I Really Need a New Ikebana Vase

I realize, looking back on these pictures of Ikebana I've done over the past few months, that I really need a new Ikebana vase/container. Quite possibly a few different ones. With the one I currently have, I think there's only so many shapes and arrangements I can do. Sorry then if this is familiar to something you've seen before, but here's another arrangement I did. (I'm still catching up on all the pictures I have of Ikebana and whiteboard doodles.) I'm kind of... indifferent to this one. I don't hate it, but I don't really like it either. It's just sort of there. I do, however, wish I knew the name for all these flowers. It's starting to bug me a little. Perhaps, in addition to some new Ikebana vases, I will also invest in a book of some sorts to identify all these flowers I'm using.

Beach Day!

Two new ALTs came to my town this last summer, and on one of the hottest days all year we decided to all go run away to the beach. We went to Tanizashi Seashore, which is absolutely beautiful, but due to the rocks lining the shore and a nasty undertow, you can't swim there. The swimming beach was horribly crowded anyways, so we figured we'd just dip our feet in the cool water and walk along the sand. It was a lot of fun, even if my skin was busy melting off my body.

One Piece Mania

After drawing Chopper from One Piece the week before, the children wanted to see other characters from their favorite show go up on the whiteboard. Usually I try to space out character requests that are too similar, but I decided to give in this time and draw Luffy, the main character from One Piece. I admit I know very little about this show, but I DO know that Luffy is a pirate who can stretch out any part of his body, ala Mr. Fantastic, and that all my boys worship him.

My Favorite Ikebana

Or at least one of my favorites, at least. It's super simplistic, but I admit I really like that. How well this turned out is mostly due to the beauty of the main flower (which I'm pretty sure is an Orchid... right?), but I'd like to think that by this point I've maybe gotten a little better at the whole flower arranging thing.

The Dragon Tower

Aaron was driving around one day, and happened to glance off to his left into the mountains. He noticed something there he'd never seen before: a giant dragon head sticking out of the trees. Understandably intrigued, he decided to drive in the general direction of the dragon and see if he could find a way up to it. He did, and a week later he told me he had something to show me: the dragon tower. Apparently there's some sort of camping/recreation area in the hills of Nagawa, near where we live, and they have converted what looks like the remnants of a cell phone tower base into a giant dragon themed jungle-gym kids can climb up and play on. I'm sorry I didn't get a closer picture, but there was actually a man in the little guard tower at the bottom (apparently there's a dollar fee to play on the dragon) who was staring at us impassively, and I decided I would be too embarrassed if another person saw my grown-up self absolutely freaking out over how cool this thing is. Please accept this far away picture and my apologies. I was too embarrassed to go climb on the dragon that day, but it's made it onto my bucket list of things to do in Japan before I leave (yes, I'm actually making one), so be assured that you will see this thing again. Hopefully I'll be lucky enough to go back on as nice a day as this one was, as you can possibly tell from the picture below. All the little hut thingies are covered picnic tables, in case you were wondering.

You Can't Ride this Chopper

This week's whiteboard doodle was Chopper, who is a character from the super popular anime One Piece. Pretty much all my kids requested him, but I have to admit I never understood his appeal. I don't really think weird moose/reindeer looking creatures in giant pink hats are cute, but hey, what do I know? If the popularity of both One Piece and Chopper is any indication, then I have no understanding of what classifies as 'cute' in Japan. It suppose it doesn't really matter though, as long as I get to see my students do happy dances when their request finally goes up on the whiteboard.

Did I Mention Lilies are Awesome?

Apparently I liked using lilies so much, right after the last arrangement I made, I immediately used them again! Different color and arrangement this time though, with different supporting flowers. I wasn't lying when I said I really liked lilies, so I'm warning you now they show up many more times in my Ikebana attempts.

