Rumble in the Distance

There is so much I have to tell about,

so many blogs left half written,

but at the moment,

all I can think about is the sound of thunder rumbling outside my window.

It's such a slow, deep, and comforting sound,

and before the rain starts it is kind of like listening to my favorite Johnny Cash song ("Hurt").

The rain gives it a different feel, but it's still peaceful. Even when it's violent and the wind sounds like a raging ocean crashing in midair... it still makes me feel peaceful.

I do love rainstorms.

The weather here has become quite regular and predictable. If you manage to get outdoors at about 6 a.m., you can enjoy a bit of cool air, the last breath of spring. You'd best hurry enjoying it though, because even by 8:25, when I am heading to work, it is already hot enough to make me sweat. The heat and humidity, suffocating in intensity, last all day, without respite, until the sun sets. It's the perfect weather for doing laundry, drying clothes in record time even with the humidly. You'd best be careful not to forget to take it inside though. Once the sun sets, the slow process of cooling off combined with the lingering humidity inevitably gives way to rain storms.

Every night there is a storm, sure as clockwork.

Gives me a reason to like summer.

Cheers,

Thor's Baer

Summer Begins!

Ah, the official start of summer vacation.

Of course, 'summer vacation' has a very deceptive ring to it, since we still have to go to work everyday, unlike teachers in the States. My new Vice Principal is also, unfortunately, not the kind of man that will just let me leave at lunch... oh how I miss my old VP.

I have started going to watch the kendo club practice once or twice a week. One of the main characters of my favorite manga plays kendo, so it has always had a soft spot in my heart. I've always been fascinated with fencing, but kendo is far difference than the European style of fencing. For one, it is definitely louder, with aggressive yelling and foot stomping, as well as the fact that you win points by smacking your (plastic/bamboo) sword against the other person's HEAD, ha ha. I asked and they said yes: it does hurt and it is scary. They let me try it once, but I couldn't quite make myself hit my student. Fail. I was downgraded to referee after that.

So I guess I can go watch them pretty much full time during the summer... or at least, more often.

In addition to that, there are quite a lot of seminars. My parents are visiting and we are going to Kyoto (tomorrow!) which actually got me out of a couple things, but still there are a lot. Kingsley and I are supposed to be doing our own "New Teacher Training Lesson" which is just... ugh. The entire ordeal has been extremely aggravating, especially since this really isn't part of our job and yet they have still managed to give us exactly zero details on what is expected of us... Believe me, I could go on

-but I wont.

Because I am going to Kyoto tomorrow!!

And I don't want any cracks in my rose colored glass.

Cheers,

summer-fun-time Baer

Update on "The Fake Plant"

Remember that post I made back in April about the plant I thought might be fake?

Well, I don't think I have watered it since I made that last post...

and it is starting to look depressed...!

It's alive!

IT'S ALIVE!!

(though what kind of freaky robot plant can survive for 3 months without being watered is beyond me)

Recruiting Patriots

Let's face it.

I'm not really much of a "patriot."

I tend to think of patriotism - a close relative of nationalism - as being an excuse to hate other people.

However, as I've said before and will likely find myself saying again, I've always found that living abroad makes me feel more, well, patriotic. The surest sign that I am experience such an episode is the sudden, inexplicable craving for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This was a terrible habit that I picked up in Russia; the first time I realized how American PBJs are.

This year, July 4th rolled around and I found myself doing other inexplicable things: mainly, spending waaay too much money buying overpriced powdered sugar to make hand decorated 4th of July cakes, something I've never done in my life:

Although I never got the chance to taste any of these cakes (including the blueberry-covered one, not pictured, that I gave to Yuki and Masa), I was told they were a success. For the sake of my ego and powdered-sugar-pillaged-wallet, I shall choose to assume they were telling the truth.

The holiday was also a good excuse to do something fun and mindless with the 3rd and 4th grades, which I write the lesson plans for. Instead of doing vocabulary, I would give a speech about Independence Day - with lots of pictures! - and then the kids would make their very own American flag. Fun!

Akemi did a wonderful job making the demonstration model:

I had fun making picture cards to use for my speech. I do love to laminate~

Akemi liked the picture cards so much, she asked me to print a copy for herself.

One patriot successfully recruited.

I did my best to try and keep the kids involved in my speech, asking them questions to see how much they already knew. A couple volunteers from each class even demonstrated what an American flag looked like by drawing on the blackboard. I was impressed that some of the kids even knew how many stars and stripes there were!

... I have a sneaking suspicion they were using their geography book to count...

I found some pretty ridiculous pictures of people wearing American Flag print clothing. Did you know there is even an American flag wedding dress you can buy? Man if that isn't redneck....

Sorry Uncle Sam, but you're not invited to my wedding.

It was pretty funny to watch the kids all make their own flag. I liked to think of it as "Recruiting Patriots"; Sounds much better than "brainwashing", doesn't it?

For the sake of time and convenience (you might be amazed to know how long it takes for a 9 year old to cut out a single stripe) , there were only 1-6 stars and anywhere from 5-14 stripes. Is it still patriotic when your American flag might be mistaken for Liberia, Puerto Rico, or even Malaysia? Oops. Maybe recruiting's not my calling after all.

At the end of the class, we had all the kids stand up at the front and show off their new found American pride:

GO Patriots!

...

...wait a minute...

Cheers,

red-and-white-and-blue-all-over Baer