Today

Today was rather boring at first, but slowly turned interesting.

School started off very slow (not one class) because most students are still competing in the sports tournament around the city. Right after lunch, the students went home, and we could leave, so the P.E. Teacher at one of my schools drove me down to a community center's sports complex so we could cheer for a student of mine who went very far in the badminton competition.

Unfortunately, she lost her match, but she was quite good. I felt bad for her because it was such a small school, she was the only person competing in badminton. There were four teachers in all watching her, and no other students with us. B
ecause the PE teacher, Sanpei Sensei, was apparently a professional soccer goal keeper back in the day, he was quite eager to see the matches in progress. So we went over there and watched a game until it was clear one team would win.

This evening, I went to my Eikaiwa, where I teach English to a group of people at the local community center. They are a nice bunch. I was a little concerned about teaching adults with such a mix of ages and ability, but its turning out to be easier than I thought. I'm having fun with them so far though. I teach them every Wednesday for 5 more weeks.

Chutairen

Today was the Semi Annual Chutairen, or the City Sports Festival, depending on how you would like to translate it. During this time, all the sports teams in my district compete in a daylong tournament. The winners go onto the kentaikai (I think that's what its called) or the prefectural tournament. Overall, its usually a pretty crazy day. As there are no classes, I'm allowed to go around to the various schools hosting various tournaments.

My first stop was the table tennis tournament, but I quickly left to go see the Katahirachu Basketball team lose their game, and be eliminated after the first round.

After this, I went back to the table tennis tournament. I watched it for awhile, and soon left to go see the Kendo teams play. Unfortunately, it was a rather disappointing time at the kendo tournament. The new music teacher (who coaches the kendo team) wasn't in the friendliest of moods, and was in fact rather cold. I'm not certain why. I don't think I've done anything to deserve it, certainly not that day. Not sure what was going on there. Regardless, I think most of my students were happy to see me.

I quickly left the stifling atmosphere there and went to go watch the Tomita tennis team play. By the time I arrived late that afternoon, I was only able to watch the Girl's team finish a couple of games. The Tomita Girls ALMOST won the city championship, but just lost. They put up a good fight though.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I cannot post any pictures of the day.

Me

Me again. Handsome Guy, wouldn't you say?

Me in Flagstaff

Here's Me in Flagstaff. I'm still trying to get a picture of myself into the side bar. After I do that, I'll be finished for the day. I may try and edit some at school tomorrow.

Picture test and Gasherbrum IV

I'm trying to put pictures and stuff on this blog, but I can't figure it out. This is a test of my ability to do different things. I repeat, this is only a test.

here's a link to yahoo.com

By the way, the mountain is Gasherbrum IV. Located in the Karakoram Range of Pakistan, it is among the world's most difficult mountains to climb.

The Beginning of the Blog

Here I am. It's a lazy sunday afternoon, and I'm watching the rain drizzle down from the sky onto my balcony door. I'm starting this blog as a means of keeping in touch with friends and relatives better, and also as a way of gauging my success at achieving certain life goals.

For the moment, I'm going to spend the next few days describing my life here in Koriyama, Japan as an English teacher, but utlimately I'll chronicle my travels and other life events for everyone to see, as well as give my unsolicited opinion on books, society, politics and anything else that I feel like talking about.

For today, I'm planning on going over some information about an investment scheme (mutual funds) I recieved in the mail, and then perhaps do some shopping, and go for a run.

I'll talk more later.