ブログ北海道　旭川市　英会話　スクール WEB LOG Snowman Japan Hokkaido Asahikawa BLOG　Life in Hokkaido Photos

www.snowmanjapan.net

March 2007

NOTE: The OBJECTIVE of this BLOG is to help my students with their study of English.

AND

For all of you, out there, around the world to;

SEE HOKKAIDO

2007 March 31 Saturday.

Cloudy in the morning but sunny in the afternoon. The main roads and most of the side roads are completely clear of snow and ice. I even saw some kids riding around on a skateboard in the big parking lot below my classroom windows. Starting at 13:00, I had a 50 minute lesson with the 6 year old daughter of one of my previous students at the Dokan Nursing School. That was more than ten years ago. Now she is the mother of three young children. Her oldest child came again today. She was playful as usual but more focused on her lesson than last week. Maybe it was because her little sister was not in the same room today. When her father came by to pick her up at about 14:00, we gave her a quick quiz to see how many of the three letter words she could actually read. It was only about 50 %. Hmmm. Not good enough. Here you are, two new copies of the same prints for learning FONIX in the format of 3 letter words. Do your homework, your father will help you, see you again next week. There will be a quiz before the start of the next lesson. Be prepared. Always Prepared. Semper Paratus. USCG.

2007 March 30 Friday.

Final count down to the end of Fiscal Year 年度 2006. Time to switch over to a new appointment book, and time to breathe in a whole new world of fresh air, with fragrance. There won't be any flowers blooming for a while yet, but if you wait just a little time longer, they will be back. Back and beautiful, big time. Today during my 15:00 lesson with the 3 elementary school girls who come every week at this time, I had a totally satisfying and somewhat rare experience today during this lesson. The younger sister of one of the girls in this class, also comes to my classroom, every Thursday at 16:00. She is almost 6 years old. Today, during the regular conduct of my lesson, she came over to the lesson table and hovered about for several minutes, getting close to her older sister, and then coming close to me, back and forth. After about 7 minutes of wandering around the lesson table, she came back to me, gave me a big hug around my right arm, and said softly in my right ear,...... "ノーマン先生、愛している。 CONTACT There really is life out there among the stars. You all can watch American Idol all ya want to, but this story is THE REAL DEAL. No scripting, no BS. Straight from the HEART. How's that for REALITY TV??? Sorry, didn't catch the moment on video. It wouldn't have been REAL if I had tried to film it. Ya just gotta be there, WHEN it happens. SPARK Anyway, that innocent little comment, opened up the door to another beautiful little world, and put a big smile on my face. A cerebral moment. なるほど乃瞬間　　　They happen now and then. More NOW than THEN. That is, in and of itself, a very good sign, Meaning upward movement in the spiral scheme of things.

2007 March 29 Thursday.

The elementary school girls who come every week at 15:00 on this day, brought a friend and her mother along with them today. She is in their class at Kagura Elementary School, and wants to start learning English too. Welcome aboard! It's learning in a relaxed family atmosphere. I think you will like it too. Because it was this girl's first lesson, I got back to basics using flash cards. Colors, Numbers and ABC. Before I knew it, the 50 minutes lesson was over. She seemed to enjoy her experience, and may come back again as a regular dues paying member. Please do so. You fit right in. Next class starting at 16:00 was with even younger children. Pre-School to be exact. Despite their young age, they can concentrate on writing the ABCs and 3 letter words very well. I am impressed. Just think how much better they will get at it in the very near, and not too distant future. It is important to start early if you really want to learn a certain way of knowledge deeply and proficiently. When did Tiger Woods first start learning how to play golf? When he was 3 years old. That's the biggest secret to his success. He does not merely play golf for a living, HE IS GOLF. He lives and breathes GOLF. He is not the only one like this, but he IS ONE OF the BEST of THEM. Doing what he wants to do, and making a decent living at it. Life can be sweet, but you have to be TOTALLY dedicated to YOUR OWN UNIQUE PATH. What ever YOUR PATH may be. The same basic principles apply everywhere and all around. On HIGH, and BELOW.

2007 March 28 Wednesday.

Today was a pretty slack day for lessons, because the first one didn't start until 17:00. This is just the way the Wednesday schedule is right now. That will soon change in April when the resumption of both public and private schools, plus other outside educational opportunities that most of my students also partake in, will become a catalyst for changes in daily schedules. Mine included. Again today, I used the game-playing method to awaken some of my younger students to the practice of free-based analytical thinking, using Scrabble as our common denominator. The younger the player is, the more difficult the task. After all, you only have 7 of your own letters to choose from, and you have to fit them into the way words are forming on the game board in front of you. If you don't already have a rather large vocabulary in the English language, this game can be extremely difficult. Even for native speakers of the language, it can be trying at times. However, it does cause the brain to work overtime, searching itself for vocabulary possibilities. I told all of my students whom I played Scrabble with that this is a very popular game in retirement homes 老人ホーム in the USA and elsewhere around the world. It helps prevent dementia ボケ防止. They all got a good chuckle out of that, but it is in fact true. A soon to become 2nd year junior high school student, a girl, who comes every week at this time, did quite well during our one-on-one game of Scrabble today. In fact, she whooped my arse. She scored a total of 275 points to my 247. Admittedly, she did get some required help from me, when she looked at her word choice options and became completely befuddled. This very intelligent young lady was 総合成績 Number One, among her first year classmates at the junior high school which she attends. Wow! I'm impressed. As I was again today, during our "lesson". It's mutual. It goes both ways. It MUST GO BOTH WAYS. Dipole create electrical differentials. Commonly known as voltage potential. Connect the two, and you get a SPARK 火花. Literally, flower from fire. Get connected.

