Symphony at School

Yesterday we had a special treat come into Kanna-machi schools.
The Gunma Symphony Orchestra came in to perform for the nearby schools. So in other words for about 200 kids and the teachers of the elementary and junior high of both Kanna-machi and Ueno-mura.

They first performed for the elementary kids, before lunch. Then the coordinator for the orchestra came in to ask for hot water for ramen. And many teachers found this funny... i don't know why.

After lunch we got to see/hear the performance. I was surprised that the gym had great acoustics. They played Mozart, Beethoven's 5th and more. For 15 minutes they played examples of the type of music an orchestra can play. I really liked hearing was the traditional Japanese music being played by western instruments.^^

One thing I found funny was how Takamitsu started to forget to clap and I realized that he was fighting not to fall asleep! And i just found out that on the way back to Ueno all the kids on the bus fell asleep.

Well, I really enjoyed listening to them and watching each player. One thing i like to do is to listen the main parts as background music and try to concentrate to the brass and bass section.

One thing i didn't enjoy...was when the curry we had for lunch started to mess with my stomach and I finally had to get up part way through of the last song -_- and the conductor was facing the crowed to conduct us on clapping along with the song.

Upsetting news

When I came into work yesterday I was informed that one of our students died on Saturday.
She was one of the students with special needs and so I never worked with her since she had trouble adjusting to new people interacting with her.

Although I didn't spend time with her it will be sad not seeing her come into the office every morning with her cute shy smile as all of us said "Ohiyo Chika-chan"

It is shocking to know that you saw this child one day and to later find out that she died the very next day.

I don't know anything about what happened since the only people who really know how to speak English left for the annual 2nd year camping trip. All I know is how upsetting this is for everyone here, especially her homeroom teacher.

One of the funeral services will be today and the other tomorrow, the Otsuya(wake) and the Ososhiki(funeral). I will be going to the Otsuya but I don't think i'm going to the Ososhiki since it'll be tomorrow at 1pm when i have classes.

Rest in Peach Chika-chan

My favorite Onsen

I previously talked about the Art of Onsening (March entry)and i kept forgetting to add the pics of an onsen.

So here's some picks of the changing room and showers/onsen area. Oh and a pic of the outdoor onsen. These are pics of one of my favorite onsen in my area in Gunma. ^^
These pics where also taken when no one was there other than Rebecca and me.

Stranger Alert...again!

Ok so it's not again...well for me it is but not really.

This time it was going to take place at my elementary school. So my class schedule was moved around a bit so i wouldn't be in the class when it happened.

I was ok with this since i've already experienced what it was like during the drill at the junior high. This time around I got to see how they prepared for it in the office, the police in charge coming, going, giving advice and directions. I saw some of the kids run from the school building into their little gym and the teacher give the clear signal when all the kids where in.

It wasn't as fun as last time (see STRANGER ALERT! entry) but this time i was well informed. Last time all i was told was that we're having a Stranger drill and it'll happen at this time.

The next prevention type lesson is, Crossing the Street. They even have a little course with lights and everything. And for those of you who don't know this, we have in total 1 traffic light at my town. Yes that's right ONE. And i've only seen the light red, once. When the special ed teacher was taking the kids to the river and showing them the proper use of a cross walk.

Side note:
This morning the kids where practicing for Sports day. But my kids like to make it a bit more fun than just practice. They had a obstacle relay race ^_^

Oh and my total student count is down. Junior high= 38, Elementary= 48, and about 10-14 at the Day Care/Preschool/Kindergarten (ages 3-5). I now have about 100 students ^_^

Golden Week pics

If you want to see my pictures that i took during golden week then go to my photobucket page. I just uploaded all my pics...though it really wasn't that many.

all my nature pics of the sakura and golden week are to the right -->

Also HAPPY B-LATED BIRTHDAY ALISON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Golden Week

So Golden Week has come and gone. This year it feel on May 3rd-6th, although one of th days that is considered being part of the golden week was on April 29th. Most of the days also fell on a weekend so it shorten our week too :(

Anyways, my plan for the week was to spend it with Asami and her family in their home town in Niigata and then the last day back home...things didn't turn out that way.

I was supposed to leave Friday night and meet up with Asami in Niigata City and come back to my town Monday morning so i can go to the Koinobori Festival or better known as Children's Day.

But plans changed as they always do. Asami had trouble with her latest project and was hoping to finish it by Friday but she wasn't able to. So I decided that I should still visit her family since I haven't yet. Also her brother Mitsuyuki just got married to his long time girlfriend that I met the first time I came to Japan, Naoko.

It was great to see them again and the rest of her family. I finally got to meet the family dog, Milo, a long haired dachshund. Asami's mom, Sachiko, made a great homecook dinner and breakfast. We went to an onsen w/a beach view and then went down to the beach afterwards. After lunch we headed to Sachiko-san's home town. A farming town that still looks like the pictures i took 6 years ago. Sachiko-san and Mitsuyuki picked natural herbs and made some tempura. I got to see a few of the relatives from last time and they all still call me Ume.
oh and one of her uncle's loves me and wants me to teach in Niigata (and does not approve of Ahmed since the uncle LUVS to drink and he's a pig farmer).

So i brought over a lot of omiyagi (gifts) from Gunma since its the thing you here in Japan and i like doing it. In return, the family gave me omiyagi too. From the grandpa, since he learned the i do pottery too, some of his pottery. From the cousin who gave me the name Ume, a picnic bag and a Miffy fork and spoon. And from the uncle, a big Niigata sake bottle.

The next day we went to the mountains and another onsen ^_^...they found out i liked them and were impressed on how i can stand the heat of them when they hardly can.

When i had to leave after my 2nd day there, Sachiko-san seemed to get really motherly toward me. She hugged me really tight and warned me not to get on the wrong train. It was really sweet.^_^

I got home on time to go to the Koinobori(Carp Streamer) Festival or Children's Day. I brought my friend from Ota, a part of Gunma, to come since her plans fell too. My friend, Leslie, is tons of fun and is also the person who got Hideki's sister (she notice that they both act the same).

The Koinobori Matsuri was really big, there was tons of people there and i was shocked. Many kids stared at us (i stopped getting stares since all the kids in my town knows who i am). We actually had traffic in town!

The whole weekend it was nice, sunny and hot (in the low 80's) and then the day of the festival, rain...well, halfway through the festival. The rest of the day we hooked up w/the others (Rebecca from Ueno Village and Heather from Maebashi City) to climb through the caves in Ueno where Leslie pointed out a very phallic looking rock.

The last day i spent cleaning and relaxing with Hideki. It was a nice long weekend and i loved the fact that we only had 3 days of school ^^