It was a big Monday.

I was tossing and turning all night suffering from sunburn on the tops of my feet, of all places. I guess it is just one of the prices of sitting around on the beach all day. I was musing aloud to Kuniko that I used to be able to sit around the beach in California without sunscreen – I wonder why I got burned this time. Kuniko joked around that it is probably the ozone layer is that much thinner. She might be right…

Actually, I have no one to blame but myself – I put sunscreen everywhere else and the tops of my feet and ankles are the only parts that got crispy. It made my hot bath in the morning and putting socks on a real adventure.

At school I had just one class today, a lecture to a chemistry class. Luckily the class is one that usually teach English to – in fact, I will teach them English next week. They all filed in and immediately started wondering what the hell Bryan was doing there.

The chemistry teacher, Nishikawa sensei, introduced me and told them that I would be talking about wine, and it would all be in English – just to scare them a little. I took over and started off the lecture the same way I do all my classes – “Hello! Good morning everyone!” Then I lectured for the next 40 minutes entirely in Japanese.

At first the students looked around in surprise, and then they paid attention. I had done a Powerpoint presentation so there was half English and half Japanese written down for them to observe. I also had lots of pictures for them to look at, and I explained as best I could the fermentation process, and how everything combines to make a quality wine.

Lecturing in Japanese is seriously difficult. I had no notes other than the Powerpoint as my guide, and I came up with some really strange Japanese. I would start to explain something, get going down the road, and then realize I didn’t know how to finish off the explanation. It was really tough, but not impossible. A lot of times I would hear snickers as I probably had said something really stupid, and other times I could hear myself clearly making stupid mistakes, but the words were already out of my mouth – no taking them back! It was a good insight into how my Japanese English teachers feel every day they teach with me.

To add to the pressure, the principal and vice principal of the school came to watch, the history teacher was there, and three other teachers, one taking pictures.

Once I finished the presentation I asked if there were any questions, and I looked with some alarm at the clock and realized I had almost 10 minutes extra to kill. Luckily, some students actually asked some questions! These are the same silent students from my English class, and now they were talking! One boy asked about how tannins combine in red wine, and if there is an upper limit to the flavor structures they create. Another boy asked me what temperature wine should be stored, and he was writing down my answer – but he was a little young to have a cellar at home.

After those questions the teachers pitched in to help kill the time with some questions. They asked about different wood types – why oak for barrels? How old do you have to be to drink in America, how much flavor does a barrel impart? The vice principal asked me a question in English, which caught me off-guard. I answered in Japanese, just in case.

It was a sweaty, tough lecture, but I got through it and I’m really proud of myself. It’s one of those stories I’ll be able to tell over a beer – “You think that lecture was tough? Check this out…”

Later I dropped by the principal’s office to chat, and it was here that I got a reality check about how far my Japanese has really come. We were talking about this and that, and I asked him if he could write a quick letter of recommendation for me for a job interview that I have on Tuesday. This simple request set off a chain of events that I had to deal with for the next two hours.

It’s a long story, but it seems that he and Hasegawa sensei (the guy who has been looking for a job for me) thought that I had found a job teaching at a language school. As far as I knew, everybody was still keeping an eye out for me, and as it turned out, they weren’t anymore.

We talked it out and discovered that an email exchange I had two weeks ago with Hasegawa sensei in Japanese caused him to believe that I was going to work at a conversation school for a few months until April when the new school started. That is my backup plan, but somehow when I wrote the mail to him, he thought it was my main plan, and he called off the dogs, so to speak.

My principal and I had several other miscommunications while we tried to iron out the original one, and finally we got it worked out and I called Hasegawa sensei and we’re on the same page. It ain’t easy speaking a foreign language, but it’s even tougher when your job future might hinge on what the guy in front of you is saying. More pressure!

Two hours later I came back to my desk and was able to decompress. I had lunch, and then went to attend a meeting of students that are interested in taking the new International Understanding course that will be offered next term. Mr. Hayashi had some friends from Australia coming to talk to the students, so I waited with them while they finished up lunch downstairs with the principal.

It was fun to talk to the students while we were waiting. I taught them useful words like “armpit” and “strict”, and I got a chance to talk to some students who are really good at English but for some reason or another don’t really speak out during my class.

