July 11

Whats up everyone. The Rainy Season has officially ended in Kyushu, which means sunny days and scattered t-storms for the next two months. Japan summer is pretty brutal: the first half is consumed with pouring rain, tsunami-like winds, and a humidity index averaging about 90% (New York averages about 75%). The second half of summer is super hot, usually about 90 degrees each day and really humid. So if you ever come here in the summer, I suggest packing minimal layers and a few towels for the sweat.

After a nice long week of work, Sat night I hit the gym hard then went to a friends house for some drinks. At the gym, there were two new instructors hired this week. You can see the energy in one guy like it's his "new job" so he's making a super impression to his superior. It's kind of entertaining counting the laps he does around the treadmills trying to make it look like he is making sure everyone is "on the right track". He even takes the initiative to start dusting the machines (empty or while in use). I can tell he is a bit eager to talk with the "foreign guy" because every time he passes on his lap, he stops and watches then when I look at him he scurries away like a squirrel.

Sunday was time for a mountain climbing adventure in the sun. Lately I've been dying for some New York beach action, so on this day all that was on my mind was getting some sort of form of color, be it red or bronze. Unfortunately during the hike we spent a large amount of time in the forest, but the sun was shining bright on the top. The American boy's hiking gear consisted of basketball shorts, Nike Shocks, a white T-Shirt, and a grocery bag consisting of a water, chicken sandwich, and 5 bananas. Whereas my Japanese counterpart had boots, pants, long-sleeved shirt, hat, sunglasses, gloves, compass, backpack, sunscreen...... I was ill equipped to say the least.

As we were hiking I couldn't help but think about the random conversation I had with the gang of ojii-chan (grandpas) that were hanging outside the supermarket this morning. Normally back home I would walk out of Waldbaums with my groceries and spot a bunch of smug high school kids smoking cigarettes and rolling around in shopping carts outside, but the norm in New York differs slightly from the norm in Japan. Those smug teens are in school on Sundays, so instead there are ojii-chan hanging outside smoking cigarettes and sitting on their mopeds talking about how hot it is outside. I figured I'd take a seat and wait for my friend on the bench and before I knew it one of the ojii-chan started talking with me. I asked him what his job was and he said he was a truck driver (no surprise by the looks of him) and said he was getting ready to play some pachinko. Pachinko, oh how do I put it, in Layman's terms, the poor man's slot machine. It's a ridiculously addicting game, some (working) people spend up to 10 hours a day at this place. Check out this quick clip to get a glimpse of the game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H78VLPqfbfI . So anyway, we're talking about a few other random things, our conversation led to him telling me I need to find a nice girl here because she will take good care of me and then I was on my way to the mountain. It was just one of those "Did that really happen?" moments.

So after the mountain we stopped by some ceramic places because ceramics are really prominent in this region of Japan, thanks to all the trade and commerce with China and Korea back in the day. Funny story someone told me was that Japanese people would take a boat to Korea, find the best artisans in the villages in Korea, then kidnap them and bring them back to Japan. Back in Japan, these Koreans were forced to make all kinds of ceramics and live there. I guess that's one way to "borrow" another place's culture, and why there's a pretty big Korean population in this area. After shopping, we stopped by a hot spring then finished the night at a curry restaurant.

Today I had to go to Nagasaki city (about an hour and half by bus) in order to get my re-entry permit for my visa. This is REALLY important for someone who goes to a foreign country with a working visa. My working visa is valid for 3 years, but if I am to leave the country, I must have a re-entry permit. This permit allows you to leave the country and come back while still maintaining your original visa. Without this permit, if you were to leave you wouldn't be allowed back in the country with that visa. SO, you can enter under a tourist visa to pick up your stuff from your apartment and bring it back home because you now have to reapply for a new working visa and receive it which can take up to 4 months. I met up with one of my friends and she helped me get the permit. Afterwards we walked around for a bit just to grab some food in Chinatown then I headed home. Although it was my first time in Nagasaki, it was way too hot to enjoy the sights and my body was still recovering from yesterdays hike. It's closer than Fukuoka, so it's much easier to access for a weekend trip in the future.

