Look out weekend 'cause here I come

Thumping music, and slick DJs....who doesn't love that song? My weekend is here after a week of work. My days off are Thursdays and Fridays. On Thursday Hitomi and I hung out with her sister. For most of the day we were in Shizuoka and the other smaller cities that are next to it. That night we eat Korean BBQ for dinner. If you have never had Korean BBQ...find a place that has it and try it! It's an odd set-up if you have never seen it before. YOU have to cook your own food! I mean you buy the meat, veggies and what not from the place and you eat there but YOU do all the work! It might sound odd to anyone who has not had it but TRUST me it's really good eats! I was a little sad after eating and drinking. I wished that my family could have been there with me to share in the fun that I had. Maybe it was the cheap beer or maybe it was just me feeling sad, but the night ended on a bit of a somber and uneasy note for me. I felt bad because my family couldn't have fun with me. I am sure that part of it was me being a little home sick and what not.
On Friday morning, I talked on the computer with my sisters. (By the way, Skype is one of the GREATEST programs ever written! You can talk overseas FOR FREE!) One of my sisters was not doing well she said that she missed me a lot. It made my heart hurt but I made the best effort get my sister (and myself) to look at the good times we had when I was in Fresno. It has been tough for me, but my wife has been telling me to try be positive about everything.
After the talk with my sister I headed out for a little day trip to a temple called Hattasan. It was in city about 25 miles from where I live. It was built in 725 A.D. for a dude named Shomu, well he wasn't just a dude, he was an emperor. Anyway, it is a temple for a religion called Shingoshu. And people go to the temple for certain ages in their life (example: womens "bad" ages are 19 and 32). After you visit the temple you eat Yakuyoke dango, which is mochi and red bean paste. Sounds yummy huh? Yeah, that's why ate none.....Anyway the stuff is to help remove "bad" spirits, I guess they don't like it either..... I will try and post the links to see a couple of pictures from the temple. After the temple I felt better. I bought good luck charms for my sister and my niece. Hopeful they will work and help protect them. I will be back in a day or so.
Next post.....Fireworks at Abekawa! (or how I almost pasted out in a crowd of 400,000 people)

1st an earthquake and now a typhoon?!?

So to get everyone up to speed on work and the home life here in Japan....ALL IS GOOD!
Work is really really fun. Going from cleaning toilets and offices to teaching people English is a bit of a jump I know. Everyone that I have taught (so far) really wants to learn English. That makes it that much easier and fun for me! Home life here in the land of the raising sun is also the BOMB. Dude, I eat rice everyday sometimes more than once a day! (I like a rice!) That kicks some serious ass!
Oh and if a failed to say something about this before....I LOVE RIDING THE TRAINS! It's like riding that train at Disneyland but think MUCH FASTER!! It is so cool. Of course, most Japanese people don't even make eye contact with me let alone a smile! But hey it's cool. If I saw myself on a train I wouldn't want to make eye contact either!
Oh and I forgot to mention that there was a small earthquake the other day. Not huge but big enough to mget the blood flowing! And if that wasn't enough there is a typhoon headed this way as I type. They don't name them like we do in the States but it does get a number. This one's number is 7, and from what I can gather from the news it is going to piss down rain for at least 2 or 3 days. Anyway more from me in a day or two ok?

I am alive!

I am so sorry that I have not updated the blog in soooo long. It was a fast and busy last couple of weeks in California. I visited a lot of family in Southern California and I took a class to get my motorcycle licenese. And I think that I drove about 2500 miles in 3 weeks if not more. I know that I made 2 trips to and from San Franisco and 2 trips to and from L.A. Anyway, I flew with my wife out of LAX. Two of my sisters, my Uncle Joe, and my cousin Joana saw us off.
The flight to Japan wasn't too bad I was able to watch a couple of pretty good movies. And the food on the flight wasn't too bad. Last time I came to Japan the airline food wasn't all that great AND it gave me HORRIBLE GAS! Anyway, once we landed in Kansai Airport I was introduced to a taste of what Hell might be like......I have NEVER and I mean NEVER sweat that much in my entire life. It wasn't that hot but the HUMIDITY was AWFUL. I stood outside for about 5 min. while Hitomi got our tickets. I lost about 2 pounds of water from sweating.
After a couple of days of down time,(and adjusting to the humidity) I went with Hitomi, her mom and her sister to get cell phones. I have had it now for about week and a half and I still don't fully understand what I'm doing with.
Here are some of the options on the phone:
Mp3 player
SD flash memory slot
TV (its only has like 9 channels but still its FREAKING TV)
Radio
2 megapixle camera
video camera
email (with pictures!!)
skymail (like text messages to other phones)
Video games
Comic books (I can read them on the screen!)
I can record TV that I watch on the phone!?!?
Built in mic to record my own voice
and it can be used in japanese and English

Yeah its going to be a looooong time before I am able to use all the options on the phone. Oh and by the way for all the tech savy people out there I paid like 25 bucks for a 64MB SD card if that isn't a rip-off I don't know what is.
Oh and the phone.....................................it was free!