Randomkrazy

1 Month　あと１ヶ月

2011-11-06T20:31:00.003-05:00

The Japanese language proficiency test is only 1 month away. STUDY TIME!

日本語能力試験がくるのは残り１ヶ月！勉強しなきゃ！

I'm already 25?

2011-08-28T12:16:00.000-04:00

昨日うちでBBQをしました。昼から夜まで予定があったはずだけど、始まったとき早すぎて、７時ぐらいに終っちゃいました。みんなともう少しいたかったけど、しょうがないですね。みんなビールを飲んだとたんに眠くなっちゃいました。

もう２５歳かぁ。。。時間が過ぎるのは早すぎます！

多分学校時代は小学校、中学校、高校に分て、時間がもっとゆっくり過ごすそうになるかも知りません。

Yesterday I hosted a little bbq for my birthday. It was supposed to run 12pm-12am, but I think I started it a bi early and by around 7 everyone was tired. I kinda wanted everyone to stay a bit longer, but I guess that's what you get for starting so early.

I'm already 25.... I think the older you get, the faster time goes.

I suppose because in school each year is divided among grades, so it seems slower? I don't know.

ファインディング・サチ Finding Sachi

2011-06-26T12:57:00.000-04:00

最近YoutubeでBobby Judoのチャネル（日本に住む外人の生活についてのビデオとか料理教室までありますので、結構面白いと思います。是非ご覧ください　http://www.youtube.com/user/bobbyjudo）を見ていたらFinding Sachiという話が出てきてました。

http://findingsachi.com/ja/about-ja/　

「日本縦断アドベンチャーサイクリングツアーです。うまいものハンターとなり、海の幸、山の幸、日本の幸を、素晴らしい景色と共に世界中の人に紹介しよう」

ちょっと読むと感動しました！

すごくないでしょうか？！

毎日エネルギーが余ってるから、そういうアドベンチャー本当にしたいなぁと思いました。

自転車で色々なところに行ったり、美味しい物を食べたり、そして色んな人と出会うことはすごく好きです。だから、それを実行しているサチさんを応援します！

みなさんも、サチさんを応援してあげてください。

The other day I was watching some videos on Youtube. One of the people I'm subscribed to is named Bobby Judo, an American living in Southern Japan that blogs about daily life and some of the things you come across in Japan. He also does a Q&A session called Bobby and 1 Beer, where he answers questions from Japanese people about foreigners. It's pretty interesting, check him out here: http://www.youtube.com/user/bobbyjudo

While watching one of his videos I came across Finding Sachi. http://findingsachi.com

It's about a woman who left her hometown on her bike with the mission to find the best foods Japan has to offer. She's biking through from southern most to northern most parts of Japan.

To me this is like a real adventure. This is the kind of thing I'd like to do! Because of that reason I'll be cheering Sachi on!

I'm Moving Again! また引っ越します!

2011-05-24T22:55:00.000-04:00

また引っ越します！

今のルームメイトたちは忙しすぎて、掃除をしてくれません。なので、僕だけが掃除をしています。もう、自分のごみは、自分できれいにしましょう!

まだ２４歳なのに、生まれてから２１回目の引越しになります。今回は二人の高校の友達の家から親友の家に引っ越します。

フロリダ州では３カ所、メリーランド洲では１２カ所、日本では４カ所、そしてニューヨークでは２カ所に住んでいました。

家賃はちょっと上がるけど、親友の家はもっと綺麗だし、事務所からも、ずっと近いし、便利になると思います。

I'm moving yet again!

My current roommates are too busy, and unable to clean, so I'm the one left cleaning up all the time. If only they could pick up after themselves haha, I would have had more free time.

I'm only 24 but this move will make number 21. This time I'm moving from my high school friend's house to my best friends house.

Number of places I've lived in Florida 3, Maryland 12, New York 2, Japan 3.

The rents gonna go up a little, but its cleaner and closer to work. Probably more convenient too.

Cherry Blossom Festival アメリカの花見

2011-04-06T22:59:00.000-04:00

栃木県で会った友達がペンシルベニア州からワシントンDCまで来て一緒に花見をしました。アメリカの場合ちょっと違います。外でお酒を飲めないので、みんな歩きながらさくらを楽しんでいます。よく分からないですけど、ピクニックする場所があってもみんな歩いて見ています。
日本にいた時に８回ぐらい花見しました。でもアメリカの花見があっても１回しか行きませんでした。なぜなのか、ちょっと説明します。

アメリカの花見と言うと歩きながら写真を撮ったり、水を飲んだり、景色を楽しんで見たりすることだと思います。

日本の花見と言うと青いビニールシートを敷いて、友達とお酒を飲んだり、お菓子を食べたり、色んな人と出会ったり、さくらの下で楽しむことだと思います。

日本の方が楽しいでしょう？

英語を学んでる方は下にご覧ください。
A friend I met in Tochigi in Japan came down to DC from Pennsylvania to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival with me. The Cherry Blossom festival in America is a bit different from the one in Japan. For example in America, you can't drink alcohol outside, and even though there's perfectly good picnic areas around people enjoy the blossoms while walking.

When I was in Japan I went to the festival about 8 times, in America I only have gone once. I'll explain the reason below.

In America if you say "Cherry Blossom Festival" I think of people walking taking pictures, drinking bottled water, and enjoying the view of the blossoms.

In Japan if you say "Cherry Blossom Festival" I think of spreading out a blue sheet, drinking sake with friends, eating snacks, and meeting people around your picnic area while you sit and enjoy the blossoms.

Doesn't Japan’s way of doing it sound better?

Become Legendary

2011-03-28T19:33:00.001-04:00

I thought this was cool, so I decided to translate it.

Michael Jordan
マイケル・ジョーダン

Look me in the eye.
俺の目を見てくれ

It's ok if you're scared, so am I.
怖くてもかまわないさ。俺だって怖い。

But we're scared for different reasons.
だが、俺らの怖いと思うことはそれぞれ違うんじゃないか

I'm scared of what I won't become.
俺は’それ’にならないことが怖い

You're scared of what I could become.
お前は俺が’それ’になれるのが怖いだろう

Look at me.
俺を見るんだ

I won't let myself end where I started.
俺は自分を出発時点では終わらせない

I won't let myself finish where I began.
始めたところで簡単に終わらせたりはしない

I know what is within me, even if you can't see it yet.
俺は、俺の中にあるものが何なのかよく知っている。お前にはまだ見えなくても。

Look me in the eyes.
さあ俺の目を見てくれ

I have something more important that courage.
俺には、勇気よりももっと重要なものが備わっているんだ

I have patience.
俺はハンパなく粘り強い

I will become what I know I am.
俺は、俺の知っている俺自身になってみせる

Become Legendary.
伝説に、なる。

帰国 Going Home

2011-03-06T14:51:00.000-05:00

残念ですが、親友が帰国します！
今年の８月に会った奈巳という人が日本に帰ります。きっと寂しくなります。なぜかというと、奈巳が日本人の友達のサークルの中心だったからです。いやー！

やっぱり、別れるのは嫌いです。でも昨日皆が集まって、送別会みたいなパーティーをしました。晩ご飯が終わって、皆から奈巳にプレゼントあげました。奈巳が僕たちと遊んだ写真をアップした、デジタルフォトフレームをあげました。写真を見ながら奈巳が泣いちゃいました。奈巳が皆と抱きあってまた泣いちゃった。「本当にありがとう」と言われました。みんな、奈巳から手紙をもらいました。

その後、バーに行って疲れるまで踊りました。とっても楽しかったです。そういう夜ずっーと続いてほしかった。木曜日なのに終電で帰りました。

またいつか日本でもアメリカでもどこかでも会えるといいです。

Ｉｔ's unfortunate but a good friend's going back to her home country.
A girl I met last August named Nami will be flying back to Japan. I'll definitely miss her! One reason being that in my circle of Japanese friends here she is the center and helps bring people together.

I'm really no good with saying goodbye. But luckily yesterday we got everyone together and had a going away party for her. After finishing dinner we gave her a present. We gave her a digital photo frame with pictures of our time together already uploaded on it. While she was looking at the pictures she started crying. She was saying things like "Thanks so much" even though she was sad. After that she gave all us of personal letters.

Next we went to a bar and danced until we couldn't anymore. It was so fun. I wanted the night to continue longer, but everyone had to work the next day so we couldn't stay too late. We caught the last train back home even though it was a Thursday.

I hope I see her again wherever it maybe be.

幸せとは A Realization about Happiness

2011-01-15T10:08:00.001-05:00

今日ちょっと自分で考えた。
どうやったら幸せを見つけるかなぁと思ってさ
そして気付いた、幸せは見つける物ではない
幸せとは作るものだ。

Today I was thinking to myself,
Why can't I find happiness?
Then I realized, happiness isn't something you find.
Happiness is something you make.

My New Job　新しい仕事

2011-01-09T22:55:00.001-05:00

I started my new job on the 3rd of January this year.
１月３日から新しい仕事を始めました。

I'm the executive vice president's assistant.
副社長のアシスタントをしています。

It's an interesting job.
今の仕事は面白いです。

I always have something to do.
常にやるべき事があります。

The problem is I don't know what I like and dislike about it.
問題は好きなところと嫌いなところが何か分からないということです。

My current job is really the definition of random.
本当にランダムな仕事です。

One day I'm calling clients, the next day I'm painting a room. The tasks vary so much.
ある一日は顧客に電話して、で次の日に部屋全体にペンキを塗っていました。

I couldn't have guessed how many tasks I'd have to juggle at one time.
複数のやることを上手にやりくりしなければいけないなんて思ってもみなかった。

On Sundays I'm still working at the Little Gym as an instructor, so I'm now working two jobs and I'm working 6 days a week.
また毎週の日曜日にインストラクターとしてリトルジムで働いています。つまり、今２つの仕事で1週間に6日間仕事をしてます。

Maybe it will help me save more money though, hah.
そしたら、少しは貯金できるかもしれません。

Compared to how much a salary man works in Japan, it's really nothing, but I still don't like it.
日本のサラリーマンと比べて大したことはないですが、やっぱり好きではないです。

抱負ありますか？New Years Resolutions

2010-12-23T00:08:00.001-05:00

In America many people make new years resolutions.
アメリカでは人々は新年の抱負を持ちます。

Many people want to quit smoking, or go on a diet, some want to study more, and others want to spend more time with family.
たばこをやめたがったり、ダイエットをしたがったり、もっと勉強したがったり、もっと家族と時間を過ごしたい人もいっぱいいます。

These are all good things, however, for some reason many people fail.
これらは全部良いことですが、多くの人々は失敗します。

I wonder why? Do you think it's hard for people to change?
なぜでしょうか。人というのは簡単には変わらないものだと思いますか？

It is difficult for many people to stick to their resolutions.
多くの人にとって、新年の抱負を守ることは難しいです。

I want to become better at Japanese, and in July I will take the N2 of Japanese proficiency test.
日本語を使いこなす力が上達させて、７月に日本語能力試験のＮ２を受けたいと思います。

I want to study everyday, for at least one hour. I wonder if I can do it.
毎日１時間以上勉強したいですが、できるかどうかまだ分かりません。

Do you have any new years resolutions?
皆さん、新年の抱負ありますか？

お母さんは英雄だ　My Mom is a Hero!

2010-11-27T00:23:00.001-05:00

昨日お母さんから連絡がありました。数日前、お母さんが働いてるレストランで強盗未遂事件がありました！

So I spoke with my mom the other day.　A few days ago there was an attempted robbery at her workplace!

その時にメリーランド州からお母さんの親友が訪ねて、一緒にお母さんの仕事場に行きました。レストランを閉店した後、事務室でペーパーワークをしながら、親友と話していました。突然、二人の男が玄関のドアに押し入りました！

At the time my mom's friend from Maryland was visiting so they went to my mom's work together.　After my mom closed the restaurant she was doing some paper work in the office and talking to her friend.　Then suddenly, two men broke into the entrance of the restaurant.

お母さんは音を聞いて、防犯カメラを見ました。二人が事務室に向かっていました。素速く事務室のドアまで走って、ドアを閉め、親友が警察を呼びました。強盗は侵入しようとしましたがお母さんがしばらくドアを閉めたままにすることができました。

My mom heard the noise and checked the security camera.　She saw two men headed for the office　.She quickly ran to the office door and held it shut.　She had her friend call the police.　The men tried to break into the office, but my mom was able to hold the door shut for a while.

親友がブリーチ(漂白剤)とホチキスを準備して、犯人が入ってきたら顔に投げて、そのすきに逃げるてはずでした。強盗がパトカーのサイレンに気づくまでの長い間ドアを閉めたままにすることができました。　強盗はレストランからとび出して、警察は彼らを追いかけました。強盗は警察から逃げましたが、お母さんと母の親友は無事でした。危ないところでした！よかった～！お母さんそんなこと二度とないでよ！

My mom's friend got some bleach and a stapler ready because if they weren't able to hold the door shut, they wanted to try to escape.　Luckily my mom was able to hold the door shut long enough for robbers to hear the police sirens.　The two men ran and drove away, the police pursued them.　The two men escaped, but my mom and her friend were safe　.Thank goodness!　What a dangerous situation... Whew! Mom, don't do something like that ever again!

心配事がなくなりそう。

2010-11-09T01:50:00.000-05:00

これを聴くと心配事がなくなりそう。　If you listen to this, it's like you worries just disappear..

色々見て勉強になります。

2010-10-09T00:40:00.000-04:00

「素直になれなくて」というドラマを最終話まで観ました。すごくいいドラマです。僕のおすすめです。是非ご覧ください！
なんでそんなにいいのかというと、苦しい場面があったり、嬉しい場面もあったりして、結構面白いからです。登場人物は共感できないほどとっぴでも非現実的でもないです。アニメを見ると面白い感じるけど、やっぱ現実じゃないからあまり共感できません。だからドラマとか映画を見ないとだめです！笑
ドラマをみると日本語を使いこなす力がどんどん上がります。日本語と英語の学習者の人はドラマを見てください。

このリンクで英語でもスペイン語でも他の言語でも字幕が付きます。さらに日本語の字幕もちゃんと付きます。　http://www.viikii.net/channels/goto/SunaoniNarenakute

So I finally finished watching "It's hard to say I love you". It's a really good Japanese Drama. I recommend watching it to anyone learning Japanese.

Why do I think its so good? I laughed I cried and everything in between. The characters are really easy to relate to so it's easy to get into. If you watch anime and stuff like that you can only relate to a certain point before you realize its not real. So, if you want to learn more "real" Japanese you should really watch dramas and movies with realistic scenes.

With the link I provide below you can watch the drama with not only English and Japanese subtitles but many more. And the caption bar on the side is really great for language learners.
http://www.viikii.net/channels/goto/SunaoniNarenakute

How to Improve my Japanese? 日本語の上達のために

2010-09-07T14:10:00.000-04:00

日本にいなくても、日本語を上達させるためには、どうしたらいいでしょうか？

ちょっと考えて、いい方法を思い付きました。

だれもが、映画やテレビ番組を見たり、音楽を聴いたり、本を読んでいたりします。だから、趣味を習っている外国語で楽しむことができたら、すぐに外国語を覚えることができると思います。

毎週、見つけることができれば字幕なしでドラマとアニメと映画を見たり、漫才が大好きなので、漫才も見たり、本を読んだり、iPｏｄの Podcastも日本語の勉強の番組を聞いたり、それから何をすればいいでしょうか？面白い本とか番組とか映画は何かありますか？Podcastを聞きますか？

おすすめありますか？もっと日本の面白いものを見て、聞いて、そして読みたいです！

インタネットで見る番組とかamazonのリンクとか、どっちらでも書いたら感謝しています。

If I'm not in Japan, I wonder how I can improve my Japanese.

I thought about it a little and this is what I came up with.

Everyone watches movies, listens to music, watches tv and reads books right? Well if I can do all of those things in Japanese, I'll learn it fast. If I can do any hobby in Japanese it'll definitely help me learn it.

Everyweek if I can find it, I watch anime or dramas without subtitles in Japanese. I really like manzai (a form of stand up comedy in Japan) alot so I try to watch those too. I also study by listening to some podcasts about Japanese. Anyways I'm wondering what else I can do. Do you know any interesting dramas, movies, or anime? Do you have and recommendations? If so please let me know I want to read more watch more and experience more in Japanese.

If you could provide a link to watch it, or a link to amazon to buy it I'd much appreciate it!

Thanks!

Getting things in Order

2010-08-03T11:04:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't written a post in a while. Ever since I got a job I haven't had time since I've been relaxing if I have time off and working almost 6 days a week.. I'm living at a friends house but I don't have my room yet. I need to put my bed together and buy a dresser so I can have my own room. Living like a nomad is difficult haha.

Got A Job

2010-07-11T17:10:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone.
I got a job working at The Little Gym. I'll start on the 22nd this month. I have two weeks of training then I'll start being a full time employee. It seems like alot of fun. I get to work with kids and do fun gymnastic stuff. Seems like a really light atmosphere and something I will enjoy!

こんにちは、皆！
体育先生としての仕事を得て、リトルジムで働きます。始まるのは今月の２２日です。二週間の職業訓練を終って、常勤者になります。なんか、楽しいそう。子供達に体操的運動を教えます。雰囲気は軽くて、楽しみます。

What does it mean to be American?日本人の意味は？

2010-06-15T16:23:00.000-04:00

What's up!

After returning back to the states I was on a train headed back home from NYC and just thinking to myself and I came up with a question. I wanted to ask other people, not only friends but strangers too. I also wanted to ask a variety of people from different places and different backgrounds.

I wanted to ask you:

As an American, what does it mean to be American to you?

およそ１ヶ月半前に日本からアメリカに帰国しました。日本に住んだ２年間で、僕の世界は広がっていきました。色々な世界の人々と会って、個人的な考えや感情と面白い話をして交流しました。この経験から色々な考えを思い付きました。

先週末に大阪から友達がアメリカに来たので、ニューヨークに遊びに行きました。その日が終って、電車の中でよく考え、そしてこの質問を思い付きました。

As an American, what does it mean to be American to you?　
アメリカ人として、そして自分にとって、アメリカ人の意味とは、なんだと思いますか？

日本に行く前は、そういう考え方がなかったんです。国際的な考え方に興味があるので、これを日本人にも聞きたいです。

日本人として、日本人の意味とは、なんだと思いますか？

Intermediate Japanese?　中級レベルかなぁ？

2010-06-04T23:27:00.000-04:00

僕の日本語は中級レベルかなぁ？

日本語の勉強を始めてから、もうすぐ２年になります。僕はどれぐらい日本語を覚えたかな。中級ぐらいだと思いたいですが、毎日基本的な間違いもいっぱいあります。例えば助詞の使い方とか、動詞活用の規則などよく間違えます。

もうアメリカに帰りましたが、日本に２年間住んでいる間に日本の生活に慣れ、日本語も大分上達しました。日本に住んでいた時には会話はいつもチャレンジになっていました。限られた能力で自分の気持ちと思いを伝えればそれぞれの会話は小さな勝利になります。失敗もありました。すべての会話を１００％分からなくても、そのチャレンジを好きになりました。楽しかったけれども僕はもっと勉強しなきゃと思いました。特に外人の友達から見たら僕は日本語がとても上手だろうけど、自分としてはまだ十分じゃないんだと思う。

友達に「日本語では自分に厳し過ぎだよ」と言われましたが、僕はそうは思いません。日本人は英語圏の国に住むと早く上達することができて、一年ぐらいで大体ぺらぺらになります。少し大げさかもしれませんがそんなことよくあるでしょう。しかし、外人は何年も日本に住んでいても、なかなか日本語を覚えられません。何でだろう？確かにぺらぺらの外人もいますが、今までにそういう人に二人しか会ったことがありません。

日記を書くときは、ゆっくりできるし、辞書を使えるし、大体僕の気持ちと思いも伝えられます。しかし話す時に言葉が出てきません。ちょっと緊張して、つたない日本語ばっかりでちゃいます。対面相互作用として僕の気持ちと伝えたいことは、まだちゃんと伝えられません。

話が上達するためにどうしたらいいですか？もっと頑張らなきゃ！

I wonder if I can consider myself to have Intermediate Japanese?

Soon it'll have been two years since I started studying Japanese. I wonder how much Japanese I've actually managed to learn. I would like to think that I'm at an intermediate level. However I feel like everyday I make very basic mistakes. For example things like verb conjugation or　particle placement I seem to make many mistakes.

I've already returned to America but the two years that I did live in Japan I got used to living there, and I also improved my Japanese alot. After living there every conversation became a challenge. If I was able to get across my thoughts and feelings with with my limited vocabulary and ability I considered each conversation a small victory. Of course there were also failures, but I got used to that challenge and I came to like it. I also came to like the fact that I couldn't always understand %100 of everything I hear or see. I told myself I needed to study more. Most of my foreign friends thought my Japanese was very good, or good enough, but I didn't think so. My friends said I was too tough on myself but again, I didn't think so.

