Tuesday, December 20, 2011

He's growing up!! More on Finn...

So as much as we say, "I'll never be one of those mothers," we all eventually turn into "one of those mothers" and that is what has happened to me.  It isn't as bad as some mothers (cough cough Maggie cough cough) but I am guilty of taking a lot of photos of Finn, speculating on his poop, recounting his every move to Motoaki, etc  So I thought I would do a quick post on my baby and his growth.

He is now 6th months old and will be 7 months on the 25th.  For the most part he has his adult teeth (I think) and though he is not so nippy he sure still likes to chew.  He can demolish a small greenie in about two minutes and can tear jeans.  Though he is guilty of putting everything and anything into his mouth for a taste, he can be easily distracted and be kept busy with a work glove that Motoaki's labrador raising uncle suggested we get.

In just the past two weeks he has gotten over his fear of jumping on and off the white couch and can now also jump onto to our massive Ikea couch.  He can't get down from there yet, though, and is still afraid of our stairs and (for some odd reason) the stairs leading into the laundry room (even though these are shallower than the couch and are similar to the ones in  and out of the house).

Last night was a big win for him as he was allowed to sleep in our bed for the whole night and did so without accident or without trying to eat us.  I think this is due to the fact that it was seriously cold (no central heat in houses in Japan) and our down comforters are seriously warm.  He didn't even wake up early and I had to drag him out of bed at 7.  Note: further evidence he could be related to Lissie.

He can sit, lay down, and give his paw on command though he sometimes has selective hearing.  He also waits for me to say "ok" before approaching his food dish, though he does sometimes whine/growl about this.  If I turned around I am positive he would go over to it without a second's hesitation.  He also has no qualms about me taking his food away at any point which I sometimes do to make sure he doesn't ever get overly possessive.

He still stops what he is doing to occasionally watch TV and did so last night when I turned to CNN to watch coverage about Kim Jong-Il's death.

He has yet to show any signs of sexual activity and after seeing Oscar in action I hope to get him fixed as soon as possible so hopefully we can avoid the matter all together.   His potty training is sometimes weak as he is now interested in marking things but for the most part he does well in making it to his toilet or in waiting until we go outside.

It must be said that he is cuter than we ever hoped and could model if he ever learns how to stay.

OK, sorry about this, but just had to get it out of my system.  I'll try to go another month without posting updates...

These Choir Ladies be Crazy!!!

 In our choir uniforms.  The guy is also a kindergarten teacher at one of the kindergartens I work at.

At the young people's party, where the mischief began.

Now let me start by saying that I hope I don't offend anyone of a certain age with this post.  I realize that just because someone is in their 50's,60's, 70's etc that it doesn't mean they can't have fun.  But these ladies shocked the choir robe right off me on Sunday night.

I have written about choir before and how much I have enjoyed the whole group welcoming into the fold.  I hate to sound conceited, but being that I am white, young, and a newly wed I am somewhat of a star in the group.  I am never left to the side by my lonesome and I have been welcomed into various cliques.  So much so that I was in a bit of a delema last weekend about where and who to party with.

This past weekend we had our annual Beethoven's 9th symphony performance with the Kuse orchestra.  Though it was  my first time they have been doing it for quite some time and it is the highlight of the year.  It is quite impressive as our regular choir is joined by all sorts of talented singers from nearby towns and cities and by an extremely talented group of musicians.  The children's choir joins us, too and we also have a guest conductor who I believe is a university professor (I say believe because a lot of this is explained to me in rapid-fire Old Lady Japanese).

As early as about a month ago I was approached about various "after parties" that would take place after the show.  A woman who I am quite close to as she has a basic level of English and even lived in the US for awhile approached me to say that she would be hosting a "young people's" party at a restaurant bar that would include drinks and presents.  I said yes to her as I knew she would help to understand what was going on and I was sworn to secrecy as she didn't want to upset any "older members" who weren't invited.  I assumed this meant the 85 year old who sits next to me...

The day of the concert came and we did fairly well.  I say fairly because my group of altos was directly behind the horn section and we couldn't really hear the rest of the choir.  We sang our hearts out and before we knew it, it was all over.  About 5 months work finished in an hour.  But still it had been fun and was a nice way to end the year.

