Adventure is Out There

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January 14th - Day off school for a holiday, but enjoyed remembering one of my student’s New Year Resolutions...

January 15th - Working on a Chinese Zodiac Animals version of a Create-Your-Own-Bingo-Board for my 1st and 2nd graders this month!

January 16th - Enjoying some plum wine (梅酒) and a candle. Made it halfway through the week!

January 17th - Came home to a surprise letter after a very long work day!

January 18th - Showed up to work on Friday, got canned bread. Best thing since... non-Japanese canned bread?

January 19th - Finally made my Daiso hedwig from our White Elephant Christmas party!

January 7th - I enjoy opening some souvenirs from the Studio Ghibli store on my last day of winter break

January 8th - First day back at school! Handing out my omiyage from my longer winter break trip.

January 9th - I notice this New Year’s decoration in a rice field near my school on my way home

January 10th - I enjoy one of my vacation purchases! Reading the Inuyasha manga - in Japanese!

January 11th - All the students at my school are practicing Japanese calligraphy at the same time - the 6th graders invite me to try it with them! Unfortunately I forget to write half of the middle character, so the teacher adds it in for me really small 😂 It means: Hopeful morning

January 12th -

January 1st - Saying goodbye to my wonderful host family in Hakodate - headed to Tokyo!

January 2nd - Waited in line for nearly 3 hours to see the Emperor! He wished all of us a happy new year ☺️

January 3rd - The Tokyo Tower, many temples and shrines, as well as dinner with an old friend!

January 4th - More shrines and temples, shopping, catching up with an HIF friend over lunch, and a Ninja themed restaurant.

January 5th - Final day in Tokyo! Hedgehog cafe, Akihabara, and the Ghibli Museum.

Happy New Year from the future (AKA Japan)! If I did the math right, I lost about 4 hours in 2018 to the time difference. However, this year was packed full of fun and good memories, so I’m not too worried.

Pictured above is me experiencing my first 初詣で Hatsumode or First Shrine Visit of the New Year (but temples are fine as well). During this time, families gather at shrines and temples often well before the New Year has started to make a small offering and prayer as well as purchase おみくじ omikuji - a fortune slip and お守り omamori - a shrine or temple charm often offering good luck or protection in different aspects of life. If you receive a good omikuji, you keep it with you and often leave it in your wallet. However, if you receive a bad one, you tie it to one of the designated areas in the shrine in order to ward off the negativity. Luckily, mine was good this year!

The last picture is the lovely and delicious New Years Eve dinner my host mother made and prepared from scratch. Many of the foods in the background are traditionally eaten on and around New Years and have various meanings behind them. I tried most of them! Since New Years is a very family oriented time of the year in Japan, I felt very special to have been included in my host family’s celebrations - especially the First Shrine visit. We did, however, leave the two little ones in the picture below at home in bed with grandma. Finally, we rung in the New Year with a bowl of hot soba noodles before heading to bed (and a quick dip in the bath for me!).

2018 was a really great year for me! I graduated from Emory University with a double major in Psychology and Japanese, I got my first real world job, and with that job I moved to Japan!

As wonderful as 2018 was, in excited to carry that greatness into 2019 with personal growth, world exploration, and good relationships. As is fitting of this time of year, here are some of my current goals:

- Stop comparing my life to others’ lives

- Keep in touch with family and friends who live far away

- Make time for myself and self care, no matter what that looks like on any given day

- General stuff like taking more photos, eating better, getting in better shape, and being eco-friendly

Attempted to Ono Half Marathon recently! Albeit with no practice and with a cold - only to find that Japanese race checkpoint time cutoffs are much shorter than they are in America! Still made it 8.3 miles 👍🏻 here’s to actually practicing for the next one.

Check out the before and after selfies above as well as the sweet poster my kids made below, it says “You can do it, Ms. Rachel!”

Draw something that starts with R ☺️

Rabbit

Ribbon

Robot

This year as Thanksgiving got closer and closer, I was a little nervous to spend it so far away from home for the first time. I wondered about how it would feel to spend it without my family, without any of the Thanksgiving food I love, and in a new place. However, since I’m not one to sit around and wait for things, I decided to plan a Thanksgiving potluck with my new group of friends.

Due to the lack of necessary ingredients and resources for dishes such as green bean casseroles, stuffing or even a turkey - combined with the fact that half of us are not American and had never celebrated Thanksgiving - we had quite the non-traditional menu. Despite the different food and my unusually strong homesickness, I had an amazing night and I think everyone else did too! We even did my favorite activity- go around the table and say what you’re thankful for!

However, little did I know as the night was winding down, my favorite part was still yet to come. I had been told to keep Friday (a school holiday) free and that I had to stay up until midnight. Thinking it was for some silly Thanksgiving prank or just to make me tired, I wasn’t very excited about it. I worked on some dishes, joined the others for an impromptu game night, and enjoyed some cake. As it got closer to 12, I realized Mickeal had been out for a while and asked the others where he was. When they told me he had to go pick something up, I assumed it was some cake or whatever I had been told to wait on and was excited about going to bed. When I finally heard the door open, someone said “Did you get your package?” and I thought, Finally I can go to sleep! (It was a long week).

And then, it wasn’t just Mickeal who came back into the living room. Believe me when I say I almost dropped my glass when I saw Sarah Pinheiro walk through the door. I had absolutely no idea she was coming. It still doesn’t feel real, but she and Mickeal have managed to pull off the greatest surprise and gift I’ve ever received. Words cannot express how thankful I am to have them both in my life. Although she was only with us for a short 34 hours, we made the most of them!

On Friday we went to Kobe and explored the Chinatown, Harborland, an Owl Cafe, and a new shrine. We ate Turkish ice cream, found Elvis Presley, tried a Japanese photo booth, and enjoyed the famous Kobe beef.

All in all it was a short trip, but we packed it with memories! I’ll always remember this Thanksgiving: physically far away from home but surrounded by friends both new and old ❤️.

I’m thankful for my Ono Crew and yummy food!!

When in doubt, it’s always good to ask! Also remember that postcards and letters are gifts to me 😁❤️

When you express distaste for this part of your school lunch and your vice principal says, “Ah, almonds are a no for you, Rachel?”