The time is just flying by as usual. I am starting to feel more relaxed about the end of my contract. I broken my foot slightly and messed up my knee which is crappy. Give it another week or so and it should be back in fine form though. I tripped and fell while hiking. It was quite dumb as my accidents usually are. My co-worker is humming the theme from the A-team right now. I didn’t know that was popular here but I guess it must have been at one point. I suppose the best news for this past week is that we got a bunch of student teachers. They are here for three weeks. And low and behold, the English department got the young and attractive guy! Yessssss! Junior High English is not a very fun subject, so when I heard we were getting someone; I assumed he would be a bit of a dork. Not the case! He has style! He is a bit quiet but his English is very good. He lived in Manitoba for a year when he was in high school. He actually went to this school when he was a kid. I have only worked with him for two days but I hope to go out on at least a few dates with him before his time is up here.
There is a soccer tournament for the guys team up in Sugadaira this weekend. I am going up to cheer them on and to camp as well. It should be fun. I will see my home stay family and hopefully Emi.
There was a talent show last weekend in which Kosa was doing some awesome break dancing. It was really cool. Tom and I have been working on a presentation together for this curriculum reform committee we are on, so we really couldn’t spend a whole lot of time at the talent show. We basically watched Kosa and then we went home and finished our work on the project. I have been feeling a bit stressed about that recently so I am glad it is finished now. We still have a little more follow up work to do but it basically went well. On Sunday I started going to Nagoya to a kite festival but I wasn’t quite in a fit state after Saturday night so I just hung out in Kiso. We walked out to a waterfall which was pretty cool. I didn’t trip and fall until close to the end of it. It was right on the heals of comment about how I am going to start drinking less as well. Sigh, my dialogue might as well be scripted with a laugh track some days. I didn’t think I hurt myself that much, I had just ripped my jeans and scraped myself up. So we walked the last kilometre or so back to the bottom. We went to the combini and got some ice and band aids and then went for dinner at the local Korean place. After that it was still pretty sore so I headed back to Shiojiri on the train and got some x-rays. There is just a very small break in my foot and my knee was just a bit skew. It is sore and will be for a week or two but nothing too serious. It is irritating though. I need to avoid Dec because these things only happen around him and that is embarrassing.
I have started watching a new anime series that is popular right now. It is called Nodame Cantabile. It is a music school drama. It is a bit dorky but I am enjoying it. Lots of episodes have already aired so I can watch them at my leisure and not wait for them like Tom and I must do with Death Note. I also have the Nodame game for DS Lite. I am enjoying that even though I don’t understand all the content.

Let’s see, a week has gone by and I still haven’t finished this post. It is quite hot here this morning so I think it will rain in the afternoon. I can see big fluffy clouds mounting. It is the rainy season after all. The soccer tournie was good fun. The boys did well but were eliminated in knock-out play on the second day. I really enjoyed watching their games. I will make a good soccer mom one day. Hah! I don’t really like watching sports on television though. In the second game, Tom broke a guy’s nose with his forehead. He had a wedding to attend in the afternoon too. When he came off the field his face was covered in the other guy’s blood and a bit of his own too. Just before we had left to drive up to Sugadaira, I had asked if we were bringing first aid materials. To which the boys responded, “We aren’t going to get hurt”. Hmmmm. There was a good party on Saturday night. Jenn didn’t end up coming so I stayed in the hotel with the boys instead of camping. That soccer field is of the highest elevation in Japan so the Nagano team definitely felt they had an advantage in terms of running endurance. That may have been true but they had about the same hang over endurance as all the other teams come Sunday morning. The love of the game wasn’t exactly radiating from their faces. Tom and Dec have retired as co-captains and I believe they have passed the torch to Kosa. Kosa is quite good as a player. He is very fast.

The most important bit of news has been saved to the last. Ladies, it is official. Matty Hayes is off the market! Congratulations on your engagement to Nicole (the Niknak)! It’s a match made in heaven I say! I can’t wait for the wedding. I will make sure I am home to attend. Good luck to you both. Also a big congrats to Karie and Reid who were married last weekend. I hear that all went well. I am working on Saturday morning this weekend so I guess nothing too wild or exciting will be happening. I am hosting an event for children about Mexico with Sachiko. Should be fun.