December:
Christmas Party
The first couple weeks of December were full of intensive Christmas performance rehearsals for an event called “Christmas Party”. On the morning of December 10th, parents, grandparents, and siblings filtered into our main hall for a singing Christmas tree, traditional Japanese dance performances, Christmas games, and a surprise visit from Santa himself who delivered a gift to each girl boy (spoiler: it was a board game we had been learning how to play in class). After we changed the kids back into their uniforms, waved goodbye to their families, and cleaned up, we reset the entire event and did it one more time for the other campus’ Christmas Party. Whew. 
Christmas Cookies and Christmas Brunches
I love brunch. I love the Great British Baking Show. I love my coworkers. I love charcuterie boards. I love tea. I love my friends.
Mochi Festival!
Would it be a complete teaching experience in Japan if we didn’t make fresh mochi at school? The super strong teachers did most of the work, but the kindergarten teachers and two students from each class got to pound the rice a couple times. We ate the mochi for lunch with barley tea. There were three flavors: anko (red bean paste), kinako (soybean powder), and shoyu (soy sauce). My favorite was anko, but I’m a big fan of kinako too.
Christmas Preparation
The time in between teaching and brunches, I was frantically gift shopping for family and friends. I felt this pressure to bring back the coolest, most unique gifts to my friends in America, but it was hard to narrow down my options since there are a lot of cool gadgets here. I should have saved myself the stress and just bought a bunch of Date Masamune keychains. Also, PACKING for my trip to America was very very challenging.
Since my trip home was so eventful, I made a separate post.
January
Well my first week of January was a bliss because I was in OREGON, but I had to adjust quickly when I got back. I don’t know who was more excited to be back at school: me or my kindergarteners.
January 25: Orange Day!
Wearing every article of orange clothing I could find, I trudged to school through the heavy snow and set up my classroom for Orange Day. The kindergarteners showed up in orange dresses, orange character costumes, orange hats, and with their orange toys for show-and-tell. At the beginning of the year, these kids couldn’t even say “What do you have?” when we did show-and-tell for Red Day but now, they can not only ask the question, but respond on their own!!!! Proud teacher. Anyway, we made orange octopuses (octopi? octopods?) and read our orange books during station time. To make an exciting day even more exciting, we went outside for the first “Snow Play” after show-and-tell! I thought it would be a huge pain to help sixteen kids change out of their special outfits and into snow suits, mittens, and boots, but they were surprisingly self-sufficient (for the most part). Today I realized I need to buy some waterproof gloves. Whew! What a day. We have just one more color day… Can you guess the color?
Three words to describe my December:
Thrilling, challenging, fulfilling
Three words to describe my January:
Chilly, indulgent, fresh