Snowball Fight 雪合戦

The women I went out with on Friday to the movie gave me something great - a box like the ones at shrines or temples to deposit money into for good fortune! One step closer for me getting a kamidana.
一緒に映画を見に行った女の人達が僕にこの箱をくれた。やった！神棚への一歩～

This is my view as I wait for the bus stop. For the past three days, I've been going out to a school way out in the country - only three buses per day to that area. Lots of very old interesting things there, like Murdered Woman Hill, which is an idiotic folk tale - a woman divorced her husband and went back home, and on the way home rested on a rock in the forest and fell asleep. Her ex-husband, distraught, came through the same forest, coincidence or no, and saw 'a ghost woman' lying on a rock, and killed her. Uh huh. Nice excuse. I, of course, plan to sleep on said rock overnight and see what happens.
この写真は僕が朝にバス停留所で待っている間に見える風景だ。もう三日間ぐらい市内から遠い田舎の学校に行っていた。毎日バスは三台だけ走る。その地域で色んな面白い物がある。例えば、「女殺坂」という馬鹿話がある。昔々、或る女が夫を離婚して故郷へ戻っていたけど、途中で疲れたので森の中の岩で休むと決めた。元主人が（偶然？じゃないでしょう）同時に同じ森で歩いていたが、岩で「怪女」を見たので彼女を殺した。そうか。良い言い訳だね。朕はもちろん或る夜にその岩を探して女性が殺された場所で寝る予定だ。

One popular and easy song/game is "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", at least until third or fourth grade, depending on the school. Since I don't have much in the way of material at this particular school, I get to use my favourite medium - chalk and board!
一つの人気あって簡単な歌遊びは「頭、肩、膝と足指」だ（ま、学校によって第二か第三学年まで）。こっちの学校で資料はそんなにないので、好きな媒体が使える！板！チョーク！

It's been a weird few days, with massive snowfall. Still, the shrine of the area's guardian deity looks pretty in the falling snow. 最近は本当に雪多かった。ま、地域の守り神の神社は降っている雪のままで綺麗でしょう。

Turns everything grey, though. The only spot of colour are the two junior high school students.
全部が灰色になってしまうけどな。色はこの二人の中学生からだけ。


Some kids are still suffering from flu and colds, though. One poor guy threw up inside the office, and a Circle of Protection: Vomit was immediately set up from nearby materials.
生徒達はまだ風やインフルエンザを引いているけどね。一人のかわいそうな男子が職員室で吐いてしまった。隣の資料から守丸：嘔吐を設定した。

Still, the snow was perfect for making forts, as it was wet enough to roll giant snowballs. The fort actually started out as a snowman, but as the second ball was too big for anyone to lift, it became the first part of the front wall. When I left the school for the last time today, it had gotten quite impressive. If I get a day off I might go back out there just to work on it some more.
でも、完璧な城建築の雪だった。十分塗れっていたのででかい雪球が作れた。城は元に雪だるまだったけど、二番目の球は大きすぎて誰もが運べなかったので、前壁の基地になった。今日、学校を最後に出る時、きっと堂々に成っていた。休日があれば城をもっと建築する為に又その学校に行こうかな。

Anyway, on to some non-picture commentary. As usual, the first and second graders were excellent at remembering words and WRITING (including kids making normal mistakes like writing the capital E backwards!), whereas asking the sixth graders to do the same thing would elicit groans and complaints. Since the sixth graders were going to middle school in April, I told them to get ready, because they would have English class three times a week. The look on everyone's faces was pure shock and horror. They seriously thought once they finished elementary school, they would be done with English forever. HAHAHAHA!
じゃ、写真無しの記事を書けば・・・普通のように一年生と二年生は言葉がよく覚えられたし、上手に書けた（そして、間違えする生徒が普通の間違えをした；例えば大文字のＥを逆で書く）。しかし、六年生に同じ事を命令すれば、皆が大変文句を言ってなにもしない。六年生が四月から中学校に入るから、毎週英語の授業が三回あるって言った。で、皆が大変驚いている顔をした。皆が本当に小学校を卒業してからもう英語の活動はないと真面目に思っていた。あははははは！

I also met ANOTHER girl with a Chinese mom. Man, Ichinoseki may be in the middle of nowhere but it is probably more multicultural/multiethnic than the rest of Japan! It continues to rock!
もう一人の中華人の母が居る女の子に会った。一関は田舎の真ん中にあるかもしれないけど、日本の普通の町より凄く多文化・他民族な地域だ！一関万歳！

Since I'm tired of raising my voice and screaming over the voices of noisy students, I bought a whistle, a yellow card, and a red card. Now, if they're all noisy, I can use the whistle, and if one particular students is being an idiot, I can just yellow card him. Red card means get the fuck out. Of course I have no real power to use this, so maybe a 'face the wall' would work.
生徒達の声より自分のを叫ぶのはもう面倒くさいので口笛、黄色牌、そして赤牌も買った。今、もしうるさかったら、口笛が使える、そしてもし生徒が特に馬鹿の行動をやっていたら、朕はただ彼を黄色牌できる。赤牌はもう出て行けの意味。もちろんこの権力はないけど、ただの「壁を向け動くな」は効果あるかもしれない。


Waiting for the bus to go home, I actually saw a snowplow. Now I know that they exist here.
バスに待っている間に、本物の雪掻き車を見た。日本で本当にあるか～