Look at all this sand, I mean snow!

Being born and raised in Hawaii its hard to imagine real snow especially when its flowing down just like in the movies. We got to our hotel at 6 in the morning and it was still dark outside. Immediately stepping out of the bus, we got showered with light, soft, cold pieces of snow. I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I felt the snow falling g me. Ok enough with the weird talk.

How was the snow? It was fricken awesome!! I don't think I can even imagine how excited I was when I first felt the snow. It was cold yet very soft and light. For anyone out there who hasn't experienced snow, please go and find yourself some snow.

Krystal, Lisa, and I totally maximized our time there at the resort by going out everyday and shredding the powder. The first day we got there everyone was still a little tired from the long and uncomfortable bus ride, but after a short nap we were out there. We got up pretty early and got all of our snow gear. We kind of just waited around for the the ski school to open up so we could get some lessons. I read my watch wrong and pretty much wasted like 3 hours just kind of sitting there in the cold playing with the snow. But once we got on track we got our lessons and in no time we could all SKI! The teacher guy was really cool and funny. There was this other lady that was taking the lesson with us but basically we were all beginners. After about two hours on a bunny slope the teacher told us that with some practice we could make it onto the lift by the next day. Because of the winter season the sun went down around 5. So we would go in at 5 and have some dinner that came with the hotel reservations. And then after some chatting and showers we all passed out at about 8.

The next day we got up pretty early and a lot more excited. We knew how to ski and couldn't wait to get up on the lift. The hotel reservations also came with a breakfast buffet, which we made good use of. We went out to the slope and then went on our first lift trip. At our stop you kind of have to go down a small hill off the lift platform. This is where I believe Lisa ate some snow. This was the first of many falls to come from Lisa, Krystal, and me. The stop we got off at was in the middle of the main slope. We had to cross it to get to the less crowded and more comfortable slope. At first I was really nervous to go across but I was surprised how similar skiing and rollerblading were. So I got it really quick. Even Krystal and Lisa were going across the slope by the second and third time with very little trouble. We stayed out there all day until the sun went down.

That night after dinner we went out to play in the snow. It would be pretty embarrassing to play in the snow in the day, so we went in the parking lot at night and made our snowman. It's actually very hard to make the snowman with soft snow. But we managed to make one that was pretty cool and even took pictures of him.

The third day we decided to try out snowboarding. We got lessons again and again got a really cool teacher. It seems that when we told everyone that we were from Hawaii they cut us a little slack being in the snow for the first time. Snowboarding was actually a lot more challenging than skiing. The hardest part for me was getting up on the board. Everything else just took some time to get used to. I would say that I got most of the basic skills down. But still very much a beginner. Snowboarding made me feel kind of cool, compared to skiing. I felt that everyone knew how to ski but the snowboarders were the real cool guys.

Anyway half way through the day we decided that we should change back into skis because we were real novices when it came to boarding. We also felt that we should use more of the lift pass we bought for the two days. So we changed back into skis and finished the day. We were so sunburned being out in the snow for three days that everyone was pretty exhausted. We spent the last two hours of our snow holiday playing rummy and waiting for our bus to take us back to Kyoto. What an awesome way to experience snow for the first time...

Anyway finally back home in Kyoto. Kind of weird calling Kyoto home, but it will have to do. We ended up seeing a movie yesterday in the theaters. I think it was a good 6 months since the last time I was in the theater. We went to see Man on Fire, Japanese title "My Bodyguard". It was a really good movie and I enjoyed it, especially because I was sitting in stadium seating in a THEATER!!

Well so far so good for my first winter in Kyoto. Getting colder and colder everyday but I think I'll be able to handle. Anyway ...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the people I haven't got a chance to say it directly too.

Pray for Snow ...

Or at least colder weather. Just checked the forescat for the ending of this week and next week. It says theres gonnabe mixed rain and snow. Just assuming here that hopefully the temperatue gets colder so that the rain that supposed to fall is gonna be snow. Pray with me...

