Yesterday was a public holiday. We drove to Awaji Island, a large island between Shikoku and Honshu. It proved to be good practice for when we go to New Zealand at Christmas time, as if we do decide to drive, we will take the exact same route to get to Kobe, on the mainland (and take a ferry from there to Kansai airport).
Onokoro World Park is a small, rundown theme park - much like any in Japan. Travelling there was a mission in itself. We left very early - 7am, by the time we actually got away. We took our lunch with us and ate upon arrival. It was nice spending the afternoon walking around, looking at the miniature world wonder replicas, the world museum and going on some of the rides. Eddi really enjoyed herself - it was a great family outing.
The trip home was just as arduous as the trip there. But at least we got a sample of how it could well be come December and our travel to and from the airport.
Below is a slideshow of pictures that we took - there are about 50 pictures, so it may be a bit sporadic as they load. I'll get some video up at a later date.
Peace.
Timotheos
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Infrequent Updates
I'm not sure what it is, but I just don't fell like blogging these days. Even when I find myself with free time, it is difficult to sit down and do anything like this. And the more time that goes by, the more I have to try and pack everything into one entry -- or at least remember the notable things that have happened since last writing.
The photos are coming, as soon as I can find the time to work out how to get them from my phone to my computer at home.
School is school, and sitting in the office hasn't changed. I am still studying Japanese and living each day as per normal. Everyone is gearing up for Christmas and this month has gone pretty fast. Just over a month and we will be in the next decade. Contemplate that for a minute.
Mika and I went for a walk yesterday, and I kept coming back to the issue of learning Japanese. It has been a real struggle for me to motivate myself to actually study effectively or consistently. Renshuu.org has been a great help, as it is an interesting way to see what I remember. The way it is set up, where it tracks your review progress, is interesting enough to keep me coming back regularly.
Reviewing vocab -- the English meaning, kanji characters and pronunciation -- is about the highlight of my Japanese study. Sure, I delve into whichever chapter I am currently studying, from time to time; but I just feel as if I am not getting anywhere. It's been an uphill struggle the entire time since I began studying 14 months ago (from September last year, when my first JET-based study book arrived).
Part of me really wants to improve and be able to have a conversation in Japanese, if not be able to read and speak to people to improve more and more as I absorb more of the language. But the difficulty of it all, and having to read things over and over, only to not have them make sense or see how to utilise them, or even remember how they should be used or what they mean, has dissuaded me from getting enthusiastic enough about learning the language to really make good progression.
Things just do not make sense. The whole structure of it is so alien and the thinking behind how to say things doesn't even make sense to me. But I will keep trying and keep slowly making my way through my textbook, and keep coming back to review words and their kanji and what they mean.
I don't do enough speaking or listening practice. I think that's pretty obvious. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I don't ever see the opportunity to. Japanese TV? It's really boring and pointless. What they show on TV doesn't interest me. It all seems so foreign and uninteresting and doesn't make sense at all.
Speaking to people? I try to do this, but if they ever respond -- which of course is a pretty normal thing to do -- my brain freezes as I struggle to pick out the words that I know. And even recognising words doesn't really help, as I don't know the form, the tense, or the context within which they are being used. Not to mention that I have absolutely nothing to say to people to begin a conversation -- and blurting out random sentences from a textbook would only make people think I've lost my mind, I think.
That said, there have been the occasional times when I've been able to involve people in what I am struggling to grasp. And I do ask people -- especially JTEs at the junior high schools I teach at -- to explain things to me, or to check my attempts at Japanese sentences, or even to just try and elicit a response from them so that I can better understand what it is that I'm learning and practising and trying to embed into the language centre of my brain.
It's not all negative. I don't want this to be a gripe post about the near impossibility of learning the Japanese language. Perhaps I am just not happy with how seldom I tend to practise speaking and/or listening to the language. When you live in a country where the language is different to your own, you are supposed to have more opportunity to learn the language. But that just hasn't been the case here. After 15 months, there is so much beginner stuff that I just don't know, and it is frustrating week after week to not make any progress, or to make progress and then realise that I've forgotten what I should have learned, or don't fully understand it.
