Pictures of Whales , Flowers and a Fair Maiden and a post about something else entirely.....

That's a Whale of a tail!......yeah yeah, I'll get my coat.

Sakura! That is cherry blossoms for those of you out of the loop (shame on you). These ones are to be found at Nakijin-castle.
Who is that hiding umungst the Sakura? It was a lovely day btw.
Eating bento (boxed lunch) under the sakura, how Japanese!

Well, what up?
My hat is set at a jaunty angle because my dear friends and family my jib is a well cut one and in addition to that, and I include my Mysticete friends in this, I have been disposing myself adroitly, it has also come to my attention that none are quite as apt in the art of brevity as I.

Sorry folks but you may need some insider information to understand the above sentence. If you weren't with me on Saturday morning (the 10th Feb) you can happily ignore the reference to the Cetaceans.

I spent a wonderful long weekend with Kelly. Don't run away! I shan't bore you with tales of our canoodles I promise! Instead I will inform you of things last week what made me laugh.

THINGS LAST WEEK WHAT MADE ME LAUGH

I got assaulted by my kindergarten kids; they rubbed my beard and hair, stuck their fingers in my ears and held my nose so I sounded funny. I did the only thing I could and responded in kind with an emphasis on the ear poking.

I (unintentionally) assisted a kid give another kid a kancho.

The 4th grade (primary school) kids told me I should dye my hair black. WHY?! You little conformists!

My favourite 4th grader has a new catch phrase to do with me (she made it up), instead of saying 'see you next time,' she says 'see you neck tie!!!!!'. Oh the Hilarity, it is actually quite funny when we do it in unison with the neck-tie (tie) motion.

A first year held onto a karuta card so hard I had to hold him upside down by his ankle and pull the card down with my other hand. He held on for quite a while and perhaps stretched an inch or two.

I was running when three little elementary kids (1st year and yochien) decided to come running with me. They weren't even wearing shoes! They however assured me their feet didn't hurt and even told me they would do the triathlon next year;). After coming about 400m with me and going up a nasty hill they showed no signs of slowing down so I had to stop and tell them to go back (telling them how awfully well they had done of course). It was getting dark and I didn't want to be responsible for them!

After the school relay race (ekiden), while eating zanzai (sweet red bean soup and mochi) a student told a teacher she looked like she was taking a shit (in Japanese). I was much amused. It happened thus: I am talking to said student (female), a teacher near by (female) squats down to eat her zanzai. At this point I should mention squatting is the perfered way to sit down in japan, especially in rural areas and places with a lack of chairs (ALOT of places). It's a similar action to squatting down to answer a call of nature while you are actually in nature. Anyway said student decided said teacher looked to much like she was doing something...else...and cries out
'UNKO!'
which means 'SHIT!' (as in faeces).
Said teacher hurriedly brings her knees together and in the ensuing (friendly) conversation decides it would be best to actually sit with her bottom on the ground as to avoid any more misunderstandings. The teacher wasn't annoyed by this in the slightest.

This is a manner of talking which would never be acceptable in a British school, at least I can't imagine it!

Take care Y'all

Craig