Sunday, October 08, 2006

Keeping Up on Sports

I followed the Vikings game over the internet last night. Great fourth quarter! I was up at 3:00 in the morning reading the internet updates. I could not follow baseball very well here. The Japanese League is in the playoffs. The Japanese don't seem to care to much about American baseball or American Football. They do follow their japanese players that are in the U.S. I did watch Rugby, the sport not the town, on TV. It was wild. It is way more physical than football. I also watched field hockey.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Mr. Z !!

Just heard your school report on KZZJ and had to check out the site! Looks great. I like all the pictures. Need to go now - look at site more later! Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Good morning Mr. Zwingel-
We are certainly enjoying your blogging site. The pictures are great, and we appreciate the captions and explanations that go with them.

The third graders had a few more questions and comments on your pictures. You mentioned watching Rugby on TV and you were at a professional baseball game. What other sports are popular in Japan? The third graders thought you were eating either something made of rice or sushi at the baseball game. Were they correct? Several third graders would like to know if Japan has theme parks like Six Flags or Disneyland? The students also want to know if you are still in a hotel or if you have a host family now? Mrs. Gault's students wondered if you have made any mistakes in procedures when greeting people etc.? They think that it sounds a bit stressful to try not to offend anyone unknowingly. The students also wondered about the musical instruments, what they are called etc. Do they play musical instruments that are like ours, like the trumpet, the clarinet, the french horn? And of course, they want to know which food is your favorite? Have you eaten any tuna? That fish is really big.

Thanks so much for telling us about your trip. We look forward to reading the blog each day.

Mrs. Rham and Mrs. Gault's Third Grade Class

We are going to do the assignment with the business cards.

Mr. Z said...

You have so many questions. It might be best to send some of the questions seperately. I t easier for me to read and respond to each of them that way.

Sports - Monday was a National Holiday here. It was national sports day. It is a little like our Labor Day because most people don not have to work. Many of the schools have fun competitions such as sack races, tug of war, etc. The students and the parents participate.

They love baseball me. Baseball is number 1. The city I am now (Chigasaki) is known for surfing. There are surf board shops everywhere. I have also seen golf, soccer, and archery.

See I did eat sushi at the baseball game. It is a ball of rice with fish wrapped in sea weed.

They have a big Tokyo Disney here. I also say an aquarium and several of amusement parks. They like the same things that you like.

Musical Instruments: They have all the same musical instruments that we have. I have heard more classical music here than I do in the United States. They also like rock, rap, and class rock. The Southern All-Stars is a popular rock band from Chigasaki.

Even though I don't know the language,people try to explain things to me. We do allot of smiling and gesturing. If you just can't make sense of it all you just say "Thank you", bow and move on to someone else.

I miss American food. We live in a place that has cows and grain (wheat). In Japan they live in a place that has fish, vegetables, and rice. I like fish, rice, and vegetables but I grew up eating beef, bread, and milk. In Japan they grew up eat what they had, fish, vegetables, and rice. They like our type of food also but prefer japanese food. There are McDonalds, Subway, Dennys,Red Lobster, and many,many 7 elevans here. You eat the way that you were raised.

The japanese are very slim people. I predict that they will gain weight eating our western style foods.

Thanks for the questions. Arigato

P.S. I am bringing back chop sticks for everybody so be ready to eat lunch with chop sticks some day. Please warn the cooks.
Mr. Z

Mr. Z said...

Thanks, Nick!
I am very appreciative to you and the school board for allowing this to happen. I hope I can bring back information that will make our school a better place and our students more enriched. Thanks again.