"Let's Play Ball!!

Good morning. It is still chilly, but according to the weather forecast, it seems that it will warm up a little in the end of this week and the weekend. Then, maybe the cherry blossoms can bloom, signaling the beginning of spring.

The first topic of the day is "a touching speech."Ms. N told me that she was touched when she watched one of the high school baseball players give a speech in the opening ceremony of the national baseball tourney. This tournament is being held at Koshien Stadium and there are 32 teams participating in it. One of the teams in the tourney is Tohoku, which is located in Miyagi. Fyi, Tohoku lost yesterday in the first round, 7-0.

Here is a loose translation the high school baseball player's speech that moved Ms. N.

"All of us were born in the same year as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, 16 years ago.

Now, our hearts are saddened by the loss of many precious lives in the Great Higashi-Nihon Earthquake.

In the areas affected by the disaster, all of the people, friends and strangers alike, have come together and are doing their best...

With each other's support, I believe that people, we, can overcome anything...

What can we do now?

We, the players, must pull ourselves together and play with all our might in these Games.

Japan!!! Come one, don't give up! Hang in there!!

In gratitude for Life, We pledge to stay true to the spirit of fair play and play with every ounce of our heart and soul."

What can I do to help?

"I can't do anything..." or "There is nothing I can do..." are the incorrect answers.

The correct answers are:
"I can do something!" or "There is definitely something I can do!"

Mr. M is a doctor. I met him on Monday morning. He works for a National University's hospital and told me:
"My friend, another doctor, is a member of the DMAT team. (The DMAT team is a special unit of doctors who respond to disasters.) He already went to Tohoku, and he told me he is trying his best, but the situation is bleak...I want to help if I can. But my turn is not now. Now is it DMAT''s turn. In the future, I will be able to go to the area on a different team of doctors and help people. Then it is my turn. So, I just have to wait for my turn."

Mr. M is correct. Everyone's turn to help will come. We just have to wait and be patient. And we have to take action and make our turn.
And in the meantime, we have to do whatever we can, from Osaka, to help. There are many ways to help! Many many ways. You just have to think. "How can I help?" "What can I do?" If you think long enough, you will find the answer. Even if you can not help the people in Tohoku directly, now, then finding a way to help indirectly is OK.

An old wise man used to take me out for dinner and drinks often. I once said to him. "I feel very bad because I can never repay you for all of this." He said, "Don't worry about repaying me. In the future, when you can, please take another person out. Please help another person. If you do that, then you will also be repaying me."

This is a very simple example of helping indirectly.

Here is another example.

Since the earthquake my wife has prepared a super earthquake evacuation bag. It is filled with food, water, batteries, flashlights, clothes, underwear..and more. Preparing this bag is great for us, but that doesn't help other people. However, she tells her mother, and her co-workers about this bag and how important it is. Then, maybe her mother will tell her grandchild, and maybe her co-workers will tell their children, and then maybe those children can learn from that. This is helping. It may be a small, but it is what is necessary to be done now. It is what she can do now.

Then, yesterday, we donated 30,000yen to the Japanese Red Cross.
If you want to do so, here is the link:

https://gienkin.jrc.or.jp/application/corporate

If that money is big or small or medium, I don't know nor care. But it was what we could do now. In addition, I also want to donate clothes to the survivors in that area as soon as possible.
And donating blood is also a good idea.

Next, I will think of another way to help. The ways to help are endless...

Also, I really think that it is important for everyone to keep this motivation to help for at least one year. At least! Keeping this motivation, continuing to try to help, and not forget, is so so important!! I urge you. Please think of how you can help, and also please keep this motivation for at least one year!!

Flickers of Hope...

We must believe...There is hope.

Here are a few stories I heard this morning on the radio.

In Miyagi, an old man in a shelter was in disbelief and said "What are we going to do?"
A young boy who was sitting next to him said "Don't worry. When my friends and I become older, we are going to rebuild this town."

A man in Sendai twitted "I have never seen such beautiful stars. Everyone, look up at the sky!"

Two Osaka business men were stuck in Tokyo without a place to stay. They had no hotel reservations, the Bullet train was stopped, and they had no where to go. At that time. a homeless man handed them a folded-up cardboard box and said "It's cold and wet outside. Sleep on this. "

An old woman in Fukushima said, "In the morning I saw two blond hair, flashy-dressed teenage girls, talking loudly and pushing their cell phones hanging out on the corner in town. Later at night, after the quake and tsunami, I saw the same two girls handing out candy and sweets to little kids who were crying."

