Festival Preparations

Japan has a festival in July called Tanabata. Children write their hopes and dreams on colored strips of paper. They tie the papers and other decorations onto branches from bamboo trees. At the end of the festival, they stand on a bridge and cast the branches into the river.

Many people believe that the wishes will be carried away by the river and come true.

Today 5th grade students were helping 2nd grade students attach decorations to the branches. They will display the branches at school until July 7th.

What are your hopes and dreams?

House Hunting

In America, when we look for a new house or apartment, we call it house hunting. It is a strange term. We think it is hard to find the right house, so we have to look very carefully, like a hunter.

Soon, I hope to move to Tsu. I am living in Ise now, but I work in Tsu. Every day I spend a lot of time commuting. This seems very wasteful and makes me feel tired. Every month, I spend a lot of money on gasoline and train tickets.

If I move to Tsu, I can rent a nicer home and still save money because the commuting costs will go away.

Have you moved recently? Do you have a long commute?

Working on Saturday

I teach English at elementary schools in Japan. On weekdays I have to work, but on weekends I can relax.

This week is a special week. Today is Saturday, but I have to work. A couple times each year we have school on Saturday. We do this so the parents can come and see their children at school.

Many parents came to watch me teach. The students were very good. We got the parents to participate in the class.

I enjoy these special days, but I get a little nervous.

Do you ever get nervous at work?

Beautiful Weather

Recently the weather has been getting warmer. Many days were warm, but got cold at night. Soon it will be too hot during the day.

Today it was sunny and warm all day long. Tonight it is cool, but not cold. I think this maybe the best weather of the year.

When I was driving today, I had the windows open. It felt very good to have the warm wind in my hair.

How is the weather where you are? What time of year has the best weather?

Urgency

Several days each week I ride the train to work. On Monday and Wednesday, I must change trains in Tsu.

Today my condition suddenly got bad and I needed to find a toilet. There are toilets on the trains, but during rush hour the trains are crowded. It is very hard to get to the bathroom on the train.

I ran to the bathroom in Tsu, but I was worried because there is not much time between my trains.

Have you ever had an urgent situation?

Strange Schedule

Often I can take vacation during Golden Week, but this year I can’t. Friday, April 29th was a holiday. Tuesday, May 3rd through Thursday, May 5th are holidays, too.

On Monday, May 2nd and Friday, May 6th I have to teach many classes. This makes a strange schedule: 3 days off, work 1 day, 3 days off, work 1 day, 2 days off, and back to normal.

Do you work during Golden Week?

Waiting for the Storm

We are expecting a typhoon this weekend. Probably it will arrive in Kyushu on Friday. I guess it will arrive here on Saturday or Sunday.

When a typhoon arrives, there is a lot of rain and wind. Sometimes the trains stop running. Sometimes the roads are closed. Sometimes the river overflows.

I plan to stay inside all weekend. I have a lot of paperwork to finish. It will be a good chance to catch up. I really don’t like paperwork, but it must be done.

Do you like paperwork? Do you have a lot of paperwork to do?

What are you doing this weekend?

On TV Again

Since I moved to Japan, I have been on TV many times. Sometimes I appear on TV because I am at an event that is important. Sometimes I appear on TV because I am working at a special event. In these cases, I am not so important and they don’t mention my name.

Occasionally I appear on TV and they mention my name. Today ZTV came to our school and filmed our activities. We will appear on a program called ‘Schooljack’ in November. My class will appear for about one and a half minutes. They will mention my name.

I am worried because the children were very nervous. I tried to keep them relaxed and excited. I hope they look good on TV.

Have you been on TV? Did they mention your name? Did you enjoy it?

Chance Meeting

I rode the train to work today. Last night I didn’t get enough sleep. Two nights ago I didn’t get enough sleep.

I slept on the train today. It was nice to get a little more rest.

About halfway to work, I opened my eyes a few times. I only opened them for a moment. I noticed there was a passenger standing very close to me, but I went back to sleep each time.

When I was close to my station I opened my eyes and the woman in front of me said, “Hello!” I was very surprised. She is a friend of mine. She wanted to say hello to me, but didn’t want to wake me up, so she waited patiently.

Have you ever met a friend by chance? Where were you?

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?