If Japanese people live in an English speaking country they learn English so quickly and within one year or so they become more or less fluent. Ok that may be somewhat of an exaggeration but I've met many people that are fluent after living only one year abroad. With foreigners living in Japan they can live there many years, but in very few cases are they fluent. I wonder why this is? Of course there are foreigners that are fluent in Japanese but in my experience I've only met two people to whom this applies to.

Because I can do it slowly at my own speed and with a dictionary I'm able to convey my feelings and thoughts in Japanese, however when it comes to speaking the words just don't seem to come out. I get nervous and I use crude or clumsy Japanese. Basically when I come face to face with someone I just can't say what I want to say at the right time.

What can I do to become better at speaking? I guess I just gotta keep trying.

経った一ヶ月

2010-05-28T11:58:00.000-04:00

大阪からニューヨーク州に戻ってもうすぐ一ヶ月です。

アメリカに帰国してから用事がいっぱいあります。アメリカに住むと必要なものは携帯と自動車と仕事です。まず携帯を買いに行きました。 Verizonと言う会社でスマートフォンを買ってしまいました。ブラックベリーのツアーと言うスマートフォンを買いました。サラリーマンには iPhoneより便利な携帯だそうです。、サラリーマンにiPhoneより便利な携帯だそうです。僕はサラリーマンになるつもりはないですが、こんな不安な景気では雇用確保が大切なので（サラリーマンに）なってしまうかも知れません。

２年前アメリカから日本に移住するまでに僕の自動車は問題がありました。　バッテリーがなくなってエンジンがかからなくなりました。そういうわけで家族に頼み、自動車を２年間ずっとそのまま家の敷地内の道路に置いておきました。自動車整備士に見てもらうと、修理は２０万円以上かかりますって言われました。僕は驚いて、祖父の薦めてくれた自動車整備士にも見てもらうと修理は１万円以下でした。安心しました。

２年間のALT生活は楽しかったです。この経験から先生になりたいと思いました。それか子供と関わる仕事に就きたいです。昨日就職の面接に行きました。上手く行きましたがこの仕事はあまり好きじゃないと思います。生命保険会社には興味がないです。生命保険の営業マンにはなりたくないです。他の仕事を探さなければなりません。

随分と忙しい１日でした。

Soon it'll be a month since I came back from Japan.

Since I came back there's so much I have to do. If you live in America theres three things you can't live without, a job, a cell phone, and a car. First I had to get a phone. I had to catch up my old cell phone bill and get a new phone. I finally got a smart phone. I went with the Blackberry tour. It's pretty good and its supposed to be really useful for business people. I don't consider myself a business person but I might become one depending on the job I get. With the bad economy it might be a good idea to become a "business person".

Two years ago before I moved to Japan my car was having some problems. My battery was shot and the car wasn't starting. So when I left I was hoping my family would just replace the battery and drive it around it keep it in good shape, but instead it just sat there for 2 years. If you know cars then you know this is really bad for it haha. Anyways took it to the mechanic and they said it'd cost over $2000 to fix. I was like Jesus Christ! I only paid 3000 for it in the first place. After that I took it to a trusted mechanic (suggested by my grandfather) and turns out it was only $96 to pass inspection. I felt relieved. Midas is a bunch of crooks! Don't go there.

It was really fun being an ALT for the 2 years I was in Japan. From that experience I feel like I want to be a teacher now, or at least work at a job that involves children. I had a job interview yesterday and although it went well I don't care if I get the job or not. I don't really want to become a Life Insurance agent. If I can work in a job that uses Japanese, involves kids, or video games then I'd be happy.

I've been pretty busy over the past month...

America

2010-05-04T08:43:00.001-04:00

I'm back in America! I finally came back. This completes my Journey in Japan. I'll still write in this blog so take a look, but it might change a bit.

気紛れで On a Whim

2010-04-19T08:41:00.000-04:00

Recently I've been biking around Osaka and checking it out. I've been finding some interesting little shops, restaurants and cafes really close to my house that I never even noticed. A couple days ago I found Maryland Cafe. Having grown up in Maryland for 12+ years I had to go to this place.

So one day I set out to go to this cafe. I left my apartment on my bike and got there in about 5 mins or so. Once I got there I thought, you know what I'm not that hungry I'll keep exploring. So I kept going.

I kept going for a while and I saw more of Osaka. I stayed on the same road that Maryland Cafe was on. The road is called Sennichimae. It runs from the bay near in/near Osaka all the way to Nara (the prefecture to the east) probably like 50km or so. Anyways on a whim I kept heading west on my bike.

The farther I got away from home the farther I wanted to go. Eventually I noticed a mountain range outline. Once I saw that mountain I set my goal.

I kept biking on that same road, which when I started was quite big, but now had gotten really narrow in a small town, until I reached the base of the mountain. Once I got there I parked my bike and started hiking up the mountain.

Along the way I met an old man, we didn't talk but it made the walk up the mountain feel different. It was a little cloudy but other than that the weather was nice. At certain points I could see the city of Osaka through the trees, it was awesome. When I got to the peak it felt great. Felt like I had accomplished something when really I just came here on a total whim.

On the way down I picked up a small stone as a keepsake. When I got home I realized I biked over 50km and hiked probably at least 2km up the mountain. The mountain is called Mount Ikoma and is on the boarder of Osaka and Nara prefectures.

近頃、自転車で大阪市内の色々な場所を探検して面白い店とかレストランとかを発見しました。アメリカのメリーランド州で１２年間ぐらい育ちましたので、メリーランドカフェというところを見つけて、ちょっと気になりました。一昨日食べに行きました。

千日前通と言う道が僕のアパートの近くにあります。東西道路です。東の方を進むと奈良県に行きます。西の方は海に行きます。兎に角メリーランドカフェは,その千日前通にあります。

よく分からないですがメリーランドカフェに着いたけれど気紛れでもう少し先に進みたいと思いました。千日前通の西方に進みました。遠くに行けば行くほど、より遠くに進みたくなりました。(「続けて、続けて」,僕の中の何かが続けてって言いました。やがて山脈が現れました。目標を決まりました。あそこまで行きたい。

たくさんの町を通って、東大阪へ初めて来ました。千日前通が狭くなり両脇に桜が並んでいました。坂道を進んで（最終的に）通が平岡公園に到着しました。

駐輪場に自転車を置いて山を登り始めました。経路で歩いて僕の前に老人も歩きました。この山の山頂まで登らなければならない気がしました。曲がりくねった小道の近くで色々な鳥が鳴いていました。上空は曇り空でしたが、たまに木々の切れ目から大阪の姿が現れました。

いつの間にか山頂に着きました。やった、ここまで来ました！山頂で深呼吸をしました。生駒山の山頂から見事な眺めを楽しみました。爽快な空気を吸いました。まだ何も食べてなかったですが空気と自然からエネルギーを取り入れました。

帰る前に、この気紛れな旅を忘れないように小さい石を拾いお土産みたいなものを手に入れました。

生駒山ありがとうございました。

懐かしいなぁ、佐野市 My Nostalgic Return to Sano

2010-04-11T23:03:00.000-04:00

最近栃木県の佐野市にいる親友達に会いに行きました。大阪に引っ越してから８ヶ月が経ち、その間栃木の友達とは会えずにいました。ちょっと久しぶりの再会になってしました。栃木の友達の中の一人のアメリカ人がアメリカから佐野を訪ねまして、僕も同時に佐野を訪ねたらいいタイミングだと思いましたいくら大阪を好きになっても、佐野の友達と会えないのは寂しいです。ちょっと面白いと思わない？大都会に住んでる人が休暇を取ると、たいてい田舎に行くでしょう、で田舎に住んでる人は逆に大都会に行くと思います。逆の現象が起こるんですよね。

Recently I took a trip to Tochigi Prefecture to see my friends living in Sano (a city I lived in for 1 year). It had been 8 months since I moved to Osaka and I hadn't been back to Sano once. One of my friends from Sano had gone back to America when I moved to Osaka, but she was coming back to visit. I figured it'd be a good idea if I visited Sano at the same time as her. It'd feel like a reunion! Even though I've come to like Osaka, I feel like Sano is my hometown in Japan. It's kind of funny, if you live in a big city you go to the country to relax and have a good time, but if you live in the country you wanna go to the city. So basically what you don't have you want.

大阪から東京まで夜行バスで行きました新宿から佐野のプレミアム・アウトレットまでまた別のバスに乗りました。佐野に着くと、友達が迎えてくれました。栃木の友達として言っているけど、実際に彼女が住んでいるところは群馬です。栃木の友達と遊ぶときによくいるこなので、栃木の友達と呼んでいます。会った時凄く嬉しかった。僕が佐野を去った時この友達が泣いてしまいました。運転するながら佐野の友達の輪についてなにがあったのかを話してくれました。今の佐野の状況を理解しました。

I took an overnight bus from Osaka to a place called Shinjuku in Tokyo, then I took another bus from there to Sano. My friend Satomi (who techically lives in another prefecture but I still consider her part of my Tochigi friends) picked me up. When I saw her again I felt pretty happy. She actually cried when I moved from Sano. While we were driving she was telling me what had changed in Sano since I'd left. I told her a bit about my life in Osaka too. The picture is from Shoya a place we all went every Wednesday when I lived there.

土曜日には宇都宮大学のチームとフリスビーをすることが出来ました。めっちゃ楽しかったですが、大阪のフリスビーチームとは全然違います。大学のチームは大体ペースも速いし、もっと真面目だから楽のチームとは違います。

On Saturday I went and played frisbee with Utsunomiya University. It was super fun, but super exausting. The team I play with in Osaka isn't very serious so we don't run really hard. The feeling of the two teams is completely different. University teams tend to be more serious so it was a real work out for me. I've gotten slow and I feel like an old guy even though I've only been out of University for 2 years!

その夜友達のお母さんの居酒屋に行きました。２０人位の友達が集まった。また話せたり会えたことのはよかったです。朝までカラオケを歌ったり話したりしました。翌朝、早く起きて神奈川県の川崎市に「祭り」を見に行きました。

That night I went to my friend's (the one who picked me up at the station) mom's Izakaya *(bar). About 20 of my friends were there. I was glad to be able to talk to everyone again, and see them in a group together. We sang karaoke, drank, and talked all night. The next morning we woke up early to go to "festival" in a town inbetween Tokyo and Yokohama called Kawasaki.

その祭りは実際に「金まら祭り」というんです。この祭り知っていますか？この祭りについて何と言えばいいですか？ふらふらいい異文化体験でした、笑。とても独特で、面白くて、多分そんな祭りを経験することができるのは日本だけです。異様な祭りなので外人が多かったです。

That festival is called the Kanamara Matsuri. Ever heard of this "festival"? What can I say about it? It was an interesting experience haha. Probably something one can only experience in Japan. Because is so bizarre a large foreign population attends. The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus, かなまら祭り?) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan in spring. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April. The penis forms the central theme of the event that is reflected everywhere—in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.

The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan's prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony. There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon that hid inside the vagina of a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights (vagina dentata). As a result, the young girl sought help with a blacksmith, who fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item.

Today, the festival has become somewhat of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research.

Here's a pic of the "big float" haha

僕の友達はみな相変わらず元気でした。帰国する前にもう一度みんなと会えてよかったです。

面白い体験　日本の第一印象について　An Interesting Experience, My First Impressions of Japan

2010-03-16T03:08:00.000-04:00

一日目　2007年1月5日

成田空港にやっと着きました。ワシントンから直行便で１４時間かかりました。どんな国だろうと思って（ワクワクして）、飛行機から出ました。成田空港は普通の国際空港に見えました。掲示板を見ると、日本語と英語と中国語と韓国語が書かれていました。空港からリムジンバスで東京の中心部にあるプリンスホテルに行って、案内者係がタクシーで赤坂ウイークリーマンションに案内してくれました。タクシーに乗っているとき、東京は本当に大きくて、ネオンライトがいっぱいだなあと思いました。結構混んでいるけれどニューヨークに比べて静かな大都市です。

赤坂ウイークーリマンションに着きました。玄関から荷物を運んでこれから４ヶ月過ごす部屋に行きました。日本の部屋は小さいと聞いていましたが、こんなに小さな部屋が本当にあったのですね。二人でこの小さな部屋を共用できるのでしょうか!？ちょっと落ち着いてスーツケースを開いて荷物を取り出していた時、同級生が僕達の玄関戸をノックしました初めましてステーシです。渋谷に携帯電話を買いに行かない？行ったことあるから簡単に行ける、案内しますよ！」いい考えだと思いました。もし僕達は道を迷ってだれかに助けてがあったらもらわなければならない時、携帯電話が必要ですよね。「あんまり日本語を喋られませんから携帯電話が必要だ」と思いました。

クリスとハルスタンとステーシと僕は東京メトロの赤坂駅の方に向かって歩き、静かな交差点に当たって、横断歩道の信号は赤だったから止まって待ちました。だが、ステーシが止まらなかった（止まりませんでした）横断歩道をタクシーがとんでもないスピードを出して横切ったので、もうちょっとでぶつかって、事故に遭うところでした。ひとつ学びました！赤信号ではアメリカと同じで、止まれ！それからやっと駅に着いた。英語が使えるから切符売り場の機械を簡単に使えました。切符を買うときステーシが「渋谷にどう行く分からないんだ」と言いました。クリスと僕は地図を見て、結構簡単に行けると思いました。赤坂の千代田線を乗って、半蔵門線か銀座線かどっちでも乗り換えて渋谷に行けます。電車に乗って渋谷の方に向かいました。

渋谷に着いて満員電車から出て改札口に行きました。ステーシが切符をなくして必死で財布の中を探していました。クリスとハルスタンと僕は根気よく待ちました。待っている時僕達の前を多くの人々が通りすぎました。酔っ払っているサラリーマンがよろよろしながら僕に当たりました。長い階段を半分位下ったところで、財布を落とし、拾おうとした時に転げ落ちた。（転げ落ちました）クリスと僕は吃驚して、すぐに助けにいきましたがもう駅長が助けていました。やっとステーシが切符を見つけました。渋谷駅を出ってハチ公(はちこう)を見ました。世界一混んでいるハチコの横断歩道を渡ったのですが、本当に混んでいました。携帯屋を見つけましたが、携帯を買う時には外国人の登録証明書が必要だと言われました。がっかりしちゃった。ここまで来たんだけど、携帯はまだ手に入れられなさそう。渋谷駅に向かってめっちゃお腹が空きました。日本語はまだ読めないのでマックドナルドで食べることにしました。簡単に注文するできるはずだと思いました。

マックに入って注文しました。ハルストンと僕はチキンサンドを頼んでステーシがサラダを注文した。ステーシはサラダのドレッシングを開けられなかったでした。日本のドレッシングのパッケージはちょっと変です。パッケージの端をどうするのか理解できませんでした。真ん中から中身が流れ出ます。ステーシが分からなかったのでドレッシングすべてステーシのコートと床に溢してしまいました。マックの２階で食べていたのですが、たばこの煙と変なヤツばっかりでした。ハルスタンがマヨネーズが嫌いなのにサンドはマヨがたっぷり入ってました。ハルスタンがサンドを食べる姿はかわいそうでした。それから駅に戻って無事に帰りました。めっちゃ疲れましたが問題なしで帰りました。

シャワーを浴びてちょっと落ち着きましたが、ちょっと信じられませんでした。本当にカルチャーショックでした。日本は本当にこんなところですか？こんなふうだとは思わなかった。

An Interesting Experience - My First Impressions of Japan

Yes! I finally arrived at Narita International Airport! It took 14 hours on a direct flight to get here. “What kind of country is it?” I thought as I got off the plane. Narita seems like any other international airport. The signs were written in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean. From the airport I took a “limousine bus” with my friends to Central Tokyo. We arrived at the Prince Hotel, from there we were told to go to our housing in Akasaka Weekly Mansion. They helped us get a taxi. Looking out the window of the taxi as we drove Tokyo looked like a big city with a lot of neon lights. It looked pretty crowded and busy, but was somehow still quiet compared to cities like New York.

We arrived at Akasaka Weekly Mansion. We took our luggage up and into our room, which we would be living in for the next 4 months. Not to our surprise it was small, but it was smaller than we expected. We unpacked a little and then another student from our school who had arrived earlier in the week came knocking on our door. “Hi I’m Stacy.” “You guys want to go get cell phones?” “We can get phones in Shibuya, I’ve been there before so it shouldn’t be hard.” Hm, seems like a good idea, it will be important to have one if we get lost or need help. We thought since we don’t speak Japanese it would be a good idea to get them.

So we headed out of the building and went toward Akasaka Station. We came to a quiet intersection. We stopped at the crosswalk where we saw the sign of the red man standing, which usually means stop or don’t walk, very similar to America, but Stacy kept on walking. From the right a taxi comes flying out of nowhere and instead of slowing down speeds up and nearly hits Stacy. Lesson one learned, red man standing means stop, same as America. Then we made it to the station. We saw the ticket machine and figured out how to use it. It was pretty easy because you can use it in English. After we bought our tickets Stacy said she wasn’t sure how to get there. Chris and I looked at the map and saw that we needed to transfer once in Omote-Sando and then take the Ginza line to get to there. We also saw you can take the Hanzomon line and transfer once to get there. We got on the train and headed for Shibuya.

We got to Shibuya, got off the crowded train and headed for the exit. Once we got to the ticket gate, Stacy was fumbling in her purse but couldn’t find her ticket. Chris, Halston, and I waited patiently on the outside. As we waited many people passed us. A drunk business man came of the gate. I knew something bad was going to happen when I saw him. He stumbled into me and then walked toward a big flight of stairs. He got about half way then dropped his wallet. He leaned over to pick it up and fell down about 20 steps. Chris and I rushed to help him but the station manager came and got him. Finally Stacy found her ticket. We got out of the station and saw Hachiko and walked through the madness of Shibuya crossing, the busiest crossing in the world. We made it to a cell phone shop, but we found out we need our Alien Registration Card in order to get a cell phone. We were bummed out, we came all this way and still couldn’t get cell phones. We headed back for the station, and at this time we were very hungry and also tired. We can’t read Japanese so we just decided to get McDonalds, something familiar that we knew, something that we would have no problem getting.

We went into the McDonalds and ordered our food. Stacy got a salad, Halston and I got a chicken sandwich. Stacy couldn’t open her salad dressing. The packaging in Japan for dressing is sometimes a bit strange. You have to pinch both ends and it comes out of the middle of the package. Stacy couldn’t figure it out and ended up spilling it all over her coat and the lobby of the McDonalds. We ate on the 2nd floor, which was full of smoke and crazy fashioned teenagers. Halston, who hates mayonnaise, had a lot of mayonnaise on his sandwich. While eating it he looked miserable. We finished up and went back to Shibuya station. We made it back just fine with no problems, but we were just exhausted.

After taking a shower I felt much better, but I couldn’t believe this was Japan. It was a real Culture Shock.

Here's a video of Halston's Interpretation on the actual day it happened.

Life Lately

2010-02-10T04:59:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone! Since I have time and I’m bored at school, time now for another bilingual blog!

皆さん、こんにちは！時間があるし、用事がないし、今回は英語と日本語のブログを書きます！

I need to update more often but I guess I’ve been busy. It’s now almost halfway through February, and I’m only a month and a half from going home probably.

ブログをもっとアップしなければならないんですが、最近忙しいんです。２月上旬って言うことは、未だ決めてないけど帰国まで後1ヵ月半かもしれません。

Last weekend I went to Gifu with my girlfriend. It was a nice trip, and my first time to see snow like that in years. Over one meter of snow was on the ground and more was falling. It was supposed to take 5 hours to get there but took six because of the heavy snow. Here are some pictures:

先週の週末彼女と岐阜県の高山と飛騨に行きました。旅行はすごくよかった、それにあんなに雪をみるのは久しぶりでした。一メートルも積もって、まだ降っていました。大阪から高山までは5時間つけるはずでしたが激しい雪が降っていたので6時間かかりました。写真を是非見てください：

Tomorrow (Thursday) is a national holiday, foundation day. I think tonight I’m going to celebrate my friend’s birthday coming up. It should be fun. This weekend I really want to play Frisbee since it has been a while.

明日は建国記念日なので休みです。もうすぐ友達の誕生日が来るなので、今夜友達と遊ぶつもりです。楽しみます。しばらくフリスビーをしていないので今週の週末したいです！

In late March/early April I plan on visiting my friends in Tochigi. Last time I saw them was when I left Tochigi in August last year. I was sad to leave, I came to like Sano. Some of them went back to America but most of them are still there.

３月下旬もしくは４月上旬栃木の友達を訪ねるつもりです。前回会ったのは去年の8月に佐野を去る時でした。去るのは悲しくて、そして佐野を好きになりました。

I like Osaka, but I need to get more involved here.
大阪が好きですけど、もっとスポーツとか参加しなければならない。

Happy New Years!

2010-01-27T04:22:00.000-05:00

I can’t believe it’s already 2010! I brought the New Year in Nara, a historically rich city to the east of Osaka. Nara at one point in time was the capital of Japan. There are a lot of religious artifacts and such there, such as the worlds largest wooden Buddha.

もう2010年っか、ちょっと信じられないなぁ。大阪の東にある奈良で新年迎えました。昔奈良は日本の首都だった。奈良に修道院とか多い。世界中最大の大仏があるし、文化遺産いっぱいある。

Christmas was nice, but quite humbling. I had a quiet Christmas, got a gift from my girlfriend and from my grandparents in the mail.

