Sunday, September 24, 2006

A Beautiful Day

Today was an exceptionally beautiful day in Shimogo. The weather was perfect and it reminded me of my summer holidays when I was growing up on the Isle of Skye. I took advantage of the weather and cycled up my favourite mountain along with my new camera (despite its size and weight).

The mountains were lovely and peaceful and the sky was blue with some scattered clouds. Towards the top of the mountain, it started to get cold - a sure sign that we are now in autumn.

I usually enjoy the scenery and peacefulness of the mountains the most but today was certainly the exception. When I returned to Shimogo, I decided to take a cycle through the nearby rice fields as it was obvious by the high level of activity that the locals had started to harvest the rice. The fields looked lovely in the sun and it was really interesting to see the farmers going about their business. I'd like spend a day helping someone harvesting their rice so that I can have a greater understanding of what is involved in harvesting rice in Japan.Hopefully there will be many more autumn days like today. I really do not feel like going to work tomorrow - I want to get outside again and enjoy the beautiful weather as much as possible.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

some pictures! Good to see you enjoying your time in Shimogo and making teh best of it. But doing a day in the rice paddy............... !
tried to buy the postage for THE envellope today online but failed. Will have to visit the post office once more!

Matthew Fulford said...

Nice photos! I feel like I wasted yesterday a bit, I should have been up a mountain too. Today is just as nice, it's a shame to be indoors.

Asahida was brill by the way, I needn't have worried. Great kids.

...and again, I was quite impressed by their knowledge of Scotland and England!

Matthew Fulford said...

Nice photos! I feel like a wasted yesterday a bit, I should have been up a mountain. It's just as nice today, it's a shame to be indoors!

Asahida was great by the way! Brilliant kids! Again I was rather impressed by their knowledge of Scotland and England! Even the second graders shouted out Scotland! Good work.

Kane Davidson said...

If there's one thing I have done well at Elementary School, it's been teaching them the difference between Scotland and England.

I knew the classes would be fine - just go with the flow and let the kids go in the direction they want.

Anonymous said...

Matthew Fulford - stop repeating yourself.

Matthew Fulford - stop repeating yourself.

Anonymous said...

Oh no I hope we are not in for another round of cut and paste!!! Stop it, stop it NOW.

Good pics Kane and hello matthew
hello matthew.

Anonymous said...

Lee Carson has been teaching for nine years in two different schools. He has been working at Queensferry Primary since 2000 and is currently teaching P7 pupils. Mr Carson is responsible for science and ICT in the curriculum.

Mr Carson has attended the ELITE (Effective Learning with Information Technology in Edinburgh) programme, but otherwise most of his skills are self-taught.

He has recently attended a training course on the use of the SMART Board, run by SMART Technologies, and has since been using the Interactive Maths ToolKit software. He finds the SMART Board very useful for teaching maths as the pupils enjoy the interactivity offered by the technology.

Mr Carson is very enthusiastic generally about the use of ICT in his teaching and he uses it daily for different subjects. He uses a system called Remote Desktop, which allows him to control pupils’ computers. For example, he can start a maths exercise from his computer, which is connected to the whiteboard, and then send the file through to the pupils’ laptops for them to continue with the task.

Mr Carson mentions that generally he tends to deal with ICT problems on his own. However, there is a local education authority ICT officer who can come and help with the technology when needed.