We woke up in Osaka this morning and had a nice easy breakfast. Outside it was sunny and warming up – the cool weather didn’t last very long at all. I helped Kuniko with her English transcription by checking it against the tape she had transcribed. She did really well – there were only a few tricky parts.

For lunch we went to the Indian food place near her house. They had an all-you-can-eat lunch special, but to keep you from eating too much they kicked up the spiciness. I ate my fill and only asked for a couple more tandoori chicken drumsticks. So good.

One of the reasons that I went to Osaka in the first place was to pick up some kanji flashcards that I had seen last time I was in the big bookstore there. We went over to the bookstore and I picked those up, and we also went across the street to Yodobashi camera to look around. They had some candles that I picked up cheap, and I compared the price of the Star Wars box set – it was almost $90 there. I got it for $47 via Amazon. Of course, I don’t have Japanese subtitles on my copies, but still – what a huge difference.

Kuniko was hosting four of her friends at her place, so we separated at Umeda station and headed back. I got back to Futami and spent the afternoon ironing shirts, studying, and watching the pilot for a new TV show called “Lost”. It was OK, maybe I’ll watch another episode or two and see what happens.

A couple of things I should mention about Ito Yokado. One thing is that the grocery store has electronic price tags – there are digital displays for each product. Employees walk around with electronic pads and I’m sure they can change the price instantly on the computer. I don’t think they do price changes in the middle of the day, but it’s a cool idea. Do they have those in America now?

An advantage to living so close to Ito Yokado is the late night price tags. In Japan food is marked down increasingly throughout the day as it gets less fresh. The other day I was in there around 9 p.m., and they had marked down their roast beef by 30%. I’m planning on going over there tonight about a half hour before closing time to see if there is anything dramatic marked down.

That’s about it for today – tomorrow is Friday and I have a busy day. In the evening I’m going to go drinking with a group of teachers, so that should be fun. There’s an outside chance that Kuniko will come over tomorrow night. I’m planning on going bowling with her and some friends on Saturday. I’ve been watching The Big Lebowski looking for pointers.

Today was almost like a Friday, because tomorrow is a holiday here in Japan. It’s the holiday celebrating the autumnal equinox, and today’s weather is starting to reflect the change in season. I was enjoying nice cool, cloudy weather today. They turned off the air conditioning in the school, and the classes I taught were sweat-free. One student even closed a window because of the cool wind blowing through.

Today at lunch I sat with a couple of teachers that I don’t usually hang out with, and we spoke for a while in Japanese. One of the teachers said that my Japanese was really getting better. He said that my predecessor couldn’t speak much Japanese at all. Later on in the day Mr. Hayashi was helping me by checking my translations, and he said that I’m showing some progress. His exact words were, “I can easily tell that you are climbing the ladder”. A little encouragement goes a long ways!

After school I stopped in at the store to buy some cheese and flour tortillas. At home I made a big pan of taco stuff – beans, meat, sour cream, cheese, salsa, and onions. I cut off a square and filled a couple of tortillas with it. Excellent!

While Kuniko and I were messaging each other, she invited me to come visit her the next day, since we both have a holiday. Even though it was late I decided to head over there this evening. On the train I listened to White Zombie and tried memorizing vocabulary, but the music didn’t seem to help much.

I pulled into Osaka and met up with Kuniko at her place. I was dead tired, but since she had the whole day off to sleep and study she was just getting started. I stayed up for an hour or so, and then passed out.

My alarm woke us up at 6:15 a.m., and it was a severe shock to the system after sleeping so much yesterday. I showered and took off, but I left Kuniko sleeping with my key so that she didn’t have to leave at an ungodly hour like that.

At school things were getting back to normal after a long weekend. The students started out sleepy in my first class, got noisy in the middle of the day, and my last class they were getting sleepy again. Tuesday is generally a tough day for me, but I spent most of my lessons talking about the merits of I, Robot – the movie that I had seen the night before.

In my Tuesday classes I’m having my students plan for a presentation that they will give towards the end of the term. We’re laying the groundwork now, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. The all want to be funny and clever, so I’m not sure what will happen – I haven’t put any limits on it, really. I’m sure it will be something to write about when it happens. And if it isn’t, I’ll write about it anyway.

The oft-postponed 50th birthday party for Mr. Komori has been scheduled for this Friday. It’s at the wonderfully dark and cheesy bar “Amuse”, in Kakogawa. It should be fun.

