Arrival of F.S.

Another day of pretty much nothing. However, as usual, I will find something to monopolize your even if just for a few moments. Yesterday I received my gas bill which was a whopping $41. Is this how much it usually is in the States? I think that my predecessor told me that she only paid a couple hundred dollars for the entire year. I have to check on that again. They said that mine is high because gas is needed in my house to cook and shower. Since I never cook and shower occasionally, I really do not understand why it is so high.

I was excited about the weekend of Cristina and my anniversary (Oct. 10) because we were going to go somewhere since it was a long weekend. However, my town’s fourth sports festival is on that day and they reiterated how they would like for me to go. I am sure that I will have fun, but that pretty much kills my weekend since it is on the Sunday. Therefore, probably no going away for the 3-day weekend.

As for our winter holiday, we are excitedly planning but find it a bit difficult without access to guidebooks. I know that we can search the internet; however, there is so much to search through that the task becomes somewhat of a mission. You are probably thinking that I can just search while I am at work. I don’t know about that. Everyone in my office has a clear view of my computer and I am not sure how great it looks if I am looking up travel pages while they are pretending to be busy. In any case, I think that we will be in Florence for Christmas and in Vienna for New Year’s.

Something I did forget about yesterday was the arrival of our first visitor – Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley comes to us from Pembroke Pines. He was sent by Cristina’s cousin Jennifer. Let me tell you that we are very excited and are already talking about all the cool places that we can take him. We are definitely touring him around Osumi Hanto, then to Kagoshima City. We may even keep him until January to take him to Europe and Hong Kong. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but I think that he is thinking about setting up a blog. I told him I thought it was a great idea.

Another random note: I hope that since we are cut off from the world of movie entertainment (sorda) that you will inform us of good movies that you happen to see and who stars in them. Reason being that we have to trek a couple hours when we do want to go to the movie theater. Also, the small video store nearby does have several movies but they are all written in Japanese which is difficult to read quickly. So, we usually end up renting one of the featured movies that is flipped so the passerbys can see rather than picking one that only has its spine facing us. Occasionally, there will be spines that have the picture of the star of the movie on it that will entice us to pull the case out and try to read the cover. Yesterday we rented Dogville (which I had never heard of) starring Nicole Kidman. I agree with Cristina that it may be a bit difficult to get into but once you did, it was quite good. The format of the movie is quite original. It is filmed like a play (it may be a play for all I know) with minimal props. It is about a woman that is escaping gun shots and ends up in this small mountain town (Dogville) on the turn of the century. The town of 15 is a bit reluctant to let her stay at first, but after a deal they do. The townspeople grow to accept her and reveal to her their true selves. It is definitely a bit depressing, but I think that the ending is quite uplifting. We also rented Fargo, which I have never seen before.

My computer began to act up so I think I am going to stop now. Office Man just informed me that SE (systems engineer) is going to call him to fix this computer and attempt to install internet in my home. I guess there goes my curry dinner in Kanoya tonight, eh?

Mooing Meari

OK, so yesterday I pretty much sat around and did nothing. After I returned some emails and wrote my blog entry, Office Man decided to run some kind of virus check on my computer. I will have to admit, that the laptop’s condition did improve. Now, its screen doesn’t do this crazy thing every 2 seconds.

Well, Typhoon Meari was a bit scarier than I thought it was going to be. I think I was more scared because I didn’t put of the rotten wooden shutters that are supposed to protect my front room. Why you may ask. Because I didn’t want to go in the scary shed that already lost its roof in the last typhoon that is probably a breeding ground for Teenage Mutant Ninja Spiders. I think that the best part about last night though was the fact that when I got home, there was a cow mooing at the top of its lungs. It did not stop mooing the entire night. I feel so attached to the cow now that I have named her after the typhoon that struck the night we met, Meari. I woke up at 5 a.m. and Meari was still mooing and could be heard over the storm and through the thick wooden shutters in my back room. If I did not know any better, I would say that this Meari was giving birth or in heat. Wait, I don’t know any better because I really don’t know why she was mooing. At one point, I even thought that the Meari was right outside my house she was mooing so loud. Anyway, enough about the cow.

Since I have nothing in particular to speak about, I will go ahead and announce our vacation plans for winter holiday. We figure that if we take 10 days of paid leave in conjunction with the days we get off already for winter break and weekends, we will have a 24-day holiday. (Wait, it gets more exciting.) So, we have decided to splurge and go to Rome, where we would meet with Ashley, travel with her to Florence (where we would spend Christmas), Padua, Verona and Venice. After Italy, we would go to Vienna, where we would meet up with Lukasz and spend New Year’s. Then we would go to somewhere else, maybe Salzburg, Munich or somewhere else, before splitting up. Ashley and Lukasz will be moving on to Switzerland, while we head to Frankfurt to board a plane to Hong Kong. We will spend 2 and a half days in Hong Kong (which I am extremely excited about) before heading back to Japan. Cristina, being the great researcher that she was, found us a great price on this flexible airfare. With taxes, arriving in Rome, leaving from Frankfurt and delaying our stopover in Hong Kong, everything comes out to about $760. Isn’t that amazing! The only thing that I am nervous about is that this flight is leaving from Fukuoka Airport (a large airport about 4 hours away by bus from Kagoshima City, which is another 2 hours away from us). However, we are planning to leave after school ends on Friday, head to the ferry port, park the car, ride the ferry to the City, go to the bus station where we will take a cheap overnight bus to Fukuoka, get there at around 6:30 a.m. to ride the subway to the airport to catch our flight by 10:35 a.m. I think that we will be ok.

Other exciting news, my mom has sent me a package that will probably get here by next week. I am extremely excited about that. Thanks MOM.

Well, this is Jesse signing off. I feel like a meteorologist because only storm chasers would be at work during this type of weather.

The Kancho

Hey Glenn, thanks for your comment, I think.

As for yesterday, it was quite action packed. First, I arrived at the office, where everyone greeted me as if I had not been gone a week. I sat at my desk to find my cell phone bill and my absentee ballot. Cristina and I did not go over our minutes and there weren’t any hidden charges as everyone kept on saying there would be. I opened by absentee ballot and some accompanying campaign materials. Within the hour it was completely filled out with a black ballpoint pen as instructed and ready to be mailed. Before I knew it was time for the Monday morning meetings. You would think that having studied Japanese for a week that I would attempt to pay attention. I still chose not to, but began to listen more attentively when they began mentioning a few familiar things. Before I continue, I have to remind you that I took the company car to KAPIC, but also gave Cristina and Laura a ride. I am not too sure how fond they are of this. In any case, during the meeting I heard the phrases “Higashi-Kushira, Osaki and Kanoya” – my destination cities, possibly alluding to my misconduct, if it could be called that. They continued and chuckled never looking my way. I pretended not to be listening or able to understand.

The meetings ended and I had to go to the Uchinoura Kindergarten. The children were adorable (in the beginning). I watched them practice for their sports festival and joined in a few times. Ten o’clock rolled around and the teachers went in for teatime. I thought I would be nice and stay outside with the children. THAT was my first mistake. They were excited when I taught them some English words and songs, but I quickly ran out of material. That is when I was introduced to the kancho. For those of you that are (luckily) not familiar with the kancho, let me explain to you what it is. It begins with one student touching a random, usually non-offensive part of your body by poking at it with one finger – the test. Then, another child will take it a step further and poke you in a butt cheek. Then, one child will put his hands together in the shape of a gun and scream “KANCHO” and proceed to stick where your butt hole would be – NO LIE. The other children will proceed to try to do the same thing. Naturally, I tried to tell them no and shoo them off, but there were too many. When this didn’t work, I ran and stood with my butt facing the wall. Just when you think you are safe, some punk four year old will shape his right hand like a fist and circle his arm as if throwing an underhanded pitch until the fist crashes into a man’s most sensitive area. (It’s ok. I really didn’t want to have children anyway.)

After lunch, I returned to the office when the man who I ask every Monday for Internet told me that the Internet man was going to be at my house around 4:30 or 5:00. I was in shock at the revelation and was not perturbed by the fact that I had already made plans with Cristina, Jill and Kaz to eat dinner in Kanoya. After that, I got paid. Since I had nothing to really do for the rest of the day, I asked if I could go to the post office across the street to mail my absentee ballot and deposit my earnings. (Note 1: My account is at the post office. Note 2: Everyone gets paid in cash.)

