How to Make a Shisa

It's spring break! I decided to spend my last spring break in Okinawa staying put, enjoying this lovely island, catching up on some work, and spending time with friends. On Monday, I joined some friends from work for a trip up north for a shisa dog-creating trip.

We arrived to a garden full of hand-made shisa, flowers, and other gems.

Perhaps one reason behind all these shisa on the property is to serve as inspiration in creating your own...more on that in a little bit. Now, on to the process of creating your very own shisa.

Step one, choose a base. These are created ahead of time using concrete and terracotta pieces. They are posed in the traditional stances of shisa dogs in Okinawa.

There are a lot to choose from....

Here is the one I chose.

Next, set down your base in your work area. Your clay is prepared ahead of time. We had a choice of yellow or red. I'm a traditionalist, so I went with red.

The third step is the most fun. Slather the base with the clay, forming the mouth, eyes, teeth and any other parts you want on your shisa. Use terracotta pieces for the ears and tail.

After covering the base with clay, adding the tail and ears, and forming the face, it's time to add embellishments. Shells are a popular choice. I used a lot of sea glass and some in our group used coral or other materials.

Then, let it dry for several days. Here's my final product:

I used mostly sea glass with a little bit of coral for embellishments. The backside shows more of the glass "mane" that I made.

Here is another from the group with lots of shells.

This one has bits of broken pottery on it.

The "artist" in the group made one with an awesome mane of coral. I might just have to do this when I make my second one. Shisa are usually seen in pairs; one is a male and the other a female. So, I'll be back to make the mate. Oh, this one is also texturized using a shell pattern all over. Awesome, right?

When they dry and solidify, the color is a little softer and natural looking. Here are some more shisa from the property. This one was made using the yellow clay.

This GIANT one was my absolute favorite. I just love the eyes. I'm also thinking of using the cute eyes with my next shisa. It's a happy shisa!

This one uses different color clays which really makes the features stand out.

Lastly, be sure to play with the cute French Bulldogs on the property. Too cute! Maybe they are living models for the shisa? Could be!

I'll be sure to post pics of shisa #2 when I make that one.

Easter 2010

Happy Easter from Team Juloa!

Lots to Do...

Step One: Take a Home Buying Class

Check!

The Bucket

Poor Gunnar is dealing with yet another anal glad issue. We've resorted to some holistic remedies to ease the pain and hopefully speed up the healing process. This method, we've dubbed "the bucket" is basically where I hold Gunnar's rear in a bucket of warm/hot water to soak. He's not a big fan, but tolerates it well enough.

Oh, and please excuse the Saturday-I'm-not-doing-my-hair-or-makeup-today look. I'm keeping it real, people.

Moa Moa Chicken

In honor of Kent's recent birthday, several of us celebrated at a little place up north in Onna called Moa Moa Chicken. As you can see they only offer two items: chicken and shrimp.

Here's the little set-up that served as the restaurant. We ordered here and sat a picnic table near-by. The food is cooked right there and we could smell the delicious garlic aroma wafting through the air while we chatted.

Here's the shrimp plate with rice. Noa said it tasted amazing!

I ordered the chicken plate with bread. The chicken was also extremely delicious and flavorful. After taking a few bites of the bread, I found out it had bits of corn in it! Random!

I realize this picture is not great (I was playing with the nighttime setting), but I had to include a photo of the birthday boy. Doesn't Kent look so happy with his lovely wife, Tritia next to him?
Gotta love this sign.
The bathrooms are located inside the restaurant that shares the grounds with Moa Moa. These were NOT your usual bathrooms. Check out the stalls:

Yup, that would be a fish tank. I also like this sign inside the stall (yes, I was taking pictures inside the bathroom stall).
The toilet looks just so happy to have a clean seat.

Lots of shells! Tritia and I agreed that it was like Hawaii meets granny's attic. Every inch was covered in something tropical.

Anyway, after taking care of that business, we walked around the area, which is a vacation area with lots of restaurants, little shops, and some resorts and hotels. We found this awesome tree near one of the resorts, which made a perfect backdrop for our last picture of the evening.

Lovely Leprechauns

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Mrs. Hammer's Kindergarten students! Check out these adorable leprechauns and the stories that go with them:

My leprechaun's name is Liam. My leprechaun is hiding gold in the rainbow.

My leprechaun's name is Tom. He wants his gold back.

My leprechaun's name is Sean. He is surprised.

Don't you just love the Irish names they picked out?! I love celebrating the holidays with 5 and 6 year olds. They make it so fun! Today they kept on reminding each other to wear green tomorrow so that they don't get pinched by a leprechaun.

Spring Toes

Tesha and I got our much needed pedicures tonight. She'll be leaving to visit family and friends in the states for awhile, so she went with a detailed flower design in purple with a brown background (the foot on the left). Me, well, I chose something cheerful that my students would enjoy. The colorful polka dots had me at hello. The students do sit by my feet for read alouds and other class activities quite often.

Still, is it pitiful when you choose your pedicure design based on your students' preference??

I guess if I like it, then no!

Weird Things on the Wall

There were a couple of weird things I saw this past weekend that you just don't see everyday. Like this air freshener in a public bathroom. Notice anything strange?

I find it bizarre that the company that makes these are called "Tomato." I almost expected it to smell like ketchup or marinara in there.

I also visited a dressing room in one of the local Japanese clothing stores and had to take a picture of this:

They have "face shields" for when you try on clothes. I guess it's a smart idea considering your makeup can get on the new clothes. I've had the unfortunate experience of grabbing a shirt of the rack and seeing foundation smeared on the collar. Noa thought they looked like they could suffocate you, but I think they are made of breathable papery fabric.

Oh, and an interesting note about Japanese dressing rooms: you have to take your shoes off before going in!

