does he look like me? or like Anpanman?

DSC01131
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

kieke boe

kieke boe
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

KIEKE BOE

Summer 2008

Hello everyone,

Here a summer update live from the worlds greatest city, Kobe.

It's been a pretty hot summer this year, guess it will only get hotter in the future (if you do not believe in the Day after tomorrow I guess). The weather was a bit hard for the baby tough, especially for his skin because he is mecha mecha (very very) chubby.

Beside his skin, that we are a little worried about, Reo is doing super. He is growing fast, and I think he will become smarter than Mayuko and I are... His neck is also pretty stable, so with our help he is able to sit down, and do sit ups. He is now about 6.5 kilo.

My summer holiday started from half July, and I will go back to the schools tomorrow. I had 2 summer jobs, and they actually make me not wanting to go back to the elementary schools. I am kind of getting tired of traveling to different schools, teaching 800 kids a week, and a lot of teachers/kids just don't care about English. It's a fun job to do, but after 2 years I say: GIVE ME ANOTHER JOB. A well, just another 6 months to go and I will do something else than this (that's my intention though).

I have also decided that I will be doing the JLPT 2 this year, even though the change that I might not pass is a pretty big I will do my best to prepare for it. I does mean that until December, I should at least study 2 hours a day (14 hours a week + 14 weeks is almost 200 hours)... fewww If I do fail, I will take the test again next July. I WILL GET JLPT 2 BEFORE NEXT SUMMER..

There was also a pretty dramatic accident a couple of weeks ago near our house. A river started to flood, and 4 people died.


I have a lot of photo's from Reo, and if you want to see all. Then please visit my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34591504@N00/

Have fun, and if you have any specific questions on how life in Japan is... FIRE them :D

Happy Birthday, 1 month old

Happy Birthday Reo, tomorrow you will become one month old.

Life has changed so much, after he has been born. I want to go home a.s.a.p. , responsibility has tripled, life has got more meaning then before in my opinion. The wife is sometimes complaining a lot towards me, but I can understand that with certain things, and in the other way she is still very sweet to me. I though I would really become on the background, but that's not the thing.

Reo is sleeping very well, even though he got his crying hours (especially between 10-1 in the evening), drinking a lot of milk, becomes cuter and fatter every day.

Today we went to Tarumi Kai Jinja (temple), to pray for his health and future. We sat on a bench, and the priest was walking around, saying stuff in Japanese, and reading text from a book and our names (DEEEVIIEEE SUTOKUUHOFFF , which makes me feel good that we decided to not change Mayuko her last name).

We have been at her parents place for about a month now (it's normal in Japan to go to the parents after the baby is born, to get support and learn how to do certain things... which I think was very nice, because now we can go home with a good feeling).

Anyway, here are some photo's.

The baby is born! Good morning little boy.

On Friday, May 30th at 10.34 A.M. in the Tanabe FrauenKlinik in Kobe Japan, our little boy was born. He weighted 2970 gram, and was 50.5cm tall when he came out. He already gained about 200 gram in the last week, and he is getting milk from the breast.

His official name is Reo Terao 怜朗　寺尾、but feel free to call him Reo Terao Stokhof in unofficial matters.

He is now already 9 days old, and is a very sweet and smart boy... meaning he doesn't keep us awake all night. He has some things of me, and some things of my wife.... which is one of the most interesting thing of having a mixed child... what's his Japanese side and what's his Dutch side. I will let you people decide your own opinion, because I'm not really good in that.

Our life has changed huge since the day he was born, and there are a lot of things we have to learn, and have to get used to, but we are enjoying every day with our little boy. Before I was happy to go home after work, but now I am really really looking forward going home again, and seeing Reo again. Holding him in my arms, watching his 1000's different expressions, and giving him milk by the bottle when Mayuko is too tired.

A couple of difficult things are, the fact that he is soooo small and fragile and taking a bath with him is a bit hard. Another thing is, but I guess that's also a funny thing is when changing diapers, is that he sometimes urinating straight up... almost in your face.

We will enjoy our time with him, and will do all our best to raise him in a proper way. If anyone has any advice for us, feel free to do that.

