Seeing all of the tulips in full bloom makes me miss Tulip Time - I'm thinking of my fellow Dutch Dancers!

Tokyo in the spring is beautiful and this month temperatures have been in the 70s. Sean and I have all the windows open and sometimes even the fan on at night. But the best part of the warm weather is being able to have class outside. ICU's class periods are long and some of my classes last 3.5 hours (ridiculous). There are days that I have two 3.5 hour classes in a row which feels like torture when the weather is amazing. 

It's very popular to sit outside on the campus hills to eat lunch

Recently, however, more and more professors are choosing to have at least part of their classes outside which has been glorious. On Monday in Japanese class (which goes from 8:30 - 12:30), we did the first three hours inside and finished with pair and group conversation practice outside. Today, in peace psychology, we spent the first half outside before heading in when the sun went down. I'm loving it!

Peace Psychology class outside

Before classes started this spring, Rotary put on a six day negotiation and mediation training for us. Again, we were all very grateful to our teacher and practitioner who chose to have class outside as much as possible. In this exercise pictured below, we were learning about how the tradition and practice of Aikido can be linked to conflict transformation. I know that it gets ungodly hot and humid in the summer, but for now, the weather in Tokyo is perfect.

Mediation training through Aikido

Cherry blossoms up close - they were breathtaking!

It appears that I've taken a month-long break from blogging - that sure went fast! I had an incredible spring break trip to Florida to see family for two weeks and then I returned with one more week off before classes started. Sean and I spent the last bit of break attending a few Rotary events, enjoying the amazing cherry blossoms and relaxing before the start of another busy term. I've had one week of classes so far and I feel that it's going to be a good quarter. I've gotten into the rhythm of graduate school life, I won't be teaching at another university so that takes away a bit of stress and time and the weather is glorious here - everything is bursting either in intense colorful blooms or the bright green of springtime new growth.

After making the two hour trek to Narita airport and then an eleven hour flight to Tokyo, I joined hordes of spring breakers heading south. I'm so excited to see family and stay on the beach for ten days. Unfortunately, Sean is staying behind in Tokyo to work especially because he'll be back in the States in just two months.

I was supposed to leave on Tuesday, but American Airlines cancelled my flight due to mechanical issues and rebooked me to leave Wednesday night - a big disappointment. Other than that, however, the trip was pretty painless. The plane was new with lots of legroom, the food was plentiful and delicious and the wine was flowing. I watched a lot of movies that I had been wanting to see such as "Spotlight", "The Danish Girl", "Steve Jobs", "Truth" and "The Big Short".  And that pretty much took care of the entire flight.

In Chicago, I was wowed by the plethora of trash cans available along with the fact that I wasn't the tallest person in the room. Flying in to the city, we had a great view of beautiful Lake Michigan which was a very welcome sight, indeed. Before heading south, we had to wait a bit on the tarmac for some pretty spectacular weather to pass.



Now it's midnight and I'm in my room in Mom and Dad's beach house rental for the next ten days. I'm wide awake but so happy to be here with family and enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. Sue arrives in a couple of days and the rest of the Sandersons will be here this weekend.  It's looking to be a great spring break!

You can tell by my face that I'm a little nervous - the cats would do pretty much anything for the tuna

One of the things that Tokyo is famous for is the creative variety and assortment of animal cafes.  I'll admit that my first venture into a dog cafe was less than thrilling. It wasn't exactly appetizing sipping coffee while getting wafts of urine and canine dander.  But the dogs were cute and the humans dressing them up in odd costumes were even more interesting to watch.

Sean and Ken having with the cats

Recently, I've checked out some other animal cafes now that I had a better idea of what to expect. When a friend came to visit, we took him to one of the more famous cat cafes in the center of Tokyo. The place advertised fifty felines, each of which had a photo and 'personality page' in the cafe's book which was scattered around for customers to browse.  The cafe was two stories and housed the most interesting group of cats that I have ever seen in my life. There were long haired cats, skinny cats, huge cats, friendly cats and kittens - it was a cat lady's heaven.

Our favorite cat - an enormous orange fluffy guy who was all about the treats

We paid for an hour, ordered some drinks and then sat back to watch and meet some cats. In a cat cafe, there are lots of rules and etiquette including "let the cats come to you" and "only one treat bag purchase per customer." We quickly learned that the most effective way to "let the cats come to you" was to buy a bag of treats - a small dish of tuna.



The cats when wild for the tuna! In fact, I got a little scared and kept throwing the tuna dish at Sean when I'd get overwhelmed by the number of cats approaching. Some of them would get aggressive towards the other cats when tuna was involved and this was more than a little intimidating even for a cat lover like me.  An hour in a cat cafe was plenty and when our time was up we petted our favorites one last time, collected our free drink tokens for our next visit and headed home.

