Last weekend, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon. Hmm...
Japan is a close ally of the US and if N. Korea can’t get their missiles across the Pacific Ocean, Japan is right here. It does make me a little nervous, but I wonder how the Japanese feel.
The BBC news talks about the possibility of a “North Asia Arms Race” in response to a nuclear North Korea. Everyone is looking on to see if Japan will start a nuclear program, but the new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has declared that Japan will pursue no such course.
Japan has already felt the wrath of not one but two atomic bombs. Currently Japan’s armed forces have a pacifist policy. They do have a defense system and even placed some troops in Iraq; but only to help with humanitarian aid. I don’t see any room for nuclear weapons in the Japanese Defense Program.
North Korea has stated that any aggression on the part of the US will be considered ‘an act of war.’ We’ll see what happens.
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On Tuesday, Shawn and I went for a bike ride by the river on a popular walking/jogging path. We were cruising along when we both had to swerve and stop to avoid hitting a tiny ball of fur.
It was a white, brand new, eyes not even open baby cat! Someone had put this helpless little kitten on the path with a bowl of milk, abandoning it with the hope some other person would pick it up. The poor thing couldn’t even drink the milk because it was looking for it’s mother’s nipple. It doesn’t know how to lap up milk.
We sat there wondering what to do with it. Animal hospital? Apparently there isn’t one in Tsurusaki. Take it home? No way. Allergies, cat poop and just having an animal in general isn’t what we need right now. Although, I must say, I was working out in my head how we could just take it, make it a warm bed outside and feed it every once in a while in the back of our apartment building...
Luckily two other Japanese women were walking by and they also became attached. All of us were just standing there looking at that poor cat, thinking of what to do. We couldn’t just leave, we were bound by guilt. If we left it would surely die. The women placed several phone calls asking their friends if they wanted a cat, no luck.
Finally, we had to tear ourselves away from it. It was so sad, I felt like crying. We left those women with it, so we hope that it found a home or a hospital. There are a million reasons to justify why it’s ok that we just walked away, but I can’t help but feeling those reasons are selfish - I didn’t want to see it die. I didn’t want to be the last person there to walk away. I wanted to get to the post office to pick up my package. I didn’t want to take responsibility. I can’t have cats because of allergies. I don’t even like cats.
It was a sad situation.
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Next week is mid-term tests at my high school. As a result, many of my classes have been canceled because the teachers need to finish teaching and reviewing the text books. I taught 4 classes this week, usually I teach 14. I have to admit, I enjoy the break. I have had time to do other things, like plan vacations, write in my blog, write letters, etc.
One really strange thing about this week is that the students are not allowed to come into the teachers room. Usually, at any given time, there are students all over the place talking to teachers, handing in homework, asking questions, shooting the breeze...but this week they are barricaded outside the door so they don’t catch a glance of the tests the teachers are preparing. Talk about cautious. During the day there are shrill little voices, “Toyoda-Sensei!” or “Watanabe-Sensei” trying to get the teacher’s attention to hand in homework, etc. Kind of annoying actually.
Lucky me, I don’t have to prepare any test. The only test I do is a Listening Test during Final Exams.
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Speaking of vacation. We are definitely going to Thailand and Taiwan. Taiwan, you ask? Well, our connecting flight to Thailand from Japan is in Taiwan. Just so happens, our friend, Jen, is teaching English in Taiwan. We can stop over there for free on our returning flight. A few more days of vacation, and seeing an old friend. Why not? I’ve never had a desire to go there, but I have been reading about it during my enormous amounts of free time and sounds nice!
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Shawn and I discovered 24. They have all of the complete seasons for rent at our video rental store...this is dangerous. We are hooked. We have started all the way back at Season 1, and I hear right now in the US is Season 6. This will keep us busy for a while!
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I don’t know if I have ever mentioned the adult class I am teaching outside of school. It is every Tuesday night, and it is really really nice to spend time with them. They are all so sweet!
One woman, Aiko, invited me to play tennis with her on Sunday. She takes lessons at a local tennis school and on Sunday she plays outdoors with other women. I am not all that skilled at tennis, I’ve played it a handful of times. She is a grandma, and she will probably knock the socks off of me. It should be fun.
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A world-famous Taiko group, TAO, came to perform at our school. Taiko is Japanese drumming, a traditional art, and very very cool. If you ever get a chance to see Taiko, DO IT.
As part of some cultural program, the school invites guests every three years to do a performance. Lucky for me, it was this year. So we all filed into the gym to watch a 70 minute performance of drumming. I know, I thought it would be boring, but it was not at all. So amazing!
Then, they did a mini-workshop where yours truly and about 19 other students were called on stage to try it out. Yep, me and the students. Well, I’m basically a student, right? Anyway, I got to beat a giant drum and we played a little song. I loved it. I think I now want to look into a Taiko class.
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Back to work! I have been constructing the best bulletin board ever. It’s the “English Space” where I will post some comics, a word of the week, holiday stuff - right now it’s Halloween - and ESS events (my English Club). I have to admit, I am pretty proud of it! I want it to be interactive, so I’ll post a question in English and have people just write answers on a space using a marker attached to the board. Any question ideas?
Hopefully the students will catch on!