thursday, 04.22: vball
chatted a bit with russ this mornin'. found out that cammie won the 33 player, texas hold 'em tournament this past weekend.
had 3 classes today and they went pretty well. the students are slowly startin' to open up now.
for lunch, headed to sukiya for some ton don. i had the ninniku ton don which was pretty good. got some mad garlic breath now.
i'll be chillin' for the rest of the day since i don't have anymore classes. hopefully i'll play some vball today and maybe get a game or two of ping pong in as well.
durin' an off period, miki san (my travel agent) came to school to help plan the 8th grade field trip. but i don't know what he did, but he got yabuuchi sensei pretty mad. he busted out the kansai ben and even kicked a chair. but after he had his coffee and cigarette, his personality totally changed and he then said ok to go through the plans. kinda strange...never really found out what actually happened.
for the 5th period, the 9th graders played freeze tag throughout the school. it was a pretty phat game. can't believe some students got hurt playin'! they take things so seriously.
i decided to play vball today and i was sure glad that i did. i had a blast. was really impressed with the team and they welcomed me. i got to play with one of the girl's father, who also coaches them. when we finished and as i was walkin' away, all the girls ran towards me, huddled around me and in perfect chorus "domo arigato gozaimashita" it felt really nice to hear that as well as the little chatter of everyone tryin' to figure out how to say "please come back..."
so, i'm my way home from school, i took a new way and as i was goin' downhill, i hear my name called. so i stop and found out it's miyuki and another graduate from nanabayashi. chatted with them and found out that they go to an all girls school in ichikawa. the name of the school kinda sounded familiar, so i called takahashi sensei and asked which school his daughter goes to. found out that they're goin' to the same school as nanako. pretty trippy.
friday, 04.23: pta reception
it was my easy day @ school, only had 2 classes. in class we played this alphabet game, testin' to see how well the students know the order. surprised to see some students havin' some difficulty. i thought they were supposed to learn this in elementary school?
went to play vball and i got to participate with the starters. we did a progressive hittin' drills and toita sensei even demonstrated this one drill where you would have to scan first (the target was this 7th grader) and then hit to where she was standin' (she was constantly movin' back and forth) toita sensei also demonstrated the x cut shot, which totally blew me away. i was like damn!
after the drills we played a match against the team's starters while our team was constantly rotating in players. they had line judges, refs and even a scoreboard. the thing that made it fun (more fun than the boys team @ nanabayashi) was that the girls have these interestin' chants with gestures and everything. i got to play the whole way thru. we almost came back in the first game, but it was no competition for yukino (170cm) to hit over the 8th graders (155cm). she usually always hit around me but i did roof her one time. we ended up losin' both games, but it was fun. since it was almost 1700, had to get ready for the pta reception. yet again, the girls surrounded me and thanked me. i kno i'm gonna be totally sore for the next week. my body isn't used to divin' on da floor.
anyhow, got ready and ended up talkin' to iwasaki sensei (the lunch lady) for sometime about all kinds of stuff. @ around 1730, all the teachers headed down the home ec room where the pta prepared all the food (and drinks). as we entered, all the parents welcomed us with clappin'. i sat next to the principal and vice principal and with the other office ladies. there was so much food! i don't even think i had everything. there were all these little speeches given by the principal, vice principal, pta president, etc.. and then speeches from all the teachers who left last year, who are leavin' this year as well as the new teachers. i gave it all in japanese and got many oohs and ahhs from the pta. then we were given flowers (another present for mama). i tried to get out to pour drinks but the principal never really let me leave. i think between him, the vice principal and i, we killed a tall six pack in less than 15 min.
so i finally get an opportunity to mingle and pour drinks for other teachers and to other pta members. got a good idea of which teachers drink and which didn't. found out that one of the office ladies used to work with takahashi sensei and met another teacher, who taught @ shibayama last year but now teaches @ nanabayashi.
around near 1900, the vice principal pulls me aside and asks me (in japanese, of course) "kevin, are you goin' to come to the after party?" i was like, huh? after party!? (i think i can get to like this school real quick!) he then tells me that we're goin' to karaoke and it's walkin' distance from school. so, i say all my thank you's to all the mothers and then i head out with the principal and vice principal. the thing i didn't realize was that not only the teachers came out, but a lot of the parents came out too. we had about 25-30 heads, all up in one room! got a chance to talk to toita sensei (vball coach) and learned that she played in bolivia for 1.5 years. we talked bout all kinds of stuff. she even sang a song that i requested. she's koo.
