Day spent mostly in the sun..

Bright and early this morning, Uchida sensei and I drove up to an athletic field way up in the mountains where the view from the city was gorgeous! Today was the first day of a two day city-wide competition that the tennis club at school was participating in.

They did quite well! (Coming in second out of...hmm, I'm not sure how many teams there were, but seemed like a lot..!)
Afterwards, Uchida sensei and I went out for coffee before I headed off to the bus station to meet up with Miho who arrived today from Kochi city.

Quick Update

Today's the start of a long weekend (Monday's a national holiday), yoohoo!!

And, we have Golden Week coming up soon after. I'm really looking forward to having a break from work!

This past week at school has been nuts. Since coming back from Tokyo, it has felt like everything has been going on in fast forward mode..!

My desk is in a new area, with 3 new teachers around me. I'm back to sitting with Yoshida sensei (same as the first year I arrived in Japan!), a Japanese language teacher, and a newly arrived teacher. This is the first year that I'm surrounded only by non-English teachers. I guess it's a good opportunity to practice my Japanese. I've gotten to know the new students, and so far they seem like a very genki (upbeat and full of energy) group of kids. I think it will be a good year!

The job at SONY is going well, though I find it exhausting to get home so late in the evenings. But I've learned a lot from the engineers that I've met. They are involved in making one of the central components to the PS3, how exciting is that!

I'll be going downtown with Uchida sensei early tomorrow morning (7:50am) to watch a tennis game. Then Miho will be arriving from Kochi in the afternoon...it'll be nice to see her again!!

I wanted to write more about what's happened this past week but I'm just so tired..I'll try to update more regularly from now on. Goodnight!

Use your cell phone as a cooker?....

This is kinda scary!

http://www.rense.com/general72/cellcook.htm

Mayor shot dead

Nagasaki's mayor was shot dead last night, four days before the next election date...

Japan is no longer as safe a place as it used to be...!

Another car accident..

This month has not been my month when it comes to car accidents……!

On my way to school this morning, I was patiently waiting to make a left turn when I got hit from behind. She got out of the car and came over very apologetic, bowing and repeating that she was completely at fault, asking if is everything ok etc.

I was a bit surprised at being bumped and not sure what we should do. I really didn’t want to start the day by being late for school. And since no one was hurt, and my car is so old that an extra scratch or two won't make a big difference, I thought we could just leave it as it was.

She gave me all her information and I continued on my way to school.

What a way to start the morning, eh?...

My first weekend back since Tokyo, my plan was to finish unpacking and get caught up on house chores that I have fallen way behind on...

But it was such a beautiful day, I decided to spend it downtown.

While wandering around downtown, I was thinking that while Tokyo's a really fun and crazy city to visit, I don't think it's somewhere I would ever want to live. On the other, Nagasaki is more the kind of city where I would consider living long term. I'm glad I was placed here.

I've been wanting to get a new computer for a while now and thought that I might be able to find a good deal while in Tokyo...but no...not even in Akihabara (the electronics district). They're not cheap, and more importantly..they only with a Japanese OS!

I went looking around at Best Dinki (the Japanese version of a Future Shop) today, and wasn't too impressed with what I found..

So I'm stuck with having to order a computer online...or buying a mac.

どうしょう。。。

School Hike

Everyone started off on the hike up mount 'Sh..'. Roughly two hours later, we finally reach the top!

The view from the tower at the top of the mountain is gorgeous!

There were seesaws, swings and other things for people to entertain themselves with. This one was lots of fun. Some of the teachers and I swung down on it too!

Making our way back down the mountain, all I see ahead of me is a sea of red uniforms.

Everyone loves to pose for the camera.

The students would janken (rock paper scissor - sometimes it seems like all big decisions are decided using janken in Japan..) to decide who carries all the bags..man, it would suck to lose. But this guys seems to be alright with it!

Some of the kids opted for a different way to climb the last hill before reaching the school..

Just outside the school, we're almost back!

What a workout...I don't remember the hike 2 years ago being as taxing as it was this year! But hey, I could definitely use the extra exercise.

Shimabara

For 3 days, all the first year students and teachers go to a retreat in Shimabara (about 1.5 hours from Nagasaki city).

Maybe 'retreat' is not the right word to use... it would probably be more accurate to call it boot camp...the students learn how to stand at attention, greet teachers, stand in different formations depending on the event...some of the drills were exactly what you would expect to see at a military camp.

The homeroom classes also get to know each other through some team building exercices.

After having walked back from the arena where most of the activities were held during the day, some of the teachers and I thought we'd take a picture to capture how tired we looked...

This year was the first year I participated in this camp. Though I was invited to stay the 3 days at the camp, I decided to head back home late that evening because I wanted to go on the hike the following day with the teachers and students who were back at school...

Last year, the hike was cancelled due to bad weather, but it looks like tomorrow will be a beautiful day!

Tokyo Trip (March 25 - April 8)

There's so much to tell about the two weeks in Tokyo, but just haven't had a chance to sit down and write about it!

On the day I arrived, after dropping off my stuff at May's place, we met up with a bunch of May's friend at karaoke, and dinner. I love karaoke!

Here are the students and 2 teachers with whom I was studying Japanese.

After class, a few of us visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

I was surprised at the party atmosphere around the war shrine..I thought it would have been more solenm. It was a gorgeous day, we sat outside and worked through our japanese homework together while admiring the beautiful sakura (cherry blossoms) that surrounded us.

On the first weekend, May organized a hike up mount Takao, was lots of fun!

Being silly...

Which apparently is contagious..!

On our climb down, Kalin entertained us with his many musical abilities..here is everyone trying to imitate him (with varying degrees of success...)

Happy to have finally reached the bottom!

The following day, I wandered around the ridiculously crowded streets of Harajuku, and came across some of the strangely-dressed people around Yoyogi park.

Since it was hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season, some of the students from my Japanese class and I headed to Ueno park and had ourselves a little party. Everyone sitting under the lit up flowers, eating, drinking and have a good time. We met a few of the neighourbing hanami-ers who joined us!

Throughout the week, we had dinners at different places, mostly at TGIFs..!

On the last day of class, there was an awards ceremony at the school where we all received certificates for having completed the class etc. All the homestay parents attended, as well as volunteers who had helped organize this two-week intensive Japanese class. Each of the three classes (beginners, intermediate and advanced) had to do a presentation. Our class did a skit (all in Japanese!)

On my last night, we had another karaoke night

followed by dinner (near, but not at TGIFs!)

The last night, I stayed at May's place, it was sad to say goodbye..I hope she will come visit me in Nagasaki sometime soon!

During the past 2 weeks, I studied a lot, met lots of people who were fun to hang out with, got to see some of the sights in Tokyo...Overall, had a great time!