Monday, November 20, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Winter or merely Autumn?
The weather today is a perfect example of mid-winter Wellington region weather: it's alternating between rain and sleet, it is very windy and it's about 5 degrees. But it is still officially autumn, and will remain so until the first snow falls.
The kerosene heaters in the staff room have been fired up, so I have a headache from the fumes. They stink!
For the past two weeks there has been a thunderstorm practically every day. I don't remember there being so many last year or the year before. Last Wednesday there were only three people at my English conversation class because no one wanted to brave the weather, even with cars. I had to go, and of course I had to go by foot. I walked there last night too, in the middle of a thunderstorm. I didn't take an umbrella with me because I thought it would be a bit dangerous.
Last Saturday I went shopping in Akita City. I went by myself, by train. My umbrella broke while I was walking about. On Sunday I went with Atsuko and Toshi to Sakata City. We ate at a tonkatsu (pork cutlet) restaurant. It tasted rather ordinary to me. Then we went to a big new butchery that we had seen an article about on TV. The butchery is owned by a farm outside town, so the meat you buy there has never been frozen. They sold all sorts of things there, but mostly made out of pork. A friendly employee let us try lots of little bits of cooked meat. I ate little sections of sausages, bacon, raw ham, cooked ham, sausages with peas in them . . . I'm not usually a big fan of pork, but the meat from that butchery is delicious, it really is. I bought an uncut section of bacon to take home with me.
It was very cold that day. My cellphone told me that the weather was snowy. It didn't snow in Nikaho or Sakata, but it did snow in Akita City, apparently. And I heard on Tuesday that it had snowed that weekend up at Kamagadai, although it had not lasted long. It looks as if the snows will be coming early this year. Although it has been horrible leaving my apartment to go out places recently, it has been nice to listen to the rain on the window panes and the wind whistling around the building in the evenings. I ought to enjoy those sounds while I can, because soon they will be replaced by the gentle fall of snow, and the blanketed silence that follows.
The kerosene heaters in the staff room have been fired up, so I have a headache from the fumes. They stink!
For the past two weeks there has been a thunderstorm practically every day. I don't remember there being so many last year or the year before. Last Wednesday there were only three people at my English conversation class because no one wanted to brave the weather, even with cars. I had to go, and of course I had to go by foot. I walked there last night too, in the middle of a thunderstorm. I didn't take an umbrella with me because I thought it would be a bit dangerous.
Last Saturday I went shopping in Akita City. I went by myself, by train. My umbrella broke while I was walking about. On Sunday I went with Atsuko and Toshi to Sakata City. We ate at a tonkatsu (pork cutlet) restaurant. It tasted rather ordinary to me. Then we went to a big new butchery that we had seen an article about on TV. The butchery is owned by a farm outside town, so the meat you buy there has never been frozen. They sold all sorts of things there, but mostly made out of pork. A friendly employee let us try lots of little bits of cooked meat. I ate little sections of sausages, bacon, raw ham, cooked ham, sausages with peas in them . . . I'm not usually a big fan of pork, but the meat from that butchery is delicious, it really is. I bought an uncut section of bacon to take home with me.
It was very cold that day. My cellphone told me that the weather was snowy. It didn't snow in Nikaho or Sakata, but it did snow in Akita City, apparently. And I heard on Tuesday that it had snowed that weekend up at Kamagadai, although it had not lasted long. It looks as if the snows will be coming early this year. Although it has been horrible leaving my apartment to go out places recently, it has been nice to listen to the rain on the window panes and the wind whistling around the building in the evenings. I ought to enjoy those sounds while I can, because soon they will be replaced by the gentle fall of snow, and the blanketed silence that follows.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Another Brick In The Wall
I found it! There are several different videos for Pink Floyds 'Another Brick In The Wall' but I finally found the one that I remember seeing on TV when I was 2 or 3. I remember being freaked out by the teacher mincing the kids, but I didn't remember the walking hammers at all. Enjoy!
Monday, November 06, 2006
This Post Has No Title
For some reason last week did not really leave a big impression on me. I had Monday off because I'd had to work the previous Saturday. I can't really remember what I did that day. In the evening I went to Yosakoi practice, I remember that much.
Last Tuesday I spent all day doing Halloween lessons at Kamagadai. The elementary kids even dressed up and went trick-or-treating around the school. The staff all got into the swing of it, and the school principal, vice-principal, elementary teachers and all Jr. High teachers who did not have a class that period were walking around with bags of candy ready to be trick-or-treated. It was so much fun. I wish I could do such things at my other schools, but it is impossible when you have lots of students.
