All was pretty quiet around the household on Sunday. Kuniko had to work all day, and I spent most of the day studying, doing household chores, and watching a movie. I did do a little preparation for my lessons on Monday in the afternoon.

Kuniko came home exhausted in the evening, so we took it easy and just chilled out around the house – no high speed hiking across Okubo tonight. I had some pasta for dinner, and Kuniko went back to diet soup – not so exciting.

After my classes on Monday I have the rest of the week off since the school is on spring vacation. What to do, what to do….

Saturday I met up with Kuniko in Motomachi after she finished up at work, and together we took a train trip to visit Tomoko and her husband Masaki. They live past Osaka – we took another JR train line from Umeda to get there. Once we arrived Tomoko met us at the station and took us to their home.

They live just a few minutes walk from the station in a really nice apartment complex. The house was decorated really well and felt very comfortable inside. We sat around their table in the living room and they were nice enough to get some bottles of wine to enjoy with dinner. They were really good wines – a French Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. We listened to some music by “Joe” – his third album, called (aptly enough) “My Name is Joe”. It sounded pretty good – I’d never heard him before.

While we talked and enjoyed our drinks, Tomoko and Masaki went back and forth between cooking dinner and entertaining us. The first course was green vegetables and a soft tofu film wrapped up like a little package together in a warm dashi broth. After Tomoko impressed us with that she started frying up kushikatsu – mushrooms, pork, onions, leeks, and even Camembert cheese. The kushikatsu really hit the spot – but she wasn’t finished yet. The main course was sushi – roll your own sushi.

We had a big wooden rice bowl in front of us filled with sushi rice. We put a layer of rice on a piece of nori, and then laid some fish inside. After that, it was up to you what ingredients you put in. They had ikura, egg, cucumber, and even mayo-mentai. We ate lots of sushi – it is my favorite Japanese food, but I’ve never had sushi like this before. It was a very social experience, talking and drinking while rolling up your own sushi rolls.

Tomoko and Masaki really put together a great meal. I hope that we can see a little more of them in the future. We’re going to try to meet up for hamburgers at Star Child’s in Kobe sometime soon. They’re both thinking about studying English a little more, and so maybe I can help them a little with that.

Not only is Tomoko very talented in the kitchen, but she played some piano for us (they have a small piano in their living room). She was really good – I was impressed. She played a song for us and it was beautiful. I hope we get a chance to hear her play again.

Finally the end of the night came and after drinking all three of the bottles of wine (mainly just Kuniko and I… we’re a couple of alcoholics!) and some KitKats for dessert we headed back to the station. Masaki and Tomoko walked us over there, and we caught a train headed the right way. It was really nice to spend time with them and it was definitely the highlight of our weekend.

I woke up about the same time as Kuniko, even though I had Friday off. She showed me the sopping wet laundry hanging out on the patio – I guess a big storm had come through in the middle of the night. I was a little angry at myself for forgetting. The clothes were wet and needed to be rewashed and hung out again. Ugh.

Once Kuniko left for work I went into my “unemployed bum” routine. I studied Japanese, read my book, repotted some plants, and was generally busy around the house. Time flew by and before long Kuniko was back from work.

We had a healthy dinner together – sauteed shitake mushrooms (from Kuniko’s family garden), boiled greens, pickled daikon radish, and natto (not for me, though). After dinner I walked over to Starbucks and got a coffee frappucino for dessert. I thought it might be nice to give Kuniko some time in the house alone. With me being at home so much she really doesn’t have any breathing room to do things on her own. I just walked there and back slowly to take in the sights and avoid the crazy people running around on Friday night.

Tomorrow Kuniko and I are going to visit a friend’s house for dinner. It’s a little far away, so we won’t get back until late. I’ll have a full report on Sunday. Time is getting short – I’ll have my first day at work on Monday. Then another four days off for Spring Holiday.

I had Thursday off of work, but Kuniko had to go in like usual this morning. I spent the day cleaning house and studying Japanese, reading a book (in English!) and I watched a movie on the big screen plasma TV. In the late afternoon the phone rang, and it was Kuniko. Some teachers were having a farewell party from her school, so they invited me to come along.

This is kind of a big deal because generally spouses aren’t really invited to events like this. My case is kind of an exception, because I’m foreign and different and everyone wants to get a look at me in action. Still, maybe that will put some cracks in the age old tradition of excluding spouses from parties. I took them up on the invitation and caught the next train for Kobe.

