I just got back from a wonderful weekend with Kuniko. I took the train to Osaka late Friday night, and walked through the rain and wind to get to her apartment. Kuniko was busy writing letters to each of her graduating students. She was still writing them when I fell asleep sometime after midnight.

The next day Kuniko was at school all day for her graduation ceremony. She was really nervous on her way out the door. During graduation there is a point where she has to announce the names of all her students. From memory. Whoah.

For my part I spent a relaxing day at Kuniko’s place, studying Japanese hard and watching TV now and then to see how I could pick up spoken Japanese. I did better on the news and shopping shows, poorly on variety and comedy shows.

Kuniko came back that evening with armloads of flowers and presents from her students their parents. She got to work trying to put all the flowers into vases, but it was an impossible task – there just weren’t enough vases to do the job.

Saturday was also Kuniko’s birthday, and so we had a birthday present opening ceremony, which was a lot of fun. She got some good stuff from my folks, and I got her a couple of things I was hoping she would like.

Sunday we both slept in, and then we went into Umeda to do a little bit of shopping for the upcoming trip to America. For lunch we had Shabu Shabu, one of the Japanese dishes that I’ve always wanted to try, but never had the chance. It consists of a big bowl of boiling water. You add your choice of vegetables and noodles. You are served a big plate full of thinly sliced meat – I had beef and pork. Then you take a slice of meat in your chopsticks and swish it back and forth a few times in the boiling water, and action that explains the “shabu shabu” sound effect. The meat cooks quickly because it is so thin, and then you dip it in either a soy/vinegar sauce or a sesame sauce. Delicious. I had the big plate of meat, and it was awesome.

Kuniko and I parted ways after that. She’s getting a new cellphone, so hopefully it’ll be up and running when she gets back.

I came back home and spent time doing some preparations for lessons tomorrow. I cooked up some Chinese chili shrimp over rice for dinner, and it turned out really good. It’s just a flavor packet that I bought over at Ito Yokado, but at 120 yen it was a steal. Tomorrow it’s back to work!

Today, I was the history teacher. Mr. Urakami, the real history teacher, invited me to his class to teach a quick lesson on California history. I only spent about 10 minutes on California history, and spent the rest of my time talking about a day in the life of a high school student, and answering questions. It was a lot of fun, and the students were really into it. I don’t teach any of these students normally, so they really were savoring the time.

I had a couple of other fun classes, and also got to spend some time studying. We had a meeting after school but I left a little early to coach one of my ESS students because she is taking the STEP test interview for the first time on Sunday. I hope she does well.

At Ito Yokado I was there trying to see if I could get some presents wrapped for Kuniko’s birthday tomorrow. I asked the lady, and we had a long conversation. Actually, she did most of the talking, but I could follow what was going on. At one point, she apologized for not knowing more English. Here we are in Japan, and she’s apologizing for not knowing enough English to communicate to me. That gives you a good idea of how patient people are with me, and how great the service is at Ito Yokado.

Do you know the scene in the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Harrison Ford is teaching a class and some girl student in the front has a crush on him, and when she closes her eyes she was written “I Love You” on her eyelids? The previously fearless Indiana Jones finds himself stuttering and distracted. Today something like that happened to me.

One of the students in Mr. Hayashi’s class has taken a liking to me lately. She makes a point to say hello when she comes through the teacher’s room, and although she is shy she will always try to speak English. She has a small group of girlfriends and today they were sitting there analyzing my every move. I would see all four of them staring at me from my peripheral vision, and when I looked over they would all giggle and compare notes.

Whenever it was my turn to read passages they would watch me carefully, and I was starting to get distracted, much like Indiana Jones did. Mr. Hayashi was his normal self, and didn’t seem to notice.

I only had two classes today, and they went smoothly. The day was full of other fun experiences, though. The history teacher had to pay $850 to replace his windshield (that’s a lot pricier than in America!), and he’s trying to get me to go to another guilt-relief dinner for all the time that I’ve spent chatting with him.

Our ESS meeting was fun today. We had the whole gang show up, and we played Jenga, and did an inside-the-classroom hunting puzzle that two of the students had thought up. It’ll be our last meeting for a while, since next week is the week before finals, and no clubs are supposed to meet then.