There was a festival in Nakamura from Sunday. Why it wasn't happening on Saturday didn't really make sense to us, but we found out that it hadn't started when we went into the city then. It was nice to go over and do some shopping, though.
Yesterday was a public holiday. We just stayed at home while Eddi's grandparents took her over to the festival. It was simply a lazy day for us. I even baked cookies from some cookie dough I had made the previous day. :)
So we have a four day week, I don't have Taisho chuugakkou today because Kitazoe-sensei is away, and I don't have any school on Friday. It's a good week!
Well, back to my headache-inducing studies / internet browsing. ;)
Peace.
Timotheos
The photos are coming, as soon as I can find the time to work out how to get them from my phone to my computer at home.
School is school, and sitting in the office hasn't changed. I am still studying Japanese and living each day as per normal. Everyone is gearing up for Christmas and this month has gone pretty fast. Just over a month and we will be in the next decade. Contemplate that for a minute.
Mika and I went for a walk yesterday, and I kept coming back to the issue of learning Japanese. It has been a real struggle for me to motivate myself to actually study effectively or consistently. Renshuu.org has been a great help, as it is an interesting way to see what I remember. The way it is set up, where it tracks your review progress, is interesting enough to keep me coming back regularly.
Reviewing vocab -- the English meaning, kanji characters and pronunciation -- is about the highlight of my Japanese study. Sure, I delve into whichever chapter I am currently studying, from time to time; but I just feel as if I am not getting anywhere. It's been an uphill struggle the entire time since I began studying 14 months ago (from September last year, when my first JET-based study book arrived).
Part of me really wants to improve and be able to have a conversation in Japanese, if not be able to read and speak to people to improve more and more as I absorb more of the language. But the difficulty of it all, and having to read things over and over, only to not have them make sense or see how to utilise them, or even remember how they should be used or what they mean, has dissuaded me from getting enthusiastic enough about learning the language to really make good progression.
Things just do not make sense. The whole structure of it is so alien and the thinking behind how to say things doesn't even make sense to me. But I will keep trying and keep slowly making my way through my textbook, and keep coming back to review words and their kanji and what they mean.
I don't do enough speaking or listening practice. I think that's pretty obvious. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I don't ever see the opportunity to. Japanese TV? It's really boring and pointless. What they show on TV doesn't interest me. It all seems so foreign and uninteresting and doesn't make sense at all.
Speaking to people? I try to do this, but if they ever respond -- which of course is a pretty normal thing to do -- my brain freezes as I struggle to pick out the words that I know. And even recognising words doesn't really help, as I don't know the form, the tense, or the context within which they are being used. Not to mention that I have absolutely nothing to say to people to begin a conversation -- and blurting out random sentences from a textbook would only make people think I've lost my mind, I think.
That said, there have been the occasional times when I've been able to involve people in what I am struggling to grasp. And I do ask people -- especially JTEs at the junior high schools I teach at -- to explain things to me, or to check my attempts at Japanese sentences, or even to just try and elicit a response from them so that I can better understand what it is that I'm learning and practising and trying to embed into the language centre of my brain.
It's not all negative. I don't want this to be a gripe post about the near impossibility of learning the Japanese language. Perhaps I am just not happy with how seldom I tend to practise speaking and/or listening to the language. When you live in a country where the language is different to your own, you are supposed to have more opportunity to learn the language. But that just hasn't been the case here. After 15 months, there is so much beginner stuff that I just don't know, and it is frustrating week after week to not make any progress, or to make progress and then realise that I've forgotten what I should have learned, or don't fully understand it.
There was a festival in Nakamura from Sunday. Why it wasn't happening on Saturday didn't really make sense to us, but we found out that it hadn't started when we went into the city then. It was nice to go over and do some shopping, though.
Yesterday was a public holiday. We just stayed at home while Eddi's grandparents took her over to the festival. It was simply a lazy day for us. I even baked cookies from some cookie dough I had made the previous day. :)
So we have a four day week, I don't have Taisho chuugakkou today because Kitazoe-sensei is away, and I don't have any school on Friday. It's a good week!
