Back from Bali

Katty and I just returned from 10 days in beautiful Bali, where we had an amazing time. Katty is doing very well, the baby is fine, and we are both happy to be back in Japan.

So what did we do in Bali? It was a relaxing vacation for us, full of eating, sleeping, walking, reading, swimming, and shopping. The Balinese people are very friendly, especially the wonderful family who owned the hotel where we stayed in Ubud, and we enjoyed meeting people and viewing different aspects of Balinese culture. We especially enjoyed two local dances that were performed in Ubud temples - Lagong and Kecak. We also took beautiful walks through rice paddies and lush, green valleys.

And the food! We dug in and devoured a variety of delicious foods, including a lot of fish, fresh fruit, and crisp vegetables. We tried to go to a different restaurant each night, but some places were so good that we returned once or twice. Also, at our hotel, the owner's family prepared a huge Balinese feast with 15 different dishes! We ate very well, which made pregnant Katty very happy.

If any of my students are still checking this blog, please write and tell me how your breaks are going. I'll also put more pictures on My Picture Page if you want to see more of Bali.

Super Size Me

Here is a link to the website for Super Size Me, the movie we will be watching in class. In this movie, Morgan Spurlock decides to eat only McDonald's food for 30 days. Why? Mainly it is a reaction to a court ruling against two overweight teenagers that sued McDonald's because of their weight. Morgan also discusses several health and food issues during the movie, including school lunches and advertising.

So, how often do you eat fast food? How does your body feel after you do? Do you think that McDonald's is responsible if its customers have health problems? These are tricky questions that we will discuss is class, but feel free to leave your opinions here.

Personally, I eat fast food about once every 2 weeks, but I certainly eat other unhealthy food once in a while. Sometimes, after back-to-back classes, those 100yen McChicken sandwiches start calling my name from the campus McDonald's, and it is hard to resist! Usually I can, but once in a while... Sometimes I wonder if it is fair to students that the only campus choices for food are McDonald's, the convenient store, and te cafeteria. If there were healthier options, do you think students would use them? Would you?

DON'T FORGET: Blogging is due on the last day of class, January 26th. You must have 8 postings for the Fall semester, and a comment on everyone's blog.

Winter Movies

One thing I did over the break was see a lot of movies, and I thought I would give you my thoughts on a couple of them.

1) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: I have read all of the books in the Harry Potter series, and was very excited for this movie because I thought The Goblet of Fire was the best of all the books so far. The movie did not disappoint in the action scenes, but I wasn't sure that the director included enough from the book. There were several moments when I thought that if I had not read the book, I would not understand the movie completely.

One thing I like about the 4th book and movie was that it began to get much darker and serious. In this movie, a major character dies at the end, which is of course very painful for the young witches and wizards. I sometimes wonder if perhaps the movies are now too scary for very young students. Have you seen the movie or read the book?

2) King Kong: Of course the story of King Kong is very famous, and I was eager to see what the director of The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, would do with the story. Again, this movie had a lot of great action sequences, but I particularly like the relationship between the main character (played by Naomi Watts) and the big monkey. It felt very realistic to me, and I could sense that they had a special bond at the end of the film. Of course, everyone knows how the movie will end, so the ending was fine, but I was a little disappointed that the director left many holes in the story. I don't want to ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it, but I think that everyone already knows that King Kong is captured and taken to New York. But... how did they get him on the boat? How did they keep him alseep and calm for such a long journey? I wish they would have explained these and other mysteries.

The action sequences were amazing and creative, but they were so fast and long that sometimes I was a little confused as to what was happening. Overall, I definitely recommend seeing it. Have you?

3) The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: This is the first book in the Narnia series, which is a popular set of children's books written by C.S. Lewis. I read these books when I was a kid, and strongly recommend them for my students... they are not too easy, not too hard. The movie stars four brothers and sisters, and I was impressed with the young actors they chose. Often young actors bother me in movies, but these were very convincing and not annoying at all. The movie was very loyal to the book, for the most part. I was only distressed seeing the children suddenly become leaders of a huge army... of course it is a children's book and not very realistic, but they went from little kids to killing warriors very quickly and with no training. Hmmm.

