Sports Day

So in Japan, its tradition to have a sports festival at the school for the students. Ours at Shima High School happened to be this past Wednesday. In Japanese schools (Jr. High and High School) you're with one class the entire year where the teacher changes every period unlike in the States, where the teacher stays and the students change. Is that confusing? Anyways, this sports day is a huge competition between all the different classes at the school. Each class has a name (1A 1B 1C for Sophomores, 2A 2B 2C for Juniors and 3A 3B 3C...etc of Seniors). For preparation the past few weeks the students have been staying after school with their class designing class t-shirts and making giant flags which they rally around at the festival. So, anyways Wednesday comes and the big day has arrived.

The entire school is to report out to the field by eight-forty five where we do stretches, have some opening remarks by the principal and each class parades around the field with their flag (a la Olympic opening ceremony). The only difference though is they have the band playing the school song and each step of each class is perfectly coordinated to the beat so it is like watching a military drill. Anyways, this whole day was pretty much like a high school track meet minus the non-track events. There were relays and hurdles... Then there were weird ones like giant tire pulls and class jump roping. All in all it took the whole day and just watching it made me tired. I was pooped at the end and grateful when it was over.

I did injure myself though. Trying to run a fifty meter dash at full speed without stretching can really pull a number on the front of your calves. I don't recommend doing it. Please enjoy the low-quality pictures taken with my phone!

So, I was cleaning up my bookmarks and...

So, I was cleaning up my bookmarks and I saw this old dusty page which I hadn't been to in a while. I clicked on it only to find that it was an online blog which I had been doing in the past. Well, I thought to myself, I've gone this far as to open the page I might as well type something. So, here I am. I think it has been two weeks since my last post. I'll have to remember what I wrote in the pat as to make sure I don't repeat myself time and time again.

Well, to be honest, the reason I have not written much in the past little while is because not much has happened. School has started and with it we finally have found a rhythm to our lives again. Although things are still a little chaotic, having a constant schedule now makes it nice. I know on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I am up at seven thirty to head off to Shima high school. There I teach a total of seven classes a week, mostly made up of whatever content I choose. It is nice to have the flexibility but, with little or no help from the teachers am not quite sure on what level I should be basing the lessons. Tuesdays and Fridays are up at seven to get ready and head to the train station to get to the city to catch my boat. I teach nine classes there in a week and thankfully, it is the teachers who do all the preparation at that school. I sometimes think I teach more than a real teacher.

Two weeks ago this Wednesday, I decided to play a little rugby with the team after school; First and probably only time I will do that. About fifteen minutes into it, I tackled a kid and in the process scraped up both my legs and tore off all the skin on my left knee. Guesstimating about four inches across, two high. As soon as the adrenalin wore off, I was in a world of hurt. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the blood trickling down from under my shorts but, that is what I have been dealing with for the past little while. It was a big scab for a while (I tried not to bend my knee) and now about a one-by-one scab is all that is left. It still hurts and bleeds and I constantly wipe pus from it. More than you wanted to hear... I know. Anyways, that also adds to me not writing.

Tonight the other teacher Shelley and I are teaching an adult English Conversation class at the community center. Last time they told us that they wanted to read some articles, play some games and have discussions so today hopefully that is what we will do. Shelley and I have had no conversation about this lesson except in a brief e-mail and only hope with the two of our spontaneity we can kill two hours of time.

Today also, I had a day off so Ayumi and I went and did three hours of Karaoke. It was a fast three hours. Super fun though! All the ice cream and soda you could want. I love it here!

Guess who I ran into...

Well, I survived my first real week of school. I enjoyed it very much but, it was really tiring. For the most part I am afraid that I am going to be a living tape recorder but, at least I’m getting paid for it… right? So far I have given a presentation about me which I made on PowerPoint like nine times already with four more this upcoming Monday. I never thought I would be saying this but, I’m kind of sick of hearing about myself. It will be nice to have a lesson on something different. The students are fun but, a little immature. I look back to when I was in high school and figure it probably isn’t too different to how I was at that age so going in to class I’m not expecting too much. I do walk out of class with a lot of friends though. Well, maybe it’s too early to say friends however, I think they respect me. Walking down the halls I get people waving and shouting to me “AJ!" I've even had a few photos taken at school.

