Week 15: It's gotten cold!

Guess what I did last Monday!

It's in Osaka

Yaaaay!

I went with a friend who is a TOTAL Potterhead, and we spent most of our time in Hogsmead just squeeing over everything and me trying to convince myself not to buy everything.

We went on Monday, but it WAS a national Holiday, so it's not like it was MUCH less crowded.

However, it wasn't near Halloween, and it predicted rain, so it wasn't TOO bad.  There were random people dressed in Christmas outfits

SO CUTE

And like everywhere, they loved their funny hats

I didn't get it, but I WAS tempted. Sucker was WARM.

To get to Potter-land, you have to wait your turn, so first we went to the Sesame street area.  It was, as my friend said, kinda like what you think being on drugs is like.

Happy drugs.

I had FAR too much fun in the balloon pit, and then, of course, we had to build something

it's ART

You know, I kinda thought I was over Harry Potter. and...I am! Which is why I DIDN'T squee like a little girl when I entered Hogsmead.  mostly

The forced perspective was AWESOME

We saw the toad choir

And then waited in line for the ride for TWO HOURS.  My friend said it beat last time she came, that was 5.  :P

There was food

TINY pasties!

And beautiful stuff to see

LOOK at that cloth!

Olivanders. Wands.

And some fun stuff to buy

Lucious' cane wand

Kid's capelet

robes. They SWISH

SO MUCH CANDY

And I DIDN'T BUY IT ALL.  Just a scarf.  I kept telling myself I had other plans for the money and shouting down the voice that said "it swishes! It's comfy! So cute! Doesn't cost THAT much!"

I still want Professor McGonnagle's wand.

We left to check out more of the park and came back at night so we could see the castle lit up

so pretty!

And we caught the Christmas tree lighting up!

And then we hoofed it home because we had school in the morning.

School was school.

I taught First grade again in my Monday/Tuesday school, they are STILL so cute! Next week I teach second grade. I think they're trying to get the kids looking forward to it. :)  (that, or they said "you know, she only teaches three classes this day, she must be bored." Which I'll admit, I was.)

Friday was my interesting day. For ONCE in the week, it wasn't raining, (such a cold, rainy week)

And I was looking over my lesson schedules and I kept thinking "if only I didn't have to teach ONE Friday of 6th grade, I could get them to line up before Christmas. ONE day."

So I show up for school and Friday school says "Oh, hey, because we had rain yesterday, we're holding our running activity today, so you won't have to teach."

and I thought "great! They'll line up!"

and she said "except 6th grade. You still have to teach that."

And I thought "Of course. Great."
 (and I SAID "SURE! No problem!")

So, they ran! It was impressive! Mostly because it was COLD. that wind cut right through you!  At least it was sunny, so it was a LITTLE warm.  What impressed me were the kids.  First of all, the 1-2 graders ran 2 and a half laps.  The 3-4 ran 3 and a half. the 5-6 graders ran 4 laps!  And they all ran! Stick-to-it kids!  Didn't matter if they were laps behind the others, they FINISHED, and they weren't walking, they jogged!

Also what was impressive was, they don't have winter PE uniforms, so they ran like this.

cold just LOOKING at them!

That's right! Shorts and t-shirts!  many of the girls wore long socks. But they really had the idea of "get moving so you stay warm".

For each grade level, first the girls would run, then the boys.  Because the numbers are fairly even, each student was assigned a partner, and THEY kept track of their laps, so the teachers didn't have to. :)

And they did! I saw one girl go in and retrieve a boy who had missed his last lap and made him run it!

More than that, they really encouraged each other.  When one chubby kid was almost done (laps behind everyone else) about half of his class got up and ran him in the last bit, calling encouragement the entire time!

It was so great to see!

My own pedometer said I had walked a long way that day, but I think most of it was from me jumping up and down to stay warm myself!

Saturday, I went down to Yuasa! Before you ask, it's south of here, in Wakayama. You can google it.
Anyhow! I read in a magazine that Yuasa has a soy sauce factory!  Why is this cool? Because they still make it the OLD FASHIONED way.  I thought this would be interesting to check out, so I invited a small group of people.

(*I* got together a group of people. Think about THAT)

and we met there and saw the factory!  It was pretty cool!

They used cedar barrels that were about 100 years old (the barrels, not the sauce)

and when I say Barrels, I mean casks almost the size of my room.

and use long sticks to stir it

which we did not get to see. Oh well.

and they press out the sauce!

reminded me of an apple press

And then we got to make our own!

soy beans, flour, salt, yeast

and water! Now let it ferment for a year.

So I have a bottle of baby soy sauce!  In a year, I will have soy sauce ready to eat. :)

I have to take care of it though. If I don't mix it and open it regularly, the gasses build up and they say that if that happens, be sure to open it in the shower.  Then clean the ceiling.