Today is the day that I go down to the travel agnecy and check if the buses will still be running. Hopefully there's enough snow that the buses will be able to take us up. If not, worst case scenario we have to catch a train and then a long taxi cab ride. I wonder if I could leave early...

Anyway crazy thing happened today. I was supposed to have a meeting with my English supervisor but she couldn't come because she lost one of her kids. CRAZY HUH!? Well she's the SPED teacher and she just happened to go to the bathroom when the student just walked off campus and on to a train. It took him to the next tran stop which is about 5 mils away. Hehas autism and only is in the fourth grade. The teacher was not at fault since she went to the bahroom at recess. The kids decided to go for a long walk and ended up at the train station. I think I talked about this dude before. He lovs trains so much that often times he runs away from hoem to geton trains, buses, and other modes of transportations. His parents had found him as far as Osaka before. So anyway just got word that they found him an that hes on his way home. But yeah my teacher was pretty stressed out. She was running around going a little crazy. I don't blame her... I fell my behavior would be much worse then hers if that ever happened to me.

Anyway good day to be teaching since I got 3rd graders all day. Such a good grade especially in Japan. But with all that said just one more day after this and its winter vacation time.

Break it down!!

P.S. Pray for snow...

Shoop, Shoop, Shoop

Well it has been confirmed. Krystal, Lisa, and I will have a white Christmas. We have just booked some rooms at a hotel that is known for their ski and board slopes. I'm pretty excited about going up there and seeing some snow. I can't believe it took me 24 years to actually see it. I think 25 for Lisa and Krystal though, haha. Anyway I was stressing earlier last week because the cheapest thing we found was gonna be around 600 dollars. That's only with the hotel accommodations and transportation to the closest main train station. But my teacher advised me that there were a lot more cheaper places to go as long as get a package deal. We went to travel agency place and they basically hooked it up for us. So now we're getting everything the other resort had but at about 300 dollars cheaper. Isn't that awesome? So excited, this time next week, in the snow, building snowmen, having snowball fights, snow boarding, skiing, and catching pneumonia.

This weekend a pretty cruise weekend. All we really did was go Christmas shopping. We had lots of people to go shopping for but no money. We managed to get some peoples' stuff but not everybody. So if you're one of the people expecting a present form me, than I better get one in return! Nah just joke, just wait a while and I'm sure that the present will reach you in time. For a country that doesn't really celebrate Christmas the stores and malls sure are crowded. I had to wait in line for about 10 minutes to buy one item. I guess one would say that ten minutes isn't that bad but when people are constantly bumping into you it gets kind of irritating. I thought this was a country where everyone apologies. Didn't even hear one.

Oh yeah this weekend they had they VMA on TV. Isn't that cool? Here I was thinking that I was so far away from Americana. I was actually pretty surprised that I knew all the artists and songs that won. I guess the real shock will come next years show since I have no idea whats playing on the radio now...

Well I only have to last today and tomorrow and then let the Winter Vacation start. Can't wait to just sit around playing video games and lounging at home.

Christmas time is snow time...

and in no time it'll be Christmas again. Ahh Christmas season is really in full effect here. In the schools seem to be getting a little colder and everyone's spirits a little higher. Just today funny thing happened. The "designated funny teacher" of this school has second graders. I was in my seat reading the Shi gets Around when she comes into the office to grab stuff. Meanwhile her kids are out in the hall talking and makig some noise. So she hurries back and tells them that they should be quite. Their noise is irritating all the teacehrs in the staff room and they were being bad. (Actually it was juts meand the health room teacher in the room at the time.) I tell the health room teacher, that the second grade teacher sounded scary. She just gave me a small smile and said sometimes you need to raise your voice a little. Anyway the second grade teacher come back in the room and looks at our faces and does the generic Japanese "I'm a geish" woman laugh.Oh ho ho ho ho. And as soon as she leaves the health teacher and I crack up.