Last but definitely not least. I want to thank all our family and friends for their heart warming congratulations, and we will try to post as many blogs, photo's and other updates on the net for your guys...

A happy happy Birthday for our little son Reo Terao (Stokhof)

School, Studying, and the BABY

Hello everyone,

How's life? It's been a while again...ahum...

Anyway, everything is doing alright up here. Started school again last week, after I had a holiday for 2 months. Although, I am not sure if I can call it a holiday because I have been studying Japanese for 1.5 month in Osaka from 9 in the morning until sometimes 5 in the afternoon.

Studying Japanese at a school was a lot of fun, and I've made a lot of friends. My Japanese has definitely improved, although I am worried that a lot of things will fade away because I started working again. I should start some private lessons next week though.
I've also done a Japanese test last week, the J-test, which went pretty good (result will come in next month).

School is doing alright, although it's a bit far... but I've got nothing to complain about.

Mayuko is doing good as well... only about 1.5 week to go until the baby is there...

I'll keep you guys up to date

Group photo

Group photo
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

ow. just to add another one.

We had a Hanami party last wednesday with my Japanese school in Osaka jo koen. We had a great time, with some nice beers, games, and karaoke after wards (7 Koreans, and 1 Dutch).

Bad thing was... my battery was dead so I couldn't call my wife, and I came home late.... yeah I know. I suck :(

Mayuko pregnant

Mayuko pregnant
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

Well, here is a photo of Mayuko in her 30th week of her pregnancy.

We went for a small Hanami(cherry blossom viewing party)2 weeks ago in Shukugawa (4stops away from our train station). It was a bit cold that day, but the Sakura was very beautiful, but I have to say that nothing beats the belly of Mayuko.

b.t.w. for the people whom are reading my blog, I am looking forward to reading some of your comments, it's the reason I can and want to update this blog.

Going to a Japanese language school

Since I have about 1.5/2 months vacation, I have decided to work on my Japanese by going to a school this time. I was looking for a school already last year, but couldn't find anything besides private lessons for 3000 yen an hour, and unqualified looking teachers.

This year, I finally found something nice, KKC, a school located in Namba Osaka (about 1 hour away from my house and 1050 yen transportation a day). I can study in the morning from 9 to 12.30 and/or from 1 to 4.30. For one month it costs me 44.000 yen, which sounds expensive, but if you calculate the hours it's actually very cheap.

We use the text book: Mina Nihongo 2, and are in a class of 6 to 10 persons. A lot of koreans, and Chinese, but they are fun besides the fact that they do speak a lot of Korean and I can't understand a word.

Anyway, I really have to put some extra power behind studying Japanese. This year I really hope to do JLPT 2, even though it might be a very VERY big challenge... Wish me luck

Japanese TV... an addition to it

I think a lot of foreigners in Japan dislike Japanese TV. Why I think that... because I have almost never heard any foreigner talking about Japanese TV when I talked to them about it.

What I think about Japanese TV? Well, I sometimes really enjoy watching it, and have some programs that I just don't want to miss: Mechaike, Lincoln, etc. But I have to agree on some things: There are too many cooking programs where people are lying about the taste, there are too many stupid and low budget commercials, and they amount of foreign programs (movies, drama's etc) is very low to zero (if you do want to watch them, you have to stay up until 1 or 2 in the night).

So, I have been complaining to my wife about it for months... crying, and breaking glasses on the wall. No just kidding.

But yeah, I have been asking for an addition for already a couple of months, but she always said it wasn't necessary or a waste of money. Until this guy from J:com came by and gave her some more information about it. After that she decided to give me a present:

J:Com TV.

J:Com gives you internet, phone, and TV for only 9.000 yen a month. So right now we have 66 extra TV channels :D :D YATTA. I can now watch 7 sports channels, 3 music channels, CNN and CNBC, FOX tv, Discovery channel, history channel, and a lot more Japanese and international TV programs. (here is a list of the channels and the link to J:com in English)

So, thank you Mayuko!

March update

I guess it has been a while since I have posted a blog entry. Life in Japan can be very busy so now and then, and from June it will be even busier. Mayuko is doing fine although working is getting harder every day, and she can't get the rest that she needs to have. Only 2 weeks left for her, and one week left for myself and then we don't have to work anymore.

