The weather was mildly warmer today, and it was a lot easier to get to work without freezing. When I arrived at school I went into the teacher’s locker room to change my shoes and jacket, and while I was in there I heard the door open. I looked up to see a first year student coming around the corner, with his hands clasped together into the shape of a gun. He turned the corner and covered the room with his imaginary weapon, and then was very surprised to find me there. He turned and ran out with an embarrassed smile on his face.

The teachers at this school all stand together at the morning meeting, and say good morning all in unison, then they all sit down. It’s very important to be at the meeting and show that you’re part of the group. I’ve noticed that it really does give you a sense of being part of the group, even though I’m the obvious outsider. We all stand together for that brief moment in the beginning and it feels good. There’s something about working with a group of people – you build that sense of camraderie and it makes everything go smoother later on.

Kuroda sensei told me that the guy that she met the other day who seemed like a wonderful guy turned out to be “sick in the head” as she described it. She said that he was “terrible”, and it sounded like something went really wrong with them. I advised a little bit longer period of single life, but maybe she’s not interested in that.

I had five classes in a row starting from the first period. That made the day fly by, and I was happy to wrap things up and head home right on time.

Back home I made up some stew for dinner, and when Kuniko got home we chowed down. We’re hanging out tonight and maybe we’ll take a bath before hitting the rack tonight. The next two days for me are going to be a little bit easier. I’m getting tired out from all these classes.

We woke up this morning to some seriously howling winds and rain outside. The weird thing was that all of the weather reports and TV shows said that it should be sunny and warm today. Strangely, it was the coldest day of the season so far.

Maybe it was because of the weather but we got a late start, and made it just in time to the train station. Luckily the weather settled down to just cold wind, and the the rain ended before we walked to the station.

At school today I had another five-class-day. I was pretty tired at the end of the day. Three of the classes were the same lesson plan, and I find that when I have the same lesson multiple times in one day, I really start to get bored. The students at the end of the day were getting really tired, and so for my classes they didn’t have a lot of energy.

I didn’t have much time to study or even mark papers, but the good news is that on Thursday and Friday I have a little more free time. I did get a chance to chat with some students in the hallways, and that was really fun. They’re always ready to chat about something, and so I try to take the opportunity when it comes.

I cooked up a simple udon soup for dinner, since it was so cold and I wanted to eat a little bit healthier. Kuniko got home at a decent hour, so we ate hot soup and rice, and enjoyed the relatively warm temperatures in the house.

I’ve got one last tough day tomorrow, and then things start to settle down. I’m looking forward to it.

We were up at the crack of dawn to make lunches and get ready for work. Thanks to all the extra sleep I got over the weekend it didn’t really bug me.

I took this picture with my cellphone on the way to work. It was inside a Starbucks in the Hanshin Nishinomiya station. Somehow, I couldn’t resist.

It had been a while since I had been at school, and I had a pile of paperwork and a really aggressive new schedule sitting on my desk when I got there. I also had lots of teachers coming over to tell me what they wanted to do in today’s classes. I was booked with classes from 2nd period until the end of the day, so there wasn’t much time to study or to do marking and paperwork.

I had a lot of fun joking around with the students. They were fairly charged up, and we had some pretty lively classes. I had two classes with Kuroda sensei and those students are always pretty active. Kuroda sensei was pretty lively herself. She had spent the three day weekend in Okinawa.

The nice thing about being booked like that is that the time flies by. I was heading home and it seemed like I had just walked in the door. I’m back home now, and I’ve got a Mexican dip in the oven ready to go when Kuniko arrives.

Sunday we had all day to relax. This is a fairly unusual event around our house, so we slept in until about 10:30 in the morning, and then took a long shower and took our time getting up and around. It was a very nice contrast to our usual 4:45 a.m. wakeup time.

I had this strange urge to go to the park and do something mildly athletic, so I talked Kuniko into joining me and we went to Akashi to visit Toys R Us. We bought a couple of cheap badminton rackets, and then we went out to the park near the station and spent about an hour playing badminton, without a net. Kuniko used to be a member of the badminton back when she was in school. I haven’t played in many years, so we were both pretty rusty. It was fun to play, though, and lots of people walking by watched us out of curiousity.

