…of this year, unless my plane goes down today and then it is a totally perfect title.  I have a rare amount of free time today before we fly out to San Francisco this evening, so I figured I’d sit down and blog a bit.  This trip is the first to California in three years, and we’ll spend a very quick 10 days or so before coming back and starting back up at work.  I’m looking forward to seeing friends and family, and spending time in front of the fireplace and eating lots of Christmas foods.  Maybe some wine and eggnog, too!

Before our trip, I thought I’d take a moment to sum up 2013, and reflect a little in this post.

Travel

The year started in Bali, as we spent the New Year on the beaches and in the cafes in warm, tropical weather.  Once we got back from the trip we went right back to work, and kept busy through most of the year.  In the summer we were able to knock three countries off our list of must-see destinations, and spent a little more than two weeks in Turkey, Spain and Greece.  Every time we go to Europe we have a great time, and this was no exception.  However this time was a little less structured than usual, and a hiccup in Santorini was a real test of our stress-busting skills.  As usual, as soon as we got home the not-so-great experiences became great stories, and we’ve got nothing but good memories from the trip.

I recently locked down my career for another year, which means that is time to start thinking about where to go in 2014.  Kuniko is in the middle of an uncertain period in her career, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that situation before making solid plans.  I’d guess that this year we’ll probably spend more time in Asia – we want to go to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea for sure – those are weekend trips.  A big trip might not happen this year, but if it does we’ll have to figure out where we’d like to go.  Next Christmas Thailand is calling our name – you just can’t beat walking around in December in shorts and sandals eating delicious Thai food and getting massages all day.  Hopefully the political situation will have settled down there by December next year.

Work

As I mentioned before, my work is set for the next year.  Last year was a pretty busy one for me, and recently I’ve been asked to teach some extra classes (for extra money) before my usual work day starts.  For the past few years we’ve been getting up every day at 4:30 a.m., which sounds brutal at first, but is something you quickly get used to.  My company recently got some (very) big contracts in the USA, and so I can clearly see a need for more English training.  For the time being, it looks like I have some job security.  The steady salary and great benefits are really nice, and I feel like I’m starting to become a fixture at the office.  There are also some intangible benefits to working for a huge company.

Kuniko’s work is more in flux, and I can’t go into it much here.  But this year will be an important year for her whatever happens.

Health

For most of this year I exercised less than before.  I hiked once a week during the spring and autumn, but the summers here are brutal and it is hard to go out in that humidity and exercise.  After a warning from the doctor during my company health check, I decided to go out and get an exercise bike and just make a habit of using it.  So far, I’ve gotten some pretty good results, and I feel much better every day.  I also got my appetite back.  Before exercising so much I felt like I was never hungry – now I definitely know when it is time to eat.  I’ve only been biking for the past month or two, but I’m looking forward to the result after winter is over.

Kuniko has a lot of stress at work, and this year it manifested itself in some health problems that put her in the hospital for a couple of days.  She missed out on her school trip to New Zealand, and I think the experience really opened up her eyes to what she puts up with at work week after week.  Lately she’s been changing small things about how she deals with situations at work, and hopefully that will result in better results down the road.  We don’t want to go through another hospital visit in the near future.

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So that’s a quick wrap-up of last year, and I’m looking forward to some new adventures next year.  We’ve had a great run with lots of good luck since we’ve been married, and we both know that sooner or later that wheel will turn and we’ll have to get through some hard times.  For now, we’re just enjoying our time in the sun, and saving away some funds in case the rain decides to come our way.

Now, off to California…

These last few weeks I’ve been cranking through classes and closing in on the end of this year.  We’ll be taking the Japan family and heading to California to celebrate Christmas and New Years there.  Before we head out, I’ve got to get my contract for next year straightened out.  Tomorrow night after work I have a meeting with the department head, and we’ll talk it out.  I’m not sure how things are going to work out – it could go anywhere from unemployment to a big raise.

Whatever happens tomorrow, Kuniko and I have plans to go out and enjoy some dinner at a local restaurant in Okubo.  The weekend is here, and it is the last weekend before our trip.  Can’t wait!

During the last weekend Kuniko and I pretty much holed up at home for some rest and recovery.  It had been a long time since Kuniko had two days off in a row, and we made the best of it.  We got some Christmas shopping done, ate, drank, exercised, and watched lots of movies while curled up on the sofa.