Mayuko will then have another 2 months to enjoy by herself before the baby will arrive. I just hope that she will not stay at home to much but that she will start doing some exercise. I will try to push her a bit but she can be sooo stubborn... is that the real Japanese women?

As I have said before, I only have another week left before I have another long holiday. I was thinking of searching for another job (I still have some interviews), but I will probably stay with the same company that I am working for now (W5SS) here at the Kobe elementary schools (Shougakkou) and that will start from the end of May, beginning of June. During the holiday I want to study Japanese as much as possible ( The JLPT 3 should be fair enough).

I'm searching for interesting ways to study Japanese, because studying from a textbook for 4-5 hours a day isn't very exciting. I was thinking about taking my camera out and make photo's of Kanji signs here in the area, and writing a daily dairy on Mixi... Anyone else got some nice ideas for me?

We are also planning a short trip during this holiday, because the last one sure wasn't fun. I, myself was thinking about Kita (north) Hyogo (Prefecture I am living in) at the Japanese sea for 1 or 2 nights.

Anyway, live is doing alright up here, even though it can always be better.

Winter Holiday part 2

Well to continue from the first part;

The Flu.
I still had to stay another couple of days in my room, just in case I would infect Mayuko with it. But I guess it was alright, I finished my book about the daughter of a Yakuza boss (a very nice book, I might even write another blog entry about this book called "Yakuza Moon"), played "Prince of Persia" and "FF3" on my DS and got to see some movies that I downloaded from the net.

Unfortunately a couple of days later Mayuko also got sick and got 37.5 degrees. We were worried that she also got the flu, but luckily she got a normal temperature again the day after and it didn't go any further then coughing!

All together
On Saturday the 29th my Takuya, Aki-chan and Nana-chan came over from Osaka, to spend the new year together with the whole family. It feels great to be together with the whole family like that, even tough it also makes me miss my own family. The only one who was still missing was my sister in law Minako, but she would come over on the first of Jan.

Golf practice
On the 30th I played some golf with Takuya and Kimio, well not really playing but more practicing swing on the golf range. Because the two of them would go to a real golf park on the 31st and my golf level is way to low we decided to just go for some swings... It didn't went very well, maybe because I wanted to play golf so much I think I put too much pressure on myself and didn't enjoy a lot. My wife is telling me to stick with futsal because golf is too expensive for me... I guess she is right but still I would like to learn golf a bit more and go with them on the last day of 2008. A well, a nice target.

Baby sitting
Minako couldn't come before the 1st of January but she did got us some delicious fish (buri - yellowtail???), Ikura (salmon eggs), and some other stuff. Because Minako was living in Osaka one of us needed to pick it up from there, and due the fact that I still wasn't feeling 100% Aki-chan decided (forced by mom ;)) to pick it up.

So Aki-chan went to Osaka, Mayuko to the hair dresser, Kimio and Takuya to the golf court, and Akiko needed to drive from the station to the hairdresser. So there I was alone with Nana-chan.... HELP ME !!!!!! BABY!!!!!! No joke, I had a lot of fun taking care of the little one; watching anpanman together, playing with toys and walking around in the house together. She is growing week by week, and she is surprising us all the time. During this holiday she started to walk a bit more by herself, and can walk about 10 meters without any help from us. It was also great to teach her the high-5 (they call it high-touch in Japan for some reason lol)

New years eve
New years eve in Japan is totally different than in the Netherlands. No champagne, no oliebollen, en no Fireworks. I guess I could have bought some Champagne for the eve but I already spend a lot of money on Christmas presents so I was fine with beer! Oliebollen... well I though about making them but I do not have a big frying pan. Fireworks... a well guess its just the way it is haha.

So yeah on new years eve we ate some delicious buri (shabu shabu), drunk foreign beer, and watched the K-1 Dynamite together (some nice fights, especially "Kid" did well). While we were preparing for a count down with beer and toshikoshi soba (noodles) my mother called us to say happy new year and sing a new year song on the speaker (which was funny and very warming) So I (well Mayuko had the phone in her hand) spend the new year with my Japanese family and my mom.

