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.
5 comments:
The oboe probably needs new reeds-- maybe more. What do you think, Greg? If you want it, we'll send it but be sure you really think you can get some use out of it.
You pack a lot into 1 note, Samantha! A new family car! How cute....oh yes, I hope that break-checking means she rear-ended you, apparently not seriously hurting you. Gotta stop. Note too long. MPM
The oboe plan was concocted several margaritas into the evening. I'm not sure how serious Naoto was.
And no, break-checking unfortunately refers to the car in front of you slamming onto their breaks so fast you don't have time to react. So Sam hit the woman. Everyone's fine, but we're going to have to pay to replace her bumper. And figure out how to pay for the new car we're now driving. We're operating on small-town good will for the moment.
Oh, woe is me. Sam put such a good spin on things; now I realize it's not so much fun. I'll write more via e-mail. MPM
What's a "shakken"?
David
A shakken is a mandatory, biennial vehicle inspection on steroids (also included in the shakken is the statutory minimum liability insurance). All cars three years old and older must undergo inspection. The permit itself runs about $200, and of course if the helpful gentlemen inspecting your car find anything wrong with it they'll fix it for you - at a premium labor rate.
My friend Eddie just shelled out about $1,400 to have his 7 year-old (very tiny) SUV shakkened.
All this is of course on top of the annual vehicle taxes, based on engine size. We pay about $50 a year, but someone with a 4L Jeep would pay more like $600.
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