Still alive, and doing my best to stay afloat. I knew going into the trip that I’d have to work my butt off to get my assignments in for my classes, but I didn’t expect to be spending as much time as I have on them. The assignments keep me busy during the day and then I march off to work and come home late at night. No indication that things will let up anytime soon. My first paper is due next Friday, and the second one on the Friday after that. Research has been time consuming, but mostly it is just getting accustomed to writing in an academic style again.

I’ll try to write more either this weekend or next week as things get back under control!

I’m back in Japan, and super busy racing to get everything unpacked, get the new computer running before the old one croaks, and getting ready to teach lots of classes this week.

I’ll update when I can, but the trip to Hawaii was great! Kuniko and I are both charged up and ready for work…

My students have some extra time at the end of their “term” at the school where I teach so I’ve been doing a “smells” segment in my lessons. I teach them how to say “It smells good” and “It smells bad”. Then we smell an assortment of aromas that I have captured inside plastic bottles. It is a blind test and they really like smelling things and freaking out based on what they smell.

One thing I’ve noticed that is interesting is that when the first student smells a bottle that has yet to be smelled by the group, their reaction will largely determine the reaction of the group – even if it is unusual. For example, in one bottle I have some vanilla extract. Most students say “It smells good”, but occasionally a student will (for whatever reason) say “It smells bad”. Then the next student will smell the same bottle and usually say whatever the other student said.

Maybe it is just kids trying to fit in, but to me it has a little bit of cultural context – the Japanese idea of being one with the group runs strong even at this age. It would be fun to change the bottles around and do it again in a different order and see if their opinions are the same.

Today I had the day to myself, but mostly I spent it organizing things and getting ready for the trip. I had to spend about an hour printing out stuff to take with me to study while I’m in Hawaii. It won’t be all fun and games and tropical drinks – I’ve got a lot of reading to do while I’m there. The week after I return I have two papers due, so I wrote today to the instructors requesting an extension because of my travel situation. I hope they approve.

My classes today went really well. My first class had just two students out of five. The two students were fun – Riko and Kako – and we just relaxed and played games. I really like Riko because she’s fearless and tries hard to speak English, even if she doesn’t know exactly what is going on. Kako is a little more tentative. Before class started Riko and I talked (in Japanese) about the bridge disaster in the United States. She had seen it on the news (she’s only 9 years old and watching the news!) and wanted to get my reaction. It was fun talking current events with the youngsters.

The rest of the classes went smoothly with no big incidents to report. I played a game of Zelda on the DS with some students after our last class – they are Nintendo addicts. The mothers were waiting for us to finish our game so I had to wrap it up quickly. The mothers don’t seem to mind too much, I guess as long as I’m speaking lots of English with their kids.

On my way home I had to go buy a new electric razor because mine broke this morning. The little attachment that does sideburns stopped working suddenly, and then the piece fell right off. So I had to buy a new one right before the trip. At least I’ll be clean-shaven on the islands.

Tomorrow I have my tough class – the young kids. After that the rest of the day should be pretty easy, and it is my last day of work before vacation so that will keep me going. Just a little bit more to go before Hawaii…

On Saturday Kuniko had to go off to work, but I had the day off to relax and do almost nothing all day long. Actually, I did have to do laundry, preliminary packing, and shopping. I was busy most of the day, and then I caught a train into Kobe to meet up with Kuniko to see the fireworks show.

As it turned out there were a lot of people doing the same thing. I managed to snag a seat, but just barely. The air conditioning on the train was a lifesaver – it felt so good.

I did a little bit of shopping in Kobe first, then got some burgers to go and began the long walk up the hill to Kuniko’s school. I arrived just as she was finishing up work, and we retired to the air conditioning of her car to cool off. The burgers were excellent, and after we finished dinner we walked around and behind the school to reach the school grounds to watch the fireworks.

The school is built on the side and top of a mountain, so sometimes you are climbing stairs and walking up and down hills to get to the next building. The grounds were higher up on the hill and they had a beautiful view of the city of Kobe at night. The school grounds had a big set of bleachers to sit on, so we set up shop and took in a great fireworks show. The fireworks were being launched a ways away over the Mosaic harbor, but our seats were great.

We were the only ones for a while watching, but soon the principal of the school came with his family, and we said hello to them. The size of the grounds was like a football field, so they set up on the other side and that was the last we heard of them.

