Hello, eveyone! I’ve been a little busy lately, and I’ve neglected the BLOG, for which I apologize. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!

We’ve just wrapped up our first full week of the new schedule. It’s always interesting to see the new class dynamics as the students start to settle in. Once bold students might become shy or hesitant. Aggressive students might decide to sit back and watch for awhile, until they get comfortable with their new classmates. It’s an opportunity for the children to display their abilities in front of a new audience and they relish the chance. They grow up so quickly, don’t they?

Here in Omura, the weather has been great all week. That’s good for the farmers and golfers, but terrible for the hayfever sufferers! Plenty of people are wearing masks, using eye drops, and taking medicine. Emi’s biggest problem is with her eyes – they itch. There are plenty of cedar trees in Japan, and they are what most people are allergic to. Knowing how to talk about your allergies is very important to people who travel to English-speaking countries, so let me share a little information with you, okay? :

“Be allergic to” is an idiom. For example: “I’m allergic to nuts.” and “He’s allergic to shellfish.” In the word “allergic” the “g” is pronounced like a “j” because it is followed by “i”. So the “g” sounds like the “g” in “giraffe.”

allergy (usually the plural form: allergies) is the noun.
For example: “My eyes are red because I have allergies.” Allergy ends with a “jee” pronounciation, not “gee.”

And of course, “hayfever” is the situation that so many people have now. For example: “I have hayfever.” Hayfever is caused by “pollen” (that dust that floats into the air from plants, flowers and trees).

I have no idea who is reading this BLOG, so I don’t know if that information is useful, but if it is….Great!

At any rate, the sun is shining, my neighbor’s daffodils are just beginning to bloom, and I’m hoping for a long, moderate Spring before the extreme heat and humidity of Summer. Spring is my favorite season of the year, and it can’t come soon enough!

I hope that you are all well! Take good care of yourselves and I’ll “talk” to you again soon.

V/R,

Jeff