IN A NUTSHELL: We Wish You A Merry Christmas Already??
Bonfires at the Elementary School I was doing my first Christmas Lesson today. I only have two elementary school days in December, so they are both going to be Christmas-related. After playing a round of Christmas Bingo, I was teaching the kids "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" which was on one of my "Learning English" CDs. I was really nice and gave them the lyrics in katakana as well. Anyway, between classes, I looked out the window on the stairs and saw a bonfire! I never even knew you could go behind the school, but there were a bunch of kids (and teachers), all hanging out in the back of school around a bonfire! However, no sooner did I wonder whether I would be invited, when I was asked to join them after second period! I walked outside, taking my plastic 100-yen microphone with me on a whim, and walked up the concrete stairs behind the school to a dirt landing. And there was the bonfire!
Potato Time! I noticed that some of the teachers were digging through the fire with long sticks and pushing out tinfoil-wrapped objects. It turns out, they were cooking potatoes in the bonfire! They let them cool then unwrapped the tinfoil and the newspaper underneath, then (starting with the younger grades) had a feast of roasted sweet potatoes! I could not imagine anything like this happening at my elementary school in the States - randomly roasting potatoes over an open fire - but it was a lot of fun! The kids passed around the microphone I brought, having a grand old time with it. Suddenly, one of the third or fourth graders took over and began singing SMAP. Others joined in and I watched in amazement as they sung, in its entirety, "Sekai-ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" ("The only flower in the world") by SMAP. SMAP has taken over Japan. This is proof.
No Points for Me I went shopping tonight since I had not had a chance to over the last three weekends. The store was crowded and there was this CD player sitting on top of the refrigerated goods section repeating a techno riff and an obnoxious announcement over and over. All I could understand was the first part: "Welcome, welcome!" My first theory was that they wanted shoppers to leave the store as fast as possible since it was near closing time. However, I ran into Okumiya-sensei (the Japanese-language teacher at the Jr. High) in the store and she explained that they were having a sale. I found out the next day that one could get double points on one's point card on Mondays and Tuesdays at Sungreen. This would be useful if I had ever gotten around to getting a point card. They ask me every time whether I have one, but because there's always a line behind me and because I just want to get back home with all this food, I've never bothered signing up for one. Oh, well.
Why Can I Buy Christmas Decorations at the 100-yen Store?? This was shocking to me. I walked into the 100-yen store (the equivalent of the 99 cents store) and there was an entire section dedicated to Christmas decorations. Why? The don't celebrate Christmas here. Furthermore, why is it all cheap? Well, I did not question that as deep and bought a bunch of Christmas stuff for both my house and my "Corner" at school, including a mini-tree (marked up to 300 yen) a stocking, a funny little banner that said "Merry Christmas," a mini christmas tree, a wreath, and wrapping paper. I think I spent less than $10 total on all this stuff. But... why? I mean, even Sungreen is decorated for Christmas: they have three giant santas, a snowman and at least four Christmas trees all around the store... and it's not even a national holiday!
IN A NUTSHELL: My First Food Poisoning
That'll Teach Me Not To Have... Something I experimented a little for dinner last night. Part of the reason was to get rid of some of the stuff in my fridge which, upon reflection, is a really bad way to experiment. I made a simple Japanese meal - rice and miso soup - but when I felt very ill this morning (I could not even finish my cereal), I realized any number of things could have caused it. It could have been the milk near expiration, the cheese near expiration, the tofu near expiration, the quail eggs, the old miso mix, the soy sauce, anything. Why did I try so many new things at once?? I don't want to throw EVERYTHING out!
Random Haircuts I'm not sure why, but when I walked into my Jr. High classes today, I noticed that at LEAST four boys had gotten short haircuts since I last saw them a week and a half ago. Was it Get-Your-Hair-Cut month or something? Or maybe it was a group thing. I do wonder. I also wonder why almost no one wears their hair long here.
Can't Finish Food - This is a First I could not finish my lunch or my dinner, which is a definite first for me. Although I did not get physically sick, my stomach hurt too badly to do anything. To add to my confusion, hotmail completely changed its format, making me wonder if I was hallucinating. So I turned on Odoru Daisousasen. Then the pain went away. I was tempted to watch it all night. Anyway, I somehow knew to drink a lot of water which I found out later, when I emailed my mom, was a good thing to do. I'm kind of scared to eat anything in my fridge now, though I now suspect it is the miso mix because it is the oldest thing in there. I threw it out (well, washed it out, as required by Japanese garbage disposing regulations) and will cross my fingers.