2007 March 27 Tuesday.

Most of the elementary, junior high, and senior high school students, here in Asahikawa, are on their Spring Break right now. Despite this fact, most of those students who also come to my classroom, went out of their way to come by my classroom again this week. Because my kids are on vacation from their schools, I made the lessons this week, more game-like. For example, we will play Scrabble or even Othello, while I speak in English 95% of the class time. Game-Playing is a VALID form of education. In fact, it may be the Most Basic FORM of learning, that animals engage in. Humans are animals. Mammals, to be exact. Warm blooded, milk sucking, living animals. Let's not forget our very small but extremely significant place in the big scheme of things. We are the fingers and toes, the arms and legs, the billions of tiny droplets, from the WATERS of GOD. Thoughts ARE things. IT IS what IT IS. IT just IS. BEING. EXISTENCE. I AM. YOU ARE. IT IS. Language only confuses the situation. It would be better to sing it, out loud, as a song. Much easier to understand. An original song. I, and many other people are working on some new songs. Unlimited Songs. In a nut shell,.... IT IS. I AM. YOU ARE. I WILL,...... WE WILL,.... Make IT Happen. That IS IT. IT IS ALL. All around and everywhere. WELCOME to HOKKAIDO.

2007 March 26 Monday.

The snow on the ground continues to disappear slowly, but there are still some flurries of new white flakes in the air as well. It's not over until the mountain tops turn green. My first gig of the day was at the 神楽公民館英会話を楽しむ会 starting at 13:00. Today, I was very pleased to see 2 of the 3 people who came to take a look at our class last week, back again this week. It means that they have decided to join our English Circle as dues paying members. Dues which are not at all expensive, and thus easy to maintain over a long period of time. Eleven years to be exact. Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to Mrs. K. who has been here since the beginning, and has kept it all together for everyone involved. ありがとう！！！ Anyway, it was another enjoyable and informative 90 plus minutes of talk and listen, give and take, in real time American English. Just doin' my job. When that class was finished at about 14:40, I hurried back to my classroom for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. My 15:00 class today, was more of a music lesson for me, than it was an English lesson for Mrs. M. As I have mentioned before, she can play the recorder (vertical flute) very well, and when I get out my acoustic guitar, she teaches me how to play Hebrew songs of the Messianic Worship type. She even sings the songs in the Hebrew Language! How cool is that? It is a new window upon the world for me, and I am learning a lot from our weekly interactions. She hasn't shown me any of her writings about her life story for more than a month now, but she assures me that she is writing, in English, each and every day. I have no reason to dis-believe her. Another noteworthy event of today was my chance to meet some new people during my last class that started at 19:00. The two young ladies who come to this lesson every week, spent about one year in Perth Australia on a working holiday visa. Today, two of their Japanese friends who also lived and worked together with them while they were all in Australia, came to visit my classroom and told me all about their adventures in the Great Down Under. The two other ladies who came today, do not live in Asahikawa. One of them lives in Hiroshima, and the other lives in Okinawa. They had come to Asahikawa to visit the other two young ladies who live here 365/24/7. Today, I saw for the first time, most of the photos that my students had taken during their time in Australia. I have never been there myself, so I looked at each and every photo with much interest. One of the strong impressions that I received is that the ocean and beaches are very beautiful there. If I didn't live in Hokkaido, I would live somewhere in the world where I could go swimming in the ocean all year long. Australia seems to be one such place.

2007 March 25 Sunday.

Another spring like day with clear skies in the late afternoon and evening. Temps reached up to about 6 degrees C, and all of the main roads, and most of the sidewalks were clear of snow and ice. A condition which makes walking a simple pleasure and not a balancing act on the slippery slopes of death and injury. Just after sunset, I set out on a walk that would take me across the New Kagura Bridge into the central area of downtown Asahikawa, and then all around the main part of town before heading back across the Chubetsu Bridge into Kagura again. Total distance, about 20 kilometers. The wife thing didn't come with me today, and it's probably a good thing that she didn't. The walk was totally enjoyable for about the first 15 kilometers, but the last 5 klicks became an ordeal in pain management, especially for the soles of my poor old feet. Ouch! It has been about 5 months since I have walked this far in one pop. My body knew it even though my mind choose to ignore it. Being overweight does have many disadvantages. When I finally got back home at about 21:00, all I could manage to do was to sit down in this chair, put my feet up on another chair, and assume the position for writing this blog. From now on, the snow and ice will continue to melt, and make available many other options for a medium distance walking expedition course. I will be doing this more often in the very near future. By the way, last night I watched a very interesting video on the internet about how plain old water, H2O, can be used as a heat producing fuel through a process known as cold fusion. Not only can heavy water and palladium cathodes produce more energy as output than was injected as input, but also flakes of Copper, Silver, Platinum and other metals form on the cathodes, literally being produced out of nothing! Nothing but H2O and a small electrical input. That's All!!! If you have about 50 minutes of free time, I highly recommend that you watch this video. You can see it by clicking here. Fire from Ice. Heat from Water. Makes you wonder why we are driving around on fossil fuels in the first place, doesn't it.

