Daily Pictures from August to November 2004
Date: 11-29-4 : Grading Tests Again - Every semester all the grades have big tests. Today I was working on the Fall semester test grading. I have no idea what this student meant by "The dooks was..." I mean, I got nothin', absolutely nothin', not a clue.
Date: 11-26-4 : Our Door Sign - This is the sign we have on our front door. It says our names. It's a bit decorated for Christmas now.
Date: 11-26-4 : Yoshida's - The Yoshida's are the family that live on the 2nd floor under our apartment. Their daughter Yuki is in my first year class.
Date: 11-26-4 : Evil Stairs - This is the last third of the evil stairs that lead up to our apartment. If you ever went to the Hawaiian Village Apartment in Gainesville... these stairs are steeper...
Date: 11-26-4 : Across the Street - This is the yummy restaurant across the street from our house.
Date: 11-26-4 : Our Mailbox - Don't know why you'd be interested, but here's our mailbox...
Date: 11-26-4 : Tsubosakayama Eki - These are grainy pictures of the train station we live right next to. I am standing in front of the stairs to our door. It's so INCREDIBLY convenient.
Date: 11-26-4 : Our Building - This is "Yasuda Mansion" (I love how they call Apt complexes mansions here, means I can say I lived in a mansion once!) where we live. And the gray covered thing in the other picture is the bike parked next to the building.
Date: 11-26-4 : Entrance to Takatori - This gate (located next to our apartment) welcomes people into our little town.
Date: 11-26-4 : My Walk Home - These are all the sights I see on the way home from school every day.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Date: 11-22-4 : Christmas in Osaka - The lights at night in Osaka as everyone gears up for Christmas.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Date: 11-21-4 : Namba - The area around Namba Station is just about the biggest area of Osaka. The first pictures are inside the station, the others are of the area around it. Mind you, the station is at least a mile long...
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Date: 11-21-4 : Yoshino Day - This is a kitty we met in Yoshino, she was so cold, we wanted to take her home so bad!
Date: 11-19-4 : Fire Extinguishers - Some kids were messing with the fire extinguishers at school, so they brought all of them up to the office... hope there isn't a fire!
Date: 11-15-4 : It's fall! - and the leaves are pretty and are everywhere
Date: 11-15-4 : Underground in Yagi Station - I love the hallways beneath the station, the floors are lit up with different glow panels.
Date: 11-15-4 : Kintetsu - Kintetsu is the company that owns the trains around this part of Nara. Every so often they have a department store. This is the Kintetsu department store in Yagi all decorated for Christmas.
Date: 11-15-4 : Pocket Plat - Little Convenience store at Yagi station.
Date: 11-15-4 : Yagi - This is Yagi, a station in Kashihara. This is an area of Kashihara that we often frequent. It has a nice Karaoke, good food, and the cheapest movie theater around.
Date: 11-11-4 : Poker - A Royal Flush!
Date: 11-05-4 : Teachin' - One of my students dropped by the apartment for some help with a speech she has next week. I love working with the ones who are really into English!
Date: 11-03-4 : Poor Train Monkey - There are all sorts of cute ads on the trains to let people know that you should allow elderly, injured, and/or disabled people sit on the seats close to the door. This is just one of the cuter signs. I love the cute little chick hopping off for the gorilla.
Date: 11-02-4 : Meetings and Science Projects - I went to a Prefectural Teacher meeting on the 1st and 2nd of November. It was neat and they taught us some new teaching techniques. While we were there there were a bunch of elementary school science projects set up, some of them were pretty interesting.
Date: 10-29-4 : Culture Festival - Today was my school's Culture Festival. You can't see very well, but this is the band club doing their performance up on stage. Each class performed two songs and then the clubs each got to do their acts. I'm in the Ikebana club. Ikebana is a traditional style of Japanese flower arrangement. I suck at this, basically, as I am left-brain oriented and tend to want everything even and equal and centered on all sides. Ikebana is an art. Therefore, I didn't take a picture of my scary ikebana project that was on display upstairs. You can thank me... it was creepy.
Date: 10-19-4 : Tests Still - No Kigging man!
Date: 10-19-4 : Another Test - The question on the test asked (in Japanese) for them to write "Welcome to Japan" in English. I almost gave him partial credit for this one. If you can't read it, it says "Hi dis is Japan."
Date: 10-07-4 : Two of my First Year Students - They think I erased the picture, so I'll be nice and not put their names up here.
Date: 9-25-4 : Tea Ceremony - Today we went to a Tea Ceremony at the beautiful temple you see below. It was a great time. We got to go to a real teahouse, wooden and very old. It was fabulous.
Date: 9-24-4 : Dersdool - One of my student's papers. If you read, he likes "sucar" and "dersdool"... AKA "soccer" and "baseball". *sigh*
Date: 9-23-4 : American Kitchen Scale - Look! It's an "American Kitchen Scale"... in metric.
Date: 9-23-4 : Costco - Today we got to go down to Costco. It looks just like the Costco back home. I took the pictures below to show my mom that they even have her favorite little tables here, too.
Date: 9-22-4 : Now on Sall!! - Just ahead! Now on Sall!
Date: 9-20-4 : Festival in Auska - We went to a festival down in Auska today. It was great fun. Then we climbed up a mountain adjacent to the Ishibutai which was next to the festival grounds. It had a spectacular view.
Date: 9-18-4 : View out the front of the train - Today I got to ride up in the front of the train. You can do this any day actually, just no one beat me there today.
Date: 9-17-4 : Puppies!! - Today at school, there were a bunch of puppies that someone had found on the side of the street on the way to school. They were SOO cute! I wanted to take one home. But, alas, we can't have a puppy right now. Luckily some nice people took some of them home.
Date: 9-12-4 : A ride on the train - We ride the train every other day to go to different places. WE LOVE PUBLIC TRANSIT. It is wonderful.
Date: 9-11-4 : Kaiten Sushi - Kaiten Sushi is a kickbutt way to eat sushi. The sushi comes by your on a conveyor belt and you snag whatever looks good to your tastebuds. Oh! It's so cool!
Date: 9-10-4 : Some Heartful Relaxation - Just some Engrish I found.
Date: 8-11-4 : Cutest Kitty in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD - This kitty was on a ticket we found in the Kintetsu Line... I LOVE HIM!!