IN A NUTSHELL: Preschool Kagura
Cutest Thing Ever! I went to the preschool today (my stomach still not happy, but not in too bad of pain) and was happy to see that I did not have to do anything but watch. The kids were rehearsing their play. Even the littlest kids had something to do and all of them got to play some kind of drum. The best part was when the older kids (5 and 6 year olds) came out and did kagura! I couldn't believe it! They had two kids playing the drums and a hero, a demon (the kid was clearly imitating the professional kagura demon from that one night - it was really cute,) and a princess. It was way too adorable.
Half Day The Jr. High students only had a half day today due to the testing again, so I spent some of the free time putting up Melissa's Corner for Christmas (with decorations from the 100 yen store). Since I had not received any questions in my box for awhile, I took down some of the old questions to make room and wrote a note asking if anyone had any more questions. We'll see what happens...
Trick or Heeeey I went to our Bihoku JET Meeting today and noted that my stomach had absolutely no problem with the chocolate cookies (newly available from our tea and snack fund.) Surprise, surprise. The meeting was quite informative as always, but it makes my day very full since I don't really have a lot of time between the meeting and English conversation class. I come up with a lot last-minute, but so far, it's all worked well. After the eikaiwa class, I was in the exercise room with Odagawa-san as usual, and I asked her about the show "Trick" because I wanted to see whodunnit after last week's cliffhanger. She said she wasn't sure when it was on and I was surprised she was not an avid watcher, given its huge popularity. Anyway, we had fun watching the Wednesday Night "Heeeey" show as we rode our exercise bikes. That's not the show's real name, but that's what I call it. It is a very silly Trivia show. They have contestants but they don't compete or anything; all they do is listen to two guys talk about an obscure trivia fact. During the explanation, they press a button that makes the sound "Heeeeeeeey" (which, in English, is the equivalent of "What?" "Really?" "Eh?" or "Seriously?") and they hold down the button longer if they are really impressed by the trivia fact. At the end, they tally the "Heeeeey"s and decide on the winner. One of the best "Heeeeey" trivia bits I ever saw was about a group of monks. In order to better practice their Buddhist chants, they all went to Karaoke together where, amazingly, the chant is available as a song choice. It was hilarious. They had a shot of about eight monks, in full robes, sitting in a karaoke box (with remnants of snacks and drinks on the table in front of them) singing along to the chant. It was obviously set up, but had me rolling.
IN A NUTSHELL: TRICK!
I Love Odagawa-san! When I came out of school today, there was a little note on my windshield telling me the channel and time the show "Trick" was on! She investigated for me, just from my side comment! How cute! She gets a gift. Oh, and I did watch the show, by the way, and found out whodunnit! It is really one of the strangest shows I've ever seen (with spooky credits) the oddest part being the random salute all the characters give every calligraphy clue they find. Next week there's an entirely new plotline starting with only two of the same characters. I'm tempted to rent more, though I'd rather learn Japanese better first.
IN A NUTSHELL: Mr. Santa
Slept In! For the first time, I missed my alarm and slept in! I woke up at about 8:15, hurriedly dressed and ate cereal and made it to work by 8:35. The odd thing is that my contract says that my official hours are 8:30 to 4:00 but the Pink Book (the Handbook of All Things JET) mentioned how important it was for me to attend morning meetings, even if I did not participate. So, until today, I've attended all the 8:15 meetings (which aren't in a special room or anything, just in the staff room, so everyone just sits at their desk.) I have no idea whatsoever if anyone noticed or cared. However, I do wish I had the deal the girl in the next town has -- she gets Wednesday afternoons off instead of having shorter hours every day. The 'shorter hours' are annoying because I always feel obligated to stay longer, which misses the whole point of having shorter hours in the first place. Oh, well. I can always study Japanese.
Kanji Tests for the Japanese? Apparently, there is a test that the Japanese take that measures their kanji skill. Although Tomomi-sensei had not originally signed up for it, he ended up taking it anyway and he received his score back today. It was impressively high, judging by the reactions of the other teachers. He said he had gotten over 90% on Level 3 or something. Only when he showed me the chart, Level 3 seemed barely past high school level, so I'm kind of confused. Still, way to go, Tomomi!