2007 March 24 Saturday.

Today starting at a half past noon, I had a private lesson with the two young girls who come here every week on this day. One is six years old, and the other is only four. When these two get together, an orderly lesson is almost impossible. They like to goof around too much. And they can get away with it to a certain extent, because I never yell at children. I have much better methods of gentle persuasion. An interesting thing about this family is that the mother of these two girls, was in my English class at the Dokan Nursing School about 11 years ago. Until just recently, I hadn't seen her at all since that time. Until one day, while she was searching the internet for a classroom in Asahikawa, and came upon this website. When she recognized me after looking thru the website, she called my classroom and set up an appointment. She and her family have been coming back every week since that time. Today towards the end of our 50 minute lesson, she called me from her mobile phone and said that she would be 15 to 20 minutes late in picking up her two daughters. She had to attend to her patient. You see, she works as a registered nurse, and has a lot of heavy responsibility for those persons under her care. Since the two little girls had more time to play around after the lesson was finished, they promptly did so. When the mother finally arrived just before 14:00, she offered to pay me extra money for "the over time you spent baby-sitting my girls". I of course refused any extra payment. It was my pleasure, and also in keeping with my basic principle of business. ALWAYS GIVE THE STUDENT MORE THAN THEY PAY FOR. Pretty damn simple, isn't it. Do you really need an MBA to figure it out? Take off your blinders and look around. Field of vision should be 360 plus alpha. When mom and the girls had finally packed up and gone back to their van, I settled down in the living room to eat ramen and watch the Discovery Channel. Just after I had finished every last drop at about 15:00, my door bell chimed. Who could it be now? Who could it be now? When I went to the classroom entrance door and opened it, one of my students and one of her friends were standing there in the hallway, looking up at me with big smiles on their petite faces. I said; "Hello Y___ ! Did you bring your friend with you today?" She said; "Yes. This is A_____. Do you have time to play?" I said; "Sure ladies, come on in." We sat down at the classroom lesson table and played card games and Othello. My wife brought us some soft drinks while we were doing so. Both of these pretty girls will become 5th graders at Kagura Elementary School in April. Y____ chan and her elder sister have been coming to my classroom for about one year now, and I was not surprised to see her ringing my doorbell on a Saturday afternoon. Her friend A____ chan was also polite and well mannered. We spent about an hour playing non-electronic games and talking about nothing at all, mostly in Japanese. When they left at about 16:00, I went back to watching the Animal Planet on SkyPerfecTV. After all, I too am an animal and I truly envy my brothers and sisters such as eagles and dolphins, who can fly in the sky and swim in the sea. Quickly and at will. Wouldn't it be nice to be able do that again someday.

2007 March 23 Friday.

Today, just before the start of my 15:00 lesson, a young girl who will be starting high school in April, came by my classroom to tell me that she had gotten into her first choice of schools, North High School 北高等学校. This fine young lady started coming to my classroom more than 4 years ago when she was a 6th year student at Kagura Elementary School. She worked very hard during each and every lesson and her progress in English proceeded rapidly. Finally, last year in September, she participated in the All Hokkaido English Speech Contest in which she won second prize. Unfortunately, only the first place winner was able to go to Tokyo and compete in the All Japan English Speech Contest. None the less, her practice for and participation in this speech contest, was a valuable learning experience for her and will serve her well throughout her life. Today, she gave me a great big hug and said; "Thank you for all your help in teaching me how to speak read and write English. It was a big factor in my getting accepted to North High School." You're welcome! I'm just doing my job ma'am. Asahikawa North High School is well known as the school to go to if a student is interested in becoming more "internationalized". They have exchange programs with schools in New Zealand, and also special courses in English Language and Cultural Studies. I know she will be very busy starting in April and will not be coming to my classroom very often, from now on. However, her younger sister who is still in elementary school, will continue to come every week for several more years. She wants to become able to speak English well, just like her elder sister. I know that she can do it too, and I'll be there to help her along every step of her journey towards English Language Proficiency. The big smiles on all of our faces gives a real time testament to, a job well done.

