Hermione Kills Snape!!

That was the line "Joel" gave me to spoils Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. He did it to me I get to do it to you. It is done! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince can be added to my “read” shelf. It looks like I beat my old record of finishing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, with the new book. I got so absorbed in it that it only took about 2 days. The book was pretty good not as good as Goblet of Fire. It did a good job in leaving the reader with a huge question mark over its head. The book wasn’t confusing but it ended with a deadly cliffhanger. I can’t wait to talk to anymore to discuss R.A.B. with. If you read the book then you would know what I’m talking about but if not what’s a few letters? I thought the book was like a big “Save by the Bell’ episode. For those of you who aren’t into HP, this book has a lot of “high school” issues like girls, dating, proms, and etc for the Hogwarts gang. But that was easy looked over for the things they talked about for the next book, the finale. Out of the 6 books out I think I would rank this one, 4. #1 being the best one, Goblet of Fire, #2 Prisoner of Azkaban, #3 Order of the Phoenix, #4 Half Blood Prince, #5 Philosopher’s Stone, and #6 (last) being Chamber of Secrets. I don’t know why but the first two books weren’t as interesting for me. But you do need to go in order of the series so if you plan on reading Harry Potter, push through the first two and the others should be fine.

It has been 2 weeks since Krystal has been away and I’m ready for her return. It’s just a little boring here by myself. My friends have been really good in inviting me over for stuff but its not the same. Actually this past week I went out a lot and I think my wallet is being stressed. I still need to buy a bunch of omiyage for my trip back home. (which shall be very soon) I guess I should be able to buy stuff with my next paycheck. The house should be cleaned up a little before Krystal comes back but I’ve been really lazy not to mention tomorrow’s kickball game.

This past week has been a pretty exciting week. The new JET participants have arrived to Kyoto this past Wednesday. It’s pretty weird seeing them from my point of view. They’re all in culture overload and have the same feelings I had exactly one year ago. For one of the days I was asked to help two guys get their Alien Registration cards and they were asking all the questions I had last year. I can’t believe that it has been a year already. It kind of feels nice to be the Sempai, (older member) for the JET program. The only about this year’s new JET’s is that some of them seem… different. It’s like they’re not going to fit in with the group that I hang out with. Some seem very reserved and shy. I guess they only got here a few days ago but some of them got the right idea about being a little more open and getting to know everyone but some just don’t get the picture. For example one of the girls that came this year has barely said a word to me and the others. She keeps to herself and doesn’t get social. The only person that she talks to is another new girl but at least that girl made some sort of effort. All I know is that you need to have a positive attitude if you want to do JET. You can’t come here just thinking that you’re going to teach and that’s it. I hope it is just shyness but all I can say is that I have already extended my hand in friendship and some of them have not returned the gesture. Ok I think I bad mouthed the new JET’s enough. There’s supposed to be three more coming next week so hopefully they give off a better first impression.

Boogie on Down!

Murasakino English Summer Seminar

Front Row: Left to right: Haruka Mori, Kurumi Matsui, Ayana Nakanishi, Ayumi Wada. Back Row: Left to right: Yusuke Miyajima, Egor Bakuon, and Chris (me)

For the past three days I have lived with this 6 high school kids at their 2005 English Summer Seminar Camp. Technically my lessons are done but because we’re on salary we still need to go to work when there are no students. But it just so happened that I got the opportunity to help out with the English camp this year. The job maybe a little tiring but we were given and expense allowance and three compensatory vacation days. It was a very interesting experience to be with high school kids for a change. For this past year I have been teaching elementary school kids and even a few junior high kids and in my eyes they are just that… kids. They are all full of energy, wonder, and some rebelliousness. So when I went to this camp with high school students I was expecting to have intelligent conversations or not so “intelligent conversations”, good times, and general a fun time. How wrong was I when I went and they were just as childish as my elementary and junior high students? I couldn’t believe how old I felt these past three days. I’m only 24, but when you compare my age to the high school kids’ it’s a whole decade apart. I felt so old… on that note HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my buddy JAKE who is now 25 years old. Omedetou gozaimasu!

