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。