The Pair Family (Japan Branch)

New (for me) Car

2009-06-09T01:28:00.000-07:00

Well it was been quite a long time since I blogged so please forgive me.

Recently I purchased a car for myself and would like to tell you a little about it.

It is a 1996 Subaru Vivio Bistro

This mean green machine sports a 658cc 48hp water cooled serial 4 cylinder SOHC engine so you know can get to where I'm going in a hurry!

As you can see I like the retro look and am seriously considering buying a derby hat for when I'm driving.

Of the luxury items this car is equiped with there are many.

- 4 wheel drive

- electronic CVT automatic transmission

- power windows

- power steering

- faux wood accents

- air conditioning

- analog clock

- rear defrost

- rear wiper

- heated side mirrors

- 5 doors

Oh yes, the lap of luxury for me, empasis on the lap. The Subaru Vivio Bistro is a Kei car. Kei cars are small to say the least. The Bistro is about 3.2m long by 1.4m wide by 1.4m tall. It weighs around 760kg.

This car will be my commuter car to and from work. We will still be using our main car (Honda SM-X) for going out with the family on the weekends.

Lastly for a '96 this car only has 75,000km on the speedometer which isn't bad.

i'm back

2009-03-04T05:29:00.001-08:00

So it looks like there is some renewed interest in my blog. I guess I shouldn't be lazy and just post pics on my flickr page so I will try to write in on this blog and post pics too. but don't forget to check out my flickr page to see tons of pics of my life over here. i'll be writing soon!

changing direction

2008-03-07T16:49:00.000-08:00

I have decided to kinda forgo this blog and just put up pictures of my life here. I have created a Flickr page and am puting new and past pictures up all the time. I am making it private and only accesible to family and friends so if you want an invitation just email me and I will send one to you.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Superboy?

2008-01-23T22:48:00.000-08:00

Who is #1?

2008-01-23T22:46:00.001-08:00

Halloween 2007

2008-01-23T22:33:00.000-08:00

I know this is late but better late than never right?!? Last Halloween Noah was able to visit a couple houses and actually got a lot of sweets. I think it was because he is so cute in his costume but it could be because I told those who we were going to visit to be ready. Anyway Noah had a good time even if he didn't understand what he was doing and really couldn't care less. Maybe next year he will be more interested in it. Enjoy!

Noah makes a cookie!

2008-01-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Noah made cookies at his daycare. he brought one home and we all shared it. It was delicious!

P.S. It is a panda.

Minako's Coming of Age Day

2008-01-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

Coming of Age day is a celebration of becoming an adult. Coming of Age day signifys you becoming an adult and is celebrated the year you turn 20. Naoko's little sister turns 20 this year so we celebrated that fact on Coming of Age day. Minako dressed up in a Kimono we gathered at the parents house to celebrate. Everyone dresses up for this day but I guess I wasn't dressed up enough so I was made to wear one of Naoko's dad's blazers. Doesn't Noah look dashing!

noah being cute

2008-01-23T22:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Noah at performing at his daycare recital. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T18:17:00.000-08:00

Noah had a wonderful Christmas even though he still doesn't quite understand it. Here he is Christmas morning.

why didn't we think of that?

2007-12-25T18:12:00.000-08:00

The town of Yonezawa has in the center of its main roads a sprinkler system that helps to reduce the build up of snow. I thought it was ingenius. And not only on the roads but in parking lots. Take a look.

a little couple time

2007-12-25T17:36:00.001-08:00

Recently Naoko and I went away for a weekend to spend some time together. We went to a bed and dinner/breakfast place in a town famous for its beef. The town is called Yonezawa and is about an hour away from Fukushima. Yonezawa beef is probably #2 or #3 best beef in all of Japan. Naturally being such high quality beef doesn't come cheap. Thus to be honest we couldn't afford the real Yonezawa beef and had to settle for Yamagata beef (Yamagata is the prefecture(state) that Yonezawa is in). We ate beef in many different ways. Naoko and I both had raw beef dipped in soy sauce and beef sushi. Naoko also had steak and I had shabu shabu, which is beef dipped in boiling water to cook it. All the food was delicous and just now thinking about it makes my mouth water. Unfortuantly the place we stayed was kind of a dive and the family bath was small and wasn't natural. Sufficite to say we won't be going back eventhough the food was good. Another good thing about the place was that they had cable tv which had an american tv drama channel. Naoko loved that and was able to see some new dramas like Heroes and OC for the first time. It snowed the second day we were there so I was able to try out my new Sorel boots which was cool. Thanks Mom and Dad! Enjoy the pics!