After the beer, and when the little one went to bed we played some kachi kachi (Japanese card game, with 100 yen bets...I won about 4000 yen that evening) and went to bed around 3.

New years day
On new years day we had a traditional Japanese breakfast, watched the Down town Batsu game ( a TV game, in which some famous Japanese comedians were not allowed to laugh or else they would be hit on the ass with a slap stick...See here if you are interested), slept all together on the floor in the living room ate suki-yaki with again delicious beef, and played another Kachi-kachi game (this time Minako was there as well).

Obachan
On the second we left early for Ako, to visit Oba-chan (grandmother) with the whole family. We ate some very nice sushi up there and walked around with Nana-chan. Nana-chan was a bit scared of Oba-chan in the beginning but got in her mood later on the day.





Another golf game, and time to go home
On the third we practiced some golf again, which went way better than before (maybe because I checked some stuff on you tube how to practice the swing), played some wii, and visited a friend of Mayuko; Yumi and her husband. She has a very cute but small house (something we also would like in the upcoming years) In the evening we ate Okonomiyaki from Aki-chan (I think I ate Okonomiyaki 4 times in one month lol).


In the evening we went home again, which was a bit sad but we were happy to be home again as well... We had spend 2.5 week at the parents their house.

It was a great holiday, besides the fact that I fainted and got the flu. Nana-chan grew a lot in 2.5 week time and it was nice to spend time with the family. I can't wait to spend more time with the family again (next time will be in February or March though.

Tomorrow I got to go back to work again... hmmm... aaa well it's alright got to make money to support my family and work on my career the upcoming year.

Here is a video of me playing golf

Winter holiday part 1

My holiday started on the 19th, just a couple of days after my wife had started her holiday. We where already at her parents place, because we can relax there more than we can at our own little house and are having fun spending time together with them.

Oba-chan in Ako

On my first day off we went to Mayuko her grandmother, a sweet old lady with a funny way off talking (she can say stuff such as kuso baba (my own grandmother can't scold further than "you old pancake lady"), the last time we had been to her place was about a year ago so it felt nice to be back again. Grandmother (obachan) is living in a small city 1.5 hour west of Kobe in the city of Ako, once a samurai town with a famous story (which I have to search up for you guys but I can' use the internet right now...see below). We went there to clean her house, to have some nice lunch in a seafood restaurant, and to give some presents to her sisters whom are living in the same town. One of her sisters was cutting some fish when we came in her garden, the fish was still moving even though it had no head.

Rokko Island

On the next day we went home for a night (we were supposed to clean the house, but it was already clean... It really was), and in the afternoon we spend our time on Rokko Island (one of two large artificial islands that kobe has build in the last 60 years). There are a lot of foreigners on Rokko island, and because of that there is also a foreigner store called the FBC (Foreigners Buyers Club), they have a very large catalogue that you can order true the internet or by phone with stuff from Holland to Australia and from stuff from the states to India. Because we already had seen their catalogue we expected to see a lot of nice stuff in the store, but it was a bit disappointing because they only had a small collection in comparison with their catalogue... but yeah anyway we've bough some peanuts and sweet chili sauce that I really love (especially to put on my chicken). After our visit we went to the a very nice Okonomiyaki restaurant on the island called Fetsuya. Some say that it's the best Okonomiyaki chain in the Kansai area, and I have to say that I was not disappointed at all.

Osaka and the Yaki-Niku restaurant

On Saturday we did some Christmas shopping in Osaka, which was fun at first but after walking around for 2 hours in main Osaka (Umeda) it's wasn't that fun anymore... Osaka is such a crowded city (imagine Amsterdam on Queens day). I've bought some Dutch cheese, and cookies for the family, and also bought a nice one piece for Mayuko (early Christmas present). After shopping we went to a very nice Yaki-niku (Japanese bbq) restaurant, with Mayuko her Brother Takuya, his wife Aki-chan and the baby Nana-chan, where we ate some delicious meat, and with delicious I really mean DELICIOUS.



