ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

Halloween was so much fun this year! My friends and I did a fantastic haunted house at Manno park! During the month, I was a pirate, a witch, and a fairy! The fairy was the biggest surprise-- I was so colorful! It was a lot of fun to see the looks on my students faces!



How can I possibly top my costumes next year??
  

Autumn hasn't officially started in Japan until the Japanese Maples begin to turn red! At least, this is how I feel as they are my favorite. Last week, with the weather turning so much cooler, I wore a coat for the first time- and my wait has ended. While on my bike ride, I spotted my first Japanese maple in it's full glory- a beautiful bright red! I got my camera! Autumn has now arrived!  

One of my mini goals this year was to take up painting. I'm happy to say that I've stayed committed to that goal! Plus I've been given lots of opportunities to practice my new hobby. Have I reached Monet or Van Gogh levels? Not at all! Nor do I think I ever will. I'm not a good painter at all. In fact I'm still slowly learning what brushes work best for each painting.

Who says you have to be good at a hobby for it to be a hobby anyway? I am having fun just learning and trying to honestly reflect myself through my paintings. As long as I'm having fun, I'm never quitting! If you have a hobby that you haven't mastered yet and it makes you happy then it's not a waste of time. Try new things without fear of what others will think. Hobbies are to be enjoyed not stressed about!
  

I love family game nights! My younger siblings would always pick the board game and I'd teach them how to play it. My younger siblings were always really competitive so it was fun to play a board or card game against them! I enjoy playing card and board games like Apples to Apples, Scrabble, Monopoly, Uno, etc. with loved ones.

Since our families are so far away, my family game nights have gotten smaller. My choice of games have changed too. Nowadays it is just Candice-Sensei and me playing a video game rather than a board game. Even though it's only the two of us playing it gets just as competitive as playing with multiple people. My wife is still learning how to play a lots of multi-player games. It is fun watching her progress and even nab a victory or three. Haha! I love family game nights with my wife and extended family. I hope when we have kids they can appreciate family game nights too!

  

Japan's Starbucks is super awesome. While you might think "Isn't it just a chain, thats the same all around the world", it isn't. About every month, Starbucks in Japan releases a limited time flavor and most of the time they are really good. I had the apple flavor ones and they were amazing! I recently tried the Halloween Berry one and that one was delicious too! If you haven't tried them yet, go to your local Starbucks and try it out!

  

Halloween is pretty big in america. Most people celebrate in one way or another. Kids usually go trick or treating. They go door to door and get candy. when I was a kid I used to go out for hours and get a lot of candy. Adults will go to parties where they dress up, have drinks, and visit with friends. Even adults who don't want to go out can celebrate, by giving out candy. In America I usually relax with friends, play games, or watch scary movies.


(not my photo)  

The ghosts have their own language, today.

If I had to guess, this is an apostrophe, no? Kid's are great at making things that don't exist, yet.


Take a look at things, change a few things, and you can make some pretty cool stuff. These are wood shavings I saw the Japanese Girl Scouts making. Pretty cool, huh?


  

I didn't get to spend much time at the Matsuri events this year, because of my work schedule. Actually, I only got the pregame and the postgame. So, as usual I went to the train station, before the danjiri head up to Isono. It seemed to go by much quicker this year, maybe due to being accosted by some of my preschoolers.

That was all I could do for starters. I could have gone to Isono, but I didn't think staying up until seven in the morning and then going to work that afternoon would be a good idea.

On the final day I got home late and decided to go to the high school. It is a part of Matsuri I had never done. Usually I'm too tired after walking back and forth from the river.


  

My horror movie challenge has been going so well! If you don't remember, the Horror Movie Challenge is to watch 31 horror films in 31 days.

As of today, I've actually watched more than 24 films. Part of the challenge is to find movies that you've never seen before as well. This is usually the hardest part for me. I've watched 10 films new to me, from various countries. I've enjoyed most of them a lot, and didn't hate any of them.

The Forest of Lost Souls, Braid, and The Endless were interesting movies. Not scary, but great acting and storytelling.
I re-watched a few that I remembered enjoying, like White and Phone from Korea. I highly recommend those!

I often watch the Scream movies on any time of the year, but I watched them over a weekend together.

October is coming to an end and I will be watching Halloween and Trick or Treat very soon.   

Halloween Week started off GREAT here at Yashima GEM School! I dressed up as "Little Red Riding Hood". She is from an old European Folklore tale, which means it was spoken before it was ever written. Therefore, several countries claim the story, and there are several original versions.

Because Disney never made the story "World famous", I figured I would need to introduce her here in Japan and I found the story book here at GEM to read to my classes...

However, on the very first day of Halloween week, in my very first class, which happened to be a Baby Class, one of my 3 year old students was wearing a Little Red Riding Hood costume just like me!! What a surprise!! I wish I had a picture of the 2 of us, but I don't! When I read the book, the little ones loved it and they all came right up close to read with me, as it is an interactive book with pullouts. We then "share the treats in my basket" at the end of the story! Surprisingly, though, even my Level 5 students wanted to read the story! Of course, I had them read it to me! I think I am having as much fun as the students are this Halloween! I am glad it is lasting a week instead of one night!!

