I can hardly believe December is just around the corner and that Kana will be home from New Zealand in 10 days! She'll arrive on Dec 7th but because I have baseball duty (and couldn't get it changed), Setsuo and Aya will go and meet her. Wonder if she'll have reverse culture shock! I know she'll definitely find school hard-going since her NZ one has been so laid back with short days. Being Kana, no doubt she'll cope with it all. Don't know whether I'm going to cope with getting everything ready for her and Mum and Dad arriving a week later though - both of the rooms are still full of boxes!!

Lisa was home for a couple of days last week but I didn't see that much of her since she was out with friends. She's taken the car so will be coming home tomorrow again although I don't know if she'll be staying or leaving right away.

I haven't seen much of Aya at all, she was also supposed to be coming to stay overnight on Saturday but ended up going back to her own place because she had to take her friend home (she was the worse for wear after a night on the town). I might go and visit them tonight though.

On Sunday the 2nd year team had their first match of a tournament that was held at our ground so luckily we only had to be there for 7.30 (when I'm thinking 7.30 is lucky, you can tell what kind of times I usually have to wake up!) The coach said he'd thought about using Keita but had decided to keep him out of the game and use him as starting pitcher the following day. Next day (a public holiday) their team were first up and Keita ended up pitching for the whole game and they won 3-1. At the end of the match, a reporter from a national sports newspaper interviewed Keita and on Wednesday he was in the paper. Basically it said 'A new Darvish is born' and went on to say he was 182cm, 80 kg and had a British mother and also talked about his pitching and the game in general. It was a pity there was no photo but it's a start!

The interviewer also talked to Riku (the catcher) so we thought both of them would get a mention but when it turned out to be only Keita, he must have been really disappointed. Because Keita is the size he is and the fact that he is 'halfu' makes him stand out. (Very similar to Darvish!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Darvish

It's was a good weekend but very tiring!

After getting the place set up for the Expo and booking into the hotel we all headed off for a night of karaoke, food and drink which was good fun. As usual, I avoided the microphone but was happy just listening to everyone else belting it out especially as I was sitting next to one teacher who kept changing the words to the songs - at one point he had a few of us laughing so hard we were crying! From there we headed back to the hotel with some more beer and snacks and sat up to nearly 1am chatting. Next morning I was awake by 6am and we all met for breakfast at 7.30. Then it was back to the venue to give our orientation and a 9am start.

The day itself was good with a lot of presentations going on and although the numbers were small at the beginning (it was raining) there was a good turnout in the end. After we'd got the place cleaned up again I decided to go out for dinner after all so it was another late night for me and I had to drag myself out of bed this morning. Definitely an early night tonight.

Now that the Expo is over, I'm stepping down as co-coordinator and feel quite sad about it really. They are such a great crowd of people and every time I meet them I always have such a laugh but it's only for the time Keita is in the junior high school and hopefully we can still meet up every now and then.

After a weekend of having to be up at 3.50am (both days) it's taken me this long to recover! BB had games over in Shiga so they had be at their ground for a 5.30am start. The first day it rained so rather than them having to spend a 2 hr journey wet, I drove them there so didn't get back until nearly 6 and didn't dare go back to sleep incase I went into a deep sleep and couldn't wake for my morning class. Next day it was fine though, so when Keita left the house around 4.40, I gave him time to arrive (in case I got a phone call to say that he'd forgotten something) and then went back to bed! It's probably the first time in about a year that I've been able to sleep as long as I wanted to so I made the most of it and didn't get up until after 10.30!

Setsuo had taken his father to see his aunt so I was on my own which was also bliss. In the afternoon I cajoled Aya and Daisuke into going to Ikea - which was nothing to rave about - and then on to another home furnishing store. Although there were loads of things I should have been doing, doing nothing was much much better!

This weekend I'll be helping to set up the Expo venue, going out for dinner and then staying overnight in a hotel nearby. No baseball, but it's still another early morning because another teacher and I have to do an orientation at 8.30am for the Japanese volunteers. Let's just hope that there are no major hangovers! The Expo will begin at 9 and go on until about 6. There is another meal after it's finished but I haven't decided if I'm going or not, I'll see how I feel at the end of the day.

You Are a Green Crayon

Your world is colored in harmonious, peaceful, natural colors. While some may associate green with money, you are one of the least materialistic people around. Comfort is important to you. You like to feel as relaxed as possible - and you try to make others feel at ease. You're very happy with who you are, and it certainly shows! Your color wheel opposite is red. Every time you feel grounded, a red person does their best to shake you.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Thanks for the link Illahee!