Am i in Heaven?
Mood:  energetic
i'm running 9 miles this morning. The autumn breeze is cooling my face and hot bod. The sun is shining, but it's lost it's power to create much heat this time of the year. Multi-colored leaves are falling like rain from the sky. Life is good.

Unsupervised youth
Mood:  incredulous
Can you imagine taking 13 and 14 year olds to Seattle and letting them go on their own tours of the city? Each group of about 40 kids has a GPS. The teachers are in an Internet cafe somewhere in the city monitoring each group's progress online. That's what happened with our 2nd graders last week. Two hundred students all clambered onto buses on Friday morning and headed for Kyoto. All the 2nd grade teachers accompanied them on the bus. The week before, the kids researched what they wanted to see in Kyoto and mapped out their own personally designed tour. Then each group leader got a GPS cell phone and off they went. The teachers received a printout map of their trip from the GPS company. The biggest issue is that some of the students made plans to eat in a restaurant instead of eating their packed bento box lunches. They didn't lose a single kid and no one got hurt. No parents were upset and no one got sued. Amazing.

Mood:  energetic

Sunday, Nov. 28th
A well needed massage or
Oh, my poor aching legs and feet!

Ah, a masseuse. While Michelle and Justice were traveling back to Tokyo, i decided to find a place to get my sore and tired legs back in working condition. I struck gold, yahoo. I feel like a new woman now. 4500 yen for 45 minutes was worth every penny. It's back to the grind tomorrow. I'm ready to go back to work so i can get some rest! Vacation days are exhausting.

Saturday, Nov. 27th
Universal Studios, Japan (USJ)

Doug and Jane (both ALT's) and their 9-year old daughter, Kayleigh, joined Michelle, Justice and i for a fun day today. We left fairly early so that we could get to the gates as soon as USJ opened. Universal Studios, Japan, is a bit like Disneyland. Tickets are about $55 for adults. The attractions include, Spiderman, Terminator, Back to the Future, Backdraft, Jaws, Snoopy, ET and more. I was amazed that the lines, even first thing in the morning were from 1-2 hours long. Most rides are just too scary for little kids and Justice and Kayleigh backed out of many rides. I'm guessing that the rides were just too real and scary and also standing for over an hour for each is just too long. There were lines everywhere and to tell the truth, i don't think it's worth the money. I did enjoy "Jurassic Park" and "Back to the Future" but it was hard standing in line for over an hour for each ride. Luckily we all had cell phones so we split up and stood in different lines so that big and little kids all got to do something fun. After Jurassic Park, Doug and i discovered smoked turkey drumsticks for only $5.00. Wow, we devoured those just like the dinosaurs in the ride. I never thought i'd be eating turkey in Japan! Everything, of course, is expensive. Beer was $5-6 a glass. There were lots of things to buy and lots of lines for that too. It was a long and exhausting day. Our feet and legs were very sore but the kids were happy and so it was all worth it in the end.



Friday, Nov. 26th
40th Annual
All Nishinomiya
English Speech and Recitation Contest

Michelle and Justice are on their own today. I took the train and bus back up to Yamaguchi on Thursday evening so that i would be ready to go on Friday morning. We coached the kids for one last time at 7:45am in the principal's office. The big All-Nishinomiya Jr. Hi. English Speech and Recitation Contest is this afternoon. I taught my morning classes and then caught a ride with Sasaki sensei to the Hall. I was one of 7 judges who listened to the presentations and agonized over the scoring of each contestant. It was so difficult. There was a 2nd and a 3rd grade representative from each jr. hi. in the area. It was a single individual if it was a recitation or original speech, a group of kids if it was a skit. These kids are trying so hard, and they are all winners to me but someone has to go home with the trophies. One of my favorite students who tried her best last year under my coaching but lost anyway came back again this year. She has matured and is so very confident. She wrote a fine speech (i was only able to help edit it over the internet). It was a thrill to see her presented with the 1st place trophy for all her effort. We are all so proud of her. Hase sensei gave us a ride back to our apartments after the contest where we scarfed some pumpkin pie. Then we ended the day at a nearby ramen shop. Time to get some rest and get ready for our big trip to USJ tomorrow.

Thursday, Nov. 25th
Aquarium Day

Thurs. Nov. 25th
Michelle and Justice arrived around 9pm last evening. It was their first experience on the shinkansen. Justice is 7 years old and was so impressed with the "bullet train." After a full day at school and all that traveling he fell asleep on the couch while Michelle and i caught up on so much news and talked till midnight. Today i showed them the way to the grocery store, bowling alley and two different arcade centers. We walked along a park where Justice can play on Friday. Then we took off for Osaka. I have been wanting to see the aquarium and it was well worth the wait. There's something very special about seeing an aquarium with a super enthusiastic kid.

