This morning we got up even earlier than usual as an experiment.  This term I’m teaching some early classes, and the classes begin at 7:10 on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Usually I arrive at work at 7:00 every morning, but only a 10 minute safety margin had me a bit nervous.  We’ll try catching one train earlier than the usual today and see what time I show up.  Hopefully I’ll have enough gas in the tank to get me through the day…

Yesterday I met so many new people, and that will continue until Wednesday or Thursday this week.  Hopefully they had a good impression of the class, and we can start to move into more challenging topics in the next couple of weeks.  Some of my students made a big impression on me, as well.  Today I have a combination of new and returning students which should work out to a nice blend of personalities.

Yesterday I also proposed to buy a few textbooks to fill out my selection at work, and unfortunately my request was shot down.  I think if I spoke better Japanese I could have made my case better, but in the end I got the message – the budget is tight, so try to make do.  I ended up ordering the texts myself at home.  A teacher buying their own materials to help their students?  Not exactly unheard of.

Starting from today I’ll get a brand new set of students to teach for the next six months.  This week will be full of self introductions, nervous people, and a lot of sweating.  Hopefully the students will also feel some sense of relief when they discover that speaking English 100% of the time isn’t all that bad.  The first week in my class will be pretty gentle – first impressions in these situations mean a lot.

Yesterday we had a typhoon come through – lots of wind and rain, and we were sequestered at home all day.  We made the best of it by watching movies and snacking all day.  We watched “The Descendants” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, and by the time dinnertime rolled around we weren’t that hungry.  I decided to cook one of the packages of rice-a-roni that we had brought back from Hawaii this summer.  It is one of those dishes that is near-impossible to find here in Japan (even Costco doesn’t carry them), so it was a rare treat.  Yum.

Yesterday at work I had mainly just paperwork and preparation to do.  I joined a few other members of the HR department to do orientations for my next classes starting next week, but other than that I was just doing deskwork.  It was the first time in a long time that I didn’t have any classes while being at work.

As for the orientations, I thought they went well.  The new employees that joined this year will be taking group lessons, and it has been roughly five months since I’ve seen them last.  Now they are coming to terms with their actual responsibilities in the company, and I noticed significantly less smiles than before.  I’m sure I’ll be able to get them back on the fun track once we get into class.

Today, besides the paperwork, I do have one consultation with an ex-student, and then I’m off to the bookstore to check out the textbooks.  I’m looking for some supplemental materials for some classes.  Of course I am going to buy the actual materials online where they are cheaper, but at the bookstore I can spend my time thumbing through the materials to make sure I’m getting what I want.

Tonight Kuniko has a party after work, so I’ve got to figure what to do for dinner.  BBQ at home? Go out?  Something fun to think about during the day today.

Last night I cooked up the “All B Panini” – basil, bacon, blue cheese and brie.  It might have been the most unhealthy panini I have made so far.  I thought the taste was pretty good, especially the tang of the blue cheese blended nicely with the saltiness of the bacon.  Unfortunately I thought it was missing something.  I’ll have to experiment again (maybe roasted hot peppers?) to try to find the final ingredient.

Yesterday I officially finished up my last four classes, and now it is all paperwork and orientations the rest of the week.  Time seems to go a lot slower when you are behind a desk working on paperwork, but there is a fair amount of work still to do.  Hopefully I can get it all wrapped up by the end of tomorrow.

At work this morning I will finish up with my students for this six month term.  I had a really good group this time around, so I think I’m going to miss them. The good news is that I’ll have a lot of new students starting next week, though.

This afternoon and the next couple of days will be filled with activities to wrap up last term and prepare for the next.  For the first time in a long time it’ll be me doing most of this stuff.  Hopefully it’ll go smoothly!

And, tonight I’m thinking about making some more panini sandwiches for dinner.  We’ve been on a panini craze, and I just can’t get enough.  Considering some brie, bacon, blue cheese and basil sandwiches for tonight.

So happy that the last couple of days have dropped to cool temperatures.  Some of my students have commented that it is almost time to go to long sleeve shirts, but I’m walking around enjoying the free air conditioning.

I was invited yesterday to play “hand tennis” with some of the employees at KHI.  The guy who invited me usually says hello in English now and then on the way to work. I visited the court at lunch, and watched them hitting a small inflatable ball around a mini-tennis court.  They used paddles that were bigger than table tennis paddles but much smaller than tennis rackets.  It was interesting to watch them hitting around the ball, and they seemed very serious about it.  They were wearing t-shirts and tennis shoes, so they must change clothes after lunch and then go to play.   Since I was still wearing business clothes, I had a nice excuse to get out of it.  It was nice to see that some people were staying active at lunchtime, though.

My classes this week are mostly doing final comments, final tests, and saying goodbye to students.   I do have a few students returning next time, though.  It’ll be nice to have some familiar faces next time around as well.  There are a lot of things that I need to do before the new term starts.  Luckily I have half of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to work on those.  It’ll be an interesting week.

Friday night Yoshi and I met up in Sannomiya to hit a yakitori and have some local beer. We started at the yakitori, a kind of dark, small, back alley kind of place that was surprisingly nice. There were only eight seats in the place, though. We started with a big combination plate of raw chicken parts – from slices of raw breast meat to liver, heart, and gizzard. It was my first time to eat so much raw chicken in one sitting, but after a little salt and sesame oil they were pretty good.

