K-Port, Christmas Party

The last few weeks have been fairly quiet I guess, or at least I can't remember exactly what went on.

K-Port, the new coffee shop I wrote about, was apparently made to help the restoration of Kesennuma.  I like it and I go there sometimes, but I'm not sure where I stand on the fact that it's right next to the Yatai Mura.  Seems like it could be taking some business from the places in the YM, especially seeing as there's already an afternoon coffee shop there.  But they do have open wi-fi and... 3 pronged plug-ins!!!  They have pizza but it's expensive and they skimp on the toppings.  Still haven't tried the curry.

Last Saturday I hosted my 2nd Christmas party at my apartment.  It was potluck style and people brought some awesome food.  My favorite was the mac'n cheese.  Haven't had some real mac'n cheese in a long while.  Everyone seemed to have fun!  We had a sort of secret santa going on where we all brought presents ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 yen

and played bingo to see who got to choose which presents first.  It went well and I ended up getting an Anchor Coffee mug which was perfect, as I was planning on getting one eventually anyway.  Thanks Hiroe!  Frisa ended up getting the 16 gig usb drive I bought.

Christmas vacation is in less than a week!  Going to be busy this week finalizing plans and hopefully setting up a date between my elementary school teacher and another ALT.  Hope the teacher isn't sick anymore!

復興【ふっこう】 (fukkou) revival; reconstruction; restoration

Matsushima Light Up, K-Port

The weekend went pretty well.  Machiko came back on Friday and we went to Stray Sheep for a while before calling it a night.  It was too bad she could only stay for a little while, it would have been fun to do more stuff.  She went back to Hiroshima on Sunday.

Sunday I went to Matsushima for a light festival (松島紅葉ライトアップ).  They had lights all around a park-like area that really made the trees and plants look illuminated.  They did a really good job with the light placement and it was really beautiful.  There were a ton of couples walking around though, which made me feel a little lonely.

They opened up a new cafe right next to my place called K-Port.  It's apparently owned by Watanabe Ken.  I haven't been there yet as it closes at 6pm and I don't usually get home before then but I'm going to try it soon.  It looks cool and they seem to be laptop friendly.  They have pizza too, but if it's like Anchor Coffee's pizza ($8+ and barely any toppings to speak of) I'll probably pass.

Still haven't figured out what to do for winter break.  Maybe I should go to Hiroshima...

寂しい【さびしい】 (sabishii) lonely

Machiko Coming Back, Elementary Student's Advice

So Machiko is coming back for 2 days or so on a business trip.  While she'll be working most of the time we'll probably be able to meet up during the evening, which I'm looking forward to.  It hasn't been that long since she left but it feels like forever.  See you soon Machiko!  She'll be coming Friday and is in Fukushima right now.

I had a kid in elementary school (5th grade) ask me how old I was the other day.  I told her I was 29 and she asked if I was married, to which I said no.  Then she said 先生！早く結婚しないと苦労になるよ。"If you don't hurry up and get married it'll be really hard for you!"  I said she was right and cried as I walked off.  The things kids say.

Started going back to badminton on Wednesdays lately.  I should keep it up as I don't exercise much if I don't do that.  Also I'm still playing GTA5, they haven't fixed the car money glitch so I'll be abusing it for as long as I can before they fix it.  Once they fix it I'll probably stop playing as it's the only way to get real money without grinding for hours on end.

結婚【けっこん】 (kekkon) marriage

Machiko Transfer, Winter Vacation (?), Elementary School Unruly Kids

Cute birthday picture!

Machiko has moved down to Hiroshima after being transferred.  She seems to be doing well down there so far, even if her roommate wants her to have not so delicious sounding dinners (beer, wine and dry food).  I enjoyed the time we spent together, going out at night, billiards, your birthday party, etc.  Come back soon!  I'll be waiting for you!

I still haven't figure out where I want to go for winter vacation but am thinking to travel within Japan.  I haven't traveled as much as I've wanted, but I'm not so sour about it since I've been accomplishing my goal of living in a foreign culture and absorbing as much as I can out of it.  Maybe a warmer climate would be good though.  But thinking about it now, it'll likely be within Japan.