クリスマスはいい感じだってけど、大変謙遜した。静かなクリスマスだった、彼女と祖父祖母からプレゼント呉れました。

After Christmas my friend Yuhki came from Tochigi (where I used to live) to stay for a couple days. And then a day or two after Yuhki arrived Halston came. It had been over a year since I had seen Halston. Having them both here was awesome. It’s a bit strange being around friends who I met in completely different situations half way across the world, but at the same time it’s really cool. They got along great.

The first day or two we spent just relaxing and doing a little sight seeing in the city. For actual new years we went to Nara. It was just Yuhki, Asuka, Halston, and me.

Over his whole visit we saw a lot. We saw some things that I’d seen before and wanted him to see, and things that neither of us had seen.

I think my favorite was sanjyusan gendo hall in Kyoto.
As for new years resolutions I don’t have that many. I think I’m living a good life, there isn’t much I want to change about it. They aren’t really resolution, more just things I’d like to do more of. For example I would like to get better at speaking Japanese. I think my reading and understanding have increased greatly, there’s no doubt, however my speaking hasn’t really gotten that much better in my opinion. So I guess I just have to practice more? Other than that I’d like to find more interests/hobbies. I have quite a few, maybe instead of finding new ones I should more strongly pursue current ones, I

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T23:03:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas! I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from Japan. Next year I'll be celebrating with family and friends in America. Make sure you tell the people important to you today that you love them. It's one of those things you don't realize how important it is until you don't have it.

December

2009-12-18T07:47:00.000-05:00

Yo!

December has come and its more than half way over now. Christmas is coming up soon! As well as New Years. This holiday season I'll be in Japan for the 2nd time around. Next one I'm definitely going to be home.

My friend/old roommate is coming to Japan on the 29th, I'm super excited. Also my friend from Tochigi is coming for New Years. Most likely I'll celebrate with both of them in Nara.

Soon I'm going to buy a new camera. More pics and videos will happen after that. I'm going to start my search tomorrow at Bic Camera. Come home and maybe look online too. I want to get a point and shoot, not an SLR/big one I need a case for. Just something that's quality and I can put in my pocket.

I'm going to go to the neighboring prefecture on the 23rd. Should be fun, little adventure.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T04:59:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time since I’ve updated. I guess that goes without saying, considering those who read my blog have checked my blog only to see that it hasn’t been updated hehe sorry. I’m also going to practice my Japanese too.

Today I have no classes but I have to be at school anyways from 8:00 – 4:15 pm with absolutely nothing to do. I thought it’d be a good time to update my blog. Also this post is a bit text heavy, sorry, I really like to include pictures and videos but my camera is a little messed so up I haven’t been able do that. I plan on buying a new one soon.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in Japan. For those in America today is Thanksgiving so, Happy Thanksgiving! This is my 2nd Thanksgiving I’ve spent away from family. Last year I was able to eat with a large group of friends and we had somewhat of a mock Thanksgiving dinner, which was really good considering it was in Japan. We actually had real turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and so on. This year was a bit different. I went to an all you can eat yaki-niku (grilled meat) place with Matt, our friend Yui, and her friend we met for the first time. Nothing like a regular Thanksgiving dinner but it was nicer than cooking for ourselves. Basically at this place you pay for one hour or so and you can order as much different meats as you want and you grill it yourself. We all got our fill.

I definitely miss eating dinner with my family. Ohhh turkey… drool. And then leftover turkey sandwiches… sigh, I can’t believe I’m missing it again. They don’t even have any form of turkey here. The only place I’ve found turkey is at Subway, on a turkey sandwich. Basically unless you maybe go to some specialty store, you can’t find it here. I’m surprised I’ve survived this long without losing my food sanity. Food is getting so redundant here. I constantly eat a list of no more than 10 things. The couple that I’m getting tired of are curry and rice, ramen, gyudon (or grilled beef over rice), some form of chicken or pork meal. There’s only so much I can eat considering that I don’t like seafood. Matt also doesn’t like or care for an array of vegetables. Since we almost always eat together I feel like my eating habits have gotten worse because of him.

I wanna go back home so I can actually eat decent food, like family meals. The food here is definitely healthier than American food but I’m getting tired of Japanese food. Matt has lost 40 pounds or something like that without even exercising. I’ve stayed around the same weight but that’s because I think I ate healthily even in America. Also it’s probably impossible for me to lose any weight because I’m small as it is.

My fourth month of life in Osaka has come to an end. Osaka is a nice place. Definitely distinct from Tokyo and for that matter all of Japan. People are certainly different here. The mind set is a bit different. People’s expectation and reactions are different. The people here tend to be slightly more eccentric and outgoing. That doesn’t mean that everyone here is like that of course. There are plenty of boring people too. The ones that stand out, stand out more here. Osaka isn’t the best place in the world. The place I live is in the middle of downtown so as you can imagine it’s pretty dirty. When I say pretty dirty I mean its Japan dirty which means it’s probably cleaner than an average city in America.

Also my third month teaching in Osaka has come to an end. It is quiet different from teaching in Tochigi (where I used to live). The teachers and students have different personalities and outlooks than those in Tochigi. A noticeable number of the students don’t seem to care about English. It’s a bit frustrating but I don’t let it get to me. Its really only the 2nd and 3rd year students. Unlike America where you have a choice of what language you want to study, here they have to study English.

I remember studying Spanish when I was their age and after 3 years I didn’t really like it anymore either so I can understand how they feel. The textbook is just so dry. Its like teaching is crossing the desert. Even for me it’s boring so I know they can’t be having fun. I kind of wish I could change the way they teach here but they have to use the textbooks I suppose. Also what is important is reading writing and grammar. There’s no real focus on speaking at all. Speaking is pretty important I think, but there is no test on it. The kids study grammar and probably know more than me about English grammar but what good does knowing the rules do if you can speak simple sentences. My Japanese sucks too and I’ve lived here for over a year. In America you have to become good at English quickly to survive, but here you can get away with speaking English, that sucks! I really want to become bilingual/fluent in Japanese but it’s tough.

Recently I’ve started teaching private lessons, and it’s a lot of fun. I want to teach more, but need a way of getting students. I have an interview next week for a company that helps you get students. If will make 3000 yen per hour teaching private lessons. That is about 32 dollars an hour or so!

I think Matt and I will move to the apartment above the one we currently live in next week. To be honest I want to get out of the building. Our place absolutely sucks. There are only two things I like about our place. The location is pretty convenient, and it’s a pretty large place considering its Japan and its in a city. Other than that our place is an absolute shithole. There are holes in the wall. Wires of which have no use hanging out of places. Despite our cleaning efforts it just looks dirty. Thinking back I can’t believe Matt convinced me to live here. I think it actually makes me sad I live there. It might even be affecting my mood. I know about how your environment can have a serious impact on you, and I’m starting to see it. I’m irritable and feel sad when I shouldn’t.

Something else that may be contributing to that is the fact that Matt rarely cleans up. He cleans up if I ask him to, but even then sometimes it doesn’t happen. For example usually one of us cooks the other one does the dishes. When I cook the dishes aren’t done usually. I don’t know its something I shouldn’t really care about, but since our place is already so dirty it’s just frustrating to have it feel any dirtier than it is. That’s one of the tradeoffs of having a roommate. It’s great because you have someone to talk to or hang out with 24/7, but if they don’t clean up after themselves you have to put up with it. I much rather live with a roommate and have a dirty place than live alone I suppose so it isn’t as bad as I make it seem.

This time of year in Japan many people go to see the autumn leaves. A lot of people leave the city and head to shrines or temples and go leaf viewing. I went to Kyoto with Matt, Seiji, and Asuka. It was really nice, I didn’t do it in Tochigi so it was a good experience. Asuka too pictures and I got them from her camera. Finally I get to post pictures! We got to Kyoto and saw a full rainbow. That's rare to see the entire arch.

I really want to start taking advantage of being in a city more. I want to join some classes or groups and meet more people. I feel like I’m not taking advantage of being in Japan!

久しぶりやなぁ。ごめん、毎日読んでくれる人には言わなくっても分かるけど最近新しい日記を書いてなかった。すまん！

今日は期末テストなので授業がない。暇いっぱいあるから日記を書きたいと思った。この日記では写真とか動画あまりないけどカメラがちょっと故障してしまった。もうすぐ新しいカメラを買うつもり。

昨日日本では感謝祭だった。アメリカに住んでいる人に今日は感謝祭だから感謝祭おめでとう！今年の感謝祭は僕にとって家族なしで２回目。去年栃木県の友達と１０人以上集まって祝宴を催した。アメリカの本物の感謝祭祝宴と日本の感謝祭祝宴が違うけどなんだか結構美味しかった。本物の七面鳥とかグレイビーマッシュポテトなど食べた嬉しかった！今年はちょっと違う。マットさんと悠依さんと悠依さんの友達と食べ放題の焼肉屋に行った。安かった！１８８０円で８０分食べ放題だった。食った食った。

家族なしで食事を食べるのが寂しいなぁ。七面鳥、絶品だよ！感謝祭の後毎日残り七面鳥でサンドイッチを作れる。日本では七面鳥は余りない。日本のSubwayというレストランだけで七面鳥を見つけた。特別な店に行ったらあるかもだけどどこにある分からない。牛丼とかカレーライスとかラーメンばっかりだから日本の食事もう食べたくない。シーフードが嫌いなので日本の食事はちょっと。

アメリカに帰りたい家族と食事を食べたい。確かに日本の食べ物は体にいいけど種類があんまりないからもう飽きた。マットの体重が結構減った。２０キロだっけ？私に増量は無理なようだ。

私の大阪での生活は４ヶ月もう経った。確かに大阪はいいところ。東京とまったく異なった、普通の日本と違う、独特なところ。人々の考えは違う。大阪人が直接、風変わりな人々だ。もちろん皆がその感じじゃない。結構つまらない人もいるけれど風変わりな人々いっぱいおる。大阪はいいけど世界中で一番のところじゃないと思う。僕の住んでいる辺はちょっと汚い。日本の汚い場所とアメリカのそれを比べると全然違う。アメリカの方が汚い。日本の汚い場所はまあまあ。

大阪で英語指導の助手をしてから３ヶ月が経った。大阪で教えるのは栃木県と比べて違う。先生と生徒の性格とか考え方が違う。１０％～２０％の学生は英語に興味がない。ちょっといらいらする。１年生はいいけど２年や３年はちょっと。日本では必須だけどアメリカでは好きな言語を選べてそれを学ぶ。例えばスペイン語やイタリア語やドイツ語や中国語。

僕の高校のとき３年間スペイン語を学んだ。年を経るごとにスペイン語の興味はどんどん減った。生徒達の気持ちよく分かる。問題は教科書。教科書の所為で生徒の興味減った。私に取って教科書はめちゃつまらない。学習の方法変えたいだけどできへん。読むことと書くこと文法を強調している。話すことでは欠点。生徒達が文法の規則よくしってるけど話せない。話すことは大切だよ。日本に来たからもう１年以上経ったけど私もまだ日本語はまだまだだ。もし日本人ならアメリカに行って１年間アメリカに住んだらもうぺらぺらになる。日本だったら１年日本に住んでもまだ日本語まったく分からない。ぺらぺらになりたい、僕は日本語をマスターしようとあらゆる努力をしているだけどまだまだだ。

最近個人レッスンを始めた、楽しい。もっと英語を教えたい。来週就職の面接試験がある。会社が先生たちに生徒を紹介する、そして生徒が好きな先生選ぶ。時間給３０００円。それは１時間がドールで＄３２ぐらい！

来週から新しいアパートに引っ越するつもり。正直に言うと現在のアパートのビルから引っ越したい。今の家は最低。２つしかいいことが。アパートの場所が便利で結構広い。その二つの理由だけ。

マットさんがあまり掃除しない。掃除のお願いを伝えたら掃除するけど自分で掃除しない。文句を時々言うだけど間違えない、二人暮らしの生活は一人暮らしよりいい。いつでもだれかと話すことできるし、寂しいにならないし、やちんとか費用を分けることができるからルームメートと住んでいるのがいい。

On Stage

2009-11-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

My School's culture festival went really well. I don't think I can upload pics from it because I would have to get permission from all the students parents. At the end of the festival I performed Umiyuki (in English Sea snow)(a Japanese old fashioned song performed by an American) on stage. It was alot of fun and the students loved it. I'll try to see what I can share and put it here.

Halloween

2009-11-01T00:12:00.000-04:00

Halloween was freekin fun. 2nd one in Japan. This one was 10 times as fun as last years in Tochigi.

Life in Osaka

2009-10-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

What up!
It's been a while since I updated so I figure I would. By the way my camera's picture function is a bit wacky so that's why I haven't been taking so many pics lately. The video function works just fine, but when I take pictures its a bit grainy/blurry. I'm going to bring it into a shop to get it fixed soon.

Over the past few weekends we've been staying active. One day Matt and I made free hug signs and went to some high traffic areas around Osaka. We got lots of hugs from random people and actually made a new friend. He lives north of Kyoto a bit and he's gonna come hang out from time to time when he comes to Osaka.

Other things that happened were I went to explore more of the city, sang karaoke alot, met some friends and went drinking a few times and played ultimate frisbee.

Wednesday was my first payday from my new company. I was happy to finally get paid, wow after almost 3 months. I can finally decorate my "relatively" new house. Once I get my camera fixed I'll get photos of that up.

That same Wednesday I played a softball game with the staff of my school. We played against another Junior High School. I thought we were gonna crush them, but it turned out we lost! I batted 6th and played right field. I caught a few fly balls. I got a couple base hits and 1 pop fly. There was one play where I should have dove to catch the ball but I didn't. Next time I will. Also one time I held on to a fly and didn't throw it back in time to stop the runner from tagging up and getting a run. I'm looking forward to the next game.

This weekend I might take a trip somewhere seeing as how I finally have money. Also I'm very happy that Matt got paid, now he can contribute more to the house and now him and I can get actual nice dinners, not just crap to survive haha.

Last night Matt and I were shopping at the 100 yen store(dollar store) and a random Chinese girl came up to us and asked to be our friend lol. Kind of random but it can't hurt to have another friend. I think she is just lonely after moving to a big city and living alone in an apartment. I don't blame her, I think shes brave for coming up to Matt and I and asking hah.

I'm looking forward to my first weekend with disposable income. I'm also glad Matt can afford to do things now haha.

Silver Week

2009-09-25T23:21:00.000-04:00

In Japan we recently had silver week. This is a stretch of holidays from Monday to Wednesday. So the last weekend I had was a 5 day weekend. I tried to take advantage of it as much as possible and I think I did.

On Saturday Matt and I went to the Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri. This festival is known throughout Japan and is pretty popular. A lot of famous people come from all over to watch it. It’s the only festival where people have died from celebrating. During the day the men pull these giant wooden floats around the city in celebration. (more on it)

I posted a video on facebook of the day.

On Sunday Matt had a sports festival at his school. My sports festival isn’t until the 2nd of next month so I joined some friends that I met through my company on a trip to Himeji Castle. It is the most famous castle in Japan.

I also made a video of this on facebook.

On Monday Matt and I went to a BBQ at a friends house. It lasted all day and was a lot of fun. We got there at around 3pm. Then we went to the store and all bought some stuff. It was around 11 people and more people joined later. Later it turned into a drinking party.

On Tuesday we relaxed and recovered.

On Wednesday we went to Kobe. We met some friends there and walked around the harbor. We also watched some acapella groups perform while we waited for our friends.

Longest Update Ever

2009-09-13T07:44:00.000-04:00

After a long, long, long wait…….

Finally I am again connected to the world again though the wonderful thing known as the internet. I finally got internet on Saturday after not having it for about one month. This is the longest I’ve gone without using the internet and man, it is rough without it. I didn’t realize how much I use it, how important the internet is to keep in touch with people, and how much time I spend on it.

First off I missed a couple birthday wishes due to lack of internet so, Happy Birthday to Luke my biggest brotha (he’s 5 now I can’t believe it), Mike my uncle, John, Becky, and Hiromi. I hope you all had nice bdays.

After that being said, it’s time for a pretty big update. Since it has been so long I’ll break it down into easier to read Chapters haha.

Things that have happened over the last month….

Chapter One

The Move

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up I’ve moved to Osaka now. I first moved here on August 3rd, but into a guest house. After talking with Adrian and Yu (friends from where I used to live) they convinced me, living in a guest house would be a good move because I could meet many people in a short time, the cost was low and it was half way between my school and between downtown Osaka by train. The location was great, the price was decent and there seemed to be no reason not to move there… until I actually moved in.

After living there for a week or two, it wasn’t exactly what I had imagined. I thought people would be hanging out in the common rooms and people would stop by my room knock on my door and say a group of people are going to a bar or club and ask me to join. A lot like what I though college would be like too. Despite my high hopes this didn’t exactly happen. After moving there I realized how small and dirty my room was, how important to me it is to have access to free laundry, my own kitchen, bathroom, and shower. Also one of the main reasons I moved to Osaka was to meet lots of people. The town the guest house was in wasn’t exactly happening. It was more like suburbs than the city that I imagined. Also everyone in the guest house was European for some reason. A lot of people from France and Germany in particular, a Nigerian family, and random Japanese people and a few others lived in the guest house.

Everyone pretty much kept to themselves and did their own thing. Those that came to the guest house together hung out together but other than that nothing really happened.

It was also really hard going from knowing everyone in town, to knowing no one in a place I had never been before, and of course that got to me a bit. I didn’t really make any friends in the guest house. I had a few people who I knew by name and talked to occasionally but we didn’t do anything together. Regardless I wanted to move out after two weeks.

This is a little unrelated but I did this while I was living in the guest house so I thought it’d put it in this chapter lol. In my free time I visited my school that I knew I’d be teaching at, but didn’t go inside. I just went there to figure out how to walk there from the station and see what the outside looked like. It was pretty interesting. I even saw some students and said hello, but didn’t tell them I was going to be the next ALT.

Chapter Two

The Second Move

Anyways luckily and by coincidence a friend I had met two years ago when I studied in Tokyo was in the middle of changing jobs and wanting to move to downtown Osaka. His name is Matt, Matt told me he was looking for a new place so I suggested we get a place together. After I suggested it he said he was going to say the same thing. After searching and visiting a couple apartments we finally decided on one that was furnished, in a really good location, but a total dump.

After seeing the apartment I thought “Man, I don’t think I can live here”. I had never seen a place so dirty but still “ready for new tenants to move in”. Since I was tired of living in the guest house I just said ok whatever lets move here. So we did on August 15th. I knew the place had a lot of potential, and the location was unbeatable so I told myself I’ll fix the place up and make it livable and nice even. It will take a few months but I still think Matt and I can do it.

After we moved in the cleaning process began. First thing on our agenda was cleaning the fridge as that was important to keeping any food we planned on buying. Unfortunately the people who lived there before us were a total slobs. I was told they lived there a total of 3 months, and from what I saw, I don’t think they cleaned the place once over the whole 3 months they lived there.

Anyways, cleaning the fridge took about 3 hours… that’s how nasty it was. Matt and I took a video before the cleaning process began, please enjoy.

The refrigerator inside smelled like someone spilled a bunch of soy sauce inside closed the door wait a few hours and then opened the door, let a huge fart out then shut it.

The freezer was a whole other story. As for the freezers smell, I am unable to put into words how putrid it was. Matt described it as Satan’s Taint. I on the other hand liked to describe it as a dead carcass of a yak in the grass lands of Africa that had been rotting in the sun for days and then other animals vomited and pooped on it plus the smell of raw sewage. It was probably the 2nd worst smell I’ve ever smelled in my life. Only to be trumped by the maggot filled dead rabbit Harry and I found in the gutter one day.

The reason the freezer smelled much worse was because the last people who lived there left some type of meat or something in the freezer and it just got nasty. First we put our gloves and masks on then we brought the thing into the shower area. We hosed it down, scrubbed the hell out of it, bleached it, let the bleach work its magic, then scrubbed it again and rinsed it. Matt and I agreed the whole process was like a bonding experience haha.

With the fridge out of the way we started sweeping, cleaning the walls, deciding what dishes to keep and throw away, and how to arrange our rooms. From there we kept working until the place was decent enough to call a house. We’re still in the process of decorating the place, it looks pretty bear for now, but both of us are poor from having to move twice in such a short time and due the fact that neither of us have been paid in quite some time.

Chapter Three

My Birthday

After moving into the new place and being so far away from all my family and friends in both the US and Tochigi I was starting to wonder what I could do for my birthday. Luckily I’m part of a website known as Couchsurfing.com, if you’ve never heard of it, it’s a website where you can post your information on where you live and people from all around the world who are traveling can stop by and visit you. You are supposed to be a host who can offer anything such as a person to get coffee with and talk to, or you can go as far as offer a place to stay for travelers and be their guide while they are visiting. It’s a pretty interesting concept and website if you’re interested check it out. Anyways enough free advertising, on that website I found a BBQ that was taking place the same day as my birthday. I suggested to Matt we both go to this BBQ because it looked like a lot of fun and was a good place to meet a lot of new people.

