Asahikawa American English Conversation School
for October 2005
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
2005 October 31 Monday.
Happy
Halloween! I know some places here in the city held Halloween
Parties, but I did not. My classroom is a bit too small for kid's parties.
I didn't get any trick or treaters either. I did write an essay about
Halloween which you can read by
clicking here. I also put together a music video which you can watch
by
clicking here. My teaching day started at 13:30 at the 神楽公民館 英会話を楽しむ会.
Again this week there were many interesting stories. One guy went to see
his new granddaughter in Nagoya. His first grandchild. A very big
deal. Another woman continued her talk about her recent trip to Italy.
Another person talked about the AIC
Asahikawa International Committee's annual Halloween Party at the Toyo Hotel
on Saturday, and another person talked about a TV show they had seen which
claims that drinking a cup of black coffee every 3 or 4 hours can help you burn
body fat. I wonder if that TV show was sponsored by the coffee companies?
After that class was finished at 14:45, I hurried back to my classroom for
classes from 15:00 until 20:00. When all classes were finished for the
day, I put the final touches on my new musical slideshow, Autumn Leaves. I
will put it on this website within the next day or two. Dinner tonight?
Beef stew! Yum yum. Lights out at 24:00.
2005 October 30 Sunday.
Another cold, wet and miserable day. No incentive to go anywhere so, I spent the whole day inside taking hot baths and doing research on the internet. Of course I continued to work on my new slide show with BGM for Snow TV called Autumn Leaves. Nothing else to talk about today. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 29 Saturday.
A
cold, windy and rainy day. Not much fun to be outdoors. We even had
thunder and lightning, followed by a violent rain and hail 雹 storm. It was
really intense. Personally, I like to watch lightning storms but a lot of
other people and animals don't seem to enjoy it. Also, the planet Mars
火星 is closer to the Earth today than it will be again until June of 2018.
Of course tonight, I couldn't see anything in the sky except lightning, but on
clear nights Mars is very bright, red and beautiful. The photo on the left
was taken by the professionals at NASA, but even with a small telescope, you can
see the red planet quite well. Because the weather was nasty, I spent most
of my day editing photos that I have recently taken of the autumn leaves.
I am making a new slide show for Snow TV on this website that will have the
famous song Autumn Leaves as the BGM. It should be ready by November 1 or
2. Stay tuned. Lights out at 27:00.
2005 October 28 Friday.
Today
was a busy teaching day. I had classes from 9:00 until 21:00.
Fortunately, I had a three hour break from 10:30 until 13:30, after I finished
the first class of the day at the Hokkaido Nursing Academy of Asahikawa
北海道立旭川高等看護学院. When I got to the classroom at 9:00, there were only 9
of the 18 students in attendance. Today instead of
doing conversation practice, I gave a 40 minute presentation about the origins
and current customs associated with Halloween. I talked about the
same things I wrote about in the
Halloween Essay on this website. I did not give the students a printed
copy of the essay, so they had to listen with their ears and read my writing and
gestures. Some of them enjoyed it, and some were dozing off. After
that we watched a very old animation video entitled: It's the Great Pumpkin,
Charlie Brown. This animation is about 40 years old but still rather
amusing. When that class was finished at 10:30, I came back to my
classroom to eat and watch some TV news. Then it was back to work at 13:30
with the two lovely ladies who come for their private lesson every week at this
time. Another fun filled conversation time learning useful English.
Every Friday at 15:00 I have 4 elementary school students. They are
memorizing useful phrases and learning how to read and write; 4, 5, and 6
letter words. Next, at 16:00 there are 4 more elementary school students.
They are more advanced in their knowledge of useful phrases and can read words
with up to 15 letters. Then at 17:00, a mother and her 1st year
elementary school student daughter come for a lesson. It is actually 2
lessons in one. The mother is a university professor and she can speak
English very well. We talk about many things. Then, at 18:00 I had a
new family visit my classroom. They have just come back from the
USA. Nashville Tennessee to be exact.
Cool!!! Nashville Tennessee! The Home Of Country Music!
Yee Haw! I like country music too, and may I add that I can play a
mean six string guitar as well. Pass the jar and that old guitar in this
hang dog motel room. I myself have never been to Nashville Tennessee, so I
took a virtual tour on the web. Looks like an interesting place to spend
about 3 years. At 19:00 Ai chan, the Hula Dancer and her family come every
week. Also this week at the same time, the young couple who will soon be
moving to Sapporo, came as well. No dancing this week, but we had lots of
fun talking about the wife's, coming soon, new baby. She is busy with
various things in preparation for the birth. She even tried making two
stuffed animals out of towels. One dog and one bunny. Blue and
yellow. Sewn by hand. Creativity is fun. At 20:00
I had a private lesson with a university student. Objective; to pass the
Eiken level 2 Exam 英検2級 which is being held about 2 weeks from now.
This same student also came here about 6 months ago to study for the Eiken
pre-level 2 準2級. He passed it on the
first try. Another satisfied customer, back for the next level.
Our one hour class was 100% pronunciation and intonation speaking practice.
It is tough work for the student. After that lesson ended at about 21:12, it
was time to sit down and relax with a cold boy. And so, I did. I even
felt inspired enough to pull out the old six-string and played it for about 2
hours. What a day. Lights out at 26:00.
2005 October 27 Thursday.
Classes from 15:00 until 20:00. Then, it was back to work on my Halloween movie for SNOW TV. I finished it! You can watch it by clicking here. Lights out at 26:00.
