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Broadcasting to an audience of three (and a goldfish)...
Comment, ramblings and musings... life through the eyes of a Japanologist...
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Friday, September 6, 2002 |
 I got home to find that my little finger had turned a not-particularly-appealing shade of purple. It also aches a very great deal. I hope nothing's broken...
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In the end, I went to taiko with the Breakfast Show still unpublished. I'll sort it out tomorrow, if need be- at least the posts are all up to date (well, in a way...).
Taiko was good this evening, despite being in the gym (with no air-conditioning). When we arrived, there were a group of Philipinos playing basketball, and they stayed around to watch us play. Well, it must have been the fact of having an audience, but we played three tunes at about twice the normal speed- very impressive to watch, I'm sure, but shattering to play! The audience left after that, though, so we rested for basically the rest of the practice. For some reason, I was actually involved in the conversation this evening, which makes things much more pleasant. I wonder why this doesn't happen every time, though?- I have my suspicions that it involves a certain female member from Koyo...
Towards the end of the practice, a few of us played Matsuri Daiko, but about a minute into the tune, I managed to hit my own little finger! The pain was intense; that basically ended my practice for the evening.
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Came home relatively early, intending to use the time until taiko to get the Breakfast Show up to date. Which I did. Unfortunately, though, Radio didn't want to play ball, which meant that I am completely unable to get the content on my Mac posted to the internet. Great...
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Ten seconds.
That's about all it took until my curiosity got the better of me, and I found myself asking just what the merriment was about.
It turns out that the whole thing was about Shinbe-san's husband's going bald. Well, if she she can get such a response from such a subject, then all I can say is that she's wasted in the Town Office. Methinks summer season in Bournemouth awaits...
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Got back to the office to find only three people there- all three of whom were in some state of hysteria. You know, close-to-rolling-around-on-the-floor-sort of hysterics. Shinbe-san had been telling a story, and this had been the case of the uproar, but what the story was, nobody could get their breath for long enough to tell me.
In any case, I'm not sure I want to know...
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The disproportionate number of badly-behaved children in the third year doesn't help, either- and again, this problem is exacerbated by the disinterest of the Japanese teacher. For example, one boy came into the classroom before the class started, came straight over to me, and wiped his wet hands on my trousers!
I can think of what would sort these children out- a good few clouts- but, unfortunately, that avenue isn't open to me. But I think that something does need to be done, even if violence isn't involved...
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School visit to Etajima Elementary School after lunch. The fourth years' recycling lesson went well (although, of course, the children were completely stumped when I gave them a list of the contents of an average British dustbin, and asked them to put the contents in order, greatest to least- the Japanese education system means that they're not used to having to use logic like this).
The third years, though, are a completely different matter. I honestly think that they might well be the most difficult class on the whole island. They seem to have no interest whatsoever, no matter what I do, and the teacher, far from being a help, is actually part of the problem. If the teacher is genki and interested, then they children will be too; if the teacher acts like the lesson is something not particularly pleasant which nevertheless has to be tolerated (like a visit to the dentist's), then it stands to reason that the children will sense this and come to the conclusion that they, too, needn't show any interest.
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Web sites worthy of mention...
everypoet.com
A fine poetry site, quite apart from being the home of the Genuine Haiku Generator. Could perhaps do with a few more poets' collections, though...
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I found the new release of what is possibly the best game ever for the Palm- Bejeweled- today. Actually, it may not be new in the sense of 'just released' at all, but it's certainly new in the sense of 'I've not seen it before'. I downloaded it straightaway... and then realised that today was the day when I hadn't brought my Clie with me to work...
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One of the very few titles where the film is better than the book in my opinion is The Bridges of Madison County, by Robert James Waller. I enjoyed the book greatly- it was one of the first titles I bought in Japanese- but I thought- think- that the film captures the atmosphere more vividly.
In any case, it's a shame to read in today's Telegraph that one of the bridges, Cedar Bridge, burned down, possibly as a result of arson.
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Tsugi kara tsugi e, as they say. Having finished the article for the Keizai Shunju (well, basically), I started on the speech I'm going to be delivering in Ondo on September 24th. There's still plenty of time, and the subject isn't a difficult one, but all the same, I want to get it finished and out of the way as soon as possible.
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Spent the morning researching- of all things- Japan's recycling rate compared to that of the UK. The reason for this (yes, there is one) was that the fourth years in Etajima Elementary School had requested the theme for their lesson. Well, I know very little about recycling (even after my surf around the 'net), and I have my doubts as to whether this lesson will actually last for 45 minutes, but in any case I'm very glad that- finally!- the schools are beginning to realise what International Understanding is.
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Breakfast Show Staple Randomhaiku of the day (from The Genuine Haiku Generator)
clear nightmare descends
blankly, glaciers moaning spear
ringing cabdriver
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 8:36:23 pm.
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