Nagasaki is a really unique city. In 1633 until about 1850 Japan enforced a strong closed door policy in which no foreigner could enter and no Japanese could leave the country under penalty of death. Those who were limited to trade were the Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, and Koreans, where the only port allowed to trade at was in Nagasaki. This brought in the ceramics that are prominent in Nagasaki and Saga (next prefecture) prefectures, Christianity, Western architectural ideas, and various other cultural artifacts. Although Nagasaki suffered severe bombing during WWII, downtown Nagasaki city managed to be restored somewhat easily. The original Portuguese style walk ways still remain and many buildings constructed by Portuguese and Dutch design have been restored. There's also a tram that runs through the city. Although the city felt the A-bomb, many cities (including Sasebo) in Nagasaki prefecture suffered heavy damage during WWII. After the war the government planted many new pine trees in the mountains and areas that burned down. Unfortunately, the planting was poorly planned and too many trees were planted too close and too symmetrical in order, which led to a very unnatural and weak growth for the trees. Not to mention Japan started to shift their focus on importing trees for house rebuilding and soon paid less attention to their recovering forests. As a result, many trees here are really tall with only green or pines flourishing at the top of their frail bodies.


That's it for this week's post. Some boring history notes T_T and mountain climbing. Talk to you again soon!

July 4th

Happy 4th of July everyone, I hope everyone enjoys one of the best holidays of the year in the U.S. As you would imagine, the holidays here are quite different, so I didn't get to experience 4th of July or Memorial Day. In the meantime, Japan did celebrate Children's Day on May 5th. Children's day is, as the name indicates, a day to celebrate the youth of Japan. Those who have children hang carp-shaped flags outside their house. It's a nice holiday to observe because all over town families are gathered doing various activities together (going to the park, barbecuing, shopping, picnic etc.) Most fathers in Japan tend to work early mornings until late nights and don't really have much time to spend with their kids during the week. So you can tell they were really happy to be together with the family. This week on July 7th is Tanabata, a holiday originated from an ancient Chinese legend about a princess and a shepherd. Their love interfered with their duties and they were banished to the Milky Way. So there is only one day of the year they can meet, which is July 7th. They can only meet if it's a clear day. The custom is for participants to write their wish on colored paper streamers and hang them on the bamboo trees. If it is a clear day their wish will come true.

In regards to the family in Japan,  it's really traditional in the sense that fathers work and mothers are the homemakers. For one, men here have too much pride to allow their wife to be making more money than them. But also, most of the Japanese business world is still making a transition into a mixed gender working society where women are more than just a secretary or front desk clerk. Due to this, many traditional minded businessmen are not quite ready to accept a women as their coworker. Furthermore, it also tends to lead to sexual harassment problems. The mothers here are top quality mothers nonetheless. You can tell that the most important thing on their mind is their child's welfare and success.

These days, most young women either go to University or find a job after high school. Those who find a job after high school tend to do normal office work until they get married, then they usually commit to preparing for a family. This may be part of the reason why Japanese people get married and start a family much earlier than Americans. Women who go to University can be a little more free to make decisions such as to try to start a family after graduating or taking advantage of a University education and finding a higher career and such.

Returning to the earlier point about getting married early, this view has some differences from American culture. Many women living in Japan and Korea, largely due to cultural pressures, try to get married and start a family before reaching 30 years old. Of course men and women in America may start to feel pressured once reaching their late 20s, but it seems that there is a lot more pressure on women living in these societies. Once they reach the second half of their 20s, it seems as the "marriage clock" starts to tick. After they reach their 30s, people may start wondering, "Oh what's wrong with her? Maybe she has issues that's why she's not married yet." Whereas in America many people use their twenties as a time to decide whats the best choice for their future, those in Japan are apt to make one decision and stick with it. Although these days it is starting to change, it's very "Japanese" for a man to choose one career, and stick with it until he retires, whether he likes it or not. The simple explanation is that it's steady and safe. So comparing to America where many people in their late twenties decide to go back to school or quit their current job to try something else, that idea tends to be a little farfetched here in Japan.