2005 October 26 Wednesday.
Classes from 15:00 until 20:00. When that was finished, it was back to working on my new SNOW TV movie about Halloween. I'm almost ready to publish. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 25 Tuesday.
A
cold and windy day. Very cold with temperatures at about 9 degrees C, plus
wind chill factor. I even witnessed some light snow fall. Yes, SNOW.
I drove out to Asahikawa University
AU for two classes from 9:00 until 12:10.
Again today, were did conversation practice using my original text book Using
Interrogatives 疑問詞を使いこなす. A few of the students have advanced
to page four, but a few are still on page one. There is a big difference
in the motivation and skill levels of these students. Some of the
students enjoy my class very much and some are not interested at all. Some
even sleep during the entire class. Does that make me angry? NO, NOT
AT ALL. It is their choice. I am doing my job, and doing it well.
If a student doesn't want to take advantage of the time to learn some spoken
English, that's too bad but it also gives the other students who do, more time
to practice. You snooze, you lose. When that was all finished, I
drove back to my classroom on the windy roads and ate some lunch. Next
lesson will start at 15:00, or so. Yes, today is Tuesday
with a captial T and that means it conversation
time for me and Mr T.
Not the Mister T
pictured to the left but, a retired high school English teacher who has a
last name that begins with the letter T.
Today was a bonus day because I had 2 hours open until 17:00, so we talked about
various things for 2 straight fun filled hours. Is this a great gig or
what. I mean we talked about everything from politics to religion
and beyond. I never WRITE about politics or religion because so many other
people do. However, I do enjoy TALKING about these subjects and many many
others. I want this website to be 100% Enjoyable good news and good
fun. If you want to read the bad news, pick up any newspaper and read the
headlines. That's enough time spent thinking about that crap.
Anyway, after two hours of interesting conversation and lots of laughs
with Mr. T, I had about one hour to eat dinner
before my next two lessons. At 18:00 a mother and her two daughters
come for a lesson every week. The parents both work at the Asahikawa
Medical College, and they just got back from 3 years of life in Florida, USA.
Naturally the mother can speak fluent English, and the daughters can understand
what we are talking about. Each lesson, I read about 3 or 4 pictures
books that the mother borrows from the Central Library near Tokiwa Park. I
enjoy reading them, and the kids enjoy listening to the stories and making
comments about them. Another great gig. The last class of the day
which starts at 19:00 is with a high school girl and a doctor's wife. This
class has about 10% free talking time , and the rest is spent memorizing
dialogues from the many textbooks that I have written specifically for this
purpose. This enables each and every student to
build up a library of useful words and phrases that they can use spontaneously
in the appropriate situations. It is tough training. But it works.
After the last lesson was over it was time for some beers and a
bit of guitar playing for about 2 hours. Today I practiced playing about 4
or 5 currently popular J-POP hits.
Recently, Japanese Top 100 popular songs are
getting a more international flavor. They could be enjoyed by anyone
living anywhere in the world. Good quality stuff. After dinner
it was lights out at 25:00. Another beautiful day.
2005 October 24 Monday.
My first class of the day was at the 神楽公民館 英会話を楽しむ会 starting at 13:30. Again today, there were various topics of conversation. One of the ladies talked about inviting one of the EC teachers to her house for cake and coffee. This particular EC teacher will be leaving Asahikawa at the end of October so, she doesn't have much time left in this city. This class member told me that the teachers at EC, NOVA, GEOS, AEON etc. are FORBIDDEN by company rules from getting too friendly, up close and personal with their students because of the potential for problems. At that point in the conversation, another lady chimed in with some specific gossip about several cases where the students at these national chain schools have run away to a foreign country with their English teachers. Many of these students were already married! Meaning that they left their spouse and their children to go back to the home country of the English teacher! Ah, how easy it is to get lost in a fantasy. None of these people, neither the teachers or the students have good judgment. What in the hell were they thinking about when they made that decision??? "If only I had a different partner,..... I would be happy." Yeah, right. Dream on. Happiness depends less on your environment that it does on your mental attitude towards your environment. You have to learn to live with the cards that you are dealt in life, and make the best of what you have. Of course, there a some situations that are intolerable and a change must be made. In such a case, decisive action is necessary to prevent the situation from getting worse. A clean break from the past and a new start must be made. However this new start must be realistic and not just some fantasy as seen on a TV drama. You must understand your viable options and choose the best one. Then you can feel confident and happy that you have chosen the correct path at this point in your life. Running away to a foreign country with someone that you have just met, is a fool's dream. When you finally wake up, you will find that you have nothing real leftover. And no way back to the life that you had before. I think a lot of confusion comes from a general misunderstanding of what LOVE is. Many people seem to think that love is a feeling. Yes, that is part of it, but there is much more to it than that. Having a special feeling towards a certain person is essential for a relationship to get started. Without it, there is no spark to light the fire. After the fire has been lit, it must be maintained with nurture and care. This is where the true meaning of LOVE comes into play. LOVE IS GIVING, NOT RECEIVING. Give first, receive later. Give first, with no specific idea of what you will receive in return from any particular person. You will receive much more back after first giving, but you can not know WHEN or FROM WHOM you will receive your blessing. Just believe that you will get back more than you give, if and only if you give first. LOVE is active, receiving is passive. LOVE IS DOING THINGS FOR OTHER PEOPLE. And doing those things BECAUSE YOU WANT TO DO them. Maybe I should write an essay about this because, even thought the basic premise is simple and straight forward, the implications are far reaching and more complicated. Think twice before you act. But when you decide to act, do so decisively. Go forward and NEVER LOOK BACK. Regrets are to be entertained in the mind for only short time. Just long enough to learn what went wrong and to make a vow not to make the same mistake again. Once you have learned what you did wrong, forget about the past and move on. Always move on and move forward. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is uncertain. LIFE IS WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW. Right now, while you are reading this blog. LIFE IS NOW. Live it to fullest everyday. Never look back, but always look forward with a bright hope for the future. After that class was finished at 14:30, it was back to my classroom for classes from 15:00 until 20:00. When all of those classes were finished, I spent most of the evening looking on the internet for animated clip art for Halloween. I found some, and you can see it on my essay page for Halloween by clicking here. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 23 Sunday.
