We hooked up the electric blanket last night.  The heated toilet seat is set to the second-highest setting.  The heated floors are now on a timer for morning and night operation.  Damn, it’s cold.

Yes, winter is here.  I don’t know if it is officially winter, but last night might have been the last night without electric blankets.  The weather patterns have changed, and the days of just a comforter are pretty much over. We’ve had a few storms lately, and that brings up the temperature a little, but still – too cold.

It’s been quiet at work and at home lately, so not much to report.  Kuniko has had a series of business trips which means that she has been getting home at reasonable hour lately.  How unusual!  Tonight we’re hoping to keep the streak alive and have a nice dinner together before 8 pm…

For the last few weeks we’ve been wondering when we’d have time to take our new(-ish) car into the dealer for the first maintenance.  Normally I’d take it somewhere else, but the dealer had a special price on the first maintenance ($20) so we figured we get it there one of these days.  But we’ve both been so busy that it has been hard to find the time.

So we were happy to receive a phone call last night at 7 pm from the dealer, offering to come get our car, take it back to the dealer for the maintenance, and then bring it back to our home at 8 pm.  Are these guys sitting around the dealership with nothing to do? Sure, we said.  Come on over whenever you want.

Now maintenance is done and they’ve saved us some trouble.  Maybe this is part of their strategy to keep us on a busy maintenance schedule with them in the future, but I’ve got to admit, the convenience factor is pretty nice.

Yesterday we had a rainy day, all day long.  We stayed inside and watched movies, which was a nice way to relax on Kuniko’s first day in several weeks.  Last night the weather forecast said that it would start being cold after the storm passed, and they were right – it was much colder this morning when we got up.  Not only that, but there is a seriously strong wind blowing outside, too.  I think it will be a chilly trip to work this morning.

I’m going out with some of my students after work to Mikaen, my current favorite Chinese restaurant. Shu suggested it as a good way to get to know some of my students better, and since they all are working in the same department, it made sense. The only bad point is that if one of them is stuck with a lot of work, that means that the rest of them probably will be too. So I may be eating Chinese food alone tonight.

This weekend I’ll stay in while Kuniko is working on Saturday, and we’ll both have all day off on Sunday. The current plan for the day off is to veg out in front of the TV and watch movies after sleeping in the whole morning. I can’t wait.

…is how I feel without my phone.  For the first time in years I left it at work and only discovered that I had forgotten it while on the train back.  Oops.  It is hard to describe the strange sense of loss while not carrying it.  I couldn’t get in touch with Kuniko and so we just met back at home – she was worried that something happened to me.  I missed out on the chance to read some articles on the way home, but that’s about it.  I used a different method to wake up this morning, and right now in my office my alarms is going off again and again…  hopefully nobody is there at 4;30 am to be disturbed by it.

I better figure out a way to avoid having this happen again in the future.

Luckily here in Japan there is not much fanfare about the US presidential election, so I can go about my day normally.  I voted a long time ago by mail, so today I can just watch the online media wonder who will win, and then look forward to the licking of wounds and a return to normalcy.  Politics is definitely not one of my favorite topics.  The political situation in Japan is a big mess – so not much to admire there, either.

I imagine that it is a little harder to avoid all of that media in the USA – here’s to hoping things calm down soon.  There’s so much real life out there that is waiting to be enjoyed.

Yesterday I once again taught my monthly class to the new employees in the production group.  These guys (and one girl) are hired right out of high school, have elected not to go to college, and will be factory workers building trains at our factory in Hyogo.  They are being taught English by the HR department once a week, and then once a month I go in and teach a class.  Each month someone gives me a topic, and then I give it a go and try to get them to learn it in class, using only English. Sometimes it is a hit, and sometimes it is a miss.

Yesterday was a miss.  The students had trouble paying attention, even basic English phrases like “I don’t understand” were forgotten (probably since they have no opportunity to use them in the months between my classes), and overall I wasn’t satisfied with the results of the course.  If it were up to me, I’d say that there are some major changes to the format of the class that should be made.

My last class with them is next month, so maybe after the beginning of next year I’ll take it up with the powers that be, and try to make some changes.  Making changes to something like this, especially in a one hundred year old Japanese company, is like trying to change the change the course of a river – something best done gradually over a long time period.

And in the end, what else can you ask for from a weekend?  Friday night we went out after work to have dinner at a new restaurant for us.  The place was dark, and the seats had no backs, and they were playing traditional French music in the background.  There were a few red flags, but despite that, it was a pretty good restaurant.  Some of the food (like the ratatouille) had been pre-prepared, but we a delicious cut of duck that had been pan seared and served rare – and that was really good.