The place they met was a Chinese restaurant near the school. I had walked by it a couple of times, and Kuniko had been there once and gave it a good review. I actually got there before Kuniko did, so I sat down with two teachers that I had never met and we introduced ourselves and talked about this and that. Soon after Kuniko and the others started trickling in.

We ate and drank big – it was a good dinner. They had a refrigerator up there, right next to the dinner table so you could just pull out a beer when you needed it and pour around. That’s a dangerous thing having all that cold beer within an arm’s reach. They also served us some traditional Chinese liquor. The Japanese version of the Chinese name was 紹興酒 (shoukoushu). It tasted like a weak sherry to me, but it was OK. I had a couple glasses of it on the rocks.

The food was traditional Chinese. It was really tasty – usually you get some pretty bland Chinese food dishes in Japan. The best dish was a shrimp, egg and rice dish they brought out towards the end. Everybody was pretty tipsy at the end, but we made it down the stairs, put our shoes on, and said goodbye outside the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant and his wife followed us outside and said goodbye as well.

We walked back towards the station but I was still just a tiny bit hungry and drunk enough to want to go snack somewhere. Kuniko had enough beer to agree with me, and so that was how we ended up at a counter in Osho – a Chinese fast-food restaurant – eating gyoza and fried chicken. We split a beer with it, and had a really nice conversation with a drunk older gentleman sitting next to me. He was really interested to be sitting next to an international couple and had lots of questions. At the end of his meal he insisted on paying our bill. Over our protests he did, and said goodbye. The clerk at Osho gave us a funny look like “Why are you protesting? Take the free dinner!”

After our free post-dinner dinner we walked around a little to get the calories burning, and then caught a train ride home. We were both tired out – and went right to bed, totally forgetting about all the laundry hanging out on the patio.

Today was part two of our trial lessons to see where to put the new students entering the school. I met up with Miki sensei at Tsuchiyama station, and then we went from there to the classroom and got ready.

The usual protocol was that the kids came with their mothers (or grandmothers), and the they would sit in the back part of the room to watch me with the kids. Then, the kids would go through a very simple lesson on colors, emotions, or animals – sometimes all three depending on their age.

After watching for a little while, Miki sensei would talk to the mothers and answer their questions, and basically reassure them that I could speak Japanese and would be able to handle any issues that come up. I usually say hello to the mothers when they come in and goodbye when they leave. Today we had one mother who was my age, and that was a little bit of a shocker. Someone my age with kids? Impossible! She was actually blushing for some reason when I talked to her.

Today the lessons ended earlier than usual, so we were out of there before lunch. Miki sensei and I got in her car and went to catch some sushi for lunch. As we left the neighborhood mothers were out gossiping with each other and we waved as we drove by. Miki sensei told me that word on the street was that there was a hot foreign teacher working at Nozaki sensei’s school, and everyone is excited about it.

Japanese neighborhoods, especially those away from the big cities, tend to be pretty quiet and at least during the day they are dominated by the mothers staying home with nothing to do and the kids they are taking care of. That contributes to a lot of neighborhood gossip on the grapevine, and until they get used to me I’m going to be subjected to that for a while. I’ll have to watch what I do and how I act when I’m walking around that neighborhood.

Miki sensei and I had sushi at Sushi-ro in Futami (“Zurui!” Kuniko said later), and then she dropped me off back at Tsuchiyama station. I headed home and still tired from last night’s hike I hit the sack to take a nap. I had just settled in when Kuniko came home surprisingly early. It was perfect timing – I had the bed all warm and ready and she snuggled in with me and we slept through the afternoon.

In the evening we went over to Saty and Vivre for some shopping. Kuniko did most of the shopping, actually. She usually shops for several hours and finds one thing or nothing at all. Today was a real surprise – she scored a lot of stuff. Then it was dinner (special diet soup for Kuniko, mabodofu for me).

Not much else – I watched a lot of Japanese TV to try to improve my listening comprehension, and Kuniko caught up on the computer. Tomorrow I have the day off – no work for me until Monday. Kuniko has a regular workday tomorrow, but she should have some short days coming up on Friday and Saturday.

After a slow Monday I was up with Kuniko early this morning, and I went off to help Miki sensei with some trial lessons for some new students at Nozaki sensei’s place. I picked up a sandwich for lunch and then met Miki sensei at Tsuchiyama station. She drove me to Nozaki sensei’s house, and we set up in the classroom there.