As I wrote in yesterday's blog, I went to bed at about 4:00 this morning. I slept until about 10:30. When I woke up, my first order of business was to make a big pot of coffee from freshly ground beans. Yum yum. I drank about 4 cups of the java juice, and started to wake up. I had hoped that today might be a nice and sunny day so that I could take some panorama photos of the rolling hills, brightly colored in a carpet of autumn leaves. But it was not to be. It was overcast and slightly rainy, meaning that there were no good lights for meaningful photography. A real pity because the autumn colors seem to be at their best right now, at least here in the lowlands of the Kamikawa Basin 上川盆地. With photography out of the equation, I thought about some other excuse to go out and take a drive around the town, in my NOAH Road Meister. As I was contemplating the reasons, my lovely wife reminded me that, she needed to visit 3 different locations in Asahikawa, that could easily be reached by NOAH KUN. They were, her mother's house in Chuwa 忠和, the Seibu Department Store, and a book store in Kamui カムイ. At that point in the journey, I also remembered that I needed to buy some Post Office Standard post cards for printing out photo post cards and other things. So we got on the road about about 15:30. After we went to all of the places that she wanted to go, we went to 100 Man Volts on highway 237 so I could by the ink jet printer post cards. While we were there, I looked at the newest digital cameras. I saw ones like I had see on Saturday being used by the parents and grand parents of the children who attend Kagura Elementary school. Some of these cameras have a 10 or 12 times optical zoom lens, and can take pictures with a resolution of 8 or 9 mega pixels!!! Wow! What I could do with a camera like that. And the price was about the same as what I paid for my 3 mega pixel 3 times optical zoom lens camera that I bought 8 years ago. Things just keep getting better and better in the digital world. I bought the post cards and we came back home to eat dinner and relax. Lights out at 25:00.
Up and at 'em early again today with a visit to the Kagura Elementary School's annual Arts Festival 学びフェスタ. It started right at 9:00 and I took as many photos as I could knowing that a lot of them would not turn out so well. The one you can see on the left is not too bad, but a bit fuzzy as a result of using full telephoto lens without a tripod. I saw many other parents and grandparents who had much better and much newer digital cameras than I do. They probably got some good pix. Again this year, the stage and costumes were wonderful and the children's performances were both pleasant and amusing. I had to leave a bit early at 10:35 because I had a private lesson at my classroom from 11:00 until 12:00. These are the siblings who have lived in the USA for a few years, so I can conduct the class about 99% of the time using English only. The older sibling paid attention to the lesson and did a great job as usual, but the younger one seemed to have something else on his mind and refused to speak when asked a question. What can a teacher do? It is often said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Sounds kind of cosmic, doesn't it. I did my best as usual and the lesson was over in no time. After that was finished, I ate some lunch and checked my e-mail and stuff like that. After I finished lunch, I suddenly got very sleepy so I took a nap for about 2 hours. Then it was back up and at 'em again to put together the photo gallery of the Arts Festival. You can see the photo gallery by clicking here. After that, it was time for a nice hot bath on a very cold evening and then some dinner. After taking some CG (computer graphics) training courses over the internet, I finally went to bed again at about 28:00. I hope it is sunny tomorrow so I can take some panorama photos of the autumn leaves. The window of opportunity is almost closed on this colorful season.
No
classes until 13:30 today, but I was up and out of the house by 8:30 because
today was the annual Kagura Folks' Culture and Music Festival 神楽っ子文化・音楽フェスタ
to be held at the Taisetsu Crystal Hall. Many of the students who come to
my classroom also go to Kagura Elementary School, and they asked me to come see
them perform at this event, so I said that I would. They told me that it
started at 9:00. But when I got to Crystal Hall at about 8:50, there was
nobody there. What??? I thought to myself. So, I went over to
the Kagura Elementary School to look at the bulletin board 掲示板 that is posted by
the school gate. The poster inside said the start time was to be at 9:00.
However, while I was standing there, I saw some of the students with their
musical instruments gathering in the school yard, so I assumed that the schedule
had been changed to 10:00 and I went back over to the Crystal Hall at about
9:40. This time, there were a lot of people coming to the hall so I went
inside also and got a seat by the far left aisle. As more people gathered,
I saw many people that I know. Including the new baby of the mother of two
of my students. Her photo is in the photo gallery of today's events which
you can see by clicking here. I had to leave a bit before the end of all the
performances so that I could eat lunch and get ready for my private lesson at
13:30 with the two lovely ladies that come every week at this time. The
class was a barrel of fun and laughs as it always is. Then, it was
straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. The young lady that comes to the
19:00 class every Friday was born with Down's Syndrome. She is a perfectly
delightful person and can speak English fluently on a limited number of
subjects. Reading and writing are still at the beginning stage however.
