And even more exciting, we are off home for a week or two of sitting in the sunny-sunshine and eating-the-pies.
As a result the already sporadic updates will be slowing to a mind-numbing crawl. Still, it`ll give you something to do. Get outside and kick a ball around for gods sake.
Adios Muchachos, and to all a goodnight!
b
Friday, December 19, 2003
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Testing times....
Well, they were. Sunday saw us up bright and early for the hour and a half drive into Nagoya to sit the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Arch had strolled up for the weekend to come along, and with Nic sitting Level 4, Arch sitting Level 3 and me sitting Level 2, all we needed was a Japanese national to take Level 1 - for that is about what you need to be.
It was pretty tough.
Moving along.
First snow on the hills around town on Monday...Brrrrr. Local legend has it that when snow falls 3 times in a row on the hills, the fourth time will bring snow to ground level. Yaaaay snowboarding. Boooo riding to work. Still, we have but 11 days until we wing our way to NZ, so less of the complaining, more of the dreaming of free, easy and unabashed access to pies. Mmmmmmmm pies.
Tom and Kerryn are coming through on the weekend for an Xmas roast - looking forward to it immensely.
Hope all is well.
Have some fun out there.
Lots of Love - B and N.
It was pretty tough.
Moving along.
First snow on the hills around town on Monday...Brrrrr. Local legend has it that when snow falls 3 times in a row on the hills, the fourth time will bring snow to ground level. Yaaaay snowboarding. Boooo riding to work. Still, we have but 11 days until we wing our way to NZ, so less of the complaining, more of the dreaming of free, easy and unabashed access to pies. Mmmmmmmm pies.
Tom and Kerryn are coming through on the weekend for an Xmas roast - looking forward to it immensely.
Hope all is well.
Have some fun out there.
Lots of Love - B and N.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Right...where was I?? Oh yes...agog...
So there I sat, all agog like, while the (5 year old) kids processed this rather sad piece of news, I think the guy in the suit felt pretty bad for emotionally scarring these kids for life, so he made another hanky disappear and left the stage.
CAVEAT- THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE STORY, WHICH DOESN`T STOP IT FROM BEING SOMEWHAT DISTURBING, I JUST WANTED TO SHOW SOME OF THE STRANGER STUFF THAT CAN HAPPEN OVER HERE....
And on come two old women. Complete with blue overalls and caps with "Godo Fire Ladies" embroidered on the top. They didn`t really look like the firefighting types, what being about 80 and all, so I figured they bought oranges on at half time during the fighting of the fires. Aaaaanywho, all the while I am still sitting agog. Then the strangest story of all time was read out by these two little old ladies to the (5 year old) kids gathered around......
The story is presented on large sheets of cardboard, hand-drawn slides if you will, that are presented along with an audio commentary, which went a little something like this...
"How Jonny (actually it was Shintaro, but I`ve translated it) became a star....."
Slide One - Happy Family gathered around being happy - "Gosh we`re a happy family, lalalalala"
Slide Two - Happy Mum and Dad - "Gosh we`re happy, what with our happy, healthy family"
Slide Three - Happy Kids (3x boys 4, 5, 7) - "What fun!! Lets play with our toys and be happy!!"
Slide Four - Mum leaving with youngest child to take him to daycare centre, Youngest child says "Even though it`s cold outside, we got told by the fireman who came to talk to us that you should turn the kerosene stove off when there are no adults around" Mother replies (ominously) "Oh, It will be alright little one, we are just going around the corner......"
Slide Five - Remaining 2 kids having a ball, running, jumping, playing, AROUND THE STOVE (dah, dah, dah)
Slide Six - Perhaps unsurprisingly one of the kiddies knocks over the stove, what, with Japanese houses being very strong on the paper and the wood, the thing goes up like a tinder box.
Slide Seven - One kid trying to get outside with his clothes on fire, "Mummy, Mummy, help me!!" other child, again, ominously, nowhere to be seen (5 years old people).
Slide Eight - Child being rescued by a passing stranger, hands, back, legs and face graphically and hidously burned "Mummy, Mummy it hurts" - the woman actually said this.
Slide Nine - Firemen arrive and douse flames, shown retreiving blackened body of other child, he is heard whimpering "Mummy where were you?" before being bundled into an ambulance.
Slide Nine - Child is in a hospital bed, wrapped head to toe in bandages, like the one in the Metallica `One` video, his face is covered in bandages too. Mother is shown slumped on the hospital bed crying, Father is pointing accusingly at her, Smallest child is heard to say "I told you we should have turned the heater off..."
Slide Ten - Jonny (the bandaged one) is seen surrounded by light, a voice asks him if he is ready to go..."Go where?", he asks, "Away", the voice replies. Jonny, a little confused, says, "I can`t go anywhere, I have to go to kindergarten and play with my friends..."