Today we had new students arriving in waves. The idea was for them to get a measure of me, for Miki sensei to get a measure of their abilities, and for me to warm up my little kid teaching skills a little. The day went pretty well, with lots of cute kids coming in. One student is so young she can barely speak Japanese (3 years old). The mother really wants her to have an early start on pronunciation, and so I’m going to be working with her class to play games and have fun with English.

The challenge for me is really just to adjust my English to what the students know. Most of the new students today are studying English for the first time, so they know nothing. They can’t even read or write their ABCs. I was getting a little worried that I had bitten off a bit too much, but later in the day some new students were accompanied by an older current student. The kid walked in there and I felt like he was going to walk on water any minute. Compared to all the other kids his English skills were excellent – I was ready to give him a medal. I have to keep in mind that I am only meeting the new students over the next two days. I’ll have to wait to meet the experienced students until the second week of April.

Also, spending this time with Miki sensei has really helped me understand exactly what is expected and what I’ll be responsible for. Today she mentioned off the cuff that we don’t start with the textbook until May, so I can use the month of April to adjust to the students, play games with them to make them comfortable, and get to know them and their levels of English. I’m glad she remembered to mention that today.

We spent most of the day in the classroom with mothers and kids, and then I got out of there around four. I came home and beat Kuniko back by about 20 minutes. We just had a simple yet separate dinner (she had broccoli – just broccoli – and I had Mexican spiced chicken in a salsa and cheese sauce). Tonight after a little bit we are going to hike to the distant shopping center to burn calories and do some shopping at the home center. I have some gardening I need to do with the warmer weather approaching.

Consider me very late to the party, but who knew that RSS could be so freaking useful. Every day when I use my computer I pull up about 20 websites, and then spend time checking to see if they are updated, reading up on articles in Japanese and English, and basically staying up to date with the world outside my apartment. On a recommendation from someone online I started pulling down RSS feeds from all of those sources, and I’m reading them all on one page with a nice portal RSS/module hub called Netvibes. It looks to save a whole lot of time.

I liked it so much that I went ahead and set up an RSS feed for this site. You can get it here, or by using the button over there on the right side of the page. Have fun, and let me know if you have any trouble with it. I’m still new to this…

Today Kuniko had to get up and go to work, but I had Sunday off. I was out of bed and fully functioning when I felt an earthquake around 9:45. It was fairly mild, but enough to be felt and big enough to shake the table, computer and TV in the living room. I looked outside and the stop lights were shaking a little, too. The employees of the gas station across the street were checking all the pumps for safety.

The quake actually happened to the northeast of us, and there was a fair amount of damage near the epicenter. Luckily nothing bad here, and all is well.

After the excitement of the earthquake I didn’t have much else to do. I went shopping and bought a whole bunch of food to keep me in meals this week. Kuniko is on a special diet so she is eating strange and unusual foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So that leaves me to fend for myself. I’ve got to get used to cooking for myself over the next two weeks.

While I was shopping at the supermarket there was a cute girl in a miniskirt working there giving away free beer. That’s right – read that last sentence again. That’s a situation you don’t see often in America. I just walked up and she handed me a cold can of beer with a big smile and asked me to try it sometime. Thanks – I will.

Not much else to report today. In the afternoon I studied, watched a downloaded movie (A Good Year, with Russell Crowe) and looked through the textbooks that I’ll be using at my new job.

After Kuniko got home I cooked up my dinner and she had some special diet soup. Then we drove over to Kuniko’s parents house to pick up some things and say hello. They were doing really well. We finally bought the plane tickets for our summer trip to Hawaii, and so it really started to sink in with them that we’re going. It turned out to be a little expensive, but summertime is the most expensive time to fly out of Japan. They had a couple of questions and I think they are getting excited about the trip.

We’re back home now with armloads of fresh vegetables. Too bad I went shopping today – there’s enough fresh veggies to feed me for two weeks. I’m going to have to work hard to eat them before they go bad.

Tomorrow Kuniko is working, and then she’s got a farewell party for some teachers in the evening. That will give her a break from her diet, and a break from her work. She’s in the middle of a three-weeks-no-day-off run. As for me, I don’t have any work tomorrow, so it’ll just be me at home with all these vegetables. And free beer.

Kuniko had to go to work this morning, and so we got up around 8:30 and she was gone 45 minutes later. I’ve got a little bit of a headache, but nothing a couple of aspirin won’t resolve.