2007 March 22 Thursday.

If yesterday was the first day of spring, today was most certainly the second. Clear and sunny skies with day time temps reaching up to about 5 degrees C. The light coming through my classroom windows this afternoon was beautiful. It made me want to dust off my mountain bike and take it out for a ride, but I didn't have enough time. Speaking of outdoor activities, check out the photo above/left. This appeared in the Hokkaido Newspaper about 2 or 3 weeks ago. You can clearly see a guy surfing on a nicely formed wave, with the snow covered mountains in the background. This photo was taken somewhere along the Shiretoko Peninsula 知床半島. It goes without saying that, this water is extremely cold. But, Oooooooh What a feeling! I can only imagine. Actually, I can do a bit better than that. I myself have a small amount of experience riding a surfboard on waves of about this same size, but that was in 1976 while I was living on the island of Iwo Jima. Because Iwo Jima is at about the same latitude 緯度 as Okinawa, the water is warm enough to swim in all year long. The coldest water that I have ever swam in without a wet suit, was along the Oregon Coast, at Lincoln City in the month of August. Even in August, the Pacific Ocean along that coastline is too cold for most folks to get into. That was a long time ago. However, the activity of riding ocean waves, while standing on a board, is one of the most exhilarating outdoor experiences that I have ever had in my entire life. Number two is probably snowboarding. I have never tried sky diving nor bunji jumping, and at this point in my present life, it looks like I never will. However, when I was a teenager, I went parachute-sailing in the SKY above COZUMEL MEXICO. I was strapped onto a parachute, and was pulled up into the air by a fast cruising motor boat, on the ocean below. Wait a minute, maybe that was my number one outdoor experience. It only happened one time but,... Surfing and Snowboarding,... I've done that many many times. It's easier to recall. Let's go with that one. But, then again, ya never know. Things that appear to be the best OF times in the "past", CAN and DO in fact, happen again. Don't count yourself out. You could be ready for a miraculous transformation. From Ordinary 2 Extraordinary. From within, To all about. NEVER LOSE HOPE. HOPE is one of your 3 Guardian Angels 守護霊. Don't forget to say THANK YOU to all 3 of them, each and every day. That is the first step.

2007 March 21 Wednesday.

Today is the Vernal Equinox. Or rather, the Spring Equinox in more modern terms. 春分の日 is also national holiday in Japan, and the wife thing and I took advantage of the occasion by going for a drive towards Biei and Kami Furano. We were well rewarded. The air we could breathe in out there in the fresh mountain wind, was delicious. One thing that I don't like about living in a city, any city, is that the air just ain't right. Even if you move just 10 or 20 kilometers away from a city center, you will notice that the air smells completely different. I think you all know what I am talking about. It just tastes and smells better in the great outdoors. It's still a bit cold however, so dress up warmly. By the way, the photo that you can see in today's blog was taken today, during our 2 hour drive. The photo that you can see in yesterday's blog, was also taken today. Time slips, are easy.

2007 March 20 Tuesday.

I ain't got nothin' to talk about today, and the photo that you can see on the above/left, was taken tomorrow in Furano. How's that for a time slip?

2007 March 19 Monday.

I woke up at about 11:30 this morning because I forgot to set my alarm clock last night. As usual, I had waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much fun while drinking beer and grooving to live music. The only mistake I made was to drink いも焼酎. Yuk! I can still taste it today. Anyway, I got freshened up and went to my first gig of the day at the 神楽公民館英会話を楽しむ会 starting at 13:00. Today, there were three new faces in the classroom. Three ladies that had come to take a look at our English Circle. One of the fine young ladies is a third year student at the Hokkaido Education College, and can understand spoken English quite well. I think she may be the youngest person to have ever come to observe our class. Another young lady is about 25 or 26 years old, and came to Asahikawa with her husband from Sapporo about 2 years ago. She says that she really likes this city. Me too. Another lady who came today, seems to be younger than I, and can also speak English very well. I hope they will decided to join our little circle and come every week. Various other members talked about various things including a recent article in the Hokkaido Newspaper about a woman who had found a Jomon Clay Figurine while digging in a potato field in Minami Kayabe near Hakodate about 32 years ago. The Dogu clay figurine that she found was dated at 3,500 years old, but the Jomon Culture goes back much farther than that. According to the newspaper headline, this is the first time that such an artifact from the Jomon Period has been found in Hokkaido. What does that tell you. I drove through this very same area during Golden Week of 2005. It is a rocky coastline, with beautiful beaches of brown sand. Most of the beaches in Hokkaido are of black sand. I even saw about 5 or 6 people surfboarding on the 3 meter waves just down the coast in 椴法華 Todohokke village at a beach called Choshi 桃子, that was right at the end of a tunnel exit. You can see an auto playing photo slide show of that day, by clicking here. That was a great road trip. Four nights and five days, driving the entire coastline of southern Hokkaido, and sleeping in my van at the road side rest stations 道の駅. Another really cool thing about this road trip during GW of 2005, is that I can relive those moments over and over again, simply by looking at my very own, custom made website. I wonder if I will ever be lucky enough to find one of these Dogu clay figurines for myself some day. After taking many photos of it, I would give it to the Hokkaido Museum in Asahikawa. They can take much better care of it than I can. If you are not familiar with the wide variety of people, animals and objects that the Jomon People made more than 5000 years ago, you can click here to learn more about it. Personally, I like the simple yet expressive art style of these hand made treasures. The guy on the upper/left looks a lot like a space traveler. I wonder which solar system he came from? Or is it a she? Doesn't really matter, does it.

