秋の色 （キャロル先生)

 

 October is such a magical month. The color of the trees changing from green to red, orange and yellow. The cooler temperature that offers relief from the hot summer months. The festivities of Halloween creeping into the month without warning. The parks are transformed into a picturesque photo opportunity, with everyone turning into a professional photographer. In the city I used to live in, Dublin, Phoenix Park is the ideal place to stroll through the leafy grass and catch a glimpse of the deer running wild. There were plenty of Saturday mornings where I used to jog around the park and take in the beauty around me. The park is one of the largest city parks in Europe. I was fortunate enough to live about 15 minutes walking distance from the park whilst living in Dublin. I have been missing it lately and I think I need to turn Inokashira Park into my Japanese Phoenix Park in order to feel a little more at home during the season of Autumn.

秋の色 （ミーシャ先生)

 

It is amazing how the weather has changed. When I came here in July, I was battling the heat for days. I found myself staying inside the house to get some cool air from the air conditioner or whenever I was on the road, I made sure I stopped at stores so I could get some relief. Now it is getting quite cold. This will be my first winter away from Jamaica so I am trying to make sure I prepare for it. I hope that the sweaters, gloves and hats I bought will be able to keep me warm because I hear it can get very cold during December to January. I may even be lucky to experience snow in Tokyo so I would love to see what that is like. This is when I wish I could ski but I do intend to go skiing when its snow time though. I am sure I will find somewhere to get a few lessons because I won’t miss out on such an adventure. That is something you will definitely hear about.

デジタルアートと美味しい食べ物 （キャロル先生)

 

The weekend before last was another long weekend with no school on Monday. It was the last long weekend for a while so I really wanted to make the most of it and I definitely did. My plans for Saturday involved visiting the Mori Digital Art Museum in Odaiba. My friend had booked the tickets a few weeks ago as it was due to sell out very fast. I had looked at some pictures of the exhibition online before Saturday and it looked amazing. It definitely lived up to the hype. My friend and I spent a good four hours exploring but could have easily spent more time there. There were many different rooms to explore, one room is called the Butterfly Room. This involved digital butterflies, and when you touched them, they would fall down. The museum was full of colour and was truly magical. The exhibition is suitable for both children and adults. There were so many different rooms to see and the museum was so big, that we forgot to visit two rooms advertised. This means I will have to go back another time! I can definitely think of worst ways to spend my weekend.

We finished off our day eating a lot of food from a restaurant nearby where they had an ‘All-You-Can-Eat’ offer for 2,000 yen. This was too good and resulted in me eating a whole lot more than my stomach could handle. Let’s just say I will have some jogging to do this week!

趣味 （ミーシャ先生）

 

Being in Japan has been a rewarding transition. The change of environment has given me a certain level of peace of mind so I can write more. Writing has always been a hobby of mine but now I feel so relaxed that it has caused me to write more. I was able to complete an English workbook I was working on so I feel proud about that. My other hobby is exercising. There is something very tranquil about Tokyo that makes me feel driven to reflect, eat well, exercise and acquire new skills. I think my power walks to catch the train or to maneuver through a large crowd have really been forms of exercise too. My first few weeks I used to wonder how people are walking so fast and why I can’t catch them up( and trust me I tried to catch them up) but you should see me now. I am a certified speed walker if there ever was one. I also just walk fast for the exercise even if I have nowhere to go. I usually do some exercise routines after my walk to make sure a get a full work out.  I took a walk, discovered ‘Yuzawaya’, and fell in love with all the fabric so now I am developing sewing as a hobby. I want to make everything but I am trying to develop the skill first. Japan is certainly good for the mind and body and I am grateful for such an impact.

皇居御苑と台風24号 （キャロル先生)

 

This week, I discovered a place that sells bento near the school. That was just great! There is a 24-hour bento place near my home in Japan so I was beyond happy when I found a place with bento near work as well.  My Japanese is not good so luckily they had pictures of the menu items so I could just point and say “kore onegaishimasu”. Even though I know what to say, I tend to sometimes go brain dead when it’s time for me to use the language so I ended up pointing at the item and saying “this please”. The meal I got had rice at the bottom then it was covered with lettuce, tomatoes, sweet pepper, minced beef and cheese . There were some other items on it that I did not really know but I have been experimenting with food here in Japan so I didn’t mind. What I do know is that it was “oishi”. I loved it! So I can add this to my list of favorite food which already has onigiri and tempura on it. I will continue to try other food items.

弁当 （ミーシャ先生)

 

This week, I discovered a place that sells bento near the school. That was just great! There is a 24-hour bento place near my home in Japan so I was beyond happy when I found a place with bento near work as well.  My Japanese is not good so luckily they had pictures of the menu items so I could just point and say “kore onegaishimasu”. Even though I know what to say, I tend to sometimes go brain dead when it’s time for me to use the language so I ended up pointing at the item and saying “this please”. The meal I got had rice at the bottom then it was covered with lettuce, tomatoes, sweet pepper, minced beef and cheese . There were some other items on it that I did not really know but I have been experimenting with food here in Japan so I didn’t mind. What I do know is that it was “oishi”. I loved it! So I can add this to my list of favorite food which already has onigiri and tempura on it. I will continue to try other food items.

三鷹 国際フェスティバル （キャロル先生)

 

Last Sunday I attended the 29^th Mitaka International Festival in Inokashira Park. This festival celebrates different cultures from around the world. There were Japanese students dancing to music from Afghanistan, a Beetles tribute band, African jewelry stalls and food stalls from around the globe. The food was delicious and I was able to meet up with the members of the Irish Network Japan where they had set up an Irish booth selling Guinness and Irish postcards and other small memorabilia. It was lovely to see everyone there and the members are mostly made up of Japanese people so it is a good way for me to brush up on my Japanese. They are all so fond and interested in Irish culture and it really is a pleasure to spend time with them all.

The festival attracted a large crowd and it was a lovely event with the sun shining all day long.

I had my picture taken with some very impressive cosplayers and listened to some bands playing. There were three music stages at the event and it was really interesting to see Japanese musicians play traditional Irish songs on one of the stages. The band members were playing the accordion, the tin whistle and the mandolin. It goes to show that we don’t have to be interested in our own culture alone but we can learn to love and envelope ourselves in any interests and cultures we wish to choose.