Before I knew it, it was time to leave. I returned home to wait for the Internet guy. Cristina, Jill and Kaz postponed dinner to a later hour because of this. Mr. Internet, accompanied by Office Guy, showed up at about 5:45. Mr. Internet who was probably only a few years my senior took off his fancy suit jacket and mentioned to me how hot it was (like if this is my fault). I lowered the air con. He proceeded to try connecting everything and tried the exact same thing about 25 times. He took half an hour just doing the same thing over and over. I was surprised that he did not realize after the third time that it was not going to work. However, since it is customary in Japan to look like if you are trying 100 times more than you really are by appearing to frustrated and to busy to speak to, that is what he did. He probably succeeded in the eyes of Office Guy, but you cannot fool my eyes.

In any case, I left my house at 36 past 6. I met with Cristina, who took me to pick up Jill. Then we met with Kaz who took us to this Indian Restaurant that is said to have the most amazing curry. The restaurant was closed. We went to a chain, Italian restaurant. We caught up on the past week since we had been going our separate paths. Good fun.

This morning, I walk into the office and I find out that the typhoon that has just passed Okinawa has made a 120 degrees turn and is heading straight for us. It is expected to hit tonight and linger till tomorrow morning. Luckily, it will not be as strong as the other ones. And with that being said, I will leave you with a link to more information on Typhoon Meari.

A Week in the Life

I would like to begin by apologizing for not having written for so long. I do appreciate several of you that expressed your concern in both emails and blog comments. This past week we have been on a “business trip” at a countryside center with 50 other ALTs taking a language and culture course. However, before I share the happenings of the week let me begin by sharing what we were up to last weekend (the weekend before this past one). Before I do that, I would also like to apologize for not answering some of your emails. It has come to my attention that I have not been receiving all of them (gotta love AOL).

Well, the Friday before last, Cristina, Laura and I went to Kanoya for our first Japanese tutoring session with Yatsumoto-sensei. She was nice and it seems that the class will be enjoyable and a great way to get some guidance through the language learning process. After finishing the hour and a half session, we went over to Jill’s in Kushira for our week-long anticipated dinner. Let me tell you that was one good dinner. We ate pumpkin, rice, miso soup and some delicious fried things. We also had some dessert that I was not too fond of (It had the consistency of a finger, I promise you, sorry Jill.). We also found a liquor store to buy some Bailey’s and were lucky enough to find a bottle that was only expired by a couple of months, NOT BAD. (Laura and Jill had bought a couple bottles of Bailey’s before that had been expired for a few years, NOT GOOD.)

The next day we woke up and gathered the troops (us four again) to head over to Hetsuka beach in Uchinoura. I was excited and proud to show everyone the natural beauty in my town. We had an amazing time but were a bit fearful to bathe in the ocean. The waves were a bit strong. We did bathe in the river, soaked up some rays, and hiked on some rocks. Later that evening, Cristina wanted to try a conveyor belt sushi place that had been recommended by her coworkers. So, Jill, Cristina and I went, Laura opted out. The place had a very nice atmosphere but a bit of a wait. However, it was still fun to go some place new.

Sunday, I was supposed to go to Uchinoura Junior High’s Sports Day. I feel bad because I woke up late and went to Kanoya to do some shopping with Cristina instead. Our first stop was in a Uniqlo (a British clothing company with nice but affordable clothing). I was in need of dress pants and was excited to find 3 pairs on sale, a total of $30. Cristina bought a suit jacket and some very cool linen pants. I think the best part of the store is that they hem your pants within 10 minutes to your measurement. After spending 2 hours in Uniqlo (no, it wasn’t that big, we just took forever), we went to a couple 100-yen shops where Cristina picked out a plate setting. We got 6 matching plate settings (I know, it’s getting serious between us) complete with hot and cold cups and soy sauce dishes for $40.

Monday morning, I dropped off the car at the Katos’. The brakes were acting up; I think it needed new brake pads. No need to worry though, I picked it up today and everything is better than ever. Then, with my funny looking company car, I drove with Cristina to KAPIC (Kanoya Asia and Pacific Inter-Cultural Center) for the week. Like I said earlier, all the first years were there and we were separated according to language level. It was a blast. The actual center is beautiful and pretty modern looking. We sleep in twin or single rooms with air conditioner and eat in a cafeteria while there. The mornings consisted of language class. The afternoons were set aside for cultural activities. The evenings were for games and drinking. Since I took the company car, gas was paid for. The program including lodging and 3 meals a day was $110. My office gave me $388 for some odd reason.

Tuesday, we partook in a traditional tea ceremony. Four old women in kimonos taught us the proper etiquette at a tea ceremony. It was very interesting. The only thing I could have lived without was having sit seiza style with my legs tucked underneath my bottom. The sitting was not even the worst part. Getting up from that position was torture.

Wednesday, it was some more Japanese and some taeko. Taeko is the name for Japanese drums that are beat usually in a large sized group. We leaned a rhythm and dance to accompany the rhythm. I am sad to say that I am terrible at both. Despite my poor showing, I did find it much fun.

Thursday, we learned some more Japanese and had a VERY boring history class that lasted a bit over 3 hours. The lecturer was a Japanese man that concentrated on British studies (and inflating his ego). He kept on mentioning locations throughout Kagoshima as they corresponded to the history lesson and asking who came from those locations. When it came time to mentioning the space program, I was excited to raise my hand at the mention of Uchinoura. However, he mentioned Uchinoura and quickly followed it by saying that we are not proud of the having 2 space centers in Kagoshima because they were picked according to locations that the country would not mind having things blow up. I was extremely upset by this, especially because my town considers the Space Center to be a reason for pride. Thursday evening, a few ALTs were playing Round the World Ping Pong (not too sure if that is the correct name) and one ALT slipped and sliced open his chin. They brought him to the cafeteria where I had been sitting with others. He was bleeding so much that we were not sure the extent of the cut. He sat back and some others cleaned the cut. When they finished cleaning it, I saw that he had a cut gaping wound of about 1 inch long and .5 inch deep. I have never seen a wound that bad before. Apparently he did not feel anything, so he did not know the extent of the cut. He had to be rushed to the hospital where he got 5 or 6 stitches. Don’t think that this dampened his or our evening, the toga party continued and we played drinking games as the other nights.

Friday, it was time to leave. We all gave short speeches in Japanese about our week. Most of them sounded the same. (We had fun. We learned a lot. The food was delicious.) Then it was off to home. Upon dropping Laura off later that day, she decided it would be best if we had a weed party. So, she had Cristina and I rid her lawn of weeds while she sat and watched. (I know what you are thinking. Don’t worry, I don’t like her either.) Just kidding. We all rid her garden of weeds and cut the little grass there was with a regular pair of craft scissors. On the way home, Cristina and I rented Cold Mountain – good movie!

Saturday, we all met at Jill’s to embark on a journey to Kagoshima City in honor of the new shopping plaza that had opened the weekend before. We hopped in Laura’s car and drove to the Sakurajima (the active, always smoking volcano in our state) ferry port. It was a beautiful day. Hardly any clouds out. There was a clear view of the volcano and the City across Kinko Bay. After the ferry, we took a short cab ride to Amu Plaza. It truly is remarkable. It is not that wide like malls in the U.S. because it is 5 floors tall. We began with (DRUM ROLL PLEASE) a cup of coffee at STARBUCKS – the first to open in Kagoshima. They must have heard we were coming because they opened it just in time for our arrival. It was very busy and surprisingly not that big. It probably had the same seating capacity as our Starbucks in Gainesville. If you are wondering what I had, it was called a Matcha Creme Frappucino (matcha is the word for the powdered green tea they use for tea ceremonies). After Starbucks, we walked the mall. It has the neatest stores. Many things I wanted to buy but had absolutely no use nor need for them. The place was full of cool looking lamps too. For lunch, we ate at an Italian restaurant on the top floor with a view of the volcano. I ordered pizza which I had been craving for a couple of weeks now. We spent the rest of the day shopping and walking about Kagoshima City in the older shopping district, Ten Mon Kan.

