April 18 - April 30

Good evening, good morning. 

Japan is the only non european country in the world that is experiencing negative growth. Whereas most countries have a pyramid shaped growth chart, Japan's is upside down. So basically if you closed your eyes and started running through a store, the first person you would most likely bump into would be an old person. The old people here have extraordinary strength to stay alive and fight another day which is truly respectable. We experience true signs of this negative growth in places such as the local supermarkets, the local shops, and the bus. The bus is more or less of a retirement home for the elderly. Once you step foot onto the bus to take your ticket, you instantly smell a slight musk of decaying skin and stale breath. It seems to be a plausible rest stop for those elderly folk on their daily journey to the 

market. Every stop takes about 5 minutes time for those to get on and off the bus, and there is always the occasional slip while boarding the bus. 

So Maro returned back to base after voyaging alone to Nagasaki for a couple days. The day he came back I had an open Sunday from 12-4 doing interviews with prospective students and teaching practice lessons to students. One thing working for a Japanese company is that they really work you for all you have. This month was two weeks of 6 of 7 days working, one day each week coming in three hours early for flier dating, and preparation for the Self Study Campaign we hold next month. But the good thing was that after work I got to play futsal at a really awesome professionally set up field with my friend and his teammates. Futsal is the same concept as regular soccer except with smaller nets, smaller field (5v5) and the ball is slightly heavier and doesn't bounce as much. It's more of a technical game that measures one's ability to dribble, complete short passes, and make very quick decisions. It's really fun. 

Monday morning while Maro was still recovering from his drunken escapade in Nagasaki, I went golfing with one of my students at Sasebo Country Club. The man who invited me is a movie theater owner, owner of 7 real estate buildings in Sasebo, works for the Lottery Club, and has two other unknown jobs. To say that I was golfing with him would be putting on us equal level; to put it frankly, this man allowed me to spend an afternoon in his presence. Golf in Japan is much more expensive than golf in the States. Normally you need to be a member of the club, and after becoming a member the course rate usually varies at 100$-200$ for 18 holes. The course we played happens to be one of the most well known courses in the area because of its scenic mountain view and difficulty. This course was so prestige, that the carts drove themselves. He provided me with clubs and a hat, because apparently golf is so gentlemanly that every member must wear a hat. 

Overall, despite my 7 month hiatus of golf, I showed some signs of life at times, and didn't embarrass myself enough to be uninvited back a second time. The guy was really generous and paid for the round (I noticed the receipt for two players came out to $260). He didn't think too much of it as he went to get his Mercedes from the parking lot and I patiently waited thinking how he just saved me about 2 weeks worth of groceries. 

The past two weeks in Nagasaki prefecture have been elections for local government positions such as mayor, member of the council, and a few other positions. Typically in America, our lobbying is done relatively passively through commercials, billboards, posters, and sometimes rallies. Japan likes to approach their elections a little differently. I awoke one morning at about 8:00AM from this really loud muffled voice outside my window. I assumed it was the bus driver announcing the next stop, or maybe an ambulance (when ambulances go through red lights they usually have this megaphone telling people to be careful). However, after about 10 minutes, the loud muffling sound returned, but this time it was a man's voice. I was a little confused, but not enough to get out of bed to check. Then it came again, and again. Just to make sure it wasn't a broadband announcement of a lava attack or earthquake, I looked out my window to see how the locals were reacting; they didn't seem fazed so I could assume it was not a catastrophic event occurring. Then I heard the approach of this screaming voice saying a lot of words I didn't understand but after each sentence would be "Good morning, thank you very much, thank you very much, thank you very much!!!!!!!!!". I later came to understand that this is how the candidates advertise themselves. They drive around in a decked out painted 70s style van with about 6 megaphones on the roof. They drive around town with one person yelling the candidate's name and some other nonsense while the others hang out the windows like maniacs waving little flags. The town of Sasebo had to endure this madness from 8AM-8PM every day for two weeks until last Sunday's election. I put a sample video on Facebook of these lunatics. 

Someone left a bike on the sidewalk near my house for about five days. It was untouched for a few days, and eventually someone actually moved it onto the grass   kickstand and all because it was obstructing the sidewalk. Now if someone left a bike in my neighborhood (one that consists of mostly older folks and not dangerous) it would still disappear overnight. 

This week's battling has taken a new form. The name of this fighting style is "Douzo" style. Douzo means please, by all means, kindly. It's used when expressing gratitude and/or respect during greetings and salutations. It is also a way of saying "Please, go ahead" like in line in a store or taking the last piece of pie or something like that. Reflecting on Japanese people's hierarchal respect system, it's a good idea to offer a seat to an older person or someone of higher status. The setting for my battle was the retirement home (bus). I was just minding my own business like I normally do, grabbed my ticket and step onto the bus. I noticed a seat towards the back of the bus, so I started to approach it. Just as I was getting ready to sit down, an older man began to move towards the seat. Our eyes met and electricity instantly shot from my eyes to his. He was clearly an experienced Douzo warrior. His cold stare shook my soul, but not enough for me to release the first "Douzo". He shot sharply back with a Douzo of his own, but his tone was slightly commanding. We exchanged two more Douzo's and the battle started to get heated. I was running out of options because my Douzo was not working! There was nothing left to do but release the Douzo with an arm gesture. I knew it was very dangerous for a setting such as a moving bus, but I was facing a valid opponent here, I had to make him sit down. I gathered all my energy, said a double Douzo, gave him the open hand gesture suggesting this seat was his for the taking, and even released a slight smile with raised eyebrows. He bought it. He sat right down in his seat and I remained standing for my bus ride. 

I had my first doctor experience on Tuesday. I went to work not feeling too well. After two lessons, my head was spinning, I had turned completely pale, and I was ready to pass out. My manager cancelled my classes and sent me to the clinic. At the clinic I had to fill out the forms in Japanese and wait my turn in line. Medical care in Japan is actually quite good; it's one of the best systems in the world. Due to registration time, I had to wait a little longer than usual, but it only took about 15 minutes before I was called into the doctor's waiting room. They did a quick weight and height check then after 15 more minutes I was called into the room. Before being called in I could hear the nurse say to the doctor, " Fiore-sama. I think he's a foreigner. I wonder if he knows how to speak Japanese." It was kind of amusing and when she came out to call me she immediately asked me if I knew how to speak Japanese. I just responded please speak slowly, and I'll be ok. The doctor and nurse were really friendly and he asked my symptoms, felt my glands, checked my breathing, listened to my heartbeat, and the other usual stuff. He didn't have any finally answer, but I think I wasn't feeling well due to internal stress and lack of sleep. He recommended medicine and bid me farewell. 

