parks

Near my house there are 2 parks. There is robot park and step park.

Robot park has a bunch of robot statues that are only a foot tall but they stack up. In the day the park is really crowded will little kids. There is a long slide that is made of spinning metal bars. Over where the parents sit on a big rock there is a net of metal. On the bars that hold it up there are little orange steps and vines! 

Step park is the opposite of robot park. I have no idea why it it is called step park. There was almost no one there. There is a wide slide that ends up in a sand pit. When I say slide I mean slick concrete. They also have a sports field that is really short turf. Step park is on the walk to school.  

Both parks are really cool

Comparisons

In this blog post I wanted to talk about comparisons Tokyo vs Dearfield.

Transportation
 In Tokyo you walk so much! And there are very few cars and a lot more taxis. Many people use the subway and it can be really crowded.

Architecture
Buildings are also different than Dearfield but mostly like Chicago. They are built up not out even houses. Like the school is a small bit bigger but 3 stories tall!

Currency
One yen is about worth one penny. They just say 1250 yen which is 12 dollars and 50 cents. Basically you just take the two last digits off and that is how many $$$$. The last two numbers are the cents. They have the 1 yen 5 yen 10 yen 50 yen 100 yen and the 500 yen coin. They have the 1000, 5000 and the 10000 yen bill. Many places don't take credit cards so people carry a lot of money around. Hyaku is 100 in Japanese so the hyaku yen store is like the dollar tree.

House

We finally got the house. It is giant and it is an apartment. My room has a bunk bed with a desk under it. One of the lights took 5 minutes to fully get on. The neighbors are really nice. This is a whole street of apartment instead of just one building. We are in place D. Most of the kids are younger but there are a couple there are same age or a bit older. The street is really good for hide and seek. Once I hid behind my dad and then I moved where they already looked. The new house is amazing.

The winter concert was better that I expected. I practiced a lot at home and yay! First the kindergartners and the first graders preformed and left. Then the real show started were more grown ups came and we did the opening song with second and third grade on the stage and fourth and fifth sitting. Then we sat sat and sat. Finally we were on the stage. We sang our three songs played oshogatsu on the recorder and the Koto. Then we where off the stage and choir was on the stage after a few songs we did the same closing song.

The Hanamula store was really fun! We supply the items but she gets the money. ( don't get any ideas mister mic.)  I sold rainbow loom bracelets for five and three and the sold out. The way she picks who goes is there is this website that spins the names around and it randomly picks one. This is during lunch . I made a bet with Thomas that I would be last and he said that he would be last for 10 yen. When he got out he said later on that I bet 50 yen that you will be next and I was last. Now he owes me 60 yen that he hasn't given me yet.

Earthquake!

Now you'r probobly wondering about the title but we had a mini earthquake. Last Wendsday at 6:17 we had a very small earthquake that barly shook the painting in the hotel room. Me and my mom were talking and she was like stop. There is an earthquake and she turned on the tv and on the top it said earthquake at 6:17. At school under our chair we have a helmet straped in under netting.

In PE we are inbetween units so we are playing a capture the flag version. The next thing we do is baseball. In January we are going on a two night ski trip. We have a Pe uniform and you have a choice between shorts or sweetpants and a tee shint or sweeter. My SAFA group is drama but we combine with PE and eather do a PE game or act something out.

In art we are hagoita which is a paddle with both sides painted. One side is painted with a cartoon charactor and the other with a traditianal Japanies thing. We are using these along with paper doves covered with paper snowflakes to decorate the winter consert.

First week

Hi, this is Lucas. Japan is going very well. The hotel is nice and we move into the house on the 12th of December. Now we are living in Kitano arms The hotel is very big but everything is small like the kitchen and the table. There is one bedroom with a king size bed and a cot. The house that we are moving into is giant. We picked out a black couch a white table and a red chair.

Nishimachi international  school is really great. My classroom teacher is Ms. Hanamura and (mister mic you have competition) she hands out Hanamulas. The best part is recess on the rooftop! On the roof there is an enclosed with netting (thankfully) is a basketball court were people play soccer. And second recess in not air born. For lunch we eat in the classroom. The teacher eats sushi!

The most interesting part is the fact that we have Japanese every day. On Thursdays we have it for longer than and day of the week. For gym in January we go on a 3 night skiing trip. The winter concert is in the winter and I am not ready. The art teacher said they just started a new project. On Fridays we do this thing called SAFA and the class is divided into little groups and we go off to a mini special with other classes in the grade.