The Osaka Aquarium, "kaiyukan" is based on the Gaia hypothesis. It supposes that the Earth is a living organism arisen from its volcanic activities and ocean waters. The aquarium faithfully recreates the Pacific Rim volcanic belt "Ring of Fire" and the corresponding Pacific Rim life belt "Ring of Life". The tank is huge and you spiral down and down to deeper and deeper levels. We walked from the familiar Monterey Bay environment to the not so familiar Japan Deeps. In Antarctica it was snowing as we watched a crew feeding the emperor penguins. The penguins were like puppies standing close to their feeders. It was just adorable to watch the feeders gently prod the penguins back into the water after the feeding. It was obvious that the penguins enjoyed the human company and reluctantly returned to the water. The otters from the Aleutian Islands were huge. They cruised past us with only the foot thick Plexiglas separating us. Their looks of curiosity were intriguing. What playful, joyous, energetic creatures. This place is very special to keep such creatures alive and happy in an enclosed environment. I think that one of the secrets is the large and diverse area that they are housed in. We saw 5 types of huge sea turtles that are all on the endangered list, the hugest whale shark that I have ever seen, and the "piece de resistance" was the giant spider crabs of Japan's deep sea. These guys were like something out of a Star Wars movie. We stood entranced while one of them toppled over and looked like a destroyed fragile tinker toy. It lay there as if dead until one of the other crabs slowly ambled over and then this amazing creature managed to untangle it's spidery long legs and right itself. They just didn't seem like real creatures but there they were in front of us. Awesome!

Mood:  flirty
Wed. Nov. 24th
Baking Frenzy

Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it must be in my genetic structure to cook and bake for the holidays. I found myself baking 5 pumpkin pies today as well as chocolate chip cookies and a tamale pie. Gosh, there's no way to stick a turkey in my microwave so it's going to be a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. My friend Michelle and her son, Justice, will arrive tonight on the shinkansen from Tokyo and then we will spend Thanksgiving Day exploring Nishinomiya. They will have to entertain themselves without me on Friday because i have to work that day. I want them to be familiar with the layout of the town so they can have some fun exploring on their own. Michelle is a fellow teacher from Spokane. She landed a teaching job at a military base just outside Tokyo just about the same time that i got this job here. It has been fun to share our trials and tribulations adapting to the Japanese culture. It's also interesting to see the contrasts in our teaching experiences here. She is teaching on a military base with a real international group of high school kids while i am in the traditional Japanese public school junior high system. Very different situations.

Tuesday, November 23rd
Hikingu and Onsen

Today is a Japanese National Holiday. School is out. Actually, we are in the middle of testing at Yamaguchi and i don't have any classes this week except on Friday. I decided to take a bit of a vacation so i took Monday off and will take Wed. and Thursday off too, yahoo. I met Didik, Masa, Zain and Shinobu at the Ashiyagawa train station this morning. We set out hiking around 9:30am and hiked up and up to the top of Rokko Mountain. What a great group of friends to hike with! We reached the summit before 1pm. The sun was out and the air was cool. It was a perfect day for hiking. The trail is well used and it wasn't a difficult hike with only a couple of parts that were a bit rocky and steep with ropes in place to help us. We ate lunch at the top and then headed down into a valley on the other side into the city of Arima. This is the site of one of the three most popular hot springs in Japan, i've been told. We ended the hike with a relaxing bath in one of the traditional onsens there. Then we hopped on the train and headed back to Kobe for a delicious Indian dinner. What a way to spend a vacation day. I'm so very lucky.


Monday, Nov. 22nd
Lost Key Day or
Just Call My Ms. Klutz!

So let me tell you the story about losing my apartment key.

Kid's Opinion of the US
Mood:  sad
One of my last lessons this week included asking the students the following question: "Where in the world would you like to travel?" Hm. Amazing that not ONE student in 3 different classes mentioned anywhere in the U.S. What has my country become in their minds?

English Demonstration Lesson
Mood:  celebratory
Thursday, Nov. 18th

Demonstration lesson

Wow, what a great day. One of my favorite teachers, Sasaki-sensei, had a very important demonstration lesson today. This morning we bussed 36 1st grade students down to Mukogawa University. These 36 very active students (teachers said, "Why are you bringing such loud kids for a demonstration?") were just fantastic. Sasaki speaks almost exclusively in English in class. He has had this 1st grade class since April and people couldn't believe how much English these kids could understand and speak.

There were junior high, high school and university teachers here at an all day conference. There were probably around 100 adults watching this class. Sasaki taught his class just like any everyday class that I've experienced with him. The kids stood up and he greeted them with "Good morning, everyone!" The kids enthusiastically responded with, "Good morning, Mr. Sasaki!" Then he asked the kids to turn around and address the audience. It was adorable to see these 36 kids turn around and in unison say, "Good morning, ladies and gentleman!" Then they all put their hands to their ears waiting for the "Good morning" response back from the audience. It was a great way to put the kids at ease and on an even footing with the crowd. The lesson was great with the kids being on task and involved every step of the way. Sasaki has them discuss and practice asking each other questions and answering each other. There is a lot of interaction and practice of verbal English. At the end he gave them only a couple of minutes to write their own skit from a template script that he handed to them for the first time that morning. In a matter of minutes these kids were up performing their skits to members of the audience. I thought it was awesome although, I must admit, i'm a bit biased.