  

Salutations yall! A new hobby I've been doing recently is Gunpla. It's very peaceful to sit at my table and put on my favorite music and snip and clip model pieces together to make a beautiful model robot. It's very relaxing for me. I've always like gundams ever since I saw the tv show when I was young. I've always liked the the designs of the robots and every year it gets better and better. Here's a picture of the RX-78 I've completed.
  

One of the best stores in Japan has to be Don Quijote. There's a Don Quijote kind of close to my apartment and I have gone there quite a few times. The shop literally has anything that you might and cheap too. That's what makes it one of the best shops in Japan. I usually buy groceries when I get the chance since they have a lot of unique food there. When you walk in the store you are blasted with different items and colors, as well as the signature Don Quijote theme song. I think its an amazing place to go!  

Halloween is coming up! This is a fun season for me. I enjoy spooky thing, like skeletons and ghosts. My favorite part of Halloween are the scary stories. I always enjoy listening to Scary Stories and watching horror movies. Do you like Halloween?


(Not my Photo)  

Diagnosis, doctor? Am I a spooky, scary skeleton?

I wasn't sure myself. I saw a booth for free health checks and took the opportunity. The good news is that my bones are in good condition. She let me know I'm a little fat, too. More veg for me.

I'm honestly not sure what this machine does. Does anyone know?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xEfwUofP3se3R8de9

What halloween monster will you become?
Joe  

It's 3:00am and honestly I can't sleep. My sleeping habits have been off since I've been battling a nasty cold. Just as I am feeling better, I get a deeply saddening call regarding a family member. Suddenly getting a good night's sleep is just a passing thought. Now I'm staring at my computer screen starting to feel rather helpless.

Instantly a quote from an old TV series named "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" pops in my head. "Buffy..." was a popular American show in the late 90s about a girl monster slayer. There was this one particular scene that always struck a cord in me. In this scene a character named Whistler starts discussing life and the painful, unexpected surprises it brings. The quote went like this:

"“Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.”

Somehow that quote always manages to bring me extreme comfort. It reminds me that challenges will always be there but we aren't helpless to them. Big moments can have us falling but we can get back up. No matter how the outcome looks, we can slowly or quickly navigate through the rubble. That's when we find out that we can endure so many things. We can overcome anything!
  

*Fanfare Music Plays*

I have a nice, newly floored room. Now the inevitable problems that come along with it.

I've been shopping, measuring, shopping some more, and re-measuring. This is the most difficult part for me, because everything I like is very expensive.

The first thing I will probably buy will either be a bookcase or some decorations...most likely the bookcase... maybe two.  

My wife (Candice-Sensei) has been fighting off a nasty cold. She faught off a terrible fever a couple days ago but sadly has not shaken off her fatigue. I have transformed into Nurse Gary to assist my awesome wife. I poured some ginger tea with lemon into her favorite mug. If she was hungry, I made her a quick soup. I was thrilled to see her having her soup. Candice-Sensei having her appetite back is a good sign! I literally begged her to not try and do anything around the house. She's a tough cookie, she still tried but after all my begging she stayed in bed. Victory! Today she was smiling more and now her aches are gone. I'm relived that she is getting her strength back! I don't feel complete when she's sad, hurting or sick. As the old saying goes, "Happy wife, Happy Life!" I'm happy that she is doing much better!   

On Sunday, my friends and I went to an island called Ibukijima. We had lots of adventures, thanks to this cool guy that we met. He's a local artist who lives on the island. I was sorry to say that I didn't catch his name.

We were impressed by how cool he looked--like a Dragonball Z character! I told him this and he posed for us, even took a kamahameha photo with Michael! After showing us a few more neat things, he started to become our personal tour guide. People were visiting the island to see the Setouichi art festival and we had broken away from the crowds that we started with. This was totally okay.

Our tour guide showed us his house, a restaurant, and a big chair that he made. This sounds pretty funny but it's actually a bench with a cover.


He helped me up there with a ladder. It's not really for sitting on!

Cami and I had just enough Japanese skill to understand our tour guide. It was a day I'll never forget!  

At Our last teachers meeting, Miyuki let us know of all the fall festivals called Matsuri, that are being held locally. This reminded me of a big one I went to in Tokyo last year which was a big parade where portable Shinto shrines called Mikoshi were carried through the streets. The people carrying them chanted "wa shoi, wa shoi" while they start and stop, move forward and backwards, actually shaking the shrines about in the hopes of giving the shrine's spirits a very rowdy ride. Hopefully, the Gods would feel properly thanked for the harvest and continue to provide good harvests in the future. This parade in Tokyo easily had 15 plus teams and shrines, all in different colors and ornaments. Drums played, people danced. Even children and babies were carried in the parade. The teams competed trying to outdo each other. It was so much fun.

I never expected to see a demonstration of the event in my backyard here in Takamatsu! In fact, just off my balcony! I could hear the drums from inside my apartment. I had to find out where the beating was coming from so I told my daughter that I was off for a bike ride to find the answer! I only had to go out my door! I saw the tents and 2 teams lined up on either side the the portable Shinto Shrine, ready for the competition!! I never found out who actually won...I think they both did!! They were both having too much fun not to have a winning day!  

It's been a while since I've been to the movie theater since there hasn't been anything worth watching, but that changed when the Joker came out. I'm not a huge fan of the Batman series but I thought it was worth giving a watch since everyone said it was good. Spoilers: it was good. The movie did great with the origin story of the Joker and made him feel like a real person instead of a character. I liked the twists the movie had and I think it's worth giving a watch!