After school I left a little early to get home and change clothes, and then I walked to Carrefour to meet a prospective student, Azusa-chan. She is a 19 year old college student in Kyoto who lives nearby. She had talked to Ms. Miyake and asked about a foreigner to chat with. She doesn’t want to pay the high fees for the language schools, so I offered to chat with her for around 2500 yen an hour. That’s about $25 to chat with someone. Even the porno lines don’t get those kinds of rates. Or do they?

She’s going to think it over, but we are planning to meet next week on Wednesday. She wants somebody to chat with for about six months, and then she’s moving to Kyoto to go to school full time. She seemed very nice, but very nervous. I had to carry the conversation, and I think it was probably the first time that she had spoken English with a foreigner.

When we had finished, I went into Carrefour to do a little shopping. It was a shame to be this close to tortilla chips and not pick up a bag. Also I got a container of sour cream, another rare item only found at Carrefour.

I came home and had leftover salad and sushi (leftover sushi? dangerous!) Now I’m getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow is a regular day for me, but Thursday is a day off to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox. Yeah!

Last night Kuniko got in late, and she was so tired. She barely made it back to my place from the train station, and we went right to bed. The next morning we slept in until about 11 a.m., and I think Kuniko could have slept more. I was wide awake, though, so I tried to sneak off and hit the showers. She heard me, though, and so we both got up and moving just before lunchtime.

For breakfast we had some donuts that Kuniko had brought from Osaka the night before, and then we got organized. We dropped in to visit Jane upstairs. She had said that she wanted to meet Kuniko, and it was a great chance for them to say hello. They have both heard a lot about each other.

Today is Respect For The Aged Day, which is a national holiday. We took the opportunity to check out Ito Yokado. Kuniko hadn’t been there yet, so I gave her a quick tour. Afterwards we walked to Tsuchiyama station and went to Okubo to catch a movie, I Robot. It’s not a movie that she would ordinarily go to, but since I had caught the Japanese movie with her, this was my payoff.

Before the movie we did some shopping around Okubo, but we couldn’t find anything to buy. We also caught lunch at a yakiniku place – we caught the tail end of an all-you-can-eat special. I can really eat a lot at those things, but common decency had me eating just enough to satisfy my appetite. It was tough – in different company I would really have put the meat away.

We got home just before dinner time, and we did a little shopping at Ito Yokado for dinner. I ended up getting ingredients for a chicken teriyaki bowl. It turned out better than I expected – garlic chicken with teriyaki sauce, over rice with orange peppers and bean sprouts… yum.

After dinner it was right to bed – we were both tired from walking all over the place today. Tuesday is a work day for me, but Kuniko has the next three days off. Lucky lady!

This morning it was leftover pancakes (yum!) for breakfast, and then I got an early start to try to catch a game of the Takasago Minami handball club. On the way there people were lining up to visit Ito Yokado – I couldn’t believe how many people were there.

I had talked with the club’s teacher, Mr. Arai, and he had told me that they were having a game at the junior high school in Takasago at 9:00 a.m. Turns out the game was at my school, against the junior high school team. I’m getting used to these little quirks in communication.

After first going to the junior high school, I arrived at my school and sat down next to the court to watch the game.

Handball is a different game than what Americans think of – it’s a team sport played outside. Kind of a cross between hockey, soccer, and basketball. There is a goal keeper, five members who attack, and it’s also very fast moving.

Mr. Arai and another coach tried to explain the rules to me in English and Japanese, but I kind of picked them up as I watched. It was a really exciting game, despite the fact that one of the teams was much younger. Really just a scrimmage, but fun to watch anyway.

The team manager is one of my ESS students, so I chatted with her, and I was even served cold tea while I watched the game. It was a lot of fun. After the first game the players came and huddled around the bench where Mr. Arai and I were sitting, and Mr. Arai asked them to give me a greeting.

They hesitated – in English or Japanese, they wondered. Mr. Arai told them in English, and one smart kid said “Good Morning!” Then the others chimed in. It was a funny moment, but they clearly enjoyed the fact that I had taken an interest in their club.

After another game I said thanks and headed for the gates. There was another match going on in the gym, this one a women’s basketball match. I stopped in and saw some of my students getting ready to play, so I sat down in the gym to watch for a while.

I was content to sit on the sidelines, but some team members came over and ushered me to a chair courtside. I chatted with some of the students in English, and Mr. Kimura, the basketball coach, came over and chatted too. Once the game started it was exciting to watch. It’s one thing to watch a basketball game, but when you know most of the players you have something invested and it’s a lot more fun.

