A NICE DINNER

Being in japan now a little over a year, i guess at times it feels a little lonely. Its not like home where you are used to family and friends. I know i can go over anytime and see my friends or family, but here things are different. Before i could just go up and talk to people, but now its hard just to even talk to anyone. Life is hard sometimes, somethings you take for granted. But i know just like in college when it was first lonely it would get better later on, so i gotta keep on trying hard everyday.

So tonite, after the discovery of soft taco shells i was happy to treat my conversation class to a dinner at my place. I dont have many people visit. Then again there are not many people that i talk to that are older, so i guess at times they are kinda like my family. I guess i made the dinner, to make up for the holiday meals that i missed, or am going to miss over the holidays. Maybe that is why i tried to play christmas music and have christmas lights. I had a good time to just sit down and eat and talk with my new japanese friends.

CHRISTMAS LISTENING

I love the internet, i can get my Christmas songs, oh its wierd how i miss the songs this year, maybe because i wont be going home for the holidays, or maybe its because my kids are playing Christmas songs in class. Anyways hopped on winamp to get some internet radio action. In luck today, found a station from san francisco playing xmas tunes. And the first song was a new one ... labeled ... "holy shit, its christmas" .... must be a new version to go along with "grandma got runned over by a reindeer" .... ah , now there is another new song i am listening too .. i see a southern hit ... called ... "redneck christmas" ........... and r kelly ... "santa hooke me up da shit"

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Today i was at elementary school, running around with the kids during lunch recess as usual. Then a 3rd or 4th grade kid that barely comes up to my waist ran up to me and said "penny". Oh i thought, that is nice, they are asking for a penny, but i dont have any coins. So i did my usual i dont have any coins gesture, and said sorry. But then a bunch of his buddies came and started saying penny too, and gesturing to their lower body part. So after a quick thought, it seems like they were not talking about coins, but possibly about their penis. How nice they could try to practice their english with me. Of course my idea was confirmed when they were dancing around and gesturing to their body part and saying the japanese equivalent of penis. Wow, i better watch out, usually its not until the 2nd grade in junior high when they start asking me, but looks like they are starting early.

SOCCER AND SWIMMING

I miss playing sports, i even opted to play sometimes with the swimming team. It is winter, so they dont swim right now, it is too damn cold, so somedays they play softball or soccer. So i have joined them just to kick the ball around or throw it around. Ah feels good to just be out kicking the ball. Plus it is nice to know the coach. Nice guy, science teacher that speaks english.

A NEW MALL

Well my conversation group was telling me about this new mall that opened up in Aboshi, so not too far from Tatsuno, only about a 20-30 min drive. So i had to check it out, so after class me and Oguchi san drove over to the new mall. It was late, about 1030, but the mall was still opened, amazingly. Usually shopping stores in japan close pretty damn early, such as arount 800pm. But it looks like this mall is going to be open til 1100pm. It was a nice 2 story mall, maybe about half the size of Bellevue Square. It came complete with a Jusco, aka supermarket, a Sports Authority (my favorite), a Joshin ... electronic store, yummy food court, and various other stores such as a starbucks, and a bunch of other designer stores such as Tommy Hilfiger and Polo. But it seems like the other most impressive thing of the mall to my Japanese friends was that the entire inside was laid out in carpet. Wow, supposed to make it more beautiful. Anways carpet seemed like carpet to me, but no big deal. I guess one reason would be in japan that most homes dont really have carpet, either tatami mats or hardwood floors, so i guess it would be a little exciting. But i guess the most exciting thing for me was not the carpet but the foreign food store i found there. Oh sometimes it is so hard to find certain things in japan, its just not like home in america where we seem to have everything. So looking around the store i found everything i have been craving for, from cookies, jam, to wine, and then the most important thing i have been looking for in japan over the past year. Yes, it was .................. soft flour tortilla shells .... finally! I can now make Mexican food!!!!!

TOP XMAS SONGS IN JAPAN

Everywhere you go you can the christmas jingles and songs in department stores, grocery stores, etc. Sometimes just the tune is played, but it is nice to hear. Doesnt quite feel like christmas season or anything as there just isnt quite as many xmas trees, or decorations, or snow around to bring that feeling. But it is a nice attempt.

Anyways i thought to myself what songs i would be hearing back home right now, such as silent night, frosty the snowman, rudolph, 12 days of christmas, all i want for xmas, and other songs. So i thought in japan some of those common hits would be popular too, but of course i was wrong. After taking a quick poll from my kids and listening to songs in the stores. There were the common songs such as jingle bells, and we wish you a merry xmas, but it pretty much ended there. Amazingly the #1 christmas song is none of the ones listed above but that 80s hit song by WHAM aka george michael and company, yes, Last Christmas .... yes, it is true that is the number one song known by japanese for xmas ... a popular karoke favorite and store tune .. i would have never guessed !