Well, back to my headache-inducing studies / internet browsing. ;)
Peace.
Timotheos
Thursday, 24 September 2009
This Week Had A Silver Lining
I've probably said this before, but a lot of things in Japan are undersized. Except bugs. Everything from spiders to cockroaches and wasps are huge here. I love what spiders do: they keep down the insect population. But some of the spiders here are just plain huge and scary. I just saw a spider the size of my palm in the toilet at work this morning. Eight-legged freaks indeed.
This weekend, a number of schools around my area had their undokai (sports day). Mika had to work on both Saturday and Sunday. She gets daikyuu (time in lieu) next week on Monday and Tuesday.
Eddi stayed with her cousin from Friday night until last night (Wednesday). On Saturday, I spent the day at home. We finally had the last of the airconditioning installed, and I managed to clear out the living room (lounge) closet and rearrange some things. Since then, we have cleaned up a few more things, including our bedrooms upstairs. There is still a space issue and a number of items don't yet have homes, but progress has definitely been made.
I baked a carrot cake on Saturday night and iced it in the morning. We had our monthly birthday lunch at church, where we also paid respect to the elderly. My cake was a real hit. I was proud of how it turned out; it was as yummy as it looked. I stopped in at Kitanokawa chuugakkou on my way home to see Mika.
As a reflection of May's Golden Week, we had Silver Week from Saturday to Wednesday. It was nice to be able to spend a full three days with my wife and no work. We were able to relax without worrying about rushing around, trying to get things done by a certain time.
On Tuesday night, we went camping out by a beach near Nakamura. We wanted to take our daughter, but she wanted to stay another night at her cousin's. We had a great time, with a starlit walk along the beach and sitting around a campfire in the cool Autumn night air. Even the steaks that we barbecued for dinner were delicious, as I had marinated them earlier in the day.
Yesterday, after packing up and visiting the beach once more -- and a ham and egg English muffin breakfast -- we took off for Kochi city. It was time to buy some furniture, and we finally purchased both a dining table and a double bed for ourselves. We are going to get Eddi a set of bunks this weekend. Our new furniture will be delivered next month on the 9th.
We picked up Eddi from Aki-chan's house in the afternoon, and drove back home at a reasonable time. Both Mika and I were very tired by the time we got back, but we managed to get everything away, and she even cooked a proper meal.
Suffice to say, we had a fairly early night last night. I'm glad that I have no classes today. Yay for no school. ;)
Peace.
Timotheos
This weekend, a number of schools around my area had their undokai (sports day). Mika had to work on both Saturday and Sunday. She gets daikyuu (time in lieu) next week on Monday and Tuesday.
Eddi stayed with her cousin from Friday night until last night (Wednesday). On Saturday, I spent the day at home. We finally had the last of the airconditioning installed, and I managed to clear out the living room (lounge) closet and rearrange some things. Since then, we have cleaned up a few more things, including our bedrooms upstairs. There is still a space issue and a number of items don't yet have homes, but progress has definitely been made.
I baked a carrot cake on Saturday night and iced it in the morning. We had our monthly birthday lunch at church, where we also paid respect to the elderly. My cake was a real hit. I was proud of how it turned out; it was as yummy as it looked. I stopped in at Kitanokawa chuugakkou on my way home to see Mika.
As a reflection of May's Golden Week, we had Silver Week from Saturday to Wednesday. It was nice to be able to spend a full three days with my wife and no work. We were able to relax without worrying about rushing around, trying to get things done by a certain time.
On Tuesday night, we went camping out by a beach near Nakamura. We wanted to take our daughter, but she wanted to stay another night at her cousin's. We had a great time, with a starlit walk along the beach and sitting around a campfire in the cool Autumn night air. Even the steaks that we barbecued for dinner were delicious, as I had marinated them earlier in the day.