This past Sunday was Sports Day/Festival at 3 of my schools. The first half of the day I spent at Uchinoura Elementary School. The field was beautifully decorated with flags representing every nation and tents at all sides of the field. There were several choreographed dances. If you ask me, I think the opening ceremonies were a bit too reminiscent of a documentary depicting a communist nation/army. Being a child of exiles of a Cuba that was being overtaken by communism, I was a bit alarmed and frightened. If you are wondering if I competed in an event, I did. I participated in the three-legged relay race. However, my partner and I were in the only team that had to use a cloth instead of an elastic band like the other teams. Therefore, our legs were a lot tighter which made it difficult to run. Midway through our leg of the race, we had to fetch a hanging piece of bread each with our mouth using no hands. Needless to say, our team came in last place. Cristina met with me later on. I introduced her to everyone and we headed to the other school. Before doing so, we stopped by to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. We ate them on a beautiful cliff-side out of Cristina’s hatch back. After we finished eating, we went to the beach for a while before going to the next school. In Kishira, since there are such a few number of students, the Junior High and Elementary students do it together. They also had four teams comprised of four different sectors of Uchinoura. Both Cristina and I partook in a relay race where we had to fill up a bottle with colored water that we picked up from a bucket. It was fun, but we still came in last.

Today, Monday, was interesting. However, I will wait till tomorrow to fill you in on it because I am sure that you are as tired of reading as I am of typing. If some of the things did not make sense, feel free to ask me about it. I tried to condense it as much as possible. Hope to begin hearing from you all soon, now that you know I am back. This week is pretty slow and I will be in the office most days. Please write.

More Pictures

Hey guys, here is another photo album through Shutterfly.com. The album comprises of all the pictures we have taken from Super Typhoon Chaba through just after Waterfall Week-ender 2004.

View Album 2

This is the Uchi Elementary afterschool English club. At the end, I gave all the kids finger puppets from Starbucks.

One of the few pictures with me in it. Cristina is not big on taking pictures and makes fun of me every time I ask her too. So enjoy the few there are.

This is Cristina on a boulder by herself. The rapids underneath luckily don't consume her. (We all learned from my mistake.) Sorry the picture is sideways here; I cannot fix it on her computer.

Cristina and her holographic Godzilla goggles. You can't help but loving her!

Some of us during waterfall week-ender baking on the stone.

Sports Day practice. The children in every school practice for this for about 2 hours. This Uchi Junior High. You can see one of my JTEs (Japanese Teacher of English). She is the one not in the PE uniform.

In the Jungle

I arrived home at 4:20 and quickly picked up a bit as I waited for my office to come and help me chop down the jungle they call my garden. Five o'clock came and went and they still had not shown. I was a bit surprised that I had been stood up. I decided to call Cristina and tell her that I would go to her house. In all honesty, all I wanted was an excuse to stop by the I-shop (convenience store with bakery) to get some fine baked good. However, as I stepped outside and got in my car, I noticed my section chief's car in the garden next to my house. Apparently he was waiting for the rest of my coworkers to show.

It was now 5:30 and everyone was there -- my section chief, my direct supervisor, the guy underneath him and the office lady. They came armed with two of those electric hand-held trimmers, this scary looking curved machete you only see as part of a grim reaper costume, a rake and a smal shovel. They all wore long sleeves and gloves. I was in shorts, no gloves. I quickly realized that they wore long sleeves because of all the mosquitos. The gloves were because the blades of grass are really sharp (like blades). Now I know the proper attire for gardening. In case I had not realized it, midway through they informed me of it as my section chief slapped me across the face (to kill a mosquito he said).

They quickly got to work at different parts of my "garden". I asked what I should do, since all the tools were being used. They replied that I should relax. So, I just began picking up grass cuttings and throwing them on the large pile of compost at one corner of my yard. My section chief was hacking at the scary side of the house with the old trash, so I took the opportunity to inform him that there was old trash in the bins and it was not mine. He asked me for a trash bag. He wrapped the old trash bag in a new one and WROTE MY NAME ON IT. I informed him again that it was not mine and he said that it did not matter. I told him that if they return it to me, I will not sort it. He reassured me that it will not be returned. I certainly hope not.

As I was looking for trash bags, I took the liberty of inviting my co-workers in one or two at a time to see that I had been giving the house a much needed deep cleaning. They were impressed by the genkan that I had painted lime green. I then took them to the shower room and the kitchen where I pointed to the rotten wood and put my hands together (as if praying) and asked for new wood. They smiled and nodded. (I think this means, "oh, he's so cute, he is thanking us for putting masking tape over the rotten wood.") Let's see what happens.

An hour and a half passed and the yard was all trimmed. They left me with about a quarter inch of grass, which I cannot complain about. They informed me that 3 ALTs ago, they kept a strawberry patch in my yard. I thought maybe, but Cristina told me that she did not think any of the vegetables I grew would be safe to eat.

Afterward, I headed to Cristina's house. By now, she had called Laura of Osaki and informed her that she was bored. We invited ourselves to Laura's house for some Friends and "dinner". Apparently, dinner in the Midwest consists of a hard-boiled egg and several pieces of buttered raisin bread. Just kidding, Laura did offer to cook us dinner but we told her that we were not hungry and just ate what I mentioned above in addition to some pastries I picked up at the bakery. (The pastries were not as good as the day before.) We just watched tv, ate and talked. I would classify it as an enjoyable time. I was most excited about her having Neosporin. I was able to clean my cuts again and put some Neosporin on them.

Oh, about the hunt for Neosporin . . . after Cristina reassured me that my big cut would not heal properly and result in a disgusting scar, we went to the pharmacy again to see if they had something similar to neosporin. We found some Terramycin cream made by Pfizer. Lourdes, you mentioned that Neosporin had three ingredients, this was the only one they found. Do you think it is good enough? What does it do? (please reply)

Vivian, Ramon, thank you for your updates about the hurricanes. I cannot believe all the storms that are passing through. Even here in Japan, they are surprised at the amount of storm activity that is taking place. I think that this may be a reaction by mother nature at our (Cristina and me) drastic move. Perhaps, Cubans aren't meant to be in Japan. In all truthfulness, it is a bit alarming. I have to say that I am a bit relieved that I did not watch that movie that was released this summer about the shifting of the North and South poles causing the world to suffer an unreal amount of natural disasters. With that being said, stay safe. Say hi to the rest of the family for me.

Well, I oughta get going now. Bye.

Jesse Meets Big Beetle

Yesterday was fun-filled. I visited Kishira Elementary where I played with the children the whole day long, with the exception of when I was in the teacher's room for about an hour. The children were very excited to see me and were very endearing. They touched me alot (sometimes in very uncomfortable places). I am not there so much to teach them English; I am really there to make learning English fun and not scary. They learn very basic phrases and some words about once a month. Then, I come and review it with them some more and help them with pronounciation. After that, we think of some game usually involving English, but sometimes not.

The kids were actually not shy at all as I thought they were going to be and were very patient in getting their points across in Japanese. I did have quite an in-depth interrogation. One question had to do with whether I had seen a Japanese beetle. Before I knew it, there were three kids in the teacher's room showing me this beetle about 1.5 inches long with some very scary looking claws. So now I guess I will answer yes to that question in the next school.

After school, I went home to where I waited for Cristina. We saw Cruel Intentions and then headed to the grocery store to get some detergent and laundry bags. Then, we were trying to hunt down some kind of cream like neosporin for one of the big cuts on my leg. If there is a pharmacy in Uchinoura, it is not as obvious as the one in Cristina's town. It is probably just the front room to someone's house. In any case, we decided to go to the other convenience store in my town. This convenience store was amazing. The prices were not high at all and they had a bakery. We were only able to find some anti-bacterial spray for my cut. However, the lady working in the convenience store was very nice and helped us out. I also picked up some delicious milk tea and some fresh baked goods. We had this great doughnut hole and curry-filled bread. We returned home and began to see The Matrix but we were exhausted from all the errands. We went to sleep.

This morning we woke up to some very strong rain storms. I was worried because Cristina would have to drive to her house in this weather. However, there are plenty of places for her to pull over if she thinks that the weather is too dangerous to drive.

