Tuesday, May, 2005 Fair

　Usually Tuesday is a holiday for me, but not today. The Korean language class is very lively. Most of the students are very willing to study Korean. And they are enjoying themselves. Great people! At work I spent a couple of hours making a teaching plan.

Monday, May 30, 2005 Overcast

　I may have mentioned something like this before, but I pass by somewhere daily, and all of a sudden a house or something is torn down,, and all I see is a vacant lot, and I don't remember what used to be there. The grass withers, the flower fades ...

Sunday, May 29, 2005 Cloudy

　I think I should know my limitations. My RAM memory is limited like that of a personal computer. But I am no computer, and I am more likely to make mistakes, leaning another foreign language other than English, namely Korean, especially at this old age. However, I learn Korean because I like it. To err is human, and I am human, and I will bear with myself, or rather I will enjoy the process...

Saturday, May 28, 2005 Fair

　Picking up my wife at the hospital toward the evening, I drove her to the usual big electric appliances store. I bought a flash memory stick. My wife got some DVD RAM disks and videocassettes.. She also purchased a USB port. We got some croquettes at the stall there and went home.

Friday, May 27, 2005 Fair

　I had a phone call from Mom this morning. She was calling on her cellphone. We talked about this and that for about 15 minutes. She is now 76 yrs old, and my Dad 82. Just one of those conversations with my wife; "There you go again talking about that!" "I know, but I am now an old man. Naturally I'm getting forgetful, so bear with me..." I need to be careful about topics I bring up in the future. Variety is the spice of life.

Thursday, May 26, 2005 Fair

　There was a teachers' conference for graduating students. I have decided to translate into Japanese at least one news story from Korea's OhMyNews every day. There was a railway accident again on my way home. For nearly one hour all the trains on the line were at a standstill.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 Fair

　I went to the prefectural education center after attending my Korean teacher's lesson in the morning. There were two lecturers talking about human rights education. Coming home, my wife and I ate takoyaki drinking beer. Then after resting for a while, I took a night walk for about 30 minutes.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 Fair but a bit cold.

　Today being Tuesday, I had the sign language circle and the Korean classroom, but because I had to prepare for the latter, I was unable to go to the former. I went up to the fifth floor of the newly-built high-rise building by the station, but there was not much there. Actually, the garden was small and there was nobody. What a bummer! The new library was O.K.-full of visitors.

Monday, May 23, 2005 Cloudy and a passing rain.

　My Korean teacher started another class today. I attended it. I think I will continue to go to this class, too. It is very good. Not much happened today, which is all right. I may have caught cold as I did not get dressed warmly enough today. A strong wind blows around the station. I felt very cold on my way to work.

Sunday, May 22, 2005 Rainy, occasionally cloudy.

　We went on a school outing to Arashiyama, Kyoto. On the way, I was in such a hurry I almost got on the wrong train at Umeda. Anyway I managed to make it on time to the meeting place. I spent the whole day talking with my Korean teacher. He kindly shared his lunch with me. It was delicious. His wife is a good cook. I was planning to eat out for lunch.

Saturday, May 21, 2005 Fair

　In the morning I went to the English conversation school as usual and spent two hours or so speaking English. Our first-born son came home tonight. Today is his birthday. We bought him a birthday cake and some presents, throwing a little party, singing "Happy birthday to you."

Friday, May 20, 2005 Cloudy

　I am still continuing with the daily backyard weeding. I do it first thing in the morning. It has become one of my daily household chores. I realize weeds really grow quickly-one after another although I pull them daily. Ill weeds grow apace. I do not want to use chemicals, namely, weed killers. I will keep the weeds company. They are part of nature, and so am I.

Thursday, May 19, 2005 Fair

　I have decided to take up brisk walking, although my right hip joint hurts a bit. I am gaining weight. People my age around me are beginning to have heart trouble. I do not mind walking, but according to the doctor, the joint is bad by nature.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 Cloudy, occasionally rainy.

　Our Korean language teacher is going to teach another group of people fro next week on. It is a beginners' class. I think I will attend it because he will use the textbook which, I think, is very good. Tonight I listened to some classical music on my stereo for the first time in many days. I needed such a break.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Fair

　I am beginning to forget sign language. I don't use it often these days. There is no need to use it. Ever since I began learning Korean, I haven't attended sign language circles fully. In order not to forget it, I will have to do something about it. On second thought, however, letting nature take its course is not bad, either. I am , after all, a limited being.

