Getting Pretty

Yesterday I went to a barber shop to get my hair cut. It was in the countryside, so I expected it to be a simple shop. I was very wrong. It was like special salon.

While they were cutting my hair, I got a leg massage. They also had many treatments available. I could choose two for free. One treatment was to remove dead skin from my scalp and open my pores. Another was to clean the skin on my face and make me look younger. I liked the second treatment because they wrapped my face with a hot towel. It was very relaxing.

Also, they shaved my beard. Afterward I got a scalp massage and lotion for my face.

Weather Patterns

Yesterday afternoon the weather got very, very hot and humid. When I walked down the hall at school, my head hurt.

Today, I am sitting in an air conditioned office and looking out the window at blue sky and white, fluffy clouds.

There is a breeze blowing through the trees in the schoolyard.

This school is much more peaceful than the school yesterday.

How is the weather there?

Rainy Drive

Today I work at a school near a train station. After work I will meet a friend near another train station. I live near a train station.

This morning I planned to ride the train to work.

When I left my house it was pouring rain. The rain was so hard I didn’t want to walk to the garbage cans. I definitely didn’t want to walk to the train station.

Today I drove my car.

Was it raining where you are?

Loud Noise Outside

Today I am working in the school office. There is a very loud noise outside. Sometimes it gets quiet, but usually it is very noisy.

What is the noise? It is coming from cicada. They are kind of like locusts. Every summer in Japan we can find a lot of cicada.

When I lived in Houston, we had cicada, but they weren’t so loud. When I lived in Seattle, we never had cicada. We had crickets and grasshoppers, but no cicada nor locusts.

Do you like the sound of cicada? Are you afraid of them?

Swimming at School

It is summer vacation now. The students have no classes; however, all the teachers have to come to work.

Some of the students come to school in the morning to swim for two hours.

This morning I ran to the train and got sweaty. Then I rode my bike from the station to the school and got more sweaty. The other teachers invited me to swim with the students.

We had a good time. The water was cool and refreshing. I got a little sunburned.

Little Earthquake

I was awakened this morning by an earthquake. It wasn’t very big, so I went back to sleep.

It was the first time for me to feel an earthquake from the fourth floor. Usually I have been living on the first floor.

I was nervous that the building would shake a lot, but it wasn’t very different from being on the first floor.

Were you in the earthquake? I hope you are OK.

Hard Work

Today the teachers all worked very hard. They were repairing and cleaning the school. It is very hot and humid, so they are all very tired now.

While they were getting dirty and sore, I was doing deskwork in the office. The air conditioner was turned on, so I was very comfortable. I feel very lazy.

Going the Wrong Way

This morning I drove up to Tsu to help friends practice English at a tea shop. After that I practiced calligraphy at my teachers home. On the way home I ran into a traffic jam. Why? Because there are fireworks near my home tonight.

The Ise fireworks are very popular. I really want to see them; however, I’m going back to Tsu for a party. It seems like I’m going the wrong way.

I hope the party is fun.

Teamwork

Today I played with the second graders. They were singing songs and playing the pianica. Pianica is a musical instrument. It looks like a small piano with a hose attached to it. If you blow in the hose and press the keys, it sounds like a harmonica.

They children wanted me to play songs for them, but I don’t want to put the hose in my mouth. I had a student blow and I pressed the keys. It worked pretty well… until the student ran out of breath.

She was very tired at the end. We had a good time.

No More School Lunch

Yesterday was the last day for school lunch. I really enjoy school lunch because it is convenient. I don’t like to wake up early and make a box lunch.

Today I didn’t need to make a lunch because we ordered lunches. Our lunches had nine courses! This sounds amazing, but the courses were very, very small. This is a Japanese way to present food.

Tomorrow I will eat school lunch because I am going to a special school. Most schools have Spring, Fall, and Winter terms, but one school has only two terms. That school has classes tomorrow, so they have school lunch.