FINALLY BACK ONLINE

Well i guess thats what happens when you dont pay your YahooBB bill for a couple months, ha ha ha. So it was no internet for a couple days, but it sure was more relaxing and even got more studying done, now back to internet nerd world.

THINGS TO DO

Got a whole list of things that need finishing up, finding a job, resume, printing pics, planning lessons, etc, but damn, think the lazy bug has struck again.....

ITS NOT CHRISTMAS

But who cares! I was gonna treat the kids for all their hard work. Today was a day of relaxing for the 11 or so English high school course wannabe students. Yesterday, for Valentine's day my kids wrapped up their english interviews and paper tests at Aioi and Taishi high school. What a bummer to take a test on V day. The past two weeks me and the English teachers were busy prepping them up to pass the test. Everyone had some basic interview questions asked them such as, "What's the name of your school? What's your favorite food? What time do you wake up? How do you come to school?" and so on. Talking to the kids after the test today the Aioi kids said the teachers interviewing them were rapid fire, just shooting out high speed questions, a bit difficult. This into contrast where the Taishi kids said that they got super easy questions. This could also be the space in the course, Taishi had 40/47 and Aioi had a whopping 40/61. For Aioi bout a 66% chance to get in, bummer. Then the 2nd part of the interview varied, for Aioi the kids had to read a story passage then answers questions. Before they had pictures, but not this year, so the kids said it was hard, geeez i hope they passed. The Taishi kids had a picture of a anime character such as "chibi maruko chan" and pop singers "SMAP" and had to make a one minute speech.




Damn its hard enough in your own language non less in another language. Worked really hard in prepping them in this one, as the other teachers didnt really know how to tackle this one. So made a series of hints, such as intro, description, color, clothes, where from, make a story, i want, i think, when i was young, what, when, where, who, ... etc. At first it was really tough because they were just reading stories but couldnt put anything together, but later got them to 30 seconds, then 40 seconds, and then finally over a minute. Yippee! Some were super awesome! Ayaka, Noriko, and sometimes the others had great speeches. Pretty cool to see them all do well, i hope they passed!!!!

Anyways so there was no snow and it wasn't Christmas, but it was time for the famous "White Elephant" game. The other day went and scooped up the kids favorites, elmo, cookie monster, sponge bob, bracelets, and other goodies. Overall it was a fun day with the kids! GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!

from back row ... kinue (habatan), mao, aki, ayaka, chika, aki, misaki, noriko, misato, ?, kenshi, hisonori, ogawa sensei, me

NEW HAIR CUT?

The other day a bunch of kids were asking "new cuto?, wax? new hair?, etc", basically if i got a new hair cut. But nah i didnt, didnt have one for awhile, just put my hair down instead of spiking it up. Just kinda interesting how kids notice things.

SCHOOL MEETINGS

Once in awhile we have some special school meetings with all the students, some of the unique ones this year have been ... students riding their bikes recklessly, where one of the jr high students was riding their bike and playing on their cell phone and ran into a group 1st grade elementary students, boy did they all get a bitching ... then there was the other time when one of the students mother who was accused of murder and it was all over the local paper and maybe on tv i think, poor student, so it was nice of the principal to go out and tell the students to leave the student alone and dont talk about the incident ... dang that really sucks to have your mom on the front page for whacking someone to death with a golf club ... mmm

MAID SERVICE IN JAPAN?

Well its interesting how CNN and all the news picks up things about Japan, but its pretty much just stuff coming out of Tokyo. So the article went on about how the nerd world up in Tokyo has gotten new ideas, and shops such as coffee joints, hair salons, etc have been popping up where the workers dress up as maids to give the "i serve you master feel" to the nerds and other people who come in. So the maids go out of their way by bowing, grooming, and even spoon feeding among other things, geeezzz. I dont see any maid service around these neck of the woods, well not the boonies, but i mean in the bigger cities of Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto. Its one of those only in Tokyo. Anyways thought it was a interesting read, check it out, might even be funny to check out one of these places for reals.