The camp was pretty intense that all the students had to sign a contract saying that they would not speak Japanese until the camp was officially over. They aren’t exactly the best English speakers but they did do their best. It was really hard not to use the Japanese that I know little of. There were so many occasions when I could’ve stopped 5 minutes of gesturing and pantomimes with a simple Japanese sentence. The first day we had a cooking competition where my group made okonomiyaki. First of all okonimiyaki doesn’t really work on an open camp fire-esque stove. And when they made our lunch it didn’t exactly taste… great. But I was really proud of the group for trying their best and serving a stranger they had just meet an hour ago.

The main purpose of the camp was the help the students get used to hearing and using English. The group will be going to Australia for abroad studies during their next term. So the time at camp was used to practice English and prepare for situations that might come up during their home-stay. We did things like, how to ask for directions, how to talk to your host family during meals, asking for favors, and etc. The camp had about 40 kids, 30 of them girls and 10 of them boys. The group was really good as far as enthusiasm goes and very motivated to learn. I mean you did have a few people that weren’t really into it but the majority did very well. I had a really funny guy in my group named Egor Bakoun. He’s a Russian kid that moved to Japan a few years ago. His English was a lot better than most of the students in the camp but his main problem was that he didn’t have tact. Sometimes he would say things that were really blunt that would offend people. But he now how to apologize and recognized that he does have a problem of being tactful. It was really funny when he would use his Russian accent and shoot someone down. All in all the camp was fun. Hey, I got paid and fee vacation days.

Krystal is still away at least for another week. Everyone seems to be really concerned with me and not whether I would be lonely or bored but whether or not I will be eating. Everyone I talked to would say, “so are you eating ok? Can you cook your won meals?” I mean people, I may not be a cook but I will not starve when it comes down to it. Just last week I had to make two dinners for myself and I thought that it came out ok. One night I made hamburger patties with cream and mushroom sauce. The other night I made garlic pepper chicken which came out really good. So what should go on this week’s menu? I don’t hopefully something easy like pasta or maybe some pork chops? It is a little boring though…

Well tomorrow will be an easy day at the office, no lessons tomorrow. Maybe I can find some time to put up more pictures. Until later…

Boogie on Down!

Gion Matsuri

Krystal and Me in our yukattas

So Krystal left for church the other day.. There’s a big anniversary event going on this year so supposedly she’s going to see a bunch of her family and friends from home down in Yamaguchi. So where does that leave me? It leaves me at home with the whole apartment to myself. I never realized how big the apartment really is now that I’m by myself for two weeks. The first week should go by quickly but I’m more worried about the week after when we have our summer break and I’ll really have nothing to do. It did feel good to have the whole bed to myself though…

This past weekend has been pretty eventful in Kyoto. From last Thursday to today (Sunday) it’s the Gion Matsuri. Its one of the older festivals that they celebrate in Japan. In the center of the city they have many of streets lined with little shops to buy yukattas and accessories. They also have a ton of festival vendors that sell food like yakisoba, okonomiyaki, and takoyaki. On Friday the BOE of Kyoto, threw a party for the JET that have finished their last year in Japan. There were about 10 people that had their contracts expire last week. The party was really cool. It was an all you can eat and drink for 3 hours. And it’s been a tradition in Kyoto that at the Leaving JETs party everyone comes in their yukatta. (oh yeah yukatta are summer kimonos.) Anyway everyone looked pretty awesome. I got really into it because it felt cool to be traditional yet look pretty cool. The best part was walking around in the actual festival after we were all drunk on happiness and alcohol.

