Winding down

Well we officially have 24 days left until we leave. It's amazing how quickly the time is going by right now. We've got so much to do to get ready to go it's hard to imagine getting it all done. We have a long to-do list and we're slowly knocking things out one at a time. Somehow it'll all get done. I hope.

I started telling my classes in the past couple of weeks that I'm leaving. The reactions have been about what I expected. A large group "Ehhhh??" (which basically is Japanese for "you're kidding, right?) and then a few students who throw in some individual exclamations. In one class, a group of girls who are pretty big fans of mine said "No!!!" and then "I need you!" "I want you!" "I love you!" One boy brought his worksheet up to me after class and asked me to sign it. His reaction when I said I was leaving was, "Unbelievable." It's going to get harder and harder over these next few weeks, but I'm going to do my best to maintain my composure as long as I can.

This upcoming week will be my last week with a full slate of classes. The week after will be final exam week and then my last week I'll have just about 5 classes. My last class will be on July 15 with my last day at work being July 16. It's hard to believe there's only 3 weeks of school left.

Farewell party season has officially gotten underway. A bunch of us got together at Ashley's last night for a farewell party for our usual group. We had a Mexican themed party with lots of great Mexican food. Most of us aren't leaving for a few weeks of course, but the next few weeks will be so busy for all of us that it was most convenient to have the party this weekend. It's kind of crazy to think that in less than a month we'll split apart from all of these people that we've gotten to know and go our separate ways. It's very likely that we will never see most of them again. We'll stay in contact of course through Facebook and other random things, but over the years I'm sure the contact will be less and less, and then eventually we may never talk at all. It's funny how life works that way. But it's been great getting to know people from all different walks of life and backgrounds and parts of the world. It's been an interesting two years, and I'm glad that we could spend it with a good group of friends.

As Kelly mentioned on her blog, rainy season has been going full steam for the past couple of weeks. It's been pretty unpleasant outside for the most part. The worst is the morning rain. One of the worst ways to start your day is to put on a hot rain suit, hop on a bike, and ride 25 minutes to work. Then go inside and take off the rain suit only to find that you're soaking wet anyway from sweat. I've spent the majority of the last two weeks sweaty. You kind of just always sweat. It doesn't really stop. The school is still refusing to turn on the air conditioners in the classrooms because it's not July yet. It makes for really uncomfortable classes. None of the students want to do anything because everybody is so hot, and I've even found that I'm having a hard time focusing when I'm teaching. I lose my train of thought mid sentence or forget what part of the lesson I'm in. Rainy season is a strange animal. I'm used to hot and humid weather of course being from Houston, but the weather during this time of year in Japan is so different. It's much worse. It's hard to really describe it. I think you almost have to experience it for yourself to really understand.

So anyway, I was remarking earlier this week that though I'm still sad to leave my job and my students, rainy season is making it a little less painful. All I know is that in three and a half weeks, I will never have to ride my bike to work in the rain again. And that is a very happy thing.

Finally, here are some gems from the student classwork archives. There was a lesson in a book about Turkish cuisine and how it's a fusion of Asian and European culture. So I had them create a new food that was a fusion of foods from different cultures and then draw it on the board. Here are the two best:


An onigiri dog. This is a combination of Japan (onigiri) and America (hot dog). I think the ketchup and mustard is also a nice touch.


Sushi gelato. This one is Japan and Italy (gelato.) Tasty I'm sure. 36HR is always good for a laugh.

Happy anniversary...to us!

Today is our 4 year anniversary! We're celebrating by taking an anniversary weekend trip to Tokyo Disneyland! We're leaving in about an hour to go to Tokyo. We'll wake up tomorrow morning and head to Disneyland for the day. We both have off Friday because of our school festivals last weekend. We'll go to Disney Sea on Saturday which is Japan's extra Disney theme park. Orlando has Epcot Center and Tokyo has Disney Sea. I don't know much about it, so I'll have to let everyone know more about it after we get back. We're excited though. This is one of the things we've been looking forward to since we got here. I haven't been to a Disney theme park since we went to Disney World for Spring Break when I was 9. I'm not trying to hide my excitement.

