Week 22: The search for a decent title

SO! This week wasn't actually very exciting.

Lots of work, of course.

Along with a lot of working to get better.

So, no after work adventures, not really.

On the bright side, I feel much better now! Yay!

Anyhow! CUTE thing was happening in my Wed/Thurs school!  This school has a year's worth of lesson plans already written out, so I just kinda...embellish them sometimes.  Anyhow, so the school seems to LOVE "Brown bear, brown bear, what can you see?" By Eric Carle.  I mean, the kids have the sucker almost memorized by grade 3.  So, 4th grade (to whom I read it earlier) made their OWN versions!  Each kid picked an animal, drew/painted it some crazy color and they had their own version of a page!

So! THEN, it got exciting, because they were in groups of 4-5, and during recess, they went to the 1-3rd grade classrooms and PRESENTED their books to the kids!

First they introduced themselves (In English) and then they said what they liked, and then they recited their book! (remember, I don't work with this grade!)

yellow monkey

blue cat

pink bird

purple dolphin

And they presented it as if they were reading the book "yellow monkey, yellow monkey, what do you see? I see a blue cat looking at me."  And it was SO GOOD!  Their pronunciation was so good and I was just so impressed!  Then they asked the 1-3rd graders questions about the presentation to see if they were paying attention!  I was just standing in the back of each classroom, grinning my head off, because it was SO COOL.

One girl picked "pink squirrel" and I'm like "bless you child, you just chose the hardest animal for a Japanese person to pronounce."

So, contracts are up soon, so I kinda told them I'd like to transfer up North.  I hear it's really pretty, there's more weather than cold/hot/rainy. (they have SNOW) and less...city.  BUT, I like it here too!  Well, mostly I like the people.  I've made friends, the schools are cool, and I know where things are. And there are so many fun festivals!

Anyhow, they gave me a call, so I contacted them (after panicking and running all the possible negative things I might have done through my head) and it turns out my schools REALLY want me back.  Like... REALLY.  And can I PLEASE stay, because lots of contracts are closing in this area and they want me to stay.

I asked for a raise.

I haven't heard back yet, and I'll probably stay anyhow, there's still so much to SEE and DO and it costs a blamed fortune to move. (one I don't have)  I never realized how stressful asking for a raise could be though.  I'm also applying for other international schools, because why not?

And it was nice to be told they like me and want me around.

Anyhow! Back to the week!

Friday it rained and rained and RAINED. I mean like, all day.  It was steady.  Sometimes it got harder and sometimes softer, but CONSTANT.  The one bright side of this was this awesome scene I saw.

and really tried to capture on camera

Of an entire group of students being escorted somewhere, so it was just this...LONG line of umbrellas walking along.  I thought it was cute.  And yes.  EVERY CHILD in Japan owns an umbrella.  Because it would be dumb not to.

Saturday I heard it was going to rain, so a friend from Church and I went to the Osaka aquarium!  It didn't rain, but we still went.

Before we went in though, there was an acrobat guy!

he was GOOD

And it was really fun watching him because I could, more or less, still understand what was going on.

he's eating a candy with chopsticks with the other hand.

Anyhow, then we went into the aquarium!  It was pretty awesome!

there were fish!

They had lots of animals like

otters

puffer fish

penguins (and baby emperor!)

waterfall crabs

whatever THIS ugly monster was...

Their biggest tank was the "Pacific tank" and for starters, it was over 3 stories deep. I know this because the walkway circled around it and had 3 levels of viewing all underwater.

This thing was awesome, because it held the REAL attraction here

The WHALE SHARK

IT WAS SO COOL!  And there were other animals of course, and they kept coming right next to the windows!

I love Rays

shark!

there was a column of silver fish too.

HI!

And there was a diver inside, vacuuming the gravel, and he was dressed as an oni!

demon pants!

Oni are translated as demon or ogre as the occasion demands.

There were jellyfish, which I just LOVE

they're so PRETTY

And there was a petting area!  (not of the jellyfish)

I petted a RAY!  AND a shark!

They felt so COOL!  The shark was all rough and the ray was smooth and I loved it! :D

We had dinner and still had some time, so she took me to the "Osaka Sky Garden" which is the biggest tower in Osaka. Built to basically BE the biggest tower in Osaka.  Though I'm pretty sure there are offices in there too.

be a waste of space otherwise.

It was really high up there

floor 173, gardens, food and acrophobia

But the view was GREAT

wonder what it would look like if all the lights turned off...

they didn't have a glass floor, thankfully

And one floor up there was even an observation deck!

it was dark

It was lots of fun, and we had a good time

Have a great week!

Week 21: Being sick means I don't want to be productive.

Sooo! I didn't write last week! Why? Because I was sick.  This is the story of how I became sick.