talked with kawada sensei who lives in the next town from me. he bikes to school too, so i wanted to ask him which way he goes to get to shibayama. didn't really understand why he goes the way he told me. guess i'll have to try it out to see for myself.
so i guess time was windin' down, then the vice principal pulls me aside again and tells me, "so kevin, are you busy? cuz if you're not, a bunch of us are goin' to stay for after party 3" ok, ok, ok...as much as i like nanabayashi's principal and vice principal, shibayama is gettin' some mad crazy points tonite, boy! the principal and vice principal are hella koo!!! so around this time, there's only about 8 ppl left: principal, vp, godmother of school, 3 mothers, i think a father and me. we order some ice cream and i can't believe these people are still drinkin'! the principal and vice principal start talkin' all serious to each other, so the rest of us started up on own conversation. we kicked it there for a while, maybe til about 0000, then we put the principal into a cab and then the vp. then the mothers start talkin' bout goin' to another place for after party 3!?!? what is goin' on here, i just met these people tonite. however we ended up just goin' to coco's for some food. had some chicken vegetable soup which was pretty good. it was kinda weird to partyin' with parents of the kids that i teach.
anyhow, around 0130ish, we head out. me with: bouquet of flowers and tons of leftovers from the reception and in the current state, it was a little tough to get home. but i did get home, unscathed. phew!
saturday, 04.24: lotr:rotk, shabu shabu, serenade
woke up and was hella sore!!! my legs, back, neck, shoulders, ribs, stomach, etc... were totally weak. it's that good kind of sore...i think. just need 2 weeks to recover.
tried to do some cleanin' up. killed the leftovers for lunch and then stopped by mama's to drop off the flowers
then headed out to makuhari cineplex to finally see lotr:rotk (for those of you abbreviation challenged; lord of the rings: return of the king)
i must say, this was the best one of the three. i now have a renewed faith in the final episode of a trilogy. i just like how things came together and were wrapped up unlike this other final episode of a trilogy from these two bros. that was such a piece of shiet.
the special effects were probably some of the best i've seen. gollum looked too real. i kinda forgot that he was cg. i also liked the fact that they brought in different people, i was kinda sick of seein' just orcs as the bad guys. legolas was dope of course. i also liked how gondor looked. the whole beacon scene was pretty impressive too.
i still wish that arwen would've came back to fight. start chantin' again and kick some @$$ but alas, it didn't happen.
i can see why this movie won some many awards...cuz it was dope!
i give this movie: 9/10
afterwards, headed straight back to kita narashino to have dinner with junko and natsuyo. it was @ the place called onyasai. it's part of the gyukaku restaurants. it was shabu shabu and you could choose which kinds of broth you wanted. we got tonyuu (soy just before the tofu process) and hot chili. had tons of vegetables and seafood. we all had dinner cuz natsuyo is goin' thru some tough times with work and her personal life. i hadn't seen her in a while but was shocked to hear what's been goin' on with her. of course i gave her my 2蔵, which was quite interestin' cuz it's kinda along the lines of what my friend 'dre went thru.
anyhow, got a text from ni-chan, sayin' he's gonna be @ serenade and that ito-chan and mina-chan are goin' to be there too. so i stopped by afterwards, and it was a packed house. there were all these older drunk ladies, whom i've met once before, but this one lady was tryin' to be a comedian. not but 30 seconds after i sit down, she jokingly threatened me that since i'm a teacher, i shouldn't be at this place and that she's gonna call the board of education. i was about to say, oh yeah, is that right? i can call takasaki sensei right now if you like. i have his number in my cell! in the famous words of david chappelle "i'm rick james, biatch!"
