MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
-remember to pretend that I made a cute Christmas colour scheme!-
love, David & Kiko
Author: david
Imagine: Christmas Colours!!
ARG!
Well, Kiko and I are now safe in Canada. We are happy to be back, but are super jet-lagged. I promised myself to update this site at least once a week (preferably everyday! -which I will start to do in the New Year) but between the Tokyo Business Trip, the racing back to Chunan to catch my bus to Osaka, to flying to Toronto, to sleeping, to buying Christmas presents, –I have had absolutely no time.
To be honest I have a whole Christmas theme lined up and ready to implement. Alas, from my crappy-ass dialup modem in Brampton, it is not going to happen. If I am lucky I can get to a broadband connection before Christmas and rollout the Christmas version of the website. If not… well… please pretend that the site is full of christmas colours, and CONTINUE TO CHECK REGULARILY!!!
The website will constantly be updated, and there will be tons of pictures and fun stuff. We miss you all. We thank you for stopping by, and we will enjoy our ime back in Canada and be sure to let you know how it all went.
So assuming that I won&t be able to update this site before Christmas:
Merry Christmas and Happy New year!
– David & Kiko
ps. I just read: Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde: really fun! It’s a series. Read it.
The Gingerbread House Project
I am off to Tokyo for a 5 day business conference and will then be heading back to Canada! (Yeah!)
But I am super thrilled to say that the Gingerbread House Project is finished! 274 Houses were built, and none of them collapsed. Every child in my town got to make (and bring home!) their house. I am their god.
These are my ingredients and my lovely assistant:
These are my disciples and their constructs:
This is the little girl who I have a crush on because she is so cute.
-That’s it for now. Expect updates from Canada, a christmas edition, and a massive overhaul when I am not so lazy.
It’s face.
215 ginerbread houses down, 44 to go.
It’s the final lap.
Maybe it’s because my brain/head/arms hurt, but I found this really funny/interesting.
See? It’s a face using characters from the Japanese alphabet. Those Japanese… they are so inventive.
GO KIKO’S PEOPLE!!! (and jotaro)
ps. I am going to Tokyo on Friday for a business trip. I come back on Wednesday at 8:30pm where I proceed to pick-up my lugggae and go to Canada. I will be updating the website, but I will also be very tired. Who want’s to see more Kiko messages? I do.
My new Map Book
I finally got around to buying a map book with driving directions for the entire island I am on.
Now that I have mapple, I can go anywhere.
What have I got myself into?
I have one week of work left before we go to Canada!
Next Monday I will be going to Tokyo for a 3 day business trip/conference. I hope to see Shane there. After that I take the long trip back to Chunan-cho, and then off to Canada.
So in my last week of work, what do I go and plan?
Well, that’s what it should look like anyways…
That’s right. Despite the fact that I am horrible when it comes to crafts, and I can’t cook anything, I have to make 259 gingerbread houses with every elementary aged child in my town. I am very excited. Mind you, I brought this upon myself so I can’t complain too much. I have had to order everything, plan everything and starting this Tuesday carry it out. I am freaking out. I will let you know how it goes at the end of the week with pictures etc… wish me luck!
What else have I been up to recently?
Remember how I said I was a terrible cook? That didn’t stop me from organizing banana bread day (Thanks Nikki!) for the “Wives Club” in my town. It actually went pretty well… Take a look:
Japanese Castle Visiting!
Kiko and I recently went to the big city of Marugame. As some of you may know, I think Japanese Castles are super, so we had a chance to visit the Castle that stands in the center of the town.
Japanese Chess and Ping Pong
I have been meaning to write an entry about the Japanese game of “shogi” or chess. It is absolutely fantastic. It is similar to Chess but you can capture your opponents pieces and drop them anywhere on the board, and your pieces can also be promoted in enemy territory (kind of like a pawn.) At any rate, I will write more about that soon. The important part of this entry is my good friend Jim. He tries very hard, but he still can’t stop me from destroying him in anything we do. (This includes ping pong and shogi.) I might be exaggerating, but you aren’t here so you will never know. 🙂
That’s it for now… don’t get too excited, but I am planning another huge update for the site. Hopefuly I can get it done before I go to Canada, if not, expect it in early 2005 🙂 (And I know you will still be visitng the site daily then… right!?)
Japanese Hiking Season.
Yes, I am a photo taking genius.
Well, no one told me, but apparently it’s Hiking Season here in Japan.
Their tend to be many opportunities to go out and see nature at various times throughout the year. For instance, you can see the Cherry Blossoms in April, and here in Chunan, the Sun Flowers in June. As Fall approaches Japan goes out to see kouyou, the fall foliage.
