2009 came for us without much fan fair. New Year's Eve, we stayed up till 11:30, but that was only because we had watched a movie. Our winter break was very relaxing and actually felt long. We were able to visit a friend of Yoko's and watch a few movies. New Year's Day was spent at church. Narita Temple, which is just 15 minutes away by bike, is visited by a couple million people over New Years, but we decided not to fight the crowds. Many people visit a temple at New Year's to pray for blessings (money, good test scores, marriage) in the coming year. Monday it was back to work for Yoko and school for Erik.
Being white, Erik stands out in Japan and recently had two amusing encounters with kids. The first was here at our apartment building, we were waiting to get on an elevator that was arriving. The people who got off were a mother and her 5 or 6 year old daughter. When the little girl saw Erik she said, "eigo no hito" which is "English speaking person". It was the first time Erik had been addressed that way. The other encounter was at the grocery store. We were waiting in line to check out and the people in front of us had a girl around 7 or 8 with them. When she saw Erik she started singing the ABC song. It was really cute especially as she mixed up the order of the letters. Being white, there is no way to blend in.
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