November

So, a lot has happened in the past two and a half months since my last update. With the in frequencies of my writings I don't know if calling them updates is quite the appropriate terminology. Maybe I should refer to them as quarterly ramblings or something along those lines. Looking back at it all, not a lot really has happened out of the ordinary but, I will fill you all in nevertheless.

September brought about the return to school. I know I posted something during that month but, only commented on my current ailments at the time- which a lot like you read on this blog was me complaining about being sick. This season a funny cold seems to be going around. It starts with a scratch in your throat followed by runny/stuffy nose and a fever all ending up with a persistent cough that I have seen last for up to three weeks. In my case I think I had it all done and finished in about a week. Ayumi had it worse with a fever and sore throat for about two days. When we get sick, we tend to put on our warm pajamas and try to sweat the illness. Not rocket science but, even if it isn't doing us any good we sure are comfy.

The first week of October we had our school festival at Shima Highschool. For the past few months, about one time a week I had been meeting with my Vice Principal practicing some songs we intended to perform there. With the help of two additional teachers (one on drums and another on bass) we sang a total of five songs in front of all the students. We sang the Beatles' songs "Something", "Let It Be", The Mommas and the Poppas "California Dreaming", The Eagles "Hotel California" and another called "sora mo toberu hazu" by a Japanese band called Spitz. I have a DVD copy of the show but so far have been unable to rip it down to a format that I can send/post on the internet. I am going to see if I can track down the originals off the camera and send them in that format.

It was actually really fun and I think turned out great. The students had a great time and even sang along on some of the song parts they knew. Some kids at Suisan saw a copy of the video (via students in another band that played during the same festival) and word spread there that I have the voice of an angel. I don't know about that but, I have kids there that want to see the DVD. We'll see if we can arrange something.

Halloween came and went. For that we did a fun Halloween lesson where we watched a few Disney videos, learned about the holiday and got a special treat. For that we decorated up our classroom at school with some cheap things we bought at the dollar store and some great things Ayumi had made for her class. Tomorrow at school I will see if I can track down the video footage I made of that and post some of it here on the blog.