Catching up on some good ole Current Events

The Earthquake in Niigata:
So I just read in the news that the Japanese government is making the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant close it’s doors after the earthquake on Monday caused some leakage. It’s the largest powerplant in the world. I am pretty concerned by the fact that they weren’t prepared for the effects of an earthquake. How dangerous! Then again, it was only just confirmed that they are located directly on top of a fault line, so I am not sure how predictable it was. Prior to the 1995 7.2-magnitude earthquake that toppled Kobe in 1995, there was a general belief that the area I am in was also resistant to major quakes.


Anyways, here’s more info if you are curious: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070719a1.html


And from our neighbors in Korea:
Also in the news, it appears that North Korea has shut down a bunch of it’s nuclear facilities and that political negotiations/talks have resumed in Beijing. OK, it might be a small step, but it is progress... encouraging news in general. I am sure the topic will be addressed at the World Peace Conference in Hiroshima next month, which focuses on atomic weapons (held annually in Hiroshima & Nagasaki on the anniversary of the A-bombs dropped on the cities in 1945, during WWII). I am still not sure who I am going with (everyone either doesn’t want to go to the conference or will be out of town – except for Torbjorn and Trygve, but they are part of a delegation from Norway), but I am really looking forward to the trip.


Check it out:　http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/07/18/nkorea.nuclear.ap/index.html


Side-story: The Airplane Game:
I should probably get going, but I have a funny story from my day today before I close the post. I just did a lesson with the third-year students where I thought it would be fun to review Introductions. It’s basic, yes, but they’re not all so natural with self-introductions, which is why it’s all the more important that we practice and strengthen their foundations. Anyways, I thought it would be fun to first ask them to describe "funny" pictures (they chose a person from about 10 pictures and had to tell a story about them – it was actually really hilarious) and then to end with a paper airplane game I got from one of my textbooks. The way the airplane game works is that the students write basic information about themselves, fold the sheet into a paper airplane, and then throw the airplanes to a different part of the room, all at once. The students were then supposed to pick up an airplane near them (other than their own) and introduce the person who’s plane they had found. Well, it sort of worked (these games are great for getting everyone involved and encouraging public-speaking), except that some of the boys threw their planes out the window. I mean seriously...are you kidding me? I just hope that none of the other students (who's classroom windows ALL face the courtyard) saw me run into the garden, leap the little fence around the flowers (yes, and flower beds) to retrieve the planes from the grass in the middle of the courtyard. I forgot to switch to outside shoes, too!! Noone has said anything and it is pretty funny in hindsight, but I definitely think that was the first and last time I used the airplane game. Hey, at least we’re keeping things interesting :-P