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supernutjapanNo new questions last weekend, so here are some from the same week in 2020.
These questions were written byahunter3.
1. Have you ever been in a hurricane or typhoon? Which one, when and where?
I've been in typhoons often. One that was memorable was in late elementary school - 5th or 6th grade, I think. It was pouring rain and my umbrella didn't make any difference on how wet I was getting because of the strong winds, so I just gave up, closed my umbrella and took a shower in the rain. It took about 10 minutes from the train station to my home and I put my umbrella down around half way there. I remember just abandoning myself to the rain because I was already as wet as I was ever going to be and it didn't matter. Mom got me a towel at the genkan (door) and hurried me to the shower where I peeled off my clothes. It must have been fall because I remember being cold when I got home, and the warmth of the shower was devine.
Typhoons are never destructive where I am living, and I've never been scared of them, but landslides do occur in mountainous areas and they are dangerous near flooding rivers.
2. Have you ever been near an erupting volcano? Which one, when and where?
No, and thank goodness. However, we always live with the possibility that some day Mt Fuji will erupt. We are not that close, but there will be air polution even here.
3. Are there tornadoes where you live? Has a tornado come near you?
No, and I have never experienced a tornado.
4. Have you experienced severe flooding? When and where?
No, thankfully. There has been flooding in the rivers not so far from us, but we have never been affected.
5. What is the most extreme weather you have ever experienced?
There was a typhoon a few years back which caused the flooding and landslides, and weather forcast had shops close early on Friday night. We closed our school that Saturday too. Everyone was holed up at home.
One year when Audrey was 4 or 5 (10 or so years ago) we had major snow here in Tokyo where the snow walls in the parking lots were higher than my daughter (1m). Summers can sometimes go over 40 degrees celcius here but I've experienced 50 in Thailand when we went on our Senior trip. I experienced an extremely cold winter in Vancouver while I was in uni, where temps went down to 15 below (30 - 40 with winds). My friend came to visit from Missouri and couldn't get back because the airport shut down. That doesn't happen often here in Tokyo either.
Compared to other places, though, the weather is mild.
***************
The other day, my son asked where the word cocktail comes from. We looked it up and found some interesting explanations. I think the beer dregs idea is most likely. If you're interested, here is a link to a page I looked at.
I am getting rather bored LOL I read Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series for three days straight and that was scary in how addictive it was. The writing itself was not special, but the plot and characters were quite engaging. After that I was scared of wasting days away and tiring my eyes out again and switched to The Blacklist. I've watched up to the end of S8 and am taking a break. I want to watch The Sandman, or Big Sky next. Maybe Big Sky since it's on Disney and I might forget it otherwise. I don't really open Disney regularly and was thinking of quitting the subscription so I've got to check it(Big Sky) out first.
Julian went to Kyoto this last weekend. There was some game festival. He went and stayed the night with a friend (a boy, and just a friend) and did some sightseeing before coming home the next day. He bought us some yatsuhashi, a popular gift from Kyoto. I've never been to Kyoto. It would be nice to go... but not in the summer because it is super hot there... one of these days.
Audrey is studying her buns off for highschool entrance exams in February. She needs to improve her school grades to even apply to the schools of her choice. Did I tell you about the grades here? Well it is a 5 grade system with 1 being the lowest (F) and 5 being the highest (A), but 1 is not quite the same as F because you can't really "fail" a class here. There are no do-overs either. Audrey's grades have finally, mostly, come up to a 3 - "average" - but she got a 2 for Math which she wasn't expecting, and she had expected a 4 for English, but got 3 for that, so she was quite disapointed. We went to talk with the teacher for our three party meeting (child, teacher, parent). The homeroom teacher is also her math teacher and he told us that her grade was barely a 2. Almost a 3. Only a few points below. Boo. It's her last year! Give her a BREAK! :((( As to the English, the teacher was new - just got back from maternity leave - and her grading system was a bit different from Audrey's previous teacher. Apparently, she adds up points for how many times the child raises his/her hand. (SERIOUSLY?!) This was new to Audrey and was not explained enough imo. We were disapointed with these two grades because now she will have to work doubly hard for her next semester because the GPA will be based on these two semesters (there are three semesters per year). But, now she knows and can raise her points easily with regard to raising her hand. *deep sigh*
The only subject she does well with is English(language, not literature), because of me obviously and not because she is good at studying the subject. But she is increasingly motivated to work hard now that her highschool entrance is on the line. I'm just hoping and praying while she goes off to cram school every day.
That's about it I guess. Time to have some coffee and chocolate muffins (made with nut butter - super yummy!) while I start on Big Sky.
