Back by popular demand ...

It's Steve's love life :P. Not really, but lets pretend that Steve has a love life. So last weekend at the Yukata Matsuri I met a very nice woman named Tomomi. We chatted it up for several hours at Mr. B's and I got her number and e-mail. This weekend (Friday to be exact) I met up with her again and we chatted it up again only this time at Hosanna’s. Things went pretty well I'd say so there are possibilities there now. The only issue is she took a little issue with our age difference ... I assured her that I did not mind but somewhere down the line it may become an issue with her. In any event I'm just riding things out and we'll see where it leads.
The rest of the line up stands as follows. Yoriko is still AWOL, I saw her for all of about 3 minutes in passing at the Yukata Matsuri last weekend. Her mother is sick and so Yoriko is extra busy because of that. So I've moved her off the list for the moment and I'll reevaluate when the summer starts. Yuriko is still living two hours away, although I saw her today and we had lunch together. She is doing well and is excited for the summer. The reason she is excited is ... get this ... she is visiting the US in August! Not only that, but the place she is visiting is Seattle! She'll be in Washington for about two weeks starting on the 14th of August. So that is kind of cool/funny. She has a friend in Walla Walla so she is visiting him out there, but she plans to be in Seattle too. So all you crazy readers of my blog you may meet one of my co-teachers from this year if you so choose this summer. Umm ... those are the current women in my life, hope you enjoyed that glimpse into my current life dealings.
Summer vacation is nearly here, which is very very cool. I will miss some of my students at Ohtsu but it is time to move on. I have 14 days of classes left until summer break (12 at Ohtsu and 2 at primary schools). 19 Days until Eric gets here and we start traumatizing the Japanese people in and around Himeji :P. So anyway I guess that is about all for the moment. If I think of other tid bits this week I’ll be sure to update this blog.

This week

It's time once again for this weeks edition of, "What is Steve doing now?" I'll be your host for the evening. This week was boring for Steve because next week his students will be taking tests Tuesday-Thursday. That being the case his classes were often shortend or canceled in favor of major cramming for the students. So that ment that Steve had lots of free time. However, he was able to spend some of it productively studying Japanese. Unfortunately the majority of his time was spent reading or napping or occassionally wandering the halls of his school in search of a class to teach/visit.
At the end of the week Steve went to a party for his ex-boss Izuka who was promoted to vice principle (Kyoto Sensei) at one of the schools near Steve's school Ohtsu (Aboshi). After that because Steve is lame he went home and turned in early .... because on Saturday he taught at the Jikushokai ("cram school"). His class went ok due in part to the employment of cute stuffed animals as part of his many activities.
On Saturday night Steve went to he Yukata Matsuri (summer kimono festival). There he could be seen in the crowded streets of Himeji mingling with the citizens and partaking in the foods and beverages offered. Later in the evening he retired with his friend David (who will is also a JET at Shirasagi, but will be leaving in the near future) to Mr. B's a local bar owned by an ex-English teacher and boasts that it is an American establishment. It is an interesting hole in the wall bar with the very decent price of every drink being 500¥ no matter what it is (Within reason. Most bars charge 600-1000¥ for their cocktails). There Steve met an interesting woman named Tomomi. He spent the better part of three hours chatting with her before making his way home with David (who had enlisted Steve's help to make sure he made it home). However, he did get her number and e-mail and intends to meet her again in the near future.
Today Steve went for a run in the morning and then relaxed during the day doing nothing productive until the afternoon when he emerged. Steve went downtown and got a haircut, shopped for groceries and hung out until wandering back home to sit infront of the computer .....

::Captions for the photos::

Steve and Chiyaki before the Yukata Matsuri (a Shinzaike-Honcho resident and Adult English student)

Chelsea and Yasuyo before the Yukata Matsuri (Steve's neighbor and another Shinzaike-Honcho resident and Adult English student)

Steve's new haircut

Well it's been about a week ...

So I have decided that I will make an effort to post something at least once a week. Not much of interest has happend this past week, but here is the sit-rep. This last week was trial week for the second graders which means that all week they weren't at school. Instead they went to work! They all had various places that they worked in. Some included pastry chefs, gas attendant, sales clerk, civil engineer and many others. So anyway most of the week was devoted to studying Japanese from my new books. Can't say I've gotten a whole lot better, but I definately picked up a few phrases and I have been able to catch them in conversations between others. Anyway sorry for the short blog, but I have to go to bed now. More later.

Making out in Japan

Got you interested didn't I? Well no I'm not gonna post how to make out in Japan ... things go pretty similar to back home (go figure :P) No this blog is about a book (well two books) called ... you guessed it "Making Out in Japan." This was a book suggested to me by a fellow teacher in Japan and it contains all sorts of useful vocab. I have been trying (yes trying :P) for almost a year now to make leaps and bounds toward bettering my Japanese communication. I am still crawling along though ;/. This book hopefully will help. Unlike most books this one has stuff I should be able to use daily (where as when am I gonna be saying "this persiman is most scrumption" in Japanese) so hopefully this will help with practicing. Also lots of interesting phrases and topics such as how to say you have a slim waist, you have beautiful teeth, shall we go clothes shopping, I want to spend more time with you, ... ect. Anyway off to work now.

ARRR MATEY!!!

So just got back from Pirates and it's my opinion that it was decent. Not the best Pirates, but it was still good. I think also the fact I heard so much about the general feel and the fact it was missing plot prepared me for it. I think I would have been less impressed with the movie if I didn't know that going into it. Without ruining it for those who haven't seen it I agree with the choice of actor playing Jack's dad. The one thing I didn't like was the many sides of Jack ... that was a bit out there XD. Anyway I give the movie a B+/A-