Better late than never, right?

Since coming home from Okinawa, I have tried to continue relaxing. It was going pretty well for a few days. We had no regularly scheduled lessons last week, but I did have a few private lessons to teach. It was a pretty chill week overall. Most everyone else in the office was fairly more laid back as well. It was a nice change of pace.

Things were a bit busier on Saturday though. I had 3 meetings and demo lessons with prospective kids students. Japanese kids seem to like me for some reason so I have kind of become the default option for doing these demo lessons for new students. I don’t mind it. I enjoy meeting the new students first, and I usually have fun messing around with them in the lesson too.

Later on we hosted a speech event for adult students for the last hour of our work day. It began at 6 and went until 7, then we had some snacks and socialized for a little while. The speeches were pretty good. There were students of all levels, so some were much more interesting than others. Elizabeth and I were judges. There was a student who taught us how to play the drums, another who talked about his biggest goal in life, and others about a range of experiences and opinions. The one we chose as the winner was about a vacation to Hokkaido. I was really interested as I listened since I am currently planning a vacation to Hokkaido. However, I think this speech was the best regardless of my ability to relate.

I was nervous for all of the students. I know giving a speech in a different language is very difficult, but it is a great way to help you learn the language. That is why I was so happy, and also very nervous, when my coworkers challenged Elizabeth and I to make speeches of our own in Japanese. The challenge was issued over drinks one night a few weeks ago, so I wasn’t sure how sincere it was and I put off preparing for it. Then after arriving to work after my trip to Okinawa everyone asked me how my speech was coming and I started to worry about it a little more.

I had written a speech in English the week before for a speech unit in one of my classes. There was only one student in the class and in order to take up more time and offer something more to encourage discussion I wrote my own speech. The theme was relatives so I wrote about my late grandfather and how he taught me many things including how to fish. I ended up just translating parts of that speech into Japanese. At first I translated the few words I did know over to Japanese by myself then I relied on Google translate for the more complex things. Unfortunately, Google translate is absolutely horrible at translating full sentences between Japanese and English since the grammar structures are not even close to one another. I got some help from people around the office and ended up making a relatively understandable speech. I didn’t get everything all the way translated perfectly until only a few hours before my speech, so I was not able to memorize much of it but I took my script up to the podium and everything went well enough. I just wish I had more time to really understand exactly what I was saying. I know the overall message and main points of my speech, but I didn’t know every word, if I started earlier maybe I would have been a bit better off. Maybe next time.

After the speeches and snacks Elizabeth and I went to meet up with Yuki, a student who has become a good friend of mine, and his wife Kana. I had been out to dinner with them before but this was Elizabeth’s first time meeting Yuki outside of work. We went to a Japanese restaurant not too far from our house, and had a few beers and some nice Japanese food. Everyone had a great time, we were talking and laughing and telling stories the whole time. It was interesting to hear Yuki and Kana’s experiences traveling in the US. They both really enjoy America. I am betting they will come visit me at some point when I return.

We were at the restaurant for 2-3 hours eating and drinking and chatting. We left around 1030 or so. Yuki and Kana dropped us off and we all said our farewells. It was good to get to bed early. Elizabeth and I had plans to go to a basketball game with another student of mine the next day.

Keiji is an older business man, probably around 60 or so. He works for a pretty big international company which makes packaging materials. He used to be a sales manager, but recently he was moved into a more executive position, which requires him to use English a little more often when hosting international clients. He has become a good friend in class. He is always joking and we always have had good discussions about loads of different things even when he was still a new student, and far less fluent. A few weeks ago he mentioned that his company was a sponsor of Nara’s professional basketball team and that he gets free tickets to games. He invited Elizabeth and I to a game this weekend and we were both happy to accept the invitation.

The basketball game was fun. The game play was not all that entertaining but it was fun meeting some of Keiji’s coworkers. He seemed very happy to have us there. Even though basketball is not such a big deal in Japan, there was quite a show that accompanied the game. There were dancers, and light shows and hype men that did their best to get the crowd going. It seemed a bit out of place to me. The game was in what I would equate to a very nice private high school gym. Most people sat in chairs at floor level, but there was also an upper level that surrounded the court and there were some seats up there too.

The home team “Bambitious Nara” (an attempted joke about the deer in Nara Park) lost by about 15 points. After the game we hopped back in Keiji’s car and he took us home. On the way home he stopped to pick up his wife from her chorus recital. She was a very nice lady, and she spoke decent English as well which is always a pleasant surprise. They dropped us off and I went home and made some sushi for dinner. I made way too much for myself though.

I tried to go to bed kind of early so I could wake up at 3am to watch the Ravens game. I woke up and watched the first couple of drives then fell back asleep for a while before waking up for the 4th quarter. The Ravens won, and I went to sleep as the sun started to peek through my curtains.

I slept pretty late. Then woke up and did the usual Monday thing, cleaned up the apartment and debated what to do after. I decided to head to Nara Park again for a little walk around. The leaves were a little more colorful this week and the deer where all running around still. Not much was different, so I didn’t take many pictures.

I just chilled out for a while and tried not to do much. I did catch a nice sunset though. I also was able to sit for a while on a park bench and tried to coordinate some details of our trip to Hokkaido with Margo and Koichi. So far we have our flights and hostels/hotels booked and we know where we are going for rentals. We still have a few other details to lock in, but it looks like it is going to be an awesome trip. Hokkaido is one of the snowiest places in the world and the place we are going, Niseko, is rated as one of the best ski resorts in the world. I am really excited. I have never skied anywhere with really deep powder before. I went to Vermont once, but the weather was pretty horrible, so this is setting up to be the best snowboarding conditions I have ever ridden. I just hope it all turns out like I am hoping.

Overall, I am very optimistic about the coming weeks. Some friends are getting together this Saturday to go out and party a bit for my birthday. I have been challenged to cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal at a friends house. In December we have a work party to celebrate Christmas with the kids students, and then another party for New Hears with just coworkers. I am going to Korea to stay with Elizabeth and her family for a few days the weekend before Christmas, and then a week and a half later I am off to Hokkaido for 6 days. I just hope I can manage to keep some money in my wallet and save up so I can make the trip home that I want to make.

So, things are looking up. The next 2 months should be really great. Hokkaido is the last major item on my To-Do list while here in Japan so I will be very happy to finally experience that. I think we should be able to find a good party for new years too.

I am going to stop writing now, or else I will just keep gushing about how excited I am, and that is just boring to read. Sorry for the late post, but last night I started writing really late and didn’t have the energy or motivation to finish. This blog is sometimes a chore to write if I don’t have anything exciting to write about. Anyway, as usual, thanks for reading. Happy late Veterans day to all the great people who serve and have served our great country…(I woke up this morning and watched The Concert For Valor online as I ate my Wheaties, seemed like an amazing show and I am jealous of anyone who was there)… I hope you all have a great week!