Setsubun

Yesterday was Setsubun, or the Bean-Throwing Ceremony. On this day, Japanese cleanse themselves of the former year and try to drive away evil spirits. In order to do this, they throw beans our their windows at demons! In supermarkets and convenient stores, you can find bean sets like the ones below:

I've always thought Setsubun was kind of exciting because everyone participates, even adults. And they just decide at some point during the day to start throwing the beans. Apparently, some families actually schedule an appointment with nearby temples to send "demons" to their houses. The demons pull up and knock so you know they've arrived, and then it's time to get to business.

Luckily, I was fully stocked with beans because -- to my surprise! -- an oni, or demon, came to our apartment!

See how surprised I am?

You're supposed to shout the equivalent of "DEMONS OUT! LUCK IN," but in my fright I only shouted, "NO!"

After all the commotion, I settled down to eat some of the leftover beans. You are supposed to count out a bean for each year you've been alive, and add one for good luck in the next year.

A more recent addition to Setsubun tradition is eating eho-maki, an uncut sushi roll. While eating it, you're supposed to face the lucky direction for the year (this year it's south east) and refrain from speaking or laughing. Which -- to me -- sounds like an invitation for giggles! For now, we'll stick with the crunchy leftover soy beans.

Hope we've made ourselves some good luck!

Training is Done!

We are both pretty stoked because we finished training yesterday. For the next couple of weeks, we will be doing sub-shifts. When the new year starts in April, we will finally have our own classes. It's kind of a nice way to come into the company because we can get used to teaching in classes we aren't necessarily responsible for, and get experience before getting our set schedule. Our training group celebrated at a Karaoke bar and enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.

Today we cleaned, got groceries and had a delicious spaghetti meal. Caitlyn has been cooking a variety of dinners, and is excited to try so many new recipes (as well as throw in some Western dishes like spaghetti).

I also took pictures! Please keep in mind we are still trying to make our "house a home" (i.e. we have a lot of decor issues at the moment, including a lack of furniture). Time is flying, and we have been so busy, we haven't had too much of a chance to get settled in!

The first picture shows the road our apartment is on, and the second one is from the same angle, only out our front door. Can you see the mountains? That's what we get to see everyday when the sun is shining :-)

This is the outside of our apartment complex. We are on the second floor, second from the left (with all the laundry hanging up :-) ). This side is our balcony side, and we can see other houses from this view.

This is a picture of our kitchen. We've got cupboards above and below the sink, and across from the sink we have a shelf that we put dishes on. You can also see our baby fridge/freezer, which comes up to our chests.

Our shower area and bathtub, little bathroom, and utility room. Please excuse the utility room mess--we're working on getting some sweet storage containers.

The other side of our kitchen, leading into the living room, and Caitlyn sitting at our table in the living room.

Above are pictures of our bedroom, which has a tatami mat floor. Our futons are laid out because it's almost time for bed!

Speaking of going to bed, I've gotta' go for now. We'll post more pictures soon (especially when our apartment starts to come together a little more!).

Love,
Chad and Caitlyn


P.S. Here's one more picture we took on our way home from work Friday (wish the image were clearer!):