Gobo City

Gobo city is the only place to really go around here and it is a good 30 to 35 mintue drive away. I find myself going there all the time. Sometimes it is just to get out of my small town. I go there every Tuesday and Thursday though. On Tuesday I have dinner with the other local ALTs. On Thursday I go to Gobo to see Tetsuji, my Japanese tutor.
Well I went on Tuesday to Miyoko's for the dinner and because my birthday was last Friday she had an awesome cake made for me and another ALT(Mark) whose birthday was on the 10th. The cake was pure bliss filled with strawberries and chocolate. I could hardly finish it so I have it chillin in my fridge right now and am thinking of pigging out on the rest of it at some time.
On Wednesday I must have been warned about the ice on the roads around here about 15 times that day. It was freezing in the morning and there was ice on the sidewalks and roads. They don't dump tons of salt on the roads here. A couple of the junior high kids slipped on some ice while riding their bicycles, but they were ok. I spent the day in the office thinking about what I have to do. I then spent two hours that night practicing Japanese caligraphy at a lady's house.
I have been giving out postcards of Chicago to people and have been feeling bad about it. That I couldn't give them something better. My bag that I checked on to the plane weighed 69 pounds and that was after I took out 10 pounds and put in my backpack. I was full and only had room for small things really. I brought a bunch of winter clothes and other clothes back to Japan.
Thursday was a cool day spent at the Junior high. The teachers there are really cool and I am really getting to the students. I even helped some of the students clean after lunch. At lunch we ate curry, which isn't a favorite, and then before I knew it I was taking home the left over curry in a pot they gave me. I don't cook really ever so I thought 'well ok' and took it. It isn't that spicy so it was ok.
Oh I watched Shrek 2 the other night with 3 heaters going to warm my freezing ass, uninsulated house. 　 It was an all right movie. I don't see what all the hype was over. Terminal was a great movie though.
Tonight I am going to play some pool with a teacher from the elementry school that I was at today. Kasamtsu is an awesome school. The kids are great and the teachers are funny and fun. Today I talked about my Chicago trip a lot and what the kids did over their break. The 6th went on a ski trip to Niigata just after Christmas during break. I probably would have gone if I were here. I have never been skiing and Japan is a good place to start since most of the country is mountainous afterall.
ta ta

A long time ago

A long time ago is when I last posted. For all of my three readers I am sorry. But has been a crazy last few weeks.
My fun started the weekend before I came back to the States. I went on a trip with teachers from Junior HIgh. We went to Kobe and Himeji Castle. The trip was a blast. Of all the grand castles to see in Japan the one in Himeji is the best. It is huge and was not rebuilt like many of the other castles that are around in Japan today. It was fun to see some of the other teachers let loose and drink a bit and have fun.
As a memorial to the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, the city set up a series of holiday lights in the heart of the city. The lights are arranged on wire frames that stretch down a street and in to a courtyard. At night it looks like a long corridor in a cathredal. THe facade is arranged like an Itlian cathedral and the play church like music as you walk through the spectical. It is somewhat impressive. Impressive enough to the Japanese though, so much that they turn out in the thousands every evening during the holidays and jam the streets downtown and wait for an hour and half to get a look at these lights. It was nuts, just a sea of people shoulder to shoulder clogging the streets. The event is called Luminati and is uber famous.
The following Tuesday I was headed back to Chicago. I was so looking forward to it. But after having a great time in Kobe over the weekend I was feeling like exploring Japan more, but I had already bought a ticket for home, so awa I went. Before I left though, on Monday I had to dress as Santa Claus at Sougawa Elementry school and had on presents to the 11 students there. They had a cool fun little Christmas party. I won the bingo game and got some sort of cardboard baseball pitching aid thing. It has drawn on it a batter and 'X' marking the strike zone.
Before I left on Tuesday I had to teach a couple classes at the junior high. Some of the kids said goodbye to me before I left for break, which was cool.
So then I took a few trains to Kansai airport. The airport that is a man-made island that is slowly sinking a few milimeters a year in Osaka bay. It is a cool airport though. Fifeteen hours later I was home. Well back at my apartment in Winnetka, IL with my roomate. It took about a week to adjust to the new time zone, and it was hard to do. The whole break was a one big blurr of fun. I spent a ton of time playing Star Wars Battlefront for X-Box. Playing online against other people was so addictive. Pegging Clonetroopers with a shieled-up Droideka was a blast. I also got out hung out with friends and went to cool New Year's party downtown where I hung out with a ton of old college friends. We all lit sparklers at the stroke of mid-night. Going into the city during a snowstorm was a blast too. I didn't indulge myself on American food though. I did whatever though. The night before I left, and the day before my birthday we ate a Japanese restaurant downtown called Sai. I had the usual, Unagi-don(fresh-water eel over rice). I still haven't had a great Unagi-don here in Japan.
Then I came back here. It almost felt like I never left. After another 13 hour flight I didn't give myself time to adjust to the jet-lag. The next day back I headed into Osaka for some shopping and bought a new hoody/jacket. On the following day, Monday(yesterday), I headed to Wakayama's Marina City with my Japanese friend Tetsuji. He had a couple of free tickets to this European themed theme park. The place was designed like a city in Italy and they had many rides and a bunch of restaurants. One ride was ridiculous for this time of year. It was a water ride where in ride this big boat down a huge ramp into the water with a big splash. It was freezing out and people were riding it. We opted for a roller-coaster with spinning cars and similated movie ride. Not a bad little place.
On the way there though I saw several optimist sailboats out on the water. I was pretty excited to see them out there. Optimists are small sailboats for children to learn to sail in or race. I taught kids how to sail in thise boats for 3 years and to see a bunch of Japanese kids out racing in them in strong winds was a cool. I was able to get a closer look. I will go back at somet point and see if I can find out yacht club or whomever is doing the dinghy(small sailboat) sailing and perhaps I can get out on a sailboat or participate somehow.