After school I went over to Tsuji-san’s place for my lesson, and we talked about her upcoming stint as a STEP test interviewer. I think she’ll do fine, but she’s very nervous. She’s been practicing hard, and is taking it very seriously. It’ll be a good experience for her. She also gave me chocolates to share with Kuniko when I have a chance. She had some with her boyfriend and said that they were really good.

On the way home I got a cheap haircut, and the guy there remembered me from last time. We talked for a little while in Japanese, and it went really smoothly. It was a fun conversation – since we both were stuck at the barber’s chair, there was no reason to hurry it along.

This was a big contrast to the next conversation I had in Japanese. When I got home I had a package slip in my mailbox. I called the number hoping they could get the guy to come back out tonight. The conversation didn’t go nearly as well. The poor lady working there was in a hurry and spoke rapidfire Japanese. I did my best to figure out what she was saying, but by then she was already on to the next question. I think that the conversation ended with a promise to attempt a delivery tomorrow evening.

The whole time I could imagine what it would be like for me in America with some person on the phone that can only speak a few words of English. I would be really frustrated – this guy lives in my country and doesn’t speak the language? I ask the same question five ways and he still doesn’t get it? What is this country coming to?

I’ve got to say that everyone in Japan is really patient with foreigners – nobody gets upset (at least to my face), and that’s a relief.

I took the history teacher’s advice tonight and had a roast beef sandwich for dinner. Actually, his advice was to eat some meat, so this was the best non-greasy thing I could come up with. It was delicious. My appetite is slowly coming back, just in time for a trip to Mary’s Pizza in March.

I’m still less than a 100 percent health-wise, and people at work at kind enough to point it out to me, saying I look terrible, my eyes look tired, I look pale, etc. I don’t have a lot of energy, but overall I feel OK. I just had one afternoon class today, so I figured that if I could just sit back and relax during the day and get charged up for one class, I’ll be fine.

I love watching how people interact with each other. There is a different set of group dynamics for each of my classes, and this week we’ve combined two classes, so people I’m always fascinated how people can change with the addition of some new faces. I guess that’s why I like Survivor so much – the people are in as controlled environment as possible and you can see how they react to things.

My students reacted well to my lesson, and I had fun teaching it. I can do this thing where I project my voice and make it deep, and it gets everyone’s attention. It works great at first, but the effect diminishes over time. I save it for really special occasions.

After class I lingered around for about an hour and then took off early. I had a good excuse, since everyone seemed to think I was knocking on death’s door. Now I’m back at home and starting to think about an easy dinner. Maybe curry and rice… that sounds good.

So I came into work today after a good night’s rest and found a couple of bags full of chocolate on my desk. The day before was Valentine’s Day, and since I left early, a couple of people missed the chance to give me chocolate.

I didn’t really talk about how Valentine’s went at school yesterday – I got a package of chocolates from Mrs. Takeuchi (the librarian), and a small box of chocolates from a third year student. The chocolate today was from another third year student – the one that has a big crush on me. She’s the one who can’t wait to graduate so she can ask me out. Yikes! She wrote a note with the cookies – “I made these cookies with love for you. Please eat my cookies!”

There was also some Godiva chocolates on my desk, but no note on those, so I don’t know who they came from. Also, one of the ESS members had baked a chocolate cake for some of the teachers, and she had saved me a piece – it was delicious.

Four classes today, and I was exhausted at the end of them. Although I’m feeling much better I don’t have a lot of energy.

At lunchtime, some of the students from the class yesterday with Carol came up to me and asked me about her. They were a little frightened of her, and I think my stock went up a little with them. I think the low key approach is a little more effective with them.

For some reason I’ve been left off the list of interviewers for the next round of the STEP test. I’m not sure why, this is the second time it has happened. The good news is now I have an excuse to skip the big expensive dinner afterwards with Mr. Hayashi. He offered to pay for it for me, but I might skip it and try to meet up with Kuniko instead.

I’m getting ready to heat up some leftover nabe. I’m doing loads and loads of laundry, and it’s just starting to rain outside. It’s a good night to stay in and rest up.

I’m back from a busy weekend of rest, recovery, and recuperation. I went back to school today with a full slate of classes, and it was pretty tough to hang in there. I did OK, and got to leave early to spend some time with Kuniko before she had to head home to Osaka.