So imagine our surprise when suddenly Kuniko’s parents show up at our door.

It’s not like they didn’t call before.  Kuniko’s dad had left a message on her phone, but since it was upstairs we didn’t get it.  They also left a message on our machine, but likely we were out shopping at the time and didn’t get that either.  Luckily the house was in a reasonable condition, and we served them coffee and accepted a wealth of fresh vegetables and even a big bottle of sake.

They had some questions about the upcoming trip – how much money to bring, how to handle their visa and all kinds of other things that they were worried about.  We’ve traveled this route enough that we don’t really think about this stuff anymore, and it is easy to forget that other people might be wondering about what the heck is going to happen.  This is only their second time overseas, so we’ve still go to work on the basics.

Just a couple more weeks until departure for California.  Can’t wait!

Recently I’ve had my head down working hard and teaching lots of classes.  Over the past two months only two students have been absent from my class, which is pretty unusual.  Generally once or twice a week something will come up and some students can’t show up for class, which gives me a chance to catch up on paperwork and plan future lessons.  Not this time around – just work, work, work.  I’m not complaining – I like the schedule – but it does feel like a full day when it hits 5 pm.

Kuniko has also been totally busy at work, and she’s in the middle of a stretch of two weeks without a day off.  The good news is that she seems to be keeping things together, and not feeling too stressed when she gets home.

The long and the short of it is that we’re both looking forward to the end of this month and our trip out to California.  Can’t wait to rest up and see friends and family!

Last weekend Kuniko and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary by going out to dinner on Friday night to Anonym.  As usual we had a great dinner, and although he kept us guessing with some of the dishes, we found a couple of things we didn’t care for this time around.  Still, the guy is genius and I am perfectly willing to accept a couple of misses considering how often he hits.

Saturday Kuniko was off to work, and I met Yoshi in Sannomiya to climb the hills for a while.  This was the first time that I’d been hiking since my daily exercise bike regimen started, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much energy I had.  Yoshi also noticed that I seemed to be operating on a higher gear than normal, so I guess this daily exercise stuff really works.

We got up to the top of the mountain to a place called Morimura tree park.  We paid a paltry 300 yen and entered the park to have lunch.  The place was pretty nicely kept up, and I had no idea that it was even there.  I’m really happy that we live so close to the mountains – the range behind Kobe is always surprising me.

After lunch among the changing leaves we headed down the hill and walked right past Kuniko’s school on the way down.   In all it was about a five hour hike, and I was really glad to be back on the trail.  It’ll start to get cold soon, and hiking is a lot more of a hurried affair when it is too cold to stop and rest now and then.

Sunday Kuniko and I vegged out at home watching movies and letting her recharge her batteries, and then it was back to work today. At the end of this week I have a couple of year end parties on the schedule, so I’m hoping to burn off a few calories before then.

We had one of those working weekends recently.  By working weekends I mean, of course, that Kuniko was working.  I had lots of free time during both days, and I turned my attention to the exercise bike and a good book.

I blitzed through a book that my uncle Lynn recommended – Ready Player One.  It was a pretty geeky book that seemed to hit on just about all the memories of my childhood – Dungeons & Dragons, the Atari 2600, Apple II computers, the TRS-80, Zork, you name it.  The guy did his research and it hit just the right note.  I had some criticisms too, but overall I really liked the book and didn’t put it down until late Sunday night.

This week should be a doozy.  Wednesday is our wedding anniversary (we’ll celebrate at home) and then Thursday I’m meeting up with Antoine after work.  Friday Kuniko and I will go to Anonym for our “real” anniversary celebration, and then Saturday I’ll climb a mountain with Yoshi.  I’m hoping my legs have some energy left by then.  I’ve been punishing them on the bike on a daily basis.

Hopefully I’ll have some time to write more soon!

I bet you thought I had given this up!  It seems like I have been so busy running around planning lessons that I don’t have any time to blog.  Luckily for the blog (and unluckily for her) Kuniko is working late(r) this week and I’ll have some time here and there to write a bit.

Work continues to be busy, and I really like the group of students that I have this term.  All of them are motivated and are showing up to classes each and every time.  Sometimes I wouldn’t mind an odd cancellation to get ahead on planning and other work, but it is good to be busy.

