The big news around the teacher’s room was that Carrefour is pulling out of Japan. It was only a few months ago that the new store opened near my house. I’ve talked about how empty the place has been when I’ve visited lately, but I guess this news is more closely related to the parent company in France. They are having a hard time, so they are looking for buyers for their stores in Japan, and are planning to pull out in three years time.

Today I was having a conversation with Mr. Kimura, and the history teacher sat at the desk next to me expectantly. I just ignored him and continued my conversation with Mr. Kimura, but Mr. Kimura was a little embarrassed and cut himself off. I turned to the history teacher to see what was up, and he just wanted to confirm what Tom Cruise’s real name is. He seemed astonished that I didn’t have that information at my fingertips. I apologized, and as he got up I said loudly that as soon as I find out Tom Cruise’s real name that I would let him know as soon as possible. He looked around with a red face and snuck back to his desk. Ask me about infinitives and verb clauses all day, but Tom Cruise? That’s gotta be misuse of company property.

By the way, it’s Thomas Cruise Mapother IV.

Boo-yah – shoes have been acquired. It took a trip to the outlet shops in Tarumi, but I’ve got a decent pair of dress shoes that only set me back $85. They had lots of other styles in my size, but most of them where shiny, and I’m not a big fan of shiny shoes.

Kuniko and I did a walk through of the other parts of the Tarumi shopping area – they’ve got a lot of American standards – Nike, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear, Eddie Bauer, etc. It was fun to look around and see what they had. I didn’t buy anything else, though.

We also enjoyed some time at Kobe Harborland, people watching, drinking yogurt lassi, and taking a break from the rat race. The Christmas decorations are all up and people are getting excited about the holiday season. We paid a visit to the arcade and played Jurassic Park – it was a fun game, but Kuniko was much better at it than I. We also played basketball, but it only lasted a few seconds. I stink at basketball, too.

Finally we went into the Sannomiya area to look around and get some food in Chinatown. The place was crawling with tourists, but we picked up some nikuman (pork buns) and ate those while walking around. We also did a little shopping at a Chinese goods store and I found some spicy pepper sauce that look delicious.

I’m back home and getting ready for a three day week. Tomorrow is my English lesson for Azusa-san, so I need to dig up an article to read with her.

Mr. Hayashi has said that learning a foreign language is like launching a rocket into space. He says that it takes a tremendous effort to get off the ground, but as you get higher and higher, things get easier and easier. He knows a lot about studying foreign languages – he’s been studying English since he was a junior high school student more than 40 years ago.

Over the past month or two I feel like I’ve been getting close to the point where things improve exponentially. After a little more than two years of Japanese language studies, I can speak broken but conversational Japanese. I can read about 500 kanji characters, and have no difficulty reading simple Japanese. The more I study, the more I find things that just seem to make sense, and words that I had learned and forgotten are now bubbling up to the surface at just the right times.

Most of all, I’ve found that I really enjoy learning a foreign language. It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I often hear from Mr. Hayashi that I’m working too hard, that I don’t really need to know Japanese, that it’s useful only in Japan, that it’s a waste of my efforts. Today I had a conversation over lunch with one of my teachers that until today hadn’t said a word to me. I chatted with him about the weather, his hobbies, his weekend, and my background in California. This is someone that I never would have been able to get to know – someone that was waiting for me to break the barrier. It made me feel great to be able to do that, and made the hours and hours of study seem worthwhile.

Some of my teachers sleep in between classes. Some smoke and gossip. Others play solitaire on their computers. I study so hard that I can feel the wrinkles in my brain forming.

It’s not all wine and roses, though. I continue to struggle with long conversations, I rely on the same set of limited vocabulary – my brain seems to resist using the new words that I memorize each day. I overuse the Japanese words for “but…” and “many”. My accent continues to identify me as a foreigner, even over the phone. Mr. Hayashi has been helping me with that.

In two weeks I’ll be taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in Kobe. I’ll be going for Level 3. Level 2 is the next step, and Level 1 is said to be impossible for people not of Asian descent. My goal is to pass Level 2, but it’s a lofty goal. Whether or not I pass level 3 in December, I’m going to continue to study Japanese in a big way.

The Japanese focus a lot of attention on achievement tests and proficiency exams. People have given me lots of advice on how to pass the exams, and what to do to squeak by, but in the end my goal is not pass an exam, but to speak and understand Japanese well – “ぺらぺら” in Japanese.

