Yokohama Weekend...

So far this weekend has been quite enjoyable. I started out the day at 11am with a nice run along the waterfront, for once it wasn't broiling. A while after I got home I could hear drums and loud cheering. So I decided to investigate these sounds... I found some sort of drum line competition, it was quite impressive. After watching and listening for a bit I walked down to meet some fellow YIS teachers at Yokohama Stadium to watch the BayStars (down 20 games in their league) lose to the Dragons. The best part about the game was that I caught an autographed ball thrown out at the beginning of the game. The game was pretty entertaining, no surprise the BayStars lost, but the fans were pretty hilarious.

Teaching and Coaching

Well here it is again, all too quickly, Friday... This week was another action packed week. I had a full schedule of teaching and coaching. As far as teaching I have the most random classes that I teach. I teach across four sections of school. I teach in the ELC (preschool 3-5 year olds), elementary (K, 1, 2, 3, 4), middle (grade 6), and high school (grade 9) health and PE. I absolutely love all of my classes, the students are great, they listen, participate, and are very knowledgeable about sport and fitness.
I am also coaching the Boys Varsity and JV Tennis team, which is an experience all in it's self... I have never coached tennis before, let alone played tennis at any level above recreational. I am lucky that the kids are so nice and easy going. The Girls tennis coach is also new to tennis and PE at YIS so we are both in the same boat which makes things a little easier... at least we have are newness in common.
Tonight I went to Tokyo with a friend. We just ate dinner and walked around all the shops near Shibuya. This is the view from the Starbucks overlooking one of the busiest street crossings in the world. 

First Week of School...

Week one went by like a flash of lightning, it started and was over in a blink... Monday we started off with meetings, meetings, more meetings, and a staff soccer game. Tuesday, was meetings, meetings, meetings... Wednesday, was basically the same as Tuesday, but there were fireworks in Yokohama... and these fireworks were AWESOME!!! I have never seen such a great fireworks show. I watched the fireworks from the roof of my friend's 30 story building straight across from where the fireworks were being shot off of a barge. The fireworks lasted an hour and had a huge selection of fireworks. Needless to say the 4th of July will never be the same for me... Thursday the students came back to school. I only had one PE class on Thursday, but it was better than sitting in a meeting all day. The kids at YIS are so well behaved, I have a feeling I'm going to get spoiled teaching here ;). Thursday we also had a assembly for all the middle and high school students. I have never seen a group of students so attentive and quiet, it was amazing. Friday was a little more busy. I had two PE classes and then the PE department put on an activities session for the high school students. We had about 230 high school students in the gym doing all sorts of ridicules activities.

Week Two

This week in Yokohama was filled with new learning experiences. First at school, we had some short meetings to introduce new staff to how things at school run. Most of these meetings were done around noonish. Which was a great start, I found that it was easier to get going into the full swing of beginning of the year meetings after the little teaser meetings. Most afternoons I found myself wondering around Yokohama. I found the "free" zoo on Friday,  which was a little depressing... too many animals to small of cages. But if was free... Saturday I went and set off fireworks (hanabi) with some friends from church. Sunday I went to the same church again and then went out to eat with my church friends. Overall it was a great week in Yokohama! Monday we started into the full swing of school meetings... It's always fun being new at school... I think it's funny the new people all stand up and get introduced, so all the old staff knows who you are, but you don't have a clue about anyone else... But all the staff is very friendly, I think it will be a great school year! After meetings today (or during one... but who's keeping track) we had a little staff football (soccer) game. There were about 10 people playing, it was fun, but it was really hot and humid! Overall off to a great start at YIS!

Weekend in Yokohama

This was a great weekend in Yokohama. Saturday I walked to the Red Brick and walked around the Ukulele Festival. I had a yummy star fruit snack and listened to some lovely Ukulele.
Later I walked around and found the coolest store ever! It is a Home Center, and it is basically a Walmart on steroids. They had everything from lumber to clothing to food to armadillos. I will be going there later today to get some plants and maybe a fish...
Sunday was great I went to Yokohama Grace Bible Church. The church service was delivered in English and Japanese. After church the pastor's wife introduced me to some other women about my age and we went out for lunch and coffee after church, I ended up not getting home until almost 5pm.
 Overall a great weekend and off to a great week, we have some school stuff to do, but nothing too rigorous.

Apartment

Welcome Chicken 

Kitchen

Living Area

Bike

Here are a few pictures of my apartment. The women who had it before me was wonderful and left me with all sorts of goodies, including a bike!

In Japan!

I made it to Japan last night around 11:30pm Japan time. Right before I went to bed we had a small (6.1) earthquake... It took me a while to realize it was the room shaking not me, after 11 hours on a plane i was already feeling like I was moving. But after looking outside and seeing the light poles moving I realized it was actually an earthquake... This morning after breakfast I took a walk around Yamashita Park. It is a little humid and hot today, but that's just fine by me, better than snow...  Today we are going to school and touring the city, it should be tons of fun!

Off to Japan...

Today I leave for my adventure in Japan. I fly from PDX to SFO at 3:15pm, and SFO to Tokyo, Japan. The flight from SFO to Japan is about 11 hours. I will be arriving in Japan around 8:30am Pacific Time (11:30pm in Tokyo). The time difference is 16 hours so I will basically be losing a whole day because of the time changes. But when I come back I will get my day back! Thank you for your prayers as I embark on this terrific journey. I will do my best to keep you all updated on all my adventures in the east! Love you all!