Golden Week is unofficially here for me!

While officially Golden Week doesn't begin until next Tuesday, as of this moment I consider my vacation has begun. While I have to work on Tuesday, I don't expect it to be that big of a problem, and for the next 10 out of 11 days, I am off. I have been looking forward to this break for a very long time. While I plan on spending most of the time relaxing at home, I will try to go out when I can. Today in the Kofu area a new gigantic shopping center opened that I may go to tomorrow. I'm thinking of going hiking too, but I don't know really where to go, especially on my tight budget for the month. I could go bicycling around town, but my bike is giving me trouble again. I guess a lot of the time will be spent watching movies and playing games with friends. Of course that is always fun.

Right now I am watching Mecha Mecha Iketeru on Fuji TV, a popular variety show. Tonight Tom Cruise is trying to guess what movies a bunch of comedians dressed as Marilyn Monroe are pantomiming too. Its pretty silly. I love Japanese TV.

Giant TVs and Work Frustration Again

This has been one of those weeks where it was filled with excitement and lots of frustration. The frustration came from work where once again I found myself unable to understand why my attempts at improving myself have been failing. It seems that no matter what I do I can't seem to combat the mistakes, and even my responses are never accepted with any sense of understanding. I realize that my company takes pride in its expectations and its quality, but I wonder what the truth is about my teaching techniques are because I get such different comments from people that I truly do not know how I am doing. Everyone reminds me to keep doing it and work hard, but I really have gotten to the point of absolute frustration at times.

But in better news I finally got my new TV. After months of planning, saving, and some help from friends, I got a gigantic TV! It was delivered on Wednesday and while I had seen it in a electronics store, I wasn't prepared for just how big it really would be. 52" is easy to measure, but when you finally see it in your house its much bigger than you expect. But after a half hour of the delivery people putting it together and setting it up, I finally had my own little home theater. Its already been a nice thing to come home to after a long day at work.

Golden week is now just one week away! I still have no major plans but I know that I will just relax a whole bunch, and hopefully invite a lot of friends over to watch the TV! Already I have had some people come check it out and they are amazed by it. My one complaint about Golden Week this year though is that the schedule this year prevents us from having a uninterrupted break. Next weekend I get off on Sunday and Monday as usual, then I work on Tuesday. And then I get the next 8 days off. I can live with working that one day, but its just kinda silly that we have to. Then again its better than at NOVA where we had to work on Golden Week.

So this week, I guess I just got to find the key to improving and showing my improvement at work. If I can do that then maybe I can feel better about things again.

Takeda Shingen Festival and a new TV

This has been a very up and down week for me. Work for the most part was down, although my continued attempts at improving are being attempted. But there is nothing I really want to mention about my job this week, instead I want to talk about more important and enjoyable things.

This past Saturday there was a big festival in Kofu celebrating the areas history and one of the most famous former leaders in Japan, Takeda Shingen. He was a famous feudal lord during the waring states period of Japan's history (1500's). Every year Kofu has a big festival celebrating him and his history. The past two years I had been unable to go to the festival, but this year thanks to some friends who wanted to go, I was able to make it. There was a big parade in the center of Kofu where people in costumes of the area marched toward the old castle grounds. There the festival took on a usual Japanese festival flare of booths full of food, toys, and lots of fun. Also at the festival they performed a ceremony where everyday people performed the roles of the famous people of Takeda Shingen's era. But the biggest surprise was that the main role was played by a very famous Japanese athlete from the past. A man named Yasuhiro Yamashita. He is a very famous judoist who won a gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. I actually knew of him from seeing a documentary on the LA Olympics way back when I was a little kid, so seeing him in person was a real treat. I took many pictures of the event and hopefully I can post them soon. It was a very nice night, and thankfully the weather was very enjoyable too.

On that same day I also bought something I've always wanted, a big screen tv! Thanks to a few of my old friends here in Yamanashi, as well as a long period of saving, I was able to buy a new 52" hdtv. I'm waiting for it to be delivered but from what I've seen of it at the electronic store, its huge! I can't wait to watch movies and play games on that, and of course anime and Japanese tv! The only problem with buying a new tv is that I need to rearrange my apartment. Thankfully since its spring, its perfect time for spring cleaning.

This week should be a good one. I get my tv on Wednesday, and now that classes have been going on a couple of weeks, things should go more smoothly again. I hope.

New classes, saving, and a missile over the country

This week, as every first week of April most likely is in Japan, was very hectic. It seemed like no matter what, there was something big, important, or nerve-wracking that came up this week. First off was the whole issue with the fact that my school was beginning its new school year. This meant that I had to begin teaching practically all new classes. I would say that 95% of my kids classes were new to me particularly. This means learning about 80 new kids names, their homework, class styles, and more. The first week has been mostly positive with myself having lots of fun teaching. However it wasn't all smooth sailing. There were some hiccups, especially with some people thinking that I had not learned from my mistakes last year. I'm trying so hard to improve on all my weak-points, but I wonder if I can ever achieve some of the benchmarks that some of my coworkers are setting for me, even if I improve 1000 percent. As always I will "ganbare" and do my best, but I really get down after class sometimes.

There was also some worries by many here over the whole North Korea missile test launch that occurred yesterday. Many people were concerned about what could happen, although I found many didn't really care. I wasn't so worried about it as I felt only a horrible horrible accident would cause anything to happen, and the chances of that were slim. So when the missile was launched yesterday the news and everyone were concerned of course, but by mid afternoon life was back to normal, like nothing had happened.

I continue to save for a big purchase and for future travels. I'm getting very excited about my trip to Yokohama in a month for the Ayu concert, and I'm starting to think about what I will do for Golden Week the week before. Chances are I'll be doing a lot of spring cleaning but I hope I can have some fun around town and hang out with people. I also need to work on studying my Japanese a bit soon, and explore the local area.

Thankfully this week should finally be back to normal after many weeks of hard work at school and at home. I certainly can use that time right now. I can't wait for my next vacation.