o b a m a 2 0 0 8 !!!!

It's been too long since I've last posted here, but a long time between posts usually means I'm having too much fun to sit down and write something, and that's definitely the case lately. Just some bits and pieces of life here in Japan ...

I mentioned the election in all of my classes today (I teach college freshmen, mostly boys), and the reactions were so varied. Usually I started it out like this:

Henry: "Something happened yesterday, in America. It was a special day. What happened?" (yay for simple English!)
((silence, students process it and scratch their heads ... then, one of two things))
Random student: Obama!
OR
Random student: (Incomprehensible Japanese, and laughter)
Henry (both situations): "Yes! And now for today's lesson ..."

In some classes where I thought they might be able to handle it I pushed the "conversation" a little further.

Henry: "Why is Obama special? He's the first ... what?" I was looking for - the first black/African American President. What I got, in one class, was a kid who yelled out the "n" word.

You can guess from this the level of most of the students in my class - sometimes worse English than my 4 weeks of Japanese. ;)

And now a couple of pictures ...



A wolf god dances at an autumn festival in Kawagoe, north of Tokyo.



An old bell-tower, Kawagoe.



A noodle sandwich in the 7-Eleven near my house. Mmm ... carbs!