We got to the train station where it was taking place around 7ish. We met the host of the party and got a ride to their house. Her name was Saori. After we got to the party we hung out ate and talked to a lot of people. There were around 25 people or so at the party so it was a nice size. The thing is a good portion of the people there were travelers so that was interesting too. It was nice to meet such a diverse group of people considering Japan isn’t that a diverse at all. We met people from Italy, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, France, and Japan lol among other places. Everyone there was surprisingly good at English, now I know why it’s known as a world language. Everyone who came from countries (that didn’t speak Japanese) would speak English. So it was interesting hearing a French guy talking to a Taiwanese girl and they’re both using English.

I showed a couple people some magic tricks and they really liked it. A Japanese guy played the guitar but sang a song in Spanish haha.
At the end of the night we had a cake because Saori’s birthday was actually 11 days before mine on August 11th. It was really nice to get a cake and have a bunch of 20 or so strangers sing happy birthday to me haha. It made my birthday feel more like a birthday, since I couldn’t spend it with people who I really wanted to, friends and family. Thanks to Saori for hosting the party!

Since then they have invited us to go to Karaoke, which we tried but showed up late so we missed it, but I plan on doing more things with the Osaka couchsurfing community again soon.

Chapter Four

Training

Training with Interac began on Tuesday the 25th. There were actually two group training sessions, one of which started the 18th the week before. I chose to do second group session because I thought I was going home and that would have given me more time to be at home, sigh. After meeting a few of the people from the first one I’m glad I chose the second one.

Anyways training went really well. Since I had experience I actually taught everyone else who didn’t a lot of good/important things. They were pretty appreciative. A lot of the things training tried to teach me I already knew but a couple things were pretty useful since they are specific to Osaka. Also each Board of Education operates a bit differently and that was to be expected. We never actually visited the BOE like I though we would, but instead we had a big group meeting with teachers and discussed various topics to help things go smooth in the classroom.

It didn’t take long though and everyone I met in training seemed like really nice people. After training was finished on Friday we had a big party in Namba (downtown Osaka). We did a big group karaoke (like almost 30 people) then finished at a bar later.

Something funny that happened was, the last tenant in my apartment who left it looking like crap is working for the same company as me. He told my landlord he had returned home for some family emergency, which obviously was a total lie hah. I told him I moved into his apartment and he said get out of there, it’s a craphole. I didn’t say it but I was thinking, it’s because you let it get like that.

On a different note, I’ve hung out with the group from training randomly (on the night I was supposed to go to karaoke with the couchsurfer community). Matt and I were walking around Umeda (northern Osaka) and randomly I heard my name and I looked behind me and it was a group of 6 friends from training. It was pretty lucky we ran into them. We went in search for dinner then went to a bar afterwards and hung out and talked. Matt and I wanted to go home that night but the rest of them wanted to stay out so they stayed out past last train and were in Umeda until 5 am.

Chapter Five

School Starts

My first day was on September 2nd. When I first got there I had a short meeting with the schools principal and 3 other new assistant staff, who are university/graduate students. After my talk with them they though I was bilingual or fluent in Japanese. I’m still far from it, but I appreciated the compliments. After that short meeting I had a big speech in front of all of the students for my introduction. I went ok, but the students weren’t very receptive. This wasn’t much of a shock because it was the first day back from summer vacation, which no one likes, and it takes a few days or conversations for students to warm up to you. After the big speech I gave another to the staff, but pretty much the same speech.

The first day I didn’t have any lessons to teach so it was a little boring. The students didn’t have any classes either which was weird; they just had the morning meeting then went home. I just studied Japanese and talked a bit to the teachers. About 8 of the teachers all went out for lunch together and invited me. I was nice to get to talk to all of the teachers and see what kind of people they are.

The school size is pretty small for being in a big city. There are probably only around 300 students or so in the whole school. There are 3 grades in Junior High here equivalent to 7th 8th and 9th grades in America. In Japan every year they go to a new school they become 1st graders again, so in this case Junior High 1st graders. Even though they are really 7th graders the teachers call them 1st graders or 一年生 ichi nen-sei. So for each grade there are only a total of 3 classes so for example 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 are the 7th grade classes, 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3 are the 8th grade classes.

Anyways so far I really like the school. Everyone is nice and the English teachers are great. Mr. Funada is really good at English, I think he told me he lived in America for sometime, or went to High School in LA. I’ll find out more tonight because we have an Enkai (dinner banquet thing) and that’s the best time to get your teachers to tell you all about themselves. Mr. Kano is really funny and likes to make jokes every chance he gets. Both Kano and Funada are the 1st grade English teachers. Ms. Nakabayashi and Ms. Kitani are really nice too. I worked with Ms. Nakabayashi for the speech contest we had last Monday. We helped one of the students for the speech contest by practicing pronunciation and intonation. Apparently her sister participated a few years ago and got 2nd place.

Although my student didn’t place 1st I though she did really well and I was proud of her. I want to get her something for her hard work, but I’m not sure what I can get for her. I’ll have to talk to her and find out what she likes. Last year in Sano I had three students in the speech contest and gave them all something for their hard work. So I’d also like to give her something too.

Tonight is an Enkai which I’m really looking forward too, it’ll be the first one I have with my school. I brought my camera so I’ll take some pictures if I can.

I’m looking forward to this weekend too because Saturday night Matt and I are holding a party at our place in celebration of getting the internet.

On Sunday I might go to Umeda and play Ultimate Frisbee so that should be fun.

Today I don’t have any classes because it’s a big assessment test day. So I’ve been writing this blog all day hah. I’ll probably study a bit today too since I have so much free time.

Sorry for such a long blog but it has been over a month since I’ve had a real update. Thanks for reading. お疲れ様でした。

Internet

2009-08-18T08:55:00.001-04:00

Sorry I haven`t updated lately, I moved into my new place with my roommate Matt. I wont get internet until the 13th of Sept possibly. More to come then!

Osaka!

2009-08-04T05:57:00.000-04:00

I moved to Osaka today. It looks like a nice city. It took me a while to find the guest house I'm going to be living in but I finally made it. More to come soon I'm busy unpacking!

EDIT!

So I finished unpacking but, I might have to start repacking. A friend of mine has recently come to Japan. He tried to get a job but they ended up screwing him. Now we are looking for a place together. It seems we might get a place right in central Osaka. If that's the case that'll be great.

Right now I'm staying in a guest house. Let me tell you, it's livable, but it's pretty ghetto. I'll take pics when I move into my new place because this guest house isn't really worth taking pics of lol.

My Time in Sano is Coming to an End

2009-07-21T03:30:00.001-04:00

Over the last week I had all my final days at my schools. The students were all shocked and didn't believe I was leaving. Many students wanted me to write my signature on their stuff so it made me feel like a celebrity lol. I think secretly the Japanese teachers were jealous haha. I have tons of pics with the students, each of my final days at the schools I brought my camera and took alot of pics because I never want to forget any of my students.

I got tons of little gifts from all the students and even some from the teachers. I gave my farewell speech at all my schools too. I put a joke in the beginning of my speech even though it was supposed to be kind of serious everyone liked it.

I was happy to get all the love I did. It shows that the students really appreciate me and everything I've done here. I will really miss the students the most.

I have alot of stuff to do over the next week and a few days. First I need to get a plane ticket home because I told everyone back there that I'd be coming home for some time. I'm gonna make that happen even if it ends up costing me alot of money and making it difficult for me when I get back.

After I get the plane ticket I need to go to immigration and change my visa sponsorship since I'm changing companies. That will probably take a day since I have to go to Utsunomiya to do it.

After that the packing starts, and finally the move to Osaka. I've decided to live in a guest house for the first month or so and see if I like it. If I do, then I'll continue to live there. If not then it will be much easier to find a place while I'm in Osaka, then out of it.

Once I move to Osaka, things will be alittle easier, but it won't have any time to settle in since I'm going home. I'll be so happy to see my family and friends, its been a year. This is the longest I've gone without seeing any of them.

On top of all that I'm starting to get sick. I'm not worried though, I'll be able to do it.

Final Month / Feelings / Beach

2009-07-06T06:30:00.001-04:00

First, Important news: I've accepted the job in Osaka and I will be moving there after my contract is over in Sano. I'll be teaching at one junior high school in comparison to the 4 Elementary schools and 1 JH right now.

I'm having a difficult time deciding where to live though. I have a few options. I could live in the center of Osaka but have a 30-40 minute commute by train everyday. I could try to live inbetween my school and central osaka, and have a 17 minute commute both ways. Or I could live by my school and have a bike commute to my school and a 30-40 minute commute to central Osaka.

A friend of mine that grew up in Osaka recommended living just outside central Osaka and taking a 30 minute commute to school. Another friend said that she does that commute and she doesn't mind it. Since my contract is only from Sept - March I might just try to live really near central Osaka and deal with the commute. My company reimburses travel so thats not a problem, also I'd be going to the outskirts of the city vs coming into the center so it wouldn't be so crowded on trains. I'm having a really hard time deciding.... what should I do?

Next: I can't believe almost one year has passed since I came back to Japan for the second time. I'm sure my family and friends back home can believe it though. It's going to be hard to be away from them for a while again.

It seems the older I get the faster every year goes by. 2008 kind of sucked, but this year has been better to me. I think this year has gone fast because I've been keeping very busy. During the week I work all day, then once I get home I stay busy until I go to bed so the days go fast.

I also can't believe my final month in Sano has come. It seems in my life, every time I move somewhere new at first I don't like it or it isn't that great. Over time every new place I move to I get used to and like it. The problem is once I get used to it and like it I move again. This seems to be a reoccuring theme in my life.

I remember complaining alot about Sano when I first got here. Now after a year has passed I've gotten really used to it. I've actually come to like it. I've made many friends here and had alot of good times.

The other thing I've realized is that in Japan, you can never go back to the place you've been and have it be the same as it was. What I mean is even if I go back to Tokyo the friends I had there when I studied here won't be there so the place won't be the same. I think that Sano will be similar to this because alot of people are going home. I plan on coming back to Sano eventually and I do hope to see the friends I've made here that are going home again someday.

The other good thing about living here is the range of friends you make. They come from so many contries that 5 or so years from now I can go anywhere in the world and have a friend hah.

Other News: I went to Nakoso Beach in Fukushima prefecture over the last weekend. There were a total of around 30 people that went. We left early Saturday morning, got there, checked in and had a BBQ on the beach all day. We had the whole beach to ourselves. It was cloudly all day, but that was ok because the temperature was great. The water was freezing but I still swam alot. I went all the way out to some rocks that were a ways out there. At night we had fireworks and relaxed. Sunday morning we went for a walk on the beach and then cleaned up. We headed back to Sano around 1 or 2. There are so many pictures on facebook its ridiculous... Here are just a few.

Cloudy, but still nice

Cliffy Awesome 4th of July Cake - Good Job Kristine!

Job Offer

2009-06-29T04:14:00.000-04:00

I have a job offer in Osaka!

Today I was called at school and Interac offered me a position teaching in Sakai City in Osaka. Sakai is located roughly 20 mins south of central Osaka by train (its a suburb).

Sakai (堺市 Sakai-shi) is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the Medieval era. The city has grown further and is now the fourteenth most populous city in Japan, with 833,414 residents

Location of Sakai

Picture of City Hall

Park in Sakai

Sakai Station

I haven't accepted the job offer yet. I'll have to think about it, but I think it's a really good opportunity.

Hiroshima 広島の旅館

2009-06-23T05:22:00.000-04:00

Hiroshima! So over the last weekend I went to Hiroshima with Carrie. We left early Friday night. I actually left school 15 minutes early.

After I got home I finished getting ready then headed to the bank. At the bank I finally got to transfer money home. After that Carrie and I parked our bikes at the station and took a taxi to the bus station to go to Tokyo from Sano.

Once we got to Tokyo, it was off one bus and onto another. We had 30 minutes to find the bus station to go to Hiroshima. This sounds like plenty of time but we barely made it. We had to search in Shinjuku, at Shinjuku station, a place where over 5 million people go through in one day. Shinjuku station is one of the busiest and most confusing stations in all of Tokyo. I would go into details but it would just confuse you and me ha.

Anyways we finally found the bus maybe 5 minutes before departure. We got on and could finally relax. It took a total of 12 hours to get to Hiroshima from Tokyo by overnight bus. I tried looking out the window to see things because we basically went across all of Honshu, Japan’s main island (Tokyo in the east to Hiroshima in the west).

The problem was it was night and the view from highways in Japan is awful, there are big walls blocking them off so you can’t really see anything.

We arrived at 8:00am. After a little confusion on figuring out where we were we found how to get to our hostel. The hostel, I think it was called K’s House was really nice. I haven’t stayed in many hostels over my life but it was the nicest I’ve seen. Everything was really clean and our room was nice. We got to check in earlier than normally allowed. We got to take showers after that 12 hour long bus ride, which felt great. Once we showered we started our day.
Here are the picture links:

Hiroshima Part 1

Hiroshima Part 2

We first headed for the Peace Memorial museum. The peace memorial museum was pretty amazing. Everything was displayed in about 5 to 6 different languages which was great. All of things in the museum were very moving.

8:15 the moment the bomb was dropped

This is a replica of the city after the bomb exploded
The red ball is the bomb after 1 second
The white sign is where I am (the museum I was in)

Right outside of the museum are tons of monuments dedicated to victims of the bombing. Here you can see paper cranes.

After the museum we went to the Atomic Bomb dome. It was crazy to see a building that was so close to the hypocenter of the bomb but was still left standing. It was also weird walking around throughout the day thinking that 64 years ago around this time Hiroshima was an entirely different place. All of the people were different all the buildings were different..

Next we headed for Miyajima Shrine. Miyajima is one of the most famous landmarks in all of Japan. It’s called the floating shrine. (Look up torisen) It was a beautiful place. Unfortunately it was cloudy so I didn’t get as great pictures as I hoped but it was still an amazing sight to see.

Carrie and I caught the second to last ferry back to the mainland. Then we took the train back and walked to our hostel. After resting a bit and regrouping we headed out to search for some dinner and a bar. We looked for a place called Spuds which we read about. It was a bar with cheap beers baked potatoes and BBQ food. We search for literally 30 – 45 minutes for the place but alas we never found it! We got hungry at this point so we just ate a place which is famous for Okonomiyaki which in Hiroshima is special because its made differently. See picture:

After dinner Carrie felt a bit tired and so did I so we just called it a night. I would have gone out bar hopping but that would have been boring doing it alone. We headed back and stopped into a Seattle’s best coffee and got some dessert. Once we got back we went to sleep in our fashionable bunk bed haha.

The next morning we woke up got ready and headed for Hiroshima Castle. Carrie’s ankle was hurting so she didn’t go inside, but I checked it out. I went all the way to the top and it was a nice view. Since it was a reconstruction the inside was just a museum, but they did have the layout of the castle blueprints. They also had a few rooms set up as if it was the original.

After the castle we checked out a few museums. At the prefectural museum there was also a park. Once again Carrie decided to sit it out, but I walked through. I saw more wildlife, or variety of animals on this walk than I’ve seen since I’ve been here. There were tons of baby crabs, or small crabs walking around. There were tons of carp and turtles, and birds. A crab even followed me into the coffee shop, it must have been on me somehow.

After the museums we headed back to the hostel to pick up our stuff and catch the bus back to Tokyo, then another bus back to Sano.

Over all it was an amazing trip. I’m really glad I went, and I’m thankful to Carrie for organizing it. I recommend it to anyone who comes to visit Japan as it is an important part of the history and it holds two world heritage sites.

On a side note I can’t believe I’m less than a month away from leaving. I can’t believe a year has almost passed since I’ve been here.

Nice Sunday

2009-06-18T08:23:00.001-04:00

Hmm the weekend. Update Style! Saturday was pretty lazy. Saturday at about 6 I went to Ashikaga to watch Matt and Adrian's band (The Vice Lords of Valhalar) play live. It was a good show despite the fact that their lead guitarist was sick and not there haha. Later that night I just hung out with people in Ashikaga.

On Sunday around 1pm Akemi and Emi came and picked me up. Earlier that day they had a big English test. So after they wanted to relax/celebrate.

We wanted to just hang out and do whatever, but we ended up taking an adventure. As I explain I'll put pictures lol. Emi driving

At first we went to Ashikaga because we were going to go bowling at Round1 (the name of the place). On the way there we invited a bunch of people but everyone was busy so once we got there we decided to change plans. They thought it would be a good idea to go to this amusement park in Ota ( 30 mins or so west). The place was pretty interesting they had a bunch of rides for kids ha, of course we rode them too. They also had a zoo and some other attractions.

Emi and I at the entrance

View from the ferris wheel

Looking off into the distance

Akemi and Emi being weird as usual
Let's go there's more rides!

After riding a few rides we went to the zoo. They had a couple cool animals, but alot were asleep or not out because it was near closing time.

A nice walk haha

After the zoo we went shopping. We went to a couple of Emi's favorite shops.

Posing infront of a department store

After shopping a bit, we went to get some dinner. We had tonkatsu or fried pork cutlet. It's really good. We had it at Akemi's favorite place in Ashikaga. If I go back I'll definitely go there, it was really good.At the tonkatsu place

After eating we relaxed a bit then went back to Round1 (the original place we went to) Still no one could join us so we just played ping pong for an hour and a half or so. The girls were both really good, and Akemi even played in high heels, how? I have no idea.

In Japan they have these photo booths that you can take pics and add craziness to them. They call them Puri Kura which is short/cute for Print Club I think. Anyways its really popular with girls from age maybe 13 - 25 here. We got a bunch and uploaded this one.

After finishing at Round1 the night still wasn't over. We went to sing at Karaoke in Sano. We stayed out until like 12:30am or so. Singing at Karaoke

My weekend started on Sunday.. at least event-wise. It was a really fun day.. hope I can have many more Sundays like that hah.

This weekend I'm going to Hiroshima with Carrie. I'll take my camera and post about it when I get back.

Vice Lords

2009-06-10T09:42:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night I went to Utsunomiya to see the Vice Lords of Valhallar (my friends band) play live. It was also an event to help raise money for my friends to go to India with Habitat for Humanity. Here are pictures posted on facebook

It was a fun night. After the event we went to a bar called Lion's Head, then to a club.

On the Way with Matt, Kristine and Carrie

Got a rainbow mohawk

Warming up before the gig

Gig time
Clubbing Afterwards

We ended up staying all night at the club. I got home at 7:30am. I slept until 4:00pm. Got up and recovered on Saturday.

On a different note I can't believe its June. I have less than 6 weeks left here.

Long Weekend

2009-06-01T08:17:00.000-04:00

Good Day to you Sir/Madam. Here is a summary of my weekend.

Friday I went to Adrian's after school. There was a few people over for drinks and hanging out. Kristine and Matt left early. I decided to spend the night there. We went to Karaoke and Lance (Adrian's friend from Australia got out of control haha. On the way back home Lance was bush diving. All in all a fun night, we got back around 4am from karaoke then slept. Karaoke Pic
Bush diving

I woke up at Adrian's around 10. I got dressed and cleaned up a bit then headed back to Sano. Got home took a shower and then headed to an Indian food restaurant for an all you can eat lunch buffet (best indian food place in Sano). I met Justin, Carrie and Kristine there and had a long lunch. After we still wanted to hang out so we went shopping. Went to a couple places then went to a place called Coco's (a restaurant). We had some drinks there (non-alcoholic) then the girls decided they wanted to get their hair done. We went to Kristines favorite place and the girls got their hair dyed and cut. Justin and I explored some stores around the salon.

After that we all went home. Then I got an invite to a party in Ashikaga. It was a friend of mine's birthday (Gary) and we wanted to celebrate. The place was a club in Ashikaga I've never been to, it was called Gokuraku 極楽 which translates to paradise. My friend Zishaun was DJing, and a friend of his was playing some live music. The guy he knew (his nickname) is Micky. He's a drummer, I kind of wish I could take lessons from him. I've wanted to learn how to play drums for a while now.

I got home late from Gokuraku then went to bed. Sunday was a little bit of a lazy day. I just slept in a little, then went grocery shopping. After that I studied for a bit. Around 5:30 Akemi picked me up to go see a concert. We were going to see one of the people we met last night who was in a band. Turns out we went to the wrong place. We thought it was at Gokuraku, but it was at BBC South. Anyways after that we met the others for bowling. 24 people, not including me met at Round 1 for bowling. We took up 4 lanes, it was alot of fun. Here's a group pic I got for getting a special strike.
Mistuo after getting a spare haha, I told him to pose.
Akemi won 2 things with one try!
Me in the girly pin costume haha.
bowling ball overload

Beh.

2009-05-25T09:01:00.000-04:00

So, over the weekend.

On Saturday I went to Utsunomiya, which is something I do now at least twice a month. I went to practice with the University Frisbee team again. Its always fun practicing, because frisbee is a sport I freekin love. After practice was over they invited me to a Nomikai (or dinner party) but I didn't really wanna go because I was dirty and didn't have a place to shower. Also it usually costs alot for nomikai's and I didn't want to spend the money. Anyways after practice we went to sukiya (Japanese fast food) and got some curry and rice, had a nice chat. Next time they have a nomikai I'll go with them.