We had a snack at the station and then headed home. For dinner we made homemade gyoza and nikuman, and they turned out really good. It was worth the garlic breath the rest of the night. It’s been a little while since we’ve made either of the dishes, but the were looking pretty professional. We had some leftover nikuman, so we brought them over to Kuniko’s folks place later in the evening as omiyage.

They were doing really well, and we sat and hung out with them for a while. We couldn’t stay long, though – everyone was really tired from the long weekend. On our way home we made an almost traditional stop at Ito Yokado to do some Christmas shopping and to see Yasu. Yasu and his mother are going to come over on Friday, so we talked a little about the details, and Kuniko and I spoke in hushed tones to avoid blowing garlic breath all over the place.

We capped off the evening with a hot bath, and then hit the sack. We’ve both got tough schedules ahead. Kuniko has to work for almost three weeks straight without a holiday, and I’ve got some heavy class schedules coming up.

Thursday I had the second and last day of training for the staffing company that I work for. I showed up a bit early kind of an accident, and bumped into Corey, one of the guys that I get along with pretty well. We headed over to the meeting place, but we had some time to kill. We were looking at shops around the station and I found a place with a pretty good selection of upscale beers for sale. I bought a bottle of Young’s Double Chocolate Stout that they had, and took it home as a souvenir.

The training itself was a little strange. The moderator couldn’t make it because he was sick, so Corey and I split the duties and ran the meeting. While running the meeting we got to see some of the more unusual personalities of the ALTs, especially the two women that work for the company. They both are super-shy, and I think they don’t have much association with people outside of their school. One woman described herself as “not interesting at all” and the other talked so quietly that nobody knew quite what she was going on about.

I had the second leg of the meeting, and so I kept it moving at a brisk pace, and we were able to finish right on time. Afterwards, everyone gathered outside to say goodbye. Corey was going out to ramen in Osaka with a couple of the other guys, but I didn’t feel like going out and bar hopping with them, so I begged off. They made up a story to avoid taking on a couple of the rookie guys that wanted to tag along, and it was all a big logistical feat to get them to the station with only the people they wanted in their group.

Friday was a national holiday, but Kuniko still had to go in to work and teach a couple of classes. She got home relatively early, though, and we went out shopping for our “plasma party” with Antoine and Miwako. I had told Antoine that we’d get started between five and six p.m., so we had everything ready and on standby just before five. I heard from Antoine about then, saying he just finished up his project and he was waiting for Miwako. An hour later we heard that they were on the road and coming by car, and they expected to be here by seven. I called and gave them the address for their in-car navigation system, and finally they showed up around eight o’clock. We were glad they made it safely, and we could get started eating, but it was kind of a drag sitting around the house for three hours with everything ready just waiting for them.

We had a good time, though. Antoine drank sho-chu from the special dispenser that Yasu had bought for me as a present. We ate kimchee soymilk nabe (which tastes better than it sounds) and watched one of the movies they brought to test out the plasma TV. The movie we voted on was “When Harry Met Sally”, which was a first time for three of the four people. It was my first time seeing it, and it was pretty funny.

It was about 11:30 or so by the time they headed back, so we cleaned up as best we could and then headed to bed. Kuniko had to work early on Saturday, so we wanted to get her to bed ASAP.

Saturday I got to sleep in a little while. Kuniko was off early – driving to work to help administer a mock exam for her students. I slept in and then finished cleaning up after the party. Kuniko got off work a little earlier than she expected, so I ran into Kobe and met her at Sannomiya station. We had lunch together at a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try – a gumbo/oyster restaurant. We sat at a table and both ordered up gumbo. The flavors were really good – it tasted as close to authentic as I’ve found in Japan. There were a lot of seafood varieties that might not be considered traditional, and I was happy to hear that Kuniko preferred my version of gumbo better. Still, for about 1200 yen it was a great opportunity to try something new. In the same area there is also a Spanish restaurant, a high-class buffet restaurant, and a Vietnamese restaurant. So many places to try – just not enough time to do it.

After eating lunch we did some shopping around Sannomiya, and then came home and made leftover nabe for dinner. We drank some cocktails and had some snacks, and watched some TV. It’s been a relaxed evening at home, and tomorrow we both have the whole day off. We’ll be sleeping in as long as we can, and then who knows what we’ll do the rest of the day.

