The Backpack Adventures

Weekend 32: June 11 - 12, 2022 Day 222: June 11, 2022 Saturday - Sports Festival at Midorigaoka Elementary School Today is a special day for Ella as it is her first Sports Festival at Midorigaoka Elementary School . She was too eager and excited to go to school, as a matter of fact, she went ahead of us at around 8AM. We followed almost an hour later.  Students of Midorigaoka Elementary School prepare for their game The program started at 9AM. The students were divided into two teams which are red and white. Ella was part of the white team. This reminded me of the Helm and Vinta in PAREF Southridge School for Boys.  Daddy and Mommy came to support It was fun watching the kids give their all in the different games. Ella played in the 100m race and the 5 colors tug of war. Sadly, her team lost this year. Regardless, they seem to enjoy playing together. It was also a perfect way to teach these kids humility and sportsmanship.  Ella with Teacher Kanda When we got home, we praised Ella for

I have already written about Japan's Awesome Manhole Covers in the past and talked about being part of a hobbyist group referred to as drainspotters . Being one is not easy as it also requires me to visit different towns, cities, and villages in Japan .  Hokkaido Manhole Covers Lucky for me, I'm blessed to have been given the opportunity to live and work in Rumoi City in Hokkaido Prefecture as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) under the JET Programme. For this article, I will only focus on my current home prefecture.  As of this writing, there are 179 municipalities in Hokkaido Prefecture. This is broken down into 35 cities, 129 towns, and 15 villages. It only means that there are a lot of different manhole cover designs to see. Aside from that, there are currently  41   Pokemon Manhole Covers scattered around the prefecture. You can click the link to read more about these special manhole covers.  Going back, these are the manhole covers that I have "collected" in