New Questions! I received a question in my box that said: "What do you want from Santa-san?" It was in Japanese, but I loved how they called him Santa-san.
IN A NUTSHELL: My First Culture Shock?
Too Many Rest Stops This is my fourth, yes fourth, weekend straight I am not going to be at home. My journal is a month behind, my laundry is piling up, I've been sneaking in shopping trips during the week and I just plain want to REST. But this is a staff trip. This is an important thing in Japan for having a good time and getting to know your colleagues in a less-than-formal way. Looking back, I perhaps should have opted for the rest instead, but I had already committed myself. Maruyama-san picked me up at about 7 am and we went together to the Sakugi Town Hall where a Giant Bus was waiting. The bus was very nice; it even had a snack bar and a lot of drinks available. I walked in but was kind of stopped about half-way in since apparently the "men were sitting in the back and the women up front." Since there was only 19 of us and probably 30 or so seats, there was plenty of places to sit and I got my own row of seats. We had a tour guide. Almost immediately after we departed (and I totally lost my sense of direction) she started talking. I was trying to be good and focus on the Japanese, which she was speaking clearly, but I could not catch everything. I think what was more frustrating was that she told a lot of jokes and no matter how hard I listened, I did not understand a single one. I felt kind of left out when everyone was laughing but me. I tried to read, but was interrupted by her voice and the laughter and the obligation that I should try to listen (especially if she said anything important.) We stopped nearly every hour at a rest stop. This would be less of a big deal except that every time we stopped, Maruyama-san and Takata-san were always SO concerned if I didn't get off. It was easier just to get off and back on rather than explain that I didn't need to pee since the last rest stop and was not hungry since the last round of munchies. The munchies were a plus, though. Although they started out weird with fish cakes and weird salty things, someone eventually started passing the chocolate. And once word got to the snack-holders that I was a chocolate-lover, I got pretty much the whole stash on the seat next to me. Okay, maybe this wasn't good for my health, but it made me happy.
Fish For Lunch We stopped at this mega-fish place for lunch (Called Marine Center or something). We were promised that the bus would stop here on the way back tomorrow so everyone would have a chance to shop for fish. I really did not need the assurance, but that's okay. The second floor kind of looked like a giant cafeteria with big long tables, but they were obviously expecting us and served us very quickly. The food was fine. Lots of different kinds of fish and other Odd Things. Tofu and rice were also on the menu and all in all, it wasn't a bad meal. I did not, however, eat the snail. I felt like I was missing something, maybe because I was eating tons of tiny little things out of tons of tiny little bowls without actually having a Main Course. I was full at the end, though. Most everyone was drinking beer, but I was waiting until dinner for that.
The Money Temple? We stopped at a port near a lake not long after lunch. A castle was above, but we did not go see the castle. Instead, we took a very tiny ferry (only about 10 of us could fit in the hold) to a small island. There was a very strange little store before the entrance to the temple. It seemed to be ONLY selling these little bags that were only really worth anything if you won a lottery or something. I really did not understand it, but I got the impression that I had to give them a lot of money if I wanted anything. I waited outside and read some more of my book instead. Tamura-san came out later and Maruyama-san came out a bit after that and the three of us tried to follow the signs to the temple. We followed the signs all right, but to the wrong temple. The shrine we ended up at, though, was quite pretty and overlooked the lake from the mountainside. Since no one else was there, Maruyama-san called someone on her cell phone. We walked back down (through the cute little neighborhood again - these locals must be sick of all the tourists) and found the big, obvious sign. The temple was PACKED. And I think, if one went inside, one did something related to the expensive bags? It made no sense to me. I've never seen a temple like it and did not bother fighting the crowd to go inside and see what the fuss was. In the end, I was glad we took the wrong path to the prettier shrine even if that meant we were late to get back on the bus.
The Temple of Giant Fish When we reached Kyushuu that afternoon (the southernmost of Japan's main four islands) we did a little sightseeing. We walked around an old, famous temple and looked at a display of giant things that they carry around during festivals in this town - kind of the equivalent of giant floats carried around during a parade. The pictures below through the glass display don't give a good idea of the large size, but I was taking them from my normal height.