Finally the Australians arrived – three giant people who came into the room and started speaking to the students. The main guy runs a museum in Perth, and will be hosting some of the students on their trip this summer. He seemed like a really nice guy, and he spoke some broken Japanese to the students, while Mr. Hayashi supplied vocabulary when his ran out. He also brought his daughter, and another lady that is teaching English somewhere in Hyogo, although I’m not sure if she was a JET or not.

I couldn’t get over their size, to tell you the truth. The were packing on pounds, and the guy was really tall to boot. They told some good stories, and the students for the most part paid attention and even asked a couple of questions (How old are you?), so I think it was a success. It wasn’t an English class, it was about international understanding, and I think that part worked OK.

The rest of my day I was getting ready for my interview tomorrow, and wrapping up the grades for this term. I got home at the regular time, which was nice, and now I’m getting dinner ready for Kuniko when she arrives. We’re going to have a chicken teriyaki donburi, and we should have plenty of rice leftover from that to power our lunches for a couple of days.

Kuniko was off to work again – on another everlasting weekend-less week. Rather than just sit around at home and sweat and do more packing, I decided to head for the beach.

I went to Suma beach because it is the closest to an authentic beach as I’m going to get. The day was sunny, and there were lots of people out there. I bought a sandwich and two big cold beers and sat out in the sun enjoying the sound of the little mini-waves lapping against the sand.

They had built a lot of temporary restaurants/bars to cater to the beach crowd, and while I was walking around looking at them one of the hawkers out front called out my name. I was surprised – my first thought was, “How do they know my name?” Was I wearing a name tag or something? Then I recognized the guy – he was a student of mine two years ago.

I chatted with him a while in Japanese, and we got caught up. He was a really cool student back then, and now he’s enjoying college and doing part time work to earn spending money.

I found a good place to sit down by the water, and there weren’t too many people around – it wasn’t like some beaches where there are people laying out just a few feet away all around you.

There was a young couple next to me – a girl that looked about 18, but she was drinking an alcoholic beverage so maybe she was older. She was with what at first I thought was her boyfriend, but I couldn’t immediately tell the sex. The girl drinking was wearing a tiny bikini, something you don’t often see on the beaches in Japan. She was bouncing around and splashing in the water and trying to get her boyfriend to come down and play with her. Her boyfriend was interested in smoking and spacing out. Finally when some other guys starting paying a lot of attention to the girl bouncing around he walked down. As he walked down to the water I saw that he was wearing a bra!

Well, it was a sports bra, but it was a bra. I tried not to stare, but they were hanging out and holding hands and not quite kissing but close. They got in the water together and were kind of holding each other, but both of them were acting strangely. I don’t know quite what was going on. One way or another, I think there were two sexually confused people down there in the water.

Other than watching the lesbian bikini show I read my book, did some vocabulary on my handheld computer, and enjoyed the awesome weather. Finally, once the heat was too much I headed back to the train station, and took the train to Maiko park, and then lounged around some more on the grass in the shade and took in views of the Akashi bridge. After about an hour of that, I was finally ready to head home.

I got back, took a cold shower, and then set about doing a little bit of organizing. Luckily, Kuniko got home early, so we were able to have a simple healthy dinner of tofu, stir fried sprouts and mushrooms, and a couple of nikuman.

We got a new game for the Nintendo DS, Super Mario Brothers, and so Kuniko is playing away right now. She’s only got a couple hours to relax this weekend, so I’m staying out of her way and letting her chill out.

Tomorrow is Monday, and it’s back to a long schedule. I’ve got a lecture in Japanese to a chemistry class, and I’m not sure how that is going to work out. It should be very interesting whether it turns out to be a success or a train wreck.

Despite being a Saturday, Kuniko had to go to work just like any other day. It was the last day of exams today, and afterwards she had to attend a PTA party. I don’t think it is going to be a wild one.

I’ll save Kuniko a little embarrassment and not mention how it turned out that she drove to work. I had to get up and help out with community cleanup, but it went fairly well knowing that it is my last time doing it. It was a particulary hot day, and the mosquitos were biting – I came home with seven big bites all over my body.

Lots of sweat the rest of the day. I ironed some shirts, packed away dishes and kitchen stuff, and sat in front of the hot computer typing away at my journal. The good news is that I made some pickles from some homegrown cucumbers and they make a good cold snack in the refrigerator.

