Many students and friends have caught the flu recently. So far I have been safe. I will try to stay warm and rested to avoid getting sick. Also, I plan to eat healthy foods. Hopefully, I can avoid getting sick in February.
Tomorrow night I teach my “Young Professionals” class. There are many interesting students in the class.
February has started. Yesterday we had very, very strong wind. Some people couldn’t ride their bikes because of the wind. On Friday night we had very heavy rain. Normally I like to walk around in the evening, but I took a taxi home because of the rain. January has had many cold days.
I hope that we have good weather this month.
All of January I taught at one school. The children were very outgoing and intelligent. The teachers and the Principals showed a lot of interest. It was very fun and easy to teach them.
Today is my last day at this school and it is raining. I think the rain is a symbol for the sadness. I hope I can teach here again next school year.
Winter has been very cold this year. This week I pulled the kotatsu (炬燵) out of the closet. It feels very good to sit around the kotatsu.
Last night I was watching “Battlestar Galactica” while sitting at the kotatsu, and I fell asleep. I am trying to stay warm until Spring.
Summer break has ended. Second term is starting today. I will leave the house in a few minutes and head to school. Probably we will have an assembly today to welcome everyone back. I want the students to talk about what they did during summer vacation, but I expect they will be very shy.
Yesterday I climbed a mountain near my home called Kyou ga Mine. I bought three large rice balls and two bottles of tea before hiking to the summit. I also brought a book to read and my Bible to study. My pack was a little heavy. The weather was beautiful and I could see a long way. I stayed at the top for about six hours enjoying the fresh air and cool breeze.
Just by chance, I met a friend at the top of the mountain. I also made a new friend. He likes to read ancient Japanese documents.
Tonight there will be fireworks in Tsu. Several friends will wear yukata and walk to the beach. We are very excited. It looks like the weather will be good.
Saturday I watched a movie called “Nicholas Nickleby” with a Japanese friend. Some of the language is from the 1830s, so it was hard to understand. Even so, my friend liked the movie.
Sunday night, I met a new teacher. We took her to my favorite restaurant and gave her many tips about living in Tsu. She is very smart and will be a good teacher. The weather was very humid, but we enjoyed listening to the cicadas chirping.
Today, I will wake up early in the morning and catch a train to Nagoya. We will be watching the 14th day of the sumo tournament. The winner is already decided, but we will have fun regardless. I will go at 8:30am, so I will be eating a couple meals and enjoying a few drinks at the tournament. The weather has been extremely hot and humid, so I hope the temperatures inside the hall are not so bad.
We will be sitting close to the action, so people might see us on TV. Also, I hope to get some good photos with my new camera.
The air is so humid this evening. I am working on the computer and I am sweating a lot. Maybe I will run the air conditioner, but I don’t want to waste electricity. I rode my bike to work and it was very hot.
I hope you are able to stay cool this summer.
Friday I took a day off from work. My friend and I drove to Kusatsu in Shiga Prefecture. We went to Mizunomori: Kusatsu Aquatic Botanical Gardens. I bought a new camera on Thursday, so I took many pictures of lotus flowers.
In the morning the weather was a little rainy, but by noon it cleared up. After taking photos of lotus, we went to Ohmi Hachiman and looked at old buildings.
On the way home we stopped at an organic restaurant, called Tsuki no Niwa, in Kameyama for dinner.
君の為に 