A bunch of my friends from the gym and soccer team are actually in their 30s, if not early 40s. One guy owns a repair shop and has 2 kids. He doesn't speak a word of English, but always acts like my "senpai" and pays for food whenever we go out after the gym, or buys like small gifts as like a token of his respect. At first it was really strange when he refused to let me pay, because I started thinking he was trying to take me on a date or something, but I made sure he knew my preference for women right away. And once I found out he had a family, I noticed that he was just acting like an older brother because he knows I live here alone. I'm good friends with another girl from the gym who was very easy to befriend considering she loves house music just like I do. But one of my closest friends here in Sasebo is my coworker who is also a health and wellness promoter. She is originally from Chiba (just outside of Tokyo) and lived in Arizona for four years as a high school student. She lives in Sasebo now teaching aerobics, yoga, English as well as all types of health and wellness programs. Thanks to her, I've been able to go that yoga house featured in my pictures, some really cool hiking spots, sea kayaking and eaten her amazing cooking. I also have a few buddies who I met playing soccer when I first got here. Since then I've joined a futsal team and play games when my working schedule permits.

Speaking of generosity, I cannot express the kindness people have in Kyushu. Maybe its because I don't live in a big city, but the people I met are so kind. Most of those that I have met, come to understand my intentions very quickly. Perhaps because I try to express myself in their language to them and tell them my reasoning for living in Japan, but whatever the reason, they show great respect in return. For example, I went to a sushi restaurant with my repair shop friend and started talking with the chef. Just for the record, there are two types of sushi restaurants in Japan: One, the more popular because it's much cheaper, is called kaiten sushi. The restaurant is a bar with the chefs in the middle. The seats surround the chefs and so does this moving track. On this track there are various types of sushi on plates that gradually pass by. You are free to select any plate off this track, or you can directly order from the chef. Each plate consists of 2 pieces of sushi ( the kind with rice and a piece of raw fish on top, not the roll type ) and each plate usually costs $1~2.50. The other is a more traditional type sushi restaurant. There is a bar to sit at, but there are also booths for a more intimate experience. The food at this restaurant resembles that from the sushi restaurants in New York. Not to mention the sushi at these types of restaurants tastes a world better than kaiten sushi. However, taste comes with a price, and this taste is quite expensive. Anyway, we got to chatting with the chef about some random things. I did my best to at least understand the general meaning of most of the conversations we had, but I still have some more studying to do. After some time I started telling him about why I'm here and what my ultimate goals are. He told me to hold on for a second, and comes back with a huge bottle of sweet potato sake and says in English, "Free gift for you."

The next week I saw one of my students, about a 65 year old retired guy, at the gym and we always joke about him working out with me. After his workout he came back with a huge bottle of plum sake and gave it to me as a gift. I'm not really sure what I did to deserve it, but it was a really nice thing to do.

The hospitalities from most people have been incredible, but that doesn't mean it comes from everyone. Some of those who tend to have a more "conservative" mind, may prefer to not have someone like me around. I've felt these kind of hospitalities playing soccer, going to stores and at one point at my gym. In regards to soccer, the style of soccer in Japan is very different from that in America. Whereas American soccer is extremely physical, aggressive and is played with a very direct style, Japanese soccer tends to have less contact and is more of a touch and go style. So at times when I played local friendlies if I made an "aggressive" challenge I'd be reprimanded by my teammates, and also talked down to by other players. They talk to me in a different tone and different style of speech than they do with other players and it's pretty obvious they think differently of me. In that case if it's someone from the opposing team, I don't plan on changing my style of play, it's more motivation to be more aggressive and frustrate them more, friendly match or not.