Jogging and the flu

On Sunday morning, I woke up early (as usual in this holiday, because I always wake up around 8 even though I am having a holiday) and decided to join my father in law with jogging (after he got an operation at his back last year he decided to do something about his condition so he is now jogging 5 times a week for about an hour... and that on an age of 60 years old). We first walked to the park which is about 15-minutes away and in the park we run two rounds (one together, one at own pace). It's been a while since I've been jogging and I really enjoyed doing it (too bad I can't really jog near my own place, because there are too many hills up their).

After we came back, my brother decided to go to the hospital to check his condition, he had not been feeling well for about 2 days so he wanted to check it out. Back from the hospital he came with the news that he had the flu. Because he did not wanted to infect my pregnant wife he went home straight after the lunch. There goes the Christmas together, but yeah the most important thing was that Mayuko did not get infected or the other family members.
He did not had a high fever, so he could drive home (took about an hour though).

Christmas and Wii

Because we were planning on going to Tokyo on Tuesday we had decided to have Christmas on Monday. In Holland we always start with a Christmas Breakfast with bread, smoked sausage, and other small snacks, so I wanted to do the same for my Japanese family. I woke up early to go to the supermarket to buy some stuff for the breakfast, but when I came back around 9 I saw that everyone already had woken up, and that my wife was already eating rice and miso soup... there went my surprise... I was a bit disappointed and started to have a fight with my wife on Christmas morning... nice moment to have a fight.

Anyway, after the fight, we cleaned the house together and the Dutch style breakfast changed into a lunch, which was delicious and the whole family loved it. Later in the afternoon my wife made a cake, and we played some Wii together. Wii fit, a game where you can play balance games on the balance board, and do a whole body work out and yoga. A lovely game, with a lot of games in it. We also have Wii sports (favorite is tennis and bowling), Being Olympics, and Super Mario party (anyone else here with a Wii, and some nice games?).

In the evening my wife and her mom had made a very nice Chicken Christmas Dinner, and gave some presents to the parents (a Hanshin TIgers calendar, and some beer bottles (Duvel, Heineken, Guinness, etc) for dad).



Destination Tokyo.... Stop... Destination Hospital ;(

On Tuesday we got ready to go to Tokyo, we first needed to go to Shin-Osaka to take the Shinkansen (bullet train). I had a bad sleep, and woke up with a lot of pain in my neck. It was busy in the train towards Osaka, and we needed to stand for about 40 minutes. Finally after Ashiya Mayuko could sit down (pregnant and unable to sit down isn't funny).

I stood there in the train and suddenly got a bad feeling, the sound around me started to vague away, and everything in front of me as well. I needed to close my eyes, and about 3 seconds later I noticed I was laying on the floor. Blackout... Mayuko ran up towards me, and a lady gave away her chair for me. When I sat down it went a little bit better, but than suddenly I told Mayuko that I needed to close my eyes again. Again another black out, this time I was even shaking for about 3 seconds. Someone pushed the emergency button and we got out at Amagasaki station where the train conductors came immediately with a wheel chair and was brought to the Hospital with an ambulance about 30 minutes later. I was feeling a bit better again, but was shocked about what had happened, and the same goes for Mayuko. I got an MRI scan, which was pretty scary and I prayed that there was nothing wrong in my brain (a tumor or something....). I even told myself not to sleep while I was in the MRI for 15-minutes.

We were both very relieved to hear that there was nothing wrong with my brain (even though I still have to do a small check for my brain waves), and that I probably had a black-out because I was tired and felt exhausted (I have had some pretty busy months with working 6 days a week, and taking care of Mayuko because she had the morning sickness during the whole day). When we were almost finished we had decided to also do a check if I might had the flu... which I indeed had... Mayuko also did a check, and did not had the flu.


In bed...

So here I am laying in bed for already 2.5 days, all alone with only Mayuko or her mom coming up bringing me food and drinks. It feels pretty lonely, especially because the last time I slept alone was about 1.5 year ago, but on the other hand it gives me some time to give my body and my mind some rest. Mayuko is sleeping downstairs and we won't be able to sleep together for maybe another 4-5 days... meaning we might not be able to spend our new-years night together snif snif. But it's all for the baby so I guess it's just the way it is.