Tomorrow I’m planning on continuing my search for shoes that fit in Tarumi with Kuniko. It’s a holiday to celebrate Labor/Thanksgiving, whatever that means. It nicely cuts up my week and will make it easy to slide through to the weekend.

Success or failure, I’ll report on my shoe shopping exploits tomorrow!

Kuniko and I made some breakfast this morning – eggs and toast with corn soup – but other than that we slept in for a long time. We watched more TV, and I enjoyed watching a show where two people take a journey around a particular area. One is treated like a king, and the other like a pauper. One guy is hitchhiking around, while the other guy is driving a Ferrari from place to place.

We had an early lunch – Kuniko has found Habanero curry, and so we tried that out. It was plenty hot – too hot for Kuniko but just right for me. I was sweating big time after eating it. Then we went into Umeda to do some more shopping.

This time we found an L.L. Bean store, and although they had no shoes bigger than an American size 10, the employee recommended the Nike store across town. We walked that way, and found some shoes that would fit me – unfortunately they were all sports shoes. We also got a tip to try to outlet stores in Tarumi, so we are planning to visit them on Tuesday, since it’s a national holiday.

Kuniko told me an interesting story about her day on Tuesday. Originally her boss told them they had to come in and cook lunch for the students and male teachers that would come in on a holiday. One of Kuniko’s co-workers went to the vice-principal and complained, so it looks like she’ll get the day off after all. I hope so. The more I hear about it, the more it sounds like a really exploitive job.

We hit a few more stores looking for a pullover sweater for Kuniko, but we didn’t have much luck. We decided to call it a day, so we went our separate ways from there, and now I’m back home relaxing. When I got home the sun was streaming in and there is something beautiful about sunlight warming a hardwood floor. It’s cooling down quick, though.

Tomorrow is just a regular busy day for me, but then I have the next day off. Lucky guy!

I slept in this morning, made up a batch of chilequiles, and even managed a phone call to the folks before I hit the road to Osaka. I met Kuniko under the giant TV in Umeda aptly named “Big Man”. For once I saw her before she saw me, and together we caught the subway to Nanba in search of some shoes to properly cover my freakishly large feet.

To make a long story short, we didn’t find none. We found a few shoe stores, but nobody had anything that looked good. Kuniko and I gave up around three o’clock, and we went back to her place to plan dinner.

I brought along a bottle of Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz that I had bought in Australia, and together we had that with some ginger pork and vegetables. It was so good. To wrap up the day we watched television for a while.

Japanese television for me holds seemingly endless fascination. I can understand very little of what is going on, but Kuniko will sit next to me and laugh and laugh. I always seem to be there on Saturday nights, so I’m familiar at least with the shows. They are really crazy – hard to imagine anything like these flying in the U.S.A.

We had bought a couple of pieces of cake from a local bakery, and so that was our wicked dessert. Tomorrow the plan is to search again for shoes – my fingers are crossed.

Today was the second and last day of the seminar in Kobe. I was again responsible for moderating two morning workshops, and I spent that time with my Japanese English teacher directing the participants to organize skits and perform them. I did my best and we were able to finish up 15 minutes early, so everyone from my group had a little longer lunch.

Before the break we had to choose our favorite group to perform in front of the whole conference later in the afternoon. Everyone did their worst, hoping to avoid being in the spotlight. Essentially we voted for the people that did the worst poor job that they could. There’s a lot at work here besides stage fright. The Japanese members of the groups didn’t want to have to go up and speak English in front of all their peers for fear of making a fundamental mistake – it seems that it’s much safer to keep quiet than to try and fail. This, I feel, is one of the big reasons that Japanese people in general have a hard time with English.

As we were leaving one of the Japanese teachers pulled me aside and said that I had done a great job. It was a nice compliment because it was so unexpected. I noticed that people in the workshop would see me later and give me a bigger smile and treat me with a little more respect.

In the afternoon the best skits were performed onstage, and then all the helpers took the stage for a quick thank you. Finally, we wrapped things up with a meeting with Hasegawa sensei, the big boss. A special surprise, though, when the even bigger boss, who wore no name tag and was therefore unnamed came in and said thanks to all of us. The way the other Japanese teachers reacted, you could tell he was a big wig. I think he even had a security guy with him. He ominously said that next year we may very well get another phone call to help out.

