I woke up this morning a little tired, but doing OK considering the amount of food and drink I had the night before. I did a quick check of the weather forecast, and the typhoon that was approaching was apparently going to miss my area of Japan. The day was cloudy, but not rainy, and it looked like I’d be able to do some fun stuff.

To start I talked to my brother and parents on the phone. We spent some time talking about Mark’s birthday, and their plans for the weekend. They’re still without a kitchen, so that definitely affects their entertaining options.

I spent most of the morning cleaning my house. The place needed some serious help. I also went into Akashi, where I found out, much to my dismay, that I had missed the deadline for the Japanese exam I was hoping to take in December. In fact, I had missed it by a whole month!

Fortunately, they have late registration available and there is an outside chance that I can get registered this week. Still, oops!

Back home I did a little pleasure reading, and had a fairly boring dinner of plain white rice. Around six o’clock, Kuniko messaged me to say that she was on her way to my place.

We spent the evening exchanging gifts (she got me a wallet, my parents got her some Elmo socks and a set of Judy Blume books). We ate niku-man for dinner, and went to bed early. Tomorrow we’re planning to spend the day in Kobe to celebrate my birthday.

The weather today was rainy, ahead of a big typhoon that is supposed to hit this weekend. I was looking forward to teaching two new lessons, one for the first year students and one for the third year students.

The third year lesson was first. It was a class that I came up with after reading through some old teacher’s handbooks from other JET participants. The idea was to teach the students how to greet someone in the western style.

I started by doing a greeting Japanese style with a volunteer from the audience, in Japanese with the bows and everything. Then I showed them how to do it in English, with a handshake. The handshake was tough – I must have shaken everyone’s hand two or three times. I had them practicing with each other, which was amusing to a certain degree. Boys don’t shake hands with girls, and vice versa. I was the only exception, but I think it made some of the girls nervous to shake hands with me.

Eye contact was a real problem for everyone, so I tried to show them how to shake hands and still have eye contact. They caught on eventually, but it was pretty tough for some of them. It was a little harder for the girls, but that is probably because I am a boy, and eye contact is a bit like flirting in Japan.

Overall the class went well, I declared it a moderate success. Much more successful was my first year class about movies. I love movies, and I poured a lot of that energy into the lesson. We talked about why I love movies so much, I told them about my favorite movies, and we even watched a few scenes from a Harry Potter DVD. The students wrote as much as they could about the scenes that they saw, and it was a good way for them to struggle for vocabulary. It had everyone digging through their dictionaries, which is always a good sign.

The Japanese teacher that did the class with me, Mr. Oshita, was a little disappointed that the students didn’t do better, but I assured him that I wasn’t expecting much, and just the act of stretching their minds for the right words – and making sentences with words that they did know – was a positive English lesson.

After school we had an assembly for all the students to describe the overseas trip to Australia. I put in a brief cameo to ask a question in English of the students that went (they had the answer already, but don’t tell anyone). The students did a great job – they weren’t nervous at all. Mr. Hayashi brought in a tape that he recorded from one of the teachers in Australia – he had called her and asked her to give a message to everyone. The only problem was that Mr. Hayashi played the whole tape, so everyone had to sit through all his chit-chat before and after, and since it was in English almost nobody could understand it.

Afterwards I went over to the table tennis club and hit the ball around with some of the members. I’ve been playing the first year girls, and they do a rotation, so that I’m always playing and there’s no lag time. They’re really good – we haven’t really played a game, we just rally back and forth. After, they asked me to translate some of the English comments that I had made on their homework, so I explained those to them – they were very happy with the results.

Mr. Hayashi, Mr. Komuri, Mr. Kimura, and Mr. Urakami (the history teacher) all took me out to a birthday dinner at Amuse. We were just there a couple of weeks ago, but they decided to go back. The food was great. They had splurged on a couple of Kobe steaks for me. I was the only one having steak, and I felt a little guilty so I cut it up and shared it with everyone, but they had another one on standby, just in case. So I ate that one myself. Very tender, and very delicious. We had lots of beers and told lots of stories. In the end they all split the bill, and from the amount that they split the total was around $300. Yikes!

