So this week went as expected. A real struggle. I caught myself daydreaming about where I want to go on my next trip while reading a story book to a class of 10 year olds. I finished the book and didn’t even realize it until I went to turn the last page and realized it was blank. It took me until the middle of the week to get back into work mode, and even then I still was not my usual self. The week went by smooth enough though all things considered. My classes were all pretty good. It was nice to hear about everyone else’s trips. Some of my students went on some pretty awesome trips too. Several people went to Europe, some went to islands around the Pacific, even a few took trips to the US. One of my higher level students whom I have become friends with went to Switzerland on his honeymoon. He had some really amazing pictures of the alps. Japanese people travel abroad a lot more than in the US. This matter seems to come up in conversation kind of often. I always have a hard time explaining why it is without sounding like a pretentious American patriot, but quite simply our country is huge, and there is so much to do and see within the US it keeps us entertained enough to not think about traveling such long distances to other countries. Other than Canada and Mexico, it is quite a hike to most other countries, unlike European or Asian countries. I am glad I am traveling abroad now, but whenever I have this conversation with people it just makes me want to explore more of the US. So work was okay this week. It was my turn to work the half day on Sunday, so I laid low on Saturday night and made some food at my place. I decided to try my hand at sushi for the first time. I think it turned out really well. I only bought salmon this time but I will definitely be doing this again with other fish. I hope to bring this skill back to the US when I come, but it will be much harder to find fish as fresh as it is here, unless I catch it myself. I was very proud of my creation though. I hate when people post pictures of food they cooked, but I had to share this one. Sorry 
So I had to work on Sunday from 12-5. It wasn’t bad. I had things to do the whole time, but I wasn’t too busy. It was pouring down rain when I got off so I got soaked walking home. Sunday night I went to this mall to find a birthday gift for my friend’s birthday next weekend. It was a pretty big mall. Everyone in Japan loves shopping so I had heard about this place a few times. It was cool I guess…. if you like malls. We went to eat at a Yakki Nikku restaurant afterwards, then I caught the last train home. Monday was a pretty good day. I woke up around noon and cleaned my apartment. It had been needing a cleaning since I hadn’t bothered to clean since I had been back from my trip. After cleaning, I headed to the boxing gym for a while. I am still having a lot of fun there. I am starting to get much more friendly with the guys there too. I try out some Japanese phrases with them some. They still laugh at me a lot but we are cool. I am going to ask about sparring sometime soon. I really want to try out what I have been learning on something more than a big bag of sand. After boxing I went into Osaka to meet a friend for dinner, whom I hadn’t seen in a while. We got some Mexican food and walked around for a while after and went to some places I hadn’t been before. Saw some cool Mercedes covered in jewels, I thought they were cool, and I needed a pic for this post so I took a quick photo. It was a relaxing night overall. The whole weekend was pretty chill. 
Last night I didn’t get to sleep too well, there was another little earthquake that woke me up around 4am and then there was a really loud thunderstorm which strangely came without no rain. Mother nature did not want me to sleep well I guess…
This morning I got to catch the final round of the Billabong Tahiti Pro surf tournament. It was a great start to my day. They were surfing at one of the most famous big wave breaks in the world and it was pumping. The waves were huge and perfect. All the announcers and interviewees kept saying how this competition had been one of the best they could ever remember. It was definitely cool to watch on TV. I would love to visit there one day. I doubt I would have the balls to paddle into any of those waves though. It was nice to watch as I was sipping my morning coffee, but it really made me miss the beach. I need to make it a priority to get to the ocean in the next few weeks. Today we went back to school. Nothing too special. The manager has been happy with me lately so things are nice at work. I have done well interviewing prospective students so she doesn’t seem to criticize my “tekito”, laid back attitude as much. As long as I do my stuff right she is happy. Sorry for the boring post. I know you don’t care much about this kind of stuff, but I feel compelled to type something every week. Next weekend, I am going camping for Claudia’s birthday, so I should have something a little more entertaining for you. Thanks for bearing with me through this one though. If you are feeling unfulfilled go ahead and (re)read my 2 posts from last week. I read them again the other day and was mildly entertained for a few minutes. Have a good week though.