We had soy sauce ice cream too!

actually pretty good!

and then we walked around the town. It was really small, so people kept stopping to stare at the four foreigners wandering aimlessly and talking. :)  One kid literally stopped in his tracks as he was running along.

Lovely day!

that's actually a sidewalk...

ORANGE SEASON!

This house has...a MOAT

At one point, a guy saw us staring at his yard, and just pulled a branch of four oranges off his tree to give to us!  They were such good oranges! :D  I can't always get them fresh, but since they are in season, I can resume my eating of oranges hand over fist here.

Which makes me glad. 

Week 14: Fall leaves!

'Tis the season for maple leaves to turn a BRILLIANT red and for everyone else to go out and see them!

Sadly, the camera really doesn't capture the colors.

Monday, I had off (because school Saturday) so a friend and I went on a walk I discovered north of here. (Ah, google search, how I have used you so much here)  And it was cool! It was a BEAUTIFUL day, and most of it we hiked in our t-shirts still.

The hike runs along an abandoned railway line, so it runs through about 6 railway tunnels (for which we need to bring flashlights)

DOOOOOOMMM

Thankfully, our phones double as flashlights, and fairly bright ones too!  I still managed to turn my ankle a few times. :P

However, it did make for some great views coming out!

so artistic.

inside the tunnel

and the area was BEAUTIFUL.

And we got to see some cool plants!

Most of the other leaves are still green, but the maple looks good!

this spiky thing is apparently in the legume family

fall flowers!

And I tried to stay out of trouble, though it called to me.

"don't climb the rocks"

"don't climb the ladder"

"don't go off trail"

WHO'S THAT TRIP TRAPPING OVER MY BRIDGE?!

But! overall, as mentioned, it was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun. :)

Worked hard during the week, but was glad it was a 4 day week.  (I'm so lazy!)  There was a change up! Normally on Tuesdays, I teach three 5th grade classes, well THIS week, I ALSO taught two 1st grade classes! :D  THEY WERE SO CUTE!!  My translator came along to help out so they could ask questions.  We worked on "hello, my name is" and I introduced my family, and then we played "rock, paper, scissors" :)  They thought it was great too, it's fun being the school superstar. :D

The rest of the week was normal.

I know people are wondering, I have not gotten a letter about my bike yet. When I mentioned this at church, a few people gave me a "whaaa?" look and advised me to just go to the impound lot, so I'll do that first chance I can.

As my bike is not here, I've been riding the train to school and doing a lot of walking, so my legs are being worked in a different way than biking, so those muscles are hurting again.  ::sigh:: I wish it were as simple as "Oh, my legs are strong now" but noooOOOooo, it's specific MUSCLES.

One interesting thing that happened in one school.  Apparently, using a squat toilet requires a little skill, and some of the kids are getting sloppy, so they've put this new sign next to the toilets

I especially loved the distressed poop at the top.

You know, it makes sense, but...still kinda funny. :)

Saturday, I heard about a ceramics festival in Kyoto, and I wanted to go! But I also heard about a bunch of people going to Minoo to see the fall leaves, and I wanted to go!  So I figured I could do both.

First Kyoto, I got off the train, and there was just this huge mass of people going one direction, so I figured, "Ok, I'll see what they're up to"

what's this?

There was NO getting closer

A temple!

Not the temple I was looking for, but quite lovely.

So after that, I went to the temple I WAS looking for

How lovely, right? and less people!

This symbolizes long life.

flowering bonsai!

no troll here!

a little tower hidden in the trees!

How's THIS for some leaf colors?

He was helping him find bugs, I think.

No ceramics though.  I enjoyed my walk, but I HAD come for the ceramics. I was quite disappointed.  Well...mildly disappointed, because it really was QUITE lovely.

And I did find a store selling ceramics, so I got one.

And in honor of the season, I got maple leaves on it!

Look at my cup! Isn't it pretty?

it doesn't raise the dead.  It does hold cocoa though!

After that, I hoofed it over to Minoo.  Well, ok, I rode the train over to Minoo.

Met some random people from the internet

LOOK. I SOCIALIZED.

And.... saw the leaves

more of 'em

Minoo is known for the maple leaves and the waterfall

not that one.

that one.

The plus side of traveling with people is you can ask them to take a picture for you.

I never mastered the selfie

They had some interesting food!  I tried the deer burger

needed pickles, but the horseradish helped make up for it.

and the Minoo specialty, deep fried maple leaves!

They're a thing

There IS in fact, a leaf in there, but I'll be honest, mostly you're eating the batter.  Which was really tasty.  Sesame and something.

After all that walking, I was TIRED and so we stopped in a foot onsen

best part was it being free

And trucked it on home.

All in all, a good week!  I'm still glad I don't have school Monday though! :D

(to those jealous I have had so many Mondays off, you'll be glad to know I don't have any more vacations until Christmas) :P