We also tried to cancel our trip to Tokyo, but it was too late... so we can't get any money back for 2 hotel nights and a two person shinkansen return ticket... not the most important thing but still a waste of money.

I am feeling a lot better, and even though I am having the flu, I do not have any fever and can just enjoy watching TV, playing Nintendo DS games, and sleeping.

I hope all of you had a nice Christmas, and will have a great start in the new year.

My birthday

Last week (December 13th) it was my 23rd B-Day. For the ones who had send me a message thank you very much, and for the ones who had forget about it... Don't forget my 24th B-Day.

Even though my B-day was on the 13th, we also celebrated it a week earlier because of Kimio and Takuya their Birthday. For them we bought an I-pod and a food massage machine. I myself got a Porter bag (very cool one!!!), a T-shirt from Kikuchi takeo, and a nice Edwin jeans from my lady ( I though it was the same as in the Brad Pitt CM... but no).

Minako, made us a B-day cake, and Okasan ordered some very nice o-bento's.

On my birthday itself, my mother woke me up in the morning with a phone call, and my dad give me a call later in the evening. We had a lovely dinner in Sannomiya with again some nice cake...and oww I almost forgot.. the kids at school were singing some B-day songs for me.

In overall I had a very nice b-day, and will do my best in the upcoming year to grow in life, and to enjoy my stay in Japan.

Baby blog

As some of you might be aware of it, and for some it might be new: The lady is pregnant and you can follow all the news about it on a new blog I made about 2 weeks ago especially for the baby. Here is the link:

http://akachankawaii.blogspot.com

Here you will able to find photo's and updates on how everything is going with the baby Mayuko... and of course with me.. Papa-san ;)

November Update

Today I went to one of the schools that I'm teaching at (I am teaching at 3 schools this moment). It's a school in Down-town Kobe, what you can see because the kids are a bit rougher and they have some more fights than other schools I have been to, but for the rest the kids are very nice, and closer to me than kids on other schools... I had 5 lessons today, from the 1st period until the 5th period, and I was teaching them about Feelings and Food.

This morning I also talked to Mayuko about what we shall do during our (3 weeks YATTA) winter break. A couple of months ago we were planing of going to Tokyo, but now Mayuko is pregnant a busy city like that is not the best option so we might go to Fukuoka if Mayuko her morning sickness has gone away a little bit more (doing better reccently).

We will also stay at the parents house for at least 2 weeks, where I want to try to give a bit more Dutch style Christmas and New year. Not sure yet how to do that tough... tips?

I am also planning of sending a box full of presents back home, I should because I promised them before....

But yeah, still 3 working weeks to go... ow I mean 2 weeks... dam this week went fast. ;)

Obon part 2

Sitting here in the train, playing with my mac computer… it’s weird because this is the first time I am actually playing a notebook in the train and it feels kind of weird to be honest… a well who cares.

Anyway, to come back to the Obon holidays, Tuesday Mayuko her sister came back home but unfortunately only for 2 days so we couldn’t go anywhere together (she also invited her friends over so we almost didn’t do anything with her. Because of that Mayuko and I went over to a Manga Kiss, where Mayuko was reading some Manga, and I was playing some games and played with the computer.

On Wednesday Mayuko and I had a very good, and necessary argument together about my life in here. We talked about that I should get more friends, do some sport, and study Japanese more… and you know what, she’s right. I have been here now for one year, and it’s time to do some more things. I got used to Japan, learned the basic stuff, got a job, and some friends… but there Is more. So yeah, tomorrow I will be playing futsal with some guys I have met on the net, and I started learning Japanese again since last week. I’m trying hard, and I will always keep trying.

Thursday.
Together with her mom and dad we went to Fruits and flower park, a 45min drive from their house up north. We had a BBQ (including Kobe beef… the cheap parts but still expensive if you ask me), played some putter golf, and did some go-karts with Mayuko.

Friday
On Friday we visited Mayuko her friend Chie, together with chiseru. This time Eisuke wasn’t the happiest kid on the block, but his sister Urara was. Was fun, and they are getting bigger every time we are coming.

Saturday
On Saturday we had some lunch at a Japanese lunch room, it really was a Japanese style lunch with fish, rice and some more stuff… how much it was? 1000 yen a person.