Off to work

2007-12-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

Noah is dressed up in his Christmas best and ready to head to work. What that work is only he knows.

Milking Cows!

2007-11-08T22:30:00.000-08:00

Recently at my small school, Aoki Elementary School we had a special day called Mo~ Mo~ School. The local daily group brought some holstein cows for the kids to see. It was a fun day and we all had the chance to see the whole process where our dairy products come from and how they are made. We all got the chance to make our own butter, pet calfs, and milk a cow. It was a first for me to milk a cow so I thought it was cool. Enjoy the pics of me milking and making butter (butter is a little hard to see).

Pt. 4 Ohisama Hoikuen Aki Matsuri

2007-11-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

By the time we had gone to the local shrine and taken drink break Noah was getting tired so Naoko and I took turns carrying him as we made our way back. The reason I have a yellow festival coat (happi) on is that I am part of the PTA and thus have to help.

Pt. 3 Ohisama Hoikuen Aki Matsuri

2007-11-08T22:08:00.001-08:00

Another part of the festival is what I can best describe as a horse drawn cart minus the horse (in the horse's place is a guy). On this cart are a bunch of taiko drums that the kids play as the procession winds its way around the neighborhood. Noah was enjoying his turn at playing the drums until one of his classmates accidentaly hit him in the head with her stick. It was the cutest thing to see Noah try not to cry. He did a good job thanks to the help of his classmate.

Pt. 2 Ohisama Hoikuen Aki Matsuri

2007-11-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

During this festival the kids in Noah's preschool and the parents made a procession which included an Omikoshi. An Omikoshi is basically a shrine that is carried. Although for Noah's preschool it is really just a theme picture from the sports day festival (held the day before I left to the states). Here is Noah in front of it.

Ohisama Hoikuen Autumn Festival

2007-11-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

A little while ago Noah had a festival at his preschool/daycare. He seemed to enjoy it and even though he is the youngest he was able to keep up with the big boys and have a good time. Here are a few pics of the proceedings.

sorry it's been so long

2007-11-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Well I am back with another blog for anyone interested. I had a wonderful time going back to the states and seeing my neice for the first time. She is adorable eventhough she doesn't look like a Pair which is a nice change of pace. Next time I go home I will definatly bring the whole family. It was the longest we have been apart and I would prefer to not repeat that. Naoko and Noah survied my absence and Noah only ask about for the first week. While I was gone they went to a few festivals and Noah was a really good boy (according to Naoko). I guess I am the one who is a bad influence on him. I am glad to be back in Japan or should I say I am glad to be back with my family. I miss all the convience that there was back in the states though. I am glad to see that not much is changed in respect to my family, friends and relatives. One thing I really appreciate about America is the lack of a gift giving culture. It will be nice to not have to deal with that once we move back. However on the other hand I think my parents can appreciate the gift giving culture of Japan as they enjoy thier new heated toliet seat. I am happy that I will be able to bring one back for myself when I move back. They are so nice. Well I have so more to write about so I will leave you all with a pic of the heated toilet seat for your enjoyment.

My towns tourist trap

2007-09-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

My town is famous for UFOs. that is our town theme. we have a UFO museum which has been shown on TV here several times. We have UFO shaped light posts, bus stops and rest areas. And on the mystery mountain (Sengan Mori) compasses don't work. Enjoy the pic of one of the various Aliens from my town.

Finally!

