Cycling to Matsumoto

On Saturday I did lots of cleaning and laundry, and then I cycled to Matsumoto castle with Davide. On the way I picked up a music stand which I’ve been trying to do for quite a while now. I also helped Davide out with getting a hat and fixing his bicycle’s chain. It is about 15 km from Shiojiri to Matsumoto castle, so we got some good exercise. There were loads of people at the castle, as this is supposed to be the peak of cherry blossom season and Matsumoto castle is supposed to be one of the best places to see cherry blossoms. This year, however, it has been cold later than usual, so the blossoms were still in their early stage, and none were falling yet. Davide took lots of pictures so that he could make paintings, and then we rode home. Davide was planning to go back to Matsumoto, but I was tired so I picked up a delicious dinner of Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki from the supermarket and more or less went to bed after that.

On Sunday I gave a lesson at church about Daniel in the lions’ den. I really didn’t want to do it because my seasonal allergies were terrible, and I was coughing a lot, but when I finally got up to do it I had almost no trouble whatsoever. The story part went very well, and the song was okay. As usual I didn’t feel great about the game. First I did a kind of mimicking game, just for on, in, and under. Next I asked everyone to stand on a circle (of ropes), in the circle, or get under the circle. Finally, we had a race where one representative from two teams had to put a ball on, in, or under a basket. I wasn’t very clear on how to do any of the activities, and the kids didn’t learn the target language, I don’t think, despite my consistent usage of hand gestures. But I told myself that I wasn’t going to beat myself up over this, because it’s certainly not a waste of their time, and even if it was, I am doing it for free. So I want to do it well, but there’s essentially no pressure.

I wanted to go climbing after church, but the weather was a bit rainy and I was tired and my meal time didn’t fit well with a climbing time. Plus, I was still a bit sore from the previous day’s excursion. So in the end I stayed home. I did manage to practice violin and watch a bit of My Hero Academia, as well as cooking a delicious dinner of gyuudon (beef with rice, and in this case also broccoli and carrots). I almost fell asleep at 7:30, but managed to fend off sleep until about 8:30.

Today I had my first English classes with normal classes. I was really nervous in the first class. Embarrassingly, I didn’t bring the computer with me as I should have, and I mixed up the English teacher’s name. The students seemed to enjoy the class for the most part, though. My second class went better I think, partially because this teacher was very clear in her goals and time usage, so I know we accomplished everything she wanted to do. I was worried about using up too much time, but at the end she allowed plenty of time for questions.