Today I’m on cleanup duty and I also need to catch up with my Japanese studies. I was really struck last night by how much I understood of the all-Japanese conversation, but there is a lot more room for improvement. I want to get a little more comfortable with speaking, and I also want to review some of my older grammar books to practice putting simple sentences together quickly.

There are a couple of blogs I keep up with out there. One that has been interesting for me is Brenda’s blog. She is the American that replaced me in my previous job at Takasago Minami, and it is interesting to see it all through fresh eyes. She is really good about exploring the cultural side of Japan and explaining things as she sees them. She’s also good about not naming names in her blog – something that I did maybe too much back then.

In her blog she always mentions hanging out with her friends, who mostly appear to be foreigners like her. It really struck me that most of my friends here are Japanese. There are many kinds of experiences that people have living in foreign countries. One common experience is to recreate a bubble of your own culture wherever you are – a foreign friend network, foreign bars and restaurants, etc. Another experience is to “go native” and embrace all things in that country. Learn the language, participate in the culture, and try to fit in to the point of being as much as possible like everyone around you. Those are two extremes, but you can see both of those extremes in Japan.

Many foreigners I meet in Japan are definitely in the “living your own culture” group. These foreigners can sometimes be pretty bitter or angry because the culture that they live in every day doesn’t mesh with what they are used to with their own culture, and the cultures of the foreign friends they surround themselves with.

On the other hand I have met quite a few people that have tried so hard to fit into Japanese culture. They do a great job learning the language, praying at temples, and following customs and traditions. Invariably they become frustrated because in the end, they still are not Japanese, and can’t become native Japanese. They will always be treated differently.

My role here in Japanese culture will always be the foreigner that stands out. I’ll never fit in completely, but that isn’t something I really strive for. I do want to be able to function in Japan just like everyone else – communicate, shop, enjoy life.

Enough rambling psycho-babble. I’m off to do the dishes.

Friday – the end of the week at last. I had an easy time of it today because my classes don’t start until the second week of April. Still, I do have some classes now and then to help Nozaki sensei with new students. The entering students want to meet me at the outset to get an impression of me. I guess I’d want to do the same thing were I in their position.

Kuniko left for work, and around lunchtime I went to Tsuchiyama station, and got a ride from there from Miki sensei. Miki sensei is the teacher I am replacing, and she is really fun to talk to. We went over to Nozaki sensei’s house, and then set up in the classroom and got ready for the student and her mother to show up.

When they came we did a very short 10-15 minute session to get an idea of what level the student was, and which class she should join. I didn’t do much but talk to her – she was only 8 years old and a little shy. Miki sensei told me which class she should join, and she also talked to the mother to work out payment and logistics. I had a hard time reading the student – while we were speaking I thought she was too scared to continue, but afterwards as she left she said goodbye and she had a big smile on her face.

Back home I met up with Kuniko and did a little bit of shopping for the party tonight. We had four of her coworkers over for tacos and drinks. It was the same group of people that came over the night one teacher tumbled down our stairs. Tonight they were a little more under control, but just barely. I had to do a beer run in the middle of the evening as I got a better idea of what they were capable of. The Wii was super popular, and everybody really liked playing baseball, tennis and bowling. We played games and talked and drank almost until midnight, and then they left for home. Nobody fell down the stairs.

Thursday Kuniko had a chance to sleep in a little bit – she just had to work the second half of the day. I had to go take my driving test in Akashi, so I gathered up all the paperwork I needed and headed out.

In Akashi I took the bus to get to the license center, and then checked in at the counter at around 9:45. I followed the procedures they outlines, checking in at a different window, and then watching a video with the rest of the people scheduled that day. I talked with a few other foreigners that were there from various countries, and they all said that it was a really tough test. One lady was there for the fourth time, another guy I talked to said it was his fifth time.

Finally about an hour before the test they let us walk the course. They course is a closed course on city property. There are fake railroad crossings, hills, and really tricky turning areas. The foreigners all have the same route through the course (course 18) and it seemed like it was an easy course to me. There was no railroad crossing, no hills, and no parallel parking.

I walked the course twice, and then went inside and we gathered for an explanation. The guy was very strict, and told us all (in Japanese) that it takes a long time to memorize and complete the course correctly, so we should relax and be patient. I was second in line for the driving test, so I got in back of a car and the number one in line guy got in the driver’s seat. The proctor sat in the passenger seat, and was the typical “very serious Japanese old guy”. He even wore a police uniform that made everything seem scarier.

