Dec 25th and 26th

Mostly a blur, really.  Not much happened except for talking with the fambam as much as possible.  It was such a bummer to miss out on all of the fun and being with everyone.  That just goes with the territory, though.  The job wasn’t too hard this week…. and now it’s over for 10 days.  I get to have some real fun.  I hope it’s a mind-blowing experience.  I may be out of connection for the whole time.  If that’s the case, I’ll give updates upon my return.  Hopefully there will be a decent number of pictures to see. 

Please enjoy your celebrations for the new year.  It’s crazy that it’s already 2010.  It seems like yesterday that we were all making a big deal out of Y2K. 

Don’t worry Greater Japan, I’m on my way.

Dec. 24th

Slow day at work today.  I only had one scheduled lesson and that student didn’t show up.  I spent my time planning for all of my lessons for the whole week and then cleaning a bunch of things around the school.  Most of my cleaning time was spent taking the air filters out of all of the heating units in each of the rooms and cleaning them off.  It wasn’t so bad and it was better than having absolutely nothing to do.  After work I went to a dinner with the other native English teachers from my school at a place called “Matador.”  It was an ok dinner and way too expensive.   It was good to go out with some folks, though.  It doesn’t feel much like Christmas Eve here.  It just feels like a regular day.  I’m listening to MPR online and I’m hearing all about the weather at home.  I’m jealous.  I’d love some real winter weather for Christmas.  I’ll be thinking a lot about all of you tomorrow and the next day.  Merry Christmas!!!  I miss you.

Dec. 23rd

Today was mostly a blur.  I didn’t do all of the exploring that I wanted to do, but I did some reading about Tokyo that I’ve wanted to do.  I should be able to keep busy while I’m visiting there.  The list of things to do/see is large enough now.  Three days of work that won’t be too busy and then it’s off to vacation.  I also went to church tonight.  It was a Japanese service, so I didn’t understand much but I met a few new people.  There’s a guy from Malaysia (I think) who is studying chemical engineering who goes to the church and can speak English pretty well.  The next time I see him, I’ll have to see if he wants to hang out some time.  He is very outgoing and probably has a lot of friends.  He’d be a good guy to hang around with I think.  I’m attempting to make some french toast for breakfast tomorrow.  I hope it goes well.

December 22nd

Today was pretty relaxing at work because it’s a holiday week.  I don’t have very many classes to plan for or teach.  I also have tomorrow off because it’s the emperor’s birthday.  I just talked with my mom and Grenny (my grandmother) and my brother on Skype.  I got to see Koda (the dog) as well.  It was settling and a bit unsettling at the same time to see the same old corner of the basement with walnut-stained oak venire, white walls, and a picture of Robbie and me making funny faces in black and white.  I’m glad to be doing something new and different, but it feels more like drudgery right now and I’d love to be back with the people and places that I know and love.  I am going to do some exploring of Okayama tomorrow and I’ll be on a train headed to the Japanese alps for some skiing soon enough.  Enjoyment is on the horizon!

Some Pictures

I’ve finally gotten around to posting some pictures!

These are random pictures from Okayama.

My side street(apt bldg on right)

Generally good coffee here.

 

  

This is the outside of the International Center where I would sit at night and use the internet before I got it in my apartment.

 

Weekend

It’s been a good weekend.  I went to church last night and met some cool people.  Some of the people from the church play Ultimate Frisbee sometimes.  They’re going to invite me the next  time they play.  I don’t know how often they play in the winter, but when it gets warmer there should be some good opportunities to play.  I went shopping today (monday) and stocked up on a bunch of food items.  Hopefully, I’ll be pretty well set for a while.  I’ll still have to pick up perishables, but I’ve got most of the other things that I need for a while… I think.  I spent a lot of money anyway.  The peanut  butter at the international grocery store was on sale so I bought a bunch of it.  That should last about 4 weeks or more.  I did some calculating today and I should be well within my means for paying for the upcoming vacation.  I get paid in three days as well, so that’s going to be even better.  Now that I have internet, I stream MPR news constantly when I’m in my apartment.  It’s so nice to hear those familiar voices and to be updated on the news.  I felt like I was in a tunnel before I got the internet.  It’s weird that it’s only 4 days until X-mas and it feels nothing like it.  I am anticipating extreme sadness on the 24th and 25th as I realize what I will be missing at home.  On the 24th my house will be warm and the food will be delicious.  Koda will probably be sleeping or acting nervous.  X-mas day everyone will be at Mike and Cathy’s house.  I think one of the things I will miss the most is the hugs.  People in Japan don’t really touch each other very often.  I’ve had  very little physical contact with anyone since  being here.  Except for infrequent handshakes from fellow Gaijin (foreigners), there aren’t many opportunities for human contact.  That and holding hands with children for games in class…but that doesn’t really count.  Today at the grocery store, there was an American guy who was about 6’2’’ and moderately overweight.  He walked straight up to me and offered his hand, which I shook, and he said “Merry Christmas.”  He had very large and strong hands.  It was a kind gesture.  I hope his holiday season is exceptional this year. 