Well, that pretty much wraps it up for last night. Like I said before, I look forward to receiving some emails as I have not received any for quite some while. Oh, and Florida people, what is going on with Hurricane Ivan? It is making the news even all the way over here. Please write so we know everybody is ok.

Busted!

Excitement had been building as Wednesday was approaching. I would be able to get rid of the rest of my trash. My plastics were soon going to find a new home in the recycling center. However, as I approached, I noticed a man that seemed to be throwing away his own trash. He began to look in the trash bags, so I think that he worked in the recycling center. As I set down my bag and began walking to my car, he called to me and told me that I needed to put my name on it (until now I had been playing stupid). I told him it was Jieshi (japanese version of my name), and he wrote it down on the bag. I believe that I sorted it all out accordingly, but I am still a bit afraid. I wonder what will happen. In any case, it is out of my house.

Yesterday I met with Cristina so we could go with some of the ALTs to a small coffee shop owned by this man who loves the gaijin (foreigners). You order what you want and he makes it for you. I had the most delicious beef curry. Cristina had a very scrumptious tuna jaw. Well, I get ahead of myself. We met at Laura's house since the restuarant is in her town, Osaki. Her house is just as amazing as Jill's house in Kushira, just more modern than traditional. She has quite a big house with these amazing dark wood floors with what seems like inches of varnish. Well, we left her house and drove to Anzu's. Jill from Kushira was with us and Eric from Shibushi and Leanna and her husband Jean-Valery from Ariake met up with us during the course of the evening. The owner of the coffee shop was very kind and warm. The food was amazing and the coffee was incredible. I think its actually been the best cup of coffee I have ever had. It was very rich and dark and smelled surprisingly sweet as if blended with butterscotch flavoring. In any case, the outing was very enjoyable and we were able to meet 3 new foreigners from nearby and Tomo-chan and Yoko who own the restuarant. This may have to become a weekly thing.

School is becoming more enjoyable with each passing day. Either the kids are growing on to me or I am growing on to the kids. I have yet to decide. Today, I go to my first elementary school for the entire day where I am assuming I will introduce myself and answer questions like "what side of the bed do you get out of?" and "do you put your pants on before or after your shirt?" I exaggerate. I am looking forward to it, but a bit nervous since this will be a new group of children. The school is in Kishira though and I think there are only 21 children in the whole school. Speaking of which, I should get going. Please write comments or emails as I have not received any in about 7 days, 4 hours and 32 minutes, but who's counting.

Blast from the Past

Yesterday was quite the action packed day compared to what I have been accustomed to the past few weeks. I spent most of the first part of the day checking emails and I forget what else. I did begin to plan some activities involving states of movement and body parts for children ages 6-8 in an English club. After lunch, Yu Kato brought over the first ALT in Uchinoura Jenny and her husband Dale with her 2 children. She lived in the same house I do, so I invited them to come see it later that evening. She informed me that she had also come to visit about 4 years ago when 2 predecessors ago, the ALT was offered an apartment in a new building, but opted out (because he wanted to invite girlfriends back home). I found that a bit interesting.

At 3:30, I packed up my things and went to the town kindergarten where the club was going to meet. I had tons of fun with them. There were about 15 children. I began by introducing myself. This was followed by an in-depth question and answer session -- everything from my favorite shape to my marital status. (I had a translator.) I tried to also teach them directions like right and left, but they had a tough time doing that in Japanese. Their favorite game though was when I was blindfolded and I told them that they had to direct me to draw a face on the board using the new vocabulary. They got really into it. Songs like Hokey Pokey and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes were also a bit of a hit.

After English club, I returned home. Jenny and her family came by with Kokoro (Yu's sister who is visiting from Okinawa). Jenny and Dale said that a lot of the things look the same. The shower room looks better and the dining room had a metal desk beforehand. The kitchen did not have the wood floors it does now. All of the appliances are the same. The kitchen cabinets were also new. I cannot think of what else was different. They did say that they would capture the huge spiders live and then release them. I informed them that I was definitely not as kind. If they only knew what we did to the mice. Before they left, they invited me over to the Katos for a big dinner. (I really question whether they ever have small dinners. It seems that there are always several people there enjoying a feast. I don't complain.)

Well, I will write more soon. Perhaps tonight I will post pictures of Waterfall Week-ender. I have to go to Uchinoura Junior High now. The teachers have faxed me the lesson plan. I have to Greet the students, sing Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, then play Simon says.

Slippery When Wet

Kaz has been mentioning Waterfall Week-ender for quite some time now. We laugh because it sounds like something very official and planned, but in all reality it was just a bunch of ALTs who got together to go to waterfalls for the weekend with a good barbecue in between. It was so much fun. We met up with about 9 people from the Satsuma peninsula at the Tarumizu ferry port. It was about 6 of us from our peninsula (Osumi). On Saturday we went to the this river with waterfalls in Tarumizu. It was really something else. Kaz says that the water level was quite high, probably because of all the rain. There was also a bit of a strong current passing through. It did not necessarily look strong because at points it was shallow and clear like glass, but believe me, it was strong. I've had first hand experience with what I would like to call the Silent Killer.

Although the glass-like water was a bit frigid, we quickly acclamated to the temperature and swam off to this spot where there were these big boulders we could climb and a rope to swing off of. Well, we all ended up on the rock. One guy in our group began to swing on the rope, as I decided to proceed up the waterfall. Not one of my brighter ideas. As I placed one foot into the water, the current took me and slammed me into some rocks. Think of white water rafting without the raft OR a human pinball machine submerged in water. I kept on trying to grab hold of some of the larger rocks, but the current was too strong. At this point, I remember looking up and seeing everyone that was with us looking the other way. Nobody was aware that I was being dragged by the river gods. Then, Laura looked saw me, and suddenly everyone’s eyes turned in my direction. They said that they saw my head hit a rock, but it must have just appeared to because I did not feel any head injuries. Finally, I was able to step onto this more shallow part of the rapids where I was able to get out on the opposite side of where the group was. I remember waving to them and signaling to them I was OK. However, they said that I just had a scared smile on my face. The right side of my body was all scratched up. I ended up having a few bruises on my right leg and a very sore chest and arms. At first I thought the only way to go back to the lagoon to get to the other side would be to get back in the rapids and pray for the best, but I climbed over and behind a large boulder that led me to a place where I could jump into the lagoon and avoid the rapids. After that, everything was fine. I only hoped that I had not ruined anyone’s Waterfall Weekender.

We spent about four hours there before having to head back to the ferry port to pick up the other cars and Kaz’s boyfriend. When we tried to leave, one of the cars would not start. I suggested that we push start it like my aunt told me, but it turns out to be one of the 3 cars in the state that is automatic. We saw a couple of women who we thought may be able to help us. We walked up to them and I began to ask if they had jumper cables by making a fool out myself. One woman looked to me and said in perfect English, “Does your car not start?” She lived in London and was visiting a cousin. I was so embarrassed. Well, she did not have jumper cables, but found someone who did. After that, we all headed to Kaz’s to have a barbecue and a few drinks. It was quite nice hanging out with everyone and getting to know several of the veteran Jets. Everyone seemed quite amicable. We stayed there till about midnight drinking and eating the best burgers and yakisoba ever.

The next morning Cristina and I slept in, and I woke up a bit sore because of all my injuries. Instead of heading to the waterfall between our towns with the rest of the folks, we went to have lunch and rent a movie. We decided to see how the process worked since there was a video rental store so close to Cristina’s house. It had several movies, mostly in VHS format. She got a membership card and we rented the new Peter Pan on DVD. The movie was 4.20 like in the States and needed to be returned by midnight the next day. We are not too sure if the prices are different depending on the release date or format of the movie. We went home to watch it. It was cute, I guess. Later that evening, Cristina made some rice pudding. It was OK. She admitted that it would have been better had she had more milk. She had about half a cup and had to mix it with water.

This morning, I woke up early and packed up to head back to Uchinoura for work. As I was leaving, I could not find my keys anywhere. I went into a frenzy waking Cristina up and making her search everywhere with me. I was honestly scared I had lost them because I had not driven or seen my keys in the past 3 days. I was already thinking that I would have to call my office to get a locksmith for my house and car and I would have to take a day of paid leave. As it turns out, they were in one of my bags but in an odd pocket that I do not remember placing them in. Point is that I found them and was able to go home, change and make it to work on time. And here I am. I have already sat through 3 meetings that I have not understood a word spoken. I have not asked about the Internet yet because the guy I usually ask has stepped out. I hope to be reading and sending some emails soon.

