Pimps

Found this sign on a street notorious for prostitution called Ryougaicho.

Shizuoka

The view of Shizuoka city from the top of Sengen Shrine.

Me @ Sengen Shrine

I took a hike up to the top of Sengen Shrine today. Man, they love stairs here. Good training for the hike up Mt. Fuji, which I will be tackling next Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Should reach the summit just before sunrise.

Jah

I ran into these Reggae DJs on the way to the train station. They were great. They were spinning 45s, which I found amusing, but the freestyle vocals were amazing. Most of it was in Japanese, but they did a few english songs for my sake. They really had the sound of authentic reggae lyricists. Incredible, the things you randomly see in Japan.

Kid in Yukata

Here is one of those kids in a yukata. Take note of the Hello Kitty fan in the obi (belt thing).

Tanabata/Star Festival

Yesterday I worked at Shimizu branch, roughly a 17 minute train ride from my place. I got lost and was almost late, which was a hard way to start the day--if you're late they dock you pay for half the day. Otherwise, though, the school was great: nice people, good students, friendly Japanese staff. Coincidentally, it was the last day of Tanabata, or the Star Festival. It's really a festival for children, and it was great seeing all the young kids in Hello Kitty yukata (summer kimono). Shimizu has the biggest celebration in the region, and it all happens right in front of Nova. Here are some pictures.

I hate pepsi twist

FEAR LEADS TO HATE, & HATE LEADS TO THE DARK SIDE (or something like that).


So since the new Star Wars has come out pepsi has released these Star Wars pop tops. They only come with bottles of pepsi twist, and I hate pepsi twist. Unfortunately, all of us at Nova Shizuoka Honko are addicted to collecting the tops. We must have about thirty of them by now.

We are going to make a short film eventually...I think production begins this Saturday actually. Regardless, so much money has been spent on these stupid toys, and we can't stop. I've gotten Darth Vader (full body and bust), storm trooper, Chewy, Jabba the Hut, C-3PO (twice), a Jawa, and some musician from episode IV or V.

Pathetic, I know.

Addicted

Is the Force with you?

And Again

ps-- The "maple leaf" air freshener was here when I arrived. It smells nice, which is good since I can't open my windows at night due to the lack of window screens and persistance of wet cockroaches.

Back To Work...

Today (yesterday at this point) is Thursday, which also means it's my Monday. The day started off pretty rough. I'm completely out of money, so I woke up early to go to the international atm machine to take out money. Unfortunately, the pin number that I remember is not, in fact, the pin any more. I have no idea what happened. Granted, I haven't used the pin since the last time I was in Japan with no money, but it was a rough start to my day. Luckily, Ainsley is a great friend and offered to lend me 10,000 yen, so I should be good until payday.

After that the day improved drastically. I only taught four regular lessons, had two kids classes, and two voice lessons. The core classes for kids ended last month, so I had about 6 new students today. It went well for the most part, except that Japanese children have absolutely no discipline. One of the mothers was in the classroom--which is against the rules--and just sat there watching her children rip posters off the walls and cause chaos. I was irrated. Ainsley informed me that parents in Japan look to teachers to discipline their children. If a kid is caught shoplifting it's the teacher's responsibility to pick them up from the police station. Unfortunately, a big part of my job is maintaining sales, and I'm not sure how stern I can be with a 5 year old in front of his mother...sort of a tough spot to be in.

Tonight I got home and David and I decided that we don't need a table in the main room. Hence, I have a new desk. I spent about two hours rearranging my room and the main room. Here are the pictures.

Me In My Room

That's it...just me in my room.

Thank You Card

A student gave me this card today. She's changing classes next week and her mother thought it would be our last day together. Luckily for us both, she's moving into another one of my classes. We took the picture last week; the work of art at the bottom was drawn by Saki (and that's "Saki" the name, not "Sake" the liquor).

God They Love Me

From left to right: Nobuhito, Masaaki, me, Saki, and Yuki.

Nobuhito and Masaaki are brothers. The first day I taught Nobuhito he bit me. Vince, a fellow teacher thinks he looks like a devil, and sometimes he acts like one. Masaaki, on the other hand, is a little angel. Unfortunately they've recently moved to China indefinitely, as they are half Chinese. Yuki put in a branch transfer today, so she won't be in my class anymore either.