Anyway, today I didn't have a class between 18:00 and 19:00, so she and her
family came into my classroom at about 18:45. We have plenty of
chairs and stuff to read or look at so they made themselves at home. Then
the girl, Ai chan, told me about her Hula Dancing Class that she went to today.
She has been doing this for several years now, and she has even given me some
nice photos from last years Christmas Show. We still had about 10
minutes before the start of class so I turned on my cable music service
USEN
440 to the Hawaiian Music station, and Ai started dancing to the music.
I was amazed at how well she could dance. It was all her original
arrangement of the dance moves that she had learned in class.
It was really good. A natural dancer. I watched and listened with
great enjoyment until 19:00 when her English lesson started. As
usual, this class also was a lot of fun. She has a good sense of humor and
can understand when I am making jokes. After that lesson was finished at
about 20:00, my wife and I drank some beer and talked about various things.
Tomorrow morning, I will be going to the Learning Festival 学びフェスター at the Kagura
Elementary School. Why? Mainly because the students who come to my
classroom asked me to come and see them perform. I said that I would, so I
will. Since I'm going over there, I might as well take my DigiCam.
Another photo gallery will be born tomorrow. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 20 Thursday.
What
you see on the left is called NanaKamado ナナカマド in
Japanese. It is called a Mountain Ash in
English. There are a lot of these trees is and around the city of
Asahikawa. In fact, it is the Official City
Tree of Asahikawa. As you can see, there are a lot of red berries
on the branches. Birds often eat these berries and then discharge the
undigested seeds onto the sidewalks below. Not a very artistic display.
These berries will even remain on the trees throughout the winter.
During that time of the year, the red color of the berries contrasts well
with the white snow piled on top of them. Of course by first snowfall, all
of the read leaves have fallen off of the the trees. Eventually the red
berries will all fall off too. In the springtime, the NanaKamdo
sprouts new green leaves and by early summer, white flowers bloom on the
branches. It is these white flowers that later become the red berries that
can be seen now. This tree adds a nice touch of color the city
throughout the entire year. *** I didn't have any
classes until 15:00 today, so I spent my free time making some adjustments to
the filing system of this website. I am cleaning it up by putting related
web pages into various folders so that they are easier to find and maintain.
You have to very careful when doing this so that you don't break any hyperlinks.
Especially if the web page has a lot of photographs on it.
Also, I am still trying to make a CG (computer graphics) Jack-o-Lantern for a
Halloween display on this website. I'm still not quite getting it right.
I'll keep trying. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 19 Wednesday.
SNOW
BUGS!
雪虫 They are everywhere! Fortunately, they do not smell bad like
stink bugs do, and they are much better looking. (see my blog for October
11 below) They come out every year at about this time and
cruise along through the sky rather gracefully. At night, you can see
hoards of them circling around the street lights and such. As you can see
from the photo on the left, they are mostly white with a tinge of blue.
Rather pretty don't you think? Well, not too bad for a fly.
I imagine the birds have a feast on these poor little critters. I wonder
what they taste like? If I can catch one, I'll try to eat it, and
then let you know what I find out. Just kidding.
I didn't have any classes until 15:00 today, so I used the time to finish
writing my new essay about Halloween. You can read it by
clicking here. Today was another clear and sunny day, and
the night sky was gorgeous as well. I am almost ready to put
together another new photo gallery. The theme of this one will be the
autumn leaves. I think I need just a few more good photos, and then I will
be able to put it all together. I spent the rest of the
evening trying to make an animated Jack-o-Lantern that I will put on this
website. I'm still not very good at creating original CG (computer
graphics) but it is something that I am extremely interested in learning
more about. I have seen some amazing CG on various websites. It
seems to be as much of an art, as it is a science. I can't wait until I
can make some really eye-popping stuff of my own. Stay tuned.
Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 18 Tuesday.
Another
fine day for photos of the autumn foliage. I took advantage of the
warm weather and the excellent lighting to expand my collection of Art Photos.
The colors, shapes and textures during this time of year are truly one of a
kind, so you must strike the iron while it is hot. Do it now! Take
photos of the autumn leaves. Not only the leaves, but there are also
flowers that bloom only in autumn as well. I know what you're
thinking. Flowers bloom best during spring and summer. Yes, some
flowers do. But some flowers wait until my favorite time of year to show
their full colors. Such a time of year as today.
My teaching day started off at 9:00 at AU with two classes that lasted until
12:10. Last night I was thinking to myself, "I should take my DigiCam with
me when I go to AU, so that I can take some photos of the autumn colors after my
lessons are finished. I forgot to bring my camera.
Idiot! Yeah well, it's not such a big deal.
When I arrived back at my classroom, a bit after 12:30, I cleaned the place up
and then went for a walk along the cycling roads riverside on the Biei and
Chubetsu rivers that are very close to where I live. I was
able to get some really good photos. And some that are not so good.
Some of the better ones are on this blog page for your enjoyment.
Enjoy! Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 17 Monday.
No classes this morning so it was time to clean
up the classroom after our little 11th Wedding Anniversary Party last night.