I didn’t have any newspapers to wrap dishes, so I walked over to the common room of the complex and found a couple of ladies working on a project. I asked if they might have some old newspapers, and one lady ran upstairs and got me a big bundle. They were really nice, and one of the kids that was playing asked me increduously, “You speak Japanese?”

It should be a pretty mellow afternoon. I’m going to head over to IY to do some shopping for dinner, and maybe enjoy the air conditioning a little bit.

Friday was the last day of exams, and the last day of a nice string of half days. I am sure that once I get a new job my life will have less of these little perks that I’ve gotten used to. I’ve already mentally noted that 2003-2006 will be remembered as the “Golden Age” of my life.

For now, I’m just trying to enjoy the time as it comes. I spent the morning working with one of the chemistry teachers to make sure that everything is ready for my presentation on Monday.

My listening test was administered to the first year students during second period, and once again I had that weird feeling of hearing my voice being broadcast throughout the school – echoing through the hallways and booming out the windows of the first year classrooms out into the neighborhood. It’s a genuinely weird feeling.

After the exam ended I was stuck with marking them all, so I just sat down and busted through them. It went pretty smoothly, actually, and I got finished and out of school by 1:30.

I spent the afternoon working around the house, doing some moving stuff, and reading a book. Kuniko got home early, so we had a quick meal, and then decided to go over to visit her parents to get some paperwork signed. Although we had eaten dinner, Kuniko’s mom served coffee and crackers and dessert, and we left with very full stomachs.

This morning I had to stick around and make a long distance phone call to the USA instead of going with Kuniko to the train station. The call was about the rail passes and train tickets that we are using for our trip. I had ordered a couple of weeks ago, and since then nothing had happened. I called, and apparently there was a problem on their end and the order was stuck in limbo.

I talked to the lady and because of the time that had elapsed, one of the trains that I had thought I had reserved had filled up. We had to choose another train, in a less comfortable sleeping arrangement, and we spend less time at our destination. To be honest, though, I was just happy to get any train there, and hopefully it will just add to the adventure. I politely complained about their system, and she apologized, but both of us could see clearly that there was nothing that could be done about it now.

So, the lesson is, be very careful about buying a rail pass if you travel in Europe, and unfortunately you cannot trust their website to do it correctly. Living in Japan I have to depend on the web a lot to take care of things back in the USA, but this was one instance where I had to buckle down and make a long distance internation call and get things ironed out. Being on hold so long is going to be expensive.

While I was on hold, Kuniko walked by before she left and asked me why I was waiting. I told her that it is quite popular to put people on hold, but she was really surprised. That made me think of all the phone calls I’ve made in Japan (admittedly, not a lot) and I’ve never been on hold. Kuniko said that you just leave your name and number and they will call you back later. That shifts the burden to them and you can get on with your life.

At school I had to do some odd jobs relating to my exam on Friday, and I finished my presentation on fermentation for next week’s chemistry lecture. There’s not much chemistry in the lecture, mainly because I forgot most of it, and also because I fear that I won’t be able to explain the chemistry in Japanese as most of the words are on the technical side. Instead I’ve got really cool formulas like “Yeast + Grape Juice = Ethanol + CO2”. This will be a very rudimentary lecture.

Okamoto-san (formerly Tsuji-san) was at her folk’s house doing some chores and she sent me a message to come over and say hello. She had a return gift since I had given her some money for her wedding. It was a bottle of port that she had found in a local wine shop. It was a nice one, too – straight from Portugal. I’ll stash it away and enjoy it on a cold night with some chocolate. It was a great idea for a present.

On the train home I sat with a bunch of boy students, who all spoke to me in English. We kept it going all the way to Nishi Futami station, and I waved them off to go home and study. At IY I bought lots of meat for lunch and dinner – I’ve been craving meat for a couple of days now. I did shabu-shabu for lunch and then two small steaks for dinner. Oh yeah!

I got some more packing done today as well, but I think I’m approaching the point where we’ve got just the things we use daily, and the kitchen. I’m guessing I can do a little bit of the kitchen this weekend, and then gradually work on the other stuff as we approach the move date.

Kuniko is out drinking with her co-workers tonight – it’s the young teacher group from her school. I’m on call to go out there and take her to the nearest love hotel if the situation requires it, but I think tonight will be a little more mellow compared to the last time.