Thursday morning was Maro's last day in Sasebo so we woke up at about 7AM and climbed a mountain. We got to the top at about 9AM, gazed at the landscape below and took a nap. After some time, we descended and stopped by a local hot spring. The main bath was on the roof of the building (5th Floor) and it had a great view of the town. I didn't appreciate Maro's lack of respect for my eyes when he decided to stand up and walk to the edge of the tub with his bare ass exposed, but besides that it was a good time. 

Today I played soccer all morning at the local park then went to a hip hop dance concert with my friend and his girlfriend. It was crazy to see this show because, all the dancers (varying from ages 4 to 40) were dressed in the most American outfits and dancing to American hip hop songs. To be honest, most of them look better in our clothes than we do! It felt pretty good because just goes to show that although they're not the parts of my culture that I am the most fond of, countries like Japan still find our culture cool and want to adopt it in a way they like. Living here really makes me love the place I come from more and more. Getting outside of New York for a while is nice to just kind of reflect on all the good attributes it has, not the stressful and negative things that are destined to come with a place you must work and survive in. I do look forward to returning and seeing it in a new light. 

This weekend is more vacation time. I'm going to Fukuoka in the morning, then I'll be back in Sasebo eventually. Thanks again for reading. I noticed the weather is finally getting nice back home. Almost beach time! I miss New York!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : (

April 5 - April 18

I apologize for the lack of update. These past two weeks have been absolutely crazy, I have not had the time to sit down and place my thoughts onto the computer until tonight. This week I worked 6 days for over 50 hours and last week was the first week with new classes and flier dating. Sorry for the delay, but try to read all of it, I promise you will enjoy this entry. 

Work was pretty good last week except for the class with the screaming maniac girl. It's a class of 4 four and five year olds. One girl has a strange fascination with running circles around the group of students screaming as loud as possible while I try to teach the lesson. It's really enjoyable, especially when she starts hitting the other students too. Screaming maniac girl took all the concentration away from all the other students any made learning the lesson nearly impossible for everyone. 

Flier dating was taken to a new, better, level the past two weeks at the University. I went with my coworker to Nagasaki University to hand out fliers for special deals we had at the school this month. Besides the fact that I had to come in 2 hours before work to flier date, it was fun interacting with people around my age.

Last Sunday I did Hanami with two former students. We went to the local park and hung out under the cherry blossoms, ate great food, and chatted. Hanami is such a great part of Japanese culture. It feels really spiritual to just relax, and take in the surrounding atmosphere. After Hanami I ran over to Nimits park to meet my buddy for soccer practice. We trained for a bit, met some high school kids, and played 5 v 5 with them until dark. That night I went out to a Nabe restaurant with some friends from the gym. Nabe restaurant is a place with a giant pot in the middle of the table. The pot is filled with a light broth and is set to a boil. You can order as much meat and vegetables as you'd like and just place them in the pot to cook. The food was fantastic.

Monday I had to go to Fukuoka for a business meeting, but the good side was that my buddy Maro met me in Fukuoka to visit from Tokyo. He's one of my good friends from Stony Brook who is doing a year exchange at Waseda University in Tokyo. We met up after the meeting and stopped by a yatai food stall then met up with some coworkers for food and drinks. Before we went to meet the coworkers, we stopped by the convenience store to buy some drinks. We drank on the way, met with the coworkers to drink some more, and "somehow" managed to miss the last bus back to Sasebo. 

Now that we were stranding in Fukuoka until the first bus at 6:20AM, we decided to take on the city. We made our way to a bar recommended by our coworker, but before we went there we stopped at the convenience store again for some more drinks and ice cream. We hung out in the bar until about 12:30AM then headed out in search of a club. The bad news was that we didn't find a club, but the good news was that while in search of this club, we stopped by an izakaya  for more food and drinks then stopped by another convenience store for drinks. By the time our club search ended it was about 3:30AM. Everything was starting to close down in this part of town so we made our away across the district to another part that seemed to still be awake. We grabbed a drink at another convenience store and began to wander around this really shady area. We got offered some massages and invitations into weird bars by some really strange people then stopped on a side street and started to play with this Japanese flashcards app I have on my phone.

At about 5:00AM we passed a bar that appeared to be somewhat lively and we looked in the window. The bartender saw us and stepped outside to invite us. We were just passing by, and Maro told him we didn't have $30 to enter. Upon hearing these words, he turned into a frantic rage and began to yell at us to leave. Maro and I still had another hour until our bus and our eye contact was enough to agree that we were going to stay and see how this played out. The guy said he was going to call the cops so Maro told him to do so. He took his phone out of his pocket, opened it up, started yelling into it saying, "Hello? Police? Yea, I have two foreigners outside my bar, OK thank you." and closed his phone. He said the cops were on their way and tried grabbing us. We weren't having any part of that and Maro started to yell at him to go inside. Anything I didn't understand, I made him feel the same by saying something in English back to him. He would turn to Maro and say, "Hey, translate this for me," or "Hey, what did he just say to me?", but Maro just yelled at him to go back inside. Eventually we won and he went back inside. All in all, we had some great listening comprehension and speaking practice. We arrived back in Sasebo at 9AM and I had work 4 hours later YAY. 

The rest of the week was a blur of busy classes, pre-work flier dating, interviews, and late classes. Maniac Girl was still out of her mind, but this time she ran out of the classroom during the lesson to talk to her mom. This was best for all of us because the students actually had some time to learn the material while she was out of the room.

Saturday came, and it was time to have a drink with Maro. In Sasebo there is a little strip called "Sake Town" in which it is just lined with bars and mini clubs. One of the most self gratifying things in Japan is the joy of drinking in public. I watched a guy walk infront of the police office and stop, take a huge drink from his beer and begin to scratch himself in front of five officers in the window, then proceed on his way. We had a few drinks before then started to zig zag through Sake Town looking for a good place to camp. We walked up to random groups of Japanese people and started talking with them in hope they would take us to the really good places, but it didn't pose as successful as we had hoped. On our last breath of hope, we stopped by a guy talking to two girls and Maro told him we were from New York. His response was, " OK, great so you should go back to New York then. " The girls he was talking to turned out to have no relation to him and started to talk with us instead. Eventually we left with them and took them to a bar around the corner. The perfect revenge to the tough guy who couldn't just be nice to us. 