KAMAE XMAS PARTY

Today was the day for the local community center to have their annual christmas jazz concert party. The center was nicely decorated with christmas decorations. Basically today the elementary school kids and their parents get together at the community center to have a mini, mini flea market, enjoy some food, watch santa claus, jazz musicians, sing songs, etc. Probably around 100 or so people.

Last year i went, and it was pretty fun to hang out with all the little kids. This year i was joined by my fellow JETs, chris, cindy, and ryan the traveler. Chris a month ago mentioned that he played the drums. So suprise today, chris was included in a skit with santa claus and rudolph. Luckily it was an easy part which after many gestures and translations he got the hang of it. The interesting point of the day came when the band asked chris what songs he played on the drums. Being a casual player, chris mentioned he didnt read any music notes and mostly just played rock music. So the band member asked do you know the beattles? Chris replied no. Then again the member asked do you know songs from the beattles or carpenters (japanese favorites). Unfortunately after many dumfound looks by chris, he repeated the same answer, no, mentioning he could improvise and thats about it. So the member turned to his band and said yes, he can play the beattles. .... ha ha ha ... i was laughing inside, but couldnt say anything. Somehow i was not suprised with the end result.

But anyways when the skit was on, chris did a good job in his role and played nicely on the drums. After a couple songs by the band, and singing by the kids, the day was over. It was a good day to enjoy a kamae center xmas party even though it looked like a monsoon outside.

cindy, chris, ryan, me, being good boys and girls this year

J*THOUGHT - SAME PRICE BUT SMALLER

This will be the start of my random thoughts about japan while i live here. Everyday i think of something, but now i will write it down to share with you. I will name this section J*THOUGHT. Not very original, but hey it gets the point across. Kinda like short stories by Jack Handy on SNL.

Anyways, everyone says things are a bit more expensive in japan. Most of the times i would have to agree, because there has been many a times i have blown $20 to even $50 on a meal. Totally unheard of if i lived in the USA back home. I know back home if i spent more than $7 on a meal that would be pushing it, and if it was $50 i would have gone to the MET or Palisades for a bling bling bling dinner, and we know those dinners dont come very often at all. So why am i spending so much money on food at times? Well, heck i dont really know??? Is it because the Yen looks like Monopoly money to me??? I cant even count how many times i have eaten steak this year, and i know each time was not cheap .... mmmm ...

Anyways back to the topic, as this is kinda some random writing or typing anyway. Things in Japan arent always more expensive but merly just smaller!!! ... for the same price ... Take for example something that can be compared in both countries. My favorite example, McDonalds. A Big Mac set will run you about $6 bucks or so in the USA. But here in Japan you can get that same regular set for around $6 too, just that your fries would be a bit smaller, moving from something like a large size to a medium size by default, and that is the same for the drink. And even if you do so called super size in japan, it basically just rounds it to about a little less than a large size in the US. So drinks and fries (potato they call it here) are a bit smaller, but luckily the Big Mac is about the same size, thank the lord for that. I cant live without my BigMac.

Then other things such as sandwiches, yup, much smaller, much smaller, and where is the meat? Steak, ha ha ha ... same price or more, but less steak, even half the steak! yikes! Where is the beef!!! As the list can continue on and on, i am sure anyone can imagine a case of "Honey I Shrunk Everthing in Japan" being a good description of my life here.

NO INTERNATIONAL CLASS???

Ah it was thursday again, and it was the funny 2nd grade class coming up. I always miss there class for some reason, be it a meeting, or a typhoon. But they are always cracking me up with the crazy things they do. For example, they like getting extra points so they are always screaming to get picked. Usually in other classes i feel like i need to take out a bat to get the kids to raise their hands, but nope, not in this class. One day, one of the boys even went out of his way to trace out and cut out a copy of his hand to use it as a call me, call me item. Too funny. And then there homeroom teacher is also the teacher i teach with, so they are always calling him names such as Mr. Ishihara teacher! Mr. Ishihara teacher! ..... ah the joys of that class.

Then today, sadly had to tell them that we wouldnt be having a regular class, but a review for their test next week. Then Mao, one of the girls in the class burst out saying in japanese ... "oh no international class today? that is the most enjoyable class ... " , ah i felt bad to break it to them, but the fun continued on as we took the test words and played what else, but BINGO !! All in all, it was a good day at work.