Another short day at work. I did my vocabulary, read a little bit of the book I am reading, and after the second exam sat in on two presentations. The students that did the presentations were absent for the actual day of their presentation, and because their grade was based on the presentation, they needed to do it.

Right after the second exam was over, I talked to Yamamoto sensei and he saw no reason for me to stick around – so I left a little earlier than usual. I caught the train home, and on the train I sat with one of my students. He and I like the same kind of music – the kid is in a time warp back to the 70s and 80s, and he likes Judas Priest, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, all those guys. I had just a little bit of juice left in my iPod so I let him listen to a little Rob Zombie to bring him slightly more up to date. He really liked it, so I wrote down the name for him and I think he might go shopping later. He’s not a good student at school – I think his grades are consistently low, but he is a nice guy and fun to talk to.

At home I changed clothes and had a quick lunch, and then took the train into Sannomiya. There I went to Uniqlo and bought a couple of pairs of slacks. They didn’t have one of the colors I wanted in my size, however, so another visit to Uniqlo is in my future.

Afterwards I met up with Kuniko and together we went to the Mont Bell store. I found a backpack that will serve as both of our suitcases on the trip to Europe. Now I’ll be able to say that I backpacked around Europe one summer when I was young. It’s not huge but it is comfortable and spacious, and I think I might be able to fit Kuniko in there if she gets tired of walking around.

We did some shopping around on the way back to the station, and Kuniko managed to pick up some new shoes and some new underwear along the way. By the time we got back to Nishi Futami she was running out of gas. We bought some Ito Yokado sushi and ate it in the living room while watching TV, and then I started organizing the house for tomorrow. Kuniko is conked out right now in the living room. Hopefully she’ll get lots of sleep tonight and be recharged tomorrow.

Today was the second day of my easy week. I arrived at work and knocked out my daily quota of vocabulary, and that freed me up to work on my powerpoint presentation for the chemistry students next week. I spent about an hour on it today, and it was fun to try to figure out the best way to explain wine fermentation in ways that the students might understand.

Just before noon I did a make-up interview test for two students, and then headed out the door. At the train station I just missed the train, so I sat around learning some new vocabulary. I looked up at one point when a train came on the opposite side of the tracks, and two boys from another high school were sitting in the window making goofy faces at me. I carefully stuck out my tongue at them, and then we all kind of smiled and laughed about it as the train pulled away. Just a little reminder not to get old yet.

On the way home I stopped in at IY and had a “Hot Chili Straight Burger” from Lotteria. It wasn’t hot, although the chili was quite good. I ate the burger in about 30 seconds, and was wholly unsatisfied. I looked back at the counter to see if they had something else to eat and all three of the employees were staring at me like they had never seen anybody wolf a burger before. I smiled at them, and two of them smiled back while the other ducked into the back of the store.

I went ahead and ordered a regular burger, and then sat down and ate that one a little more slowly. I carefully didn’t look at the counter – just in case.

After a little bit of shopping at the grocery store I came back with some empty boxes to pack up things at home. They are big onion boxes, and luckily they don’t smell like it.

My afternoon was pretty mellow – I called my folks, did some laundry, and spent about an hour or so packing. I figure if I do about an hour a day this week we’ll have a good jump on things for later.

Kuniko promised that she’ll get home late again tonight. She’s going to leave early tomorrow to meet me in Kobe, so she’s going to try to get everything done tonight. Overworked! Underpaid!

I saw a posting today for a job in Kobe, at a Berlitz School. It looked good until I found out that there is mandatory unpaid training, and a one year contract required, effectively putting me out of the job market for next April. They sent me a huge questionnaire to fill out if I am interested, and there are lots and lots of deep questions. I think I’ll have to pass, though. The search continues!

Today Kuniko had to leave early for work, so I left our house at the same time and ended up arriving at school before even the janitor got there. I had to open the door myself which is a very rare thing.

Exams started today at my school, and so I had a lot of free time. I spent almost 30 minutes in my classroom folding a paper airplane for my extra lessons next week. I’m going to do a paper airplane lesson, and I want some examples to show the students. I found the plans for this one of the internet, and it took some work but it came out pretty well.

I flew it around the classroom, but it became apparent quickly that I needed more space for this one. I took it out in the hallway, but it often hit the walls, so that was a problem.