Yesterday was the Hangover Kayak Adventure for Maro and I. We went with my friend from work to her friend's Kayak store. When we arrived at the sight, we ran over the local market to grab some lunch. Maro INSISTED he had to go to the ATM because he needed money, but I told him that in his drunken blur last night he had taken out ichiman en (equivalent to about $120) at the 7-11. 

Our conversation went like this:

Maro: "Bro you are just making things up." 

Mike: "No man, I saw you do it. Why would I lie about that?"

Maro: "There is NO WAY I took out money last night. Why don't I remember then?"

Mike: "Well considering you took out the money, and stood blindly in the store doing nothing until I had to drag you out…" 

Maro: "Ok. Then where did the money go?"

Mike: "Did you check your wallet?"

Maro: "Yes, I did. It's not there. There's no way, NO WAY I took out money last night."

He proceeds to slowly take out his wallet.

He begins to open his wallet.

Maro: "If I took out ichiman en last night then it would….. OH MY GOD there's ichiman en in my wallet!"

Just off the coast of Sasebo are what is called the "99 Islands", a group of 99 (actually number is 202) islands scattered all over the ocean. Maro and I, the cute couple we are, shared a kayak. One huge problem we faced was that my feet were too big for the peddles to control the rudder. If anyone has ever use a kayak without a rudder they probably understand. For those who haven't, basically this means it was impossible for us to move straight. So if you looked at a map of our journey, it may have looked a little like this.

What it should have looked like:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------>

What it actually looked like:

\ _____ __>

  \                                                                        /            \     / \    /

    \               / \                       _    __                 /               \ /     \ /

      \            /   \                     /   \ /     \         __ /

        \ ___ /      \__/\_/\ _  /                \ / \/ 

There is this anime called "History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi" that is fairly popular in Japan. It's a story about a below average "nerd" high schooler who, with a desire to become stronger and protect those around him, befriends a mysterious transfer student and enters the dojo she trains at. He is trained by 5 masters of Judo, Karate, Muai Thai, Kung Fu, and weaponry. Every day he endures hellish training and is soon met by foes that used to be out of his league. The more people he defeats, the stronger and more diverse the enemies become. He eventually becomes a well known fighter in town, and is followed by the top local gang. I always thought how farfetched and impossible this concept was until lately. Imagine a world when all you have to do is train and get challenged by those who wish to test their strength. 

Anyway, as of late, this obscure, idea that seemed to be so impossible is coming true. There were some hints of it at the gym when the guy next to me felt the need to challenge the amount of  weight I was pressing or pulling. This seemed of the norm. Then last Monday in Fukuoka Maro and I were casually having a drink talking with the bartender. Then out of nowhere he called a challenge for Maro and I to arm wrestle. He stepped out from behind the bar, pulled out the PERFECT sized arm wrestling table and made us battle. After we fought, he stepped in and placed his arm on the table and was screaming ready for battle. 

Maybe word had gotten out to the warriors in Sasebo, but the day we went kayaking was just an epic war. What seemed to be a nice casual day of kayaking in the sunny weather soon turned into a never ending battle of challengers. The minute we arrived at the kayak sight, one of the shop employees saw me and immediately challenged me to an arm wrestling contest. Me, half drunk from last night, was in no condition to be arm wrestling the energetic, border line mid-life-crisis kayak pro. I showed no effort in our battle and allowed him to win. He raised his arms with glee, and ran off to the others gloating his accomplishment. When we had landed on a small island, there had been a group of University students on the same island together grilling and having lunch. Maro, myself, my friend and her partners kept our distance. My friend from work is a Yoga teacher and is extremely skilled at any balance technique. Her and Maro were practicing head and handstands and I started the join in. Maro and I drew a Start and Finish line for handstand walking practice and proceeded to enjoy. The next thing I know, three students approach us and literally the first English words he says to me is, " I challenge you to a battle." After some confusion between what type of battle he meant, we went to the handstand course and had it out. The foes were eventually defeated. 

After the first battle was over, the next group of challengers made their way over to us and proceeded to taunt me with phrases such as "nice muscles" and 『すごいやろ』comments. This group consisted of 5 guys and their specialty was arm wrestling. We had an arm wrestling battle and I managed to come out winner. Just when I thought the fighting was over, the biggest men of the group stepped out and challenged me to a Sumo match. There was really no option of yes or no, so the battle was inevitable. I handled my foe with ease, and pleaded for a break. Before I could finish my pleas, a 60 year old Waseda University Judo club graduate came at me with his arms out in an attempt to swipe my legs and toss me to the ground. I didn't know what else to do but hold the man until his sanity returned. His eyes eventually returned to normal and he left us alone. 

After kayaking and conquering half of Sasebo's youth, we didn't think life could get much better. My friend brought us to a hot spring about an hour away from the kayak spot. It was a hot spring located on the top of one of the mountains at a "Ryokan", or traditional high class Japanese hotel. At a hot spring, you enter the bath area (Yes naked with other guys; just admire the fine ceramics on the ceiling and you'll be fine) and there are spots to sit down and clean yourself off. You use some soap, shampoo and conditioner take a typical shower then enter the baths. There are baths varying in temperature from normal pool temperature to all-natural very hot bath water. It's one of the most relaxing things ever. Just sit and let you're muscles soak and change to different temperature waters every few minutes. Afterwards we went to my friends house and hung out, had a drink, talked about life, and made some amazing curry. We missed the last bus at 11PM and walked about 4 miles home at about 1AM. 

Day: Monday
Time: 7:10PM
Location: Sasebo Arcade

So there we were, Maro and I, two 40oz $3 liquor drinks in, facing the battle of our lives. "Dead Storm Pirates," the name of the game that had claimed the lives of many challengers. Maro and I had enough coins to spare for a family's weekly groceries. We were prepared for the ultimate battle. We stepped foot into those dark curtains, took a huge gulp from our drinks, and placed 200yen to start play. No story, no intro was necessary, all that mattered was that it was "too quiet". We were each armed with a double triggered gun, and in the center was our steering device. Before we knew it, skeleton pirates were boarding our ship and approaching us at blinding speed. There was nothing to do but fire for our lives. The hoards never ended, and just when we thought there was a break, there were cannon balls, flaming arrows, and hatchets flying through the air toward our breathless faces. 