I walked home with Mr. Kimura, and he went onward to his house near Higashi Futami station. I’m settled in for the evening – tomorrow is supposed to be a typhoon, so I’ve got supplies and I’m ready to clean house and stay inside all day. It could be a wet and windy day.

Thursday is my easy day. It comes at the perfect time, too. After wrapping up three classes in the morning, I was all set to relax and study in the afternoon. I declined an invitation today to join the PTA on a trip to Okayama prefecture to do some wine tasting (!) and eat lunch at a French restaurant. It sounded like fun, but the price tag was around $60, so I think I’ll skip it. Still, the wine tasting might have been fun. I’m going to file away that idea for later on.

We still haven’t heard how the teacher is doing that is in the hospital. The students are being kept in the dark, and the teachers aren’t allowed to tell them what’s going on. I’m not sure why – but hopefully he’ll be better soon.

Today we had a rehearsal for a presentation that the students that went on the Australia trip are doing. I have a small part – I’m supposed to ask them (in Japanese) if they plan on going back to Australia. The students were nervous and excited – they are making the presentation in front of the whole school tomorrow.

When I got home I had a package notice in my mailbox, the second one in two days. Since I had the evening free, I walked to the train station to pick them up at the post office.

As I was walking to the station it started raining, and I was totally unprepared. I had to stop in at Carrefour to buy an umbrella. As soon as I went outside with my new umbrella the rain stopped. It didn’t rain again the whole night. I can control the weather, apparently, for the cost of a mere umbrella.

I picked up my packages and brought them home, and my folks came through in a big way for my birthday. A warm pullover sweater, cookies, a jumping monkey toy, tortillas, some books, a salame, and lots of hot sauce. My brother sent a T-shirt from his radio station, so I can advertise that around Japan. I had a great time opening presents, even though it’s before my birthday. I used the tortillas as an excuse to open things up, and then I just went nuts. It was great!

Tomorrow we’re going out to celebrate my birthday. It’ll be me, Mr. Komuri, the history teacher, Mr. Hayashi, and Mr. Kimura. As Mr. Komuri says, it’s a “sausage party”. I taught them that expression a while back and it’s really catching on. They love saying it loudly in English in the middle of the staff room – nobody else, not even the English teachers, have a clue about what it might mean.

This weekend another typhoon is coming through to coincide with my birthday. I don’t know how big it will be, but I’ll have to spend some time on Saturday tying things down on the porch.

The Japanese work ethic is pretty intense. There are exceptions, but most of the teachers in my school work every weekend, they work holidays, and they work long hours during the regular work week. A surprising amount of those hours revolve around supervising club activities, which almost every teacher has to do.

The history teacher came to talk to me today. He was complaining that he would have to work the whole weekend, even Monday, which is a holiday in Japan. I asked him why he had to work, and he said that he had to write an examination for one of his classes.

That’s where the fun began. I asked him why he didn’t use his free time today instead of chatting with me to write the exam. He looked a little embarrassed, and then one of the English teachers that had been eavesdropping asked him the same question in Japanese. His face turned red and he laughed, but I think we caught him unaware.

There is a difference between working smart and working hard. Most of the teachers at my school haven’t figured out where the line is between the two.

One of the teachers didn’t show up for school today, and they mysteriously announced in the morning meeting that they would explain why in the afternoon meeting. Turns out he had an infarction, blocking an artery fairly close to his heart, and so he went to the hospital for surgery tomorrow. He’s a heavy smoker, and Mr. Hayashi was eager to tell the other smokers on the staff that they were in for the same thing if they don’t quit.

After school I went over to Azusa’s to tutor her in business English. We spent an hour going over some conversations and new vocabulary. The lesson went well, but I’m definitely going to have to work with her on the pronunciation of R, V, and L.

