26 February 2008
12 February 2008
11 February 2008
Quick one
Yesterday: Church then bastketball with youth.
Today: English class then Ebayama Meterological Museum (fun!)
Tomorrow: First time to go skiing for me! We're going to Kanbiki, Hiroshima, Japan.
Hiroshima Weather / Earthquake (and more) Info in English! (very useful, only just found it tonight, and wished I'd known about it long ago):
http://www.bousai.pref.hiroshima.jp/hdis_eng/index.jsp
News: I'll be staying here in Hiroshima, Japan, teaching English at the SDA English School for another year. That keeps me here until August 2009.
Today: English class then Ebayama Meterological Museum (fun!)
Tomorrow: First time to go skiing for me! We're going to Kanbiki, Hiroshima, Japan.
Hiroshima Weather / Earthquake (and more) Info in English! (very useful, only just found it tonight, and wished I'd known about it long ago):
http://www.bousai.pref.hiroshima.jp/hdis_eng/index.jsp
News: I'll be staying here in Hiroshima, Japan, teaching English at the SDA English School for another year. That keeps me here until August 2009.
30 January 2008
** snow **
Well, that was the word which described yesterday... "snow". Probably the snowiest day we've had this season, and might not get much snowier than that. A inch or two of snow piled up on cars last night, and a few roads got a bit mushy, icy, wet. Just small snow... nothing kind of super-special, but, was nice.
And, I didn't see the thermometer get about 2 degrees all day yesterday... except for at about 10pm when it "warmed up" to 3 degrees. I didn't really think I'd consider 8 or 10 degrees "warm", but, I do now :-) Haven't seen it warmer than 10 for about 2 weeks now. It's probably not going to get colder now. It'll probably stay about the same for another week or two, and then begin the slow (too slow!) warm up to spring. We'll be out of the cold about April... meanwhile, the kerosene heater works overtime, doors stay closed, I stay indoors, and the washing dries by the heater (instead of outside).
What else... hmmm... Badminiton was fun on Sunday. English teaching is till fun. It's time to decide whether to stay another year teaching at the Hiroshima SDA English School (any advice?) I'm enjoying mixing with the church members. Finally learned all my katakana (one of the 3 Japanese alphabets). Spending a good chunk of time learning Kanji (the hardest alphabet with thousands of characters). Preparations for the English School concert are going on now. Concert is in March and the topic is "Jesus Comes Back to Life!" Plenty of kids songs.
Going skiing (my first time) on 11 Feb. Should be great! Plenty of things on. Usually a combination of work, friends, church, meals, sport, learning Japanese, Bible study, cold, house chores and fun.
The aim? To know God, care for people, do my best, and enjoy it.
And, I didn't see the thermometer get about 2 degrees all day yesterday... except for at about 10pm when it "warmed up" to 3 degrees. I didn't really think I'd consider 8 or 10 degrees "warm", but, I do now :-) Haven't seen it warmer than 10 for about 2 weeks now. It's probably not going to get colder now. It'll probably stay about the same for another week or two, and then begin the slow (too slow!) warm up to spring. We'll be out of the cold about April... meanwhile, the kerosene heater works overtime, doors stay closed, I stay indoors, and the washing dries by the heater (instead of outside).
What else... hmmm... Badminiton was fun on Sunday. English teaching is till fun. It's time to decide whether to stay another year teaching at the Hiroshima SDA English School (any advice?) I'm enjoying mixing with the church members. Finally learned all my katakana (one of the 3 Japanese alphabets). Spending a good chunk of time learning Kanji (the hardest alphabet with thousands of characters). Preparations for the English School concert are going on now. Concert is in March and the topic is "Jesus Comes Back to Life!" Plenty of kids songs.
Going skiing (my first time) on 11 Feb. Should be great! Plenty of things on. Usually a combination of work, friends, church, meals, sport, learning Japanese, Bible study, cold, house chores and fun.
The aim? To know God, care for people, do my best, and enjoy it.
24 January 2008
One of those good days!
Yes, today is one of those great days!
Had a good rest last night, got up, good hearty, healthy breakfast, went to school and prepared a few English classes. Just before going to the Gr 2 class, I look out from the 3rd floor of the school and see this white stuff falling lightly down from above... snow! Only the second time I've seen snow fall, and, the first time I've seen it fall where I live!
Grade 2 and 1 classes went nicely, with a bit more variety than normal, fun games, kids behaving pretty well and enjoying class :-) The kids are nice... some come up to say good-bye after class, show me something or tell me some of the English they learnt.
Organised a bit of badminton for Sunday afternoon with some of the younger teachers at the school here... should be good! Then, headed outside to play with the kids outside during their school lunch break. Played "tag", played on the slides and other stuff there, had a lot of fun.
