Yesterday we came within about 30 minutes of being sent home early due to flash flooding. The remains of an old typhoon spent the day passing overhead and turned our track and field into a small lake. Fortunately (or unfortunately, since I was looking forward to an afternoon nap), the rain let up just in time for us to finish out the day.
Naturally the ground outside the school was quite muddy after this torrent. When I went outside at around 4, Naoki, a first grader, was covered in water and mud. I quickly realized why when he dove belly-down into the mud, dug around a bit, then fashioned one of the more impressive mud-balls (think snowball, except brown and drippy) I had ever seen in my life. He then stood up and bellowed "o-ne san!" (big sister) in an evil voice and started hunting for Yui (shown here with Daiki) big brother to both Yui and Naoki. A chase and a brief battle ensued.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Update and stuff.
So, I guess I haven't made an update in a while. Erm, we had our Sports Festival a few weeks ago, around the same time as Greg's. I spent 8 hours running around the field all professional photographer style. This means that I spent 8 hours doing squats. I didn't lose any weight, which pisses me off because I could hardly walk for the 3 days afterwards! It was actually bad enough to make me wonder if I would be happier peeing on the couch instead of walking downstairs to use the toilet.
Red team leader Ryousuke leads his team in cheers.
This is the "Chicken Dance" (as 3rd grader Yuusuke told me).
2nd graders Yoshiyuki and Itsuki look happy to have taken 1st place.
5th grader Mayuko picks up a karuta card for the Red team.
White team leader Takahiro got first place in the 6th grade race. Behind him, Kanako looks slightly upset.
4th graders Kie and Anna got karuta cards too!
About half of last year's graduating class made it back to the Sports Festival this year.
2nd grader Manami looking very serious about her marching.
5th grader Kanami and 6th grader Airi tally the score.
We have two new ALTs from JET in town. Tamara is working at the middle school and Thomas is at the Elementary school. They are both super awesome and social and we had a drunken fiesta at Tammy's house. Angie and Millie came into town for it and fun was had by all (except the cats, who were angry we didn't come home that night). At the party Naoto recommended that Greg play his oboe this year at the Christmas concert. It would have been nice if he had said that BEFORE we visted home, but apparently that's too much brain thinking. Anyway, I guess if someone could throw that in the mail to Greg (the sooner the better, I would think) that would be good.
Finally, some lady decided to break-check me at an intersection on Monday. So, because our car is old and crummy, we have a new one. Not new new, but it's a 2001. One of my teachers taught me 不幸中の幸い, which means a good thing in an unfortunate event. Our old car was 11 years old, needed breaks and new hoses and belts, and was up for shakken in February which would be expensive. Our new car is much newer so it doesn't have these problems and doesn't need a shakken until next September.
Red team leader Ryousuke leads his team in cheers.
This is the "Chicken Dance" (as 3rd grader Yuusuke told me).
2nd graders Yoshiyuki and Itsuki look happy to have taken 1st place.
5th grader Mayuko picks up a karuta card for the Red team.
White team leader Takahiro got first place in the 6th grade race. Behind him, Kanako looks slightly upset.
4th graders Kie and Anna got karuta cards too!
About half of last year's graduating class made it back to the Sports Festival this year.
2nd grader Manami looking very serious about her marching.
5th grader Kanami and 6th grader Airi tally the score.
We have two new ALTs from JET in town. Tamara is working at the middle school and Thomas is at the Elementary school. They are both super awesome and social and we had a drunken fiesta at Tammy's house. Angie and Millie came into town for it and fun was had by all (except the cats, who were angry we didn't come home that night). At the party Naoto recommended that Greg play his oboe this year at the Christmas concert. It would have been nice if he had said that BEFORE we visted home, but apparently that's too much brain thinking. Anyway, I guess if someone could throw that in the mail to Greg (the sooner the better, I would think) that would be good.
Finally, some lady decided to break-check me at an intersection on Monday. So, because our car is old and crummy, we have a new one. Not new new, but it's a 2001. One of my teachers taught me 不幸中の幸い, which means a good thing in an unfortunate event. Our old car was 11 years old, needed breaks and new hoses and belts, and was up for shakken in February which would be expensive. Our new car is much newer so it doesn't have these problems and doesn't need a shakken until next September.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
秋季大運動会
That title reads shuji dai-undoukai, "big fall sports festival." The kids spend a few weeks in September practicing a couple dances and how to march across the field. Then on the second or third Saturday of the school term the school holds the festival where they compete in relay races they never got around to practicing (though they walk on and off the field in perfect formation). Japan.
Above, the aforementioned marching. And yes, this is the entire student body of my school. All 33 of them.
Every schoolkid in Japan, by order of the Ministry of Education, spends a bunch of time riding a unicycle. Some of them are quite good at it. About 15 of our students (and two teachers) managed to hold hands and cycle across the field in a giant line. Above you can see them preparing.
