Monday, December 5th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Tuesday was just like every other Tuesday.  I taught my classes, had my Japanese lesson, then went to Mizoguchi for my classes there.  I had 2 new kodomos, and their mothers "chaperoning", then had a high school boy come in.  So, I had to redo my schedule because he's nowhere near the level of Kohei & Tomoko.  So now I have 3 classes on Tuesday night.

Wednesday was my birthday.  Mom & dad & Robin called.  I was almost late to work.  It was a pretty good day.  Barrett stopped by my office with cake, Linda Lee left a present at my door...teddy bear slippers.  I didn't have any meetings, so I was able to work on my English Drama class.  Tomomi brought me socks, and Chinatsu & Michiyo gave me a Shirotopia tie pin.  I helped with the pageant rehearsal at chapel.

After school I went to Akira's with Koji-san.  Hiroko came at 7 & we had salad & Akira's curry rice. they gave me a tie, and, I guess, N. is going to be a regular Wednesday nighter.

Thursday, I taught my E.C. I class, then helped with pageant at lunch.  I had a koto lesson at 1:30.  We are playing in chapel in January- ack!  After school was an English faculty meeting.  I lasted from 4:30 to 8:30.  Needless to say I was upset when it was finally over.  To make matters worse, this was the one where we voted in the new faculty member for next year.  The vote was 5-4 in favor of Sonia.  Nobu came up to me afterwards and asked if I "went over to the other side".  I pleaded the 5th.  We had sushi for dinner.  :-(

Friday I went in and spent the whole day typing my introduction to the Greek unit in my English Drama class (which, by the way, it was decided that I couldn't hand pick my students, as they told me I could at the beginning- those stupid faculty barons)(or better yet, facist faculty members).

I helped with pageant rehearsal- again.  After school I went to Megumi Church- again- for my English lesson.  Thank God it's cancelled next week!

Saturday I cleaned, washed, vacuumed, etc.  Meg called & cancelled their lessons.  Manna's permanently, Meg's & mine until January.  Oh well...more free time!

I went to Sannomiya in the afternoon and went to Tokyu Hands.  I only made it the the 4th floor this time.  What a great place!

After that I went to Rokko, to Charles and Mary's for dinner and Trivial Pursuit (a birthday celebration for Kimberly & I).  Erin, Nora, Charles, Mary, Kimberly, & I had a great time, and I hooked some more people on Mannheim Steamroller Christmas!

I stayed over with Kimberly.

Sunday we slept through church, but got up, got around, went for okonomiyaki, then came to Himeji for Masano's family's Christmas party.

We met some of the JET teachers, and had a great time!  We danced a lot, ate a lot, and it was great!  I won a bento set, and we had our pictures taken with Miss Shirotopia(s).

Kimberly went home, and today I ran errands, and cleaned some more.

Monday, November 28th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Friday I went to school and got lots of piddly things done- like grading papers, letters written, etc.

After school we had an English meeting to decide on the new faculty member for next year...of course we didn't decide again, and it was a total waste of an hour & a half.

I rode home with Karl.  We ate at Royal Host, then went to Megumi to teach.  For snacks they served sweet potatoes in foil baked on the room heater...it was kind of neat!

Saturday I got up and met Michiyo and Tomomi at Himeji Station.  Chinatsu was supposed to meet us too, but she got stuck in traffic, and I had to get on the shinkaisoku alone to meet Kim, who was waiting at Sannomiya.  Luckily the train was crowded & I was able to get off before she got on, to flag her down.

We met Chinatsu & the group on the next train & continued on our way to Doshisha University near Kyoto, for the speech contest.  It took 2 1/2 hours!  When we got there we went to a coffee shop for food & something to drink.  Kim & I bought.

Chinatsu did really well, but forgot what to say twice.  All of our hearts in the audience stopped!  The people who won, deserved to, but I think that if Chinatsu hadn't forgotten, that she would have gotten an honorable mention.

During the judging the Doshisha girls did scenes from "My Fair Lady".  This inspired Kimberly & I to write "My Fair Nihonjin" for Shirotopia next spring.

We didn't get out of there until almost 6, due to "closing comments", etc.  I was upset, because we were supposed to go to Mikes for Thanksgiving dinner.  We called & they said they'd wait...we got there at 9:15.  It was fun, but I was too uptight all evening.  I'm trying to "think Dave" (G. & his calmness), but it doesn't always work.

Sunday Kim & I got up & went to the Japanese restaurant on Miyuki Doori for lunch.  She left, & I came home.

I was worship leader at Megumi for English church, so I couldn't go to Rokko...  There were 5 people there...oh how I missed KIBC!!  It was a little fun, though.