Baby Seagulls

In nearby Hachinohe, there's a magical place, which I've talked about before. Well, not so much magical as absolutely horrifying. Kabushima is a little shrine on a hill, which happens to also be the traditional breeding ground of about 40,000 black-tailed seagulls, which descend upon the place like a plague every year. I've already been there once, and honestly that's kind of enough, but I always go back and show it to anyone who dares to come visit me. This last year, I had family come up and visit, so of course we had to show them this terrifying place. We actually went to Kabushima at a different time of year then we usually go though, so instead of just having adults everywhere, sitting on eggs or flying around, there were newly hatched seagull chicks as well. And.... I have to begrudgingly admit they are kinda cute for little brown balls of fluff. I still don't like seagulls though, even if the ones in these pictures are glowing with the light of god for some reason (my camera must have been having an off day).

Samurai Movies

Rurouni Kenshin is a now 10 year old Japanese comic and anime series that I loved when I was younger, and for its anniversary they made a live-action movie, which of course I had to go see. It was a really awesome movie, and I was super proud of myself for understanding the entire thing as well (I was a little concerned the old Japanese grammar forms and Samurai speaking style might throw me). Rurouni Kenshin also ended up being one of my favorite whiteboard doodles when I drew it for the kids after summer break finally ended. I was surprised how many of the 4th graders recognized a 10 year old anime character, but I guess it's still pretty popular in Japan.

The photo at the top of the page is the official poster for the movie, which you should all go see if it ends up heading to the States. The middle picture is the overall whiteboard doodle, complete with my message to the kiddies, and the bottom picture is a close-up of just Kenshin's face. Because he's beautiful like that.

Lilies are Awesome

Back to Ikebana attempts, I have to admit that I've found lilies to be one of my favorite flowers to use. They make almost any arrangement look super dramatic, without me having to have any actual amount of real skill. The variety of lilies available here is also appealing, so even though a single stalk can cost me up to $15 depending on the type, I still buy and use them on a regular basis. The above photo is just after I made this one, and the below is a few days later, when the last flower bloomed. Yay for lilies! (Although I don't know what particular type of lily this one is... I really should start studying flower names as I make these.)

Actual Giant Robots of Doom

Going along with yesterday's post, I thought you all might like to see a real, life-sized Gundam, for a visual reference. This is a giant, slightly moving Gundam statue outside of a shopping mall in Odaiba, a really cool area in Tokyo. Remember yesterday I mentioned that Gundam is super-popular in Japan? I think them actually building one is a pretty good indication of that.

Giant Robots of Doom

The last week before summer vacation, I decided to draw a Gundam for the kids (it's a cartoon about giant battling robots that's super popular in Japan with young and old alike, for those not in the know). Both my 4th and 6th graders loved it, but they did something I didn't quite expect. The 4th graders, as soon as class was over, promptly ran out of the room, and came back literally dragging the 5th grade teacher into the room. He, in turn, freaked out more than the kids did upon seeing the whiteboard doodle. Turns out he is a giant Gundam fanatic, and he ended up telling me the model number of this particular robot, what episode it originally appeared in, and who piloted it. I now know more about giant fighting robots than I ever wanted to, but I'm glad that he enjoyed it. ^-^ I was also impressed that the 4th graders knew the 5th grade teacher well enough to go run and grab him when they saw this. I guess that level of friendliness is something that happens in a school with only 60 students.

Roses are Red

At least for a while, they are. This was the first time I used roses in one of my Ikebana attempts, and I wasn't too thrilled. They don't live as long as other flowers, so they were dying while the rest of the arrangement was still perfectly fine. It could also have something to do with this being my absolute least favorite arrangement out of all I've done thus far. I have used roses again since this one though, so at least they fared better than the Bird of Paradise in that respect, I guess.