Today was really the bulk of my workload for the whole week. I had five classes out of six today, and during the sixth period I had to do some planning with Kuroda sensei. The classes themselves were great. The students started out really tired and not into the lessons. Yesterday they were running around Koshien stadium at a sports day, so naturally today they were exhausted.

By the second period the blood was starting to flow, and we had a pretty good time with the students. I had a couple of classes with Matsunaga sensei. Her English sometimes gets a little weird when she’s nervous or in a hurry in front of the class, and today instead of asking me to “stand with her” near the desk, she asked me to “dance with her”. She wasn’t immediately aware she made the mistake, and so I wasn’t immediately aware either. I was busy trying to figure out why she wanted to dance in the middle of an English lesson while she was trying to figure out why I wasn’t coming over to stand next to her. Strange moment.

I double-checked with the vice principal to let him know that I’d be out on Thursday for training, and then I headed home. Back at home I created a leftover skillet with potatoes, cheese, onions, sausage and peppers. Kuniko got home a little earlier today, so we got to enjoy dinner at a more reasonable hour than usual.

After dinner we did a little bit of shopping – but it was actually an excuse to walk around and get a little of exercise. Kuniko is starting a diet, so I’m going to try to help out where I can. We’ll see how it works out over the next couple of weeks.

Today I had a training seminar to go to around 10 a.m., and no classes. The training was near the Hankyu Nishinomiya station – just a few minutes walk north. I got there with a few minutes to spare, and talked a little bit with some of the other ALTs that were early like me.

The training was pretty simple. I think the meeting was really just to check in and make sure everyone’s sanity was intact. Some of the ALTs have no experience, so we exchanged ideas and war stories, and they had a moderator hired by the company to move things along. It took about two hours to complete, and we were out the door.

Afterwards, some of us went out to lunch at an Indian restaurant, and it was quite an interesting conversation. There were three veterans of the ALT biz (myself included), and three rookies. One guy with very little experience lectured us, one guy asked all kinds of questions, and the other guy ate his lunch and barely said a word. It was a weird lunch. Maybe it’s a sign of me getting too used to living in Japan, but I was very conscious of the noise that some of the guys were making at our table, and I noticed how everyone was watching us from other tables.

The conversation was fun, though. The veteran guys would tease one of the rookies a little bit, and he was taking everything so literally he wasn’t getting the jokes. I was smiling at some of the things they were joking about the whole trip back home. The one consistent theme among the veterans was that they didn’t want to do this job the rest of their lives, and the theme among the rookies was what they could do with all the free time they find themselves with.

We have another training day on Thursday, so it’ll be the same group for another two hour session. I’m interested to see how that one goes.

On the way home I picked up some tonkatsu for our dinner tonight, and looked at some books at the bookstore, but didn’t buy anything. Since I was home early I’ve been studying and enjoying some extra free time at home. Tomorrow I’ve got a full slate of classes, and the students will be tired from the city-wide sports event that they participated in today. It might be a little tough to rouse them long enough to study English.

It’s Monday and the start of kind of a weird work week for me. On Tuesday and Thursday I have training by the staffing company that I work for. Apparently it is only for about two hours each day, and I don’t have to go back to my school. Apparently. We’ll see how it works out, though.

Friday is a national holiday, so I really only have today and Wednesday as work days. That’s nice!

Today was a piece of cake – three classes in the morning. One of my classes was with Matsunaga sensei, and she seemed a little nervous today. She made several big mistakes in English. When I say big, I mean, all the students noticed the mistake and there was no question it was her. I try to smooth things over when my teachers make mistakes, but if it’s a big enough one I can’t really do anything to help. Today she made like three of these when normally I’m the one that is a little slow. She rebounded nicely, though, and I didn’t dwell on it. Other than recording it in my web diary for all eternity, I mean.

Kuroda sensei came by my desk several times today, and I could tell she wanted to talk about something, but it took most of the day for her to spell it out for me. She said that she met a really nice guy, and she wanted to tell me all the details. Unfortunately we didn’t have time, so we’ll try and catch up later this week. I think that was a pretty short time being single, though. I don’t know how I ended up being her personal life confidant. Maybe it’s because we can talk about it around other teachers and students and nobody can understand us.

