"Unbelievable!"

It's that time of year again, the time of cold, wet air. Stink bugs humping on the stairs to my apartment. Giant radish harvests and Persimmon sliced and shared in fat chunks on the teachers' office's tables. It was time to embarrass ourselves on the streets of Matsue in Halloween costumes, time for village festivals and a surge in sales of conbini oden. (Stew sold in convenience stores, some ALTs swear by it, but I have to say, those hard boiled eggs and fish cakes swimming around in that broth all day is not very appetizing).

October is the month of the gods in Shimane. It is the time when the gods leave their respective homes all over Japan and show up in Shimane to have a big meeting (which to me seems like just a HUGE drinking party considering the amount of sake and snacks that people set out for them). The rest of Japan calls October "kanazuki", no god month. In our neck of the woods it is known as, "kamiarizuki" the month in which we have ALL the gods.
They come by, drink our sake, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, talk amongst themselves, ride in little houses carried by locals down the streets of the towns and enjoy performances of

kagura

that highlight the stories of their battles, troubles, triumphs and helpfulness. The kagura performances last all night. (At the end of the performance, after 8 hours, around 6-7am, a giant dragon appears.)

Speaking of performances...About four months ago, a wonderful student in my ESS club asked if we could give a tour of Iwami Ginzan to a group of foreigners. I thought it was a great idea, so thanks to the help of Oda City, the amazing Tanaka sensei (known as Yoshimi in this blog), and the students, we gave a tour on November 3rd to a small group of ALTs from around Shimane. I was really proud of them! They worked hard on their research and translations, producing brief informative speeches on several highlights of Iwami Ginzan and Omori Town. The only downside was that it lasted a lot longer than expected and as Iwami Ginzan is a newly appointed World Heritage Site, and Nov. 3rd was Japan's National Culture Day, things were pretty crowded. I think everyone had a good time, I know I did. I had a very teachery moment...you know the kind...when you realize that all you're doing is giving them the time and the place and the students shine on their own. I'm not needed. Granted I was there to help with grammar, pronunciation and a good nudge of encouragement, but they could've done it all on their own. I was full of smiles (and unfortunately snot) that day.

Last weekend I went to Lena's agricultural festival again. If you want to see photos from last year, go to my flickr page and look at the 'Beginning of November' set. Yet again I bought Christmas presents and ate so much food, the students couldn't keep up. There were large veggies, bunnies and "I'm fine thank you and you"s flying around. It was a good time.

October was also the month for a lesson on party culture. I did a 4 class period lesson plan with all of my 1st grade classes that included casual conversation phrases and information on party activities. The final project of the lesson was to write a skit about a party, memorize it and perform it for the class. They got the most points for Emotion and Clarity. My two favorite first grade classes worked really hard on their skits and I just have to show you some highlights.
Sorry the sound is so bad, I hope you can hear some of my favorite parts (ie-the

Yoshio Kojima

impression, the limbo, the bloody nose, the champagne and the surprise ending!) I apologize for the poor videography, the heads in the way and my battery that kept dying and forcing me to shut the camera off mid-scene. Enjoy anyway! This is just another example of how much my students surprise and revive me:



End.