2007-09-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

After years of living in the country (and I mean country) a bit of home finally came to my neck of the woods. Now a simple 15min drive and I can have some Starbucks. They opened up a Starbucks kiosk inside the medical college with is close to me. The kiosk is actually in the hospital wing but it is a real Starbucks. In a side story that is somewhat related recently we had to take Noah to the hospital late one night due to him puting a plastic bead in his ear. Well that went smoothly and it was removed but since it was late I would have to come back the next day to pay (only $20 buck and I can get reembursed if I take the receit to the City Hall, wow the wonders of national health care). Well the next day after work I went and paid then treated myself to a Carmel Frapachino (i have no idea how to spell it). I don't know how much they cost in the states but here it cost 440 yen for a tall. the funny thing was that the kiosk is small but still had 8 people and a manager working there. here is a pic of the place.

Noah's summer festival

2007-09-01T01:25:00.000-07:00

At Noah's daycare he had a festival this summer and since I am part of the PTA I had to work. In a first for me I was in charge of the Cotton Candy making. Let me tell you it is not easy. I needed two hands or I couldn't do it. Here are some pics.

back to school

2007-09-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

sorry I haven't been blogging for some time now. It has been so hot and humid over here that you don't feel like doing much other than trying to stay cool. well summer is over and that means back to school. School offically started this last monday the 27th and as of friday the students were still not full back mentally. I'll give them a little more time.

In Japan summer is over after the Obon festival. This festival is actually celebrated in Seattle and is probably the biggest festival time in Japan. If you don't know what the Obon festival is I'll explain (or you could just look it up on Wikipedia), it is a festival celebrating your ancestors. Japanese families visit the family grave to offer incess, flowers and prays that their ancestors will continue to watch over them. Obon is the time of year where subsiquently the spirits of your ancestors come back to your family grave so it is customary to put out decorative lanterns so they will know where they are supposed to come back to. The whole thing is a mixture of buddhism and shintoism i believe. Anyway that is traditional part of Obon, the fun part is that there is a festival at the end of Obon. The festival held in Tsukidate is the biggest of the year and many people come out. There are all kinds of booths with games and food to try. then in the center of the festivities there is a tower with taiko drum players and singers. Around that tower many people do a traditional Obon dance. I don't much care for the dancing but I love to go up and play taiko with everyone.
This year Tsukidate had an exchange program with their sister city (Revere, MA) it is next to Boston. I had to help out with translation duties while they were here. They had a fun time and were able on their last night to go to the Obon festival. They danced and had a great time.
This summer is over now and it is easy to tell. During this last week the weather has gotten bad and it is getting colder. I think autumn is here early.
I'll write some more later and put up some pics. bye for now.

on the positive side

2007-07-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

i can't thank my parents enough for always sending me care packages. they are always just what the doctor ordered. I love combos and the incredible cross-section starwars book is cool.

Also recently i have been running every other day (weather permitting) and can 100% recommend the Nike+ system. I use my iPod nano with the sensor attachment that communicates with the sensor in my running shoe to measure my distants, time and other things. Recently I got a Nike+ shirt that has a specially designed pocket for the iPod nano. So now I don't have to carry the nano and can focus on my running. Shawn and I will be entering a race this Nov. so I need to get my time down from 5 mins/1 Km to as close to 3 mins/ 1Km as possible by then. wish me luck.

another day older

2007-07-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

well yesterday was my birthday and it was an entirely uneventful day. it was rainy, naoko had to work overtime and she was in a bad mood. but despite that she still cooked a lovely dinner (the birthday dinner as I have come to name it since she cooks the same thing for both noah and I on our birthdays. Every year the same, hamburger steak with cheese inside, brown gravy, fried shrimp, potatoes, and cooked carrots.). She was tired so noah and her went to bed early and i stayed up and cleaned up the living room. Also since i hadn't done it in a while I read the Bible (read about Ester) and then went to bed.

Right now in Japan it is the rainy season and that is helping me to feel bummed out. I am just waiting for summer vacation to start but i don't know why. Lately my job isn't giving me satifaction eventhough the kids are great. I think I am just in a downer mood or a rut and need something to get me out of it.