Sunday was Mayuko her last day of the holiday so we just relaxed at home, watched a movie (Disturbia, a very good movie btw).

I started working again last Tuesday, and it’s doing better and better, so I really hope to find myself a job similar to this one in the upcoming weeks/months… before upcoming MARCH… おねがいします。

I hope the rest of you also had a nice holiday during this hot summer months. Enjoy life.

The key of life, keep thinking positive no matter what may happen.

Obon

This week it is Obon in Japan, that means that besides the fact that it is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one's ancestors, we are also having some days off. Well, at least the most of us here in Japan. From Saturday morning we went to our Mayuko her parents (1hour driving), and we will stay here probably until tomorrow evening or Saturday morning.

Saturday.
On Saturday evening we played some Hachi-hachi a game where everyone will get 2 cards, and the highest card is the winner. You can bluff which of course works so now and again, and the bet is 100 yen a turn. We played it with 6 players so every time there was a minimum of 600 yen on the table, up to 3000 yen. It's a fun game.

Later on the evening Takuya and I went fishing from 1 until 3 o'clock. Which was fun because normally we go fishing in the morning, but again for the fourth time we didn't catch any fish.

Sunday
On Sunday we went to Shiawase No mura, (trans. Village of happiness) were we had a pick nick together with Frederic, Mayumi and Yoshi. We played some ball sports, and had a waterfight. After that we went to some Izakaya kind of restaurant chain, and had a small firework party together.

I'll be back with more.

Wedding anniversary, a new car, and my summer job.

Welcome back on my blog, and thanks to all of you whom are reading it and giving me comments. I love reading your responses so if you have any, don't hesitate to write me something.

Well, first things first. Last Friday was our wedding anniversary, we have been married for 2 years now and are planning on many more anniversaries as well.... so please check this blog again next year around this time ;)... anyway, we went out for dinner at a place called Sanda-ya, a famous restaurant here in Kobe with some delicious beef and a wonderful (even though they should have cleaned the windows a bit more... but hey you can't have everything, right?) view over the Akashi Kaikyo bridge. Mayuko gave me some great tickets for a Hanshin Tigers match (finally!!! I have been a fan for over a year, and this will be the first time that I am will be seeing them), and I gave Mayuko a nice neckless.


Because my brother in law had bought himself a new car last week (a nice Nissan Elgrand Rider to be precise), he was so nice to give his old car to us. And we are, we really are, soooooooooooo happy with it. Because we now have our freedom to drive to places in the weekend, go shopping by car instead of by bus and her mothers car.... We can watch TV in the car while we are driving (I did yesterday... wow). So yeah the car is just great. It's a Toyota BB, has a lot of power, space and drives very easy (according to Mayuko, because poor me doesn't have a driver licence yet).



last but not least, last week I also started working at my new summer job. I am teaching some kids from age 4-7 in groups of 8 students English at a school 1.5 hour away from here... which is a bit far, but it's work isn't. I guess it's not to bad, and it's really good for me resume but I will keep doing my best to get a better job a.s.a.p. ... if things work out.

Have a nice hot (it's over 30 here) week.

Going for a drink

Yesterday evening we went out for a drink together with 2 friends of us; Frederic and Mayumi. We went to a little Izakaya near Sannomiya. Everything in the Izakaya was 350 yen, even the beer. We drunk some beers, had some chicken, akashi yaki, meat, udon, and more before Mayumi her brother Masa and his girlfriend Emi-san came joined us.


Ltr: Masa, Mayu-chan, Frederic, Mayumi, Emi

Later on the evening we went to Bar Trinity a little bit north of Sannomiya where Mayuko her work partner from last year was playing the DJ. It was a small bar, packed with foreigners (5 co-workers of Mayuko were there as well), and some Japanese as well. The music was splendid and I was wondering what this guy (Dee) was doing in this small place... He got some radio interviews on Ibiza, and is working on a CD with some big companies in Germany and The Netherlands as well.

We danced a bit, drunk a bit and well, just enjoyed our evening. The only thing was that when we came home we were both pretty dead so we jumped into bed after we took a shower.