On the way home I got some supplies at Carrefour. Azusa tells me that there are very few customers there. The local people are pretty rural, and they certainly don’t buy a lot of first growth Bordeaux or imported cheese. She said that most people are driving right past Carrefour to go to the new Ito Yokado next to my house. It’s more of a Japanese store. Interesting.

Tomorrow is an easy day at school, and then hopefully a relaxing evening at home. Friday night a couple of teachers are taking me out for my birthday. There is a rumor that there is a pound of steak somewhere – that’s a lot of meat in Japan.

Today was a relatively easy day at school. The students in one of my classes were so noisy and disruptive that the teacher was moved to apologize for them. One of my students figured out that I speak a little Japanese and we had the longest conversation I’ve ever had in Japanese. The history teacher continued his campaign to use up all my free time by asking me to teach another class of his next month.

I still managed to get in almost two hours of studying though. It’s always nice to get in a couple of hours at school, and I try to lay off the studying a little more that night.

For dinner I made a noodle soup that turned out pretty nicely. It was a combination of Mexican and Japanese, but in the end it worked out great. Low fat, too.

I’ve been having a strange night at home. About an hour ago, someone put a key in my door and tried to open it. I froze where I was. Kuniko has my spare key, but she was supposed to be at work in Osaka – a whole bunch of scary scenarios flashed through my head before whoever was at the door realized they were trying to get in the wrong apartment and left.

I got a phone call from some lady. It was weird because she didn’t try to identify herself, and she asked whether I was married, what country I was from, and other personal information. I couldn’t follow exactly why she wanted the information. She offered to give me a pamphlet, but I turned her down. She kept lingering on the phone, even though I’m sure she could tell that I didn’t have a clue. Finally I asked what her name was, in very direct Japanese. That got her attention, and she wrapped up the call really quick. Was it a stalker? A telemarketer? Strange.

It seems that I’m settling into a routine based around my apartment and weekend trips to Osaka. Although I’ve been hiking occasionally, I’ve been getting the urge to see some stuff maybe a little farther off. I’ve been trying to save money lately by spending less, but maybe I should plan a little trip one of these weekends.

Today I had a full schedule, with four classes, two Japanese lessons, and lots of papers to grade. The classes went just fine, with a pretty good mix of boredom and enthusiasm from the students.

While grading papers one of my students came in with a late assignment for me. He is having a tough time. I’m getting this all secondhand, but apparently he was diagnosed with some kind of rare disease, and he’s slowly losing his hearing and some of his vision. It started over summer vacation, and he’s missed lots of school since then going to various specialists around Japan. The topic of the assignment was about summer vacation. It was a very sad essay to read.

You could feel the frustration from the student as his life is turned upside down by something that he doesn’t really understand. He wrote quite a bit in broken English and I could feel his anger. I was surprised that he did the assignment. Here his life is falling apart and he still sat down and wrote an English essay. It was the best essay I’ve read since I’ve been there, because it was full of real feelings.

This evening I tried to relax a little, since I was running full speed all day. I’m going to do a little studying before I go to bed. I’m tired out and it’s only Monday!

Sunday is the only day of the week for Kuniko to sleep in. I slept in with her and were able to sleep until almost 11 a.m. After that we got organized, had breakfast, and headed into Osaka.

We started with a visit to McDonald’s. I had mentioned the documentary “Super Size Me” to Kuniko a couple of weeks ago, and that had her craving fast food. Kind of the opposite effect of what the filmmaker intended, I think. I like going to McDonald’s in Japan because the menu is different. I had the ‘月見バーガー’, literally translated, the “See The Moon Burger”. It’s a regular burger with some ham and a fried egg on top.

Kuniko had to get some new clothes for work, and I had a few errands to run. We started by going to some of the department stores in the Hankyu building.

Shopping in these department stores is always amazing to me. First, the stores are jam packed. The clothes are super expensive – a blouse starts at $50, and jackets run around $300 or more. I had a lot of time to browse, and it’s easy to see all these high prices and think prices are out of control in Japan. When you think about it, we were shopping in downtown Osaka, the third largest city in Japan. We were in the glamour district, and these prices wouldn’t be much higher than shopping department stores in downtown Los Angeles or San Francisco.

