Team photo of the boys in our new kit before the first game (hence we don't look knackered yet)
I have to take a stool sample (kind instructions included, even detailing how to sit) and drinking the dreaded Valium, a white liquid form, which runs through your stomach as they tip you upside down and all around while strapped/holding on to a flat table like surface and if you burp.......you have to drink some more!! Oh yeah, and I can't eat from 8pm the night prior until it's all done at about noon the following day.
Got a little burnt yesterday despite my best efforts to cover up. Woke up at 4am...HOT! Awesome timing to catch the sunrise though which was a beauty with fog rolling over the hills!
This weekend marked the start of summer for most with some kids having to wait until Tuesday, poor things. Still, the weather wasn't waiting around and we had scorching hot (32 degrees) weather with blue skies and a nice sea breeze.
Friends came around and the kids jumped in the pool and played for ages! I got a little BBQ going and grilled some sausages and squid for lunch along with some rice balls and chicken wings. Then it was across the road to the beach for a surf and a cool off. Everyone was starving again so we decided to visit Ken-san and his family at Donya. He was super busy which is good and we were lucky to get a table.
Super good food as always! Thanks Ken, Ma-san, K-chan and H-kun!
Here's the crew in front of my place working hard in the heat! (check out the old codger in the top right of the picture taking a not so subtle leak in plain view for all to see...something you'd get arrested for in NZ)
The freshly cut grass, trimmed palm trees and blue skies. It's hard to get motivated to don a suit and tie and head off to work at times like this.
The pool at our mansion has been cleaned and is awaiting filling. Pool party and BBQ this weekend maybe....weather permitting.
Then menu is very extensive with a focus on seafood dishes. Aiko in particular loved the Namero(?) (diced 'Aji' or Horse Mackerel). We also had a Tempura teishoku (set), some Tofu and fried Shirasu (like small whitebait) salad and some Katsuo (bonito) sashimi salad.
(image courtesy of Getty images and FIFA.COM)
The rainy season is in full swing and there are yet to be any typhoons which means I've been getting by on the small stuff. Still, good to be in the water especially with the humidity so high.
Just down the road in Chikura is an amazing little pizza restaurant which we were introduced to by a friend recently. They used to operate out of the back of a lunch wagon and had the custom built pizza oven installed specially. It must've been hot work, especially in the summer, but now they have their own spot and the very same pizza oven taking pride of place in the open kitchen so you can see them bake your pizza right in front of you. 
We went with a group of four and ordered 4 large (25cm) pizzas half and half so that we could sample eight different toppings! The menu is reasonably priced and the pizzas are probably the best I've eaten here in Japan. The homemade bases and the natural smokey flavour from the wood oven seals the deal. 
If you're in the neighbourhood and craving some pizza drop by or call in an order as they also do take out.
It took about an hour and a half from our apartment to where we parked on the rooftop of an outlet mall, Venus Port. 
The mall has a european flavour to it with stores from England, such as Harrods, to those from Italy, and some very pricey shoes!! 
They also had a tribute to Michael Jackson with large photos on display and a video playing on a large screen for all to see.
Just finished our annual 2 day seminar which was held in Kawasaki this year. It's always a good chance to listen to the publishers voice ideas on how to teach lessons as well as to swap ideas amongst ourselves. Good bunch of teachers at present which made for really productive group planning activities and the like. Thanks to all the crew based in Head Office who make this happen every year. It's a genuinely worthwhile experience even for an old hand and (I think) gives us a gentle nudge not to become complacent within our schools and with our lessons.
