ANOTHER MARKANE?

Jussi Markkanen? A long lost relative from Finland? Nah, its just the Edmonton Oilers goalie whose name sounds quite familiar! It was just funny seeing his name on ESPN.com when i was cruising the sports pages. Anyways go Oilers! Hope they win the Stanley Cup, now i got someone to root for!

THIS WEEKEND

Headed down to Awaji for probably my last game with InterHyogo, oh the memories of playing soccer, what a bummer. So drove down with the neighbors as well as Mike's English training teacher from Kansai Univ., his name was Taku. Taku kindly gave his weekend up to spend time with a bunch of crazy foreigners, brave soul. Well our game performance wasn't as hot as the weather but we all had a great time just hanging out, no complaints there, nice weekend in the sun, walking barefoot on grass and then some nice yakiniku by night, double nice.

IT WAS A GOOD DAY

First, I was sitting down at my desk and Yukie came in and gave me an envelope. Inside the envelope were pictures that she had taken with her camera of me and all the students in her class from our Kobe trip. I was like, "wow!", so cool! This was coming from a girl who a year ago who didnt even come to school saying she was being bullied and didnt like it, but now she was the leader of that school trip. Kids always suprise ya.

Food! I was kinda bummed that I couldnt order my usual bento today. So i opted to go out and buy it at the store, but when i was about to enter i looked across the street and saw this little cafe with a lunch menu. When crossing the street bumped into some of my high school kids, Nishimura and friend, always good to see the alumni. Anyways ventured into the restaurant, ordered a chicken set. Hot damn, that was one of the best chicken I have had in Japan! Damn, I need to explore more, I have been missing out. Gonna go back and get my fill before I leave.

Then all the classes were great today, even the bad classes, they did their work and had fun. Amazing how a little tinkering of a lesson can make it so much better. If somehing dont work, I dont try to do the same thing again, I always like to tinker with it or give it a new spin and try to make it work. It was boring enough just writing about your school trip which was kinda a bomb last year. So with a little flavor, try to guess who went where and what they ate, or even just smash up your paper, kids like that. Good to see something workout. Always thinking of what to improve, thats kinda my nerdy side.

Then had some free time and played some bball with the kids, damn it was hot today! But it was fun to just screw around and play some 2v2, 3v3, and even Takuto wanted to play some 1v1 which is always fun.

After school ran into Ari and Mao. The funny girls, ah its always good to see em. They also intercepted Mike and Nikki and had a good chat.

Rounding up more excercise, hit up Mike for soccer action in prep for Awaji. Good to run around and sweat and enjoy Tatsuno by the river, its so nice here, gonna miss it. Rarely do I see a spot by the river to live by in Japan.

Now at home, ready to chill and eat some good food! ... and that was a great day ... well after my ice cream desert of course ...

2 MONTHS TO GO ...

And I am still scratching my head. I cant believe I have been in Japan for almost 3 years now! And I still cant speak Japanese, ha ha ha. First I was just gonna stay one year, then somehow it became two, then three, jeez. Well its been a fun three, I hope the last two can be just as great.

GO HANSHIN TIGERS!!!

Re! Re! Re! ...
One of the MUST things to do when living in Japan. GO! to a Hanshin Tigers game at Koshein stadium. (Hanshin Tigers is one of the oldest baseball teams in Japan, its kinda like seeing the Cubs at Wrigley Field) Baseball fans in Japan are crazy! And its cool, its like a big college basketball or football game, everyone's into it. Not quite like the boring and slow American baseball from back home, where the occasional fat man will start cheering. Here at a Tigers game everyone is up in arms, almost all fans got some sort of bat noisemakers (50%), they all got their jerseys (80%), 7th inning stretch is not a song, but a all out ballon flying session, and then they cheer for anything, even a bunt, its crazy! It's a must do. ... in the pics, they amazingly let you take beer into the stadium, its just gotta be poured into a paper cup, but don't worry, they even do it for you











Of course had to get a pic with the crazy grandma fan!

