Lost, Found and Retranslated

Some of our students try very hard to communicate in English, but it isn't always easy...

Just a couple of days ago I was reading the English diary of a high school student whose enthusiasm and efforts to express herself are quite a marvel. Having just graduated from Junior High, and about to start High School, she's feeling very aware of the transition to adulthood. So, she decided to commemorate the occasion by putting holes in her eyes! I was a tad confused and disturbed by this proclaimation until she realised her error and explained she meant ears! After a few moments of embarrassed giggling I managed to explain that the term used in English is usually "to have your ears pierced"!
Another example of a real keeness to communicate came from a little 4-year old student. He was colouring away during the craft activity when all of a sudden I heard him utter "Bob" "Bob". I looked at him blankly and repeated "Bob?" He then managed to muster a "Bob Builder" and all became clear. The following week he came to class clad in denim dungerees and a chequered shirt, and proudly pointed to his attire saying "Bob Builder"! Since then, I've come to know him just as Bob.
-S

Synchronised air guitar has been reviewed and refined in Hamamatsu.

Where did the pirates come from???

Drowning sorrows after a disappointing semi-final.

It was windy....

A dance festival

The other weekend saw the arrival of a dance festival/competition in Hamamatsu. Hundreds of competitors in faux traditional costumes competed for some unknown (to me) prize. Hamamatsu seems to need little excuse for a festival and this particular excuse was invented six years ago. At first we thought it might be some ancient celebration but it seems that it is a new competition and that might explain some of the lacklustre performances... I don't want to sound harsh but some of the dance groups would probably have benefited from six more years to practice. What was lacking in timing was more than made up for with incredible enthusiasm. The groups varied in age, costume, musical preferences degrees of inebriation. Having spoken to a few of our students about the event shows that there are very mixed opinions on new celebrations. Tradition is incredibly important here and new celebrations can sometimes be seen as diverting attentions from older, more 'important' events. Any way.... on to the pictures....

Some jokes

A bad one-
Q: What's the difference between a duck?
A: One leg is both the same.

I like this one -
After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes" replies Watson.
"And what do you deduce from that?"
Watson ponders for a minute.
"Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes is silent for a moment. "Watson, you idiot!" he says. "Someone has stolen our tent!"

Hammer time

Kimono and camera.

An unsual way to prevent fires

Most of the castles in Japan use large quantities of wood. It can seem strange to Europeans used to their big stone-walled fortresses. This meant that in times of war the castles were vulnerable to fire. If you check back in the archives for our visit to Kakegawa castle (Click the January archive link somewhere on the left of this screen) you should be able to make out curling shapes on the roof. See below for a closeup of this unique defense system.

Forget asbestos! This is the only way to protect your wooden castle from fire! This fish is designed to ward off all fire-bearing arrows and kids with a penchant for arson.

My bad day got worse...

So... No official complaint came in after the bad lesson but one of the students did make a passing comment to the office manager. Luckily I had already discussed the lesson with my boss so it wasn't a huge shock for them to hear the comment. I had a meeting to figure out how to resolve the problem. The suggestion was that I teach them again while my boss listens in on the lesson. Sounded like a good idea to me, but I was wrong... The first half of the lesson was ok considering how nervous I was but the second half.... I don't know what happened in the 5 minute break but when I went back in the smiles had disappeared and I was faced with two unhappy looking students. I obviously became even more nervous and really start to rush my instructions. It wasn't as bad as the first muckup but the students were clearly not happy at the end.... I'll update the tale after the customer comment forms have come in on Saturday.

Bad Day!

I had a very bad day yesterday. VERY! I completely screwed up the first half of a lesson and the students were not happy. I managed to prepare for the wrong page in the text book and when I had realised that the two students were giving me very strange looks because I had been talking rubbish I tried to seamlessly move to the correct topic by spouting more gibberish. It was about as cringe-worthy as you can possibly imagine.... I am waiting for the official complaint to come in... Bum!
Anyway..... I have a new toy to cheer me up. I will write about it in a future post. It's a PSP addon called Talkman. It is another way for me to practice my Japanese.
I know plenty of you are having bad days over in the UK, some much worse than mine. I hope that you all have a good weekend and stay happy.

The mincing machine pictured, reminds me of using playdough and pushing it through the little holes to make 'playdough hair' for little playdough people! There I am rolling a ball for the head, Shiho (just visible on the left) is making the body!

Moe and I are enjoying getting our hands dirty combining cooked soybeans with rice-yeast and salt.

Let's make miso!

I've finally decided that it is about time that I contribute to the blog, so that said, here's a post about a Sunday, a couple of weeks ago when Dave and I rolled up our sleeves to make miso; a fermented soy bean paste used to flavour soups and stews in Japanese cooking. Our friends (with the impressive collection of Japanese dolls below) have a family tradition of preparing homemade miso once a year at the end of February, and this year we were lucky enough to be invited to join them. So, after a timely but fun process of mixing, mincing and molding a thick paste of soybeans, rice-yeast, salt and vinegar, the mixture was then put to bed to ferment for 6-12months. By that time, it should have darkened somewhat and developed an alcoholic aroma (nice!).
Hopefully, a year from now we'll be able to sample our miso, and of course (with our humble inexperienced taste buds) give it the thumbs up/down.

This is a dolls festival being taken seriously!

A new post...

Sorry for the long delay but we have been very busy at work this week. We will continue to be VERY busy this week but it should start to ease off next week.
The 3rd of March is Hinamatsuri 雛祭 - Girls day or the dolls festival. It is very important for families with girls. Intricately decorated dolls sets are displayed. We have been given a small set which is incredibly pretty. I will try to put a photo of our set up on the blog sometime soon. The picture you should be able to see on this page now is an impressive display from our friends house (they have a daughter).
Families with boys wait until May 5th for the Boys festival (Tango no sekku) which, unfairly in my opinion, has degenerated into a general childrens festival... If girls get their own day why don't the boys?!