At 13:30 I went to the 神楽公民館 英会話を楽しむ会. Today Mrs. K surprised
everyone by telling us that she had taken an 8 day trip to most of the World
Heritage Sites that are located in Italy! She showed us some maps and pamphlets. She
said that her husband took a lot of photos with his digital camera, but that he
had not yet printed any. Next week she will tell us more about her trip.
I am looking forward to hearing about it. Another member of the group, Mr. M told us
about going to Toma Town 当麻町 for his son's Kendo 剣道 tournament. After, it
was over, there was a big dinner party, as usual. One of the ladies at the
dinner party got a call from her husband on her cell phone. The
husband said "I am being sent to Pakistan, to help with relief efforts for
victims of the big earthquake." He is a member of the JSDF, Japan
Self Defense Forces 自衛隊. Many families of the JSDF live in the
ShunKoDai 春光台 district of Asahikawa. Mr. M lives in the same district also so, he knows a lot of
families that have members in the JSDF. He even knows some people who have
served in Iraq as well. It must be tough to get called up for duty in a
far away country all of a sudden like that, but that's part of being in the
military. Another one of the students Mr. S talked about an article he
read in the Hokkaido Newspaper about the increase in the beer tax. Oh no! This affects me directly. The tax on beer will be about 50% of the
consumer price. 50%! Damn, the Japanese Government should send me a
New Year's Card 年賀状 every year to thank me for paying so much beer tax. In
the USA a tax such as this is called a luxury tax, because beer (tobacco, etc.)
are not considered to be a necessity for daily life. Well,
maybe not for some people. I could live without beer, but how much
fun would that be? Geez Louize! Give me a break. When
that lesson was finished at 14:30, it was back to my classroom for straight
lessons from 15:00 until 20:00. Dinner tonight? Curry and
Rice. Yum yum. Not really one of my favorites, but I still
like it enough to eat it when I am really hungry. Especially if it is a bit on the hot and spicy side. I
realize that their are many, many types of curry blends in the world.
The typical Japanese style curry and rice dish tends to be a bit on the sweet side.
Like I've said many times before, I don't care for sweet flavors that much.
However, once in a while, it tastes good. The curry my wife made today was on
the hot and spicy side. Much more to my liking. After she ate her
dish of curry and rice, she started to sweat a lot. Another side
effect of spicy food. An internal sauna. Lovin' it
in Hokkaido. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 16 Sunday.
A rather nice day, not too cool and mostly sunny. Today was our 11th wedding anniversary. Thank you, thank you. How to celebrate? Order a pizza from Pizza Hut! What a great idea. At least the wife doesn't have to cook dinner that way. Maybe we will go to a restaurant on another day and really do it right. Lights out at 24:00.
2005 October 15 Saturday.
A cool overcast day with light rain on and off. I had a private lesson from 11:00 until 12:00 with a high school girl. Her mother brings her to my classroom about once every 4 to 6 weeks. We do speaking practice as much as possible. After that lesson was finished, it was time to eat some lunch and update this website. Then at about 17:30, we went shopping for some new clothes for my wife. When that was finished at about 20:00, it was back home and dinner time. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 14 Friday.
First class of the day was at 9:00 at the Hokkaido Prefecture Nursing School of Asahikawa 北海道立旭川高等看護学院. Everybody was in good spirits today and the lesson was fun and went smoothly. After that was finished, it was back to my classroom to eat lunch and get ready for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. It was cold and rainy today and impossible to take photos of the autumn leaves. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
2005 October 13 Thursday.
I was supposed to go to a Korean Language Class at the Kosei Nursing school today at 13:00, but I had a bad headache and a stomach ache as well, so I didn't go as planned. Yeah, I know I had a lot of fun last night, but I made the mistake of walking home without wearing a hat in the cold morning air and I must have caught a cold or something. Felt pretty bad all day, but was able to teach all of my classes none the less. I need to be more careful in the future.
2005 October 12 Wednesday.
Come on sunshine, what can you show me, where can
you take me, and make me understand? Anyone know the songwriter of those
lyrics? Hint, he is a Canadian. Why? Because today was
again, just as stated above. A beeeeeeautiful sunny day. And prime
for photos of the autumn leaves. I went to the Young Buds
Kindergarten めばえ幼稚園 from 10:00 until 11:20 for the English Friendship Class
英語ふれあい. Again today as usual, the three different class years
were separate lessons, so I did the same lesson each time. We
learned some words for facial expressions and their associated feelings.
Such as: Smile Happy, Laugh Funny, Cry Sad, etc. I made simple melodies
using these words, and sang songs while strumming along on my six-sting folk
guitar. What a fun time that was for me and the kids. Do I really
get paid to do this? After the words and songs had been sung 3 times, I
went for a drive in my NOAH Roadmeister 147 to areas where the colorful leaves of autumn were
most likely to be on stage. And I found some. Of course, I had my DigiCam with me and ready to go. For the price of batteries, I can take as
many pictures as I want for almost no cost. Therefore, I snap a lot of
photos. What's to stop me? The price of batteries, that's all.
I even went out 2 times today to take photos of colored leaves, because the
angle and color of the sunlight was so good. Get it while it's hot.
I wanna put together a slide show with the BGM of Autumn Leaves on Snow TV.
I'm almost there. Need a few more panorama scenes to fill out the
presentation. Today at my classroom I only had classes from 15:00
until 18:00. A really slack day. So, I called up my pal Mr. N
who is the same age as me and in fact was also born in the same year of the
monkey. We like to monkey around together from time to time.
