Stories from Sendai, Issue #4, Dec. 9, 2001

Hello again from the green, brown, red, orange, magenta, gray and white city of Sendai. It seems all of those colors were a luscious part of our past month. Each passing day was a prayer of thanksgiving -- and of hope -- that our friends and family members were safe and happy. Since we won't be sending a letter until next year (ho ho ho!), we also pray for your safety and happiness during this delightful season. 

Todd has been beside himself since the beginning of November. His class is studying communities around the world -- and has concentrated on Sendai as an example. But he's had this dream since his first year in Egypt: to build a quality model of a city with all of its various components to scale. It was never realized there, primarily because of the scope and nature of the project. Getting up the nerve, he presented the idea on a whim to the art teacher here understanding that the task was perhaps too ambitious. He just assumed that, while a good idea, building such a model would be too difficult an undertaking for third graders. The art teacher was rather interested, to his surprise. Still somewhat skeptical that his students would balk at the project, he presented the idea to them to get reaction and feedback. They immediately started to plan, and wonder, and problem solve. Todd was delighted -- and shocked -- at their enthusiasm. Since then, the class has been in the throes of mapping and city planning, having to make critical decisions such as where the hospital, schools, churches, houses, etc. should be placed and why. His class decided to create the imaginary "Maple City" -- with its own history. 

About the same time that these plans were in the works, all of the students at our campus went on a field trip to the post office in downtown Sendai. The art teacher had made colorful displays of the children's artwork, and arranged them in one section of the post office. The trip was an all-morning affair, which allowed the children to "ooh" and "ahh" at their own creations -- and those of the other students. It was also a way for the community to see what wonderfully creative kids we teach at TIS. The tour of the artwork itself lasted about 20-30 minutes, and afforded the students an opportunity to go to the top floor of the SS30 building in Sendai. This is the same building where Todd had his birthday dinner (see Oct. 2001). For Todd's kids it was a terrific opportunity to see what the city looked like from above, how the geography of a place determines the placement of buildings and roads, and how natural beauty enhances a city's desirability. All in all, both were lovely educational experiences. 

One of the delights of November was having our friends Matt and Krista down here for Thanksgiving weekend. Both Matt and Krista taught with us at AIS in Egypt, were married this summer, and are now teaching in northern Japan. They drove down mid-Thanksgiving week, and spent Thursday in town shopping and enjoying themselves. Having our small apartment with 4 people was crowded, but gave us some fabulous opportunities to catch up on old times -- and find out about each others' lives. While Thanksgiving in the US is technically on Thursday, our holiday at TIS was on Friday. It coincided with a National Japanese holiday of thanksgiving -- "Be Thankful You Have a Job Day." As a result, our school held its staff Thanksgiving celebration on Friday evening. Matt and Krista were invited -- and drove us to the site.  Todd carved the turkey (the high school principal, who was playing soccer, recruited him to take his place).  Everybody had brought some sort of delectable delight, so the banquet table was by no means bare. We all ate way too much. The pumpkin pies and cakes for dessert weren't even finished by the end. Then, on Saturday we all took the Loople Sendai bus to the mountain site where Sendai's founder Date Masamune was buried. Known as Zuihoden, the site contains three mausoleums -- built by Date Masamune and his sons who ruled from Aoba castle. The original buildings had been in place since the 1600s, but were destroyed by Allied bombs during World War II. The mausoleums were reconstructed to the finest detail. After wandering through a Japanese graveyard, and enjoying our self-guided tour around the colorful Zuihoden grounds, we aimed ourselves to Aoba castle. Whereas we had visited this site in September for Todd's birthday, Matt and Krista had not. Todd had regretted not seeing the historical information about Aoba castle provided on the site, so into the small museum we went. Well worth it for the small fee, and we got to see a 3D multi-media computer rendering of the castle. On our way home, we stopped by the Sendai Mediatheque, which has a wonderful Japanese children's library, art gallery and expo-style presentation area. 

Ever since her fascination with Japan was compounded by Anime, Barbara has had this thing for okonomiyaki. To explain it a bit more would take more space (and have so many odd-ball references) that it should suffice to say that ...1) she had never had it, and ... 2) she was in a mood to be gastronomically adventurous. So, after our escapades around Sendai, Barbara pipes up that she wants to eat at an okonomiyaki restaurant. She leads us to a restaurant in the Ichibancho, and we are seated after a short wait. We are all hungry, of course, but had been told by Barbara that people tend to be given the ingredients and the egg-and-cabbage base, and are then on their own to create the pancake-like Osaka specialty. We chose our additions to the mix, and wondered how we were supposed to fix up our meal. Our waitress was, to our delight, extremely friendly. Aware of our gaijin ignorance, she set about preparing the mixture right at our table and frying it up on the teppanyaki grill in front of us. Unlike pancakes, okonomiaki takes a while to cook, and needs to be flipped at least twice. While Todd had his doubts as to the tastiness of the meal, he now concedes that it is very filling and one of his favorite meals. 

