Week 3

So, last Monday was Coming of Age Day here in Japan. I spent most of the day cleaning my apartment and catching up on movies I wanted to see. In the evening I met up with some friends for a few rounds of pool and a couple hours of karaoke.

Tuesday night my girlfriend came over, we ordered pizza, and a watched Slumdog Millionaire (a good flick.)

Wednesday was a bit of a wash as to getting things done, but I did manage to watch the first four James Bond movies in a row. I met up with the usual Wednesday night gang at the local watering hole in the evening for drinks and chatter.

Thursday was the start of my first full work week of the year. A week which went by fairly quickly. Nothing much to write home about there this week.

The big happening this week occurred on my way home Saturday night. As I walked towards my apartment after work all I saw were flashing lights for blocks in every direction. I had to pass a police/fire cordon to get into my building. I stopped to ask the officer what happened and found out that the owner of the flower shop down the street's house had caught fire. I walked by Sunday morning on the way to work to see that the whole building had been gutted.

Last (Sunday) night after work I invited a number of friends over for another games night which I think was a big success. Playing English based games (like Apples to Apples or Bananagrams) with English teachers is in turn difficult and terribly funny (when others dominate or make simple mistakes.)

Looking into next week I've got tickets to my favorite band (playing in Kyoto on Wednesday) and I'm pondering going to Osaka castle tomorrow if the weather's good. We'll see.

Week 2

Last Monday afternoon I had mostly recovered from my New Years Eve exploits and decided to have people over to play some board games. We started around 3pm and went past midnight with a short break for pizza in the middle.

One thing learned from Monday's gaming session was that my folding table was a little too small to play some of my games. One of the friends who'd come over agreed to help me build a new table-top on Tuesday. I'd kind of been thinking of such a project for a while so I already had plans drawn up. After a quick trip to the hardware store the main construction took about four hours. At this point the glue between the surface and the frame needed time to dry so we went out to find fabric to cover the top. With great luck we found a fabric store that was 1.) open and 2.) going out of business with everything on sale. Back at my place we tacked the fabric to the top and gave it a test run... only to find out that the wood frame that holds the top stead on the table had warped and didn't fit correctly. In a Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance moment we decided not to fix it right away and instead played some games on a slightly askew table-top. (I took a chisel to it the next day, it fits perfectly now.) During the building phase I got what I consider to be high praise from the friend who was helping when he noted that I'd engineered the heck out of this table top.

Wednesday was the last day of my vacation and I enjoyed it by not leaving the house (thank you Dominoes) and watching movies all day.

Thursday was a blessedly easy first day back at work followed by a slightly hectic Friday wherein I had to do some running around at work. The upside to Friday's change-up was that I got to see one of my friends and after work we hit up the local McDonalds and shared the commute home.

Saturday's work couldn't pass quickly enough as I had plans to see my girlfriend that evening. tHis week we met at the grocery store where we bought ingredients for nabe (hot pot.) This was our first time seeing each-other this year so it was nice to catch up with New Years going ons.

Nothing too special yesterday (Sunday) though I did stop at my favorite burrito place on the way home.

Today is Seijin no Hi (Coming of Age Day) so no "work" for me but I do have a lot of things that need to be done around the house so it looks like I'll be busy none the less.

Week 1

It's only been 2012 for about a day and a half here but the end of 2011 had a lot to write about.

Last Monday was spent doing some light cleaning and resting up for some overtime on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tuesday evening's shift was busy but I got to work with a couple friends so the time went by pretty quickly. Wednesday I was the only "native English teacher" at web school wich wasn't too bad, again, because I was pretty busy. I stopped off at my favorite little hole-in-the-wall bar on the way home and had a drink with some of the local guys and a nice Austrian couple who were in town for the winter holidays.

