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!!