For those of you who have read our Cairo Chronicles,  Matt is no stranger. It was he and Todd who would hog the microphones at almost every karaoke outing. Well, old habits die hard -- and that Saturday night was no exception. We met with a few friends from church, and found a fun karaoke place with a lot of English songs. For three hours (that could have been much more!) we all sang our hearts and lungs out! Such a blast, and a fun reminiscence. The room also had a Dance Dance Revolution machine.  We had seen one this summer, used by some teenage boys, and didn't try it.  The boys were really good at it, and passed the hardest level easily.  The one in the karaoke room was very private, so we all gave it a go.  The screen showed steps to take on the floor pad with each karaoke song that we tried.  The screen showed everyone in the room how well the person was doing, as well as the words to the song.  At the end the dancer is given a rating - the highest anyone got was a B (on an A-F scale). 

Our faculty Christmas party was incredibly fun!  Unlike the last two parties, which were large gatherings of people, we only had 7 people at this one.  The five Komatsushima teachers, headmaster and secretary were present.  We started off at the local yakitori place (see Nov. 2001) and had a great time talking and kidding each other.  Todd was embarrassed several times by some teasing remarks.  The cold and warm sake flowed, and we laughed a lot.  It is apparently a tradition in Japan to have an end of the year "bonenkai" - a party where everyone has a bit too much to drink and says anything they want about the boss, without repercussions in the morning.  Well, no one had that much to drink -- and no one said anything blunt to Dr. Yutzy at our party -- so it wasn't that traditional.  Both of us did have a bit too much to eat, however. Afterward, we went back to the school for some dessert and "white elephant" gift exchanging.  Even with only seven of us, there was a lot of stealing of presents.  So much so, that we all have our own small inside jokes now with which to prod each other! One of the teachers and the secretary got so into the spirit of the "stealing," that they were bantering even as we left the party. Oh! We laughed so hard, it still hurts our faces to think about it!

Americans have all grown up with the ice cream truck that plays a song (like "The Entertainer") as it drives through the neighborhoods, enticing kids to buy.  Here in Sendai, we have never heard an ice cream truck. But there are plenty of other types of singing vehicles.  In September we first heard happy music being broadcast and wondered what it was.  To our surprise, it was a police car! The message of the music? "Let's keep our city happy and safe; if you are doing something illegal, better stop it, 'cause we're nearby and we'll grab ya! Sooooo, don't you dare even think of doing something bad, 'cause we're happy police who want a happy city!" The garbage trucks play the same music: "A clean city is a happy city."  In addition, every Saturday you can hear various vans and trucks playing music and calling out services and instructions.  This month, a new song woke us both from a deep slumber early one Saturday.  It even roused Matt and Krista when they visited! The music went on and on, as if the truck was parked nearby.  Later we discovered it was a kerosene truck, selling kerosene for everyone's heaters.  By then, the song was stuck in our heads -- and Barbara had it memorized within minutes. Another 400 times, and Barbara was about ready to strangle the driver!  Well, this last week, we found out that the song is called "Yuki" (snow), and is a famous Japanese children's song. (If you would like to hear it [you'll need QuickTime or another player] - click on the title for a midi file.  This version is a little faster and nicer sounding than the trucks!) Go on...Play the file...about 100 times an hour... How long does it take YOU to memorize the tune?!

And just in time for the holidays, we had our first real snow.  We woke up early December 6th, and saw a beautiful cascading snow.  The snow was quite wet, and hardly would stick to anything but the rooftops, but it was snow, nonetheless.  The children were excited all day, though there was nothing to play in.  It is a new experience for Barbara to live in a place where it snows regularly.  She was used to fog and snow every twenty years in California, ice and hail in Texas, and cold windy drafts in Egypt.  Time will tell if she appreciates the Sendai experience.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Todd and Barbara Thomas

PICTURES:

K-4 Artwork in the Central Post Office.

Looking over the city of Sendai

Matt, Todd and Krista at our campus Thanksgiving get-together.

Date Masamune's "Zuihoden" mausoleum site, reconstructed after the war.

Fall at Zuihoden.

Okonomiyaki - a tasty savory pancake made with eggs, flour, cabbage and meats.  One has a choice of Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed powder and bonito fish flakes for topping.  The waitress grilled it right at our table.

Our new favorite karaoke place has a Dance Dance Revolution machine!

Barbara loves it. Can't you tell?!