Paul’s Blog

So of course, being English, I’ve never really seen baseball. But last week, I got 2 free tickets to the game at Nagoya Dome to watch the Dragons playing the Carp. It sounded fun and interesting so I took Alex along. He knows more than I do about baseball because he plays it at school, so he was able to explain some of the rules to me.

The first thing I noticed was that everyone was carrying some kind of noise-making machine! There were sticks, horns, beaters.. and most of them had Dragons logos and colours on them. Anyway, the game started and I tried to work out what it all meant. The scoreboard was complicated.. S, H, N, O, R? What did they mean? We finally worked it out…

It was strange for me to see. It was slower than I expected and there wasn’t so much action. It’s like halfway between football and cricket perhaps. But sometimes, they hit the ball very far and everyone cheered. It was strange too that every 30 minutes the cheerleaders came out and danced. We don’t really have these things in Britain at all.

Dragons started well, and were in the lead all the way. The middle of the game was a little boring actually, as nobody scored for ages. Most people were chatting or eating popcorn or drinking beer and walking around.. then suddenly Carps scored TWO runs and went ahead. It was thrilling because at the very end, a Dragons player hit a great ball, got a home-run, and they finally won the game

Did you know that baseball actually comes from England? It was first mentioned about 200 years ago, and it probably comes from rounders, which is a game we play at school. Actually, it’s usually played by girls, but it’s pretty much the same game. It is popular in Britain, but not as much as football, rugby, and cricket.

Britain has invented many games and sports (lots of them are named after places in England like Rugby and Badminton) but we’re not very good at playing; we never win medals! But we don’t care, because the English way is just to Do your Best and enjoy it. Winning isn’t important

It’s October again. I love it. Of course, it’s my birthday this month so that makes it special, but anyway, October is the perfect month I think. The weather is just great and the season change makes it interesting. In England, Autumn really starts and the leaves are just beginning to change. It’s strange for me that this happens in November in Japan.. it’s so late!

In England, lots of events start in October. We have halloween, then Bonfire Night, then the run up to Christmas. There is plenty to look forward to. Even if the weather is bad outside, we can enjoy warm cosy days inside.

This year, I’m so busy helping prepare for the Chukyo conference. It’s next weekend, so I’ll be working on my birthday  But never mind, it’s fun! The student helpers this year are great, and I’m going to enjoy working with everyone.

 Anyway, to celebrate October coming, here are the words from a very old song by U2..

October
And the trees are stripped bare
Of all they wear
What do I care?

October
And Kingdoms rise
And Kingdoms fall
But you go on…

…and on…