happy halloween and happy november

on friday i did some paper/card/stamping crafts with my students (i have a part time job teaching conversational english to japanese adults, mostly). these were the stamps i carved, which were super fun. they are carved from soft eraser-like rubber that is sold for that purpose, and i want to make more; it's such a satisfying and quick (well, depending how detailed you get!) craft.
halloween has become popular relatively recently in japan, maybe in the last 5 years, and it come as mainly a commercial event, where stores put up decorations and sell lots of pumpkin themed products. there's no trick or treating, and no pumpkin carving (you can buy imported american pumpkins at foreign groceries for $25, and japanese kabucha are too hard to carve, trust me. if you are in japan and feel the need to make a jack o lantern, i recommend using a turnip like they did in the original olden days). anyway, i had fun explaining the meaning of 'boo!' as opposed to booing an unpopular sports team.


and happy november! i've decided to give nablopomo another go this month, the classic month for daily blogging. which i think will be great, since recently i feel like i have so many projects i want to try, and things i'd like to share here. and some goals around the theme of becoming more organized and disciplined. back in college the first time, i remember november being a terrible dismal month, but i don't feel that way at all this year. a big part of that probably has to do with being in kyoto/japan, where november is really still part of fall, with crisp but not too cold weather and the best and most vivid fall leaves.