On Friday I arrived at Suisan School to yellow and black police tape. During the night somebody had come to the school and using a little statue from a nearby Buddhist shrine had broken all the entrance windows of the school. As can be imagined, there was glass everywhere! They cancelled first period to hold an emergency school meeting where the disclosed what little details they had and told us that the total number of window panes broken was forty-three; I imagine quite an expensive amount to have to repair. Apparently this happened a few years ago and that time the culprit used the same Buddhist statue so I figure either the criminal has a grudge against the school or against Buddhism. I’ve included a few pictures.



Over the past few weeks I have been in contact with my cousin Lisa who lives in Osaka. Today she and her boyfriend made the trek to Shima-Isobe to come and meet us. On the phone a few weeks ago when she had mentioned she wants to come and visit I promptly warned here that there is absolutely nothing to do here. I am afraid she thought I was kidding. Well, we planned this day a few weeks ago and today we finally met. It had been twelve years this past summer since we had last met but, she said she still remembered what I looked like and remembers her trip to the states quite vividly.

Our apartment is a short two minute walk to the train station so Ayumi and I escorted them to our pad where we sat and spoke for a few minutes to discuss what we wanted to do this afternoon. I can’t emphasize enough how little there is to do in the town Ayumi and I live in. The other night we rode twenty minutes up a hill to go to a restaurant that is highly recommended. We got there around seven pm only to find that in addition to having had the sun set on us, the place was closed. Well, back to the story, we decided to take the train to Ugata (our oasis to this little town) where we went to lunch and then took a taxi to a famous beach in the area. I am sooo glad that Ayumi was there because she was able to engage our guests in conversation when I fell short… which quite often. I am able to shoot the breeze pretty good in Japanese but, today maybe I was a little intimidated or maybe even nervous?

So, after lunch we all piled into a taxi and drove about fifteen minutes to the beach. The weather was perfect for wading in the waves. There were people laying on the beach, body boarding and surfing all up and down the shore. We took a few pictures; enjoying the weather and each other’s company while we walked up and down the beach. I almost wish I had brought my swimming suit. We walked back to the road, and took a cab back to the apartment where after looking at pictures of the family reunion Lisa and her boyfriend (Kenta), Ayumi and I all walked to the train station and saw the two off. Ayumi and I both feel bad having had them both come this far just to see us with nothing else much going on. I think for the most part Lisa was just excited to come and see us so, in spite of feeling bad, think she was quite happy. We’ve got a promise though to get together in Osaka soon so, we’re looking forward to that.



All-in-all Lisa is doing well. She lives by herself with her pet Chihuahua Bruiser (named after the Chihuahua on the movie Legally Blonde) and has been dating this guy Kenta for four years (both 22 yrs. old). They seem like they have good heads on their shoulders, have goals and are both happy. Kenta is in college to do real-estate and Lisa is working full-time at a cell-phone company. We didn’t talk much about her sisters but, she said they are both doing well; perhaps when we go to Osaka we can see them too. A few years ago I received a DVD made by my grandparents which was a compilation of home videos of their growing up. Her dad was in that video a handful of times and I thought that maybe she would like to see it. We watched a little bit of it together and ended up giving it to her. I think in spite of being a little bit bored, we all had a great day!


This is a photo I took tonight while we were shopping for cat food. Something about this brand just dosen't sit right with me...

New Feature!

Hi, I've added a guestbook to my blog located on the index bar to the right.

600 hits and rising!

Wow, 600 hundred hits! Between mom and I, we're really setting the mark with this blog. I don't know who is reading this but, I am sure that at least a tenth of those hits are from me creating, changing and checking on the things in my blog but, fun to see that some people are reading this blog none-the-less.

School started this week. I still feel like I am getting into the swing of things. On Monday at my main high school (Shima), Shelley and I had to give some opening speeches in English to let the students know who we are. The teacher told me to speak some Japanese too and so after about a minute of speaking in English, I switched over to Japanese which seemed to amaze the kids. It's fun being a bi-lingual-ish English teacher. I think the teachers I work with like it too. If the kids aren't understanding something I am trying to explain in English, being able to jump over into Japanese and explain the same thing is pretty fun. Today I did the same thing at Suisan High School- giving my introduction speech. This time they only wanted me to use English so, I went up there and spoke really slow and used really easy to understand vocabulary; "Hello. My name is Andrew Allred. I am happy to be here..." etc. The students at this school aren't as ambitious to try and learn English so when I walk through the halls people are more inclined to speak to me in Japanese than in English but, I'm cool with that. The teachers tell me that as long as I use English in the classroom, Japanese is OK elsewhere.

