Our Christmas & New Year's 2006

We had a pretty good haul this year. Most of the goodies came from my parents and Rob & Ann in Ohio. Rob & Ann always come up with great boxes full of fantastic stuff. We couldn't put up the fibre optic Christmas tree this year though because we didn't want Jo to jam it, piece by little piece, into his mouth. We did get to see a lot of friends we hadn't seen for a while and it's always nice to have a vacation from work. When school starts up again in January I won't have any 3rd year classes (they finish in Dec) so it will be smooth sailing until the end of the school year in March.

Jo isn't as impressed as I hoped he'd be with his new bathtub racing set. :(

He really loved this toy mobile phone from Rob & Ann.

And the jury's still out on this Anpanman dashboard set.

Jo's absolute favourite present was this little ball that lights up when shaken. It came in the mail and there was no return address. Santa?

On Boxing Day we met up with some of my old cohorts from the Marga Japanese school in Kobe. We had a great dinner at our favourite macrobiotic restaurant in Shinsaibashi.

left to right: Toshimitsu, Sara, Tomita Sensei, us

Not just a Christmas party, we were celebrating Toshi & Sara's wedding in the summer. Sara is also the one helping me get a foot in the door at Kansai Gaidai University. She says that the IES program director has asked her about me a few times and that things are looking good for me.

The Shinsaibashi 'Sogo' department store.

Another pic with the camera set for 'night' mode.

Rob & Ann set us these cool, matching Christmas Lobster pajama sets.

Jo loves that Baby Einstein.

A day or two after Christmas I finally heard back from Kansai Gaidai University about my job application. They have accepted me and I'll start teaching there full-time in April. Awesome. I am so lucky. After completing my MA earlier this year Kansai Gaidai was the first and only university I applied to. I really hadn't expected anything to come of it. I've got friends who've been working part-time at several universities for a few years and unsuccessfully trying to get full-time work. I guess good timing, a suddenly departing teacher, a good interview, and an excellent reference (thanks Sara!) really paid off for me.

This means that we'll have to move to the campus in Hirakata, Osaka. The job includes a free apartment on campus. So while I'll no longer have my current 90 minute commute to work we won't have the same beautiful surroundings around us. It'll be good-bye to a lot of close friends who live nearby, my various martial arts clubs, the beautiful Shukugawa river which is full of cherry blossoms in the Spring, etc...

Here was our nengajo, or New Year's card which we sent out to friends and family here in Japan for 2007, the year of the pig.