The Ryokan We reached the hotel in "Karatsu," the bus driver BACKED into a tiny spot (impressive!), and we entered. The place had all the amenities of a hotel, but had Japanese style rooms. In a Japanese-style room, one sits and sleeps on a tatami-mat floor on futons. When we arrived, the futons were not laid out yet, but they had a low table and three floor chairs (a chair with no legs - don't know the exact term for it.) The room had its own outdoor bath but the bath was in easy view of the men's balcony a few doors down. We waved to them, but had no plans to use the bath. I was sharing the room with three women around my age (one of them Tamura-san, who is in charge of the Sakugi Magazine) and we sat down around the table. Almost immediately, they took massive amounts of beer out from within their luggage. We drank green tea and helped ourselves to the complimentary sweets first, though, before starting in on the beer. One of the fellows (the supervisor-ish type person, I found out later) chatted with us for awhile. It was actually pretty fun and my Japanese wasn't doing too badly. They mentioned my predecessor several times and I wondered if the trip last year was the last time they had seen her. This ryokan had an attached onsen (hot spring) and that was everyone's next destination since dinner was not for another hour or so.
More Than I Needed to See... At dinner, everyone except the four of us were in yukata robes (thin robes which every Japanese hotel provides, but only ryokans let you walk around the building just wearing the robe.) The men were all along one table, for the most part, and the women on the other. Dinner was (drumroll) fish and beer. It was very similar to lunch, so similar I wondered why the organizers did not try for a little variety. I figured fish must be some sort of luxury. This time, I drank some of the beer (and tried to ignore the cigarette smoke.) Anyway, toward the end of the dinner, the karaoke started. Yay! I could not find my song right away, so I watched as some other guys got on the stage thing next to the two long dinner tables and sung karaoke (with horrendous voices.) Then, I stood stunned as two fellows went up together, sung together and... started doing a little faux-strip show with their yukata robes! I definitely saw some boxer shorts and even a bit more. They seemed to be almost slow dancing with each other. Whoa! I kind of sat there, shocked, especially since everyone was cheering them on and one of the people up there was the supervisor-ish type fellow. I officially count this as my first instance of culture shock. I've never been to a bonenkai (year-end party) before, but now I know that the stuff I've read about was not an exaggeration. I found my song in the New Song section somewhat later, after I had drunk a little beer, I got up on stage to sing. Massive cheering all during my song, which made me happy. People are so impressed when I sing in Japanese. I don't think they quite realize HOW MANY times I've listened to "Melissa" for the sole purpose of karaokeing it. Oddly, no other woman got up to sing karaoke (though almost every guy did.)
Getting Drunk and Partying, Round 2 After another soak in the onsen, people got dressed and we gathered in the lobby. I had no clue why. Then we went into a hotel shuttle and the staff DROVE US to town so we could continue our good time at a bar. The best part of my staff trip was during the ride over: I sat in the second to last row (oooh, among the men) and I talked with four friendly guys not much older than me. Two wore glasses and they all had cute smiles. I had a feeling they would normally never talk to women this easily, but they were apparently now drunk enough to. Since the conversation pretty much kept simple topics in Japanese (like "Where are you from?" and "What kinds of foods do you like?"), funny phrases in English, or American pronunciation, I felt involved in the conversation the whole time so it was really fun. We were dropped off on a shop-filled street and the twenty or so of us (including, it seemed, the two women who worked for the chartered bus company) went up to a 'snack bar.' I had read that places called "snack bars" were really for men, but there were enough women with us that I was assured nothing inappropriate would happen (and nothing did as far as I could tell.) Anyway, so we filled the bar and the two tables behind. (I had to make a toilet break and the toilet looked like it was only used by men, which added to my theory about snack bars.) When I got back, everyone had a clear drink that looked like water and we toasted. I took a big sip and almost choked. No, not water. Definitely not water. Maybe gin? I got myself another drink quickly. Anyway, we started up the karaoke again pretty quickly and this time, the women sang (maybe because there was no getting up on stage here?) There was more flirting (supervisor-ish guy was slow dancing with a woman this time, and getting photographed by Tamura-san, as if to be blackmailed later) and more drinking. I sung American Pie (which was the long, long version and I even started to bore myself) and a Japanese song that got more of a reaction. I switched to water quickly and was pleased when the skimpily dressed, over-made up waitress gave me my own pitcher of water. People eventually stumbled out. Problem: four people to a room, but only one key. I was exhausted, but everyone else in my room wanted to go out for ramen (because ramen is famous in this area.) Eventually I convinced them that I was really too tired to go out and they gave me the key and I went back in a taxi with a few others. I soaked in the hot spring one more time and had a nice quiet half hour of reading. The other three came in later and did the same thing I did. I was sneaky and took the futon on the far end. Then I was super sneaky and turned it around so it was more feng shui. I really don't like sleeping in the middle, especially when they are people I don't know that well. I don't like the idea of waking up in the morning and looking at a random face. I have no idea what the etiquette is on this, but I'm sure I broke it. Oh, well, that's the privilege of being a foreigner.
