SURU SURU

That is the funny sound that my 3rd grade girls make. Miki, Tomoyo, and their crew always go "suru suru" motioning a razor upon their arms and mine. They always touch my arm and ask if i shave, um because i dont have any hair on my arm. Of course i dont, and just say its "natural", i think they a bit jealous, ha ha ha ... Miki complains that she has to "suru suru mainichi" , shave everyday ...funny girls

FLEA MARKET

Today stopped by Ako's social welfare university for a flea market and fair event. Kinda cool, never knew there was a university in Ako city. So chilled with the peeps in trying to unload extra goods. Things for sale ranged from clothing to posters and even woody from toy story. Interestingly the best selling stuff was Minato's dishes and cups. Even got rid of my snowboard, for a super low price of 1800yen. Bought it for near 20000yen, but hey got good use out of it. The day was fun with college kids running around selling foods for their sports clubs. It was my first time at a japanese university. Pretty cool. I liked it. Fun day bargaining here and there.

kazu demonstrating the quality of the guitar

the shop is open and ready for business

doods bought woody

oh yeah sportin my new snowboardin hat

proud new owners of me old K2 board, damn bargain 1800yen

oh look a suprised shopper! mr nick!

BBALL BASICS

Friday ran a scrimage between the boys and girls team. Luckily my boys won because the girls team are pretty good. Anyways i was refeeing it pretty lightly, so when i didnt call some fouls the 1st grade girls let me have it, calling me "meganeru" which i pretty much think "get some glasses" ... ha ha .. funny girls, then the 2nd grade girls who played were chanting "one more, one more" competitive folks they are, so i said next week!

Saturday had another bball game, another game close up to the half. Then of course the wheels fell off. Other team shifted to full court press. So that means my boys freak out and start, yeah passing it to the other team, so about 20 turnovers later, we got crushed in the end. Oh well back to the drawing board, more bball basics. More dribbling and passing you bizaches!

WED NITE BBALL

Finally got to play some regular hoops, once a week, but its better than nothing, so wed met up with Shin and some of his other buddies, Mr. Hurley (t-shirt), Yamamoto (no ho ga), Taka (tall guy), .... shit and of course i forgot the rest of the names, shit gotta write down the names...

A NEW NAME

Went to the gym the other day and say Ken and his friend. Met his friend for the first time, Mr. Matsumoto, then i said my name is "markane" but he said how about, "ma-chan". That sounds cool, new nickname for myself, "ma-chan" kinda like that.

BOBBY VALENTINE

Yeah i remember him, the coach for the NY Mets way back when. But damn he just coached his team to be the All Japan Baseaball Champions! Nice work Bobby, and only after two years. Its a big deal anywhere you go to win. In Japan, if your team wins big, you win even bigger, because every damn store got some mega sale just for winning, its funny but true. Baseball here is like a cult following, crazy fans i tell ya, makes american fans look a nursery school, japan baseball is way more cooler with the crazy costumes, big ass drums, flags, ballons, and even full on band. But anyways yeah damn Bobby, his team beat the Hanshin Tigers, this areas team and oh were people sad, hella people crying on tv, and people getting mad because they didnt get their shopping sale. But yeah for consolation they got a thank you sale from the stores, anyways better luck next year tigers!

VISITORS

One week i am talking to Elaine on IM about her going to Taiwan, then the next day she says she is coming over to Japan with Eva and Cheryl. You funny girls, take ya two years to come over, but be happy to see ya when you get here. Then if that wasn't enough seems like the whole poker crew is going to Taiwan all in the month of November. Whats going on? Is there a poker tournament there and you guys didnt tell me .. ha ha

FULL SPEED AHEAD

Oh wow! Reading the news today and read that yeah my favorite Star Trek pilot, Mr. Sulu, yeah the only asian guy on tv back in the days is yeah, gay. Got no problem with that, i like gay people, just never thought he was, but its all good, just have to rethink when he says, "ok" when captain Kirk says "full speed ahead!" ... or when Scotty says "beam me up" ...

luke gets a free ride

no they aint lovers, they were just soccer kids in training

oh those cute 1st graders!

gotta love those costumes!

ANY COMMENTS WELCOMED

To all my buddies, feel free to leave any comments, ha ha .. i like to read em, you can leave some naughty messages and some nice ones too! i will read them all ... ah and if u havent signed my guestbook feel free to take a peak on the right hand side ... take care!

TO THE LOCAL SHRINE

There are alot of shrines and ceremonies in these areas, but after two years never really got to go to one. But tonite Mike's VP (pretty cool guy) invited a couple of us JETs out to check it out. It was pretty cool, saw a cool ceremony, with alot of chanting, clapping, and bowing to get the god out of his home into the portable shrine, from there the god was taken down the road to later inspect his surroundings, aka the rice paddies. Anyways the best part was the cool lanterns everyone was carrying. Each resembled a local village near by. Something made them look so cool, guess i was like a moth attracted to the flame. Anyways here are some pics to follow ...

in the corner

following the light

a sign in the dark

tilting

the portable shrine and its offerings

A CHAT WITH SEX MAN

stopped by to watch the 3rd grade kids play some dodgeball and had a chance to catch a conversation with my student Mr. Namura

markane: how are you?
namura: fine
markane: how many videos do you have now?
namura: i have 8
markane: how many dvds do you have now?
namura: 11
markane: ah so you have 19 total now, nice!
namura: yes! i am sex man
markane: whao! new name?
namura: yes! i am sex man

namura: which girls do you like? cute or sexy?
markane: mmmm ... i think i like cute. which girls do you like? cute or sexy?
namura: i like sexy

namura: mmm .. i masterbate
markane: whao! when?
namura: last nite, for 3 hours
markane: 3 hours?
namura: yes, start 10 finish 1
markane: wow, you are very strong, stronger than superman (then i did body shakking gesture)
namura: ah, markane you are crazy (laughing)
markane: ah yes, thank you

namura: i am sex man
markane: mmm .. nice
namura: sex man is better than superman
markane: oh really
namura: sex man is ... higher level ... (namura gestures with his hand that sex man is above superman)
markane: wow, sex man is more powerful than superman?
namura: yes!