We head down to monkey business central at San Roku in Asahikawa on certain
occasions. This evening was one such occasion. And we had one whale
of a good time together along with some other friends. A nice dinner
followed by 3 Karaoke Bars in the downtown area. Music is indeed the
universal language. Especially if you can sing it in several different
world languages. What a phuckin' blast we had tonite.
These type of parties get more frequent as the snow piles higher, and the nights
get colder. Like I have said many many many many many times before,
Asahikawa is covered in snow and ice, for 5 months of the year every year.
How will you deal with it? Put some SUNSHINE IN YOUR
LIFE. That's what music does for me. Lights out
at 29:00.
2005 October 11 Tuesday.
STINK
BUGS!!! What you see on the left is known as KameMushi
カメムシ in Japanese.
I think the English naming describes them best. They come out every year
at this time, and in great numbers. What their reason for existence is, I
have no idea. Does any other animal actually eat these foul six legged
winged things? Yuck! If you have never smelled the
vial stench of these miserable creatures, consider yourself fortunate. How
can I describe their unique smell? Can I send a sample of it over the
internet for you? No, not yet. WARNING:
If you see one of these smelly abominations, DO NOT
step on it or try to crush it in any way. If you do, it will release the
full measure of the stench that this pitiful creature can send forth.
One night about 4 years ago, I was sleeping on my futon face down.
Suddenly I was awoken by the most awful smell. A smell I know well.
In the dim morning light I could see a stink bug on my futon close to my nose.
The nerve of the little shit! In order to mitigate the
circumstances, I grabbed a tissue and captured him/her with it. Being the
nice guy that I am, I took him over to an open window, and tossed him out.
Maybe I should have flushed his ass down the toilet instead.
Today was another warm and sunny day. I drove to AU for two classes from
9:00 until 12:10. Then it was back to my classroom for classes from
15:00 until 20:00. The weather like it was today, is my overall
favorite. Warm sun, a cool breeze and a beautiful orange light
shining in the blue sky and off of the red leaves. I love autumn.
It's the time after the leaves have fallen and before it snows that is not so pretty.
2005 October 10 Monday.
A national holiday in Japan known as TaiIku no Hi 体育の日 or Physical Education Day in English. Sports anyone? Maybe I should just watch sports on TV instead. Again today, I was planning on going for a drive in the countryside. At about 14:30, I abruptly cancelled my plans when it started raining all of a sudden. It was a nice and sunny day up to that point in time. No drive today. I guess I'll watch sports on TV in honor of the national holiday.
2005 October 9 Sunday.
A warm and sunny day for the most part. Decided to go for a drive in search of colorful autumn leaves. Still not many in the lowlands. I saw a few nice swatches of color here and there, but for the most part it is still very green around here. Maybe next weekend I'll have a better chance to get some photos.
2005 October 8 Saturday.
A dark and cloudy day with rain off and on. And at times, some very hard rain indeed. I had a private lesson with the brother and sister from KamiFurano between 11:00 and 12:00. Again today, we used a mass market textbook for learning phonics. Today's lesson was not only reading and recognizing similar sounding words, but also about writing something original based on a prescribed topic sentence. Like I said before, these kids can understand spoken English very well so I can conduct the class in English 99.9% of the time. This makes it possible to use a textbook that was in fact made for the USA children's market. As expected, the older sister was able to write much better than her younger brother. No big surprise there. She is 3 full years older than he. Plus the fact that writing well, especially in a foreign language, is the most difficult of the 4 basic skills needed to use a language well. Anyway the lesson today was enjoyable and meaningful both for the students and myself as well. When that lesson was finished at 12:00 noon, the two parents came to pick up their kids. Again today, the father was wearing a baseball cap and a t-shirt that he had purchased when he lived in the USA. It was about the 2003 NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox Championship baseball games. What a coincidence! Right now. Today. On the NHK BS7 channel, is a live broadcast of the NY Yankees playing the LA Angels of Anaheim in Yankee Stadium!!! I haven't watched much sports on TV for many months so I sat down and tuned into the live broadcast from Yankees Stadium in NYC. Guess what, it was raining! Yeah, here too! Not only was it raining both here and there, but during the bottom of the 9th inning with the Yankees down by 4 points, the signal from the broadcasting satellite was interrupted by a momentary huge rain storm here in Asahikawa. Meaning, I could not see the game for about 4 or 5 minutes. It was a downpour of immense proportions. But it only lasted for a short while. Another thing that I had wanted to do today but was unable to do, was to attend the School Festival of the Kosei Nursing School. The first one to be held at their new school building. Like I said just a few lines ago, it was raining and not a pretty day to be taking a drive. So, I blew it off. "I'll go next year." was my lame excuse. I will but, hopefully the sun will shine down upon us during that future day. After the baseball game was finished with the Yankees losing as a result, I decided to update this blog, and polish up my new essay about Halloween. More coming soon. Stay tuned.
2005 October 7 Friday.
Classes started at 9:00 at the Hokkaido Prefecture Nursing Academy of Asahikawa 北海道立旭川高等看護学院. Many of the students were coughing in class today. There must be a cold or flu going around. On the blackboard someone had written １０月６日は席がえの日 October 6 is changing of seats day. That was yesterday. So I wrote on the blackboard, １０月７日は咳払いの日 October 7 is coughing day. If you can't read Japanese, you won't get the joke. Today, we used page 3 of my original textbook American English for All Occasions 日常表現. Page three is another phone call were to two people decide to go to a concert together in Sapporo. The conversation is rather long and takes up the whole page. Despite this fact, most of the students were able to memorize their lines. Very well done! When that class was finished at 10:30, I came back to my classroom to eat some lunch and get ready for classes from 15:00 until 20:00. When all classes were finished, I started writing an essay about Halloween. I will discuss the origins of the tradition as well as my personal experiences as a child enjoying the holiday. I will post the essay on this website when I'm finished. Lights out at 25:00.