Nel, Antoine, and I detached ourselves from the area and made tracks to Kobe Harborland. I didn’t have my camera, but Antoine did, and he’ll send me pictures later. The area was all decorated for Christmas, and things were just beautiful. We reached the waterfront and took some pictures of the Kobe skyline – very dramatic in the darkening partly cloudy weather.

Below us a party boat was loading up several hundred schoolgirls for some kind of school excursion or dinner. It was quite a sight to see all these girls in sailor uniforms getting on a boat and sailing off.

We snacked on some food at a cafe, and then went over to the amusement park area and rode of the mini-coaster – a $4 ride that was actually pretty good. I barely fit in the car – this thing was tiny.

We ended up at a really classy bar, the only patrons for the evening. This place was top-notch, and when I ordered an Irish cofee they brewed the coffee right in front of you, directly into your glass. I recommended a White Russian for Antoine, and soon Nel was ordering one too. The drinks were beautiful – the ice cubes were block sized and custom made for the size of the glass. When they put a large spoonful of cream on top of their iced drinks – it was froze up into an alcoholic ice cream drink.

We split up from there, with Antoine going to Sannomiya to meet up with Miwako, and Nel and I heading to our homes. It was a busy couple of days, but now I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend with Kuniko. We’ll meet up in Osaka tomorrow and I will be looking for some big foot shoes.

Today was the mid-year seminar for all the Assistant Language Teachers in my prefecture. I was lassoed into helping out this year, so that meant that I had to go in early, and leave late. Bummer.

I got there early and met with other lucky(?) people. We got a brief explanation of our roles. We were expected to handle registration, and then moderate the discussions in the afternoon. We were paired with a Japanese English teacher, and together it was our job to run things. I knew I was in trouble when the Japanese teacher said, “Oh, I’m so glad that I’m paired with an ALT – you can do all the talking!”

Registration went just fine. Mr. Yamamoto, the teacher representing my school came in late, and left early. Sneaky guy, that one. During the speeches we had a short meeting with Mr. Hasegawa, the head honcho, and then we got an early start walking to the building where they hold the workshops.

My JTE partner, Ms. Shiomomori, and I had lunch at a soba place and talked over our strategy. The more we talked, the more I realized that I was going to be running the show. In the end we had about 60 participants, and I had to keep them on schedule and communicating effectively. Two years ago I would have balked at the task, but after being in front of a bunch of crazy high school students, this was easy. I cracked all kinds of obscure jokes, and just tried to enjoy myself and be natural.

After a very busy day of workshopping, I met up with Antoine and Nel and we went out to a Thai restaurant near Chinatown in southern Motomachi. The place had a great atmosphere, with water running in resevoirs throughout the restaurant. They had built bridges inside the restaurant to cross the resevoirs, and the ambiance was really nice.

Thai food was great – especially the coconut curry. From there we walked back to the train station and went to Akashi to hit Donkey. The place was packed – they were having a Gamay Beaujolais party. They had a small barrel of Beaujolais, and everyone was drinking heavily. Since we didn’t have a reservation we ordered beer at the bar, and watched all the fun. Unfortunately the dart board was blocked by the party, but the master assured us that we could play at nine o’clock.

To kill time we drank a lot. Antoine was drinking an angry beverage from Okinawa that was really strong, and Nel and I drank beer. We struck up a conversation with one of the regulars, who insisted on buying us several rounds. A drunken woman started talking with Antoine, and her language was really bad. She seemed to know only a couple of phrases – “Fucking A”, “I’m melting!” and “Sex In The City”. She tried hard to introduce us to the master’s daughter who was working that night. She also introduced us to a friend of hers who she claimed wore a bra with an “F” cup. She said that they were “F”uji sized.

I think it was Nel who came up with the idea to say that we were all gay dancers. We all have wives and girlfriends and we weren’t interested at all in the advances from the master’s daughter and the drunken lady. Throughout the evening Nel kept saying that we were all gay dancers, and so we weren’t interested. Everybody liked the term “gay dancer” and used it over and over again, enjoying the chance to use some contemporary English.