Earthquake (Continued...)

I am really at a loss for words. Stunned. Speechless...
When the earthquake happened last Friday, I don't think anyone could have imagined the aftermath...

We should all do what we can, if anything, to help.
And pray.

All I can say now to all of those people suffering from this tragedy is, Hang in there...

Earthquake...

Here is the play by play at around 2:45pm today while I was teaching Mr. T.
Mr. T is a President of a big company around here, and we were on the subject of cherry blossoms. This is the dialogue:

Glenn: You should have a cherry blossom party with your employees at Utsubo Park in the end of March. It just around the corner from your office.
Mr T: Really? Utsubo Park has cherry blossoms? I didn't know that.
The voice in Glenn's head: Is the room shaking?! Or swaying? Is this an earthquake?! But Mr. T is fine, he looks fine, he isn't saying anything...Am I sick?! It has been a really long week, maybe something is wrong with me, because the room really feels like it is going around in a circle...
Of course while the voice in Glenn's head was talking, Glenn's real voice was also saying: Yes, Utsubo has beautiful cherry blossoms! I can't believe you don't know that. How long have your worked in Honmachi?! 6 years, right?! Ustubo is truly beautiful when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom! You should definitely check it out!!

Then, all at the same time;
1. I noticed that the calendar on the wall was swaying back and forth a lot!
2. The Junior High school girls in the school across the street were screaming in high screeching voices
3. The nice lady who works above me came running down the stairs with her husband and said from outside the door, "Glenn, are you OK?! It an earthquake...We are gonna evacuate and get out of the building...are you coming?... In Tokyo, it's supposedly really big!!"

To be continued...

Chapped Lips and Chain Mail

Yesterday, when I woke up I thought "My lips are chapped." And I remembered that I bought some chap stick last year, so I searched my house, opened all the drawers, and then I found it. I immediately applied the chap stick to my lips, and like magic, my lips were soothed and felt better.

When you get chapped lips, what do you do?

And, I got a chain mail from my mother this morning. It is a little interesting, so please read it:

[2011-This year, July has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. This happens once every 823 years. This is called money bags. So, forward this to your friends and money will arrive within 4 days. Based on Chinese Feng Shui the one who does not forward.....will be without money.]

My mother said, "Not taking any chance! I hope it works." So I am forwarding it to all of you via this blog!

Hay Fever, and curry

This morning I got an email from my father about hay fever. Here it is:
"i have hay fever. when i was younger i got two shots (needles) per week during the HF season. have taken various meds through the years. at one point, many years ago, i had specialty pills that were given to me by an allergist. that went on for years! they say it gets better when u r older, and i find that to be true. past 2 years have been mild for me. love, dad"

To change the subject, recently one of my favorite dinners is curry. And curry comes in different colors, green, red, yellow, orange...I don't have a favorite color, they are all good, but the spicier the better! Usually if I am lucky, I eat curry on Friday night. If not Friday, sometimes on Thursday night. And curry is also convenient because I can eat leftover curry the next day. I eat leftovers about three times a week! I know that sounds poor, but this type of recycling is also ecological and good for the environment!

March

Welcome to March! Yesterday was rainy, but it was also quite warm...about 18 degrees Celsius. It was nice, and it means that true spring is really just around the corner.

I love spring, but for people like my wife who have hay fever, spring is not such a pleasant season. Off the top of my head, I can name at least 10 people I know who have hay fever. Mr. F, Ms. T, Mr. S...and the list goes on and on. The symptoms of hay fever are miserable. Itchy eyes, itchy nose, red and puffy faces... I feel really sorry for all of you who suffer from this terrible allergy. And, I read in the newspaper today that over 20,000,000 Japanese people have hay fever. Do you know the population of Japan? Well, compared to that number, 20 million folks is a lot!!! And according to the news, this year the pollen count will be 5 times larger than that of last year. So get ready Hay Fever people, unfortunately it is gonna be a long spring!!

To change the subject, last week two people said some pretty harsh things to me.
The first person was a guy, Mr. C. When I went out with the guys for a few drinks last Saturday night, out of no where he said, "So when did you start to lose your hair?"

And then, on Monday at the Spa, a friend of mine said, "Wow, you really gained a lot of weight!"

Last week was a tough week for me. I hope this week is gentler! :)

Below are some wonderful photos from. Ms.e. She took them when she went to Osaka Park to see the Plum Blossoms. Thank you!