Rode my bike to 7-Eleven, grabbed a bit of salad, rice-thing, cheese roll to eat for lunch on the way home (only 2 mintes away). Ride back home, the snow continued to swirl around the streets making a nice scene.
I get home, look out the window, feel the sun streaming in the window, see the snow falling outside, notice the thermometer says 5 degrees, listen to good music and eat some lunch!
Five more English classes today... Thursdays are the busiest days. Friday is always a day off... time to relax, tidy up and get ready for a good weekend.
Had a good rest last night, got up, good hearty, healthy breakfast, went to school and prepared a few English classes. Just before going to the Gr 2 class, I look out from the 3rd floor of the school and see this white stuff falling lightly down from above... snow! Only the second time I've seen snow fall, and, the first time I've seen it fall where I live!
Grade 2 and 1 classes went nicely, with a bit more variety than normal, fun games, kids behaving pretty well and enjoying class :-) The kids are nice... some come up to say good-bye after class, show me something or tell me some of the English they learnt.
Organised a bit of badminton for Sunday afternoon with some of the younger teachers at the school here... should be good! Then, headed outside to play with the kids outside during their school lunch break. Played "tag", played on the slides and other stuff there, had a lot of fun.
Rode my bike to 7-Eleven, grabbed a bit of salad, rice-thing, cheese roll to eat for lunch on the way home (only 2 mintes away). Ride back home, the snow continued to swirl around the streets making a nice scene.
I get home, look out the window, feel the sun streaming in the window, see the snow falling outside, notice the thermometer says 5 degrees, listen to good music and eat some lunch!
Five more English classes today... Thursdays are the busiest days. Friday is always a day off... time to relax, tidy up and get ready for a good weekend.
22 January 2008
Cold Weather, Bad Stock Market
Which is worse? I'm pretty sure you'll agree that you can put up with cold weather as long as the markets are doing well... but the past two weeks have brought both.
On Sunday it averaged about 3 degrees during the day, with a bit of snow on a nearby hill. Rain all day made it "fun" sloshing through puddles on my bike to get downtown to eat out with friends. The marathon runners here in Hiroshima (for a nation-wide annual event) braved the freezing weather to compete.
Who knows where the marekts will end up? Things look quite bleak. How is it going to affect people around the world? Where do we put our security? Do we put it in the stock market? Can we put it in our house or possession? Can we put it in our health? Our education or work? Our insurance? Our own life or family? Sickness, natural disasters, violence, bad economy,
random accidents... pretty much everything we have or are in life is at risk. Where do we find security?
Only in the God who made us. The only complete security we can have is to trust God. He is our Father, He loves us, He cares for us, He has a rescue plan for this earth (read about it in the Bible), He offers us eternal life. If you search for God with all your heart, you will find Him. This is where we can find security and peace.
Last night, spent some time teaching English and then learning Japanese with a friend. I think this will really help me learn Japanese. And, singing in church is a little easier now, than when I first arrived in Hiroshima. I can read the Hiragana quicker now, so I can join in singing most of the songs.
But, the cold weather continues... maximums of 6 degrees are quite common now. So, we just keep the kerosene heaters at home going, while we wonder if it will snow today or tomorrow.
On Sunday it averaged about 3 degrees during the day, with a bit of snow on a nearby hill. Rain all day made it "fun" sloshing through puddles on my bike to get downtown to eat out with friends. The marathon runners here in Hiroshima (for a nation-wide annual event) braved the freezing weather to compete.
Who knows where the marekts will end up? Things look quite bleak. How is it going to affect people around the world? Where do we put our security? Do we put it in the stock market? Can we put it in our house or possession? Can we put it in our health? Our education or work? Our insurance? Our own life or family? Sickness, natural disasters, violence, bad economy,
random accidents... pretty much everything we have or are in life is at risk. Where do we find security?
Only in the God who made us. The only complete security we can have is to trust God. He is our Father, He loves us, He cares for us, He has a rescue plan for this earth (read about it in the Bible), He offers us eternal life. If you search for God with all your heart, you will find Him. This is where we can find security and peace.
Last night, spent some time teaching English and then learning Japanese with a friend. I think this will really help me learn Japanese. And, singing in church is a little easier now, than when I first arrived in Hiroshima. I can read the Hiragana quicker now, so I can join in singing most of the songs.
But, the cold weather continues... maximums of 6 degrees are quite common now. So, we just keep the kerosene heaters at home going, while we wonder if it will snow today or tomorrow.