As usual I got lots of looks walking around there. The place was crawling with women, and it’s a little unnerving to have them all looking at you. I earned a couple of joking punches from Kuniko because I said hello to some people that couldn’t stop staring. It’s all in good fun, though. I’m the nice foreigner!

Kuniko made some hard decisions and came out with a new blouse and skirt. The skirt is a great print – we were looking at it on the hanger, and I said that it reminds me of a 3D picture. She laughed and shook it in from of my face, saying “3D, 3D”, and that’s when the clerk came over to see what the crazy mixed couple were doing to her merchandise. I think my “out-of-the-box” nature is starting to rub off on Kuniko a little bit. She’s always been pretty independent, and gradually she is doing more little things that are not typical Japanese behavior.

After shopping hard, we went back to Kuniko’s place, and she cooked us a comparatively healthy meal – pasta alfredo. Dinner turned out great, and for dessert we had a cup of yogurt. The flavor was one I couldn’t recognize, though. The name of it wasn’t in our dictionaries, so I have no idea. It had pictures of palm trees on it – that was my only clue.

Kuniko sent me home with some habanero cheese that she had found, and also some Spongebob Squarepants macaroni and cheese that she had bought at an imported goods store. I guess she knows what I like.

I left her place a little earlier than usual so that I could go home and finish my weekly laundry, get organized for tomorrow, and write the words that you are reading right now. She walked me to the station, and even gave me a kiss goodbye in front of the main gates of JR Shin Osaka station as hundreds of people walked around us. That’s definitely not typical Japanese behavior!

On the train ride home a lady from Phoenix, Arizona chatted with me a little bit. She had been in Japan for a month, working on a teaching program supported by a sister city system. We chatted about what we missed most, and everything came back to food. She was one month into her year assignment, and she had already went crazy at Costco.

I’m getting ready to hit the sack. I’ll be busy tomorrow with a full day of classes, and two Japanese lessons.

Today I slept in nicely until around 8:30, and then got up to get cleaned up and make breakfast. Today I had no real plans other than watching my high school’s basketball team play at the nearby Akashi Nishi school. Before I left for the game I was doing laundry, cleaning the house, and listening to Lenny Kravitz. Somebody knocked on the door, and I figured it was Jane from upstairs coming by to say hello.

Instead it was a wiry Caucasian guy with glasses. He said hello and asked me where Jane lived – except he asked me in Japanese. I smiled and told him that she lived upstairs, in English. He kind of figured out that I was indeed a foreigner like him, and so we chatted for a bit. He had just gotten the apartment number wrong. Later he came back down because Jane wasn’t there. He seemed a little nervous, but a nice enough guy.

I went over to catch the basketball game just before lunchtime. I’d never been to Akashi Nishi high school before, but the layout is generally the same as any other Japanese high school and I had no trouble finding the gymnasium. I stuck my head in one of the doors, but I couldn’t I.D. my team among all the teams present. I started to walk around the building when the two captains called my name and came running.

They were surprised to see me – and pretty excited, too. We went inside and they showed me where the best seats were. I went up there along with the third string basketball team members, and we cheered the team on to victory.

The other team didn’t stand a chance. We kept our first stringers in for three periods, but by then they had a forty point lead, so they put in the second string guys. I was impressed with how physical our team was. They outmuscled the other guys and had no problem getting under the basket for rebounds. A couple of times their players would end up on the floor. Probably the other school is a bit more academic, though. They probably speak great English.

After a thorough victory I congratulated the team and went home to have some lunch and do some studying. Around six o’clock I heard from Kuniko – she invited me to head over in the evening to spend some time this weekend. I packed up a few things, and headed her way. I stopped on the way at Ito Yokado and got her a package of her favorite cookies from Australia – Tim Tams. An hour later I was walking through the station at Shin-Osaka.