I spent the day Thursday buzzing with anticipation for the evening when I went over to the couple who set us up's house with my girlfriend for a belated Christmas dinner. We ordered a whole chicken from KFC and made stuffing and salad to go with it. We also made spring rolls, both in the traditional style and one of my own design stuffed with leftover chicken and mashed potatoes. After dinner we sat around and talked into the evening.

Last Friday was the one year anniversary of meeting my girlfriend and to celebrate we went out for yakiniku (Korean BBQ) with the same couple as the night before. We went to a reasonably priced yet somewhat famous place down the street. I was glad we'd made reservations as there was a line out the door when we arrived. Unfortunately the smoke vent above out table wasn't working and ll the smoke from the grill blew into my face on it's way to the next table over's vent. The meat was good and unlike last year no one seems to have gotten a horrible case of food poisoning this time. Following dinner we adjoined to a karaoke box for a few hours of singing. My girlfriend had to catch the last train down to her parent's house to help her brother move over the weekend so we called it an early night.

Saturday (New Year's Eve) one of my friends swung by midday in a rent-a-car and we went to pick up some other friends (the couple I'd eaten dinner with the past two nights.) Once we'd gotten everyone collected we headed down South to Wakayama. Aside from one little traffic jam it was a fairly smooth 4 hour trip to Shirahama (A beach-front community in Southern Wakayama famous for it's (imported) white sand beach.) Once in Shirahama we found one of the famous rock formations out in the ocean and snapped some pretty sunset pictures. In the first incident of the evening one of my friends slipped on some wet rocks and racked his back pretty hard. The next stop (after much driving around and discussing) was dinner. We found a cozy little roadside pizza place. While waiting for our order we were joined by another friend who had rode down after us on his motorcycle. After dinner we spent quite some time looking for a parking spot close to the beach. Car and bike safely stowed we went to look at the 'illumination' (Christmas lights) out on the sand. Chilled from walking around next to the ocean in the middle of the night in the winter we stopped off in a hot spring to warm ourselves. For being a town famous for it's hot springs we had a bit of trouble finding one that was in walking distance (as we really didn't want to move the car.) We settled in a cheap local one but had to go to the store and buy our own towels first. After all this it was still only 10 o'clock so we walked around a bit more looking for someplace to wait until the countdown started. We eventually found a nice cafe and chatted over warm drinks. Around 11:30 we went back to the car and got our traps and blankets and went back to the beach to wait for midnight. Finally at the end of the countdown we got to see the fireworks show that's we'd come all this way to see. All three minutes of it. A bit bummed out by the short show we went back to the car and dropped off our gear before heading over to a local shrine the cafe owner had told us about. The shrine was packed with people doing their hatsumode or first shrine visit of the year. We lined up and got some free mochi (rice cake) soup and even got to try our hands at pounding some mochi too. Things were going well, almost everyone had gotten their fortunes for the year (everyone in our party pulled "small luck") when one of my friends put her leg in a ditch she though was a step and took a huge spill onto the ground. Whimpering that her leg really hurt we had her sit still and called an ambulance to be safe. The paramedics came and checked her out and nothing seemed to be broken but they took her away to get some x-rays to be safe. Two friends went with her while I followed in the car and the other friend followed on his motocycle. Luckily the x-rays showed that nothing was in-fact broken. At this point we had a long conversation as to weather we'd stay out and wait for the first sunrise or call it a night and head back to Osaka. The consensus was that our beds were calling so we left out friend and his motorcycle behind (it was far too cold to ride at this point) and made the trek back North. After dropping friends off and finding a parking spot I got home and dropped into bed at about 5:30 in the morning.

Unfortunately the friend who banged her legs up was the same one who rented the car so it fell to me to get up and return said car in the morning. I did manage to get four hours of sleep in before I had to move thankfully. I stopped in the convenience store as I walked home from the rental place and bought some breakfast. It was fully daytime on the first at the is point so I decided not to go back to bed and to move forward with the day. Not that I did much other that watch movies and play video games though.