The driver in my car was unable to start the car (because he didn’t have the clutch in), he didn’t look over his shoulder on left turns (big no-no) and he drove through a turning lane and went straight instead. It didn’t look good for him. We got back to the start, and they had me get out of the car so the proctor could explain the results. The guy was in there a long time. He got out shaking his head and looking mad, and then it was my turn.

It was no picnic. I started off by hitting the wipers instead of the blinker on the first turn. I made all the right turns though, and had problems with looking over my shoulder. There is a particular order you have do everything – from adjusting your seat at the beginning to looking at your mirrors at each intersection. That is a lot to keep track of, and coupled with all the stress no wonder people fail so much.

After a five minute drive we got back to the start, and I parked the car. The guy said (in Japanese) that I had done well. He said that I need to drive closer to the left side of the road – motorcycles and bicycles might sneak into that gap creating a dangerous situation. He told me to keep that in mind when I try next time. Then he wrote fail on my sheet and sent me out of the car. Ouch.

Apparently they are looking for a perfect score. I wasn’t mad but I think I was shaking my head as I walked back in. The next available appointment was in the middle of April, but since I will be working then I couldn’t schedule a next time right then.

I’m not sure why the driving test is so strict. It doesn’t reflect on the reality of driving in the real world. Shouldn’t it prepare drivers for the driving environment of Japan? Some parts, like the close-quarters turns and the cones in the road are good preparation, but most things seem like it’s just a way to keep too many people from driving.

I gathered up my stuff and headed out the door to catch the bus back. It was about 2 p.m. I had to wait a long time for the bus, and as I did I saw the other foreigners coming out of the building, each one shaking their heads or frowning. It wasn’t a good day for foreigners at the license center.

The bus ride back to Akashi was about 10 minutes, and then I took the train home from there. Kuniko got home late and we had some healthy dinner (rice and miso soup that Kuniko made). I watched a little TV with Kuniko but ended up going to bed early. I was tired from all that stress.

Wednesday Kuniko and I left home early to meet up with Antoine and Miwako in Motomachi to go on a day hike. We were meeting at seven in the morning, but Kuniko and I showed up five minutes late. We courteously sent a message to Antoine and Miwako letting them know, but when we arrived – nobody was there.

Miscommunication can happen anytime, between anybody. I was afraid that maybe I gave them the wrong date, time or place. I reviewed the messages that I sent and everything was OK, so we had no choice but to wait. A few minutes later we got a message from Antoine saying that they were looking for parking, and where exactly were we? That message surprised us because parking in Kobe is really expensive – we thought they would come by train.

Finally they showed up – Miwako had parked her car at a 7-11 convenience store. It didn’t seem legal to me, but she was pretty confident. We started climbing from there. I noticed that they weren’t really dressed for a long hike – they had only a small handbag and only one layer of clothes. Kuniko asked me if I had told them that we were hiking all the way to Arima, and I assured her that I had.

The hike was great – the weather was perfect, and we walked up the side of the mountain behind Kuniko’s school. There were a few houses up there, ranging from abandoned shacks to beautiful houses. It seeemed pretty remote (how do they go grocery shopping?) but it was very quiet.

We made steady progress up and along the mountain, and everyone was feeling the burn in our legs. With plenty of stops and some junk food that I brought along we were OK. Kuniko guided us all the way to the top of Mt. Rokko, and then we walked along the edge in an upscale neighborhood. The houses taking in the view were like expensive beach houses along the California coast.

About that time, Miwako got a phone call. It was weird to get a cellphone call in what felt like such a remote place, but I guess in Japan they’ve got you covered. While Miwako talked on the phone the rest of us walked up ahead to give her privacy until she was done.

We found two restaurants at the top of the hill, and it worked out perfectly for lunchtime. We picked one called “The Genghis Khan BBQ Terrace” which had all you can eat barbecued meat, vegetables and fish. We ordered up some beers and dug into the food – we were starving. The view from up there was beautiful, and the restaurant felt very upscale.

We had been eating for about ten minutes when Miwako got up and told us that she would be right back – keep on eating. I thought she was going to get more meat, but when she didn’t come right back I figured she went to the bathroom. After a while Antoine and I were both wondering what happened to her when Kuniko guessed that she went back to Kobe.

Between the three of us we pieced together that she had gotten a phone call from the owner of 7-11, and they wanted her to move her car. She was apparently high-tailing it back down the mountain on a bus or taxi, taking a train to Motomachi, apologizing and driving her car back to the base of the mountain, and then getting a ride back up the hill. Of course, that was going to take a while, so we slowed down eating and just killed time.