2007 March 18 Sunday.

Today starting at 19:00, Ikuko and I attended a live performance by several groups of professional and semi professional acoustic musicians at the MONGOL SHOKUDO モンゴル食堂 located at 忠和5条6丁目. My wife is the childhood friend of the owner's wife, and I have know the owner himself for about 2 years. We even played in a band together during the summer of 2005. You can see a photo gallery of that event by clicking here. Today, I was not a part of the main event, but I did get up on stage and play several Gordon Lightfoot songs during the second half of the party. It was a totally enjoyable evening with lots of good food, good drink and really good live acoustic music all around. There were even 3 or 4 members of the very famous band from Asahikawa, 安全地帯 at the party and they formed into various combinations of 2 and 3 people who were the main performers tonight. This was a private party by invitation only, and I'm glad the owner and his wife invited Ikuko and I to attend. It was truly an evening to remember. Thanks guys!

2007 March 17 Saturday.

I have lots to write about today, but I don't have enough time to write it in this blog because I am still busy writing a new textbook and workbook for the many kids who come to my classroom. These kids, the future of Japan and the world, are my first priority.

2007 March 16 Friday.

2007 March 15 Thursday.

I am still busy making and then remaking my new textbook and workbook for the kids, but I just had to take some time off, to report on an interesting event which I experienced here in my little ole classroom today. A few weeks ago, a young gentleman who was born and raised in Tokyo, but now lives and works in Asahikawa as a wood products researcher, joined my classroom as a dues paying member. He is very intelligent and speaks English fluently and quickly. We are able to talk about many things and have a wonderful time doing so. Today, when he came to my place at exactly 19:00, we had our usual discussions about a wide variety of subjects. During the course of our banter, I asked him if his work place had a website. He said yes, and then proceeded to open his bag and pull out his very own personal business card. When he first gave it to me, I was deeply impressed by the natural wood-grain texture and color of his business card. As I ran my fingers over the surface of it on both sides, I remarked that this card feels much different than any other business card that I have ever received at any time in my life, so far. He then told me that it was in fact, not paper, but WOOD of which he had made his own business cards by himself. WHAT A FANTASTIC IDEA!!! Yeah, paper comes from trees, and other fiber enabled plants, but to actually make a business card out of a very thin slice of the wood itself!!! How amazing is that??? He told me that he made them out of a 3 meter long and 30 cm wide piece of very thin birch-wood かばの木. He had used a round-bladed, hand held cutting tool, to cut it into A4 sized sheets. He then used an ink jet printer to put his name and research facility logo on the wooden surface. After printing the A4 sized sheets, he further cut them into the business card sized object which you can see in the photo above/left. I am impressed. I have never received a business card like this before, and I will kept it in a safe location where it can't be damaged. At that point in the conversation, I gave him one of my original business cards, made with an ink jet printer on standard paper, and LAMINATED with plastic. We both had a barrel of laughs discussing the merits and demerits of using both types of business cards. The demerit of his business card is that it can be easily broken in half, if you bend it too far. The merit of my business card is that even if you drop it into the toilet, NO PROBLEM. Just pull it out and rinse it off. What a gas this conversation was. See you again next week Mr. S.!!! Creativity is the CRUX of being. You can see it in the night sky.

2007 March 14 Wednesday.

2007 March 13 Tuesday.

I have lots to write about today, but I don't have enough time to write it in this blog because I am busy writing a new textbook and workbook for the many kids who come to my classroom. These kids, the future of Japan and the world, are my first priority.

2007 March 12 Monday.

It is still snowing. No big surprise here, I live in the middle of Hokkaido. My first lesson of the day was at the 神楽公民館英会話を楽しむ会. The very polite and nice looking retired gentlemen who came to take a look at our English Circle last week, came back again today, and decided to become a dues paying member. He also brought a book with him, that he had purchased about one year ago. You can see a photo of the book's cover on the left. Our new member also told us that he was a high school chemistry and biology teacher for over 35 years, so I am sure that he knows a lot about the various genetic mutations which can affect the human body. In the case of Ashley Hegi, it is known as progeria 早期老化症 or literally "accelerated aging disease". This extremely rare disease afflicts only about 40 or 50 people among the entire global population of more than 6,500,000,000 people. Do the math for yourself to see how low the odds are for being born this way. Despite her somewhat "old" appearance, she is able to use her mind and can communicate smoothly with those around her. In fact, she even wrote the book which you can see in the photo above/left. I can clearly see from the big smile on Ashley's face, that she is a very happy girl. She has a loving family that is always there for her, and a big circle of friends, both human and animal, that she loves very much. And they all love her. Fuji TV of Tokyo Japan even did a television show about her in 2003. Another person made a slide show with a narration in Japanese which you can watch by clicking here. Despite her rather "unusual" appearance, Ashley maintains a positive mental attitude about her life. A good role model for anyone out there who was born "normal" and thinks that their life sucks. Your life is what you think it to be, and nothing more nor less than that. If you are the type of person who is walking around every day, with a big frown on your face, feeling that your current life could have been so much better if only,......... you had done this or done that in the past, you need a swift kick in your ass. Think again. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. What it becomes, is entirely up to you, and you alone. Turn off the boob tube, take a walk down to a river, lake or ocean and just sit there and stare at it for about 30 minutes or so. You will be amazed at what you can SEE about yourself. Nature IS the best teacher. Always has been.

