slow as molasses in front of you, you wouldn't dare pass them as that isn't the right thing to do. It was pretty interesting and cool to see all of the Japanese in their hiking mode. :)
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| The very orderly line when hiking in Japan :) |
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| Prayers before the hike |
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| Miki and I at the top of Mt.Tsukuba :) |
My friend Dave and I took a road trip to check out the tallest Buddha statue in the world. I had absolutely no clue that this was here in Japan, let alone pretty close to my house. It's in the Guinness Book of World Records and really is a beautiful site to see. :)
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| Diabatsu - World's tallest Buddha Statue |
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| Typical Japanese garden |
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| A Room full of thousands of Buddha statues :) |