We had a guest speaker today at school, Mr. Hayashi’s friend Carol, who also helps out with the STEP test interviews. I guess there is some money in the budget for guest speakers during the year, and Mr. Hayashi likes to throw it her way to help buff up her resume.

I don’t think he told her much about what to do or bring, so she brought a lot of things. She helped us out in a couple of classes, but it didn’t go so well. She’s used to teaching at the college level, and even for high schools our students’ English level isn’t so high.

She couldn’t believe how Mr. Hayashi was letting them run out of control, something that I’m used to by now. She would say something in English, and Mr. Hayashi would translate it – there was no real effort to figure it out on their own. To me it was a waste of everyone’s time, but of course I didn’t mention it.

Carol also looked pretty uncomfortable up there, and looked like she was not happy doing what she was doing. Imagine doing that for fifteen years! Will I be burned out like that fifteen years from now? Yikes!

I cut out of school early and came home. Kuniko had the place cleaned up and looking great. We went over to Ito Yokado to do some shopping, and then we made some spaghetti carbonara and a caesar salad for dinner. Since it was Valentine’s Day we exchanged chocolates… she got me some really unusual ones with artwork on them. Really cool – I hate to eat them, but I will.

For dessert we had chocolate fondue – it was excellent. We dipped in pineapple, banana, strawberries, and melon bread (like a slightly melon flavored donut). I’m a big fan of fondue.

Kuniko just went back home, and now I’m getting ready for another busy day tomorrow. If I can squeak through tomorrow the rest of the week should be a piece of cake.

I’m feeling much better today. I’m getting ready to go to work. Kuniko is lucky and has the day off, so she’ll be here at my place relaxing and studying until I get home. We’re both looking forward to a nice Valentine’s evening tonight. More later!

I’ve had a rough couple of days. Thursday night I had a poker night at my place, and Struan and Antoine came over to play some cards. We ordered in a couple of pizzas. I had the beginnings of a cold, so I drank two glasses of wine, and then switched to water and orange juice. It wasn’t a good poker night for me, I only won two hands. Still, we had a good time, and around 11 p.m. Antoine and Struan headed back home.

I cleaned up just a little and then went to bed. Two hours later I woke up and got sick – and it lasted all night. I’d lay down, fall asleep, and then I’d be up and running to the bathroom. Ugh. At one point I was coming out of the bathroom into the kitchen, and my whole body started to feel cold. The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor. I had passed out, and knocked a whole bunch of stuff off a cupboard as I fell. I decided it was better to stay in bed and rest, and by that time there was nothing left in my system.

The next day I stayed in bed all day with a pounding headache. I couldn’t keep any food down, but I managed to drink a glass of orange juice. I told Kuniko via a message how I was feeling, and she was a little worried.

In the afternoon the headache was really bad, and I was burning up. I was dying for something to drink, and my goal was to get up to get to the fridge, but I just couldn’t work up the energy. My whole body was sore from the tumble in the kitchen – I guess I caught the corner of the cupboard with my chest, so there’s a big sore spot.

Kuniko decided to come all the way from Osaka after work, and what a relief it was. She brought a big bottle of “Amino Suppli”, a sports drink. I sipped that and it really helped out my energy. She also cooked me dinner, some udon noodles. I was a little fuzzy about what was going on, but she stayed with me through a long restless night, and left early to go to work the next day.

She’s coming back tonight, but I’m starting to feel much better. I’m able to hold down soup without a problem, and I can drink Amino Suppli with no problem. I’ll just rest up today, and try to get better. What a miserable couple of days.

What are you doing November 20th? Anything? Is your schedule free? How about jumping on a plane and coming to Japan to see a bewildered foreigner getting married to a beautiful girl? Always wanted to try raw octopus on rice? See girls ride bicycles wearing a skirt? Eat sushi for a third of the price you pay in the states? Now’s your chance to come to Japan!

So Kuniko made the reservation last night, and it appears they have space, so we’re on.

This will be a real East meets West wedding, especially considering the differences in culture and expectations. Although the wedding will be “Western Style”, it’s still pretty different from any wedding you’ve seen in the states. No groom’s party, no bridesmaids – and that’s just the beginning. Two words – “Gold Tuxedo”.

