A Dream

I had a dream last night that the leaves on all the trees were colored like treasure and jewels, red rubies, glimmering golds and ambers, and brilliant oranges.  But they were falling off the trees too fast!  Every second dozens more leaves fell.  I wanted to take a picture of how beautiful they were, but I couldn't get my camera in time.  When I saw the ginko tree behind the village office this morning I remembered the dream...  I think winter might be coming fast.

昨夜、紅葉の夢を見よった。葉っぱが金の様な黄色とルビーの様な赤、そして鮮やかな橙色だった。でも木の枝からこじゃんと速く落ちてしまいよった。一秒ごとに何十枚も落ちた。美しい紅葉の写真をとりたかったけんどカメラを出すのは遅すぎた。今朝、役場の裏のいちょうの木を見た時その夢を思い出した。。。冬が早く来る様な気がするがよ。

Giving of Thanks

November is one of my favorite months, the leaves  change colors and we celebrate Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for many things.  I'm thankful that I teach English to wonderful students in Hidaka.  I'm thankful for my friends and family and their support.  I'm thankful that I have an oven.  I'm thankful for apple pie, pumpkin pie... and baked birds!  What are you thankful for?

Halloween

October is the month for Halloween!  For Americans this means pumpkin carving, costume wearing, and giving candy to trick-or-treaters.  The sad story of the Japanese youth that was murdered at Halloween is a reminder of how difficult people of other cultures can be to understand sometimes.  Halloween is a time for fun in the USA, but not everyone wants to participate, or play nice.  We typically follow the custom of turning our lights on and decorating our house if we are okay with trick-or-treaters coming by on Halloween Night.  If a house's lights are off then that's seen as a "no-go".  Many parents only take their children to their friends and families houses, just to be safe.  For adults we often go to costume parties like the one at Hirome-ichiba, and show off our creative costume making prowess. Happy Halloween, stay safe!

Hiroshima

I finally made it to Hiroshima in August.  Since I went to Nagasaki in August of last year I finished a personal pilgrimage.  Both Nagasaki and Hiroshima are beautiful cities and both seem dedicated to peace.  I hope the people of the rest of the world will one day appreciate that dedication and realize how much peace matters.

Summer

Yosakoi is here! It really is summer in Kochi isn't it?  I've been going to the rivers and swimming, and enjoying the water on these hot days.  One weekend in late July I went with some other Yakuba employees to Sasagamine to do "Sawa-nobori", a Japanese adventure sport involving swimming, hiking, climbing, and waterfalls!  I'm going to be enjoying Yosakoi this week with a friend from Tokyo who has come to see the festival.  Another ALT I know from Sasebo is coming to dance as well.  Everyone, stay cool and drink plenty of water!

JLPT

I took the Nikyuu of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test at the beginning of July.  I will get the results in September.  The first two sections, language knowledge and reading comprehension were just out of my reach.  I doubt I scored many points at all there, but I did quite well on the listening comprehension.  Unfortunately, I'm fairly certain I didn't pass.  Actually, I wasn't expecting to pass.  I only took it this time for practice and to see what I needed to spend time working on for next time!  Do you have anything you're studying or working on?  Keep it up!  We'll pass next time!

Totsuzen Tottori ni Itchotta!

I was invited, out of the blue, to Tottori prefecture for a one-night trip on Saturday morning, right before my friends' wedding.  After the ceremony we left and made it to Tottori city by half past eight at night.  We had a chance to meet up with a good portion of the Tottori ALTs and CIRs at a party they were calling Tottori Idol.  It was great fun.  On Sunday we ran around barefoot at the sand dunes, rode camels, ate 20th century pear ice cream, had bad luck with restaurants, and had a rainy drive back home.  It was an action-packed, enjoyable weekend for sure.

Karaoke

As planned, during Golden Week I hiked Yokokura-san and Kokuzo-san.  I'm making good progress in my plans of hiking all the mountains with trails in Kochi Prefecture.  In other news, I've been trying to learn more Japanese songs to sing at Karaoke.  I sing a lot of English songs and especially like Disney, but I want to branch out.  So far I've been trying to sing 上を向いて歩こう, 夢の中へ, 残酷な天使のテーゼ, and 初めてのチュウ.  夢の中へ aside, these are all songs I've heard my Japanese friends or other ALTs sing several times.  I don't listen to a lot of Japanese music, but I want to practice.  So if you have any recommendations please tell me!  Easy to sing songs with catchy rhythms are probably the best.

予定どおりゴールデンウィークの間、横倉山と虚空蔵山を登った。高知県のすべての歩道ある山を登る予定が順調だ。他のことでは、最近カラオケ行く時、もっと日本語の歌を歌えるようになりたいと思っている。ディズニーなどの英語の歌はよく歌うけど、広げたいと思っている。今まで歌ってみたのは「上を向いて歩こう」、「夢の中へ」、「残酷な天使のテーゼ」と「初めてのチュウ」だ。「夢の中へ」以外は日本人の友達か他のALTが何度も歌ったから、ちょっと分かってきた。私はあまり日本語の音楽を聞かないけど、練習したい。だから、おすすめの曲があれば、ぜひ教えてね！簡単な耳に残るのは一番だと思う。

The ways I exercise 私の運動の仕方

Photo Credit to Mr. Yamamoto at Stone 0.

