Merry Kurisumasu!

Happy holidays everyone! It's hard to believe that it's actually Christmas Day. It's been a busy month as I'm sure it has for everyone. The last couple weeks have been a blur, just waiting for a little holiday break. Christmas is not as widely celebrated here so we don't have a holiday on Christmas Day, but some people do buy gifts and toys for their kids and decorate their houses with lights and some even with Christmas trees. New Year's is the big event in Japan and everything shuts down from January 1-3. On New Year's eve, people visit temples to welcome in and literally ring in the new year by praying and ringing the bell at the temple.

In any case, our fellow foreigner neighbors invited us over for a Christmas party this weekend. They managed to buy a turkey (from the US military base in Sasebo) and used the bbq grill to cook it. It was such a treat!



We also got invited to a Christmas party for kids in another friend's town. Anna is also a JET teacher from the US and she organized a party for her schools in her town, Minamibashi. It was crazy to be surrounded by so many excited kids, but it was such a good time. We had a scavenger hunt and other games, and the local mothers made dinner for us. We also dressed up for a traditional Japanese dance, and one of us also dressed up as Santa and got mobbed by all the kids. It was pretty fantastic.





We're excited for the holiday break next week. Although it's winter break for students, us teachers still have to show up in the office this week. I suppose it will give me time to catch up on some things.



Well, happy holidays everyone! I will add more pics and news soon again!