This evening I’m going to watch a movie (rented from i-tunes), and do some research for my New Years plans in Tokyo.  I’m going to use the holidays as an excuse to get as many hugs as possible.  I’ll try to remember to keep a tally.

If you’re reading this.  I probably miss you. 

Be well.

Thursday

I’m actually inside the international center right now.  I can’t decide what’s better.  Sitting outside in the cold or being in here in the smoke.  It won’t matter any more once Sunday afternoon comes around and I have internet in my place.  It sounds like there will be a gathering on Saturday after work… probably a dinner on the company.  Somebody is coming or going or something. 

Today was fine.  I’m very hungry and I’m out of food.  My biggest decision left for the evening is whether I should go to the grocery store and buy food to make or if I should head to a restaurant.  We’ll see.

RE: TUESDAY

To clarify.  That is what actually happened on Tuesday.  They were really little kids and I was talking sarcastically about them in that post.  It was a crazy day and a bunch of my kids were acting up.  Those were just the craziest episodes of acting up… it was supposed to show stress and humor… clarification over.

Wed.

Today I actually went to work at the right time instead of going early and I left on time as well.  There is less planning this week because there are a lot of redundant lesson plans leading up to the holidays.  It was a good day.  I still didn’t have very much fun with my little kid classes, but at least they went well and I wasn’t stressed out.  Tomorrow shouldn’t be that bad either, except for the  fact that I have tons of little kid classes.  Most of them are already planned, though so I should be able to stay ahead of things and avoid getting stressed out.  That should keep the door open for less stress.  I still feel like my younger students aren’t learning very much.  They’re so difficult to deal with in groups.  If one kid acts up then they all start goofing off and nothing gets done.  They also can’t seem to remember anything.  I must be doing something confusing.  I don’t know.  We’ll see what happens.  I have a feeling that it will be bad news for me if any of their parents pull their kids out.  Hopefully, the kids are making progress.  It’s hard to figure out expectations for such young ones.  I ran today after work… had a snack, and now I’m writing this blog on the sidewalk.  Three more days until I have internet in my place!!!!  In other news, Colin booked our place for skiing in Nagano.  Only problem is… I don’t know if there will be any snow.  It’s early in the season, and I don’t think they’ve had much so far.  I hope there are a couple big storms real soon.

Tuesday

Okay.  I’ll say “It’s a brown monkey,” and you stick your butt in my face.  Good job.  Okay now I’ll say “It’s a green frog,” and you stick your hand in your pants and then put your hand in your mouth.  Wow… you really are learning a lot today.

Monday

Monday is part of my weekend.  I spent most of the day wandering around trying to get the last few things before I’m done outfitting my apartment.  Today made me feel like I’m a part of a big practical joke that everybody is in on except for me.  Real “Twilight Zone” material.  For example, I was at a store called “Loft” (an extremely sad excuse for a Target) today and spent the equivalent of about $16 on a shower curtain.  When I was at the counter to purchase this very expensive piece of crappy plastic with “shampoo, H2O, and sponge” written all over it I asked where I could get rings to hold it up to the curtain rod.  The response I got was that I couldn’t get the  rings at  that store.  They sell curtains but not the equipment to mount the curtains.  That’s “joke’s on you” #1.  At that same Target’s inadequate stepsister visit, I was looking for a cutting board that was big enough to cover my sink so that I could expand my counter space enough to actually cut something.  I wanted a cutting board that was at least 42cm long.  The biggest cutting board they had was 40 cm and would fall into my sink if I tried to set it across.  I realize that I could just turn the cutting board, but I held out in hopes that I’ll find what I want.  The point is, that I was 2cm short of what I wanted.  Seriously…3/4 of an inch away COME ON!  The good news is that my bathroom smells like the poison that the shower curtain is made out of and I still have only about .8 square feet of functional counter space.

I’m sure that the things that I’m looking for are available and I just don’t know where to look.  There’s an added frustration being completely unable to communicate well enough to get help finding the right places.  In any case, I feel like the kind of “Mall of America” style over-stimulation that I feel constantly here doesn’t happen as often in the US.  We live a life of unparalleled convenience at home.  There’s always a store open that sells almost anything that you could want with respectable quality.  There are so many things here that are poor quality.  Bath towels are thinner than T-Shirts at home and repel water instead of absorbing it.  I’m not just talking about the dollar store bath towels.  Even expensive ones are ridiculous compared to what we can get at home.  I am curious to learn if the cheap construction of those types of materials is because it’s hard to get them all of the way out here or if it’s because of restrictive trade laws.  I feel like things here are just as expensive, if not more, as they were in Hawaii, but the quality is not the same.  In Hawaii, you pay more to get the goods to the island.  Here, you pay a ton and the goods aren’t there.  I think starting a Target out here would be a really good idea.  Starbucks is making it.  Why not Target?  End scene.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

It’s Sat. night at home right now.  However, I’m eating at a cafe on Sunday afternoon and drinking too much coffee.  I don’t know what I’m going to do this afternoon/evening entirely.  I'm going to go to the sports park and do some exercise for sure… but other than that, I don’t really have any specific plans.  I’ll post some pictures with this blog.