GET THIS
"No", says the voice TO A BUNCH OF FIVE YEAR OLDS, "you played near the stove so you can NEVER SEE YOUR FRIENDS AGAIN..." "But I want to play with them" Jonny replies "YOU CAN NEVER PLAY AGAIN, EVER" the voice replies. Jonny, getting a little concerned, says "I want my Mummy", the voice replies "You can never see your Mummy again- you played near the stove".
At this point even I am terrified and want to run out the door and call MY Mum and say I`ll never play near the stove again, ever. The kids are understandably a little stunned, but it continues...
Slide Eleven - Mother holding Jonnys hand as he slips into the netherworld and with his last breath manages to say "Mummy, it hurts, why weren`t you there, why didn`t you help me...."
Slide Twelve - Jonny goes up into space and becomes a star, and if you listen carefully you can sometimes hear him say "I miss my Mummy, I want to play with my friends". But of course he can`t, because he played near the stove....
Beleive me, no amount of card tricks could get these kids animated again, the fire guys bailed, as did I. It was a very, very, very strange day.
CAVEAT- THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE STORY, WHICH DOESN`T STOP IT FROM BEING SOMEWHAT DISTURBING, I JUST WANTED TO SHOW SOME OF THE STRANGER STUFF THAT CAN HAPPEN OVER HERE....
And on come two old women. Complete with blue overalls and caps with "Godo Fire Ladies" embroidered on the top. They didn`t really look like the firefighting types, what being about 80 and all, so I figured they bought oranges on at half time during the fighting of the fires. Aaaaanywho, all the while I am still sitting agog. Then the strangest story of all time was read out by these two little old ladies to the (5 year old) kids gathered around......
The story is presented on large sheets of cardboard, hand-drawn slides if you will, that are presented along with an audio commentary, which went a little something like this...
"How Jonny (actually it was Shintaro, but I`ve translated it) became a star....."
Slide One - Happy Family gathered around being happy - "Gosh we`re a happy family, lalalalala"
Slide Two - Happy Mum and Dad - "Gosh we`re happy, what with our happy, healthy family"
Slide Three - Happy Kids (3x boys 4, 5, 7) - "What fun!! Lets play with our toys and be happy!!"
Slide Four - Mum leaving with youngest child to take him to daycare centre, Youngest child says "Even though it`s cold outside, we got told by the fireman who came to talk to us that you should turn the kerosene stove off when there are no adults around" Mother replies (ominously) "Oh, It will be alright little one, we are just going around the corner......"
Slide Five - Remaining 2 kids having a ball, running, jumping, playing, AROUND THE STOVE (dah, dah, dah)
Slide Six - Perhaps unsurprisingly one of the kiddies knocks over the stove, what, with Japanese houses being very strong on the paper and the wood, the thing goes up like a tinder box.
Slide Seven - One kid trying to get outside with his clothes on fire, "Mummy, Mummy, help me!!" other child, again, ominously, nowhere to be seen (5 years old people).
Slide Eight - Child being rescued by a passing stranger, hands, back, legs and face graphically and hidously burned "Mummy, Mummy it hurts" - the woman actually said this.
Slide Nine - Firemen arrive and douse flames, shown retreiving blackened body of other child, he is heard whimpering "Mummy where were you?" before being bundled into an ambulance.
Slide Nine - Child is in a hospital bed, wrapped head to toe in bandages, like the one in the Metallica `One` video, his face is covered in bandages too. Mother is shown slumped on the hospital bed crying, Father is pointing accusingly at her, Smallest child is heard to say "I told you we should have turned the heater off..."
Slide Ten - Jonny (the bandaged one) is seen surrounded by light, a voice asks him if he is ready to go..."Go where?", he asks, "Away", the voice replies. Jonny, a little confused, says, "I can`t go anywhere, I have to go to kindergarten and play with my friends..."
GET THIS
"No", says the voice TO A BUNCH OF FIVE YEAR OLDS, "you played near the stove so you can NEVER SEE YOUR FRIENDS AGAIN..." "But I want to play with them" Jonny replies "YOU CAN NEVER PLAY AGAIN, EVER" the voice replies. Jonny, getting a little concerned, says "I want my Mummy", the voice replies "You can never see your Mummy again- you played near the stove".
At this point even I am terrified and want to run out the door and call MY Mum and say I`ll never play near the stove again, ever. The kids are understandably a little stunned, but it continues...
Slide Eleven - Mother holding Jonnys hand as he slips into the netherworld and with his last breath manages to say "Mummy, it hurts, why weren`t you there, why didn`t you help me...."
Slide Twelve - Jonny goes up into space and becomes a star, and if you listen carefully you can sometimes hear him say "I miss my Mummy, I want to play with my friends". But of course he can`t, because he played near the stove....
Beleive me, no amount of card tricks could get these kids animated again, the fire guys bailed, as did I. It was a very, very, very strange day.
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