Anyway had all the good 5th graders today. they seemed to like the Hawaiian weaving lesson as much as all the other schools. but because I came on Monday one of the fifth graders already did the weaving project so I had to think of a new one to do. We ended up making a 3D Christmas tree. Any kind of arts& crafts where the students are given the freedom to use their imaginations theclass becomes really easy. I put the Christmas CD on again and let them go. The etacher of that class also told me that he only had math and science lessons today so the rest of the day would be spent decorating their 3D Christmas trees. He's pretty cool... I wish I had a teacher like hime when I was in school. He seems to understand the students very well. He gives them a lot of freedoms but at the same time be a disciplinarian.

Oh I almost forgot. Long story about what happened yesterday but remember that one kid that kept calling me "fat you"? Anyway on the playguround he7s usually a spitter. Like always saying bad/rude things to me in Japanese because he knows I don't understand Japanese. And then when I ignore him he usually spits at me. Well yesterday it actaully hit me. So I fucking chased him down like a sickly wildabeast and dragged him into the office. First person up to bat was the school's staff coordinator. He gave him a few words and when the student was being rude and unapologetic the homeroom teacher came. Then the homeroom teacher chewed the kids ass off for about 30 minutes. The boy started to squirt some tears and finally I was satisfied. But the teacher felt that the student wasn't cooperating so he brought in the staff coordinator and my English supervisor and we all three of us ganged up on the boy. Felt pretty good. Not being sadistic but haivng to put up with his crap for 5 months I was glad that someone broke him. Always thinking he is tough and cool. Yeah, who's crying now bitch! Anyway the teacher all apologized to me saying that it was right to get angry with the student so we could all show him his behavior was uncalled for. sigh... hopefully that's the end of that.

Other than that I was so stressed out from going through the interogation session and then re-living it for Krystal that I passes out. And soon followed by Krystal. We woke up at 1:00 in the morning, not even having any dinner. Weird huh? We originally planned to go bowling and have dinner but ended up sleeping since about 6. And when I woke up this morning at 7:20... still tired. But now what to do for the weekend...

Break it down!

And I said, HEY!, Get out of my WAY!

This song line is dedicated to Lisa and her unfortunate meeting with the ... ground. Sorry to hear it Lisa, let this be a lesson to us all, Japanese do not know how to drive ANYTHING!!

Anyway its been a while since I last blogged so updates, updates, updates. Nothing new going it seems like this is the last full week of school for the year! That sounds really good but but by year I mean calendar year not the school year. On the bright side we do have winter vacation. And with the help of some paid leaves our original 4 day holiday has turned into 2 weeks off. Assuming everyone else will have the same break at home I jut wanted to brag that WE'LL SEE SNOW!! HAHAHAHA

Ok ok ok, Umm still doing my weaving lesson and it seems to be big hit. Especially the soundtrack. I have the students listen to Christmas music while they weave. I bought a Christmas compilation CD and it has a pretty good mix of classics and new remakes. The most popular one is Last Christmas by WHAM. They all know the song thanks to a a Christmas drama on TV called, Last Christmas. A Japanese pop singer dude sings it but it sounds very similar to the Wham version. Its so funny, when the song comes up the kids all make a happy, "I know this song-Face" and totally sing along with the CD. Therefore my job becomes super easy. I just walk around helping the students in need listening to Christmas songs. At the same time the teachers like the soundtrack too. They sing along to the classics like Bing Crosby and the Beatles. Such a festive place...

Yesterday at my Wednesday school my teacher helped me figure out how to read the webpage of a cozy bed and breakfast ski place. The entire web page was written in Kanji and it was really hard to read. He taught me the links and how to make reservations. But after I got all the figures I did a rough estimate of the expenses and it came out to be pretty expensive. It was about $600 each. That's includes lodging for three days, transportation (Kyoto-Norikura) round trip, and two day ski lift pass. I guess for a 5 day trip it isn't too bad. But if we can get it cheaper I say we look a little longer. Anyway my teacher noticed the numbers and suggested that the weekend he would come with me to the travel agency and try to find the best price and options. How cool is that?? SO lets go SHOOP, SHOOP, SHOOP.