Two other teams were there, and all the teams were rotating. The team that wasn’t playing at any given time was helping with the refereeing duties, keeping score, and resting. The girls from the other schools took a big interest in me, and tried speaking some English. Mr. Kimura introduced me to some of them and said they should try speaking to me, but most just giggled and said “He’s so cute!” and “How handsome!” in Japanese. I just grinned and pretended that I couldn’t understand.

Our school’s team won the first game and got to sit out the next round, so I took it as a good time to leave. I said goodbye and headed home to Futami. On the way home I tried to shortcut through Ito Yokado without buying anything but I ended up getting some sushi and pot stickers for lunch. What a sucker.

The rest of the day was spent studying and cleaning. Dinner tonight was traditional Japanese – wakame rice (salted kelp mixed into rice) and koyadofu (slightly sweet rehydrated tofu).

Kuniko is planning on coming over late tonight and spending tomorrow in my neck of the woods. She’s going to be exhausted from working all weekend, but hopefully we’ll get out to do some fun stuff tomorrow.

I woke up this morning and cooked up my homestyle American breakfast, and it was excellent. Bacon, eggs with mushrooms, pancakes with butter and maple syrup, and a tall glass of orange juice. Oh, yeah.

Today I spent mainly cleaning house. I went over to Ito Yokado to pick up some cleaning supplies, and scrubbed the place down. The place looks much better now. I washed the windows, since they had been really clouded up by the last few typhoons. I also did three loads of laundry, so I’ve got clothes hanging everywhere and I feel like a vagrant family lives in my apartment.

In the middle of my cleaning the doorbell rang and a guy delivered the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD for me. I had forgotten that I had ordered it months ago, and there it was. I watched the first one, and it brought back great memories. I haven’t seen the movies since I saw them in the movie theater seven years ago. I’m sure the neighbors were wondering about the loud music and laser blasts coming from my place.

For dinner I cooked up a chicken and rice bowl with green onions and mushrooms, and had a yogurt for dessert. Most of the evening I was studying Japanese. Tomorrow I’m going to try to get out of the house tomorrow and run around a bit. I need to work off the American breakfast.

Big post today, and I’m exhausted. Since today was Sports Day, I could again take advantage of being casual and I wore shorts and a T-shirt into work. The idea that I would wear shorts on the way to work, rather than changing into them, amazed the history teacher. He thought that it was a little racy of me. I told him I’m proud of my legs, and I’m not too worried what other people might think of them. No wonder he’s having trouble getting a date.

After seeing Sports Day last year I was a little more familiar with the routine, and I could be in the right places at the right times to take pictures. The events were the same as last year, and I spent a lot of time walking around chatting with the students.

I spent even more time this year posing for pictures with students. I lost count of how many pictures they took, but I was doing the peace sign all day long.

As I was walking by the line up for one of the events, one of the students asked me if I wanted to join in. It was the tug-of-war, and I agreed that it would be fun. I took the place of another student, who gave me his headband to wear on the field. The other students hid me behind a wall of bodies, and then we ran out on to the field and lined up on the rope.

Everybody was chanting my name, the first year students that we were competing against looked a little upset that there was a big foreigner on the other end of the rope, and the teachers were consulting to decide whether it was fair for me to be there or not. In the end, one of the teachers lined up for the other team, but he wasn’t the biggest guy in the world. We started pulling, and we won… the students I played with were so happy – I think they might pay attention for a few more minutes in my class now.

We did a second round, and this time we won again. I jogged off the field with my team and everybody did a round of thanks. The judges were trying to figure out if what we did was kosher or not, but the other teams were cool with it, so it was OK.

Afterwards I went to the water fountain, and everyone was smiling and saying hello and giggling and taking pictures with me and it was then that I realized that maybe I’m living some kind of high school fantasy or something. I wasn’t popular in my high school days – I was a big geek that didn’t do anything socially and really just aimed to get through each day alive.

Now I’m walking around like the Big Man On Campus, and a lot of that feeling spills over into other parts of my life here in Japan. It will be interesting to see how those feeling evolve over the next few years. Nothing lasts forever, but I could see how some people might start to base their self-esteem on the opinions of a thousand Japanese teenagers.

