Doug has shared this article about kids in Fukushima

Please read this with your parents - it's something for us to think about here in Fukuoka where we have the freedom to go outside as we please...

Click HERE to read

Excellent Postcards!

You guys are amazing! You worked so hard to write your postcards - the people who receive them are going to be really happy to get them.

Here are a few pics of your efforts today:

International Postcard Swap for Families

Yesterday I sent each family a list of addresses for the postcard swap and some information about what sort of things to write in your message. Before our next class, please do these things:

1. Buy or make 5 postcards
2. Write one address on each postcard (see the sample I sent to your parents if you don't know how to do it)
3. If you hope that those families will write back to you, find a small place on the card to write your address
4. On a DIFFERENT piece of paper (not the postcard yet), prepare the message that you want to write on the postcards. Remember to recommend a book or story that you like.
5. Bring your 5 addressed postcards and the paper with your message on it to class at Ropponmatsu next week. Graeme, Doug and Christie will check your message and supervise as you write it on your cards.

See you next week!

Great Cycling!

Well, we had only about 1/2 our members today but we had an active (and kind of sweaty!) bike riding seminar - balancing, going over curbs and bumps, and following an obstacle course. Graeme was the only one who wound up bleeding, so I think all in all it was a good day!

Hana's shirt says it all - "Girls Bike Better!!"

Christie gets a free ride from Olivia thanks to the Trail-a-bike

Maya and Nozomi work on their balance

Plans for 5/21

Carrying on with our unit on bicycles, we are going to meet at Ohori Park tomorrow for a bicycle riding seminar with Graeme, our bicycle expert. Graeme is bringing his student, Shion, to ride with us, so it will be great to meet a new friend. Shion lived abroad for a year and Graeme is helping him to keep the English he learned while he was abroad.

Graeme has rearranged his schedule so he can come earlier than usual, so please see if you can, too! We are going to meet in Ohori Park in the grassy area up the stairs from Kujira Koen. (Between Starbucks and Kujira Koen there is a slope that goes up to the grassy area. Go up there and look for us on the grass opposite the public restrooms.)

Graeme and I are going to be there from 9:45. It would be great if everyone can be there by 10:00 - sound ok?

Things to bring:

Bicycle (Olivia, don't worry, I'll bring the trail-a-bike and helmet)
Helmet
Proper shoes for riding (no flip flops or high heels)
Sunscreen (the weather report says it will get up to 30 degrees tomorrow)
Hat for when you're not riding
Drink bottle (don't forget!)
Lunch (if you like - let's stay and have a picnic on the grass afterwards)
Homework paper (we'd like to see if you remembered all the parts of a bicycle)

E-mail me if you have any questions. See you tomorrow!

Bike maintenance photos

Well, we couldn't have asked for nicer weather - it was downright hot, wasn't it? Graeme led us through all the parts of a bicycle

And then those who didn't go play dodgeball or catch lizards worked on fixing Natsuko's front wheel!

Doug got in on the action, too...

Update on bicycle maintenance workshop

After all the rain we've had this week, it looks like Saturday is going to be OK for our bicycle maintenance workshop (hooray!). Let's meet at Provenzanos - we'll use the parking lot to work on our bikes. Please be here and ready to work at 10:15 (so arriving between 10 and 10:15 is probably a good idea).

I've just talked to Graeme and he has a list of things he'd like people to bring on Saturday.

1. a bicycle
2. a set of allen keys (he said if you don't have a set you can buy them at many 100 yen shops - see photo here)
3. if the front wheel of your bicycle does NOT have a quick release lever, please bring a wrench("spanner" in UK English...). Graeme said it's best to have a "box end" wrench rather than an "open end" wrench (check here if you don't know what that means).
4. an adjustable crescent wrench ("adjustable spanner" in UKese)
5. tire levers (Graeme says they are sometimes available at 100 yen shops, too - they look like this)

Do your best to bring what you can - we'll share! Another thing to consider is this: Next week we hope to continue the bicycle lesson by learning some basic rules as well as some riding techniques from Graeme. Japanese traffic law says that kids aged 1-12 years MUST wear a helmet. Graeme Christie's rule says that all Kidz Group riders (even 13-year-old riders...) must wear a helmet.

Safety first!

If you want to bring a lunch and eat here after the workshop, you are welcome to stay for a while. See you soon, cyclists!

Bicycle maintenance workshop by Graeme

This is advance notice that we are PROBABLY going to have a lesson about bicycle maintenance next Saturday. We want to do it before the mosquitoes come out in force and before the rainy season! Our plan is to conduct the workshop in the parking lot at Provenzanos' place. If it rains, we can still do it under the car port roof at Provenzanos' neighbor's place. I will keep you posted about the details. Have a good week!

Eggs

So is everyone enjoying egg salad sandwiches these days?! We were a little late with our Easter creations, but they were beautiful nonetheless - great job, everyone! I was especially fond of the Raptor's Egg (was that by Jojo?).

Here are some photos of our artwork:

Egg painting!

Hello and Happy Friday, everyone --

Graeme reminded me that we haven't had a chance to use the great egg painting kit that Hana brought back from the U.S., so let's have an EGG-STRAVAGANZA tomorrow! This year, so I don't have to cook dozens of eggs, I would like each person to bring as many hard-boiled eggs as he or she would like to color. Bring them gently and carefully (carrying them in their original case is probably the best idea) and we'll color them up!

I know we've missed Easter, but coloring eggs is fun pretty much anytime, so let's do it!

See you in Ropponmatsu tomorrow with your hard boiled eggs!

p.s. we are also going to talk about the postcard swap I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in this post (Click here).