Noah is full blown into his terrible twos. the words that come most out of his mouth right now are chigau, iranai, dame, iyada. all these words can be translated into no, i don't want too, don't and nu uh. He is becoming really selffish too as everything he sees is his and he isn't sharing. I know this kinda stuff is normal for his age which makes me want to know how i should go about molding him and directing him into the kind of boy I want him to be. I am also a little worried that he still isn't speaking clearly or in long sentences. His vocabulary seem limited also. And he still can't dress himself. Let alone go to the bathroom yet.

Needless to say many thing are weighting on me right now. but I know I will snap out of it sooner or later.

rambling over.

Children's Day

2007-05-16T04:20:00.000-07:00

May 5th was Children's Day in Japan and so we bought Noah a cake to celebrate. Here is a pic of Noah being excited to eat cake!

I'm a fishin man

2007-05-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

recently I have been enjoying a new hobby. fishing. my next door neighbor Kojima (who works at my main elementary school) has been introducing me to fishing. there is a pond near our apartment were we always catch black bass. Kojima took me to this fishing goods store and helpedme pick out some used gear.

last weekend Kojima and I went out fishing at different ponds. and although Kojima is really good at fishing, I was able to catch close to 10 black bass myself.

If you don't know what a black bass looks take a look at one of the ones I caught.

2007-05-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

recently Naoko and I attended her close friend's wedding. I was the camera man so I was kept busy but we still had a wonderful time. Naoko was able to wear her dress that we got at Bellevue Square so she was as beautiful as ever. And on a side note, I tied my tie all by myself for the first time in my life. I used youtube which was very helpful.

enjoy the pic.

cherry blossom season came and went

2007-05-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

This years Cherry Blossom season was a nice one. This day the family went out for a little picnic by a big cherry blossom tree. These trees remain in bloom for about one week. In Japan this is the start of spring and (without exaggerating) everyone has picnics under the cherry blossom trees (which by the say don't produce cherries). Enjoy the pic.

that's mister panda to you

2007-05-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I helped out for the Children's Festival in Tsukidate. Try to guess which one I am in the picture.

Poor Noah

2007-04-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I got a call from Noah's daycare right as I had gotten home for lunch telling me that Noah had an accident and probably should go to the hospital to make sure he is ok. So needless to say I rushed over there and sure enough he was crying a lot and his right arm looks a little funny. He was holding it and it looked as though he couldn't move it very well. The teachers explain briefly what had happened but I couldn't understand well what they were saying. I later had a guy at the BOE call and then explain to me in English what they were saying. They said Noah was walking and happened to fall down outside by the slide. So I had to tell the BOE and the school I was teaching at that I would have to take Noah to the Hospital to get him checked out. To make a long story short Noah apparently dislocated his elbow but on the way to the hospital it had fixed itself. By the time Naoko's mom, Noah and I got to a hospital which was kinda far away Noah seemed fine and was having no problems with his arm. The nurse and doctor confirmed that his elbow had been dislocated but it looked fine now.

So my question is how can Noah fall down of his own accord and dislocate his elbow. My thinking is that the teachers at his daycare are not watching him closely and really have to idea what happened. I am skeptical of their version of what happened. So I am going to go in and talk about the incident with my contact at the BOE. Luckily Noah is doing fine and wasn't seriously hurt.

I just wanted to let you know about Noah. That is all for now.

spring is just about here

2007-04-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

sorry i haven't posted for over a month. as you can imagine things have been busy. The new school year started and today I had my first class with my new 1st graders at my small school (Aoki Elementary). I have to remember that they are just starting and I need to go slow with them.

It is late and I am going to bed soon so I will have to write more later. I did want to let you all know that I have offically been ingrained (I am not sure what word to use) into the community here as I have a representative from Block 4 at Noah's daycare. It is kinda like a PTA thing where I will be helping out and voting on issues. Recently we had our first meeting and it got a little tense when we were all trying to decide where to go for our field trip. After some squabiling we finally (i'm talking 2 hours on this issue) decided to go to this zoo that is a technically the closest to us but still far (over an hour drive from here). It was an interesting meeting eventhough i though it lasted way too long.

