From today, Mr. Benjamin, the ALT of the compulsory education school, will come to visit us every Thursday! We were very excited to hear he was coming! It was his first time today, so we showed him our childish sides.

A child played with him, another stared from afar, another walked around Ben and observed him. Even if the distance between each of us and Ben is different, each was very curious.

As we shorten the distance at our own pace, I believe that we will become friends someday!

See you next week!

Taketori Monogatari
(Bamboo cutter story)

Once upon a time, there was a person called Taketori no Okina (Old man). Okina went to the mountains to pick some bamboo, to make many things with them. His name is Matsunaga Hideatsu. One day, in the bamboo forest, he found one bamboo stalk where the bottom was shining. He was suspicious, and when he looked closer, it seemed that the inside of the bamboo was shining, so he decided on this one. The children had walked 30 minutes one way to visit an old woman, who treated them with miso and cucumbers that had grown well in her greenhouse. In this old mans and womans house, vegetables were grown in a large greenhouse, and it was a wonderful place where many carp, mitten crabs, chickens, and more were living.

This is the story of the children who went to the home of Mr. Matsunaga, a councillor of Yumenomori school, to get some healthy bamboo for tomorrow's Tanabata festival. Even in the heat, the wind gently caresses my cheeks, and while gazing at the rice plants that have grown to knee-high heights, I call out to a working car that I can see clearly in the distance. A helicopter turns the children's eyes to the blue sky. The large view created by these factors was an experience that made you feel Ogawara on a different scale than usual

I feel like I've been looking straight up for the first time in a long time. It felt so good to stretch their spines.

Well then, feel free to stop by when you can grow watermelons!!