Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

(Insert some halfhearted excuse for why there's been another week between blog posts here.) Some days I'm more tired, or busy, or lazy, than others. And before I know it, a week has passed. I know they say that time flies, but time really  flies when teaching. Looking back at most of last week, it feels like a really long time ago. Thursday was my first time visiting Funatsu, one of my elementary schools that's at the opposite end of Himeji from Hirohata. I had to take a totally different train, the Bantan Line via JR Station. The Bantan Line is a smaller train (sometimes only two cars) that goes way out into the countryside. It took me quite awhile to reach Koro Station, which was my stop. I waited at Koro Station for a bit, until I could get picked up by car by one of the Funatsu teachers, and was then driven to the school. (My other middle school, Jinnan, was on the way. I'm not sure how I'll manage that commute in April. Fortunately, I have a long time to ...

It's been a long time, again! I was working all weekend, with meetings galore, so I found it very easy to make excuses about updating my blog. Sorry about that! (I have a sneaky feeling this will happen a lot...) Sunday was Sports Day, and as promised I took many photos and videos! Which means that it took more than a few hours to get this blog post together. I suppose this makes up for taking so long between them... (and I apologize for any quality issues. Japanese internet isn't designed for uploading videos, which means I have to really compress them down... The RAWs on my computer look great, though!) And as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This must mean that a video is worth a million of them! The Sports Day started at 8:30am, and it was open to members of the community and family. And many of them showed up! It was very cool! The Sports Day began with all of the student body marching by grade and class (there are 3 grades, 6 classes each. The st...

I had a lot of fun on Monday! I was shown around Nagoyama Temple (where apparently a piece of the  Buddha is located) and Hiromine Shrine, located at the top of Mount Hiromine. I also had lunch and spent a few  hours singing Karaoke, which made the day all-in-all a perfect one, as far as I'm concerned. But first, before I go into my many many photos (I had over 100 come out well... I love my camera!), I wanted to share with you all my finished mailbox! Hopefully students will want to write me letters now! I won't lie. That Stitch was a ton of fun to make. And no, I don't think I have OCD! Nagoyama Temple Only pictures could truly do  it justice. It's surprisingly close to Shirasagi Residence, too! The trees everywhere are Sakura (Cherry) Trees, apparently. In the Fall, they turn red and orange, and in the Spring they blossom with pink flowers. I can't wait to visit it again! From the signs, there's also a "Foreign Soldier's" graveyar...