Then I had the bright idea to take it up to the fourth floor and throw it out the window. That side of the school had no students – they were all in the other side taking tests. I opened the window, and hesitated for a little bit. I don’t know why, but I felt a little guilty. Here I was a 34 year old worried about whether I was going to get caught throwing a paper airplane out the window. I looked around, and the coast was clear. Finally I just chucked it out the window.

It flew really well. Lucky for me it flew in a huge circle, eventually coming back towards the school instead of continuing on to the school swimming pool where it would meet a watery end. It drifted for quite a long time, and it really was a good paper airplane. I went out and recovered the plane, and then brought it back inside and stashed it away for next week. Nobody saw me – mission accomplished!

My school principal was on a business trip, but he called in and asked for me. He had talked to Hasegawa sensei, and he wanted me to get in touch with him. I sent an email to Hasegawa sensei and got an answer in Japanese. The gist was that Hasegawa sensei had opened up a dialog with a private high school, but some circumstances changed and it looks like they aren’t looking for an ALT anymore. He asked me a question at the end of the message, and I am a little stumped about what it might mean. I’ll check with Kuniko when she gets home tonight.

I’m leaving school every day this week at noon, because of the exams. I came home today and then went over to the eye doctor to check on contact lenses. We did an eye exam, and then found some contacts that seemed to work for me. They gave me a free set to try for two weeks, and then I’m going to go back and do another check. It’s a nice deal, and I want to take advantage of these kind of things before my insurance expires at the end of my job contract.

I also did some packing this afternoon. I’ve carved out a little corner of our bedroom to start putting stuff away. I don’t think we have that much to deal with, but I’m trying to get a jump on it since this month will be busy anyway.

Kuniko will get back a little late tonight, and the plan is to cook up a little spaghetti for us when she gets home. Tomorrow is another half day, and it will likely be more of the same.

Kuniko and I got up early today – 3 a.m. One of Kuniko’s students was on an early flight back to Canada, so I decided to join Kuniko on her trip to the airport. It is a long, boring drive, and even more boring that early. We got all ready and then hit the road, and the biggest delays were the traffic lights getting to the freeway – they were on a timer that seemed to last forever to switch over.

We made the long drive there and met up with another teacher at Kuniko’s school, Hakogi sensei. We all stood around waiting for Haley to show up, and when she did there were endless pictures. Haley’s friends from school were there, her host family, some Rotary representatives, and us. Everyone had to be in the picture, and everyone had brought cameras so every combination of person and camera had to done.

There were lots of tearful goodbyes, and Haley got to the security gate with minutes to spare for her flight. Soon after we waved goodbye Kuniko and I were at McDonald’s for breakfast, and then back on the road home. We got back around 9 a.m., and we both crashed right out to sleep.

Fast forward to about 2 p.m. and we woke up and got organized. Now I’m typing this up and soon we’ll be heading to Kuniko’s folks for dinner.

Next week my exam period starts, so I’ll get half days all week. I plan on doing some things that I haven’t been able to do because of work. I’ll go to have my eyes checked out, do some packing at home for the move, and take care of paperwork and other fun stuff. Time is really starting to fly, now.

I woke up with a slight hangover but nothing too bad – just the result of combining beer, wine and tequila with lots of hot sauce. Kuniko and I got organized and we were out the door and off to the train station.

We caught a train all the way to the outskirts of Kyoto to meet up with some of Kuniko’s old college friends. The plan was to do a BBQ, and so we met up at the Nagao train station, and looked up at the cloudy sky with a little bit of trepidation.

We decided to go ahead with the BBQ despite the scary weather, and so we went to a shopping center for supplies. On the way there we got to see some firefighters practicing ropework, and it was cool to see how fast they could cross between buildings just climbing ropes.

After we got all our supplies we went to a park and got set up. We put the BBQ under a tree for some shelter, and there was even a fold out picnic table to sit around. The weather finally crapped out on us and it started to sprinkle, and then rain. Fortunately the tree protected us pretty well, and the big umbrella over the picnic table did a good job, too. The rain never really came down very hard, and by the time we finished eating it had stopped for good.

Hanging out with everyone gave my Japanese skills a good workout, and it was a challenge to keep up with the conversations. Everyone was nice enough to chat with me a little bit, and I had met everyone before so it wasn’t like a bunch of total strangers.

After spending quite a while relaxing and talking we packed things up and headed back to the train station. From there it was a two hour ride back, but we went beyond the expected and stopped in Sannomiya to do some shopping at the Bargains there.

