A Whole Lot of Random

I’ve been busy, and I saw pretty much everyone I assume reads this blog over the holidays, so I haven’t updated in a while. My apologies. This post will be full of some of the many random things I find amusing/odd.

One of the things I found out about fairly recently is the pervert sticks. These are long metal poles which have a u-shaped pitchfork like end to them. These are used to catch perverts should they find their way into the school. One of the other ALTs was describing this. He got to play the part of the pervert as the teachers all drilled on it. And yes, this is a real thing. I’m not making it up. Now that I know what they are, I’ve seen pervert sticks in all my schools. I haven’t seen a drill with them but now I really want to.

Another thing I found out about is snowball fights. I went outside during lunch recess to play with my students at elementary. They were having a snowball fight so I joined in, lobbing many a ball at the other side. It wasn’t until five rounds in that I found out that there were actual rules to this. Two kids on each side were designated as ‘kings’ and the other team had to hit both of them to win. When I finally realized that that’s why the fight was periodically stopped and sides were changed, I surprised the kids. They were laughing at me and so I explained that we don’t really do rules in snowball fights in Canada. Since then, I’ve had a couple of free-for-fall snowball fights.

Speaking of winter childhood pursuits, I taught some of my students at elementary how to make snow angels. From what I understood about what they were saying, they’d seen snow angels before but didn’t know how to make them. Also listening to what they knew about angels was pretty funny. “They fly, live in the sky, and fight demons,” was the final collaboration the five little girls were able to come up with.

Oh yeah, I had the Mid-Term Conference last week. It was boring as usual. On the plus side I spent part of the weekend in Gifu afterwards. We had an enkai (work drinking party) that night followed by karaoke. Thanks to the song Low, my legs were sore all the next day while walking around Gifu. Sadly, other than the castle, which is at the top of a mountain and so there was no way I was walking up it when my legs hurt already, there’s not much to see. But there’s a lot of good shopping. I got a ski jacket for about $20.

The reason I bought the ski jacket is because on Monday I’m going with my junior high kids to the local ski hill. And it is a hill. I can see the place from my apartment. But that’s probably a good thing since it’s been like seven years since the last time I went skiing. I have visions of myself running straight into a tree.

And I have more exciting news! Next month Beaky’s coming to visit! I’m super excited. She’s coming to elementary school. I’ve already told them and they’ve ordered her a school lunch. So Beaks, if you’re reading this, there’s no backing out now. Prepare to be mobbed!

So that’s about it for now. Not too much that’s new and exciting. Until next time, bye!