Anyway Lisa is gonna come up to Kyoto again to spend the holidays. Pretty excited. Now we can really get together and cruise it... And by the time she starts to get irritating she'll be on her way home. Nah just joke lisa!　I think she's gonna be staying for a little over a week and it's gonna be awesome. Only thing is that I feel bad that she always has to come up to Kyoto. I mean there maybe more things to do here but that means she shells out 2-3 hundred dollars for the Shinkasen tickets. Maybe the next time we'll go visit her. Fukuoka cane be cozy too.

That's all for now... I wonder what'll go down this weekend?

BREAK it down?

Do I GoTs the skillz?

Well, Do I? I only ask because yourstruly has made into thenewspapers! Of course in Japan. Remember the special lesson that I did? Well amongst the many cameras and video cameras one belonged t a reporter who did a story on me. Well not soley me but the article was about the national education seminiar or something and in the whole country three schools were selected as observational schools. One of the schools being mine, they did a report on my lesson. Pretty cool huh? There's a picture ofme and everthing. Me and my Tom Cruise impersonation. My Kyoto sensei said that the Asahi Shimbun is the number 1 circulated newspaper in Japan. This is a lot bigger than I thought. Anyway before my head gets any bigger...

Nothing new at my Tuesday school. Actaully they pulled a fast one me this morning that I had a first period like 15 minutes into it. Usually I start off at second period but they have parent teacher conferences today and how I wish I could talk to some of the parents of these students. so I have no lessons after lunch. And the Kyoto sensei just gave me permission to go to the GEC for the rest of the day. What a pretty crusie day. This jut means that I'llgo home and take my time getting to the GEC and maybe not even go. Haven't been to the arcade in a while... nah I just go. Have to build more tust before I can do whatever I want. This time next year I'll be rocking home as son as my lessons are done.

This is "star" treatment after all... hee hee

BREAK it down!!

I HAVE EXORCISED THE DEMON!!

This house is clear... for now. Something happened today that I thought would never happen... the sixth graders were on TASK!! You cannot believe how relieved, ecstatic, and grateful I am for this wondrous day. I feel like I just won the lottery. The sixth graders all actually sat there and made Hawaiian Tatami mats. All it is is weaving construction paper together. And after if they finished quickly they had the snowflake to occupy them.

I couldn't believe how well this lesson worked. All the kids well lets say about 98% of them were working and finished the project. Of Course there were some that decided that they were too cool to do this but everyone else was so engrossed in the arts and crafts session that they punks were ignored. It was a really big help that the 6-2 teacher (my english supervisor) came to all the classes and helped supervise the class. They also sent another teacher in there with me. Maybe they sensed that I was hating this schools' sixth grade. But I can't remember a time when the sixth graders were this good. Not even during my introduction lesson were they this good.

Then to make things even better this Friday I have this school at the regular day and I have all fifth graders and one 6th grade. This just in no sixth grade class next week. I thank whoever was in charge of granting wishes this past weekend.

Break it Down

I can be mad if I want too ... right?

Ok so to recap last week, the lesson went really well. on my way to school I was really calm and figured that it was gonna be another day at the school but when I got there the place was packed! There were people filing in from what I heard all over Japan. You had educational coordinators from Hokkaido all the way to Okinawa. There must have been at least 200 hundred people there. Anyway the lesson didn't start until 10:30 so I basically tried to clam down for a good two hours. People were coming up to me and saying "Gambatte, yoroshiku onegaishimasu" roughly translated "do your best and please do the task for me." And not just the people I usually see and talk to but the first grade teachers, janitorial staff, and the kitchen workers were all coming up to me. This just put more pressure on me. One of the things that calmed me down was my supervisor from another school was in charge of the AV stuff. I talked to him and found some sense of comfort. But anyway I did the whole "spy thing" and made everyone laugh. And the the lesson was a complete success. The two hundred people that came to watch were all thanking me and I felt like a star. It was pretty cool. That night the BOE had a small get together for all the people that came to Kyoto and we all basically boozed it up. Krystal tanked a couple of beers and enjoyed all the really good food. These Japanese people really know how to party.

