Trials and Triburations...trebulasionsu...Tribulations?

I suppose nothing has really been "suffering resulting from oppression or persecution" but there certainly have been some interesting experiences. I shall start from the good and move to the, not necessarily bad but interesting.

Osaka on Sunday was a blast and a half. The day consisted of train-hopping from station to station looking for the right connection here and there. I could never find my way back through that place if i ever had to go to Umeda station again. But while there, we ran into a snag when we could not find our 5th man. We were supposed to meet up with him at Umeda Station, but apparently there are 3 different Umeda stations within walking distance of each other in Osaka. So for about 30minutes we attempted to locate the straggler, but eventually we met up. We then proceeded to eat (my favorite activity). We found a little cafe which had decent prices and a big enough dinning room for 5 people. (big dinning rooms seem to be on the rare side in cafe style restaurants) One of our party, who shall remain nameless in order to protect the hungry, ordered two meals, not knowing that each meal came with a side of rice, lettuce salad, pickled vegetables and miso soup. As we all finish, our once starving companion is left starring at two half-finished dishes and healthy serving of curry. It was funny at the time. We then proceeded to the world famous Osaka aquarium, where two whale sharks are kept circling a comparatively small tank. Unfortunately, because i never came home on saturday night, i forgot to bring my camera. If i can figure out how to get pictures off of my cell phone i will post them in another addition of my daily/semi-daily blog-o-life. During this physically and monetarily taxing day, I had a bit of a philosophical/surreal thought. At the time, it felt just as likely as reality, but here goes. Have you ever wondered if fish have air-iums where they keep humans they find or capture in order to enjoy their antics while parading through a small water filled tubes packed like sardines? Only 2% of the ocean has been thoroughly mapped. I think it's possible.

Enough of that non-sense. Today was quite interesting. It started off pretty slow as i made the final touches to my lesson plan and prepared for an other self-deprecating show of "who's on first" but in Japanese with english mumbles. My Oral Communications 2 class only has 7 students. They are normally really excited to be there but today they were a bit un-genki(un-energetic), but they did alright. I know all their names now, so they were proud of me. I attempted to teach them a bit about american music and i played a Foo Fighters song, Best of You. They seemed to enjoy it, but it was apparently too fast for them to really understand. Next time i will need to choose an easier song.

I find myself attempting to spell in public, which has always been terribly difficult for me. If i did not have a word processing unit capable of correcting my horrible english on the go, then i probably never would have graduated high school. You think i kid, but i never kid. Meh, I will not worry about it until one of the students calls me on my horrible english spelling.

I had my first month goals and performance evaluation today. It consisted of the principle asking me if I was accustomed to Japanese life and my town and all that jazz. Then he asked me if I wanted to join the Judo club at school. He asked because i mentioned that i was interested in Judo while he and I were two bottles of sake down at my welcome party. Judo is the principle's sport so he also has a bit of pull around town, apparently. From what i can understand, he was a national champion of Judo some time in the past. But back to the topic of my evaluation. He asks if I am interested in the Judo club and i said yes. He nods, says something to the effect of "i'll be right back..." He reenters the room with his white gi, the uniform for Judo, and tells me to stand up and put it on. So right about now I am thinking that this is the strangest work performance interview i have ever been in. Then the principle, the vice-principle, and one of the english teachers are all putting this regalia on me as i stand there petrified from hilarity. I want to laugh but as all of this is happening, the principle is saying, in broken english, that he is taking my sizes so he can get me a Judo Gi of my own as a present. Laughing would have likely upset everyone. So by now a few moments have past and the vice-principle still has not emerged from behind me, where he was attempting to wrap the white obi(belt) around my waist. Everything else fit pretty well, but the belt was far to short. I guess im wider than the average Japanese.

After this, the other AET that works at my school on Tuesdays asked me if i wanted to go practice some karate weapons training. To which i replied, "Sure, that sounds like fun." But in my head I sounded a bit more enthusiastic, something like, "Holy crap, Hell Yes I want to play with weapons." So after my inner ninja turtle finished jumping for joy, we walked out to the gym and practiced with the staff and the nunchucks. I had the pleasure of using the padded nunchucks because if i attempted to begin with the wooden ones, i would likely have returned home to day with a variety of deepening black and blue marks on my head and arms. Overall, it was a fun day. I am thinking about finding a iaido dojo or something around here. Iaido is the art of drawing a japanese sword, attacking, and putting the sword back in its scabbard. I think that will be a good way to get out of the house.

Mike