SUPER BLOW

Dang, endured the whole day trying to not know the outcome. Even got the mini super bowl party going on with Shu san coming over to chomp down some tight Chicago pizza. If ordering the pizza wasnt hard enough, it was harder to watch the seahawks miss field goals, get shitty calls, and fuck up the clock. Damn better luck next year boys! It was a nice run. Guess i knew it was bad when i was at school and all of a sudden one of my teachers shouted out to me, "super bowl, finished! Steelers!" as i quickly closed my ears and told him i didnt want to hear it, because i had to watch it tonite. Oh well! In compensation of the loss though, i found this really cool football game, where no man cries, and everyone is a winner, check it out! the Lingerie Bowl

GO HAWKS!!

Soon SUPER BOWL XL will play, Seahawks vs Steelers. But damn! Once again the only time they make it is when i am in Japan, and to make things worse time zones!! Damn kickoff time is at 830am over here on a monday. Yeah and i start work at 830 and have full classes all day! Was thinking to call in sick, but nah, i be good and just go to work. Luckily there is replay of it at 730pm. So will not try to check any internet or talk to anyone, i dont want to know the score, just gonna watch it on the tube. So neighbor Shu is gonna come over and we gonna make a good ole boys Japan style Super Bowl style party. Pizza and beer is the treat of the day. GO HAWKS!!!

JOB HUNTING

Yup, looking for a new job, almost after 3 years its almost time to move on. How sad to leave such a cool job. How could you not like long vacations every 3 months or so. I dont know of any other job like that. Anyways at the Kobe conference they mentioned it was only about 6 months to go until July, and i never thought of it that way til now. Damn how time flies, time to get together that resume soon. Looked at jobs online but no go there yet, there are tons of jobs out there as the school year starts in april/march here. But damn on the JET program its July for us, so its kinda screwy cuz it doesnt really match up. MMmmm what to do. Hopefully later on some more jobs will pop up for a August start or something. Crossing those fingers, otherwise gonna chill and take it easy and enjoy my last couple months in Tatsuno. Its a nice little city with nice people, when i get the chance gonna take a walk around and do a nice photo shoot, nice and peaceful and relaxing.

IT WAS THE WEEKEND

The GOOD, got a bunch of errands done, picked up my BOA laces for my boots, changed the car oil which is always an adventure with nice work by neighbor Shu, then picked up the Minna No Nihongo II book which i should have had a long time ago, then ate some good ass yakiniku for dinner with Mike, Nikki, and Ayame and even had room to polish it off with some McDonalds, and called mom.
Then the BAD, the special yakiniku sauce i supposed was spiced up with mad MSG and it gave me a killer headache the next day, that lasted the whole day. It even got the peeps with some bladder problems. So stayed in couldnt go watch the kids play bball, didnt go to the gym. Ah skipped out on two snowboarding trips, damn. Promised myself to rest up this weekend otherwise i would have a nervous breakdown. Oh well just rested up, so no loss there.

4 SEASONS

Summer hate it too damn humid and hot, spring is perfect, fall is perfect, and there is old man winter. I dont mind it much as long as i got my heater going on in my apt. Then there is also the snowboard factor, love it, and this season is great! The difference with the cold is that when you go out places you are in the elements, either via bicycle, shopping, or waiting for the train. Ya are out and about, for a long time and it gets damn cold, so its not like home where u run into ur car turn it on and you are warm, or you just run from your car into your mall and its all good. Anyways that was a pretty pointless blog, but nonless it was just a thought on my mind. Go Seahawks! Don't let those bias sports writers put you down. Go kick Pitts ass!

OPEN WINDOWS?

Went to elementary today, forgot how cold it is, some classes have the window wide open, there is no heater, its about 45 degrees, kids are in shorts, and girls in skirts and the teacher is in a big jacket. And you wonder why all the kids are all sick. Its because its damn cold!! Get a heater or close those windows. Geezzz they love to make their kids tough in japan. I must remember to wear more clothes next time.