Anyway, enough psych-babble. A new twist to an old event was a race where the participant approaches a tray filled with flour. Inside the flour hidden away is a round piece of candy. They must get the candy in their mouth to continue on, and it made for some great scenes. I got lots of pictures of that one.

The taketori was great, too. The girl students compete to drag 13 bamboo posts across their own finish line. It’s the closest thing to a riot I’ve ever seen. All in good fun, though – nobody got over-competitive and nobody, amazingly, got hurt.

Last year the most impressive event was the kibasen. That’s where students in groups of four shoulder someone and then run around the field trying to rip each other’s hats off.

This year I was called in to help try to cushion the fall of the students if they got in a big fight. I was on the field during the event, and it was really cool. It’s a controlled violent situation, and it’s great to be down in the trenches.

Here’s short movie (1 MB) that shows a close up of the event. At the end I almost drop my camera and you get a great shot of the dirt and my foot.

After school I headed back home, and Nishi-Futami, the new station that I’ve been using was packed with people. Ito Yokado was open.

I don’t think I’ll go into much detail about Ito Yokado, because I don’t think you want to read about how much joy a shopping mall can give me. It might be enough to say that they’ve got just about everything I’d ever need there. There’s a bookstore, a CD/DVD shop, a food court, a restaurant level, a clothes store the size of a Mervyn’s back home, a big supermarket, an electronics store, a home life store, a pet store, etc, etc, etc.

It took me about an hour to cover all three floors thoroughly. There’s still stuff I missed because it was so busy. There weren’t very many imported goods, so Carrefour will still get my business occasionally.

Here’s a short movie (3.1 MB) to show you what it was like on the floor during the grand opening. I hope it calms down soon.

The coolest thing about the new supermarket was that they had an enclosed glass room where three sushi chefs make up sushi for you to take home. Kind of like going to a sushi restaurant except that they charge the grocery store price.

I’ll be rambling on about the new store for weeks, so I apologize in advance. It’s going to totally change my lifestyle for the next few years, so it’s a big deal.

I took home some mushrooms, OJ, bacon and milk, and I’m hoping to make some pancakes, bacon and eggs tomorrow for breakfast. It’s been a long time since I’ve fixed up a big American style breakfast.

A regular day at school today as far as classes, but the whole schedule was abbreviated so that we could prepare for Sports Day tomorrow. There was some last minute work to do out on the field, and I found myself with a sledge hammer at one point pounding in metal stakes to separate the spectators from the participants.

I was accompanied by a small posse of students that were supposed to help me out. We walked around for a while until we had completed the task, and then we were free to go. An easy job, really.

On the way home I was waiting for my train at the station and some kids on the platform across the way were calling out names and trying to get my attention. I was surprised to hear some bad stuff coming out of their mouths. The kids were smoking and generally being “bad kids”. They looked like college age, but I’m guessing they don’t go to college.

They kept calling at me, and when I looked over and smiled they didn’t stop, they seemed to get bolder. I kept looking, they kept talking trash.

So I walked around to their platform to say hello.

As soon as I started in their direction they freaked out. They must have thought that I wouldn’t come over – after all I was on another platform. When they say me coming up the steps they ran to the end of the platform and were behaving like I was carrying a chainsaw. Their train came before I could go over and introduce myself, so I just smiled and waved goodbye to them as they crouched down low in their seats.

I don’t think anyone appreciates being called names, but my plan was just to go over there and say hello. I can’t say much more than hello in Japanese, but I thought it might embarrass them a little bit and maybe they’d think twice about harassing people. I don’t know if I’ll see them again but I hope they are a little more polite next time.

At home I got a strange phone call from a student that wanted me to teach her English. She asked me if I had called her, but I hadn’t, anyway, not since the first time I called her about a week ago.

I also heard from the master at the yakitori. He said that I had called him. It was a different phone number, he said, but he called it back and got me. Strange, I told him. Lately my portable phone has made some weird noises when it’s charging on the cradle, and I fear that it is making some weird connection and redialing numbers that I’ve called before. This is just lately, so I’ll keep an eye on it. I might need to get a new phone, though. Meanwhile, my new student probably thinks I’m a stalker or something. The master didn’t seem to care.

Well, I’m off to bed. A day out in the sun and a night out drinking combined to make me a very tired guy today. I’m hoping to get a full night’s sleep because tomorrow is the big Sports Day and also the grand opening of Ito Yokado.

