Marla and Andrea at Asago JHS

On Wednesday night Andrea arrived in Japan, and then yesterday her and Marla came to school with me. We had two ichi nen sei classes with Kakio sensei, so it was a pretty good day. All the kids were really excited to have so many foreigners, and it was good because the lesson was “Hello, my name is…” They also got to meet some of the more interesting/cute students, like brown hair (her hair is brown, not black), handsome macho Ken (he introduced himself as that), and baby monkey (she looks like a baby monkey). Marla and Andrea seemed to enjoy themselves, and the kids had a lot of fun, partly because we played more games than usual, which meant more stitch stickers. Sorry there are no pictures though, no one thought to take any.

Marla’s Arrival, Our BBQ, and a Trip to Kobe

Last week Marla arrived in Japan for her second visit. Sorry it took so long to write this post, it was a combination of being busy and just forgetting. Anyway, her visit has been good so far. The first day she just stayed at my house and read/used the computer while I went to school, and then on Friday she went to Himeji and saw the Art Museum she had tried to see a few times on her last trip, and a confectionery festival. On Saturday Meghan and I had a BBQ with some of the people who live in our apartment building, as well as one of her teachers and her kids. It sorta rained, but the kids played for like 4 hours so it was good. Then on Sunday Marla and I went to Kobe. Yesterday Marla went to Kinosaki again to visit the onsen while I was at work. Today when I went to work she was still sleeping, but she says she later went to Wadayama and ate lunch at McDonald’s. Even though I drew her a pretty good map of both Wadayama’s streets, she got lost and needed to take a taxi. The fact that taxis even exist in Wadayama is pretty ridiculous. Anyway, she is currently sitting beside me reading Obama’s book. Tomorrow after I get back from work we’ll go pick up Andrea in Himeji, and then we’re headed to China for awhile on Saturday. Anyway, here are some pictures, sorry there aren’t many:

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My Conversation with Masao

The other day I invited everyone in my apartment building to a bbq Meghan and I will have this weekend. When I got home from work yesterday Masao, an older guy that lives in the building, came out to talk to me, with the invitation in his hand. Since he was holding the invitation, I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to talk about, but this is how the conversation went:

Me:　Hi Masao, how are you?
Masao: Konnichiwa, *lots of Japanese*
Me: Wakaranai (“I don’t understand”)
Masao: *laughs, and then more Japanese*
Me: OK, I know you go to English lessons, I have seen you there.
Masao: *more Japanese*
Me: OK, I’m calling Meghan and you can talk to her *I call Meghan and hand the phone to Masao*
Masao: Hello Meghan, this is Masao. How are you?

Hiroshima, Osaka and Dad’s Departure

After a brief visit to my school my dad took the train to Himeji to see the castle and the city while I was at work, and then I met him there after. From Himeji we took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. In Hiroshima we saw the Peace Park and the Memorial Museum (both of which I still think are really good), the shopping areas, and the Miyajima. Miyajima looked really nice with the cherry blossoms, but the tide was out so the torii wasn’t really that great to look at. Since we saw everything we wanted to see in Hiroshima faster than I expected, we spent the last day in Osaka. We basically just walked around Namba and Shinsaibashi, which are pretty different than anywhere in Canada. Anyway, here are the picture:

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Sakura and Dad’s Arrival

Yesterday my dad came to Japan, so I went to pick him up at the airport. On the way I had to go through Himeji, so I decided to stop and see the cherry blossom festival, because it is really famous at Himeji Castle. Anyway, it was all really nice looking, but just about everyone in Japan was there so it was a little crowded. Then I took the bus to the airport, got my dad, and took the bus back.

Today we went to Takeda Castle, which was really good cause the weather was nice, and then to Kinosaki and Takeno up north. Kinosaki also had tons of cherry blossoms, so it looked really nice. Takeno Beach was also pretty nice, even if it was too cold to do more than just look at it. There’s a highway that runs along the cliffs on the coast though, so that was interesting to drive along. Anyway, here are a few pictures:

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