Our friend who was buying us drinks didn’t seem to mind hanging out with a gay dance troupe, so we played quite a few games of darts and had a good time. Finally, we had enough, so we got out of there. On the way out, the master’s daughter gathered up the courage to ask me if I was really a gay dancer. Since I go in there more than some of the other guys, I had to tell the truth, and she looked relieved. Now our secret is out. We’re not gay!

We walked back and said goodbye until tomorrow. We’ve got one more seminar, and then it’s the weekend. Boo-yah.

I’ve been wanting to write about how different the idea of touching someone else is here in Japan, and today one of my students forced the issue for me. I was groped by a student. More shocking – it was a boy.

When I first arrived in Japan, I was a little shocked to see women walking hand in hand down the street. To me, that meant that there was a certain level of intimacy between them. As it turns out, it’s perfectly common here, and I’ve grown used to the sight of women holding hands, holding each other’s arms, etc.

When I got to the classroom, I noticed that the behavior extended to the boys as well. Boys in my classroom sit on each others laps, drape their arms over their friend’s shoulders, and get really comfortable with each other physically.

Again, I was pretty surprised. Things are different here. In a culture where homosexuality is very rare, things like giving your classmate a neck massage in the middle of a lesson aren’t nearly as provocative.

Today in class one of my students was all over me – he was feeling my chest, my arms, my stomach, and generally trying to get an idea of the muscle tone in my body. Before I could say no thanks, he had made a pretty thorough evaluation. I’ve been touched before by other students both male and female. One of my students cannot resist reaching out and touching me every time we pass in the hall. This was a weird experience, but more weird in that nobody else found it strange at all.

Even though I’ve been here a year, the sight of members of the same sex touching each other like that still surprises me, and I suppose it’ll take some time to get used to.

This evening I went over to the yakitori for dinner after my tutoring lesson. I had a great time chatting with the master. We are going to try to arrange a dinner one of these nights. He wants to invite the entire softball team over, and I imagine that the noise from that size of party would get me kicked out of the teacher apartments for sure.

He also invited me to a year-end party in the yakitori on Christmas night. Kuniko is going to be stuck at school that night, and since I’ve got no special plans for Christmas, I might as well head over to the yakitori and participate in a drunken bonanza.

Tomorrow and the next day I’m going to be attending a conference in Kobe, and I’ve been tapped to help out with the organizing and moderating some workshops. As I told one of my teachers – it’s not often that my name is mentioned in the same breath as the word “moderation”. He just stared at me and waited for the punchline.

Usually I write down what happens to me during the day, and if there are some interesting stories along the way, I relate them. Along with the occasional interesting story comes a lot of run-of-the-mill day to day stuff that is less than exciting. The result is that these pages are pretty factual and there’s not a lot of information about what’s going on in Japan, what I’m thinking about these days, or what things are driving me as a person.

Over the last few days I’ve been toying with the idea of a change. I thought about stopping the daily updates, and doing it only when something significant happens, or when the need to write strikes me. I thought about dropping the weblog altogether, and focusing on other things.

This afternoon at school I came up with the idea of continuing the daily updates, but focusing less on the strict reporting of facts, and instead take a more general view of the day and what’s been going on. I’m not sure if there’s enough information to do something every day, and I’m not sure if I have the skill to come up with an interesting short essay every day.

While writing down what happened every day seems difficult, it’s really the easy way out. I can skip the things that I don’t want to talk about, and I never have a lack of material, since I just try to remember what I did in the last 12 hours.

For the next few weeks I’ll be experimenting on a new style of writing, and I hope you’ll bear with me. The worst case scenario is that it becomes a pain and I go back to “just the facts”.

Speaking of “just the facts”, I did have some interesting classes today. My second year students have been working on a presentation project all of this term, and so today the first half of all the classes performed “on stage”. The students did a much better job than I expected, and I told them so. Some of the highlights:

One skit was two baseball commentators calling the game in which Ichiro Suzuki set the record. It was great – they did a deep loud voice, and they even had a guy being Ichiro. He went through all the motions of making the hit, and he ran around the stage while the class cheered. They really put in a lot of effort.

On the other end of the effort scale, two students came up with the script written on paper. I had told the class that they had to memorize their script, but I was worried that something like this would happen. The other teacher, Mr. Yamamoto, had the great idea that all of the other students would evaluate and comment on the performances. When I got back all the sheets, people had written mean comments to the pair who didn’t bother to memorize, and they got a low score. It worked really well.

