last weekend we took a cruise out to dai sen (big mountain). this is a volcano on the west coast of japan, damn nigh the inland sea. known as "ol' dicey" to the locals, it surely was a beautiful sight. rippin through the middle of japan i noticed some serious countryside for the first time. really nice! nothing but conifer covered mountains and real small farming villages (and the highway we were on). turns out that cedar and pine don't cover the land naturally, the timber industry planted the whole lot. the dice master is a pretty pop ski resort. we even passed a few chain up areas.
teaching kids is going a lot better, mostly due to two things. 1) i have fewer classes, and 2) i've actually been preparing ahead of time. i'm sure all you teachers out there know the feeling of having 35 minutes left in class and no more activities. to avoid that nasty action, anne says 'tis best to bring way more stuff to do than you have time for. been working quite well. i've also noticed that when i stand in front of kids with flash cards, they prefer to run around the room and smack each other in the head. when i show a video of some other chump with flashcards on my computer, it's attentions galore! technological advancements baby. whoo!
so, ummm, let's see....... how's some photes?
ye ole montana cafe. it's kind of like a home away from home, 'cept they're a bit to keen on showcasing desserts rather than taxidermic prowess. more dead animals, less frosted pastries, that's what lil' mikey always says.
it really is quite big, no?
me n' anne, about to kick the ass of one of the better lunches i've experienced.
the sole water crane.it is up high in a tree.
when will it eat fish?
i (foreground) gotta tell ya, i just loved daisen (background)!shotty video of this really, really angry japanese man perched on top of a parked van armed with quite possibly the loudest PA system ever. alls i could understand were words like "japan", "japanese", "america", and "american". kept distance, and later confirmed that he was probably a member of some extremist anti-states political party. you can see him in the very bottom center of the video. i stood across the street and shot from the hip, so as not to cause any trouble.
2 comments:
A boy scout is prepared . . . teachers too! I'm glad you got that little known pedagogical tidbit covered. I do have to say that preparedness is not always enough and even after 30 plus years in the classroom there were still classes that left me scratching my head. When I was not even as old as you I thought that someday I would get really good at teaching but the reality was that the students became more difficult and I just worked harder. I always vote for as much money for education as is requested!!
Anne is so right... If you keep them busy, they don't have time to get in trouble (hopefully...).
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