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OK!!! Let's continue...

September 5th:

Today was Koshino's and Takase's sports day. My plan was to go to Koshino's sports day in the morning and in the afternoon travel to Takase to watch the remainder of their sports events. Well as luck turned out I ended up waking up two hours later then I was supposed to. I blame this half on the fact my alarm didn't go off and the other half on being out the night before and thusly being rather exhausted. Nevertheless I made it to Koshino and sat outside with both the principle and the PTA leader who spoke pretty good English. So I talked with him briefly then focused on watching the sporting events. I only manged to see a couple races before it was time for lunch. I hadn't planned on being at Koshino during lunch so I had nothing to eat. I was ok with this simply based off the fact that I normally don't eat shortly after I wake up. However one of the teachers, whom I think is rather nice and friendly asked if I wanted to share. Well I declined but she insisted. However by “share” she meant give me her entire bento and she snag some food off a friend. I felt pretty bad about that, but she said it was just fine. I'll have to do something nice for her in the future. After lunch I went back outside to see the cheering competition that the kids had. The cheer competitions are very serious. Red against white with hand painted banners on each side of the field. I have to admit that I liked the Red teams cheering part of sports day better. The cheer competition is basically a 6 minute show case of how great their respective cheers are. To display their ability to act as one, have leadership, and to prove that they are the best team. If I remember correctly the cheer competition was won by the red team. Nevertheless I couldn't stay at Koshino, and drove with all speed to Takase to watch the rest of the competition. There I met with the principle and Enrique( a fellow JET) and we watched the rest of the competition. My favorite event at this school was the wrestling event. One boy climbs on the back of two others. They meet up in the middle and try to knock the opposing teams top member off. The boys who were on the others shoulders worn karate/judo jackets. It was truly original and a bit dangerous. I'm positive even if we had sports day the boys at our schools would not be able to do this type of event. Nevertheless I ended my day there around 3 in the afternoon, and headed home.

Around two hours later I was picked up by the vice-principle of Takase to go to my first enkai. This enkai was to be held at an onsen place not too far away from where I live. I got there and was greeted by a nice women who pointed to where I wold be sitting. It was along the same row as the Principle and it had my name on a label. Each person had their own personal table with food decoratively placed on fancy plates and bowls. Every two people had their own full bottle of beer which was quite nice. Once the opening speech was over we ate. Granted the food was questionable at times, I made the best of it. Although I'm not big on beer I find that if I don't like the taste of a particular food, beer gets rid of the taste rather fast. Along side of beer there was sake offered. I find it funny that I was the first one to ask for sake out of a room of Japanese people, however me being the sole drinker of sake didn't last. ^ ^ After a while of this I noticed that people leaving their seats with a bottle in and and walking around sitting in front of others tables. They would pour them a drink and engage in conversation. I was approached by several people and I spoke to them as best I could. Enrique helped a little with translation. Finally I got up and walked around. I ended up going to those who knew at least a little English. It was enlightening and all together fun. After this I was slightly forced to sing one karaoke song that went horribly considering I didn't know the words XD. When it was time to leave most of us ended up heading to another small spot to get drinks. This was even more relaxed because I talked with people about anime, what they like, where we've been in the world, all the while drinking and laughing. They were very nice and I enjoyed their company. They even paid for the cable car ride home for me. I was also told that I was going to get and Miyasaki present from one of my fellow co-workers but we will see if he remembers. I would remind him but somehow I think that would be rude ^ ^;; .

Sunday September 6th:
Thankfully nothing exciting happened today. I was more then happy to do a little bit of nothing. I watched some anime and attempted to clean my apartment. It's a bit messy.

September 7th(Monday):

Monday back at Chuo Elementary school. To be honest this day is a bit of a blur. I know I had a good time with the kids and I do remember giving my self introduction to one of my classes again. The major issue with this was the fact that apparently some kid who normally doesn't participate in class participated in my class, and then proceeded to ask me in all seriousness “how I wanted to die” >.> Now.. this is a strange question to say the least... he's going to be one of -those- kids. However I feel like I should come up with an answer for him.. see how that goes. * smirk * I also believe we practiced flag and country names. Well after work I got home and I honestly couldn't tell you what happened after that. ^_^

September 8th(Tuesday):