On Sunday there was a BBQ by the river in Sano. It was pretty fun, had good company and decent food. I thought it was overpriced though, we were charged 3000円 or 30 dollars for not that much. It was cloudy all day. People started drinking at like 11, so people were fairly drunk by 3 or 4. Alot of the people got a bit out of hand but I didn't seem to care all that much. For some reason I felt weird or off that day too. I couldn't really explain it, but I felt sad.

Next month I going to try to go to Kyoto and see Chris again. My school is taking a field trip, but instead of trying to go with them, (and going through all the trouble of insurance and permission) I'm just going to go on my own accord and maybe meet up with them. Later in June I plan on going to Hiroshima with Carrie and Kim. If I go it will be the farthest west I've been in Japan. I heard its a really beautiful place. Can't wait.

Nagano Soccer Tournament

2009-05-19T06:18:00.000-04:00

Today I taught at Azuma Elementary. It was the first time I taught the new 1st graders. I was happy to find out they all instantly loved me. Alot of them wanted to hold my hands. I made English fun for them pretty quickly I guess. They're so cute. They make me enjoy my job.

This past weekend I took a trip with friends to Nagano (that's right, it's where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held) to compete in a soccer tournament. We left early Saturday morning around 6 am. (I had to get up around 4:45 to get ready, it sucked).

Team's from all around Japan showed up. Each team represented the prefecture (similar to a county). I represented Tochigi. I think the teams were supposed to be made of mostly foreigners, but there was a good mix of Japanese and foreigners on each team. There were 12 men's teams and 4 womens teams in total.

I never really got into soccer all that much. It is a fun sport, but I always had other sports in the front of my mind. The only time I've ever played organized soccer was when I was in elementary school, and as you can guess it probably wasn't that "organized". The guys taught me some of the ground rules, and responsibilities for positions. I picked it up pretty quick and did pretty well.

The whole weekend called for rain, so alot of us got our rain gear ready for the weekend. Sure enough almost all of Saturday and all of Sunday it rained.

The first game started around 10am. On Saturday we had a total of 3 games. Our first game we drew 1 - 1. Our second game we won 3 - 1 (I scored a goal). Our last game we lost 4 - 2. The rain definitely made it a little more rough for everyone.

Saturday night after dinner and relaxing in the hotel room there was a dance party. I've posted a ton of pics on facebook here. Its funny, of all the pics I didn't get any of us playing because it was raining so much I didn't want to bring my camera to the field. A couple other people got pics of us on the field, but not many. Here are a couple:

On the way
Lining Up (That's me in the front)
Watching the game

Taking a break between games
Dance Party

Sunday was raining harder than on Saturday. We only played one game, we lost 4 to 2. We decided to forfeit the 2nd game, but so did the other team so we ended up tying for 3rd place.

All in all it was a really fun tournament, I'm really glad I went. I got to go a place I haven't been yet in Japan. I got to meet a bunch of other ALTs from my prefecture. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a while. I got to play sports. I got to dance/party ect. SO MANY GOOD THINGS!
The tournament is only twice a year, so the next one won't be until October. If I'm still around I'll definitely go.

Golden Week/Toga Party/The Future

2009-05-11T06:36:00.001-04:00

Golden Week has come and gone. I feel it was more like a bronze week for me. Don't get me wrong I had fun and enjoyed my golden week but it could have been a bit more epic. Pretty much for the following reasons it was only bronze. One, it wasn't even one week, it was only from Saturday the 2nd --> the Thursday 6th so 5 days off. Two I didn't go anywhere significant.

I think proper planning would have made Golden week a bit more exciting. The problem is I didn't want to go any where touristy because every touristy spot in Japan is crowded during golden week. I had tossed around the idea of seeing Chris, which would have been great but I might be taking a trip there in June and I figured it would give me a chance to do stuff around Sano so I decided not to.

Over golden week I relaxed alot. I went to a couple bbq's (in Ashikaga) and parties. I also took a trip to Tokyo, but it was raining all day so that significantly hindered my plans. I took a long walk from Ueno to Akihabara. I did some shopping in Ochanomizu and bought some Adidas sandals. I really needed new sandals so I'm glad I got these. They were a bit uncomfortable at first but now I've worn them in a bit better so they ok. I also met with Hiromi and had a hamburger at a Hawaiian restaurant at Tokyo Station. It was probably the best hamburger I've ever had in Japan. I'll have to go back to that place sometime. Here are pictures on facebook. And here are some ones I'll put here for you!

BBQ in Ashikaga
Shaun Taught me how to hold myself sidewise with a poll lol
headstand hah
Ashikaga Gakkou the first University in Japan

Best burger I've had in Japan (Not that I've had many)
cool little place for events in Tokyo Station

Tokyo has some really nice places in it, but so many are so hidden you'd never know about them unless you really search. It's like a giant hidden treasure city. I feel if I end up moving/living there it'll be an endless search for all the buried treasure.

I think I've decided I want to live here another year, that is if I can find a job in either Utsunomiya (the city where I always go to play frisbee) or Tokyo. If I can't find a job in either of those cities I think I might just go home. Also I'd really like to have a Japanese roommate. I think that'd be really cool and it'd be a good experience. I'm not a big fan of living alone. In fact it's pretty boring.

There are a couple other areas that I'd like to live in like Yokohama, Osaka, or Kobe. The thing is I'm growing a little tired of starting over, it has taken me a while to make a good group of friends here in Sano and if I move somewhere real far it would be tough to keep those friends. The thing about living here is it is really hard to tell what kind of life you'll have. As an English teacher you can either love or hate the schools you teach at, so professional life can significantly vary. On the social side you could have a group of awesome friends or none depending on what you do, you can be quite miserable or super happy. Sano has been a little bit of a roller coaster for me, but I'd say I'm pretty happy. I still feel like something is missing. I think something I'd really like is someone to just do whatever with. That's why having a roommate around would be great. I could be like hey I want to go here, wanna come? It'd be perfect to find someone who'd just say yeah let's go.

I've been doing some job searching online here for stuff in Utsunomiya and Tokyo and I've found a couple places but I think the majority of places renew contracts in April, so I don't know how much will show up for August.

Last weekend we had a toga party as a fundraiser for the ALTs that are going to India in August for Habitat for Humanity. We tried to recruit others to the party, but they were reluctant haha

Next weekend I'm playing in a soccer tournament in Nagano. I'll be sure to bring my camera. ALTs from all over Japan are coming to compete. Each prefecture has a team. I don't expect we'll win, but I'm just going for fun. I've never been to Nagano and I heard a really beautiful city. It should be a blast.

Nice Wednesday Holiday 昭和の日 Golden Week is here!

2009-05-01T01:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry no pictures on this post! I didn’t bring my camera… : (

Wednesday was a national holiday here so I got the day off. On Tuesday night I was really antsy to do something. I sent out a bunch of text messages to see what everyone was doing. I heard back from a couple people but nothing really interesting was happening. I went out and got some food then went over to Carrie’s house. We talked for a bit then Adrian called and said that he was going to a club in Oyama with Yu. He invited me to come along too.

After that I took the train to Oyama. Once I got there I took a taxi to Adrians. We talked and drank there a bit until around 11, and then we went to the club together. This club called “Around 9” is the only club in all of Oyama. Normally when you go to a club you don’t make reservations. At this place apparently you had to make reservations. I thought this was strange until I got there. I really wish I brought my camera.

The club had some event like singles night. If you had a girlfriend/boyfriend you wore a blue wrist band, if not you wore a pink one. At first all the boys and girls were separated. Then the girls made some kind of grand entrance haha. We played some matching games too. They took all the girls names, wrote them on a piece of paper and put them in balloons. They did the same with the guys. After that they threw the balloons out and you had to find your “match”. The first few to find their match got to go up on stage. Once on stage they got a free drink ticket and they got to eat fruit dipped in a chocolate fountain.

Shortly after that we played another balloon game, except this time phone numbers were in the balloons. If you call and find the person you get the same prize as last time, free drink ticket and food. I didn’t get any balloons with phone numbers but I took Yu and went on stage anyways haha. They couldn’t tell so they gave us the drink ticket and we got to eat the fruit and use the chocolate fountain.

It was my second or third time clubbing since I’ve been here and it was really fun. I met a lot of people and gave out a ton of my business cards but I don’t really expect to hear back from anyone though aha. A lot of the girls there were kind of weird, but then again maybe that’s most Japanese girls. After all the games were over we danced all night. I had a ton of people doing this one dance that Chris taught me last time we were here. It was pretty funny watching them try it. We stayed at the club until around 4. We finally got home around 4:30am.

I spent the morning and slept at Adrian’s then headed back to Sano around 1:50pm. Once I got there I biked home and showered and ate. Then Akemi picked me up and I spent the whole day playing sports. We drove to Ashikaga and played basketball for a few hours. After that we went to get some dinner. We got ramen and gyoza at one of Ray’s favorite places. Then we heard there were some fireworks by the river. We walked over the river and watched. The fireworks were pretty nice. After that we drove back to Sano and played volleyball. After volleyball we drove back to Ashikaga and went to Yakitori-kun. (Grilled Chicken on a Stick) We got some more food and chatted a bit.

Golden week starts today. I wonder what I'll do. I should have made some big plans. I'll probably go to a couple bbq's and to tokyo to see some friends.

Rainy Saturday

2009-04-27T08:07:00.000-04:00

Nothing too unusual happened during the week. The weekend came along.. and Friday night I would have liked to do something but I had planned to get up early on Saturday to go to frisbee practice in Utsunomiya. Also later on Saturday (3pm)there was supposed to be a "Futsal" (which is soccer on a smaller field with less players) fund raising game for my friends here who are going to India in August for Habitat for Humanity. I intended on playing it in.

Saturday morning came and it was pouring. It actually rained all day. The Futsal and practice were both cancelled. This made me pretty annoyed that it was sunny all week then the day came where I get to do some outdoor stuff and it rains all day.

However... I wasn't going to let the rain hinder my day. I went to Utsunomiya anyways because the frisbee team was going to have a nomikai or drink party. So I got my rain gear on and took the 15 minute bike ride to the station. I got soaked but I didn't care so much. Finally made it to Utsunomiya, had to take a bus to get to the University. Then walked another 20 minutes in the rain, without an umbrella haha. Found out it was closer to just walk from the station than from the University but oh well, I was already soaked.

The nomikai was alot of fun. Got to talk with alot of people, meet some new people, play some games, drink for a fixed price for 3 hours hahah... all good things. Practice Japanese of course because hardly anyone knows any English on the whole team. This is actually good though because it forces me to use Japanese. I hate that I can get away with using English here sometimes. I feel so ignorant and arrogant(thx to Rayna... she helped me come up with the word arrogant.. I'm losing my English). Like I'm in your country, but I'm gonna speak English! No that's not how it should work. In America you have to speak English. You can live in a little group with people that speak your language but sooner or later you have to speak English.

Anyways here are the pics from the Nomikai

There were tons of games we played, and quizzes and stuff. I took a video of one. The freshmen had to compete in a pudding competition. They had to eat it thru a straw. Kind of funny take a look:

On Sunday the weather finally got better. So for lunch I met up with Justin, Bridget, and Kristine to get lunch at インド屋 an Indian food place. The lunch buffet was really good as usual. After that Bridget and Kristine went home. Justin and I went to the outlets and shopped a little. He wanted to get a good raincoat because he's going backpacking through Europe after his contract is finished. I didn't really have anything in particular I wanted, besides sandals which I didn't even buy.

I ended up buying a couple things. From left to right: A pair of Under Armour athletic pants, some new Adidas sneakers (I really needed a new pair of summer shoes), Two pairs of Gap khaki shorts, and I found a shirt at Uniqlo with megaman on it so I had to get it. On the back it says "Give me your Energy" and theres a picture of megaman. On the front theres an Energy container thing you use to refresh your life haha. Only nerds... I mean true fans of megaman... will get it, but that's the best part.
This Wednesday I have off. Next week is golden week so I have from the 2nd to 6th off. I thought about going to Kyoto to see Chris again, but I haven't bought the ticket yet. As time passes I don't know what I'll do. I really should take advantage of that time though. If I don't go see Chris.. I should defintetly go hiking with Justin or down to Tokyo to see friends. The problem is everyone travels during golden week so if I do go to see Chris it might take forever to get there on the overnight bus. The shinkansen is just expensive or I'd take that.

I found out my Junior High is taking a field trip out to Kyoto in June. I might go with them lol. I have to get permission and stuff but we'll see.

Until next time!

BBQ Weekend

2009-04-20T07:38:00.000-04:00

Sorry I slacked again on my posting, so it’s going to be another semi-long post.

Today it has officially been two years since I left Japan for the first time. My flight flew out of Narita airport on April 20th two years ago. It really doesn’t feel like it has been that long. My first visit here was amazing and changed my outlook on life a little. I’m glad Halston came up with the idea and asked me if I wanted to go to Japan. If he didn’t I don’t know if I would have came in the first place, and I definitely wouldn’t be here now. I think most of the people I was there with would agree when I say last time here felt like a different world/era.

On Wednesday it was Bridget's 25th birthday. We had a little celebration at Chakoya for her. It was a fun night, because right after the dinner I went and played Volleyball. Here's the link for facebook with pictures on it. It has pictures of everything I'm going to talk about in one album.

On Saturday I went to Utsunomiya to have a BBQ with the Frisbee team. I had to wake up at 6:45 to catch a 7:40 train which made me a bit cranky, since it was a Saturday, but it was ok because it was an awesome day. What I didn’t realize was that it was practice first then the BBQ for lunch then more practice. I showed up in jeans haha. I still practiced with the team a bit in regular shoes and jeans. The whole point of the practice was to introduce the freshman players to what Ultimate Frisbee is like, since not many people really know too much about it. There were probably around 8 freshmen guys and 12 freshman girls. Since I showed up in jeans, during the morning part of practice I went to the store and shopped with a couple people from the team for the food and stuff. It was really a lot of fun and I’m glad I went. I took a lot of pictures here’s the facebook album. Here's a couple good ones for those to lazy to see the link:

On the way home I found out Adrian was going to Sano to meet up with Matt and some others for the night. I texted him and asked which train he was taking because I was on my way back to Sano from the Frisbee practice and Oyama (where he lives) in on the way. Adrian ended up taking the same train to Sano as I did. We talked a bit on the train then met Matt and Oliver at the station. We were all hungry so we went to an Izakaya (Bar/restaurant) and got some food. I got some pork kimchee thing it was good. Matt couldn’t decide what he wanted so he just pointed to the menu hoping what he pointed to was good. Adrian also did this but their results were quite different. Turned out Matt got garlic chicken hearts hahaha. Adrian got some set meal that he enjoyed. After we finished up at the Izakaya we searched around for a Jazz Bar that we’ve all heard about but never found. After searching for 30 mins or more we gave up. We went over to 7-11 (Which I found out is a Japanese company) and got some ice cream and cheap wine haha. We walked around Sano then walked to a park and drank and talked.

Yesterday (Sunday) I went this log cabin resort 蓬山ロッグキャビン (Yamogiyama Log Cabin) like area for another BBQ. This time it was with ALTs and some of our Japanese friends. It was mainly people from Ashikaga and Sano (neighboring cities). The place was a bit away from civilization as I had to take a 30 minute train ride, and then a 30 minute bus ride to get there. The bus only comes one time in the morning from the train station to the resort, and twice in the afternoon only from the resort to the station haha kind of ridiculous.

The log cabin area was awesome. They had a huge grilling area, where we did all our barbequing, and a giant playground area. The playground area had waste deep water flowing all around it like a moat. There were a series of bridges and canals. It was pretty amazing. There were ton of obstacles that if you made a mistake you ended up waste deep in water. A lot of the ALTs saw this as a challenge. So we all did some time of obstacle. I ended up trying to cross a floating log bridge. It was pretty tough and I almost made it all the way but fell in on the last piece. We stuck around the cabin resort until around 6 when the final bus came. Again check facebook for pics: facebook Also here's the video of all the things we did on the playground. Really fun place.

After that I went with Satomi, Kristine, and Matt back to Kristine’s house. We relaxed a bit and went over all the pictures and videos we took from the day. Satomi and Kristine were laughing so hard they were crying and complaining that their faces and stomachs hurt. I got a ton of funny videos which I’ll be posting on youtube/facebook for everyone to enjoy because they are just way too funny to not share with the world. After that we went and got some dinner at Gusto which if I had to compare to an American restaurant I’d say its like Perkins or something like that (cookie cutter family restaurant). Akemi met us there and freeked me out haha. Her hair is long and she covered her face with her hair then came at the table I was like.. uhh who is that? After we ate we went back to Kristines and talked a bit more. Then I took the train home and got home around 11:30.

I think over the whole weekend, besides sleeping, I was home for a total of 3 hours. This weekend has definitely been the most fun I’ve had on a normal two day weekend since I’ve been here. I’m glad the weather is finally nice here and I can be outside all weekend

End of Spring Break, Beginning of New School Year

2009-04-08T04:55:00.000-04:00

Spring break is over. I kind of wish I went on a big trip somewhere since I don’t have many long breaks here. I don’t regret not going, but it would have been nice. Alot of my friends went places like Taiwan, South Korea or just drove off west in Japan. I didn’t really have any big plan, but I though that Chris and maybe Halston would be here over my spring break, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Anyways it’s no problem though because I managed to stay pretty busy over the break.

Since the area I live in is pretty boring I’m actually pretty happy that school started again. If I lived in Tokyo I’d want longer breaks but the length of this one was fitting. Being in the classroom and teaching is fun. The only thing I don’t like about going to school is that there are large chunks (2-3 hours) where I do absolutely nothing. Many days I almost fall asleep in the staff room because I’m tired and it’s so boring haha. I usually find something to do in that time, and usually what I do is study Japanese.

WARNING SEMI-LONG POST AHEAD! Lots of pics though! c(^-^)—o PUNCH GUY?

So spring break was like two weeks long…. what did I do?

First I visited my friend Carrie in the hospital after her surgery. The week before she fractured her ankle in 3 places, one of which was severe. Her surgery took longer than expected but she came out ok.

Then I went to a place in Tokyo called Ebisu to meet Hiromi before going to a party in Jiyugaoka (also in Tokyo). In Ebisu there is a place called the Garden Place. I checked this place out alone while I waited for Hiromi to get there. After she got there I looked at it again with her hah. Then we went to the Museum of Photography. Saw tons of old photos, including the original photo of the Meiji Emperor in Japanese and Western style clothing. Pretty interesting. Here's some of the pics I took of Garden Palace.

Later that night Hiromi and I went to Jiyugaoka for a party my friend Marika was hosting. It was at a place called Space Joy. She rented the 2nd floor and the basement. On the second floor was a bar and lounge with darts and projector screens. It looked like a place for people to watch soccer or at least at the time it has a soccer theme. In the basement was virtual golf but no one ended up playing hah. I invited my friend Hiromi to come with me to the party. I met a bunch of new people which is always great. Got some phone numbers and I will definitely try to see some of them again. Thanks to Marika for hosting a cool party!

Bull's EYE!

But I still lost!

Enjoying delicious dessert!
Marika Keeping People in Check

I also had an 宴会 Enkai or Farewell Banquet with the teachers from Tenmyo Elementary. Two of my favorite teachers were leaving so I had to make sure I saw them again before they left to teach at another school. Yagisawa Sensei and Funatogawa Sensei -- You will be missed dearly! Here are some pictures:

Me and Teraoka Sensei (Head of English)
Nakai Sensei and I
(Always have fun in his class ahha)

Me, Yagisawa Sensei, Funatogawa Sensei
NOOO WHY MUST YOU LEAVE!?

This time of year in Japan the Cherry Blossom trees bloom. This happens in America too but it’s not a big deal. Why do Japanese make a big deal out of it? I’m not sure but I’ll find out. During this time a lot of people go under the Cherry blossoms or “sakura”“さくら木“trees and have a picnic. You can bring just a tarp but most people have picnics under the trees for hours. People can barbeque or just bring snacks. A lot of people bring alcohol and just drink all day too. For some reason drinking in public is no problem in Japan, and to my knowledge its perfectly legal.

I did Hanami first in Oyama with Adrian and Yu, where we met some people from this website call couchsurfing.com. It’s a website where you can look for people who offer their house for travelers to stay as opposed to a hostel or hotel. You can offer a bed or a couch, or just a person to talk to if someone is touring your area. It’s a cool concept, but I suppose somewhat dangerous. All the people I have met from the website seem really nice and friendly. Oyama sunset:

The second time I did Hanami was in Utsunomiya. It was a fairly large group but it was a lot of fun. I brought my hacky sack and played with some friends. It was their first time seeing it, but they really liked it. I showed the kids some magic too. One of my friend’s kids wouldn’t stop playing with me. Here’s some pics:

Weird guy dressed as some character from Dragonball Z I guess?

I got my hair cut! At first the guy took off a lot and I was scared, but he managed to make me look sexy again haha! A couple of acquaintances didn’t recognize me since I wore contacts and got my hair cut.What do you think?