Afterwork, i was off to the Kamae Center to help out the little elementary kids with a little Christmas hand crafts.

mm... went all the way to fukuoka to eat hokkaido ramen ... yum

big tatsuno sumo

AN UDON THANKSGIVING

Ah Thanksgiving in japan is not quite the same as back home. First of all in japan they dont really do the thanksgiving thing, and plus there aint a turkey to be found in japan, not even in the sandwich meat section. Damn i miss turkey, and my friends and family, its just not the same, but i am ok. Boo hoo no turkey meat, or turkey sandwich, or turkey soup. Just have to sit here and have a my own japanese thanksgiving. I will call my dinner an udon noodle thanksgiving.

ANOTHER HOLIDAY

Its tuesday here and another japanese holiday has arrived. I am not sure for what but i am not complaining, just a nice day to enjoy the autumn weather, the bright sun, the changing of the leaves, and oh yeah clean the apartment. Getting cold, gotta insulate my apartment, japan is not a good country for insulation, not sure why, sometimes it feels like everything is made out of balsa wood.

BRRRRRR

After a nice couple of comfortable weeks, it seems that the chill has set in. Temps dropping to highs around the 60s and lows around the 40s. But the sun is still shinning!

TENNIS ANYONE?

I am not sure when was the last time i played tennis, but i was sure happy to meet up with Carrie and Richard and some others for a little game. I was so happy that somehow i bought a new Prince racquet at Sports Authority the other day.

Well today was a beautiful day for some tennis action. With the sun shinning and the temperature in the low 70s a group of us set out to play some tennis at Akashi. Hiking through the big park we finally arrived at our destination, the tennis courts. But low and behold, just like any other japanese function all the courts were full! There also seemed to be some sort of name board at the tennis center, and that looked pretty full. After a brief discussion with the tennis center worker, we found out that all the courts were pretty much booked for all day! We had to come at 9am to reserve a spot. Ah, just like any other court in japan that i have noticed, yah gotta sign up and pay, not quite like america where you can roll up to any court for free and wait your turn to play. Nah, but here yah gotta book it. Bummer so tennis didnt look to promising today, jeez i miss playing tennis.

But like the true ALTs we are, we decided to go ghetto style. After passing a nice patch of dirt along the way back, we decided to visit it again and yeah just hit the ball around. It worked pretty well, it was just like playing at school, because my kids play in the dirt too. Kinda like a clay court of some sort. Well it just dirt. Anyways it was fun just to hit the ball out in the sun, minus the japanese pedestrians who were walking through our imaginary dirt courts. Not quite Green Lake, but good fun was had by all and me. To top off things got in some frisbee throwing action, it must have been ages since i played, because butterfingers was in effect.

THIS WEEK WITH THE KIDS

Another week at junior high is finished. Thankfully. The schools culture festival is coming up in about 2 weeks so i have been busy trying to help out with the 3rd grade kids and their speech about Martin Luther King Jr. Very cool topic, as it is something in history that should always be remembered. The kids pretty much had the pronunction as close it could be, with a slight japanese of course, but that is ok. So the main thing was gesturing, the 4 of them did a good job, Ms. Yuka, Ms. Saki, Mr. Taichi, and Mr. Daiki. Today was a bit more productive than the other day when i was just chatting away with the boys and arm wrestling them. Got some big boys in 3rd grade as Mr. Taichi had me beat on the left arm. He also plays judo and outweighs me by about 30 pounds too.

Anyways, the 2nd graders were out doing their skit of an old japanese scary story, pretty cool i thought. At first Ueo Sensei was just gonna have them do plain speeches, but i said nah, that is too boring. The kids have a great story and it would be great to act out. So knowing Ueo Sensei and how open she is to some things, she went with the idea, so today was the first day of breaking down the lines.

Other activities in school revolved around some mystery words that the 2nd grade girls have been giving me. They run up to me and say A-B-B-A .. not sure if it was code word or something for something naughty, which they like to say ... but i just played it off and said ABBA? Such as in the music band, "Dancing Queen" as in the song? Then they just giggle and run off, i will have to do some more research and get back to you on this mystery of A-B-B-A.

In addition to the new mystery words, there has been a new sign of gesturing this week. The ole kiss goodbye in the air, aimed at me. Oh my, i think my kids have been watching too much TV. Anyways they are a funny bunch.