After we successfully sank the first ship, a Kraken emerged from the depths of the ocean. We had to use our wheel to avoid flying planks and debris that were tossed by the Kraken. We defeated the Kraken and proceeded to the next 4 levels. In the other levels we faced mutant crabs, a giant snake boss, screaming ghosts, piranhas, bats, leeches and nothing else but thousands of skeleton pirates. 

We did it, we made it to the final level. In front of us pirates, was the mother of all treasures, a gold plated pirate ship loaded with all the gold we could imagine. Just as our captain bent over to grab this apricot shaped gem, he felt a hard thud kick into his chest. The "undead" captain of the ship emerged from underneath the jewels holding the apricot gem. He opened wide and place the gem into his mouth. The next thing we knew he was leaping at us with a shimmering golden sword. The reaction had to be precise or else he would have taken our heads. He tried to distract us with his ghost minions as he threw flaming swords at us. We didn't buy his deceptions for one second. This was our ship the moment we stepped foot onto it. We took that pirate captain down hard and claimed what was ours. The most intense hour of our virtual lives. 

I am speechless after this week's action. Thank you for reading. I hope all is well!!! Until next time!

March 28- April 4

This week was very quiet due to the kids lessons on break. So what else is there to do with all this free time? It was back to good old Flier Dating. Dating was pretty unsuccessful again this week. The weird ones got weirder and the only "love at first sight" eye contact I was got was with the 80 year old blind woman who I managed to slip a pamphlet into her bag as she passed by. Just when I was ready to throw in the towel, a very friendly, young girl approached us and requested a pamphlet. I offered three more in hope she would bring friends, but one was better than none. Surprisingly, when we arrived back at the school, she was already having an interview with my manager. My manager asked me to step in and chat with her and... before I heard the rest of what she wanted me to do I was already in the room introducing myself with a wide grin. She ended up signing up that evening and came to class the next day.

The only downside to getting this new student was that now that flier dating posed "successful" in my manager's eyes, we were out there 2 more times for the rest of the week. This week however, we managed to somewhat strike gold on new students. We had 4 sign-ups in a 3 hour span one evening, totaling I believe 10+ for the month. Unfortunately, we didn't make our plan bonus for the month, but then again that bonus doesn't get shared with us anyway.

Saturday was officially the new semester for kids classes. All of the new kids classes and adult classes will start next week. Last semester was 4 consecutive kids classes on Saturday, but this time one of those classes was replaced with an adult class. The first kids class was a pair of 6 year olds, one boy and one girl, probably the cutest combination anyone could create. They held hands coming into class, and the little girl was hiding behind the boy when she saw me because she was too shy to introduce herself. Their memory was amazing; I made up a counting game for them with a rope and numbers 1-10 cards. They had to start on the rope that was laid down. On each side of the rope I placed a number card and set the timer for 30 seconds. Each time I said the number, they had to jump to that side. After each round, I added another number card to each side until they both had 5 number cards. The final three rounds, I turned all the number cards over so they couldn't see, and set the timer to 45 seconds. The kids did not miss a beat for 3 straight rounds, it was quite impressive. Not to mention it was really really motivating to see them get excited and into the games.

The next class was the super students and one class clown. Most of the kids were absent, but this class normally consists of 3 of my smartest students, one new student, and one, well not so normal student. Today was only one really smart girl and the class clown boy. Turned out to be a really easy and entertaining lesson because the girl just destroyed the class clown in every game they played.

The third class was a really great combination of students as well. It's a class of 6, 11 and 12 year old girls, 3 coming from the same class last semester, one girl moving up in age group, and two new girls.
So imagine 6 really energetic, talkative, giggly girls, and Mike. I decided to divide them a little bit by making two teams of 3 so they can focus on competing with each other, not me : ] . However, they saw through my plan from the start. Who would have thought that the girls would just befriend one another and form a team alliance to take me on.

The lesson was "I like _(name of a season)"  and "I was born on ___(date)__." Talks of the alliance started when we played a variation of hot potato with a timer saying the season you liked. If you were left with the beanbag, then the other team scored a point. They were too shy to play without me, so I joined. Once they understood the concept of winning points, they found a loophole, just pass it to Mike. So I was getting a beanbag thrown at my every 2 seconds until the timer went off. I, being the proud man I try to be, was not going to let a bunch of allied 11 year olds conquer my territory. So I decided to declare war and created a Team Mike. The next few games were intense. They took the points systems into their own hands and in one game involving saying your birth date then taking a basketball shot, for some odd reason, my shots were worth less points and were about triple the distance of the Allied Forces'.

So, the class ended with the Allied Forces having a combined score of 25 points, and Team Mike having 2 points. Hanging my head in shame, the girls laughed at me and called me names in Japanese. Regardless, a very busy, but great Saturday schedule.

Now that Spring has officially began to settle in, the flowers are starting to bloom, especially the cherry blossoms, and it's time for Hanami parties. Hanami means flower viewing, hana is flower and mi is to look. People usually gather with friends or family and go to any local park that has flowers, cherry blossoms in particular. Cherry blossoms only have a short blooming life (about 3 weeks) so everyone wants to take advantage and appreciate the flower's beauty. In Japan public intoxication is totally legal, so everyone gathers with food and plenty of drinks and Hanami's it up. Last night I actually saw a group of people doing "Night Hanami" with a big blanket, small spot light, and alot of alcohol. It actually looked really fun because they were just singing and dancing and running around the trees in a drunken craze.

