I just got the bad news. 40-21. What a disaster. I haven't even read the article. I just saw the score. Oh well. Guess the Texas Tuna still has a bit of work to do. Reality is that he's obviously done a great job and you can't expect a 100% turn around inside one year. 8-3 is much better than I think any optimistic Cowboy fan could have hoped for at the beginning of the season. Anyway, life goes on.

Not one of you emailed me on my favorite holiday of the year. What's the matter? Too stuffed to move? Too drunk to turn on the computer? Too busy? Yeah, well, I'll remember this. I did get one email from one of Amy's (now my) friends, so he's still on the good list.

It is Saturday and it is raining and it is a bit cold so Amy and I are watching a game I recorded on Thursday night. San Fran vs. Green Bay. 3rd quarter, Packers up 17-3. Good defense by them. After the game we will go brave the weather with Dilek (she just called) and go get lunch and visit the old hyaku (100yen) store. I need a pot for the new big plant I got and Amy needs clay for something she's doing for one of her classes. Hyaku yen stores are great!

Tonight there is a "Thanksgiving" dinner being put on at a small restaurant in town. Starts about 9pm and it is all you can eat AND DRINK for 3000yen and I think it lasts three hours. My buddy James is coming up to the city and staying the night here at my place so Amy might be in for a bit of a loud evening.

9ers just scored. 17-10 now.

Oh, get this. Last night Dilek, Amy and I headed into Kofu to go eat....yup...you guessed it....HOTO! Mmmmm....hoto. So anyway, we were walking home, I had a small bottle of sake I was drinking and the girls were talking. We were taking the normal route home which takes us down a quite narrow little street. Well, it was pretty dark but quite suddenly, and I think all at once, we noticed a Labrador puppy (about 4 months old) sitting under the rear of a car, leaning up against the back tire and only about 2 feet off the street. He looked at us and we stopped and looked at him and then Dilek couldn't control herself anymore and started doing the "high-pitched, I'm-a-woman-and-I-love-puppies-and-kittens-and-now-can't-control-myself-anymore" voice. So, of course, the puppy comes running out to her and she bends down and pets and squeaks at it and the world was a happy place. Except that I was thinking, "Uh-oh, now how we gonna get rid of the puppy cause he will try to follow us home?" So, of course, the puppy sees how nice Dilek is and then makes the rounds to Amy and me and we all pet it and say, "Konbanwa" ("good evening" in Japanese as the thing has probably never heard English in its life). So after a few minutes of pets and kisses and loves we decide to move on and obviously the puppy starts to follow us. Now what?!
So then Dilek asks if we thought she should ring the doorbell of the house. We agreed that she should (she speaks Nihongo), so she did. As we were waiting for the people to come to the door Dilek said to us, "I'm trying to remember what I should say." It's not everyday over here that a CIR uses words like puppy, loose, or following us I presume. Well, unfortunately there was no answer. So now what?!
Well, while Dilek had been waiting at the door I noticed a small long space between the side of the house and the large fence and noticed that at the end that led into the carport there were a few large bricks piled up in what looked to me to be an attempt at a puppy escape proof barrier. So I told the girls that I thought we should just dump the puppy over the barrier and get the hell out of there. "So who's gonna do it?" we asked each other. Somehow it was then decided that I would be the one. So "ok", I pick up the thirty pound beast, carry it around the car while its moaning and whining, and drop it on the other side of the short wall. But, at exactly the moment I dropped the poor thing, a lady comes out of her house from across the street asking in Japanese about a puppy. "Oh shit," I think, "I just dropped the pup in the wrong yard!" I felt terrible and was hoping that 1--she knew her neighbors, and that 2--there wasn't some big mean dog already back there that might tear the puppy apart. But almost as quickly as all this went through my brain the lady told Dilek that no, it is their (her neighbors') dog and that it has been getting out lately as it's grown bigger. So all my fears were just subsiding when who comes running out of the carport and back towards us? Yes, that's right...our furry little friend!
So now the old lady (who was very friendly) picks up the pup and goes to ring the doorbell, but again there was no answer. So she puts the puppy down while Dilek and her talk a little, the puppy then runs over to me, and the next thing I know I am following the lady down the other side of the house to put it behind a much larger makeshift wall. So she and I put the puppy down, and then she reaches over the wall to give it a few wacks on the head (not too hard, mind you); I think this was just in an attempt to discourage the puppy from wanting to come out.
So with the little guy put away we talked to the lady a little more, she told us to come back sometime, and we got out of there quickly before the pup might get up the nerve to try another escape. Fun, aye?

Ok, 9ers lost 20-10. Amy's happy. And we got to go.

So today is the day before Thanksgiving in your country. Over here it is simply Wednesday. Tomorrow I will be going to the aviation academy as usual. But hell, I can't complain as Monday was a holiday here and we did get two live football games. One was at 6am so I recorded it and watched it in the late afternoon. But the other one was at 1030am (530pm Sunday for most of you) so that meant we got the Sunday Night Football game live, with Mike, Paul and Joe. Was a good game too. So although I don't get to see my Cowboys play on Thanksgiving for the first time since 1985, I did get a bit of the football fix. So anyway, Happy T-day to you all.