Then there are the boys and sometimes girls, the thing is that i have been working out at the gym a bit, so for the past month or two the boys have been paying a little too much to my body. Sometimes when i pass by a group they like to pat my chest and feel my arms, and say "great!" (sugoi) in japanese, and it is not a little pat or anything, it is like the beating of the drums, so i have to quickly move on if i am to avoid any injuries. Its not like i am Arnold, but they get a kick out of it. Sometimes they hit him so much it is as if i am gonna get red marks. Ha ha ha ha. Maybe i better workout more so i dont feel as much pain from the patting.

SOCKS, YOU LIKE EM WHITE?

If you have a thing about clean white socks, dont come to japan. Because it seems like everywhere you go, you are bound somewhere to take off your shoes, and go with the socks. Let me count the ways, gotta do it at school, often times teachers and kids are seen running around the halls and the gym with just socks, even i do it too .... mmm ... peoples homes of course, and even certain restaurants require you to take off your shoe. So i hope you have plenty of socks or bleach when you visit japan.

Also on a side note, before you know how your mommy told you not to wear socks with holes in them, well better think twice on that advice, i think it would be a bad sight to see, especially in japan.

GOD DAMN IT!

Another 4 Bushy years, i cant believe Kerry lost and Bush won, great have to stay in japan longer now. I hate Bush! Stupidass!

TATSUNO FESTIVAL

Seems like every town, city in japan has their own festival and today was one for Tatsuno, not sure what the reason was, but checked it out anyway. When i got to the gym/city hall area, it was bustling with people, seemed like a good crowd. There was the usual food booths, and flea market sellers and to go along, a mini parade of some sorts. Just random acts and dances new and traditional going by. Just enjoyed the day, as today was a holiday, thank goodness. Even ran into Noriko from my conversation group, so i just hanged out with her and her friend. Her friend is a traditional kimono maker, and had very nice style i might add. It also seemed like her friend knew everyone in town, as everyone talked to her, even if they knew her or not. Ha ha ha , a nice lady. Just another day in the small, small city of Tatsuno.

ELECTION TIME

Its tuesday back home, and it is as if the fate of the world will be determined soon, as crazy man Bush goes up against Kerry in the USA presidential election. As usual the pattern was west coast and NE coast, and upper midwest going to Kerry and the rest going to Bush. Ending up the day with Bush holding 254 EV and Kerry with 252 EV ... damn, with only Ohio left with 20 key EV. The winner needs 270 to win. Currently Bush is ahead in Ohio, but there are other late ballots to be counted, it may take up to 11 days. But it is worth the wait, to wait for 11 days rather than another 4 years with that crazy man Bush. He needs to go, if he is re-elected i might have to stay in japan a little bit longer, where it is safer!

3 WHEEL CAR

This morning was quite a bit rainy, and i was off to elementary school with a very very big bag of halloween goodies that i have prepared for the kids. Didnt ride the bike today because it was a little too much stuff. Noticed that Michele (my ALT neighbor) had already left in the morning as usual, and since it was rainy she usually takes her car. So her parking was vacant. But when walking down the road i noticed a car proped over in the irrigation canal, with its wheels up high. It was a red car and i noticed that it kinda looked like Michele's car from a distance. There was a big crowd of people around. When i got closer i noticed it was Michele's car. Oh, i got a bit nervous and hoped she was ok, when i neared, i got a better look and no one was in the car, so that meant maybe she got out ok, as the car was not fully in the mini canal. As i reached the intersection i found Michele to be ok, but of course not in such a good mood. Poor Michele, I just asked if she was ok, and she seemed to be ok. She was on her cell phone, and it looked like her JTE arrived too. It is a crazy intersection in the morning where it is difficult to see, i am sure it was not Michele's fault. There is one thing having a car accident, but then it is another thing when it is in a different country where everything is different and no one speaks the same language, arrrrrgghhh ... I wish i could have stayed longer, but i had to meet up with my teacher to take me to elementary school. Hope she is ok, I am pretty sure she will be, she is a tough girl.

TNF

Tuesday Night Football, well not exactly because it is Monday Night Football, but in japan it is tuesday. Anyways i always like to sit down and watch a good game of football, and yeah it is great that i can hear it in english, and the greater bonus is that there is no commercials since it is recorded. But with no commercials, i sure miss the twins!

ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER TYPHOON

I dont even remember a typhoon from last year. But this year there are plenty to be remembered, it is as if there is one every other week. My teachers told me that this is the most typhoons in 50 years. Well they dont seem that bad as long as you stay home, i learned my lesson and stayed home today, it is not fun being stuck when all the trains stop.

