Earthqakes earthquakes every day.

Hiya all,

Another quick update as I need to prepare for tomorrows school lessons with grades 1-6. Thouhg I should upadte the current earthquake situation. We have not been affected in any way by the earthquakes that have been occouring over the last few days. Just so you all have a better idea of the situation, here is a lovely map I found.



The dots represent eathquake centers and the line to the west of Tokyo represents the area of effect the earthquakes have had. The thin blue lines represent the edges of the tectonic plates.

As you can see we are a fair way from any fault lines the only way we know anything has happened is by hearing it on the news.

Doing the Tourist thing

Hiya all, and thanks for all the comments and well wishes :)

Just as a quick note we did not feel anything during the earthquake on thursday night. None of the other AET's here did either. From what we have heard there has been minimal damage and as far as we are concerned it is business as usual.

We all did the tourist thing today, going up to Kyoto and looking around some shrines. One was built without any nails or other fasteners, and the other was plated with gold leaf inside and out. Shiny! Lucy should have some pictures up shortly, and look out for the ninja dog :)

Tomorrows plan is to head down to Osaka, another 20min train ride away and look at an old castle. So we should have some interesting stuff to write home about so stay tuned.

Status Update

Hey all!

Just a quick update as it has been a while. This week has been mostly filled with training and searching for food. The training has been predominately focused on going through all the material supplied for us for each of the year levels. While 90% of our time will be spent with grad 5-6 we will be doing some work with younger kids. Should keep life interesting! We are basically going through games and teaching techniques as well as ploughing through the set curriculum.

Throughout this we have been doing a bit of Japanese study, and you can hear about some of the funny results of this in Lucy's Blog, but it has been a lot of fun all round, with lots of off-topic remarks and sillyness going on. Ahh the things we get paid for...

My Japanese is progressing a little, and I can happily order at a restraunt (by pointing at the menu and going "kore kudasai" (that please) and so on.

Tomorrow we will be viewing the entry of the 1st graders as they come to school for the first time. I have been told it is quite an event!
Jamata!

A little strangeness

Heya folks,

Training on Friday was a basic introduction as expected. We went out to the park for lunch and were mobbed by 10-13 year old boys looking for chocolate and to gawk at the gaijin :). All in good fun.

We have been out shopping all morning and I'm not feeling up to writing much detail today, so I shall leave you with a collection of some of the interesting and strange things we have encountered with over the last few days. Photos courtesy of Jess and Andria, thanks girls!

Jamata! (See you later!)

Strangeness