One complaint that I could make – not specifically about this restaurant – is the procedure for ordering a bottle of wine.  In many restaurants they open the wine somewhere else, the proprietor tastes it themselves, and then they just pour the wine directly into both of our glasses.  In this restaurant he poured it in and said, “A very delicious wine”, as if daring us to argue.  As it happened it was a very delicious wine, but I’d prefer to make that determination.  Not all restaurants do this, but it seems like it often happens when we order a bottle of vino.  So no Michelin star for this guy.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key.  I stayed home and did some hiking, and Kuniko worked both day.  Luckily next Sunday she’ll get a day off.

Our quest for the perfect French restaurant continues.  We’ve already found a restaurant that serves great Japanese-style French food in Kobe (Anonym).  That is relatively easy to find – the tough part is to find a “real” French restaurant.  We’ve had plenty of misses while we’ve looked, and even the misses are fun for us to try.  Tonight we’ll try again.  Hit or miss, it’ll be a nice way to celebrate the end of the week and the start of the weekend.  At least for me – Kuniko is busy Saturday and Sunday.

Reading the news about the storm damage is pretty depressing.  Besides the human toll, there are effects all the way over here in Japan. Kawasaki Rail Car is a factory that builds trains for the North American market located in Yonkers, NY.  At work yesterday I heard that they suffered some light damage, and they will remain closed for the time being.  Maybe the whole week.  They have some systems that they share with another American Kawasaki factory, so that one will remain closed as well.  This means less emails for some of my students, but overall an impacted delivery schedule which nobody (including the customer) likes.

So it is under this condition that I’m teaching classes to students that are affected by the big storm.  Hopefully everyone can crawl out from under and start returning to normal.

I used up all my morning time reading about the big storm on the east coast of the USA.  Some pretty scary stuff!

Twice a week I have early classes at work.  Usually they are on Wednesday and Thursday, but today my Thursday class switched to my Tuesday class.  That means I’ve got a busy morning ahead of me.

Recently I’ve been going to work early to plan my lessons for the day and have some quiet time before things get busy.  With an extra morning class today I’ll have an hour less of planning time before my regular teaching schedule starts, so it is always a little bit of rushed.

I read on the news that the SF Giants won the world series – that was a surprise.  It seemed it like was over quickly.  I didn’t really recognize any of the names except for some of the coaches.  Names like Will Clark and Dave Righetti – those guys I remember from when I was a big fan.  It was a little bit of a blast from the past for me to remember those days listening to games on KNBR am radio.  Good memories!

Well, the weekend was everything I was hoping and more.  Lots of downtime, reading, listening to music, housecleaning, and delicious foods.  Friday night I met up with Komori sensei for a couple of drinks at Donkey and to see his pictures from his trip to the SF bay area.  He even had some pictures of the Sonoma plaza – too bad he couldn’t hook up with my parents while he was there.  He really loved the area, but he was surprised how cold summer was in San Francisco.

Kuniko was working on Saturday, but in the evening her friend Kori and her family came to pick us up and take us to their home/store/bakery.  She  is the lady that runs a cooking school, as well as selling breads and snacks from their home.  It was a perfect environment for having a party – they have a huge kitchen area, and plenty of seating for the six of us.  We ate pasta, cheese, and even a big bowl of shabu shabu.  Her two young sons (three and five-years old) kept us entertained, and got over their temporary shyness pretty quickly.   Kori’s husband didn’t drink that night, so he could drive us back to our place afterwards – what a nice guy.

Finally on Sunday we got up a little earlier to go into Osaka and see “Argo”, and we were really caught up in the movie.  Talk about “edge of your seat” – we were nervous through the whole movie.  Highly recommended if you have a chance to see it.  After the movie we did a little shopping in Osaka, and then Kuniko went on to attend a seminar, and I returned home to continue my weekend of relaxation.  Thanks to all this time to rest up, I think we’re ready for another busy week at work.

If there ever was a day where I felt like saying TGIF, today is it.  Our busy weekend last weekend combined with a heavy load of classes this week has left me tired out and waiting eagerly for the weekend.  Tonight I’ll meet with Mr. Komori at Donkey in Akashi  to recap his recent trip to California.  It shouldn’t be a wild party (at least, I hope not) and then I’ll head home early and start enjoying the weekend.

The first thing on my agenda is to sleep in.  Luckily for me, I can sleep in on both Saturday and Sunday.  It’ll be nice after getting up at 4:30 am every day for the last two weeks.  I also need to clean the house and do laundry.  We’ve been so busy we’ve been neglecting the house work.

Saturday evening we’ll go over to Kuniko’s friend’s house and have dinner.  We threw a taco party for her previously, and she wanted to return the favor and cook some Italian food for us.  Her husband doesn’t drink, and has offered to drive over and pick us up, and then drive us back home again afterwards.  Nice guy!

Unfortunately for Kuniko she has to work both days, so she’ll be just as tired despite it being the weekend.  Tough schedule for her as usual.