Coquelicot, because that was the first word that jumped into my head

Hello Friends,

Here is the quick update of my past week.

Last Friday night, I went to Erin and Crystal's karaoke birthday party! It was wicked fun. We ate dinner at Palki and then moved onto karaoke. Seth, Tina, and I got there late because we were shopping for snowboarding stuff at Xebio. The karaoke was cool, but I'm not a big fan of singing in front of other people, so that took awhile and some drinks.

Last Saturday I went to Okunakayama, a small mountain, where I tried to practice my snowboarding abilities. Unfortunately, the ground was pure ice, so I didn't really get to learn anything, I was more afraid of how much it hurt to fall down (a lot...even with pads). It was not fun, and I was more frustrated that I didn't get to learn anything. Ah well. After that, those of us who left early (most of us) went to an onsen on the way there.

This was perfect for after a day of snowboarding. Warm water, good food...you can almost pretend there aren't any naked old people. Almost.

Sunday I went to a wind ensemble concert with many of the Hachinohe JETs. Their Japanese coworker was playing. I ran into one of my teachers at Nosawa...he seems to be pretty big into the band scene in Hach (awhile back I went to his jazz concert). Afterwards, we went as a group to see the newest Bond movie. Some of us, including yours truly, dressed up. Unfortunately, we weren't told of this until the night before, which really wasn't ideal even though people knew we wanted to dress up. Regardless, it was still good. I didn't think this movie was one of the better Bonds though. I thought that the camera was too much like in the Bourne movies at times, you know, way too shaky and not revealing enough of the action during the action scenes. It didn't ruin the hand-to-hand scenes, but that car chase scene at the beginning was just watching a few blurs moving around objects we couldn't see. I understand the theory behind the camera-work, but I think it's a case of theory versus practicality.

So, that was my weekend. During the week, I just had the usual. Teaching et al. My shower was fixed though, which is awesome! I can now shower in my apartment, level up!

After my self-introduction in class, I usually answer student's questions about anything. As you can imagine, that can lead to a lot of interesting questions. Today was a brilliant example. The young 3rd grader- we'll call him Timmy, in the vein of his strong desire to learn English- asked "Why do Americans have big noses?" How do you answer that? How was I supposed to answer? "It's genetics, kid." I wish I could have explained. But, I was just left saying "wakaranai- i don't know."

Ah, that brings me to another point. For those of you who might not have realized this, Japan is a country where 98 percent of people DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH. This includes the younger generation. It is not like some European countries where "everyone speaks english" even though it is not the main language. Old or young alike, in Japan, (almost) NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH. Hence, they are kind enough to offer me a job here. And, being the charitable soul that I am, I am kind enough to take it.

Another short one, again, mostly for my recollection. I hope you had a good week, and good luck next week. Hopefully the next post will be longer and more involved.

Also, still no godzilla, I must've scared him when I first landed in Tokyo.

Greg out.