The third time I went for Hanami was in Sano. It was from around noon and lasted until 6 or so. I brought a lot of food and my Frisbee and hacky sack. We even brought Carrie in her wheel chair so she could enjoy Hanami too haha.

Taught some kids how to throw the frisbee

The next day Kristine wanted to have Hanami again since it will be her last one before she leaves Japan. So we did Hanami at night.

I went bowling with Billy and Yukari. We played 3 games and I lost of the first two but won the last one with a score of 138! Woot woot!

Near the end of the break I started to get pretty bored. I was thinking of just going to Tokyo and just wandering for about 48 hrs straight, but that didn’t happen because I found out there was Frisbee practice the next day.

On my last day of break I went to Utsunomiya and practiced with the Frisbee team. Practice was a lot of fun and great exercise. After practice they invited me to go with them for 花見(cherry blossom viewing). I got home around 10:30, made some food and went to bed a little early because I knew it would be an early morning tomorrow.

Today I taught only 1 class at Ueno. 4th grade, which totals around 120 students. I taught them all at once in the gym in 1 period haha. Kind of rough, but got it done.

There's a new teacher at Ueno and she's pretty cute! Maybe I'll muster up some courage and ask her on a date! 頑張っています！

Spring Break

2009-04-03T11:15:00.000-04:00

Since it's spring break, I'll wait to post what all happened once its over. Sorry it'll be another few days.

The School Year Rolls to an End

2009-03-23T05:15:00.000-04:00

This past week Elementary schools and Junior Highs had graduation ceremonies. Unfortunately I was scheduled at ES when the JH had its graduation and JH when the ES has its graduation. I didn't get to see any ceremonies! I was a bit bummed but nothing I could do. Here's a pic of what it looked like after I help set up at one of my schools.

This weekend was a three day weekend, due to Vernal Equinox day (So random?) Friday was a holiday. So Thursday night I went out with everyone （other ALT friends) to sing at karaoke. When we got there I found out that the same night alot of schools had an Enkai 宴会(or year end party) the same night. So there were many schools celebrating at Karaoke (their after party).

Two of my schools were there so I joined them and sang. There aren't many Japanese songs I can sing well so I ended up singing a Dragonball Z song hahah. Also sang some Enka (old Japanese sorrowful song popular with babyboomers). Here's me doing a kamehameha with my teachers from Azuma Elem. haha.

Since I had Friday off I wanted to take advantage of it, so I went to Tokyo to meet some friends. I got to Shibuya a bit earlier than everyone else so I walked around and saw some protest. I wasn't sure what it was for but I took a quick video of it.

After that I went to Tower Records and browsed some music there. I ended up buying a CD by a group called Jabberloop. They are a Jazz group, kind of uptempo quick Jazz. I've never been to a concert in my life, maybe I'll go to one in Tokyo sometime, I just need to find someone to go with. Here's a video from their website.

Anyways, at around 4 I met with Hiromi and Kumainu (his nickname, he comes from Kumamoto and likes dogs (inu in Japanese) We went to a place called Daikanyama 代官山. It is a pretty upscale place and they said if it had to be compared with something it would be like SoHo in New York. We went to a cafe and ate outside, unfortunately it was really windy but it was still nice out.

While there we did some shopping but I didn't buy anything because of course everything was overpriced. I saw some coats I liked but its getting warm so I didn't want to get them. I also some some ridiculous "fashion" shirts and pants , but its not really my style haha. Later that night we went to a mexican food restaurant. Japan really really lacks in its Mexican food department, they have alot of room for improvement.

The food was good, but slightly over priced and not enough.

After that we headed back to Shibuya (place in Tokyo where we met) and played darts in a bar. It was Kumainu's first time playing. I taught him how to play 301 and somehow he won hah. After the dart place we went to an Izakaya called Elephant. It's a south east asian restaurant and its huge inside. To be that big in Shibuya (like times square in NY) must be expensive. I think its the biggest place I've seen in Shibuya.

Hiromi in front of the big statue in the restaurant

After that we decided to head back. We didn't think we'd make it back to Chiba (where hiromi lives) in time. We thought we'd miss the last train but luckily we made it. The problem is we passed her stop so we had to take a taxi anyways back to her house haha.

The next day I got an invite from Mayu (a friend I met last week at Utsunomyia). She wanted to go shopping in Koshigaya where there's a huge shopping center. It's one of the biggest in all of Japan. I wanted to get a good picture of it but it was impossible to get it all in one shot. We shopped for a bit and went to some cafes. She wanted to go to certain cafe but we made a mistake and went in the wrong one. She paid for the drinks because she felt silly for making the mistake. After we found the one she wanted to go to. I told her to point to the drink she wanted at the right cafe, for a laugh. After shopping some more the only thing I ended up buying is this An Pan Man mask. (An pan man is a superhero, but also a delicious snack). I'll wear the mask to school one day and tell everyone to call me An Pan Sensei. Around 4 Mayu said she wanted to see a movie, but for a couple reasons I decided against it. Then she offered to drive me home. I thought it would be fine. We got back to Sano around 6:30 or 7 and we got Ramen for dinner. She had to go back home because her sister wanted to go someplace. After that I biked home and got ready for the party that night.

A friend of mine here named Buck is going to move to Hokkaido (the northern most island in Japan) really soon, so he had a farewell party. It started at 9 and was nomihodai (open bar) until 11. Here Buck is giving a speech.

Me and some random guy who didn't even know Buck haha.

After the bar closed we tried to go to an Izakaya, but it was full. While we were waiting Carrie was messing around and fell and broke her ankle. Now she has to get surgury on thursday to repair it and will have to be in a cast for a month. High heels are dangerous, another reason I'm glad I'm a man.

Anyways, after that a bunch of people were at some dance club so we decided to join them. I didn't know any dance clubs existed in Sano but apparently over near the Outlet mall there is a place. It was really small and we were pretty much the whole party but that was ok. I ended up getting home around 3 am. Needless to say I just stayed in and relaxed on Sunday.

This week I only teach today (Monday) and Tuesday, then spring break starts. I was going to hang out with Chris alot over spring break, but he missed his flight back to Japan and is stuck in America for another week and a half. Now that he's not coming back for a while I'm not sure what to do over the break. I might try to go somewhere but I don't really know yet.

All nighter in Utsunomiya

2009-03-16T08:47:00.000-04:00

The past weekend has been pretty fun. Friday night I didn’t do much because I had to wake up early on Saturday. I woke up at 7:20 so I could go play Ultimate Frisbee in Utsunomiya. It was raining a little bit, but usually you can still play Frisbee in light rain. I didn’t think practice would be canceled so I got my rain gear on and headed for the station. Once I finally got to the station I got a text message saying practice was canceled. Luckily I got the message before I got on the train.

I was pretty bummed since I purposefully didn’t do anything Friday night so I could wake up early on Saturday to play but didn’t get to. Then biked 20 minutes in rain for nothing haha. Once I got the text I didn’t know what to do. I kind of just wandered on my bike in the rain for a bit. Then I figured I should get some breakfast so I went to my local grocery store to get food from their bakery. Once I got there I noticed they didn’t open until 9:00 and it was 8:40. So I went home and dropped off my backpack. I went back to the bakery at 9:00 but they had nothing out. I didn’t understand it, they are a bakery and don’t have anything out when the store opens .. whaaat!?

Anyways I ran into 3 of my students at the bakery. I tried to ask them if there was another bakery near by but they didn’t understand me, even though I spoke in Japanese.After that I just went to a convenience store to get some breakfast food. The 3 students that I saw in the grocery store were now following me to try to find out where I live. I don’t really know why they are obsessed with finding out where I live. I bought some stuff and ate it in front of the store and the kids just kept asking me questions.

After that I went home and relaxed a bit. Carrie wanted to go shopping and I decided to tag along. We went to the Sano Outlets. I ended up buying a couple shirts from the Gap, and a track suit from Nike. All the teachers here wear track suits, which I think some do in America but not as much.

After buying the stuff I headed back to drop it off. Then I went back to the station to go to Utsunomiya to watch some friends (who are in a band) play live. It was a really good show and since I’m friends with most of the band members I really wanted to go up on stage and sing with them but of course I didn’t haha. Here's the pictures from the night: Facebook

Vice Lords of Valhalla

After the show

Soon thereafter there was a JET party at a bar called Birdland. I met a bunch of other ALTs in Tochigi (My prefecture) and some other Japanese people who were friends with some of the people there. It was fun because it was a good crowd, they had an open bar and they had a dance floor. After the bar closed down we went to Karaoke but had a big group, so we split up. We left karaoke and went to McDonalds, to eat and waste time. In Japan if you miss the last train (usually between 9 and 12) you get stuck places until first train (at 5). So we wasted time in McDonalds, then went to a different Karaoke place. We sang for 5 hours until first train came. We took it back and I finally made it home around 6:30 or so. Group pic minus me cause I took it lol.

Sunrise on the way back

After trying to sleep for a few hours I got up and just had a lazy Sunday. Studied and cleaned my house, did laundry, and relaxed/recovered.

Next weekend I think I’m going to Yokohama, but I’m not sure. It’s a 3 day weekend, we have Friday off. Then the week after that I only have 2 days of teaching then spring break YAY!

I LEARNED KANJI !

2009-03-11T07:35:00.000-04:00

Kanji statistics

The 2043 seen cards in this deck contain:

2043 total unique kanji.
Jouyou: 1945 of 1945 (100.0%).
Jinmeiyou: 60 of 287 (20.9%).
38 non-jouyou kanji.

Jouyou levels:

Grade 1: 80 of 80 (100.0%).
Grade 2: 160 of 160 (100.0%).
Grade 3: 200 of 200 (100.0%).
Grade 4: 200 of 200 (100.0%).
Grade 5: 185 of 185 (100.0%).
Grade 6: 181 of 181 (100.0%).
JuniorHS: 939 of 939 (100.0%.

I just finished learning what most Japanese people take 9 years to do in roughly 5 months. I'd say that's pretty good. I still have a little under 1000 kanji to learn totally 3007, but I'll do that as I'm inputting sentences. I have 10,000 sentences to input now, but now is when my Japanese really will start to improve.

From earlier this week:

I love being ridiculous:

I wish I had a video camera in school sometimes. I was teaching kids how to say:
A: "Where do you live?"
B: "I live in Akasaka-cho."
We were using this CD to learn, where it has a beat in the background and I say the words to the beat. I had the kids rapping. Inbetween sentences I would say "HEYYYY" "HOOO"! Freestyle a little then get back to the lesson. And what makes it hilarious is that the teacher went with me and started acting like a DJ. He held is hand up to his ear and started scratching like a record was infront of him hahahah. It's classes like these that remind me why I love this job.

Uneventful Weekend, Student's Graduation Soon!

2009-03-04T08:38:00.000-05:00

Another month has come and gone.... I can't believe it's already March. Even though February is the shortest month, every new month that comes here feels like it goes faster and faster. If I didn't extend my contract I'd already be going home in less than a month. Right now I'm glad I did because if I left this month it would feel way to short.

Over the past weekend, not much at all happened. Saturday I should have gone to play Frisbee in Utsunomiya, but I woke up late and ended up not going. The weather was cloudy in the morning and it was really cold, so I figured it would end up being rainy. Of course since I didn't go it turned out to be a pretty warm and sunny day. I didn't want to let the day go to waste so I biked to Tatebayashi (a relatively close city.) I went to the train station and picked up a map. Looked around to see what was interesting and found this huge park with a lake. Its called Azalea Hill Park、つつじが岡公園. Apparently in May its really beautiful because the lake there has tons of Carp flag/kites over it. Also all the flowers are blooming. Here's a pic of what it looks like in May.

And here's the pic I took (In Feburary) Here's the river that leads to the lake

A small part of the lake

After checking out Tatebayashi, I biked home. On Sunday I was supposed to go with Carrie and Adrian to Yokohama. I would have been my 2nd time there. Carrie ended up cancelling because she had to help someone. I don't blame her because I know the situation and I'm glad she helped that person. So again, I had a free day where I didn't have any plans. I decided to go bike to the Sano Outlets and buy a new pair of shoes because I really needed some. I went into a bunch of stores, and really wanted to get a pair of this brand here called "Dragon Beard". Mostly because the brand name, but I think they're cool looking and different. I mean look at them, they are pretty serious.

Anways at the store, I couldn't find any that I really liked as far as color and style went... So I went to the outlets and went to Nike, Adidas, Reebok and a few other places. I ended up getting these Skechers:
I like the style and they are comfortable. I can also wear them with pretty much anything. Dress them up, or down. I also wanted to find some more clothes, but didn't do much searching but it's ok. I like the dark color to because they last longer.

On a different note:

This month will be the last time I teach 6th grade students at my Elementary schools (Besides Azuma since I teach at the JHS too.)

On Monday I taught my "last time" at Azuma Elementary. It isn't really my last time, but since the school year is ending it is techincally the "last time" of this school year. In the 6th grade I gave all the students a hug ahha. Even though I'll be seeing them at Azuma Junior High next year. I really like both Azuma ES and JHS, everyone is so nice.

On Tuesday I taught at Azuma JHS, and during 3rd-4th periods we had graduation practice. It's so structured here and serious. I ended up talking to Sakurai sensei for a long time. It was interesting to watch though. Schools here don't have school colors, or mascots like in America. I feel like it takes away from the pride aspect of the school maybe. Tuesday was fun though. After classes were over the students brought the teachers up to the assembly room and gave all the teachers a big thank you card. I was told what it was in Japanese, but I didn't write it down so I forgot, but I'll ask again. Azuma is pretty small so theres only 22 kids graduating. They all signed it and wrote a little something for me. Here's a picture of it.
If you click on it, you can read it. I even got a picture of Dragonball and Naruto! It is pretty much all in Japanese sorry for those of you who can't read it, I translated the few words on there I didn't know. Most of the students said things like this:
"Although our time together was short, I had a great time in your class."
"You're classes we're always interesting and fun."
"I'm greatful for your kindness"
"After seeing you teach, I can see you're really energetic. I really want to become an energetic person like you someday."
One student wrote in English: "I hope to see you again!" And I do hope I see them again. I think that'd be so cool if in a few years some of my old students contact me.

Hearing all this made me pretty happy. Its good to know that I'm doing a good job and students enjoy my classes.

Today I taught at Tenmyo, 5th and 6th grade. At recess I played tag with the kids they loved it. They also had a little celebration for the 6th grade graduation. We played games like old maid and this huge rock scissors paper game, it was fun.

Tomorrow is my "last time" of the school year at Funatsugawa. I want to make a short speech but I don't know if I'll have time.

On yet another note:
I've reached 1800 Kanji. Only 242 left before I'm done with the book. I wanted to finish months ago, but I didn't so all I can do is keep working. I'm trying to do a lesson a day so I can finish in 10 days or so, but we'll see what happens. I'LL DO MY BEST!

Kofu Trip 甲府の旅行

2009-02-25T02:49:00.000-05:00

Ok it’s about time for an update hah. Over the past weekend I went to Kofu to visit James and see Chris.

On Friday night I just stayed in and studied like a nerd but that’s ok because I planned on getting up early on Saturday.

Saturday morning I woke up and did the usual wake up routine then headed out for Kofu. It took me about 4 hours to get there by train. It took me maybe 5 different train lines to get there. On the way there I saw a lot of Japanese country side, which was pretty cool.

I got there around 12:30/1:00pm and met up with Chris. James had to work until 7 or 8 that night, so Chris and I did some exploring on our own. We went to all the main shrines and a few other cool spots there. I also bought a flag there. The flag is an abbreviation for a saying that comes from the feudal warlord who ruled over Kofu back in the day Takeda 武田. It means, Be as fierce as a hurricane, steady as a forest, spread like wildfire, and be as steadfast as a mountain. It’s a really cool saying, so I had to buy the flag. Here are the pictures from the day in the link: Facebook I also uploaded videos too. Check them out.

And here are a few of my favorites from the day.

The bad ass saying

Prayer Boards

Beautiful Sunset

Kofu is really close to Mt. Fuji!

Later that night James finally made it back. After that we got some dinner. We decided to get some food at a Yakitori焼き鳥 place. On the way there two Japanese Jehovah Witnesses passed us on bikes and said “Sup Dawg” to us haha. It was hilarious.

At the Yakitori place I tried cow tongue 牛タンfor the first time, and it is actually pretty good. I also had some chicken cartilage or at least that’s what I think it was haha. The shop owner hooked us up with some free food too which was really nice. After that we ordered him a beer. And then to trump us he gave us something free that wasn’t even on the menu. The food was really good there, if I go back to Kofu I’m gonna have to go there again.

After the yakitori place we went and sang some karaoke. It was pretty fun, and we ordered a lot of drinks haha because it was all you can drink. We almost called it a night and headed back but we weren’t satisfied.

Then we went to a nightclub. The place was kind of small but James knew the owner. We hung out with the locals and danced. It was a good time. Then on our way home we passed a Yoshinoya, so of course we had to get some food there. We met some Australian girl there it was pretty funny. Finally we made it back around 4:30am.

The people in Kofu are a bit different from people in Tochigi (where I live). They tend to speak their mind a bit more which is good in my opinion. Apparently it is the poorest prefecture in all of Japan. I don’t think it shows, but there were a few ghetto people there haha.

Sunday morning we met up with one of James’ friends from a few years back Jade. He came over and then we went and got some breakfast at Saizeria (A Japanese Italian food place haha) After that I had to head back because I had a 4 hour trip home. I finally got back around 8 or so. Thanks to James for having me and Chris for coming over from Kyoto.

This week so far has been pretty normal. On Saturday I think I’ll go to Utsunomiya to play Ultimate Frisbee and then on Sunday I think I’m going with Carrie and Adrian to Yokohama.

大谷Oya　さいたまSaitama and a Rant!

2009-02-14T23:15:00.001-05:00

Wednesday was a National holiday here so I took advantage of it. Adrian, Carrie, and I went to Oya (大谷 ) a place that’s about 20 minutes by bus or so north of Utsunomiya. It was an interesting place.

I took some of the info from a pamphlet they handed out, I asked for the English version because I still suck at Japanese. Here’s some of the info:

Oya temple is the 19th of 33 sacred places in the Kanto district. Carved on the rock walls here are 10 Buddha images. An excavation of the cave (with the 10 Buddha images) discovered relics from the Jomon and Yayoi eras (Between 2,000 and 10,000 years ago)
The oldest earthenware in Japan was dug out of the ground here.

The temple itself is about 5 miles northwest of Utsunomiya station. I was said to be founded in 810. At the entrance is a Heiwa Kannon carving which is about 88 feet tall and was carved shortly after WWII, and dedicated to those who died and for world peace.

Fun trip all in all, but we didn’t get to go underground and see all that the place offered. Here are some pictures though of what we did see. Here are some pics: Click to make them bigger.

Here's a link to all of them Facebook

Also on Saturday I went to Saitama to watch Utsunomiya play in a Frisbee Tournament. I took some videos then edited them together to make this:

It was a lot of fun, but it just made me want to play really bad. I miss Buzz (my old team from college).

Ok with that out of the way now I can start my RANT! Since I can’t remember the last time I ranted about something I need to and get this off my chest. It’s kind of long, that’s why I put the important stuff above this, also reading it is optional…..

Today I taught at Ueno Elementary. It was somewhat depressing. I taught 6th grade, and it was pretty awful. It’s rare that I have a bad day as a teacher here but today was one of them. First of all the lesson plan was pretty boring to begin with. Second, the students weren’t energetic at all, and some even slept or basically refused to participate. I’ve had shy kids before, but never have the students outright slept in class.

Some of the 6th Grade teachers at Ueno, I can tell, really could care less about English, which in my opinion is totally fine so long as they are nice about it. I agree it’s really unfair that the kids are forced to learn English and don’t have a choice. This is Japan and you shouldn’t have to speak English.

I think some of the students, once they reach 6th grade realize since they aren’t tested on it, so they don’t worry about remembering anything. I’m glad at least the teachers show courtesy and are nice, but it’s really really difficult to teach when they teacher and students in the class could care less. I think that because they are forced to do it they are less attracted to it. I think it should be an elective, and they should get to choose from a few languages not just English.

Today was the first time I ended a class early on purpose. I ended one class 10 minutes early because it was just that bad. The students didn’t care, the teacher didn’t care, so I didn’t want to care either. I know you can’t force excitement but at least you could show some respect and pretend to be a little interested. Today was one of those days I wish I was fluent in Japanese because I would give a quick speech about life and education.

Something else that bothers me is that the 6th grade teachers and students repeatedly called the wrong name, they accidentally call me Adrian (the previous ALT) and it gets annoying. I know we’re a similar height haha and we’re both nice guys but come on. Is it that hard to remember my name, I’ve been teaching here for 5 months. It’s pretty insulting and makes me question, why come here if they can’t even remember my name.

It’s really unfortunate that a few always ruin it for the majority. That’s the way it is in society and even my small world. My Maru Batsu toy (O/X indicating correct or incorrect response which students love) that was a gift from a friend was broken by a group of 5th graders because they wanted to play with it and after I said no they tried to take it from me.

