I am going to try to write more and make more video and audio recordings this summer.
The school year finished with our last day of classes on Friday. A group of teachers celebrated by heading down to the Temma section of downtown Osaka. The Temma (or Temna) district is located just east of Umeda in the center of Osaka. The two landmarks are Ogimachi Park and the JR Temma station. Near the station is a warren of narrow streets, packed with restaurants and bars. It is a really cool area to head down for an evening of laughs with friends. Enjoying conversation and jokes with friends is one of the best things one can do for your health. The Beer Belly serves our local Minoh craft beer on tap. We also went to an izakaya, an informal Japanese-style pub for grilled meats on a stick. A great time was had by all!
Saturday was spent on errands and catching up with things around the house. My friend Art and I took a load of unwanted stuff to the Minoh Recycling Center. They are not charging for the dumping of anything until July 8 due to the recent earthquake. They wouldn’t take our old television however, and I needed to pay 3,400 yen for the local electronics store to recycle it for me. It was good to clean out the garage and I hope to make another trip on Tuesday to help a friend and get rid of some more of our clutter.
I am also closing the school year and doing some final hirings among other assorted tasks. Sunday morning I went for a 19.2 kilometer bike ride up into the Minoh National Park. It was a beautiful morning, but I learned I need to bring more water with me. Japanese summers are known for their humidity and I went through the 800 ml bottle quite quickly. I intend on biking a lot this summer, so need to take out the Camelback water bladders.
Sunday was spent getting Owen ready for his trip to USA. He is spending two weeks in Iowa with a classmate and attending a basketball camp at Wartburg College. We packed his bags and saw him off this morning to the airport.
We are loving the World Cup 2018 in the Kralovec household and the betting pool is on! A fantastic game between France and Argentina. The games come on at 11:00 PM now, so it is a commitment and a nap for me to make it! Owen, Oliver and his friend Evan enjoyed watching the BBC coverage of the game.
A quote from last week. Ocean said to me as I was heading out the door to work, “Are you going to do some exciting director things, or will it be the boring stuff like meetings and typing.”
Bill's Blog 
Temma was Tremendous:)