Yesterday, after packing up and visiting the beach once more -- and a ham and egg English muffin breakfast -- we took off for Kochi city. It was time to buy some furniture, and we finally purchased both a dining table and a double bed for ourselves. We are going to get Eddi a set of bunks this weekend. Our new furniture will be delivered next month on the 9th.
We picked up Eddi from Aki-chan's house in the afternoon, and drove back home at a reasonable time. Both Mika and I were very tired by the time we got back, but we managed to get everything away, and she even cooked a proper meal.
Suffice to say, we had a fairly early night last night. I'm glad that I have no classes today. Yay for no school. ;)
Peace.
Timotheos
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Golden Week
Edit: Photos have been added!
Current weather: stormy. Hopefully it will clear up by running time this evening. That's right, seeing as I have been pretty busy, we haven't run once this week. It was beautiful this morning and I really looked forward to slipping into my running shoes tonight. Guess it's just a matter of waiting to see how the weather turns out a bit later.
Ok, so let's back up a bit. In my last blog entry, I talked about my change of relationship status. That's about the most personal I have been around these parts, and it is unlikely to be quite so again. That said, things between me and Mika are going very well. Glory to God. ^^
Last week, I didn't have any shougakkou. Wednesday was actually a holiday, but Mika had to work, and so Michael and I went out to Katsurahama beach, near Kochi-shi. We shopped at Aeon mall and stopped in at Starbucks for some dark berry mocha frappuccinos.
That night, Mika helped me with my final beginner's course Japanese test, from the sixth book. Inevitably, I stayed as late as usual, too. ;)
So the rest of the week was uneventful. I had lunch with Mika last Thursday because she didn't have work, seeing as she had had to work the day before: the public holiday. I cooked chicken carbonara for us for dinner that night and made an apple crumble. We watched a movie together. Hey, this is starting to sound like my diary.
*Ahem* Let's get back on track and look at... wait, my life consists of a bit more these days. I have a girlfriend and that part of my life can't help but flow into my blog entries. And so it is.
Friday: day in the office. Survived. Went for a run. Mika, Eddi and I had dinner with Michael -- yakiniku. We talked about our Matsuyama trip, which was to commence the next day.
Golden Week
And so, Golden Week arrived. Early Saturday morning, the first day of this much-deserved time off, Michael, Eddi, Mika and I left for Uwajima, out West in Ehime prefecture. We visited the castle and had a brief look around the town. It was proving to be a very nice day, too.
We travelled up the highway to Matsuyama, the biggest city in Ehime. After a ramen lunch, we went to Matsuyama castle (I still have to get my photos from Michael's memory card), up on a hill overlooking the city. We took the gondola up. Michael and I rode the individual seats back down instead of taking the gondola.
After checking into the hotel, we all rested up for a bit before heading out for an okonomiyaki dinner at a nice place just next to the hotel. Mika and I started watching a movie together in my room (I always take my laptop with me when I travel), but she was pretty tired and took Eddi back to their room to sleep. I finished the movie alone. :(
On Sunday morning, we all went to Ninomaru historical garden. It was very nice, and had some interesting pools that were in place of where the buildings of a house had stood many years earlier. We could see the castle from where we were, too, as the original property had been part of the wider castle town.
At the gardens, we watched a performance by about a dozen ladies playing taisho koto. The koto is a Japanese stringed instrument. It was interesting to listen to.
The bulk of our day was spent shopping around the local shopping arcade. I bought a couple of expensive shirts, which will be nice to wear out during the Summer. We all rested yet again at the hotel. Walking around all day sure tires one out!
I took Mika and Eddi out for Italian and then we rode a huge ferris wheel that sits on the ninth floor of a large department store -- actually on the same level as the restaurant we had eaten dinner at.
Watched a movie with Mika -- all the way through, this time -- as Eddi slept. We both enjoyed it.
Monday saw us pack everything up after breakfast and check out of the Check-in Hotel. We went to a nice park up on a hill across from the castle, where there was a western-style castle structure. It was very cool, and afforded an amazing view of the city and the harbour.
That afternoon, we visited the Tobe Zoo. We had lunch at its restaurant and enjoyed the afternoon, walking around looking at animals.