One big event happened today – I received the results for my recent company medical check.  I was looking forward to seeing the results of my blood work.  Last year at this time I got a cholesterol reading that was getting close to out of normal – I was still in the safe zone, but it said that I should be careful as I ease into my forties.

Unfortunately this time around my cholesterol was well into the risky zone, so it is time for a change in strategy.  I know that I’m pretty good about what I eat – red meat about once a month, and we eat vegetarian between three and four days a week.  Instead I’m going to focus on more exercise.  I’ve been riding the exercise bike every day for 30 minutes, and I’ll keep that up through winter and into spring.  I also bought some vitamins and fish oil, and in combination with the fiber packs I’ve been dumping into my morning coffee every day I should be seeing some improvement.

Other than that, life is going pretty well.  I’ve got plans to meet up with Antoine, Yoshi, some ex-students, all before the end of this month.  Maybe my partying lifestyle is the root of all this…

A while back I had my annual health check at the company, and they gave me the usual warnings about gaining weight, the chance of increased cholesterol, and other effects of cruising past forty years old.

Usually I am out on the trail a lot, but recently for some reason it seems like I’m not out there as much.  I don’t have much free time these days, but I figured I should use what I have to make sure that I don’t bulge out any more than I already am.

So I bought an exercise bike on Amazon Japan.  It showed up the evening of the very next day, and last night I took it for its first spin.  It has been a long time since I’ve used an exercise bike, but it brought back good memories of my grandparents’ house, where I fooled around on one as a kid.  This one is quiet, not too heavy to move around, and does what it is supposed to – I was sweating within a few minutes.

Tonight I rode for 30 minutes, and hopefully I can get on the bike a couple of times a week to try to keep the sweat flowing.  One year from now I’m hoping to surprise the medical staff.

This week has been flying by, and we’re looking forward to a three day weekend for “Culture Day”.  Tomorrow night I’ll head to Osaka to meet an ex-coworker (postponed from last week due to the typhoon) and Sunday we’ll have Kuniko’s college friends over for dinner.  It’s going to take a long time on the bike to burn off the calories from that dinner…

It has been a long time between posts! It’s time to get up to date on the blogging.

We had a really nice weekend, with a little more excitement than usual. Friday night I met Kuniko after work and we went out to try a new burger restaurant in Kobe. I’m always looking for the next great burger place. This wasn’t it, but it came close. The meat was excellent, and if you double the price they’ll make the patty out of Kobe beef. Unfortunately the thing was tiny – the bun seemed even smaller than a McDonald’s bun. The atmosphere was a strange combination of 50’s diner and hip hop lounge, and the beer selection was also odd – Guinness, Corona, or Heineken. Too bad.

After dinner we went and tried some other new places. Down the street we found a tiny shop that specialized in champagne, and so we enjoyed a glass there with a sliver of quiche. Next we went to a “Spanish” place, but it was a little too Japanized for us (and only one Spanish wine on the list!). It was a fun night to blow off some steam after the work week.

Kuniko had to work on Saturday, but she got home just in time to head over with me to the Fukumi’s to enjoy dinner. We spent the evening with them and the Yamajis, enjoying Sayaka’s cooking. We had lots of great wines and good conversation. The big topic was the upcoming baby in December. Sayaka sounded a little nervous but Koki looked thrilled. They still haven’t figured out their living arrangements after the baby arrives. That should be interesting to see what they work out. At the end of the evening they brought out a birthday cake for me, which was very kind of them. It was a fun night, and the food kept me full well into Sunday.

On Monday I had a health check at work. They do this every year, but it was only my second time. I thought it went much more smoothly, mainly because I know the procedure now. They gave me a clean bill of health, but they want me to try to keep my weight down. I’ll get the results from the blood check in a month or so, and then I’ll be able to see what my cholesterol levels are up to. I also had to drink the dreaded barium milkshake, but it was a piece of cake. The real trick is to get it all flushed out of your system during the rest of the day. Luckily I have fewer classes on Monday.

It’s a great idea to have a mandatory health check yearly. It is something I didn’t do enough on my own, and it’s pretty good motivation for keeping track of your own health day to day. Just another benefit of working for a big company, I guess.

This week is a pretty standard week for us. We’ve got a Costco trip planned, and Friday I’ll go into Osaka to have a drink with an ex-coworker, so there are a couple of things to look forward to. Kuniko has to work both days next weekend, and there’s a typhoon or two floating around on the horizon, so who knows how things will shake out.

