Hello everyone, Next week is the obon holiday and Pioneer Language School/Hario English School will be closed for a week. Do you have anything fun planned? The last long holiday in Golden Week my parents came to Japan and it was a fun but a jam-packed and tiring week. I hope to relax a lot next week and get some rest. While we are away, the classrooms will be renovated. We will get new carpets and wallpaper and so-on. We've been taking down old posters and sorting through classroom equipment in preparation. In my classroom there is an interior window that we never use. You can see across into the other classroom. It's covered by a wooden board on both sides. Not many students realised it was there. I was explaining to one class about the renovation and took down the board and showed them the secret window. They were all surprised. I'm very excited to see how my new classroom looks. I hope you enjoy the new look of the school.
I have wanted to climb Mt. Fuji ever since I first visited Japan four years ago, and last weekend I set off to do it. On Saturday evening we started out on the Fujinomiya trail, ready to climb overnight in the hope to arrive at the summit by sunrise. I didn’t know what to expect, but went prepared with lots of warm clothes and an oxygen flask. What I wasn’t expecting, was how tough the climb would be. From the start we found the climb very steep and strenuous because of all the loose rocks everywhere. We took many short breaks to get our breath back, and breathing itself became difficult the higher we got. There isn’t much air once you get over 3,000 meters. Despite the lack of air, lack of sleep, the cold and our tired legs we made it to the top of the mountain at around 6am and it was well worth the effort. The morning view from above the clouds was beautiful, as was the cauldron in the center of the summit which reminds you that you`re on a volcano. After a much welcome rest, we descended back down the mountain, it was slippery on all the loose rocks, but much easier than climbing. At 1pm we made it back to the bus stop to journey home for some much needed sleep. I was extremely tired after the climb, and even today my legs are still stiff, but I am very happy that I finally got to the top of the mountain that I have seen almost everyday since I came to Japan.
How are you coping in the summer heat? Did you go to Fuji Festival last week? I had a lovely time there and enjoyed the fireworks. I also went down earlier in the day and saw the dancing competition. Everyone was doing the samba to the Fuji Samba song. It was very impressive. I'd like to take part in that next year, maybe. Actually I'm taking part in a similar dancing festival this weekend. I'm going back to Matsumoto, where I used to live, to take part in the Matsumoto Bon Bonfestival. It should be a lot of fun.
On the subject of dancing, we are starting to practice dancing for this year's speech contest. Every year, our youngest students, taking kindergarten classes and PLS 10th rank classes, put on a song and dance performance during the speech contest show. All the staff made suggestions and eventually we chose three. As a warm up, we are going to sing a song called Hold Stillfrom the US kids show Yo Gabba Gabba (It's like a more modern Sesame Street and my nephew in Texas loves it). We are also going to sing The Bear Song
. The Japanese version should be familiar to many of you but we're singing it in English. Finally, we're singing the pop music classic, The Locomotion. We have to think of dances for all of these as well as getting the students to sing them in English. I find it difficult because I'm not a dancing expert but it's an interesting challenge. I hope you enjoy the end result when we perform them in the speech contest in a few months' time.
Last weekend I got to experience my first Fuji festival. It was a great day out with lots of good food, drink and fun. I was impressed by a line of people in the street performing the same synchronized dance. The line of people stretched as far as I could see, and they were all dancing a traditional Japanese dance in perfect synch with each other. It was such a hot day, a glass of chipped ice was an especially nice and welcome relief from the heat. There were two stages in central park where we saw an eclectic mix of different dance styles, from traditional to break dancing. The day ended with a magnificent fireworks display. We found a good spot to watch from the bridge. There were so many beautiful fireworks set off, I wonder how much they cost! All in all it was a great day out, I`m looking forward to next year’s festival already.