My Froggy Prisoner

Aaron managed to find *gasp* raspberry plants this last spring, and has taken super good care of them all year long (they are currently under a few inches of snow, and we are waiting with baited breath to see if they will come back in the spring like our strawberry plants). In their heyday this summer, they were almost 4 feet tall and giving us a couple tupperware bins of fruit daily. Imagine my surprise when we found a little green frog at the top of one of them. I still have no idea how he got up there, but I was worried about him getting down, so Aaron gently scooped him into a tupperware container before letting him go free in the rice paddy behind our house, which he probably came from (the ribbiting chorus of frogs from the rice paddies during the summer is deafening). Needless to say, I had to take a few pictures of my new frog friend before I said goodbye. I hope he had a great summer in the rice paddy mud.

I Shouldn't Draw When I'm Tired...

....because then I try to encourage the kids to skip class and re-instate nap time in school. This is Tarepanda, who is a very tired, lazy, and sleepy panda character that was super popular in Japan about, oh, 10 years ago. This was very disappointing to me, as I love Tarepanda and was expecting to find character goods of him just lining the streets. Apparently he's been replaced by a lazy, relaxed brown bear called Rilakkuma, who I don't really like all that much. It's a shame, really, because Rilakkuma goods actually DO line the streets here now. Still, I occasionally luck out and find a Tarepanda item in a used store, or in a back corner of a stationary shop. Needless to say, all Tarepanda items that I find come home with me. At least my disappointment of finding little to no Tarepanda goods is off-set by how much my fourth graders still love him apparently (much to my surprise), which was enough to request him for a whiteboard doodle.

I Actually Know the Name of This Flower

It's called a Bird of Paradise, and the only reason I know that is because my husband was super surprised when he saw some in our local flower shop and explained them to me. I guess they are native to where he grew up in California. I was a little hesitant to use such a dramatic flower in an Ikebana arrangement, but I ended up doing it as a little gift to him. I liked how it turned out, but I probably won't ever use them again; my husband sort of forgot to mention that there's a particular gnat-like bug that loves them, and there was 20 billion of their eggs inside that hatched a few days after the flower fully bloomed. Thankfully, they were so enamored of the Bird of Paradise that they all stayed right on the flower, so I could throw it into the trash and run shrieking out the door to try and burn it. Still, it is a really pretty flower.

Happenings in Nature

 So in my time in Japan, I've been privileged to see a lunar eclipse, a solar eclipse, and whatever the heck those weird parallel rainbow things are (pictured above). The parallel rainbows I've actually seen twice; when I took this picture, a lot of people were freaking out, since the last time this happened was a couple days before the large earthquake and tsunami 2 years ago. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing more than a nice photo-op this time. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the lunar eclipse, as I stupidly forgot to take one, and I don't have one of the solar eclipse as most people don't recommend staring directly into the sun. Instead, have this picture of the bus repair-man taking a break from his job to use his welding visor to stare at the sun in relative safety. Here's hoping I get the chance to see a few more amazing natural events before I have to leave this country.

Gotta Catch'em All

So after Mario, Pikachu was the next most requested thing by my fourth graders. Therefore, as requested, one week after Mario, a Pikachu was diligently drawn on the whiteboard by yours truly. This was a mistake of epic proportions, as the children then decided to request almost every Pokemon ever created for the following week's drawing. I only barely know the first 150, so being bombarded with Pokemon names from the now over 600 of them (in Japanese too, which are apparently completely different from the English versions... consider me enlightened) was a bit overwhelming. I personally find Pikachu cute, so I was happy to draw this, but I had to gently break the news to my fourth graders that even if I drew Pokemon every single week until I went back to America, I'd never finish drawing them all. So they chose something else to ask for instead. ^-^

I'm Back, With Flowers

So, it's a new year. A new chance to blog correctly, but we'll see how that goes. Sorry I disappeared for a few weeks; I was back in the States visiting family. I'm back now though, with another Ikebana attempt. This is one of my least favorite, composition-wise. I like the weird red flowers though (I have no idea what their name is; I asked the Japanese florist and he said something that I swear was over 20 syllables long, which I promptly forgot). I'll have to try something using them again, but as this was only my third Ikebana attempt by myself, I wasn't able to do them justice.