August 2003

Student artwork - the lesson was on bugs! Cool drawing like these - plus the fact that
they know and can write the vocabulary - make me proud to be a teacher!

Well, it's the start of my weekend again. The work week always goes quickly, which is a good
thing, of course. This is the last week of special (extra) classes; next week goes back to a
normal class load, so yay! Although it sounds like I'll be getting an extra lesson with a
student's mother. It's only 40 minutes and she's really nice, so it's okay.

I actually made it through the day today without eating any Japanese food! That's a rarity.
I went to McDonalds for supper after work, also a rarity. Their milkshakes were on sale for only
96 yen (about 80 cents). I ordered a hamburger, a salad, and a milkshake to go, and they packaged
each one in its own individual bag then put all three bags in a larger bag...what a waste!

Watched the World Gymastics Championships over the weekend. Congrats to the US women's team
for winning gold!

I have faxed in my contract extension to head office. I will be staying at this school until
at least August 1, 2004. My foreign co-workers think I'm crazy, but I really do like the job, so
it only makes sense to stay, especially since I'll be getting a raise in December.

Thursday, August 21

Nearby rice fields and mountains

Had my 3rd skating lesson today. Went all right, although it was very crowded and I couldn't
do a decent camel spin for the life of me. The ice was extremely wet today, I guess because
it was so hot. (When I came home at 6:00, it was 94 degrees INSIDE my apartment.) Because of my
coach's other commitments, I won't have another lesson until September. 12, but of course I
can go practice on my own. I guess starting in September, the ice will be mostly for figure
skaters (vs the public or hockey players), so it will be nice not to have a lot of hockey
players on the ice like there were today.

Let's see...last night Rose and I rented "The Majestic." It was very good, although a little
tear-jerking at times. It's very American-focused and patriotic, so I wonder if it was very
popular when it was out here.

Also yesterday, I took an hour-and-a-half bike ride all around town. Took some pictures of
nearby rice fields like the one above. I sure don't see that kind of scenery in the Twin Cities!

Monday, August 18

The "toy car," as I call it, in Okayama.
This is the only one of it's kind I've seen so far.

Back to work today. Everyone seemed kinda bummed to be back. Almost everyone brought in
a treat from wherever they'd gone, so it was almost like "dessert buffet" day, LOL.

Yesterday, my new friend Rose came over; we made chocolate chip cookies and watched the
movie "Die Another Day," although between taking the cookies out of the (microwave) oven
and talking, we really didn't know what was going on in most of the movie, LOL. At night
after I exercised (to work off all the cookies I ate), I turned on the TV to find "The Mask
of Zorro" on, so I ended up watching all of that, too. It's the third time I've seen it,
but it's a good movie.

On Saturday, my friend Keiko and I went bowling in Okayama and out to dinner at an Indian
restaurant. Hadn't had Indian food since I was in Kyoto in April. We played 3 games at bowling.
The first one I did well - 151, but then I got steadily worse, 130 and 122. Still not bad, I
guess. My arm was a little sore, though.

Saturday, August 16
Boy, it feels good to be home on a Saturday!!

New pictures from my trip are up.

Thursday, August 14
I'm back home after a 4-day trip to central Japan. I went to stay at my friend Ayako's house in
Gifu-ken and it was so good to see her again, as I hadn't see her since autumn in Minnesota.
We went to 3 castles in a 2-day period, LOL! First Inuyama castle in southeastern Gifu-ken, then
Hikone castle in Shiga-ken, and finally Gifu castle. Hikone's castle grounds covered a larger area
than most castles and was nice to walk around. Gifu's castle was at the top of a small mountain
and had to be accessed by ropeway (unless you're into mountain climbing!). We went there at
night and had some spectacular views of the city! On Tuesday night, we went to the Nagara River in
Gifu, where spectators can watch ukai, or traditional cormorant fishing. It's only done in
Gifu-ken. About 2-3 men ride on these narrow canoe-like boats with a big fire lantern lighting their
way. They have quite a few, maybe 8-10 ropes/strings, at the end of which are the cormorant birds.
The ropes are tied loose enough around their necks so they can move and breath easily but tight enough
so that if they catch a fish, they can hold it in their mouths but can't swallow it. The birds follow
the boat and continually bob in and out of the water trying to catch fish. Pretty interesting.

Also in Gifu they have Denny's restaurants! LOL I never went to them much in the US, but since it IS
an American chain, I wanted to go there and so we did. Got there a little too late to order pancakes
like my dad wanted me to (breakfast menu must've finished for the day), but it was good nonetheless.