In the afternoon the students did a final practice for the big all-junior high school sports day tomorrow. Since I’m in training I’m going to miss the event. It’s too bad – it sounds like a big deal.

I’m back home now and starting to think about what to cook for dinner. Kuniko is coming home late tonight so I’ve got time to consider. I’m thinking spicy stir-fry and rice. We made a visit to Kuniko’s folks’ place last night, and so we brought home loads and loads of vegetables, despite a vow that we wouldn’t bring home very much this time. They just won’t take no for an answer over there. Tonight maybe we can knock down the inventory just a little bit.

It was wedding day today. Kuniko and I have a mutual friend, a teacher that we both taught with at Takasago Minami. Her name is Obara sensei, and she is a really friendly lady who was nice enough to chat with me at Takanan when I was working there. Since then we’ve been to several parties with her, and today was her wedding day.

She was getting married at a hotel in Northern Kobe, so Kuniko and I got all dressed up and piled in the car for the drive over. We made it in plenty of time, and we followed the directions until we found the right lobby. There were several other weddings happening that day, so it’s not like you can just say, “I’m here for the wedding.”

After a fairly long wait, they announced that they were ready for us, so we lined up according to whether we knew the groom or the bride, and then headed down some escalators to go outside where the wedding was going to be held. On the way down an old lady on my left got a little carried away and took a header on the escalator. I saw it as it was starting to happen and was able to stop her from falling. I caught her kind of between the rail of the escalator and the guy in front of her, who was oblivious to the whole thing. She was remarkably heavy – it surprised me. I managed to get her straightened up. Strangely, she didn’t acknowledge me at all. I was expecting to turn around and get a round of applause for saving the day, but everyone kind of pretended that nothing happened. Hmm. Must be a cultural difference, I guess.

We took seats outside under the huge overhang of the hotel, and they got the ceremony started. It was an interesting one. I learned a new Japanese phrase today, 人前結婚 (jinzenkekkon), which literally means a marriage in front of people. I asked Kuniko what that was all about – aren’t most marriages in front of people? She explained that there was going to be no priest, so it was kind of like a marriage in front of people, as opposed to a marriage in front of God. Ah, I got it.

Since there was no priest, there was an announcer, and she announced everything that was happening, even though we could clearly observe it ourselves. “Now, the wedding will begin”, “Now, here is the groom”, “Now, here is the bride”, “Now, they are on the stage”, “Now, they are signing the paperwork”. Every move they made was announced, and it seemed like they had to just follow along with the directions.

That said, the place was pretty dramatic. It was surrounded by shallow pools of water that ran from the base of the hotel all the way down to a big plaza that was a public space, so there were people that stopped to watch the wedding as well. At the end everyone released balloons, and they even had some balloons that looked like doves. They made sure we stood in a particular spot and sure enough, when we released the balloons they were almost all captured under the eaves of the hotel overhang, thereby not polluting the environment. Clever.

After the ceremony we went inside to attend the reception. This was the first wedding reception that wasn’t mine, and it was pretty traditional. The room was really nice – very casual, with comfortable couches and bookcase with candle and a really relaxing scheme. Although it was casual, the atmosphere was anything but. The people attending were not just family and friends but bosses and coworkers. The bosses had the tables closest to the bride and groom, and the families had tables the farthest away. Having gone through the planning of our own wedding it was really interesting for me to observe what was going on. The bosses made speeches, and finally we could drink. I did my share of beer drinking, and Kuniko’s share too, since she was driving. We only knew one other guest, another teacher that Kuniko knew from working at Takanan before I got there. She was with another former Takanan teacher who I guess had been a crush of Andy, the ALT before me. That guy had a crush on everyone, it seems.

When the time was right Kuniko and I went over and greeted the bride and groom. I knew they were exhausted with all the greetings, but they were really nice to us. It was our first time meeting the groom, and he had a good sense of humor. Instead of taking the picture standing stiffly behind them like the other people, we sat on the couch with them and took it. They were laughing and enjoying it all. They make a great couple, and I’m sure they’ll be happy together.