Today was Yuda (all-girls) day. Only, my first class is in Europe and my third class is in Okinawa. So that meant that I only had one class today. Waddled in there around 1030am and expected to be out of there by about noon. But out of nowhere this teacher that I don't work, have only talked to him a couple times, came over to me at my desk and informed me that my second class was not to be--something about a schedule change--and asked if I would please work with him in his fourth period class (that's what is normally my third class time). So I said, of course, that I could, and we spent the next hour in the library talking about the upcoming class and English and language in general. A very nice guy he is except that I don't always understand what he says to me. But no matter, we figured it all out and went to his class (16 students) where I introduced myself (an abbreviated version) and then the students all introduced themselves, albeit a bit reluctantly. So that went ok and I was back to my place by about 115pm. Short day, aye?
But instead of taking advantage of the day and going out and seeing things, I am staying in and cleaning and doing laundry and stuff that is better done on a nice day being that clothes take a long time to dry in the cold and I can leave all the windows open while I clean for the fresh air. Yesterday it rained nearly all day and was overcast and quite cold. This morning I woke up to a 13 degree Celsius room (about 55 degrees f) and now it is 20 degrees (68 f). So it is very nice today. I found a thermometer in a drawer the other day so I have it hanging up in this room for reference. Quite interesting. It is finally cooling off. Or rather, getting kinda cold. Those of you who knew me in Bakersfield last year might remember that I pretty much wore shorts all winter. Here, though, I don't think that will be happening. First off, I have to wear pants for work and second off, it's going to be much colder than it ever gets in B-town. I can still wear shorts on days like today (after work) but I imagine that in about 2 to 3 weeks time the shorts will be put away for a few months. Nights are getting cold and the days are cool and crisp. I bought a wire for the kotatsu (a low table with a heater attached to the underside, with a blanket over the top of the table, and this you slide your lower half under and stay warm) and the thing works pretty well. But it does not heat the room at all. You have to stay under the table to get the benefits of it. But I do have a wall mounted heater for this room and a kerosene heater for the bedroom (though I don't have any kerosene for it yet). So soon I will be figuring out the best way to really keep this place nice and toasty. I did screw in a series of hooks and put up a clothes line in the shower room so that I can hang up clothes in there to dry. I figure it is a nice small room to have to heat and that the clothes might dry more quickly. Gonna be an interesting winter, it is.

Gaylyn is coming to visit me, I found out a few days ago. She's coming right in the dead of winter but what the hell. Just happens to be the best time for her. She's be here from Jan 16 to 26. Should be a nice visit. Am taking her to a Sumo Basho upon her arrival and then after that I'll bring her to Yamanashi and we'll probably just explore around here. She's my first visitor and I am still rather new here so I am not sure about where I should take her but luckily she is pretty easy to entertain. I do have to work while she's here so I am thinking that I might take her to a school or two if she wants to go and if it's ok with the school. I think she'd like it and I know the students would be in shock to see not one, but two two two foreigners in their sacred classroom. We'll see.

You all missed a mighty Rugby World Cup Championship game last Saturday night. Went into overtime after it looked as though England would handle the Aussies pretty well. But the Aussies tied it up and my Enlgish friends looked as though someone had just informed them that they'd have to undergo surgery for a sex change. Funny thing was that I asked a couple people who are more rugby knowledgeable than me about how overtime worked and not one of them knew for sure. Seems rugby hardly ever goes into overtime, so I got to witness something special. And only once every four years does this whole thing happen...and this was the big game! So it was awesome! So they played two ten minutes periods with England scoring a three pointer and then a few minutes later Australia scoring a three pointer. But then....with about 20 seconds left to go.....ol' Jonny Wilkinson (the star of England) kicked a field goal from about 25 meters out. So England won the game, my friends were given back their privates and the party really got started. It was great.

Sun just went behind the hill and man, it cooled off in here quickly. Guess I'll go now and hang my clothes up in the bathroom. You might call this upcoming season the winter of my discontent...but hell, I don't like being too content anyway. Until next time, happy T-day and GO COWBOYS!

I am having a very Japanese moment here. I am watching Sumo on tv, I can hear the big bell down at Zenkoji Temple being rung, and to top it all off I am drinking Sapporo. Not bad, aye? This is about exactly where I wanted to be around a year ago.

Anyway, the basho (sumo tournament) is taking place down at Fukuoka city on the island of Kyushu. This is the next one after the one I went to back in September. Bashos happen every two months and last 15 days. Three of them (every other one) happen in Tokyo and the other three happen Fukuoka, Osaka, and one other city that I can't remember right now. Oh, and now there go the 5 o'clock bells. Every evening at 5pm here the bells from some loudspeakers sound, alerting everyone of the hour. Why? I'm not sure, but a few times I have been biking home wondering what time it was when the bells come on and my question has been answered. I think Amy said that in her town there are 6pm bells. So there you go. Sometimes life rolls on and you forget where you are and then bells sound, bashos happen, and the beer isn't quite as good as it could be and then you remember, "Ah yes. I'm in Japan. I had forgotten that."

This week was a pretty good one. Besides Monday at Minobusan all of my classes went amazingly well. Mondays are a bit of a challenge down there but I don't want to get into that. Today I went over to Yamanashi Gakuen and had a good time. It seems that the routine now (or at least it's been for the last few weeks) is that I get at least one class to myself. Today I didn't get a reason but Katsumura-sensei came to me just after the bell rang for my third class to start and said, "Can you teach this next class alone?" I told her I could and took off. Today I reviewed some of the haikus the students had written and then we played a Bingo game based on trivia. Easy trivia, but it was mostly geared towards the students being able to understand me. So we had fun and the kids proved to me that they understand more than they let on at times.
In my second class today we also played the Bingo game and the teacher, Koiishi-sensei asked if he could have a Bingo sheet and played along as I asked the questions. He is a great teacher as far as showing the kids that this is all fun and I truly appreciate him. Some of my teachers (all of whom are very nice) just sit back and let me act my part when the time comes, and I have no real problem with that, but this guy is great. He even asked a few of the questions during "20 questions" last week. Great guy.

