Yes, WEE-KEND! (sorry, I couldn't help it!) :)

So, we look forward to the weekend just as much as any hardworking person. There's not much to do around here, and there is about zero night life, but we still find fun things to do. Last weekend we went to Kashima, a town near the coast with a population of around 60k to go see a professional soccer game. The stadium there is world-class, and despite being in a relatively small town (the stadium holds about 40k, 2/3rds the town's population) it hosts Japan's most successful soccer team, the Kashima Antlers. Tessa had gotten us coupons from her school that allowed for 1,000 yen (about $10) tickets, and we felt we couldn't pass it up. The stadium was really nice (it was where Japan played Korea in the World Cup) and the fans were very dedicated. We found seats (GA) near the most loyal fans who were up on their feet the entire match. A week later, I still have their fight songs and chants stuck in my head. It was the first soccer game I had attended, and we had a really great time. The home team won 1-0. Pictures below:





MMMMmmmm, stadium food! Yep, that's a seasoned hamsteak on a stick.

This weekend, we decided to go to the beach. We're only about 45 minutes from the coast, and it's not like we were going to have a good time holed up in our apartment in 90 degree and 80% humidity weather. Besides, this time of year is the "rainy season" in Japan, so we have to take the nice days when we can get them. We made ourselves a nice little picnic, drove out to Kashima, and found a beach. On the drive down, we actually heard the Beach Boys on the radio, saw palmtree-lined roads and surf shops, and with the bright sun shining, it felt like we were driving down the coast of California. Like the first time we went to the coast, we didn't find a public beach, we just sorta drove towards the water until we found a place to pull off and park our car. The beach was pleasant and not very crowded, only a handfull of surfers and old fishermen fishing off the jetty. I went out into the ocean, and the water was perfect. Not so cold that it numbs you (like say, the water in the puget sound) but cold enough t be very, very refreshing. The waves were a bit too big to do any real swimming, but not quite big enough for there to really be adequate surfing (though it didn't stop the surfers there). After that we laid out on our sheet and worked on our tan, or at least whatever tan you can get through SPF 50 sun block. We walked around a bit, then called up some other ALTs living in Kashima that we had met 2 weeks ago. They were about to arrive at a beach 10 km south of us to hang out and drink beers, so we went out and joined them. They are a cool group of guys from Kansas, California, Vancouver, and Ireland, respectively. One even brought his fishing pole on a lark and decided to go try fishing off a near-by jetty. I told him I'd eat anything he caught, thinking he would have no chance since he didn't know what he was doing. Much to my suprise, we saw him from a distance excitedly running towards us with his pole and a small ocean fish dangling from the end of it. He caught it on his first cast. Thankfully, he didn't make me eat it, and wasn't able to catch anything else that evening. We hung around until about 6:30 and drove home. A very nice and relaxing day.

When we are hard up for cash or the weather is lousy, we can always entertain ourselves by going to a clothing or stationary store and finding some great "Engrish" items. Some recent ones:

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Back:

That's all for now, Ja ne!