The show went on for about an hour, and it was pretty impressive. There are lots of new and interesting fireworks in Japan, and the presentation is a little more orchestrated than what I’m used to.

Afterwards we drove back home, and Kuniko spent the evening packing for her summer camp trip. I won’t see her until the night before we fly to Hawaii, so I’ll need to stay out of the trouble the next couple of nights…

Thursday we had a typhoon warning, but it wasn’t such a bad one. It passed to the south of us, so the most we got Thursday night and Friday morning was strong gusts of wind.

Friday I had a relatively light study day at home. I stayed inside while the winds blew outside, occasionally watching people walk by struggling with their umbrellas. The Mazda people came and dropped off Kuniko’s car, and it looks as good as new. In the late afternoon I packed up my gear and went to work.

I tried a new strategy with my hyper Friday kids – I decided to make the lesson much more active. We played a lot of games involving moving around, but it just seemed to rev them up even more. I don’t know why, but the girls especially get all excited during class and feel the need to either hit me or attack me. This must be one of those areas where boys are more mature. Or I bring out a violent nature in women. Who knows?

Kuniko met me at Jusco after work, and we decided to make sandwiches in an effort to get rid of stuff in the fridge that won’t last during our trip. They turned out pretty good, and I washed them down with a couple of cold beers that helped beat the heat.

We did a short shopping trip to get a present for one of Kuniko’s coworkers, then we came back, turned on the air conditioning and went to bed. Kuniko had to come up with some lesson ideas for her next study camp – she’ll be out of town again for a couple of days. It might be my big chance to go see Transformers….

Wednesday night after work I met up with Kuniko at Hoden station and then walked over to her parents’ house to meet up. They invited us over for dinner, and I was really surprised to see giant bowls of pasta salad waiting to be eaten. This was a serious amount of pasta. It was also a rare night when Kuniko could drink alcohol – usually she drives us there.

They had a few questions about what to expect on the upcoming trip, so we talked with them about that over dinner and beer and sake. I think they were reassured. They also sent us back with lots of veggies and fruit to try and eat before we leave for Hawaii. I think we’ll give some to Nozaki sensei to help spread things out.

Kuniko’s dad drove us back to Hoden station, and then we caught a train from there back to Okubo and had an easy walk home. It really isn’t that far by train to their place – and as long as you aren’t walking from the station in the daytime heat it isn’t that tough.

The trip to Hawaii is coming up fast. Kuniko (as usual) has lots of school-related events leading right up to the day we leave. I won’t see much of her until the trip, but it should give me plenty of time to study and pack.

Catching up a little bit… I’ve been busy cranking through papers and readings for school and I haven’t been posting.

Monday was pretty normal, with the exception that I did make it to Denya for a some yakitori and beer to chat with the master. It has been a long time since I’ve been there. Originally I had hoped to meet up with Jane, but as it turned out she had moved out the day before, so I guess I missed her. She’s going to be staying with her grandparents in Takatsuki for about a month before heading home.

The master was doing well and we had a little bit of a chance to talk. The other customers kept him busy, and a guy that I’ve seen there a couple times kept me busy asking me lots of questions. It was a great workout for my Japanese. After a while I said my goodbyes and headed back to Tsuchiyama station to catch a train home. A 20 minute walk after eating yakitori is a good thing.

Tuesday I had the whole day off. Nozaki sensei has set up the schedule so that each weekday has the same amount of classes over the course of the year. Sometimes there are days that she uses for adjustment, and Tuesday was one of those.

I said goodbye to Kuniko in the morning and then did a little bit of exercise before settling down to study. I’ve had a lot of reading to do, but the topics are pretty interesting. The slowest going are the technical readings and papers. I’m starting to pick up on some of the lingo, though.

During the day as a study break I took a hike (in the heat) to the shopping center north of us to do some shopping at the home center, the 100 yen shop, and the electronics store. I got what I needed and came back to the relatively cool apartment to finish up my studies.

In the late evening I did some gardening out on the patio. I really like sitting out there with a cold beer right after the sun sets – it’s a good time to enjoy the partial outdoors and relax.

Due to a miscommunication on my part I ate dinner without waiting for Kuniko. She had told me that she would be home for dinner but I was still working on old information saying that she would be eating at the airport after saying goodbye to Hinzy. Anyway, I had to deal with a hungry and mad wife when she got home. Oops.

