July, thus far

I realize how long it's been since the last time I posted something, and that definitely makes it even sadder that I have very little of interest to show of how I have passed the last couple weeks...

My students often come in for lessons and when I ask them how their weekend was, they answer with one, typical, irritating response: "Nothing special." Then, if I'm having a particularly unsuccessful day, I plead with them to tell me something interesting--even if they have to make it up. (Some of my students have fantastic imaginations!) Just now I am experiencing the very same emotion as my students; indeed, my most recent activities hold very little entertainment value. The following photos are, for your sake, a last ditch effort to show you something mildly interesting from my life in Japan. The best part? I didn't have to resort to my imagination--it's all real. :)

Mother Nature has certainly been doing her part to keep us all on our toes, though. Plans for the typical beach trips and fireworks of the three-day weekend--July 16th is "Sea Day" in Japan--were thwarted (I've always wanted to use that word!) by the massive typhoon that worked it's way over the islands and up to Tokyo on Saturday and Sunday, and as if that weren't enough, the whole ordeal was topped off by a major earthquake this morning in Niigata and Nagano. I felt the earthquake this morning from 160 miles away in Tokyo--quite the experience! It felt like our entire building was floating on the ocean for about 30 seconds. The first quake was at 10.13 this morning and the last I checked, there were still aftershocks at 9.00 tonight. (Track earthquakes at this website.)




Photos:

• Top left: this is a page from my kanji practice book. I have so much respect now for Japanese schoolchildren who have to write each character over and over and over...it's uber time-consuming. I think these two pages took me nearly an hour and a half to complete. Here's a quick translation of the kanji in the photo, in order l-r according to the columns (both pages in the book are identical): "clam", "dog", "bug", "grass", "flower".
• Top right: this is quite possibly one of the greatest popsicles ever invented. It totally tastes like watermelon. And the little "seeds"? They're chocolate!
• Bottom: the school where I work has sets of really old flashcards they used to use for teaching vocabulary. This one is my absolute personal favorite, so it has now become my own "souvenir". :) It was used to illustrate the verb "Sit." Just look how happy that man is that he can successfully sit down! I only wish I had as much enthusiasm as he does...