I still have a few days off this week but after last week's excitement I think I'll need them to recover. I got some new board games for Christmas so I'm having friends over this afternoon to try some of the out. Should be fun.

I hope everyone had a good "Year Of The Dragon." Happy New Year!

Week 52

Well, here it is, the last post of 2011.

Last week kicked off with two days of overtime on Tuesday and Wednesday. The extra money will be nice next month but doing "the Christmas kids lesson" umpteen times last week was a little trying.

I had a nice break Friday for the Emperor's Birthday. My girlfriend and I decided to take a short road trip over to Awaji-shima (an island on the other side of Osaka bay.) In order to make the most of our day we set out at 8:00am for the two hour drive to the south side of the island. The trip there was uneventful once we figured out the car-navi software was out of date and unreliable. It got us lost in Osaka trying to get on the express way. In South Awaji city we boarded a boat to go see the famous Naruto whirlpools. My girlfriend did some research beforehand and we arrived just as the tides were changing and the whirlpools were spinning at their maximum. By chance I brought some popcorn as a snack and my girlfriend ended up having more fun feeding the seagulls than seeing the whirlpools. (She hates pidgeons but loves seagulls, go figure.) After an hour cruise we got back in the car and drove to Naruto island (technically in Tokushima, while Awaji is technically in Hyogo prefecture.) We stopped for a lunch of tai (sea bream) on rice and walked around the island a bit. Later we got back in the car and drove back to Awaji. For the next little while we drove around and stopped at a small fish market to buy some souvenirs (including onion dressing, as Awaji onions are somewhat famous.)  This was followed by another drive around before finding one of Awaji's seven major temples. After the temple we made our way to a local hotspring and relaxed our bodies from the day's long drive. It was hard to get back in the car after the comfort of a hot bath and even harder to stay awake and make conversation in a second language all the way home. My girlfriend was kind enough to drop me off at my house before taking her brother's car back to her parent's house.

Saturday was a "buffer day" which meant no kids classes but a full compliment of adult students. I rewarded myself after work by stopping at my favorite burrito place on the way home.

Yesterday (Sunday, Christmas) I woke up and opened presents from home (which had arrived over the course of December, slowly filling the space under my imaginary Christmas tree.) I then proceeded to sit infront of the heater and do nothing but watch movies all day. In the evening my girlfriend stopped by on the way home from her parent's house and we exchanged presents. She hand-knit my a wonderful 2 meter long scarf (I got her a new laptop to replace her old broken computer.) We ate "Christmas parfaits" while watching old Japanese cartoons together. She took an early cab home as she had to work today.

I'd say that bout does it for this year but really there's another week left. Oh well, I'll just add that stuff to next week's post. See you in 2012.

Week 51

A really fun week last week. I went on a trip, I had a party, and I played some games with friends.

Last Tuesday I woke up at a reasonable hour, moseyed over to the station area, and had some breakfast before meeting a friend and hopping on an express train  to Nagoya. Two hours later we disembarked and walked across the street from Nagoya station to the Midland Square building (the tallest in Nagoya) and took a walk around the observation deck. Having had our fill of heights we took the subway over to Nagoya's big shopping district (Sakae). We were a little baffled by the station sign at out destination as it read; "Exits 1-12 this way, Exits 2~11 that way." Evidently their sign maker didn't get that a dash does not act as a slash ("/"). After puzzling our way out of the labyrinth of tunnels we bee-lined it to a really tasty Mexican restaurant (that we'd both been to before.) After a filling lunch we shopped around for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening we had a few "street beers" while waiting for the venue to open. When it did open we met some more friends inside and waited for our favorite band to take the stage. I guess I really have become a bit of a groupie if I'm hopping on trains and heading 100miles just to see "The 50 Kaitenz" play. The band played a pretty good set and turned the stage over to another band (Kinoko Hotel) that were pretty good too. After the show our little group of friends all went out for the customary post-show meal. Once thoroughly fed and watered some of the friends we'd met through the band drove us out to their house on the outskirts of town and let us crash on their floor.