Another group of three had what at first seemed to be a very boring skit involving buying a digital camera. At one point the whole class was surprised when the customer and clerk got in an argument, and the “clerk” punched the departing “customer” in the back. For real. I heard the thump from the back of the classroom, and the kid almost went down, even though he was expecting a punch. I hope he didn’t crack a rib or anything.

In other groundbreaking news, I’m starting a diet tomorrow. Tonight in the interest of killing off leftovers, I ate way too much. The thing was that I wasn’t really that hungry, but I had food that needed to be eaten, and it was dinner time, so I ate it. Now I’m sitting here with a full stomach wondering why I did that. The diet is pretty simple – I’ll eat when I’m hungry. Actually, it’s a little more complex than that, but I’m sure you’ll hear plenty more about it later on.

Lastly, I’m sitting at my desk wearing sweats, socks, and trying to keep my slippered feet off the cold floor. I’m looking through the living room out the window and there is a beautiful crescent moon perfectly aligned with my field of vision. The sky is clear and cold, and tomorrow is supposed to be even colder. Time to drag out the heater.

The temperature continues to drop in my part of Japan, and this morning I had the pleasure of a walk to work in the cold and the rain. Usually if it’s raining it’s cloudy, and usually when it’s cloudy it’s warmer, but today it was pretty chilly.

I had a wide variety of classes today, some old and some new. I also had a Japanese lesson from Mr. Hayashi that went really well. We talked strategy on how I will study after I take the exam in early December. I’ll need to study hard after that exam to prepare for the next year, and we talked about some of the ways to do it.

It seemed like all the teachers were tired today, and I was no exception, having been deprived of one of my weekend days. On Thursday and Friday of this week I’ll be in Kobe attending a conference, but the good news is that I’ll be able to come home at night and sleep in my own bed.

When I got home tonight I made a caesar salad, had some roasted pork, and a side of Korean rice. What a feast. As soon as I finished I got an e-mail from Yasu inviting me to go over to the yakitori with him for dinner. Bad timing. We’re going to try to go sometime next week since I’ll be in Kobe at the end of this week.

The master of the yakitori called just a few minutes ago – he was checking in to see how I was doing. He hasn’t seen me since the matsuri, and I think he was a little worried. I’ve been a good boy and haven’t been eating out – and I’ve been so busy that I’ve been neglecting my duties. I promised him that I’d drop by soon. I’m thinking I might head over there after my lesson on Wednesday.

Well, I’m off to bed early. It’s getting cold in my apartment, and that giant warm comforter is calling to me.

Today was the STEP test, another way to make easy money in Japan. I went to work a little early and helped with some of the setup. We gathered all of the interviewers around a big square table and did introductions. One of the best parts of the introductions is that Mr. Hayashi introduces some people, and he’s always saying funny things about them. Some of them are true, some are part true, and most of them are weird. He likes to use obscure English that nobody in the room is likely to know (like “lingua franca”).

He was also very sly in having all the interviewers that are not qualified to sit facing me. That way later he could point them out easily. They are all in via a grandfather clause, but Mr. Hayashi would love to get rid of them. He tries to make them as uncomfortable as possible, by asking them to introduce themselves in English, conducting the instructions in English, and generally trying to shake them up any chance he gets. The problem is that the money is so good that they are willing to put up with quite a lot.

My interviews went well, and I had quite a few of my own students trying to pass the interview test. Some of them I had been training over the last few weeks, and they were relieved to see me in the interviewer’s seat. I didn’t give them a free ride though, and I’m sure they’re going to give me a hard time tomorrow. Still, I don’t want them to think they only passed because they were lucky enough to have me as an interviewer.

One guy came in and passed the test with flying colors. I got the impression that he was either an English teacher or someone from headquarters doing a quality control check.

Another student was in second or third grade of elementary school, but did pretty well. Some girls would smile at me and giggle and hope that would soften me up, and some boys stared at me expectantly like I would give them the correct answer because they wanted it so bad. An interesting mix.

We wrapped up the day, and Mr. Hayashi gathered Miss Yamamoto and I and we went to Sannomiya to have our ceremonial post-STEP dinner. We met Mr. Kimura in Sannomiya and then went to the restaurant. Originally Mr. Hayashi had planned to invite a girl that’s been helping out, but he chickened out at the last minute because he thought his wife would figure it out.