After we had all stood in the lobby of the theatre to thank the various family/friends who had come to watch, we had our first party in the entrance of the building.  This was fun as it consisted of everyone and I got a chance to get to know some of my little students a bit better.  By little I meant that I was at a table with a 7 and 8 year old who enjoyed toasting me with Pepsi Next (they enjoyed it because they thought the foam looked like beer- I will have to write sometime about the difference in the drinking culture in Japan).  I also got to meet some of the musicians and a chance to talk to some of the ojichans (grandpas) that were amazing at their solos.  Though Maniwa encompasses a LARGE area it really is a small town and several people approached me to tell me they know Motoaki's parents or my students.

At this party we were also treated to a viewing of our concert that will be on Maniwa TV later and by several trivia games.  I didn't win because it took me awhile to translate the questions, but I had fun cheering people on anyway.  As there were often several people with thew correct answer they settled ties in the traditional Japanese way- by playing Janken, or Rock, Scissors, Paper.

The party came to a close and seeing how it was still only about five o'clock I made my way to the next party with the friend who had invited me.  They were all acting secretive as they wanted to slip away without hurting any feelings of those who hadn't been invited.  I had to lie a bit as several people offered to give me a ride home, but finally we got away.

The party turned out to be in the restaurant that is hooked onto the hotel where my dad, sister, brother, grandma, aunt, and uncle had stayed in.  I regret now that we never tried the restaurant out as it was wonderful.

I giggled at the "young people's party" as the woman next to me turned out to be the grandmother of my Jr high School student.  Many guests got excited that I was there and told me they had wanted to invite me but wasn't sure if it would be ok.  One woman in particular was very excited to see me.  We had sang solos in the October concert and had often chatted at solo rehearsals.  She was especially excited that I could drink beer with her and insisted on ordering several rounds.  I should have known then what lay in store for the rest of the night, but as the other women were just politely sipping cocktails, I didn't think much of it.

Admist the gossip and review of the concert we made time to eat and play games.  One consisted of seeing if I could accurately remember everyone's first name.  There were only about 15 women but seeing as we had a Yuko,a Yoko, a Naomi, and a Naoko, I struggled.  They also told me their nicknames and we all stated what had been the highlight of the concert for us.  I said that for me the best part had just been the chance to perform since I missed getting to sing at university and at church.

Finally when the food had been finished and the conversation had died it was announced that the party would end but that we were going to move on to a karaoke snack.  Snack is the term used to refer to small hostess bars where you can sip overpriced drinks and flirt with women.  I have been to them with guy friends (there aren't many places to "go out" in small town Japan) and even with coworkers from school.  I was surprised to see that this group of women would go to such a place, but I realized that they were in it for the karaoke rather than the women.  It was still only 7pm so I said it would be all right for me to go.

We went to a new place called Chick and I laughed and explained to the group how fitting the name was.  When we got inside I was surprised to see one of the rival groups from choir consisting of slightly older ladies who were mostly sopranos (our group had been heavily alto). I was nervous there would be "tension" or "hurt feelings" since we hadn't invited them to dinner, but it turned out that this had been the plan all along. Since the choir was too big to go to any one restaurant, people had decided to split for food and then to rejoin for fun.

Not to be ageist, but I was really surprised at the other group being out at a snack.  While the group I had eaten with had the one grandma, the rest of the ladies were in their 30s and late 20s.  But this older group couldn't have had anyone under 40 and probably contained a few 70 year olds.  I would liken this to seeing the United Methodist Women's group at Ruby's or the WCV faculty out at a strip club.  All of them drinking and shaking and grooving to the music.

Added to the excitement was the appearance of the conductor and the guest conductor.  I was surprised as they are friendly but seem a bit serious.  I think people were really excited because the guest conductor was the only man to show up.  Apparently the men had a party somewhere else but had returned home early (this coming from the grandma at the first party who was married to one of the male soloists).

You won't believe me, but I was pretty intimidated and shy at first to sing anything as everyone in the room was very talented at singing, but after enough requests for "English" I came out of my shell and started singing.  I was surprised as when I sang songs like Glee's Teenage Dream and Lady Gaga's Born This Way, the women got up and danced.  They didn't really know the songs but seemed excited to participate.  I had greatly underestimated their energy.

Later on I was surprised again as they put on The Wandering Gypsy, a classical song we had sang at a concert in October.  I put on the Sister Act 2 version of Joyful Joyful since it is to the tune of the 9th symphony.  Eventually we were joined one more guy, a young tenor (young as in 30) who I have wanted to befriend but with whom I have never talked to.  He actually joined me in Gaga.