Also recently I went to a fellow English Teacher's wedding which was nice.

I'll write more later. I am off to bed. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

making cookies

2007-03-06T22:31:00.000-08:00

A little while back Noah and mommy made cookies at day care. Here he is with one of his play mates. According to the teachers at day care Noah is doing great and eats everything put in front of him. Also he is very protective of me when I come to get him as many other kids rush to me and want me to play with them. Noah get jealous and doesn't like other kids playing with daddy. It is cute to see.

P.S. He isn't always picking his nose as the picture would indicate.

big boy

2007-03-06T22:20:00.000-08:00

I know it is a little late but here is a pic of Noah on his 2nd birthday. Right now he isn't doing so well. He recently hit his eye on a plastic clothes hamper and that lead to an infection it looks like. He has gone to the hospital twice and has medicine. Also he must stay home for 3 days so tonight I will figure out how to work around that. So please pray for his speedy recovery and also for relief for Naoko since she hay fever season is starting and it is already driving her crazy. Thanks!

what do you think?

2007-03-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I was going to get my hair cut but Naoko said it didn't need cutting so I didn't go. When I go to get my hair cut I also get an old fasioned shave. Well since I didn't go I couldn't get my shave and now I look like this.

blessings in disguise

2007-02-19T22:33:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I went ice fishing and had a pretty good time. Shaun, myself and some other teachers stayed at a lodge that had an onsen and woke up at 5:30am to get our fishing day going. The weather was beautiful and wasn't too cold for the conditions. Our group rented all our equipment which included the stuff necessesary for ice fishing and a little vynal house that had a stove in it. Apon entering the little structure which you could not stand up in Shaun and I were shocked to find out that Japanese customs applyed in nature as well and we were expected to take off our boots as we entered. Inside these little huts there was thick styrofoam for us to sit on but it was not only dirty looking but had ice on the edged which would melt as we sat and get our clothes wet. I was suprised that the kerosine stove (which must have been about 30 years old) actually worked and kept the hut warm. Well the weather was beautiful that day, so much so that the snow/ice on top of the lake started to melt. I really wanted Sorel boot that day but for the most part my timberlands (although mid ankle high) did the job. Shaun had a pair of Ugg boots that were nice eventhough they got wet. The scenery was beautiful and Mt. Bandai in the distance looked just like Eiger. As the day progressed and the hours went by Shaun lost interest and buggered off to go snowboarding (which he had planned in advance, well except for the not being interested in fishing part). So after ruffly 7 hours of fishing I had had enough. I was so frustrated that I wanted to go home. I thought I had been patient enough.

Well for all my efforts after 7 hours of ice fishing I was only able to catch 1 fish. It was a beauty though. After everyone was done we returned our rented gear and sat down for some freshly caught deep fried fish. You drop the whole fish in the batter and then put it in the hot oil. Then eat the whole thing. I was surprised at how good it was. Oishikatta.

So my first time ice fishing and I think I had a good time even though I only caught one fish.

Enjoy my pic of me and my fish.

beautiful morning

2007-01-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

Coming up with titles to my blogs are a pain so I might be skiping that in the future.

Anyway, things are going good this week. Last week was a busy one and made me very tired. So this last weekend we dropped Noah off at the grandparents house and Naoko and I just relaxed, ran some errands and slept. It was a nice weekend to just stay home and rest. Lately the weather has been good. Strange that there is no snow here but it is cold. Last week I had a dinner with some bigwigs in town. A few of which I had never met but they all were nice to me. One of them is the town Kendo master/teacher and he wants me to come by and practice with the kids. So at some point I will have to go do that. The Mayor was also there and he wants me to teach him English so we will see if anything comes of that. The home party was a good chance for me to show my face and make a good impression of myself. Also it was a good chance for me to talk with the higher ups in a more relaxed environment since there was heavy alchohol consumption there. Ofcourse it was on a thurseday so everyone had to go to work the next day.