I’m sure there will be a contingent of folks coming to Japan for the wedding, and so working out the logistics for that should be an adventure in itself. Still, if you were ever thinking about going to Japan, maybe it’s a good time to get serious. Horse sushi!

The countdown begins!

Anyway, my day was nothing to write home about, but that’s not stopping me. I did a jog around Ito Yokado this morning, and I enjoyed the thick fog layer that kept the temperatures up.

At school I just had one class, but Mr. Hayashi asked me to help with Ms. Miyake’s English lesson. Strangely enough, I ended up reading a Japanese article to her, and they told me that somehow it was helping her English. Oh, well – I need the practice.

After school we had a mandatory staff meeting. There was a big argument, which is really strange for a Japanese meeting. Usually all the sensitive points are dealt with before, and the meeting just serves to rubber stamp the decision. Today tempers were flaring over the school trip. Some teachers think it takes too much time from study and sports. Others think it’s just a way to subsidize Japan’s travel agent industry. I didn’t really have an opinion, but some people there did, and they let it loose. I ended up leaving at five o’clock, and they were still going. We should have some interesting fallout tomorrow.

I went to Azusa’s place for her lesson, and she was unusually animated today. She has finished up her college term and is enjoying two months without lessons – except for mine. She’s doing an internship with a local political group. One of the things she is working on is the upcoming Kyoto Treaty – it’s a big deal here, and right now lots of foreigners have come to Kyoto to have discussions about it. She spent yesterday showing around a couple of foreigners from Nepal and China. She got to speak a little English with them – and she said it went well. Very cool.

Anyway, her lesson went really well and we had lots of discussion time on topics ranging from the amount of homework teacher’s give, to gay marriage, and even the rights of Koreans born in Japan. It was interesting for both of us, and I left the place with more energy than I had going in.

I stopped on the way home at Carrefour to do some shopping for the poker party tomorrow. It looks to be a small group – only three people. That’ll make it tough for poker, but there is still an outside chance that one or two more people will come.

Kuniko called tonight and I spent some time with her. She had to make a tough decision tonight about her employment situation. She was kind of balancing job security with her own personal happiness. We talked it over, and I think she came to the right decision.

I had only three classes today, because one got cancelled. Actually, it got moved to tomorrow, so I’ll deal with it then. I did an extra study session with Mr. Hayashi, who seems to be really proud that I passed the exam. I think the result of the exam somehow makes him think that I’m more serious, and so he’s game for lots of Japanese study.

We were looking at the requirements for the next level, level 2. I just passed level 3, and they say that you should know 300 kanji and 1,500 words. Level 2 says that you should know 1,000 kanji and 6,000 words. Wow! That’s a big jump. I learn about 200 words a month at my current pace. In 10 months I will theoretically know 3,500 words, which is a lot less than what they expect. I guess I’ll just go at my own pace and take a crack at it in December. My goal is to pass it in Dec 2006. My overall goal is not just to pass a test, but to speak and understand Japanese well. That goal is a long way away.

My second year classes were really cool today. Our lesson today was loosely about comics, so I took some popular comics from Doraemon, a famous Japanese comic strip, and photocopied a page with the text cut out. Then I handed out the page to the students and asked them to fill in the text with English, based on what the situation seemed to be.

It was a big challenge for the students. The advanced class did really well and they were enthusiastic. The lower class had a harder time, but they still managed to do it. I asked them to hand them in to me afterwards, and I said that I’d award a prize next week for the best comic.

After school I read the comics and they were really, really funny. It’s not that the English was funny, although in some places it was, it was the student’s take on the situation. I’ll see if I can post some of them sometime. I was laughing out loud at what some of the students wrote.

The comic involved a lowly elementary school student (Nobita), his friend Shizu-chan (the love interest), and a villainous classmate (Suneo). There last frame was a scene involving a unicorn crapping on Suneo’s head. There was a strategically placed speech bubble right above the unicorn’s backside, and I learned today that the Japanese sound effect for that particular action is “Bu-ru Bu-ru Bu-ru”. Ha!

I’ve been relaxing at home tonight. I made spaghetti for the first time in a long time. The sauce was particularly decadent, a tomato base full of meat, garlic, green onions, wine, and two kinds of cheese melted in.