First of all, it was cold.

It was cold enough to snow.  It didn't!  But it was cold enough, which is a little frustrating.  I kept shifting layers to try and find the right level of "warm" mixed with "professional"

Monday, I booked it from work straight to the church, because one of my new friends was getting baptized!

I had NO idea this church had a font

yaaay!

I did not get her the flowers. I did not know this was a thing.

The week was fairly busy.  In one school, I helped with the "after school" craft club.

Yes, all girls. Boys could enter, but they wanted to do science or cooking.

I taught some of them finger knitting.  After taking a little to remind myself how to. :)  It was really fun because one of the teachers in charge would shove the kid at me, probably saying something like "she'll show you how!" and the kid would look at me with real trepidation and fear.  And I would demonstrate and walk them through it with really basic English and sound effects, and they did pretty well! :)

Thursday, I headed into Osaka, because my Wednesday/Thursday school was having an anniversary, so they were having a festival, with no teaching, and so I had what is commonly known as "an office day".  Now, anything can happen on an office day. If there are enough of you, you might be asked to do video demonstrations.  One guy apparently made photocopies all day.  Me, they sat down at a desk and said "Here, lesson plan"

....

THANKS.

So I lesson planned and lesson planned.  I'll admit, I did have SOME to do, but...not 8 hours worth!  When lunchtime came around, they told me I didn't even have to leave the office to eat my lunch.  I explained that I hadn't brought mine, so, darnit, I would have to go out and WALK AROUND and get my lunch.

When I came back, I was all lesson planned out, and so I read my book.  They didn't seem to care.  I gotta tell you though, even just lesson planning...I never want an office job, because my butt was growing ROOTS by the end!  OY.

Also, I don't think my body agrees with office time, because Friday I could feel myself getting a little sick.  I still kept busy.  I needed little figures for a map lesson I'm doing soon, so I made minions!

He's adorable!

FEAR my army!

There are only 18, so the kids will use them in partner work, but I think they'll enjoy it anyhow. I wanted to use googly eyes, but couldn't find any small enough.

I also got some sideways looks because I had the chance to finally catch up on some of the flash cards this school DOESN'T have, so I printed and laminated about 3 lessons worth of flash cards!  And of course they were some of the more prolific lessons, so the people were looking like "HOW much is she going to laminate?  Don't get too close! She'll laminate you next!"

And *I* was thinking "HEY! Not my fault your school doesn't have cards! I'm doing you a favor!"

But they now have more cards, so it is better.

I headed home, hoping my illness would just be a little thing got over quick.

Saturday, it seemed like I was right!  I was feeling a little slow, but better than Friday, and ready to do stuff!

So I went to Nara!

Nara deer!

it was cold, but we were bundled, and had lots of fun.  There were lots of deer of course,  It's Nara.

They're not shy

BABY DEER (in a ditch)

These are deer cakes, for the deer. not of the deer.

We saw the museum, and some shrines

These are "soul lanterns" I hear they light the way for the dead. You don't see a light? Be glad. That means you're alive.

Then there was the real reason we were there.

FIRE

See, this was the time of "cleansing fire"  This particular bonfire is to burn the religious symbols they used to celebrate New Years.  Can't just throw that stuff away, that's disrespecting it. So they had guys there to chant and sanctify the fire and disposal of the items.

I want those hakima.

I hope they're not cold.

People are kept at a distance.

And then found the mountain where the big to-do was going down and ...had ice cream.

"With the angel, the messenger of happiness, as our symbol, we have contributed to a richer life."

Because it was GOOD

The mountain was a little anti-climactic, it was more a hill.

You can tell it was steep by the lean everyone had to use.

But there were people drumming!

And that was pretty neat.

Sunset was a ways off, so we decided to catch some dinner and then come back and peg a good spot before the mountain (hill) got too crowded.  Of course, it decided to drizzle a bit on us. 

my festival friend

And then there was a procession with cool fire and lots of chanting in Japanese.

And then after ANOTHER long while, the came and set off a bonfire closer to US

And then it sleeted for about 10 minutes.  YUP.  SPIFFY.

We COULD feel the warmth from the bonfire, so that was nice.

And then there were fireworks!

LOTSA fireworks.

And THEN, they FINALLY set the mountain on fire!

TOOK them long enough!

BURN!

Only...it didn't want to burn.  They were waving LIT TORCHES in DEAD GRASS and it was having trouble catching.  (sleet, remember?)  it would catch and kinda crawl along, and then die down a little and another section would start up and...we finally left when we saw it was going to be a while.

It was still a fun night, but we were COLD.

We headed back to our homes, and even though I cranked the heat up, I still had to clutch my heated rice pack when I went to sleep.

I'm going to guess that's why I felt like an exhausted version of death on Sunday. :)

All better now!