The worst encounter I had was at the gym. It seemed as if every week the people at the front desk were nagging me about something, but no one else. Maro came to visit in April and when he wanted to work out with me, after the 3rd time they told him he was not allowed to pay the $5 dollar fee, he had to pay $60 if he wanted to work out. Since then they were constantly asking me about payments as if they didn't trust me. Perhaps they had a bad experience with a foreigner in the past, but it was really annoying. I recently upgraded my membership and they kept asking me if I would be "able" to make the payments, although my salary probably doubles theirs. Each time they had to confront me about a situation, they would start speaking really quickly and then say, "is this ok?" And if I didn't understand they would just say, "Japanese is difficult, isn't it." I started to feel like WTF I wanted to grab the little 90lb guy by his neck and beautiful hair that took him probably several hours to perm before work and shake him until he stopped talking down to me because I always came with a smile and tried to speak politely with them. I assume they have no experience studying a foreign language, nor have they traveled because most people who have done so understand how difficult it can be at times to communicate ideas just through words and not with body language, paper, pictures, nothing. So I brought my yoga friend down their one night and she talked with them about the "payment" situation just to clear things up and they finally seemed to understand my intentions. Since then I get greeted with a deep bow and a "Hello Fiore-sama" from the front desk. Madness I tell you.

Overall, people who are different than the general public will always be perceived slightly differently. This doesn't mean they will be treated differently. If you want to be treated differently, then you should act differently. Those who want to be treated with respect just have to carry it with themselves. One of the best ways to remedy a hostile situation can be just with a simple smile. Generally speaking, those who cry that they get treated differently because they look different are targeting the wrong reason why they are being mistreated. Take advantage of that difference, and make people want to feel like they want to know more about you, not feel like you fit their "prejudice checklist".


Thanks for the read everyone. Enjoy your week!

By the way, if anyone has a linkedin account, please let me know! I just started one.

June 20

こんばんは.ポスト遅れてごめんなさい！最近仕事はドンドン忙しくなったし、仕事の外に色々な用事をしないといけなかったが、今から日本の生活に慣れてきたと思う。佐世保に住んでる人はすごくやさしいで、友達にできやすい！

仕事は日本的な会社だから、本部はポンポン命令を下しているけど、僕はそんなことあんまり心配しない。僕の考え方は、仕事の合否がどのくらい毎日一生懸命するかよる。

Hey everyone, I'm sorry for the late post. Lately work has gotten really busy, and outside of work I had many things to do, but now I feel that I have become accustomed to living in Japan. The people who live in Sasebo are so kind; it is so easy to make friends. Because my my job is a typical Japanese company, I receive many orders from the head office but I don't worry about those things. My mindset is my success with my job depends on how hard I try everyday. 

So, the last time we left each other was after Golden week vacation. After returning to work that week things started to really get hectic. My assistant manager had been gone for about 3 weeks, and my head kids teacher just left for maternity leave. So from that point on it was 5 people's responsibilities being taken care of by 3 people; myself, my manager, and my head teacher. The head office started sending down emergency teachers to cover the classes we couldn't, and still have been because they can't seem to find a replacement for our kids head teacher [although people tend to know a year in advance that their employee will have a kid, just sayinnggg : ) ]. In short, tensions at work started to rise. 

If you know Mike, then you know Mike likes to eat. Mike likes to eat about 3 times at work with his nicely well-balanced meals packed neatly into his lunch containers. If Mike is delegated these mere 5-10min to enjoy his meals, then he is happy and is willing to do anything in return (for all you ladies, the key to my heart is quite simple, and in some circumstances, microwavable). However, due to the lack of assistance, Mike was using his eating time to conduct interviews, write advice sheets, do lobby talk with students, and so on. When Mike finally did start getting his time to eat, he met the horns of a bull on a fine afternoon. He had just finished a class at the time, and was making a quick switch of material for the next class in 10 minutes. At that moment as he entered the office, his manager, with smoke coming out of her ears, asked Mike to speak for a moment. She directed his attention to the small kitchen and made him look into the sink. She said in a cold tone, "Mike, is this your rice in the sink?" Mike thinking, who else eats in this school besides me, politely responded, " Why yes, what's the matter?" "Well," stated the manager as she inhaled deeply, "YOU CAN'T BE LEAVING YOU'RE RICE IN THE SINK, it's very dirty. You must collect your rice and put it in this little net here. All extra food goes in this net, then when there is enough collected, you must wrap it up then securely place it the garbage can. All that for a couple grains of rice, eh. thought Mike. 

