all things d@vidb
We have arrived safely in Canada!! Suffice it to say, we are extremely jet lagged.
unfortunately, after arriving in Canada I realized I forgot to bring my usb cable to get our pictures off of the Camera(s). I will figure something out… don’t fret. In the meantime, now that we have Lee’s permission, we would like to share some of our favourite pictures from Lee Gribbon’s amazing family photo shoot.
The full shoot is available here.
That is all. (He’s amazing! THANK YOU SO MUCH LEE!!!) 😮
That’s right… our two year stint in Chunan (now: Manno) in Kagawa Prefecture is coming to a close. We leave on Tuesday morning but still have a ton of packing to do. Here are a few photos that we have taken over the past few days that we thought you might enjoy.
This first photo is actually a scan of an article that appeared in the Shikoku Shinbun (the big paper in our area.) The article is a thank you to me and saying goodbye to our family.
My liberal translation:
Thank you, David! David Bennett (26) who has been working and living in Chunan Town (now Manno Town) since August of 2004 as an international relations co-ordinator will be leaving us. As a student, David spent two years on exchange in Yokohama and Tokyo. In his current role David was very active around the community through numerous events, school visits, and English classes. He also brought internationalization to the local community groups through his visits. David came to Chunan with his wife, Kiko. Their first son, Noa, was born last year in November. (That pretty much covers it. I rushed the translation, so if you think you could do a better job… do it.) 😮
At least 3 times a month Jim and I ate at the local kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi place. It was fantastic. (Especially the oinky bits [read: meat susghi] and the salmon!) Definitely will miss the sushi… and possibly Jim.
And finally, Noa took me for a drive the other day.
That is all.
I actually have a ton of things to write about. Between preparing for our move to Tokyo, our trips to Canada and Korea, and all of the goodbye stuff that is going on here, we have been quite busy.We hope to post about it in the next few days.
In the meantime, we had to share with you this amazing picture of Noa that our good friend Lee Gribbon took. We will be posting the entire shoot over the next few days (once he says cool, cool?)
Instead of posting pictures of Noa, I give you this:
And now for a Noa video…
Remember our discussion of flowing noodles? While Scott & Stacey were visiting with us in Japan, we were invited for some more flying noodles.
Noa got in on the action. He was amazing at catching the noodles.
breaking news!!!
Noa has a tooth!
初めての歯！
That’s right… for those of you that doubted Noa’s brillane. Noa has his first tooth. Although Noa is big for his age, and can do things quite advanced (like crawl and beat-down other babies), we were getting a little worried about the lack of teeth.
We now have a new weapon in are arsenal. Fear the mighty Noa and his tooth (we have named the tooth dagger.)
Congratulations Noa and dagger! 希空くん、おめでとう！
ps. as a reward we sent Noa to daycare for the first time today as we needed a chance to pack. We thought he would freak out and/or destroy the other children with dagger, but it turns out he had a super time. He didn’t even notice we were gone 🙁
See how happy he looks? 😉 (and by happy I mean cold and alone.)
I’ve decided to take a break from the regular Noa reporting to talk about me for a little bit. 😉
Don’t get too excited…
Today marked the end of my two year contract with Manno (formerly Chunan) Town, and as a CIR on the JET Program. It was quite sad for me to leave my office for the last time as it has been an excellent experience. Living in Kagawa Prefecture taught me a lot about Japan. My other experiences as a high school and university exchange student saw me living in Tokyo and Yokohama, and gave me the false impression that I had even the slightest clue of what Japan was like. 90% of Japan is rural farmland (and mountains) and it took 2 years living here to learn about what that was like.
(I know this is getting corny, but forgive me for just this post.)
During our time in Chunan/Manno (仲南町/まんのう町) we got to meet many kind people, grow vegetables, have a baby, buy a car, live in a super fantastic house, receive vegetables on a daily basis, and just get the brunt of the generosity that the people here have to offer.
As a CIR on the JET program I was fortunate enough to be put in a town that supported me in whatever I chose to do, and allowed me to work at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo, work as a prefectural PA councillor, star in the JET PR video, act as vice president for the regional AJET group, and have a whole lot of interaction with the Tokyo office of the JET program through the organization of orientations etc.
My actual duties here included numerous things such as school visits (elementary, kindergarten) [where we did tons of stuff like play games and make gingerbread houses, etc… remember!?], visit community groups, organize activities (cooking, speeches, whatever), town english classes (with really dedicated people, old and young), write articles in the local newsletter and papers, a weekly radio segment, and a whole bunch more.
Why am I writing all of this? I just needed to put it somewhere so that I wouldn’t forget and I can look back and remember. This is where Noa was born, and Kiko and I have had a great time living here for the past 2 years. We are going to miss our house, our gardens (except the watermellon-killing dogs), the nice people, the beautiful mountains and scenery, and all of the friends we have made.)
No worries, we will be back to reporting on Noa tomorrow, not to mention what we will be up to now that we are leaving Kagawa… don’t get too excited.
Chunan and Manno, thank you!
仲南町、まんのう町、ありがとう！
(okokok. i give in)
Since we are in Osaka visiting some friends and Kiko’s family, I have had to resort to another round of Noa close-up pictures taken by yours truly. (or possibly kiko…) (or possibly someone with more skill than both of us.)
… we know you love it.
See how super he is?
Now for some more unsettling news…
has it happened? has noa caught the ghey? Decide for yourselves…
That’s a pretty queer looking picture if you ask me.
and finally some more exciting news…. despite some of you not giving Noa full credit for his amazing crawling skills, this picture should proof without a doubt that he is a “holding something and standing wizard”… be prepared to be amazed.
booya.
Goodnight everyone! From Noa
We are on our way to Osaka! Here is a picture of Kiko anD Noa in front of a famous bridge connecting Shikoku to the rest of Japan.
Where are the updates? You were on such a role, davidandkiko.com
That’s right… we were. Our nieces (Hina and Kana) and Kiko’s mom are currently visiting us from Tanegashima so we haven’t had much of a chance to update the site. I will be going to Tokyo tomorrow for an important interview, and I promise a big update with info on what we have been doing when I get back.
In the meantime, here is a picture of Noa wondering where the updates are.
