Well not much has been going on lately. It was a normal week except on Wednesday our school hosted the Miyagi Prefecture Ekiden. The Ekiden is a 6 person, km, cross-country relay race. There were 34 teams from all over the Miyagi Prefecture at our school. Classes were cancelled for the day, but all the kids had to come to school and had the job of cheering at different locations on the race course. Our school came in last for both the boys and girls race, but really the only reason we had participants is because the host school gets an automatic berth. A different school hosts the event for 3 years in a row, and this was the first of our 3 years. I wonder if this will prompt our runners to train harder and if we will do a little better next year?

These are some random pics from around my area. Hopefully, these will give you an idea of the feel and geography of life in the Inaka (countryside). Enjoy!

This pic below is actually one of my favorite pis I've taken. It really captures the spirit of both the area I live in, and the work going on this time of year. In the foreground you can see the rice farmer aboard the rice harvesting machine. These are everywhere. Moving up you see rice that has been cut, clumped together, and is stacked on these long poles. I've dubbed these stacks, "Rice Ghosts" because they ihave the eerie feeling that they might spring to livfe at any second. The look like huge cylindrical scarecrows that have been stripped of their clothes, arms and legs. You could make a fantastic horror movie with these things! "Children of the Rice." Finally, at the top of the pic you can see the ever present mountains that seem to have no end. I like how the value changes as they get farther in the distance. This is an example of a classic art lesson I do with my students on value. I saw this scene as I was driving on one of the main roads and I just had to pull over and snap this pic. I like how it captures so much of the feeling around this part of the country.