It looks like another hot day tomorrow, and I’ll be going to work again. Kuniko and I are going to meet at Hoden station after I get off work to have dinner with her folks. It has been a while since we’ve seen them so I’m looking forward to it.

Sunday Antoine and I met up in the morning and then walked up to Kuniko’s school to teach an open school lesson. The school’s usual teacher was away on summer vacation, so Kuniko asked us to teach a lesson each to try to get students to come to her school when the new year starts next April.

Walking up the hill in the morning in our nice clothes and ties was probably a bad idea. We were sweating like crazy upon reaching the top, and I’m sure the people working there weren’t too impressed with two wet guys showing up out of the blue.

We got inside and Kuniko met us there. Luckily our classrooms were air conditioned, so we had some time to cool down and get our sweat under control. How come Japanese people weren’t sweating like we us? Mysterious.

As we walked around the school before the lesson we got a chance to say hello to a lot of students and staff, and even watch some of the opening presentation – Hinzy and her fellow students in cheerleader outfits doing a dance routine. They did a pretty good job, and I was able to congratulate Hinzy afterwards.

We finally headed back down to our classrooms to do our lessons. Antoine’s lessons were aimed at elementary school students, and mine were targeted towards junior high school. Not only did we teach with a Yamate English teacher, but we also had a small group of Yamate students who helped out. That was a big advantage – the students that came to see the class were a little more comfortable with older students around.

The classes were kind of come and go as you please, so for the first 20 minutes or so we didn’t have any students at all. I chatted with the older Yamate students for a while, and then we had a few students show up.

We did about a 40 minute lesson with about six or seven students, and they seemed to enjoy it. They were really nice and not so shy. It was the first time in a long time that I had a chance to teach with Kuniko, and it reminded me about teaching with her way back when in Takanan.

Antoine’s class went much the same as mine, and we wrapped up and sent the students off to lunch. We got some free lunch out of it, and even some shaved ice – nice! Then we picked up a small envelope full of money and walked down the hill.

Kuniko had invited us to a party with the teachers that evening, but it was only about one in the afternoon so we had lots of time to kill. With the best of intentions we went to the Belgian beer place for a couple of cold, cold beers. That really hit the spot.

We ended up walking all over Kobe, but since it was so hot out, we mostly ended up in air conditioned bars staying cool and drinking cold beer. We had a taco at the taco stand near the station, served up by a heavily tattooed Japanese girl. We had bar hopped all over Kobe by the time we heard from Kuniko in the evening, but it sounded like we weren’t invited after all. I guess she had invited us to the second party, but not the first (with dinner). Bummer. We ended up going for one last drink, and then heading home early. The trains were massively delayed due to someone jumping in front of one (perhaps a losing politician?) and so it took a while for me to get back home.

It was a fun day, and I’ll be able to sleep a little bit of this off tomorrow since my classes don’t start until later. I’m considering a stop at the Denya yakitori on the way home, but we’ll see if it happens…

Not much exciting to report today. The heat was oppressive, and after spending my work day in an air conditioned classroom the feeling upon walking into our house is something akin to shock. The sweat starts pouring forth as I fire up the air conditioner and crack open a cold beer. It usually takes about 15 minutes to get things to a comfortable temperature after I get home – and it’s a very sweaty 15 minutes.

I had takoyaki for dinner tonight from Vivre. That takoyaki is damn good. I had a seasonal flavor which I had to try – Salsa Mayonnaise with onions. It tasted a lot better than it sounds, but there was a lot more mayonnaise than salsa.

My friend Corey has been blogging now and then on his journey home the long way, and it has been very interesting for me to follow. I was disappointed to hear that he is going to have to abandon his plan to get from Japan to Vancouver, Canada without using an airplane. Apparently he is running out of money in Europe, so the transatlantic boat ride followed by the train across Canada is not going to happen. Bummer, but he did make a good go of it.

Kuniko and I can attest to the high prices in Europe. Lodging for us wasn’t so bad, but drinks (especially non-alcoholic) were really expensive and during a hot summer it is hard not to want to drink something all the time.

I had a pretty quiet day today. I cranked through several readings for school, and another chapter in the textbook before getting ready for work. Then it was a pretty mellow day in the classroom. The students were all pretty tired because of the heat, but they were still able to make a little bit of effort in the classroom.

Just as I was leaving I bumped into Nozaki sensei coming home. She was also away (near Tokyo!) for a sports camp and looked exhausted. She was nice enough to bring back some souvenirs for Kuniko and me, which was very thoughtful.

