some random thoughts

Well, it’s been a while since I was able to get back to this…Last week was pretty gross weather wise. On Wednesday, it was raining and thunder storming so much that the train I take to school wasn’t even running. Atsunobu’s mom very kindly drove me to school, only to have the power go out for about an hour. Needless to say, I didn’t get any computer work done that day. Lately it’s been very hot and muggy. The high today is 32 degrees. It’s not as muggy today but it’s still hot. I am not looking forward to the summer.
When I walk to the school in the morning from the train station I have to walk through the school field. There is a baseball diamond, a soccer field, and a tennis court there. The kids come early (at least earlier than I do, and I arrive at 8 am) to play their sports, as well as practicing after school. As I was coming to school today I was watching the kids in their various states of undress and thinking ‘that just wouldn’t happen in Canada.’ They wear their gym clothes under their uniforms, so when they are finished, they just put their uniform back on over their gym clothes. Remember, even at 8 in the morning it’s about 30 degrees. I am sure that we had to change our clothes every time we did something sports like, at least in junior high school. I don’t remember changing clothes in elementary school…can anyone verify that?
Seeing the kids get changed reminded me of when I was teaching at the kindergarten here and how shocked I was when the kids came to school in their school uniform, only to strip down to their underwear and change into their other uniform. (And of course, before they went home they had to change again!) I was so surprised to see that many 5 year olds standing around in their underwear, another thing that just would not happen in Canada.
I can’t believe that Hiroki is going to be 2 on Sunday. When I look at him lying down, I feel like he has grown so much! I guess he looks tall. If I think about the difference a year has made in his life, it’s astounding. He has started walking, running, talking, both in English and Japanese. He has gone from being taken care of by mainly me, to Atsunobu’s mom, to daycare. I think he has adapted pretty well. Lately Atsunobu’s mom has had trouble convincing him to get in the car to come back home when it’s time to pick him up. They have started to play in the pool lately, a big factor in his unwillingness to leave. Unfortunately, he was sick again on Sunday with quite a high fever and now he’s got some red spots happening. I think we’ll have to go to the doctor once more and see what those are about.
And I haven’t forgotten about putting Hiroki’s pictures on this site. I took some pix and may have downloaded them on to the computer (the camera instructions were in French, the operating system on the computer is Japanese, it’s going to take some time.) I haven’t been able to locate the pix yet on the computer. When I get that worked out, I will put up some updated pictures.
Thank you to everyone who is commenting and sending me some ideas about what to do for my presentation. I have no idea how many people are coming, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to teach them anything. I think it’s supposed to be an opportunity for people who live in the city I work for to come and listen to stuff in English. Apparently we have access to various types of media…
More later.