Went to school, but with the typhoon warning, kids didnt have to come, so no classes, yipee! I am getting used to these typhoon things, and today was even PTA day when the parents would come to class, but i guess that is not happening now. Luckily i just got some Halloween work done, and jammed out around 11am. Tough day at work. I like it.

Right now it is raining pretty hard, and the wind is moving the rain vertically. Not umbrella weather. I think of it kinda like a wind storm in Seattle, so no big deal. Maybe i need to get that rain gear set at Sports Authority, since i didnt have any rain gear i opted to wear my snowboarding pants and walk to school today. Hey it worked pretty well as it kept my pants dry.

Ah and in the world of sports, holy cows, the Red Sox came back from 3 games down to tie the series with the Yankees, wow!

CRAMMING IN HIMEJI

Met some of my kids in Himeji, Yumi and Aiyana around 9pm. They were taking the train back to Tatsuno from juku class (cram school) or in another words, extra tutoring class. It was test time so they went to juku class today. Usually most of the kids just go to the juku in town, but these kids took the 25 minute train into Himeji just to go to juku. It always suprises me how Japan operates, usually in America if a kid needs help they stay after school and ask the teacher for help, but here i rarely see that happen, the kids just go to juku and ask for help there. How different. The two 3rd grade girls both want to go to the local high school in town. I would agree with that because it is close to their home and sure beats an hour commute to another school.

Later on stopped by the local grocery store, and whoa, more kids. It was Mr. Shyohei, Mr. Taime, and another student. 10pm and they just got out of their juku. In America parents would wonder where there kids are. But not here in Japan, the kids are just getting done with school, and they have to get up bright and early in the morning and do it all again. Guess that is life as a Japanese student, study, study, study.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT PLEASE

Today i was doing the usual, going around and talking with students. Then one girl from the 3rd grade class asked if i could give her a christmas present. So she said "i want christmas present". So ok, "what do you want?", i replied. Then she spurt out the usual answers, "i want a car, i want money, i want clothes" ...... "i want you" .... Ok, a little flattered, but darn those tricky little kids, sorry ALT not for sale during christmas time.

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY, SAD, SLEEPY

Today the 3rd grade kids had the usual worksheet. Todays worksheet consisted of questions like What makes you happy? What makes you sad? and What makes you sleepy? So most normal kid answers were something like this ...

I like watching TV. It makes me happy.
My dog died. It made me sad.
I don't like Japanese class. It makes me sleepy.

But then those bad kids are always so creative with English...

I like sex. It makes me happy.
No sex. It makes me sad.
I like sex. It makes me sleepy.

Well, they got the grammar right, so i couldnt say anything was wrong here. And at first they were just going to say, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson makes them happy.

SPORTS DAY II

After a couple of typhoons the kids were finally able to complete their Sports Day. The day before the field was more like a pond, but looks like it dried up pretty well as the sun was out in full force today. The kids did the usual events i saw last year, consisting of throwing colored balls into a basket, a mixed event relay race, the samurai horse fight, and then this year the kids got together with pom poms to create the japan and greece flag in addtion to the olympic symbol. Kinda cool. Overall it was good to see all the hard work not gone to waste. Everyone had a good time.

GETTING COOLER

Today was the first kinda cool day, oh my god could it be my prayers have come true? I cant stand the heat and the humidity, just even touching my apartment keys i could feel the extra moisture, argh , how gross. It is almost october and now the weather is finally like a seattle summer. Good during the day and cool at nite. Please, please, please, good weather stay!!

PANTS

I like to wear anything i like. Sometimes i take it for granted as at other schools ALTs need to wear pants all the time. But i hate wearing pants escpecially when it is muggy and hot. If i could i would wear shorts all year round. I can even wear em in the winter. Anyways in the morning since it was raining i just decided to try out the pants. But when i got to school i felt it was so muggy and sticky that it annoyed me to wear pants. Maybe i will wait another month or two to wear pants. Back to shorts!

MORE RAIN

Another week, and guess what another typhoon. This year is strange where there is 3x more typhoons than usual. Today i am a bit smarter and didnt take the train anywhere, because last time when i went out to kobe, i had to stay overnite. There was a brief strong point in the evening that seemed something like out of a movie where the wind was howling and the rain was shooting sideways causing the power to be out momentarily. But then in another gasp it was over. But unfortunately our other half of Sports Day which is supposed to be finished tomorrow might be over too because the school grounds probably have turned into a swimming pool. Well we will see tomorrow.

JACKIE CHAN?

