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.

Although the weather has been gradually cooling overall, day to day it seems to be jumping around quite a bit. Today it was a warm day, which meant that we were sweating again during our classes.

I had two new lessons today, and they both went fairly well. One is about the weather, and I rigged up some magnetic weather icons that I use on the blackboard on a cheesy map of Japan that I draw. I try to encourage the students to come up and give a weather forecast – I give them an umbrella to hold so it feels legitimate.

After school I went over to the ping pong club to play with the gang. I played a different guy today, and we had some fun. He was taking it slow and we played for about half an hour. It was fun. I’m not sure I’m improving, but it’s fun.

At 5:00, Mr. Hayashi, Mr. Komuri, Mr. Kimura and I left for Kakogawa. We met up with Miss Yamamoto and went to Amuse, a bar that I haven’t been to in a long time. Mr. Komuri was celebrating his 50th birthday, so we made a lot of jokes at his expense. We spent several hours there drinking and speaking English and Japanese. Mostly English, though.

They kept bringing food – somebody had arranged something before hand because I never saw anybody really ordering anything, but food arrived nonetheless. Finally around ten o’clock we set out for the train station. Mr. Kimura walked along with me from Tsuchiyama station, and the time flew while we walked and talked together. I got home around 10:40, just in time to get a message from Kuniko that she was heading my way. I walked down to the Higashi Futami station and met her train there, and we walked back together. At home I caught her up on the events of the day, and all the fun stories that we told at Amuse. We didn’t get to bed until around 1:00 a.m. – it was a long day for both of us.

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.