BACK TO NIPPON

Got a ride early in the morning to Seatac airport from AcEva. Its nice to get to the airport within 45 minutes or so compared to 2-3 hours if i was in japan. Seatac airport has gone over some major changes over the past year, new food court, new stores, very nice and about time. When i got to Vancouver for the big plane ride, i was in luck as a mother and son were sitting in a single seat, so they moved and i was graciously given two seats to myself, what a great flight, even got in some good sleep! Got into Kansai airport all refreshed, even flew through immigration. The great thing about having residency in Japan is that i can choose the Japanese line or the foreigner line, so whatever line is shorter i just hop in. Sure beats waiting 45 minutes. Got a breath of the outside air, and it was HOT, hot damn. The air was heavy and wet, humid, damn i miss my rainy, cloudy, cool Seattle weather already. Time to buy more of those polypro shirts.

SOON ...

Gonna be back in the states soon .... for my cousins wedding ... leave in a couple of hours ... i know its gonna feel kinda wierd since i havent been home for almost a year. Dont even know whats in or out. Shoot might not even remember how to speak english, ha ha ha. Anyways it will be good to see my family and friends and my cousins wedding.

GETTING HOOOOOT

At the beginning of the month it wasnt so hot, but then like a flick of the switch its gotten all hot of a sudden. I tried to keep the windows open, but it was too toasty, my apt is on the top floor and seems to atract heat and keeps it in. So sweating while i sat or slept at home wasnt too great of a feeling, cuz yeah its damn humid here! Just like a sauna. Anyways, time to turn on the AC.

TEACHERS IN TRAINING

Had some university students come and visit my school for a couple weeks of hands on training. Friday is their last day, so we had a mini farewell party for them as they head back to school. It was kinda nice having some younger people around, unfortunately i didnt get a chance to talk to them more, but the dinner was fun. I wish them the best of luck!

teachers in training ... nissan, bun-chan, makiko, izuta-san

dinner party

PJ CULTURE SHOCK

Today i went over the Kamae Community center to teach the elementary kids there. I was tired of running around and talking, so today thought we could slow it down and just munch on some good ole american food, aka peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Well they dont got much jelly here in japan, so had to go with the jam, but thats all good. Was cruising along, got the not so big bread, had the kids and teachers put half jam and half peanut butter on one side. Then was ready for the big fold. To mix the peanut butter and jam together. But to my SUPRISE!! everyone did the opposite to me, they didnt mix the peanut butter and jam together, but simply matched up the jam with the jam and the peanut butter and peanut butter when they folded their sandwich. I was like, thats not gonna taste so good, you gotta MIX it. But when i told them all, everyone came up with an "Eehhhhhh???", everyone thought it was wierd to mix it and it would taste funny. I was suprised too! They thought the opposite way to fold it. So my teachers told me that in Japan when they make a sandwich like that, they put the jam and jam together, and the peanut butter and peanut butter together. In addition, the peanut butter is already sweet in Japan, where as the american kind is not, its kinda salty. So i had the kids just taste the peanut butter by itself and they were like "oh!". In the end after much resistance they trusted me and mixed the jam and peanut butter together! Then we ate, and i heard tons of "oishii!", or as we say in english, "delicious". The kids and teachers were happy, but in a little PJ culture shock. It was all good, but then Motoko sensei told me she was a bit thirsty. Ahh .. guess i forgot to tell em to bring some milk too, maybe next time.

todays ingredients

skippy and apple jam

chefs in the making

motoko sensei getting thirsty

yamagen sensei taking in his dinner

my messy desk at school

more junk on my desk

here is lunch! not sure how kids live off just bread

wow found this cute old car just around the corner from my place

it's a "Publica"

its summer time! kitty chan to the rescue!

NICE TEETH

Today had an award ceremony at school. Saw the usual awards being handed out for the sports. But then i saw the unusual. Two kids got up infront of the whole school to recieve an award for nice teeth? Yes, an award for nice teeth. Guess competition is rough.

BUENOS DIAS!

Today Nagai sensei told me we were gonna get two new students on July 1st. A brother and sister from Peru, but they dont speak japanese and none of the teachers speak spanish. Mmmm ... i dont remember any spanish from high school, guess i will have to brush up on some. Kinda cool i think, I hope they do well.

UW GRADUATE?

There are many popular people on japanese tv now a days. But one of the most popular is Bob Sapp. A former UW football player and graduate. Now a day he spends his time doing commercials and fighting in japan's K-1 fighting matches. Well he is huge, i think he played offensive line back in the days so you can imagine. So when i was watching him win the K-1 fighting championship and hearing his speech i had to step back and think a bit. His speech went like this ...

