Santa says HAHAHA!

November 25-December 21

I spent actual Thanksgiving at the JET Mid-Year Seminar. It was a rather boring two days worth of speakers and classes but I got some good ideas to use in my classes and I’ve actually already used some of them. That weekend there was a JET Charity Pub Quiz that four of us Himi people entered. Our group was called the Himi Hermits. We came in second place by only one point, too bad only the first place people got the half of the money that wasn’t going to charity. Still it was a lot of fun! Also, it wasn’t actually at a pub, it was at a Brazilian restaurant and the food was awesome. There was even turkey, which is basically unheard of here, to give me one more chance to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Exciting news for Himi is that buri (yellowtail) is officially in season! This is one of the things Himi is most famous for and, having eaten it both grilled and raw, I can see why. It is sooooooooo delicious!!!

Buri nigiri.

I haven’t done anything too grand recently but work has been pretty busy all December. For example, on Dec. 10^th I had a demo lesson for prospective students at Seibu MS. Basically, 6^th graders from the three elementary schools that feed into Seibu came and had a mock English class. I think it went okay. This was largely helped by the fact that two of those elementary schools were schools that I teach at so I already knew the students. That same day we had the BOE enkai which was great because they scheduled it at Tori No Ya which is the restaurant owned by the same guy that owns Wyatt. Having been there before I knew to expect great food and they did not disappoint.

I made little nametags (with no names...) for the demo lesson.

Also at school, I have had several really great Christmas classes. We did all sorts of Christmas activities including: Christmas bingo, Christmas card making (I made one card for each of my schools), cutting out snowflakes, reading Christmas stories, talking about American Christmas (including some pictures of my family), singing Christmas songs etc. At several schools I wore a Santa hat, which was usually met with great enthusiasm, especially from the younger kids. I even got applause when I walked into one of the staff rooms! I got the kids all riled up by walking around during cleaning time saying “Merry Christmas!” I apologized to the teachers but I figured it was okay since it was the last day of classes and I usually don’t interrupt their chores.

One of the best classes was with the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd graders at Hayakawa ES. As we were doing the fun lesson, Kyoto-sensei (vice-principal) walked by a window dressed up in a full Santa costume. The kids got really excited and by the end of class, after walking around outside several times, he finally came in the classroom and gave the students their presents (which was just some Japanese candy). I cracked up because instead of saying HOHOHO he said HAHAHA.

Another great experience was with my 5th graders at Kubo ES. We had a fun lesson and at the very end they gave me a Christmas present. Their present was to play "Silent Night" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads" on their recorders. Apparently they had just learned "Silent Night" in the few days before my lesson with them so they could play it for me. I was very touched!

More Christmas spirit has come from the decorations around town. My favorites are the lights near the main bridge that include some shaped like a buri! Also, the ALTs helped the CIR with a Christmas event for 30 or so 3^rd and 4^th graders that had more of the aforementioned activities and was really a lot of fun.

All these pictures are of the lights near the Hattori-kun bridge in.

The buri Christmas lights.

The Christmas tree outside of Sunstage. The lights flash faster and faster.

Making Christmas cards at the Christmas party. I figure that you can't see any of their faces so this should be an okay picture to post.

The card I made :D

Alex came out as Santa at the very end. Also hilarious was John's reindeer hat that you can sort of see in the background.

Christmas ice cream from Baskin Robins. I had the bear and Katie had the Santa.

Since I probably won’t update this again before Christmas: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! メリークリスマス！よいお年を！