Autumnal Equinox Day

Tuesday was a national holiday and there was no school. One great thing about Japanese Schools is that there are holidays like Autumnal Equinox Day. National holidays -- for things alot of the time I've never heard of.

Monday night a couple of us decided to get together and went to Shidax Karaoke. After school I got ready and headed out. Karaoke was actually alot of fun because there wasn't that many of us (only 7 of us) which makes it alot more enjoyable. Another good thing was that because it was a weeknight and because we didn't get nomihodai it wasn't ridiculously expensive.
After Karaoke finished up alot of people went home, but Becky, Oliver, and I weren't ready for that so we headed back to Becky's for some drinks. We talked for a couple hours and shared some Sake. After talking about pizza for a while we all got the munchies so we took our bikes to 7-11 and bought alot of snacks. It was a fun time and Oliver is hilarious. We discussed possibly taking a trip to Russia. At about 2:30 or so we decided to call it a night.

For Monday I sent an email out seeing what everyone was doing. I planned on possibly going to Ashikaga again except this time by train ahha. I wanted to explore a bit and maybe go to the museum there. Anyways that changed when I got an email from Kristine about playing tennis. After that I headed to a store called "House-Off" which is a 2nd hand store (used goods). I met Becky there and we both bought tennis rackets haha. Mine was only $10.00, can't beat that price. Afterwards we decided to get pizza at Salzeria (since we talked about it the night before haha). We met Carrie there and actually saw the head of all ALTs Noshiro Sensei and his family.
Good food good times. After we headed for Sano station to go to Tanuma to play tennis. Carrie went home since she wasn't feeling too well. When we parked our bikes we talked a little bit to the guys who run the bike parking place. They told us we're in the newspaper. All the ALTs were apparently printed in the local newspaper which is pretty cool, I kind of want to get a copy.

Once we finally got to Tanuma we met up with Kristine and Graham. They told us about their Mountain adventure and how they had leeches on they. SICK. Anyways Graham had to take care of business so he went home so it was just Becky, Kristine and I, we played for maybe two hours. It was alot of fun and I was happy to play sports because its been so long since I have.

After sweating it up at tennis Kristine invited us for some Shabu Shabu. We gladly accepted because we wanted a big meal after playing tennis. Once we got to the restaurant we decided to go with Sukiyaki instead of Shabu Shabu. Sukiyaki -- It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef), or a vegetarian version made only with firm tofu, slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Before being eaten, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs. (But I didn't do that haha)

Anyways at the table I was trying to tell them my idea of a restaurant that after you eat a big meal you can sleep there. A restaurant that offers food and a nap basically. But when I explained it I was full and tired so I said... "so I wish there was a restuarant where you could stuff your ass." I was going to continue to explain but they busted out laughing so I just left it at that ahah.

Today (Wednesday) I taught at Ueno and taught the kids about color. I taught 3 first grade classes. They all went nuts over the game we played. Each class/teacher handles everything slightly differently so you have to be quick on your toes. Even though theres that ambiguity I still enjoy the job it keeps it interesting haha. I'm learning new Japanese vocabulary everyday and writing it on the back of my lesson plans, then when I get home I usually put it into my online flashcard deck. So eventually when I take lessons and learn more grammar I can put the vocab to use.

Last night I talked to a guy online who is a Japanese translator but from Japanese to Korean. He's really into American football and his favorite teams are the Bears and Giants haha. I told him I liked the Broncos and he showed me some videos of Japanese people playing football here. I didn't know it existed here but they actually play it. He wants to go with me to Tokyo sometime and watch some football. Maybe I'll meet him or go with him to watch the playoffs or the superbowl. On a side note I really want to get an electronic dictionary because its so much faster haha.

Tomorrow I might bring my laptop to school for the first time. I want to show the staff some of my slideshows and maybe videos haha. We'll see how that goes.