It's been a (Japanese) Minute (dunno what that means really..)

Why am I posing next to this strange object? Read on to find out (Pictures HERE)

Hey all!!! I am still alive and kicking. Well...I don't really kick, but I'm peddling. So I'm alive and peddling. Woo hoo!!!

Ok, first of all, Summer vacation was way to short. It was the longest set of vacation that I would have for the year, but it was still way to short. I went to Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. While in Osaka, I went to Universal Studios Japan. THAT was fun! I won my first awesome stuffed animal because I knocked down the three bottles with the bean bag ball. Yes, I knocked all of them off of the platform and I won *drumroll* COOKIE MONSTER!!! yeah!!! I had a good time. I road Spider-Man (in Japanese), I watched Shrek 4D (In Japanese) I saw Peter Pan (IN JAPANESE!!!) and I ate food (in English, because...well...wait...nevermind). I had a good time. Osaka and Kobe were not as fun as Tokyo, and this is possibly due to the fact that I went alone and didn't really have a plan. I kind of winged it. Good thing was, I did make a new friend in Osaka who offered to show me around more next time I was in Osaka. She (badabing!) was nice.

Well, summer seminars are over, and now begins the month of September. And even though we have to get more new students, even though work is still kind of a stressful environment (ok, not really), and even though I still have a devil child I want to chuck through a solid immovable wall...guess what?! IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!! YES! In one week it is going to be football season and yours truly has a pass that he bought on the internet (only for international users, sorry guys) that let's him watch all the games, even after they've aired, in pure unadulterated unfiltered HD and he even can have multiple games on the screen at once. Dude...can you say stoked? Cause I can. STOKED!!!

So, quick story. Funny story. I'm teaching two four-year-old's and when we teach new vocabulary, we teach it twice, and then we do a small activity where I get the children to say the new vocabulary 3 times fast. For example, if the vocabulary is "apple" I say "apple" once and they say "apple, apple, apple" as fast as they can (good for the memory). Well after that, we are supposed to do something fun. Do a little dance, roll our tongue, make a boom boom clap beat on the floor (yes, I actually do it, and they like it). Well, one of my kids wanted to act like Parukia (he is a Pokemon, and he's really strong). Sometimes I do Superman or Batman with them, but he wanted to do Parukia. So I said (because I didnt really want to think of an idea) "Sure Nao, go ahead and be Parukia." So we went ahead and did our three times fast and then I looked at him and said, "OK BE PARUKIA!!"

Picture this.

A kid get's a big burst of energy.

You don't know what he is going to do.

He shakes his head from side to side as the energy is building up.

He utters some inexplicable language that neither makes sense in Japanese or English.

He runs as fast as he can (or so it seems).

He slams into the wall, falls down, and is OUT.

That was Nao's impersonation of one of the most powerful Pokemon in the Pokemon Universe.

I did not understand. But what I did do, was..

Laugh...LOUDLY!

It was hilarious. The boy didn't hurt himself, but he acted as if he hit the wall too hard, fell down and then was out. He acted like Parukia. I didn't get it. The next time we did three times fast he falls down and acts like he is getting choked to death. I just looked at him, smiled, and laughed.

It's incidents like that that (1) get me through my day when it is sometimes dragging for whatever reason and (2) it reminds me why I took this job in the first place (besides all the yellow fever I seem to be catching ;)

I'm still as happy as ever here, but I am definitely looking toward my life AFTER Amity (notice I didn't say after Japan, I'll let you chew on that). But that is such a far way away (not until May) so I am enjoying the moments I have here at Amity.

Ok world. I hope all is well with everyone. And remember, perspective is not EVERYTHING, but it's at least 110%...at least. Be cool.

-Jeremy aka the winner of having the most fun at Todd and Machiko's wedding (my ex-coworker and her husband who works at AEON, the adult sister school of AMITY in Tottori).