The main street in the middle of the city Shijo, was totally blocked so that people could enjoy the festival. The biggest attraction of this festival were the floats that the local shrines, temples, and stores pull/push through the streets. There were about 20 floats throughout the city. We walked around with the huge mob of people all wanting a look of the floats. Personally I wasn’t really too impressed by the floats but I hear that it’s a great honor to be apart of the festival. I think the part I liked least was the music that goes along with the festival. It’s a series of flute notes and a weird drum/bell thing that has a very high pitched “twang”. I guess the music is supposed to be traditional and all but the thing is that they play the music everywhere. Since July 1st you can hear the music in train stations, stores, convenient stores, and even on the streets. The music just kind of gets to you and when its actual festival time you’re not thinking, “Oh cool festival music” its more like “Ahh crap they’re still playing this crap?” I guess I have to deal with it just a little longer until July is over and the city goes back to normal.

Well, today was Marine Day which means I get to stay home from work. I don’t know what the main reason for this holiday is but I think it has to do with the fact that its hot and as a nation, Japan wants to encourage family outings on this particular day. Well I did what anyone else would do on a holiday, sleep in. I woke up around 1:30 to the humid summer day and decided to do some chores. I debated for a long time whether or not to wait for Krystal but I decided to go on and watch the rest of The Sopranos. The show is addicting! I can’t seem to stop.

I dunno what else to write about so I’ll check you guys out later

Break it Down…

Was it something I ate?

It must have been because I had one crazy dream last night. Ok so here it goes…

I’m a kid again maybe around 7th grade or something. Me and a bunch of kids are playing around outside when this weird looking guy approaches us. He asks us if we’re hungry and willing t food that he has just prepared. I guess in your dream you ignore all inhibitions because we all agreed that it would be a great idea, plus the food was for free.

So we follow this guy. The guy is tall, dark, and kind of old maybe mid-40s or something. We follow him to his house which looks like a giant warehouse. We go inside and its really dirty and totally unkempt. We tells us to follow him up these really tall, windy metal staircase to the very top of the warehouse. At the top he has a small table set up with plates and silverware. I have about 5 friends with me (who they are I have no idea) and the man asks us to get into groups of 2. We pair up and sit at the table.

He tells us that he has been working on a new recipe and he wants us to be the first to try it out. He brings out three big Tupperware things filled with something. Then he tells us that there is a time limit to finish the meals that he prepared for us and that if we didn’t finish them we wouldn’t be able to leave. I felt pretty hungry so I decided to take the challenge. (I can’t but feel like the dream has turned into fear factor but it does get better.) Ok so we open our Tupperware and the man just tells us to dump the contents on the table. When we do a whole bunch of animals come pouring out in pairs. Turtles, snakes, shrimp, and crabs are all over the tables. The man tells that we need to eat each animal and then tell him how they are.

The dude across of me grabs his fork and goes for the turtle. The turtle is scared so it retracts his head into his shell and is unwilling to come out. He than uses his knife to cut the shell but the shell is just too slick. So gets a piece of lettuce or something to draw the turtle head out. When the turtle stuck his head out he stabs the head with his fork and cut the turtle head off! He then starts to eat the turtle head which is still moving. The turtle body being decapitated starts spewing blood all over the table. Then all the other four guys do the same thing and start to eat the turtle head. I look around and assume that that’s how you’re supposed to eat it so I cut the head and start munching on it. The head tasted kind of like the cartilage of a drumstick or something. I ate it without thinking that it was weird and decided to go for the next piece of meat.

The next thing I reached for was the snake. The snake was pretty docile and I picked it up with no problem. The man tells that if we are to eat the snake than we have to share one snake between the two of us in each pair. So my partner goes and grabs the snake and just cuts his head off. He then cuts the head into halves and gives me the bottom half. (This all doesn’t seem weird to me in my dreams) So anyway before I decided to eat the head and go try to cut the teeth off. Than as if I was eating a piece of cake or something I just popped the piece in to my mouth. The taste I remember is that it was soft and a little salty like fried tofu or something.