Today I met Mike at McDonalds & then we went to Mitsubishi to take care of my furikame for my plane ticket.  Mission finally accomplished!

I went to school for a faculty meeting to decide on flunking entrancees, then came home & cleaned & had a lesson with Kayo.

I'm going to Barrett's in a little while.

Thursday, November 24th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Friday night was English class at Megumi.

Saturday I slept in, then got ready and took the shinkaisoku to Rokko to meet Kimberly.  When she got there we took a taxi to Canadian Academy for the the KIBC Thanksgiving dinner. It was fun, and the food was great!  I had my 1st cornbread stuffing.

 Mary B. and Lynn G.

After dinner a bunch of us (Barry, Kimberly, Steve, Robin, Ben, Allyson, Nora, Mitsuko, Chiyoko, and I) went bowling.  On my first game I broke 100, but on the 2nd & 3rd, didn't.

 Mitsuko and Allison

 Steve, Chieko, Kimberly, Mitsuko, me, Robin, Barry, and Ben being tired...

After the crazy picture & bowling session some of us went coffee shop hopping.  After that I coaxed Barry into taking a picture of one of the barkers in Sannomiya who's tuxedo I really liked.  (I was too embarrassed to ask myself).

After that we went shopping at Tokyu Hands (a fabulous store).  Gradually, through the evening we lost people.  Finally Kim, Chiyoko, Barry and I went to Mikage to the okonomiyaki restaurant and had great food- as if we weren't stuffed enough from the dinner earlier that day.

 the "okonomiyaki" lady at Kimberly's and my FAVORITE little grill in Rokko!!

I stayed over at Carol & Nobu's.

On Sunday I got up and went to church in Rokko.  Afterwards, Allyson, Mitsuko, Naomi and I met Kimberly in Mikage and we went back to Mukonoso for a festival that they were having.  It was really crowded, so we didn't stay long.  I, of course, managed to buy something in the short time we were there!

After looking at the festival we went to Tsukashin.  I got some more Christmas shopping done.  I like Tsukashin a lot.  I also bought Kimberly's b-day gift there.  It's a shower head shaped like a gorilla's head.  The water shoots out of his mouth.  It's cute!

After that we went back to Rokko for Bible study and church.  I helped Paula set up to sing.  She was really nervous, and didn't do well.  She was so humiliated, she said that she would never sing again.  Kim sat on one side, and I on the other and through the rest of the service she signed & shook her head.  I felt really sorry for her.  I walked to the station with her, and she was pretty well composed, but I heard that she just sobbed all the way home on the train.

Monday I slept in, then went shopping on Miyuki Doori.  I finished my Christmas shopping.  I came home, and had a lesson with Kayo, then ran downtown to pick up my pictures from Saturday.  I got lots of great mail that day...lots of bday cards, and a Mannheim Christmas tape from Robin.  Mom sent me a sweater, some clippings, a magazine, and told me she got me 2 subscriptions to teaching magazines for my bday, too.  Unfortunately, I got a letter from Stephanie that day, too.  It suffices to say that we are no longer together.  Period.  Kind of ruined the rest of the evening!

Tuesday was my busy day.  I taught my classes as usual, except that I showed a video (Sesame Street) in E.C. I.  In E.C. II we started drawing our own cartoons.

I had my Japanese lesson with Yukari.  It went pretty well.  I was kind of out of it the whole day though, because of Steph's letter.

After school I went to Mizoguchi for my kodomo & adult classes.  They went pretty well.

Wednesday I got up and went to Kimberly's for French toast. It was really good.  She's been a big help since I got Steph's letter.  After we ate and talked for awhile we went to a town near Shukugawa to buy groceries, then went to Ashiya to the singles Thanksgiving dinner.  It was fun.  There were about 40 people there.  Dave's mansion is exactly that- 3-6 mat rooms upstairs, 2-10 mat rooms down, a full size washer & dryer, sunken kitchen, yard, big genkan, 2 bathrooms, gorgeous!

  We played Pictionary, and talked.

Mitsuko acting out "witch doctor"...

me and Paula

 Glenn

 Dave

 Dave and Mary

I walked to the station with Naomi, then came back to Himeji, and went to bed.

Today I had to come to school to be "on call" for entrance exams- whatever that means!  So, I'm sitting here doing nothing- all day.  What a drag.  I got a great care package from mom with a bday cake kit, and all of my back magazines in it.  What a mom!

I may be able to get an advance on my December paycheck, so that I'll have money at Christmas time...wouldn't that be nice!

I got a letter from Nancy W. yesterday.  It was nice to hear from her again!

Friday, November 11th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Actually today is Tuesday, November 15th, at 3:10 p.m.  When I wrote the above, nothing had happened since the last entry.

