All Bundled Up

Today, I made it home just as Mitch and the kids were pulling up on their bike from RJ's school. The first words out of RJ's mouth (as usual) "Can we rides our bikes Mommy!!??!!"Since the sun was still up and Daddy hadn't started dinner yet, I had no choice but to say yes.

Once they were on their bikes, I had to take some pictures. They were all bundled up because it is quite cold here already, but that did not stop them from riding their bikes. I know I am their mother, but aren't they so cute!!!

Sara's Show

Some people have been asking if Sara is talking yet, so I took a video of what she can do. So with no further ado......

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Hammes Family in Himeji, Japan. The kids received new outfits from Grandpa Pat so we dressed them up and headed out for dinner.

I hope this blog finds everyone happy and healthy for Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all my family and friends, especially those that have called or written since we vanished off the planet USA.

We really are having a great time here in Japan, but we do miss everyone and the comforts of home. Luckily there is a wonderful restaurant here in Himeji that cooked a traditional Thanksgiving feast for all of us.

We had turkey, seafood macaroni & cheese, peas w/ bacon, corn, mashed potatoes & gravy, candied sweet potatoes (and yes mom, Mitch ate those and he loves them), sausage stuffing, carrots, creamed onion, salad, some chicken stew thing, pumpkin & cranberries.

Sara wasn't too sure about everything, but at least she tried some of it. Luckily dad brought fruit snacks.

We enjoyed all the company (most everyone from Shirasagi was there as well as some Japanese friends)

Lucy, Jodi & Jono, Katie & Joe

Karen, Sara, Suvanya, Heather, Colm (he is from Ireland)

Adam, Steve N, Marie & her boyfriend.

Maya, Julian & Taube, Steve H

Dessert was just as delicious as dinner.

RJ and Sara really do love their friend Maya. She is headed to Phoenix next week to live and work for at least 3 months. We are sure going to miss her.

November's 12 on 12

Welcome to the November edition of 12 on 12. This month you will get more than 12 pictures because some of them go together to make the point and I didn't want to jip you of some good pictures.

I got up extra early for you guys this month so I could get some pictures of the elementary kiddos going to school. There are rules as to how children can get to school here in Japan. Elementary and Jr. High students can only walk to school. High school kids can ride their bikes or take the city bus. They can not get a driver's license until they are 18 and if that happens while they are still in high school, they must get the Principal's permission to obtain the driver's license, which almost never happens.

Now back to the elementary students. They create a human bus system. They each wait at a certain spot on the way to school. As the group of students reach them, they get 'picked up' and continue to walk. There are parents who walk with the kids to certain points and they wear an orange jacket and carry a yellow flag. There are 'crossing guards' at the traffic lights and they help remind the traffic to stop for the kids. The parents wave the flag to the next parent if no parent walks a portion of the route. It is very interesting to watch. And yes, it is mostly moms, but I have seen a dad do it a few times.

So, now I will take you on a tour of my high school, Himeji High (also know as Himeco).

We will start by walking up to the front of the school. If you remember from September, I walk up a pretty good hill and then arrive at the school. I am standing at the top of that hill taking this picture. The high school is not that big. It is 1 building and it has 4 floors. The teachers office is on the right side on the second floor and my classroom (LL - Language Lab) is on the 4th floor on the left side. The area right in front is the walkway between the 2 wings of classrooms.

These two pictures are taken from the walkway (I am on the 2nd floor). The one on the left is looking at back at where I just was (the last picture). Notice all the beautiful Autumn colors!!! The white building on the right is the gym. It is 2 story. The bottom floor is different classrooms used for guitar, judo, ken do and other club activities. The top floor is the actually gym where they play basketball, volleyball, badminton, etc. The clubs take turns using the gym on different days. At the end of the walk way on the right side, you might notice a brown building that is somewhat rounded. That is Parnuss Hall. I will blog later about that building.

The picture on the right is from the same walkway, but now I am looking the other way into the school. Like I mentioned before the school has 2 wings of classrooms and 2 walkways that join the wings. It makes for a hallow center. In that center, you can see there is a small garden area. There is also a small pond with some goldfish (guess I didn't capture that on the picture). On the top of the classrooms on the left is an observatory (it didn't show up in the picture, sorry).

This is the view out of the teachers works room. It looks out on to the filed where students participate in gym class as well as club activities (baseball, softball, soccer. etc).

These are some of the views out of my classroom windows.

