Madden weekend

This past weekend was fairly low key, but a lot of fun. On Friday, Scott played basketball with some local Japanese men. He found it very different. They started the scrimmage by doing drills and three on three scrimmage for one hour. Then they played games for one hour. At first they put Scott on a team with all the poor players, I think they thought he was the great equilizer. However, they got beat every game. In the end they evened the teams up a little more. The style of play was much different, they played very fast up and down the court breaks and they didn't call any fouls. So in the end Scott was very tired and banged up.
On Saturday, our friend Bernard (who is from Evanston, IL) come to stay with us. He brought over his playstation gaming system and Bernard and Scott were in seventh heaven. They played Madden football for hours. That night some more friends came over and we watched a movie.
Sunday we woke up and Bernard and Scott got right back to Madden football. We spent the afternoon relaxing and just hanging out. It was nice to have Bernard around this weekend.
This week Scott and I will be teaching as normal. Thursday we have a day off, but I have to help judge a speech contest at my school, so we have nothing special planned. We will keep you posted!

Hiroshima birthdays

I know it has been awhile since we last wrote, but nothing really exciting has been happening over here. Scott and I are getting into more of a routine at school and are enjoying teaching. However, some days go by slow when we aren't teaching.
This past Monday, Anthony, an American exchange student at Miyahara High School (my school) came over and had dinner at our apartment. We cooked him hamburgers and chips, a very american meal. We ate dinner, talked, and then he headed back to his host family. He said he enjoyed spending time with some native English speakers.
Then on Saturday we went to Hiroshima for a birthday party. We went early and walked around the city. Then we went to a restuarant for the birthday party (well actually 2 birthdays). We had a nice meal and got to see a lot of other JETs. It was a fun time.
That's about all that has been happening in our lives here in Kure. We really enjoy your comments and e-mails! Please keep us updated on your lives as well.

Sake Matsuri!!

This past week and weekend we did a lot. On Friday Vicky's school got done with testing. This is a big deal here, so the whole school goes on a field trip. vicky got to go to Miyajima, which we've been to before, but this time she got better pictures. If you don't remember, Miyajima is famous for a shrine that is called the "floating shrine", you can see the picture of it above, its one of the top three places to visit in all of japan. That weekend the fun continued with Sake Matsuri! Sake is rice wine, matsuri means festival. When you put the two together you have one of the biggest festivals in japan, and all the sake you can drink for 10 bucks. We had a great time, maybe too good of a time! Sunday we thought we'd relax after a long saturday, but only part of the day, as we spent the afternoon and evening at a dinner party hosted by our friend Austin. Anyhow, not much going on at school this past week or so as its testing time of the year, so we are living for the weekends. Hope you are all doing well.
Scott and Vicky

October begins

Well, this past week and weekend were less eventful than the past few. My school is preparing for exams so some of my classes got cancelled and this upcoming week they are taking the exams and so I have no classes. Scott's preparation is this week and his exams are next week.
On Friday we went out to dinner at an Italian place with one of the teachers from Scott's school. Then we went to a bar and met up with some other English speaking people who live here in Kure. We went to a Jamaican restaurant and I had some tea and Scott started what turned out to be a long night for him! After tea I went home, but Scott stayed out with the guys and didn't get back till about 1:00 in the morning. He wasn't feeling so hot the next day.
Then on Saturday we ran errands and cleaned the apartment. We've been very good about staying on top of that. Our apartment is so small it doesn't take long to clean! Then we went to Portopia Park about 4 train stops towards Hiroshima City. We were going to see an ecological fair and flea market, but it had finished by the time we got there! However, we still walked around the park and got some great pictures! After we went to a "hat party" for another JET. We had a lot of fun and got to meet new people.
Today we did our usual routine of church, watching 24, and going to Japanese lesson. Not a lot going on, but we wanted to keep you up to date. Next weekend we will have a lot to share because we are going to a traditional saki festival in Siajo! It should be a lot of fun