anyhow, they left, so i was able to chill with my big bro and my other friends. shimizu san came by (not only did treat us to a bottle of champagne, he bought me another bottle of sho chu) as well as cha cha's mama, as well as a bball coach who knows sasaki sensei and who's wife saw me @ openin' ceremony @ shibayama. kimura san also came thru too. we had the crew there. met some new people, one guy who was singin' like a pro! the magic number for karaoke was 5. so if you got: 65, 75, 85 or 95 ya got 3 free songs. you get 3 songs for free if ya break the 90 mark too. there was so much food, drinks, singin' and dancin'. even mama got a little twisted. she sips sometimes, but when the champagne came out, boy, i never seen her like this.
so when it was closin' time; kimura san, ito-chan, mina-chan and i go to sing karaoke which is kinda near my house. all i know was that it was sunny when we left.
came home and crashed out.
sunday, 04.25: lunch w/ikko family, yu's event
got a wakeup call from mama tellin' me that she's treatin' everyone for lunch @ this new restaurant (where jangara ramen used to be). it's a pretty koo restaurant, kinda like japanese cafeteria style. you get a tray and take what you like from an assortment of foods and then pay @ the cashier. it's hella cheap and pretty good. everyone came out: mama, junko san, sensei, noboru, yoko, takahashi, ken and kumi. we all then headed back to ikko for some more drinks. i only had one cuz i had to be out to yoyogi for yu's event.
headed out there, called mike (who was already there) and he came and got me. @ yoyogi stadium/hall was hamasaki ayumi's last concert on her country tour. so there were all these vans decked out with her pictures and all these places sellin' her photos/mags/etc. i was in contact with yu by mail and i asked him when the event is gonna end and i get a reply "whenever the police stop us" so i was pretty anxious to check it out. met up with a-chan, kazu, hide, ai-chan, makko, chee-chan & ayu. a-chan brought riru,
so i took him for walks around the flea market and stadium cuz he's a total girl magnet. i would say about 80% of all females stare and say to their friends ahh cho kawaii!!!. the event itself was koo. yu got on the mic a lot as well as hide and chee. they were bbq'n jerk chicken which was hella good. there was this old man that came by and was all dancin' in front of the speakers and tryin' to get all the girls up to dance. he even tried to get on da mic!?! there was this father and his kid that came by and the father brought out one of those air horns, so his kid was blowin' that to da beats. pretty cute.
mike and i also walked around the flea market and got some bbq kalbi on a stick which was grubbin'. checked out the flea market and took a look around. mike was checkin' out these adidas but i told him to wait til later. mike had to take off to play bball so i was chillin'. then got a call from b.sato. told me he was in and around harajuku, so i met up with him, q and their friend sachiko. brought them to the place and introduced them to everyone i knew. sachiko was havin' a good 'ol time cuz she bought this hemp pattern drum. the hemp pattern is supposed to be really famous in japan. she was also enjoyin' the music.
it was to catch up with b.sato and q. havin' kicked it with them since october!?! we talked bout the itinerary for when the guys come out on saturday. it's gonna be hectic yo! all of them stayed around til like 1900ish before takin' off. we're all gonna hang out when the guys get in. also found out that sachiko is from funabashi! like 6 stations away from me, kinda trippy.
@ around 1930, things were pretty much wrappin' up, so a-chan and i left. the sucky thing is that we left @ probably the worst time, right as the hamasaki ayumi concert ended!?! it was way konderu (packed), took us days to get back to the station. we finally got into the station, sure enough, these 2 girls came and was checkin' out riru
who was stickin' his head out of the burberry dog transport. then were goin' crazy. a-chan smiles and whispers to me "girl magnet".
a-chan got off @ shibuya and then i was on my way home on the 1st of 3 trains. stopped off to get a mocha @ tsudanuma starbucks and then headed to ikko for some ocha and a snack. ni-chan and his boy scout leaders were there and they gave us some roasted potatoes. mama also made me some nira tama. she treated me. i love her so much!
monday, 04.26: back to school
back to the grind. utsumi sensei was absent so i had 3 classes with sekiguchi sensei. wasn't feelin' to hot and had a headache for most of the day. kyoto sensei (vp) gave me this endurance drink which really helped a lot. just been drinkin' lots of ocha and juice.
on my way back saw another one of my old students. went to the bank then headed to ikko for dinner. afterwards, headed to asano for some katsu don then came home. bouts to crash out now.
kaz out...
