Tonight was a very intellectual day. Until the evening, it was a very lazy day. The students are not here unless they are doing sports or trying trying desperately not to fail the first term. First thing, I helped a student who was really struggling with English, and from then on I had a productive time ploughing through the new Harry Potter, listening to Radio1, learning a few kanji (Chinese characters) and reading the paper. I have also started a new habit of reading one news story a day in Japanese, French and then English. So far it is proving quite a good idea, and is certainly helping my kanji.

So, to the intellectual part of my day...In the evening I went to a haiku club. Eight of the teachers get together once a month and have dinner and talk about haiku. During the month, people submit haikus either about a set topic, or free writing, then on the night everyone votes for their top 3, and the authors discuss why they wrote it and so on. I was happy just to understand some of them.

Here is a selection of the ones I liked:

捩摺のらせんの先は青い空
(mojizuri no rasen no saki wa aoizora)
At the end of the Lady`s Tresses spiral is the blue sky.
(see here for a picture of a Lady`s Tresses: http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw1097707.html)

麦笛や修道院にパンを焼く
(mugibue ya shuudouuin ni pan o yaku)
bread baking in the abbey, wheat fileds sing.

歩み止め願いを託す天の川
(ayumi tome negai o makasu ten no kawa)
stop walking and wish upon a star.

庭草に可れんなはなが顔を出し
(niwakusa ni karen na hana ga kao o dashi)
delicate flowers raise their faces from amoung the grasses.