Summer's Gone!

Yes, indeed.  The weather has finally gotten cooler.

It was a hot one here in Japan this summer, and I hated every minute of it.  I work at a school that is not fully air conditioned, and it's amazing how a hot and humid public school, packed with naughty teenagers, can really sap all the energy out of a man.

This week was the week the weather changed... and right on cue, it happened on the autumnal equinox - September 23rd.  Banzai!

Work was tough this week.  My class schedule is basically packed on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and on those days I have no time for anything but teaching and grading papers.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are lighter, so I have time for planning lessons for the next week, making PowerPoint presentations, etc.  However, this past week there were national holidays on Monday and Thursday.  In addition, on Tuesday the school ran a Monday schedule.  Therefore, all week from clock in to clock out, I was running around all day, trying to do everything with the limited time I had outside of classes.  I'm still worn out from that.

Luckily I was able to unwind by doing some container gardening.  In anticipation of fall, I planted some loose-leaf lettuce seeds a couple of weeks ago.  The weather stayed hotter longer than I thought, but now that it has been cool for a few days, the first seedlings have popped out of the dirt.  I'll share some pictures when they get a little bigger.

And if you were starting to question my manhood (Which sex do you think did most of the gardening in the history of mankind?), I saw some Falcons highlights on the Internet this weekend, too.  Great game against Arizona.  I'm looking forward to the Falcons-Saints game today.

Three Guys, Some Beer, and a Friday Night

I need to do that more often.

For the first time in I-don't-know-how-long, this past Friday I went out with the guys - specifically, with a couple of expat guys who teach English at a school I used to work at.  We went to a bar in Osaka, had a few beers, sat at one of the sidewalk tables and just enjoyed the Osaka night.  I was buzzed after just two beers.  Yeah, weak, I know, but I hadn't had any alcohol for two months before last night.

I forgot how much fun it can be to hang out with some expats.  Before Friday I could count on less than two fingers how many times I've spoken in person to a non-Japanese person since March.  I wasn't really bothered by that; after all, if you are going to live in Japan, might as well interact with Japanese people, right?  But there's something about hanging out with people who fluently speak the language you are fluent in, who have common interests and somewhat common backgrounds.  That is something I should try not to neglect.

Student's Pet

At my school, most teachers basically shun the bad students if they can help it.  They try not to talk with them or otherwise interact with them.  I perfectly understand that and expect that to happen, because some of those kids are a real handful (not to mention their parents). 

What I didn't expect was how much effort teachers put into interacting with the good students. 

When teachers walk through the hallways at school, making their way through the sea of students, they usually have their eyes focused straight ahead, trying not to notice most of the students.  But if they happen to see some of the good students, they will stop immediately and chat, sometimes to the point of having to run to make it to their next class on time.

But there's more than that.  I've seen teachers compete against each other to get in the good students' good graces!  The students stop by the teachers' office to chat, and a teacher will come up and chat with them.  A few minutes later, another teacher will butt in, and before you know it, several teachers are around, trying to win their affection.  In addition, some teachers are lurking in the background, hoping the first teachers clear out soon so that they can move in and have the students to themselves.

I guess that shouldn't be surprising.  After all, teachers are supposed to like students, and good students make that a lot easier to do.  Still, the sheer difference in behavior towards the good students, as opposed to the not-so-good students, is quite interesting.

Green Thumb Is Still There

Did some container gardening today.  Fall is around the corner, so I planted a long container of baby leaf lettuce.  I'm very excited about that, because I haven't had (eatable) lettuce on my balcony since about May.  Thanks to aphids and the brutal Osaka summer, it was impossible to keep the lettuce growing all year.  That was sad, because I came to like going out on the balcony, picking some leaves, and making real fresh salad.  Those days are almost here again.

So now my balcony container garden consists of a container of baby leaf lettuce (not yet sprouted), two containers of timothy grass for Hoppy, a container of oats for Hoppy, a container of lemongrass, some ivy, and a small tree (and I have no idea what kind of tree it is).

My Name Is Darth Vader!

Here I am at the store, modeling what a lot of middle-aged and elderly women in Japan like to wear in the summer when they're outside on a bicycle. It's supposed to shield their face from those dangerous UV rays as well as keep their skin as light as possible. I have no idea what it's called in Japanese. I just call it the "Darth Vader Mask."

It's Too Damn Early For This!

This is what I was doing at 7:30 in the morning.

I'm doing this at 7:30 in the morning? On a holiday? Man, what has happened to me. 

Quittin's for Punks... So Is Tellin' Someone To

Last week, while I was on the train to work, my wife, who was also on her way to work, sent me a bunch of text messages saying stuff like "I don't want to go to work," "I want to go back home already," etc.  She's been dealing with a lot of stuff lately.  A bunch of her co-workers have been giving her a hard time.  So her job hasn't been her favorite place.

On that day last week, as the text messages came one by one, I became furious - not at my wife, but by the situation, that she was feeling so bad that she was dreading just going to work everyday.  So I went off.  I texted her a lot, saying, "Forget those fools.  You need to quit.  There must be a better job for you somewhere."  I didn't get any replies.

Eventually I realized I was wrong.  I was telling my wife to quit.  First of all, in this economy you can't just quit and get another job right away, especially one that is less stressful.  But this is the most important thing here: if there's anything I learned growing up, it's this: never let anybody get to you, or they win and you lose.  If my wife quit, those punks at her job would be the winner.  I was telling her to lose.  I later told my wife I was sorry about what I said, and that she can always talk to me about what's going on at work.  Lord knows I've dealt with my share of bad co-workers. 

Still, I feel ashamed to have told her to quit.  I should have told her to fight on, to win.

