A good week and great weekend once again!

Work went just fine this week. All the students, big or small, were wonderful and things weren’t too busy. We do have some things to prepare for though. On the twelfth, we are throwing a potluck dinner for the staff and any students that wish to come and they can bring friends and family if they like. The staff asked us to think of ideas for a theme that had something to do with the month of September. I could not think of anything for three days, as there is no holiday I could use that would actually appeal to the students. They have their own labor day and really wouldn’t understand the significance of “patriot day,” but I eventually figured out something that the staff went for. I said we should theme the party as a “blue” party. Reason being is that the birthstone and flower for September are blue, as is the mood of students going back or just restarting school, thus the potluck has been dubbed a true blue evening and we will all be feasting and socializing clad in some fashionable blue . . . hopefully.

In September, a bunch of holidays fall on the same week this year and my head teacher has been calling it silver week. We will be closed for half a week at work and have been thinking of things (in terms of classes) to offer the students on the days we are open since we wont be holding our normal classes because the cycle would get all complicated. We haven’t decided yet, but it seems as if the week will be composed of private lessons and such. We’ll see. I also am not sure of what I am doing with my time for that holiday. I am supposed to with my head teacher somewhere, but I will wait till there are solid plans set before I get my hopes up. More to come regarding that stuff later.

As far as the weekend was concerned . . . it was a blast! It started promptly after work on Saturday night. I was originally supposed to go to a concert where I know the band members, but the show started an hour and a half before I was even out of work. So, I decided to not go, but the night was salvaged by one of my homies out here and I joined her and her friend in Roppongi (Tokyo) to check out the Sky Aquarium. Basically it is an artistic aquarium atop of a 50+ story building where you get an almost 360 eagle eye view of Tokyo and an eyeful of rare fish set in uniquely designed aquariums (lots of lighting affects) amidst really pretty deep house music. It was a mellow and wonderful experience. It is a total date place though. There were so many couples there! Almost couldn’t keep my dinner down =P

After that, we headed to the “jumpin” part of Roppongi and met up with a friend of my homie and chilled with him and his crew for while at some restaurant. It was a good time and we got a kick out of his friends. They headed off to a club and we actually weren’t interested in following and ended up walking around looking at stores. I served as a bad influence for my friend who did a bit of shopping and ended up with a new dress.

From there we watched the movie “Hachi.” It's a really cute and emotional story about an Akita’s loyalty to his owner and died because of it. If you love dogs, you will like this movie, otherwise I suggest you wait till it hits the video shelves. That may take some time though as the movie isn’t supposed to hit the US till winter 0_0

Sunday was mostly mellow. I cleaned up a bit and had hip-hop class. Apparently, this studio is having a performance in September and they are already prepping for it. If my poor Japanese serves me right, then I think the choreographer wants me to participate. I will know for sure after next week what he meant as he said he would give me some info then. That would be funny to perform again though. Especially cause the class I am in is composed of: me (grown man), another college dude, and like 7 middle school age girls. It would look really funny, but its all good. I am just doing it for fun anyway (no comments needed from: Andrew, James, and Rainer. Thank you lol).

Today, I rock climbed again and have seemed to improved a tiny bit more. I am happy with that and look forward to the next time. It really is an enjoyable and rewarding sport. Overcoming the challenges presented by climbing offer that nice small dose of accomplishment to keep you spirits up for a good while. Afterward, I spent the afternoon and evening in Tokyo (I might s well live there) and have been taking it easy.

Looking forward to the coming week and weekend!