sketching1

I meet people everyday. I see people. I watch people. and I make friends where and when I can.

I have been happy to make friends with some of my coworkers. one of them is Kevin and here is a little sketch of him.

when he tells us about his barber he says "its worth every extra penny because he speaks some english and tells me I look like Tom Cruise"

he lives closest to KM school and therefore has the cheapest cab ride home. after a night out, Yoshi and I will go back to his place to crash. his place is tiny, a mirror image of mine, cluttered and generally boyish. but his hospitality is flawless.

he always has extra pajamas and toothbrushes for Yoshi and I.

He smokes Marbalo lites, except when he and Yoshi are sharing and then buys mentos.

His family is Roman Cathlic Irish from south Chicago.

He is one of the instigators of the running the road race mania (which I eventually declined because my feet hurt too much from wearing heel all the time). He will run with one of the students the full 15 km.

I've seen him order up to three beers in Japanese, but from what I can tell hasn't learned much more than that. he smiles big and nods gernerously.

he happily tries anything that is ordered. this saturday Yoshi and Akemi chose to order boiled (cold) pigs feet for the four of us.

His karaoke style is confident but not talented. He perfers love rock ballads by bands like Aerosmith, Smashing Pumpkins and U2.

He is a great back up singer whenever I get in over my head--or sing james brown. he is always encouraging and generous.

When he returns in April he will probably go into business.

He has 50 or 60% more classes than I do but never makes me feel lazy.

He can talk about things other than work and loves the Godfather movies.

Yoshi and Akemi are also becoming good friends, for similar reasons. sketches on them later. Kantaro and Angela, two other teachers and KM, are also very friendly and helpful but don't go out with us. KM is becoming a great place to work and is coming more and more sharply into contrast with Shinonome (shnnme), which is not a happy place for me. the teachers are civil to me but down right mean to the manager. they, so far, don't say hello in the morning or goodnight at the end of the day. but I only work there two days a week, so its not soooo bad. I'm going to try and get semi transfered so that I can work at KM 5 days a week... but we'll see.