We travelled all the way back down to Kochi-ken and stopped in Susaki for dinner. It is a small city about 30 mins from K-town.
Two more days of golden week remained!
Tuesday saw the three of us go into Kochi-shi. I drove. We enjoyed a late lunch at the Indian restaurant that Michael and I have been to many times: Masala. It was Mika's first time to eat there and she was impressed. We headed over to Aeon mall and met up with her brother and niece to do some shopping -- and eat donuts; cuz you gotta have donuts.
I went on a bit of a shopping spree. It seems that spending money comes easily when you are out and about; even when you are determined to save up for a decent car.
We arrived home late, and I dropped all of my purchased goods off at my apartment. Mika and I hadn't seen enough of each other, so I stayed at her place until late; though not nearly as late as other nights in the last fortnight. >.>
Spent quite a bit of time cleaning yesterday. I even went so far as to clean out my drains and wash the floor. And with the mosquito deterrent and cockoach poison, I should have an easier job of handling insects this Summer!
Had a very late lunch with Mika and Eddi and then played chess with Mika. A chess set is one of the things that I had bought the previous day. We went to K-town late afternoon and I ordered a couch / bed from the furniture store there. I can't wait! Having a couch will be nice; having one that doubles as a bed will be a blessing!
We did a bit more shopping around Kubokawa and then came back home. Ramen for dinner, and then I made some chocolate dumplings. It's a dessert that I had never made before, and they turned out pretty nice. At least, they tasted nice. Not sure it was my best baking effort, but it worked.
Did a little Japanese study last night; but I must say that I much prefer French. :p
Thus ended Golden Week. It was actually five days, but I'm sure that if it had started on a Monday, rather than a Saturday, it sure would have made for an epic week. Ah well, the weekend is now very close!
And then today arrived. I've been in the office all day; except when I went home for lunch and sorted something out at the post office bank. So now I just need to wait for 4.30pm to arrive, whence I can go home and pray that the clouds will drain themselves and move on, to allow for a rainless run.
It might pay, also, to plan for tomorrow's afternoon lessons at Shouwa shougakkou, huh. But then, that would be work. :p
Peace.
Timotheos
Current weather: stormy. Hopefully it will clear up by running time this evening. That's right, seeing as I have been pretty busy, we haven't run once this week. It was beautiful this morning and I really looked forward to slipping into my running shoes tonight. Guess it's just a matter of waiting to see how the weather turns out a bit later.
Ok, so let's back up a bit. In my last blog entry, I talked about my change of relationship status. That's about the most personal I have been around these parts, and it is unlikely to be quite so again. That said, things between me and Mika are going very well. Glory to God. ^^
Last week, I didn't have any shougakkou. Wednesday was actually a holiday, but Mika had to work, and so Michael and I went out to Katsurahama beach, near Kochi-shi. We shopped at Aeon mall and stopped in at Starbucks for some dark berry mocha frappuccinos.
That night, Mika helped me with my final beginner's course Japanese test, from the sixth book. Inevitably, I stayed as late as usual, too. ;)
So the rest of the week was uneventful. I had lunch with Mika last Thursday because she didn't have work, seeing as she had had to work the day before: the public holiday. I cooked chicken carbonara for us for dinner that night and made an apple crumble. We watched a movie together. Hey, this is starting to sound like my diary.
*Ahem* Let's get back on track and look at... wait, my life consists of a bit more these days. I have a girlfriend and that part of my life can't help but flow into my blog entries. And so it is.
Friday: day in the office. Survived. Went for a run. Mika, Eddi and I had dinner with Michael -- yakiniku. We talked about our Matsuyama trip, which was to commence the next day.
Golden Week
And so, Golden Week arrived. Early Saturday morning, the first day of this much-deserved time off, Michael, Eddi, Mika and I left for Uwajima, out West in Ehime prefecture. We visited the castle and had a brief look around the town. It was proving to be a very nice day, too.
Isn't she cute?