Today at school i wore my favorite t-shirt. On the shirt is a picture of Bruce Lee on a skateboard. Pretty cool i thought when i bought it in thailand. My students thought it was cool too, just that they thought it was jackie chan!!! I know they both do martial arts but i am not sure how they look alike??? Over 60% were like, wow, jackie chan. Oh how embarassing, maybe it is because they are a bit younger, cuz bruce lee is kinda old. But then again how come they didnt say it was jet li?? After a little explanation, they caught on it was bruce lee and not jackie chan. Maybe i should write bruce lees name on the front next to the picture.

M I C K E Y !

Up late watching tv, tonite was the music video countdown. The top 20 hosted the usual bands and singers of j-pop, rock, and others. But the #1 video was not of the normal. And strangely enough it was all in english. How could the japanese understand this mysterious song? Or heck in my words even endure the harsh lyrics. It was a song brought back from the darkness of time, or sometimes we call vinyl. Oh yes, it appeared on my elementary schools sports day, and that caught me off guard, but i should have been tipped off by the cute little mouse ears they had put on. To have their cute picture immortalized to be only remembered by that number one hit song called "Oh Mickey!" when they twirl around in their mickey mouse outfits. But day by day nothing has ceased to suprise me.

TO QB CUT

Nothing much going on today, just was lazy sleeping in, and got brave enough to go get a haircut. The thing is that my regular guy that speaks english was not in, and damn i needed a cut. Its been awhile, maybe like 4 months or something and i was looking really japanese. So lucky susanne got the idea to use my old id card, has my old picture with my short hair, not the best pic, but hey it worked! So after a quick cut cut and vacum, i was all done, refreshed and ready to go.

BOOM! THUNDER!

Boom, Boom. That is all i heard this morning around 4am. It was the sounds of thunder and lightning passing by. Too tired i didnt think much of it, but today was the same day as my Sports festival at school. A wierd ritual done at every japanese school, passed on from generation to generation. Anyways it was to be held outside. The key word was "was", but to my dismay when i woke up this morning it was raining cats and dogs. Tried to call my teachers to see if it was still on, but to no avail. Of course they call everyone else to say if it is canceled or not, but not me. So i decided to crawl out of bed and make my 5 minute walk to school. At school, there were no bikes nor kids to be seen, but there was a nice sign in japanese which i barely understood. So i just rolled into school anyways. Darn, all the teachers were there, so i guess it was kinda a work day. The kids were told to watch the news for the typhoon warning. If the warning was to be lifted by 10am the kids were to report back to school. How dumb, all the kids arent gonna watch the tv just to come to school. Then what do you know, 10 minutes before 10am the warning was lifted. So the kids had to report. But of course only maybe like a 1/3 of them came. They stayed for a useless hour in homeroom and then were sent home at lunch. Oh my, couldnt really do club practice or sports day practice. No one was at school. So in the end, it was another short day. Noon time equals go home early! Yipee!

ANOTHER ROCK STAR DAY

Just when the class gets slow, and kids are struggling to pay attention, sometimes i am like heck i am glad with that class at the end. But then it takes only one kid to start the paparazzi attack. First one kid wants an autograph on his notebook. Then another and another, then comes the whole class like a swarm of bees. Everything from paper to their hats i am signing. Heck i dunno why, just because i am a foreigner. There are so many kids, that they are pushing me around. There is definetly strength in numbers even if they are in 3rd grade. But ya know, sure feels cool to be loved. Little things like that make me appreciate my job. Somedays i feel like a rock star at elementary school! So cool to just walk into school and everyone under 5 feet tall is saying HI to you. It definetly is a different world from junior high school.

SPORTS DAY PRACTICE WITH THE LITTLE ONES

Another friday, another day at elementary school. Today i was off to issai higashi elementary school. A nice cute small school. Today, luckily only had to teach one class due to what else but sports day training. They were in rehearsal for sports day the following weekend.

I seen my junior high kids sports day but never the little ones. So it was a first. First everyone in the school was split into two teams, white and red. Big kids and little kids mixed together. They had chants at the begining between the teams on the big outside dirt ground. Next came the first event. Two huge balls, almost as tall as me were rolled out. One red ball and one white, the object was the kids to stand in a line around the field, and when the big ass ball came rolling they would have to push it along from their spot. It was quite a sight when they started and the ball was rolling, the ball was so big that i was afraid that some of the 1st graders would get runned over or something. Well no one got runned over in the end, but there was alot of cheering on the white team as they won, but the poor kids on the red side didnt look to happy.

Throughout the day there were a series of events such as that big ball race, kids doing traditional japanese dances, and even a crew of youngings doing a dance to a mickey mouse song all dressed up in mickey mouse gear, oh my how they will not forgive their parents later on for the embarassing outfit, but hey when you are young everything looks cute. Then between the various events there were a million relay races between the teams.

