this one was at lake biwa, the largest freshwater lake in japan. the lake certainly isnt half as pretty as i'd imagined it to be, after all that i've heard about it in japanese classes. but apparently the part where we were at isnt as nice as the other parts of the place, so perhaps it's just where we were. we were in the biwa lake conference centre, and it's an amazing place with great food - no pictures, sorry - and nice rooms.
some pictures:
lake biwa - it's certainly not pretty and it reminds me of scotland! i suppose it's partly because there was a light drizzle then, but waves in a lake! i was rather surprised.
it's very cool how you can see the tides in the lake by looking at the deposits on the shore
saw some chestnuts when we were walking around the area surrounding the conference centre. mainly houses, but the chestnuts were cool.
they were seriously huge ass (a descriptive term i've picked up from the ALT living upstairs)! i've seen many chestnuts in london, but none as big as these
we were playing games with the students for one of the lessons, and this is what we did to the board for the game hot seat:
we didnt really start out intending to give them flowers to mark 1 point and a tree to each group if they tie, but things just developed and i think it's a great idea. the students loved this game too. turn any game into a competition of sorts and they'll love it.
on the last day, we were brought on a tour of this place called gokasho in shiga prefecture where lake biwa is. this place has many beautiful old buildings and houses and there was a tour guide to explain things to us. the students were meant to act as translators for the ALTs and i think they did a great job, although i understood more than what they managed to explain to me. haha. so i think their translation combined with my understanding resulted in me getting quite a good idea of what was going on :)
some views:
the closest you'll get to seeing the students
the interior of one of the old houses which has been turned into a place of interest:
i really loved that little town. the houses are gorgeous and the entire place was so peaceful and tranquil and surrounded by lush green verdant grass. well, not quite grass because a lot of the green comes from the rice fields, but wow. the shade of green of the rice fields is so beautiful. it's a kind of green that you never ever ever get in singapore, and i love it so much. pity i dont have a photo of the sight though. things were a bit rushed that day as we had to be on schedule!
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