Today was the Sports Day practice at our school. It’s a way to get the students used to the ceremony, and also to do some preliminary heats for the running events. The students have to sit out in the sun and cook, and the teachers are free to find shade under tents or trees. We did several walk throughs and there was plenty of paramilitary marching going on. I don’t think I could march if I had to, but these guys did great!

I was wearing shorts and T-shirt, Mr. Casual, and also some sunglasses to keep the glare away. Students loved the casual look, and the sunglasses were a big hit. Last year at this time I walked around chatting with the students, but I didn’t know what they said. This time I could do a lot more, and it was much more fun.

After a full day of sitting out in the sun, everyone headed back in. There were some severe sunburn cases out there. I got a little sun, but mostly I was tired. Not so bad, really.

I walked from floor to floor, dropping in on classrooms to see how their class flag was coming along. The students were happy and surprised to see me, and it was fun to comment on their flags. I really enjoy that time when they are surprised to see you, but they still give English a try.

After school Mr. Maeda, Mr. Ikeda and I walked over to Mr. Maeda’s house to kill some time before the get-together in Takasago. Mr. Maeda’s wife greeted us at the door and really made us feel welcome. She served us snacks, beer, and even a tofu dish that had squares of cream cheese in it as well. Excellent. Mr. Maeda’s kids were so cute – they are really well behaved (at least when I’m there) and I hammed it up for them so they must think all foreigners are insane.

A while later we walked down to the izakaya, a place right near the train station that I use every day. They had a table ready for us, on tatami Japanese style. I barely fit under the table, but it worked. It was a little tough on the legs, though.

Listening to Japanese among drunken teachers is a lot different that listening to the standard Japanese on my CD’s. I was lucky to get one or two words a sentence. The teachers were debating, and occasionally arguing (in a very non-confrontational Japanese way). Mr. Yamamoto sat next to me and gave me the blow-by-blow and so I was able to at least keep up with the topic if not the gist of the conversation.

We ate a ton of food – all kinds of strange things both raw and fried. I drank some beers and then switched to Oohlong tea around ten o’clock. Finally, I decided to throw in the towel and head home. Everyone was really nice and they even dispatched two escorts to walk me from the restaurant 100 feet to the station. I wasn’t even nearly drunk enough to need them, but it was a nice thing to do.

Now I’m back home and ready for bed. I can tell I’m going to be exhausted tomorrow!

With four classes today, the toughest three taking place one right after another, I was pretty busy. I had a misfire today in my last class. I was playing concentration with the students, and I had taped 30 cards up on the blackboard. During my first few classes things went fine, but unfortunately, I forgot to shuffle the cards before I taped them up on the board. One team won the game 14-1. How embarrassing for me. That’s what I get for trying to cram too much into one day.

Other than that, things went fine. Mr. Maeda, one of the new English teachers, is planning a party Wednesday night to hang out with song of the teachers that I don’t know too well. Initially I couldn’t go because of Mr. Komuri’s 50th birthday party, but at the last minute Mr. Komuri moved the day so I was available. I’m looking forward to hanging out tomorrow night – it should be fun!

After school we all went outside to set up the field for the sports day practice scheduled for tomorrow. It was pretty easy work – all we did was supervise a group of students. Even better, our group of students wasn’t responsible for anything, so it was just an exercise in looking busy.

For dinner Jane and I went out to an izakaya near the new train station that I’ve never been to during my entire first year in Futami. It turned out to be pretty good. The place was clean and nicely furnished, and the food was really good. I walked in with Jane and sat down, and then Jane and I tried to sort out the menu. When the master came by, I did all the ordering, and throughout the meal I ordered more drinks and food. At the end of the meal we were heading out, and they asked if Jane was Japanese. After all, she looks Japanese, why the heck wasn’t she speaking? Jane is used to this, and did her explanation about her mother being Japanese and her father being English. She is having a very different JET experience than me – still a positive one, but very different.

From there we walked to the local 7-11 for dessert, and then walked back. It was a nice meal out – I had fun exchanging stories with her about teaching and our students. She’s really having a good time, and I picked up on her energy and excitement – it’ll help me be more enthusiastic for my own students.

This morning it was tough to wake up after such a relaxing weekend. I took a hot shower and had a piece of toast with cinnamon sugar, and then headed out the door to catch my train. I’ve got it down to a science now, where as soon as I step on the platform the announcement for my train comes on overhead.

At school I had the first period free, which I always like. It allows me to take care of things that I might have forgotten about or put off. You can do a lot of work when you are undisturbed for 50 minutes.

