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Published: March 21st 2007
Miscellany- a collection containing a variety of sorts of things (
Modern Language Association (MLA):
"miscellany." WordNet® 2.1. Princeton University. 23 Mar. 2007. . )
This blog is an example of just that- it is a collection containing snippets of all the adventures I have had in the last little while, to get you up to date before I leave the Land of the Rising Sun and head to the land of the Whingeing Pom (that's what its known as right??)
As an aside, I would like to know the origin of the name the Land of the Rising Sun- I know that Nippon (the Japanese word for Japan) means rising sun, and that the flag represents this but WHY??? 500 yen for anyone who can shed some light, or sun, on this matter.
More Strawberries Took Rebekah strawberry picking- still yum!
Zoo Visit In third term the kindergarten goes on an excursion to the Nihondaira Zoo. The zoo itself is a little disappointing, the kids however, love love loved it and were super excited to see their favourite animals and even hold a rabbit and a chick. It was great to see them
so happy and was a nice day out with all their families. It was the last occasion for everyone to be in the same spot, so I had to make a speech. I got encho to translate part of it for me into Japanese, so the parents could understand. They appreciated it and I was a hit- the kids thought it was hilarious!!
Safari Park A lovely sunny day called for a lovely little road trip so Rebekah and I drove to the Fuji Safari Park. I was a little worried that it would be like the Zoo but was definitley wrong- it is fantastic, obviously has been done up a lot to meet regulations after two people got eaten there a couple of years ago!! Yes, deadly serious. You can choose to drive your own car around or go in the super cool buses that look like safari animals and be driven around. This also gets you vegies to feed the black bears and meat to feed the lions- yes I fed a real live lioness with my bare hands (and a pair of tongs through a wire cage). But still, totally heart stopping to be that
mmmmmmmm
More condensed milk pleaseclose, especially when the bus driver tapped on the wire to make it roar!
On the way home we checked out the Shiraitonotaki Waterfalls, and crappy Lake Tanuki, where we did not see one tanuki!
Graduation- Japanese Style Whod have thunk it- graduation from kindy!!! But that of course, is the Japanese way! It was a beautiful and very emotional day, the parents were so proud and it was very formal, the kids had been practising so hard and it all went swimmingly. My favourite part of the ceremony was when little Uta from my class had to stand up and make a speech to the graduating kids. He did such a wonderful job in his gruff little voice, I was so proud. After the ceremony the parents put on a lovely lunch for us staff at a flasho hotel in the city. It was touching to see the parents gratitude, they all made a speech and some of them even spoke English so that we could understand. The highlight of the lunch for me was when all of the mothers sang a song to thank the staff and to say goodbye to MEK. Very very emotional
and the emotion and sentiment expressed was felt despite the language barrier. The only downer, especially for Hiedi as it was her last chance to see her kids, was that we had to rush off to get back in time for my stinky tuition.
Sayonara Japan Doma Doma my favourite, favourite restaurant in Shizuoka was the site of Hiedi and my staff farewell dinner. We had great food and everyone made a speech, it was all loverly jubberly. Then after wed stuffed ourselves silly Nagata made us all go back to Chatty to eat salami (its her favourite) and pig tongue (definitley not my favourite). It was nice to have a chance to say goodbye to everyone and to celebrate the end of a great school year.
On Monday Simon and Matt planned a special day for me. We went to a sushi train for lunch (a whole year in Japan and this was a first!!) and then went to see Deja Vu at Shimizu and then Matt made lasagna. Ben and Theresa joined us later and we went for a drive to see the city lights- it was a lovely day and good to spend some
time with the boys before I have to say goodbye.
The other teacher at MEK (who shall remain nameless) left on Tuesday, the same day that Marissa arrived back in Japan yay yay. Rebekah and I went to the other flat to drop some of the stuff Marissa had left and make it welcoming for her and were greeted by a stomach turning stench and (to borrow a phrase from Matt) a quagmyre of shit. I wouldnt write about it, but it was so shocking and made me so angry that I wanna document it. Rebekah had a horrible time in the fridge chucking out mouldy meat and fruit and in total we collected nine bag fulls of rubbish, coke bottles, juice bottles, shoes that had just been left, soggy towels from the cupboards and general crap. There was a plastic sheet on the floor covered in water, and when I picked this up the tatami mats underneath were saturated and soggy and covered in mould. We spent two hours there before Rebekah nearly threw up when she went to clean the bathroom and we decided it was time to ring Mrs Nagata and let her deal with it.
So much for a nice welcome for Marissa. The tatami mats need to be replaced and new bedding bought before anyone can live there.
The upshot of all that is that Marissa is staying at the Mansion as well, along with Cate the other new teacher who arrived last night. Just one big slumber party! And nice for me to have everyone under the same roof.
Last Saturday Night-
Stay tuned..............
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Pinkdaisy
Rebekah Fahey
Finished.........
Its taken awhile but your finally finished and it was worth the wait. Great blog, great to read and of course great photos, yes I am beautiful!!!!! ha ha I am glad that you and I dont live like pigs, there is no excuse for that.....and we had better things to do than clean up her place cos she was to lazy to do it......... On the subject that is close....I am very sad about it!!!!!!!! Love you, hugs and kisses especially on your little ears.