The 6th grade at Ueno makes me dislike teaching here, but every other grade really has no problems. I love teaching 1st and 2nd grade so much. The kids are eager to learn, and all the teachers are super nice.

Something happens to the kids after 3rd/4th grade here. It seems like in a few short years they lose interest in learning English, they become socially awkward, and so shy that to try anything seems impossible. Instead of being themselves they think it’s so important to just do nothing and save face. I admit I had the same problem for a short time but I got over it quickly. I hope they do too. I just wish I could tell them to be themselves, try, and if you make a mistake don’t worry about it… and then actually they take my advice.

Anyways that ends my rant I hope you enjoyed it and have a lovely comment for me hahaha.

台場 Odaiba

2009-02-09T04:16:00.000-05:00

On Friday I just stayed in and did some studying. Saturday I went to Tokyo to meet with some people I talk to regularly on Skype. We met in Shimbashi and then went to Odaiba. We just enjoyed the weather and walked around. In Odaiba there is a fake statue of liberty, its pretty funny because it’s so small compared to the real thing. We walked through a few shopping malls, but I didn’t buy anything. Then we went to the Fuji-TV headquarters. It was pretty interesting and it was a nice view. I have a bunch of pics, check em out by clicking here.

Found some weird people doing something, so I had to take a picture with them.

Not as big as the real one.

Took a pic of rainbow bridge from odaiba with my night setting, so it looks more like dusk.

Black and White one

Group shot from Fuji-Television Headquarters

Later that night we went to an izakaya overlooking the water. It was a really nice place. The food was good and it was a good view. I paid for most of the meal, I would have paid for all of it but they wouldn’t let me, oh well. I also got an early valentines “joke” gift oh la-la from Hiromi. On Sunday I headed back home after getting breakfast at a nice bakery in Chiba. カレーパン(Curry bread, it’s like a doughnut with curry in it) is definitely one of my favorite Japanese breakfast foods hah.

Group Shot at the Izakaya we ate at.

Today I taught at Ueno. I taught 3^rd grade. The lesson plan was a little confusing but I got through it. The kids were all really energetic today. I had lunch with 3-3 (Asuka飛鳥先生 class. During lunch some J-Pop and J-Rap music came on, it was hilarious. I started dancing a little and the kids were cracking up. I had them doing some of the dances I was doing. I was getting really goofy with my dances and one of the kids asked if I was drunk. I had a lot of fun at recess, I played dodgeball. Some girls from the class I ate lunch with tried to teach me a couple dances, it was pretty funny.

Tomorrow I’m at Ueno again, except I’m teaching 4^th grade. Wednesday is a national holiday here, “National Founders Day”. 建国記念の日 so I’m off from school. I don’t have any plans yet but I should do something. If it’s a nice day I’ll go somewhere if not maybe I’ll try to make some bagels or soft pretzels since I’ve been wanting to forever.

Refresh

2009-02-05T07:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posts I had to make sure everyone could see the blog.

Anyways my life over the past week or so....

Over the weekend I kind of just relaxed. I went and sang Karaoke with some friends on Saturday night. It was kind of fun. I had a couple good duets with Carrie hahah.

Sunday I did alot of clothes shopping because I'm wayyyyy overdue when it comes to refreshing my wardrobe. I still have tons of stuff from high school which is a bit ridiculous. It's probably because I don't like spending money on clothes when what I already have works fine, but since its been so long I really need it. Alot of my clothes are clothes other people have bought for me, but I feel like my clothes should represent my tastes, so I need to make it my own. I spent around $130 on clothes which isn't that much for everything that I got. Most of the clothes I got are drying now because I wore them but I'll edit this post later and post pics of what I bought.

All in all I bought a Nike Trainer Jacket, a nice brown long sleeve shirt that came with an undershirt that is super Japanese style with the chest open (that I won't wear) I didn't have the option to buy just the brown long sleeve or I would of. I also bought a nice white and black striped dress shirt, 2 pairs of grey dress pants (since I don't have any grey dress pants and they go with alot of stuff I already have), and a weird Japanese jacket that came with snow pants. The weird Japanese Jacket I was told (after I bought it) that yakuza (who are new to the gang or Chibi yakuza ちびやくざ) wear that kind of jacket. That makes it hilarious, but I have yet to wear it in public yet. The jacket and pants together were only 1700円 or 17 dollars.

On Tuesday night I went with Teraoka-sensei to have some ramen. She took me to one of her favorite places in the far north west of Sano (which is a city famous for its ramen). It's called おぐら屋 (Ogura-ya)　I was expecting a small little Mom and Pop shop, but it looked big. It was really delicious ramen, I should of brought my camera and taken a picture. I got a copy of the menu. It sucks that it's so far away, (it would take me probably 45 mins by bike to get there) or else I would go there more often. I probably won't go unless someone with a car takes me, or maybe by bike once the weather gets nice again. I found the website and here's what it looks like and what the ramen looks like:

Big place in the middle of no where

Delicious Ramen 美味しいラーメン

 We also split some Gyoza.　餃子　（Like Dumplings)

On Wednesday I taught at Azuma ES. I really like Azuma for some reason. I get along with all the teachers pretty well, and its relatively easy to communicate with them. I wish I could hang out with some of them after school or on a weekend sometime but they're always busy. I had my first teacher "group lesson" there. I taught the teachers some basic English they could use when preparing lessons with me. I also taught them whatever they requested. It was kind of weird because it felt too formal, I felt unprepared and besides my hearing my pronounciation the head of English could have easily taught them everything I did. It was kind of good to teach them some things they should probably know. I can't really talk much about what they should know, because after all I'm living in a country where I can barely speak even basic Japanese. Of course my Japanese has improved and I've learned over 1250 Kanji, but until I can have conversations without using any English I won't be satisfied.

Today I taught at Funatsugawa ES. It was pretty fun. Its such a small school but I go there so rarely I still don't feel fully comfortable there. Everytime I go there, the lunch always is stuff I don't like haha, they must think I like nothing. The people are all so nice, and the students are pretty smart. Of course the 5th and 6th grade are super socially awkward (more so than my other schools), but I guess that's expected at that age.

Tomorrow I teach at Azuma JHS, which I'm looking forward to. I like teaching there because it's a nice break from teaching at Elementary. I'm really happy I chose the teaching path I did (with a mixture of both Junior High and Elementary). I don't think I'd be as happy if I took just one or the other. One of the weird things about living here is from time to time I complain, but then after looking at the big picture I realize that if I had a choice I'd make things exactly the way they are. Luckily the path I chose was the one that didn't require a car, its in the middle of all 5 of my schools, its close to 3 train stations and the Sano Outlets.

This weekend I'm going to Tokyo to see two friends that I actually met on Skype. One of which I'll be meeting for the first time. We're going to meet up around lunch time and do a little sight seeing then go to Odaiba for dinner. I'll probably spend the night in Chiba with a friend and come back on Sunday.

Oh also it feels like January was the fastest month I've had yet. Time flies here. My job makes me realize how ridiculous it is to only have 4 weekends in a month.

Test

2009-01-31T22:22:00.003-05:00

Is my blog not working? People are telling me they can't see it.

Can anyone read this, comment if you can.

Sick Times Bilingual Edition　病気の時バイリンガル版

2009-01-23T21:34:00.001-05:00

I'm sick! Oh noo! I'm going to see a doctor soon to figure out what it is. Probably just the flu. A ton of ALTs are sick right now, probably with the same thing. This weekend I'm just going to relax so I can get better.

僕は気分が悪い！大変！もうすぐ病院に行くつもりです。僕はインフルエンザかかっていると思う同じ病気今週末僕は回復できるようにリラックスするつもりです。

This previous week...
Pretty standard, I found out that I can't take the Drum lessons because they're super expensive and it wouldn't be worth the cost... I watched the Last Samurai, I like that movie alot.　I got my business cards in the mail this week too yay!

先週。。。普通だった。僕には、高価過ぎるので、ドラムレッスンを受けることができません。ラストサムライをみました、大好き。僕の名刺が届きました。やった！

Yesterday I went to watch some Kendo. Really interesting, but I think for me to do it, it would be really expensive. Some of the chest plates alone can cost as much as $1,200. The actual lessons cost an initial sign up fee, plus a monthly fee. The monthly fee isn't that much but the problem is that practices are only once a week,and at a bad time (Friday from 8-10pm.) So if I pay all the money to sign up I'll have to clear my Friday nights for a while.

昨日剣道を見ました。すごく面白いですけど参加するのは高いと思います。部独活は120,000円もします。レッスンは入会金、および月額料金がかかります。月額料金は安いですけどタイミングが悪い。。。金曜日２０時から２２時。もし入会したら、金曜日に自由時間がなくなってしまう。

What else is cool is that the teacher of the person I'd be learning from was the guy who taught Ken Watanabe for his role in the Last Samurai. It's funny because I just watched that movie recently.

剣道の先生は山本先生といいます、山本先生は、ラストサムライで渡辺謙を教えた先生から剣道を習っていました。僕が、偶然最近その映画を観たので、おもしろいですね。

I took some pictures of the practice and a few videos too, enjoy.
昨日写真と短い映画を撮りました。見てください。

A video of the little ones 小学生

A cool match　試合がかっこい

What's crazy too is that its pretty much all Elementary and Junior High School students at the practices. They all look really good too. I'd probably lose in a match against them.

おかしなことに剣道のレッスンに来ているのはほとんど小中学生です。

Today, and probably this weekend it's just house cleaning and relaxing.
My unnatural sounding Japanese is awful.

僕の不自然な日本語はやばいですよ、ごめん。

Ashikaga Birthday Bonanzaaaaa

2009-01-17T03:46:00.000-05:00

What up.

So this week.. Hmm, Monday we had off because it was "Adults Day" what exactly that means I don't know but I guess I'll take it. I went over to Carrie's with Graham and Becky. We watched the Last Samurai, which I want to watch with it Japanese subtitles and in Japanese if possible. Then take sentences from it and learn some new things with it.

Tuesday I taught at Azuma Elementary which I usually enjoy. I only teach there twice a month so it's a treat to go there. I actually had the best day of the week there. I was in a really good mood for some reason. I started taking my iPod with me for my bike rides to school it makes them nice, except I think I freak some people out because I sing haha. The kids are all well mannered there, and appreciative. The teachers are also nice and I get along with them well.

Wednesday and Thursday I taught at Ueno. Wednesday I had 5th grade and unfortunately the new toy I got from Graham. I still works but I'm annoyed they broke it, because I just got it.
I had to tape it back together but it still works. Thursday I taught 3rd grade, and it was pretty run of the mill.

Friday I was at Azuma Junior High which is also a treat since its my only Junior High I teach at. The teachers all enjoyed my Yatsuhashi (Food) I brought back from Kyoto. The kids also enjoy my visits since they're so rare. I like working with Saukrai-sensei too, he's fun and always looks forward to seeing my pictures and videos of stuff I do. I gave him a book too as a xmas gift.

Friday night it was Zishan's and Ben's birthday party at an Izakaya in Ashikaga. There was probably around 20 people there It was alot of fun, I took a decent number of pics here the album below:

Facebook

Some favsBirthday boys and Kristine

ahaha

So we walked around and saw some cute girls. So I asked if anyone wanted to come talk to them with me ahha. I recruited Kevin and Sean, we went over and talked for like a half an hour or so. I did all the translating and it was weird for me to be the best at translating when I was at a table of 7 people. It was a good confidence boost for my Japanese, but I still know I'm terrible at it haha. They were all 21, the girl on the far left I thought was the cutest hah. She didn't smoke and she works at some dentists office. No number exchange but thats ok, it was just fun to talk to random people, and actually be capable of replying in Japanese.

Tonight I'm not sure what I'll do, I've heard theres a party in Chiba, but Carrie is also having people over for a movie so I'll have to decide what I want to do. Tomorrow I'm going to make some Mochi so I'll most likely just stay in Sano since its just easier.

Terabyte/DSi/Business Cards

2009-01-11T05:22:00.000-05:00

What up!

So the past week has been kind relaxing/lazy. As I think I said in my previous post I got back home on Monday. Tuesday I just relaxed and got back in my home groove. Wednesday my company had training held in Ujiie City about an hour and a half away by train. It was kind of pointless, I got a total of 3 ideas from the entire training session. Most of which I can only use in Junior High School which I only teach twice a month, so yeah pretty pointless.

Thursday and Friday I taught at 天明小Tenmyo. Pretty easy days. Nothing too exciting happened, I gave the teachers my Omiyage from Kyoto. I bought for all my schools these triangle shaped Mochizuke I think its called Yatsuhashi? 八っ橋. (Basically a soft rice cakey treat stuffed with a filling such as strawberries, or anko (sweet beans). They enjoyed it and I like the taste too.

Saturday was kind of a waste of a day. I went biking around to go shopping. It was so windy it was hard to go anywhere. Easily the windyest day in Sano. I wanted to buy a DSi and an external hard drive. I bought an external hard drive on Saturday. 1 Terabyte or 1000 Gigabytes. It's huge but that means I'll never need to buy another one haha. Here's a pic of the hard drive.

Today I met up with Graham, Carrie, and Becky and we all got lunch together. We went to the indian food place over near Becky's house. After that we shopped around. Went to Dopo and checked out some of the stuff there. I wanted to buy the DSi so I suggested going to this game store. I bought my DSi there, and Becky and Graham also bought DSlites. I got the Kanji game so now I have a kanji dictionary. I might buy some other games too and check em out. Here's what I got for the DSi.　It's not actually going to come out in the US for a while, so that's kind of cool that I have one.

Carrie told me she might be taking drum lessons on Wednesday nights at this music school. I want to do it too, I think that'd be alot of fun.

Also Tuesday night I'm going to start teaching one of my teachers 寺岡先生Teraoka Sensei some English. It's more of a language exchange than me just teaching her. She wants to be able to read news articles in English so I'm going to help her out. I'm going to have her check some of the work I've done and make sure the sentences I'm inputting into my computerized flash cards are correct.

Tonight I'm going to Carries to watch a movie with everyone, and maybe we'll end up doing something else too. I guess I'll find out in a few.

**********EDIT************

I ordered some business cards for free (I just paid shipping). They look decent... the problem is had a hard time choosing the design. I was really tempted to get some crazy ones, but went with this more conservative one, since I'm in Japan.

I was gonna go with this one:

Here was the one I really wanted but it cost alot more and it's a bit bold:

Which of the three do you think looks the best?

We'll see how the one I got looks when it gets here.

Until next time!
また次回！

Kyoto and 2009!

2009-01-06T01:29:00.001-05:00

I know I already said it but, Happy New Years! 2009 WOOT WOOT! My first new years in a foreign country, and it was interesting.

As for resolutions.. I want to study more Japanese of course, and another one of my resolutions is a bit weird. What I plan to do it talk to more random people. For example if someone sits next to me on a train, I'm going to talk to them. I kind of wonder why people don't do it more often. If they don't want to talk they'll let me know, and you never know you may make a friend in those few minutes you talk.

Ok with that out of the way... time for a super long post, get ready for it... (Deep Breath)

I made it back from Kyoto and wow it was alot of fun. Thanks Chris for everything! I don't even know where to start about it. I don't think I can accurately write about everything so I'll link the pictures and talk alittle about it. I made three photo albums on Facebook with all most of the pictures I took, if you want to see them here are the links.

Kyoto Part 1

Kyoto Part 2

Kobe

If you are lazy and don't feel like clicking on the links, throughout the post I've put some pictures.

I guess first I should talk about how I got there. I took the overnight bus and it was really cheap, only $40 or 4000円. I had to lug my stuff to Tokyo to catch it but that's ok. I think it took like 8 hours by overnight bus to make it to Kyoto. I slept a tiny bit.

I sat next to a university student and talked to him for a few hours. We talked about random stuff, all in Japanese. I showed him alot of my pictures and videos and he really liked them. I got to Kyoto at about 5am, which was earlier than planned. I got greeted with a blast of cold air and snow. There wasn't any snow on the ground but it was snowing kind of hard. I waited around the station for about an hour for Chris to get there since I got there super early.

Once we made it to Chris' place it was nice. I didn't really know what to expect but his place was nice. We took a nap under the kotatsu (this heated table with a blanket over it.. its amazing America should have them.

Anyways the first couple days we just relaxed and didn't do to much. I got to meet Ranbo Chris' roommate, he's a nice guy. One day we made mochi. It's really simple, its just rice that you smash into a paste. Its kind of like a rice cake, but I don't really know what to compare it to, the texture is soft and chewy. You can wrap the mochi around whatever, but we used Anko (Sweet beans) and strawberries. That was a fun experience.

Ranbo Making Mochi

Chris making Mochi

One of the days Chris and I went on an expedition and checked out some sites that Chris hadn't seen yet, even though he lived there. That was fun, and I took lots of pics, here are some of my favs:

That's alot of Graves
Found a Ninja Dog

Kiyomizudera, my 2nd visit
A shot of Kyoto from Kiyomizudera

Alot of people came to visit for new years and meeting them all was great. On new years we relaxed in the house and made some Nabe (Japanese Winter dish, with a fish/meat based broth and vegetables). Around midnight we went to a temple and rang the bell there.

Monks chanting It was nice, but very quiet. I'm so used to being loud and celebrating at midnight with a countdown. Later that night we went to Daimonji and it was amazing. The view was beautiful. Unforunately my camera didn't do it justice, as you can see. It's like 10,000 diamonds.

From Daimonji at 4am, overlooking Kyoto. I told Chris the flash would hurt and to close his eyes, but I guess he didn't listen haha.

Chris and I also decided to take a trip to Kobe and check i tout. I thought it was a really beautiful city, even though we didn't get to see and of the "Major Attractions".
I came back on the 5th, on the way back I took the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) which was so much faster but about twice as expensive. It only took about 4 hours though haha vs 8. On the Train I talked to some woman who was 26, I like practicing my Japanese so I just did a self introduction and told her where I was coming from and stuff. It was a nice conversation.

Once I got back, Graham picked me up from Sano station and gave me a ride back to my house. Thank Graham!

I rescheduled a package that I got on Xmas day to yesterday and I opened it. Inside I found awesome stuff from my Grandparents. Alot of food (because that's what I asked for haha) and an iPod. I told my family not to get me stuff, besides food, because they helped me so much getting here I feel bad. Anyways I'm really greatful to have such an awesome family. Today I bought a case for it and I'll start using it real soon.

My grandparents bought me a iPod Nano.. are they nuts or what?

I'm thinking about buying a PS3 or Wii, but I'm not sure which and I need to research alot. It'll be a tough decision and any input is welcomed. I also consider buying a DS Lite for the Kanji Dictionary game, Chris has it and it comes in handy everyday.

Tomorrow I have training in Ujjie with work from 10am-4pm. I wonder how it'll go, I don't think I need anymore training, I've been doing my job for 4 months now, and I got the hang of it pretty well lol.

How is everyone else? New years resolutions? Life? If you haven't talked to me in a while contact me! (^-^)

Happy New Year! 2009

2008-12-31T21:36:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

I can't believe its 2009! That's great, I think this year will be amazing for many people including myself. I'm still at Chris' in Kyoto so I'm going to keep the post short. I'll be posting pictures and videos of my stay here, which so far has been just awesome (A good way to bring in the new year). I've made a lot of friends here, some of which live kinda close to me. Ok, more to come in a few days.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T07:23:00.000-05:00

So again.. lol, alot has happened again since my last post.

Saturday I spent relaxing pretty much, and I can't really remember anything noteworthy happening lol.

On Sunday Chris came to Tokyo to go to a party that a friend of his (Marika) was having. I decided to go meet him up and attend the party as well. He also caught up with another one of his friends from middle school who is in the Navy, but is stationed near Yokohama. His name is Josh. I met with Chris and Josh at about noon in Shibuya. We went to our old place in Akasaka, and walked to Temple. It was really nostalgic walk. It felt so natural, and at the same time so eerie at the same time. After living in Sano, I can see why some people dislike Tokyo. It's freekin crowded and smelly haha.

Here's a public link for facebook photos from the day, check them out
Facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072879&l=0a6af&id=38001190

We also went a couple other places, to name some... Roppongi and Yoyogi. Afterwards we went to Harajuku for the party. Here is a picture of Marika, shes was the host. We were supposed to be bouncers at the party, and just help arrange stuff, it was really easy and fun. We got to meet alot of Japanese people learning English it was a fun time. The food was really good too!

(Marika)
Fujimama's　（The place where the party was）

After the party Chris and I tried to catch last train back to Sano but of course we missed it. I had school on Monday of course, but I didn't panic haha. We went to Ueno which is a station that is still in Tokyo but a bit closer to my house haha. Chris and I stayed in a Capsule Hotel. It was Chris's first time in one. They are just umcomfortable, I only got maybe an hour or two of sleep. We had to wake up at 4:30am to catch the first train back to Sano. We caught it and made it back around 7:07. I showered and went to school hahha. I told the teachers at my school what I did and they said please rest when I get a chance. Anyways there wasn't any time for rest because right after school was the Bounenkai for Ueno (End of year party). I surprisingly wasn't tired.
I took a pic of Chris in his Capsule from above (upside-down because my capsule was above his haha).