I did some shopping on the way home for dinner (cold udon noodles) and just as I was about to arrive home Kuniko sent me a message and asked me to meet her at the station when her train arrived to help carry some of her luggage. I had time to cook up the noodles and get them iced down before running to the station to meet her.

She looked just as exhausted as Nozaki sensei did. This overnight camp thing looks like a real painful experience. We walked home and feasted on noodles (and leftover butakimchee) and washed them down with cold beer (Premium Malts Black) which turned out to be really good.

It has been getting even warmer lately, so the air conditioning has become a critical part of our evening. Tonight we hung out in the bedroom and stayed cool. Hard to believe that the heat is really only just getting started.

Today I studied through the morning, and then around lunchtime I went in early to work to prepare for today’s lessons. It was a lot cooler in Nozaki sensei’s air conditioned classroom than it was sitting around the hot house here.

Around 2:30 Miki sensei dropped by to help out with the young kids, so we went over my lesson plan for a while and traded war stories relating to the students that we have both taught. She was surprised at some of my reports – both good and bad – and it was fun to catch up.

Before we knew it the kids started showing up, and they were really surprised to see two teachers waiting for them. I had told all my horror stories about previous classes and the problems that I’ve had, and so she was ready for the worst. Of course with another teacher it wasn’t so bad, but the kids were acting up enough for her to see what I meant.

I had expected that the students would be better with two teachers around, but I was eager to figure out a way to extend this beyond today, and I was eager for some advice from Miki sensei. After the class we talked a little bit and gave me some pointers that might help in the future. She was surprised that it was a 50 minute class, because the kids are so young that they lose attention quickly.

Miki sensei stuck around for the next class, and it was one of my better classes. It went swimmingly, and I was glad that she could observe me actually teaching a class proficiently.

The third class was just two students, and so Miki sensei hit the road. The students and I breezed through the class and then I was headed home.

Kuniko is still at her sports camp, so I had the place to myself again. I cooked up some butakimchee for dinner, but I only ate half – the spiciness had me sweating in addition to the baseline hot temperatures in the house. Bad idea, dude.

The rest of the week should be pretty smooth. Kuniko will be back tomorrow night, but she’s got a lot of parties to attend as her school term wraps up, exchange students come and go, etc, etc. Maybe I’ll go on a somen diet for the next few nights….

I’m a home alone bachelor these next few days because Kuniko is off at 合宿 until Wednesday. Monday I walked her to the station in the morning, and sent her off to two whole days with the tennis team. Have fun!

I had a relatively quiet morning studying, doing laundry, and reading a little bit of the new Harry Potter book. It was kind of cloudy today, so it kept things relatively cool.

I left for work a little early, and bumped into a crowd of ex-students on the way home from college. They had a little Bryan-cheering-section going on, and I just waved and kept moving. The other people walking around did a double-take trying to figure what the big deal was.

My classes went OK, but my younger kids today were in a weird mood. I was explaining a picture from the textbook and acting out the part of two kids. I said, “Hello, my name is Matt” pointing at the little picture of Matt introducing himself. Then I played the part of Meg, and pointed at the picture of the little girl saying the same thing. That set off some of the students in calling me an okama, the Japanese slang word for “gay”.

In Japan homosexuality is repressed to the point of invisibility in rural areas, and pretty rare to see outside of Osaka or Tokyo. Because of this, there are a lot of misconceptions, and that’s partly why a bunch of seven year old kids thought it was funny to call me that. I just smiled and ignored it, but apparently this was this was humor at the highest level, and they kept it up the rest of the class. I was a little peeved, not for being called an okama but for not knowing how to deal with it appropriately. We’ll see if it is still going on next week, and if so I’ll deal with it then.

The rest of the day went smoothly. I had an evening class with Yuka. It is the last class before she leaves for New York, so I helped her with some last minute questions and English expressions. She’s going to do just fine in America – her skills are pretty good. She’ll pick up a lot of vocabulary there as well. Her mom has some unrealistic expectations, though. She was saying that she expected her to absolutely pass the next text level after spending 10 days with a host family in New York. I tried to lower her expectations a little, but I’m not sure if it worked.

The evening was quiet without Kuniko around. I did some reading for school and stayed cool in the living room. Tomorrow I have my challenging little kids class, but Miki sensei will be coming back to sit in on the class and maybe help me get these little munchkins under control.