This is Nagoyama Cemetery (Mitch blogged about it last month). More fall colors! I love this place in the fall. And I get to stare out at this view when I am in class. This picture is looking to the southwest.

These pictures are looking north out of my classroom. In the left picture, you can see something white on top of a mountain. That is Mt. Shosha. The picture on the right is a close up of the white thing. It is the building for the rope way (like a ski lift I am told) that will take you to the top. Tom Cruise filmed The Last Samurai at the Temple on this mountain. Be sure to check Mitch's blog for pictures of our trip to Mt. Shosha later this month.

This is a typical classroom (I teach in a high tech room, or so they say). Notice that there are windows on the hallway side (the side I am on taking the picture) and on the other side (which is to the outside courtyard/garden area I showed you earlier). During the summer they opened both sets of windows to allow the breeze to blow through (remember there is no AC Or heaters in the classrooms). The desks are all facing the teachers staging area (there is a platform area that is about 6 inches off the ground where there is a podium and a black board for the teacher to use for instruction).

This is an interesting concept. This is similar to a bookstore however it is more like school supplies. The students can buy notebooks, buttons for their jackets, rain gear and other things they might need. There is now person who mans this store. The students help themselves and then pay for what they took. It is all on the honor system and it seems to work. It is located just outside the teachers workroom. The red machine on the left side of the counter is a change maker and on it is a paper that lists the cost of the different items.

These are some pictures of one of the walkways. Everyday at the end of classes, the students clean the school. The picture on the left is of the sinks. The white thing you see hanging from the facet is a net bag with soap in it for the students to use to wash their hands. The picture on the right is the students actually cleaning (sweeping). Now that is it cold outside, the windows stayed closed so it gets quite dusty when they sweep.

This is the bike parking area. Remember I said high school students can ride their bikes to school, well with over 800 students, they need a place to park them. They are assigned a parking space and that number correlates to the parking permit that is on their bike. It is a covered area and I have no idea what is on top (it looks like a parking lot, however I never see any cars up there).

This is the inside of the school cafeteria. I do spend some time over there as I have made friends with the Cafeteria Manager, Akime (she is the one who is second from the left, looks like she has red hair).

This is a look at a typical 3rd grader's class schedule (the one on the left is in Japanese and on the right is in English). There are 7 class periods a day and 5 days of school each week. That allows for 35 different class periods a week (Yes, I still remember how to multiple even though I am an English teacher for now). The students have 15 different subjects (some mandatory, some electives). It seems that the mandatory ones meet 3 times a week, most classes meet 2 times a week with a few that only meet 1 time a week. The students seem to think it keeps them from getting bored. I could see how that would be the case. When I explained a typical schedule for an American Senior, they were shocked at how boring the schedule looked. In case you can't read the picture, here are some of the classes this student has: English reading, English writing, English listening, world history, Japanese history, modern Japanese and classic Japanese (from what I can gather, these are writing and reading classes as the Japanese language has changed over time), social studies, Math I & II, Science, Home Ec, PE (mandatory and elective for this student), music, choice & challenge (from what I can gather, this is a class that introducing different career choices). Everyday they have a short homeroom after 7th period for 10mins. One day a week, they have a long homeroom (takes place during the entire 7th period)

This is the front of Shogai University where I go teach on Wednesday afternoons. Kind of looks like a church as it has a bell tower on the left side.

I hope you have enjoyed November's edition of 12 on 12. Please note that I am writing more on this blog. I will be posting a 'Japanese sign test' pretty soon, so be sure to check back when you can. Have a great Turkey Day everyone!

Enjoying the Autumn Colors

**I have decided to write more than once a month. I am not sure how regular my updates will be but be sure to check back when you can. Mitch's blog will continue to focus on entire family adventures or what the kids are up to and my blog will focus more on my take of our adventure. Hope everyone enjoys.**

After a fun morning of a late brunch at Joyfull and a trip to an ikebana display, Mitch decided it was time that he took me on one of his and Sara’s bike rides. He warned me that the roads could be quite narrow and be patient if there were cars on the road. We rode through a quaint neighborhood that butts up to a river. I immediately began admiring all of the colors in the trees. For those of you who have forgotten, we got married in the fall just so we could go on a New England honeymoon to experience the fall colors (my favorite time of the year even though we never experience it in Phoenix). It was amazing all the red leaves and how the sun shown through in different places. We managed to meander our way around the castle grounds just admiring the beautiful day. (We ended up making a complete loop around the castle and back down one side twice, so for those of you here in Himeji, don't get lost in the explanation. I took a lot of pictures and wanted to include many of them so I will keep the descriptions short so that you can enjoy looking at this blog.)