My only big complaint was the voice of Azlan, the Lion. The Lion is the king of Narnia, and more of a god than an animal. Then why did they give him such a loser, old man voice? Have you seen this or any other good movies this winter?

Greetings From Ohio

I just wanted to say hello to any students or anyone else who might be checking my blog over the holiday break. I am in Cleveland with my family in my dad's new house, and my wife Katty arrived today from Peru, where she attended her sister's wedding and spent Christmas with her family.

I have attached an old picture of my dad and brother and me in Japan, since I don't have any new pictures to share. I also chose this one because I printed a nice copy and put it in a frame and gave it to my dad for Christmas.

It's great being home! My dad and brother and I went to a Cleveland Browns football game, which was fun even though the Browns are terrible and lost 41-0 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh well. I have also seen a lot of my friends, and will see more of them tonight. New Years Eve will be tranquil, since Katty and I have to catch a 6:00am flight on January 1st! It's not our fault... they canceled the flight we had, and gave us this one.

OK... I hope everyone is safe and happy. See you soon.

Do You Recognize This Santa?

Who is the Santa in the picture? That's right, it's me on Friday night. The teachers and their families had a little Christmas party, and I was asked and reluctantly agreed to be Santa.

It was more complicated than I thought it would be! Obviously you have the pants and shirt and hat, but I also needed boots, cotton balls for the eye brows, double-sided tape, blush (make-up) for my cheeks, and my wife's glasses.

At the party, most kids cried when they sat on my lap, but I didn't take it personally. Some of the older kids didn't really think I was Santa, but they were too shy to say anything about it. There were a couple of kids at the perfect age, who really did think I was Santa and told me how they drew my picture in school and wrote me letters. It was cute.

After giving out the gifts and crying, "Ho Ho Ho," I made my exit. I enjoyed being Santa, but hope that next year someone else does it.

There is another photo on my IES blog, and I will also put more on my picture page if I get them.

An Embarrassing Moment

Today my English 1 class will write narrative paragraphs about an embarrassing moment. Here is a sample for you from my life. It's all true! Notice how it has a beginning, middle, and end.

. One of my most embarrassing moments occurred in front of about 300 people. The date was May 11, 2002, and I was in Lima, Peru. It was my wedding day, and I was in the church with Katty, my parents, her parents, and about 300 other people. Naturally I was already very nervous, since I was getting married, but also the ceremony was in Spanish and I didn't know many of the guests, so it was even worse. We arrived at the part of the ceremony where I had to put the ring on Katty's finger. My hand was shaking, but I started sliding the ring on. Then, to my horror, it got stuck. I couldn't push the ring past her knuckle. The seconds ticked on... one... two... three. I could hear the guests making nervous sounds. I saw Katty's father look over Katty's shoulder to see what was happening. I tried everything, but the ring wouldn't move. Ten... eleven... twelve. Finally, with Katty's help, the ring slid on, and I could relax. Later, when we watched the video, we counted the seconds. Seventeen seconds! They were the longest seventeen seconds of my life. Fortunately my embarrassing moment had a happy ending, since we got married and had a wonderful day.

Stowaway Cat

I think I'm a little annoyed! After reading this story about Emily the cat, I couldn't believe that the cat was going to fly business class while I, a perfectly respectable human being, has to fly coach! Aren't I more important than a cat? Maybe not.

Of course it doesn't really bother me, but I thought this was a funny news story that you might enjoy. What do you think?

PARIS (AFP) - Cats, they say, always land on their feet, an adage proved by a US feline who stowed away to France and was repatriated in business class after becoming something of a celebrity.

Emily, a one-year-old tabby from the US state of Wisconsin, somehow managed to slip into a shipping container destined for an office supplies company in Nancy, eastern France. After a three-week sea journey she emerged somewhat thinner but healthy from the crate to the amazement of staff at the firm.

An identification collar with a vet's US telephone number allowed them to trace the relieved -- and shocked -- owners.

On Wednesday, Emily left for home from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport in a somewhat more luxurious manner than her arrival. The cat was scheduled to travel in a crate in the aircraft's hold, said Joelle de Becker, from office supply firm Raflatac, which looked after her for two months. However, US airline Continental offered her a seat in "business-first" class, accompanied by an employee.

