Blogs from Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan, Asia - page 4

Finally we visited a school. Today we were guests at an elementary school and to no surprise we received a warm welcome. After a quick introduction to the teachers, we were off to the media production room for morning announcements. The equipment used to make the announcements was quite impressive. After this, we were free to visit any classroom. Some classrooms tried their best to go about their regular routine, while other classrooms were definitely entertaining their special guests from America. Whether things appeared to be orderly or pure mayhem, there was no question as to who was in charge. The teacher basically just needed to speak in a regular voice and the students listened quickly. What also greatly impressed me was the high level of tolerance to noise. A classroom next door could be ... read more

For some reason I'm not feeling rested at all after a 4 day weekend...Maybe it was the late night run, or the long Culture Day at school on Saturday. I think it must have been the mountain climb on Sunday and the Monday shopping spree. Dinner at Handa sensei's house Monday night did help to revive the senes, though. She served a huge meal of sashimi, seaweed and cucumber salad, roasted potatoes with beef, a traditional vegetable soup, rice, and of course what is a meal without steamed broccoli and spaghetti? One would think by looking at the size of most Japanese that Handa sensei's husband and thin daughter only nibbled at their plates. But they completely cleared their plates! So I had to follow suit. I almost couldn't, but her husband joked that I must ... read more

This week was spent trying to get in as much sun time as possible before the cold weather hits, as all of my coworkers have been warning will happen soon. Until then I am enjoying the 70 degrees and sunny weather everyday. This week was pretty crazy, from Japanese lessons to my first class of 65 first grade students to my first traditional tea ceremony. The class with 65 first graders didn't accomplish too much, but I did manage to teach them the sesame street numbers song (numbers 11 and 12 were new for them). I also introduced them to the words big, small, fast and slow. The relay race these words belonged to, however, was much more of a failure. Thankfully the teachers kept smiles on their faces and seemed to appreciate the class anyways. ... read more

This past weekend was filled with yet more fall festivals and craziness with the shrines, and another mountain bike ride. Hojo shi hosted its own fall festival, which lasted Thursday through Sunday. One of the portable shrine base camps just happened to be located directly under my porch. I heard all of the gongs, drums, and sake parties at all hours of day and night for the past 3 days. Some of which I of course participated in. Each neighborhood area has its own portable shrine which they store in a temporary structure, and host somewhat of a block party (with a little religious connotation). Thursday night I strolled Hojo's streets with some of my junior high students, following the men pushing the portable shrines and marching to the beat of the little kids' plastic whistles ... read more

Another weekend of Sports Days (this time it was the Elementary schools, so I didn't get to participate). First a wine and cheese night at my house Saturday night with some fellow JETs. We enjoyed a fine meal at the local "Betty Crocker" restaraunt on the ocean, then hung out at my flat for some wine and cheese. Not exactly fine wine or the greatest cheese. It's hard to find good cheese on Shikoku. The Hokkaido versions of Camembert just don't quite cut it, and leave the party cutting more cheese later in the night. Sorry, bad joke. But true. Sunday I burned my cheeks watching the Hojo Elementary School Sports Day. The relays were the best. Some of the first graders would forget to hand off the baton creating complete confusion in the race. Kawai!!! ... read more