Week 74: IT'S EVEN COLDER

This week was COLDER.  You remember how we got snow...two posts ago?  There was a little dusting on Sunday?  Well, the next week was a little warmer, but not much.  This week was SO COLD.

you can see a little snow on the hills.

this truck came in from the hills. see the snow?

It sent flurries at various times during the day.  Not that it seemed to affect the routine much.

You can't see, but it is SNOWING in this picture. Yes, they're wearing shorts.

I tried to keep warm.  One day I forgot to wear enough layers, and no surprise, I could not stay warm that day.  The rest of the week, people wondered how I was doing so well in just a suit coat and I was like "you have no idea how many layers I can hide under "just a suit coat".  Oh! and someone kindly gave me some earmuffs!

fuzzy!

So during my free time at school, I had fun with them.

the side spots were the hardest, 'cause they're actually ovals.

I'm very proud of them.

As many of you know, I could feel myself getting sick this week, (which is no fun) so I took care of myself. Reduced my energy output, stayed warm, drank lots of liquids, made sure I got enough sleep. Still, by Saturday, I could tell I wasn't going to avoid it completely.  So I rested up on Saturday. Did not go out into the cold.  Just covered the basic necessities.

Like going to Nara for a festival.

RIGHT, you think I'm gonna stay in when they're gonna light the mountain on fire?

I did my morning stuff an finally made it over to meet up with my friend in the afternoon.  We saw deer

Pose!

Checked out a shrine she's been meaning to see for a while.

Kasuga shrine!

there were a LOT of lanterns

GIANT OLD TREE

Because there were a lot of lanterns, they even had a room to display them lit up!

ooOOOOooo

I think my favorite was this gold one I saw outside

Yes, that's the Eiffel tower on it. On the side is the Arch de triumphe

We walked through some lovely park areas

it smelled so good.

this does not do this area justice.

they look like they're planning an attack.

And then we found the mountain.

but let's be honest, this is a hill.

If anyone remembers last year (I know you don't, it's ok) it was very cold then too.  It also had snow and freezing rain.  NOT THIS YEAR.  It was lovely and clear.  It was actually a bit warm during the day!

Then the sun set.

I packed LOTS of extra layers and I'm GLAD.

Well, the temperature plummeted then, of course.

and the crowds came in.

Ok, forgive pictures, because, remember, my camera doesn't like the dark.

First they had a (very long) religious ritual that very few people could get near.

warned you.

Then they lit a different bonfire.

sucker got big.

Then there were about 10-15 minutes of fireworks

they know how to do fire works shows here.

Then they set the hill on fire!

I kinda want this job.

burned much better this year.

the big bonfire was still going.

Most of the hill here, I backed up.

It went MUCH better this year.  Less rain, more fire. :)  Because of the snow/rain and just how wet it had been last year, it did not burn much. This year it went up pretty well!  We didn't stick around until the very end, because it was COLD, but we stayed for a while.

I make "and me without my marshmallow" jokes, but they didn't let us anywhere near close enough to roast anything. :(  I can understand why though, especially with how that wind was blowing.

We shuffled to our homes and got warm and it was a fun Saturday.  I don't feel much more sick today, so I might have avoided making it worse. :)  Of course, everyone's got a little SOMETHING this time of year in Elementary schools.  They tell me to wear masks, but I hate the things. :P  Might anyhow.

Hope you're all doing well!

Week 73: The week that was kinda....

IT HAS BEEN SO COLD LATELY

a lot of effort was put into staying warm.

This didn't stop them from having an emergency drill on Tuesday.

earthquake followed by Tsunami. 

It was actually kinda fun, and I kept warm.

Not much happened during the week actually. Started teaching some of the 6th graders the "fairytales" lesson. We're doing a different approach to it, they only have to tell a SECTION of a story.  So I took two stories and cut them into 4 and 5 pieces so everyone could have one.  The stories are "the horse that ran away" and "Hansel and Gretel" I gotta say, every time I told Hansel and Gretel, I'd take a step back from the board and say "this is an awful story. Why do we tell this story to children?"