My coworkers were kind enough to invite me to their party on Sunday. We went to a popular park about an hour away from Sasebo. This park actually used to be the grounds of an old castle some time ago. It was cool to experience this event unique to Japanese culture. The park was packed with all ages of people, hanging out and enjoying themselves under the trees. My coworkers are more like a family to me so it's kind of like I'm their child they need to take care of. They were afraid their little foreigner child might get lost or confused or possibly lonely, so they offered me a bathroom buddy when needed or partner if I was going to leave the blanket for a little bit. I also had to call if I didn't return for more than 10 minutes and promise not to accept any sushi rolls from strangers' picnics. We ate, played badminton, played soccer, and drank tea then returned home that afternoon. That evening my friend, his girlfriend, and my other girl friend from the gym came over and we cooked together and watched videos. The one guy has a really funny sense of humor. It's like the same type of weird humor most people from Long Island have, and his girlfriend always has to keep him in line. They're a really good combination though, and extremely caring friends.

I didn't want to write about this in the blog, but I had to vent somewhere. The whole naked thing in the locker room is really starting to get weird. Ok, I understand the whole like comfort thing that it's cool to be naked around other guys because we're all guys or whatever. But I don't care what side of the planet you come from, it's offensive to just drop your drawers within clear sight of the guy next to you and bend into your bag to get your change of clothes. Yes, I'm sorry it's a little graphic, but that's just a crack of the damage my shattering eyes endure every morning when I step foot into that bloody locker room. Whether it's for 1 minute, or 5 minutes, it's unavoidable!

Well, that's all the news for this week. Some other little things are I finally got internet in the house, gambled with some guys at the soccer field for juice boxes, saw a Japanese version of Elvis in the arcade, and ate octopus for lunch. Have a great week talk to you soon!!! Don't forget to try something new this season!

March 22-27

Good morning, evening, night to everyone. 

This week's issue comes with some new drama, suspense, analysis, and food for thought. 

No luck on the naval base access pass yet, but the guy should be back from his trip relatively soon. The good thing is that I can gain access anytime as long as I am with someone who has a pass.

The adult classes were great as usual, and the kids were well behaved. Teaching kids is a good gauge of your own character. They are so honest, it's painful sometimes. If they don't like you, they tell you. If they don't understand you, they start drawing, climbing, or rolling around on the floor. If they see you breaking a nervous sweat, they ask why you're sweating so much. However, if they love you, they are into the lesson 400% more than any adult. 

My Thursday terrorizers have made a complete turn around. One relationship I have with a student is like the relationship with the girl who is so mean but you refuse to give up because you see something within to make her a good person. The pain, the suffering experienced in order to change this student is mind wrenching, but when they come to class one day look at you with a genuine excitement, it's priceless. Some other students drew pictures of me and wrote little thank you notes in Japanese. As a grown man, I almost cried. 

The people at the gym are pretty funny. I made really good friends with one guy and girl who work there; the guy is actually pretty big and is really into powerlifting, and the girl is not big and not into powerlifting. They have been the ones telling others my name and bio because some mid 40s guy with an outrageous half-bleached mullet started talking to me and goaded me to curl the heaviest dumbbells on the rack. Body building is so out of the ordinary here, but people respect anyone as long as they're working hard. As mentioned, cardio is the main attraction and people will finish their hour long aerobics class to run for another hour on the treadmill. The post-workout meal is usually soup and rice, yum. 

Thursday night, my American buddy from San Diego invited me to his friends house because they just bought the new Margarita 5000. When I got to the house, it was a typical 2 story American house, with an American stove, kitchen, living room, and American music playing in the background. My buddy, his two friends (they are all high school teachers for Americans on the naval base) and one coworker's son were all drinking margaritas and eating fish burritos. It was a dream land. They were so welcoming, and shared their own experiences as well as offered me all the drinks and food I could handle. Talk about lucky for me to meet these people. A great experience to make me appreciate where I come from. Not many other countries would not only provide its own country's groceries and furnishings, but buy local land and build an American style house just so their citizen will feel comfortable while living in another country. 

This weekend I played a lot of soccer. I trained at Nimits park (turf field) and practiced some free kicks under the judgement of a bunch of little kids. The pressure was intense. I'm supposed to be a super human adult from America so there were high expectations on each kick. I felt as if I had to keep a bunch of lions from attacking. After a couple of misses, I tried to keep them entertained with juggling tricks and passing the ball to them. The children responded well to the passing and tricks and I was able to safely escape the children's den. 

That night I played futsal (a version of soccer usually played on a gym floor with smaller sized ball and nets). We had 5 v 5 courts and 6 teams total. Each game ran 10 minutes and it was a lot of fun. My night finished pretty successfully with 5 goals netted for my team. 

This Sunday I had an open Sunday, which meant I had to work from 12 - 4 and be prepared to teach free lessons to any prospective students. In order to attract some prospectives, I had to hand out fliers in the arcade (mall) twice this week. The closest thing I can describe handing out fliers to is the experience of perhaps speed dating. In this case, I was the suitor, and my potential dates were the lovely people passing in the arcade.

Some dates were love at first sight. Once eye contact was made, all I had to do was show that flier, and they wanted more. With other dates, the chemistry was just not there. I made a nice friendly gesture, showed what my flier was willing to offer, but they didn't feel comfortable committing to such a relationship. Some played hard to get. We would make eye contact, but they would try to use it to their advantage. They knew what I had to offer, but they were telling me to "come get me". So they would show some distance which would force me to take a few steps towards them to hand that flier. I quickly understood that this relationship was going to take more commitment from me and less from them so I had to show I was not going to be pushed around. The flier came at those with force, and if they couldn't handle the power of the flier, they declined. Finally, there were the socially inept daters. Perhaps a friend or family member sent them out hoping they could start living outside the house. Many appeared to lack basic hygiene skills, such as poorly groomed hair, an outfit that was clearly on its fifth use without washing, and of course the musk of no shower for at least 3 days. Some of these unique types, would either quickly distract themselves with a blank phone screen, or pretend to change a song on their ipod. Others, were in fact so dedicated to being inept they would start to run once they saw me offering fliers. They would stop running when they felt they were a safe distance in which I wouldn't notice, but I did notice, I did. 

Overall, if you plan to do Flier Dating, be prepared for a large amount of rejection. Some rejections hurt more than others, and some rejections are actually by your own choice. The feeling of acceptance from the beautiful date you just won over can be quickly countered by several simultaneous rejections minutes later. My only advice can be to leave your emotions and attachments at home, and just assure yourself it's not you, it's them. 

Next week is another week, and the cherry blossoms are well overdue for blooming. Talk to you soon! Thanks again for reading!