I guess Miwako has done this before – there are several places that she is not allowed to park in the Kansai area because the owners have had to call the police. The police give the owners the phone number of the person based on the license plate of the car, and then the owners call the illegal parker and try to get them to move. Often the owners of the parking area will try to inform you in the most embarrassing way possible – for example they will call your company instead of you directly and ask for your boss. Crazy.

Anyway, several beers and many plates of BBQ meat later, we paid for our meal and left. We sat out in the sun and watched cars go by on the road to kill time. Kuniko went shopping at a nearby gift store. Antoine and I enjoyed the view. Then, a taxi pulled up and Miwako was back.

Considering the length of time we spent sitting around on top of the mountain, and the apparent state of unpreparedness of Antoine and Miwako, we decided to take the cable car back down the hill from there, instead of going on to Arima – another two hours ahead. The nice thing was that Miwako had her car waiting for us at the bottom, and she gave us a ride to the station.

Next stop for us was shopping for something to bring to dinner, and then we went home and jumped in the shower. We walked to the station and caught a train to Higashi Kakogawa to have dinner with the Nozaki family.

At the station we met Miyake sensei and together we walked down the steps and met Nozaki sensei’s husband who picked us up in his car. He introduced himself to me in English, and then in Japanese to Miyake sensei and Kuniko.

Nozaki sensei lived in New York for five years or so with her husband while he was working at a Japanese bank there. His English was really good, and I think he really enjoyed the chance to use it again. We got to their house (which is also my new workplace) and we all sat around a table in the “classroom” which had been converted back to a dining room setup.

Nozaki sensei really created a delicious dinner. It was a wide variety of foods – including some recipes that she learned in New York. They served a bottle of champagne and we sat and talked about this and that. After dinner she excused her husband and daughter, so we all sat and talked around the table.

It turns out that Nozaki sensei used to be featured on TV every now and then. About ten years ago she was living in Tokyo, and appeared on several shows. She is very good with math – and has won several awards for her speed on the abacus. She can look at a long series of numbers and add them up in a few seconds. For example, when she goes shopping she puts down the correct amount of money before they have even finished scanning her items. She even adds the tax. She showed us a video of her on two TV shows. On one show they tested her – she raced against a scanner, she added up the prices of homes from a newspaper ad, and she was always correct. At the end of the show they dubbed her a “Super Wife”.

After dinner we had dessert – as it turns out there was a lot of dessert. We ate big, and then finally worked out a few things about my upcoming classes. Then we called it a night. Nozaki sensei even drove us home, which was really beyond the call of duty. It was nice to get right to bed, though. My legs were tired from hiking all day.

Tuesday Kuniko got up to go to school really early, and I got up with her. I originally had planned to go hiking with Antoine today, but we rescheduled the hike to Wednesday to allow his girlfriend Miwako and Kuniko to come along. That left me with a free day.

I cleaned house a little bit, had breakfast and answered some email during the morning. I also did a little bit of shopping at the grocery store. People around town give me a double take when they see me during the day walking around. I think they are wondering why I’m not at work somewhere. It shouldn’t be a big deal – lots of foreigners only work nights at language schools – that’s when Japanese people are free to learn. Still, I get even more attention walking around during the workday.

Back home, Kuniko called the home phone out of the blue, and asked me to do her a big favor. She had forgotten some cookies from New Zealand that she was going to bring for her students’ party. She asked me to bring them to her school. She arranged to meet me at the front gate at 11:30. I got organized and headed out around ten.

I hadn’t really ever visited the school without Kuniko guiding me there, so I put in a little extra time just in case I got lost. Luckily I found the school right away. Unfortunately I was twenty minutes early. There was a guard at the gate (because it is a girls’ school they want to keep the perverts away) and I tried to drop off the cookies with him and head back. He wouldn’t take the cookies, instead guiding me inside. I repeated my plea to the front desk but the pretty girl working there insisted that I follow her to a meeting room to wait for Kuniko herself. While I was waiting she turned on all the heaters and came back with tea for me to drink. All this time I never identified myself as Kuniko’s husband, because I know it would cause a comotion.

Finally Kuniko made it in to see me. She was both sorry to have dragged me all the way there and embarrassed that I was at her school. She brought a friend in to meet me, and then waited until there was a break in the stream of students leaving to sneak me out.