18 January 2008
Into the swing of things
The new year has almost lost its novelty. Most things are back to normal. Unlike Australia where the school year begins just before February (and uni starts early March), in Japan, kids were back at school on Monday 7th January. Schools here get a 2 to 3 weeks holiday over new year. In Japan, students start school (or move up a grade) in April.
So, after two weeks of work already, English school is back into routine, primary school English classes are going well. It's a down hill run to the end of March when I'll teach the last class for the grade 2 and 6 classes and probably a few students from the English school.
It's Friday, our day off. It's about 10 degrees outside at 1pm. The sun in streaming through the open doors of our apartment facing south (nice mix of cool air and warm sun), but it's quite noisy since it faces Route 2 (which is 8 lanes of traffic). Friday are good days to relax, do the washing, bit of shopping, write emails, catch up on things, plan a little, clean up the house for the weekend and get ready for a restful Sabbath.
Today is pretty much a typical Friday as described above.
I'm getting to know a few of the youth from the church here. Making good friends with them. Some are teachers at the primary school or kindergarten. Some work around town here. My Japanese is quite poor. They don't speak a lot of English either. Despite that, we have a good time. We've gone for onsens, eaten out together, done a bit of shopping, etc. They're good friends. Glad I have the chance to know them.
Also been making some friends at the Hiroshima International Center. Been eating out and will start learning some Japanese from them. I'll share some English with them also. Many (maybe most) Japanese people either know some basic English, would like to learn English, are learning more English, or know English. It's seems like they all would like to know it.
We have English Sabbath School 3 times each month on Saturday mornings. George and I lead out in that. Also, English Church once each month, which either George or I preach at. Friday night vespers programs are also on once a month, where we eat dinner, share a short Christian message, sing and pray.
Tomorrow night we're going ice skating with the English school... mostly kids and parents... it's going to be a lot of fun! Sounds like we might be having a few sports evenings coming up.
Hope to get to the snow for some skiing (which I've never done before) before it starts getting too warm again. Also, would like to visit Shikoku (the smallest of the 4 main islands of Japan, not far at all from Hiroshima). Cherry blossoms should be out in late March, early April, so it'll be a ncie time to look around Hiroshima. Golden week (late April, early May) I'll probably go to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara for about a week as a tourist. And, after 10 August, I hope to see a bit more of Tokyo, northern Honshu (north of Tokyo) and Hokkaido. We have a three week break in August.
But, who knows... haven't decided if I'll stay another year or not. If I finish up, I'll end in August. If not, I'll still be here!
Sabbath Peace to you all.
So, after two weeks of work already, English school is back into routine, primary school English classes are going well. It's a down hill run to the end of March when I'll teach the last class for the grade 2 and 6 classes and probably a few students from the English school.
It's Friday, our day off. It's about 10 degrees outside at 1pm. The sun in streaming through the open doors of our apartment facing south (nice mix of cool air and warm sun), but it's quite noisy since it faces Route 2 (which is 8 lanes of traffic). Friday are good days to relax, do the washing, bit of shopping, write emails, catch up on things, plan a little, clean up the house for the weekend and get ready for a restful Sabbath.
Today is pretty much a typical Friday as described above.
I'm getting to know a few of the youth from the church here. Making good friends with them. Some are teachers at the primary school or kindergarten. Some work around town here. My Japanese is quite poor. They don't speak a lot of English either. Despite that, we have a good time. We've gone for onsens, eaten out together, done a bit of shopping, etc. They're good friends. Glad I have the chance to know them.
Also been making some friends at the Hiroshima International Center. Been eating out and will start learning some Japanese from them. I'll share some English with them also. Many (maybe most) Japanese people either know some basic English, would like to learn English, are learning more English, or know English. It's seems like they all would like to know it.
We have English Sabbath School 3 times each month on Saturday mornings. George and I lead out in that. Also, English Church once each month, which either George or I preach at. Friday night vespers programs are also on once a month, where we eat dinner, share a short Christian message, sing and pray.
Tomorrow night we're going ice skating with the English school... mostly kids and parents... it's going to be a lot of fun! Sounds like we might be having a few sports evenings coming up.
Hope to get to the snow for some skiing (which I've never done before) before it starts getting too warm again. Also, would like to visit Shikoku (the smallest of the 4 main islands of Japan, not far at all from Hiroshima). Cherry blossoms should be out in late March, early April, so it'll be a ncie time to look around Hiroshima. Golden week (late April, early May) I'll probably go to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara for about a week as a tourist. And, after 10 August, I hope to see a bit more of Tokyo, northern Honshu (north of Tokyo) and Hokkaido. We have a three week break in August.
But, who knows... haven't decided if I'll stay another year or not. If I finish up, I'll end in August. If not, I'll still be here!
Sabbath Peace to you all.
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