Otto's blog

Besides things like bbqs, streams, parks & restaurants, Kawashima Water Eco Park also has a building called the `Aqua Restoration Training Center`. Inside, there are displays, videos, books etc. about Japanese rivers and their ecosystems. I found it very interesting.

Anyway, at home I noticed that most of my medaka release eggs, which become babies. However, a few of my fish give birth to LIVING babies. Now I know why! The volunteer a the A.R.T.C. explained that the ones which have eggs are Japanese medaka, but the other ones are from North America. They were introduced to Japan in the 1950`s. The American ones are stronger than the Japanese ones, so in fact, now in Kyushu there are only American `kadayashi` - no Japanese medaka!

Occasionally I release medaka back into the creek near my house, but the volunteer told me not to release the American ones. Haha - I have American prisoners - maybe Rambo will visit me!

Anyway, the above picture, which I found on the internet, shows the difference.

I`ve always taught Tuesday to Saturday at Teragoya, but I will change to a Monday to Friday schedule now. Our new teacher, Parren, will take over my Saturday classes, including this one - my Advanced class.

To celebrate, last Saturday Mariko bought a delicious cake, which we ate in class. Thankyou, Mariko!

Actually, I`m sure I will still see everybody sometimes. In fact, a lot of these students are coming to the party this Saturday night. See you there, guys!

My wife & I are excited about this weekend`s Thai festival in Sakae. If you`re free (& have recovered from Saturday night`s party) why don`t you go? It looks like there will be lots to see, do and - most importantly for me - EAT. I loooove Thai food!

We plan on going on Sunday. If you see me, say hello & have a Singha (not Chang) with me.

On Saturday night (Sept. 4) we`ll hold a Farewell/Welcome party for Ichinomiya teachers Nikko and Parren. It will be at Teragoya Ichinomiya school from 7 - 9pm. The price is 2000yen, which includes food & soft drinks. Please bring your own alcohol if you want to drink (and you`re not driving!).

If you`re free, please come. You can enjoy good food, good company, and good English speaking practice. ALSO, Friday night student Kiyotaka will be playing some live music! It looks like being a fun night.

Hope to see you there!

I know fish aren`t trash, but ones like Medaka (`killifish` in English) are free to collect if you want to. I keep some in plastic plant boxes and fish tanks (suiso) at home and in a fish tank in my classroom too. I caught them in a creek near my house.

Usually wild medaka are brown, but occasionally they are white, and last week I caught a rare orange one for the first time. Cool!

Maybe I have an invisible one too, but I`m not sure.

I hope the orange one will have orange babies. Then, when I have lots of orange medaka, I`ll sell them and become rich and buy a 1969 Ford Mustang.

This weekend Australia will have an election to see who will be our prime minister (souri daijin). Probably it will be one of these two. Hehe.

Rose & I have already sent our votes to the Australian Consulate (ryoujikan) in Osaka.

Everybody is saying it will be close - nobody is sure who will win. Interesting!

Unfortunately the weather during our Obon holiday was pretty bad, so I didn`t do any of the adventurous things I had hoped to - camping, hiking, cycling, bare-back deer riding, etc.

But I went to `Water Eco Park` (kasen-kankyo-rakuen) a couple of times. Do you know it? It`s near Ichinomiya tower. There`s a wide, shallow stream there which is popular with small children. Owen loves sitting in the cool water, picking up pebbles and throwing them (sometimes on my foot - ouch!). Afterwards we eat shaved ice (kakigori) before coming home. Yum!

If you haven`t been there, I recommend you check it out, especially if you have small kids.

This is a toy I made from recycled beach wood. Owen enjoys playing with it, but he doesn`t pay attention to the colours. He just likes putting the round pieces in it. When I`m not looking he also tries to eat them. Maybe they taste like sun-baked sea-salt.

Mmmm.

That sounds kind of yummy actually.

Every month, a teacher at Ichinomiya Teragoya chooses a `Student of the Month`. This month it`s my turn, so I chose Kohshi Shibata, who I teach on Saturday mornings. He was so shy when he started about 1 year ago, and his mum or dad had to stay with him for the whole class. He cried if they left.

But! Now he can study without them for the whole lesson - he is confident & independent! Cool!

He is only 3 years old, but he knows so many English words now. He listens carefully when I talk to him because he knows he can understand English. His favourite activity is cooking time (with plastic food etc.).

He has good manners too - he often says please. Also, one time when we finished cooking time, he asked me to please play the "Let`s Clean Up!" song on the CD, while he washed up. So cute!

Well done Kohshi - We`re proud of you!

Our bench at Ichinomiya Teragoya wasn`t actually trash yet, but it was showing some definite signs of age, as you can see.

Time for a make-over!

Our staff Yumi got wood from her kind husband, and I repaired the bench at home. It was pretty easy, but painting the wood (clear color) was a bit of a hassle.

Next time you visit our school, please try it - it`s free!