Hush, Hush

Whatever you do, try to keep this to yourself. What is said here, stays here and among the thousands (or 16) of you Web crawlers. Names will be changed in order to protect the guilty. Three forigners that I knnow, Chunk, Bleachie and Firestarter gathered up all of their unorganizeable obsolete items that were no longer needed or wanted (I am trying to replace a bad 5-letter word) and paid a visit to a nearby place for some dumping. They were successful in dropping the package, but were a bit overparanoid afterwards. In any case, Laura, Cristina and I met up with them and Jill for some dinner at the place where you grill your own meat. We feasted like kings. For some reason our smoke alarm kept on going off, so they kept on coming over and turning offour grill. This definitely slowed the process quite a bit. Then, when we did have the grill on, we would put a lot of beef on so the more meat would cook at the same time (obviously). However, for some reason we (meaning Laura) would usually leave the meat on the grill for too long till it was charred and extra crispy. Then, I would politely be offered the piece. I grew to like it. No, in all sincerity it was partially all our faults (I am lying, still all hers) and I really did grow to like the crispy meat (truthfully).

This brings us to this morning. Cristina and I woke up to the sound of hammers on the roof on top of her bed. We thought that they were going to peek their heads through a hole in the ceiling and wave to us. Well, thats it for us over here. We hear that there is a hurricane heading for South Florida. I think that puts you guys in the lead in the natural disaster race by one. Please keep us informed. Stay safe.

Hetsuka Beach. If you look directly in the center of the picture, you will notice a cave where there is said to be treasure (or maybe just a great place to dump all your trash). Just kidding. The day was cloudy and stormy because of the approaching typhoon.

This is a bad picture of Hetsuka Beach (partly because it was a crappy day), but it is best to illustrate the fact that it is a beach on one side and a river on the other.

This is my lime green entrance hallway. Sory I cannot flip it over. The front door is on the right (if you are looking at the picture the proper way). You take your shoes off, put them into the TV stand converted bench, and step up into the hallway. The painting is by a local artist of Hetsuka Beach.

Something is preying on Cristina (and it's not me). This Preying Mantis was on eCristina's house. It was a few inches long. The scary part was that it was not scared of me. I started to take pictures and it started to look at me. Scared me!

Shopping for the typhoon? Maybe not. I am still not brave enough to try this.

This is a huge tree in an Uchinouran Shrine that was uprooted by Super Typhoon Chaba. To truly grasp the size of this tree, notice the house to the left and the tall warehouse to the right.

Mission Accomplished

Yesterday, I dared to go where my predecessor refused -- I sorted the trash. Well, not really the one outside. Rather, I called my friendly neighbor to come see it. I felt bad because she was really good friends with my predecessor. She said that she did not recognize the trash cans from the house and they may have been there from the prior ALT. That means that this trash may be at least one year old. I find that hard to believe, especially given the other problems with the rubbish. If it was not my predecessor, perhaps someone is doing some illegal dumping in the foreigner's house, who cannot really do anything about it. In any case, I tackled the trash that I had collected throughout my house and sorted it into plastics and burnables. I really do not have anything that belongs to the other categories. I make sure of that by dumping the little I have in aluminum cans in the various trash cans set especially for that next to the vending machines. I also took the liberty of bleaching the living daylight out of the trash chest (yes, I do mean chest) that I keep in my kitchen. This trash chest is this big, blue looking piece of tupperware that locks airtight that my predecessor left behind. However, it smelled like crap and had numerous filth-infested crevices. Therefore, I took it outside and you know the rest. I am very happy with it now and hope that it will come to my assistance in the battle to keep my house animal-free. Before I was thinking that I may want to adopt a pet; now I am thinking that it may give the other critters mixed signals.

Having completed my self-given task for the evening, I was free to do other things. I turned on the TV and I was surprisingly (please note a hint of sarcasm) not able to find something worth watching. Instead, I read the rest of David Sedaris's Barrel Fever. The last two stories were superb. I particularly like the last essay -- SantaLand Diaries. It had me laughing out loud (for real, not the fake LOL everyone writes when they have nothing better to say on instant messenger). I also read the rest of Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a play set in a 1930s Tampa cigar factory that has hired a lector who decides to read Anna Karenina to the cigar rollers. The characters become so wrapped up in the novel that they begin to identify with its characters. It is a nice change from all the Cuban literature that is simply famous for its recounting of memories of a pre-communism Cuba.

Speaking of books, I did research the upcoming sixth book of the Harry Potter series. Unfortunately, I did not find much more information than the title, which I am excited to say has been confirmed by J.K. Rowling herself -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Not much more has been said other than the half-blood prince is not Tom Riddle, the future He who must not be named. Also, the author is pregnant with her 3rd child but does not foresee that getting in the way of finishing her book (or so her publishers and fans would probably like to think).

Lunch time. Lunch was fun yesterday. I ate with the third grade boys (including the 3rd grade boy "leader" who liked me, or so my teacher said, which will make my time there easier). They were impressed that I could remember all their names from class until the end of lunch. I mentioned that I liked the ramen shop in town and it turned out that the "second leader" (as my teacher would call them) is the owner's son. Another brownie point for me. I was served the Japanese version of the Italian classic -- minestrone. As it turns out, this translates to a big bowl of orange grease with some onions floating beneath the murky surface. I did not eat much of it, but not many seemed to notice. Today, there was a rice dish that I enjoyed, but a type of miso soup that I did not like as much. The most interesting part of the meal today was the pumpkin flavored ice cream that would melt to a gel-like state leading me to conclude that it tasted eerily like flan, the latin american custard dessert.

I will try to write tomorrow as I will be in Cristina's house during the morning. I realized last night as I was talking to her on the phone that she has cheap phone communication with the States, internet connection, english movies on tape and DVD and BS channels that show at least one english-language movie each evening. Just felt like venting, I mean, mentioning. I do not want you to misinterpret my previous comment. I really only mention it in jest and in observation of our conversation the previous evening. My spirits are high and I am enjoying most minutes of the day. (This excludes rummaging through the trash left in my house.)

The Munchies

Ok, some new things with the blog: I have added an option at the end of each blog to email the post to someone. This means that if you know another person would want to read a certain post, but the person may be too lazy to look up the blog him or herself, just email it to them. The second new thing that may be added in the near future are posts by the love of my life (yes, I am talking about Cristina and not Little Debbie).

As for last night, I still have not added the red paint to my kitchen. As it turns out, Cristina found it more important to go with Laura to Foot Park to help her pick out the right pair of Adidas sandals for school. I guess we know where I am on her priority list. She got to my house at about 6:30 when I was feeling incredibly fatigued, so a late night food run was in order. There is a convenience store about 20 feet away from my house. We walked in and noticed most of the items there had a layer of dust covering the packaging. Some of the bread they sold had mold. Therefore, we ran to the market that I thought closed at 7:00. As it turns out, it closes at 7:30. We were able to run in and get the essentials -- sweet potato chips, a danish and this creme puff with apple in it. Now that Cristina was satisfied, I still needed something real to eat. I knew of one more place in my town that was open till 10 (the only place in town open that late). We were able to get a sandwich and a 6-pack of small Haagen-Dazs cups -- green tea, vanilla and rum raisin. Then, it was back to my place to watch some Alias in honor of the Season 3 release (Sept. 7).

This afternoon, instead of painting, I am going to prepare for the burnable garbage pick up tomorrow (Friday). I need to separate everything in my house that I want to throw away that is not recyclable and put it in a special bag so they can burn it. Hopefully, they don't decide to return it. I am also going to wrap up the garbage my predecessor was so kind to leave outside my kitchen side door. This will get a lot of crap I want to get rid of out of the house.

I am off to school now. Uchinoura Junior High (better known as the filming location for Dangerous Minds). Just kidding . . . maybe. I will tell you tomorrow.

Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany, thank you for your comments; they really make me miss being home to share in the random conversations we all always go off on. I cannot say this enough (but I will try) – You are hilarious. As for you moving to L.A. to become an actor, I think that is a stupid idea, primarily, because you are ALREADY an actor. In all sincerity, I think that anything you endeavor will only end in success. As for pursuing law school at the same time, this sounds a bit Alias-ish (referring to Season 1 & 2 when she is a double agent and a grad-school student in L.A.).

In response to your questions about life here, Japanese is difficult to learn. I have to say that I have not been making an honest effort to learn the language as of yet. So, now it has only been in one ear and out the other, with a bit occasionally sticking to the wax. I usually do not get frustrated with not understanding the language, because sometimes people make an honest effort to get a point across. When they don’t, I usually assume it wasn’t that important to begin with and they will be able to tell me again when I do begin to understand.

In reference to the “crazy” comment, it is funny you mention it. Cristina and I usually bring up ku-rei-zi at least once a week. As a matter of fact, when I was going through all the old foods in my kitchen yesterday, I found a set of spices that were called (some name I forget)’s Krazy Seasonings. I started to laugh and thought I should send them or a picture of them to you. In one of my schools (Uchinoura Junior High) they seem to use the word crazy several times a break period as well. Therefore, it will be difficult to forget this joke anytime in the near future.

As for the peel and stick linoleum tiles, yes, I believe they do carry them in the States. My mom used them when redecorating her friend’s kitchen once. Here, I find them in the dollar store, and I’m using them so I don’t have to stare at my rotten windowsill covered with foam paper.

As for Harry Potter VI, GOOD QUESTION! This will be my focus of research today. I will get on it. I am so excited that now I found something to peruse the Internet for. And, I believe that this is not the last book. I think the series is supposed to be a total of seven books. Well this is it for TiffyTap, now moving on to my wondrous discoveries yesterday.

Peter, 12 hour days, YIKES! Well, don't think I forgot about you. I have been watching Lord of the Rings in your honor, massah.

Kiki & Junebug, meow, MEOW, meow, prrrrr, sneeze, bless you, meooooooowwwww, prrrrr.

Trash Talk & Tramps on TV

In the office, I had . . . nothing to do again. My self-given project was to look for an English-language TV Guide that announced the programs with English audio. Unfortunately, the newsletter I got last month, is not timely or is being held captive by the office lady. Luckily, I found one. It is a Tokyo weekly magazine called the Metropolis. Unfortunately, most of the programming are on BS (broadcast satellite) channels that I do have access to, but not at the moment because of the first typhoon. The only time that I told them about it, they told me to be patient. So I will resume to asking them once a week about it like the Internet. I ask about the Internet every Monday and I will ask about BS channels every Wednesday, maybe Thursday.

Three hours and fifteen minutes after arriving to work, I packed up my things and punched out. I went home and did not feel like taking down the shutters again, so I figured that I’d let them dry a bit before storing them in the creepy little shed next to my house with the broken window and the scary spiders that looks like something you would be locked in on the season finale of Fear Factor. Before going inside, I walked around the right side of the house that I had always been scared of (because of all the spiders, trees, and because it is so dark and damp). I figured now would be the best time, seeing that many of the tall trees that were so close to the house were knocked down because of the typhoons and allowed much more light to pass through. In addition, I believe several of the spiders must have been blown away or forced to hide. Purpose of the dare devilish act was that I wanted to get the nice looking garbage cans that were by the kitchen door so I can use them inside (recall that here people have several garbage cans due to the whole recycling problem, I mean, issue). As I approached them, I noticed one of them knocked over FULL of trash. Now, remember that my predecessor had a bit of a garbage problem. I love her to death, she was so nice, but no wonder she had a roach problem. This thing was disgusting. In the 2 seconds it took me to realize what it was, I noticed some eggshells and God only knows what else pouring out. I want to get rid of it so bad. When I told my office about it this morning, reminding them that it was my predecessors trash from at least a month and a half ago, they told me that (burnable, clear trash bag) pick up was on Friday. Knowing the legend that my predecessor was, I can only assume that this trash is not sorted. However, I am just going to place it out there and if they decide to return it to the town hall as my predecessor said they did to her, I will simply remind them that it was not mine and there is no way in hell I am sifting through it.

Evening came, and I painted the white squares on my kitchen ceiling. Let me just say, no wonder nobody ever paints the ceiling and it took Michelangelo so damn long. Painting a ceiling is so damn difficult. I stopped at the white and figured I would paint the red squares tonight when Cristina is there. She bought painter’s tape, so hopefully that and her help will make things easier. The masking tape I was using was a pain in the arse.

Since I was not able to understand any of the ridiculous programs that were on TV, I popped in a DVD. I watched Royal Tenebaums, which I had forgotten how much I liked. Before I take a moment to encourage all of you to send DVDs now that I know I can view them on my TV, I will go into a brief explanation of the joys of Japanese television. Picture in your mind, a Spanish variety show, crossed with a reality TV show. Toss in a bit of Jeopardy and Double Dare and YOU HAVE IT! It’s a hit here in Japan. Executives have decided to alternate programming like this (remember, it is all that I have mentioned at the top merged into one) with a poor excuse for the news or the weather (except while the typhoon is actually hitting). Since I cannot simply watch yesterday all the DVDs I had back to back, I tried to watch a bit of a program after painting. The show was a bit like Big Brother, but outside contestants were watching the people that were being taped and guessing their blood type based on their reactions to a given situation . . . I think. Then, after watching the Royal Tenebaums, and reading some short stories from David Sedaris’s Barrel Fever, I watched another program. This time it was two groups of young women that were playing strip bowling (I KID YOU NOT!). Their eyes had what in the States would have been a black strip to hide their identities. Here, one team had pink strips covering their eyes and the other team had purple strips. There were two men on the program that had to each pick a side to cheer for. The man whose team won got to throw a pie at the other man’s face. With that having been said, I again urge you to send as much media as you like. My VCR does not work, but Kaz tells me that it didn’t before either and Stephanie had had it fixed already. So, I guess it just broke again. I am not going to go through the trouble of telling them about it, when I want them to concentrate on much bigger things, like the rotting wood. Therefore, all my entertainment needs rest in your hands. Feel free to send the DVDs out of the cover and in a sleeve, which makes the package lighter and will reinforce the notion that it is a gift when it goes through customs. I am not really in dire need of it right now, but I will probably sure appreciate it later on when I have seen all my movies hundreds of times. Therefore, an order via ground/sea mail should take about 6 weeks and be here just in time for Christmas. :)

What a mouthful. Sorry about the length of this post. Also, will somebody from Gainesville please tell me Jen’s email address. I have not received an email from her, but Kacy told Cristina she sent one. So either she sent it to the wrong one, or I am not getting all of my email. Either way, I will call her this weekend for her birthday.

Typhoon Madness

Well another typhoon has come and gone. Yesterday, I was in the office all day doing nothing. I just surfed the Net all day. I took an IQ test. (Did very well.) I looked up information about Season 4 of Alias. I did some more random stuff. My supervisor informed me that the language and culture course was moved to the same week Cristina is going. So, it will be cool because now we are together, not to mention the whole group of new ALTs. However, now I am losing two national holidays that are scheduled during that week. I asked if I could get them replaced, but they told me no because it was an optional course. Of course I am going to go, so I don’t foresee getting those days. Then, I was supposed to go home at 4 p.m. again, but ended up going home at the same time. I got home and put up my shutters. I spoke with Cristina for a bit. They were scared that her house may not sustain the rain with the current water damage it has endured. So, she is staying with her supervisor and his family. After I spoke with her, I set up my bed. I filled up some bottles with water and then realized that I have absolutely nothing if I need to survive in my house the next few days. So, I went to the grocery store and bought some more water, Oreos, ice cream, bananas, milk, and I forget what else. Then, I plopped in my new bed and saw The Lord of the Rings III and Studio 54 (at different times). I went to sleep and only woke up a few times because of the wind or because the power went out. Luckily, I only lost power minutes at a time.