I don't think I've mentioned this but I have to say that when schools decide to do "field-trips" in this country, they really go all out. I remember during my school days that a field-trip meant going to a museum or a park or something relatively close by. Once in a while you'd get to go somewhere that was a little over an hour away. But here they go all out. The high school students at Yamanashi Gakuen (I teach the junior high kids) recently went to Iowa for a couple weeks, and then another group of them just back from Australia a couple weeks ago. And over at Yuda (all-girls) one of my classes is going to Okinawa on Sunday and one of my other classes is going to Europe for a week. I don't know where they get the money for all this, but I think it's great that they go globetrotting all over the place. When Yazaki-sensei came to me about the Okinawa trip he said, "Next week there is no class. We are going to Okinawa." To which I replied, "Great! When do we leave." He laughed and then told me I'd have to pay my own way, so I told him to have a good time. Cool thing was that he said our little after school chat room thingy would not be happening either, but then he said to me, "But you can tell the Kencho that you have chat room and go home early." Another great guy.

There is a Sumo wrestler over here that causes quite a bit of controversy. Why? Because he shows his emotion. Before he fights he goes through all the pre-bout ceremony with a bit of gusto. He throws the salt into the ring with emotion, he pounds his chest and slaps his arms and face, and generally gears himself up for the fight. Well, as you might know, the Japanese people don't much take to outward emotion very well. They tend to wear stoic faces and take things silently. So it makes it all the more confusing that although he causes controversy, he seems to be much beloved by many Sumo fans. They clap and cheer when he goes through his pre-bout antics (side note to Ray, Judy and Matt--I have the basho on and I kid you not when I say that there is a Japanese older guy sitting near ring-side wearing a 49ers jacket--thought you'd appreciate that, but I say "BOOO!"). Anyway, I guess that Sumo fans either love him or hate him. I rather like him because although he does show emotion, he is still respectful of the sport, the refs and his opponents. He is not a showboat like those idiots in the NFL (Keyshawn Johnson, Tyrell Ownes, Randy Johnson or Jeremy Shocky--idiots all).

Last night was the rugby match between New Zealand and France. It was the battle for third place in the final results. New Zealand won. Tomorrow night is the big match between Australia and England. Lots of English friends here and we will all be at the Sports Bar to watch it. Should be a blast. I'm still undecided as to who I will root for. But I have to say that I have been turned on to rugby over the last month and a half and I learned quite e few things about the game, though, I still have a lot more to learn.
After that we are going to some restaurant for a double birthday party. Gary (I've mentioned him) and Rebecca (don't know her too well) are the guests of honor and I am sure there will be much alcohol coursing through everyone's veins by night's end. Should be fun.

Other than all that life moves ahead at a fast past (too fast sometimes) and I am still loving it here. I keep wondering when the culture shock I've heard so much about is going to set in. Perhaps it won't. If it doesn't I will simply chalk it up to the nomadic life I've lived and all the places I've been. Thanks to dad for that.

Back to Sumo.

This last weekend many of us headed over to Otseki (sp?) for a "pub quiz". It was pretty damn fun. They had us on teams of five and we had ten rounds of ten questions. My team consisted of Hanna (from England), John (also from England) Annie (not a JET but a teacher from England), Dilek and me. I kept thinking we were doing pretty well, but, alas, we did not win; in fact, I think we finished 5th out of 8....not good. The rounds were split into categories like geography, history, sports, music, etc. We all got a bit liquored up and racked our brains for snipits of information. Many of you know that I like trivia games and Jeopardy and this was no different. Plus, the place served Guinness (mmmmm....). So it was fun.

Had a strange occurrence today. I taught the morning over at Yuda (all girls) and then after lunch here at my place went to the Kencho to check in as I don't have a full day there this week. While I was there Watanabe-san (one of the three guys in the private schools division) came over to me and explained (in broken English) that next year (I guess that means April) some high school here in Kofu would like JET's services. So this means I will have seven schools. Ok, I can do that. But this also means that one of my existing schools will have to go to every other week visits instead of every week visits. Watanabe wanted to know which school I thought should go to every other week visits. As you might remember my Tuesday schools are already on every other week visits, so they are out. This leaves Minobusan (Mondays--Buddhist), Yuda (Wednesdays--all girls), JAA (Thursdays--aviation academy), and Yamanashi Gakuen (Fridays--junior high). Now I really didn't want to answer this as I was thinking at the time that this might come back to bite me on the ass somehow, but in reality I had to be honest, there was nothing else to do. So I thought a moment and told him that I thought Minobusan should be the one. Why? Well, they don't really use me all that much. It was three weeks between my last visit and the one this last Monday, and it will be another three till my next one. Of course, some of the reason for this is the fact that nearly all Japanese holidays fall on Mondays but still, they seem to tell me to just go to the Kencho half the time. Besides that, when I am there the teacher hardly uses me like all the others do. He hardly speaks English which means his kids speak even less and I end up being nothing more than a warm body in the room. It is quite frustrating to just stand up there while he explains things in Japanese and I just chime in once in a while with a word or a sentence. So anyway, that was the one I picked and I hope my bosses agree with me. And I hope that my name never gets mentioned to Minobusan about this whole decision. I also really really really hope they don't decide to make it Yuda that looses my every week visits as that is by far my favorite school to go to. Teachers, students, classes, work load, you name it, that is my favorite place to teach at. So we'll see.