Before things wrapped up the dark clouds rolled in, and rain started pouring like crazy, kids running for cover. Practice was over, but then just like that 5 minutes later it stopped. Oh well it was close enough to lunch time and i was hungry! School lunch here i come!

BACK TO THE HOSPITAL

Today was checkup day, so had to head out to kobe to see dr. kato again. Last week saw dr. kato and she gave me some super drugs that did the trick. No more stomach pains.

Before going out to kobe, it was funny that michele had a appointment too, on the same day. Yes, dr. kato is that good that even my neighbor goes, and to even reconfirm that when we got the hospital we even encounter some jets that we kinda know too, how funny, it was like a reunion of sorts.

Anyways, dr. kato is awesome, even with how busy she is, she takes the time to listen to you, and actually understands you. Then she goes through everything with you. Today she looked over my blood tests, most things good, just gotta cut back on the eggs, aka cholestrol. Then the ultrasound looked good also, liver good, other stuff good, and no baby. In the end, since the pills were working good, she probably thinks that it was stress causing my upset stomach. Guess i gotta chill out more or something. Maybe too many things going on with me. So got an order of months supply just in case and thanked her and i was on my merrily way.

FUMI GOING HOME

Interm roommate fumi had to head back home to tokyo to start school again in the fall. It was nice to have a roomie again and have someone to talk to. Just need a bigger place, the apt here in japan isnt quite as spacious as the one back home. Well heck, currently it is just about half the size. Guess back to my lonely self in front of the computer.

BBQ AND BATH

Nothing like one last bbq for fumi going away. With fumi and yuka, we rounded up the goods at the local jusco store, beef, chicken, shrimp, scallops, and of course beer. Set to go we decided to go to our near by bridge in town, under the bridge was a nice paved piece of cement where we could put out our grill. Not quite the golden gardens bbq of back home, but it will do. Just sat and chatted and had a good time. Nothing like a a good ole bbq in japan.

Of course after stuffing ourselves we also smelt like bbq. Smokey clothes and hair is not good. So to top things off fumi wanted to hit up the local sento in town. A sento is basically a huge nice public bath for the community to use. Very popular in japan, not so popular in america. Anyways lucky since tatsuno is very small, everything is super close. So we rolled down to the sento, i have been to a couple before but not this one. I particularly did not venture to this one in fear of seeing either my students or teachers. It is one thing to see them, it is another to see them naked, or in fact they see you naked. But just for fumi i braved it.

Fumi being the onsen/sento specialist with over 20 in his belt rest assured that this one was very nice, and if not the nicest one he has been to. When arriving, i would believe he is correct. Being brand spanking new, it carried a nice designer look, with an old japanese feel. By far it was the best one i went to. Usually they have their regular baths inside, with cold pools, hot pools. But this one had a electric shocking chair, this was for muscle stuff, then it had the usual sauna, but also included a steam room that was supposed to be good for your lungs. I tried to go in, it smelled like curry, but damn it, i hate the heat, and i dont like curry that much, it was way too hot for me for that brief 5 seconds. My lungs felt better afterwards, but maybe that was because i could breath regular air again. To top off things, they had a nice cave, and inside the cave was a low pool with a rock couch that had water streaming over it where you could sit. And when you sit you can relax to surround sound music, a tv and dark mood lighting as if you were in a movie theatre. That was great! To end things my favorite was the slab of rock. Basically it is just warm trickling water over flat rock with soothing music in the background. Ah it was heaven. All i need was a ocean nearby and some cocktail waitresses to bring me some mango juice. Darn too bad i didnt have one of these in my home, i would sleep on it everyday. As my new tradition after sentos, i bought a green tea and vanilla soft cream (ice cream) to finish off the nite. Yum!

TV GUY?

Back from lunch, and ogawa sensei came and grabbed me to look at the new TVs that we got. So i went up with her and thought the class would be empty, but nope everyone was in there. Sagayama sensei was there too with manuals in japanese all laid out, with a fuzzy tv going in the background. They couldnt get it to work. Lucky that i cant read japanese manuals at all, but i do know how to plug in things. With the kids looking astonishingly, i am sure they were thinking, heck he cant even read japanese how is he gonna get our tv working. But after a minute or two, bingo! TV working! Heck i never even read the english manuals.