When I woke up, I called my office to see if I had to go in during the typhoon. Of course, they were all there. They said that I could stay in my house until it was less dangerous. I said I would call them back during lunch. Since I did not paint my kitchen the day prior, I decided to get started on that. So I began to move all the old food. Some of it had expired years ago, but because throwing things away is such a pain here, nobody has done anything about it. I taped up the molding in the ceiling so I don’t get paint on it, and I threw away this nasty foam paper that was covering my windowsill. That is when I discovered some more rotten wood. I vacuumed up all the dust bunnies in there, but I still have to clean some more stuff with bleach and other cleaning agents. I kinda want to finish everything by tomorrow because the very first ALT in my town (10 years ago) is arriving tomorrow to visit the Katos. I am assuming that she will naturally want to visit the house. I am curious to hear what type of condition it was in back then. Perhaps it has been like this since the beginning, or perhaps it has just suffered some serious neglect or maltreatment. In any case, it was almost noon so I proceeded to shower and call the office. They said they wanted me to come in, so here I am writing to you. I have yet to speak with Cristina since this morning, but last I spoke with her she does not have to go to the office. I do not think she has been to her house yet.

Please keep your fingers crossed. My office is already printing information on another typhoon that is expected to go straight for the center of Japan. Knowing our luck, I bet it will take a slight detour.

Paradise Found

Peter, good to hear from you. It took you long enough. I liked your closing statement.
Mom, you were right about the typhoon. I hate it when you are right.
I hope all of you survived the hurricanes that are visiting Florida. I feel like I am not missing a thing (except maybe all of you, correction, some of you).

Friday, I visited my more rural school, Kishira Junior High. I loved it. This school was so clean, new and nice. It consists of 2 three-story buildings complete with a full-sized gym and swimming pool, staffed with 11 teachers for ONLY 11 students. There are four 1st graders, only one 2nd grader and six 3rd graders. I only had class with the 1st graders, but I had lunch with everyone. Both students and teachers are very nice. The English teacher I work with treats me great. After school, she even took me to the secluded beach that I keep on talking about, Hetsuka. I would have never found it. After you take all these roads, you have to go through some wooded area to get to the actual beach. It is gorgeous. It has no barricades, so when there are waves it could be a bit dangerous. However, it really is like a private beach. She said that her friend goes there a lot and skinny dips. Who knows, maybe I will get to meet her. Standing on the sand with your back facing the beach, there is a beautiful river at about 5 meters. Kanae, the English teacher, said she usually goes to the beach then rinses off in the river. I don’t know why, but that sounded very nice. On the way to Hetsuka, we also saw this amazing waterfall. It must have been at least 30 meters tall.

So, this weekend was pretty ordinary. We ended up not going to the City because of the logistics like ferry times and a place to sleep. Instead, we ended up shopping again for things we “needed”. On Friday, we went to Kanoya after work to check out the Home Mart, the dollar store and the electronic store. My car upholstery is falling apart and my cup holder fell off so I bought some seat covers and a new cup holder. I have to say that I am very excited when I get into my car now. As for my house, I bought a roll away bed platform that I can put my futon on top of. It beats sleeping on the floor or on two coffee tables. I also bought some paint to paint my kitchen in that red and white checkerboard I was talking about on a previous post. I think Cristina bought some orange paint to paint her bathroom and some bath mats. We bought some essentials in the dollar store like moisture absorbers, the cup holder and such. There we also saw these blue and white plates that I thought Lourdes would like. To top it off, I flipped them over (to see where they were made, of course), and they were “Made in Italy”. I think Lourdes would have died. We did not buy them though. By the time we left, the electronic store was closed.

The next morning we woke up and were planning on going to the beach. However, since we could not even see the mountains because of how cloudy or windy it was, we decided against it. Therefore, we went to Kanoya again to go to the electronic store and another (better) dollar store. At the electronic shop, I bought a S-video cable RCA adapter that allows me to see U.S. DVDs on my TV through my laptop. So I am very excited that now I can see all my movies and Alias on the bigger screens. Therefore, feel free to mail DVDs that you think we may enjoy. I reckon they are very cheap to mail. Cristina bought a much needed surge protector and a DC car adapter for her CD player. When we got in the car to plug in the adapter, we noticed she did not have a lighter. So, we walked back in and returned it and got rechargeable batteries instead. At the dollar store, we got more essentials like peel and stick linoleum tiles. On the way back, we had some 100-yen sushi. Cristina then realized she wanted some white paint and I wanted some black paint, so we began to look for a paint store. Instead, we found a really neat store that sells nice clothes for cheap and some futon/bathroom stuff. After leaving there, we drove through Cristina’s town and found a small hardware store that carried more selection in paints than the huge home store. The people there were extremely nice and helpful; they even tried to speak a bit of English with us. We arrived at Cristina’s house where I quickly unpacked the electronic store bag to attempt to connect my laptop to the TV. It worked! I was overjoyed.

Sunday, we woke up. Cristina bleached her shower room to death. I got online and ordered Alias: Season 3 and the Star Wars Trilogy and a couple CDs that we volunteered Ashley to send to us. (THANKS ASHLEY!) Cristina and I got into an argument and then we went to go eat at 100-yen sushi again. After, Cristina wanted to get a bath mat and I an extra futon, so we went to that cool new store that we found. Then, I went on my way to my house to do the 101 things I had to do.

I got home and unloaded my car. Then, I proceeded to air everything out and vacuum my house to death. I set up my roll away bed that also props up like a Craft-o-matic Adjustable bed and put everything in its place. I feel very good about my house now. The tatami rooms at least are very clean. I also switched my TV stand and TV to inside my closet. So it kind of looks like a built-in entertainment center. I am pretty proud of it. On the other half of the closet, I set up my laptop, phone, cellular charger, and other stuff so it is in a sense my office. I cannot reiterate enough how neat, clean and organized it all looks now. In the midst of all this deep cleaning, I catch my section chief walking through my garden. I see him and invite him in (so he can see I am taking care of the house), but he says that he is busy. I found it all a little strange, especially the part of him in my yard.

Today, I packed for the culture and language course I was supposed to leave for today and left to work. As I got here, they told me that it was canceled because of another typhoon. This one is not heading for us, but since it is a Category 5 we are probably going to experience some strong winds. I am really pissed that the trip is canceled. I was looking forward to it; now, I have to reconfigure my schedule with all the schools. Click here if you want some more information on Typhoon Songda. After work, I will go home, put my stutters up AGAIN and wait for they typhoon to hit. In the meantime, I may decide to begin painting the kitchen.

Hope to hear from you soon. Please, don’t stop writing.

Dangerous Minds

School here is interesting, to say the least. I first drove to Uchinoura Junior High in my funny looking company car. I met with the two English teachers. One of them, Misaki, has been there since April. The other one is Shiraishi, and she is new like me. Misaki seems very comfortable with her English and very sociable. Shiraishi is very shy and I am afraid that the children will eat her alive. (I really am, I will explain in a bit.) School began with me having tea and 2 break periods. I met all the teachers and they all seem very nice and interested in talking with me (or trying anyway). Then, it was off to my first class. First let me explain what I mean by the different grades. Here they have 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade meaning 7th, 8th, and 9th in the States. However, some of the children are older than what the kids that are supposed to be in that grade. I am not really sure of why. Anyway, we got there and the class was super rowdy. You only see this in the States in a movie like Dangerous Minds or The Substitute (minus the guns and drugs). They were all talking really loud amongst each other. They were a bit quiet when I introduced myself, but then began the question and answer session. They asked me what type of woman I like. I was surprised that the teacher translated for them, even though she was embarrassed. I proceeded to tell them that I am engaged to a lovely woman who is living in Higashi-Kushira. The other bad question was whether I have any tattoos to which I responded truthfully. They were surprised I said yes. They asked me where it was and if they could see it, but I did not show them. In any case, the students are quite boisterous and at times rude. I think that one of them called me fat, but I am not sure. I think the teacher disguised it by asking me if I like to eat or if it was one of my hobbies.

I ate lunch with the teachers in the staff room. I had yakisoba (grilled beef and soba noodles – tasty), a fruit salad (meaning pineapple, peach, oranges and BEANS), and a giant piece of bread that looked like a muffin but tasted somewhere between a butter croissant and Hawaiian bread. The teachers were very funny and kept on commenting on my great abilities like my skillful use of the chopsticks. Then, the English teacher asked me if I had heard of crazy beef. I figured out that what they meant was Mad Cow Disease. They said yes, maybe. Then, they switched to how they call this one Math teacher Crazy Monkey. They asked me to call him that; I did; the crowd roared with excitement. After lunch were the fifteen minutes of cleaning time, when the entire school cleans. My job was to sweep the staff room. After cleaning time, it was off to 1st grade.