Oh a side note. At this party event we had to sit at random seats, to mingle I suppose. Anyway Krystal and I sat in front of this lady who was really nice and kept pouring us beer. Later we found out that she comes from Fukuoka and none other than Omuta! So we immediately asked if she knew Lauren Mark? Lauren having done two years down there she must know her right? YUP! She did and we couldn't believe how small this island is.

Anyway afterwards Krystal went home to dye our friend's hair but I stayed out a little later with my teacher buddies to have a couple of more drinks. I got buzzed ...

Weekend was pretty much stay home and veg weekend. The weather was kind of cold and the sky was overcast, it was the perfect day to stay home. But we finally got up and started to make a trek to this mystical place called Speak Easy, the American Diner. It must have been a good 45 minutes bike ride that was made a little longer cause Krystal went over a nail in which we needed to repair her tire. But the place was awesome! Real burgers, real fries, hash browns, french toast, enchiladas, tostadas, and real roast beef sandwich was what we had amongst the three of us. (our friend ended up staying the night) Man I couldn't tell how good it felt to eat some real American food. On our ay home we found another familiar sight... PIZZA HUT!! I couldn't believe we found one. We saw a few commercials but were in doubt that we hadn't come across a pizza hut in like 5 months. It smelled the same but the menu was very different with Japanese-esque pizza. Felt like home...

Sunday was pretty much another stay home day. Krystal woke up at about 11 and then went back to sleep around 2 and didn't get up until 6. I basically played video games, watched TV and fooled around on the computer.

So here I am at my Friday school on a Monday. Last week got switched since I needed to do the special lesson. So guess who I have? I have the sixth graders Again! Every time I come to this school I feel like I get the sixth graders. Almost like a punishment. I'm gonna attempt to do some crafts and hopefully this doesn't get thrown out the window. Two reasons why I can't get mad. 1- The fifth grade teacher new I liked anime and let me borrow the ghost in the shell series. H recommended it saying that it was his favorite anime. 2- The Kyoto sensei came to me and gave me a birthday present. I was really shocked. He gave me two Naruto folder things. I really wasn't expecting anything but it was very cool of them. So like I said here I am at my Friday school on a Monday and can I get mad? We'll see how the first three lessons go. Oh brighter side - I have the fifth graders (my favorite class) for the last lesson. It can't end too bad... right?

Break it Down!

Just Loose It!

AHAHAHAH! Ok for those of you that didn't know what that was in reference to the new single form Eminem Just Loose It. Anyway that's the attitude that I carry today since we have to do this crazy observed lesson. I'm not a stranger to observed lessons since I think that's what I majored in but it's the atmosphere that has gotten me all choked up. As soon as I walk into the school the teachers that never talk to me say good morning and then wish me luck. I thought I had no real part in this lesson. Yet whenever I see I member of the staff they all want to wish me luck, ask how was my cold, or ask if I'm nervous. Wasn't nervous until all these people came up to me. But the principal is strutting his stuff and I'm here waiting for me chicane to be the lesson's comic revolve. Honeslty do you think I can pull off a Tom Cruise in MIssion Impossible look? Yeah right!! But I'm the stupid foreigner that the head ED. people want to see ham it up for them.

Anyway it's been a while since I last blogged but everytime I tried to I felt nauseous. I have even sick again for the past two days or so. Actually I am still sick but needed to rest up for this crazy lesson. Anyway I think I relapsed from the last time. The temperature here decided to take another drop of about 5 degrees C, so us HAWAIIANS meaning me cannot adjust well enough. I really needed to get over this cold thing. Anyway being home for two days straight I got to finish season 1 of Friends. No matter how old it is, it still gets me laughing out loud. And what an accurate account of the mid-late 90's. I also got to watch a few Seinfeld episodes. Those are gonna be funny til the end of time. But the main thing I have doing instead of hacking and sleeping is the Naruto game.

The game has a story mode where you play through a part of the character's story line in the anime. But after you mastered attacking and stuff the story mode is no problem. I couldn't understand all the Japanese but you can get through the story mode ok. But then that can't be the end of the whole game right? Nope. I went on line to find some walkthroughs or something and yes I found them. People have translated everything of that game and made the game even more interesting and challenging now. There's a whole missions part that you have to beat certain characters with certain circumstances. For instance, you must defeat a character without blocking and having more than 50% of your life. And things like that. So the missions get harder and harder. And I guess if you finish all of the missions you have truly beaten the game. Cool huh?

