Tis the Season of Sakura

Why hello there! It's been a while and for that I somewhat apologize. Living in Japan is fantastic and I've been thoroughly enjoying life here. I've also been insanely busy but I do want to keep some record of life here and so I'll try to "catch up" a bit and post more often for the next little while.

Here I am wearing my "dedicated blogger" glasses. What a geek!

We just finished "Sakura Season" .. Sakura is the Japanese word for Cherry Blossom. Check me out! Anyway I had heard that "cherry blossom season" was lovely but I wasn't prepared for what a spectacular event it really was. Of course it's difficult to capture all of the beauty on my iPhone camera but I did try. Basically everyone comes out of hiding and heads to the parks and packs picnics and just enjoys the blossoms. Seeing as there are millions and millions of people here.. the parks were pretty crowded but everyone was polite and happy and enjoying the fact that spring has definitely arrived.

I was able to take one of my 7th grade classes outside to sit under the sakura and write haikus. Can't get much more Japanese than that! It was a fun activity and they came up with some lovely little haikus. It was one of those times that I really appreciated teaching just girls. Watching them quietly sitting under the trees in their little uniforms, writing down adjectives.. it was nice.

I had a friend, the lovely Miss Tina Post, come stay with me for a couple weeks and so we were able to enjoy the cherry blossoms in a more "grown up" fashion.. with pre-packaged glasses of wine and large hunks of meat on a stick. Not quite the poetic experience but enjoyable nonetheless.

Now the cherry blossoms have fallen and the season is over. But it's not all that sad because the trees are getting greener and it is getting all kinds of beautiful in the world again.

The early morning sun poking through the trees. This is one of the spots I see on my morning run. More on that later.. maybe.