What happened to this year’s September? – other
than vanishing like a ‘Bullet’ train into the past. Great! the kids started
back at school but then it just rained, rained, rained and still the rain
is coming.
We had visitors from Australia, a
couple of Australians in their sixties – Rick and Laima. They both have been to
Japan a number of times in the past. Laima is very fond of Japanese culture and
loves the food. She has a large property in Brisbane and grows avocados
alongside her Japanese styled garden complete with bonsai. Rick is suspicious
of sashimi but enjoys the tempura and miso katsu!
They enjoyed several of the Mozi Café
English classes and amused both adults and kids with their jokes. They spoke
fast and used their Australian slang and expressions freely. This made them very
difficult to follow at times but provided a great example of the challenge
language learners face in the real world. On Tuesday morning N san having just
returned from a Brisbane homestay had no problem understanding the rapid and
quickly changing conversation. So actually, fluency is possible and only a few
steps away even for older learners who are products of the Japanese education
system.
Both Rick and Laima were impressed with
the children they met in our classes. For example, T kun on Tuesday afternoon
asked very clear and well-formed questions as did Y kun and Y chan in a
Wednesday class.
They have moved on to Osaka and will
spend time in Kyoto before flying to Saporo. Their trip will end with a few
nights at the world’s oldest hotel in Yamanashi – Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan.
If you are still with me
congratulations for making it this far. Let’s hope October brings us some nice
settled weather!