Here's a video I made from the pics and videos I took at the bounenkai. Please Enjoy!

The enkai was alot of fun. Although the only person at Ueno that speaks any real English is the vice principal I still had a blast. The food was a bit difficult because it was all seafood but oh well I survived. The Vice Principal at Ueno though is so hilarious. I wish I recorded some of the things he was saying. For example before he did his speech he told me, "I want to drink as quickly as possible so I'll make it short." For his speech he just said "Kanpai" which means cheers hahahah.

The enkai was awesome, I felt bad thought because Chris was at my house all day just chillin and studying. He said it wasn't a problem but I still felt bad haha.

Tuesday I went with Chris back to Tokyo because he was going to return to Kyoto that night. We went to school to see if anyone was there but since it was a national holiday it was closed. After that we went to Roppongi to see if Hiro (a friend of Chris') was there. He didn't work until 10 or something so that was a failure. Pretty much the whole day of Tuesday was a failure.

Today (Wednesday) is Christmas Eve, I taught 4th grade. It was kind of fun, but it feels weird working on Christmas eve, and I work tomorrow on Christmas day too. It really doesn't feel like Christmas at all. It feels like any ordinary day, I'm sure tommorrow will too.

Tomorrow I'm teaching 6th grade. After that I'm headed to Tokyo to catch a bus to Kyoto. I hope all goes smooth for me tomorrow.

To my family and friends back in America:　I’m sorry I'm not there with you to celebrate this years holidays. I love you all very much and I'm missing you all terribly. Thank you for helping me make it this far, I couldn't have done it without you.

I probably won't be posting until I get back from Kyoto so to all:

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Big Update

2008-12-19T23:11:00.001-05:00

So it hasn't really been that long since my last update but I got alot to talk about.

First let me say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I love you. Your probably the best mom I know, you've always trusted and supported me in whatever I've done, there's nothing more I could of asked for. (I'm lucky)

Next let me talk about teaching at Tenmyo from Wed-Friday. I got to dress up at Santa haha. The first and second grade students loved it. I made the teachers all call me Santa Sensei haha. Alot of the students knew it was me but still got a kick out of it. The third and fourth graders too, most figured it out but it was stil alot of fun. After they figured it out they started chanting Nicholas Santa! Unfortunately I can't post any photos of me and students but I have some that are just me so its ok. If you want to see some of the pictures with me and students email me or comment : )
Also that day I read a bit about Tenmyo's history. I found out the school is the 2nd oldest in all of Sano. It was built in 1873. Here's a picture of one of the classes from 1911.

It feels really cool to be a part of something that has gone on for so long. Even though of course back then they weren't learning English hah.

So all of the schools here have something called a 忘年会 or End of Year Party. Friday (Last night) was Tenmyo's Bounenkai. After school I went home and changed then met Teraoka sensei and we went to Chakoya where the Enkai was being held. I've been to Chakoya before, I went there for my birthday and it is surprising much bigger than I thought.

Me and Teraoka Sensei (Head of English at Tenmyo)

Nakao Sensei and Student Teacher

Best pic of the night!
I wish I took more pics but I was busy enjoying everything.

The enkai was alot of fun. I really wish there was more of them. The next one is in March. I have one with Ueno Elementary next monday. Enakis are a great way to get to know the people I work with. Its cool because everyone has their opinions of each other and I'm just getting to know them so I'm starting to see what kind of personalities they all have. All of the teachers are so busy during the school week its so difficult to hang out, and thats a shame. At the enkai I planned to have some Yakiniku (good japanese grilled meat) with Nakai sensei. I'm excited about that. I also want to hang out with Yagisawa sensei more he seems like he'd be fun to hang out with. I can't wait for Ueno's Enkai!

Today I've been doing a ton of house keeping, cleaned a bunch did laundry, went grocery shopping and so on. Earlier today I got a package from my grandparents full of American food and snacks. It makes me so happy I almost cried.

My family rocks.

Pretzels.. oh how I miss you. Your salty goodness and crunchiness can make me fall to my knees. Why they don't make or sell you here I'll never understand. I also got some Sour Patch kids, jammed packed of sugar... just the way I like it, some Jerky, soup, and cereal mmmmmm.

Tonight I might go to this other "Drunk Santa" party, but I haven't decided yet.

Tomorrow I'm going to Tokyo to see Chris, it's been a while. He has some party going on but during the day I think we're going to go back to Akasaka and cry and hold each other haha (so many memories there). Also we're going to go to this party together, and apparently Chris and I are going to be bouncers there ahaha. EXCITING LIFE!

Christmas is coming up

2008-12-16T07:36:00.000-05:00

On Monday I taught at Azuma Elementary. For 6th grade I taught about Christmas and we had a Christmas skit. After all the students gave me a Christmas gift. I got a ton of little gifts from the Ojima Sensei's class.

Today I taught at Azuma Junior High. It was a typical day, and I taught all the classes (7th - 9th) I got a gift from Sakurai Sensei, which is super nice. He also gave me a gift to send my brothers in the states which is awesome. I have to buy some stuff for them myself to send, I haven't had a chance yet.

Here's a picture of all the stuff I got. The green box is for me, the green bag is for my brothers (from Sakurai Sensei (really nice)
All the small stuff is from my students (AWESOME!)

Here's a random pic I took, it was a nice day.

My new toaster oven (I don't think I put a pic of it on here yet)

Here's my set up, I put the microwave above, where I had storage before, and I put the toaster on top of the fridge.

I wanna start baking stuff, but haven't yet. I'm looking forward to Kyoto.... talked to Chris and Halston for a while today too. Chris is coming to Tokyo this weekend, I'm going to meet him there I think and we'll both come back and crash at my place. EXCITEMENT. (been a while since I seen him)

He also might be going back on the same bus as me, which would make it easier for me, but he hasn't decided yet.

Some Monks Chanting

Nothing Special

2008-12-11T09:30:00.000-05:00

Today I taught at Ueno, 4th grade, semi-weird lesson plan about Christmas. I wore my contacts today. Alot of kids were asking "Why aren't you wearing glasses", I explained I was wearing contacts.. some didn't know what contacts were. Some said 「すごいかっこい」Ｏｒ　すげえかっけ！Which means super cool/super good looking. Which I guess is good they thought I was cool. Some were talking about how my eyes were green, they didn't believe it. After school I talked with some teachers about Christmas, they were generally interested. In Japan they make snowmen out of 2 big snowballs, not 3. They also usually put a bucket on its head instead of a hat.

今日は植野小の四年生に教えていました。今日のクリスマスのレッスンプラはちょっと変だった。僕がコンタクトレンズを着けていた。子供は「クール!」か「すげえかっけ」と言っていました。放課後に、僕は教師へのクリスマスについて説明しました。。教師は興味を持っていました。

日本では雪だるまが小さいね、けど面白い。
I've started up my kanji study again... I hope it lasts this time. I'm definitely not going to make my end of the year deadline, but thats ok. I learned alot of grammar and finished my Genki I book. WHY ARE YOU KEEPING ME FROM LEARNING... KANJI!!! WHY!!!! The first step is the biggest, in fact its 2042 steps in one.

私は再び漢字研究に始まらせます、がんばります！私は時間内に、終わるつもりではありません、けどそれは大丈夫です。僕は、文法を多く知って、「げんきI」ワークブックを終えましたから。漢字は難しい！どして！なぜ！漢字は流暢になる第一歩。２０４２ステップ。。大きい飛躍で踏まれます。

Tomorrow I might interview some of my co-workers in Japanese. I was going to do it today but I wussed out. Probably because the woman I was going to ask is cute hah. Also I feel like a baby when I speak Japanese, its aweful. All the teachers are so freekin busy all the time. Even on weekends, its like impossible to do anything.
僕の日本語が下手！日本語を話す時、僕は、赤ちゃんのように聞こえます。教師のすべてはいつも忙しい、しまった！週末も忙しい。。。（；-；)

Tomorrow's Friday. What am I doing this weekend?
明日は金曜日。今度週末、僕が何をしますか？

I'm feeling melancholy, but don't know why. I think I'm feeling lonely. I think when I sit around and don't do much or when I get bored I get lonely. I need to keep busy.

僕は、忙しいままである必要があります。

Happenings

2008-12-07T08:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry I don't have any pictures for this post.....

On Friday I had a dinner party with Okada Sensei, Teraoka Sensei (Head of English at Tenmyo), Nobe Sensei (She is cute! ^ ^), Adrian, and Becky. I think the point was to introduce Okada sensei to Becky. Becky is going to be her private English teacher. I kind of was almost offended (taken back) by this because I live so close to Okada (5 mins by bike), and I'm the English teacher at her school (Tenmyo). I think she'll have to pick up Becky from her house like 10 mins by car. Apparently Okada wants to learn from a female because she lives with just her daughter so its safer? I don't think I'm that threatening but its whateva. The dinner was really nice and Okada sensei was very accomodating. Her house is super nice, she worked with her friend (a designer) to make her house. I had a great time at the party, despite not being Okada's new English sensei hah.

On Saturday I went to Utsunomiya and played Ultimate all day. I played pretty well, it was alot of fun. We played in some foresty field instead of the normal place near the river. I like the place by the river more, but its ok.

I made a baby smile by making some funny faces on the train back to Sano. The mom didn't even notice which made it better haha. That made my day.

When I got home I was exhausted so I took a bath and went to bed super early, like 9:30. (Which is like a record for me)

Today (Sunday) I went grocery shopping and bought tons of stuff. I also went to a concert with Graham and Kristine, it was nice but I don't know if it was worth the 3,500 yen. The perfomance was by the Gunma Symphony Orchestra, they played well and the choir was the same one I heard at Iwafune last week too!

I was supposed to make bagels today, but I got lazy. I want to wait and do it with someone, not alone so when they come out crappy I can blame in on them (joke).

I bought my ticket for Kyoto, I leave on Christmas day and its an overnight bus so I'll get there at 6:30AM. I'll probably spend about 11 days in Kyoto. Which is an awesome amount of time.

Another Month Bites the Dust

2008-12-02T08:53:00.001-05:00

Now I am finished with my 3rd month NOVEMBER! December rolls in, and yet it still feels like I just got here.

I've now been in Japan for the same amount of time as last time, but it doesn't even feel close to the same. (3 and a half months) I feel like last time I did so freekin much in such a small time it was nuts. Went so many places, saw so many people ect. I don't feel like I've done half as much this time around but I guess that's because I have to work everyday and only have weekends off. That and I didn't come to tour, but to work. There aren't any arranged trips either, so maybe I'm/my friends here are lazy?

I've been to Tokyo, Oyama, Utsunomiya, ect. but no real touristy spots. But it's weird I don't really want to go to the touristy spots (at least any within trains distance) I feel like I'm past that.

I've decided for Christmas I'm going to go to Kyoto (so at least that's some travel) to visit Chris at Doshisha University. That'll be alot of fun. I just need to buy the ticket which I should get on soon because they might be selling out, I really have no idea what its like to go to Kyoto around Christmas. Everyone tells me its colder there, which sucks... hah. DOSHISHA UNIVERSITY I'M COMIN FOR YOU SOON! I HOPE YOUR READY!

Interesting Week

2008-11-30T05:52:00.000-05:00

I only had 4 days of school this week because of Thanksgiving. But it was a bit weird because we had last Monday off.. instead of actual Thanksgiving day hah. Whateva I'll take it!

You know lately I haven't been talking much about my schools. If anyone wants to hear about my lessons just leave a comment.

Anyways I had a pretty relaxing weekend. Took a ton of pics and videos. Posted 'em all on facebook. On Saturday Graham and I decided to go on a bike ride. We just rode around northern Sano. We were supposed to be playing Wii, but it didn't happen, o well!

Later that day we met up again and we went to the Choir Concert in Iwafune. Really nice sounding... I wanna buy the CD!

In other news I'm almost done with the Genki (Japanese Textbook), and I've bought Genki II and I'll start it as soon as I finish with the first one. I have failed I think in my Kanji study deadline. Maybe if I stick to my 1 lesson a day for the whole month of Dec. I can do it, but its doubtful.. sigh. Mush on though! As long as I'm learning something everyday thats the important thing!

Here's the link for the photos from Saturday:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071198&l=a4dd3&id=38001190

Here are some of my favorite pics from the day:

Graham taming the Hippo

A really nice Shrine

Solitary Shrine

A Rock Quarry, I call it Industrial Japan haha

The Choir we saw in Iwafune
I want their CD!

Cya latas!

Thanksgiving and Tokyo

2008-11-24T07:03:00.001-05:00

So all of the ALTs, and some others came together at Adrian's house for a thanksgiving dinner. It was a good time, we talked enjoyed great food and good times.

This is our meal:
From left to right: Bread, (Purple) Sweet Potatoes, Corn, Mushroom Gravy (with the blue lid) White Meat, Dark Meat, Cranberry Sauce, Green Beans, Stuffing, Bread.

I asked Graham his opinion and here's what I got:

That night I also went to Shinbashi to meet people I talk to on Skype. People that have helped me or just talked to me randomly on Skype. Here are some pictures. I met them and we sang some karaoke.

Me, Frandy, JpMidnight

KgWorks, Me, Kapio (He organized the event)

Me and Mahal

Kapio Hiromi and Blue.

Important Happenings!

2008-11-22T04:13:00.000-05:00

Important news!

My company emailed me and said that the Board of Education here is thinking about extending our contracts. Originally we had signed our contracts, which finished in March (when the school year ends here). However the BOE likes us, so they are talking about extending our contracts until July (Summer break starts here and only lasts for the month of August). I think if the BOE follows through and offers me employment through July I'll accept it. I feel like if I went home at the end of March I wouldn't have been here long enough. At the same time I don't think I would want to recontract for another year from March 2009 to March 2010. So by extending my contract to July I think its the perfect scenario for me.

Now to the Other stuff:
(especially weekends) I have this overwhelming urge to go outside and do something. Even if its going somewhere in Tokyo, or Oyama, or Utsunomiya, where ever really. I hate sitting at my computer when I'm in Japan. I feel like I need someone (friend) in my life that is super ambitious and is always doing something... that would be awesome. Maybe that or I just need to be that person myself and do everything and invite people. I feel like I waste my time doing nothing. I'm ok doing things by myself and I don't need someone to do stuff with, but it makes things more fun when I have a friend to do adventerous stuff with. Alot of people here that I'm friends with are either poor, boring, or isolate themselves.

I feel like I've had this urge since I've got here. And it hasn't been satisfied yet. I don't think it will go away even if I start being more adverturous.

I NEED ADVENTURES! (I'm on one, yet I don't feel fulfilled yet!)

ADVENTURE FACE! (Old pic but its adventurous) Things that happened over the week:

On Tuesday I went with Noshiro Sensei and Carrie to an Eye doctors here. I gave them my prescription and managed to register to get some new contacts, so this week I'm trying this trial pair. I'll start wearing them more if they are comfy. The eye doctors gave me three boxes of solution with cases and everything for free. I don't think I'll need to buy new solution for a while lol. They are Acuvue Oasis or something, they aren't bad but they do get dry after about 8 hours or so I think. I'll buy two boxes next Tuesday when they're ready for pick up.

Taught at Tenmyo from Wed-Fri. I got out early on Wednesday and got my first hair cut since I've been here! Here's a pic of it: I took with my new WEBCAM!!! (More about that later)

Giving directions in Japanese was interesting but I didn't really have that much trouble. The barber (was a woman) and I talked a bit about stuff. She said she'd try to learn more English and I said I'm learning new Japanese everyday lol. I told her about myself and she thought it was cool, because I guess being a foreigner (at least in Sano) automatically makes you interesting.

On Thursday I had to stay at school late because I got out early on Wednesday which I was ok with because I just talked to Teroka Sensei for like 2 hrs. I talked about drama in the school between the teachers and the Principal. Kinda crazy how much goes on behind the scenes at some of my schools, I guess living in ignorance is good and bad? We also talked about what is common in the US vs what's common in Japan, like with people my age. How in America its common to move out of your parents house after high school or college. But in Japan its common that females live with their parents until they get married. I told her about the emphasis on individuality and America and how everyone wants to be independent. Pretty interesting talk. I didn't get home until like 6 something but it was ok because I had a good conversation with her.

Here's a dinner I had this week:
Delicious, easy to make, and nutricious! Triple play! haha. Chicken salad thingy.

(Fri) Last night I went to Becky's because she was having a "house warming party" but not really she just bought a couch and needed help getting it in the house lol. Even tho the delivery guys brought it in just fine... Anyways the party was alright, we played some circle of death (drinking games) and hung out. I think Rob had the most fun, because he doesn't get to go house party's often haha. After that we went to Shidax for some Karaoke, but in all truth I should of just went home before that. Karaoke was fun but not that great because I was just exhausted. It was just a bit annoying because we couldnt decide what to do and no one was happy with the results and everyone was tired. I think Kristine got some good photos of the night, I'll ask for em later.

Today has been a little bit of a waste. I did some laundry, and did some stuff around the house. I also went out and bought a web cam, so now I talk with people from back home and they can see me! I also bought a bike pump which is great because now my bike feels like new after pumping the tires, they must of been really low.

I talked with Chris (who is in Kyoto) and Halston (MD) for a couple hours today. Here's the thing we used.

We caught up with each other and talked for a bit. After Halston and I played an online game, fun times.

Tomorrow I'm going to Adrian's house in Oyama for a big Thanksgiving event! It should be fun, but I feel like they is going to be to many people there and not enough room. There should be plenty of food because we all are bringing something, but ... just so many people and doing anything in big groups is difficult in Japan.

In other news, this picture of Luke makes me smile lol. It also makes me miss my family.

I was thinking about going to Chiba to visit a friend but she way busy this weekend. Maybe next time.

Now I'm bored and finishing the last of my laundry, I don't think anyone is doing anything tonight, I think I'm in for a boring Saturday night. In the mean time I'll be crawling out of my skin to do something.

I Wonder

2008-11-19T09:12:00.001-05:00

I wonder who reads this.

Ashikaga Wine Festival

2008-11-16T00:02:00.001-05:00

What up What up?

Yeah so this week has been easy. I taught at Funatsugawa on Monday. Taught the whole school in one day again haha (all 21 students in the school). At recess we played cops and robbers, the kids love getting chased, but always complain that I'm to fast haha. I like funatsugawa but the 5/6th grade really doesn't get into English at all which makes it hard to want to teach.

On tuesday I taught at Azuma JHS where I finally gave my students the gifts I made/got for them. Here's a picture.

For Kentaro, I bought a hacky sack because he really liked playing it when we played during the lunch break. I hope he plays with his classmates and they all see how fun it is haha. For Hikaru I burned a copy of her favorite band's CD. She likes a group called NewS and the album name is Pacific. I also included some extra tracks from other CD's because there was room. For Momoko I drew two pictures of her favorite Naruto character Neji and gave her the free Naruto bag I got at Kiddieland in Tokyo haha. For all of them I wrote a note in Japanese saying:

I know the English speech was difficult, but I think you did your best. If you always do your best you will never have any regrets in life. I used my hanko (signature stamp) and hanko'ed the note too haha.

I think they all really liked their gifts.

Wednesday through Friday I taught at Ueno ES. On Wednesday I taught 4th grade, which is pretty fun. After school that day the incoming first graders came to get tests done. A small paper test, and eye sight and hearing test. Just to check up on them I guess? It was kind of fun just hanging out with the students and helping the kindergardeners. On Thursday and Friday I taught 2nd and 1st grade, and I've decided they are my favorite grades haha. This one cute little first grade girl wouldn't leave my side, at recess she wanted to hold my hand haha. She also brought me over to the monkey bars and made me watch her do it haha. She was all excited and I told her GOOD JOB!

After class was over in the 2nd and 1st grade I told the kids "手を上げてください” Which means please raise your hands and when they did I ran up to them and started tickling them. It was really funny, but now all the kids just come up to me with their hands in the air because they want to be tickled so its funny but kinda weird haha.

At recess on Thursday these two 2nd grader girls wouldn't leave me alone. I had to phyiscally run away from them during recess. I climbed a tree and hid. They kept wanting to hold my hands. A six grader came over and said they we were lovers haha. I told her NO! and Help me! lol.

After school on the day that I taught 2nd grade (Thur) this kid came up and talked to me for a bit, then I realized his hat he was wearing had this written on it: F*** the World (but without the stars) haha. It was hilarious that people here can wear that, have no idea what it says and on top of that he's a 2nd grader without a care in the world. I think sometime soon I want to bring my camera to school, I still haven't done it. If I take pictures of kids though and post them I can lose my job so the pictures will just be for me and anyone who requests them via email I guess.

This weekend was the Wine Festival in Ashikaga. Here are some pictures.

Here's a link to the rest of the album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070332&l=c63bb&id=38001190

It was pretty fun, but I'm glad I didn't go with everyone else at 7:00am, I went with Kazuya and Matt at about 10, and got to leave with them a little early at about 4:30. Surprisingly I didn't get drunk at the wine festival. I think its because I'm not a huge fan of wine so I didn't go crazy, but I did eat alot of stuff there because everyone brought different stuff with them. We got to eat in the vineyard, it was really cool. There was live music, good food, good drinks, and good people.

And a video!