November 4-10 (Mon-Sun) - A few misty mornings

Monday: Holiday! Kaori and I met up with Kaori’s Spanish teacher and some other Spanish students. It was fun to hear them switching between Spanish and Japanese. 

We went to Kiku Ningyou, which I had never heard of before, but apparently it’s a tradition to have dolls dressed up in chrysanthemums.

They change the theme every year. This year was a story of some woman warrior, I didn't quite catch it.

It was quite beautiful, even though it rained.

There were displays other than the dolls. Look at these huge kiku.

And a kiku zoo:

We saw an interesting (rather funny) dance performance, then taiko drums, which is fun. See the video here. 

I like how it’s not only the sound but a highly visual performance. 

Tuesday: I took a walk in the misty morning. 

My third class was actually better than the first two. I’m learning! Evening classes went well. Some days are good.

Wednesday: I did a lot of cleaning in the morning. There goes my time! At Kawada the teacher was absent. I’m not sure why. Luckily I planned the lesson and only managed to confuse them mostly (not all the way) with the grammar explanation.

Thursday: Shiawase nara te o tatakou — if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands! According to one source this was brought to Japanese from Spanish, and from Japanese it made its way to English. However basic research does not corroborate this so I maintain the right to be wrong.

Friday: Work work work. But it was a beautiful day.

Saturday: Work. I think it went well. I don’t remember. Then I studied.

Sunday: I didn’t get any pictures... but oh well. We taught an English-learning (...kinda) Halloween (...kinda) class (...kinda) with about 50 1st-3rd-graders at Asahi Elementary. I dressed as Pikachu again. 

There was a segment on NHK so if you happen to watch Japanese TV at the right time you’ll see me.

It was super tiring having to work on a Sunday. But I had fun while I was there. Pikachu-costume strikes again.

Kaori and I watched movies that evening, thank goodness.

Recent Japanese:

tayoru (頼る) = to rely on

odokasu (脅かす) = to threaten

sakkyoku (作曲) = composition (music)

komakai (細かい) = small, fine, details

narubeku (成る可く) = as much as possible, if possible

mizudeppou (水鉄砲) = water gun