"arigato gozaimusu, thank you samurai warriors ... its not easy to step in and fight someone who is almost 200 kilos (almost 400lbs) ... you hurt me a little bit ... thank you japanese samurai warriors ... i am not tired but i have some injuries .... i am going to ice them."

Well i was speechless .... i guess only three letters came to my mind ... WTF.
more Bob Sapp info via ESPN.com

mr. bob sapp

I LOVE SPORTS

So when i saw a nike commercial today for the crazy japanese club sports i was so excited. It was a rival street basketball game between two girl teams, street style. Check it out ... http://nike.jp/bukatsu/index.html .... click on a sport and go to TVCM. Now only if my boy team could play like these girls.

TURN ON

Today i was in class trying to explain, "turn on the lights" and "turn off the lights" by using gestures with my fingers and the sound "boing". But of course mr. horny boy was in there and caught note of my gesture and made due with his own light switch. Saying, "its big, .... boing!" as he turned on his own switch with his finger. Oh my. I know i wont see the last of this ...

DANG ALARM CLOCK

Must take note to set my alarm clock. Woke up this morning, but no alarm clock ringing, a bit strange, and even stranger that it was 9:25am and i start work at 8:30am. Opppss!!! Checked my phone, no calls, good sign. Then rushed to school, lucky i didnt have 1st period. Came in, dont think anyone really noticed except for Ueo sensei who kindly said, "good morning". Ha ha ha ... anyways its all good. Will wake up on time from now on.

its tea time

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Well that was this weekends theme, or many a themes in japan for me. Nope havent seen the movie, but i know many a times when i bought something for a higher price than i thought it was. And i would be like damn! Well here is how the story went today, first of all needed a haircut, cuz i am too lazy, and yeah i am a bit shy cuz my japanese not so hot, and the only words i would speak is like, yes, no, short, long. Anyways decided to go to susanne's hair place today, it was a pretty nice place, so i thought it would be bling bling, so had her to go in and check out the price first. After a brief conversation we THOUGHT it would be about 1400yen or 14 bucks usa, which is reasonable. Went in, got one of the best damn haircut experiences in my life, a shampoo operation that seemed so delicate like it was a surgery or something. Bit different than the rough and tough vietnamese shampoos. Had like a million towels on me so i wouldnt get wet, nice massage, and it even took so long that i felt like i would fall asleep. Anways, it was shampoo then cut, and the way japanese cut is so precise, its like an art to them, even at the cheap places. So the cut was cool, then massage. Great service, but of course with great service comes with great price. Just like i mentioned at the beginning of my title, lost in translation, so was the price. The haircut that i thought would be 1400yen turned out to be about 3600 yen or 36bucks. Hot damn, the most expensive cut in my life. Usually i go to a cheap 10buck place and i am all set. But today it was alright, it was all about the experience which was pretty fun! Just to say i got a japanese haircut.

holy smokes a new hair dew, bling bling

top view

side view

a very nice looking melon cake

i see cake, therefore i attack

AND THEY ATTACK ...

Just bring some mystery treats and the kids go crazy! The 1st graders at jr high that is. Today we played a guess the word, with fill in the blank on the board, so kinda like wheel of fortune and the kids liked it. Well they really liked it when i started giving out prizes such as cup noodle, and drinks. They liked it so much that when class was over the boys were mugging me like i was on a new york street corner. I had to fight em off like a grandma holding onto her purse. Oh those crazy kids, it was like a zoo as usual.

look kids english from your supermarket

MOVIE TRAILERS

Almost 2 years away from home you can miss alot of things such as family, friends, and food! Guess my big 3 F words. Which i always miss. But besides those is just the things such as understanding whats on TV, radio, and movies. Thats when i turn to the internet as my savior, itunes.com and mtv.com for music and apple trailers to see whats at the box office ... http://www.apple.com/trailers/

FINALLY FRIDAY!

It was a nice break, had dinner tonite with my elementary teachers, they are a funny bunch and a bit crazy which i like. Guess u gotta be a little wild to work with little kids, not sure how they do it!! I would be so tired. Nice dinner with good food, fun, and karaoke afterwards of course. I really suck at karaoke, but a little beer puts the worries away, its all about fun. Oh yeah and finally found daniel, thought he was MIA in japan, ha ha ha, good to see mr hawaiian boy.

me, daniel, kiyoku sensei, ogawa, and others

MY NIPPON JERSEY

Watched the match for the world cup qualifier between japan and north korea the other nite and we won 2-0, so its off to the world cup in Germany. So to show my spirit i decided to wear my soccer jersey to work today. Right away the soccer coach spotted me and said, "nice jersey" ... ha ha ha .. somehow i knew he would say that.

