Nike+ Number Fifty-Three

Nike+ Number Fifty-Two

Tea

So some of you are probably wondering about my "tea" yesterday. Well it was fun. Yoko picked me up with Chris (her boyfriend) and Miki. It turns out that Miki is a school friend was junior high school of Yoko. We went and got coffee at a local café I didn't even know existed. Miki is a speech therapist at a hospital in Kobe specializing in cancer patients. She works with people who have had to have surgery on their neck and face. Not quite as sporty as Yoko, she still seems to like to be active. Recently she has been busy with work, but the next week she has off so we may have a chance to meet a few times over the next week. We chatted for a couple hours and then headed back. Tomorrow I'm planning on meeting Miki again perhaps for dinner or something. She seems like a very nice person and I'm interested to know more about her.

Lazy

As many of my readers have kindly pointed out to me I've been lazy about my blog of late. Sorry about that ... Anyway I will endeavor to bring you up to speed with my goings on. The Aussies have all left, which makes me quite sad, as I grew very attached to having them around. How lame is it that they decided to go home ... lol (just kidding guys).
I have of course been running lots (as if you couldn't tell by the spamming of nothing but my running graphs). I now have a method to my mayhem though. I am now officially signed up for two half marathons in this coming year. The first will be January 20th (19th for those of you stateside). The second and possibly harder one will be March 9th (8th stateside). This is of course not my first half marathon, but this time around I have been training much harder leading up to it.
My new running buddy Yoko wants to introduce me to her friend Miki from Kobe, so I will be having “tea” with them Saturday night. I am looking forward to seeing what she is like. My other lady friends are all AWOL so this is a good opportunity to meet someone new.
Christmas has come and gone again. This year’s haul was pretty darn good. I didn’t get my plasma TV and my PS3/Wii, but overall I am please with my gifts both giving and receiving. I have been teaching lessons to the adults again and that has been going well. Tomorrow we will watch “Miracle on 34th Street” the original, so that should be fun.
Not a whole lot else interesting happening at the moment. Love you all and Happy New Year! (since I doubt I will blog again until after January 1st)

Nike+ Number Fifty-One

Nike+ Number Fifty

Just an extra little run today to run with my buddy Yoko.

Nike+ Number Forty-Nine

Nike+ Number Forty-Eight

Nike+ Number Forty-Seven

Keeping it constant ^^.

Nike+ Number Forty-Six

Nike+ Number Forty-Five

Lol ... check out this link

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/143/yellowsnowmansmltr5.gif

Nike+ Number Forty-Four

Nike+ Number Forty-Three

Couldn't just forget about "Half" Sunday ... it just happend on Tuesday this time :P

Nike+ Number Forty-Two

Doesn't make up for yesterday, but at least I kicked myself out the door today. Still feeling a bit sick though I'm sure the exercise will help stimulate my immune system.

Nike+ Number Forty-One

Nike+ Number Forty

An unfortunate calorie count for today. >.>

Nike+ Number Thirty-Nine

Nike+ Number Thirty-Eight

Nike+ Number Thirty-Seven

Nike+ Number Thirty-Six

I guess last week wasn't just a fluke ... Sunday is now officially "Half" day.

Update

So today Jodi and Jono left Shirasagi. They are the first of the Aussie to be leaving and it was sad to see them go. It really brings home the fact that the rest will soon be gone too. I am a bit depressed by the prospect of no more "chigao'ing" going on and all the rest of the quirks that came with this batch of Aussies. It is doubly sad because they leave during the holiday season when it is a time for friends and family.
The school term is wrapping up and that is another bit of depressing "news." I spent last Friday taking pictures around school and will continue on Monday before uploading them. My students seem to be aware that I'm about to leave and so have taken the opportunity to make me feel even worse about leaving. This coming week I'll have my first "last class" with one of my ichi-nensei classes. They happen to be my favorite ichi-nensei class too, which will make it doubly hard.
On a different note I'm 5 miles away from running 200 miles since I've started my current running practice. I have determined that running makes your legs hurt (go figure). I have met a possible running buddy in a most unlikely way. When I went to the Sports Authority over here and bought my Nike+ shoes I had the same girl help me twice (yeah I figure two pairs might last a bit longer if I rotate them each week). Her name is Yoko and she just happens to have a boyfriend who also is from the Seattle area. As if that sort of coincidence wasn't enough she belongs to the same gym I do (Konami) and takes the same classes I do (well not all but most). Along with that she is also training for a Half Marathon. So I figure it's a match made in heaven and that we should run together.

Nike+ Number Thirty-Five

Short one today ... tomorrow is the long one.

Nike+ Number Thirty-Four

Nike+ Number Thirty-Three

Nike+ Number Thirty-Two

Nike+ Number Thirty-One

So people don't like the running ... :P

So I have had complaint about only seeing my running on my blog of late so i'll try and rectify that now. Not a whole lot interesting has happened to me recently. We had a "White Trash" party the Friday before last, which was pretty fun. Basically everyone dressed up like trailer park trash steroetypical people.

White Trash

This last week was testing at school. So on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I watched a movie on my new lap top. I also have been getting ready for my final speech to Shikama Higashi. This term has gone way way too fast. I will miss everyone there very much next year.
Yesterday we had a Farewell Progressive Brunch for Jodi and Jono who will be leaving in about a week. It is really sad to see this group of Aussies go. They are soo much better than the previous group as far as socializing. We started the brunch at Katie and Joe's and then moved to Taube and Julian's and ended up at Jodi and Jono's

Goodbye Brunch

As far as everything else goes not much else interesting going on. I've been running lots as you can tell. My girl situation remains static. I've been accused of using the "shot gun approach" to meeting women. I have tried the sniper approach and it seems I always choose the wrong people, so seems to me that shot gunning it my best bet. So far I've had to failed relationships here and both times they ended after I focused my attention on only that woman. Anyway, all the women that I am interested in getting to know more are very busy at the moment so not a whole lot to tell there.
Hope this little blog has sated your hunger for the moment. More later.

Nike+ Number Thirty

YATA!!! ... First "Half" in over a year and a half!