TODAYS HAPPENINGS

Well, actually it was yesterday, but nothing like a good ole problem to spruce up your regular routine. Over the weekend was driving around and got a flat, so the other day had to look up some new words to use when going to the local JOMO gas station to get a fix. Its just not like home where you can roll up there and get something done. Seems like everything here i gotta do some prep work. So looked up the word for repair, "shurisuru" 私の車のタイヤを修理してもらえますか. Or something, like that, anyways they got the jiff of it, kinda helped that the tire looked flat too. Everything was dandy, got it fixed, got some explanation which i probably only understood 20% of, but the main thing was mission accomplished. Like i said, there is always something new everyday in Japan.

DOUBLE TROUBLE!!

Today was elementary school, and neighbor Mike came along gracefully even though it was his day off, what a guy! He also did a rad job and the kids were giving hi-5s like there was no tomorrow. So it was double trouble day as yes there wasn't just one foreigner, but two! And heck those two guys don't even look foreign. Anyways it was a double crazy day with the kids.

POOR GIRLS TEAM

Was leaving school today and saw the girls basketball team hanging out on the gym steps. Funny they weren't inside practicing. So i asked them what's the deal?? So they said they can't practice for awhile because two of the members got busted for looking at "purikura" (sticker pictures) in class. Bummer! That's strike two, they got busted before for riding on a bike with two students, no helmet, and using a ketai cell phone at the same time. Well looks like the new coach is laying down the law. Too bad they looked so bummed out today. Oh well, its video game time.

BEING LAZY

Last weekend, well i pretty much did nothing, just chilled, cleaned house preparing for the move, went to the gym, and played my WOW video game. Damn, that wasn't so exciting but i feel great!

PUMP.. YOU UP!

Recently been pumping up at the gym, finally getting back to the old form from Seattle, um 3 years later. Dang Thao, my spotting buddy. Got back to my goal of 4 reps of 225, then the thoughts of my favorite gym heros came bouncing in my head. Of course, "I am Hans." "And I am Franz." "And we just want to.. [ clap ] Pump.. you up!" Here are some classic phrases that always crack me up.

* "I am Hans." "And I am Franz."
* "We are here to pump [handclap] you up!"
* "Hear me now and believe me later..."
* "Girlie men"
* "Look at the girlie man, going into his girlie house!"








Hans: Franz? Are you sleeping?
Franz: No, Hans. I was just counting stars.
Hans: Listen to me now, and believe me later: you can't count all the stars, Franz. It's like trying to count all your muscles.
Franz: Yes, you are right.
Hans: The universe is so vast.
Franz: I was just thinking, Hans: suppose we were just a tiny speck of a muscle, inside a larger muscle, inside an even larger muscle. It boggles my mind just talking about it.

Franz: Hans, I cannot sleep. I'm going to get up and have a nice hot cup of protein drink. [gets up ]
Hans: I think I vill join you. [ also gets up ]

[ a wolf howls ]
Franz: Vhat was that?
Hans: Vhat was vhat?
[ a cat screams ]
Franz: That!
Hans: I don't know.. but if I was a wild bear thinking about attacking a certain campsite, I would think twice now and think about it again later!
Franz: Listen to me now, and hear me later, Mr. Bear: if you think that ve are easy prey, then take a look at this!
[ Hans and Franz flex their muscles for all the wild forest animals to see ]

Franz: Don't give yourself too much credit, Mr. Out-of-Shape Ranger Man!
Hans: Ya, Mr. Smokey the Bear Man! You know, if you think you scared us, my friend, then you are a dreamer!
Franz: Ya, and dreamers are in for a rude awakening!
Hans: Ya, you know, maybe we should wake you up by putting a bear trap in your bed, and then having it snap your flabby fanny!
Franz: Ya, and you would not even feel it, and then we'd be stuck with some trapped flab!
Hans: Ya, that's right! Hear me now, and believe me.

CURRY AND MORE CURRY

Yesterday went to shogakko, aka elementary school and had curry for lunch. Then went to another shogakko today, and low and behold it was the exact same lunch! Arrggghhh, i like curry, but not that much.

