So far today has been a good day. I love days when I don't have a long list of things to accomplish. It allows for some spontaneity and time to finish what I need to finish. Today was also a beautiful weather day. This morning I was able to do my laundry, which included washing my sheets. I had been fighting a cold/cough and well, it's always nice to be able to go to bed with nice clean sheets.
This is the last of my laundry hanging out drying in the sun and slight breeze. Sheets were already dry and inside.
The clothes and sheets were dry fairly quickly, probably within an hour to 90 minutes, especially if they had direct sunlight. Some of the thicker jeans took a wee bit longer. I was quite happy that it went quite quickly and by about lunchtime I was pretty much finished folding and putting my laundry away. On these days, I love to take Hana on a walk (Hana loves walks too!). On our way down to the Yanse-gawa River, there were a number of people out and about. This was a friendly group of older folks.
Out for a walk on this beautiful Saturday morning.
There were people who were busy getting their land ready for planting. This man had just finished using the rototiller on this field.
He was walking the field to check if the rototiller did a good enough job.
One of the interesting things I see on a regular basis are photographers with their large lenses taking pictures at various places along the river. I believe they are taking pictures of nature, which could be the fish, the ducks, birds, or something else.
These photographers had their cameras pointed at the pond beside the river.
The river is not very deep, maybe only a couple of feet. The Japanese seem to want to control the erosion and the river's edge has cement and reinforced banks. There are even man-made waterfalls.
See the "planted" cement blocks in the river and the side of the river has cemented blocks.
There are new buds on many of the trees.
More planted cement blocks on the river. There were a couple of young folks walking in the river.
Blossoms are starting to bloom.
One tired Hana, taking a break. :)
Lots of people having a picnic on the other side of the river in the park.
The van even got a cleaning today!
It is difficult to believe that there is only one more week and it's Spring Break! Sometimes teachers (and I'd care to venture, students as well) just look to "get through" this week to get to the break. I must remind myself that my calling is to educate these students so they may become equipped to impact the world for Christ. It is an awesome task and each day presents another opportunity for teachers and students to explore this world together. As a friend of mine says occasionally, "carpe that diem." Hope you sense God's blessings today!
Well, I have to say I'm warming up! I mean the weather is starting to warm up! Yes, the temperatures have risen, however they also have played with my mind. Some days it is warm enough to not wear a jacket. Other days I have to wear the jacket and gloves on the bicycle ride. We'll go up into the low 20's C. or our high could be as low as 11ᵒC. There are signs that spring is on its way. The cherry blossoms have started to bloom and farmers have started to plant.
Blossoms starting to come out!
Notice the contrast between the blossoms and the bushes?
Farmers planted their field on March 9th.
The season of the Senior Comprehensive projects is upon us! Last week Wednesday morning, we had one senior make a presentation to the staff about using Fair Trade coffee and tea at CAJ. This past Monday, another Senior set up a table outside in the plaza and sold scarves, bracelets, purses and other items in order to raise money for an organization New Light India. The prices were quite reasonable and I ended up buying three purses.
Don't you love the elephants!
The red is what drew me to this purse.
I love the little mirrors that look like sequins.
Yesterday was March 11th, the second anniversary of the triple disaster, earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear issues at the Fukushima Plant. I was not in Japan two years ago, and probably do not have the same response to March 11 as many people here do. At school, we had a moment of prayer right at the time that the earthquake happened. I thought it was a very good idea. We took the time to remember, but also to pray for those people who have lost so much and are still struggling. The rebuilding is slow, but even in the time from the end of November until the end of February, there have been changes in the Sendai region, new buildings built in places were the old building was destroyed by the tsunami. Please pray that Christians may seize the opportunity to minister to and to share the Good News.
Yeah! Science Expo is over! Oh, I didn't just write that, did I? Looking back, I really think the students learned a lot about experimentation and the Scientific Method, by participating in the Science Expo. Each student had to write a formal Science lab report, create a try-fold board and be able to make a short oral presentation to a judge about their project. They did a great job and the evening and morning sessions went well. Here are pictures of the gym, some of the tri-fold boards and experiment results.
This past Monday and Tuesday was CAJ's winter break! I was able to take another trip up to Takayama. It was fairly cool temperatures, between -3ºC at night and about 10ºC during the day. I was very thankful for electric blankets and wood stoves. It is a beautiful place to be, very calm and it allowed me to relax, read a book, watch some hockey, and rejuvenate.
On the way up, we made a stop to see the Oyaji Buddhist Temple. It is a sacred place where you can find a large image of the goddess Kannon. It was founded in 810. There was a tour bus stopped when we walked into the temple area. We are not allowed to video or take pictures in the temple, but as we were standing outside you could hear the chanting inside.
Isn't it interesting how the temple is built into the rock? Many of the Buddha images were carved into the stone. There was a huge image of the goddess Kannon. Check out the following pictures.
Rock where the temple was built into.
A shrine in the crevice
One of the buddha images. Putting a bib on an image is common.
More images
Images carved into the rock
Goddess Kannon
Looking down
We also went to Matsushima. Matsushima is known for its beauty. There are a number of islands and the views are very pretty. There are shrines and temples on some of the islands, however because of the tsunami on March 11, 2011, some of the bridges were washed away.
View of one of the bridges to the island.
I did take more pictures, but there would be too many to put up on the blog, so feel free to go to www.flickr.com/photos/wlangelaar to view the other pictures.