These questions were written by
ahunter3.1. Have you ever been in a hurricane or typhoon? Which one, when and where?
I've been in typhoons often. One that was memorable was in late elementary school - 5th or 6th grade, I think. It was pouring rain and my umbrella didn't make any difference on how wet I was getting because of the strong winds, so I just gave up, closed my umbrella and took a shower in the rain. It took about 10 minutes from the train station to my home and I put my umbrella down around half way there. I remember just abandoning myself to the rain because I was already as wet as I was ever going to be and it didn't matter. Mom got me a towel at the genkan (door) and hurried me to the shower where I peeled off my clothes. It must have been fall because I remember being cold when I got home, and the warmth of the shower was devine.
Typhoons are never destructive where I am living, and I've never been scared of them, but landslides do occur in mountainous areas and they are dangerous near flooding rivers.
2. Have you ever been near an erupting volcano? Which one, when and where?
No, and thank goodness. However, we always live with the possibility that some day Mt Fuji will erupt. We are not that close, but there will be air polution even here.
3. Are there tornadoes where you live? Has a tornado come near you?
No, and I have never experienced a tornado.
4. Have you experienced severe flooding? When and where?
No, thankfully. There has been flooding in the rivers not so far from us, but we have never been affected.
5. What is the most extreme weather you have ever experienced?
There was a typhoon a few years back which caused the flooding and landslides, and weather forcast had shops close early on Friday night. We closed our school that Saturday too. Everyone was holed up at home.
One year when Audrey was 4 or 5 (10 or so years ago) we had major snow here in Tokyo where the snow walls in the parking lots were higher than my daughter (1m). Summers can sometimes go over 40 degrees celcius here but I've experienced 50 in Thailand when we went on our Senior trip. I experienced an extremely cold winter in Vancouver while I was in uni, where temps went down to 15 below (30 - 40 with winds). My friend came to visit from Missouri and couldn't get back because the airport shut down. That doesn't happen often here in Tokyo either.
Compared to other places, though, the weather is mild.
***************
The other day, my son asked where the word cocktail comes from. We looked it up and found some interesting explanations. I think the beer dregs idea is most likely. If you're interested, here is a link to a page I looked at.
I am getting rather bored LOL I read Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series for three days straight and that was scary in how addictive it was. The writing itself was not special, but the plot and characters were quite engaging. After that I was scared of wasting days away and tiring my eyes out again and switched to The Blacklist. I've watched up to the end of S8 and am taking a break. I want to watch The Sandman, or Big Sky next. Maybe Big Sky since it's on Disney and I might forget it otherwise. I don't really open Disney regularly and was thinking of quitting the subscription so I've got to check it(Big Sky) out first.
Julian went to Kyoto this last weekend. There was some game festival. He went and stayed the night with a friend (a boy, and just a friend) and did some sightseeing before coming home the next day. He bought us some yatsuhashi, a popular gift from Kyoto. I've never been to Kyoto. It would be nice to go... but not in the summer because it is super hot there... one of these days.
Audrey is studying her buns off for highschool entrance exams in February. She needs to improve her school grades to even apply to the schools of her choice. Did I tell you about the grades here? Well it is a 5 grade system with 1 being the lowest (F) and 5 being the highest (A), but 1 is not quite the same as F because you can't really "fail" a class here. There are no do-overs either. Audrey's grades have finally, mostly, come up to a 3 - "average" - but she got a 2 for Math which she wasn't expecting, and she had expected a 4 for English, but got 3 for that, so she was quite disapointed. We went to talk with the teacher for our three party meeting (child, teacher, parent). The homeroom teacher is also her math teacher and he told us that her grade was barely a 2. Almost a 3. Only a few points below. Boo. It's her last year! Give her a BREAK! :((( As to the English, the teacher was new - just got back from maternity leave - and her grading system was a bit different from Audrey's previous teacher. Apparently, she adds up points for how many times the child raises his/her hand. (SERIOUSLY?!) This was new to Audrey and was not explained enough imo. We were disapointed with these two grades because now she will have to work doubly hard for her next semester because the GPA will be based on these two semesters (there are three semesters per year). But, now she knows and can raise her points easily with regard to raising her hand. *deep sigh*
The only subject she does well with is English(language, not literature), because of me obviously and not because she is good at studying the subject. But she is increasingly motivated to work hard now that her highschool entrance is on the line. I'm just hoping and praying while she goes off to cram school every day.
That's about it I guess. Time to have some coffee and chocolate muffins (made with nut butter - super yummy!) while I start on Big Sky.