The Dichotomy That Was Last Night

(Please enjoy this rare glimpse of my kids at school. That’s Cheski-kun down in front. Am I right, people, or am I right!)

First of all, on Sunday I-kun and I finally went to play soccer in Minokamo, and Good Times were had by all. It was my first day in my new cleats, and my first time in any cleats since I think 1997, when I may have put my “magic shoes” on once or twice. I thought I would be all over the place, but after warming up they felt great. How fabulous to run and stop and sprint with cleats! (Or, for you Brits out there: “boots”, if you will. And for you Aussies, I believe it’s “spikes”? Ne? Alls I know is I definitely heard some non-American refer to sneakers as “trainers” on Sunday. Oh, the wonder of language!)

Anyway, it was great fun and I found out that I’m not in as bad shape as I thought I was! I got that post-soccer high and felt fabulous! On the way home, I-kun and I, sans detailed map, managed to lose ourselves in the mountains of Gifu and, heeding the I-ride’s rule, we couldn’t turn around. So drive we did, and it’s a good thing we didn’t stop for eats before heading home because I would surely have lost all of it in the I-ride from his crazy mountain driving! Curves, and more curves, uphill, downhill, it was like a friggin’ roller coaster! When we finally made it back to his town, we stopped for some eats at a little Mom & Pop restaurant, enjoyed the food, managed to keep I-kun awake long enough to eat and get me back to my car (he was feeling the effects of Saturday-night World-Cupping), which was, thank goodness, NOT locked in the Kahma parking lot – there was still one entrance open!

So, yesterday my plan was to take a nap and maybe meet up with I-kun for some Japan-Australia action. But I lazed out, and chose to take a moonlight run instead of a nap. Man, was it good – the weather was perfect: warm and humid, it was dark so there was less psychological tiring from landmarks, I went sans ‘pod and instead ran to the music of the crickets and frogs along the river/rice paddies. I was accompanied by only a few bugs which were being eaten by the bats, but I wasn’t worried about the latter, as I figured they have that radar system that would theoretically keep them from crashing into my head. I did, however, raise an arm in front of me when walking under the overhanging trees, as I was not trying to eat a giant spider that might be dangling at face level, obscured by the darkness.

Even without my “inspirational” Running playlist, and after working hard yesterday, I kept up a healthy pace, without pain from shin splints (I inadvertently took a week off last week, so that helped for Sunday and yesterday…) and had a great run, feeling good the whole while. Thank you, Japan, for being so safe that I can run by myself at night! With my new reflector sash, of course! Yeah, the “ninja” in black who ran past me should get one – he was practically invisible under the trees!

After my delicious run and a delicious shower, I plopped down to watch the Japan-Australia game. What a great game – it took Japan about half of the first half to score a goal, and they kept it 1-0 until there were about 8 minutes left. What a great feeling to think that they were going to win! While they didn’t get too many shots off, their defense kept the Aussies at bay… until…. One goal… boom – then two…. Boom- three! Three goals within 8 minutes! It was sad, really. I mean, great for the Socceroos, but a terrible loss for Japan. Had this been several centuries ago, instead of trading jerseys they probably would have committed seppuku right there on the field after the whistle. Good thing they didn't.

Anyway… today I’m at my LMS, and my teacher is out sick again, so I covered her classes – ichinensei and ninensei again. I miss my sannensei! I never get to teach with them! But the classes went well, this time I had teachers with me – thank you Y-sensei and H-sensei! I even got sneak-observed by Kouchou-sensei, O-sensei from the BOE and another guy. Eep! But it was fine and the kids were great, as always.

Lunch was tremendous, there was no hiruyasumi, and here I am at 3:00, all the kids are gone and all the teachers have gone to a meeting about the class that was observed 5th period. It’s funny how 3:00 feels early now.

For the record, contrary to the 7-9 periods we have in the States, in schools here there are only 6 periods. Well, 6 classes, plus lunch (the whole school eats at the same time), hiruyasumi and souji. I suppose you could also count club activities because they’re obligatory, although they’re not everyday. On top of that, at this school the kids are practicing their club sports when I get here in the morning. And all (?) schools sometimes have sports or tests on Saturdays. Gack!

That’s where I’m at today. Keep the peace!