Home » Japan » I'm Dreaming of a Thai Christmas....

Yeah, yeah, that's almost as corny as my "Leaving on a JET plane" quote from one of my first entries. So yes, as many of you have heard, I am headed to Thailand this Saturday, Dec 24. This blog is to inform everyone what Christmas/winter has been like in Japan! I have been a busy lady ever since I have been back from my sister's beautiful wedding. I got back and after the first day of being extremely exhausted and my teacher telling me "just go home and get some sleep, okay?" when they are usually commenting on having too much energy than is humanly possible, it was as if I had never left. It was such a short trip that my time never got adjusted. I was basically on Japan time the whole time I was home (which meant some sleepless nights!.

I'm Dreaming of a Thai Christmas....

Casey Lary
2006-02-20 15:24:13

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minutes. Oh, I forgot to mention, it was the Japan-American Society that was putting on the party. So that meant a) the Japanese people there spoke English and wanted to speak to English speakers as much as possible b) to speak both English and Japanese meant that they probably were pretty well educated and had good jobs=lots of money...we were schmoozing with big execs from Mazda and ownders of different companies in the city. WOW. jackpot ne? So the wine tasting was the very formal part of the evening. Then an hour later the 'real party' started. Waittresses came out with beer and whiskey on the rocks (may I reiterate this is a drinking society?). And, my favorite

Lisa and I at the partypart of the evening...they had a Japanese Country band come out and play American songs, like "Jingru Berrus" and John Denver's "Country Roads (which made me think of home!). We made some great new friends and had an absolute blast. I can't wait for the next Japan-American event!

The following Saturday Nikki and Nathalia had a very fun Birthday party. All was fine until we all wanted to go home. It was snowin soooo hard that some of the buses were shut down and well, I was supposed to stay with Brian, but he was a little out of it. It was nice to touch base with people before we all went on our separate travels. The next day I went to one of Brian"s teachers house where she taught us how to cook nabe and eat mochi where it actually really really tasty.

People are going all over the place this winter!! People are going to Thailand (woowoo), China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Okinawa, New Zealand, Indonesia, etc etc....aaah traveling, its a drug. Christmas itself in Japan is a little crazy. They celebrate better than most Americans...yet they aren't Christian! They have no idea what Hannukah is and trying to explain got

Jingru berrus, jingru berrus jingru arr the way!a little sticky (so during WWII.....). Despite not being home, I had plenty of lights and Christmas songs since November first. In the Tokyo Hands Department Store they had more variations of Santa Costumes than I knew existed. And, it would be my first ever WHITE CHRISTMAS yet I will be in Thailand. New Year's is the big holiday in Japan. It is a time for family and they eat mochi at midnight. It is the equivalent of our Christmas.

At school I have been doing Christmas lessons. I first told them about my Christmas and mistletoe and how my first real kiss was under mistltetoe (they loved that!). When the classes had 40 students I played a Christmas version of Telephone. Each team would have a verse to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. They would have to whisper it to their teammates, and then the final person write it on the board. Some of the translations were absolutely classic, including "Satan came to say" instead of "Santa came to say" and "he with Indians are us" for "all of the other reindeer." The classes with 20 students I made Christmas cards which they loved.

For an end of year

Okay so that sums up the past 2 weeks. Its flown by and I am ready for warm beaches of Thailand!! I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!