Hope you enjoyed the few Haikus I posted. Yesterday at Sundai I gave out the assignment to about 120 students so hopefully I'll get some more funny stuff. I should also be getting a few more from Y. Gakuen this Friday.

Ok, this is just a short one. I just got home and am getting rather hungry. I am trying some new curry tonight. All you gotta do is make the rice and heat up the little package of curry, so it's easy. I bought the package of curry that had the number 8 (the highest the scale goes) to indicate spiciness. It also had some a picture of a flame on the front so I hope it lives up to my expectations. I'll let you know.

Ok, this won't be long as Amy will be here fairly soon and then we have to head down to our language lesson. Still going well and my hiragana reading is getting better and better. Friday I recreated the entire hiragana graph from memory. Not bad, aye? Who says beer kills brain cells?

Anyway, I assigned haiku to a few of my classes and got some of them back. Thought I'd share some of the better (or more entertaining) poems with you. Tomorrow I head to Sundai junior high and will be assigning the haiku project there, so all of these come from Yamanashi Gakuen (Friday junior high). I will not write the names of the students because both I wish to protect them from any embarrassment, but moreso because they wrote their names in Kanji and I have no clue who wrote what. I also will leave them exactly as they are, full of wrong words, mispellings and grammer flaws (see how well I have taught them). Oh, and for any of you who don't know.....Haiku is a traditional Japanese form of poetry that consists of three lines that are supposed to have (traditionally) syllables of 5-7-5 each. These days, though, many writers vary the syllable count, as you'll see.

Fresh coolness in the air--
how smooth my fountain pen goes
on this letter paper!

Not bad, aye?

I will be a weather man
I like weather
Because it's very interesting

Ok, I can live with that.

Sky is so blue like sea
And cloud is so white like sheep
Sheep swims in the sea!

I didn't know they did.

It is fine today
So I am very sleepy now
I can not study hard.
(but I like English.)

I know how you feel.

I don't like to study
Cuz I'm a basketball player.
I thinks basketball is important than study

Obviously.

I found a gold.
I have lived in luxury.
Ha ha ha ha ha!

This one cracked me up when I read it.

Nick was eaten by Aki
Aki was eaten by Soung Gi
Soung Gi was eaten by Carlos

Interesting. Carlos must be quite full.

Marcus is very cool.
Marcus's eye is like the sea.
Hmmm. Haiku is diffcult.

Great start, so-so finish.

This is a picture of my watch.
It buy in Hawaii.
My father buy it me.
So, I've used it for a year.
It's a very
I like it very much.

A free form haiku, I guess.

Now is a special contest
It is a pity to lose this chance
It was a living hell

What contest? And if you think haiku was a living hell, wait till I assign the novel.

I am not a student
because lost homework.
This homework.

Just damn funny.

I like Mr. Marcus.
Because, he looks very very cool!
I glad he came here.

Thanks, bud. Glad to be here. And nice to see someone likes the beard. By the way, this kid drew a picutre of me and next to it wrote, "Do you like it? Your majesty." AH ha ha!

She eating now
She eat and eat
She will fat future

Now that's comedy!

So there you are. And that was just a sample from one class. I'll write more of them as I get more. Right now, I've got to go.

Well, I'm at the Kencho again. Bit of a surprise as I didn't know I'd be here till about 11:30 last night. I wasn't feeling too well (no big deal, just a slight stomach thing and down in the energy department) so I hit the sack around 930. Figured I'd sleep it off. Well, around what must have been 1030 or so the phone rings. Now, it has been getting rather chilly at night and some of you might have heard (or know firsthand) about Japanese dwellings and insulation, or the lack thereof. So it was a bit cold in my place and between that, me not feeling too well, and me being pretty much asleep, I decided to just let the phone ring (no answering machine--or not one that I can work anyway). It's all the way in the other room, you know? So it rings and rings for a good, solid minute and then goes quiet. Then about two minutes later it rings and rings again. But I didn't get up. I wasn't sure who it was but I couldn't think of one person I wanted to talk to at that time (my apologies if any of you who might take that personally--but don't be so sensitive).
So I drift back off and am sleeping when it rings again. This time the thoughts of emergency hit me. Amy's in trouble (a bug of some sort)....mom and dad's ship sank (they're on a cruise right now)....my brother had a car wreak (he drives too fast sometimes)....Ares is out of food (mom and dad left him for a cruise, you know)....could be anything! So I jump up into the freezing air in nothing but........and grab the phone. "Hello," I said in that slightly concerned, partly pissed off, still half asleep manner. A Japanese voice, "hello....Mr. Marcus....this is Ono." Then it hit me..."You're in Japan, you idiot. Don't answer the phone like that." So I asked him what was up and he ended up telling me that the aviation academy was not having school today (Thursday) and not to go out there in the morning. I was confused as to why this was happening, both the fact that they weren't having school and the late night phone call to tell me this, but I didn't pursue either due to the language barrier, the hour, and the fact that frostbite was setting in.
So today I found out a little more after Ono-san apologized for the late phone call. I told him it was alright many times and found out that the academy is having some kind of sports day, thus, classes have been cancelled. I think that Ito-sensei must have screwed up her dates because she mentioned that next week there was no school and that this week was supposed to be a normal one. Turns out Ono called them today to verify the info I had about next week and it turns out that normal classes will be held next Thursday. So I don't know. Would greatly help if I could speak their language. But really I just think she got her dates mixed up. No big deal.

