i have been so busy. it's so unfair! i thought we were supposed to get a lot of money and be bored all the time. i haven't even had time to do my real job (studing japanese that is). hopefully things will slow down a little bit soon.

i went to pottery on monday. it was so cool! i love it and i am definitely going back as much as possible. i made a rice bowl and a cup that turned out to be almost the same size as the rice bowl. oh well, better luck next week. they still aren't completely finished.

today i am off to the doctor...finally. after 2 months or more of complaining about my sneezing and my stuffed and runny nose (it alternates) i have decided to take the adventure. and i am sure it will be an adventure indeed.

oh yeah, jon's finger is healing nicely. no stitches necessary.

Long time. Again.

Nancy says hi. She's just listening to a CD one of her students gave her to borrow. It's the new one by "Bump of Chicken". That's right folks, there's a band named "Bump of Chicken."

We just got back from taiko. Now that the concert is over its way chill. We just did a few tokka-tokka's, a couple dom-dopa-dom-doppa-dom's and a dom-da-dom-dom and we were outta there. Sweet.

Taiko is probably my favourite part of being in Japan. It's a real release to just hammer away at a drum for an hour-and-a-half every week. Some might call it therapy. It's also cool being part of Japanese culture, getting in with a group and all that jazz.

The conference was really good. It feels like we learned a lot, and were treated like real professionals. I got a lot of great ideas to try in the classroom and have even busted into a few already. I think it makes for a more exciting class for the students if I can contribute something other than what they get every day from the regular teacher. Some of them can be really boring ;-) so I just try to think about what it was like when I was in junior high and we had a visitor. It was awesome! So my job is to be that awesome guy! Since I got fired from studying Japanese (not really, I've just been too busy lately) I think that's a pretty good job.

Well, until next time!

Jeez, I didn't think this week would ever end.

Before we left for Vietnam Hirose-sensei phoned me about a presentation we had to do for the conference next week. She said not to worry, we could work on it when I got back. So this week has been Big Time Preperation Week, which mostly involved me sitting around with my thumbs in my bumb, drinking green tea while Hirose-sensei and Matsushita-sensei jabbered on in Japanese about what we should do. So now we know what to do and I just have to write it up. And it only took three meetings! Boy, do I love Japanese efficiency!

We've been practicing for taiko a lot, too. Same as always, twice a week. But the concert is Sunday, so we have to practice from one tomorrow and then from nine on Sunday. Yikes! At least we'll be ready - sort of! Nancy has to do this dance around bell song, which I think is awesome cute-o, but she thinks is stupid. But I have to wear a pink flower shirt (the flowers are made of hearts) so the way I figure it we're even.

So I guess it wasn't that bad of a week. After five months of doing nothing, even the smallest amount of work seems like a lot. After the conference it'll chill out a little bit so I can get back to my real job - studying Japanese!

Well, I'm going back under the kotatsu to finish my hot chocolate, so until next time!

Light lunch, indeed.

On the walk to work I bumped into H.-san, who invited me to help with a story. Something to do with a special plate of sushi for the New Year, she said, which was enough for me. Anything to get out of the office, right?

I was practicing kanji when she called. She was in a hurry, was I ready? I logged off the Internet and was ready to roll.

On the drive over, she apologized for the rush. "That man has a famous character," she explained, pointing to the lead car, "because he is always in a hurry." She said that it was difficult to find the place we were about to visit, but that Hurry-san was from the area and knew exactly where to go.

On the walk to the house, Hurry-san pointed out a small concrete block with some kanji on it. "That is where the tsunami reached to," H.-san translated. "It happened in 1946, during the war." We were maybe 500 metres from shore. The wave must have wiped out all the houses in the neighbourhood.

I spent the next three hours watching three weathered old women go about their business. H.-san asked a question or started filming every now and then, but mostly we just sat and watched. There is something magical about grandma's kitchen, isn't there? The way they just own the place. One of the women was 80 years old, but she didn't stop to rest the entire three hours: she was too busy boiling crab legs, frying shrimp tempura, cutting and arranging - always arranging - the sushi. She said they got up at three every morning to start cooking, that they did it for fun because there wasn't much profit in it, that this was real home cooking as passed down from their own grandmothers. They told us about the war, how there weren't any men around because they were all off fighting, and how they felt lucky now to be able to cook every day in peace and quiet.

Around noon the the sushi platters were ready for delivery. We all sat down for tea. H.-san and I ate a couple pieces of leftover sushi and an orange - "we Japanese like a light lunch" - said our goodbyes and headed back.

I can't wait for dinner.

ah....my whole message got deleted! here goes again...

last night i cut jon's finger while we were cooking supper. i felt and still feel absolutely terrible!! it all happened so fast and it makes me sick even thinking about it. i jumped into lifeguard mode and forced him to come to the hospital where they cleaned it and taped it up. perhaps i over-reacted slightly. (i admit it jon - you were right). he needs to go back again today. we don't know why. i think he might still need stitches but maybe they just want to check on the progress. i guess we will find out.

i received a christmas present from my sister. thanks - i love it. now i can alternate watching friends, sex and the city, ally mcbeal, and the x-files. yay! also, the picture is really adorable. good idea! and the xmas crackers were a nice surprize!

i am really glad i decided to make learning japanese my job. i have 0 english classes today and 0 tomorrow. now i feel like i have some sort of purpose at work. i studyed all morning and i am going to study some more this afternoon. i am learning a lot and i like it.

today i only had 3 hours of work. i planned and elementary visit with one of my teachers. i need to make some worksheets and various props which will give me something to do. i feel as though i am spoiled as i basically can do what i want at work. i have to remember that i am not an english teacher really. i am mostly here to learn about japanese culture and language and share about my culture. thus, my new desire to learn japanese full force. it gives me a purpose at work other than surfing the net which seems to get old really fast.

i will be talking to my mom and dad and sister today as they usually call me every wednesday. it is nice to be able to stay in touch. the time difference between japan and canada is so wacky that it is hard to talk to people except on weekends but it seems as though jon and i have things going on all the time. i promise to try to call those of you who i haven't been able to get ahold of.

ok...it has been quite a while since jon and i have written anything but we were gone for holidays for 2 weeks. Yah. Vietnam was such a blast. Now we are back at work. Boo. I am already looking forward to our next adventure. I decided I am going to make more of an effort to stay in shape and learn Japanese. I might as well take advantage of my surroundings while I can, right? Yesterday and today I moved 38 new words and 25 new kanji from my "i don't know" file to the "I know but in a couple of weeks I am going to double check in order to make sure" file.

Jon and I got each other mini disc players for xmas. Jon is going crazy!! Did you know that on one mini disc you can fit over 5 Beatles albums? Jon is attempting to find how many he really can fit. We will let you know. MDs are great: no skipping, no scratching, just listening bliss. Oh, and you can even delete and re-record specific songs. It is great. I suppose that is definitely one good thing Japan has to offer....awesome technology. If only they could extend that a little and get heating built into the houses....