2007 March 11 Sunday.

Today is my lovely wife's 44th birth anniversary. I have known her for about 16 years, and we have been married for 12. How has it been? It's been a great ride. We are traveling together through life, with our little ole classroom as the main focus of our works. It truly is a Family Classroom. Not just ours, but also our student's classroom as well. The walls and ceiling of our classroom are decorated with greeting cards and other gifts that our many students have given us over the years. One of the most common is an image of a snowman in some form or another. Sometimes the kids will ask me how many snowmen there are in our classroom and I have to answer; "I don't know for sure, but about 200 or more." Sometimes the kids will jump out of their chairs and walk around the classroom trying to count them all. No one has been completely successful at counting them ALL. And, I myself don't even know for sure how many there are. Does it really matter how many there are? No. What matters are the intentions of the persons who have given these wonderful gifts to us. Many, many very good intentions which can be received again and again, merely by looking at the gifts. It's much much better for your brain than watching the faux news on TV. If you want to feel afraid and worried and weak and powerless, then watch the main stream media "news" on TV. Why not just leave the damn thing on 24/7. Then you will always be up to date with the latest mind programming that poses as the real news. I prefer to switch it off. Anyway, because today is Ikuko's birthday we had been planning to walk over the bridge into Kamui and go to とりせん for a yakitori dinner. However, the weather today was very cold and windy with blowing snow. Not a pleasant day for a sunset stroll. So, we ate at home instead, using a big round electric hot plate to slowly cook various meats and vegetables, while drinking wine and talking about various things. Another night to remember, and many more to come. Happy Birthday Babe!

2007 March 10 Saturday.

Last night's Graduation Party at the Palace Hotel here in Asahikawa, and the 2nd Party 二次会 held at a different location here in the city, were very enjoyable as they always are, each and every year. Today, starting at about 12:30, I had a private lesson with a 6 year old girl. She and her family have been coming to my classroom for almost 3 months now. She told me upon her arrival that she and her younger sister were planning to take today's English Lesson together, but her younger sister had fallen asleep in the van, on their way over here to my little ole classroom. Therefore, the elder sister took her lesson alone today. Without her little sister in the room to distract her, she did very well with today's lesson. When her mother came by to pick her up about 50 minutes later, the little girl said that she wanted to stay longer and study English some more, but the mother and I both agreed that 50 minutes was just about right for her lesson. See you again next week. Don't forget to do the one page of homework that I gave you!

2007 March 9 Friday.

It's PARTY TIME! The Dokan Nursing School is having their graduation party tonight at the Palace Hotel, starting at 18:00. I got there about 10 minutes early. I didn't take any photos at this year's event, but I did enjoy myself as usual. One of the amusing things that everyone did was to play a new type of BINGO game. See the photo on the left for details. Instead of the standard bingo card with numbers, someone thought up the IDEA of using the names of the prefectures in Japan. Because there are more than 24 of them, everyone has to pick and choose which ones to write on their very own bingo cards. Apparently, I chose the wrong ones, because I didn't win anything. I didn't even reach the position of having only one more to go for BINGO. The food this year was really good, and there was enough of it for everyone. After a few glasses of beer, I switched to whisky and water for the remainder of the dinner party. When that was finished at about 20:00, all of the graduating students and some of the teachers, went to the second party at a different location in the city. As usual, I had to sing some songs in English as well as in Japanese. Two of the other Japanese teachers, refused to sing any songs at all. Rather unusual. At this second party, I sipped beer slowly to avoid becoming intoxicated. I have a private lesson tomorrow at noon, and I don't want to be smelling like alcohol in front of my students. It is rather unpleasant for them, and for me as well. When that second party was finished at about 23:00, all of the students and some of the teachers went to a third party at a Karaoke Box. I went home this year, but in years past I have gone all the way to the end of the line. Good music and good memories all around.

2007 March 8 Thursday.

The main roads are dry, but the sidewalks are icy obstacle courses. Spiked shoes are highly recommended, but become impractical when returning indoors. I had a full day of lessons starting at 15:00, but before that I had the vision of a dog-tooth violet yet to bloom, and tried to make it on my PC. You can see the digital results on the left. This took me a lot of time, so much time that I have no more time to write today. Writing and Drawing. What's the difference? Both forms of expression create an image. Both are equally valid. What was that saying that I first heard so long ago,....? A PICTURE IS WORTH ONE THOUSAND WORDS. So is an original SONG. Hum along.

2007 March 7 Wednesday.

I only had a total of 3 classes today starting at 17:00, so I had a lot of time in the morning to play around with making more CG. The one you can see on the left is supposed to be a dog-tooth violet カタクリ. Again, very colorful, but not very realistic. A photo would look better, but as I have mentioned before, there won't be any Kakakuri blooming in Asahikawa until the month of May. We will just have to use our imaginations until then.

