Non-Tamana Party

Ever since I moved to Japan I have celebrated Halloween much more than I did before. It must be the large American influence but the Japanese also get into it even though they have no idea what it is about.

Ever year in Tamana there is a large ALT Halloween party and this year I was determined to go. The ironic thing was that this year the party was not in Tamana but Omuta. This place was in the middle of nowhere and although it was next to a hotel, partying in an old mall on Halloween seemed a little too spooky.

I had no idea what to wear but then I found a Gatchapin costume and fell in love with it. (Gatchapin is a Japanese character and he is my new obsession) Jon and Tim were my party buddies for the evening and the other ALTs did not disappoint when it came to dressing up. I saw some amazing costumes including pirates, Santa, tofu, dice, a jellyfish, lady gaga, a veggie shop and a terrorist! In my opinion Tommy had the weirdest costume of the evening. He’s the one in the middle!

Credit to this guy though for REALLY getting into character!

Kindergarten visit

After almost 5 years I finally got to visit a kindergarten in Japan!

Today I went with a group of 4 and 5 year olds to pick potatoes and sing English songs in the park. They were so cute but just like all kids they love getting dirty and putting bugs in their pockets!

Then I went back to eat lunch with the really little ones. They were adorable and while eating this cute little boy decided to teach me how to count to ten in Japanese. After he finished I thought my camera was off but it wasn’t. The result was this great video and I love it.


I can’t wait to go back!

Orphanage Halloween Party

Since the last Halloween party was such a hit we had to do it again. We decorated the room and set up tables around the room with different activities. We had Halloween punch, apple bobbing, Halloween crafts and lots of games.

The most popular events of the night were apple-bobbing, the make-a-mummy game and of course dressing up!

At the end of the party the kids wanted to take all the decorations home and seeing as this is my last year on JET and won’t need them again, I said yes. They did such a good job that although it took two hours to set up for the party, the clean up took about 15 minutes – thanks kids!

Harvest Day

Yoshino was so much fun today! I took lots of great pictures you can find on my site but here are a few of my favourites.

First we had to harvest the rice

Then we had play time

They prepared a huge BBQ lunch

Then we picked mikans in the rain

A great day and a big thank you to Mr. Hughes for introducing me to the great music of Kings Of Leon and William Shatner……..yes William Shatner released an album and it’s great!

A New Day - hooray!

Such a great Saturday!

Lunch, coffee and flowers with Miyo….

Followed by a few drinks with the gang at Bar Days….

As I walked home I also noticed they had decorated the tanuki and the post office in time for Halloween. Cute and creepy at the same time!

NOT a good day!

I think today has to be one of the first days I have been at work and not been with it. I have such a bad cold and my head is so stuffy. I also have to wear a mask all day and then try and be bubbly and energetic for classes. My teachers know I am not myself so my supervisor decided to give me 6 classes to help me feel better.

It didn’t work but it kept me so busy that I ended up missing the last bus home. I had to walk to the nearest junior high school to catch another bus and got chatted up by a lovely grandma who was eager to learn English.

I finally got home to find that my computer didn’t work. My second laptop to die on me in Japan – ARGH!! I’m off to bed!

Kagura @ Yoshino

Last week we were invited up to Yoshino to watch kagura. I forgot to post it because I didn’t check my camera right away and just remembered today. Anyway, kagura is a kind of Shinto theatrical dance. I have seen a few of them during my time in Japan but it is always nice to be invited to Yoshino and hang out with the locals.

Although watching kagura can be quite a sobering affair, Yoshino is never like that. The temple is very open and so while some people sit and watch others are cooking, drinking and socializing. It is great to mingle with the real Japan.

PANIC!!!

The flu is out in full force! Whole classes, in some cases, whole grades and even whole schools are shutting down in an attempt to stop it spreading. I can understand that the old and people who are sick need to take extra care but that it true of the normal flu. I’m not sure why we have this mad panic now but the panic is everywhere! Calm down people : (

Sad News

Losing someone close is always hard but when it is happening and you are on the other side of the world it is so much harder. Last week Grandma Adams in Hawaii was taken into hospital. She seemed to be getting better but suddenly took a turn for the worst and Dawn decided yesterday that she needed to go home.

After a very stressful couple of hours and a few harsh words to the travel agent, we finally managed to get her a flight today. I went to the airport with her and after we arrived we found out that grandma had passed away just a few hours before.

This is my favourite video of Grandma Adams – enjoy!

Technology :(

Having a smart board is great as long as the smart board is working properly!! Sometimes I really hate technology and wish we could go back to pencils and paper for everything.

Luckily Japanese kids know just how to cheer me up and when I walked into the 4th grade class to teach this afternoon, I was given a bunch of origami flowers.

Thanks kids!

Christmas Plans

I am so excited about Christmas this year because I have just booked flights to Thailand. Dawn and I will spend one week in Pattaya at an elephant camp before flying to Phuket for a relaxing week on the beach. The elephant camp is something we have both wanted to do for so long and Dawn’s friend has a hotel in Phuket and she really wants to see him. I will spend Christmas with elephants and the New Year in Phuket – exciting! It will also be my first hot Christmas. I know it’s going to be really, really weird.

Simple Equation

Kumamoto + 1000’s of candles = pretty!

Pee Boy & The Hat

Today I was back at Tatsuda teaching the little 3rd graders. They are so cute and everything was going so well until the last class of the day.

I had just introduced myself and we were playing the janken-intro game. The students have to introduce themselves and play rock, paper, scissors with each other. I always join in the games and my very last partner was a cute little boy. He obviously got a little too excited and about half-way through his introduction I realized he was peeing as he spoke. This has never happened to me before and I had no idea what to do. Luckily the homeroom teacher noticed and took care of him. Obviously my classes are just TOO exciting!

As I was leaving school I walked past the lost and found box and noticed this:

I could not resist taking it home because I really wanted a picture and my camera phone doesn’t work. Now, however I’m thinking I shouldn’t take it back. How bad is it for a kid to be walking around and have no idea what it says? If they do know what it says that’s even worse. Hmm….to keep it or to return it?

A Matter of Opinion

“The hands that help are holier than the lips that pray.” Robert G Ingersoll

After watching a few of his videos on YouTube recently, I think Chuck Missler would disagree with this. If you are curios, just type his name into YouTube. I guess after a few religious themed discussions lately I was feeling curious.

Quote of the Day

“Someone is sitting in the shady today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

Warren Buffet

Balancing Act!

When something in your life goes up something has to go down.

Papa-san get well soon please!

Hawaii, stop laying off teachers and giving students four-day weeks! Are you crazy! My plans will be ruined before they have even begun at this rate : (

Another Great Week

Rikigo JHS has been so much fun this week!

My introduction classes with the first graders have been crazy as I wrote out ten questions and they had to guess the answer. Some were simple but I also threw a few unusual ones in for fun. My favourite turned out to be; how big are my feet? They tried everything to try and find. Some kids were comparing their feet to mine, others made me put on their shoes; it was great.

I wasn’t expecting the fun to carry over to the second graders put we played a sentence relay game. It sounds really boring but the kids see it as one big race and when you throw in a special prize it makes them really want to win. I also made them write on the board and for some reason the kids just love this too.

As for the 3rd graders they are studying the grammar point “We call him Jim.” I was struggling to come up with a class that would be interesting but I ended up teaching them a lot of British English words. They were amazed at how different some of the words are and even my teacher had never heard of a few of them. They had no idea what pavement, life, flat or petrol was. Sometimes NOT being American has its up-side!