Uwajima Castle
Uwajima
We travelled up the highway to Matsuyama, the biggest city in Ehime. After a ramen lunch, we went to Matsuyama castle (I still have to get my photos from Michael's memory card), up on a hill overlooking the city. We took the gondola up. Michael and I rode the individual seats back down instead of taking the gondola.
After checking into the hotel, we all rested up for a bit before heading out for an okonomiyaki dinner at a nice place just next to the hotel. Mika and I started watching a movie together in my room (I always take my laptop with me when I travel), but she was pretty tired and took Eddi back to their room to sleep. I finished the movie alone. :(
On Sunday morning, we all went to Ninomaru historical garden. It was very nice, and had some interesting pools that were in place of where the buildings of a house had stood many years earlier. We could see the castle from where we were, too, as the original property had been part of the wider castle town.
Ninomaru Garden
At the gardens, we watched a performance by about a dozen ladies playing taisho koto. The koto is a Japanese stringed instrument. It was interesting to listen to.
Taisho Koto Performance
The bulk of our day was spent shopping around the local shopping arcade. I bought a couple of expensive shirts, which will be nice to wear out during the Summer. We all rested yet again at the hotel. Walking around all day sure tires one out!
I took Mika and Eddi out for Italian and then we rode a huge ferris wheel that sits on the ninth floor of a large department store -- actually on the same level as the restaurant we had eaten dinner at.
Watched a movie with Mika -- all the way through, this time -- as Eddi slept. We both enjoyed it.
Monday saw us pack everything up after breakfast and check out of the Check-in Hotel. We went to a nice park up on a hill across from the castle, where there was a western-style castle structure. It was very cool, and afforded an amazing view of the city and the harbour.
The Castle
The Gazebo
The City (Matsuyama)
That afternoon, we visited the Tobe Zoo. We had lunch at its restaurant and enjoyed the afternoon, walking around looking at animals.
So big!
Just like a puppy... with a horn
Squawk!
Graceful?
Rawr!
Prowling
We travelled all the way back down to Kochi-ken and stopped in Susaki for dinner. It is a small city about 30 mins from K-town.
Two more days of golden week remained!
Tuesday saw the three of us go into Kochi-shi. I drove. We enjoyed a late lunch at the Indian restaurant that Michael and I have been to many times: Masala. It was Mika's first time to eat there and she was impressed. We headed over to Aeon mall and met up with her brother and niece to do some shopping -- and eat donuts; cuz you gotta have donuts.
I went on a bit of a shopping spree. It seems that spending money comes easily when you are out and about; even when you are determined to save up for a decent car.
We arrived home late, and I dropped all of my purchased goods off at my apartment. Mika and I hadn't seen enough of each other, so I stayed at her place until late; though not nearly as late as other nights in the last fortnight. >.>
Spent quite a bit of time cleaning yesterday. I even went so far as to clean out my drains and wash the floor. And with the mosquito deterrent and cockoach poison, I should have an easier job of handling insects this Summer!
Had a very late lunch with Mika and Eddi and then played chess with Mika. A chess set is one of the things that I had bought the previous day. We went to K-town late afternoon and I ordered a couch / bed from the furniture store there. I can't wait! Having a couch will be nice; having one that doubles as a bed will be a blessing!
We did a bit more shopping around Kubokawa and then came back home. Ramen for dinner, and then I made some chocolate dumplings. It's a dessert that I had never made before, and they turned out pretty nice. At least, they tasted nice. Not sure it was my best baking effort, but it worked.
Did a little Japanese study last night; but I must say that I much prefer French. :p
Thus ended Golden Week. It was actually five days, but I'm sure that if it had started on a Monday, rather than a Saturday, it sure would have made for an epic week. Ah well, the weekend is now very close!
And then today arrived. I've been in the office all day; except when I went home for lunch and sorted something out at the post office bank. So now I just need to wait for 4.30pm to arrive, whence I can go home and pray that the clouds will drain themselves and move on, to allow for a rainless run.
It might pay, also, to plan for tomorrow's afternoon lessons at Shouwa shougakkou, huh. But then, that would be work. :p
Peace.
Timotheos
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