Dinner at Graciani’s was fabulous as usual. We had the roasted duck, and some great warmup dishes including a lot of fresh crabmeat and apple shavings wrapped in smoked salmon. I had a couple of glasses of wine, and we joked around and had a good time. I had everyone scrambling for their dictionaries when I called Mr. Hayashi “cantankerous“. He actually called himself “hard headed”, and I said “cantankerous”, and nobody knew what that meant. I was a little embarrassed when the dictionary translation came out a little harsher than I thought it would be.

Mr. Kimura and I took the train home for Kobe, but the line was delayed because of a broken signal somewhere, so we had to wait an extra 20 minutes or so. Now I’m home with an extra 20,000 yen – it’ll come in handy when I finally get a DVD burner. My poor computer is chock full and I need to make some space.

I was definitely enjoying the chance to sleep in this morning. I kind of drifted out of sleep around 7:50 in the morning. I was savoring the chance to lay there in bed with nothing to do, and gradually I noticed that there was an unusual amount of noise coming from people outside. Apparently today was a cleaning day, and I had ten minutes to get out there and help.

A couple of strategies went through my mind, including just laying there and pretending I wasn’t home. The only bad thing about that would be that I would have to hide for a while afterwards, too. In the end I just got up, threw on some work clothes and went outside to help.

I worked outside for about an hour, raking the occasional leaf, and then checked my name off the list and went inside. I spent the morning cleaning house and then called my folks and talked with them for a while. It sounds like their kitchen is taking much longer than they expected. It must be frustrating for them.

Kuniko got off work early, so she came to visit around 3 o’clock. We went over to Ito Yokado and picked up some groceries, and I got a fresh papaya to send back with her to her parents. They’ve sent me stuff lately, so I wanted to send something back.

Back home I cooked up some chicken breasts, sauteed in olive oil with lots of Italian spices. I also sauteed up some mushrooms, and Kuniko made up a big salad for us to share. For dessert we had cream puffs that Kuniko had brought as a present.

Throughout the visit Kuniko and I reflected on being together for just about a year now. The time really flies – we went on my website and looked up our first date. The changes in my life are well-documented on these pages, but Kuniko also has had a big year. She became a full time English teacher, she moved to Osaka, she got engaged to a foreign guy, she went to Australia, she passed the top level of the STEP test. What will next year be like?

Kuniko wanted to get back to her parents’ place to stay there, and it seemed like a good plan since I have to get up early tomorrow morning to do the STEP interviews at Takasago Minami. It’s getting pretty cold outside, so I made a couple of big cups of cocoa, spiked with Kahlua, and then we hit the road.

I saw Kuniko off at the Tsuchiyama station, and I just got home. I’m off to bed soon – it was a good day.

Friday – oh yeah. Nice. Today I had four classes, and I even had a free lunch. The vice-principal paid for me and Mr. Urakami (the history teacher) to take the two junior high school students out to lunch at the cafeteria. Prompted in Japanese by Urakami sensei, they asked me a couple of questions. I could tell they’d rather be eating their lunch in peace.

Mr. Hayashi and I taught a class together, and this one went much better. He caught the interest of about half the class early on, and then used me to bounce ideas off of – it worked well. He really changed his style. Is he reading this?

I had a real challenge in my first period class. Ms. Tsutsumi (who usually splits the class and teaches in another room) was gone in the morning, so not only was I teaching one classroom in a foreign language, I had to teach two classrooms in Japanese. That was quite an adventure. I would set one group on a project, and then go check on the other group and make sure they were being quiet and busy. I was tired afterwards, but I think it went OK.

After school Mr. Urakami had arranged for me to catch a ride with someone over to Amuse to have a small party. Everyone bailed out on him, though. He talked another teacher into joining us – a really nice teacher that is coming out of his shell. I don’t know his name, since I don’t really run in his circle, but after tonight I’ll be speaking more with him. He’s got some great English skills, and he’s not afraid of using them. Once we got him talking we couldn’t get him to be quiet. We indoctrinated him in the English phrase “Sausage Party”. Mr. Urakami’s female target cancelled (smart girl), so it was just the three of us.