We are coming along in eating the rest of the meal when I get sick and I can’t hold the food in. I vomit all over the table and the animals that I started to eat were still alive and moving. The turtle head was gasping for air and the snake head was moving its tongue. I look at the table in horror and try to make a run for it. My friends see that I’m started to bail and that’s when the guy got really upset. I was closest to the step when I turned around to see one of my friends being choked to death by the guy. But something was different when I saw him this time. Now he wasn’t some normal guy he was a vampire! I saw his fangs and as he was choking my friend I saw him go for the bite. That’s when I started to run again. As I running, the friend that just got bit was now falling in the space where the stairs were winding. All I could think about was getting the hell out of there!

Almost to the bottom I hear a loud crash. One floor from the ground floor one of my other friends is pinned between the winding staircase and the wall. There was just too much blood. I get to the bottom floor and make a run for the alley. Just one other friend made it out of the warehouse and we’re booking it down the alley. We got around the corner and I was hunched over panting and grasping for air. Then all of a sudden someone puts their hand on my shoulder and that’s when I wake up.

What a fricken crazy ass dream. Well I think that’s what happened. I’m sure that there was more stuff but I just can’t seem to remember more details.

This weekend Krystal and enjoyed each other’s company. I mean we see each other everyday but we decided to spend more time together. We rented the movies “Ray and Terminal” for our weekend entertainment. “Ray” was really good and I could understand why Jamie Foxx got an academy award nomination. I mean he was doing the best Ray Charles impersonation that I’ve ever seen. And not just him singing and playing the piano but the regular conversations one might have. I was really shocked one how much “booty” Ray Charles got. In the movie he must have had more than 20 girls. The Terminal” was a weird movie. I never had so many emotion highs and lows in a movie before. One minute your laughing and the next minute you can’t help but feel so bad for dude. My friend Dan also said that the Terminal was based on a true story about a guy who came from a foreign country and while he was in the air, his country went into civil war so the U.S. couldn’t recognize the country the immigrant was coming from. All I can say is that if that were me I would have ran through the gates on the first day. He ended up staying on the Terminal for 10 months.

I finally got to the last school on my roster. This school doesn’t seem to bad other than the fact that the principal is trying to get away with me doing a lot of work. So a couple of blogs ago I talked about the guy who scheduled me for 6 classes in one day. Anyway I went to one of the extra classes he tacked on and it was the SPED class. It turns out that this particular SPED class has two students, a high functioning 1st grader and a very low functioning 6th grader. First of all I don’t normally teach 1st graders so this guy trying to get a bonus lesson and the 6th grader is so low functioning that she can barely talk in Japanese let alone English. How am I supposed to teach in this situation? I know I come from a SPED background but its just too much work at the this school that has me working overtime already and for a SPED teacher the seems like she wanted a free period for me to come in a teach a lesson. What usually happens is that in a SPED class in Japan, the teacher makes the lesson and I come in for some translations and easy conversations. This SPED teacher looks at me as if I need to teach this 6th grader which I have never seen before, can’t speak too, and is too shy to talk to me in the first place. Maybe its just the last school/week before summer vacation but this school has already started to piss me off.

Until next time…

Break it Down.

Happy Tanabata!

Just one more day and the weekend is finally here. For some reason this week seems longer than others. I kind of got used to the fact that I have to move from school to school so often. Crazy thing happened today… ok so you remember the meeting that I went to last week Friday? Well, when I asked for a schedule they said that they didn’t have one yet. So as a courtesy I asked them to just send it by fax to whatever school I have this week. Anyway I get my schedule and the bastards have me scheduled for more than 4 classes a day! I guess it may not sound so bad but when you have to do a fifth and sometimes sixth lesson in one day it gets really tiring. Out of the six days that I got to that school I have three days that have more than 4 periods a day. One day even has six periods scheduled. Jeez Louise! What the fuck are they trying to do? Does that mean on Friday I can bail at 1 o’clock since I already paid my dues?

I saw the schedule and immediately took that to my current V.P. He looked over it and saw what I was up there for. But at the same time he didn’t have a look of sympathy or anything. He looked as if the schedule was unfair. Not necessarily for m but for his school because the rules in our contract state that we cannot have more than 4 periods a day unless it’s a specific/special circumstance. So he’s probably thinking “if we can’t have Chris do more lessons a day than you can’t either.” Anyway he called the school and told them about the whole schedule thing. Just before he called I got worried about “first impressions” and told him that the schedule they gave me for this week was ok but to tell them not to do that in the future. WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?! I can’t believe I gave into the guilt. All I know is that I’ll be suffering a little bit next week.