I told some girls today that it was our anniversary. They didn't know the word anniversary, so I wrote June 10, 2010 on the chalkboard. Under that I wrote June 10, 2006. Then next to that I wrote Kory and Kelly and drew two lines connecting our names. Finally I drew a heart. That's when they finally understood and said "Happy Birthday!" I quickly informed them it was "Happy Anniversary." Then I told them that we're going to Tokyo Disneyland and one girl, Yuka said in perfect English, "Bring me a present please!" I couldn't resist this effort so I said "Okay what do you want?" "Candy." "OK what kind of candy." "The chocolate crunch candy that tastes like strawberry." So apparently Yuka knows her Disneyland candy. I told her I'd do my best. I love my students!

Here we go! Off to a Disney adventure!

The beginning of the end

Do you ever have one of those days where you just wake up feeling low? Well I'm having one today. Here's why: Sometime late last night or when I woke up this morning, it finally hit me that we're leaving Japan in a month and a half.

The past three days were great. We had our school festival this weekend, so I spent all day Saturday and Sunday at school. It was a great time. There were performances by a lot of the clubs and all of the culture clubs had rooms set up all over school displaying things and selling things. The sports clubs sold food and there were big crowds of people from all over - parents, friends, former students, random people from the community. It was a big festival and a lot of fun. I walked around school going into the various rooms and talking to and taking pictures with students. I bought some things and made donations to some of the charity fundraisers. I spent a lot of time in the English club room where we were doing a fundraiser to raise money for Oxfam. We had a student doing a magic show and we gave away some bags with treats for everyone who donated at least 100 yen. In total, English club raised 20,747 yen (roughly $200) for my Oxfam Trailwalker team. I was very proud of them. They worked really hard this year and did a great job.

So the festival was a lot of fun. All of the students and teachers were happy and having a great time. There was just a positive feel in the air.

Yesterday was the annual sports festival that falls on the last day of the school festival. On this day, all of the homerooms compete in various athletic competitions. There are 100 meter sprints. There is a homeroom relay where every member of the homeroom runs 100 meters of a relay. There are about 40 students in each homeroom, so as you can imagine, it's a long relay. They have class jump rope competitions where all of the students in each homeroom jump rope with a giant long jump rope. There's tug-of-war, 5 people/six legs races, a girl's dance, human pyramid building, and all kinds of other crazy events. It was so much fun! We did a teacher relay as well where a bunch of the teachers compete with a bunch of students in a relay. I ran 1oo meters in that. Just like the festival, everyone had a great time. It's really neat to see how much pride the students take in their homerooms. They all tried their best to succeed.

After the sports day, there was a talent show to close out the three-day festival. Most of the performances were just ok, but they had fun and the students watching enjoyed all of them. One group of about 12-15 girls did a 10-15 minute dance routine. They closed out the show and they were amazing. It really looked like they had been practicing for a long time. I actually did a secret performance in the show as well. Secret as in very few people knew I was doing it until the curtain came up. I have a student who plays guitar, and I approached him a while back and asked if he'd like to do a song with me in the talent show. He agreed and we decided to do "Change the World" by Eric Clapton. He played and I sang. It went really well and the students all loved it. I've been wanting to sing for them for a long time, so I'm glad I got the chance to do it. I was happy to be able to perform with him. I think it meant a lot to both of us. I'll try to post a video of it on here soon.

So, after all of that, I woke up this morning feeling the post-festival let down. It's like the feeling you get after a vacation. You've been looking forward to it for so long and you have so much fun, and then it ends and you go through a few days of feeling a little glum.

