Hello once again Adventuremail readers! I must begin by apologize for our lack of posts recently. Sorry we've been keeping you in the dark! I'm here today to try and shed some light on what's been going on recently here in Kanazawa.
As you last heard from Jorden, the beginning of the fall semester was marked by our school festivals. My school also had one, though a little less grandiose than Jorden's. We too had food stalls, attractions games, music, and dancing. The events are mainly carried out by the high schoolers, (remember I'm at a joint junior/senior high school) but my junior high students played a small roll - on the morning of the second day, during the opening assembly, some of my second-year students got up in front of the school and shared their research on various subjects. Think traditional Kanazawa handicrafts, local historical figures, etc. Meanwhile, the rest of the junior high and the entire high school looked on, sweating in the un-air-conditioned gym. Hooray, junior high! I remembered the words of my former co-worker last year: "the junior high students get the worst part of the festival. It's like they have to pay their dues before they're high schoolers, then they can do all the fun stuff."
After the festival season ended, it was back to class. Of course, in true Japanese fashion, the first week back to classes consisted of tests. Straight from the freedom of summer into the classroom, trying to understand my voice blaring over the speakers during the English listening section.
Me: "Oh, hello Mary! What are you doing?"
Mrs. Tsukada: "Oh, hi, Ken. I'm enjoying this soup."
Me: "Question: What is Mary enjoying?"
You get the picture.
Last month also marked the first time I had a repeat lesson. Since I've been teaching here for over a year, we're cycling back through to the same lessons I remember from my first months in Japan last year. It's been a lot of fun, and I feel like I can finally offer advice and input when it comes time to prepare for lessons. I'm practically a real sensei!
Speaking of sensei, I've also recently begun attending Aikido classes. I figure why not try a martial art while I'm in Japan? It took me a while to find an affordable, nearby class with an instructor who's willing to teach someone who has terrible Japanese language abilities, but I finally found one that works. I was surprised when I first walked in to find everyone brandishing swords. My internet research had led me to believe that Aikido was a hand-to-hand style of martial arts. I found out that it is hand-to-hand, but all of the techniques derive from swordsmanship, so they also teach that just to be safe. Heck, last week I was finally upgrade from "wooden sword" to "metal, albeit un-sharpened sword." Progress!
Oh, and last month our good friends Robbie and Stacey visited us! We went to Kyoto for the first time and saw a ton of cool Japanese-y stuff. We'll get some pictures up in a subsequent post, but suffice to say that it was some really cool sightseeing, and the crowds weren't too bad. I still think I like Tokyo the best, but Kyoto was also very cool. Now we can finally say we've been to Kyoto (a question someone inevitably asks us about every other week).
Autumn has most definitely arrived. Gone is the sweltering, humid heat of summer (huzzah!) and back are the crisp, dark mornings. Thanks to an extremely well-timed package from my dad, Jorden and I have been able to make some genuine pumpkin spice syrup. Combined with the stove-top espresso maker and the milk bubbler we bought at the 100 yen store, we can have delicious pumpkin spice lattes anytime we want!
This time of year really makes me miss the States. I always love fall foods, colors, and activities (corn mazes!) and can't wait until I can pick up a pumpkin at WalMart for $5, instead of a mail-order $30 plus shipping affair we've got on our hands here in Japanland. Also, I never realized how much I miss football season until I came here, where not a single one of my co-workers can name an American football team (besides the 49ers, for some reason...)
Well I hope I've got you all caught up on our recent activities. I'm going to try and do bi-weekly updates from now on (I've written it in my calendar!) So for all you die-hard Adventuremail readers, be expecting more frequent updates!
Take care, and thanks for reading!
-The Adventurers
As you last heard from Jorden, the beginning of the fall semester was marked by our school festivals. My school also had one, though a little less grandiose than Jorden's. We too had food stalls, attractions games, music, and dancing. The events are mainly carried out by the high schoolers, (remember I'm at a joint junior/senior high school) but my junior high students played a small roll - on the morning of the second day, during the opening assembly, some of my second-year students got up in front of the school and shared their research on various subjects. Think traditional Kanazawa handicrafts, local historical figures, etc. Meanwhile, the rest of the junior high and the entire high school looked on, sweating in the un-air-conditioned gym. Hooray, junior high! I remembered the words of my former co-worker last year: "the junior high students get the worst part of the festival. It's like they have to pay their dues before they're high schoolers, then they can do all the fun stuff."
After the festival season ended, it was back to class. Of course, in true Japanese fashion, the first week back to classes consisted of tests. Straight from the freedom of summer into the classroom, trying to understand my voice blaring over the speakers during the English listening section.
Me: "Oh, hello Mary! What are you doing?"
Mrs. Tsukada: "Oh, hi, Ken. I'm enjoying this soup."
Me: "Question: What is Mary enjoying?"
You get the picture.
Last month also marked the first time I had a repeat lesson. Since I've been teaching here for over a year, we're cycling back through to the same lessons I remember from my first months in Japan last year. It's been a lot of fun, and I feel like I can finally offer advice and input when it comes time to prepare for lessons. I'm practically a real sensei!
Speaking of sensei, I've also recently begun attending Aikido classes. I figure why not try a martial art while I'm in Japan? It took me a while to find an affordable, nearby class with an instructor who's willing to teach someone who has terrible Japanese language abilities, but I finally found one that works. I was surprised when I first walked in to find everyone brandishing swords. My internet research had led me to believe that Aikido was a hand-to-hand style of martial arts. I found out that it is hand-to-hand, but all of the techniques derive from swordsmanship, so they also teach that just to be safe. Heck, last week I was finally upgrade from "wooden sword" to "metal, albeit un-sharpened sword." Progress!
Oh, and last month our good friends Robbie and Stacey visited us! We went to Kyoto for the first time and saw a ton of cool Japanese-y stuff. We'll get some pictures up in a subsequent post, but suffice to say that it was some really cool sightseeing, and the crowds weren't too bad. I still think I like Tokyo the best, but Kyoto was also very cool. Now we can finally say we've been to Kyoto (a question someone inevitably asks us about every other week).
Autumn has most definitely arrived. Gone is the sweltering, humid heat of summer (huzzah!) and back are the crisp, dark mornings. Thanks to an extremely well-timed package from my dad, Jorden and I have been able to make some genuine pumpkin spice syrup. Combined with the stove-top espresso maker and the milk bubbler we bought at the 100 yen store, we can have delicious pumpkin spice lattes anytime we want!
This time of year really makes me miss the States. I always love fall foods, colors, and activities (corn mazes!) and can't wait until I can pick up a pumpkin at WalMart for $5, instead of a mail-order $30 plus shipping affair we've got on our hands here in Japanland. Also, I never realized how much I miss football season until I came here, where not a single one of my co-workers can name an American football team (besides the 49ers, for some reason...)
Well I hope I've got you all caught up on our recent activities. I'm going to try and do bi-weekly updates from now on (I've written it in my calendar!) So for all you die-hard Adventuremail readers, be expecting more frequent updates!
Take care, and thanks for reading!
-The Adventurers