The Bargains are really just controlled riots in stores. The more people mob up the more other people think there is a great deal, and the more people mob up.

Whenever I go shopping with Kuniko I get lots of looks from people as we walk around, but try walking around with a white T-shirt with splatters of BBQ sauce. That is a double-whammy-attention-getter.

We were out shopping late enough for me to get hungry again, so we stopped in a conveyor sushi place and ate a snack. It wasn’t so good, though, and we left a little unsatisfied. After we got home, Kuniko had some stomach problems, but I didn’t – even though we split each plate of sushi right down the middle. She was OK after a little while, though – maybe it was just eating too much today.

There are pictures from today in the gallery. Tomorrow we have early morning plans – it should be an interesting day!

Friday I was busy during the day finishing up the interview tests for my first year students. Technically today was the last day of classes for me, but I’ll still have some filler classes the week after next, so that is something to look forward to.

In the evening we had Yasu and his mom come over. Kuniko split from work early, and so together we got everything ready and served up tacos. It was a first for them, but everyone seemed to enjoy them. They came to the house loaded with presents – farewell gifts. It was a big surprise to us – we weren’t expecting a gift exchange and as such were totally unprepared.

We drank a bottle of wine, several beers, and Kuniko and I even got a little bit into the tequila. After two tacos each everyone was full, but we dug into some dessert that Kuniko brought from Kobe, so it was a gutbuster evening. After they left we opened the presents, and Yasu got me a earthenware sho-chu server with two big glasses, and his mom got Kuniko a new train pass case. She also gave us some money as a gift – it was all really too much.

Drunk and full of food, we took off to Ito Yokado after they left to do some late night shopping, but I’m happy to report that we didn’t come home with a new widescreen TV or anything.

Kuniko and I were on garbage station duty again today. This is another rotating responsibility at the apartment complex were we live. Usually they skip the foreigners, but since Kuniko moved in we are now stuck with the duty like the rest of the people that live there (except for Jane). It’s not too difficult, just collect the public trash and put it out in the morning. An interesting rule is that you are supposed to clean up the trash area as soon as the truck leaves to take care of any spills or leftovers. Of course we both work, so we can’t do that. Most people here have a wife that stays home all day, so it usually isn’t a problem. Kuniko is a very rare exception.

I had a pretty easy day at school – only two classes and a session with Miyake sensei. The classes went pretty smoothly. In between I had time to study and also to clean up some of the junk that has collected around my desk over three years. I’m going to have to clean it up really well for the next person. It is covered with textbooks that I am going to have to gradually shuttle home.

Speaking of the next person, Miyake sensei and I talked for a long time about her. Miyake sensei is eager to talk with another person from America. She wondered aloud if she is a “typical” American. Apparently she sees me as a very unusual American. She says I am quiet and modest, which goes against what she sees Americans as. She says that Japanese people feel more comfortable with me than with most Americans. I don’t know about that, but it was an interesting insight from someone that is used to dealing with different cultures.

Today was hot, just like yesterday. Everyone was sweating in the classrooms, and in the staff room too. I saw an interesting situation develop in the afternoon – something I might have missed if I didn’t understand Japanese.

One of the teachers was talking to another teacher, and he motioned to the air conditioners sitting idle in the hot room. He asked in a lightly sarcastic tone, “What are those for?” Everyone around him laughed, and he smiled and then walked over and turned them on. This is a big deal – apparently we are not allowed to use the air conditioners until a certain date dictated by the board of education. The idea I guess is to cut energy costs. Usually that date is around the first of July, but that is about a week away.

Once the teacher turned it off, other teachers helped him close the windows in the area, and then we sat around and enjoyed the cool air.

It got interesting when one of the administration teachers came in and noticed. He asked the nearest teacher why it was running, and the teacher explained that he had nothing to do with it and it sure is kind of early for air conditioning isn’t it? He didn’t sell out the guy who turned them on, though. The admin teacher left them running, though. The weirdest thing is that my side of the staffroom was being air conditioned, but from the administration teacher side to the end of the staff room they were sweating in their chairs with the windows wide open – doggedly observing the board of education regulations. Over in my section it was like a party, everybody sitting around and eating snacks and talking.