HELLO CONCERT

Today my school and Mike's joined forces at the local concert hall to play some rad tunes from the band. Always a good show, free, fun, and plenty of kids to hang out with. Great tunes, here are some pics to follow ...

funny hats, "duck dive mbongo" it reads

the master and the samba girls

flute

sax in the works

the trombone plays

yamamoto and ai on stage

out of two schools and 150 kids (girls) this is one of the few and only boy band members

aki watching the show

the farewell line

some of the band kids

my j pose

COUNTRIES AND BODY PARTS

I was teaching how to make passports on friday, and wrote the country Mongolia on the board. Then the kids started cracking up, then started shouting "ma n ko". Which kindly translates to "pussy" in japanese. Nice, not sure how Mongolia became "manko" but it was a new word for the day! Guess i knew it was trouble when they guessed the word "sex" was in the passport. And they were right, so they were happy for that, but then again they didnt know what "M and F" meant. Hehehehe, they just like "sex".

yes, there is a student under there

yes, its one of my many crazy lessons

the mighty hamster teacher

BASKETBALL AND MORE BASKETBALL

Today coached the kids in preparation of this weekends game. Game that is, one loss and we are out, which i wouldnt be suprised as we are gonna play the top team. Anyways got a 100yen pokemon whistle to use in practice, works pretty damn good. And the kids actually understood some stuff in practice today. So i was pretty happy at the end. But i am sure the other gym teams are sick of hearing my whistle, ha ha ha.

So after J class i hit up the gym, going to do my usual workout. But caught a glimpse of some guys playing basketball, they always play on thursday and usual i am too shy to ask to play too. But then one of the guys approached me and thought i was someone else. So i told him differently, but he asked me to play anyways. Really cool, i was really happy just to play bball again. My kids are cool, but thats coaching, not really playing. Played a couple games of teams and one and one. It was fun, there was a guy named Shin, he likes antique guitars from america, there was Hiroshi nice guy, a girl named Ma, then two other dudes. But yeah, it was good just to play bball again. Maybe next thursday i will be back.

during the sunset, caught eye of some really red clouds

GET HYPNOTIZED

Funny ass video sent via Eva ... check it out, and you will think twice about being hypnotized on stage ...

see the video: chairs getting abused

STRESS OR JUST PLAIN BUSY

Its one or the other, and i trying to get shit done, but other shit always pops up. I read a article on a book on how to handle stress before. It said that too much stress is bad, too little is bad, just the right amount is good. Well i think i am on the more busy end, so what to do when things are piling up? Here are some of my favorite cures ..

- sleep more bitch
- sometimes i stand in the shower, but definitely sitting in the shower is the best
- hit the gym
- lay in bed and do nothing
- bitch to someone else
- sleeping in
- sleeping in, eating a snack and cleaning house (yes its true, a clean home clears out alot of stress and shit .. hint hint K chan)
- if extra time allows, drinking a bunch of booze with friends

Damn dont even have time to study japanese, or maybe i just lazy ... well thats a different blog ...

A STORM BLEW BY

And the storm attacked my place. Things are all over the place. That usually happens when i am busy and when the teacher calls the day before and asks, "hey what about a halloween lesson for tomorrow", um its only the 11th of October, but whatever. Usually its no suprise to come up with random shit, guess thats my job, to know all the tricks of the trade. Anyways got my ass up to flood water with lessons, then pulled out all the halloween shit, and the final outcome is the picture below ...

and a storm blew by

ANOTHER 3 DAY WEEKEND

Darn the fall season here, its like every other weekend in sept and oct there is a 3 day weekend, its not like i dont like it, i like it. Its just a bummer when they are gone. This weekend set out to check out a bit more of Kansai the area i live in. Hitting up lake Biwako (near kyoto and the biggest lake in japan), Kyoto, and Osaka. So here are some of the pics from my new toy...

an ice cream attack

ticket for the cable car

nice ride through the trees

driving up the tracks

a view of lake biwako

sending mail?

old skool home protection

kyoto tower

kyoto traffic (note: dont shoot in the middle of the street)

down a bustling alley way in kyoto

a peak inside a "izakaya" japanese bar

whats for lunch?

and a couple months later, jessica alba arrives!

mad busy at the mall today and it wasnt even christmas yet

while people watching today, i noticed that the fur hoodie is the rage this year

lets learn english I

lets learn english II

lets learn english III

STILL TOASTY

Its like the begining of October and the weather is still in the 80s??? wierd! should be a bit cooler by now, arrrgghhh .. my snow!

ALOT OF WHACKING GOING ON

So i was up watching japanese tv, they dont quite got the reality tv shows going yet, but they make it up with some crazy ass shit. So from what i could understand from this show is that these 4 popular comedians go back to school, high school that is. And its like a boot camp. If they even "laugh" someone calls out their name and they gotta bend over while a masked guy in a blue suit rolls by and whacks em in the ass with a big ass kendo stick! Shit! So they go throughout the day at school while wierd shit pops up like a belly dancer and they try not to laugh, but seems like they cant control themselves. So whack, whack, whack it went ... funny shit ...

162 whacks, fuck that gotta hurt