2005 – Page 11 – d@vidb dot net

White Day … and Shogi!

What the hell is White Day you ask? It is March 14th, one month after Valentines Day! You see, in Japan, on Valentines Day, Japanese girls give chocolate to the boys. Boyfriends, Husbands, Fathers, Male Employees…. everyone! (size depends on who is getting it. Not to mention a term they have for “pity chocolate” which is what they give to people they don’t want to give chocolate to… because they have to… because its Japan.)

Look what Kiko got me for Valentines Day!!!

My present from Kiko for valentines day

At any rate, on White Day the boys are expected to return the favour with candy. Chocolate isn’t the right thing to give on White Day. No… on white day everyone that you got chocolate from has to get a special treat which is usually decided by the Japanese Confectionary Companies. This year it was marshmellow.

Also remember how I was telling you about Shogi???!! In case you don’t, its the Japanese equivalent of Chess only a thousand times better. Anyways I am also going to start playing Chu-shogi (middle shogi). Imagine Shogi, but with a thousand billion more pieces. Here is a game I setup but we didn’t play… because it took to long to setup… because there were too many pieces.

Jim and I's Chu-Shogi setup!

Now go look at the Shogi link, learn how to play, and I will buy you a set!!! (Mike, we are playing next time I see you!!!)

I know you guys aren’t going to like this…

… because there are no pictures. In fact, you might not even read this.

At any rate, I am doing a pre-update of an update scheduled for tomorrow. What is Tomorrow? Tomorrow is the day Franz comes to Japan and I take him around. 10 days of action packed excitement.

In case anyone is curious we will be going to:

Osaka -> Nara -> Kyoto -> Himeji -> Kagawa (my home!) -> Nagoya -> Yamanashi (Mt. Fuji’s home!) -> Tokyo

Crap. That’s a long and very expensive trip. Whoever else is reading this, please know that when you come to Japan I will be happy to show you around as well! The important thing to remember is that you can only spend so much time in Chunan without going crazy.

At any rate, other than that… things are good! My new computer should be here soon and those problems will be fixed. We are moving to medium-high speed Internet by the end of April and this 10 day vacation should give me the much needed rest (even though it is bound to stress me out because Franz is stressful.)

Where is Shane? I don’t know because he doesn’t answer my e-mails.
Where are my friends? I don’t know because I don’t e-mail anyone. (Sorry!)

… Why am I rewriting the homepage from scratch? Because I am a loser.

Now send me some love.

David

Lots of Good News!

It looks like we will be getting back (semi)hi-speed Internet in April. It is not nearly as fast as what we were using, but is much faster than the ISDN line we have now. The website will be updated, and our VOIP (416) phone will be back in operation… so now you have no excuse for not calling

Kiko’s older brother, Takao, father of the super cute Hina and Kana:

Our nieces, Hina and Kana

(Takao) just had another baby. His name is Shuichiro! We haven’t got pictures yet,but when we do we will post them!

In other, less exciting news, Graduation photos came in from one of my other schools, along with another small write up in the Shikoku Newspaper. Have a look.

East Elementary School

Article about me in the newspaper

Shane’s Movie Debut

I’ve finally gotten off my lazy butt and started the new site. (Along with a few other surprises.) I am also debating buying a new camera, and building a MythBox. Wish me luck. By June I hope to have completely switched off of Windows for Linux.

There will be a new movie section where Kiko and I take little clips of things that are happening around us. As there is still a ways to go before davidandkiko.com 3.0, here is a sneak peak.

The Wonder of Shane The Wonder of Shane part 2

My Fan Mail…

Ever since Kiko and I moved to our new house, we have stalkers.

Well… I have stalkers. Two little girls from one of my elementary schools. One of them follows me around and calls me fat (a play on the name “dave” in Japanese. They pronounce “Dave” = “De-bu” and if you shorten it to “debu” it becomes the Japanese word for fat.)

Incidentally, I also made her cry one day by implying she was a little hefty herself. The other one dresses up in make up and ho boots and comes to my house. She also regularily lifts her skirt while I am teaching.