chatted a bit with russ this mornin'. found out that cammie won the 33 player, texas hold 'em tournament this past weekend.
had 3 classes today and they went pretty well. the students are slowly startin' to open up now.
for lunch, headed to sukiya for some ton don. i had the ninniku ton don which was pretty good. got some mad garlic breath now.
i'll be chillin' for the rest of the day since i don't have anymore classes. hopefully i'll play some vball today and maybe get a game or two of ping pong in as well.
durin' an off period, miki san (my travel agent) came to school to help plan the 8th grade field trip. but i don't know what he did, but he got yabuuchi sensei pretty mad. he busted out the kansai ben and even kicked a chair. but after he had his coffee and cigarette, his personality totally changed and he then said ok to go through the plans. kinda strange...never really found out what actually happened.
for the 5th period, the 9th graders played freeze tag throughout the school. it was a pretty phat game. can't believe some students got hurt playin'! they take things so seriously.
i decided to play vball today and i was sure glad that i did. i had a blast. was really impressed with the team and they welcomed me. i got to play with one of the girl's father, who also coaches them. when we finished and as i was walkin' away, all the girls ran towards me, huddled around me and in perfect chorus "domo arigato gozaimashita" it felt really nice to hear that as well as the little chatter of everyone tryin' to figure out how to say "please come back..."
so, i'm my way home from school, i took a new way and as i was goin' downhill, i hear my name called. so i stop and found out it's miyuki and another graduate from nanabayashi. chatted with them and found out that they go to an all girls school in ichikawa. the name of the school kinda sounded familiar, so i called takahashi sensei and asked which school his daughter goes to. found out that they're goin' to the same school as nanako. pretty trippy.
friday, 04.23: pta reception
it was my easy day @ school, only had 2 classes. in class we played this alphabet game, testin' to see how well the students know the order. surprised to see some students havin' some difficulty. i thought they were supposed to learn this in elementary school?
went to play vball and i got to participate with the starters. we did a progressive hittin' drills and toita sensei even demonstrated this one drill where you would have to scan first (the target was this 7th grader) and then hit to where she was standin' (she was constantly movin' back and forth) toita sensei also demonstrated the x cut shot, which totally blew me away. i was like damn!
after the drills we played a match against the team's starters while our team was constantly rotating in players. they had line judges, refs and even a scoreboard. the thing that made it fun (more fun than the boys team @ nanabayashi) was that the girls have these interestin' chants with gestures and everything. i got to play the whole way thru. we almost came back in the first game, but it was no competition for yukino (170cm) to hit over the 8th graders (155cm). she usually always hit around me but i did roof her one time. we ended up losin' both games, but it was fun. since it was almost 1700, had to get ready for the pta reception. yet again, the girls surrounded me and thanked me. i kno i'm gonna be totally sore for the next week. my body isn't used to divin' on da floor.
anyhow, got ready and ended up talkin' to iwasaki sensei (the lunch lady) for sometime about all kinds of stuff. @ around 1730, all the teachers headed down the home ec room where the pta prepared all the food (and drinks). as we entered, all the parents welcomed us with clappin'. i sat next to the principal and vice principal and with the other office ladies. there was so much food! i don't even think i had everything. there were all these little speeches given by the principal, vice principal, pta president, etc.. and then speeches from all the teachers who left last year, who are leavin' this year as well as the new teachers. i gave it all in japanese and got many oohs and ahhs from the pta. then we were given flowers (another present for mama). i tried to get out to pour drinks but the principal never really let me leave. i think between him, the vice principal and i, we killed a tall six pack in less than 15 min.
so i finally get an opportunity to mingle and pour drinks for other teachers and to other pta members. got a good idea of which teachers drink and which didn't. found out that one of the office ladies used to work with takahashi sensei and met another teacher, who taught @ shibayama last year but now teaches @ nanabayashi.
around near 1900, the vice principal pulls me aside and asks me (in japanese, of course) "kevin, are you goin' to come to the after party?" i was like, huh? after party!? (i think i can get to like this school real quick!) he then tells me that we're goin' to karaoke and it's walkin' distance from school. so, i say all my thank you's to all the mothers and then i head out with the principal and vice principal. the thing i didn't realize was that not only the teachers came out, but a lot of the parents came out too. we had about 25-30 heads, all up in one room! got a chance to talk to toita sensei (vball coach) and learned that she played in bolivia for 1.5 years. we talked bout all kinds of stuff. she even sang a song that i requested. she's koo.