Today I feel much better....thanks for asking.

If I may get nostalgic and sappy for a moment here....There is a website called BigDaikon.com that is basically for JETs, current, past, and future, to get information about the program on. A year ago I went there many times to get info on this or that about JET and living in Japan. Unfortunately much of it (the forum) turns into a bitching session about things so I hadn't really been going there much since about the end of May, when I found out I'd be coming. But anyway, there is a forum specifically for those that are trying to get into the program and the other day I went there just to check it out and waste some time.
The threads in this forum at this time of year are mostly about applying and all that goes with it. Soon they will start to be about the interviews, and then about getting accepted. So anyway, I went there and it hit me that one year ago about now is when Amy and I sent off our applications and started this whole ball rolling. Hard to imagine not so much that a year has past since then, but that I am actually on the other end of that forum now. Feels quite nice and I think its important to think back to that frame of mind you once were in in order to really appreciate what's going on now. No matter what you are doing.
Enough about that. Don't want to make myself sick.

As I was writing that two of the females in this office came over to talk to me. One thing led to another and now the three of us are going out next Friday for some drinks. That will be interesting. And no, don't get those thoughts in your head. One is married and the other has a steady boyfriend. Besides, I'm a kept man, you know?

Ok, time to get back to studying. The book I am working in threw some Kanji at me today. Gonna be tough. And anyone who says Kanji is easy because it looks like what it is supposed to represent is either lying to you or smoking weed while looking at the characters. Hell, perhaps that would help.
Kampai!

Had a good weekend. Amy came up and on Friday night we went to dinner at my favorite place to eat on the planet. If you visit me, we will be going to this restaurant. I am a bit nuts for Hoto right now, the stew type dish (think I've mentioned this before). Anyway, we ate with Dilek, Michelle (from Virginia, I think), Amanda (from Michigan), Adrienne (Virginia), and Ben. Food was damn good, as usual. The lady who seems to run the place told Dilek and I that she appreciates the fact that we keep going back there to eat. She seems like a very nice lady.
After that Amy, Dilek and I went to my place to watch Eddie Izzard. I've turned Dilek on to Eddie and am continuing my quest to inform the world of this great talent. So far the list includes my friend, Gaylyn, my brother, Amy, Dilek and probably several other people that I am forgetting right now.
Saturday, Amy, Dilek and I went on a short shopping spree. Found a store called Bulldog, don't ask me why it's named that, and I spent quite a few yen in there. My apartment is starting to look and feel quite nice. Got some rugs, a couple lamps, and a dartboard. We also went to an electronics store where Amy bought a phone and I bought a computer game. But alas, the computer game isn't working on my computer...language problems; thus the reason I bought a fairly cheap game. I wasn't sure if it would work and sure enough, it didn't. So now I know not to buy games over here. Anyone want to volunteer to send me Age of Empires and its expansion pack? Ah well, Amy is going home for xmas so I'll make a short list and give her some money.
So after shopping we went home and watched a football game I had recorded earlier in the week. And then a little later, I headed down to the sports bar for the evening's rugby games. That is starting to be a habit but hell, the whole thing ends in just under two weeks now so I'll just ride it till it ends. In fact, Sunday night (last night) I had seven people come over to use me for my satellite service. England vs. Wales. There were three of us from America, one from New Zealand, two from England, one from Wales, and one who is half English-half Welsh. Had fun and might end up seeing them all next Sunday as France plays England in a game that gets the winner to the championship game to face either New Zealand or Australia (that game is Saturday night).
Enough about my weekend. I am probably boring you.

So last Thursday I was walking back to the teachers' room with Ms. Ito (head of the English department at the aviation academy) after lunch and she asked how long I was planning on staying in Japan. So I answered her as best I could and then she mentioned that the school is looking for a permanent English teacher whose native language is English and that if I decided in the future to stay in Japan for a while that I could get that job. This took me quite off guard as I've only been here such a short time and really feel that my teaching leaves a lot to be desired. But it was nice to hear. I'm not really thinking about staying in Japan for longer than three years, but who knows? I guess it might happen. Way too soon to start thinking about that though.
But it gets even weirder.
Friday I was at Yamanashi Gakuen (a junior high) and had just finished teaching a class with a guy I don't normally teach with. He and I have talked a bit but he is not one of the teachers I work with. He was just covering for the normal teacher who is in Australia right now. So anyway, he asked me if he could ask a personal question and then proceeded to ask me about my plans for the future. I told him I didn't know yet to which he said that that school is thinking of looking for a permanent teacher (just like the academy) in the near future and that if I wanted the job I would probably be able to get it.
So I have no idea what is going on. Certainly my teaching isn't that impressive. Maybe it's the beard. I don't know.