2005 October 6 Thursday.
No classes until 15:00 today so I used the free time to read the Daily Yomiuri in English. A very well designed newspaper. Interesting and enjoyable. When my last class was finished at 20:00, I sat down to update this blog and then did some more research on the web. Today, I wanted to learn more about the origins of Halloween so I can write an essay about it. The Internet is my research library. Thank you to all of the millions of people who have websites that display real information in an attractive way. This website I designed by myself to introduce people to my classroom. Also, I want them to be able to study English on it. I will be putting eLEARNING stuff for children on it in a few months. And also, this website is designed to show hundreds and hundreds of photos of Hokkaido and the people who live here. That's about it for now. Lots to read and look at, but not much interactivity at this time. That will change in 2006. There will be interactive English lessons for young children and then later on for junior high school, high school and college students. Eventually, I want to add TOEIC and TOEFL study courses all well. But that is still a few years away. Lights out at 24:00.
2005 October 5 Wednesday.
A nice and sunny morning with a cooooooold breeze. The perfect kind of time to sit down in an immense EZ chair, and read the newspapers. Hot cups of coffee would be very welcome as well. Up until about 5 days ago, I had been reading only Japanese language newspapers in their print edition. Starting on October 1 of this year, I got a free one month subscription to the Daily Yomiuri. An excellent English language newspaper that has been around for a long time. Anyway, this morning sitting down and relaxing with some great newspaper articles written in English by some damn good writers, was a long forgotten but then again today, a well remembered supreme pleasure. When I lived in Seattle, I always read local and national newspapers of the USA, and only once in a while would I go to a library or a bookstore and read Japanese language publications. Now, I live on the other side of that veil. I think I like this newspaper enough to subscribe to it after my free one month trial subscription expires. It also has beautiful color photos on its pages. Very fine quality printing. Lessons started at 15:00 and ended at 20:00 today. More time to read the newspapers. Take some time and smell the roses. They are seasonal flowers. Lights out at 27:00.
2005 October 4 Tuesday.
Good morning Asahikawa University AU! Two classes from 9:00 until 12:10. Less students than last week, and 2 less teachers too. Must be a nasty cold virus going around. Cover and Duck. The two classes were both enjoyable and educational. For me as well as the students. Some of them even exhibited creativity in reproducing the words that I was saying. You've got it! That's simply what it takes. Listen and Repeat. Then, when you have gained sufficient confidence, you can improvise on what you have memorized, thus creating new intonations on a basic theme. The English language. Fun with words. After that it was back to my classroom for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. Every Wednesday, which will be tomorrow, is recycle goods pick up day. Therefore, I must pack the empty beverage containers and their related cousins, and carry them out to the Gomi Station before I go to sleep tonight. And that I did. As I was walking from the back door towards the sidewalk leading to the trash bin, I saw a bright flash off to my right side. No particular shape, but very white and bright. Again, no sound. Nothing. But tonite, ONLY ONE. The electric universe is truly amazing. Take the time to look up into the night sky whenever you can. It is better that the internet, TV,DVD,CD, what we be? It is by far the best show on this planet. Look up at the night sky. Take the time, do it now. Lights out at 27:00.
2005 October 3 Monday.
No more thunder and lightning. A nice clear and sunny day, but the breeze is cold. Not cool. Cold. Autumn into winter. Happening now in Asahikawa. My first class was at 13:30, but before that, I needed to take about 4 hours to finish my weekend business of dubbing my purchased collection of CDs into identical copy CD-Rs burned on a VAIO. This is for the NOAH music library that is sometimes in the hot, and sometimes in the cold, but always on the road. Don't want to ruin the originals. Plus the usual routine of vacuuming the floor and cleaning all of the table tops and chairs. Not mentally challenging, but it must be done and it must done periodically. Today at the 神楽公民館 英会話の楽しむ会, the new student who had visited just one week ago, was on the new members list that SASAKI ONE had prepared and printed out. Thank you so much. We now have 13 members again. Including me, that's 14. A full house. Again today, there were various topics of conversation. After that class was over at 14:30, it was back to my classroom for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. Right at 20:00 just as the last class of the day was finished, I got a phone call from Hirofumi Baba, the eldest son of the owner of Pub Restaurant Ohfune. It was his day off, and he invited me to come and join him downtown to sing some Karaoke. I really wanted to go, but every time we sing together, I drink way too much and the next morning it is hard to get up early. So, today I said I can't make it because I have two classes starting at 9:00 at Asahikawa University. We will go again together some time in the near future. I spent the rest of the night eating dinner and watching some stuff on The History Channel. Lights out at 25:00.
As
I mentioned in yesterday's blog, today is the 7th anniversary of my
father-in-law's death ７周忌. The real date is October 5, but the memorial
service was held today. The service took about 30 minutes and after that,
it was time for a gorgeous lunch. A total of 14 people attended including
me. The 15th person was the Buddhist Priest 御坊さん whom you can see sitting
at the far end of the long table. During the service, the priest read some
Buddhist sutras お経 that I could not understand the meaning of but after that, he
gave a philosophical talk in everyday modern Japanese that I could understand
very well. He talked about what we can do for the spirits of those who
have passed away, and that in reality it makes the living feel satisfied that
they have done something for the deceased. When the lunch was finished,
the priest left and the remaining family members talked about various things.