So instead of doing such a tedious task, for the next few days he just threw his extra rice or whatever bits of leftover food into the garbage can. He was safe, so he thought. Until that day came one week later. This time it came at lunch hour. Mike was eating his vegetables and chicken quietly at the table when the manager asked for a moment to speak. Mike thought, she has nothing on me this time. She led him to the kitchen once again and opened the garbage can. "Mike, you can't be putting your extra crumbs in the garbage can like this! The garbage can will start to smell, and then it will start to smell in the entire school and the students will become very angry." "OK," said Mike, "I will never do it again." Although the garbage was changed every day, it's nearly impossible for a few grains of rice to make an entire school smell like a garbage dump within hours, he thought. But that's not a battle worth fighting. Mike didn't care for arguing with his manager, especially because he was still waiting for the approval of the time for his brother's wedding. In the meantime, Mike was reprimanded for being forgetful with his pens, putting the signs away, and for breaking the plug on the light outside because he apparently pulled too hard on the duct taped tattered plug that happened to take its finally unplugging by the hands of Mike. 

The day finally came when Mike received a response on his vacation time. This had been a well anticipated few months because it was always in the back of his mind if he'd ever be allowed to return for the wedding. The result was positive, but not what he fully requested. They approved 3 days; Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  He was not given a fourth day Wednesday (the day of the rehearsal dinner) because that was absolutely maniacal to ask for four days in a row. But regardless, the good thing is that he can return for the most important day, the wedding day.

After the accumulation of events, Mike started to feel pretty down about his job. The honeymoon was over, 3 months had passed, it was time to start seeing things in a new light. Life outside work was absolutely fantastic (this will be covered in Chapter 2 later this week), but going to work was just getting more and more frustrating. No matter how hard he smiled when he walked in those doors at noon, he left with sad and disheartened sentiments that night. He just wanted to feel appreciated at work. He was willing to do anything that was requested of him during that time in school, as long as it came with a thank you at the end. Seeing a lack of that was bringing down his motivation. 

Then the weekend of May 23rd finally came, he was ready to relax and get his mind off work. BUT WAIT, he had forgotten, his weekend was to be cut short because on Monday (his typical day off) he had to go to Fukuoka (city 2 hrs away by bus) for follow up training. The camel's back was already broken, it was limping with a cane at this point, ready for surgery.

At Honbu, Mike met with another teacher from Fukuoka for follow up training. He also saw his trainer, the well respected and very caring guy from the Philippines and California. The 3 of them talked about complaints and issues faced since coming to Japan. They vented stresses to one another because no matter how hard the recruiters back in the States painted the picture before coming to Japan, it was impossible to grasp until actually experiencing it. It's very easy to feel singled out, used, or taken advantage of when being "locked" under a contract and the only one capable of certain tasks at the school. This feeling could lead to self inflicted pain, or loneliness, which Mike strove to stay away from as much as possible. He had made a promise two years ago to never blame himself or take depression onto himself, because that would only lead to more, deeper suffering. He had seen that side of the world before, and it was not a place to return to. That moment in training Mike hit a new switch, and was prepared, no matter what, to not let this feeling continue. It was time to take positive and productive thoughts back home, back to school and no matter how hard others around him try to bring him down, his defense was going to be hard-work and a smile. A smile may perhaps be the strongest defense, it doesn't require any words, it's quite simple in fact. But as long as it's always on, others tend to feel less inclined to bring you down. 

He returned to school that week with a new energy, and has since been fighting everyday to bring out the best in everyone around him. There is only so much he can do, but as long as he knows he is doing his best, there can be no regrets whatsoever.

Stay tuned for Chapter 2, "Outside Living" to be released this week!

Thank you so much for reading. Talk to you soon. 

April 30 - May 11

Golden week came last week April 29 and I finally got my first vacation. What's kind of frustrating about this job is that they don't really allocate enough "time off" for their employees. Generally speaking, if you work for a Japanese company, you should expect to work more than the designated time slots. You most likely won't be working a typical 9 - 5 shift; it's more of a 9 - 6 or 6:30, sometimes later. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that Japanese companies are more efficient. It seems people stay later trying to finish work they most likely could have finished during the day. Just comparing to my experience working in the States, the mindset was in most cases "Finish the tasks designated to you, then you're done."It was more of a work really hard to finish what you had to do then you could relax a bit. When I shared this idea with some people I know here, they thought it was a rather odd concept. They said if you're finished with your designated tasks, then more work will be given. Of course we have the same thing in the States, but the important thing for our "system" is that if the boss comes by to check on you, just don't tell him you're completely done! Ironically enough some people focus so hard on not getting dealt extra work that they don't finish their original assignment  in time.