Antoine told me that in his first year there he just walked over and turned the air conditioning on, and screw the rules. Nobody knew what to do, so they left it on. I think it is a yearly tradition for his school, now. Their aircon goes on when Antoine feels hot. I’m not sure, but that’s the way I remember his story.

This evening I’ve been doing lots of research into next steps, both in my job and my career. There are a lot of interesting trends out there. It looks more and more like to take the next step I will need some more education. It makes sense – I’ve been teaching without any kind of credentials and it is fair to expect a future employer to ask for something more than a deep interest in teaching.

One thing I really am interested in is something called “Computer Assisted Language Learning” (CALL). It is concerned with the idea that you can use computers/internet/technology to more effectively learn a language. I have really seen the advantage in my own study of Japanese. I carry every word I’ve ever memorized in my handheld computer, I practice writing Japanese characters with my Nintendo DS, and also by writing emails in Japanese to Kuniko and other people via my cellphone. I am always searching for new tricks and tips online, and now I can’t imagine learning a language with just a textbook and a CD.

Anyway, it is fun to do the research into what is going on out there. Whether I can leverage my interest in this field into a job that I love – well, that remains to be seen. I remember singing this same song years ago leaving the winery to jump into the computer industry.

Kuniko is getting home late tonight, and so I’m going to cook up some somen noodles to serve ice cold when she arrives. Tomorrow is Friday and we’re having taco night with Yasu and his mom, and then on Saturday depending on the weather we might head to Kyoto for a BBQ with a bunch of Kuniko’s old college friends. I’m hoping for sun!

Sometimes Wednesday can be a busy day for me, but today it was pretty mellow. I had just two classes instead of the customary four – two classes were dedicated to preparation for exams next week.

I used my free periods to do some research on the web, some revisions for the upcoming listening test, and to dodge the history teacher.

The classes I did have were interview test classes, and those went pretty smoothly. I can’t say enough how much fun those classes are. I know the students dread them, but it is great to talk to everyone.

In every class of students I have some favorites. They are the ones that I talk with in the hallways between classes or have impressed me in the past with their confidence or bravery. Today I seemed to be interviewing lots of my favorites, and they all responded well with a good score.

I had lunch in the cafeteria today with Moriguchi sensei, a new math teacher that is kind of a young guy, and Nozaki sensei. We talked in Japanese since Moriguchi sensei doesn’t speak any English. He seemed more than a little interested in the new ALT, especially when he heard that she is female. I don’t know what’ll happen, but she may be in for a warm welcome.

Nozaki sensei wanted to look over the application of the new ALT (Brenda). She looked it over and said that she writes like a young person, and I can see what she means. My experience over the phone with her gave me the idea that she is a lot younger than she looks in her picture. I hope she’ll be fine with the job, though – hopefully the teachers will be patient with her.

At the end of the day there was a staff meeting, but I heard it was about the schedule for August and September, and since I’m going to be gone by then I wondered out loud to key people if it was absolutely necessary for me to be there. Turns out that the key people thought it might be OK for me to skip it, which was big progress. As soon as everyone went up to the staff room I made a dash for the door and got out of work 30 minutes early.

The key to a good escape is to do it without attracting a lot of attention, but as I left all the students leaving outside were shouting out “Goodbye Bryan!” as I walked away – the bad news is that the teacher’s meeting was being held in the second floor right above the students, and since it is hot all the windows were open. I fear it was not the most inconspicuous exit I’ve ever made.

I got home and took care of some chores, and then walked over to Carrefour to do some shopping for a little Mexican party that we are going to have with Yasu and his mom on Friday night. I got back home with some marked down cheese, but Kuniko called at 8:45 saying that she was stuck at work, so I ate it alone while watching the Tigers game.

Tomorrow I have day two of the presentations, and just one other class so it should be a light day. Kuniko will get home pretty late tomorrow as well. I hope she’ll be able to get free for the party on Friday…

The rain let up today, replaced with heat and steam. The humidity was so high that we couldn’t scoot the desks around the classroom because of the thin film of condensation over everything. It was a very wet day.

My first class was a preparation class for students that are going to take the upcoming STEP test. I started by doing a practice interview with one of them, and then we had kind of a group discussion. I had them sit around in a circle and I asked them questions – all in English. It was actually kind of fun, and everybody was fairly relaxed. I told a few stories and hopefully it will build their confidence just a little bit for the interview test.

