Otto's blog

Orphanage Visit

Dec

13

On Sunday, Gifu Teragoya teachers & staff visited a local orphanage (孤児院) to play games, and hand out toys. The toys were kindly donated (拠出金した) by Teragoya students. Thank you!

This Christmas, kindly think of people less fortunate than yourself.

Vocabulary:
- "___てくれる" = "kindly ___"

#救済

Typhoon #15

Sep

21

Our schools were closed today due to typhoon #15, which is moving up the east coast of Japan. Though it came quite close to Nagoya & Ichinomiya, in the end there wasn`t much rain or wind around here - the conditions on the right side of the typhoon were much worse than here on the left, because typhoons turn anti-clockwise [hidari mawari].

Did you know? In Australia, typhoons are called cyclones, and they turn clockwise [migi mawari]. In the USA, they`re called hurricanes.

If you`re a Wednesday Teragoya student, we apologize for any inconvenience.

#救済

Typhoon #12

Sep

3

Today Teragoya schools were closed because of a passing typhoon. As I write, the centre is near Okayama, about 300km west of Ichinomiya/Nagoya. There is a lot of rain in that area, but not so much around here. It`s very windy here though. The streets near my house are covered in leaves.

Now I have a new category in my list: 災害 - natural disasters!

Take care.

#救済

Tsunami Before & After Pictures

Mar

14

Click on the slider in these pictures & move it to see the effects of the tsunami:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

#救済

Sendai Region Earthquake & Tsunami

Mar

13

By now, most of the world knows about the terrible earthquake & tsunami that hit north-eastern Japan on Friday afternoon. The earthquake caused a lot of damage, but it is the video footage on TV of coastal towns being destroyed by the tsunami that is most shocking. Like most people, I have never seen anything like it before. It`s hard to believe.

After the initial earthquake, there were many warnings on the radio & television that a tsunami was on its way. I hope most people responded to the warnings in time, but I`m sure many didn`t or couldn`t.

Let`s pray for those affected.

#救済