The airline did not say whether Emily, who travelled in a cage, would be tucking into business class cuisine.

The tourist departed to a flurry of flashbulbs, with de Becker admitting she shed some tears over the loss of the office mascot.

Is this a Mamushi?

I went hiking last weekend in a very nice area about 40 minutes away from Hirakata (I'm not sure where because my friend drove and I didn't pay attention). We had a great day, hiking for about 5 hours. We saw a waterfall, a lot of changing fall colors, and ended up in a small village with a cool shrine. It was great.

There were a lot of signs warning of snakes, but they were in Japanese so I couldn't understand much (sorry I didn't take a picture). I wasn't worried about it, though, until that unfriendly fellow above crossed my path! My friend didn't see it so I just started mumbling "ay, bu, ee, eh" until he looked. He said it was a poisonous snake, but didn't remember what it was called. I found a website describing poisonous snakes, but I don't know if the one I saw was a mamushi. Does anyone have any information for me?

Either way, I was nervous the whole way back. When you're scared, roots look a lot like snakes.

Giving Opinions

Hello English 1 students,

Opinion Paragraphs are the next type of paragraphs that we are going to write. In Opinion Paragraphs, obviously, you give your opinions about something. We will read about Opinion Paragraphs in our textbook, but the key elements are this:

- give you opinions about a topic
- interpret or explain facts to support your opinion
- often discuss a controversial issue, or something that not all people are in agreement about
- make the reader think
- consider both sides of the argument, although you favor one side or the other

Below I have written several topic sentences for opinion paragraphs. I would like you to choose one and tell me if you agree or disagree. Either way, you should write at least 50 words and include two or more reasons for your choice.

#1 No matter what "tea people" say, drinking coffee is the best way to start your day.

#2 Considering the way that the world is changing, there is no reason for anyone to get married before he or she is 25 years old.

#3 University classes and homework are difficult enough, so students should avoid joining clubs during their college years.

So... choose one (or more, if you want) of these topics, and tell me why you agree or disagree. The best answers will include facts and specific, convincing reasons for your choice.

You might want to begin by writing, "I agree with Adam's opinion in #2 because..." or "I disagree with Adam's opinion in #3 because..."

Excited to See My Family

Before I forget -- English 1 students, half of your blogging is due by 11/18. That means four postings that I didn't require. And remember, don't do more than one per day.

We're in the middle of November, which means I am finally allowed to start thinking about winter vacation! This December my wife and I are going to go to the U.S. to visit my family and my friends, and my wife is also going to go to Peru to go to her sister's wedding. I love Japan and I love my job, but it is always really nice to go home and see all of the people that I miss.

I think that when someone is working or living abroad, the holidays are often the hardest time to be away from home. Last December, for example, my wife and I stayed in Japan, and I was a little sad to think that my family and friends were celebrating Christmas and New Years so far away. Don't get me wrong... we had an amazing time, including a very Japanese New Years at a shrine in Kyoto, but I am glad that this year I will be with my family.

What are you going to do over vacation? If you live away from your family, are you going to go to your hometown? if you live with your family, are you going to travel anywhere? Let me know.

I have included a picture that is also on My Picture Page. It shows my family and Katty's family, and was taken at our wedding. From left to right: my stepmom Adrienne, my father Richard, Katty's sister July, Katty's father Alejandro, Katty's mother Lila, Katty's sister Alejandra, my brother Matthew (he's tall!!).

Getting Rid of JUNK

My friend Scott gave me another tip for stopping junk comments. You add word verification so that people who leave comments must type some letters. It helps because a lot of junk comments are left by computer programs that automatically send it out.

Changing is easy. Go to Settings, then Comments. Go down and find: Show word verification for comments? Change to Yes. It's just that easy... hopefully it'll help eliminate some junk.

Are These Real?

We looked at these inventions in class, but I thought you might like to see them again. You can find more on my IES blog.
Do you think that anyone actually uses these inventions? Are there any that you would use? What's the strangest invention that you have seen?