But, lots has sine then.  Friday night I taught my Megumi class.  It wasn't a real thrill, but it was okay.

Saturday I got up, cleaned, got cash and then taught an English lesson to Meg.  Manna didn't come, so I had a long Japanese lesson.  It was a really good one.  After my lesson I watched a couple of videos, and went to bed early.

Sunday I got up and left at 8:50 for Rokko. The sermon was on "Rocks in the Bible".  It told of rocks as food, drink, shelter, safety, etc.  It was good.  I sat by Dave.  What a Mr. GQ!  He's great.

After church Kimberly, Paula, Nora, Barry, Kenji and I went to Central Station at the New Oriental for steak...yum!  They have a real salad bar!  We met Isaku there, so we crowded 8 people into a 4 person booth (Jim B. came too).

Kenji came to church for the 1st time & we talked him into doing stuff with us all day.  He spent 12 hours speaking English with gaijin & said he felt like his head had been put through a pencil sharpener!

After lunch we shopped, and had a picture taken together and put on an NTT phone card.  It was great!

After shopping we went to bible study, church, and singles fellowship.  Bible study was about the power of prayer and existence of miracles today.  It was very interesting.  I left early to help Paula with the song she is singing next Sunday.

I sang at church.  I sang "Friends".  People cried.  Afterwards, Charles said "Boy, if I could sing like that with a cold, I'd pray to always be sick".  (I told them, beforehand to bear with me because I had a cold).

Singles was about Ruth, being a foreigner in Israel.  Relevant!  We had homemade ice cream and took pictures afterwards.

I called Nobu before singles & told him that I was staying with Kim.  He told me no, and to get my ass over there, so as not to make Kim's landlord angry (as Kim lives in an all women's apartment building...no men are allowed overnight...how stupid!).

Anyway, I stayed with I's.  Carol was supposed to go with Kim & I on Monday to the embassy to get our re-entry permits, but Becky got sick again & Kim & I were sent off to do it solo (or duet in this case).

We caught a taxi at Sannomiya Station and I said "Kansai denryoku" (consulate or embassy), but he thought we said Kansai denki (Kansai electric).  So, we ended up in the wrong building, and had to be led to the right one.   Luckily a nice lady escorted us there & it was nearby.

We filled out our forms, bought our 3,000 yen stamp, and got it taken care of.  We went to the old Oriental Hotel for coffee and croissants.  Kim then left for the christian women's luncheon and I went to Maruzen to browse.  I bought a wonderful calendar of restored carousel animals.

I took the shinkaisoku back to Himeji, then went to the post office to pay my phone bill, mail Melissa's wedding present, and buy stamps for my Christmas postcards.  My total was about 12,000 yen.  Ack!

There have been ropes strung up around my neighborhood with paper streamer things hanging from them from Saturday to now.  I guess they were there for 3-5-7 day, which was Sunday.  3-5-7 day is where girls age 3 & 7, and boys age 5 celebrate being that age.  They wear their cute little kimonos around all day.  Because of this, and the nice weather on Sunday I was squished into a corner, standing, on the train, incidentally.

I had my lesson with Kayo.  She has a cold, too.  She asked me what I had for dinner (planned).  I said I didn't know, but would find something.  As I thought, she came about 2 hours later with some Japanese dish that she had made for me.  She's such a doll!  I'm so glad I decided to teach her for the price she could afford (which was less than half my asking price).  I would have missed out on so much culture & kindness had I not!

I put stamps on postcards, wrote an encouragement letter to Robin, watched more of Shogun, & went to bed.

Thursday, November 10th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Tuesday was the busiest I've been yet!  I taught my 3 classes, had my Japanese lesson, then left school to teach my 1st class in Mizoguchi...6 elementary school children- 4 boys and 2 girls.

They were typically hyperactive, and obnoxious, but if I realize that going in, maybe I'll be okay.  After all, they have school all day, so it should be fun, or their interest won't be kept.  We learned the days of the week, and sang the theme from "Happy Days" using the days of the week.  For some reason Saturday was hysterical to them.

After the kodomos was my adult class...of 2 people.  One is a Kenmei student, the other is a working man.  Their English is pretty good.  We discussed "Shopping Street" from a book called "Explain Yourself.  It should be fun.

I've caught a cold so I had a sore throat Tues., and all the other nasty symptoms yesterday and today.

Wednesday I came in & lazed around until chapel, then did the same then.

At lunch I ran to the post office to pay my furikae and bought stuff for tacos at Ginbiru.

I met Satoko on the train.  She is an office worker for Hinomoto, and always says "hello" and smiles.  She's very nice, so it was nice to finally meet her.

I picked up my prints from the weekend festivities in Rokko, then went home to start dinner.

