I’M ON TV! THE FAME. THE POWER.

Yes, me me me me me was in fuuullll sparkly color on the teevees last night.  Check it! Some of my kids said this morning that they saw me on TV!  That makes me feel even cooler than I felt before, which was already pretty cool. The ceremony was our induction as Hyogo Goodwill Envoys, [...]

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sports yay?

A friend of mine linked to this video on facebook, and it made me so happy I wanted to share it here. I don’t care much about sports, but since moving to Japan international sports competitions have become a pretty big part of my life, at least as they happen.  I never felt like an [...]

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my name

To whoever googled “how to say heke” and clicked on this blog, let me help you out. First of all, ‘heke’ should be said with a sense of wonderment and awe.  Joy.  Happiness.  Humility.  Oh, that isn’t what you meant?  ho, ho, ho.  My name is pronounced hee (like a dude) kee (like a key [...]

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oh yeah, international travel.

Ooops. Maybe should have mentioned this before I left, but I spent the last week in Hong Kong!  I have so much I want to write about so I’m trying to pare it all down so you don’t have to sludge through a long entry of “and then we…and after that we went to..” and [...]

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graduation

Time to write about graduation.  Elementary, middle, and I assume high schools are on the trimester system and the school year starts in April – which means graduation is in March.  This is my second graduation at Higashi, and also my last. Last year, I was surprised how little the kids practiced before the day [...]

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the bath

I love baths.  Who invented that shit?  I love that guy, whoever it was.  Where else can you be surrounded by warmth and yummy smells, feel that relaxed and safe and enclosed…without having to pay someone afterward? *Just kidding!!* I’ve been way into baths since being in Japan.  There’s nothing like spending a long day [...]

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okurukai!

Today was the 送る会 – sending off assembly for my graduating 3rd years.  They will all be going off to different high schools that they’ve spent the last 4 months cramming for exams to gain entrance to – but their results are rolling in and a good number of them are going to the local [...]

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the benefits of doing things you don’t want to do

When I leave Japan I’ll probably put together a list of  advices to give to incoming JETs, but one I wanted to mention now, that I think someone told me once and I ignored, was SAY YES TO EVERYTHING.  People will ask you to do things you don’t want to do – do them.  They [...]

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nonstopweekendwrapup

This weekend has been easily the busiest of the year, so I have lots to write about that I just haven’t had time for. The Set-up: This last week was full of preparations – I’ve been staying after school coaching my two students for the city-wide English speech competition.  We’ve been practicing for a little [...]

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hiroshima – its more than just the most depressing place in the world

I went to Hiroshima this weekend!  You know you’ve been in Japan a long time when “Hiroshima” is no longer synonymous with “we killed a lot of people” and has instead elicits memories of drunken sake revelry.  This year makes the second Sake Matsuri I’ve experienced in Higashi-Hiroshima.  It was pretty rad.  Included meat stick, [...]

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