I vaguely remember the principal asking if I ever taught a disabled class. I made a comment that I did, and he asked me something about the strict ruling of the whole four periods a day thing. I didn’t quite understand what he said but I tried my best to explain that I am willing to teach his disabled class but I am under strict rules about teaching more than 4 classes a day. I guess I got the conversation a little mixed up and he thought I was doing their school a service by working my ass off just because the Principal is over enthusiastic about English. But I guess I can let it go this one time since it is a new school and it’s the first time they’ve had an ALT come to their school.

Today is July 7th and in Japan its Tanabata. It’s really cool how the schools incorporate the holiday into the school. Well its not a holiday where you don’t need to come to work but it’s a special day where you make wishes. It’s about the old Chinese legend about two lovers that where separated for whatever reason and turned into stars. And every year around this date they supposedly meet in the heaven for a night of courtship or something like that. Anyway as the stars meet you make a wish as they made a wish to be together. And supposedly if you are true the wish comes true as well. During lunch over the P.A. system the 6th graders read off wishes that were made. You got your usual “I want a Nintendo D.S, or a new PS2 game, or etc.” Bu then you would hear some really thoughtful and cute things especially from the younger kids. For example, 1st grader said “I want everyone in the school to be happy like a really big family.” 2nd grader asked “I wish my brother good grades on his test he can play with me more.” 2nd grader said, “I wish for candies for my mom because she works hard.” You can’t help but be touched when the kids say things like that. I often say that kids are dumb and you can get away with anything but in truth kids can be very insightful and sincere. I guess you can say that they’re just naïve but you meet a kid and something about him/her makes you feel that someone, somewhere did something right.

Sigh…. Kids….

Break it Down

Englishiana with Kumu Lee

I didn't realize that people didn't know what I do here in Japan. I've been here a year and maybe I DO need to explain it a little.

Anyway like Joel says, "It sounds like some thing like Hawaiiana." Basically, that's it. It's Hawaiiana but English for Japanese kids. In Kyoto City, there are about 150 or so Elementary schools, and the Board of Education just passed a law that each school must have an English teacher there to teach English as somewhat of an elective type class. Kyoto being the education powerhouse of Japan, they made it so that each ALT (assistant language teacher) must attend public elementary and junior high schools.

So yours truly has a school district that has 5 junior high schools and 7 elementary schools. The usual deal is that each school district has about 5 elementary schools and 2 junior high schools. I just happen to get the one school district where all the schools are small and therefore are more plentiful. Most of my elementary schools have only one class per grade. While everyone lese has 3 sometimes 4 classes per grade. Just like a Hawaiiana teacher I go around to the schools and teach them English vocabulary and useful things like greetings and simple sentences. Our job in Elementary school is not to teach per se but to build positive English enthusiasm. Get them to be comfortable with English before they got to junior high and high school. In junior high and high school English is a mandatory class so when I'm at junior high school I just become a teacher's assistant.

Anyway because I have so many schools I have a very tight schedule where I have to go to a different school every three days or so. I have 2 big elementary schools where I stay for about a week but the other 5 schools are small. Junior high schools I end up staying at week to 2 weeks. And after I have visited all my schools the schedule starts all over again and I go and do the same thing.

I hope that answers your questions Joel.

So I'm at my 6th elementary school, Sujin. This has got to be the smallest school out of my whole roster. I have one grade per class but the classes are uber small. For instance today's third graders had the largest population with 15 students. 4th grade had 7 students, 5th grade had 10 students, and 6th grade with 8 students. I had lunch with the first graders today. The whole class was very cute, all four of them. But all the kids are cool and not as "punky" as they were at my previous school. Also this is the furthest schools put of the 12 I visit. This school also had an ALT last year so I'm thinking its not going to be too hard, especially the class numbers being so small.