Anyway it's starting to get into game time so I better "SPY UP" and get ready. For all those that are laughing...my horoscope said.."all your friends are laughing behind your back... kill them..."


BREAK IT DOWN!!

World Series of Poker...at Kevin and Vals'

So anyway here I am being booted second off the 6 man table of poker. Actaully its a noce quite game where everyone is boozing, eating and having a real good time... at least not the losers (Chris and Val). No offense Val but at least I wasn't the first one to get booted out. But anyway the food is good and the fun is all over this place. Krystal and I really need to move here. Had a few too many wine and colas so the screen seems to be moving really weird like.

Anyway the game is starting to get interesting since there's only like three people left. Krystal has just gone all in but it deosn't look to promising for her since the oteh two guys are like totally making side bets. It's been so long away from the poker table that I'm pretty rusty. That's the only reason why I can think of that I got booted off. Usually I get at least to second place, but not his time. Well update: Krystal was holding pocket cowboys and just won her all in bet. Keep the ball going Krystal!! Hopefully if she wins shes gonna buy me something cool.

Hmmm, what else is there to blog about... maybe that the school thing that I was so pissd about isn't really bothering anymore but just give me until Friday I'm sure all the same feelings will come back. Anyway must go back to root for Krystal secretly.

Oh on a side note. Just before we left for poker, I recieved a package from Mom. She sent me Friends season 1-4, Seinfeld season 1-2, and teh new Harry Potter. Mom loves me. But I'm sure she's saying that it's both my Christmas and Birthday present. Which I will gladly take... MORE TV DVD for me to watch.

BREAK IT DOWN....

It's Friday... You know what that means...

WEEKEND IS ALMOST UPON US!! That was me trying to be positive. Actually its Friday and that means I had my worst school. Actually I was really happy about coming today but all was ruined by 6 grade -2 class in my last period. I had the whole day of third graders and that meant positive, happy, smilely faces. We went over colors and introduced new ones that they had never heard of. We played BINGO and I even got to teach them Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) song. But all was ruined in the last period of the day true to they're reputation in this blog.

I was so "bummed" after the class I called William and Takemoto if I should take drastic measures and leave the school right then and there. It was a good thing that no one picked up the first time. But William did call me right back and explained, logically my options. So now I have cooled down.

These sixth graders don't want to listen at all. I really think they're boycotting me. So sitting here I wonder what would Onizuka Sensei do? (Just for you Lisa) So anyway what would a delinquent ex-biker ganger member, who's only dream was to become and awesome teacher do in my situation? Let them do exactly what they wanted to do and "save" each kid one at a time before long all the kids in his class are on his side. So you might ask "What have you done Chris?" Well good thing you asked I've done everything I could think of. Ignoring them, trying to discipline them, embarrass them, try to become "close" with them, gave them the silent treatment, etc. Nothing has worked. What did my fellow colleagues say? Well they told me I can either cause a bog fuss and humiliate the school therefore something drastic can take place or suck it up because they won't be here next year. Laugh at them when they go to junior high and get bumped back down the totem pole and get bullied by the upper classmen. For some of these kids I would love to see that day. I think I would even go as far as to say that I would pay money to sit in their class and watch them crash and burn. Sounds evil but I think the word "hate" fits into this situation quite nicely.

Nah I don't think I could do that. I really want to be a good teacher and get them to change their attitudes about the subject. But no homeroom teacher to help me, no motivation from the students, too many head/class clowns, and no motivation in my part. This past week we had the mid year seminar and I went to a motivation lecture. I honestly would say that I really want to change my attitude before facing this school and be the better person to rise above it all. And I really did go into the class thinking/hoping that everything would be ok and that I could handle everything they threw at me. Which I did. Where I messed up was when it was something that they didn't give me when I lost it... Respect. I was not trying to be Hitler, but I mean for the class to run smoothly there needs to be some kind of order. I started to use all my defensive mechanisms and when all else failed I fell hard. I became one of them and disrespected them right back. Taking their papers away, throwing them away, nagging them, etc... it was ugly. Although seeing three third classes today and doing bingo and singing Mele Kalikimaka over a hundred times compared to the last class it was nothing. So exhausted... of everything.