CHOPSTICKS AND DEBIT CARDS

Just a random thought of the week, first of all lets talk about disposable chopsticks, ya know the wooden ones. Didn't quite notice how much Japan uses disposable chopsticks until the other day i was at Mike's and was reading an AJET lesson about chopsticks. It said everyday Japan uses 130,000,000 wooden chopsticks (that's alot of fuckin chopsticks), is the biggest user of wooden chopsticks, 50% in the world, and gets its chopsticks from other countries forests such as the USA, Philippine, Malaysia, China, etc. Heck there was even a news article this week about how China is raising the costs of the wooden chopsticks to 2 to 3 cents from 1 cent in order to save its forests, so Japanese companies were gonna think again about the disposable chopsticks, but then again, i don't really think so. Just looking around they are everywhere, every restaurant uses wooden chopsticks, you get em from the bento stores, you get them from the supermarket. I can't really think of a time when you use plastic or non-disposable chopsticks at the restaurant. Mmmm... never really thought of it until i started looking around. Kinda reminds me of my drawer full of disposable chopsticks. Then when comparing to back home. Most of the times if you are at a restaurant you are using plastic chopsticks, in chinatown, at a vietnamese restaurant. Anyways that's that, next is money matters.

In Japan everyone uses cash. Everyone carries it. They have ATM machines, but no debit cards, and if you got a debit card from overseas, good luck trying to use it. Impossible to find a ATM machine that will take a foreign debit card. So the society of bullet trains and technology also takes a step back sometimes. So everyone carries cash and sometimes alot of it, maybe its because they don't have debit cards to use, or maybe its because everyone feels safe, but yeah carrying even 100 bucks back home is pushing it a bit. But not in Japan, i have seen people take out wads of 10000yen bills which is 100 bucks back home. Even i have felt the pleasure of being safe and strolled around with 800 bucks in my pocket, which of course i would never never do back home, because you know if that slips out you will never see it again. Anyways so i was reading the news again and the news reported that a former rock star got pickpocketed, and of course yah guess how much he had in his wallet in cash? Not the ole 100 bucks, not even 1000 bucks, but oh yeah 5000 bucks. All gone! damn. Well better safe than sorry, watch your pockets, or get a debit card into the system.

SIGNS IN JAPAN part I

Dunno why, but every sign has to be cute here. I actually didnt realize how cute the signs were until when my cousin Phuong stopped by last year and noted that to me. So finally i got around to taking some pictures. Here are some examples of what i saw just by walking around the other day, will post more in another sign series.

GOLDEN DAY

Damn was it a nice day today! Sunny, highs in the 70s, light breeze, not a cloud in the sky, it was a great day as if it were Seattle in the summer. A great day for golden week to start off. If only everyday could be like this, but i know the evil humidity monster of the summer is coming. Oh darn, better enjoy the weather while it lasts and before i start sweating like a pig.

PTA DAY AT SCHOOL

WHAT COLOR?

Today is wednesday so it was elementary school day, aka shogakko, todays school was Tatsuno. The hardest part is just getting out of bed, everytime i go i know its gonna be busy, 4-5 classes with wild monkeys. Everytime i feel like calling in sick, but somehow i pull myself together and go to school. This morning was one of those days, and i think i am slowly going later and later and later. I used to arrive by bike at around 820, then it became 830, and now 835, oh well at least it isnt so bad now that i have pretty much all the classes planned for, just got pick whats on my teaching menu.

Had some of my regular teachers they were great as usual. Things went like clockwork,5th grade rad, 6th grade awesome, 2nd grade cute, wish i could take the kids home. Then there was the new 3rd grade teacher, always a mystery with the new teacher, and ah damn they cant all be great so this one was totally weak, kids out of control, they didnt listen to her, even the principal came in and she went to even more panic mode. Oh my, seemed like she was trying to hide from the kids or something, some people arent cut out to be teachers, kinda harsh, or they need to get some serious training or a backbone, these kids were wild like monkeys. But in defense of the teacher, she was handling over 30 kids because the other teacher, um, went somewhere else. Anyways enough rant, now on to the good stuff.

At lunch time i gotta eat with kids, so today was with the 5th grade kids, the menu not bad, salmon, rice, noodles, seaweed, and milk. Usually before i didnt know how to interact with the kids so much, mm .. i didnt speak much japanese and they didnt speak much english, so what to do. So recently i always brought a pen and paper to class to do a little lunch time interview. I asked their names, or what kinda drinks they liked, or color, or food, or team, or whatever. Today I just went with the names. Kids would have names like "Senba, Terumi, Kouki" and they would tell me their names and i would write it down, but i would pretend that i have a hearing problem and (i kinda do, because when they say their names fast, i have no idea what it is) then twist their name into some funny japanese name. So for Ms. Senba, i called her "sembe" which means japanese cracker, then the other boy "kouki" turned into "kansai kuko" which is the local airport. Then poor "Terumi" i butchered his name into teriyaki mayonaise tomato salad burger. Hahaha ... all the kids were rolling, good times at lunch time.