March 14 - 21

Hey everyone. It's been a crazy week in Japan since the earthquake. As most of you know, there has been a lot of talk about the power plants, especially Fukushima, melting down. Many foreigners have left Japan and returned to their home countries, while many Japanese people have fled the area to Osaka and even Sasebo. Many wives and children are seeking temporary refuge with family members who live far away from the quake spots. Meanwhile, the husbands must continue to work and they are fighting through the lack of public transportation to do so everyday. Some people are walking to work in Tokyo from Chiba prefecture. That's like if someone walked from Nassau county to Manhattan everyday to work. I give the people of Japan an incredible amount of credit because they are still waiting on line at the grocery stores, helping others when they can, and focusing on cleaning up the damage as quickly as possible. In the meantime in Southern and Southwestern Japan, in order to avoid a major depression, everyone in the companies is trying even harder to make up for the damage done to the businesses in Tokyo. It's also great to see the Americans stationed here helping out as well. The local naval base has dispatched some ships and have sent servicemen to help with the recovery. This is just another reason why I respect Japanese society.

This week in Sasebo English school has been busy as well. March is the month of prospective students. The school semester in Japan begin in April and ends in Mid Winter. Most people make their "New Years resolutions" in April, so its a good time to recruit new students. My duty as the foreign teacher is to do a quick interview with the prospective by making small chat to sort of gauge their level as well as make them comfortable with me. After the talk, I report to my manager the level I think the student is capable of and she recommends the classes to the prospective. This week we had 5 prospectives and 3 signed up and 2 are doing trial lessons. It's very important to get the prospectives to sign up because a large amount of our school's monthly revenue is based off how many new students we bring in.

It's nice to see new faces in the school to kind of keep things fresh. It's also nice to see faces I'm not so fond of leave. I had to kick two students out of the class on Thursday because they breached the threshold. They were warned, in Japanese, by the head teacher before class. They still did not want to cooperate and during class they started to take all the paper money, magnets, dice, and markers and play with them around the room. When asked to return them into my hand, the students thought it would be a good idea to throw them. As mentioned, reprimanding a Japanese child in English is as if a Filipino curses at a Canadian in Tagalog. It means nothing to them, so I had to kick them out of the class in front of their mothers. After class, my head teacher spoke with the mothers and the students apologized. I really want to teach them, and I really want them to enjoy my class, but when I'm not being respected, it's not going to work. 

On Wednesday, I finally signed up for a cell phone. With the assistance of my coworker, I went to Softbank (the Verizon of Japan) with about $350 cash. I had no intentions of buying anything more expensive than that. The next thing I know, I am asking my coworker to borrow some money because I wanted to buy the iPhone for $460. I guess some things never go as planned, but the great thing is that I can Skype anyone from almost anywhere at all times of day. It really does make life in Japan incredibly easier having a smartphone. I do recommend buying one if anyone plans to live here. I also gave out my email to some of my higher level students because I know they have so much desire to become fluent in English. I only see them once a week and I want to help in any way I can, so I'm willing to answer any questions they may have during the week.

This weekend was nice because for Saturday students it was the last lesson of the semester. This means that many students who are not returning to the school give sweets to the teachers. It's standard tradition in Japan to give a small gift like sweets to a neighbor, teacher, or anyone else when meeting them for the first time and when leaving them. We received some amazing pastries and chocolates! It was great. The old foreign teacher was also in town before he returned to Australia, so I grabbed a drink with him and another teacher after work. 

Life outside of work is really starting to take a turn for the better. Since I got my iPhone, I am able to not only talk with friends from home, but I can actually make friends here and save their numbers. For example, I can chat with the new friends I made at the soccer field last week. The gym has been progressively getting better too. I started going at night to see if I could meet some younger people. At first everyone sort of avoided me because I am in fact the blue guy (remember blue guy from two posts ago?). Once they saw one of their own talking to me and saw that I can speak some Japanese and I won't eat them, many people started talking with me. It's funny because at first I befriended one guy and one girl employee at the gym. Perhaps people saw me and inquired to the employees about me because everyone in the gym now knows my name. It's as if I'm a celebrity; I'll be talking to the employee and this random guy approaches me and says in Japanese, "Hi Michael, you have a nice chest." Extremely flattering and unexpected at the same time. I also can't help but notice in my peripherals eyes watching me when I work out. Ironically, the next time I return to the gym the body of those eyes is doing the same exercise I did the other day! But now that I'm gradually being accepted in the gym, the girls especially become a lot more approachable.

On that note, if you want to meet girls in Japan there are two options. GENERALLY speaking, there is always the bar life where you can try to meet girls who want guys to look at them and meet guys who try to pretend they're tough. Sure those girls may be quite friendly after you buy them 3 drinks, but they're usually not people you stay in contact with in the future. The other approach can be through a group. For example, you can meet a guy (whether it be at a bar or work or the gym) and befriend him. This guy will introduce to his guy and girl friends and you can go out with them and socialize together. These types of girls tend to be a little bit more traditional in the sense that you need to show that you are a good person before they start hanging out with you alone. Either way is fine depending on your lifestyle, but I personally prefer the latter. At the least, you can be friends with the girl, and that's fine too. The other approach to me is more of an all-or-nothing instant gratification approach. I'm not to judge what others' do, bar life is just not my forte.

Monday was another great day for meeting people. I went to the soccer field to train alone for a little bit and I started chatting with some random Japanese guy. Apparently he is a professional sprinter and used to play soccer at a high level too. We trained together for a while and as I was taking a break I started to talk with an American guy who was watching us play. Turns out he's from Woodside in Queens and has been in the service for 27 years. He's lived in Japan for about 10 months and loves it here. Once he heard that I was affiliated with a Japanese company and not the naval base (which means I am not allowed to access the naval base premises) he gave me his email and told me he will try to help me get an access card. This is great because the naval base not only has a lot of Americans, but has a few American food stores, liquor stores, and a really nice basketball court and workout facility. Although I came to Japan to experience Japanese culture, having a little taste of America at such a convenience may be a beautiful option. 

Overall, each week living in Japan is better than the last. My Japanese is gradually improving, but still needs a lot of work. As the weather gets nicer, it will be even easier to be more active and meet new people. As most can agree, having an enjoyable life outside work can be a nice outlet to the energy consuming job. Thank you again for reading my thoughts. Unfortunately when they came to my house to install the internet, they could not gain access to the roof because it was a holiday. So I had to reschedule for another two weeks from now! But the iPhone will keep me sane for the time being. Take care everyone!