On Wednesday my English conversation class was on holiday because the Community Centre was busy.
On Thursday I went to work only to find that Mr. Togashi was on a business trip and therefore I would have no classes for the entire day. Did he tell me before hand so I could prepare and bring something else to work to do? Of course not.
Friday was a public holiday. It was raining so I did nothing other than mess around on the internet, wash dishes and read comics.
Saturday evening I went into Honjo to say goodbye to Sayaka. We drank a little at an izakaya (kind of the Japanese version of a pub, i.e. there is both alcohol and decent food). I was going to stay out later and go to a bar as well, but for some reason my stomach started hurting. I went home early with Atsuko (who had a cold), all the while thinking that as soon as I got home I would feel better and regret having left. But I was wrong. My stomach got worse and I spent the rest of the evening feeling very uncomfortable indeed.
On Sunday morning I could not eat anything because I still felt icky. But I went out anyway. Not far, just to the supermarket and then to Atsuko's house. Atsuko, Toshi and I ate shabu-shabu (again). Before that, we were watching TV. There was a travel special on, and it was all about New Zealand. These two rather bizarre people went to NZ and showed us their adventures. But I use the word 'around' lightly. First they were in Auckland, and the very first thing the man did was go to a fish and chips shop. Then they bought wine, went to an expensive restaurant and stayed at the Sky Tower Hotel. Because normal tourists do that all the time. Then they went to Matamata to look at hobbits. They spent about 15 minutes of the programme on Matamata. They also went to Rotorua to learn the Haka, to a kauri museum up north, and then they stayed on this guy's farm in some teeny weeny place up north and helped with the sheep. And that was about it. They didn't go any farther south than Rotorua. I hope this programme continues next week, and that is not all of NZ that NHK thought worth showing.
This morning I once again woke up with a painfully stiff neck, this time on the right side. It happened to me for the first time two weeks ago on the left side of my neck. I thought at the time that it was a one-off event, but apparently not. I guess I must be turning into an old woman.
Last Tuesday I spent all day doing Halloween lessons at Kamagadai. The elementary kids even dressed up and went trick-or-treating around the school. The staff all got into the swing of it, and the school principal, vice-principal, elementary teachers and all Jr. High teachers who did not have a class that period were walking around with bags of candy ready to be trick-or-treated. It was so much fun. I wish I could do such things at my other schools, but it is impossible when you have lots of students.
On Wednesday my English conversation class was on holiday because the Community Centre was busy.
On Thursday I went to work only to find that Mr. Togashi was on a business trip and therefore I would have no classes for the entire day. Did he tell me before hand so I could prepare and bring something else to work to do? Of course not.
Friday was a public holiday. It was raining so I did nothing other than mess around on the internet, wash dishes and read comics.
Saturday evening I went into Honjo to say goodbye to Sayaka. We drank a little at an izakaya (kind of the Japanese version of a pub, i.e. there is both alcohol and decent food). I was going to stay out later and go to a bar as well, but for some reason my stomach started hurting. I went home early with Atsuko (who had a cold), all the while thinking that as soon as I got home I would feel better and regret having left. But I was wrong. My stomach got worse and I spent the rest of the evening feeling very uncomfortable indeed.
On Sunday morning I could not eat anything because I still felt icky. But I went out anyway. Not far, just to the supermarket and then to Atsuko's house. Atsuko, Toshi and I ate shabu-shabu (again). Before that, we were watching TV. There was a travel special on, and it was all about New Zealand. These two rather bizarre people went to NZ and showed us their adventures. But I use the word 'around' lightly. First they were in Auckland, and the very first thing the man did was go to a fish and chips shop. Then they bought wine, went to an expensive restaurant and stayed at the Sky Tower Hotel. Because normal tourists do that all the time. Then they went to Matamata to look at hobbits. They spent about 15 minutes of the programme on Matamata. They also went to Rotorua to learn the Haka, to a kauri museum up north, and then they stayed on this guy's farm in some teeny weeny place up north and helped with the sheep. And that was about it. They didn't go any farther south than Rotorua. I hope this programme continues next week, and that is not all of NZ that NHK thought worth showing.
This morning I once again woke up with a painfully stiff neck, this time on the right side. It happened to me for the first time two weeks ago on the left side of my neck. I thought at the time that it was a one-off event, but apparently not. I guess I must be turning into an old woman.
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