You know, in the original story, it was their actual mother that suggested leaving them in the forest, not their "wicked step mother"

Anyhow, the kids like it, they're 6th grade, a bit of horror interests them.

In one of my other classes the 6th graders are doing an "all about me" book, so they had to do and "I can" page, and we reviewed a couple of the basic "I can" starter phrases

"I can play___"
"I can play the____"
"I can do____"
"I can make___"

And one student stared at his paper for a while and finally wrote "I can speak Japanese"

I laughed and made him re-do it.

Despite the very un-interesting week, I managed to get out on Saturday anyhow.  Even though there wasn't a SINGLE FESTIVAL GOING ON.

The hardships I go through.

Instead I went to a temple market with a friend.

So, temple markets are when the temple allows people to come in and set up stalls and sell stuff.  You get a lot of random things.

old Kimono

tableware

random antiques

food.

It's basically a giant rummage sale, and you KNOW how I feel about those!  I managed to not buy much, so I'm very proud of myself. :)

I think one of my favorite displays was the bonsai section.

baby trees! (you could tell some of those things were OLD)

SO TINY

And there was the monkey guy again!

And we found a guy with a bird!

I'm a disney princess!

they liked to feel tall.

And some people with dogs!

we pet doggies!

In all, it's a very friendly environment, with people just chilling and having a good time.  and of course, since it was in a temple, we saw some temple stuff.

gravestones. I believe.

Oh, now this I liked. These are blessing mallets.

little hammers!

You rub touch them to the blessing thing, then pat the part of you that needs blessing!  Like if your shoulder hurts, you tap your shoulder with the hammer!  With the added bonus of a massage! :)

We had fun and managed to keep each other from buying too much.  My big purchase was a bag of oranges. :)

Hope you're all doing well!

Week 72: hi-ho! Hi-ho! It's back to work I go!

The school week started on Wednesday, so of course I spent all Monday and Tuesday getting ready for it....

Right.

Monday I was sick of sitting around. I did very little last week, so I was getting a little antsy.  I went on a hike!  There are a few mountains near here, so I went for Mount Kabuto.  Kabuto is Japanese for helmet.  

There are two reigning theories on why it is called "Helmet".  The first reason is that some Japanese Empress buried her helmet on it before heading off to subjugate part of Korea.

The other story is that it looks like a helmet.

best shot I could get of it. 

Of course, being helmet shaped, means that the edges were a little steep in places.  Meaning...

stairs. so many stairs.

It was a lovely hike.

with a river

and a natural path!

And I got lost.

this is not a path. this is a dry stream bed.

But I found my way again!

"This bridge has lasted for a thousand years!"

There was a big park in a section of it.

"hiking not exhaust your kids enough? let them run around screaming!"

And there was a lovely shrine/temple...thingy.

and more stairs.

the main building.

And I gotta say, it's going to be weird hiking back in the states again. I'm so used to the random temple bells going off, because every mountain has SOME sort of shrine on it.  It's a lovely mellow tone to listen to when you're hiking.

Wasn't done yet though!  I still had to go up!

the SWITCHBACKS on this path!

The top was a big flat space, for resting.

I was not the only one up there.

And I just sat back and overlooked the city a little.

because I was TIRED.

When I finally started down (had cooled off by then)  I faced MORE stairs.

went down these. Still difficult.

There are, admittedly, very few slopes without something like stairs here, mostly because of the rain I figure. And if you don't have stairs, erosion really wears at the path quickly.

I took the OTHER fork down.

and of course, I got lost...again. I think I got lost a total of 3 times on this trip. Oh well.  I DID get to see the park's statues.

gauntlet of modern art.

THE ALL SEEING EYE.

And a lovely little pond.

And a GUY WALKING HIS CAT.

Hang on, I got a better picture on snapchat.

That cat was TOTALLY chill with being on a harness.  Wonder how long he got trained...