Update, August 13, 2010

Ah yeah, it's Obon time.  Obon is a Japanese "holiday" (not sure of the best word to use here... yep, I'm an English teacher) in August.  Almost all Japanese have a couple of days off during Obon.  This year it's today and Monday sandwiched around the weekend.  Traditionally, Japanese people go back to their hometowns during Obon and pay respect to their deceased family members and ancestors.  But my wife and I don't do anything like that.  We just chill at home, rent some movies from TSUTAYA or something like that.  So that's what I'm doing now... just chillin'. 

Earlier I was looking at some other blogs on the 'Net, and I gotta admit, people have got a lot of time on their hands!  It took me 15 minutes to write everything up to this point in this post - I'm not kidding.  I take too much time thinking about what I want to write, then I write it.  And my blog stuff is pretty crappy, if I say so myself.  But some people put together these nice blogs, with long posts and a bunch of pictures and stuff.  Must have taken them hours just to write one post!

Maybe that's my problem.  Maybe I don't need to think about what I write.  I just need to write it.  I might end up saying something I really don't want to share with y'all, but hey...at least I would be able to update my blog every day.

1000 Things About Japan

I'm beginning to really like this blog, 1000 Things About Japan.  Great format, well-organized, and while I don't agree with all of the opinions listed there, I can certainly relate to a lot of them.  For foreigners, living in Japan, like marriage, is not easy and requires a level of commitment to make it work.

Weekly Update (July 30)

Ah... a nice day off to enjoy.  That means I can update my blog.

Not much going on this week.  My students are out for summer break, so things are easygoing at work.  I can just sit, relax, plan future lessons and listen to music while I do it.

I've also caught up on some reading.  I read The Beckham Experiment by Grant Wahl, and I just started re-reading A History of Japan.  I read a lot of non-fiction.  I've wanted to start reading fiction, but I'm not sure what would interest me.

Oh yeah... almost forgot.  Technically this was last week, but I started a second blog, this time all about my rabbit Hoppy.  You can go there by clicking below:

Rabbit Chronicles From Japan

I can't think of anything else interesting that happened this week.  Let me know if you want to hear about something.  Later.

In This Box...

If you can guess what is sticking out of this grass box, you get the grand prize!

Rome Trip 2

After a long delay, I'm resuming posting about our Rome trip over the New Year's. I'm going to be calling these posts Rome Trip 2, 3, 4.... because I'm just too lazy right now to think of a catchy title.

Here I am standing in front of the Spanish Steps, made famous by that Audrey Hepburn movie "Roman Holiday". I never saw the movie. In fact, I never heard of it until I moved to Japan. That movie is extremely famous here for some reason. Whenever I told someone in Japan that I was going to Rome, they would ask if I was going to eat ice cream in front of the Spanish Steps. When I asked why I should do that, they mentioned Roman Holiday. So I was going to do that, but eating ice cream is now outlawed there... oh well.

  

Trevi Fountain. This picture doesn't come close to capturing how beautiful and amazing this fountain is. Not only is it peaceful and serene, even with a bunch of tourists standing around, but the detail in the sculptures and artwork is unbelievable. One of the highlights of the trip, for sure.

Here I am standing in front of the Pantheon. This building is almost 2000 years old and dates from the Roman Empire, but is still standing. Talk about some good building codes. It was closed the day we took this picture, but we went back later when it was open. Pictures of the inside to come later.

Piazza Navona, only a few blocks west of the Pantheon. The piazza is so wide, it's hard to capture all of it in one photo. It's a very nice place to stroll around, maybe grab a bite to eat, or something like that. On the day we visited there, they had a carnival in the piazza with a lot of snack and game stands.

Goodbye to Facebook?

Well, the past few weeks I've been giving Facebook another shot, but I don't know... maybe it's not for me. I guess I would like it more if I did mobile posting. I see a lot of my Facebook friends using their iPhone or Blackberry or cell phone to post messages about what they're doing. But it costs me every time I send a post via cell phone, so I don't want to do that.

But another thing is this: I don't really feel the need to tell everybody what I'm doing every hour, or what I eat or buy or wear. Facebook works well when people are giving details of every facet of their lives, and their friends can follow along. Me... I don't feel a need to describe everything I do. In fact, what is there to describe? My life is quite boring. Except for work and travel, I do nothing. My wife is the more interesting person in my marriage, but of course she doesn't allow me to talk much about her or post pictures of her.

So, all I can really talk about is work or travel. And usually I have a lot to say about those things, more than the little box in Facebook is designed for. So this blog is probably better suited for that.

I will say one good thing about Facebook: because of it, I've been able to reconnect with a lot of people I've met over the years. Friends and co-workers I met in Japan, people from college, friends I had a good time with in high school in Hawaii, and a friend that really made an impact on me in my one year of high school in Atlanta (she probably does not realize how much). I even reconnected with a dude I was friends with in elementary school! How about that.

Rome Trip - The Start

We went to Rome for four nights beginning on December 31, 2009. It was one of the best vacations I have ever taken.

As you can tell from the ground in this picture, Rome was a bit rainy at times, and it was chilly. It meant, though, that there weren't huge crowds.

This is the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, near our hotel in the center of Rome, near the main train station. We saw this on our first morning in Rome. Not a bad way to start the vacation!

On-goings in January 2010

First up, Happy New Year, you all! Here's what's been going on in my life:

- We went to Rome around the New Year holiday. I'll post some pictures of our trip later.
- Forget the Crimson Tide, even though they just won the championship. I just don't feel it anymore. I'm hoping Hawaii gets there one day.
- Things are going so well at my school that they are lobbying for me to come back next year. (It's the Board of Education's choice, and they give me one-year contracts.)

By the way, if you tried to contact me on Facebook, I'm sorry... I don't feel that anymore, either. You can always leave a comment on my blog, though. My blog entries will show up on Facebook... for the time being.