2007 March 6 Tuesday.

The computer graphics that you can see in yesterday's blog and also that of today, is a little something that I made with FreeHand MX. It was surprisingly easy, and I think it looks pretty good, although it is not very realistic. The real magic of this software, is that you can start off with very simple basic shapes, and then modify those shapes in any way that you want to. For example, the flower petals that you can see, started out as one simple triangle shape, with rounded corners. Then, I used the sub select tool to click on points within the triangle and pull some parts out, and push other parts in, until I had the rounded out shape that resembles a single flower petal. After coloring it pink and red in a gradient fashion, I copied and pasted the shape, four more times. I arranged these five parts into the shape of a single flower, and then grouped them into just one object. After that, I added 11 white circles and ten red lines to the mix, grouped them all together as one object and, I had a single flower. Again, copy and paste that single flower 5 more times, add a green and white background to it, and I have a CG of some Cherry blossoms. For today's blog, I added a bulky branch and a blue sky for the background. These are the only cherry blossoms blooming in Asahikawa, right now. There won't be any real ones until about the beginning or middle of May. Yeah, they bloom late up here. Better late than never. If you can't wait for the real thing this year, you can see a photo gallery that I took on May 18 of 2000 by clicking here. These photos were taken at the Otokoyama Nature Park which is located along Route 40, just before the tunnel that takes you into Pippu. Not only are the cherry blossoms beautiful, but you can also see the water filled rice paddies, reflecting the sunlight, in the surrounding fields below the hill. Please take a lot at this photo slideshow if you haven't done so already. It's days like that, which really give me a wonderful feeling of being close to nature. And being close to nature, is what Hokkaido is all about for me.

2007 March 5 Monday.

My first gig of the day started at 13:00 at the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会. Today, there was a new person in attendance whom I have never met before. He came to take a look at the class and decide whether or not to join our group. He explained that Asahikawa is his home town, and that he had just retired from his job about 6 years ago. Since that time, he has been studying English by using the NHK radio and TV study programs, only. He was looking for an opportunity to use what he has learned, in real time conversation with a native speaker of English, and a group of very nice people who also have the same interest. He also mentioned that the English level of our group is very high. Yes, it is. This group has been meeting every week for more than ten years now. In fact, there is still one member in the group, who has been here from the very beginning. GOD BLESS YOU MRS. K. You and I understand the true meaning of; Persistence becomes Strength 継続は力なり. I hope this nice elder gentleman will decide to join our group and come again and again, every week. He also mentioned that he has two grown up sons. One of them lives in Iwate and the other one lives in Florida in the USA! He says that he has only visited Florida one time, so he may want to go back again sometime in the near future. At that time, his diligent study of English will pay off, BIG TIME. Other people, attending today's English Circle, talked about various things until the class was finished at 14:30. When I got back to my classroom at about 14:45, I found out that my 15:00 and 16:00 lessons had been canceled by the student's themselves, because they were not feeling well. Possibly they were coming down with a cold. My last class of the day which started at 19:00, was with two young ladies, one of which has lived in Australia for about one year. Today she told me that two of her friends who she met while living in Australia, were coming to visit her, here in Asahikawa at the end of this month. One of her friends lives in Okinawa, and the other lives in Nagoya. I asked her to bring her two friends along with her, for our class on March 26. I am very much looking forward to meeting them and hearing about their experiences while living in Perth Australia. I have never been there before. How about you? Gordon Lightfoot sings about a midnight sailing out of Perth, but I can only imagine, what that experience would be like. Set sail. Find the wind and GO FOR IT.

2007 March 4 Sunday.

Sunday was a sunny day, with above freezing temperatures during the day, and even on into the early nighttime. I basically sat around all day, remaking pages of my very old student workbooks, and also having fun with FreeHand MX. The very old original workbooks that I am talking about were made with Microsoft Works. Does anybody remember this software package? I bought it in the USA while I was there for about 4 months during the end of 1992 and the beginning of 1993. The reason I was in the USA at that time, is an epic tale in and of itself, so we won't GO there today. However, at that time, I was almost 100% percent computer illiterate. The only thing I knew at that time was, I needed to get computer literate, and in a hurry, so that I could start writing my own textbooks, make a data base to keep track of my future students, and make lesson tickets and posters and so on and so forth. That's all I knew. So, I bought Microsoft WORKS at that time. Considering the very low price of this software package, I would say that it was a FAIR DEAL. However, when I came back to Asahikawa early in 1993, and bought my first notebook PC, a SONY VAIO which had Windows 95 Japanese language version preinstalled in it, I soon realized that my English version of Microsoft WORKS, could not produce documents which use Japanese language written symbols. English only! Damn! What to do? I found my answer in a Japanese language version of Microsoft WORKS at a local PC store in Asahikawa. I think it cost me about 8,000 yen to buy the CD-ROM. OK, fine. Now I can write textbooks using both English and Japanese. A great help to me, and for my future students as well. Anyway, the only reason I am writing about this today, is because that's how the planning for this classroom started out. Step by step. Slowly, sort of like using your hands to find your way through a dark tunnel, until you can get a glimpse of the light at the end of that tunnel. That too, is an epic tale that will have to wait for another time, because the sun has just set, and I am out of here for a drunken walk under the starlit sky. I walked through Crystal Park on the trampled down foot trail that everyone uses, and ended up at the LAWSONS mini store, which is very near to the base of the new bridge that they are building, which will span the Chubetsu River. The Otokoyama Brewery has just released their new un-pasteurized ShiboriTate brand again this year, so I snagged a 500ml bottle and headed back outside. I walked up onto the high bank along the river line and was watching Venus 金星 in all of its bright splendor, as well as the clearly visible ORION constellation. I brought my small binoculars 双眼鏡 with me today, and I gazed upon Venus for a long time. It was really bright tonight. Being a windy night, the cloud cover kept moving the whole time, resulting in obscured viewing of things above. Finally, the eastern horizon on the city side of the river cleared up, and I was rewarded with a super clear view of the full moon. A perfect circle!!! What a feast for my lenses. After about one hour on the river embankment, I decided to come back home and eat some good food. Tomorrow it is back to classes. I am looking forward to it.

