OK Fine, One Picture

The view I see in the morning three times a week. Iimori Junior High School, my base school, is the small-looking building in the middle of the picture. The building at right with more of a presence is our spanking new gym.

Since I last posted…

Wall street and the American economy has gone into crisis, John McCain made probably one of the worst decisions (from both a political and a governing perspective) of any presidential candidate ever, and the first presidential debate was held.  And in the whirlwind of all of this news, I have begun my formal job here as an assistant language teacher, gone to the Goto islands, danced in a festival that involved clapping soy sauce plates together, had several welcome parties, went to a major Taiko show, and did a 10k walk around Iimori–one of the two small villages I teach in–with a lot of my junior high first graders.  Tomorrow I am going to the distinctively Japanese phenomenon of a sports day at one of my four elementary schools.

Wowza.

I have been very busy, but also somewhat exhausted from simply taking it all in and always doing a lot on the weekends.  The first two weeks of teaching were very taxing as I was at a new and different school pretty much every day.  It has also been insanely humid.  Didn’t bother me so much three years ago when my primary purpose was travel, but after sitting in a new, comfy chair with the air conditioner on after returning from a full workday in this weather…well, it is hard to get up again.  But I’m getting along…I got a Japanese tutor who seems very good and is relatively inexpensive.  I am going to take a proficiency test in December and hopefully do a speech contest in November.  And I was so impressed by the Taiko show that I’m going to try to find a group to join.  Wish me luck, I need the exercise!!!

I’m looking forward to traveling more soon, but for now I’m more interested in settling into my city and exploring it’s finer (and more hidden) points.  “To see what is in front of one’s eyes needs a constant struggle.”

-George Orwell

There is still plenty of time…

And today, we had the first warm-but-not-humid, breezy, cool-evening’d day that I have experienced since arriving, and really since the first day I ever set foot in Japan more than three years ago.  I am so excited for fall.

*Pictures will come when I get around to it…