But in this case I kind of view this as the beginning of the end. There are no more big events left at school. Just a few weeks of classes and then finals and that's it. It'll be over before I know it. I'll be up on the stage giving my farewell speech to the students in no time. It's going to be a hard month and a half. I decided a while back that I would start telling the students that I'm leaving after the school festival. Well, now school festival is over, and that time has come. I'll probably start letting them know next week. Not looking forward to it. Cue the tears.

So anyway, that's what I'm feeling today. Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow to go to work I'll be feeling better. I know that it's probably the best thing for us to go home now, but right now the thought of leaving Japan is not a happy one for either of us. It's going to be tough.

My take on the Jim Joyce call

I'm sure most if not all of you that read my blog are at least vaguely aware of the Jim Joyce incident. If you aren't let me lay it out for you.



In Wednesday night's Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Indians game, pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from completing a perfect game. (For those unfamiliar with what a perfect game is, check out the Wikipedia page.) On what should have been the final out of the game, first base umpire Jim Joyce blew a call and called the runner safe when he was clearly out, thereby costing Galarraga the perfect game. It would have been the 21st perfect game in major league baseball history, the third this year, and the second this week. But now because of that call, it stands in the books as a one-hit shutout. Galarraga faced 28 batters and retired 27(+1) of them.



You can watch the play here.



I read about what happened before I saw it because I was at work when it happened. I watched the replay during my lunch break and couldn't believe it. I thought that it would at least be a close call -- a "bang-bang" play. But it wasn't. I can't imagine what Jim Joyce was looking at. The only thing I can imagine is that he was looking at Galarraga catching the ball rather than the base. I don't see how else he could have missed the fact that Galarraga clearly beat the runner to the base. It wasn't even close. And in that situation, with that much on the line, it needs to be a lot closer than that to even consider calling him safe.



As a lifelong baseball fan, every time I watch the play, it makes me want to cry. Though many people I know don't quite get it, I see baseball as an absolutely beautiful game. The design and the uniqueness of the game is amazing to me. I see beauty in a close call at first. The fact that the field is designed in a way that a slow grounder, if fielded properly will almost always result in an exciting close play at first base is just one of the things that I find to be wonderful about baseball. And a perfect game is one of the most amazing accomplishments that a baseball player can achieve. It's a once in a lifetime performance by a pitcher with amazing teamwork all around to preserve the perfection. To see it end on a mistake like that is heartbreaking.



I feel so bad for everyone involved in the situation. I feel bad for Galarraga. I feel bad for Jim Joyce. I feel bad for the batter Jason Donald, who knows that he was out, but will go down as the one who broke up the perfect game. It's a situation that is just so unfortunate. I have a great deal of respect, however, for Jim Joyce who, after watching the replay after the game, went and found Galarraga and tearfully apologized to him. He's been a big league umpire for 21 years and he openly admits that he just blew the biggest call of his career and cost Galarraga a perfect game. Umpires know they're human and that they make mistakes, so you won't hear one say something like that very often. You have to respect him for that.

Bud Selig won't reverse the call and give the perfect game to Galarraga. I don't like that decision, but I can understand it. If you go and start reversing calls the day after games that could open up a big can of worms for situations like that in the past and future. Although if there was ever a time to do it, this would be it. What I don't understand is why baseball is so reluctant to use instant replay. This is 2010. We have amazing technology at our disposal. To waste it is ridiculous. People say, "Oh baseball is a sport with so much tradition. We can't ruin the purity of the game and of the human nature of the game by resorting to technology." I find that argument pointless. We can't fight against the progression of our society and the tools at our disposal. Football and basketball use instant replay with great success. Calls are reversed that should be reversed and stand that should stand. Baseball needs desperately to join its counterparts in the 21st century and start using instant replay.

Armando Galaragga should have had a perfect game on Wednesday night because Jim Joyce should have been able to use technology to reverse his mistake, his human error. It's just such an unfortunate circumstance.