Dinner was excellent. Once again the history teacher had phoned ahead and we had plenty of food. Fresh sushi, a spanish omelet, pizza, pork ribs, spaghetti, spicy grilled shrimp, and a beef and mushroom stew. Wow. The shrimp were really good – it turns out that one of the regulars of the restaurant owns a shrimp company, and he had supplied them.

We had a couple of beers, and I finished the evening with a vodka tonic. Urakami sensei was really drinking a lot, and the more he drank, the more he complained. I let him vent and I think he felt much better. I urged him to talk to a lady that was sitting at the bar alone, but he was too shy. Finally as we were leaving he said hello, and they had a little mini-conversation. Good for him.

As we left the owner gave us a big box of cake and a big chunk of BBQ pork. We flipped a coin for it, and I won the pork. It’s going to be a giant pork sandwich for lunch tomorrow!

Today was a quiet day at school, especially where I sit. I’m in the first year teacher’s section, but all of them were at Universal Studios Japan with all of the first year students. I would have gone too, but I had a bunch of classes to teach. It turns out that I was lucky I skipped it – it was raining all day and I heard it was a little miserable for the students.

I had two classes with Mr. Hayashi, and the first one was with a small group of second year students. He always complains that the class is sleeping during his lectures, but he often has side conversations with the two girls that sit in front. The rest of the class just shrugs and does other things, until he finishes his conversations. Then he tries to get them to pay attention. Sometimes he’ll only lecture for 30 seconds or so, and then he’ll talk to the girls again. The class is used to it, but it’s pretty boring for me. I just stand there and wait patiently.

The history teacher asked me to come and visit with two junior high school students that are working in our library for the week. I chatted with them in English, and the history teacher moderated for us. They had lots of questions ranging from the political (Who did you want to win the election?) to the personal (Do you have a girlfriend?). It was fun – and I asked them a couple of questions which they answered in Japanese.

Tomorrow the history teacher wants me to eat lunch with them in the school cafeteria. That should be interesting. The vice-principal is buying, though, so who am I to turn down a free meal.

After school Mr. Hayashi sat down with me to kill some time and offer me some dating tips. I listened patiently and nodded in all the right places – he’s got a pretty scary outlook on relationships. Enough said. He wants me to ask out another ALT that works with Yamamoto sensei in Kakogawa. Yikes!

I came home tonight and had a nice big chef’s salad for dinner. Oranges are on sale at Ito Yokado so my dessert was three tiny oranges – delicious. Tomorrow is a full day of classes, and then the history teacher’s party in Kakogawa.

Today was almost a regular day at school, except that the last two periods were reserved for a speech by a Tibetan lady who is now living in Japan. The theme of the speech was not so political, more just a speech about being aware of how good Japanese students have it.

The speech opened with a video that she had shot with some friends on a visit to a school in Tibet. It was really well done. It wasn’t professionally done – and it was chopped together rather crudely, so transitions were abrupt and a little disorienting. Somehow it added to the flavor, and you felt like you were there. From the video taken from the passenger seat of the Land Rover climbing the steep mountainside, to the grinning schoolkids pushing to get into the camera shot – lots of great stuff.

The school was very primitive, with dirt floors. The students were studying not only their own language, but Chinese and English as well. They were reading outside the classroom during breaks – every one of them reading out loud at the top of their lungs.

After the movie, the speaker told stories about her arrival in Japan. She had met a Japanese man in Tibet and they got married and came back here. She’s been here ten years, and her Japanese was fantastic. I understood about 40% of it.

Following her speech she sang two Tibetan folk songs, and then did a Japanese song. The students were patient throughout the presentation, and didn’t cause any disruptions. I thought it was a great way to show the students that there is more to their world than just Japan.

I went home around the regular time, and then went over to Azusa’s to tutor her in English. Her brother and sister-in-law were there, and they looked surprised when I popped in for an hour. They didn’t speak any English, so I introduced myself in Japanese, but they were both really shy.

On the way home I walked through Carrefour and saw some shirts and shoes that may be a little closer to my size. Later in the month I think I’ll go visit and do a little shopping. Carrefour was close to deserted – I don’t know how long they are going to be able to stay open. Ito Yokado is rarely deserted, even late at night.

I came home and made a quick bowl of corn soup for dinner, and now I’m off to bed. Tomorrow the first year students are going to Universal Studios Japan, so a third of the school will be gone.