Last night everyone in my apartment building got together and we all went out to eat for the first time. I work with the two japanese people who live in our 4 unit building (one is a guy who is the secretary at Iino Elementary school and the other is a lady who is the new nurse at Ookubo Elementary school). Shaun of course came and we had a wonderful time. Shaun doesn't get a chance to talk to the Japanese people who live in our building so it was a good chance for him to talk to them. We ate a resturant that we hadn't eaten at before. It was a yakitori (shikababa) resturant. We all order different things and shared. Of course Noah was making friends with all the waitresses and trying to make friends with a little girl sitting near us. We all got to know each other better and will probably make it a habit of going out occasionally for dinner in the future.

Up on the horizon is Noah's 2nd birthday. This friday to be specific. Saturday we will be having a little party for him at the grandparents house. Then sunday I will be going snowboarding with Shaun.

Well I will write more later. Talk to you soon.

Bryan

it's been awhile

2007-01-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

I will be talking more this weekend about what we have been up too since getting back from the states. It was good to see everyone. We all enjoyed our time over there. I'll write more later. I am sooooooo tired this friday for some reason. I have two classes left today, my next one starting in about 30mins. I just want to sleep.

Hey pat, thanks for the video tapes. I am loving talk soup right now. Naoko and I have to fight over the vcr now. she wants to watch her CSI and I want to watch my comedy tapes.

Well it is cold over here but no snow.

Oh man, I am going to fall asleep, I would drink some coffee but I have a headache and coffee doesn't affect me like it used to.

Well talk to you guys later. bye.

no snow but still cold

2006-12-13T01:50:00.000-08:00

Things are going well here. I think we are all over our colds. Naoko is the only one still taking medicine. Last night Naoko's mom came over and reminded me of my mom in that she not only cleaned up a lot of our place but also rearranged and organised our kitchen, hallway and entrance. She really saved us.

On a side note. Noah is talking more but has taken to calling everyone "sensei" or teacher. He calls me, Naoko, and Naoko's mom all sensei. But he calls our Australian friend downstairs by his name 'Shaun.' When I point to myself and say "daddy" he points to himself and says "daddy." I don't know what I am going to do. A couple days ago I had parent teacher confrence at Noah's daycare. It went well and they said Noah is doing great and is progressing and discovering his own personality/identity. He is also getting ready to start potty training so we will start that after our trip.

Speaking of trip we are no where near ready but are looking forward to seeing everyone next week. Naoko is tired so she will need to rest while she is on our trip but I suspect once we are over there she will perk up and want to do many things.

Well take care. I will post more later. Time for dinner.

let it snow let it snow let it snow

2006-12-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

Well today it is snowing. It just started about a half hour ago so hopefully it won't be a lot. It has been getting colder and colder here and two days ago we had a really strong wind storm. I thought our windows were going to break. Since Dec. 1st all the schools have their heaters going. At one of my schools the heater is next to my metal desk which makes my desk itself hot but that is better than being cold I guess. The teachers already told me not to put any chocolate in my desk since it would melt. Two of my school use blower heaters but my small school still used stoves since it is so old. Either way I am just happy to have heat in the schools.

Last night we ate pizza since it was the start of Pizza Huts half price pizza sale. Every month 8th, 9th, and 10th Pizza Hut has a sale of six of their pizzas. So instead of paying over $20 for a medium pizza i only pay $10. Considering this is Japan that is not a bad deal. Only bad thing is they don't have Hawaiian and the only Pizza Hut is about a 30min drive from my place.

Noah is doing well and is really happy now.

I'll write more later.

The days are getting colder

2006-12-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since I have blogged. Lately we have been busy here. Every weekend we have had something going on. This last weekend I took an End of the Year trip with my BOE to an island off the west coast of Japan. This island is called Sado Island. It has a lot of history but is mostly known for its gold mining industry. On the island we had a chance to pan for gold ourselves. Unfortualty it was really panning but panning from a troft (sp?). At any rate i was able to get 7 flakes. Over all the trip was good and I ate the best tasting squid i had ever eaten.

Today noah has his first play at daycare. he was a mouse and a frog in two different performances. Suffice it to say he was the cutest of them all. Last today we are all going out to celebrate our friends wedding.