Visit to the bird cafe with Madz

Though the sight of fifty cats vying for one dish of tuna was impressive if not frightening, my favorite animal cafe so far has been the bird cafe. Obviously, others share my opinion because there is normally a line just to get in and you are only allowed to occupy a table for thirty minutes. There are two things I like about the bird cafe. First, there are plenty of beautiful birds to watch but they are all encased in glass cages around the coffee shop. Thus, there is no fear of feathers in your coffee or bird droppings in your hair. Second, all cakes and dishes that are served have an incredibly cute bird theme; they also happen to be very tasty! As an extra touch, all desserts are served in a faux bird cage which is entertaining in itself.

The adorable and delicious bird cakes

There are more animal cafes that I would like to visit such as the owl cafe and the bunny cafe. I've even heard that there are some that offer reptiles, meerkats, goats and chinchillas. Tokyo is such a strange and alien city that Sean and I most often find ourselves asking, what doesn't this city have?

It has been an intense couple of weeks but now it finally feels like Spring Break.  The day after final exams finished we started a Project Management course which was really interesting but also a bit tiring as all of us were still recovering from a lack of sleep from the previous two weeks.  Two days after that, Class XIV Rotary Peace Fellows went on a trip to Hiroshima that was organized and funded by all of the Rotarians in Japan. The trip was extremely informative but also intensely emotional, especially because I am an American.

I just returned home from that trip a couple of days ago and am unpacking and re-packing because I leave for Florida tomorrow to see family - I am so excited! Stay tuned - I'll be updating about the last couple of weeks in Tokyo and also about the real start to the vacation (a.k.a. being at the beach for two weeks with my nieces!).  Thanks for reading and apologies for the extended absence!

Classes XIII and XIV Rotary Peace Fellows at our "Exams are over" celebration dinner. Nationalities present: England, Brazil, Australia, USA, Malaysia and Spain - so fun!

Having two visitors in the past three weeks was a blast, but it put me a bit behind in terms of schoolwork.  Combine that with the not-so-smart-but-it's-going-to-be-a-lot-of-fun decision to join a community ski trip this weekend (weekend before finals) and blogging has taken a backseat to scrambling to finish papers and study for exams.  I'm looking forward to blogging a backlog of posts once spring break commences in one week - cannot wait!  Until then, I'm living in the library.  See you in March!

The Rotary Peace Fellow program at ICU spoils us in many ways, one of those being extra and special events such as shows, concerts, cooking classes and cultural lectures.  Today they hosted a "Eho-maki" class to celebrate the Setsubun holiday.  Here is what our translated handout said about the holiday:
"According to the old lunar calendar of Japan, February 3 is the day before the first day of spring.  To ward off illness and misfortune, on this day Japanese families scatter roasted soy beans inside their homes and out of every window and door.  In Japanese, the day is called 'Setsubun' which translates as 'bean scattering ceremony day.'  Traditionally, this is also the day to eat 'Eho-maki.'



Eho-Maki are thick sushi rolls which is believed to bring good fortune if eaten while facing the year's 'Eho' (good luck direction).  This year the correct direction to face is southeast.  Eho-maki usually have seven ingredients such as cucumber, sweet omelet, shiitake mushrooms and eel after the Seven Deities of Good Luck.  On average, the rolls are about 8-10 cm long. While you eat Eho-maki, you must be silent and think about the wishes you hope to achieve in the coming year.



Eho-maki are also called 'Maru-kaburi-sushi' (swallowing sushi) because of the traditional way to eat it: make a wish, close your eyes and eat the roll uncut, all while facing the Eho.  The eating of Eho-maki without cutting reflects the idea of forming good relationships.



Some people believe that the origin of Eho-maki is a custom followed at the end of the Edo Period
(1860s) in Osaka, of wishing good fortune for fishermen.  It is also believed figuratively that Eho-maki resemble a demon's metal rod, and that demons can be stopped by eating the whole thing.  Eho (the year's good luck direction) is determined by the year's Zodiac sign.  In 2016 this is the Monkey.  The goddess of lucky directions, Toshitoku-jin, is believed to remain at the Eho during the year."



After opening speeches and the sushi-making demonstrations, we each tried it ourselves and then enjoyed the silent feast.  It was great to catch up with some of the other Peace Fellows along with meeting new Rotary Club members afterward.  Sean didn't accompany me today as Sunday is his favorite day for ultimate frisbee.  Like always, all of the Rotarians are shocked and concerned when he doesn't go with me and they always make sure that I take some extra food home for him.  Happy Setsubun! Here's hoping that spring arrives soon.