For the last class it was the 4th grade kids teaching them color. I was a bit tired, but the kids genki energy got me going. Had a new teacher who wore the tackiest green 80s suit i have ever seen, but he was a cool guy and i got him to work so it was all good. So for the lesson i was screwing around with random ideas, so i thought how lame color cards are, so i popped out my wallet and asked kids what color this 1000yen (10 bucks) bill was, blue , the kids went nuts and mobbed me like it was a "new kids on the block" concert. Then i settled the youngins down, then proceeded to pull out the 5000yen bill (50 bucks) purple, then the kids went even more nuts with more kids joining the mosh pit, then lastly i went with the big bucks and pulled out the 10000yen bill (100 bucks) and it was an all out assault by the kids, geez! And that was just the begining of class, got so loud that some of the other poor kids were plugging their ears with their fingers, ha ha. So it was onto reviewing the colors, so i brought my bag of goodies this time and instead of using the lame color cards i proceeded to pull out drinks and treats and toys for colors. Mmmm ... we had CC Lemon for yellow, Grape Fanta for purple, Doraemon for blue, King Kong for black, Qoo Orange juice for orange, Pocky for red, and so on. It was quite a riot the rest of the class as well and so fun!

Then as i said goodbye to the kids and they departed one by one all the jumping and screaming and smiles were all gone. There was no one left, i was only left with an empty music room with a bag of goods, color cards, a notebook, and a key to lock up the room. Then i thought to myself its gonna be like this in about 3 months. No more dancing around with the kids, no more joking around. The kids will be gone and i will miss them. Realization kinda just hit me there.

THE LAST OF THE SAKURA

This past week was pretty much the last of the cherry blossoms. They always come and go in a hurry, about two weeks tops for you to get your pictures in. This year was alright, but it was always overcast. But anyways tried to get my last pics of Himeji Castle in, so on Tuesday i drove out to Himeji. Drove was the keyword, then the car didnt want to drive anymore, at first i noticed the car pedal not accelerating right, then when i got off the ramp in Himeji i noticed another sign of trouble, steam! Well, anytime you see your car steamin thats not a good sign. Hanged out at the damn 3 minute stoplight praying my car would make it as i saw the nice little heat guage go from mid point to danger H level. Luckily made it to the 7-11 around the corner with the guage busting around H. Wow, lucky. Anyways after a hour of delay due to the radiator tube bursting out, and making quick repairs i was on my way to Himeji castle to get the last of the cherry blossoms for this year before they changed into leaves. Not the best shooting conditions, but here is what i could scrap out ... farewell cherry blossoms

ON A MONDAY AFTERNOON

NOISE ORDINANCE

Yeah know, i dont think Japan has a noise ordinance. As of yesterday there has been crazy little cars with loud ass blow horns screaming out names of candidates. Looks like its election season, and this shit is gonna go on all week long. Here is a sample, imagine a loud sqeaky middle age girls voice rolling down your street, "kombanwa.... Yamamoto Naoto ...Yamamoto Naoto ....Yamamoto Naoto ....desu ...." and it goes on and on. Then it gets even better when two of those little cars cross each other, then you get to hear two squeaky voices. Oh great and its only 730pm. Damn look at those blow horns.

The rows of fierce compeitors, the various billboards around town are one of the only ways they can promote themselves. There is also mail, which i got a handful, and also the roadside campaign camps where a bunch of supporters dress up with bright ass neon jackets, orange, yellow, purple, you name it, seems like they all got a color for their team. In addition they sport some fierce white headbands often with the rising sun logo. Then as you drive by they all shout their candidates name and bow to you and every car that goes by. I wonder how many cars drive by? They must bow over a couple hundred times, mmm ... backaches i hear ya. I would set up a massage place across the street, ha ha. Anyways here are some of the lovely people going up for election, wouldnt you want a guy who know how to use a sword on your team?

ANGRY LITTLE RED GUY

Was bored, so took some snaps with the Canon after toying with the color control.