Two New Fibs

I wrote the following fib after a long unsuccessful battle with my cell telephone. I just could not get it to do what I wanted. In the end, I went to the shop where I bought it and ask them. After a number of long phone calls to a service center, we figured it out and I now can use that function. However, there are still many things that I do not understand.

my
new
cell phone
doesn't like me;
won't do what I want
and speaks only in Japanese

The second fib was written in class today. Masayo is sick and Naomi has a muscle problem, leaving only me and Tomone feeling well.

sick
ill
feeling
unhealthy;
these are from the past -
the aware mind is always well

A Visit from Tomone

Tomone and Naomi have come to visit for a week or so. Tomo-chan is growing up fast. She can now crawl and can stand if she has something to hold onto. Just like her mother, she will probably start talking early. She seems to be well ahead of what the linguistics books say is average. Also she is growing physically. When she was living here, she was small for her age, but now she is average according to Japanese standards.
She has stuffed toys - characters from Winnie-the-Pooh - that she plays with for long periods of time. She concentrates for surprisingly long periods, so she can now amuse herself if no one wants to play with her.
I could not get her to smile for the pictures - she was interested in what I was doing. However, she seldom cries; hunger, dirty diapers, and pain being about the only cause. Most of the time she smiles.

Catch up

The mayhem is subsiding. I think I have all the syllabuses written and all the paperwork up to date, so that pressure is gone. I know I have corrected all the exams and the only classes I have left this year are on the next two Mondays and Christmas Eve, which brings me to my first picture.

The committee that runs our condo started putting up a Christmas tree, even though there are no Christians here, at least none that I know of. The kids love it. The think that it is very pretty and I have heard them telling their mothers how fantastic it is.

Christmas decorations are also up downtown. The next picture is Clis Road (I have no idea where the name came from, but it is a good research project for the future), part of a large T-shaped, covered shopping mall in the center of Sendai.

Changing the subject, the following two pictures show the main gates into two different Buddhist temples. Next year after I get back from my Henro pilgrimage, I am thinking of visiting, photographing, and sketching every temple and shrine in the area. There are hundreds of them so it will give me a reason to keep walking.

MIyagi Gakuin University

This is the campus of Miyagi Gakuin University as seen from the no-smoking room for part-time teachers. This is a Christian Women's university, which would seem to disqualify me from all directions. I teach in the English Department - Business English, Listening, and Conversation - and in the English Graduate program (Academic Writing one year and English Communication the next).

The university is quite old as can be seen from the classrooms.
I teach Business English in the above classroom. It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, although they finally started the heat on the first of December. Last year they did a lot of construction, reinforcing the buildings so that they will withstand the big earthquake that is coming within the next 30 years or so. One interesting thing to notice is the floor. It is made of wood tiles, quite different from the floor at Tohoku University.
This final picture shows my Conversation classroom. I teach second year students and they are quite good. They spend most of the class time talking in small groups, activating the English that they have learned in other classes. Classes here are probably the most enjoyable that I have.