So our journey began as we left the Ikebana Show at the Citizen Center. The tree lined street looked awesome with all the new colors. (we were southeast of the castle)

I was even more excited about our bike ride when we approached the castle. I couldn't believe how much the trees changed in one week. (we are looking north at the castle)

Whenever we go downtown, we almost always take this scenic road home. This roads is on the west side of the castle just on the other side of the moat. To my left is a garden that we have not visited yet but Mitch and I am looking for a sitter so we can enjoy the gardens sometime soon during this colorful season.

This white wall separates the garden from the castle. You will notice just above half way (just before the opening in the wall) on this picture a small water flow. Every time Daddy takes the kids on this road, RJ points out the water and tells daddy that is where the doggies get fresh water (I guess he saw a dog drinking there once and now that is what it is for).

About 3/4 of the way up this picture you might be able to see a small grey dot. That is a herin (egret) bird. He is pretty high up the castle wall and almost everyday these trees are filled with these birds, especially in the evening when they want to keep warm. Most of them are beautifully white and stick out greatly in the green trees.

This is me trying to take a close up of the bird with our old digital camera (We hope to buy a much better one while here in Japan)

More of the beautiful Autumn colors along the tree lines path around the castle.

A close up of the leaves changing colors. We will go up an important mountain next Saturday and I hope that the colors are even more brilliant there.

This is on street in the quaint neighrhood. Behind the houses on right is the castle moat and behind the houses on the left is a river.

Here is the quaint neighborhood that Mitch took us too. There is a river on his right and houses on the left. And yes this is a 2 way road. Luckily we didn't meet up with any traffic on this narrow portion.

This was an old bridge along the river.

By this time we are on the northeast side of the castle grounds.

This is me trying to be a photographer and 'frame' the castle with the autumn leaves.

More photographer attempts (now on the east northeast side of the castle)

Then we had to make our way back into the castle grounds area. We are on the north side once again. This stretch of road is very difficult to just ride down as there is a park on the right hand side and of course the kids want to stop and play. But mom & dad didn't want to stop here today. Yes, there were a few screams but they subsided quickly when we found a small waterfall.

Kind of hard to see, the waterfall is just to the right of Sara's helmet.

Another photo opp I couldn't pass up. I could get good at this with all this free time on my hands.

This is the east side of the castle. What you see there that is white is not actually main tower of the castle, it is one of the guard towers. The path on the left side of the pictre, we walked the bikes up it to see where it went (to steep to ride up in my opinion).

My wonderful family posing for yet another photo today.

So, we finally find a place to stop and let the kids off. There were a few steps leading up to ....

and of course RJ wanted to check out where they went. So off he went and mom & dad decided we should go with him. We ended up at a small landing area east southeast of the castle. I believe it was there for this small shire that was up there, but we were more fascinated with the public trash can. You see, here in Japan, there are no trash cans on the streets (unless you are at a festival and then you can find a couple if you look). So to find this one in a remote area was very odd. So we had to take a picture and Mitch was kind enough to pose for me.

This is the hill we had to go down after we finished up at the trash can site.That is downtown Himeji off in the distance there (we are now looking south and the castle is on our right).

Once we got down to the park area in the castle grounds, we came across some more ikebana displays. This was my favorite (notice the orange and red flowers on the front plant)

There were also some hibiscus on display as well.

We weren't sure what this was, but we liked how they displayed the flowers on round style stands.

So by this time we are right in front of the castle on the south side looking north. Mitch and I can't wait to go on the tour of it. Lots of stairs inside so we will need to find a sitter cause I don't think the kids will enjoy.

Since it was a Sunday, we were fortunate enough to see what some of the tourists see when they come to the castle on a beautiful day. This is a rickshaw.

Then off we go again on the road to the west of the castle.

There are those beautiful tress again.

Since I was in the photographer mode, I had to take a picture of the hillside that is just northwest of our apartment. The leaves are all changing colors!!! Thank goodness we don't have to rake any leaves this year!

I hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of the loop around the Himeji Castle. I really enjoyed the bike ride and look forward to many more while we are living here. And we look forward to taking any of our visitors along with us when they arrive.