As more songs were sang and more drinks were drank things got fuzzy.  Finally around 1am it was decided that we had better pack up and go home.  We wished each other a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and headed out to our various homes.

I had such a great time and it was so different to what I originally thought it was going to be.  Not that I didn't have fun with the ladies at choir practice before this, but it was great to see this side of them.  I worry about staying in Japan long term as more and more of my friends move away and as the new teachers coming in get younger and younger (my intern was born in the 90's!!!).  I sometimes feel that I might sacrifice a social life by staying here.  But, having seen what these ladies are capable of, I am very happy to be here.

Words for Wednesday: The Sisters, The Saga of the Mitford Family


The Sisters, The Saga of the Mitford Family is one of those books that is opening me up to a whole new world of further reading.  I am finding it hard to believe that I have not heard about this family before or that my mother never mentioned them.  I feel really sad that she is not around to read this as I know she would fall in love with it.  Although I suspect that when I search her shelves at home I will find at least something about or by one of the family members.

I normally don't read non-fiction but stumbled upon this book last summer when I was in my "must stock up" phase at Barnes & Nobel.  As nice and novel as the Kindles/Nooks are, I can't help but be sad that in the future I won't be able to spend hours wandering through the bookstore randomly picking up anything that catches my eye.

ANYWAY, the Mitford sisters are/were a group of real life sisters growing up in England in the 10s,20s,30s and who were young women in the 40s.  Though the book is fact it reads like fiction as we find out how involved they were on the world stage.  As the back cover reads, "Jessica was a communist; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; beautiful Diana married the fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; and Unity, a close friend of Hitler, shot herself in the head when England and Germany declared war."  What  the back cover doesn't say is that Unity practically dated Hitler and that both her sister and mother were his close friends.  It also doesn't say that the girls were distant cousins with Winston Churchill and saw him regularly.  In fact, at one point in the book Jessica receives $500 from him only to turn around and donate it to an American Communist fund.  Also in the story is Jessica's brother-in-law who marries JFK's older sister, Evelyn Waugh (who wrote Brideshead Revisited), Gaston Palewski (a man who was Charles de Gaulle's right hand man), and so on.

As I have been reading along I often find myself thinking, "No way!  This can't all be true."  It's definitely one of those books that has me constantly looking up history on Wiki.  Even if the book wasn't full of "name dropping" it would still be fascinating as the women were all intelligent, talented, and beautiful and full of creativity.  As young children two of the girls created their own language in order to communicate in secret.  One daughter wrote several novels.  All were quite passionate about the politics of the time and as teens it is written that two of the sisters that shared a room divided it down the middle with chalk with one half being decorated with posters of Hitler and Nazi symbols while the other half had pictures of Lenin and Marx.  This all about when they were 12 and 13.  Even if you don't care about history the love lives of the girls is quite shocking and interesting considering the times they lived in.

I don't want to tell you everything but I do encourage you to at least look this family up online.  Absolutely intriguing.  

Monday, December 12, 2011

Before and After: Hair

Lissie (the black dog) and Looe (the yellow dog with a ribbon) Before...
After...

Before...

After...

OK, so maybe those pictures of me are confusing but basically what I am getting at is the dramatic haircut.  Kind of messed up yet again.  It's really short.  Like what Lissie went through last summer...

To back up a bit, I am not very good with getting my haircuts.  Part of the reason is because I didn't really start getting haircuts until I was about 17.  When I was little my hair wouldn't grow at all.  My mother once told me that she would ask the dr.s why I had so little hair and my sister had so much,but they weren't really sure.  So in order to get it to shoulder length I grew it for about 13 years before I got trims.  

Then when I was about 16 I went shoulder length which was a bit of a shock but nothing dramatic.  And then when I went to college and was done with things like dance that required my hair to be tied up, I really chopped it off.  As in like Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors.  I was worried everyone would hate it but they liked it.  So I continued to get it chopped fairly short every few months.

Then when I came to Japan I was too nervous to get it cut due to a lack of communication between the hair dressers and myself.  I had no clue how to say, Just a bit in the front and to the hairline in the back, in Japanese so I let it go to shoulder length.  And it has been that way for quite a long time.