So get this.....I think I have just about learned Hiragana. Not exactly a speed reader quite yet, but at least I can walk down the street and sound out a sign written in the script. Of course, that's not to say that when I put the sounds together and make a word that I know what it means, but I'll get there. This morning we got some kind of flyer on all our desks and I started writing out all the sounds of the Hiragana symbols underneath the symbols. It was quite fun to do without using my key and I felt quite smart. But then I looked at what I had left and was sorely disappointed to find that probably 75 percent of the flyer was still unreadable to me as it was written in Kanji. Kanji is going to be quite difficult but it is all highly interesting and quite fun. At least it's fun now. Check back with me in about six months.

One more thing. I went running for the first time in about a year this morning. It's time to get back into shape and see if I can run another marathon. I was talking to Robin and we have decided that we'd like to run the Nagano marathon next April. I say "we'd like to" not "we will." But unless my knees keep me from being able to, I think that running a marathon while I'm in Japan would be quite something to do. Would also like to do some shorter races but finding out when and where via the internet last night proved a fruitless endeavor.

I forgot to mention earlier about what Amy and I did most of Sunday.
Saturday night Robin came by and told me about some kind of neighborhood sports festival that would be happening the next day. She was wondering if we were interested in attending. "Sure," I said and asked when and where and all that. She told me it was just around the corner (a five minute bike) so I told her we'd be there.
So the next morning after calling my brother, Amy and I mounted our bikes and rode on over. Robin had given me pretty good directions but in all reality had she known she could have just told me to follow the loud voice. From my balcony I could hear a voice over a loudspeaker, which actually isn't all that uncommon around here--what with the announcements of typhoons or lost old men, information about where to buy vegetables, and the trucks that go by blaring out this or that about the politicians they are endorsing.
So we got there without much trouble and looked around. There were lots of people and some tents set up on a dirt lot in front of the school. We walked around a bit looking for Robin but to no avail. Amy tried calling her cell phone but there was no answer. "Well," we thought, "let's just walk around a bit and watch the action." So I sat up on a wall while Amy walked towards the action and then away. There were chalk lines out on the dirt. They formed a large oval (maybe 250 to 300 meters around) and some straight lines in the middle of all this. A large group of people was gathered in front of me and it was obvious that whatever event was to take place next involved these people. There were perhaps fifty of them or so (maybe more).
Kids walked by staring at us and adults looked at us until we caught their eye. We were not going unnoticed, that was for sure. This happens alot but it was a bit different here. I began wondering if we had intruded on these people's private festival.
About this time, though, Amy noticed Robin in the large group in front of us. "Ok," I thought, "we are at the right place." But we couldn't get her attention as she was busy and then about ten seconds later, she and the group moved out to the middle of the oval. So we relaxed and watched the action.
It was a relay race. Each team was made up of about eight to ten people of all ages and all the individuals ran either a half lap or a full lap. The kids started and then handed off their baton to a slightly older person, who then handed it off to someone a little older. It seemed that by the time the fourth person was running the ages were around twenty to forty. Each team was made up of both girls and guys but I never figured out if there were rules about how many of each were allowed. So they ran and ran and eventually it was over.
Amy and I found Robin and by this time Gary had also shown up so the four of us went over to one of the tents where our people were. I say our people because these are the people that live nearest to us (us being Robin, Gary and I). One of the guys lives right down below my balcony in one of the houses down there and Amy and I recognized him as being the guy we nearly always greet when we are heading in or out on our bikes. He and his family seem like friendly chaps but the languages keeps us from really talking. Very nice guy, though, and he seemed happy to have us there.
So we were talking to each other (the four foreigners) when two ladies came over and handed us rice balls in seaweed and bowls of soup/stew. They indicated to us that we should sit down inside the tent (had to remove shoes for that) so we did and ate and smiled at the children and generally just took it all in. Robin speaks Japanese pretty well so she talked to a few of the kids and an adult or two. Eventually we finished our meals and then went and got snow cones and then returned to our tent.
Turns out that the festival is a once a year thing and is for the general neighborhood, the neighborhood being quite large. Each tent/team, though, consists of certain areas within that bigger neighborhood. So the folks in our tent are the ones that live closest to us. So it's kinda like my street versus yours, if you get my meaning. Our tent had people of all ages in it, the young cute girl with long eyelashes (perhaps 2 or 3 years old) up to the old guys who had been drinking since 9am (perhaps in their late sixties to early seventies). All were friendly and really welcomed us.
So after the food Amy, Gary and I got hit up to take part in some of the upcoming events. Amy ended up doing a kangaroo race where she had to hop from one line to another with a soccer ball sized rubber ball between her legs and Gary and I did the tire roll race. I just figured we were paying for our lunch. But it was fun and Amy's team ended up winning the whole thing (and looked damn funny doing it--especially Amy who had a different form from the rest of them, but that did seem to work for her and ended up getting a big reaction from the crowd), while Gary and I and the rest of us got second in our race. Robin did have to run one more time and the team ended up getting third. Not bad actually. I think they keep a cumulative tally of points for all the races and then one team or another wins the whole festival but I never did find out who won or how we did.
So we left around 3pm or so with our teammates inviting us to a party later that night which none of us went to (I had plans) and also inviting us to a small festival, just outside my door basically, next Sunday (I do plan on attending that). Not sure what that festival will be about but if there are food and drinks, hell, I'll be there.
So there you are. I have to give kudos and a thanks to Robin for inviting us to this thing, otherwise I would have never known about it. And next year I plan on running in the relay.

