Feb 11, 2009 Finally finished Annual Holiday Letter Yahoo!

Hey all
It is your long lost friend Karla in Japan. I am sorry I have not been on here lately to update my latest adventures, but I was trying hard to stay focused and get my very belated Holiday Newsletter done. Am glad to say I DID IT..and finally finished it this am. CJ will now take it to MN this weekend, run it off and get it to my folks to fold, stuff and mail out to all of you ...soon I hope. They wanted to help me out and this will give them something to do while they are homebound in the ice and snow of MN.
Last weekend CJ and I spent some time at the Chinatown festivities where we saw more dancing,acrobats,lions dancing and made a new friend as well. His name is Shohei and he is a 31 yr old law student from Kamakura going to school in Tokyo. He LOVES to practice speaking English and so we are now new Email friends and he will help me with my Japanese and I with his English. He does VERY well already, but will have a very big job with me. I sadly have not doen a thing with my Japanese since I went back in October. I do HOPE to get going on it again soon. Shohei (showhay)has also invited us to his home in Kamakura, so we may go see him one day soon and we hope he too will come to our house as well.
After the shows in Chinatown on Saturday we bought some steamed pork dumplings and chatted somemore with Shohei down by the temple. Then we bid him farewellas he wanted to do some souvenir shopping and we went up to a local International High School St Maur just through the park here on our street. They were doing the Play Romeo and Juliet with a Bollywood and Buddhist influence. It was very interesting and fun to see actors from all parts of the world on stage at once. China, Korea, India, France, America, England, Taiwan.... They all did very well speaking in English, but a few newbies I assume some spoke a wee bit too fast and their projection was a bit weak. Overall it was a fun night out and it was fun to be in the theater again. As we sat there watchin, CJ kept asking when Kalen was coming out? Haha... We had fun thinking back to all the plays we had sat through over the years...lots of good memories of times with our 2 kids and the EPHS drama tech gang
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Sunday I went back for the last of the shows, and then the big dragon parade through town with dances, tumblers, the Emperor and his court all dressed in their silk brocade gowns, more lions of course and LOTS of VERY LOUD firecrackers. There were masses of people everywhere as Monday is the last day of the celebration and so many people will be at work then, so I assumed they came to see the last big day on the weekend.

While waiting for the parade to beginI went the parking garage to see the dragon and samurai display and to get out of the cold wind a bit. When there I met a family who was visiting with a friend in the lobby. They were there for the day from Chiba Prefecture and were going to attend a wedding of a friend later in the day. I was so taken with their 3 little kids. The two little girls were all dressed in their pretty pink and red kimonos, white tabi socks and zori flip flops sandals. The little boy was so full of energy and would not sit still for a photo with the girls. I then talked with the dad a bit and I shared some rice crackers I had along with them as they drank their juice. It was so fun to be around little ones and to chat in english as well. YEAH!
Then I made my way back to the park. On the way I had a tasty pastry that looked like a mouse filled with rich cream. Yum! Back at the park watched as all the different groups came out on the stage and took a group photo. Then the parade began and I ran down a side street and over to the other main drag so to see it when it came past. It was so crowded and people were actually pushing a bit. I was very glad I stood next to a cement pillar of sorts as I just leaned against that and wass able to keep my position. It was fun watcing all the colors, sights, sounds, music, ...as it past by. I then ran back to the park and got inpostion for more pics as the goups returned at the end of the parade.
Back in the park they passed out wind up toys to all the big and little kids in attendance. They aslo were going to call of a bunch of door prizes again, but I did not put a form in the box and so I left as the sun was setting and it was starting to get cold. Another fun day out in the cold and I still had my sore throat to prove it.