Hi there,
I’m Gaoussou, I’m a high school student at Seiritsu Gakuen.
I will let you know my own experience about harvesting potatoes. In fact, every school year my school organize several outings whose harvest of the potato. We figure out many things about it;
-what day to sow it
-what day to harvest it
We very enjoy the day.
Hi, Laurence here!
And so 2017 comes to a close!
It’s been a busy year, full of events and unexpected twists. I ended up being busier than ever, but I still travelled a little, worked on side projects and tried lots of new things! Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself.
I am staying in Japan for the holiday season this year and I have many plans for travelling, so be ready to read about it in January! For now, I’d like to talk more about what is coming in 2018.
One of my resolutions for 2018 is to enjoy my life in Japan as much as I can. I don’t know how much longer I will stay here, but I still have much to see. I’m often tired and sick, but I need to overcome these problems if I want to leave Japan without too many regrets. It’s very easy on days off to just stay home wearing pajamas all day, but I can do that in Canada too. I want to enjoy doing things I can only do and see things I can only see while I’m here.
In 2018, I also want to be more organized. This means a clean home, without clutter. It means to procrastinate less and to use my to-do lists more. This will help me enjoy Japan to the fullest.
Lastly, I need to try harder to seize opportunities. Life in Japan moves very much with the seasons, moreso than back home. Buying windows for tickets to any event are very small and if I don’t become more aware and informed of the time I have to do certain things, I will just end up missing out on them.
If I can keep up with these resolutions and have good self-discipline, surely 2018 will be amazing!
Do you have any resolutions for 2018? What do you want to change completely about yourself, if anything? What do you think you need to work on?
Let’s work hard to make 2018 a great year!
Greetings from a person with a terrible cold!
It’s that time of year when you just want to wear as much clothes as possible without looking silly.
If you don’t properly dress yourself for the weather, you will get sick. So sick that your nose will feel like it’s a running faucet and you will apparently sing without knowing. Descriptive enough? This is all true by the way. I was told that I was singing and I have no memories of doing so!
Now, how shall we keep warm? One good method is to simply wear more clothes! Whip out those fluffy holiday socks. Do you have more than one ugly Christmas sweaters? Wear them all if possible. Realistically though, have you heard of “kairos”? They are Japanese heat packs that are lifesavers. They are so good that my friend sent some back to Russia! Even though there are many types of kairos, most do not recommend you use them when sleeping. Instead, try using a hot water bottle.
Besides wearing more clothes and using heat packs, eat! Yes, please eat. There are loads of food that warm the body, such as ginger, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, onions, burdock root, taro, and “daikon” which is Japanese radish! Not surprisingly, almost all taste lovely in a hot pot known as “nabe.”
Lastly, exercise! Working up a sweat to heat your body while burning calories is just the epitome of killing two birds with one stone. Remember to drink lots of liquid! You may feel cold but your body needs water. You’ll be pleasantly shocked to find that the quality of your skin and energy level will thank you.
I think you have a lot of tips from me. Now, go and prepare yourself because winter is already here.
It wasn’t a totally smooth start as a few of our students were late but we were still able to get back on schedule fairly quickly. To be fair, it can be difficult for foreign students to find their way to a new area. We always remind them to go early but somehow there is usually one person who gets delayed or lost.
With beautiful blue skies but a cool wind, and a quick stop at the cemetery talking about some history of the opening of Yokohama, we made our way to the Yamate 111 residence next to Harbour View Park.
From here the students were given a challenge. They needed to make their way to the pier called Osanbashi. Along the way they had to take some pictures of some different popular or famous sites.
This was excellent practice for the Japanese students who are going abroad next month. The map and the keywords were all in English. This is what it will be like when they go overseas. However it is still very easy for them because all the signs here are in Japanese. And if they are lost they are still in Japan. They can easily ask someone for help so there is a level of comfort that they will not have in a few short weeks.
We met up at the pier, took a quick walk around it, and then we proceeded to the museum where the Japan Times newspaper was having their exhibition celebrating 120 years of circulation. It was incredibly fascinating to see some of the old newspaper articles talking about some of the points of history such as: The coronation of the Taisho emperor, the 1923 Kanto earthquake, the day after Pearl Harbour, and so much more.
The newspaper museum was also was kind enough to publish a picture of a newspaper article with our picture in it. Every student got a copy of this.
From here we then went for lunch at the World Porters shopping center. After lunch, we went to the red brick warehouse. There was a Christmas market and lots of interesting things could be seen. Some of the students rang the bell praying for peace.
Finally we walked back to the Minato Mirai area and we said our farewells there.
It was a wonderful day and we were able to do a lot. And in the end students had a great day interacting with each other.
Being an international teacher is not just about helping students learn a foreign language; it is also about helping them understand other cultures. Even though it is a tradition that is now celebrated in Japan, the festivities and traditions of Christmas are as varied and diverse as there are countries around the world.
The international staff at Seiritsu held parties for the Junior high school students, giving them a taste of how we celebrate in the USA, Canada, and the UK. We also played games, with many of the kids being super enthusiastic!
We feel that this helps the students in many ways. It brings out English use outside of a class environment, builds a more holistic image of life abroad, and builds a stronger bond between teachers and students as they see the human side. This is all part of the 'mienai gakuryoku', or the unseen power of study, at Seiritsu Gakuen.
We are looking forward to seeing how our interaction builds more world-aware and strong graduates!
Peter Williams
International Department Coordinator
Term four was really a busy term in the year, we had many many activities!
First, we went to the Edo Museum with Japanese homestay students. We learned how people lived in ancient times.
Next, English Club members celebrated a wonderful festival, Halloween!!! We had a Halloween party. We ate snacks and watched the movie Coralline.The movie was very interesting but a little scary.
Our singing club attended the Kitaku singing festival. Forty-five groups of singers gathered together and it was really our first time to sing on such a big stage. We were all very nervous, but when we stand on the stage, we tried our best to sing and we were successful! Many people came to cheer for us. It was a great experience that I learned that many people in Japan love music and I felt the passion and connection between people by the powerful music.
And this was the last time for the earth project. We went to the fields and dig the sweet potatoes. Because of typhoon this year, we didn’t have many sweet potatoes, but we tried to find them in teams. At last we brought them home and Plink made sweet potato balls!That tastes great!
Our school football team also did a great job! All the students went for 応援 in a big stadium. We sang songs and danced, but in the last minutes, the rivals got one point. We lost! What a pity! I hope we can win next year!
November 19th was my birthday! My mom flew to Japan and brought me many presents. I went to Akihabara for shopping that day, and we ate the cake! That was delicious! I received many messages from my friends! I missed you so much! It was my first birthday in Japan and it was wonderful!
What's more. We had an iPad play for our whole grade. To look over the whole year, every class voted for one group to had a speech in front of students and teachers. Our class won the third prize! Great!
At last, we will have a Christmas concert for kindergarten kids by singing club, dancing club, and brass band club. I hope it will be a wonderful performance.
This will be the last post for me this year! I hope all of you will have a wonderful Christmas and a wonderful New Year! See you in 2018!
Seiritsu Gakuen is a private co-educational high school created in 1925 and it is located in Tokyo, Japan.