2015-04-25, Around town & Easter Party

I will start with today and the Easter parties that we spent the last 2 days preparing for.  I was at two of them, the toddlers and preschool/early elementary.  They went well (I think) but that could be because I took the job of helping with the egg coloring that was in a separate (quiet) room!  That went very well and I think the rest of the party did too.  There is one more going on right now, and when that's over the teachers are going to meet and the school is treating us to dinner which should be fun.

Here are some not so very good pictures of the 2nd party.

That's Will (with the shaved head) on the left, Emily the kindergarten teacher in the back,
and Caleb another teacher in the doorway.
Many of the girls wore 'princess dresses' which may
have been from Halloween - not sure.

Kelly, the woman I took over from is in the back, and the
bigger kids are the helpers.

The food that the lunch company provided - cute!

The pictures below are from a temple and shrine that I found while riding around.  They used to be one before someone in the Meiji Era decided they had to be separate (not just these but all Buddist Temples and Shinto Shrines which were often built next to each other).  These, Tenji and Kitano jingu, are really rundown, ramshackle places and the one in back - Kitano jingu, seems to have been left to go wild.  I really liked being there!!!  It was like being in a little jungle.  I think Tenji must be a temple that a lot of people go to on New Year's Day to make wishes for a good new year.  These plaques represent the Japanese/Chinese zodiac (which is done by year, not month).  I think this is the year of the sheep/ram.

I have seen this kind of construction with wood in
wood but not wood in stone.

I don't know what this bush is but I've seen it in purple as well.

Look at this cool branch!

This is a shrine for those little jizos I was telling you about -
they take care of deceased children.  These are all holding
pinwheels and are under a plastic pink awning.

Jungley right?  Sort of like Hawaii.

This is probably for doing well in school or on examsor becoming wiser.
That seems to be what the bulls symbolize in most places. 

There is going to be a small festival at this temple on May 3.  In the morning children will carry a mikoshi - a portable shrine - through town and then I imagine there will be food booths and maybe entertainment at the temple.  I will be going and I'll see if any of the other teachers want to join me.

No post of late would be complete without a few sakura!!!  These might be the last ones though...

It's gone from winter jacket weather to short sleeve weather in one week.  And it looks as though the next few days will be sunny as well as warm.  I'm hoping to explore the area during this vacation and good weather will make it much more fun!  Can't wait!