Last Friday, though, after buying new contacts in the neighborhood I used to live in, I stumbled into a hair salon I used to frequent when I lived in Tsuyama.  The hair dresser (after giving me a shampoo and a message which is complimentary with the cut in most salons in Japan) pulled out a bunch of photos of different girls and asked which one I wanted.  This is always difficult as a) it is hard to picture myself with an Asian person's hair, b) bangs and mullets are really popular in Japan, c) I'm pretty clueless as it is anyway and never no exactly what I want.  I'm also sure that the guy who was going to cut it wouldn't understand, Meg Ryan in French Kiss or You've Got Mail.  

So I pointed to a girl with a curly (no doubt permed) bob that was just about ear-length and said in choppy Japanese, "This will do but feel free to do what you want."  I then took off my glasses (I had bought the contacts but hadn't put them in yet) and settled back to listen to the really good mix of Christmas music going on (including some country hit entitled, All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan).

30 minutes turned into 60 and then into 90.  At one point the guy cutting my hair stopped the cutting and had me put on my glasses to see what I thought.  The hair looked about perfect so I thanked him and started to stand up, but he said, "Wait, wait!  I need to even up some in the back and thin out some around your face."    
I sat back down not wanting to have an uneven line and sat for what I thought would be another 5 minutes tops.  This turned into 15 minutes which turned into another 30 and then another 60.  At this point I could definitely tell that he was cutting it too short and that I was not going to be happy.  

But, despite knowing full well how to say, "That's enough I think," in Japanese, I couldn't bring myself to say anything.  Part of the problem was that he would blow dry the hair and muss it all about, leading me to believe that he was finished only to start cutting again.  He seriously did that about 3 times and I really wanted to laugh out of nervousness but was afraid I would upset him.

When he finally finished I politely said thank you and ran back to my car.  I didn't cry (I am not THAT attached to my hair) but I was feeling quite upset.  It did help that the following night I went out in Osaka for a friends birthday and we went to clubs where all sorts of Japanese people stopped me to say "Kawaii!!!!"  I know, I know, they do that to anyone white with blonde hair, but it did help.  And I found a nice hair band that would have looked ridiculous with my longer hair.  still I dreaded facing the students and don't want to go home and see everyone when my hair is this short...

This isn't the first time this happen and I always ending up getting upset at my cowardice in the salon chair.  I remember one time when my hair wasn't cut short enough and when I confessed that to my mother (who had  right away, "You look like you didn't get anything done") she took me back and had the lady cut more off.  The hair dresser was totally fine and didn't charge me anything extra.  Another time when that happened in Japan I ended up just cutting a bit off myself when I got home.

Last summer when I was at a salon in Des Moines and was just about to pay the bill, Maggie (my sister) came in loudly and stated, "That isn't the color you said you wanted at all."  But with color I really felt that their wasn't much that could be done.

How about you?  Are you able to tell the hair dresser when you are upset or when to stop?  Or do you just go home and wait for it to grow back and the color to fade?


Friday, December 9, 2011

Opinions of a Japanese Jr High School Student Pt 2:Anne Frank

This might have to become a running theme.  Not that I mean to make fun of my students, but seriously this is hilarious.  Over the past couple of weeks we have been studying excerpts from The Diary of Anne Frank.  The excerpts are pretty edited down to make the language as simple as possible, but still it is a hard topic to cover.  Mostly the excerpts are about the Anti-Jewish Laws put in place by the Nazis and then about how this effected the lives of the people.  There is mention of yellow stars, families being taken away in the middle of the night, and parent-less children freezing and starving on the streets.

In keeping with the way that we have been studying the book all year the teacher has asked the students to write their "thoughts" on Anti-Jewish Laws and the suffering caused by them.  There are too many "good lines" to choose from, but here are some highlights.  Keep in mind that a lot of this is due to the students not knowing how to form sentences in English.  They aren't really racist...I think.

1.The Jews were pitiful.
Talked to this student and it turned out that she meant to say that the situation for the Jewish people, not the actual people, was very sad or horrible.

2. I don't permit Anti-Jewish Laws.
Good for you!  If only they would have had you around during the Holocaust.

3. I think wear yellow star is good idea.
Obviously has no clue what is going on in the book.

4. I like soccer.  I don't like Hitora (Hitler).
Good to know.  I like ice cream.  I don't like terrorists.

5. I am sorry that I think.
Ummm... Don't be too hard on yourself.  Thinking isn't a bad thing and can be quite good.

6. Why anti-Jewish laws begin?  Did Jewish do something bad?
No, although at the time it was advertised that they were evil.

