Wedding

Two of my friends here, Terumi and Tsuyoshi, just got married recently.

...Well, I say "recently" but I'm honestly not sure. I've only managed to hang out with them 3 or 4 times in the space of the 9 months I've been here: once we had dinner, once Tsuyoshi offered to help me find Iide's tiny gym (composed of 4 exercise bikes and a rock climbing wall), and one of those times Terumi told me that she and Tsuyoshi had gotten married. But maybe the tenses got mixed up and she meant, "We are going to get married."

Either way, it wasn't until tonight that a mutual friend called me and invited me to "a dinner to celebrate the wedding" in a local family-style Italian restaurant. I know the restaurant well since it's one of only two that Iide has to offer: it's a nice, clean place that serves crunchy pizza and spaghetti with prawns on top--not champagne and filet mignon.

So I dressed accordingly: a casual black sweater and black pants, complemented by bright pink fuzzy socks stuffed into oversized (but practical, in this weather) tromping boots. I picked up two friends bundled in coats and we arrived early, only to witness a shocking transformation. Someone had carved niches out of the snow walls along the path to the door and put hundreds of candles in them. Inside, the tables were laid with linens and more candles; the silverware was real silver and propped up on elegant little holders; there were champagne glasses and roses! It was beginning to dawn on me that I had made a very grievous error in judgment, and the impression only doubled in strength when my friends removed their coats to show off their cocktail dresses and casually informed me that admission to the event would cost more than a day at Disneyland.

I had thought I was a casual friend, warranting an invite to small celebratory night out. Yet here I was, at the fancy reception!

In tromping boots.

Luckily we were still early, so I raced home alone and threw clothes all around my room in a film-worthy fit of despair. How, I ask you, did I manage to come to Japan with no less than 4 skirts but no complementing long-sleeve shirts?  And the only full-length dress I had was short-sleeve as well--but this is where my lifelong habit of hoarding gothic accessories FINALLY came in handy. I supplemented the dress with long black stockings, lacy black arm-warmers, and boots (tasteful ones, this time). It was all a bit "Jane Eyre on a night out," but it was the best I could do. I made it back to the party just in time to watch the happy couple in their stately walk to the tune of "Happy Birthday," with the words changed to, "Happy Weh-ding you two, Happy Weh-ding you two...".  Everyone was seated and ready, after the march, to begin the night with a toast. And clearly, the best pick for this honored duty was the local pet--the last to arrive, the non-native speaker. The girl wearing lacy socks on her hands. I heard myself being introduced and then the microphone materialized in my mitts, and all I could do was blush furiously, apologize to everyone for not being able to manage a toast in Japanese, and deliver one in English instead. Luckily both the bride and groom speak it very well, and the guests were no less enthusiastic for having no clue what I was saying.

Dinner was 5 courses and 2 desserts, as well as a special treat the happy couple handed out personally: Ritz crackers with custard and a strawberry on top....yup. One guest performed "Over the Rainbow" with a crown and sparkling wand, and 3 others played clarinets while wearing wrestling masks. There were other, more elegant toasts, and lots of mingling. Everyone was enthusiastic about everything, and it hardly mattered whether I had known the bride and groom a few months or since kindergarten (like everyone else). We were all celebrating the union with all our energy--and not a few glasses of wine--and Terumi and Tsuyoshi's joy was equally ours.

Snow

It's time to talk about an issue which I've been diligently avoiding:

...I'm talking about snow here, people.

 I've been avoiding the issue because I know no one's going to believe me. When I say that I went to bed one night, unconcerned, only to wake to a world of blizzards and snowdrifts as high as my head, I know all of you will think, "Oh, she must be exaggerating."

But I'm not. REALLY. This:

 

And this:

 

AND THIS:

...all happened in the space of a few days.

In case you weren't paying close enough attention to the last photo, that wall of snow is taller than the car. I just know that one sunny day, at least one of the glacial walls that frame every road on the way to every school I visit will start to buckle and suddenly envelop me  completely. But when that day comes, I don't want you to worry about me; I'm pretty sure I'm going to find Narnia under there.

Christmas

A lot of people have been asking what I did for Christmas here. Unfortunately, the answer is, "Not much." But don't pull out your hankies and start shedding tears of pity just yet--it was a great holiday nevertheless.

For those of you who don't already know, Japan's Christian population is very small. Christmas is celebrated here, but mostly as a commercial holiday. Kids get toys, families eat cake together, some of the older kids go to parties, and that's about it.

As for me, I actually celebrated Christmas during the wee hours of Boxing Day, since that would put me in line with Christmas in the States (thanks to a hefty time difference). I prepared for the big day by decorating my living room and buying a miniature potted pine tree from a grocery store--and as any of you who know me well are no doubt wondering, I would like to mention that he IS still alive, thank you very much.  My very own Christmas miracle.

The weather played its part as well, perhaps too enthusiastically. It stormed constantly for days before Christmas, giving me the perfect opportunity to nestle under the kotatsu in my adult footie pajamas without even a tremor of shame or fear of being witnessed (except, as it turned out, by the mail woman, who dutifully delivered my family's care packages even on the great day itself).

Thanks to the wonders of technology I got to open my presents in front of my family, so to speak, through a webcam. I think it transmitted my shrieks of joy with crystal clarity, to the detriment of the general population's health.

My loved ones certainly took care of me this year, taking pains to send gifts across the great divide in spite of outrageous shipping costs. And though it may be uncouth, the pirate in me can't help but brag a little about the booty: an ungodly number of thick socks, baking supplies, and clothes. All of which are in very short supply here (at least for a woman of hippy dimensions and sugar-rich tastes), and very much appreciated.

After all the calls and cams and expressions of love flung far and wide through the webosphere, I settled in for a long sleep, recouping from the kind of  sugar rush that only an overabundance of American sweets can bring.  My Christmas wasn't exactly what you might call an eventful day, but it was full to the brim of everything that makes this holiday worth celebrating: Adult Footie Pajamas.

Oh, and you know...that "love" stuff too.