Yuusaku, from the 2nd grade, doing his best to look threatening. I was shaking in my shoes.
Shuuka, also a second grader. This is the girl who insists on riding on my shoulders every day.
Since our student body isn't large enough to put on four hours of events all by itself, the PTA chips in, and so does the Shibayama Volunteer Fire Department. Many of these men are parents of students at Hishida, but not all of them.
As perhaps you can tell, this event consisted of the men forming pyramids, with the men in front and on top sporting helmets adorned with fragile plastic balls. The pyramids of men (six in all) roamed the field attacking each other with inflatable mallets until the balls were all burst, or the men fell down. It was entertaining. Our announcer reported the loss of the team in the back of this photo thus: "Otake-san no atama ga owarimashita." - "Mr. Otake's head is finished."
These two girls were our graduating class in the spring (Somehow, Japan has figured out how to stretch a graduation ceremony for two girls out to about 90 minutes). They came back for the day to watch younger siblings, and to participate in events that included Hishida graduates.
Above, the aforementioned marching. And yes, this is the entire student body of my school. All 33 of them.
Every schoolkid in Japan, by order of the Ministry of Education, spends a bunch of time riding a unicycle. Some of them are quite good at it. About 15 of our students (and two teachers) managed to hold hands and cycle across the field in a giant line. Above you can see them preparing.
Yuusaku, from the 2nd grade, doing his best to look threatening. I was shaking in my shoes.
Shuuka, also a second grader. This is the girl who insists on riding on my shoulders every day.
Since our student body isn't large enough to put on four hours of events all by itself, the PTA chips in, and so does the Shibayama Volunteer Fire Department. Many of these men are parents of students at Hishida, but not all of them.
As perhaps you can tell, this event consisted of the men forming pyramids, with the men in front and on top sporting helmets adorned with fragile plastic balls. The pyramids of men (six in all) roamed the field attacking each other with inflatable mallets until the balls were all burst, or the men fell down. It was entertaining. Our announcer reported the loss of the team in the back of this photo thus: "Otake-san no atama ga owarimashita." - "Mr. Otake's head is finished."
These two girls were our graduating class in the spring (Somehow, Japan has figured out how to stretch a graduation ceremony for two girls out to about 90 minutes). They came back for the day to watch younger siblings, and to participate in events that included Hishida graduates.
goings on
Both of our schools had their annual undoukai (Sports Festivals, roughly) on Saturday. In exchange for the six-day workweek, we were given today off. Monday was a holiday in Japan, national be-nice-to-your-old-people day (I think the official translation is Respect for the Aged Day). Other than an excuse for department stores to sell a lot of massage chairs I'm not sure what purpose the holiday serves. My students don't seem to do anything special. Anyway, I'll have some pictures from Saturday up soon. In the meantime, enjoy this snippet of Japanese television.
Monday, September 11, 2006
and you thought your school lunches were bad
Today's menu consisted of octopus stew, pickled burdock root salad, and a seaweed omlette.
I usually can eat everything, but today... damn.
I usually can eat everything, but today... damn.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Yes!
Today at work I ate some grapes. Usually this wouldn't be a problem, but it induced some toilet needs. Usually at 4:30 in the afternoon I would just hold it until we get home because I am not about to use those toilets with 20 minutes to go. However, Greg had mentioned some rearranging at his school so I decided to check it out. Indeed, I entered the bathroom to find a western style toilet had replaced one of the nasty floor pits! Now I can use the toilet at school like a dignified human.
Update from Greg: I actually snapped some pictures with my camera phone to better illustrate what Sam's talking about. What my mother referred to as the "squatty potty" really does defy description. Anyway, 1000 words and all that.
One of these...
... was mercifully replaced with one of these (at Greg's school too).
Update from Greg: I actually snapped some pictures with my camera phone to better illustrate what Sam's talking about. What my mother referred to as the "squatty potty" really does defy description. Anyway, 1000 words and all that.
One of these...
... was mercifully replaced with one of these (at Greg's school too).
Friday, September 01, 2006
first day of school
Apologies for leaving this space unchanged for so long. We were trying to do as little as humanly possible during our last days of vacation.
The weather had actually been bearable the last few days of August, so this morning when I saw it was cloudy I thought it would be a comforatable day. It was, at first. Then I had to put on a wool suit and stand in the gymnasium for an hour. But at least all the other men at the school were suffering equally. Japan is silly.
The weather had actually been bearable the last few days of August, so this morning when I saw it was cloudy I thought it would be a comforatable day. It was, at first. Then I had to put on a wool suit and stand in the gymnasium for an hour. But at least all the other men at the school were suffering equally. Japan is silly.
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