Monday, May 16, 2005 Fair

　I cleaned the kitchen floor this morning. It had long been a mess. There are too many things in this small space. The double check on the grades was all done at last. It was such a painstaking process. I handed in my first son's tax-related papers today. He is now in graduate school. My second son is busy visiting companies. He is a university senior.

Sunday, May 15, 2005 Fair

　From morning till night I kept working. I also decided to take a double check on the grades of graduating students. I am still in the middle of doing it. The data must be accurate. I was on club duty, too. To my wife, too, today was a workday.

Saturday, May 14, 2005 Sunny

　It was a nice day today. It was a shame not to go out. The washing dries quickly. You get a good suntan. playing outside. I visited my parents' place. I ate Mom's lunch and we talked a lot. My sis seemed to be in good health keeping busy. Looked like they are all doing O.K.

Friday, May 13, 2005 Fair

　I was busy this morning running around to get a tax-related certificate for my first-born son, put gas in my car and buy some cat food. My wife is still having a hard time shaking off her stubborn cold.. As for myself, the tip of my tongue has long been sore. At work, too, doing this and that, I had a full day.

Thursday, May 12, 2005 Cloudy, occasionally rainy.

　In my opinion, it is amazing that people live on in spite of what is going on in the world-scores killed daily in Iraq, the situation in North Korea, the economic war in Japan, the recent tragic railroad accident, etc.. I do not understand what the world is doing.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Fair

　It is usually in our nature to brag about ourselves, and it is really hard for us to admit our shortcomings. However, if you try to be a perfectionist, you tend to be mentally unhealthy. This is where we need some sound sense of balance. When you feel mentally painful, just tell yourself "You are O.K. the way you are now." We are all one of a kind, which fact is really hard to accept in our daily life, though.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Fair

　Today's sign language circle's meeting was held in one of the rooms on the third floor of the newly built high-rise building by the station. It is not for free. It is a pay room-2,000 to 2,500 yen every time we use it. Nowadays you never get anything for nothing. Beneficiaries have to pay the price. This is the principle the prime minister has long been advocating. Hence this cold-blooded society.

Monday, May 9, 2005 Fair

　Today turned out to be very hectic. Tomorrow, too, I have lots of odds and ends to take care of. From a different angle, however, busyness is not a bad thing, but something I should be appreciative of because I can be of some service to others. Of course, again it is a matter of degree, though.

Sunday, May 8, 2005 Fair

　Almost all day I was doing my Korean homework. So, although today was Mother's Day, I had to put off visiting Mom. Anyway I called her up and explained to her. Today is the last day of the consecutive holidays. These were, after all, far from being holidays.

Saturday, May 7, 2005 Cloudy and then fine.

　In the morning spent a couple of hours talking in English. There was a new comer , a Korean lady living in Japan, who was quite fluent in English. Again worked at night at home, making another set of 'reports.' Our first son came back home from Kobe tonight. He is overweight!

Friday, May 6, 2005 Rainy, occasionally cloudy.

　Went to work today. Tried to straighten out the mess on my desk in vain. Ate out with my Japanese teacher of Korean at a Korean restaurant. I had toruso pibimpap. It was delicious.
I heard Korean spoken there. Beautiful Korean. Installed a Korean word processor in my computer. My Korean diary is now in Hangul, not in katakana.

Thursday, May 5, 2005 Fair

　I continued to work on making some 'reports' for the second term. I was doing it from morning till night, and eventually I made a total of 11 pages. Then I played a computer game called "Exile" ( Myst Part 3). My son is also playing this game.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 Fair

　This morning I did a little weeding in the backyard. I was busy all day today making next term's reports. This is no holiday. Now I have a stiff neck. and strained eyes as well. I could not afford to study Korean.

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 Sunny

　Nice weather. I continued with the weeding of the backyard and also cleaned the balcony. I had a total of six plastic bags of weeds. My wife cleaned our son's room. It had long been a terrible mess.

Monday, May 2, 2005 Fair

　This morning I weeded the backyard for the first time in many days. It was hot and I almost dehydrated. At work it took me seven hours or so to prepare for next Monday's general study hour. I got exhausted and had a migraine.

Sunday, May 1, 2005 Rainy.

　Special programs about the train accident come on TV one after another. JR West Japan's profit-first attitude is being criticized. Some top dogs tend to be very sadistic, bringing pressure upon their men. They just utilize their men for their own benefits. This is a prominent characteristic of those who have upward mobility in Japan. This is the root of evil.