Wednesday morning everyone got a lazy start and eventually we all piled back in the car to take one of our friends back to the station so she could get to work that afternoon. The rest of us (who all had the day off) continued on to see Nagoya castle. The castle was more-or-less as I saw it the last time but it was nice to go through with other people this time. While we were climbing the main tower there was a decently sized earthquake a few prefectures over that shook things up. There were some none-too-silent thanks rased that we were in a reconstructed castle (not the original structure.) All castled out we returned to the Mexican place again for lunch (no, it's not that mind-blowingly good, but it's hard to get a good taco in Osaka [burritos are another story however]) Sated, we headed for the station and trained back to Osaka.

Saturday after work I stuck around for the school Christmas party. It was a fairly standard party: eat, drink, talk, play bingo and exchange "secret Santa" gifts, catch the last train home.

Last (Sunday) night some of the guys came over and we played board games all evening. It's been a while since we've gotten together and I think everyone had a good time.

Week 50

It's hard to believe that this year's almost over. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

Okay, two weeks ago Tuesday I had a relaxing laundry/cleaning day followed by a relaxing evening at home with my girlfriend, the TV, and a pizza. Wednesday I took a long bike ride around Osaka and got most of my Christmas shopping done as well.

After most of a regular work week passed I had a nice break in my routine last Sunday, going out to one of my Japanese friends' houses for a dinner party. This particular circle of friends is really into local Japanese rock and it's been a while since I've seen everyone so it was nice to catch up.

Last Monday I was up and out of the house fairly early to go buy my girlfriend's Christmas present. (There's almost no chance she's reading this but just in-case that's all I'm going to say for now.) After shopping I dropped my purchase(s) at home and headed to work (completely forgetting about updating the blog.) At work I found out my long-time private student was taking his last lesson with me. Preparing his classes was always a lot of work but ultimately rewarding. I'll miss having class with him.

Last Tuesday I met some friends for lunch at a ramen shop in the North of town. This shop's specialty is a 1.5 kilo bowl of ramen with a garlic soup and topped with bean-sprouts and beef strips. If you finish it (at all, no time limit) you get to have your picture taken in a samurai helmet and be posted on the wall. If you fail you still get your picture taken but with a peasant wig and a fake arrow through the head. Needless to say I ended up having a light dinner with my girlfriend that evening and she kept her distance saying that I smelled like kimchi.

Last Wednesday was split between playing videogames and working of projects around the house. It's finally gotten cold here in Osaka with high temperatures in the 10's (50f-60f [yes, not so "Michigan" cold, but pretty "Japan" cold]). Long bike rides were out of the questions but I did end up making several short trips out. After a trip to the 100yen store I was able to complete my proto-type bowler hat-bag clip design. Now to patent it and make my millions.

Saturday after work I met my girlfriend and one of her friends afterwork and we had a "maki-zushi" (think California roll type sushi) at the friend's house. It was a really good time and the home-made sushi was quite delicious. Walking back to the station afterwords we noticed a lot of people staring up into the sky and realized that the lunar eclipse was happening.

Last night was supposed to be another "game-night" but since no-one showed up I put in some more work on my girlfriend's Christmas present (it was fine as it was, but is a lot nicer now, with some elbow grease put into it.)

From here on out the end of the year's gonna be pretty busy. I'm headed to Nagoya tomorrow to see my favorite band play. I've got another "school party" this Saturday. I'm pulling two days of overtime on my "weekend" next week ten we're into the holiday season. No rest for the wicked and all that.

Week 49

Well as you've plainly seen I've missed my first full week this year. Gosh, I almost made it all the way without skipping. Oh, well. Just a few more posts this year then I can try again next year. (One of my New Years resolutions last year was to make a post a week for an entire year.) Expect my usual update on Monday to include news from the past two weeks.