Happy Holidays!

Today is the 22nd of December, the first day of winter, but here in Japan the weather is mild and I am on my way to Okinawa where the weather will be warm and breezy. Okinawa is in the southern most islands of Japan and are viewed as a holiday destination much the way Hawaii is to Americans!

I will spend Christmas this year with my friend Takeshi and his family. This is the first time since my daughters were born that I am not spending the holidays with at least one of them. It certainly feels strange. Right now I’m in the airport waiting for my flight, listing to the messages in Japanese that I still cannot understand. Hopefully it’s not something I really need to know! Luckily, the boarding process is virtually the same everywhere so I can just guess what they are saying.

The last couple of weeks of school flew by. There were a lot of tests and time spent with friends, the knitting group, making travel plans, and buying a cell phone so I could stay in touch while on my trip. All the while, fighting off homesickness. No baking of cookies, no making of whisky cakes (a annual event in my house) and no stockings to fill or tree to trim….chiotto sabishii, as they say here (a bit lonely), but don’t feel too sorry for me, I’m looking forward to this bit of traveling around Japan and finally going to Kyoto, the ancient capital and cultural center of Japan. I will stop in Hiroshima, Himeji and Nara as well. New Years celebrations in Kyoto should be quite something.

I’m now two thirds through my stay here but feel like I have only just gotten here in terms of understanding Japanese and feeling more comfortable with my ability to negotiate the challenges of daily life, train travel, bill paying, reservation making. As my understanding grows, what I don’t understand seems to grow faster! I have eaten lots of yummy homemade dishes, but don’t know how to make any of them. I still want to learn how to tie an obi correctly, make “scatter sushi” and inari sushi, and see a Kabuki performance. And there’s always school. This new term will be more challenging and I will have to work hard to stay on top on it all.

I talked to Krista on Skype today and learned that they were having another Nor’easter, we call the big winter storms in Maine. They pointed the computer toward the window so I could see the snow coming down and the trees all looking white. It’s fun to actually miss these things. It has been cool (in the fifties for the most part) here, but I am headed for temperatures in the 70’s in Okinawa!

Because this entry is doubling as my annual holiday letter, I want to update some of you who may not know that Krista is planning for a July wedding next year! Kevin proposed to her on the day I left for Japan! So we toasted their engagement and my trip all in the same sip of champagne!

Anna and Jake have a new home in Hallowell, Maine and are getting settled again. With these hard financial times, we are all just glad to be getting along. You may not be staying up on the yen, but it has become stronger and stronger since I got here and my dollars are only getting 89 yen today compared to 105 when I got here! Ouch!

I am hoping for much better things for us all next year with the new administration. Yes, I know it will take time, but if an effort is being made to improve things on a global scale, maybe we will see some change soon!

(These pictures were taken in Okinawa with my friends Takeshi and Shoko.)

I hope you are all well. My best wishes for a Happy New Year to you all!