Here is a pic of our dryer with is coming in handy these days.

doing better

2006-11-11T05:08:00.000-08:00

Well the medicine is doing it's job apparently. Noah is doing much better. He seems to be back to his normal self now. Only the occasional hacking cough tells us he is not 100% yet. His temperature has gone down and he is as active as ever. He will be going to the hospital again for a check up on Monday so hopefully then he will get a clean bill of health. Thanks for all the prays, it looks like they worked. Here is a pic of Noah to show how good he is doing (despite the look on his face). Enjoy!

Poor Noah

2006-11-08T23:45:00.000-08:00

Noah is not doing well right now. He has a temperature of around 39 degrees C. Naoko has been taking him to the hospital for the past couple days and will go again tomorrow. He apparently is on the verge of getting pneumonia. The doctor took a blood sample today and his white blood cell count was high. Which means that his body is apprently attempting to fight off the infection. His nose isn't running as much as it was earlier this week but he is hacking a lot and as I said has a fever. It is kinda wierd his face is burning up but his hands are cold. I don't know what to make of that. We have medicine for him and Naoko has been taking this week off to take care of him. The doctor said that if his temperature doesn't go down he might have to be admitted to a hosptial. In case that happens Naoko will take next week off of work so she can look after him. We all want him to get better soon. So please pray for Noahs speedy recovery. Thanks. I will let you know how he is progressing.

Mr. Mom

2006-11-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

So today I have the day off (friday over here) due to today being culture day. Noah's daycare also has the day off so I am taking care of him today. Unfortunatly Naoko has to work so I hope her day goes smoothly. I haven't posted a pic recently so I will show you a pic from Noah's festival he had a little while ago. Enjoy!

october is a busy month...

2006-10-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

sorry i haven't been writing on this blog for a little while. with everybody getting sick i just haven't found the energy. this month has been busy for us. last weekend there was a huge festival in town. i don't know what the name of it was but it was for my area of town. each neighborhood (i think there were 8 or 9 of them) made these floats and we paraded them around the main street. one group made the ship from the cartoon "Starblazers" (in japan it is called Yamato). that one was unbelievable. it had bubbles blowing out the back, turrets that really worked and radar dished that turned. and at night the whole thing lit up. the people who made that float worked everynight for a month and a half building it. there were two judgings of the floats. one was by the erai hito (v.i.p.s of the community) and the other one was by ordinary folk. the big battle ship won the first contest. but my neighborhood float won the popularity contest. our float was a giant lady with big boobs and a sword named "cutie honey" (it is a comic heroine in japan) we all had a great time at the festival. school is busy and i will be having a festival this saturday at iino elementary school. the kids will be singing two english songs for their parents and i am in charge of that. should be fun. naoko and i are looking forward to a weekend off so that we can relax but it doesn't look like that will happen for at least another few weeks.

it is starting to get cold here but our air conditioner which also acts like a heater is keeping us warm. also recently we (thanks for mom and dad) were able to get a dryer. it is helping out naoko a lot. we just need to find/get bounce dryer sheets now.

so things are hectic now but we are surviving. would be nice if we could keep our apt. clean but noah is thwarting our plans everyday. speaking of noah he is speaking more and more japanese and loves edamame. he also still loves his pacifier which has me concerned as to when we should take that away from him.

well i better get ready for my next class so i will write more later. i promise.

see ya.

The sickness

2006-10-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a little while since I worked on this blog. Last week Noah got sick and is just now getting over his cold. He has medicine that he has been taking and even though he is has been sick he still has a lot of energy. I had to take last friday off so I could look after him. This last monday was a holiday (for reasons I don't remember, I think it was national exersice day or something) so I had four days off which would have been wonderful and I could have had a wonderful time, however with Noah being sick we couldn't go out. So the two of us were coupted up in the apartment all weekend. The bright side is that I was able to get a lot of cleaning done. Also this weekend Naoko became sick so I had two sick people to take care of. So even after a four day weekend I am still tired and am looking forward to this next weekend. Naoko is still sick as I type but should be better by this weekend. This weekend I have to work on Sunday since my small school has their sports day that day. but then I get monday off as compensation.