Tomorrow it’s just one class, so I’m going to have lots of free time. Should be a nice easy day!

Today’s weather started off cloudy and ended up raining by the end of the day. Luckily I had a spare umbrella in my bag and didn’t get too wet going home.

Four classes today, with another four tomorrow. These two are my busy days, but after that it’s easy. Today’s classes went really well. My students were really into answering questions today, and the only thing slowing them down was the freezing temperatures in my classroom.

Mr. Hayashi also helped me out with a Japanese lesson. He estimates that I am reading at the junior high school level now. I would disagree with that – junior high school students know more kanji than I do, and they probably read a lot faster. We did translations today, and it went pretty well. Going from Japanese to English is a lot easy than the other way around!

After school I met with Tsuji-san, and we practiced for her upcoming stint as a STEP test interviewer. She’s really nervous about it, but I think she’ll do fine. We talked about lots of possible problems and things to look out for. She had an interview today for a new job at a children’s school. If she gets the job we’ll probably have to end our conversation practice sessions, which would be too bad. The job would be really good for her, though.

I came home and had an official looking envelope in my mailbox. It was the test result for the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam I took back in December. Good news, I passed! I did better than I expected, with an 81% overall. I thought I bombed the listening section, but I got 72% there. I aced the kanji section with 97% – wow! The next step is to study for the second level. It’s a big jump from three to two, and I’m not sure I can study enough to pass at the end of the year. I’ve got lots of other things to worry about this year, like getting married and lining up a career after JET. My goal is to pass level 2 this year or next. With a level 2 certification it can really open doors to jobs in Japan.

I did some rice, kimchee, and sushi for dinner tonight, and spent some time on the phone with Antoine. He had lots to talk about and we chatted for 72 minutes according to the timer on my phone. We’re planning a poker night on Thursday night, so I’m sure we’ll have lots more to talk about then.

I spent most of today inside, studying Japanese grammar, and reading a remarkable children’s book in Japanese about excrement and urine. I’m learning lots of great new words that aren’t in my dictionary.

For dinner I walked across the street to a new ramen restaurant that opened a couple of months ago. It was actually pretty good – cheap, no nonsense, no frills ramen. There’s another ramen restaurant ten minutes walk north of me, but there was a murder there last year and so I’m not to keen on going in there anymore.

Kuniko called me from work and asked me a question about an English translation. She was busy working on a Sunday night – no fun. She called me again when she got home and we talked for a long time about the weekend, next week, and our upcoming trip. We’re both really excited about going to the States. It was good to hear her voice.

Before bed I watched a downloaded copy of “Sideways” – and it was really a great movie. It brought back a lot of memories of working in the wine country. I think it’s up for an Oscar this year. I haven’t seen any others that it is competing against, but I really did enjoy it. Extremely well done.

Off to bed now. It’ll be a short week this week because we have Friday off. I’m not sure what the holiday is, but hopefully we can squeeze in a poker game.

This evening Kuniko and I went over to visit her parents in Kakogawa. Her father had offered to buy us yakiniku for dinner. He wanted to chat with us about our future plans, get an idea about what we are planning for our wedding, and eat lots of meat with us. Kuniko told him that I’m a big beef eater, so he was excited about this shared interest.

We got there and relaxed, and her dad spent some time talking about various issues with Kuniko. I struggled to catch what was going on, but I was able to pick up the gist of the conversations, so I wasn’t totally lost. We talked about meeting my family when they come over for the wedding, and there were some interesting cultural differences going on there.

We went to one of the family’s favorite restaurants, and ordered up a variety of meat to cook up, along with some Korean rice and some side dishes. We had rib meat, regular beef, liver, and tongue. Kuniko ordered up something called “yuke”, which turned out to be really good. It was just raw ground beef with spices mixed in, with a raw egg yolk on top. You mix it up and eat. Kuniko’s folks seemed a little alarmed that we actually ate it.

The conversation was all over the place, and I could tell that her dad had some concerns about the immediate future – where Kuniko will live, what her new job will think of her situation, etc. Her dad was also really excited to hear about the different kinds of beef available in America. It sounds like he’d really like to go and eat his way through California. Beef here in Japan can be expensive, so my tales of cheap and plentiful beef really got him amped up.

