October School Life

Remember a while back when I said I was going hiking at one of Japan's 3 holy mountains? I have some pictures from that trip ready to post, but I'm just not getting around to it yet.

Instead, here are some school related pictures. Last Friday I went along with the first year students on a trip to the nearby city of Katsuyama to visit a temple/shrine called Heisenji, a castle museum (castle built in the last 20 years or so) and the Fukui Dinosaur Museum (only dinosaur museum in Japan)
It was raining that day, but I really liked what the rain did for the atmosphere at Heisenji.These two pictures here are mobile phone photographs of an art project the entire school made today with the help of a famous local artist. We took big rice bags and wrote wishes, wants and desires on them. Then, we turned the bags inside-out and piled them together to make this particular art thing.
Some people wished for peace, prosperous future careers, happiness for friends, etc. As for me, my wish was in French, and that's all I'm willing to say about it public
And, finally, a Halloween greeting from your friends at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.



Speaking of Halloween, I finished the costume with a little help from a friend on the trousers, and really had a go of things this weekend at a Halloween Party that honestly was much to crowded and poorly lit for my tastes (left really early) and the International Festival at the International Center (much better lighting and atmosphere so I stayed all day for that one).

Abu really hit it off with the ladies and left me alone for a while to fend for myself with a sometimes violent little girl desperate to prove to herself whether or not I was the real Aladdin, but, save for some minor shin abrasions, the day was fun. My Fukui host family was there in the morning, and Abu really got on well with the little boy.
So, what I've learned this weekend is that if I want to get people to like me, all I really need to do is be more like a monkey.

Thomas & Tanka

In Japan, certain ages are lucky and unlucky. For children the years 7, 5 and 3 are important (in a good way). They refer to it as "shichi-go-san" (seven-five-three), and, basically, it means that families have professional photographs taken and visit a shrine when their children are 7, 5 and 3.

In Fukui, many of us signed up for "host families". We don't actually ever live with the families, but we do have dinner and go to events together. My family is a neurosurgeon, his wife, a 7 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. I had dinner with them last Monday. The girl has taken a real liking to the card game Uno, and the boy, who has only begun speaking in full sentences recently, doesn't seem like he would be sick of Thomas the Tank Engine even if it were the only programme running on television for the rest of his life. For those of you who've never played Uno with Japanese children before, here's a synopsis of the evening:

Player 1: The 7 year old - must win against at least one parent before game can end
Players 2 & 3: Parents - happy the kids aren't making a ruckus
Player 4: Me - happy that we're playing a game that won't require any instructions in Japanese
Wild Card: The 3 year old - wants desperately to be involved in spite of the fact that he has no idea what's happening.

The wild card jumped into my team (literally). In working together with him, I learned that all the trains in Thomas the Tank Engine have a number, because he would look at my cards and say, "ooh, yellow Thomas! Red Percy!" He also was very swift to notice when one of the cards didn't look like the others, "ooh, a black one!"
Then, having anounced all my cards to the other players he blurted out the sweetest little irony I've heard in a long time, "it's fun when everyone plays together!"
Yes, fun, fun fun.
^o^


In other news, the teachers in my visiting school have been writing poems to display for next week's culture festival. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the festival since it's not a day of the week when I normally visit the school, but I was asked to write something. The format was Tanka (短歌), which is similar to Haiku but longer. Haiku works in a syllable count of 5-7-5, and Tanka is 5-7-5-7-7.

Here's what I wrote:

父の庭　 chichi no niwa
かぼちゃのそばで kabocha no sobade
剣になる 　 ken ni naru
ひまわりの茎　 himawari no kuki
相手を叩く aite wo tataku

I made a rough English translation following the format too:

A sunflower stalk
that swings like a katana
strikes my opponent
next to all of the pumpkins
within my father's garden

New Season Old Pictures

You may have noticed a change in the picture atop the page. I've decided to make that seasonal. Yes, I know, Han Solo and Princess Leia being swallowed by a squid snack doesn't bring up memories of hot cider, jack 'o' lanterns and hay rides, but it reminds me of a fall 3 years ago when I first came to Japan.

I've considered making a separate page someday just for pictures of Han and Leia and their travels. I'll wait and see what the adoring public thinks about that. Speaking of the "public" that reads this, how are you doing, Grandma?If you read the previous entry, you'd have noticed that I mentioned working at a junior high school instead of a high school. That's because I changed schools after summer break. Essentially, I have become Fuji Climbing Partner (took over her job).

I now work at an academic middle school 3 days a week and a non-traditional high school 2 days a week. The middle school feeds students into the more academic high schools (there's an entrance exam for high school and university in Japan) which feed students into universities. The high school is the polar opposite of the environment in the middle school since it was designed for students who couldn't make it in a normal setting. One is academic, busy and filled with high expectations and stress, and the other is relaxed, slow-paced and not even filled at all (class sizes range from 1-20 students). So far, I really like both schools.

I'm feeling really confident this time around. The schools are new, but the work and location aren't new. I'm feeling more and more comfortable here, and learning some useful Japanese in preparation for a big proficiency test in December. I don't know my chances of passing the test, but, at least, I'm learning.

So, what are these random pictures?

The one right above with all the orange is from a shrine in the hillsides in Kyoto. I went on a final big outing to Kyoto with a few of my closest friends in June. Future Wife, Fuji Climbing Partner, The Artist and his Wife. All names that won't be appearing much anymore. This particular shrine is famous for its hundreds of Tori (the orange shrine gates) that wind all around a pathway into the hills.

The two mountain photographs are from near the city of Ono in Fukui prefecture. I went hiking with some friends late in the spring. Everything was perfectly clear on the way up, but then a couple people (Kanji Fiend & company) had to complain about how clouds always blur the peaks of mountains when they go hiking, and, lo and behold, the way back down the mountain turned out just like they expected.If all goes as planned, this weekend I'll go hiking again. This time, I'm going after Tateyama, one of Japan's three holy mountains. The other two are Fuji and Hakusan. Hakusan is actually located here in Fukui Prefecture, but I haven't had the chance to go yet.