At Home with Horses

The riding club has truly been a home for me here in Japan. As one of my friends pointed out, riding has probably helped to ease some of my culture shock, simply because in dressage, the same principles/goals are true all over the world, so riding becomes a universal language. When I can train a horse or teach riding at the riding club, I feel at least half-way competent in something (and feeling competent is difficult sometimes in a foreign country! I often feel like an infant when I can't even read my bills. . .) Here are a few photos from our last home competition (in January). Daniela, Lee, Kanachan and myself. . .

Life in Japan

Here are a few random photos for your enjoyment. You can see the view I see everyday while driving to the riding club-- beautiful snowy mountains obscured by the power lines and buildings in town! The 30-minute drive to the riding club is like an escape to the mountains-- I leave the power lines behind and end up deep in the hills with mountains as my backdrop. That morning, Goto-san (riding club member and lovely woman, calls herself my "Japanese Mama" and looks after me!) looked so beautiful in the sunlight-- her hair matched Tepei's coat perfectly! Me with my trusty toaster oven, embarking on the dubious adventure of BAKING Christmas cookies in Japan, as regular ovens are very rare here. The cookies turned out great, although in such small batches it took me about 3 hours to finish baking!!!! And just a taste of "Japanglish" for your amusement-- Lee and I discovered this jacket at a horse competition. You wouldn't believe how hilarious much of the English advertising is here!!!!! Japanglish usually starts out as a really great thought in Japanese, but is somehow lost in translation and ends up as rather puzzling English. But at least it keeps me and Lee and Daniela amused-- we're always on the lookout for new Japanglish. A grocery store near my apartment uses the slogan "We Are the Supermarket Of the Area Of #1" Hmmmmm. . .

Christmas Party!

Our Christmas party was great fun-- we had dressage demonstrations during the day and a karaoke party at night. In the photos you'll see our dear old "Midori Mansion" (green house at the riding club) and next-door, the new "White House", a double-width karaoke box that Fujita-san bought for the club. We had great food-- at the end of the table, you can see a painting that Rachel (friend from England, great jumping rider!) presented to the club. She painted specific horses from the club! Kanachan and Hanachan (young riders) pose charmingly at the fire, and Daniela, Rachel, Alice (Rachel's baby) and Otsuka-san enjoy the party.

カラオケ

The costumes made an appearance again during karaoke (probably to the dismay of those of you who've been checking my site for the last 2 months in search of new photos ;) Our humble karaoke box's debut at the riding club was a great hit-- even wandering reindeer joined in the performances (Yamazawa-san loves that costume. . .) Earlier that day, Riechan and I had performed a Pas des Deux dressage demonstration, synchronized pairs riding-- during karaoke we performed Pas des Deux dancing!!! Daniela got serious about opera, and even Oji-chan joined in the dancing.

Dear Friends

Kaminokawa Competition

At the end of November, we attended a competition in Kaminokawa. Here are photos of members and staff at the competition: Me and Kanachan (an extremely gifted young rider), me and Kaochan (beautiful girl, weekend staff, great fun and the same age as I am!) Daniela and other members, all very pleased with the results of the event. Hmmmm, Daniela often appears on my site wearing ribbons ;) Isn't she cute! She's a dear friend and a great asset to the club as well, since many foreigners find the FHRC through her site. Daniela's site is responsible for my involvement with the club-- thanks girl!

着物が好きだよ

I wore a kimono in December for my friend Yoshiko's wedding (during which Saori and I performed a duet of the Japanese song, aptly named "Love Love Love" ;) Goto-san, one of our riding club members, provided me with a GORGEOUS sakura kimono and arranged for the fitting/hair arrangement/photography at a posh salon in Utsunomiya. Here are additional photos of Lee (my friend from England, another riding club member) on January 9th, the Japanese "Coming of Age" day for those 20 years old. Daniela did the honors of photographer (josu des!) and Lee's kimono was provided by the excellent owners of our favorite Sushi shop (last photo). P.S. For those of you who care about horsey details, Lee is pictured with Kotarou, a TB who is related to my horse Kit!