land of solid oil...

Brrr….our house is made of glass, sticks and paper…brrrr….i made a big pot of soup last weekend and found it solid the next morning…’let’s saving energy!’ who needs a fridge??? Then, tonight I made instant ramen to stay warm. when I went to open the ‘oil’ seasoning pack, it was solid…the land of solid oil. Don’t you want to live here too??

This week at Nishi I went with the 3rd and 4th graders to a nursing home. They sang a few songs, and played their recorders. Then we split into groups and played cards, cat’s cradle, drew portraits and read stories. After that, the older folks taught the kids how to make yarn coasters. Such a great experience for the kids…they were really nervous when we first arrived but warmed up to the grammas and grandpas by the end. It warmed my heart to watch all the smiles shared.

At Mihara today I got to make a vine wreath. We cut these vines with beautiful orange and red berries and then wove them together. Surprisingly, I was told that my wreath was too simple…from the land of ‘simple is best’ I was a little taken aback. But I like it this way…
Who wants to talk bathroom?? If you don’t, skip this paragraph…three things relating to poo this week-

1) The vice-principal at Mihara today turns randomly to me and tells me that when her dog, a husky, farts he acts surprised and starts turning in circles searching for the source of the air/smell.
2) I attended the 3rd/4th grade morals class and was told we would be discussing the big Kobe earthquake. We looked at pictures and watched some news clips. Then we read a story in the textbook told through the eyes of one little boy. It started out normally. Everyone was staying at the shelter. Then one day, the toilets became a huge mountain of poo (this was the exact text). The boy ran to tell his teacher and the teacher put on gloves and scooped the poo into trash bags. The boy just watched, shocked…then the boy thought, I should scoop poo too. We had a whole discussion about this feeling of wanting to assist and about poo...Ok, this moral is a good one (help others, even with gross tasks) but it was presented in a very interesting?!? way. I smiled to myself because this type of story would never appear in an American elementary text. Even though this is a normal function of life, prudish parents would be up in arms if something like this did…
3) We hung our yellow flag!!! (For those of you who don't know, our house has a septic tank.We lovingly named it 'The Black Hole'. yes it really is. when it is full, we hang a yellow flag in front of our house...it is fun to tell all the neighbors your toilet is full...) The truck came less than a day later to pump. Nice service! They took away 432 liters and our friend’s car ke!! It is not everyday that you get to find out how much sewage you produce in 4 months…a little shocking! It cost about 40USD to be hauled away…

Enough of that …
We have done a little decorating for Christmas. I love this season. Many more people have put up lights in our area this time. The American commercial aspects of Halloween and Christmas seem to reach our neck of the woods more and more every year. My first graders were telling me about what Santa was going to bring them- one lucky student received a letter from Santa and for one not so lucky family, Santa won’t be coming. They got a new video game so their mom said Santa wouldn’t come.
Here are some pretty flowers.