写真はStone0の山本さんが取ってくれました。

Photo credit to: Tetsuji Okabayashi.  

写真は岡林哲司さんが取ってくれました。

I love exercise.  Like many Americans I like many activities: hiking of course, swimming, jogging, biking, bouldering, doing body weight workouts, surfing, and yoga.  I recently learned how to breathe properly when swimming the crawl, since then I've been going to the Shie and other swimming pools to practice.  So far in Kochi I've hiked Ishizuchi-san, Kajigamori, Naruyama, and Otakiyama.  I plan to hike Yokokura-san and Kokuzo-san soon.  I also hiked Mount Fuji while I was in Tokyo, though I didn't enjoy hiking up the crowded, volcanic rock trail very much.  I started bouldering since I came to Kochi and go to a gym in Kochi called Stone 0 once every few weeks.  How do you like to exercise?  I'm interested in trying new things so please tell me!

 私は運動が大好きだ。多くアメリカ人のようにたくさんのことが好きだ。その中からハイキングはもちろんで、水泳もランニングもサイクリングもボルダリングも体重での筋トレもサーフィンもヨーガもする。この間クロールをちゃんと泳げるようになってから、よく高知市の市営とか、ほかのプールに泳ぎに行っている。今まで高知県内では石鎚山とかじが森と成山と大滝山に登ったことある。これから横倉さんとこくぞう山に登るつもりだ。そして、東京にいた時富士山も登ったんだけど、込んでいて火山の石ばっかりの歩く道はあまり好きではなかった。高知県に来てからボルダリングを始めて時々「Stone 0」というジームに行っている。あなたはどんな運動が好きですか？新しいことに興味があるので、教えてくださいね！

Staple Foods 主食

One of the main things people I meet in Japan don't realize is how different our food culture is.  Most people assume that instead of rice we eat bread, and have it with every meal.  And kids are shocked that things like miso soup are hard to come by except in specialty stores in America.  The idea of staple foods has kind of faded from American culture.  Part of this is because of the variety of different cultures that joined together in America which brought staple foods like potatoes, corn, wheat, and rice together.  If there's anything I could say was a staple food for me it was sandwiches, my go-to food for lunch because of the huge variety of breads, cheeses, meats, and vegetables that are made sandwich ready at our grocery stores.

合った日本人のほとんどは食事の文化の違いはよく分からないことだ。よく思われていることはご飯の代わりにアメリカ人は主食でパンを食べることだが、本当ではない。子供らのショックは特別なアジア料理のスーパー以外味噌が買えないものだ。実は、主食があるという考え方はアメリカではだいたい消えてきた。理由の一部は色んな文化の人々（例えばとうもろこしやジャガイモや小麦や米の主食の文化）がアメリカに来て食事文化が交ざっている。自分ではサンドイッチが昼ご飯に主食のようによく食べていたが、本当の主食と言えないだろう。

Spring

I celebrated setsubun with my friend for the first time this year by throwing beans around and saying "Out with the demons, in with good luck!"  In America we have "Groundhog day" on Feb. 2nd where we watch a groundhog come out of its hole.  If it sees its shadow (because its a sunny day) it will go back into the hole and there will be another 6 weeks of winter.  If it doesn't see its shadow (because its cloudy) it will stay out and spring will come soon.  This year he didn't see his shadow.  I'm still waiting for spring though... I'm excited to enjoy spring this year, because last year I spent all of it working on the Tosaben Musical.

今年、初めて「福は内鬼は外」と言いながら豆撒きをして節分のお祝いをした。アメリカでは二月二日にグラウンドホッグデーという行事がある。グラウンドホッグというジリスの種類の一匹が穴から出る時を見るのだ。もしこのグラウンドホッグが自分自身の影を見たら（つまり天気のいい日だったら）穴に戻って冬がもう六週間続くと言われているが、もし影を見えなければ（つまり天気の悪い日だったら）穴からでたままでいて、春はすぐ来ると言われている。今年は影が見えなかったが、私はまだ春のいい天気を待っている。去年春の間はずっと土佐弁ミュージカルで春は楽しめなかった。今年は参加しないので、とても楽しみにをしている。

Vacation in Virginia

I just got back from a wonderful two week vacation in Virginia.  I had a fantastic time playing games, eating food, and chatting with my family.  I also got to see three of my friends from home.  I had some things I've missed like home cooking, many sandwiches and cheeses, Mexican food, American style pizza, Hummus Tahini, and lots of good beer.  In the end I didn't have much culture shock after all!

素晴らしい二週間の休みをバージニア州で過ごした。家族と一緒にゲームをしたり、食事をしたり、お喋りをしたりすることはとても楽しかった。そして三人の友達も合えてよかった。ははの料理とサンドイッチとチーズとメキシコ料理とアメリカ風ピザとフムスタヒニと地ビールなどの懐かしいものをいただいた。結局大変なカルチャーショックはなかったのでよかった。