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...