talked with kawada sensei who lives in the next town from me. he bikes to school too, so i wanted to ask him which way he goes to get to shibayama. didn't really understand why he goes the way he told me. guess i'll have to try it out to see for myself.
so i guess time was windin' down, then the vice principal pulls me aside again and tells me, "so kevin, are you busy? cuz if you're not, a bunch of us are goin' to stay for after party 3" ok, ok, ok...as much as i like nanabayashi's principal and vice principal, shibayama is gettin' some mad crazy points tonite, boy! the principal and vice principal are hella koo!!! so around this time, there's only about 8 ppl left: principal, vp, godmother of school, 3 mothers, i think a father and me. we order some ice cream and i can't believe these people are still drinkin'! the principal and vice principal start talkin' all serious to each other, so the rest of us started up on own conversation. we kicked it there for a while, maybe til about 0000, then we put the principal into a cab and then the vp. then the mothers start talkin' bout goin' to another place for after party 3!?!? what is goin' on here, i just met these people tonite. however we ended up just goin' to coco's for some food. had some chicken vegetable soup which was pretty good. it was kinda weird to partyin' with parents of the kids that i teach.
anyhow, around 0130ish, we head out. me with: bouquet of flowers and tons of leftovers from the reception and in the current state, it was a little tough to get home. but i did get home, unscathed. phew!
saturday, 04.24: lotr:rotk, shabu shabu, serenade
woke up and was hella sore!!! my legs, back, neck, shoulders, ribs, stomach, etc... were totally weak. it's that good kind of sore...i think. just need 2 weeks to recover.
tried to do some cleanin' up. killed the leftovers for lunch and then stopped by mama's to drop off the flowers
then headed out to makuhari cineplex to finally see lotr:rotk (for those of you abbreviation challenged; lord of the rings: return of the king)
i must say, this was the best one of the three. i now have a renewed faith in the final episode of a trilogy. i just like how things came together and were wrapped up unlike this other final episode of a trilogy from these two bros. that was such a piece of shiet.
the special effects were probably some of the best i've seen. gollum looked too real. i kinda forgot that he was cg. i also liked the fact that they brought in different people, i was kinda sick of seein' just orcs as the bad guys. legolas was dope of course. i also liked how gondor looked. the whole beacon scene was pretty impressive too.
i still wish that arwen would've came back to fight. start chantin' again and kick some @$$ but alas, it didn't happen.
i can see why this movie won some many awards...cuz it was dope!
i give this movie: 9/10
afterwards, headed straight back to kita narashino to have dinner with junko and natsuyo. it was @ the place called onyasai. it's part of the gyukaku restaurants. it was shabu shabu and you could choose which kinds of broth you wanted. we got tonyuu (soy just before the tofu process) and hot chili. had tons of vegetables and seafood. we all had dinner cuz natsuyo is goin' thru some tough times with work and her personal life. i hadn't seen her in a while but was shocked to hear what's been goin' on with her. of course i gave her my 2蔵, which was quite interestin' cuz it's kinda along the lines of what my friend 'dre went thru.
anyhow, got a text from ni-chan, sayin' he's gonna be @ serenade and that ito-chan and mina-chan are goin' to be there too. so i stopped by afterwards, and it was a packed house. there were all these older drunk ladies, whom i've met once before, but this one lady was tryin' to be a comedian. not but 30 seconds after i sit down, she jokingly threatened me that since i'm a teacher, i shouldn't be at this place and that she's gonna call the board of education. i was about to say, oh yeah, is that right? i can call takasaki sensei right now if you like. i have his number in my cell! in the famous words of david chappelle "i'm rick james, biatch!"