Hm...Tuesday, I had the sisters and a few other people over to kinda fellowship them.  I made pie!

Using Japanese pumpkin.  Turned out...different. Not bad though.

LOOK I was SOCIAL

And I ran a bunch of errands that took way longer than they should and was ready for School!

School was a little hard to get back into the swing of, I'll admit.  Though Wednesday did help ease me into it!  First of all, it was a half day.  

Ok, have you noticed how, as soon as one event the students are preparing for finishes, they start preparing for another?  (and then I tell you about it.)  When they got back from Summer, they prepared for sports day. After sports day was art day. After art day was the marathon.  Well!  Now they're going to be preparing for an inter-area basketball game thingy!  So, in order to make sure the teachers remember the rules for Elementary level basketball. (that they taught last year also) they play a game!  (I did not get pictures)  

It looked like a lot of fun, and they invited me to play, but I brought the WRONG shoes for that.  I hope to play at a different time.  If given a chance.  Anyhow, because of that, they let me go an hour early, and on the way back, I ran into a surprise festival!

ooooo!

It was at Nishinomya shrine, and it took up several streets.  That's right. Several streets of fair food!  I only got one Taiyaki, sorry, I"m a spoil sport.  ANYHOW!

So I checked out the shrine, and it was apparently about the god Ebisu, the god of fortune, fishing, and fair dealing.  When you went in, you got...I'm gonna guess it's a purifying thing.

they would shake those white paper things on sticks over the heads.

I did not end up going in, because you would NOT believe the line. You could buy good luck talismans from Shrine maidens. (Miko)

greenery!

And they had a lot of other good luck talisman stuff.  Lots of...rakes? and brooms?  

And they had a monkey show! I only caught the tail end, but it was cute.

 

gotta stay warm!

Thursday I taught 3rd grade, because the 6th graders have high school entrance exam soon and are stressing out, so a lot of parents are keeping their kids home so they can study?  At least I"m pretty sure that's what was going on.

Friday was entertaining, mainly because of the classes.  First, I go into school, and get ready to sort my materials out, and there's a note saying I'm teaching a 3rd grade class.  I'm like "Ok, fine" BUT I've taught 3rd grade before, so I can't just teach my basic introduction lesson, I gotta throw together something else.  I have time.  

Not 5 minutes later, the teacher comes by "So what are you teaching the 3rd graders?" 

I look up from the apparent chaos of getting together everything for my 5th and 6th grade classes and after a long pause say "I don't know. We'll see."

They left me alone after that. :P  We ended up doing "Do you like_____" and the class went very well.

The other was one of my 6th grade classes.  I refer to it as "the morgue."  Because, while they are not noisy and disruptive, they just SIT THERE.  Getting them to even react to anything is hard.

So, for this lesson (on travel) on the tv, we have "Let's go to_____, you can see_____, you can eat_____" and they're supposed to listen to the computer and look at the pictures and write down what they computer is saying.  Then I review it with them.  

So I say "Let's go to?" 

"mutter mutter china"

(close enough) "YOU CAN SEE?"

one student pipes up "the great wall"

"You can EAT?" 

There's a long pause and a student looks at the picture I'm pointing to "Pandas"

At this point, I clasp my chest dramatically and say in a shocked voice "MONSTER!" 

AND THE CLASS REACTED

I got them to wake up!  FOR A WHOLE MINUTE!  I almost got to do the same thing for "Koalas" but they were more aware after that. :)

For some reason, that sixth grade group is just very muted.  All the other grades have a pretty good energy level, but that group, nothing.  And I've walked by them during normal school and they're...well they're very loud.  (probably why I got warned about them.) But you put me in the room and SILENCE.  Or muted muttering.

Saturday, I did adult stuff.  I cleaned my room, I went grocery shopping and prepared food, (I made beef stew!) and I went to church to help make mochi!

it was fun.

And today, it snowed!  At church they kept saying "Thank you for coming to church in spite of the snow"

pfft.

Stay safe everyone!