So anyway its been raining pretty steadily the past few days and just before the rainy season hit us we had company over. So that means lost of laundry to do. Sheets, blankets, towels, and clothes started to create a giant mound in the bathroom. To make some space I had to wash the sheets. The only thing is that when we wash the sheets we need to dry them on the balcony, which at the moment was getting constantly bombarded by the rain. So I had to hang them up away from the edge as much as possible, but because of all the moisture in the air the sheets weren't getting dry. We just so happen to have a coin laundry room in our building but for some reason the management has a sign that says that only the people living in the particular wing can use the room. I guess the single apartments don't have room for a washer so they have this room provided. But the thing is that why isn't available to the people in the other wings? I'm sure if people had the choice to do laundry in their own apartment or go down to the first floor coin laundry they would choose their own apartments. So why is this room made especially for one wing? Anyway back to the sheets, they weren't drying properly so we decided to go down throw it in the dryer and be out in 20 minutes. (On the way upstairs after work, I just happened to see that the coin laundry room light was on, assuming that the door was open too.) Krystal and I went o downstairs with our damp sheets and headed for the room. The room was locked, but the window was open. We went around to the window and debated whether or not to jump in and open the doors. Krystal being obviously smaller in size refused to go in, not because of her size but the chance that there might be security cameras around watching us at that very moment.

Anyway we ended up chicken out and hanging our sheets in the middle of the kitchen and the living room. Just thought you might want to hear something quirky.

Ok, Break it Down

Bada Bing!

Finally the rain has stopped. It has been raining for about 3 days straight. At least the air feels a little cooler. Yesterday I ran into Kevin and he was saying that the crappy weather was holding back C501 as well as C401 from going to the grocery store. We had been without fresh provisions since last week. It got to the point where Krystal was willing to ride in the rain (grocery store is a 20 minute walk) to get some food for the week. But as soon as we got outside the rain stopped and even on the return trip the rain didn’t come down.

Recently we’ve been hooked on The Sopranos. My buddy Kevin dropped it via the Bucket and ever since last week Friday we’ve been watching. If you haven’t seen the show its fairly entertaining. The writing is really good as it keeps the hardcore mob lifestyle true as well as the dramatic family issues. When I was working at BlockBuster season 3 just came out on video. I must have had more than 20 callers a night asking if the Sopranos were in. I had some people come in at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday for the videos so that they may have it for the weekend. At least I can now understand why. I would totally recommend it to anyone that is interested in mafias, crime, gratuitous violence, soft core pornography, and the occasional sexual joke. We usually start to watch an episode while eating dinner but we get addicted and it takes us 10 or even 11 o’clock at night to stop. Actually Krystal is more addicted than I am. After every episode it’s, “one more?”

Today is the last day at Rokujoin and I don’t come back until November. This school is ok but I think I prefer my other schools. I don’t know why but something about this school doesn’t make me feel all to comfortable. The 6th graders in this school are really good but the 5th graders are little punks. During my introduction lesson I usually have a question time and out of all my schools I have ever had in Japan, I got the questions, “Did you have sex before, do you do perverted things, do you watch porn, and do you like to have sex?” WTF!?!? And the teacher didn’t even flinch. He’s the type that just sits at his desk and becomes a nonexistent rock every time there is English. Occasionally he tells his kids to shut up or something but not nearly as enough as he should. So what do I do when I’m asked these questions? Act stupid. What? What? I don’t know what you’re trying to say. I just act like I can’t understand a word because of their Japanese accents and then I just go on to the next questions. Stupid kids, wish I could just smack a few of them.

I went to a meeting at a new school I’m going to have next week and they seem a lot cooler than this school. All the teachers look really anxious to see me do my thing. The principal was really cool and looked eager to get me teaching. I saw some of the kids walking around and they kind of looked like punks but can’t judge until after I teach them. Actually I don’t want anyone to think that this school is bad its just everyone has that one school that they dislike and I think this is the school for me. Remember last year I always bitched about my Friday school? These kids are not as bad as those kids but this is my new “dislike school.”