Kuniko recently put me on her insurance, because I’m going to be working “off the record” with Nozaki sensei and I won’t be insured through her school. When Kuniko filed the paperwork, she said the office staff looked a little concerned and sympathetic – to them it looked like I was some unemployed American bum living off my poor hard-working wife.

Then I showed up today dressed in jeans and my ratty clean-the-house shirt and they must have really been impressed. Now I was getting a better sense about why Kuniko might be a little embarrassed. We walked from the school down to the local convenience store to buy some drinks for the party, and on the way Kuniko said that the office staff had said I looked like Leo DiCaprio. So I guess I’m a relatively famous-looking unemployed American bum.

After saying goodbye to Kuniko I stopped on the way home in Chinatown and had some spicy suigyoza and pork buns, and then made a quick stop at the import food store to get supplies for (yet another) taco party this Friday. Several of Kuniko’s coworkers will be stopping by as kind of a farewell party for one teacher.

Now I’m back home and I’ve got dinner all ready to go. We’re having some more Japanese food tonight – rice, miso soup and vegetables. Tomorrow is the big hike with Antoine and Miwako – we’re going to have to get up early again…

Sorry for taking so long to post. I’ve been surprisingly busy, considering I don’t really have a job to go to during the day.

This weekend was pretty relaxing. Sunday Kuniko had her first real day off since she arrived from New Zealand, so we cancelled the hike and instead hung out at home and relaxed all day. She cooked some food for her students in the morning, and I scored some leftovers in the evening. We decided to take a long walk to the shopping center that I had visited while Kuniko was gone, so we got some late night exercise hiking there and back at a fast pace.

Monday I had a chance to go to see Nozaki sensei’s school in action. This week is the last week for the teacher working there now, and Monday was a good time to see her teach a class and be able to talk to her and ask questions. She picked me up at the train station (just a ten minute train ride – big difference from my last job), and we went over to Nozaki sensei’s house.

The house has a separate room dedicated as a classroom. The students all arrive pretty much on time, and then file into the room and go through a routine to get started. Since I was there it shook up the routine a little bit, but the students were so busy doing their chores that they didn’t really have too much time to be distracted.

It was really interesting to watch the classes. This teacher, Miki sensei, has been teaching there for a year, and so she knows all the students by name, she knows whether they have late homework or not, or what their family situation is like. She has a very diverse lesson plan and she knocked it out quickly and efficiently. I learned a lot from watching her. One thing that I’m going to have to do it use more Japanese than I’m used to. Miki sensei used almost all English, but these students can be pretty young – mostly in elementary school – so they really only speak Japanese and they like to chat. Miki sensei said that I should just use English, but I think that will probably be close to impossible. I might need to use a lot of Japanese at first to make the students comfortable.

Nozaki sensei came home from work early, and I got a chance to meet her daughter and her mother – they happened to be around. Kuniko and I will be coming over for dinner on Wednesday, so we didn’t really talk that much other than the business at hand. The students kept me and Miki sensei busy most of the time. There were three classes, running from about 3:30 to about 6:30.

My success story for the day was one boy who had decided to quit once he heard that a foreigner would be teaching next year. He came today in what was his second to last class, and after sitting next to me during the lesson and talking with me a little bit, he decided that he’d like to keep coming. His mother called after their class and said that they’d like to continue through next year as well. I was glad that I hadn’t scared off any of Nozaki sensei’s business.

Nozaki sensei also gave me some train tickets to use going back and forth, and then I caught a ride with Miki sensei back to the station. It was really nice to meet her – she’s going to try to find a job with a company because apparently she can’t find any husband material at her current job. She’s a woman that is looking to get married ASAP.

At least my stay here is temporary. The last two days have been very quiet – not much to report really. Kuniko has gone into work both days and worked a regular schedule, and I’ve been staying home studying, doing chores, and not much else.

I got a couple of emails from my staffing company over the last two days. They were really happy with the job we did at the university, so that was nice to hear. They also have a couple of jobs for next term, but they are really far away – both are more than 30 minutes away from Osaka in the wrong direction. I’m glad I wasn’t depending on them to come through for my next job.

Speaking of the next job, Kuniko and I are going to go over to Nozaki sensei’s house next week to have dinner. We’ll probably work out a schedule, and I’m looking forward to getting set up with new students and a new neighborhood to explore.

Tomorrow Kuniko has to work during the day, but she should be free on Sunday. We’re thinking about going on a hike Sunday if the weather is nice. We both need the exercise and it would be fun to get outside for a while.