Akira and Hiroko came, and I fixed tacos.  It was a fun evening.  We talked about Bush's being elected that day (GAG!).  We also talked about the emperor and how they felt about him.

Today, I rode in with Kim.  My E.C. I class went well.  Now I'm vegging in my office.

Oh, yesterday I was embarrassed.  I got a call telling me that I was supposed to be at a meeting.  I ran down, walked in, and everyone started laughing.  Haruko sensei thought she called Karl (not that we even sound anything alike).

A lady came to see me about teaching once a month at a kodomo school near here.  Offers keep coming in, but I need to start refusing them.  The money is good, but so is free time!

Mike has a lecture series starting in January, once a month.  He may give it to me.  It pays 9,000 yen per hour, for 3 hours, 1 day a month...not bad!

At this point, I want to quit my Friday night class at Megumi.  I doesn't pay, but I enjoy the people, so I'm not sure what I want to do.

Monday, November 7th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Saturday I ran errands.  I bought Stephanie a hapi coat and Aunt Doris a friendship ball.  Not that Steph. and I may be together, by Christmas, but just in case, I bought her a present.  I'm tired of missing out on great presents by breaking up before Christmas instead of after- ha!

I guess I write the above because I got a letter from darling Steph. Saturday.  In only 8 words she informed me she wasn't going to Pennsylvania at New Years as we had planned to, since February.  No apology, nothing...just "I have to work, so I'm not going to Pennsylvania."  Grr..  I wrote back the standard "what are your feelings towards me?" etc. letter, so we'll see...

I had a lesson with Meg & Manna.  Meg thinks the Japanese conversation isn't working, and that we we need to work in a book...yuk!!

I jumped on a train after lessons, and went to a singles "going away/Trivial Pursuit" party at B's.  We had yakitori on the grill, and it was a great time!

Moira and Isaku

 Me and Nora!

Charles and Mary B.
 

I stayed overnight at I's.  Carol & I had a nice chat Sunday morning, then I left for Rokko to go to morning worship.

Lots of the singles were there, and after service they talked me into going to B's for a Southern U.S. lunch.  It was GREAT!  Peanut soup, turnip greens, cornbread and beans, key lime pie.  Chicken & dumplings, etc.

 Janet B. (the hostess)!

 Digging that 80's sweater!

After lunch Barry, Nora, and I went to the New Kobe Oriental Hotel, shopping.  What a place!

Everything was really expensive.  I managed to walk away with only 47 post cards (my this year's Christmas cards), and a vase (for 1,000 yen).

After shopping, and eating Belgian waffles, we went back to Rokko and to bible study (except that I went to the students center instead and practiced for our trio).

In service the trio (Nora, Erin, and I) sang "undivided".  It went well.  I went up and declared my desire to be a member through watchcare.  It was a great evening/day.

Today I went with Mike at 1:45 to meet the man running the school I start teaching at tomorrow night in Fukusaki (or Mizoguchi)(I forget which).

We went to look at the place, and Mike & I had a great chat about Genesis & the rapture.

I had a lesson with Kayo at 4.  I have the horrible feeling she's giving me a kimono for Christmas...but, maybe not.

I started writing out Christmas cards today, too!

Saturday, October 29th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  I rode the 8:22 in, and got caught up on lots of stuff at the office.  I started researching and organizing thoughts, materials, etc. for my English Drama class next year.

I had my koto lesson.  I was okay, but made lots of mistakes, as usual.

I got letters written, papers copied, my newsletter article for F.B. in Fairfield written, and various lesson plans & stuff done.

Friday night was Megumi class.  This was our Halloween party.  We did the suitcase race, made masks, trick or treated in the church, and I set up a "Feel the body part" place.  The students were blindfolded and I had them stick their hands in various things like hamburger, jello, tomato juice, spaghetti, etc.  We told them it was brains, blood, heart, etc.

The reactions of some of them (guys as well as girls) was hilarious!  We had cake & cider, and bobbed for apples, too.  It was really fun!

Today mom & dad called and said that Grandma Shepherd died yesterday (Friday).  It was a relief, I guess.  She's finally out of her coma.  But you never really prepare yourself fully for that "one phone call".  I'm not sure what my reaction is.  I'm too far removed from the situation to feel it properly.  I'll miss what she used to be, but guess I have been already, since she went into the nursing home.  God Bless you in your new life, gram.

Today I ran errands, and had my lesson with Meg and Manna.  they went pretty well.  I called Kim this morning.  We discussed final plans for "Phantom of the Opera" next January.

After lessons Michiyo called about a news release for our Shirotopia show.

I went grocery shopping, and am now relaxing, contemplating life, age, and death, and preparing to watch "Young Sherlock Holmes".