The food was really good. It was a mix of Western and Japanese, but there were no forks so the food was already cut into bite sized pieces that you could eat with chopsticks. They thought of everything. I really liked the steak, and there was lobster too – so I was completely satisfied with the meal.

Near the end of the ceremony Obara sensei read a letter to her mother, thanking her for everything. It was a pretty detailed letter, and she cried through the whole thing. Luckily, the beer was still flowing, so I sipped away in the dark while everyone was sniffling and holding back their tears.

I did talk a little with the lady sitting next to me, and it turned out that she knew an ALT that I knew back in Futami. He’s kind of a young crazy Canadian guy, and apparently he’s giving lessons for cash in Kakogawa on the side. The lady spoke pretty good English, and I could tell she was dying to try it out on me. I chatted with her for a while and learned a little about her – she seemed nice. Single, too – she went up and tried to score the bride’s bouquet. If I had five yen for every good looking single girl that I know in Japan, I could buy another plasma TV.

Finally, the show was over, and we took our considerably large bag of loot and headed out to say goodbye to the bridal party and their family. Then we gave Kuniko’s friend a ride to the Akashi station and we headed back home. We were tired out but we did manage to open our gifts and we got a lot of good stuff. There was even some red beans and rice that were marked as “Eat Today!”. We had that for dinner and we were covered.

We watched a movie as a nightcap, “Lost in Translation”. I recently got it on DVD and I was surprised how much more I could understand of the Japanese this time around. Kuniko of course could understand everything, and she laughed at some of the translations in the movie. I really like the movie, but Kuniko was kind of lukewarm about it.

I posted some pictures from the wedding here if you want to check them out!

Friday I had the whole day off from work, thanks to the staffing company and my school who had arranged for a certain number of days off to keep the numbers round on my contract. I get a flat rate every month, so no problem for me, but I did miss out on the school music recital. Instead of going to attend on my own time, I was a little selfish today and enjoyed the time off.

Kuniko was up early and off to work, but she has a field trip with her students to Kyoto to make traditional Japanese sweets. She is going to go out drinking with the teachers from her school afterwards, so I had the whole day and most of the night free.

I did a little cleanup around the house and caught up with some TV shows I had downloaded, and then I got dressed and headed out the door with the idea of taking a little hike down by the ocean. I got off the train at Maiko station and walked under the Akashi bridge and along the seaside. The weather was great and I could enjoy the sun and the breeze. Since it was a workday, there weren’t many other people around. I walked past one of the really fancy wedding places near the bridge and at the bar there was a crowd of waitresses having a meeting. They all watched me as I walked by, so I waved hello and they all waved back, giggling.

Just past Maiko and before Tarumi they had built a rather large beach with imported white sand. It looked beautiful, and I sat in the sand for a few minutes and took in the ocean views before continuing. I went past Tarumi and the outlet malls and made it almost all the way Suma before turning around and taking another route back. It was a very peaceful walk covering a lot of distance.

I had a dinner of okonomiyaki (with shrimp and pork) and chased it with a couple of different beers, and then I started making cocktails out of vodka and apple/grape juice. I drank those until I ran out of vodka, and watched “Real Genius” on TV. Before long Kuniko was headed back and so I went out to meet her at the station. She had made some really beautiful candies, and we took lots of pictures of them before eating them. She had a pretty good day with her students, and she went bar hopping with a big group of teachers in Kobe after they got back. Her boss paid most of the bills, so everyone was very happy to drink a lot. It’s officially the weekend, now.

I had some funny experiences with my students today. I had a class with the third year deaf students. Today we learned some new vocabulary. They have a really tough time with pronunciation, and they often get distracted. They really seemed to react well to the lesson with me there, and the other teacher said as much after the class. I guess they feel like they really have to make a good impression when I’m there. I was happy to hear that my being there makes a difference in their education – sometimes you wonder if you are really being useful there.

I also taught a class with Harada sensei – the top English students in the school. Harada sensei asked me to do the class almost entirely by myself, and I was eager to do it since that is how I usually ran classes back at my old school in Takasago.

It turned out great – the students really got into the activities. I came up with a few simple games, and they were a hit. Harada sensei really enjoyed watching them working everything out. Overall I was completely satisfied with how the class went.