IN A NUTSHELL: Kind of a Waste of a Day
No, Not for Breakfast! We woke up early (i.e. before 8). And I am not a before 9 kind of person. Everyone must think I'm always tired. Well, anyway, the four of us went down to breakfast and I took a seat next to Maruyama-san, who had already arrived. I waited for a menu, or a view of the buffet style breakfast I'd seen at other hotels. No. We were served quickly. Before I knew it, the meal in front of me was, and I'm not kidding, FISH AND BEER! I just stared in shock. I actually felt deprived at this point. Three meals with no meat, no main dish, just fish (both raw and cooked) and pickled vegetables. I couldn't do it. I could not eat any more fish. Not for breakfast. NEVER mess with my breakfast! All I could manage to eat was the bowl of rice. Maruyama-san asked me why I wasn't cleaning my plate and I tried to explain to her that it was BREAKFAST. But the Japanese don't have the same concept of breakfast as many other countries. She then offered me some beer. I tried again to explain to her that it was BREAKFAST! I told her it was way too early for me to drink beer. (I have a feeling that these people rarely drink because the drunk driving rules are immensely strict -- even people in the car can get charged for letting a drunk person drive -- so they seem to be making up for it now.) Too bad I don't even like beer. Maruyama-san ordered another bowl of rice for me and I ordered orange juice, but they couldn't even get that right. What I received was orange, but more like orange soda. Argh! And that was just the beginning...
So Where Do We Stop for Lunch? I couldn't believe it. I saw it on our itinerary, but I thought we were just doing a tour. No, we were actually eating lunch at the Asahi Beer Factory! Actually, though, this was the best meal we had. Why? Because we had MEAT! They served us slices of raw mutton (not sure why it was mutton and not beef) which we then cooked in boiling broth like sukiyaki or shabu-shabu. It wasn't bad at all! (Though I pity my successor if he or she is a vegetarian. Then again, maybe if I pleaded vegetarianism early on, I wouldn't have gotten so much fish.) Later, they served us a course of fish and the people next to me wondered why I wasn't interested. I don't want to see any more fish again for a long time. I more than filled up on the mutton and oolong tea I was served (instead of all-you-can-drink Asahi beer.)
Massive Fish Frustration, Part 2 I had a whole plan. See, I was sure they would be shocked if I did not want to stop and buy gifts and fish and the Marine Center thing on the way back. I planned to get out, browse for a little while, then enjoy a nice quiet twenty minutes on the bus with my book. (You can tell I'm in way too anti-social of a mood to be on a trip like this.) I deboarded with everyone else and walked to the fish store. I bought some more chocolate and marveled that the clerks at the fish center were wearing Santa Hats. When I got back to the bus, however, I found it was LOCKED. How rude!!! They left me trapped in the damn fish center for half an hour. I would have waited outside, but it was FREEZING. I walked back inside, very irked. I asked the first person I recognized where I could find the bus driver so I could get on the bus, but he told me I couldn't get back on for half an hour. He asked if I really didn't have any interest in the fish. I said sorry and that I didn't. He asked if I wasn't going to buy anything. I explained that I did not know how to make fish. He then showed me the giant crab and some of the other displays. I had to explain that I had just been to the fish market in Tsukiji. I think I saw the biggest and most impressive fish in the world and this place was small bananas compared to Tokyo. He then showed me where I could buy small tins of shark (a delicacy which I think he told me was banned in America) as a gift. I might have except it was $30 and I didn't know who would appreciate it. I tried to keep positive spirits since he was being so nice, but I was really, really irritated with everything. I tried to find just a regular box of sweets for a gift, but I actually had trouble finding some - it was all fish. It was a long half hour. I couldn't wait to get home.