Today, I went to Kobe for the first time. The weather threatened to spoil my day and succeeded
somewhat, as it was pouring rain for hours and I very quickly felt and looked like I had just taken
a shower in my clothes. I tried to tell myself "I LIKE having my shoes make squishy sounds when I
walk..." LOL I didn't get to go as many places as I'd hoped but I look forward to going
back someday soon. I did go to Chinatown (nice but not as nice as Yokohama's) and some of the port
area, where I could see Kobe Tower and a memorial reminder of the devastating 1995 earthquake. A
small section of the port has been left damaged as is, as a reminder of the destructive power of
nature. Huge concrete blocks were just split in half, it's amazing. I pray that I never have to feel
an earthquake of any significant magnitude here in Japan (or anywhere).

So now I am back in my messy apartment. Must clean tomorrow, must clean tomorrow...after I go skating,
of course. :-)

Friday, August 8
A big typhoon is sweeping across Japan right now. Typhoon No. 10 (as it's called) hit Okinawa
hard yesterday and is moving across Shikoku and the mainland today. In Kurashiki, there have
been stronger-than-usual winds all morning and it just started raining hard. At least I don't have
to go anywhere today. I'll stay home and watch movies. :)

Had my second skating lesson yesterday. Hitoshi, the guy who introduced me to Michiru, was
there and stayed with us throughout the lesson to translate if necessary. It was a good lesson,
and she helped me a lot with my camel spin. The 3 girls who tend to watch me and try to talk to
me, Kayo, Masako, and Shiori, were there as usual and I actually had a short conversation with
Kayo and Masako which I understood. :)

Wednesday, August 6
It's been frickin' hot the last few days!! Even when I came home tonight at 9:40, it felt
like it was still over 80 degrees. I'm using my air conditioner a lot, but I just got my
July bill and it wasn't bad, so hopefully my August bill won't be awful.

I had my Japanese lesson this morning as usual. In the afternoon, I ran some errands and
putzed around the house before meeting my teacher again at Tivoli Park. We had dinner at the
"Denmark House" restaurant, then went to the "Summer Jazz Festival" concert, where a singer
named Selena Jones sang. It was okay, but I'm not a huge jazz fan. After the concert, we
watched the fireworks and light/illumination show over the big pond in the park. All in all,
a fun night. I may be going to see a much bigger fireworks show on Sunday.

Monday, August 4
On Friday, I had my first skating lesson in Japan! My coach's name is Michiru, and
although our communication isn't perfect 'cause she doesn't speak English, I understood
that she used to compete with Midori Ito and Yuka Sato! The lesson was about 25 minutes
and we worked on stroking, some footwork, and spins. Even though we didn't jump, I was so
tired by the end of the lesson! I'm not used to concentrating so much. I will have another
lesson this Thursday, yay!

Last night after work, I went to Shozo's house (my Japanese teacher), where Sara and about
12 other people were already finishing dinner. Shozo's wife dressed both Sara and I up in
yukata, summer kimono-like dresses. We even wore geta, Japanese wooden sandals,
so we felt very Japanese! Some pictures are up in the pictures section. We drove (in about 4
cars) to some fireworks, and here's a funny story - Sara and I rode with two of my friends who
don't speak much English. After talking with them in Japanese for a few minutes, I started
talking with Sara in fast-paced English. My friends burst out laughing and exclaimed, "Kelly!
You can speak English!" LMAO! They explained that I always spoke Japanese when I was with them,
so it was a shock for them to hear fluent English come out of my mouth! :-)

We were running late to the fireworks and traffic was horrible, so we ending up stopping a
distance aways and sitting on a hilltop to watch. Although the fireworks were small from
where we were, we had a great view of the city and it was quite calming, just sitting there
with friends and enjoying the scenery.

I've been given the opportunity to extend my contract either until August 1 or October 31, 2004.
I will probably extend thru August for a variety of reasons, including the fact that October
2004 seems so faaar away...LOL But I am happy with my job and even happier with my 3 days off
every week, so it seems logical to extend. I have been experiencing minor bouts of homesickness
lately (maybe because Sara's family is visiting next week and a few friends of mine are
returning to the US for vacation this month), but I love Japan and don't want to leave all
my friends and co-workers here. A friend of mine has invited me to see her in Los Angeles
over winter break, so I will probably take her up on that offer. By that time, I will have
been away from the US for 13 months!

5 days 'til Obon Week vacation!