You know how the Discovery Channel hosts "Shark Week" every year in July or August? Well, Japan must host "Park Week" every year in October, for I've been to three different parks with three different groups on three different occasions this past week. And outside of going to the park where my brother played his baseball games every summer when we were growing up, I can't remember ever going to a park three times in one year, let alone in one week.
For those of you familiar with Let's Start Talking (LST), my church here in Japan has begun this year's English Bible Class (EBC), which is similar to LST. For those of you unfamiliar with LST, it's an organization that equips Christians to go into non-English speaking parts of the world to teach English by using the Bible. EBC has met twice thus far, and will continue to meet twice a month through March. I'm so excited to be able to do the EBC program, since I had such great experiences with my readers when I did LST in Japan during that summer after college graduation. But EBC experiences are for a different post. So let's get back to "Park Week".
I tried my first chestnut at this park. The first bite was unremarkable. The second and third bites tasted like roast beef. And the rest of it was once again unremarkable. I assumed that a chestnut was something like an acorn, since you roast them over an open fire at Christmas and the drawings that I've seen of them since arriving here make them look like that. But did you know that a chestnut's exterior looks like a super spiky, bright green kiwi? And why in the world would it taste like roast beef? (Now I could really go for some Cracker Barrel.)
**On Tuesday, I joined my third graders for a trip to Kasama, the (un-)official (?) ceramics capital of Japan. (Not all AETs are allowed to go on field trips with their students, so shhh!) There we had the opportunity to make a cup or a plate, visit a ceramics museum, eat obento in a park that had cooler artwork than the museum, and play on the most amazing playground I've ever seen. But the word "playground" doesn't do it justice. The slides are amazingly huge - think a couple stories tall and a hundred or more feet long - and are connected to a decking system with numerous play stations shooting off from it that most definitely required an engineering degree to design. (My seven-year-old nephew would love this park!) Unfortunately, I was too busy having fun sliding to take pictures from my ride on it.
**At the bottom of the second slide, shortly before I took this photo, I was caught in a pile up with a bunch of students and teachers from my school as well as from other schools. After trudging up the huge hill two times, my first time to slide to slide became my last time to slide.
**This air dome is WAY more fun than a trampoline, although one of the many rules for using it is don't jump on it. (What else is it meant to be used for? And what kid can resist jumping on an air mountain?) I was asked by one of the students to play on the dome with her. But I thought I was too big or old, take your pick, and was noncommittal. Later, when I saw how much fun they were having, I decided that I could be a big kid at heart and play on it with them. I'm so glad I did, since they told their teacher that I'm so fun!
**This zip line looked like it was a blast for the kids to ride. So after watching them on it for several minutes, I decided to give it a try. Only, it wasn't as fun for me as the slide or the air dome since my legs are so long that they dragged along the ground and slowed me down.
On Wednesday, I arrived at my one-day-a-week kindergarten and was surprised once again with that day's plans - no English classes and a trip to a park. I'd been told we'd walk to the park because it was close. But once we arrived at the park, I can't believe we dared to undertake the mile- or two-mile-long trek with close to 100 four- and five-year olds, even with ten moms to help with the outing. (There's no way that would be allowed in an American school.) But the amazing thing was that not one of the kids complained or got hurt on the way there or back. Once at the park, we spent the next two or three hours sliding down the hill on cardboard boxes. (So fun!) Since I'd expected to teach English that day, I didn't have my camera with me as I'd had at the other two parks. But suffice it to say that from the top of the hill, where I spent much of my time as a pusher, it looked like I was bowling with kindergartners!
Japan is a beautiful country; and now that the life-sapping heat and humidity of summer are gone, I hope to be able to enjoy more of it's scenery.
Until next time...
**UPDATE (11/22/10): Photographs containing school children have been removed per the instruction of the teachers' consultant.
**At the bottom of the second slide, shortly before I took this photo, I was caught in a pile up with a bunch of students and teachers from my school as well as from other schools. After trudging up the huge hill two times, my first time to slide to slide became my last time to slide.
**This air dome is WAY more fun than a trampoline, although one of the many rules for using it is don't jump on it. (What else is it meant to be used for? And what kid can resist jumping on an air mountain?) I was asked by one of the students to play on the dome with her. But I thought I was too big or old, take your pick, and was noncommittal. Later, when I saw how much fun they were having, I decided that I could be a big kid at heart and play on it with them. I'm so glad I did, since they told their teacher that I'm so fun!
**This zip line looked like it was a blast for the kids to ride. So after watching them on it for several minutes, I decided to give it a try. Only, it wasn't as fun for me as the slide or the air dome since my legs are so long that they dragged along the ground and slowed me down.
On Wednesday, I arrived at my one-day-a-week kindergarten and was surprised once again with that day's plans - no English classes and a trip to a park. I'd been told we'd walk to the park because it was close. But once we arrived at the park, I can't believe we dared to undertake the mile- or two-mile-long trek with close to 100 four- and five-year olds, even with ten moms to help with the outing. (There's no way that would be allowed in an American school.) But the amazing thing was that not one of the kids complained or got hurt on the way there or back. Once at the park, we spent the next two or three hours sliding down the hill on cardboard boxes. (So fun!) Since I'd expected to teach English that day, I didn't have my camera with me as I'd had at the other two parks. But suffice it to say that from the top of the hill, where I spent much of my time as a pusher, it looked like I was bowling with kindergartners!
Japan is a beautiful country; and now that the life-sapping heat and humidity of summer are gone, I hope to be able to enjoy more of it's scenery.
Until next time...
**UPDATE (11/22/10): Photographs containing school children have been removed per the instruction of the teachers' consultant.
1 comment:
Busy weekend for me. I spent Friday and half of Saturday in Austin at my TCEA board meeting. It was ACU's homecoming, so April and her mom were here without me. (I hear the fireworks on Friday night over Faubus Fountain were unbelievable!) They did the parade and chapel on Saturday morning. I got back too late to go to the football game, but I hear we lost. :-( Today we did church and the musical (Titanic). It was good, but the orchestra overpowered the cast at some places making it difficult to hear. As soon as my company headed home, I went to my Beth Moore study and am now washing sheets and towels and preparing for the week. I hope you have just as much fun this week as the parks were last week!
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