More updates as events warrant…

This morning was a real challenge getting up. Not only was it really cold, but I had to get up and leave Kuniko behind wrapped up in the electric blanket. We did have a little time in the morning before I left to look at all the souvenirs that she brought back, and she really got some good stuff.

She brought me back an original piece of artwork signed by the artist, a DVD of “River Queen” that was made in New Zealand, a bottle of wine, and lots of other goodies. She also brought lots of stuff for her family and co-workers – her suitcase was full of souvenirs.

I had to go to work, so I headed off to the station, and then met up with Robert and Corey at Rokkomichi station. We caught a bus there and headed to the college. The bus was really full, and I asked Robert if there was some kind of event going on. He said that he didn’t know, but once we arrived at the college we figured it out.

At the school they were receiving the new students for the new school year. The new students have a couple of weeks to file their paperwork with the college, and the college is full of new freshmen and their parents. But it wasn’t just them, the school was packed with older students who try hard to recruit the new students in clubs. Also there were lots of salespeople trying to sell things to the new students. Some students move out of their homes when they go to college, so it’s a great opportunity to try to sell them everything – beds, computers, phone lines, credit cards, refrigerators, you name it.

The way it was set up was that the new students came to the main entrance with their parents and their paperwork. There was only one exit, so the older students from each club lined the exit. Students leaving had to walk through a huge crowd of club papparazi trying to hand them fliers. It was really interesting to watch – I’ve never seen anything like it.

Today’s work was much like the last two days. We mixed up speeches with interviews and also with a panel discussion. We worked straight through until lunch, and then went to the cafeteria and had to fight for a seat. We were sitting next to a group of students, and Corey politely said hello to them in English. That sent them chattering in Japanese – saying how it was scary to talk to foreigners, and they didn’t know what they would do if a foreigner started to talk to them. Corey and I could understand them easily, so we relayed the information to Robert and thought a little more about why Japanese students have such a hard time with English.

Next we went to a hallway to check a bulletin board. Corey’s wife happens to be a graduate student at the college, so we were doing a little footwork for her. After that was finished we headed out the back door, and then realized that we would have to walk through the line of club members recruiting. They laughed and tried to get us to join the clubs anyway, but we just smiled and walked through.

On the way back we stopped in and talked with a professor from Australia that is teaching there. For me, he was interesting to talk to because someday I’d like a job like his. It’s my target right now – get an advanced degree and then start teaching on my own in a university setting. Whether I can do that someday or not – I’m not sure. He was encouraging, but he also said that with the ever-present threat of outsourcing he was starting to wonder how long things will be good for foreign professors at Japanese universities. Some food for thought.

The afternoon flew by, and we finished early so the professor told us that we could go home. He was a really nice guy – he wished us all well personally, and then sent us off. We were happy to leave an hour early – we hurried down to the bus stop and then we said our own goodbyes at the station.

Robert works for the same staffing company that I do, but they still haven’t come up with any new jobs for their employees for the new year. He’s starting to get a little nervous. He needs a job for about six months in Japan before he heads back to Scotland to live permanently. He has been traveling and living all over the world for the past five years, and I think he’s ready to settle down. He’s got a Japanese girlfriend that wants to go back with him, so I do hope that he is able to get back and succeed. He was a really nice guy to work with.

Corey was really happy to finish his career teaching in Japan today, and he’s looking forward to heading back to Victoria, Canada to go to graduate school. Corey really didn’t like teaching, and was really frustrated with the Japanese education system. He wasn’t really utilized very well as an assistant teacher, and that also really frustrated him.

His plan is to leave Japan with his wife in a few weeks, and travel back the long way. He’s going to try to travel from Japan to Canada without using a plane. They’ll be travelling across Siberia on the transcontinental railroad, with plenty of stops along the way. They’ve got some family in China to visit, and then eventually they’ll make their way across Europe, take a boat across the ocean to Canada, and then take trains across Canada back to Victoria. He’s going to blog his adventure – I’m hoping he’s able to keep it up to date while he’s traveling.

After saying goodbye to those guys I stopped in Sannomiya to get some more tortillas, and then I came on back home. Kuniko is meeting some friends for a dinner date that she made before her trip, so I’m not expecting her until late.

Tonight I’m just relaxing. I had some tacos for dinner (big surprise) and now I’m going to do a little bit of studying until Kuniko gets back. Tomorrow I’m back to being unemployed, but I’m so tired right now that it just feels like it’s Friday night.