The next class was with Tsutsumi sensei. We’ve been working on doing presentations, and today was the first of two days of the actual presentations. Each presentation was supposed to be five minutes long, with a sheet of paper as a visual aid. Most students cut out pictures from magazines and pasted them on their paper – some of them looked really good.

About half the students did their presentation today, and the results were mixed. Most lasted about 3 minutes, some were five plus minutes, and a couple were just over one minute. I had all the other students grading the speaker, and their scores were averaged and combined with Tsutsumi sensei and my score to create a final score which will be their final exam for my part of the class.

I think it was overall a success, but some people didn’t put much effort into it. The good news was that other students gave them a hard time for flaking. One student forgot her paperwork, so she got a flat out zero for the project. Tsutsumi sensei is pretty strict sometimes. But we did warm them every class for the past three weeks, so what else can you do?

My final class was in the afternoon, and it was another interview test. I’ve got lots of these coming up. It went a bit smoother than yesterday, and everyone was so nervous they were jumping around and couldn’t really sit still. My students did well, once I got them to relax. I really enjoy doing interviews because it is my chance to sit down and speak with the student, and they can’t really run away. If that sounds sinister I don’t mean it that way – it’s just a rare chance.

I was out the door right on time and headed to the train station. Today for some reason there were lots of my students around the station. With the exception of a few they try not to sit anywhere near me, because they feel like they’ll be obligated to speak English, and also because they want to use their cell phones, and my status as a real teacher is a little unclear. They aren’t supposed to use them at school, but of course everyone has one, and I’ve never given any students a hard time about it.

I’m back home now and chilling out. Today I reserved the last hotel room for the trip to Europe – a really simple-sounding place in Dijon, France. We’re going to have a day of walking around eating and relaxing in Dijon right before we get on an overnight train to Venice, Italy.

Tonight’s menu depends a lot on when Kuniko gets home – we are thinking about skipping somen tonight in favor of butakimchee (pork and kimchee), if Kuniko gets home at a decent hour…

The rain kept on falling all day today, and everyone is saying that it will be a regular feature for the next few days. I plodded to school in the rain under a big green umbrella that I mistakenly took leaving a restaurant drunk a couple weeks ago. It is bigger than the umbrella that I unintentionally left behind in trade, but it tends to want to unfold by itself, so I have to keep a close eye on it.

At school I had just one class in the afternoon, so the rest of the day was spent doing preparation for the upcoming exams, and writing a couple of last minute lesson plans. I did get almost two hours to study, so I caught up on all the vocab that I didn’t deal with over the weekend. I’m getting in a bad habit of skipping my vocab over the weekends, and catching up on Monday.

My class today was the first set of students to undergo the interview test this term. They did really well, but at first they couldn’t understand what was going on. I put up a big group of numbers on the board, and everyone thought it was were they were supposed to sit. Yamamoto sensei was shouting at them to sit in their regular seats, but they weren’t listening to him. He finally lost it and told them they should learn to listen in Japanese, and then we’ll worry about listening in English. They finally settled down, and we explained the procedure and got going.

Part of the interview test this year is new. Mori sensei asked that we request that the students make a short speech, on any topic they like. It is a good chance for them to use English in a free form, and for the most part the students did well. Some students froze up and didn’t say anything, but most said at least something. One student of mine went on and on in English about how much he likes the class, and how he hopes to travel overseas someday and that is why he is studying English so hard. It was really good, and I couldn’t believe that my students were speaking so much English at once.

When I got home today I cooked up somen noodles and had them all ready to go when Kuniko got home. They were really good, and very healthy. Unfortunately our health plans went awry when Kuniko brought some goodies home from shopping. We had some Frankfurt flavored potato sticks that could not be considered even remotely healthy, and followed that up with some Japanese desserts and chocolate mint bon-bons. When we flunk a diet, we do it right.

I heard back from a recent job prospect, and they are passing on me. It was one of those jobs that sounded great in the posting, but the more I found out about it, the worse it sounded. I was almost relieved to hear that they didn’t want to hire me, although I was hoping to at least get a chance to practice interviewing with a Japanese company. The school was a night school, and they are in the boonies a bit. The advertisement said west Kobe, which is close to where we will be living, but upon further communication it turns out there are two school locations and one is in the boonies up north where no trains go. Sneaky. Anyway, the search continues, but most people now are looking for someone to start in July or the beginning of August, and both of those times are not good for me.