March 7 - 13

Hello Everyone! Every week is an adventure! Thankfully my city is on the opposite coast of the earthquake and Tsunami. Thank you everyone for the good wishes thank you I love you all.

This week is going to be in 2 day blocks with the last a 3 day block.

March 7 & 8: My day started with an interesting twist on Monday afternoon. As I was walking back from the internet cafe, an older gentleman on his bicycle was furiously crossing the intersection before the light changed. Apparently he did not take notice of the curb and as he approached the walk way he sideswiped the curb and flipped off his bike onto the pavement. I ran over and when I asked if he was okay, the only response was a drunken groan. The smell of alcohol and the intoxicated slur that came out was enough for me to not bother trying to help. 

Having an atypical work schedule can be a damper on social life in Japan, or in any place for that matter. Whereas most young adults to middle aged have work or school from about 8AM to 5PM, I work from 12PM to 9PM. Furthermore, most people have the normal Saturday and Sunday weekend, mine is Sunday and Monday. For example, I have yet to meet any of my neighbors in my apartment because most of them leave for work while I'm still asleep.

Tuesday morning was the first weekday experience of the gym. Generally speaking, gyms in Japan are quite different from gyms in America. American gyms consist of about 70% weights and machines, with 30% being treadmills and classes. There are some Golds Gym's established in Tokyo and Kansai area, but for the most part, gyms in Japan are almost like sports clubs. My gym has 3 floors: the bottom floor has a pool, racquetball court, and a mini indoor driving range. The second floor consists of one large room with classes running all day, and the work out floor with about 75% spin bikes and treadmills. There are only a handful of machines, almost all of them being for legs, one smith machine, one flat bench, two free benches, and dumbbells that go up to about 80lbs. The third floor has a tennis court. Within the locker room there is also a really big tub, sort of like a mini hot spring. This would all be great for me to use but unfortunately if I want to keep my membership at this gym I cannot swim or use the tub because members are not allowed to have tattoos. Tattoos are considered gang related in Japan. Although people respect foreigners with tattoos because they know its a different culture, the rules are rules, and no tattoos means no tattoos; typical Japanese. So, if you enjoy running, yoga, biking, and other aerobics with clean skin, then you've come to the right place! If you came for body building and gang battles, then maybe a job on the American naval base might be better. Oh yea, and indoor shoes are a necessity, no outside dirt allowed. And wipe down the machine or dumbbell after every use.

As for class on Tuesday, that one crazy kids class is becoming more of a lost cause each week. Some students in that class are not destined to excel in English, and I'm slowly coming to terms with that.

March 9 & 10:There are pros and cons to this morning workout thing. The good side is that the morning members are the average age of perhaps 68 years old, which means the free weights and smith machine are left for me. Also, it's pretty easy to stand out in the crowd so it draws some attention from the employees and it's a good opportunity to talk with some of the girl workers. The bad side is the locker room. Apparently there is less shame or self consciousness or whatever you'd like to call it for the other man in the locker room here in Japan. I was sitting in front of my locker and the guy next to me decided to drop his drawers clearly within my sight. To be honest, it's pretty offensive because of the lack of consideration of the damage that is done to my eyes. 

Wednesday classes were great and I think I won over the 3 year old girl who was notorious for giving the last teacher problems. 

Thursday's food for thought: Doing activities while walking. For example, smoking, eating, or drinking while walking is frowned upon in Japan. For us back in New York, we are possibly the best multi-tasking humans in the world. Walking, drinking and talking with the cellphone on speaker because we need to look up directions on our IPhone is but a normal task for New Yorkers. Both sides of the argument hold their strength. One side comes with fast paced living and performing many activities in the shortest amount of planned time. The other, taking a minute to have a seat and enjoy a smoke and think about life is a beautiful thing. Savoring life by doing isolated activities is great. But who is to say those multi-taskers aren't trained to savor their activities just as much? What do you think about this?

The two devils in the Thursday kids class were threatened by all the Japanese teachers before class. They were still pretty horrible; one of them was saying some really irritating things to me in Japanese. The good thing is that the kids class in the next class are amazing and they help me forget about devil boy quickly.

I went for a quick walk around town today to scope out a sports complex I saw on my hike last week. There is an American park within the Japanese park. The American park has a turf soccer field, turf baseball field, skatepark, beach volleyball court, and bbq area! The Japanese park surrounds the American park with cherry blossom trees that are going to bloom in about 3 weeks.

March 11, 12, 13: The Friday/Saturday shift is such a blur. Friday is teaching from 1PM to 9PM straight with a 1 hour break. Then it's lesson prep for Saturday, return home at about 10PM, then come back the next morning at 9:30. Saturday is classes straight from 10AM to 6PM. The good thing is that it is over before you know it, the bad thing is that two days just went by before you even knew it! 

For English teachers, the party night is usually Saturday night. So how did I spend my fine Saturday night you ask? At the gym. No drinking, just good hard sweating and exercising. 

Sunday was probably the best day I have had in Japan. I went to the American park , "Nimitz Park", to see who was playing soccer. The park was made to help establish a relationship between the 6000 Americans who live on the naval base and the local Japanese citizens. It's a great idea because the park is flooded with Japanese families, American families, Japanese/American mix families, and tons of people around my age. 

There were some Japanese kids playing on one side and an American guy training on the other. I couldn't resist. I ran to the local soccer shop, bought new boots, socks, a ball and a pump. I hurried home, got changed and returned to the pitch. The pitch is beautiful; there is an amazing view of both mini mountains of Sasebo and the turf is incredible. After training for about an hour, an American guy came over and I started talking with him. Apparently they had a game against a local Japanese team starting soon. He was a really cool guy from San Diego who works as a High School teacher for the American kids on base. He invited me to play with them and I joined their team for the match. We destroyed them 7-2, but that was only a small part of the fun.

Afterwards, we had a huge barbecue with REAL AMERICAN FOOD! The naval base imports its chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, pretty much anything you could think of from back home. So at one grill we had chicken and burgers cooking up, while at the other the Japanese guys were cooking yakisoba, or grilled noodles. It was a dream come true: eating my favorite Bubba Burgers while speaking Japanese with the my new friends. The American guys from the base, and the Japanese guys and girls were really great people. The first guy I met from San Diego said he'll help show me the ropes with the bars and good places to meet cool people. And of course it was great to make Japanese friends, especially cute girls who like soccer. We exchanged numbers and emails at the end of the day. 