I even went to a nearby park with my two nephews to relax in the warm sunshine
while they played on the swings, see-saw and monkey bars. They also had a
good time catching and doing experiments with dragonflies 蜻蛉. The number
of dragonflies in the sky this time of year is truly awesome. There are
huge swarms of them and they can fly rather high up in the sky.
Dragonflies are one of my favorite insects. They look like something from
the very distant past, and yet they still survive and thrive to this day.
They don't seem to cause any harm to plants or humans as far as I can see.
A few years ago, when I went to the
Asahiyama Zoo at this time of year, I observed the penguins chasing after
and then catching and eating dragonflies! It was really funny to watch the
flightless birds waddle along after the flying insects and pluck them out of the
air. I wish I had had a video camera with me on that day. I could
have made a hilarious movie out of it with funny human voiceovers and BGM.
If I have a chance next weekend, I should to it. The family members
who live in Asahikawa left at about 16:00 and so did I. My wife will stay
overnight again so she can talk with her younger sister who lives in Tokyo, and
comes back home to Asahikawa only about once a year. Usually at the
year-end/new-year's time. She seems to like living in Tokyo where there is
a lot going on. Personally, I don't like the noise and crowding of big
cities and would not really enjoy living there as much as I do here. Not
to mention that it is very hot and humid in the summer. When I
came back to my classroom at about 14:30, I quickly changed clothes and relaxed
in the cool breeze of autumn. The all black suit that I bought several
years ago for this type of occasion does not fit me very well any more. I
wonder if the suit got smaller, or if I got bigger. I'll give
you one guess as to the correct answer. At
about 19:30 there was lightning and loud thunder within 1 second of the flash.
Very bright, very loud and obviously very close to home. Yikes!
Not to mention a huge downpour of big fat raindrops. Billions and billions
and billions of organic water balloons. Exploding on anything and
everything they come into to wet contact with. No umbrella? Sorry
Charlie. I have seen some truly magnificent thunderstorms here in
Hokkaido. I watched one in Otaru 小樽 that lasted for more than 2 hours.
It was way out at sea, but the light and sound show was incredible and long
lasting. Don't phuck around with mother nature. She'll kick your
assets. Flooded home? Call the insurance company. They are flooded
too and not open for business today? Bummer. Let's find a big boat.
Fortunately for all of us, Asahikawa has not been flooded in recent history.
One reason may be that there is so much concrete along the many river banks
around here that it would take a mammoth sized rain fall to get anywhere near a
high enough water level to threaten residential areas. Today's
thunderstorm only lasted about 30 minutes. It either went somewhere else,
or it just ran out of juice and died of natural causes.
Or so I thought. At about 21:30 it was back again
with several bright flashes and loud crackling thunder not far behind.
Where did it go, and why did it come back? Did the wind reverse
directions? It dumped a lot of rain. I stayed up watching
various movies on SkyPerfect TV until about 27:00.
2005 October 1 Saturday.
No classes today. Slept until about 10:00. Got up and ate some Oden おでん. Another one of my many favorite Japanese Foods. I watched some stuff on TV, but none of it was very interesting. Decided to take a long hot bath and recharge my battery. I did and it worked. After that, I sat down at my PC to update this web log. While I was doing so, my 2 nephews came by and rang my doorbell. I haven't seen them for about 3 months, and I was very surprised at how big the older one had become. Not only that, but he was wearing sunglasses at night! The ultimate statement of cool. There is even a song by that name from the early 1980's. I grabbed him and picked him up. But not too high. He now weights about 60 kilograms. His little brother only weights about 30. I will see them again tomorrow morning at my wife's parent's house in Chuwa 忠和. It will be the 7th anniversary of my father-in-law's passing ７周忌. A big event in Japan. Tomorrow's schedule will be as follows. Dress up in black clothes. Women may wear a pearl necklace either black or white. A Buddhist Priest 御坊さん will come to the house at about 12:00 and hold a one hour memorial service. Then he will leave and the family members will have a gorgeous box lunch with beer and other drinks. The family members have come from Tokyo, Muroran 室蘭, as well as Asahikawa itself and some nearby surrounding areas. Everyone except me is gathered there right now. I will go tomorrow morning at about 11:00. I have some work to finish before then, and also, the house gets a bit crowded with everyone in town. Tomorrow will be a fine day, and I will be able to greet and talk with all of the remaining members of my Japanese family. Only 2 of them speak English. Not a problem for me. I really miss my father-in-law. His name was ToshiAki. He was a really nice guy. He never said or did anything to make me feel that I was not welcome at his house. I wish I could say the same about my own biological parents. But that is another completely different and very, very long story. A story of 2 lives lived among the evil disinformation of the times. Seeing is believing? Not if it is on Network TV. I could write hundreds of pages about it. Maybe I will someday. Meanwhile, back here in Hokkaido, A major family gathering tomorrow, and some more yummy Oden before sleeping tonight. By the way, it is very very foggy tonight in Kagura. A mystic kind of feeling. Could tonite and tomorrow be the real Obon お盆 for me and my family? More later. Stay tuned. Lights out at 25:00.
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