Right after this demonstration i walked over to another room where a high school teacher was doing her demonstration. She was from a very elite international business high school. I almost fainted when i heard her say, "Yonju yon pagie." She was telling her students to turn to page 44 in Japanese! Good grief. I couldn't believe that in a high school class she was still speaking to them in Japanese instead of English. And this is for a demonstration in front of all those teachers. I was embarrassed for her and disappointed for the students that they were not experiencing an English class taught in English. How very sad. After the demonstrations there was a question and answer session with the two teachers as part of the panel. Sasaki was questioned about what kind of tricks he used to get his kids to understand English. I had a few teachers ask me in disbelief if he really taught all in English. It is such a foreign concept. These teachers are entrenched in their old ways of teaching English, and it is just incomprehensible that these kids can understand spoken English. I do hope that there are more teachers like Mr. Sasaki who continue to challenge these kids and help them attain the level of English communication that they will need to survive in this global environment. I hope that the high schools step up to the challenge because when Sasaki's students hit high school (he will teach them for another two years) they will be bored silly in that high school class that i just observed!

I am so fortunate to work with such a high caliber of teacher. By the way, i have taught and AM teaching with other wonderful teachers. I hope that the school districts will encourage other Japanese English teachers to improve their English and teaching skills so that they can begin to attain the kind of excitement and interaction that i experience everyday in his classroom.

A Marathon in Japan
Mood:  energetic
I can't believe it, but i have signed up for the Nagano Marathon on April 17th, 2005. The run takes us through some scenic country. It looks like we will be running along rivers for much of the way. There will be some very famous runners in this marathon (maximum of 6,000 runners) AND.... WE WILL FINISH IN THE OLYMPIC STADIUM. Oh, my gosh, i can't believe it! How's that for some motivation to get my rear in gear and speed up the pace? I have to finish in less than 5 hours but it's a flat course and the altitude, surprisingly, is only between 1,100 and 1,300 feet. I should be able to do that.

Hurricanes and Plankton
Mood:  irritated
As hurricanes pass over the ocean, the wind carries warmer surface water away, allowing colder water from the bottom to rise, bringing with it quantities of nutrients. Satellite images actually show a trail of cold water in the path of storms. Tiny marine plants, called phytoplankton, fertilized by the nutrients, multiply rapidly in this wake. As the plants die, they sink to the seafloor. The data revealed that the larger the hurricane, the larger and longer-lasting the plankton bloom. This poses tantalizing questions about the role that hurricanes might play in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Like all green plants, phytoplankton consumes carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas whose rise in the atmosphere is blamed for climate change. As the plants die, they sink and carry the carbon they store to the seafloor.

So Bush won't sign the Kyoto Protocol seeking to reduce greenhouse emissions because he doesn't want to lose American jobs. So how much are these jobs worth, Bush, in lost lives and devastation to the planet?

Halloween in Japan
Mood:  bright
Kaleigh is such a great addition to our ALT (assistant language teacher) staff. Her parents are from WSU, and they are both ALT's here. They brought their daughter, Kaleigh, to Japan with them, and she is attending the 4th grade in a public elementary school here.
The Halloween party on Saturday night was a smashing success. Kaleigh invited some of her Japanese girlfriends. We had about a dozen enthusiastic 8-12 year old girls in some amazing costumes. Most costumes were made from plain plastic garbage bags transformed into some really colorful outfits. Kaleigh was Hermione from the "Harry Potter" movies. We had a Cinderella and a bat and a few other very creative costumes. I did feel a twinge of home sickness when they came knocking at my door all yelling "Trick or Treat." I do miss passing out candy to the kids in my neighborhood in Spokane. What a great experience for these girls who had never been trick or treating.

John and i also taught a two-hour class on Halloween Saturday afternoon at a Community Center. We had about 30 enthusiastic Japanese adults all singing songs. They actually had to say "Trick or Treat" to "earn" their candy treats at the break. What fun. I will teach this same group of folks how to make a pumpkin pie next weekend. Maybe i'll be the next Julia Child! hahaha.

Thursday, October 21st

Wow, heavy-duty typhoon hit yesterday. School was cancelled although the teachers are still required to come to work. We all left after lunch. I went to a shopping center 1/2-hour bus ride from my mountain apartment. Around 3:30pm i noticed that the crowds in the stores were really thinning out. I went outside to catch a bus and watched the rain go from "cats and dogs" to "buckets" to "good grief, i can't see across the street" type of torrential rains. The bus ride back to the apartment was exciting. I discovered today that the stores closed at 4pm and if i had tried to go back to Nishinomiya that the trains were stopped, and i would have been out of luck. The peaceful, tiny Arima River was raging and i got so much water in my shoes walking from the bus stop to the apartment that they dripped all night and i wore wet shoes to work this morning. hee, hee
I guess i shouldn't joke. Over 50 people lost their lives in this storm near Tokyo.

Saturday, October 23rd
I jogged along the Shukugawa this morning and was surprised to see many downed branches. Nature has a powerful way of doing some serious pruning on these trees. Kinda scary.