They are cute.

At any rate, every weekend they come to our house and leave me homemade chocolates and homemade candles. I usually send Kiko to the door to dissapoint them by having her say that I am not home.

Here is a note they recently left me:

A love note to me

It reads (in Romaji, Japanese written with English characters) “Dear David. You speak English very well. Please continue to teach us. From Haruna (fatty) and Kazuki (ho boots.)”

I was also surprised to look at the chalkboard at the back of the classroom and see this:

A chalkboard picture of me!

The blond hair gave it away. Note that I am also saying realistic English sentences (which I am sure I say all the time!) such as: “Hello.” “English!” “My name is …” “Orange” and “Red”.

This just makes me laugh. It was a sign below the shampoo and soaps at a hotel Kiko and I stayed at when we went to Matsuyama last weekend.

A funny sign in a hotel we stayed at
“We make up for deficiency.”

School Photos

We are in the process of redesigning and updating the main page, so updates have been few and far between. (Well, big updates anyways!) But we visit everyday, and Kiko is always excited when someone leaves a message or a note in the guestbook. Comments on the pictures are always nice too!

Here are some pictures from one of the schools that I teach at, and where Kiko has her part time job. This job ends in April and we are on the hunt for her next job!

Picture from North-Chunan Elementary School

Next is a picture of the children that are in the tea ceremony club. Look at them in their gear!

Picture of the kids in the tea ceremony club

Below is a picture from our towns sejinshiki (Coming of Age Ceremony). This is when all the children turning 20 dress up in kimonos and become adults. I thought someone somewhere might find it interesting.

Picture from the Coming of Age Ceremony

(Chris: Convenience store pictures are coming!!)

An Update…

Hey Everyone!

Just a small update. Yes we are still alive. The site is constantly being updated, but just not where it makes any big difference 🙂 There are a couple of new galleries, but they are only available if you go to the “main gallery“. Check it out!

We are just putting the last touches on the new house, and our internet is slow. very very very slow. Most of the site updates and pictures will have to be done from work. Kiko is taking pictures of the house as we speak, and we will have them up soon.

We’re here… we’re alive and we miss you lots. There will be a number of new galleries coming online over the next few days and a big overhaul in March.

love
David & Kiko

ps. No pictures… so maybe no one will read this 😉

Kiko’s Random “keitai” images

This link is cool so I am posting it again:

keitai denwa is the Japanese word for “mobile phone.” Keitai meaning “to be able to carry” (or something like that.)

These are a bunch of pictures that Kiko has taken with her cell phone. Maybe she will write something interesting beside them soon… I’m just the uploading boy.

Kikos picture

Random “keitai” Images

keitai denwa is the Japanese word for “mobile phone.” Keitai meaning “to be able to carry” (or something like that.)

This is an assortment of random pictures I have taken over the last few weeks with my cell phone. Of particular note are my two Japanese nieces, the really cute little girl who lives next door, and… the child shopping cart.

And as promised to Chris, pictures from Japanese convenience stores are coming soon…

Our nience, Hina Our nience, Kana Shane at my old workplace The cute neighbour nextdoor, Reira

The child cart

New Year’s Kanji

New Years Kanji

今年初めての毛筆＆硬筆のお稽古に行った際、２人で書きぞめをしました！
小学生以来の習字は難しく思い通りに書けなかったけど、久しぶりの習字は楽しかったです。
私は新年の抱負として「健康」という字を選び、Davidはと～っても難しい「心」という漢字を選びました！

(David: I couldn’t translate that, but I will explain! It is tradition to write out a word or a phrase (in Kanji, Japanese/Chinese Characters) at New Years to bring good luck, happiness etc. Kiko and I both go to calligraphy class on Tuesday so we wrote out these for our New Year’s Kanji. Kiko wrote “health”. I wrote “heart.” Kiko’s is very good. Mine is fabulous. (Unless you are Japanese and recognize that is most certainly not fabulous. I guess it is more fabulous for ME, taking in to consideration my skill with handwriting in any language.) I wrote heart because it is the only one I could remember.)