As I walked through the station a group of men in black suits came out of the bullet train section and hurried across the terminal to get in a limo. They moved so fast that I figure it was somebody important. The only guy I would recognize is the prime minister, and it wasn’t him. I tend to see a lot of famous people (famous in Japan, that is) in Shin-Osaka station.

It was good to see Kuniko again. She was exhausted from working six long days in a row, so we took it easy and watched some TV, caught up on each other’s week, and went to bed early.

After a long day full of classes for students, I had my Friday afternoon class for teachers. Depending on what teachers show up, the vibe is different. Today was a weird one. We talked about the history teacher most of the time. The word in Japanese for what we were doing is called ‘悪口’, waruguchi. Literally it means ‘bad mouth’, which is pretty much the same as what you would call it in English.

I learned a lot about the history teacher and some of his antics over the years. He’s got quite a history. I’ve already heard some other stories through various younger teachers, including Kuniko. We spent almost 40 minutes talking about him, and we didn’t ever really get to the lesson.

Since I didn’t have any plans on Friday night, I stopped in and got a six pack of beer and some Calpis popsicles. Look out!

The beer was good – it’s a fall brew that’s just a little different from the regular stuff. 99% of all the types of beer in Japan are brewed by just four breweries. There’s not a lot of variety – you have to buy imports to get anything different. The fall beer was a nice change. They are just starting to figure out seasonal brews around here.

I had a big can of beer when I got home, and since I had skipped lunch today it hit me pretty fast. I decided to get rid of some leftovers by making a giant pan of fried rice. It had everything in there – mushrooms, eggs, kimchee, onions, garlic, and lots of hot sauce. Antoine called while I was cooking it, and I tried to get him to come over and help me eat it. He didn’t take me seriously, actually, and we just talked for about an hour. The rice was awesome – I kept raving about it over the phone. I’ve got leftovers, so we’ll see if it’s as delicious tomorrow, or if it’s just the beer talking.

For a mellow Friday night it was pretty fun. I watched Survivor, and then went to bed around 10:30 in the evening. Tomorrow is a surprise visit to watch the Takasago Minami basketball team compete in a tournament.

Apparently there is a Japanese proverb that says that the day after a typhoon the weather will be beautiful. It was true today. As I walked to school the skies were blue, a soft breeze was blowing, and everyone seemed to be upbeat.

I did my first three classes without a problem. Mr. Hayashi kept commenting that the students in his classes rarely pay attention. I watched him teach today and I noticed why I think that’s the case, but I don’t know if I’ll tell him or not.

During his class he often talks to two students in the front of the class. He talks to them in normal tones, but most other students can’t hear, and since he’s not talking to them anyway, they get bored and do other things. I’m not going to tell him how to teach a class, but maybe if he pays more attention to everyone and less to specific students, he’ll have a little more interest.

Normally I am through with my classes at lunchtime, but today I had agreed to be a guest lecturer for a history class. The history teacher had asked me if I was game, since today’s topic was California’s history. I spent a couple of days preparing, and I gave an outline and notes to the teacher for him to review. He got permission from the English department, and I taught the class. In English, of course.

The history teacher rode shotgun and did some ad-hoc translation, and I mainly spoke in English, with a bit of Japanese here and there. The students are not expected to understand English in this class, but it was a good exercise for them.

Some of the students I teach already, and some have never had me as a teacher before. It was nice to see some new faces and I got a pretty positive reaction when I was through. We had a question and answer period afterwards, and the students asked me questions in Japanese. Although the main topic was California, most of the questions were about me personally. They were fun. I answered as best I could in Japanese and English, and the students seemed satisfied.

The questions themselves were great – some of them:

“What are the main characteristics of your family?”

“Do you own a gun?”

“Do you like George Bush?”

“Is everything big in America?”

During the class another history teacher took pictures of me in action – I’m not sure what those are for. Anyway, I think it was a success. Now the history teacher owes me big time.

