Pinatas and Calligraphy

Craft Land exists in our main room which includes our dining area, kitchen, and Mikel`s studio. We close this room off to keep it warm-- central heating is very un-Japanese. This room is now EXPLODING with color and papier-mache animals; Animals by virtue of my partner-in-making, Mikelou, and color thanks to Iida`s Hyaku yen store-- a fabulously Japanese version of a dollar store.
We will be leading a workshop about birthdays around the world, to junior high students on Tuesday. We took a train into Iida yesterday and packed two big camping packs with treats and decorating supplies-- glow bracelets, striped wrapping paper, dimensional stickers that look like my cat, Tiny One, and glitter, are just some highlights. I also bought soft green yarn and wooden knitting needles because apparently I left my hat and gloves in Vermont. Oops!
Today, after creating glittery worksheets, while watching The Usual Suspects-- which, anyone who knows me could have told me, is NOT my kind of movie-- we ventured out on a long walk to a friend`s house for dinner. After 45 minutes, and right before it started to rain, we were picked up by her husband, Katzuo Hirota, sparing us 6 kilometers-- about 4 miles-- of wet feet.
Madame Hirota, is a glowing, fifty-year-old Japanese English teacher who looks much younger than her age-- probably thanks to the local hot springs. She is also a fantastic cook with a flair for Thai dishes. She and her husband, an elementary teacher with a flair for eating Thai dishes, live in my dream-house. It is like an old body whose form reflects its long and useful life and the happiness of its occupants. Her house is what I want my body and life to be like. I wouldn`t mind it if her cooking skills somehow came with the deal... We ate and talked among their eight cats, all of us sitting at the table, on a heated rug, under a blanket. After dinner, they showed us a beautiful book of contemporary Japanese Calligraphy created by a young woman. As I looked at it, genuinely enjoying Calligraphy for the first time in my life, I thought, "I have no doubts about why I am an abstract painter."
Somehow, we left their house with a beautiful, old silk Jacket, a Japanese version of Ice Age and a refreshed look on life. Thank the universe of craftiness and cats because I have been stressed a bit lately; both because I am neurotic and because I have had a lot of work to do this week. I have been illustrating funny, Roald Dahl-like stories for my students-- I read them and they fill in various blanks as they listen. I have also been planning my first solo teaching at elementary school tomorrow. ALL BY MYSELF! AHH! If there is one thing that I have learned through my relentless neurosis, it is that every class can be both art and English class. I can teach anything using art. It feels integrated and I am a better teacher that way. Heck, it`s my specialty!

ok, seriously, Megan, this is way too long for a blog. Go and get some freakin` crafting done!
ok, I will.
Good!
Goodnight.
G`nite!