anyhow, they left, so i was able to chill with my big bro and my other friends. shimizu san came by (not only did treat us to a bottle of champagne, he bought me another bottle of sho chu) as well as cha cha's mama, as well as a bball coach who knows sasaki sensei and who's wife saw me @ openin' ceremony @ shibayama. kimura san also came thru too. we had the crew there. met some new people, one guy who was singin' like a pro! the magic number for karaoke was 5. so if you got: 65, 75, 85 or 95 ya got 3 free songs. you get 3 songs for free if ya break the 90 mark too. there was so much food, drinks, singin' and dancin'. even mama got a little twisted. she sips sometimes, but when the champagne came out, boy, i never seen her like this.
so when it was closin' time; kimura san, ito-chan, mina-chan and i go to sing karaoke which is kinda near my house. all i know was that it was sunny when we left.
came home and crashed out.
sunday, 04.25: lunch w/ikko family, yu's event
got a wakeup call from mama tellin' me that she's treatin' everyone for lunch @ this new restaurant (where jangara ramen used to be). it's a pretty koo restaurant, kinda like japanese cafeteria style. you get a tray and take what you like from an assortment of foods and then pay @ the cashier. it's hella cheap and pretty good. everyone came out: mama, junko san, sensei, noboru, yoko, takahashi, ken and kumi. we all then headed back to ikko for some more drinks. i only had one cuz i had to be out to yoyogi for yu's event.
headed out there, called mike (who was already there) and he came and got me. @ yoyogi stadium/hall was hamasaki ayumi's last concert on her country tour. so there were all these vans decked out with her pictures and all these places sellin' her photos/mags/etc. i was in contact with yu by mail and i asked him when the event is gonna end and i get a reply "whenever the police stop us" so i was pretty anxious to check it out. met up with a-chan, kazu, hide, ai-chan, makko, chee-chan & ayu. a-chan brought riru,
so i took him for walks around the flea market and stadium cuz he's a total girl magnet. i would say about 80% of all females stare and say to their friends ahh cho kawaii!!!. the event itself was koo. yu got on the mic a lot as well as hide and chee. they were bbq'n jerk chicken which was hella good. there was this old man that came by and was all dancin' in front of the speakers and tryin' to get all the girls up to dance. he even tried to get on da mic!?! there was this father and his kid that came by and the father brought out one of those air horns, so his kid was blowin' that to da beats. pretty cute.
mike and i also walked around the flea market and got some bbq kalbi on a stick which was grubbin'. checked out the flea market and took a look around. mike was checkin' out these adidas but i told him to wait til later. mike had to take off to play bball so i was chillin'. then got a call from b.sato. told me he was in and around harajuku, so i met up with him, q and their friend sachiko. brought them to the place and introduced them to everyone i knew. sachiko was havin' a good 'ol time cuz she bought this hemp pattern drum. the hemp pattern is supposed to be really famous in japan. she was also enjoyin' the music.
it was to catch up with b.sato and q. havin' kicked it with them since october!?! we talked bout the itinerary for when the guys come out on saturday. it's gonna be hectic yo! all of them stayed around til like 1900ish before takin' off. we're all gonna hang out when the guys get in. also found out that sachiko is from funabashi! like 6 stations away from me, kinda trippy.
@ around 1930, things were pretty much wrappin' up, so a-chan and i left. the sucky thing is that we left @ probably the worst time, right as the hamasaki ayumi concert ended!?! it was way konderu (packed), took us days to get back to the station. we finally got into the station, sure enough, these 2 girls came and was checkin' out riru
who was stickin' his head out of the burberry dog transport. then were goin' crazy. a-chan smiles and whispers to me "girl magnet".
a-chan got off @ shibuya and then i was on my way home on the 1st of 3 trains. stopped off to get a mocha @ tsudanuma starbucks and then headed to ikko for some ocha and a snack. ni-chan and his boy scout leaders were there and they gave us some roasted potatoes. mama also made me some nira tama. she treated me. i love her so much!
monday, 04.26: back to school
back to the grind. utsumi sensei was absent so i had 3 classes with sekiguchi sensei. wasn't feelin' to hot and had a headache for most of the day. kyoto sensei (vp) gave me this endurance drink which really helped a lot. just been drinkin' lots of ocha and juice.
on my way back saw another one of my old students. went to the bank then headed to ikko for dinner. afterwards, headed to asano for some katsu don then came home. bouts to crash out now.
kaz out...
This entry was posted by kaz, on
月曜日, 4月 26, 2004.
You can leave your response.