The nice thing about a long weekend is that you get a nice short week afterwards.   Yesterday the Kansai area dodged a bullet and (possibly) the biggest typhoon of the year missed us to the south.  It went on to hit Tokyo directly and cause a little bit of havoc, but we just had some heavy winds and rain on and off.  No problem!

I’m getting used to teaching my new students in the group lessons, and they are starting to get more comfortable with each other.  As they relax, the learning seems to come a little easier.  One of the big changes this term is that I outlawed work phones in the classroom, and it has made a huge difference.  Last time we had students running in and out which was a distraction.

I’m already looking forward to the weekend.  We’ll go do a little shopping on Friday after work, and then on Saturday we’re going to head over to the Fukumi’s place for dinner.  It’ll be good to see them – it seems like ages since we’ve seen them around.

This past Friday I turned 42 years old.  It was a really nice day, actually.  My work schedule was a little busier than usual, but after work I was able to meet up with Kuniko in Kobe and then head to our favorite sushi place, Nadaya over in Nada ward.

As usual the meal was wonderful.  I made a few requests this time on top of the omakse course, and the master was happy to oblige.  We had sushi with a really nice sake served cold and refreshing.  I really enjoyed the crab sushi – the sushi master knows that we love it, and kept them coming.

Saturday I had most of the day to myself.  I walked around town to do some shopping, and noticed that there were a lot more people in Okubo than normal.  Turns out this weekend is the local festival.  I couldn’t resist heading out to the shrine to see the turnout, and it was bigger than I had expected.  It used to be a pretty small affair, but the population of Okubo continues to build, and one of the benefits is a bigger matsuri crowd.  I don’t mind at all.   I bumped into the master of Red Spanky, who told me that he bought the place off the previous owner, and is now the master and owner.  He renamed it “Paddy” which is nowhere near as catchy a name, but I’ll have to go over there sometime and took a look around.

The rest of this three day weekend will probably be spent mainly at home, letting Kuniko get some rest, and taking in some movies. I’ve been doing enough walking around the past couple of days that a little time at home couldn’t hurt.

Things are cranking along at work, and I’m enjoying teaching the new students.  Starting tomorrow I’ll begin teaching my group lessons, and I’m interested in seeing how those turn out.  The first few classes are really important to set the tone for the whole term, so hopefully the chemistry between the students is good.

Today I had to teach a lesson to the production employees, and the lesson was in the usual place – the training center in the south part of the factory.   I like teaching there because I can see a lot of new faces, and also they keep the room air conditioned and comfortable.  Unfortunately today it was really hot (is this really October?) and they have kind of policy of not using the air conditioner once summer is over.  And summer is over in October.   All the windows were open, which helped, but outside they were pounding away on steel, driving forklifts and it was pretty hard to communicate through the sweat and heat.

Mentally I had moved on past summer time.  I guess it wasn’t quite ready to go yet.

Another big typhoon is coming our way, but I have a feeling this one is going to miss us.  Apparently it will come closest to us on Wednesday, so it may be a little dicey getting to and from work.  The last time this happened I ended up coming in late – I hope it doesn’t happen again.

One of the best parts of starting a new term is getting to know my new students.  I’m really pleased with this term’s batch.  They are highly motivated, slightly nervous, and exceptionally intelligent.  In the past I’ve found this combination to be especially conducive to English speaking improvement.

We are coasting into the weekend, and I’m happy to be here.  From next week things at work will get much busier, so I’m looking forward to the weekend to rest up.  Tomorrow night Kuniko is forgoing a party with her coworkers to have a party with me at home, so we’re trying to think up what to have for dinner.  Garlic?  No problem.  Too much alcohol?  Probably.  I’m not sure yet what we’ll have but I’m sure it will be decadent.

So far this week I’ve been enjoying getting to know my new students and catching up with some repeating students. This week involves a lot of planning for the start of the new employee group lessons next week.

Kuniko has definitely got a wicked cold, and seeing her walk around the house coughing like an old man is a little disconcerting. Every morning she says she feels better. I hope it doesn’t last much longer – she’s got precious few holidays this month to recover.

Tonight after work I’ll meet up with some of the inspectors from the factory along with Neil Meyer, who works at KHI as a technical translator. Neil wanted to catch up with me about our summer trip, and the other guys will sort of tag along. It should be fun!