The vice principal called a meeting of all the teachers during the lunch hour, something very unusual. He said that two pieces of graffiti were found around the town of Takasago, each threatening the life of our second year math teacher. This has happened before, and nobody can figure out who is doing it. I’m not a big fan of the guy either, but I’m not considered a suspect.

Anyway, we had a special assembly to sternly address all of the students. They asked the guilty party to step forward so they could kick him out of school. Yeah, right. I don’t think they expected that to work, either.

During the extra seventh period I studied with Mr. Hayashi, reading and translating a short biography of Yoko Ono. Mr. Hayashi is helping me with my accent as well – it’s definitely American right now.

I don’t know why but I’m really enjoying learning a foreign language. Japanese is tough, really tough. I feel like I’m just packing in words and grammar and eventually someday the dam will break and I’ll be speaking Japanese like crazy. Right now it’s still broken Japanese as I urgently think through words and grammar in my head to say it correctly.

During my last visit to Kuniko’s place she had a TV show on that was teaching English to young kids. There was a Japanese girl and a foreign guy, maybe American. They spoke in rapid fire kid-friendly Japanese, and then would demonstrate English. The Japanese girl would speak with a thick accent. The guy was creepy – he was dressed like a crazy man to be more kid friendly. Still, I was impressed with his Japanese and couldn’t help but admire it. It’s rare for me to see a foreigner, let alone one that can speak great Japanese. I don’t plan on being on any Japanese TV programs, but it was just a little inspiring.

I had sushi for dinner tonight, and on the way home I timed the two train options I have. One puts me in Nishi Futami two minutes later than the one that runs to my old station, so it’s worth it to wait for that one. The Ito Yokado is bustling with activity, and it’s just about ready to open. I was peeking in through the windows, and it looks like a huge place. Friday’s the big day.

I woke up early this morning in Osaka, and had a quick breakfast with Kuniko before she had to go back to school. I can tell she’s really exhausted from all this work. The good news is that she’ll be given some compensation days later on. Hopefully she’ll be able to use that time to recharge. In the meantime, I did what I could to help her relax, and just chatting quietly over a bowl of noodles in a dark restaurant in the “pink light” district near her house seemed to do wonders.

After seeing her off at the steps of her apartment I went to the Shin-Osaka station, and kind of merged with a group of athletic looking guys heading to the bullet train. As we turned the corner lots of people appeared looking for autographs and taking pictures. Amazingly, they didn’t want to talk to me.

Apparently these guys were members of the Osaka soccer team, headed off for a game somewhere. It was good to be upstaged and ignored, I just cut through the crowd and grabbed the next train out of there.

The trip back was nice – it was early in the morning and the weather was still cool. There was a nice breeze blowing as well, and I had a nice moment of zen on the Sanyo train platform listening to Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street”. Once I got home I answered the call of my futon and was zonked until late morning.

I spent the day studying Japanese and doing laundry – two things I’m becoming very good at. For dinner I ran down to an okonomiyaki place that is pretty close by. It has erratic hours, but today I was lucky. The only downside was that it was seriously hot in there, especially once he started cooking my dinner.

It was a nice mellow Sunday. Now I’m recharged and ready to go back to school tomorrow.

This morning I was up early to fry up some pork and have it with some eggs and green peppers, working to fight off my mild hangover. At eight o’clock we had the community cleanup duty, and it was Jane’s first experience with that. She was surprised at first, but soon warmed up to it. The very helpful tea lady that used to be at my school has been helping Jane out a little bit, so I was glad to see she was in good hands.

The cleanup went by quickly and easily, and I went back home to clean up and get ready for my hike.

A couple of weeks ago one of my ex-students had invited me to come visit her at her new job, flipping burgers at the Japanese hamburger chain, MOSBurger. Today I was planning a hike that took me near there, so I decided to drop in.

The place was near Hoden station, just a few blocks away. I had to ask directions from a guy running a makeshift fruit stand, and everyone in the fruit stand stopped to watch and see what I wanted. When I said a burger place, they nodded their heads as if they had suspected all along.

I saw Haruna working the cash register when I got there, but I got called to another line, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to her. She smiled and said hello when she saw me, but I get the impression that they’re pretty strict there. She didn’t have any chance to come over and chat. I enjoyed the burger, though. I made the trip back to the train station and on my way home stopped into Carrefour for some specialty supplies.

