As you can tell from the above photo (and my title of this blog :P ) I got a new camera. It is a Canon IXY Digital 910 IS. It has 8 mega pixels, a fantastic wide zoom lens, lots of features, and I am tickled happy with it.
So I decided to take some pictures of my schools to show you just where I work.
The first set of pics are taken at my school "Shizen Gakuen". It is a private Christian High school, located in a mountainous, rural area about 1 hour from the capital city of Yamanashi-ken, Kofu. It is a special school, in that it takes in students who have have had trouble completing high school within the traditional school system. Some students have been bullied, others have learning difficulties, and others have fallen behind due to illness or injuries. The class size is very small (once class I teach has five students, while another only has one student). They have a philosophy of building studenets positive sense of self by providing them individual attention and encouragement. The school building is quite old and fairly run down, but the students and teachers are kind and happy.
Here is a little tour of the school:
If you step outside the back door of the school and across a wooden boardwalk to a separate small building you will reach the washrooms. If you glance to your left while you are walking you will get this view of the hidden area, covered in bright green grasses, behind the main building.
After finishing in the washroom, if you walk across the boardwalk again, to your left you will find a large old washbasin to rinse your hands at.
To get back in the school you just step up a few steps and through an old blue, metal, sliding door.
After coming through the back door you will see the main entrance to the school in front of you. To the left of the entrance, are the shelves where all the students store their shoes. Once they enter the school they must remove their outdoor shoes and put on clean, white school sneakers.
If you look down on the floor beside the front entrance, you will see, spread out on some old tatami matting, a large pile of beans. Most of the beans are still in their dried twisted pods, while a small pile have been freed from their pods. You might see the "tea lady" walk over, squat down and begin to silently work pulling beans from their pods. These beans have been grown in the large green field stretching out in front of the school.
If you turn away from the main entrance and look to your right, you will see the long main hall of the school stretching out. It's lime green and yellow walls, which are peeling paint in some places, are lined with piles of old textbooks, teacher materials, and school records.
If you turn to your left and step through the first door you will find yourself in the staff room. In it are even more books, piled on the floors and all the desks. Even the window sill is framed by precarious looking piles of notebooks.
And if you look to your left, just above where the tea lady has left the tea pot and china cups, you will see a dried, faded rose tacked to the wall. You might wonder when it was put there and by whom.
...I will post more pictures from my other schools soon.
Yamanashi produces the most wine of any prefecture in Japan. Here in Kofu, the harvest season for grapes is just ending. Near my apartment you can see the leaves on the grape vines slowly withering and dying.
Because Yamanashi-ken is such a mountainous prefecture (i.e. so there is a limited amount of agriculturally suitable land) you'll find, even in the capital city, many green spaces nestled in wherever space is available.
birds-eye view over Kofu (my apartment is just a little bit to the left of this picture)
Oh and here's a little Japanese trivia for you.
No, this is not an off-shoot of the Atkins diet craze. Many people in Japan just prefer there baga sans pan (but maybe with rice bun :)
path leading to the school
leaves on the pathway
bright red Japanese maple trees in front of the school
more bright red bushes
a lovely flame-coloured tree
maple leaves in a puddle
I love how the mountains slowly disappear into the misty distance.
beautiful koyo-covered mountains
sorry this picture is fuzzy, but it just gives you sense of how there are some
this truly is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been
My friend Amy (aka Pixie) in hand made/destroyed pinstripe jacket. Pixie is an ALT, like myself, currently living in Kyoto (but from Australia).
my friend Pixie with Shara (who works in the American Navy and is currently in port near Tokyo).
A shot of my full outfit in the hotel lobby (I'm surprised how classy the lobby looks in this photo, because really the hotel was the cheapest one in all of Osaka)
another great shot of Shara in her fedora.
I love snoopy!
Christmas-themed "love hotel" in Osaka (Santa looks a little confused, doesn't he? - as though he is thinking "How did I end up here?" :)
me in my fairy costume
Jackie shows what being a laid-back Vancouverite is all about
Helen (British) looks all coy.
This was my friend Liz's "Oh really" face. I had just "announced" I would be "beginning to take candid shots". I am so hopeless when it comes to being subtle. (Liz is a lovely Australian if your wondering)
awww...and yes we sure did have fun putting makeup on my sock...
the front of the campus
Rows of student lockers (to store their shoes).
hallway
Me playing "Spelling Baseball" with my students
Me looking wonderfully surprised at a student's efforts to spell.
Here is the view of the school from across the airstrip where students learn about flying planes, aircraft mechanics, general auto mechanics, being a flight attendant, and many other such things (there is even a dance school here!).
Viewing tower from which to watch the planes take off and land
Me in front of the school (with some of my students clowning behind me:)
A Neko (cat) Bus!! For those of you who have seen the Japanese anime movie "My Neighbour Totoro" by the director Hayao Miyazaki this little cat bus will be very familiar to you. Well at the JAA they have created a REAL neko bus. Remember your childhood misadventures with papermache? Well, this is a papermache masterpiece over a real, working van. During the school festival you can go for a ride within this adorable neko bus. Kawaii!! (cute)
I like how all the school buildings are painted up in the school colours - bright red and blue.
To look out over the rice fields, stretching out into the distance.
If you step outside the back door of the school and across a wooden boardwalk to a separate small building you will reach the washrooms. If you glance to your left while you are walking you will get this view of the hidden area, covered in bright green grasses, behind the main building.
After finishing in the washroom, if you walk across the boardwalk again, to your left you will find a large old washbasin to rinse your hands at.
To get back in the school you just step up a few steps and through an old blue, metal, sliding door.
If you look down on the floor beside the front entrance, you will see, spread out on some old tatami matting, a large pile of beans. Most of the beans are still in their dried twisted pods, while a small pile have been freed from their pods. You might see the "tea lady" walk over, squat down and begin to silently work pulling beans from their pods. These beans have been grown in the large green field stretching out in front of the school.
If you turn away from the main entrance and look to your right, you will see the long main hall of the school stretching out. It's lime green and yellow walls, which are peeling paint in some places, are lined with piles of old textbooks, teacher materials, and school records.
If you turn to your left and step through the first door you will find yourself in the staff room. In it are even more books, piled on the floors and all the desks. Even the window sill is framed by precarious looking piles of notebooks.
And if you look to your left, just above where the tea lady has left the tea pot and china cups, you will see a dried, faded rose tacked to the wall. You might wonder when it was put there and by whom.