Today I was late for work by 20 minutes. I was very tired from the night before (don't know why) and my alarm once again neglected to wake me. Nevertheless I apologized profusely and I think the principle even till today is kinda off about it. Not because he's mad but because I was so apologetic. Despite this I had pretty good classes. I like the kids at Koshino so that helps. Once I got home if I remember correctly I laid down. It was rather rainy . I was told about a deal on PS3's and made it happen. For the life of me I don:t remember what day I went to the bank and roamed through Kurobe on an electronics binge but I know I officially have a PS3 120gig as of today. I bought Heavenly Sword for it, and although I like it I find it a bit difficult to play based off the simple fact that the games functions are all in Japanese, but the dialogue in game play is all in English. It's nice having a PS3 and being capable to afford one without worry even though the price has dropped. I look forward to buying BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, and purchasing Bayonetta when that comes out. However I might wait till it comes out in the US and have one shipped here. We shall see.

September 9th (Wednesday) :

Today I was back at Chuo Elementary school, and now that my self introduction classes were over we focused on learning numbers. I reviewed the numbers with the class first ( 1-20) and then we played the seven steps game. It's a song you sing. It goes like:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10

8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You sing the numbers out once, and then the trick is to take away a number and replace that with an action. So if I were to take away the number 4 then that number would be replaced like so: 1 2 3 *clap * 5 6 7. Well to make it fun and interesting for the kids I made a lot of funny noises and actions for them to do every time we replaced a number. The kids had an absolute ball. Although I learned the basics of this song from an orientation group, I added my own charm to it, and the teachers said they've never seen anything like it, and that they enjoyed it immensely. I quite enjoyed it myself because the kids were so happy. I also did my first lunch speech today. Lunch speech is when I come up with a short comment about anything I want and tell the children over the intercom. My JTE (Japanese teacher of English) translates after every few lines. I made a question box as well and I really hope there are a lot of questions for me. That way I know the kids are interested and that they want to get to know me better. Teaching 3rd and 4th grades are rather tiring. I do most of the teaching in Chuo so it takes even more energy out of me. I don't direct as much in the Jr high schools, I definitely just do more assisting with the occasional lead in a speaking activity.

Once I returned home from work I got a call from Lawrence telling me that we were going to meet Jack for sushi. Though as tired as I am I try not to miss the opportunity to go someplace new or with friends. So we end up at this sushi place in Uozu (the next town over) and had sushi. I stayed away from most things, but took a picture or two of things I would never eat. I mostly had tuna sushi which is their version of tuna fish with seaweed, rice and corn. It was quite tasty. We lingered their for awhile all the while chatting with this friend of a friend that was staying in Jacks place. Shes a nice girl and is here in Japan on vacation. Leaving the sushi bar however there was invitation to go to the onsen. I declined and stayed at home. Outside of being tired I still haven't settled with the idea of onsens quite yet. Perhaps one day soon.

September 10th (Thursday) :

Back at Takase and once again I didn't have classes. It's weird because as it's looking I'm never going to teach there. XD There wasn't even a computer for me to work on, so I basically drew in my sketchbook the whole time. I had some success but nothing I think is all that great. Around one or so I tried to walk around because it was becoming epically hard for me to stay awake. So I ended up taking my phone and going outside on one of the balconies. It was very sunny and the school grounds are rather pretty so I snapped a few shots of that. I also took this opportunity to sit on the balcony floor under some nearby shade and just reseted there. I think I faded in and out of sleep for nearly and half an hour. It was a perfect place to catch a nap but I wouldn't want to get caught. So after that rather reflective/relaxing/anime moment I went back inside and was oddly refreshed for most of the remainder of the day. At the end of the day I did stay for a little past the time I'm suppose to, to watch badminton practice. Some of those kids were good, and would have given my badminton team in high school a run for their money... and I'm sure they'd win most of the money. They practice more technique then we ever did and they practice longer as well.



Getting home I managed to get up enough will to begin power cleaning my apartment. I mean bleach for days kinda power clean. Granted I managed to finish the bathroom and the kitchen, the living room is little to be desired. I would have finished more if I wasn't invited out to Okinomiyaki with Jack and the crew again. I went of course and we all had fun talking and making our own okinomiyaki at the table grills. We ofcourse talked about potential game nights ( DnD, magic, Video games etc) and other excursions/ trips we should all go on. After that place we stopped at another place around the corner for drinks. It was a cute Japanese/Moroccan styled place. Ironically the owner of the store was the same women who did the belly dancing at the outdoor music show the past week. Very small town XD It was simple taking and light drinks. No one could afford to get tipsy or wanted to for that matter. Just all around good company. Once that was over I made it home and talked with mother dearest for a bit. Then to bed I went!!!