After dinner he picked up the tab, and we went back to their place to watch some TV and have some tea and coffee. Around nine o’clock Kuniko drove me home. She has to work tomorrow, so she’ll be staying at her folks place tonight and then heading back to Osaka.

Tomorrow I’m planning on taking it easy and studying – I’m doing a little planning for the trip next month, and doing some financial planning as well. I need to make sure I have some money in America when I get there. I guess I can’t walk around with loads of cash like I do in Japan. At any given time I have between $100 and $500 worth of yen in my wallet when I walk around. Back in the states I was dependent on my bank’s check card, so I carried almost nothing. Time to get back in the habit of traveling light.

Today was an easy day as far as classes go. Mr. Hayashi also has lots of free time, so we’re doubling the amount of lessons that he gives me. We’re focusing lessons on reading and translation rather than conversation. He’s been giving me some verbal exercises to try to keep my mind flexible – having me repeat Japanese sentences, and then subtly change them into questions or different sentences. It’s a good drill, and it closely replicates a real conversation where you have to think fast.

After school three ladies came into the staff room wearing lab coats. They apparently walk around cleaning your glasses for free, and then try to sell you something afterwards. Two of them were pretty cute, so I some of the teachers were practically lining up to have their glasses cleaned. Interesting service. I tried to get the history teacher to ask one of them out, but he was too shy.

Maeda sensei invited a few teachers over to his house after school yesterday, and I was really looking forward to seeing his family again. He’s got three really cute kids and his wife his so nice – she always is fun to talk to.

We went over after school and settled into his apartment. They have a big doll collection for the Doll Festival holiday coming up. It was really spectacular – it dominated one of their rooms.

Everyone drank lots of beer and we ate a lot of nabe. Nabe is just a huge pot of soup that you add ingredients to. The first round was fish nabe, so lots of different kinds of fish that Maeda sensei had caught himself, shrimp, octopus, squid, and oysters. They add lots of vegetables, and then cook it until it boils. Then you just stick your chopsticks in and take what you want. You have a little bowl of your own with spices and onions, and the combination of flavors is great!

Maeda sensei’s son kept asking me questions, in English! I think Maeda sensei invites me over to expose his kids to a native speaker, even though they are so young. His son is six years old, and we played a game where we threw a ball back and forth and counted each time. We went up to 100 in English! Very impressive.

Maeda sensei also pulled out some videos taken from his previous school, and apparently he was quite a celebrity there. He did some singing and dances with his homeroom class, and it was great to see. At our school he is pretty new, and hasn’t yet reached celebrity status. Still, he tried to get us to perform onstage during the next culture festival. I think we might have agreed, but I’m not sure.

We had a lot to drink, but that didn’t stop us from taking out the kids’ toys and games and trying them out. We had tops spinning all over, and I’m surprised nobody got hurt.

Ikeda sensei and I decided that it was time to hit the road, so we took off. Ikeda sensei is a temporary teacher, very young, who closely observes the social hierarchy. He knows how old everyone is so that he can afford the proper respect. He’s younger than me, so our conversations have him agreeing to everything, apologizing for everything, and generally treating me like I’m god on earth. He walked me to the station, and in true Japanese fashion waited at the gate while I walked to the train, not leaving until I was out of sight.

Today is setsubun in Japan, the last day of winter. Japanese people celebrate this with some odd traditions. One tradition is to have somebody wear a devil mask, while the rest of the family throws beans at them. Then they pick up the beans off the floor and eat them. That means they will be healthy during the next year.

Also, it’s a tradition to eat sushi while facing the lucky direction (this year is apparently southwest). You are supposed to eat the whole roll of sushi without talking, too.

Cool traditions, but I only did the sushi one today.

At school I had just two classes, so I spent some time with Mr. Hayashi studying, and also had a really fun ESS club meeting. We had four members there today, but we had a guest boy that was lingering in the area. We talked him into joining and I think he might have had a good time.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I’m looking forward to wrapping up the week. This weekend should be interesting because I might be having dinner with Kuniko’s family. I haven’t heard yet whether it’s going to happen for sure, but if it does we’ll be handling some interesting topics.