Another long week of many classes and not so friendly weather.
Along with my regular teaching schedule, I had an interview at the Asahikawa City Hall Foreign Relations Division.
The purpose of the interview was to generate content, to be used in a monthly newsletter that is produced by the Asahikawa International Committee.
You can visit their website by clicking here.
I was interviewed by a young gentleman named Brendon, who said he is from California, near Los Angles.
He asked me a series of about 14 or 15 questions, which the interviewer had devised by himself, after looking around on this website.
In fact, the way he contacted me in the first place was by sending me an email to the address listed on the top page.
The title of the newsletter article is; Hello Asahikawa!, and it will also appear on the website at this page.
Most likely it will be in the June 2008 issue.
About 10 years ago, I was asked to write a short essay for this very same newsletter.
It wasn't an interview, and they didn't have a website at that time.
I'd like to share it with my readers right now but, I can't find a copy of my WORD document on which I wrote it.
Basically, I said that; I really like living in Asahikawa, because the city is not too big and not too small, it is close to the big nature of the mountains and the seas, and the people are very open and friendly.
That is the gist of what I said, at that time.
I still feel the same way today.
Some things never change.
Anyway, also working at the same office as Brendon, is one of my long time students.
She has been coming to my classroom a lot longer, than she has been working at this office, but I know she can do a good job at her new position in the office of the foreign relations division for the City of Asahikawa.
One thing that impressed me about Brendon, is his knowledge of the Japanese Language.
Speaking, reading and writing, seems to be a daily necessity for his life and job.
He told me that he had studied Japanese at the university and had come to
Japan on the JET Program, in order to make practical use of what he had learned while living in the USA.
Now, that's a man with a plan. Rock on big guy!
On a different subject, the photos you can see above/left were taken on May 4th, 2000.
This is the 上雨粉林道 which is a rather long mountain bike trip from my place in Kagura.
I haven't been to this area on a bicycle ride for a long time, but I think it might be a place where I should ride through again, this year.
At the time that this photo was taken, there were not many insects in the air, yet.
If you come back to this location in summer, don't forget to bring some bug repellent.
There are huge horsefly looking critters, that draw visible blood when biting human flesh.
Speaking of mountain biking, Charlie Hamel and I have been talking about going together on a serious riding adventure, but somehow, I haven't been able to get my ass in gear, and get going.
To tell ya all the truth, I haven't done any serious cycling for about 2 long years.
One of the reasons, is because Ikuko likes walking much better than cycling, so if I wanna go out with her, I've gotta hoof it.
However, now that Charlie is here and ready to ride, I need to fix my flat tire, tune up the gear cables and get back on the road.
I thought that day, might be today, but I was wrong.
After my only class for today was finished at 11:30, I sat down to eat a big lunch of 冷やしラーメン.
Made last night by Ikuko, and still plenty of leftovers, for lunch today.
I ate it slowly, while watching some documentaries on You Tube.
About 90 minutes later, when I was finished eating, and ready to ride down to my friendly bike dealer's store for a patch job and a tune up,...... THUNDER and LIGHTNING.
What are the chances of that?
No cycling for today. Maybe tomorrow?
Maybe not, but I do wanna drive upstream to Shibinai, and visit with Charles Hamel and Family.
We both have lots of other mutual hobbies, that we can enjoy together.
I'll call ya tomorrow at about 12:00 noon, my friend.
Hope to see you all again real soon.
Along with my regular teaching schedule, I had an interview at the Asahikawa City Hall Foreign Relations Division.
The purpose of the interview was to generate content, to be used in a monthly newsletter that is produced by the Asahikawa International Committee.
You can visit their website by clicking here.
I was interviewed by a young gentleman named Brendon, who said he is from California, near Los Angles.
He asked me a series of about 14 or 15 questions, which the interviewer had devised by himself, after looking around on this website.
In fact, the way he contacted me in the first place was by sending me an email to the address listed on the top page.
The title of the newsletter article is; Hello Asahikawa!, and it will also appear on the website at this page.
Most likely it will be in the June 2008 issue.
About 10 years ago, I was asked to write a short essay for this very same newsletter.
It wasn't an interview, and they didn't have a website at that time.
I'd like to share it with my readers right now but, I can't find a copy of my WORD document on which I wrote it.
Basically, I said that; I really like living in Asahikawa, because the city is not too big and not too small, it is close to the big nature of the mountains and the seas, and the people are very open and friendly.
That is the gist of what I said, at that time.
I still feel the same way today.
Some things never change.
Anyway, also working at the same office as Brendon, is one of my long time students.
She has been coming to my classroom a lot longer, than she has been working at this office, but I know she can do a good job at her new position in the office of the foreign relations division for the City of Asahikawa.
One thing that impressed me about Brendon, is his knowledge of the Japanese Language.
Speaking, reading and writing, seems to be a daily necessity for his life and job.
He told me that he had studied Japanese at the university and had come to
Japan on the JET Program, in order to make practical use of what he had learned while living in the USA.
Now, that's a man with a plan. Rock on big guy!
On a different subject, the photos you can see above/left were taken on May 4th, 2000.
This is the 上雨粉林道 which is a rather long mountain bike trip from my place in Kagura.
I haven't been to this area on a bicycle ride for a long time, but I think it might be a place where I should ride through again, this year.
At the time that this photo was taken, there were not many insects in the air, yet.
If you come back to this location in summer, don't forget to bring some bug repellent.
There are huge horsefly looking critters, that draw visible blood when biting human flesh.
Speaking of mountain biking, Charlie Hamel and I have been talking about going together on a serious riding adventure, but somehow, I haven't been able to get my ass in gear, and get going.
To tell ya all the truth, I haven't done any serious cycling for about 2 long years.
One of the reasons, is because Ikuko likes walking much better than cycling, so if I wanna go out with her, I've gotta hoof it.
However, now that Charlie is here and ready to ride, I need to fix my flat tire, tune up the gear cables and get back on the road.
I thought that day, might be today, but I was wrong.
After my only class for today was finished at 11:30, I sat down to eat a big lunch of 冷やしラーメン.
Made last night by Ikuko, and still plenty of leftovers, for lunch today.
I ate it slowly, while watching some documentaries on You Tube.
About 90 minutes later, when I was finished eating, and ready to ride down to my friendly bike dealer's store for a patch job and a tune up,...... THUNDER and LIGHTNING.
What are the chances of that?
No cycling for today. Maybe tomorrow?
Maybe not, but I do wanna drive upstream to Shibinai, and visit with Charles Hamel and Family.
We both have lots of other mutual hobbies, that we can enjoy together.
I'll call ya tomorrow at about 12:00 noon, my friend.
Hope to see you all again real soon.
