It's been an incredible winter thus far. Toyama has some of the most entertaining weather I've ever experienced... and I'm from Maine, people. Since December, it's been a guessing game as to the week's weather. Blizzards will settle in for three or four days until the landscape you once knew has been transformed into Willy Wonka's marshmallow factory gone wrong. Then the next week will warm until the snow has vanished and you expect to hear robins singing and daffodils to peak out. It can be breathtaking or it can be a battle. The battle: you vs. wind gusts and snow whirls so strong they leave you standing on the corner gripping your elbows and shaking in your boots! Not much of a battle really. I've been leaving the apartment a bit earlier these days both because everything takes longer in snow and I love the thrill of walking to school in such intense conditions. I know what my family is saying right now - "Jeez Cait, just have an espresso and skip the snowy suicide!" But my walks in the snow grant me energy, peace, solitude, chats with me myself & I, and time to awaken with the day. Arriving to school with rosy cheeks and outrageous hair is now customary.

This past Tuesday, though not a national holiday, was a notable day in Japanese culture. It's a tradition called Setsubun (Bean-throwing holiday), which happens at the start of every new season. However, the spring setsubun is the most celebrated since it coincides with the Lunar New Year and, therefore, is a ritual to rid oneself of evil spirits and welcome good for the new year. This is how it goes: the whole family goes outside with roasted soy beans and chucks them at the house while yelling, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (Demons be gone! Luck come in!) The beans are supposed to scare the evil spirits away (If I were a demon, I'd be terrified) and then everyone in the family eats one soy bean for every year of their life to bring prosperity.

Imagine never having heard of this and someone in very broken English explaining this to you just as you start your work day. I was thinking, "Ok you had a late night. No problem." I couldn't imagine what "Beans! No bad thing!" (throwing motion) along with "Eat many beans be happy!" (hand to mouth motion) could mean. I was confused, to say the least, but then debriefed with the vice principal of my school who speaks great English, though he also liked to make the exaggerated gestures for hurling beans. Huh. Anyways, if you're wanting to rid your house and life of any mischievous demons, you now know exactly how to do it.

One of the highlights of this fluffy season is weekends on the slopes! Peter and I rented snowboard gear from a local ski shop and have had the chance to go about a half dozen times. I've been boarding since I was 16 and hit my plateau around 20, whereas Peter is soaring past all sorts of ability levels and will soon bypass my current standing by next season no doubt. As depressing as that is, we can't all make it to the Olympics. Lindsay and Sune live in snow country (Literally, their area gets the most snow in the world at that latitude!) so we've been making frequent trips to Niigata where we can all hit the trails together. Sune is also hopping on skies for the first time (in a very long while) and outshines most skiers on the mountain. Lindsay, who was making her way nice and easy in the beginning of the season, is now shooting out of the starting gate like a bat out of hell leaving me in a trail of teary powder.
It's been a blast hanging out with them and getting to spend entire days outside, weather in biting wind or sun baths.

School is going just fine. I mean, it's not my dream job but that's not because I dislike teaching. I love working with my students and even teaching English can be pretty fun. The student body is big (about 40 students each class, 28 classes), which doesn't allow for the creativity I'd love to bring into the classroom and it can be isolating not speaking Japanese. I'm not sure I "jive" well with the Japanese school system; I'm way too strange to follow all these protocols. However, despite the language barrier, I have noticed a huge gain in comfort and ease over the past few months as I become more and more familiar with the atmosphere of a class, how each teacher works and my own freedom to move through school as the person I am and not as a tape recorder. I now have a slew of favorite students from each grade (it's impossible not to have favorites). There are 3 boys from the 1st year who, whenever they see me, get really excited and tell me, "Oh hello Ms. Cait. Very nice hair today! Very nice! Oh yes yes bye bye!" They are mad about English and scream "Cait-O Sensei" (Teacher Cait!) whenever I walk into their classroom. Pretty darn adorable.

As many of you know, Peter and I are leaving Japan in less than 2 months. It will be a speedy exit. Two days after our contract ends (as in, our last day at school when we have to go on stage during closing ceremony and make some sort of ad-hoc speech in a mix of Japanese and English), we are planning to grab the boat to Shanghai. From there, 3 months of travel in China. I am thrilled at the thought of this upcoming trip, though trying to reconcile my feelings at the thought of leaving Japan. It will be a mixed bag of emotions for sure. Though for now, I only want to appreciate and really focus in on the nuances of life here. So I will wrap this up because it's currently Friday afternoon 4:15 and time for me to head home for the weekend!

It looks like a bit of catching up on sleep and visiting dear friends in Toyama is in order. Also, Peter and I are hoping for a snowboarding trip to a nearby resort we haven't visited yet. For now I will walk home through the torrents of snow probably listening to an NPR podcast or just soaking up the silence. Much love to family and friends.