Shopping and Singing

Last week at school was pretty quiet again. Leah came over on Thursday for dinner, but other than that I stayed home. Friday I did some shopping after school at Book Off. I'm getting a few of my favorite books, music, and movies to bring home for when I miss Japan. I headed to Aru Aru City after and met Megan where we did a bit more shopping before meeting Caol for dinner. We snacked on some gyoza before doing a few hours of karaoke. Megan went home after, but Caol and I stayed out a bit later at Babu Box, a bar owned by a friend of mine and the drummer for the band. We didn't stay out too much later, but it was a nice night and a nice end to the week.

On Saturday I cleaned during the day and ran errands. For dinner I met up with one of my students from Shinozaki who I don't see anymore. It was so nice to see her! We went out for conveyor belt sushi. Normally if you order sushi they put it on a special plate to mark it as reserved and it comes around on the conveyor belt like everything else, but this restaurant had a second conveyor belt about a foot above the first where the "shinkansen" would come with your orders. It would go directly to your table and you took the plates and pushed a little button to have it go back to the kitchen. It was so cool! And instead of stacking your plates to be counted at the end of the meal, there was a little shoot the plates went down that cleared them away and counted them at the same time. As an incentive to eat more, for every five plates you sent down the shoot you had a chance to win a little capsule prize. We stayed at the restaurant for about two hours talking and it was really nice to see her. After dinner I waited with her while her mom came to pick her up. Her mom was really nice and was so excited to meet me. She told me about how much her daughter liked having me as a teacher and how sad she was when I changed school and how grateful she was for the books I have her. My poor student was getting more embarrassed every minute her mom was talking, but it was really sweet. After talking for a bit we parted ways and I headed to Caol's to watch movies and hang out. Megan was there as well and the three of us stayed up late talking.

Sunday I went over to Megan's in the morning for breakfast. I had gotten Megan a waffle iron for her birthday and she wanted to try it out. Our first batch of waffles didn't turn out so good, but we got the hang of it by the second batch and made some pretty ones by the time our batter ran out. I didn't stay long and soon I was back home getting ready for band practice. The band changed one of the songs at the last minute, so I went in at 4:00 to practice. We only had half an hour to practice the new song before mic check started for all the bands, so it was a little rushed. Despite that, everything went really well! Leah, Bec, Caol, and Megan all came out to see me and we had a great night! Two other bands played as well and they were both great. Because it was a Sunday the show started a bit early, so even though the entire show was about three hours we still finished just after 10:00. Unfortunately the video's aren't up yet, but I should have links by next week!

This last weekend was so amazing and next week should be just as fun! It'll be another quiet week in school, although I am going to go to the science classes to help them dissect pig heats. I'm also taking anther step towards coming home and will be figuring out which of the new JETs will get my apartment after I leave. Next weekend is the 4th of July, so I organized a trip for eight of us to go on a camping trip where we can BBQ and celebrate the holiday. Only three of us are Americans, but everyone is really excited!

たこ焼き Party

Nothing really exciting to report this week. I had a great time at Asakawa, the students and teachers there are always nice to see. I had a meeting on Wednesday at the Board of Education and Emily, Leah, and I all went out for dinner afterwards. I also had dinner with some friends on Friday. At Asakawa, one of the students' fathers and I have a mutual friend. Last year I was invited to their house for 手巻き寿司 (temaki zushi, handrolled sushi). They invited me again ths year and we had たこ焼き (takoyaki, fried octopus). It was really fun to see them again and the food was delicious! They were surprised I knew how to make the takoyaki and were really happy I could eat it! (Sometimes foreigners don't like eating octopus, they said.) We even used the takoyaki pan for dessert and put pancake batter in to make little pancake balls. We covered them in honey, strawberry syrup, and whipped cream. They were so delicious! I had a great time seeing the family again and I hope I can go see them at least once more before I come home!

Saturday was pretty uneventful. I cleaned during the day and met up with Kikumi and Shinki for dinner. We went to the Turkish restaurant and it was Shinki's first time having Turkish food. He really enjoyed it! We went out for a few drinks after at her friends bar. The bar just had a few couches and a ton of instruments set up. It was still early, so we were the only ones there. The owner, Sasaki, and Shinki played the different instruments while Kikumi and I sang. It was so much fun! They want me to preform again before I leave so hopefully at the end of July I'll get to sing again!

Sunday was another relaxing day. I slept in before meeting Leah and Kyoko at Katsuyama Park. There was a fair going on and we looked at all different stalls and what everyone was selling. Leah got some good stuff! We went to get lunch soon after at an okonoiyaki place and it was nice to have some girl time! Juha met up with us after lunch and we headed back to Leah's place. We all hung out until dinner, when Juha and Kyoko had to go home. Leah ended up walking me home and hanging out at my place all night. We hadn't seen each other much the last few weeks and it was nice to spend so much time with her!

This week will be another quiet one. Kyoko planned an 梅酒 (umeshu, plum wine) picnic party for next Sunday, but other than that I'll probably be laying pretty low. I'm excited to be a completely new school this week, everyone seems really nice and it should be a good week!

Nothing Much

Sorry, this will be a very short post. I only updated last Wednesday and not much has happened since then. I had a short, but very nice week at school (only three days because of how my holidays worked out). Friday I sang with Kikumi's band again and it was a lot of fun. We played with some other bands from Tokyo, although not the same ones as last month. I didn't stay out too late, though. Saturday I mostly lounged around and cleaned. My friend Megan came over in the afternoon and we watched movies and ordered pizza. She even made warm apple cider from scratch. It was a a great way to spend a rainy Saturday. Sunday I did some errands before visiting Kikumi for a few hours, but mostly just laid low.

I'll probably be laying low for the next few weeks. Illuminations (tons of Christmas lights) were put up on Friday, so hopefully I'll go see those soon, but I'm saving money for my upcoming trips. Next week I'll be staying in Fukuoka for a two day conference. The conference was a bit boring last year, but I can stay in Fukuoka with my friend Jake. Dan and Juha will probably stay with Jake as well and we play board games at night. I'll also be hosting Thanksgiving again this year. I even special ordered a turkey I can introduce my Japanese friends to real Thanksgiving food. The last weekend in November I will go on a weekend trip with my gaming friends, we rented a cabin and I'm really excited for that. Mostly, though, I'm looking forward to December when Mike comes to visit and I have trips to both Nagoya and Hokkaido!