Twelve Months to the Double Nickel - December Edition

Tomorrow is the first day of my birthday month – yes, the double nickel! I love my birthday and plan to celebrate all of this month, but not excessively.  I want to continue with the good things I’ve started and get past the medical challenges I’ve had the last few months.

Christmas isn't a holiday in Japan, but some places still decorate like it was.  Here are some photos Ted took of holiday decorations at the Sapporo Factory last week.

You Never Know Who You Will Meet

We can’t walk in the forest because of the bear, so we took a walking route to the train station and around the downtown area.  We met up with two University students who bike to the station, then take the train to Sapporo where they live.

Later we saw a fairly large group of people gathering, along with some official vehicles and security men, so we hung around to see what was going on.

We don't know exactly what it was all about, but it was something to do with next month's snap election of the lower house of parliament.

 

You just never know who you will meet when you are out and about.

Stop - Not Allowed 禁止

One of the places we like to walk is in the forest near where we live. It is currently closed because a bear or maybe just some bear poop was seen in the area a month ago.  This is also a great cross country ski place, so I hope the forest is open again soon!

It All Sounds the Same

Last week part of the English lesson was on the past continuous and the question for the student was “What were you doing at eight o’clock last night?”  His answer, or what it sounded like to me, was “I was walking parking job.” Students frequently omit prepositions and I thought he was walking “to” his job, but that wasn’t the case.  He was “working” not “walking”. The entire class of 13 students thought the two words sounded the same.  When this happens, which is more often than you’d imagine, we go through where the lips and tongue are and how wide the mouth is open, etc. to make the proper sound.  They always think this is funny. 

Anyway, back to the student's answer.  I asked where he parked cars for his job. He said no, no, no – his job is drinking beer.  What? (Parking job was really part-time job.) My next question was, “Who pays you to drink beer?”  He said no, no, no, and acted like he was carrying a tray.  As it turns out, his job is serving beer at a restaurant. Last night he was working at his part-time restaurant job.

I totally understand the pronunciation thing and not saying what you think you are saying.  Last week in my Japanese language class, the exercise in the book was something about the Kobe hospital. I thought I was saying hospital, but the teacher was touching her head and patting her hair.  I was thinking was is that about?  Turns out, I was saying beauty shop (biyoin) instead of hospital (byoin).  It all sounds the same to me.

2014 Smalls SAL - Crane Fob

This month I’ve made a fob, using the same pattern I used for Ted’s doorhanger.  I stitched over one with one strand of DMC floss and made the cording with two strands of perle cotton #5 (DMC #321).

 

If you want to find out more about this stitch along, check out Stitching Lotus.

Work in Progress Wednesday - on Tuesday

I’ve completed four more letters (H, N, R, and X),  so I only have eight more to go.  I have to post this on Tuesday, even though it’s WIPW because tomorrow is the day to post this month’s project for the Smalls SAL. (Come back tomorrow to see what I've done for this month!)

 

A big Thank You to Sharon at Pintangle for hosting this weekly get together for all of us trying to finish stitching projects!

Monday Morning Star Count - More of the Same

I’ve started putting the trios together with the hexie diamonds and I’m continuing to work on the quilting of the big quilt.

 
Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

More Crazy Progress

It’s been difficult to put this down. I really like beads and embellishing.  I’m trying to stay with my plan of “a little bit crazy” --- limited colors and fabrics, limited shapes, and only embellishing the seams. I’m undecided about embellishing the seam where the flap folds over.

 

Anyway, I’m going to put this project aside until next week’s get together. (It’s not like I don’t have another project that I can work on).

After Japanese Class

Ted came to the afternoon Japanese class in Sapporo with me this week.  After class, we checked out a high school exhibit on the first floor of the building where our class is held. In addition to artwork, they also had traditional Japanese calligraphy, ikebana, and the tea ceremony.  The tea ceremony girls did a wonderful job!

 

Next, we took in the art exhibit in the underground walkway. There was also a used book sale and Ted bought Hiroshige about the Japanese Wood Block (ukiyoe).

We had dinner in the big city, then headed for home on the bus.

A Little Crazy Progress

This week a new member joined our group.  She has only been in Hokkaido about a month and is a little undecided about whether she is going to like the amount of snow we get here.  Her husband is a professor in the sports department at the university and they live in the same apartment building we do.  She joined us at just the right time because we are all starting the new project.  One person couldn’t come this week, but she started the new project last week.  One person just finished her garden so was ready to start the new project.  (They don’t want to be like me and have many projects going at the same time.)

 

I finished piecing my little bag earlier in the week and started working on the beads.

 

This is fun and it is fairly small (finished I think it will be about 6 inches by 6 inches). I hope to have more to show next week.

Asobi Project

Ted was involved with a weekend university wide program, which invited the public in to the university to see and participate in a variety of events.  Ted led his own GIDI (Glow In the Dark Initiatives) and Climbing, with the help of several Outdoor Life students as assistants.