A day out...

Last week during school midwinter "ski break", we took a day trip to Hakone. It is a very popular hot spring area south of Tokyo and Yokohama near Mt Fuji. We had fun catching trains, cable cars and riding the rope-way! We were blessed with beautiful clear blue skies and had wonderful views of Mt Fuji. You can see my photos of the day here. We visited the Hakone Open Air Museum - a wonderful art museum with amazing outdoor sculptures and indoor galleries, including a Picasso gallery. At Owakudani, a famous sulphur springs area we ate eggs that had been boiled in the sulphuric hot water springs. They are black and very yummy when peeled and eaten with salt!
We also visited Lake Ashi,a lake near Mount Hakone formed after the volcano's last eruption 3000 years ago. A very pretty area with beautiful views of Mt Fuji. It was a long but very fun day. We hope to go back, stay overnight and have an "onsen" (hot spring) experience.

Another day, another dollar....

Work life..... Dean is very happy in his job as an an IB history teacher at Yokohama International School. He loves the kids and is enjoying the challenges of teaching international students. I am currently flitting around the place with my finger in a few pies.... two days a week at Yokohama International School in the library; two half days a week at Yokohama Union Church Preschool where I am assistant teacher in the 2 year old "class" as well as cataloging their small library into a new automated system and creating a web site to promote the preschool (I'll post a link when it's up) ; and one afternoon a week talking at an English conversation cafe. The conversation cafe is in a real cafe and involves me conversing in English with Japanese women over coffee/tea. It is fun meeting Japanese people, learning about their world and helping with their English!
Next week I start my M Ed online through the University of Wollongong. This semester I am full time and then I will probably go part-time as last week I signed a contract for a full time job as the librarian at Tokyo International School .... alas, the weakening yen and increasing interest rates in Australia dictate that I need to get a real job for a while and make some dollars (or is that yen?). I start in the new school year in August after our summer break! I'm very excited about working at such a great school!

A place to lay down my head....

Finally, we have a camera and I can load up some photos for those eager to see our apartment... follow this link to picasa to see all my pics.
Our apartment is spacious by Japanese standards - three bedrooms plus a "tatami" room. A "tatami" room is a formal room with tatami mat flooring. Traditionally it is the main sleeping room where the head of the house sleeps. Bedding (a futon) is rolled out on to the mats each night and rolled up again in the morning. The room is then available for entertaining. The "tatami" room has a big cupboard that is normally used to house futons and bedding. We have put our cupboard to use as a pantry as the kitchen is small and has no room for food! The room is empty at the moment though. We hope to buy a low table and cushions to sit on for entertaining Japanese style.
The bathroom is a little different to western bathrooms. The bathing room is separate from the toilet and the vanity area and is a completely sealed wet area. One half of the room is a shower and the other half is a bath. Traditionally the Japanese would shower for cleaning purposes and then soak in the bath for relaxation/restorative purposes. The bath has an electronically controlled water dispenser and heating mechanism. Japanese share the same bathwater - so they they just reheat the same water for each family member to bathe! No soap allowed in the bath! We haven't figured out how to use the electronics (all in japanese) so we just use the shower head to fill the bath! We don't reuse the water!
Our kitchen is quite small and we are fortunate to have an oven - not a common kitchen appliance here! I don't think I could live without an oven! I do love the big sink though - almost big enough to bathe in.
We have limited furniture at this stage but we'll get there! It's home and we feel very fortunate and happy!