I enjoyed the 1st graders very much, but was a bit surprised because the teacher told me that they were more rowdy than the 2nd graders. There are 40 of them in the classroom, but they were a joy to interact with, at least yesterday. We began with a song by The Carpenters that I had never heard before. Then, I introduced myself. They asked nice questions. Then, we played Bingo with English phrases and everyone kept on coming up to me to ask me the items on the Bingo sheet.

As class ended, I proceeded to the staff room to get ready to leave. I asked my teacher the Japanese teacher if I can leave and she said, “ Oh, no. . . it’s tea time.” I could not refuse so I stayed to enjoy some tea and tasty treats. Afterward, it was back to the town hall to return the car, check my email and punch out.

Last night, Cristina came over and we ate some sashimi and rice. We had some delicious frozen pineapple treats for dessert. Then, I tried to connect my laptop to my TV. It turns out that my laptop has a S-video hook up but my TV does not. I think Cristina’s might, so I will try there (so we can see Alias on the big screen). After that, Cristina helped me nail the bamboo to the bottom half of my lime-green hallway. It looks pretty nifty. In the kitchen, I removed this cupboard and put it in the dining room. I really enjoy my dining room so much more now, and I like the fact that my kitchen has less stuff in it. This way I will have the opportunity to make it more sterile and clean. Part of this process was ripping out this old half-rotten, not-treated, wood shelf that was covering half of my window. The windowsill below it is also pretty nasty. They had it covered with some kind of gross foam paper, so I think I will be replacing that with some peel and stick tiles from the dollar store. That way, I wont feel bad having stuff on there, and more importantly I can clean it. Everybody keeps on asking me about the roaches. Apparently, my predecessor complained of numerous, big roaches. Hopefully, if I keep it this clean I will not see one. So far, so good.

Now, I am to be off to Kishira Junior High (the school that I take the scenic drive to that you can see pictures of in the slideshow).

Midori Sour

Glenn, I am so glad that you want to come to Japan. I can’t wait. I can give you a tour. We have beautiful campuses over here.

Mom, don't worry about the other typhoon yet. It is not really forecasted to head to us, and if it does, it is forecasted to become very weak. You can check out Tropical Storm Risk for more information.

NOTE: Megan has asked for my address and is sending me a care package. Will she be the first one? (insert creepy Who wants to be a millionaire? theme music) I don’t know; we’ll just have to wait and see. Tune in next time on Who wants to be the first person to send Jesse and Cristina a care package? Remember to be creative.

As for yesterday, I finished my introduction. I made a small scrapbook of things I drew and printed out saying where I am from and what I like to do. Today I have to present it 3 times to junior high school students and then answer their questions. I am a bit nervous, but I am comforted by the thought that they wont understand anything I am saying.

I have to leave soon, so I will make this more brief than usual. Yesterday during lunch, I had a disgusting onigiri (rice ball) that had some kind of salty fish egg paste in it. I finished it nonetheless. My boss keeps on trying to get me to eat at this school lunch center every day including the days I am not at school, but my predecessor informed me that it was not pleasant. What was more interesting about lunch yesterday was that I watched somebody fishing in the river by standing in the river and casting a net over the fish. It was very interesting and cultural I thought. In the time that I watched him, he caught about 8 fish. Not too shabby.

After lunch, there was an English teacher that worked at Uchinoura Junior High who had to come to our office to give a little formal speech saying that he was leaving. This is actually the creepy English teacher that is living in the bungalow next to Cristina’s that doesn’t really know or understand English. I think he got the job because he was in England for a year. Doing what, I don’t know. In any case, he said his goodbye when our superintendent of schools said something to me in Japanese. My section chief looked at me and told me to tell the exiting English teacher Goodbye. So I said “Goodbye.” Everyone in my office started to laugh. I do not know what else I was supposed to say since I had only met him once and for not even 3 minutes. I found the whole encounter a bit strange.

And, after I got home from work, I took off most of my shutters. Some had scary things flying around them, so I thought those could stay. Then, I painted my entrance (genkan) and hallway a bright, really strong lime green (midori). It looks good, just really bright. Anything I do to that house makes it look good. You really cannot make it look worse. I am thinking of perhaps painting the 9 big tiles on the ceiling of my kitchen as a red and white checkerboard or a big tic-tac-toe game. I will take opinions and suggestions.

Well, I am off to school for my 30 minutes of work today. Wish me luck.

PICTURES!

Hey guys, this is a link to the album that I have created through a Web site called Shutterfly. All you need to do is click the button below that says View Album and it should take you to a slide show. There is an option to buy some of the pictures. This does not mean that you have to. I am sure that this is what allows for this site to be free and offer unlimited storage. I am just using it as a means to show all of you our pictures. Enjoy.

View Album

Sold, to the short, thin man with the slanted eyes.

Hmmm, so what is new... Well, I am just about done with my self-introduction, complete with some drawings and all. Yesterday, I was pretty much doing that all day. I am supposed to leave every day at 4:15 (or better said that is when I can leave). At 4:10 yesterday, one of the English teachers came to speak to me about what she wanted to do for the lesson plan. I was so upset. There was absolutely nothing to do all day and she chose to wait till right before I had to leave. Then my supervisor began to show me where all these folders were and wanted me to have some copies of the schools’ daily schedules. It was all quite the frustrating experience.

Despite all of the delays, I still managed to go to my house, get a change of clothes and make it to Cristina’s all before 5:00 (because of my new faster, super duper route). I met her direct supervisor and his supervisor. They are doing all they can to make sure that she is taken care of. They documented all the damage and I guess are sending it to the insurance company. They immediately fixed the antenna that day to ensure that she would get the BS channels (still regular TV, but better than the other normal channels). This is actually what I am frustrated about because I ask the office every week for my Internet adapter and every week they tell me to please be patient. So that means that I have already paid for a month of Internet without having it. Then, I told them about my BS antenna and they said that they would put in a memo but it would also have to wait. They said they were sorry. Therefore, I think I won’t be getting English movies for a while.

Well, back to the story, we met up with Laura and headed to pick up Jill from Kushira. Jill’s house is amazing. It is bigger than mine, very traditional, all new and beautiful. She is very lucky and I can see why her predecessor lived there for 3 years. After picking her up, we met Kaz at the 100-yen sushi place just outside of Cristina’s house. It was nicer and bigger than the one in Kanoya, but it did not have as good a selection. We had a great time, and Cristina and I tied for the most plates at 8 a piece. By the way, these are small plates with sashimi and sushi pieces on them, not the huge dinner plates in the States. Everyone wanted to see Cristina’s bungalow afterward, so we headed there.

Once there, we all talked for a bit and began to watch some Friends. Since I had seen these episodes twice this past weekend, I was quite sick of it. However, the reason we began to watch Friends was because I commented on how bad Brad Pitt’s acting was in one of the episodes. If anybody is interested in corroborating my accusation, it is The One with the Rumor in Season 8. He plays an old, formerly fat, bitter, high school friend that visits for Thanksgiving dinner. You can tell that he felt out of place. His delivery was atrocious and his inflections were all off. It took a bit of convincing, but everybody else agreed with me, but still thought that he was too beautiful to care.

This morning I had some important tasks, I had to update this big dry erase board calendar they have in the office of where I am at all times (including weekends). I feel like if I have been sold (by my own self) to the Japanese. I read for them, entertain them, and have to keep them informed of my whereabouts at all times. To be quite honest, I think I am being paid to much money to care.

Well, that is it for now. Somebody please email me to make sure my account is still active. Please. Also, it has been a month. So, feel free to start sending care packages. Need ideas of things to include: pictures (everyone here is curious to see some and we forgot, they can be on CD), burned music CDs (feel free to make your own mix), art (for those of you that are or are not artistically inclined, preferably on any piece of cloth for me), DVDs (can be those that were borrowed and never returned, or, I don't know, maybe Season 3 of Alias).