So in the past three days I have been hiking twice (turned one down) and have been invited to many more. My first hike was quite exciting.
I was invited to go with the Senior’s Club. So 18 older people and me climbed up a fairly steep mountain to the site of a castle that once existed in the area where we live (Fujime Castle). We sat on top, heard a lecture about the castle, sang town songs (!!??), drank wine and looked at the foliage. I also got to eat rice from chopsticks that I made out of a bamboo tree, and see the lone cherry blossom tree that is atop this mountain. The highlight however was when a balloon was strapped to my arm, I was given a rubber sword and told to beat the hell out of the old people. Apparently we were recreating the battles that were fought in this area. It was complete with coloured smoke bombs and old people.
My next hiking trip (Kiko was tired… boo…) was with a bunch of JET friends. We went to Kotonami, the neighbouring town where Nicole is the leader. She took us on a hike to see red and yellow colours. She built it up to be spectacular, but forgot to mention the hike was crazy long, hard, and all the trees were finished blooming (or whatever they do in fall. Turning?). (I’m just joking Nicole!) It was actually a lot of fun and very pretty. Here, see for yourself:
I should preface this by saying two things.
1) I will be updating the site a lot more (ie. every 2 or 3 days) so if you are bored and need something to look at, come visit. Besides, it’s about david and kiko. We’re super.
2) I just went and saw Howl’s Moving Castle, the latest release by famous anime director Hayao Miyazaki. He has also done: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and a number of other famous movies that have all won various awards. It was fantastic. When it comes out, take a look. Here is a picture below!
My Job & the Culture Festival
I have had more requests to talk about what exactly it is that I am doing here. So, since I am going to write this, you had better read it.
I work for the Board of Education in Chunan Town, a small town of about 4,700 people in Kagawa Prefecture. Kagawa is located on the smallest of the four major islands that make up Japan, Shikoku. My official title is Co-Ordinator for International Relations (CIR). I plan activities that “internationalize” the community (??) but the majority of my time is spent introducing English to (very!) young children and holding English classes in the evening.
Because I work in the Board of Education, I am (for the most part) treated like a regular employee and have to partake in the Board’s activities. In Chunan-cho [仲南町] (“cho” meaning town) we have four major annual events. [Click on them for the pictures!]
(1) The Volleyball Tournament
(2) The Sports Festival
(3) The Culture Festival
(4) The Concert in the Forest
Right after I finished almost-dying from my fever, we had the culture festival. I setup a display about me (The “David” Display) and about Canada, and entertained children and adults alike with my beautiful blond hair and funny accent.
Here is a sample of the enjoyment I had. Note the picture where they dress me up in the Japanese gear and make me dance around in a traditional dance. I was thrilled and excelled in it like I excel at all of my artistic endeavours.
The highlight of my weekend (and I am being serious) is the whistle I carved from bamboo. That’s right, I carved it myself. It is super.
Look at that! I wrote a whole entry about my life and what I have been up to. And you people complain that I don’t write anything important.
… while I am still debating the point of writing these things (I have decided the site serves a purpose as a picture-repository at the very least) I am in the midst of bringing davidandkiko.com 3.0 online. It will be super. Don’t get too excited, but feel free to provide input. My eventual goal is to have at least a few people check the site regularily.
Just to clear things up: I really like where I live. I don’t enjoy teaching children as much as people here think I do, but I really love the town, the scenery and the people I work with. Kiko is swell too. My colleagues on the JET program are also fantastic. I am going to showcase my friends from back home, from University and from here one day… don’t get too excited …
What I’ve been up to.
It’s not that I haven’t been doing anything. Actually, I’ve been slowly plodding along at work while trying to make time to roll out the latest changes to the website (coming soon!). I’ve also been doing my best to help Shane settle in (he’s fine). I was side-tracked by a killer fever (39.5!). I went to the hospital and it was exciting. Take a look:
See? Well I am feeling a little better now, but I will be off work until I have fully recovered which means hardly any e-mail, no website updates, and me catching up on a lot of movies. I just watched House of Flying Daggers and Ghost in the Shell 2. They were both pretty fantastic.
OK. Back to bed. At any rate, enjoy some pictures from Shodoshima Day (it’s a small island in our prefecture that we went to with some other JET‘s this weekend!). If you want to see more, check the gallery.
Kiko’s First Bread
今日初めて、パンを焼いてみました。初心者なので簡単なバターロールにしたんだけど、これが大成功でとてもおいしかったです。
I made bread for the first time today. I’m just a beginner so I made an easy butter roll. It came out nice and tasted very good!