On a positive note, finally gonna get my hold 'em face on and play some cards. Kevin and Val being the awesome people that they are, invited and set another great outing to their home to play some cards. That means the alcohol will be flowing and plenty of good company to go around. Thank god its the end of another Friday...


Break it down....

Long Time No See!!

Hey there, all the peopel that read this blog. I'm sorry that I haven't been really blogging recently. The thing is that this past week has been busy with our mid year seminar and everytime I tried to log on at schools the interent was messing up. But here I am now and get ready for a full update...

OK so I'm finally getting over my cold. But every morning when I wake up I feel like I still have it lingering around. The mornings have been colder and Krystal and Ihave finally taken out the winter blanket and even doubled up on some nights. Krystal is also fighting a cold that doens't seem to be letting up. So in general how are we Hawaiians adjusting to the cold? Not too good.

This past weekend was a blur since I don't think anything happened. We had the last day of the Fall Sumo tournament and we came in... third. Not bad for some sumo newbies. Actually the funny thing is that out of the 6 people that played, the three newbs were in the top 3. We actually were in second place going into the last day but we ended up going 2-4 on the day and the guys behind us went 6-0. Getting one more win than us to sneak the second place spot. It was pretty exciting how it all came down to the last day though. I wouldn't mind participating in another tournament. And the best part the next tournament will be held in Osaka, which means we might be able to go and see a match day! Our Osaka is like Kaimuki's Millilani. Too far to walk but with transportation, easy breezy.

So anyway the mid year seminar. Can't believe we made it to mid year. Krystal was going off last night how we had made it all the way to the half way point and yet it hasn't sunk in that we LIVE in Japan. Anyway the two day seminar meeting fest was... not that beneficial to us Elementary folk. Actually the overall impression that I got was that the seminar was mainly beneficial to the Fu JETS. The jet participants that come from Kyoto Fu prefecture. They have the small towns out in the boonies of Kyoto so their interaction with other JETS are minimal. We Kyoto Shi JETs, the city folk meet every two weeks so this seminar was an extra meeting for us. But I did come away with some new understandings and information on how to teach. Also meet some cool elementary peopel from the FU that seem pretty cool.

The best part about the seminiars were the extra currlcular stuff we did after. The first day we went to a nearby micro-brewery. We boozed it uop with some really good tasting beer. Beer that wasn't Kirin. They even had some interesting beer that was kind of mixed with sake. Talk about buzzing. They also had some pretty good food taht went very nicely with the beer. COnversation topics included, Las Vegas and how it rocks and how hard it will rock the next time we go, Super heros and how Batman is a super hero even though he has no super powers (other than his money), and why beer tasted so good.

Last night was an even cooler event. The second and final day of the seminar was ok, even had a pretty cool lecture on culture shock. But afterwards was the annual Kyoto City Board of Education Bowling and Dinner social! I ddin't bowl but I did go to cheer my buddies Kevin and Val on. They did alot better tahn what I would have done but it was all in good fun. The dinner aftewards was an all you can eat and drink banquet. Talk about party animals! These Japanese peopel really know how to tank their brew. And teh food was AWESOME!! They had everyhting from scallops to roast beef. Not to mention the never ending Asahi super dry and the chocoalte mousse. I went home feelig pretty good for the past two nights.

Tonight the festivities continue with Kevin and Val coming over for dinner and a movie. We can now watch movies with teh PS2 in the Japanese region. On teh menu... pork chops in cream of mushroom gravy, steamed asparagus and broclolli, and maybe some salad. Then on cinema... Hero starring Jet LI, Zhang Ziyi, and Donnie Lieu. Sounds like a good night for me!!

BREAK IT DOWN...bebe!