I’m getting ready to go to Osaka to spend some time with Kuniko. She’s got to work tomorrow, so I’m not sure what I’ll do on Sunday. The master wants me to come play on his volleyball team, but the timing might be tough. We’ll see what happens!

Today was a busy day at school. Mr. Hayashi told me that one of his best friends from childhood died the night before. Apparently he was riding along on his bike and he had an aneurysm and that was it. Mr. Hayashi said that he was always a guy that was under a lot of self-induced stress, so that’s probably what did it. Mr. Hayashi was remarkably cavalier about it, and he wasn’t letting it ruin his day.

I asked and received permission to sneak out a little early from work, and used that time to get on the train and head to Takarazuka, Antoine’s home town. He met me at the station, and showed me around town. He has a nice house, not an apartment like I have. The place was a decent size, and he had a nice giant refrigerator, which is ironic because he doesn’t cook. We didn’t spend much time looking at his place.

After seeing his digs we went to a yakitori that he used to frequent every Wednesday. We sat down and I let Antoine do all the ordering and talking, in loud English. He did a good job of getting his point across, and the master and his assistant looked amused as they took our orders. We ate lots of food, quite a bit of it fried, but it was delicious.

Antoine asked the master of that yakitori about one of the other regulars, a doctor that would come in to chat with Antoine in English. The master gave the doctor a call, and within a few minutes, he was hanging out with us. He brought a huge bottle of shou-chu to drink, and even gave us a couple of glasses. It was very good, it actually had some flavor.

Moving down the street from the yakitori we stopped at another bar that was billed as “American Style”. They served Miller beer, had lots of Americana hanging on the walls, and a dark wooden interior. It was called “Rag Shack”. I had a Negra Modelo and a Guinness, and we sat around and talked about Antoine and his new girlfriend.

Finally, around ten o’clock I decided it was time to hit the road, and I was home by midnight. It was fun to finally see the town where Antoine is from, and to meet some of the folks he hangs out with. Nice people.

The nice thing about my Thursdays is that I have the first three classes, and then I’m free the rest of the day. My classes went just fine, actually. The third year class that I have with Mr. Hayashi has been interesting. At first I just helped out with various English subtleties, but lately Mr. Hayashi has been using the class to help me study Japanese.

Mr. Hayashi will write sentences in Japanese on the blackboard, and then ask the students to write the translation in English in their notebooks. After giving them time, he’ll ask me to translate the sentences into English. Sometimes I don’t know a kanji, or I’ll get it wrong, but mostly I get them correct. The students take it as a matter of course, but there’s a little pressure in there, and it makes it a good way for me to learn translations.

Besides the class, Mr. Hayashi is also helping me with sentence translations. I do the translations, and then he checks them and offers suggestions. At first I was always trying to literally translate everything, but the more I relax and just try to get the idea, the better I seem to do. Translation is an interesting skill – looking for all the right clues in the text and providing the proper nuances, trying to guess the tone from the context, and just getting the idea across.

After lunch a student came to my desk and started stuttering before I realized who it was, the pervert-in-training from my class yesterday. He apologized in English for drawing the picture, and turned tail to run. Before he could get far his homeroom teacher laid into him a little bit more, and then Oki sensei decided to get in some kicks while the poor kid was down. I felt bad, because I had initiated the whole thing by making a comment to the teacher. Now the kid will probably hate me for life, but at least he’ll think twice about female anatomical illustrations during class time.

The ESS club met after school, but only a few of the students showed up. I gave them my omiyage from my trip to America, and the Spongebob Squarepants backpack clips from Walmart were treated like religious icons. Worth their weight in gold, they were. I also had a new student join the club. She had been on the trip to Australia, and while she was there she met a Chinese student doing a homestay. She said that he is now her boyfriend, and they use English to communicate since neither can speak each other’s language. Sometimes it takes a little love to realize how important learning another language can be.

After school I came home and cooked up the best damn yakisoba I’ve ever made. Noodles, mushrooms, onions, strips of pork, sesame seeds, and the obligatory hard boiled egg on top made for a top notch dinner. I had a salad on the side with a sesame dressing that I can’t get enough of.

I talked with Antoine on the phone and we arranged a plan for tomorrow night. I’m going to head to Takarazuka to meet him in his ‘hood – the first time in a year that I’ve actually seen his digs. We’re going to a yakitori that he frequents, and just hang out a little bit. It’ll be a short trip, since the last train leaves around 10:30 p.m.