7. I like children.
Really?  Me too!.

8. I can't eat old carrots.
Oh, well you are lucky you weren't born during the second world war when, "The children on the streets were so hungry that they even ate old carrots."

9.  I feel sorry that there were many Jewish people.
Umm... Are you a Nazi?

10.  I hope the war ends as soon as possible.
And are you also hoping that Japan wins?  Hate to spoil the surprise, but it's over and the US won.

11.  German is I'm afraid.
You should be.

Again, there were a lot more good ones in the bunch.  To be serious, it makes me a little angry that we even have this in the textbooks in the first place.  Not that I think we shouldn't study the Holocaust, but I don't see the point in teaching such a serious topic to 15 year old ESL students.  Or the point of teaching only a small bit.  As you can see in number 6, the students really don't know any of the history of this so it is really hard for them to understand why this would happen.  They have history at school, but I am pretty sure they are still in the middle of learning Japanese history.

Two months ago we were discussing Martin Luther King Jr and I was asked on the spot to explain race relations in America.  This would be hard for the students to respond to even if we were speaking in their own language, let alone having to work in English.  I really don't know why the books don't just stick to "life at school" "life at home" "life as a home stay student."  Especially when they are only in Jr High.  It is no wonder they don't want to speak in English when the book is filled with phrases like Anti-Jewish Laws, Apartheid, "In 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was killed for working to end discrimination of non-whites."  Surely the kids would open up if we were to say, "Today we are going to read about pop stars around the world.  Who is your favorite pop star?  Do you know any songs in English?"  We do a bit of that, but a lot of the stuff is pretty heavy.


Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cultural Differences in Pets

Last weekend we went to the new super mall/outlet mall in Kurashiki with our friend Alexi.  We found amazing deals at Adidas, Banana Republic, and UniQlo.   We passed up the chance for Krispy Kreme, though, when we saw the hour long line.

Being animal lovers the lot of us we decided to check out the pet store.  Motoaki and I were both relieved to see that we in deed got a fabulous     deal on Finn.  The cheapest dog at this place was about 1200 US $.  Although they were all gorgeous puppies.

Anyway, what I quickly wanted to blog about was the fact that they were selling prairie dogs.  As in the little things you see in the badlands!! Who in the world would get a prairie dog?  How would you keep it?  Don't they need to dig???

I was excited to see guinea pigs.  A few years ago when I first came here they were pretty unknown around the town I live in and when I showed students pictures, they thought they were quite scary.  I don't know if we would be ready for another dog anytime soon, but a guinea pig would be a lovely addition to the family...

In one last side note, really must start taking pictures of these things...

Words for Wednesday: Nana manga series


I was never one to be really into Japanese culture.  I am here because originally I needed a job and wanted some adventure and because I eventually felt at home here and fell in love.  If you were to ask me about what non-American cultures I am interested in, I would definitely say a whole list of others like Turkey, Russia, or Hungary before Japan.  Thus, I was never one to be into anime or manga (Japanese comic books).  

However, when I first moved home from Japan in 2008 I found myself missing it and decided to read some Japanese manga as a way to cure my homesickness for it.  I picked up Nana vol 1 because I had seen advertisements for the movie version when I had lived in Japan.  I quickly got sucked in and now have pretty much the whole set which I am currently re-reading.

Manga usually read pretty fast so I am putting the whole series on here rather than just one book.  The story Nana is about two girls named Nana who meet by chance on a train bound for Tokyo.  By chance the girls have the same name are both moving to the city for the first time.  After a long ride, they bid farewell to each other only to meet again by chance while looking for apartments.  They both are taken to apartment 707 (the  word nana means seven in Japanese) and realize that they could save a lot of money if they split the rent.  the story then begins as they become involved in each others lives.

One Nana is really edgy and hopes to become a rock star with her band.  She also happens to be the ex-girlfriend of a guy who has now become famous as part of another rock group.

The other Nana is extremely cutesy and your stereotypical Japanese girl.  She cares about fashion and falls in love at the drop of the hat.  She is obsessed with the band that the edgy Nana's ex plays in, only cutesy Nana doesn't know about the connection.

