日本でのThanksgiving と 初雪 －－－マーレン先生

A few days ago I had my first Thanksgiving in Japan. About forty people from America, Japan, and Australia all came together to celebrate. We had so many different dishes! It was fun to see traditional American holiday food like a turkey, mashed potatoes, and bread rolls next to other cultures foods like sushi, white rice, vegemite, and mashed radish. It truly was a mixing of cultures! I talked about the experiences in my classes and my students said that American Thanksgiving sounded a lot like the Japanese New Year Feast. I’m looking forward to comparing the two!

 

Today it snowed in November for the first time in 52 years! I am from a state that does not get a lot of snow, so this weather is very different! It is exciting to see the bright red leaves against the white of the snow. I can imagine how beautiful it will be in a few months. It also really felt like Christmas, which is perfect for the end of Thanksgiving celebrations.

日本でのハロウィーンーーーエマ先生

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my first Halloween in Japan. I know that Halloween has only become popular in Japan in recent years, so I was quite surprised by what a big deal it was. So many stores and restaurants had Halloween decorations – more than in America! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so I was very excited to celebrate and share my experiences with my students. The week before the holiday, Jared and I taught special Halloween lessons in all of our classes. I gave presentations on Halloween in the United States, we played games, and students learned special vocabulary words about scary things. In American schools, all of the students and teachers dress up on Halloween. Wearing a costume is my favorite part about the holiday, so I dressed up for my classes on Halloween. In International Club, we had a Halloween Party. It was so much fun! We made our own decorations and decorated the classroom. We watched American Halloween movies and listened to Halloween songs – for example “This is Halloween” and “The Monster Mash.” We played games, and I talked with my students about my favorite parts of celebrating Halloween in America. I wore my costume, and brought hats and masks for the students to wear. All of the girls were very excited and took lots of pictures. It was a great Halloween, and I enjoyed it very much!

 

 

もうクリスマス？－－－－マーレン先生

　　It is November in Tokyo and I have noticed that there are Christmas decorations everywhere! I was very surprised to see the tree outside Kichijoji station and hear the Christmas music playing on Sun Road. In my hometown, people don’t start decorating until the beginning of December because in America we have another holiday called Thanksgiving. Japan doesn’t have this holiday, but I had not realized it meant Christmas would come early here! I hope this means there will be a lot of sales and interesting gifts in stores. I’m excited to see how else this holiday will surprise me during my time in Japan.