BACK TO TEACHING

Just like old business the first day of actual teaching. A little unprepared as usual, but luckily my 1st and 4th period classes were canceled for some reason, i dont really enquire when something good like that happens. Didnt have anything really concrete to teach with today, but hey those photos from my summer vacation were looking good. So bingo, 10 minutes later i had a new lesson talking about my summer vacation. Coupled with some money, and newspaper ads i was good to go. I love it when things come together.

HOLY SHIT!?@#! and another HOLY SHIT!?@#!

Yeah, what the fuck! One second i am washing the dishes, next my toes start twitching from the floor, then the whole apartment is shaking as if the jolly green giant just rolled up and started shaking it. Things were shaking and rolling back and forth. Flash backs of being an earthquake in seattle started popping up in the memory banks. Trying to decide to sit it out in the apartment or flee, i somehow just stayed put. Maybe it was because my place is set on twigs and if i ran out i would probably be crushed, safer inside. The bottom floors is held up with just a couple of columns, i mean if there was a real earthquake i would really be fucked, it would be nice knowing everyone. Well the earthquake was deep enough where it couldnt cause too much damage, but it registered at a nice 6.9.

Well if one wasnt bad enough, just a couple hours later, another damn earthquake shook the apartment, even stronger this time. Just standing and waiting, hoping that it would be little, but it got stronger and stronger, as the floors and walls moved. Usually i thought that aftershocks getting smaller, but damn this was not the case. I was about the hug fumi and call it the end of the world, ha ha ha ... then it stopped. Good damn, this one topped out at 7.4. and praise the lord that my chopstick apartment is still standing. I am having second thoughts of where i live, as it isnt the most earthquake friendly design. Good to live another day.

Luckily i didnt have a earthquake kit prepared, heck and that reminds me that i should make one, but then again, damn i am lazy. Mmmmm ...

CLEANING

Nothing much going on today but cleaning, after being away for a month things tend to pile up as i left in a rush. Clean, clean, clean, damn where is my american windex.

AROUND SPOKANE

Escaped cleaning for the meanwhile and caught some dinner with my parents and brother. Of course we headed to the family favorite, buffet. The restaurant of choice was the chinese buffet restaurant up north. After watching my dad eat 80% crab legs, i was busy stuffing myself with misc. chinese food, but it wasnt quite the same, before i could eat plates and plates, but seems like my japanese stomach is catching up to me, i think even my brother and mom ate more than me which is rare.

Spokane is pretty much the same after all these years, minorities being pretty much non-exisistent, but everyone is pretty nice and that is what counts.

OLD STUFF CLEANING

Nothing much going on in the land of Spokane. Woke up and started sorting through all my old stuff from Seattle. Most of the stuff was there from the move, it has been so long that if something is missing i wouldnt really remember it unless it was really important. It was nice of Ace, Ark, Jimmy, Nissa, others, and my family to help move. Usually i am independent and would have done it myself, but my crystal ball didnt anticipate the move. Moving always sucks and i know i have a bunch of shit. Oh well, things happen, so now is the work of sorting through things. Damn i have alot of music cds.

GREYHOUND BABY!

How else to get home but to take the good ole Greyhound bus. Afer a nite of texas hold em poker at nancy's, and breaking even after 2 games, i hitched a ride with jimmy and nissa to ole bus station. Hoping to hop on, to my dismay the counter boy said it was full. 11:30pm, who is gonna take the bus? Looks like it was all of seattle. Anyways, luckily the bus pulled up to the station and i asked him if there was room and there was luckily. So being last on the bus, i knew there wouldnt be any seats left nor did i want to sit next to the bathroom, because damn it stinks back there. Found a nice comfy seat to a nice retired navy lady. She was very nice, and was heading off to montana to see her family. After a ride through the nite, and a little snoozing on the bus i finally reached spokane after about a 5 and half hour ride. It was 5:30am as my dad pulled up to the station to pick me up. Geez, i been traveling alot, taking everything you name it , train, plain, bus, car, etc. It was good to finally be home.

early morning wake up

Morning , well really early morning, woke up around 600am, i guess my time is not really adjusted yet. Just been really lazy the past couple of days, but i like it. I never wake up that early, in fact, i dont like to wake up early, i am more of a nite person. For breakfast had some long waited thai MaMa noodles and of course a nice juicy premium hot dog that was made of chicken, red pepper, and basil. Yum, yum, some things you just cant get in japan. So of course i gotta get my grub in. Later on caught some Olympics on TV, watching the japanese women in volleyball and field hockey. I was cheering them on, i guess i have lived in japan long enough to add a new team to cheer for.

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My hands are the same size as the One!

FIRST BLOG

Testing out this new Google Blogger thing, sounds cool!