Other than the sick family not much else is going on. At school I am into my teaching the kids about Halloween mode. It is nice because there is a lot you can do with this holiday. Lots of games and activities. And the kids like talking/learning about monsters.

Well I will write more later. See ya!

past my prime :(

2006-10-03T04:13:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend I went down to Nagano (the place where they held the winter olympics a while back) and participated in an ALT soccer tournament. We took a charter bus down there and arrived at 2am. We got 5 hours of sleep before waking up for breakfast and had our first game at 9:30am. This was a pretty big tournament and had teams from all prefectures north of Tokyo and a few south of Tokyo. For the Fukushima team we had around 26 guys and therefor people weren't going to get to play as much as they liked. Over two days we played 5 games and after our strong start fell apart. Our record for the tournament was 2-3. Although it was the first time most of us had played together we should have done better. But subbing was a problem with some people staying in for the whole game in some situations. Over all it was fun but I did get a nice sunburn on my face. I definately didn't play like I thought I would be capable of but I also didn't embarres myself. The trip was a good chance to get to know other ALTs in Fukushima.

Today Noah has a runny nose and a temperature so Naoko and I took him to the hospital to get some medicine. Other than he can't really breath through his nose he seems to be doing fine. He is still a very active boy even when he is sick. I think Naoko will take tomorrow off work though to look after him.

Thanks mom and dad! I got your package today and am relieved to get the deoderant. All the snacks are great too. Noah really likes the frog you got for him and is already trying to feed it yoguart.

Well thats all for now. I got to get to bed. I will post a pick later.

life as normal

2006-09-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Well this last weekend was pretty normal. Naoko has been working overtime at work so had a relaxing weekend. My throat had been hurting all last weekend but the medicine I got from the doctor did the trick and now my voice is back to normal. The whole trip the doctor including the medicine was just over $10. Not too shabby. As far as work goes Monday and Tuesday I was at my small school of only 66 students. I started teaching them the songs Hokey Pokey and This is the way which the whole school will be singing at the up coming (in November I think) UFO Festival. Classes went smoothly and I had fun with the kids playing soccer during recess. At this school (Aoki Elementary) there is one teacher (6th grade) who I worked with at Tsukidate Elementary so it was nice to see a friendly face when I started working at this school.

Naoko had to work another two hours of overtime today. But she isn't as tired as she usual is after she works overtime so today must have been a good day for her. Noah is also doing well. He is practicing everyday at his daycare for Undoukai (sports day). He like this one game where you toss red or white bean bags into a basket on a pole.

One thing that is kinda troubling me about Noah is that every morning he wakes up around 5:30am and then gets me up. He then processes to push me physically towards the frig and says natto over and over again. For those of you who don't know what natto is, it is a foul smelling dish of fermented soy beans. Japanese people in the northern part of the country apparently love the stuff. But trust me it is nasty. And now Noah loves it too. I don't know what I am going to do...

thats all for now.

enjoy this pic of Aoki Elementary school students enjoying Nagashi Somen (Noodles)

uuuuggghhhhh!

2006-09-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

I just finished writing a rather long story about my morning today. short version is Naoko's car battery died while Noah and I were at 7-11 this morning. Her dad came to our rescue, gave us a jump start and then swaped the battery out of his backhoe and put it in our car.

Anyway somehow what I had writed got deleted as I went to spell check. so from now on I won't be spell checking what I am writing so you all will be able to see how bad a speller I am.

Enjoy this pic of Noah taking a nap on the couch.

Well look it's my second post in only a few mins.

2006-09-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you all know that Naoko and I just had our 2 year wedding anniversary. Coincidentally that day is also Naoko's birthday. Here is a pic of her with the cake I bought her (cake was so so good).

First post on my own blog

2006-09-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

I wonder how long i will be able to keep this blog going. I hope it will be useful so as to let my family and friends back home keep up on current events as they pertain to me. I will hopefully be able to post pics of Noah to let you all know how he is doing. Wish me luck.