100 Yen Fun: Erasers

I missed last week's 100 Yen Fun, so I'm making this about something that comes in multiples. As always, the Japanese find a way to make something mundane into something fun, adorable, and just plain cute: erasers. Step into any 100 Yen shop and you'll find a vast array of erasers in little shapes and designs. Check it out:

You might not be able to read the packaging, but on the top right it tells you the kind of eraser, these being "restaurant" and "dessert." The sandwich in the "restaurant" package comes apart and even has pieces of lettuce, tomato, and meat! Another kind of eraser is "animals":

I've had students in the past who collect these little guys. In fact, these erasers are headed to the treasure box in the classroom. I personally like the kneadable erasers, which are bendable like putty:

I chose this one because I like the pineapple scent, but there were several other scents to choose from including strawberry, apple, coke, and even beer-scented! Ooookkkaayyy. The strangest erasers I found were definitely the naked babies. The babies, who are anatomically correct come with bottles that go in their mouths.

I think we can all safely assume these will NOT be headed for the Kindergarten treasure box!

Flamingo Friend

Noa recently returned from a trip to New Orleans for a medical conference. Being the thoughtful guy that he is, he returned with a few gifts for the family back home. The dogs were instantly won over by some tasty dog treats, but that was not all he had brought for them. Knowing that Gunnar LOVES de-stuffed dog toys (stuffed animals for dogs without the stuffing), he brought home a new one for our boy - a pink flamingo. Gunnar LOVED IT! Immediately, he grabbed it, shook it incessantly, and then tried to pull out the "feathers" from the wings. I haven't posted about the dogs in awhile, so I thought it'd be cute to post these pics.

Mmmm..feathers....

Sadie: Uh, can I get in here? At least a sniff?

Gunnar: Munch, munch, munch...

What do you mean it's time to put it away?

Mmmm...I love my flamingo friend.

Earthquake

Bump. Bump. Bump. Bump. Bump. Bump.

I woke up to what I thought was a low, but strangely loud alarm clock sound. Instead it was the iron wall decoration above our bed hitting the wall over and over. It took me a minute to realize I wasn't dreaming. The dogs were in my lap - alert and tense. The whole world was moving. A lot. Everything was shaking. I heard crashing in the next room. I couldn't move except to look at the clock. 5:31 am. I held the dogs close and prayed.

Then, just like that, it was over. It was earily calm. And we were okay.

Living in Okinawa has brought it's share of earthquakes over the years. This was new for me since I'm a New England girl. I remember seeing movies that depicted earthquakes in California and they always showed windows breaking into bits and people running for safety. But, this has never been the case here. Our quakes are always so small. Most of the time, you didn't even realize an earthquake was happening unless you were in a highrise building. This time, it was different.

I got out of bed to survey the damage. Glass was all over my dining room floor. A wooden wall decoration was also in pieces. A bottle of champagne lay on the floor but was still intact (phew!). Small items were scattered on the floor, books were toppled over, and the iron was laying flat. Overall, minor damage. Nothing to be upset about. I chased the dogs away, grabbed the broom and started sweeping.

Later, back in bed, my heart would not stop racing. I knew it would be awhile before I would fall back asleep. I looked out at the other apartment buildings and saw many lights on, knowing that others were cleaning up, soothing scared children, or dismissing the idea of going back to sleep at all. I thought about how fortunate I am. I live in a very solid building. I am safe, the dogs are safe (Noa is currently away for a conference so he's not affected by the quake) and there was only minor damage to stuff. It's nothing compared to the recent devastation in Haiti. I can't even imagine dealing with a devasting quake like that. But, still my heart was pounding. As I lay on my pillow, I sent up yet another prayer, thanking God for being my protector each and every day.

Family Camp Weekend/Hiji Falls

This past weekend we enjoyed visiting with our church family up at Okuma for their annual Family Camp Weekend. In spite of the rainy, cold weather we had all last week, the weekend ended up being beautiful. It was so nice, in fact, that we were able to go on a hike of Hiji Falls. We've been wanting to do this hike for awhile, but the area was closed for renovations last time we tried to go.

There's no denying that this island has beauty all around. Mini waterfalls stand at the entrance of the trail...

...in addition to a sign warning about imminent death should one attempt to jump in the falls.

Since it had rained all week, it was extremely lush.

The hike itself is pretty short and most of it had wooden stairs or walkways, but they didn't distract from the beautiful scenery.

Here's the view looking down from the suspension bridge. There were little brooks and rivers all over the place.

I love this picture - the blue of the water is so crisp - and it's not photoshopped. It looked like this in real life! How very blue!

Overall, the hike was pretty easy, although there were a few obstacles along the way. One such obstacle was this tree that was not happy about the trail getting in the way.

Oh, and did I mention that I went on the hike with a bunch of GUYS! Apparently, the rest of the wives stayed back to stay with napping children or hang out. I guess I missed that memo. Here are my hiking buddies on the suspension bridge.

Although Hiji Falls is not huge, it is still lovely to look at and admire. The trek was worth it.

After the hike, we headed back to Okuma for some R&R and a cookout with our church family. We had a great time visiting with friends - some we've known for years, others we're just getting to know - and were surprised with a beautiful sunset on the ocean.

Yeah, it doesn't get much better than this. Thank you, Lord, for a great weekend!

100 Yen Fun

It's time for another neat-o find from the 100 Yen store. This week I found something not only useful, but cute too! Check out this adorable oven mitt:

Yup - it's a pig. It has an embroidered face on one side. Not only is it cute, but I love it because it is small. It fits just over my fingers and is perfect for grabbing that hot pan out of the oven, but not taking up precious drawer space in my tiny apartment kitchen. Practical, cute, and only around a buck! Awesome!