Santa Caleb

Today I taught Christmas at Kozuya Elementary to the first and second grade. I explained the reason that Christians celebrate Christmas. I also, told them about kids believing that if they are good all year they will get presents. Then I opened the floor up for questions. All the questions were about Santa and Presents which would have been true at an America school to I guess. Some of the best were as follows. Keep in mind these are all in Japanese and have to be translated by going back and forth with the real teacher. Then I had to answer in Japanese.

Why does Santa come in through the Chimney?
Because he is not a burglar and cant use a locked door or window, he has to use the Chimney.

I don’t have a Chimney how does Santa come in?
He can use the out side vent of the Kerosene Heater to get in.

Then he would be inside the heater?
Magic

Why does Santa give presents?
To celebrate Jesus birthday.

What is the English word for the animal that pulls Santa’s Sleigh?
Reindeer, the I sang Rudolf the red nosed reindeer which made them all surprised to learn that only one Reindeer had a red nose.

How does Santa know what we want?
In America kids write him a letter that says what they want.

Do they put it in the mail for real?
Yes, they do.

WAAAAAAAAAAAA We don’t write letters. If we don’t write letters Santa won’t know what we want. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Mr. Caleb what is Santa’s address?
At this point before I can tell them to address them to the North Pole. The teacher steps in and tells them that they can tell their parents what they want and they will tell Santa. I admit that I wanted them to write Santa letters just to confuse the Japanese mail system.

One kid very nervously asked if wakening up late is a bad thing?
The teacher handled this one to saying it was bad especially if it made you late to school and you parents late to work.

We then made Christmas Cards in all the classes that day. It was a lot of fun and the kids really liked it. Also, in another reason that my Elementary kids are starting to grow on me is that they are so cute. In my first grade was one girl who is little Ms. Dainty in class but at lunch was forking it (I guess in Japan I cant say forking it I have to say chopsticking it) in like rice was about to be illegal. I mean she had more rice in her chopsticks then she could force in her mouth. Things like that are just so adorable.

Hank Williams Fish Market

The other day my Principle from Chokai and his wife took Samantha and I to Hachinohe. There is a big mall in Hachinohe that has an import store and several other great stores so they thought we would want to go. It was nice. We were able to get all the Christmas cards we are sending out this year and some Christmas presents. We even go some things to decorate the house. We don’t have a tree but we do have some garland and silver balls around the living room. There is a small pine tree outside the house and we are going to wait till closer to Christmas and decorate it. Samantha has suggested that we saw off the top bit to make it a small tree with out necessarily killing the tree. We also have a cloth wall hanging of Santa’s sleigh going by Mt. Fuji. I even bought a Santa costume in my size for 420 yen or about $4.20. It included hat, beard, pants, shirt and belt. It’s really a pretty good costume for the price. I can’t wait to show it to my kids around Christmas. I think that the Elementary kids will love it and I will even use it at the Kindergarten that we teach at.

After the mall they took us to an amazing fish market. It was full of all kinds or fish in every state from some being still live to just the heads and tails. We walked around the building trying samples of everything from raw Octopus in Kim chi sauce to fresh crab. I mean this stuff was in the ocean that day it was so fresh. The whole time it’s really loud but I keep thinking that I hear Hank Williams. Now, I know that being in Japan can drive some people crazy. I also know that some crazy people here music and voices. So, I’m thinking that there is no way that this fish market full of Japanese people in Iwate is playing Hank Williams. Therefore I must be starting to go crazy. What's more, I asked Samantha if she heard country western music and she couldn’t. Finally we get to a quite place and you know what they were. They played one Hank Williams song after another the whole time we were there. The fish market had a sort of restaurant in it where you could buy fresh fish and then take them and rent a small grill and cook it right there fresh. We did that and it was great. We had chicken, beef, squid, huge scallops, shrimp, and some other fish. It was the best sea food meal I have ever eaten and it was really cheap too. It was one of the most not in Kansas anymore moments. Here I am eating fresh fish in Japan, trying to explain what little I know about Cockney in Japanese, and the whole time Hank Williams is going in the background.

In unrelated news the other ALTs in town and Samantha and I are putting on a Christmas play at all four middle schools in town and the church Samantha, Stephanie, and I go to. It will be a Christmas Carol rendered into very simple English. For example we may well end up changing the ghost of Christmas past, present, and yet to come to yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I will be playing Scrooge and am busy making all the props for the play. I’m really looking forward to it. I think that it will give me a great opportunity to talk to my kids about the real meaning of Christmas since they celebrate it here as a sort of Valentines Day. Also, I’m going to video the Christmas play and if it turns out well and the other cast members still agree it’s not to embarrassing post it on the blog. So look forward to maybe seeing me play Scrooge in the simplest English imaginable and then all of us singing silent night. Why Silent Night, because the Christmas lesson of the 8th grade English book is about the writing of the carol Silent Night. It gives no translation of Silent Night and they only hear it sung once but it’s the Christmas carol that our students will most have heard of.

Lastly, the weather. My teachers all say how mild the winter is. Its cold freezing cold but there has not been any snow for a week. They say that normally by the first of December there is usually snow on the ground for good.