2007 March 3 Saturday.

Every year on this day, many Japanese families, especially those with young girls in residence, will celebrate the Dolls Festival 雛祭り. Ikuko and I don't have any children of our own, so we will not be putting up any special decorations such as the 雛だな, but many other families here in Asahikawa will do so. Or, already have done so, is what I really should say. This includes the young family that came to my classroom again today at 12:30. They have been coming every week for private lessons since about one month ago. The two young daughters were very excited today, because they were going to get a cake from their grandmother, and celebrate the dolls festival after our English lesson was finished. Today, the mother sat at the table with me and her two daughters during the entire 50 minute lesson. This was very helpful for me, as the two little girls on their own, tend to goof around a lot, and waste valuable class time. Today's lesson went very well. I concentrated on the letters of the alphabet, and 3 letter words using phonics. I think we made some real progress today. See you again next week! At about 15:00, Ikuko's mother dropped by to deliver some homemade food, traditional for the dolls festival day. Namely, Chirashi Zushi. Yummy! Plus an assorted set of pickles and rice balls. I'm satisfied. A happy camper, in other words. After eating some really good homemade food, I settled back into my easy chair and got down to business on FreeHand MX, once again. Drawing with this stuff is more fun that playing video games. No! Really!!!. Is it more fun than playing the guitar? No, it's exactly the same. Same Game, Different Name.

2007 March 2 Friday.

My first gig of the day, was my last one at the Dokan Nursing School for this school year. As with last week, it was test time. One on one, face to face, using my textbook, Q&A page one, two or three. Most of the students did really well, but some were very tired because of, lack of sleep. They have had a slew of other tests all during this week, and my test was their last one of this school year. When I had called each and every student up to my desk and given them all an oral examination, we still had about 10 minutes of class time left over, so I said; "What should we do next?" One of the girls yelled out in Japanese; "Tell us a story!" I said; "I have a lot of stories to tell, so what kind of story do you want to hear?" The girl said; "A love story!" To which I replied; "Fiction or Non-fiction?" The girl said; "Non-fiction." I then replied; "Sorry, I can't do that because, I DON'T KISS AND TELL." Nobody seemed to understand what I meant by this, so I wrote it on the blackboard. Everybody knows the word KISS, but most of the students thought TELL meant 'telephone'. Hmmm,...... Well, there is a connection to that word but,..... So, I spoke in Japanese for a few seconds, using a speaking style that is common among Japanese comedians on TV. After my brief comedy skit, everyone understood the meaning of KISS AND TELL, perfectly well. When they all finally stopped laughing, I told them a short version of the story; FEEDING WILD HAWKS using only English. Most of them seemed to understand the gist of the story, and class was dismissed at 10:30. After that, I got into a taxi and came back to my classroom for straight classes from 13:30 until 20:00. Then, it was time to spend some more effort on learning how to make illustrations using FreHand MX. One of the simple drawings I made tonight can be seen above/left. It was really simple and easy to make. And, because it is 100% digital, it can be copied and pasted an unlimited number of times, with no loss of quality. That, is the true magic of the digital revolution.

2007 March 1 Thursday.

Last week, I received two separate phone calls from two separate young gentlemen, who came to my classroom on two different days for a free trial lesson. Today, both of the young gentlemen called me again and said that they had decided to start coming to my little ole classroom, on a regular basis. As fate would have it, they both came for their second lesson today at 19:00. One of the nice young men is from the very southern tip of Kyushu, and the other one is from Tokyo. The young man from Kyushu is a 4th year student at the Asahikawa Medical College and is studying pharmacology 薬理学. The other young man is working at a wood research institute, and is developing new ways to use carbon 炭素 for absorbing odors. Both of them learned about my classroom while surfing the internet, where they found a link to this website. Our lesson today was very interesting and a whole lot of fun. Because both of these nice young gentlemen are very well educated, we can talk about a wide variety of subjects in a very informed manner. What a blast! Since the beginning of this classroom almost 11 years ago, and even up to now, the majority of my adult students have been female. No problem there. However, men and women tend to talk about very different types of subjects, so having a couple of young intelligent guys come every week, means a welcome change of pace for me. Welcome aboard my friends. I am looking forward to spending many many hours having informative and entertaining conversations with you both. See you again next week.