With his trim and athletic build, English teacher David Colburn may not seem a natural candidate to play Santa Claus. But in the past year, he's learned to adapt to a lot of new roles.
During his stay in Japan during the 1995-96 school year, Colburn was exposed to a variety of activities, from running in races to watching sumo wrestling to singing karaoke to directing a symphony orchestra.
"He ran four days a week, sang karaoke, and wrote and wrote and wrote," said Colburn's wife, Jo Anne. "We have a diary that could make several books."
The Colburns wanted to give their youngest daughter, Patti, the experience of living overseas, so they traveled to the city of Uto Shi, Japan. Montana and Kumamoto are sister states, and in an exchange program between the two, Colburn and his wife were two of the official exchange teachers from Montana.
The landscape was dramatically different in Japan.
"It's very mountainous, with rivers and forests like Montana," recalls Colburn. "The mountains are shorter, steeper, and more crowded together. Palm trees grow on the flats and bamboo grass is in the mountains. The air is very polluted with smoke, chemicals, and mist.
"The area is crowded with people, like the way the Flathead (Valley) will be in 10 years."
The aspect of life in Japan that was hardest to adapt to was the language. Colburn studied Japanese in his spare time, but his wife said they often "felt blocked out" by the difficulty of reading the language.
Colburn's primary purpose for being in Japan was to teach English.
"Teaching didn't really leave time for learning Japanese," recalls Jo Anne. "We were hired for teaching English, not for learning Japanese.
"When the children didn't understand what he was saying in English, he would draw on the board and act out what he was saying to help them understand.
"He's a great teacher."
During their stay in Japan, Colburn and his family traveled throughout the region whenever they could. Colburn even went to a meeting where he was given a baton and directed the Kumamoto Symphony - and later played handbells with the symphony.
While overseas, the Japanese would often ask Colburn why he came to their country. His response was simple:
"I came because life is short, and new experiences make it interesting."