Thank God for Uni Qlo and Cute Kids So on our way back, it was written in our itinerary that we were spending two HOURS at a shopping center. How big of a waste of time is that? Granted, it was a very impressive shopping center, but still, I can do this on my own time. After searching for a bathroom and afterward, marveling at the detailed Christmas decorations everywhere, I walked around completely bored. Most of the stores were clothes stores that sold clothes that were too small and/or strange for me. I did find Uni Qlo finally (a cheap clothes store, kinda like Target, if Target just did clothes) and tried stuff on, listening to Christmas music in the background. The fact that the fitting rooms are unisex is odd to me (I guess the store is called "uni qlo"), but at least there were not a million attendants waiting on me. Oddly, though, in order to try on the turtleneck sweater, the woman explained that I had to put on a hood thing. I seriously felt like I was donning a Ku Klux Klan outfit just to try on the garment. What germs was she afraid I was going to get on it? I almost didn't do it (who would know the difference) but in the end, I did. And I bought the sweater and a cheap jacket, so at least I felt like I got some use out of the silly shopping excursion. I spent a lot of time drooling over the DVDs in the HMV store then went up to go drool at the movie theatre on the top floor, since I wouldn't actually have enough time to see a movie. Actually, that was fun because two cute little elementary school aged girls in line to see a movie (probably Finding Nemo) said "Hello" to me and giggled. I said "Hello" back. It was really cute. When I left, they said "Bye, bye."
No One Told Me All The Good Stuff Was In The Basement Finally, about an hour and a half in, I saw Maruyama-san and Takata-san walking in the opposite direction. They were headed back to the bus early and asked if I didn't want to join them. I said sure (kind of wanting to be in a group if we were going to find it locked again) and we returned. It wasn't locked, though. Takata-san shared some yummy cream puffs with us. As we sat, I looked again at the shopping center map and realized that I had completely missed the basement floor and it looked like a bookstore was there (I had been looking for a bookstore during a lot of my stroll.) Maruyama-san needed a gift for her grandson, so we both walked back in. We had about 10 minutes left and it was NOW that I found the Good Stuff. The basement was a maze of little shops that sold all sorts of funny, eccentric stuff - great christmas stocking fodder at the least - and the piece of jewelry I was looking for. I even saw Santa walking around (I couldn't tell if it was a Japanese or a foreigner under the white beard.) I bought a couple things but got completely lost on my way out and could not find an exit. By this time of day, it was PACKED, and I was threading through massive crowds to get back on the bus. I was the last one on the bus; everyone was waiting. Moral of the Story: Go to Every Possible Floor before wandering around in a bored daze.
More Christmas Signs They were playing Here Comes Santa Claus at the rest stop. The toll booths had wreaths on them. There are Christmas trees in every shopping center, everywhere. Why? The only thing the Japanese do on Christmas is go out to dinner with their significant other and eat Christmas Cake, if that. They have no traditional, religious, or even commercial ways of celebrating this holiday. There are no present exchanges, no huge family gatherings, no Christmas trees, no business days off, and there are only a small percentage of Christians in Japan (mostly foreigners). My only explanation for it is that the Japanese will take any reason at all to decorate something or make it "cute."
IN A NUTSHELL: Christmas With the Kids
Making Christmas Trees Today's Elementary School Lesson was a lot of fun. First I asked everyone what they knew about Christmas (and I was kind of surprised they knew about both the Santa Claus part and the Jesus part.) Then, I basically gave everyone a photocopy of a blank Christmas Tree and had them decorate it while I played Christmas music in the background. I had a bunch of examples on the board and a step-by-step guide so they would know to cut it out. It was the easiest lesson I ever had, though I really should have not bothered with the 'traditional' Christmas music for the fourth graders (my first class). I should have just rotated the various "Learning English" CDs I have with Christmas songs like I did with the rest of the grades. I was really surprised to see the teachers singing along to the songs, in ENGLISH (despite that none of them really spoke it.) I heard the following songs over and over: Jingle Bells, O Christmas Tree, Silent Night, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