 My company is doing really well in regards to finances. But as most can agree, sometimes there seems to be a one sided view on things as the employee. I work the same amount of hours as any teacher, and anyone who has done such a job understands you can get really burnt out. The only problem here is that there isn't really any time to recover. Sometimes when that weekend finally comes you realize you were assigned to work an open Sunday for 4 or 5 hours. Furthermore, we are only given three 1 week vacations the entire year, whereas most teachers receive Spring, Winter, Christmas, and a 2 month Summer vacation. With this said, I can understand how the average time at this company is about 1.5 years. The teaching and lesson structures themselves are amazing, but there seems to be a lack of consideration for the teacher's stamina and durability.

This week was the first vacation, which was well looked forward to. Friday and Saturday I spend a lot of time playing soccer. Sunday I went back to Fukuoka to see  the Spring flowers in Samurai Park (I visited in February). In Fukuoka after the park I went to a yatai food stall and met a couple of people from Cali. As expected, they were really laid back and we went out drinking for the rest of the night. Monday I returned to Sasebo for a soccer game. Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the hot spring to relax and had another outdoor soccer game. Thursday was preparation for work on Friday and Friday was back on the grind. The good thing was that work was only Friday and Saturday that week. Next week starts new classes and schedule. It looks like I'm teaching 6 classes Tuesday Thursday and Friday and 7 classes on Wednesday and Saturday. That's just enough time to fit in a lunch break : D. 

Besides work, studying and learning Japanese has been really enjoyable. It seems like at each level of proficiency there appears a road block in the way. Once that road block is reached, it requires a certain amount of energy and discomfort forced on the brain to acquire the new material in order to break down the road block. Then it's time to move on. Sometimes the language becomes difficult. For example, in English we use the verb to wear that can be applied to any thing you put on your body (hat, shirt, shoes, socks, pants etc.) but in Japanese you use a different verb depending on the article you art putting on. Wearing pants is different from wearing a hat which is different from wearing a bracelet which is different from wearing glasses. Of course there is the Kanji part of it which requires a ridiculous amount of time to remember (if you are not Chinese of course). 

Just a quick clarification: The Kanji are the intricate characters that are the same as Chinese characters. So anyone who speaks Chinese may have an idea what the Kanji means, but not how it's pronounced. The big difference between Chinese and Japanese comes with Japanese's separate alphabets Hiragana and Katakana. Katakana is an alphabet used strictly for foreign derived words. For example, the English word cake is converted to a Japanese written way ケーキ and pronounced ke e ki (sounds like kehhki). Hiragana is a simplified alphabet for original words. Not every adult can read Kanji, and of course most kids have not even learned certain Kanji yet, so this helps simplify the Kanji for those who do not know. If the kanji is written as 島 then at times you may see the Hiragana writing above it saying "しま”。In English its pronounced as "shima", which means island. 

Kanji are really important because there are many words that are spelt the same in Hiragana but pronounced differently. But someone who looked at it on paper wouldn't know the difference, so drawing it in Kanji helps differentiate. For example: bridge is written as はし(hashi), and chopsticks is also written as はし(hashi). The only way to differentiate the two in written language would be through Kanji. Therefore we have 橋 for bridge and 箸 for chopsticks

Some words don't even have Kanji, so they are written in Hiragana. Also, most 

verbs are a combination of Kanji and Hiragana. 

So if I wrote the same word in each of the three ways they would look like this:

Hiragana: にほんじん

Katakana:ニホンジン

Kanji:日本人

That's the basic difference between the three alphabets. Ah I'm late for work!!!! Talk to you again soon!

This was not the most positive post I had, but sorry it wasn't the best of weeks : ) 

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!