There are of course several other characters and all sorts of secrets from both girls pasts.  If it were one novel I might be bored with it and put it down, but because it is in these short installments you get hooked on cliffhangers and feel a deep urge to buy the next.  Very similar to a TV show.  I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but the stories are good if you are interested in Japan and if you want to try out manga.

I also recommend the movies although the first one and the sequel have different actresses playing the role of cutesy Nana.  Very annoying!!  Especially since the first one is exactly like how I pictured her to be.  The actress who plays edgy Nana is spot on, as are a lot of the lead males.

If you are interested, the books can be bought at most Barnes and Nobles and Amazon.com

Merry Christmas Maniwa- the after party

So after the teachers' seminar we had a small party for just the foreign teachers at my house.  I was really excited to have everyone over since last weekend I had gone all out, decorating the living room for Christmas.  I got a five foot tree, lights, and random ornaments and got out Motoaki's and my stockings as well as a new one for Finn.

My friend Janet who is a Canadian originally from Hong Kong brought over a fondue set that we attempted to use.  Unfortunately I am not the smartest person and I didn't know that "real cheese" doesn't really work for fondue.  Or maybe her set isn't very strong.  Anyway, it turned into just a clump of cheese that we cut apart with scissors.  Oh well, we laughed and ate it anyway.  We had 10 people there (including me) made up of Janet (Hong Kong Canadian) Amy (also born in Hong Kong to Vietnamese parents but grew up in Texas) Mike (Michigan) Dan (California) Johnny (London) Ellie (Blackpool) Katie (Oxford) Rena (Thailand) Motoaki  (Japan) so it was quite an assorted group.

We played White Elephant, the game where everyone brings a gift wrapped up so you can't tell what it is.  You then draw numbers to see what order you go in.  The first person unwraps a gift.  The second person can either unwrap a new gift or steal the gift the first person unwrapped, and so on.  We have done it for the past three years but last night was the biggest group we have had so far.  Gifts last night included...
1) Mug and Tea
2) Box of Chocolates
3) Random Snacks
4) 3-D glasses
5) a magic gravity ball
6) a cute set of bunny utensils
7) Santa-shaped pasta and expensive sauce
8) a pillow
9) a carabiner that looked like a Swiss army knife with screwdriver, file, etc
10) various snacks

I stole the gravity ball for Motoaki who liked it and he got the carabiner.

I am happy that we now have a proper space to host and look forward to celebrating Christmas in our homes for years to come.

Merry Christmas Maniwa!!!

Last night we had a teachers' "Step-Up Seminar."  It is a night when Japanese teachers can meet with non-Japanese teachers to practice English.  For the past year these meetings have been planned by the women who is in charge of English for the board of education.  But, after hearing her tell me she has been very stressed this year I offered to plan and present the meeting.  Rather than do what she usually does (a word puzzle game where you match the Japanese card to the English card in groups of two or three) I created a pub quiz featuring questions about Christmas, Japan, and Christmas music.  Though the quiz was a little difficult for the non-English speakers, I think it went well overall.  Here are some sample questions...


Christmas
In the song the 12 days of Christmas, what does he bring 9 of?
What country do Christmas trees come from?
What are the 4 ghosts in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol?
How many points does a snowflake have?

Japan
What year did Tokyo Disney open?
What does "nikko nikko" mean in English?
How many times has Japan hosted the Olympics?
What is shiragi-jo?

Christmas Songs (name the title of the song the lyric comes from)
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas.

Kiyoshi Kono yoru.

Well way up north where the air gets cold there's a tale about Christmas that you've all been told

Prospero ano y felicidad

For bonus rounds we played a game where they made a sentence using a gird.  Vertically were the words, "I will, I won't, I might, I can't" and horizontally were the words, "eat cake, see santa, go to a shrine, get a present."  They made a sentence and then got the mystery points that were in that grid spot.  Then for the other bonus round we did the game where each team member gets a small whiteboard.  They draw a category/topic such as "a yellow fruit" or "a convenience store."  The team gets points if two people have the same answer and more points if three people have the same answer, etc

"The Grumpy Angels," came in first place followed by "The Blushing Snowmen," in 2nd and "The Cheeky Rerindeer," in third place.   Its nice to be able to teach English and yet have fun at the same time.  Although the trivia was a bit hard, overall everyone had fun and the BOE lady has asked me to plan the next event for Valentine's.  Very excited!  I really should have been a game show host...