Lastly, a class just before lunch featured a singing rendition of the Carpenters’ “Sing”. One of the students cracked me up by repeatedly beating his chest like a gorilla in time with the music. “Sing” isn’t exactly what I’d consider chest-pounding music, but this kid was feeling the vibe. Maybe even stranger was that the other students didn’t seem alarmed that this kid was banging away during the song.

After school I went up to the ping pong club HQ and played a series of casual games with the students there. They’ve been trying to get me up there to play them for a while, but I’ve been fairly busy. Today it was fun to line ’em up and knock ’em down. I did really well and I felt quite proud, maybe a little too proud for having only beaten three 14 year old kids.

Kuniko was home before me again today. She had a delicious dinner ready to eat – hamburg and Japanese-style fried eggs, with carrots and spinach on the side. It really hit the spot.

Tomorrow I have the day off, but even though tonight should feel like Friday night, it doesn’t really. Tomorrow I’m going to try to sleep in a little though, and then maybe it’ll start to feel like a work holiday.

It was kind of a hectic morning – Kuniko couldn’t sleep last night so she was out in the living room playing Tetris until almost one in the morning, so she was pretty tired out when the alarm went off. I got up and made lunches, and then woke her up 35 minutes before our train arrived at Okubo station. And believe it or not, we were there to catch it.

At school today I originally had four classes scheduled, but one was cancelled. Actually, it was traded to a music teacher for a draft pick and future considerations. The classes that I did do today were interesting.

I was free during first period, so one of the teachers that helps out with the disabled and challenged students invited me to come watch them practice for the music performance they will do on Friday. I came over expecting to watch, but I ended up participating, with several other teachers.

First, we all played a song on a little mini-koto harp. It was simplified for kids, but the characters and notes were in katakana, and so it took me just a little bit more time than everyone else to find the right key and hit the right note. I was a little embarrassed to be coming in late each time, but everyone else was playing so it didn’t sound too bad.

Afterwards, the students practiced ringing bells on cues from the music teacher, and on Friday they’ll all line up and ring them together. After the music class, I had an English class with one of the challenged students. He is full of questions – and even though I was supposed to ask him questions in English, he turned the tables and interviewed me. It was fun to do, but you could tell that what I was saying was being discarded as unintelligible, and he was just waiting for a pause as his cue to proceed. We did do some drills with the alphabet and months, so hopefully that’ll stick until next time.

Next I had back to back classes with Matsunaga sensei and Harada sensei. They are both teachers for the first year students. After the recent mid-term exam, they switched classes, and so now they are getting used to the new students that they have. Harada sensei has the strategy of take it easy, be nice to everyone, and make them like you first, and then start hitting them with English drills. Matsunaga sensei is more like a drill instructor – get them in line right away. Naturally, Matsunaga sensei’s new students are used to Harada sensei’s laid-back approach, and so she complains that they are all way behind and not that good. Harada sensei’s new students are enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, and that makes for some interesting classes for me.

Today in Harada sensei’s class the students were really in a good mood. We joked around with them for a few minutes to warm them up, and then started covering new material. One student was consistently answering the tough questions, and so after the class I went over and said “Great job today!” She waited until I was finished cleaning up my stuff from the lesson and then told me in English that she was “from Los Angeles”. That probably means that she grew up there while her family was living there on business – probably working overseas for a Japanese company. There are quite a few students at my school that have spent a long time overseas, and their English is quite good. I talked with her a little bit, but she was pretty shy.

After school everybody went to their classrooms to practice singing, and I hung out in the staffroom with Harada sensei #2 – Hiroko. She is kind of an atypical Japanese English teacher. Together we came up with a gameplan for a lesson on Thursday, and I told her a few jokes to help her learn “English humor”.

Now I’m back home. Kuniko is out tonight, so I’m thinking about just relaxing, watching a movie, and taking it easy. Tomorrow is a fairly light day at work, and Friday is a day off, so it’s starting to feel like the weekend already.

I just had four classes today. The classes were for the most part what I expected, but in one of the classes, the teacher was off his game and was throwing me off mine. A lot of what he was doing was because he was improvising, and occasionally that can lead to disaster. I’ll leave out the gruesome details, but we weren’t at our best today.

