Not two minutes ago my doorbell rang. I seldom have vistors and when I do it's usually the mailman delivering a package, so I open the door wondering what it is he has for me now. To my surprise it is a sharply dressed man and woman. They ask me if Japanese is ok, and I say yes. Then he passes me a little booklet opened to an English passage....
Jehovah's Witnesses!
Even in Japan you can't avoid em.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
A Taste of Home
I have these two bottles of maple syrup in my cupboard. My brother sent them to me months ago and they've just be up there collecting dust. I thought it would be nice to make some pancakes and use the syrup, but I always managed to forget to buy pancake mix because I always gave it a passing thought.
Last week I finally remembered to buy the mix and tonight I cooked myself some pancakes for dinner. I made 3 decent sized pancakes and enjoyed a nice short stack soaked in 100% Canadian maple syrup. The pancakes themselves were a little dry, but still delicious.
Last week I finally remembered to buy the mix and tonight I cooked myself some pancakes for dinner. I made 3 decent sized pancakes and enjoyed a nice short stack soaked in 100% Canadian maple syrup. The pancakes themselves were a little dry, but still delicious.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
花灯路
Last Friday in Kyoto an event started called "Hana Touro" in which they light up the streets of old Kyoto with a bunch of different old laterns, and the temples in the area are all open late with illuminations of their own. Since Friday was White Day (Valentine's Day for girls since in Japan on actual Valentine's Day guys do nothing) Keiko and I headed down to Kyoto to take in the sights. It was a little rainy, but the rain died off pretty quickly and the night air was cool and refreshing.
The illumination was quite the sights as well. It's always a bit of a time slip heading to that neck of Kyoto, but this night in particular as fire lit the way instead of electric light. It's about as close as you can get to how it probably looked in that area about 100 years ago. If you're in the area it's running until the 25th or so I think.
The illumination was quite the sights as well. It's always a bit of a time slip heading to that neck of Kyoto, but this night in particular as fire lit the way instead of electric light. It's about as close as you can get to how it probably looked in that area about 100 years ago. If you're in the area it's running until the 25th or so I think.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
3年生の皆さん、さよなら
Today was the graduation ceremony for this year's 3rd year students. For me it was a fresh experience, not only because it's my first time at a Japanese ceremony, but also that whenever I have attended a graduation ceremony in the past, I have always been among the graduates. I also finally understand the sense of pride parents/teachers have to see their kids graduate and why my mom was always so gung-ho about graduation.
The ceremony itself was pretty long, but there were a number of speeches from the principal, PTA president, and a city Board of Education member. There were also a number of songs that the class performed as part of the "Parting words" section of the ceremony. It was during this part when one of the girls, a student that I have become pretty close to, was addressing the crowd and started to cry uncontrollably. I had to stop watching her because I knew if I kept watching her I might have lost it myself.
Even though I've only been teaching these kids for about 7 months, and I'm sure I'll see most of them again some day down the road, in the end as all the students walked through a crowd of all the students, teachers and parents out the doors of the school for the last time as middle school students, I couldn't help but feel as if a tiny piece of me was being lost.
The ceremony itself was pretty long, but there were a number of speeches from the principal, PTA president, and a city Board of Education member. There were also a number of songs that the class performed as part of the "Parting words" section of the ceremony. It was during this part when one of the girls, a student that I have become pretty close to, was addressing the crowd and started to cry uncontrollably. I had to stop watching her because I knew if I kept watching her I might have lost it myself.
Even though I've only been teaching these kids for about 7 months, and I'm sure I'll see most of them again some day down the road, in the end as all the students walked through a crowd of all the students, teachers and parents out the doors of the school for the last time as middle school students, I couldn't help but feel as if a tiny piece of me was being lost.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Serenity Now!
I'm choosing a shirt off my clothes rack this morning when I notice it seems to be a bit heavy on one side as if it could tip over any moment. Hoping to remedy this, I give it a shove back in the opposite direction. This shove is proceeded by a loud snap as a hard plastic piece breaks, sending my clothes to the ground in a crumpled mass of cotton and wire hangers. I had no time to try and fix it, so they're all lying there right now waiting for me to go out and buy a new clothes rack. I knew I shouldn't have jiggled it!
Edit: The day just kept getting better!
Missed the bus to go into town to buy a new clothes rack (Bad)
Sent money back to Canada to pay of my student load (Good and bad)
5X points on all purchases at the dept. store (Excellent)
Bought some ready made food at the grocery store for dinner. Sit down at the bus stop ready to eat as I wait...but, oh, no chopsticks (not particularly bad, just frustrating)
Lost my bank book somewhere (VERY VERY BAD)
Get home ready to assemble my new clothes rack and can't find a screwdriver in the house (again, not bad, but frustrating) I managed to get it up by using a knife as a screwdriver. I also learned the Japanese word for a Phillips Head screwdriver (Plus driver)
Glorious isn't she?
Edit: The day just kept getting better!
Missed the bus to go into town to buy a new clothes rack (Bad)
Sent money back to Canada to pay of my student load (Good and bad)
5X points on all purchases at the dept. store (Excellent)
Bought some ready made food at the grocery store for dinner. Sit down at the bus stop ready to eat as I wait...but, oh, no chopsticks (not particularly bad, just frustrating)
Lost my bank book somewhere (VERY VERY BAD)
Get home ready to assemble my new clothes rack and can't find a screwdriver in the house (again, not bad, but frustrating) I managed to get it up by using a knife as a screwdriver. I also learned the Japanese word for a Phillips Head screwdriver (Plus driver)
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