Then it approached cleaning time later in the afternoon and somehow i felt the urge to renact the winning shots from last nites game for the soccer boys. So i just ran around in the hall acting all dumb, dont know why but thats me, guess my fans are the kids. Sometimes they call me crazy, but its all good because thats what you gotta be sometimes to work here with the kids. They love crazy people!

SPRING FEVER

Dunno, but i think spring is pretty much over, but it sure is getting more hot and hot everyday. Maybe thats why my boys are getting a little more wierd than usual. Started out with the 3rd grade boys, they called me over to their desk, and then they opened up their pencil case pointing to a cutout picture of some lady. I was like, "ok, nothing special there, thats cool". But then i spoke too soon, and mr. kento flipped over the picture and exposed his nice artwork of naked version of the lady, fully equipped with woman parts, and extra big man parts. And i was like, "wow!". It was like a scene from Waterboy at the end of the movie when they were looking for mr. winkie, but mr. winkie wasnt so small.

Then i ran into the 2nd grade boy who's favorite words are ... "it's very big!!" and loves to point towards my pants, which is kinda embarassing, so i always try to get him back and say ... "it's very big!!" and point at him. But today he threw in another word, so the phrase went like ... "it's very big penis!!" ... oh my and this was when a bunch of girls were walking by, oh my, my crazy kids.

i will always cherish my ikea lamp from home and pooh too

where the frogs "ribbit ribbit"

4/5

Today was shogakko aka elementary school, 4 of the 5 classes were pretty good, kids in order, teachers good, kids having fun ... then there was that last class. Usually i wont swear on my blog, but this class was a FUCKIN zoo!! Usually i could continue on with the class with one or two bad kids, but not like 10 monkeys all running around crazy and talking. I stopped many a times and just stared at the kids and even ran to get some, and even busted out the nihongo, but it was to no avail as this new teacher obviously was not taught well. As this bunch of little 3rd grade kids were running the show. Just in the winter i remembered talking to the teacher as he was getting ready for the teacher test. And now when i see him run his class i am not what to think, but good luck! Hopefully it will get better or someone please help the man, i cant go on teaching a zoo!

parking by the rice paddies

RIBBIT RIBBIT ...

Sitting by the window i can hear the frogs chirping ribbit, ribbit. Its pretty loud and it seems like there are about 100 of them out there. This could probably be from the rice paddies next door being recently flooded. Mmmm ... what a natural setting i got.

BBALL WEEKEND

It was a basketball weekend, my junior high school boys had a couple games on the block and i was hoping they could win some games, and the key word was hoping. So 9 teams, 4 games later, it was a sad 0-4 record, but they fought hard. Had schools from other cities of himeji and kakogawa. Damn they were pretty good, and fast!! Too fast for my team and any other team in our league. Guess the countryside leagues cant beat the city leagues. Even the best inaka team got beat by a city team. Oh well, guess its video time on monday, nothing like watching some hommies hoop it up on the And 1 dvd. Ballerzzzz

TODAYS HAPPENINGS

First of all i gotta go to bed earlier, because this morning i woke up at 7:55am, which normally is ok, but today was elementary school so i had to catch my ride at 8:05am. Damn, so with no shaving i was off to elem school. So sleepy at school, then i started sneezing. Damn, not this school too, i had allergies coming on, the same as the other elem school, wierd cuz i dont have it at jr high. So it was sneezing and teaching. Lucky the 6th grade kids were awesome! But the other 3rd kids were a bit crazy, and it was hard to teach as i had to talk and sneeze at the same time.

Lucky i survived elem school. Got home to take a mini break, short chat with Ace. Then i was off to jr high, ran into the ping pong dancing girls. Had a nice chat with the girls, their english getting better, having some interesting conversations lately. After the girls checked on the boys bball team, i have been having them just play games every last hour of practice, and its starting to pay off. They are looking much, much, much better, hopefully we can win some more games! I was very impressed today. Saw Chie today, she was visiting from high school, good to see her helping the girls team. Then afterwards i went over to help out with Nakayama, taught her some other new basketball things. When i left school it was 7pm. Wierd, i been working like 10 hour shifts, but its all fun.