I have 2 more elementary schools on my list and then I make my way back to junior high again. Even the worst elementary school can’t compare to as junior high. It’s just so boring. But at least it’s going to happen when I come back from Hawaii. A nice long vacation is exactly what I need.

I can’t believe that I made a year here already. I was reading my previous blogs from October and I felt like all the things just happened. It’s been so long yet so short. I remember some of the events as if it were last week, in clear detail. All I know is that maybe my second year will go by a little slower so that I may take it in a little deeper.

Ok I feel like I’ve been babbling this whole time. Anyway until next time.

Break it Down

Swimming to Work

Jeez Louise!! The air here is so thick that I feel like I’m being held back by air. You wouldn’t believe the humidity here. It’s supposed to be rainy season, but the thing is that there is barely any rain. The rainy season started in the second week of June and it has only rained about 4 times. All that moisture is in the air making anything outdoors really hot and sticky. Thank God for air conditioning.

Krystal informed me of the crappy weather as she left this morning which meant that I would not be able to bike to school. It’s weird because back home if anyone asked if I wanted to go bike it somewhere I would look at them in horror. Why the hell would I bike it anywhere? But here the bike has become my Japanese Dooku-mobile. I use it to go almost everywhere. Yeah we use trains and buses once in a while but only when you’re going out drinking or something. The bike is the personal transportation to take you anywhere in the city. But when you’re stuck in the rainy season the bike becomes more of a hassle than a convenience. Put it this way, Krystal gets up around 6:30 to get ready, eat something, get school supplies and she leaves the house at 7:30 to get to school by 8:30. Me on the other hand wake up around 7:45, dilly dally until 8:10 before I leave my house to go to school. On the bike I get to any of my schools within 20 minutes. Yeah my schools are closer than Krystal’s but luxury of getting to school on your schedule is priceless.

We went to go see Batman Begins on Wednesday. It was pretty awesome! Batman has become cool once again. I don’t really know what happened after the second one. Once Tim Burton and Michael Keaton left, the Batman franchise went weird. I admit I did go to see all the movies and even own them but I can honestly say that Batman has returned to his comic roots. Ok so Batman with Jack Nicholson was awesome and I would even buy the weird Penguin and Catwoman thing but what happened to the other two films? My justifications: I went to see Batman Forever because I believe it was a Summer Blockbuster, I just got out of intermediate school, Jim Carrey was in his peak at the time, and Nicole Kidman was HOT, well still is pretty hot. Batman and Robin was a weird movie that I don’t really have an excuse as to why I went to see it. I guess one could say, I saw all the other Batman movies, why not see the last one? But with the new Batman and the new franchise, I know it’s gonna be awesome. Something about Batman Begins that made Batman believable. The whole process of why he became Batman, how he made his suit, his weapons, and even the Batmobile was more believable. So the question is who is going to play the new Joker? Jack did an awesome job… maybe make the Joker a younger villain? All I now is that it’s going to ROCK!

Today was yet another new school. I made it to elementary school number 4, Rokujoin. This school seems promising since they had an ALT come here before. I just wish that the classrooms had air conditioning or at least fans that worked. I did the two morning lessons and already my under shirt is completely soaked in sweat. I hate that feeling of being … damp. But anyway it’s a cruise day, going to do my introduction lesson again, get a few laughs, and make sure that I come off better than the last ALT…nah just joke…but not really.

This weekend the “Merkins” are getting ready to celebrate our countries B-Day! We have a barbeque, bowling, and Brazilian restaurant, fireworks, and drinking planned for the 4th of July festivities. But we’ll see how the weather is ‘cause if it’s like this tomorrow than barbeque gets shafted. Oh and you might be wondering what does a Brazilian restaurant have to do with America? It’s the only place in Kyoto where you can get big slabs of meat. And if big slabs of Meat ain’t American, than I don’t know what is.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

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