Friday, September 09, 2005

Finally - Some Random Pictures

The typhoon decided to go to the Sea of Japan - YAY!!! From what I understand, the typhoon hit Kyushu pretty hard and then headed out to sea. Typhoon season in Japan is in September and October.

I went to Takahana elementary school today. I didn't get a chance to find music for this week, but I will work on it for next time. Actually the teachers requested that I do the hokey pokey. This is really stupid, but I don't remember how to do the hokey pokey. One of the teachers in my building is going to show me. The kids are very genki - healthy, lively, energetic, etc. Genki is a wonderful all-purpose word!!! There was an open house at the school today, so the parents were present as well. I was happy with my lesson and the kids seemed really excited and a bit nervous. They are soooooo adorable! I get to play with kids! I'm actually really wiped out from conducting 3 classes. I go back next Tuesday and they have me booked for all 6 periods ---- imagine how exhausting that will be ---- hokey pokey 50 times later.....I love it!!!!

Back to my roots in Japan.....I was on terebe (television) today! Some of you may or may not know that when I was a child I was in Japanese TV commercials and in magazines. Takahana elementary school, which has about 800 children, has a broadcasting area and they put me on the school television for my introductory speech (which I did in Japanese). It was very surreal and funny. Takahama elementary school is so friggin’ cool! As the kids eat lunch, the school plays Japanese rock music over the speakers!!

The principal was incredibly nice. He spent so much time with me today and continually invited me to his office for coffee and tea. He doesn't know very much English, but he pulled out his dictionary and we somehow communicated to one another. I was so surprised by his hospitality.

Nothing like having visitors to motivate you to clean your home. I've been scrubbing the floors, doing laundry and putting stuff away. The house is looking great! I will take some pictures, but there's so much more I want to do (add pillows, sofa covers, get some cabinets/stands for the TV and in the kitchen.....but it really is about time that I post some pics of where I live...so I will take photos tomorrow after I finish up the rest of the place.

By the way, everyday, when it's time for the kids to clean the school, a recording comes on that says "It's cleaning time" and then the cleaning music starts playing! The announcement runs through my head all the time. Below is a picture of "cleaning time"



The kids are practicing for sports day. The other day the girls had to tie themselves together and try to run together like a centipede. Looks like fun!



Here are a couple of pictures of this rad van - "wide low"! I saw it in a parking lot....I don't even know what to say about it, the pictures say it all!




I'm really pissed off right now because I had to reboot my palm pilot and all of my addresses/phone numbers are lost! Luckily I have most of it in my ibook (laptop), but I think I need a hard copy just in case. I'm sure some of the numbers are totally gone!

6 comments:

John Suitcase said...

Hi Taube!

I love the van picture, that's so funny! Maybe someday when Deb and I have kids we can play "cleaning music" and have them magically clean house!

Good pictures, I'm glad this typhoon skipped you.

Talk to you soon!

John

Anonymous said...

Hi Taube,
I especially like the centipede formation. Glad you're having a great start to this adventure.

I saw in today's paper that 8,000 homes were destroyed by the typhoon. I hope it missed you by many miles!
much love
-naomi

Gwynne Sullivan said...

YES! THAT VAN ROCKS! I am beginning to think maybe I shouldn't spend any money on the trip to Japan, and instead should start saving all my money to have a Low Wider like that one. Is it also a Transformer? Does it transform into a super robot, or maybe a pair of Nike Air Jordans?

Anyway I'm so glad you finally got some pictures up! I'm preparing to buy my tickets to Japan just as soon as I get the word... !

As Good as an ABBA Song said...

I second the cleaning music idea.

ABBA might be just the ticket for that.

The pics are great!! I'm glad the typhoon missed you!!

Gwynne Sullivan said...

Taube did you get my email about my Japlan? Please write back and let me know if the dates are ok. The ticket availability and prices are not guaranteed for me until I pay for the tickets.

Anonymous said...

That van is TOO far from anything you'd see here in Phx.

Now that I've found your blog, I'll be chekkin' reglar like.

Donovan