to give winter sports another crack this year and was pleasantly surprised. This year I gave skiing a shot. We went out to Mt. Ontake which is about 45 minutes from Dec’s place. The view was very beautiful and the day was clear. Ontake is actually an active volcano. It had a small eruption last week but we were skiing a bit away from that area. We went for a half day and it was quite nice. Dec gave me a quick lesson and then I fiddled around for a bit trying to learn snow plough. After that we had a drink in the chalet and then I went up with the rest of them. I did a bit of falling but it wasn’t too bad. That slope is quite wide and not too steep. My body is quite sore today but is nothing compared to the post snow boarding accident of last year. I remember waking up in the morning and not being able to swallow or turn my head. It was pretty damn sore. I had a soak in the tub last night and I feel pretty good
today. Essentially, like I rode a horse for a long time yesterday. I am so glad I enjoyed it because I really want to go out with everyone else when they all go skiing and snow boarding without being a lame tagalong.The snow festival was good as well. I love going to events in Kiso Fukushima. There are always loads of fun people around and cool stuff to see. I wish the pictures came out better of the snow festival but I have to use an incredibly slow shutter speed for night photos of snow. There was a really bit dragon with candles all around it but I didn’t get a very good shot of it. We drank rice sweets and ate crispy grilled pink bread. It was probably also made out of rice as well. That would make sense. We sat around a hibachi grill and turned them with our hands. It kept us all warm. Then we went to a nice sake bar and chilled out with a big group of people. It was very laid back after such a crazy hectic week. The festival was for Setsubon, the bean throwing festival. You throw the beans out of your windows to cleanse it of
devils. We cleansed Dec’s house after the sake bar. There were a few guys dressed up like Oni-san. It is a clownish red devil that the children are invited to beat with oversized baseball bats and whip beans at. We celebrated at school on Friday with the kids. All the teachers were asked to dress up as devils and the special ed. Class was invited to throw beans at us. Unfortunately it was a bit to scary for some of them and one little girl mainly cried throughout the experience. At lunch, we got a package of beans to eat. I ate with the first graders. You would be surprised how many beans can fit in the noses of such small children. They are masters of their craft. Sick. Anyways, it was fun as always. I have been a little cranky about lunches this past week and had a bit of a tantrum in one of my lunch classes and refused to eat any of it. I have been given some truly awful lunches this week and one really good one. We had a picnic and which I got a hamburger, an orange, and a juice box. That was one of the best lunches I have ever had. It counter balanced the bowl In other news, congrats to Tom's karate class for successfully passing their first grading and getting their red belts. They looked really cool! You guys are killing machines! I just watched and took loads of pictures. Tom is a great teacher. He really knows how to convey what he wants everyone to do and he gives quality feedback. That is such an important skill. I think about teaching practise quite a lot here and he is really good at what he does. I haven't seen him in the classroom but I can only assume that
this carries through to his work at school. He teaches me math in the evenings as well and he is very patient and really knows his stuff. He is one of those people who gives you confidence in what you are doing but still gives honest feed back for improvement. I should probably tell him all of this stuff in person.
Nothing much further to report here. I have not signed any papers to say if I am staying or going but I am most likely quitting in July. Let the job hunt begin!
No comments:
Post a Comment