So, today marks the celebration of autumnal equinox, and as such, it is a day off of school for us. We've been getting things done around the house and generally just relaxing. It's been another busy week.
I accompanied two students to the prefectural speech competition. This was pretty fun, and though neither of them are going on to the national level, it was lots of fun and an really interesting experience. Lots of other ALT's were there from other schools with their students, helping them with last minute pronunciation and inflection tips. It was strange, actually, to see so many "gaijin" (foreigners) in one place. They all came from the UK, Germany, Austrualia, Canada and America. The funny thing was, that though we all shared this common bond as foreigners in a strange place, we were also with our students, "our kids" who were competing against each other. It was weird. Actually, it was much easier to talk with the other ALT's after the competition was over.
Fukusaku sensei, one of the English teachers from my school, drove me there and back, and this gave us an opportunity to get to know each other a lot more. He is married, and has a eight-month-old daughter (adorable) who he introduced me to when we got back to Funehiki. We share a lot of interests (music, outdoors, cultural interests) and clicked almost immediately when I got to Funechu. He's a cool teacher, I gather, and has the difficult job of making san-nensei (9th grader - "top-dogs") interested in English. He does a pretty good job. We've been entertaining them lately with a duet of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" in class. It's been really fun. We hope to get together with Fukusaku sensei and his wife sometime for a hike or picnic, maybe.
Actually, I'm actually involved in a little more music tonight. We were asked to do something for a local folk and pops concert. The music is rather eclectic in genre, actually, but Benno and I are doing two songs with guitar. It's not really polished, but it's something. We're happy to be involved as the token Americans if it's for a good cause, and this is. Also, the whole group is rehearsing for a concert for the Rotary club in a month or two. Mr. Maki is visiting every Rotary club in Japan (or maybe just this area). He's already visited 30 or so, and has several more to go in the next few weeks. Well, there is a huge conference coming up and he asked us to prepare some entertainment...so we're trying a few different things. We'll let you know how it goes.
Well, that's enough for now. Be sure to check out the web gallery of pictures (follow the link on the right).
Please keep these things in prayer:
- Funehiki Evangelical Church
- Pastor Okubo and Pastor Maki
- The English Teachers
- The growing Christian witness in the community
- Our Japanese studies (we really want to get to know people and it's hard without Japanese)
- Those who may come as teachers in the future!
Adam and Hannah
