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.
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.
And, finally, a Halloween greeting from your friends at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.
Every year in February, Sapporo, the capital and largest city of Hokkaido, hosts a Snow Festival. For one week, people pass through the city in droves to see the many snow and ice sculptures. The main section of sculptures took about 1-2 hours to see, but there were other smaller displays in other parts of the city.
International superstar Al Gore!
There were a dozen large sculptures like this one and many dozens more of smaller ones like the Al Gore above.
This one follows the design of Inuyama Castle, a national treasure not far from Nagoya.
Several of the large sculptures also featured a stage with entertainers or games.
So, I was in class giving some reading tests, when the bell rang for class to end and I turned and noticed something on the blackboard: Me! I added the peace sign, myself, but the rest is all student work. The Japanese says, "just right".
I think I look more personable in inverse colors, don't you?
The students at my school were grouped into four teams. Each team had to make a small mascot, a large mascot, a mural and a small vehicle. Yoshi is the green team's small mascot. The mural is Kachapin, a popular character in children's programming.
The yellow team did Spongebob.
The red team was Elmo.
The blue team actually went with a Halloween theme for their small mascot and painting. Their big mascot is Stitch, from the Lilo and Stitch film.