At the end of the day, a student came to my desk and apologized for not showing up yesterday. I wasn’t quite sure who she was or why she was apologizing, but slowly it became clear that a long time ago we had talked and I had asked when her birthday was. She said that it was October 23rd, and she asked me for a birthday present. I promised her one, and she said that she would be there to collect it. I’ve done this before – I usually write a little birthday message on a card and then put a stamp from America on it. The only hitch here was that the conversation took place a long time ago, and I had completely forgotten. Maybe the girl was a little disappointed, but once I got the clue I got everything together and gave her a birthday card.

Kuniko is home early most of this week, because her school is having exams. In a very rare event she was home when I got there, and she already had a dinner planned out and ready to go. We had grilled yellowtail cutlets and tofu with onions. It was healthy and really good. With fish this good I could eat it more often.

Tonight we’re going to enjoy all the extra time we have together this evening. Tomorrow Kuniko is out late – her school is having a softball event, and she’ll be there rooting for her team and then she’ll go out for dinner afterwards with the rest of the staff. That means I’ve got an evening to myself tomorrow. I’ll have to think of something to do…

This morning Kuniko and I got to sleep in a bit instead of getting up early and making lunches. We had some leftover enchiladas from last night, so we brought those to school instead of the traditional bento. They really hit the spot at lunch – my teachers and students were really curious about them and came over to check them out. I offered some of them a bite but there was nobody brave enough to try.

I had three classes today – two classes with third year students, and one class with two deaf first year students. The third year students did fine, but the first years were in a really weird mood. One student was trying to see how much dandruff he could harvest from his scalp by shaking and scratching his head. The teacher tried to get him to stop, but he kept giggling and kept scratching. The other guy started to join in, and that was enough to make me wash my hands extra well after class. The class itself was slow going, but it was interesting. I am surprised how much information these guys can pick up – they just have trouble with English pronunciation. But, to be fair, they have trouble with Japanese pronunciation as well.

In the afternoon our students did an interesting rehearsal for a sports event that will be held at Koshien stadium next week. They wear their school uniforms and sit in a grid on the floor. The tops of the uniform are white, and they have a dark jacket that they can pull up around their neck to change their color to black. So, in a grid they are given instructions so that they can spell out gigantic Japanese kanji or symbols – just like a computer screen. Today they did about an hour of practice, and it was fun to watch. I took a few pictures, too, but they didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped. The designs are made to be seen from a distance, and inside the gym we were just too close.

After school I came home and cooked up a veggie dinner – koniyaku steaks with mushrooms and onions, and miso soup on the side. It turned out pretty good, actually. We watched a little bit of Tokyo Friend Park on TV and then shared the Nintendo DS for kanji study and Tetris. Guess which one of us was studying kanji and which one was playing Tetris…

This morning Kuniko and I got a chance to sleep in a bit, and in the morning we cleaned house and did laundry. Kuniko had the day off from work, but she has to take an English test to get a gauge of her English ability. Lately she feels like her English is starting to weaken, so maybe this will prove her intuition right or wrong.

I’ve been lounging around the house today, catching up the website and watching some TV shows on the computer. It’s the first full day of rest for me, and I’m really taking advantage of it.

I’m planning to cook up enchiladas for dinner, so I went shopping and bought the ingredients across the street at Jusco. It’ll be my first time making enchiladas actually, but how hard can it be?

One other thing to mention today is that the weather is ever so slightly getting cooler and cooler. It’s really comfortable to walk around with the windows open or closed, and the apartment is quite a bit warmer than outside. During the summer this apartment was really hot – being on the third floor – but now maybe we’re reaping the benefits of that.

Next week is a four day week for me. Friday I have the day off. In what is kind of a crappy move by the staffing company and the Board of Education in Nishinomiya, they’ve decided not to have me come in to work on Friday for our school’s chorus competition and musical concert. I guess I can see why, because they probably don’t me there, but all the students and some of the teachers would like to see me there rooting them on. I guess I could go without pay, but that kind of sets a dangerous precedent in my mind. We’ll see how I feel about it as the day approaches. I don’t really have any special plans for that day, so maybe I will go to check it out.