It’s Christmaaaaassssssssss!

This Christmas we are heading back to Europe! I am so excited to enjoy a festive season closer to home. Admittedly, I am not quite making it back to the UK – rather I am enjoying a Christmas in France at my sister and her husband’s house and then a new year in Paris with…

Shimonoseki Aquarium

We recently visited the infamous Shimonoseki Kaikyo Aquarium. The aquarium is well-known throughout Japan, and maybe even further afield, as it boasts an impressive collection of over 100 puffer fish. Shimonoseki is the home of the puffer fish, with about 70% of all of Japan’s puffer fish being caught just off its shores. So, it…

N5 Stands for NO X 5 – But Apparently we PASSED!

Up-date: We passed! Somehow and with little in it…success! In the first weekend of December, Dan and I decided to give ourselves a little festive treat, and take a Japanese proficiency exam. We went in at the beginner, and lowest, level of N5 of the JLPT test (Japanese government accredited). So we enjoyed (in no…

Birthday Bits

Another birthday, another workday. This years birthday work day was a day of student plays. They were pretty good fun and several of them managed to get a birthday reference into them! My delightful third graders even made me a card saying lots of lovely things about me and my classes, and sang me a…

From Heaven to Hell

The International Saga Balloon Festival is something Dan and I have wanted to witness for a long time. Picture mountains in the background, autumnal sunshine, and many unique and colourful hot air balloons ‘racing’ around the skies. Beautiful. It was, therefore, with mounting excitement that we planned our trip to Saga with Brittany and Mitch….

Surprising Shocks

We have now been living in Japan for well over a year. It seems remarkable that we have managed this long, given that we are still far from masters of both the language and life here. Sure, we are used to living in Japan. Things are familiar to us. Yet, each day I will still…