I made it this far away to the other side of the world following the things that interest me most, and once again I followed my strongest passion in sports and working out, and I found the right people. So far so good, if I have a dream, I'll follow it and it will guide me to the right place. Don't be afraid to step out of the comfort box every once in a while, you never know what you might find! 

 Thank you for reading. Spring is soon! No more cold weather : ) 

Feb 28 - March 5

This week's post is a summary of events, emotions, thoughts, and plans. Since we last spoke, I was a few days away from receiving the alien registration card, classes were going well, and my Lakers were at the top of the table mid-season in NBA 2K11. 

I shall start with the kids classes. Tuesday's terrorizers were better this week, but that's not saying much. Thursday came with a bit of a surprise because one of the students decided to be absolutely out of control the entire lesson. For example, he felt the need to try to climb on everything, take all my markers out and start drawing on the board, take all the magnets and throw them at me, and kick the other students. It can become extremely frustrating reprimanding kids because what I say carries no meaning compared to being reprimanded in Japanese. The pre-school kids in particular are changing at such a pace that the cute quiet girl last month could be the new terror this month. However, the child is not always out of control because of privileged treatment at home, it can be because the child doesn't understand what is going on in the lesson. That's something I need to work on because if the child understands my instructions and points I'm trying to introduce, they might not feel out of place and will want to participate. That doesn't mean it will work on all students and those who still refuse to participate can roll around on the floor like maniacs all they want. 

What really helped was the feedback I received from my Head Teacher who observed one of my kids lessons on Thursday. She suggested some techniques on certain areas of the lesson as well as for student control. They proved extremely affective because my Friday and Saturday students demonstrated a much higher retention of the material. I really noticed signs of fulfillment in their eyes. I am quite lucky to have really great coworkers.

Moving onto adult lessons, this week was really useful for building a niche with my students. They had two weeks to analyze my personality and presentation as a new teacher. Now it was time to start connecting with them. Many Japanese adults who are learning English are really successful individuals. One woman is a retired Architect who wants to travel the world and communicate with those who speak English. She also plans to live in Canada this Summer for 3 months. I have two college professors who are extremely intelligent men; one of them must be a physicist or mathematician because he's questions always require precise answers which is quite a bit of pressure to be honest. There is also a man who owns a movie theater who studies because he wants to know all the native speakers' nuances he hears in his movies. Possibly one of the most unique reasons I heard was from a young lady who is learning because she wants to go to Disney World and speak fluently with Mickey. They all have different self fulfilling reasons, but seem to make the same flabbergasted face when I tell them my age. The previous teacher was a 35 year old math, science, and English teacher who knew the absolute technicalities of English. Now they are faced with a 23 year old American "young buck" who only teaches based off experience with the language. I hope they don't figure out my secret that I don't know any linguistic terminology besides morphology, phonology and syntax : ).

Oh, and when I gave the response to my student about the "food" and "foods" question, stating that since it is a category that covers many things (just like furniture, tableware, silverware, etc.) it is used as singular. So of course his response came back as, "Oh ok, but what about sports? 'I have alot of sports to play.'" All I could say was, "GENERALLY speaking they are singular, English is full of irregularities, let's move on."

Another lesson this week proved to be very successful. We were discussing invitations and the final task was creating a party invitation. We brainstormed as a class and many ideas were really creative; some were cherry blossom viewing, hiking, barbecue, tacoyaki, and gardening. One student, Masashi, decided he wanted to have a Girls Only Plus Masashi Party on the beach in the summer at his house. So the girl sitting next to him decided to make her party the All Girls Definitely Not Masashi Allowed Party at the local karaoke bar. Japanese people are not all as shy as it may be perceived.  It's all a matter of creating a comfortable environment for anyone, nonetheless this one being one in English, and they start drawing out great ideas. 

On Friday I went with one of my coworkers to pick up the Alien Registration card. We also went to the bank and the gym. Signing up at the gym and bank was really fun, because I had my coworker as a translator for any cloudy spots in the conversation. The applications are of course in Japanese, so it's best to know how to at least write your name and address in Japanese and read somewhat simple instructions. These tasks may prove impossible without any knowledge of Japanese and may be overwhelming. So for me, who has been labeled as chuugakkou ichi nen sei (middle school first year) level, it was good to have a security blanket when signing up. 

After feeling confident about sign-up procedures, I decided to go by myself to the cable company to sign up for internet on Sunday. The first words I used were an apology for being a beginner at Japanese. The woman laughed and was extremely helpful from there. From what I THINK I understood, I bought a cable modem with a really good speed that will be installed on March 20th. 

Saturday I was asked out on a date! By a guy. After class one of my students asked me if I wanted to get dinner together with him. In America this would have absolutely been considered a date, but in America guys don't carry "man-bags" and keep themselves as manicured and pedicured as women like they do in Japan. I knew his intentions were only friendly, but I still had to keep my guard up to be safe, I am not a cheap date. We dropped in at the same restaurant I went to last week, and Youichi-san (chef and owner) served some awesome food again. I was able to draw a hetero-conclusion once we got to talking about past relationships. He's a real cool guy and it was nice to make friends with a local.

Final highlights on an overall nice week. Lost some sleep because of over analyzing things, won the NBA Championship on XBox, noticed that all toilets have a "big flush" and "small flush" feature, and broke 2 dozen eggs in two days; one dozen I dropped my bag the moment I exited the store. The second dozen on the next day I fell down the stairs on the crosswalk in the rain, perfect timing in front of a cute girl too. 

Living in a foreign land is still great, but at times can feel isolating. May feel frustrating at times because there is still a language barrier to an extent. And not for anything, I'm a half-Italian half-Scottish white guy trying to fit in with a mostly hegemonic culture. I don't blame those who aren't interested in socializing with the different guy, because its like if a kid with blue skin moved next door to me back in New York. Yea he's different which could make people interested in knowing how he became blue, or arrived in New York, but there is still that select group who wishes not to participate with blue guy. 

Have a great week! Internet will be in the apartment in two weeks! Cheers.