After school the ESS club met for the first time in a long time. We ate snacks and chatted about this and that. The students filtered in and out – but I introduced a new project (an English bulletin board) and also we decided to throw a Halloween party. I’m trying to think of a way to do “bobbing for apples” – I told a class about that a few weeks ago and they were intrigued. Apples are expensive here, but maybe I can come up with a variation.

On my way home I did some much-needed shopping at Ito Yokado. I got some goodies to put in the freezer so next time I’m caught in a storm I’ll be able to eat something tasty. For dinner I had carne asada tacos – I had a meat craving after the last few days of vegetarian meals.

Now I’m getting ready to do a little studying and maybe call Kuniko. It would be great if we’re able to meet up sometime this weekend.

Wednesday was merely a normal day at work for me. Although the typhoon that was heading our direction threatened to send our students home early, we ended up finishing up the day as usual. There was a narrow chance of skipping my afternoon classes, but it didn’t happen – I was doing a rain dance in hopes of bringing the storm, but no luck. At least not right then.

I’ve been simplifying my lunch diet. I try to bring leftovers from home, and failing that, I go to the cafeteria and order up plain rice and soup. It costs 120 yen (about a dollar) and you get a bowl of white rice, a big cup of miso or dashi soup, and all the tea you can drink. To me it’s a sensible midday meal, but to the kitchen staff, it’s a little weird. I guess it’s the equivalent of somebody having two pieces of bread for their lunch. Not very exciting, I guess. The staff today offered to pour curry over the top – I think they think I’m out of money and I’m doing it because I’m poor. I explained that it’s because of a diet. They think I’m just strange.

After school they sent all the students home right away. Usually they linger for hours doing sports clubs and activities, but they had to leave today. I could tell some of the teachers were disappointed, because they wanted the students to be practicing for one event or another.

Since the students were gone, and the storm was approaching, I took the opportunity to skeedaddle a little early. I had my first teaching session with Azusa-chan, a student referred to me by Ms. Miyake.

I met Azusa at Carrefour, and it was starting to rain pretty hard. We walked about ten minutes to her house, and I met her father who had just come home from work. I also met her two dogs, who were very excited to have someone new in the house.

We worked for about an hour on business English, and we also worked out an hourly rate that seemed equitable, about $30 an hour.

By the time we finished the lesson, the rain was coming down in buckets. Her father offered to drive me back. At first I declined, but he insisted. Once I looked outside, I could see why. Just getting into his car I was completely soaked. He dropped me off at Ito Yokado, and I walked home from there. The streets were starting to flood, and I walked in ankle-deep water to my doorstep. Luckily, I’m on the second floor.

I had planned on doing some shopping, but since the weather was so violent, I just went inside and had some emergency rations that I had reserved. Tomorrow I’ll try to go shopping and stock up the freezer with the Japanese equivalent of TV dinners.

Today was a busy day for me, and I saw no reason to sit it out due to my throat pains. I had a reasonably good day, and I played a fun game in three of my classes. The students tried to guess what I had hidden in a bag, and the winner got a prize. The prize was always something goofy – I gave out a wrestling mask, a skull rattle, and a pair of cheesy sunglasses.

The teacher wasn’t so happy that I gave out the rattle. Sorry! When I left the classroom for my next class the student was happily rattling away.

I got in lots of study time today, and also made it home between rain showers. The temperature has dropped to a much more pleasant level, and it’s great to leave the windows open and let the cool air come through the house. I’ve upgraded my blanket to the big thick one, but I haven’t yet had to pull out the electric one.

I made up some sushi at home for dinner, and afterwards invited Jane over for a beer. We sat and caught up, and then realized that we were only a few steps away from a 31 Flavors. For the first time we walked over to Ito Yokado together, and exchanged shopping tips while we ate ice cream and walked around. It was fun, but I definitely don’t want to make it a habit. There’s too much ice cream for the amount of exercise we expended to get it.

Now I’m back at home and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow night another typhoon is coming, but it will hit late at night, so I probably won’t miss any school. Bummer!

