ULTIMAAAATEEEEEEE!!!! (in the snow)

A fresh blanket of snow brings out the kid in even the most mature and sensible adult. For those of us that have reached the age of adulthood but who don't see themselves in that role (but rather fighting that label every step of the way) a fresh layer of snow is a chance to let that genki, little kid enthusiasm shine even brighter and prove that their youthful energy reigns supreme no matter their biological age. The 8 members of my Ulitimate Frisbee squad that braved the cold and came out to play in the 3 inches of snow that had fallen the day before certainly fall into the second group of people.

And what a day for Ultimate it was!! Bright blue sky, a balmy 6.C. Those who opted to stay in the comforts of their warm apartments didn't know what they were missing!! To add to the fun, I recruited a small posse of Elementary school kids who were enjoying the afternoon out in the snow and invited them to throw a frisbee with me while the other members of my team were warming up. Being a sporty bunch, they took to it like a fish to water....a bird to the sky......a seal to ice and snow!! It was a day of Ultimate to be remembered.....some classic layouts along the slippery, forgiving ground and sporatic snowball fights that broke out after every point. It was hard tell the adults from the kids.

While I was subbing out, I drew upon my experience own childhood and crafted a proper snowman (complete with thorax). The hardest part was lifting that damn heavy thorax into place. The above picture commerates our day of fun in the snow (they only come like this once every 5 years in Tokyo!!) Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! 

Welcoming in the New Year

(This is a bit late coming, so I appologize for that.)

I spent my New Years holidays at the Yoshimatsu household in Yokohama. Yuki's family welcomed me into their home to celebrate the New Year with them.

Here is a picture of Yuki's family on New Years morning as they pray to their ancestors by reciting Buddhist chants to the family shrine in their sitting room. This important event did not take place without some laughter and giggling from the children of the family...the grown up children Yuki and her brother Nobu. Although this is a yearly event, apparently they are not terribly familiar with the meaning of the chants that they were reciting and kept having to ask eachother what line they were on. Apparently this is a yearly occurance and Yuki's father has grown tired of stopping to scold them and tell them to take the ritual more seriously, The recital continued smoothly with Yuki's dad leading the way.

Austin Powers mitai ne!!

Here is a picture of my best Japanese friend Tetsuhiro Muranaka.... Please call him Tetsu. I call him T. He is a good man, a good freind and the closest thing to a Japanese Austin Powers that you will ever meet.

I met Tetsu on my first day of work at the first Language school that I taught at. I was standing in the loby of the school checking out my new workplace when T came out of his class, entered the lobby and looked at me and said. You must be the new teacher...and started to laugh. We had a chat and later got to know each other. Tetsu took me out to meet many people...mainly Japanese ladies at Japanese singles parties called 'konpa' or 'gokon', which is a party where one man and a woman invite an equal number of friends (guys bring their buddies, and girls bring lots of ladies)and everyone goes out for dinner, drinking and karaoke or something like that.

In that way I met a lot of people and my Japanese inproved a lot. Now, I don't go to these parties anymore,(and my Japanese is not improving as a result) but I still meet Tetsu and it is always a funny time, as you can imagine if you had Austin Powers as your best friend.

brady