Point - Counterpoint

Okay, now Rie has opened up a whole new can of worms with her latest blog entry.

Remember to take everything she says with a grain of salt. English is not her first language, so please think of her blog entries more as writing exercises than as an accurate portrayal of real-world events.

First of all, strictly speaking, my bedtime is not 9 pm. It is about 8 hours before sunrise. I need 8 hours a night, and I wake up when the sun comes up, so it is not hard to figure out when to go to bed. Actually, since it is still winter, I have been staying up well past nine. It has been quite some time now since we went to bed closer to 9 pm than to 10 pm.

As for Valentine's Day - I am just trying to be culturally sensitive. In America, the retailers got together and invented a holiday during a slow period of the year so they could make some money. Now, we all buy stuff and exchange gifts. In Japan and Korea, they went one better and added an additional mandatory shopping day. Valentine's Day is when women give men chocolate or gifts. White Day (March 14th) is when men buy presents for women (usually a gift that is white in color). So, I appreciate what Rie did for me for Valentine's Day, and I am looking forward to reciprocating on White Day.

Rie also brought up our first date, so I might as well share that truth as well. When I started working in Japan, I was assigned to three different middle schools. I went to the first one, Kamoike, for three days. I noticed that many of the English teachers were attractive, young women. On the first Thursday of my new career, I went to TaniYamaKita middle school and met Rie. Even though two of the over-50 teachers really seemed to take a shine to me, I thought that Rie was the best at that school.

Rie and I started talking and I mentioned that I was going to the beach that weekend. Rie used all of her feminine wiles to get me to invite her. She stood too close to me and peered too deeply into my eyes. I was reluctant go on a date with Rie because I had not yet visited the third school. I valiantly resisted her brazen attempts to ensnare me and I succeeded for a day, but on Friday, my will to resist her Siren song was broken and I asked if she would like to join me on Sunday for a trip to the beach.

We had a wonderful time. We went to the beach, went for a swim, got pulled out by the rip tide, and struggled back to shore. As the stronger swimmer, I had to hold Rie's hand and help bring her back. Of course, once we were back in ankle deep water I probably could have let go.

The next week, I visited my third (and largest) school. Although they had plenty of nice female teachers at Wada, none of them compared to Rie. After a week at Wada, I went to a one-week training course and then a one-week vacation. By the time I got back, I had lost Rie's number and had to wait a few more weeks until I visited her school again. I apologized for not calling and wrote her number in a few different places so I wouldn't lose it again.

Finally, I would like to address Rie's assertion that she spoils me. Well, luckily for me, that part is true. :)