I was on the train to work this morning nursing the beginnings of a sore throat and I had the very strong wish that Kuniko was there sitting next to me. When we ride the train together sometimes she kind of leans against me and rests her head on my shoulder. Unfortunately she was already at work far away in Osaka, and so I was left with the hung over salarymen, whose heads I don’t want anywhere near my shoulder.

I arrived at school without my umbrella after carefully observing the weather forecast, and an hour after school started it began to pour rain. Cats and dogs. Luckily it finished by the time I left, so I didn’t need the umbrella. It really pays to check the weather forecast every morning. The have the day cut into 3 hour increments, so it’s easy to see when the rain will move in and out.

Today was a busy day, three first year lessons. It’s the “I Love Bryan” crowd on Monday and I contend with around five flirting girls over three classes. At least they pay attention.

WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS AHEAD!

Towards the end of the day my sore throat really started feeling worse. When I run my tongue around the back of my mouth it feels rough, like there are blisters or something back there. When I swallow it kind of hurts, and when I took a look in the mirror there were areas that had turned white and looked like canker sores. Yuck!

GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OVER!

I decided to cancel my after school lesson with Tsuji-san. I walked over and told her, and she agreed it was best to go home and rest. She did get me some omiyage from her trip to Hokkaido. It was a KitKat – melon flavor! It’s only sold in Hokkaido. Did you know they have lots of different flavors of KitKat here? Lemon Cheesecake, Strawberry, and Vanilla? Oh yeah.

Back home I gargled several glasses of hot saltwater, and took a few aspirin. For dinner I cooked up a spicy kimchee yakisoba, with garlic and mushrooms. After dinner I felt better, and I’m hoping that tomorrow morning that feeling will continue.

This morning I woke up with the irresistible urge to hike, so I threw on some old clothes, grabbed my backpack, and went out the door smelly and unshowered. I caught the train at Nishi Futami, and ended up at Suma, several express stops away.

I climbed the base of Suma mountain, and it’s a pretty aggressive start. After I got the top, things flatten out a bit, and then it loops back into town. The whole trip took about an hour and a half, and then I went to the beach in Suma to look around. They’ve packed up all the temporary summer buildings, and now it’s just a beach.

On the train ride home I made funny faces at some kids sitting across from me. The mom looked alarmed at first, but she kind of relaxed after I made no move to attack.

I spoke to my parents on the phone this afternoon, and the evening has been spent lounging around reading Japanese kid’s books and making flashcards. Dinner tonight was a very simple affair, some rice and kimchee with some weird Korean veggies that I picked up at Ito Yokado.

Well, I’m off to bed. Next week is a regular week, no holidays, so I’ll be plenty busy.

Today Kuniko left early to pick up her car, and meet a friend for an early lunch. I walked her to the Tsuchiyama station, and on the way back I took a peek at the Sports Day that was going on at the local junior high school. The lady out front meeting cars was wearing a T-shirt that said “DRUG STORE BODY”.

Back home I relaxed and did some studying until around 3:30, when Kuniko came to pick me up. We went to meet Tamura sensei and Yuri so that we could go bowling.

I’m terrible at bowling, but we still had a great time. Yuri and Tamura sensei seem to feed off each other in a way that makes the energy level jump. Yuri bowled the best game of her life – she took a picture of the screen to capture the moment.

Bowling is expensive in Japan – we had to pay about $20 each for two games. They gave us some freebies, but still, a little pricey. It’s not going to be my daily hobby.

After bowling we played around in the arcades – they had lots of strange games. One game was about walking a dog. You could choose the dog, and then walk it around the neighborhood. That’s it. Strange.

Next door we had dinner at a Korean restaurant. The food was great – Kuniko ordered everything and we all chowed down. I’m getting to be a big fan of Korean food. Way back when I lived in San Jose I had a bad Korean food experience, but now I’m definitely a huge fan. I’m going to try to cook some of this stuff in the future. I’m not sure if I can get the spices right, but I’ll give it a shot.

Kuniko dropped me off at my place afterwards, and I went to bed soon after. It was a good Saturday – tomorrow is free for me so I’ll see what adventures I can drum up.