Yesterday I was at Suisan High School as well. Being the first week of the semester, for some reason they only had half a day. Being done around noon and with nothing else to do, I decided to go out sailing with the yacht club. The head of the club is one of the teachers I teach English with so, anything I can do to associate with the students in thier eyes is good. I had on a t-shirt and borrowed someones swimming suit. With my undies on underneith I figured sharing a swimming suit with a complete stranger really isn't that gross. Besides, not many students can boast that they've shared a suit with a foreigner.

The school has a few boats of all sorts of different sizes but, for the after school club they focus on one man and two man boats. I set sail in the two man boat (a little crowded for three) and was constantly having to duck down, change sides whenever they brought the main sail across to catch the wind. Before too long I was steering the rudder, and pulling the jig like any ol' seaman would all while my two Japanese hosts were making sure I wasn't going to capsize the boat.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. Riding the ferry to go home, I passed the little port where the students were practicing and they greeted me with waves goodbye. Today on my way home, I snagged a few pictures (and thankfully they waved again) while on the yacht to give you a quick glimpse of what they do. It was a fun day.

My One Man Show

I think I found my geeky passion. Today I tried karaoke for the first time (in a real karaoke place). I had spent the afternoon on a bike ride to the neighboring city to check out the sights and enjoy the break in hot weather. After I had done a bit of (impulse) shopping I decided to head home. It was nearing dusk, which happens here around five-thirty, when I thought I’d stop by this place just to see what they offer. It is a pretty nice joint, looks fairly new and offers bowling, batting cages, internet, billiards and comic books all in addition to karaoke. Reading comics is huge over here. If you’re interested in anything… seriously anything, there is probably a comic book series that suits that interest. Well, maybe not everything but, they write comics about anything from romance, school, fantasy, sci-fi to tennis. Anyways, you pay 450 yen an hour, about $4.00 to sit and sing, read comic books and drink all the soda you want. I called Ayumi and informed her that I would be coming home a little late…

So to sing at this place, I needed to become a member so after filling out a form I was given a white basket containing my membership card, a microphone and a remote control that looked like it had been removed from the bridge of the U.S.S Enterprise. Being a karaoke virgin, I didn’t know how to do any of this so, after the employee lady escorted me to my room (and showed me where to get my free drinks and soft serve ice-cream) I had to beg her to show me how to run the console.

In this room, laying on the coffee table lay four large books, each about the size of a yellow-pages book filled with rows and rows of songs. She showed me the English section and there were probably (guessing) 10,000 songs. I was a little timid at first and thought I’d break in these vocals with a little Queen (what else?) “Don’t Stop me Now”. The song finished and I thought to myself why stop now so I kept singing Queen. This book had about 100 different songs all by Queen. Some so songs obscure they’d never left my lips outside of the shower but, I’ll be honest in saying that I was tickled to see them in there. After a few songs I realized I was really getting into it, flailing my arms in the air, playing the air guitar, beating the drums with my mike… all which I would have hesitated to do had someone else been in the room, or the lights being on.

After a few songs, I thought I needed to give my falsetto a rest and put in a little Sinatra and then got really bold and tried a song in Japanese. I didn’t have a good impression about my Japanese singing. The fact that someone peeked into my room just after I hit an exceptionally ugly (Japanese) note helped me to realize this; probably to see who was strangling the cat. It was time for a refill of my drink and then back to Queen. I must say I was a little sad to leave after my one hour was up but, looking forward to the $10.00 three hour package they have going. The good news, this place is open 24 hours. The bad news, I unfortunately have somewhat of a life and don’t think I’ll ever get to utilize an early morning sing-a-thon… especially being that this place is in another town accessible only by bike, train or car for those lucky ones. Can you imagine seeing a bloodshot, white kid on a bike in Japan riding up hill at two in the morning? Yea, neither can I.