Bluebird's Chalet

Tuesday, May 17, 2005


David in his classroom at ECC Posted by Hello

At a campus of ECC we observed two of David's classes. The first class of four year olds were learning colors and names of fruits, excitedly giving David "five" when they got the right answer. The 2nd grade girls (admittedly David's favorite group this semester) are cute, experienced students. They were learning days of the week and months of the year. They enjoyed a rowdy game of "fruit basket turn over". Meanwhile across the hall a tall young man fearlessly did the hokey pokey with a class of 2 and 3 year olds and their mothers. Outside in the hall several mothers came by to say hello to us in halting English.

for more information on ECC Kids see:

http://www.ecc.co.jp/htm/english/index.html


School children planting flowers along the street where we were staying Posted by Hello


Patting the Billiken for good luck Posted by Hello


Tsutenkaku Tower Posted by Hello


The first Holiday of Golden Week. We join the families having picnics in the park at Tennoji. Teenage dance groups are performing Hip Hop on the stage in the noon day sun. Little kids are wading in a small stream. We get a close up view of the Koalas at the zoo (my reason for wanting to go to the park). Late in the afternoon we walk down to the Tsutenkaku Tower, where we queue up for the elevator to the top. Great views of the city in all directions. I pat the belly of the Billiken for good luck. I think it worked. Everything seemed to work out smoothly for the entire trip.

To learn more:
Billiken
http://www.e-z-smith.com/Billycan/

About the tower:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/RTG/RI/kansai/osaka/shinsekai/shinsekai.html

Tennoji:
http://www.tourism.city.osaka.jp/en/area_osaka/tennoji/attraction/

Flat Friends On the Road

My blog posts from the Japanese keyboard on the hotel computer came across like squares. It has something to do with the way the browser reads them. Son, David put up some posts on his blog: www.Osakadavesjapan.blogspot.com He was enthusiastic about the flat friends and made sure they got to take part in every event.

I am now updating this one with pictures and descriptions of our adventures.

Fasten your seatbelts we are ready for take off.