There is a kid in my elementary school that just laughs every time I look at him or try to talk to him.  He never does the activities and just runs around the class when there is one.  Sometimes I wonder what the parents are doing at home that their kids could act like that.  Many of the parents want to blame the homeroom teacher but I'm convinced a lot of it is the parents.  At least, it should be.

待つ【まつ】 (matsu) to wait

The Last Night

Friday was the first night (Saturday morning to be exact).  Tonight is the last night.  I'm not really sure what to think.  Not really sure how to feel.  I don't know what will happen after this.  It hasn't even been a week, and feels more like just a day or two.  I've gotten maybe 13 hours sleep total after about 4 days (yesterday I got a full 8 hours).  The timing of all this was really bad.  It's weird to imagine what would have happened had I been, say, 2-3 weeks quicker.  I don't really know what to say, I'm sure I'll have a lot though after tonight.

有り難う【ありがとう】 (arigatou) Thank you

GTA5, Health Examination, End of Japan for Me

I haven't been as diligent in writing entries as I'd hoped, but it's fine, there's not that much to report I guess.  Since the last update I got GTA5 and have been playing that for a while, abusing the glitches.  It's much better than GTA4 as it isn't as repetitive.  The online is pretty cool too.

Took the annual health examination a week or two ago.  It's amazing because they give you a cup to pee in then make you walk around with it for a while before handing it off to someone.  We also have to give stool samples and the guy who took it was wearing one glove, and of course he took the sample with the hand without a glove.  Love this country sometimes.

A little over 2 years into my time in Japan, and it's decided.  I'm not signing up for another year.  The past 2 years I really felt that I wanted to do another year, but this year I don't feel like that.  I feel like I've stayed long enough.  I still have 9-10 months left, and those'll go by quick, and at the end I'll feel really sad about leaving, but I'll also feel like I haven't left anything behind.  I'll be very happy with my 20s and the fact that I was overseas or trying to get back overseas for roughly half of that decade.  I can't believe I'll be 30 by the time I get back to the US.  When I signed up to go over for Japan I was 26.  Seems so long ago.

I still don't know what I'm going to do for Christmas.  I definitely want to go somewhere.

保険検査【ほけんけんさ】health examination

Tokyo Game Show, Sumo, Tank Girls, Etc

So a week after my last post I went to Tokyo for 3 days and got to check out the Tokyo Game Show.  I've always wanted to go to one of those things ever since I found out about E3, and it was pretty much what I expected.  I got to see some people walking around cosplaying, got to try out some of the new games including the new Killer Instinct that'll only be for Xbox One unfortunately, and bought an overpriced Kingdom Hearts keychain. I also got to watch my neighbor get whooped by Daigo (famous street fighter player among competitive gaming nerds).  Cool experience, but since I don't play games as much as I used to, I'm cool with missing it next year.


The next day, on Sunday, we went to see sumo!  We bought a small box section to sit in which was really small, maybe the size of a standard dinner table, for a little over $100 a person to sit in.  I got there around 1 and watched the rest of the matches until 6.  Both the yokozunas won though, so there was no cushion (zabuton) throwing into the ring, which would have happened, had the yokozunas lost.  That night we also went to an AKB48 cafe in Akihabara and got served by a real AKB member (I think).


That same night we went to a place called Robot Restaurant.  It wasn't so much a restaurant as it was an entertainment show with near naked girls dancing around with robots.  It wasn't my idea to go but it was an awesome show!  Very erotic!  I want that tank!


Atsushi Hirano met us there for the show, and then we went back to his place to sleep which was ironically in Fujisawa.  We went back to where I used to live and it was really nostalgic.  The next day we went to see the Daibutsu and visit a few temples before I headed back.  It was a good trip and hopefully I'll have more of those before I go back to the states.

I just have to say that there is a lot of drama in Kesennuma with the ALTs here.  Lots of people don't like this or that ALT, it's hard trying to juggle who to hang out with and who I shouldn't invite to this or that.  I'm getting a little tired of it all.

懐かしい【なつかしい】 nostalgic