Time flying...

I've been meaning to update this blog for the past week, but it's been just crazy here in persimmon land. I guess the only thing I can do is share the highlights...

I played some kick ass games at badminton last Tuesday night, and I think this improvement can be attributed to the fact that Yamamoto-san gave me a new racket. We were making chit chat before playing and I mentioned that his daughter, Miho, was a good student. One of the wiseguys was like "Honto (Really)??!!!), and I said yes. It must have touched Yamamoto-san because he ended up giving me a racket. The racket I had borrowed from the JHS was really heavy, but I didn't realize it until I ot my new and improved model. I think I should go around complimenting students to their parents more often! (SIDEBAR - Most of the kids are fantastic so this wouldn't be problem).

I almost started crying at the elementary school the other day in response to the tears of one of my students. I had paired up the kids to play a vocab day and it was supposed to be competitive. The first few teams did really well, but when I got to the next team, they couldn't name most of the words. I noticed that one of the girls had shiny eyes, and I thought that it was a little strange until I realized that she was crying. You have to understand that this is my most difficult class and I try really hard to motivate some of the kids while keeping the overly genki ones under control. On top of that, I have to drag the homeroom teacher into the lessons and get him to participate. All the kids are great, but they have very little discipline. With that being said, the preparation for the class, the stress during the class, and the crying girl nearly put me over the edge. Luckily, it was my first class in the morning, so my day greatly improved after it was over.

On Friday, I went to Tokoro-sensei's house for the weekend and attended my first ever sake party with him and his wife. It was amazing. There were about 7 different brands of sake and an amazing bento with so much food. Thankfully, there was also water so I didn't get too soused. And, in true Kaki-in-Japan fashion, my presence created THE STIR and I was quite popular. On top of that, I had a few obvious admirers and two requests to model for some paintings. (Hmmm, I'll tell my people to contact your people, ne?)


On Saturday, after trying to get over my upset stomach by eating an awesome breakfast, T-sensei, Yoshie-san,his wife, and I went to Mino City, which is famous for its washi (Japanese style paper) and a light festival. We went to several washi shops but I couldn't afford anything I truly liked, so I bought baked goods from a bakery instead. It's been so long since I've indulged and it smelled so good that I had no choice but to cave.




After Mino City, Yoshie-san and I went to the video store to get a DVD and I ended up buying 7 (!) used videos. They ranged from 12O-380 yen. How could I resist??? And we rented The Interpreter with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, which ended up being really good. For dinner, we had a traditional dinner where we made our own onigiri (rice, fish and veggies wrapped in seaweed paper). I couldn't stop eating and I unded up staying up all night from a horribly upset stomach. But I had to get up early because Yoshie-san and I had to get ready to go to Gifu City. We met her friend and we were on our way. We went to an outdoor flea market where I purchased a totally-not-me-but-fun-anyway shirt for 450 yen (you can bargain in Japan, yo!) and we watched a parade. We shared many jokes and chilled out Yoshie-san's friend's parent's house. After that, we made our way back to the Tokoro household, but not before I dropped a fat wad of cash at the grocery store.


The Tokoros are really awesome people and I feel like they are my Japanese parents. Yoshie-san speaks really good English and we have a good time talking about marriage, movie stars and my goals. She calls me when she needs help with English and Tokoro-sensei updates me on their dogs. They are really good people. And a little ghetto too: we went to a Honda dealership to test drive a car, but they later told me that they were not interested in buying the car - only in receiving the free remote controlled car! Tokoro-sensei was really stoked with it and spent the duration of The Interpreter putting it together. HOT.

I had a bit of a rough day at the JHS yesterday and so did my pred. David, so he came over and we bitched and moaned and he may end up quitting (he is a private ALT). If he leaves, I'll be crushed because he's one of three people whom I consider close friends in my prefecture, and he lives the closest to me and we talk/text ALL THE TIME. He used to work at my schools so he knows everybody and is just an all around great guy. Anyway, I'm being insanely selfish, and I told him so, but I am trying to convince him to just hang in there.

And there you have it. It's Tuesday again, so I'll be going to badminton tonight. I will be heading off to Shikoku island, Kagawa prefecture to see Mel in 3 days (can't wait!!!).

BTW, the picture at the top of this post is for a bakery!!! It is called Faushon (Fashion) and had the most expensive shit. 1800 yen for jam - WTF???