Yoshi and I sat on one side of the counter, and directly on the other side the two staff cooked and served dishes. Yakitori restaurants can be smoky, but they had a clear plexiglass shield between us and the grill, and a huge exhaust system directly overhead to suck out all the smoke before it filled the small room. This plexiglass shield ended up saving us from more than smoke, however. Some other customers had ordered some champagne, and the staff made an error opening the bottle. The bottle started spraying, and the staff tried to get the cork back in the bottle. It ended up intensifying the spray and completely hosing every customer in the place except for us. The plexiglass was covered in champagne that would have otherwise ended up on us.

Saturday Kuniko brought some of her coworkers over for dinner after her school’s culture festival. We grilled burgers and sausages, mounted the giant patties on giant buns, and struggled to finish them off. Seriously, huge burgers. Every key seemed to like them, so mission accomplished.

Sunday we spent recharging our batteries at home. I
mainly was reading, while Kuniko slept most of the day.

This week I have my last three days of classes for this term, and also the orientation meetings for my new students. New classes start next week!

Today and tomorrow Kuniko will have a big culture event at her school, which means that she’ll be pretty busy.  I’m taking the opportunity to go out with Yoshi for dinner after work today, and then tomorrow after her event Kuniko is bringing some coworkers over for burgers.  We’ll have a busy couple of days.

Yesterday I finished reading Robinson Crusoe.  I read the free Kindle version, and not having anything to compare it to I felt like I had gotten my money’s worth (it was free).  I can’t believe how long I went without reading the story.  The next book is called “The Windup Girl” – a science fiction novel set in a futuristic Thailand.

Today after work I’ll head out for a few drinks with the factory inspectors at tachinomi, for the first time in a long time.  It’ll be nice to spend some time with them and catch up.  I guess they are pretty busy these days, and between work and the summer holiday it has been a long while.  I don’t think it will turn into a wild night, though.  The nice thing about tachinomi is that it is low commitment.

Last night Kuniko cooked some more konnyaku noodles for dinner, this time making them as a ramen dish.  They were really good – the ramen base was made with soy milk and a Chinese broth base, and the ramen had only noodles, carrots and onions, so the whole thing had just about 10 calories.  And it was delicious – good texture on the noodles, and the soup was a good match.  I can’t wait for the next dish.  We’re thinking about trying to make a spicy version during the upcoming cold weather, whenever that happens to arrive.

Yesterday Kuniko took delivery of ten absolutely perfect hamburger buns.  Her professional baker friend took our order, and the results were impressive.  She charged us only 100 yen a bun – a bargain here in Japan.  I can’t wait to try them out this Saturday.  Now I’ve just got to get the patties to live up to the bun.  I’ll make sure to post some pictures this weekend.

It is Tuesday morning, and I just wrapped up a nice three day holiday weekend.  Saturday and Sunday we got plenty of exercise hiking around the area.  Our timing turned out to be quite good, as yesterday the rains started, and continue through today.  Unfortunately because of the rains we were confined to home, and I was getting a little stir-crazy.  The humidity is also high, and the temperature continues to be in the mid-30’s, even in September.  Ick.

Today Kuniko has the day off, and so she’ll be taking care of some errands around town and enjoying one last day of relaxation before heading to work tomorrow.  Lucky girl!

Last Friday night after work we met at a brewpub in Motomachi.  It is called Rokko Beer Diner, and they had about eight beers on tap.  Their beer lineup was pretty good (I liked the Raoho, flavored with smoky hops) and the atmosphere was not bad, just a little small.  I think I’ll go again in the future.

We’re looking at a holiday weekend coming up – three days for most people, and Kuniko has an extra day thrown in there.  A few days ago we decided to celebrate by going to a brewpub after work today.  After my hangover yesterday I wasn’t sure that I wanted to continue with the plan, but now I’m feeling good and ready to check out some local brews.

This weekend we don’t have any plans other than organizing the house and doing some yardwork.  I am hoping that the weather holds up and I can do some hiking, though.

Well, Wednesday night drinking is always a bad idea.  However, I had a great time last night at an Italian restaurant that seemed to be straight out of Las Vegas, and then some karaoke and ramen to finish up the night.  Too much to drink, though.  I’m glad I don’t do this professionally.  More posting tomorrow once I recover!

Yesterday Kuniko went to her baking lesson, and continued to work on the perfect hamburger bun.  I guess it is a little difficult to get the right size and consistency, and her instructor (and friend) has taken this as a challenge.  Last night Kuniko brought home some samples to check out, and I think we have a winner.  We’ve got a party at the end of the month, so Kuniko ordered about a dozen of these monster buns.  I think they’ll be a hit.  We’ve also got a lot of the bread that Kuniko learned how to make, and so today we’ve got to try to finish it up during the day today.  We’re having some for breakfast, and bringing some for lunch, too.

After work tonight I’m joining some current and former students for a dinner party, so I’m sure to get home late and I’ll probably be tired tomorrow morning.  But it’ll be fun to have the party, and I might be able to work on my karaoke skills depending on how it goes.