The rising sun

Because the sun rises pretty early (earlier than me, that is), it is difficult to catch its rise.

Here is a picture I took some times ago. Sunset must be more difficult to catch, since the view on the other side of the house is a little hidden by the mountain...

  

 

Attending a workshop

This week was pretty busy... after the presentation on Wednesday, I attended today a workshop all in Japanese (of course, we are in Fukushima, remember) about assisting (supporting) non Japanese speaking foreigners in Fukushima. It was organized by the Fukushima International Association. 

It was interesting to learn that 45 % of foreigners in Fukushima are Chinese, followed by Koreans, Philipinos, Brazilians. About 3 % Americans and 14 % others (I guess that Europeans would be included in the "others").

Presentation in Japanese

I will be giving a presentation in Japanese next week about life in Fukushima as a foreigner and Switzerland.

Then, next week-end, I will be attending a one-day workshop about interpretation to/from Japanese.

I am afraid that although my spoken Japanese skills have been improving a lot since I moved to Fukushima last year, my Japanese language reading/writing skills are not yet at a professional level. I am working hard on the said skills, though.

Volunteering for AFWJ

I have been volunteering for AFWJ for quite some time now. Years ago, I was Kanto Newsletter Editor. I later did 2 years as a Journal Editor. I was then a Technical Advisor for the following Journal Editor, for about two years. I volunteered again last year as a Journal Editor, but this time only for one year. From this upcoming April, I will say goodbye to the position for good.

Since 2007, I am also AFWJ's Webmaster. Life had been very busy this past year and I could not do as much as I would have wanted.

However, recently, I created a new Blog about AFWJ Members.

The latest entry is an important one I would like to see spread over Japan. You may have heard of foreign nurses and caregivers being welcomed in Japan. I believe that it is important that the nurses' voices and their version, quite different from the "official" version we see on TV, is heard. Feel free to forward.

Featured in a local newspaper

I was recently interviewed (in Japanese) by a local newspaper (Fukushima Living, distributed to all household in Fukushima city). The article will appear in early November.

Translation:
Ms Annerose is from Switzerland. She came to Fukushima, her husband's hometown, this past Spring. At her home, she opened a classroom called "Annerose's classroom", where she teaches French, German and simple English. She also translates from German and English into French. Someday, she would also like to translate from Japanese and is studying to this purpose. "I like studying very much. It is important to always learn something new."she said in fluent Japanese. She also volunteers for AFWJ (Association of foreign wives of Japanese). She is enjoying her life in Fukushima while taking care of her family.

Pictures of the areas around our home

DH went out for a walk today.

Here is the very small cake shop that opened recently just next to our house.


Houses in Fukushima are larger than in the Tokyo area...


And here is the nearby scenary...

Introducing my teaching activities

I created a new entry on the classroom blog, to introduce my teaching activities in English. The rest of the blog is in Japanese.

See here for more details.