Ok, as promised I will write a bit more today. At the Kencho and this morning managed to finish all the important stuff, putting together my second travel expense document (went much smoother this time) and studying Japanese for a couple hours. Have to admit that the language is starting to make sense to me. I am hearing more than just sounds. Those sounds are now starting to represent meaning in my mind! Imagine that. Still not anywhere near knowing what's going on around me though. It'll come.

Anyway, the mid-year conference.
Amy did quite well at her presentation. She was a bit nervous about it, being that the subject was team-teaching and she's been doing that exactly two months! But she managed to put together one of the more interesting and usable presentations that I have seen since I've been here (and I've been to a lot). In fact, there is a guy (won't mention his name here) that had told me the night before, whilst we sucked a few beers down (there's a hint for ya), that he was looking forward to the conference because it meant he could essentially sleep for the next two days. Now honestly, I understood what he was saying except that that was exactly the reason I was not looking forward to the whole thing. I enjoy work and I saw a long two days before me. But getting back to him...he was sitting in front of me during Amy's thing, and about a half hour in, turns to me and says "This is pretty interesting. She's doing a good job," to which I replied with an emphatic "Really!?" I said this more out of surprise towards his reaction than I did towards Amy's ability to put on a good speech, mind you. It was really quite surprising to hear this guy saying that he was actually enjoying something of this nature. And I think that his response to the presentation speaks volumes about Amy's preparation and ability to keep an audience interested and entertained. Really. I am nearly always entertained by her. Sometimes I just watch her from across the room and wonder, "What the hell is she doing now?"
After that we had a few more seminars and then lunch and then a few more seminars. All of them were better than I thought they would be and the day went by fairly quickly.
Then we got bussed over to the hotel we were staying at (all of this is happening in the next town over from Kofu, by the way). I went up to my room, dropped off my stuff, and then waited a bit for my roommates to show up. None of them I knew very well, but I did know who they all were and I was rather happy to know that these were some of the older guys, meaning that our room would probably be a good place to sleep. So a couple of them showed up and we decided to go find some beer as apparently there was a convenience store around the corner.
But on our way out of the hotel a bunch of the other guys were already coming back with bags full of the sweet nectar we craved so much. And what's more...!...they told us that we could just drink theirs as that's why they had gotten so much. So up to out neighbors' room we headed and swigged a few while talking about the past couple months of our lives.
Then around 7pm we all headed down to dinner. The dinner was organized for us and ended up being quite nice. It was in a very large room that had tatami on the floor (so no shoes) and each of us had a chair that sat directly on the mats (no legs) with a cushion and a small short table that had bowls and plates of food. All the food was Japanese and although at first glance it didn't appear to be enough to fill me, in the end it did the job. Usually at these things (the other 3 or 4 times) there is a large table or two with lots of food on it and we are free to grab what we like and then have to stand around while we talk and eat. Not bad but this was much better. It was nice to have a seat and a table all to myself.
There was the usual toast of a few words and then "Kampai!" and then we all dug in. I had brought a beer down with me as I was told that we would be getting only one free drink so I toasted with a beer in one hand and sake in the other. Most of us did get sake but one person I know opted for an orange soda instead (I'll let you figure this one out). But the food was great, the sake was great, the gal I sat next to (Adrienne, from Virginia) was great to talk to, and it looked as though most of us were having a good time. They even had two ladies (separately) come out and do a traditional jig (Japanese style) to the old music. They were dressed in kimonos and had the white face paint and all. It was quite nice, though I was a bit too hungry to watch too closely.
Eventually they had to kick us out of the room (around 930pm) and the party moved up to some of the rooms we were staying in. We just sat around and talked and drank and carried on. It was all quite controlled for a while and it was actually good to talk to the other first year JETs and meet some of the veteran JETs. I liked nearly all of them. I even met a girl who knew my predecessor. That was a first. Seems she either kept to herself alot or at least stayed away from the other JETs (and I can understand why sometimes).
Now, I went to bed around midnight. I'd decided that I'd had enough beer and that it wasn't worth ruining the next day (gettin old, I guess). So I go to my room to where two of my roommates had already retired (one was asleep) and got into bed. About ten minutes later the last roommate came in and called it a night. So we did pretty well. But about ten minutes after that, two guys came in asking, "Are there any half-naked girls in here?" The light from the hallway came in with them and I looked over at them and said, "hey, get the fuck out of here." So they left with one of them telling us to remember the other's name. Idiots. Hell, man, even if I had been a half-naked female that tactic wouldn't have worked. So eventually I fell asleep.
Around 6am I woke and looked over at what had been an empty futon the night before to find it occupied. We been assigned to rooms of five people, but only four of our five stayed the night, thus, the empty futon. But now it was filled. Turns out the guy next to me was from the next room where the party had been. I guess about twelve people passed out in there and there was no room for him. So he came over looking for a place to sleep. He never woke me up so I didn't mind at all. It was just strange to find him there in the morning.
But sleeping arrangements were the least of anybody's worries that morning. Charles (also from Virginia) and I were the first ones up and we looked out our window to find a sole beer can floating the koi pond out back. The garden area and pond were extremely nice, by the way. "Well," we said, "that's not good, but it could be alot worse." And it turns out it was...
Apparently someone threw a beer bottle through a rice paper door and there was an "incident" with a fire-extinguisher. At the end of the next day's presentations and speeches, Robin told us all what had happened and asked the guilty parties to come forward. And from what I hear, two of the three guys involved did come forward. Not sure what's gonna happen with that last guy. Anyway, I'm sure that they're all paying for the repairs and I'll be surprised if we all stay there next year. Shit happens, I guess. But I would like to say that none of my friends were involved. And I'm so proud of them. Heh heh.
So the next day went ok except that we had a guest speaker who was one of the worst speakers I've ever had the misfortune of hearing and seeing. Guy was terrible. Talked about teaching and this and that for just under two hours. I felt like throwing a bottle or two through some rice paper. If he's there next year, I won't be. Funny part was when he was preaching to us about getting animated and excited in the classroom in order to better entertain and teach our students. "Ironic," I thought.
So that was it. Another conference over with. Not sure when the next one is but I hope it's not for a while. I had fun with it but I think four of them in three months in enough for now.

