Minoo

Two weekends ago the teachers and the students who wanted to went to Minoo. We had a fantastic time!! The weather was great, reaching the waterfall was pretty fast and easy (done in 45 minutes from the station pushing baby cars!) and everyone seemed to have a good time. I know I had lots of fun, anyway! It is always enjoyable to talk to the students outside of the school as they are less stressed and more relaxed. It is also a good opportunity to meet the students`s friends and/or family. Thanks to all of you for coming! Next event, BBQ!!! We'll let you know more about it very very soon!!!

Many more pictures on the wall if you haven`t checked out yet!

April fools...?

Did you get tricked on April fools day?
It is surprisingly well know in Japan.
It seems to have become more popular in the last few years.

It was never a big thing when I was a kid.

 

The origins of the day, while unclear, are quite interesting.

A long time ago, new year was celebrated in April.

This makes sense, as it is the start of spring.

(The middle of winter is an odd time to 

have new year if you think about it)

Around 1582 Pope Gregory XIII 

decided to introduce a new calendar. 

The Gregorian calendar replaced the old Julian (Roman) calendar, 

and made January the first month, 

effectively making January 1st new Years Day.

However not everyone suddenly changed 

over to this new calendar, for many years 

some people continued to celebrate new years on April 1st. 

These people were dubbed April Fools! For they had 'foolishly' 

missed the now 'official' new years 3 months earlier.

Now who's laughing?

Spring school at RLE

Last week was pretty crazy busy at school! The classes were cancelled because we had (like every year) a spring special week with the kids. That means every teacher has a group of kids and works with them for 7 hours! It is pretty intense but fun at the same time. The last two days we were outside at the park and the aquarium. Honestly, after having the kids run after me on a hilly ground for a whole afternoon was MUCH more exhausting than a whole day in class teaching them! And my thighs can testify!! Awesome week with awesome kids anyway! See you next year guys!!!

B.Y.O

Go to Australia and you will probably see restaurants that say B.Y.O on the menu or on a sign somewhere on the front of the shop. What does it mean? 

Well, in Australia liquor (alcohol) licenses are limited and very expensive, so it is often impossible for some restaurants to get one. Customers are however free to bring there own booze (normally beer or wine). And that's what B.Y.O stands for, Bring Your Own. If you notice a restaurant has a BYO sign and you feel like a drink with your meal, you will need to pop down to the nearest bottle shop (liquor store), most likely the closest pub, and grab some drinks yourself. 

Some places may charge a small corkage fee (this is a few dollars charge for opening the bottle and is a bit annoying) and be careful not to take drinks into an establishment that does have a license, that's a no no.

58% Of World’s Japanese Speakers White 23-Year-Old American Males

Follow this LINK for the original article.

This is a headline from satirical newspaper "The Onion". 

It is a joke of course. 

Everything in this newspaper is a joke, 

but they present them as fact. 

What do you think? 

Amusing? Or impossible to understand?

Australian hypocrisy

So the international court just told Japan to stop it whale hunt as it is obviously not for "research" purposes. And there is the Taiji dolphin hunt that has caused a bit of a brew ha-ha in recent years. It is often Australians who get all teary eyed about it, but they often forget that their own country murders marine life as well. 

Starting this year the Western Australian government has introduced an annual shark cull. (cull is a fancy word for killing, it means to kill just to reduce numbers, not eat or use the animal in any way) This started because of several shark attacks on swimmer in the last few years. Many sharks are endangered and protected species, but we slaughter them so people can relax at the beach. It is pretty easy, if you don't want to get bitten, don't go in the water, it is not as if you 'need' to swim. 

The most disgusting thing is that because sharks are not as cute as whales/dolphins not so many people care about them. Sharks are deadly predators, but they are just as beautiful and important as any other animal on the planet, and should be respected.

Easter in Australia

Do you know much about Easter? 

For Christians, Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birthday, we all know that one. Well Easter is the celebration of his death. Now I don't believe in God or Jesus anymore than I believe in unicorns or the tooth fairy, but Easter is a big part of Australian culture, and I do like eating food. 

The most obvious feature of Easter is the chocolate eggs the Easter bunny delivers, Why we do this is I have no idea. Commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus by telling our children a giant bunny rabbit left chocolate eggs in the night. Why those two things? Why not Goldfish left Lincoln Logs in your sock drawer? As long as we’re making it up, go hog wild you know.

'Mummy, I woke today and there was a Lincoln Log in me sock drawer!'.
 

'That's the story of Jesus'.
 

I've read the Bible. I can't find the words ‘bunny’ or ‘chocolate’ anywhere in the book. 

But anyhoo....

In Australia we do a few things a little bit differently. For example we eat hot cross buns. A kind of fruit cake/bread with a white cross painted on it. We eat them hot with butter, they are quite good. We also often eat lots of pancakes, this tradition started because in the past people tried to use up all of their food before 'lent' (fasting). 

We have also tried to change the image of the Easter bunny to the Easter 'bilby' because rabbits are an introduced species and considered a pest in Australia. 

One other uniquely Sydney thing is the Royal Easter Show. It is a kind of huge festival/carnival with rides, and exhibitions/parades of animals and food from around the country. It's theme is city meets country. I really loved going as a kid.