All else goes well. This weekend was a three dayer and Amy and I got to see a live football game. Your Sunday night game which pitted the Green Bay Packers against the Minnesota Vikings was shown over here yesterday morning at 1030am. Haven't seen a live game in a while. Was nice. And it was a pretty good game.

That's all for now.

Alright, well, I'm back from the conference. I'll tell you more about it on Tuesday as I'll be at the Kencho and will need something to do. So I'll save it for then. Just know that it went better than I thought it would, but that is what you get when you expect the worst.....sometimes. Guys I stayed with were some of the older lot so ours was not the party room. Although we did go to the other rooms to have a few beers and talk and carry on, but it was damn nice to have our room to escape to when we needed to. My bedtime ended up being about midnight so I was not feeling nearly as bad the next day as some of my contemporaries. But like I said, I'll get into this all later.

I have found out that some of my fellow JETs have been reading this thing and are wondering if and when I'm going to mention their names. I had originally thought this would not be a good idea as if I did have anything less than flattering to say about them, I could at least keep them anonymous. But in truth, most all of them are quite nice people and besides the odd event, I really have nothing negative to say about any of them. So I will now attempt to tell you about a few of the more key figures that make up life in Japan. Keep in mind these are all foreigners.

Amy--most of you know her. She is my girlfriend. She's from California (for the most part) and makes life a little more enjoyable for me. I won't really elaborate here because most of you do know her, and I really don't wish to discuss my relationship with the likes of you. Also, the prettiest girl I've ever laid eyes on (c'mon, she's does read this, you know?).

Ben--He's my neighbor. His door is a two step walk from mine. He's from England is in his early twenties. As a CIR (coordinator of international relations) he works in Kofu's International Center setting up certain events and stuff. He's really a nice guy, likes to drink a few, has good taste in music, and is an excellent partner to sing "Ruby Tuesday" with at kareoke.

Dilek--She also lives in my building and is a CIR. CIRs must be able to speak Japanese and I have called on her talents a few times when need be in this area. She's also in her early twenties and is from Iowa. She's a great gal and I can see her becoming one of the JETs that I become closest to. In fact, she's kinda like a little sister (I always wanted one of those). Sometimes I worry about her as I think she takes little things a bit personally at times but we talk about them and she gets through. Probably just needs to vent every once in a while. Truly, I like her and hope that she stays in Japan as long as I do. Very cute too.

Robin--She's the PA (prefectural advisor) and is really nice and helpful. She's in her mid-twenties and is from Texas. She and her boyfriend/fiance (Gary) live together in my building. They came here together and will probably be leaving next summer as that will end their third year here. Robin has helped me figure a few things out and is good to talk to. She and Dilek work at the Kencho so when I am there from time to time, I call on them to go to lunch. Gary is a great guy and is interested in literature (he's thinking grad school) and likes Hemingway. Amy also likes this couple very much and the four of us have been out a couple times to eat and shop and watch soccer.

Michelle--I met this gal through Dilek. She's from New Zealand and is in her early twenties. She lives down in Fujiyoshida and Amy and I stayed at her place one night when all the JETs had a party down there at that "American Pub." Michelle is really cool and has a good sense of humor. She and I like to pick on each other so you can imagine that we must get along quite well. I'm not sure she knows it yet but I plan to visit her in New Zealand when this Japan thing is over. Hopefully she'll invite us (hint hint) to stay at her place. Funny that New Zealand is really not a country I much thought about before, but thanks to her and a couple others, it is fast moving up the list of places to see before I decide to call it a life.

James--This guy is just damn cool in my opinion. He is from Boston and is in his early twenties. He has an odd sense of humor, which is why I like him, and is fast becoming one of my drinking buddies. He is half Japanese and lives down near Minobu where he teaches at a high school. He has pretty good taste in music and is a big Red Sox fan.

Garreth--Also fast becoming a drinking buddy. He's from England and I really don't know too much about him, but he is very friendly and we laugh a lot. He likes his rugby and is a big time England fan. In fact, tomorrow night we will be going down to the sports bar to watch the England/someone else game. I met both him and James through Ben really as they come over to his place, knock on my door to invite me over, and then the four of us litter the room with beer cans. This is not something I like to do all the time but when it does happen we have a lot of fun.

Ok, that's all for now. Those are the major players in my life right now. They sometimes make me feel like an old guy, but I think I keep up with them pretty well. There are many others who have lesser roles (to me) and I may list them out at some point too. Lots of nice people over here, all doing what we had been thinking about for a long time. I like some better than others, but I respect all of them as they took a chance and packed up to head off to a strange land where most of us are illiterate and lost a lot of the time.