Me and some folks from training.

Post-training diner.

 

I thought I had more… but I don’t.  I’ll work on that.

Sat. number 2

The Thurs. posting after the Sat. was a mistake. 

Now I’m watching TV in my apartment.  There’s some sort of countdown of the pop music in Japan or J-Pop.  There’s a group called “Exile” that’s two guys with ok voices who are surrounded by a large group of flailing male dancers.  It’s quite a spectacle.  Then there was a group that was like Brittany Speares times a million.  They were all cute and doing stupid dances and doing a real half-hearted job of lip-sinking.  The vocal track sounded like child robots and I think the girls’ microphones were actually made of tin-foil.  It seems like there is a similar problem in Japanese and American pop culture where the singing voices of the most famous singers are mediocre at best.  ok bye

Thursday

Today was ok.  I had some wins and some losses at work.  That’s all I have to say about that.  It was raining when I got off of work, and it was pretty cold all day.  As a result, my apartment didn’t warm up much during the day.  Tonight is the first time that I’ve turned on my heating unit.  I don’t like watching the tv, because it’s all in Japanese and everyone acts silly.  The channels I get are all of people having conversations and making faces.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a high concentration of over-acting and silly effects.  Appearance definitely seems to take precedent over reality.  I’m supposed to meat Taichi tomorrow before work to get my internet set-up process started.  I was supposed to get his phone number to call him and make sure he’d be there, but I forgot to get it from him.  I hope he remembers and shows up.

I have a student that plays violin and I found out that he’s played Bethoven’s 5th symphony.  That made me thing of my bro.  Although, I can’t remember if the 5th or the 7th is his favorite.  I’m pretty sure it’s one of those. (This will post with others due to lack of internet)

Saturday

This was the last day of the work week.  It went alright.  I had some challenging classes in terms of  behavior, but everything else went fine.  I don’t really have any plans for tonight.  I’ve still got to work on making some friends.  I don’t really feel like going out tonight anyway.  I think I’m going to try to buy a movie at a convenience store.  Hopefully it will be in English with Japanese subtitles.  I’m going to get some exercise tomorrow.  That’s my only specific plan.  I’ve also got to tidy up my apartment a bit and do some grocery shopping.

It looks like it will be affordable to go to Nagano for a ski trip in my winter break.  I might go to the train station tomorrow to purchase my outgoing tickets… we’ll see.  I might just make sure I know how to and then purchase them later.  It will depend on how confusing it seems. 

Tuesday is going to suck, but I don’t have to worry about that for now.  Maybe I’ll get a chance to take a few pictures this weekend and show you all my city.  I hope you’re all doing well. 

Duplicates

Ignore the approximately duplicate posts.  I can’t figure out how to delete the extra one right now and I don’t care to figure it out.  The first one wasn’t posting… or so I thought, and all of the sudden it appeared so… second day solo and day two solo are generally the same…. ok bye.

Second Day Solo

Wed. was much better.  I had fewer classes, so I had time to go back and see what I messed up on my Tuesday lessons.  My classes today went really well for the most part.  I’ll go on Friday to get the ball rolling on internet in my apartment.  I don’t know how long it will take after I get it, but I cant’ wait!  I’m tired of sitting on the sidewalk at 11:30pm.  Although, it is a little entertaining when people walking by notice me and get really quiet and then giggle.  I wonder if they’re being mean or if they’re just laughing at the spectacle of an American sitting on the sidewalk and using a laptop.  I guess that puts a new spin on homelessness.

Day 2 Solo

Well, Wednesday was much less busy in terms of my schedule.  That allowed me to figure out some of the problems that I had yesterday.  I still have no idea how I’ll get planned in time for all of my Tuesday classes, but I’m at least in better shape than I was.  I still have two lesson types to figure out, but that’s all.  I talked to my managers today about getting internet.  I’ll go on Friday to get the ball rolling.  I don’t know how long after that I will finally get internet.  Right now I’m on the sidewalk outside of the closed international center.  It’s probably in the lower 40s outside.  Not too cold to sit in a jacket.  The computer keeps my lap warm, though.  It’s funny to see people notice me here.  They get all quiet and then talk to each other and giggle.  I wonder if they’re being mean or if they’re just talking about how it’s a spectacle to see an American sitting on the sidewalk using a computer.  I guess that would be a funny new twist on homelessness.

First Day Planning/Teaching Alone

Wow.  What a train wreck.  I’m so slow at planning lessons.  And half of the materials that I thought were pre-made and easy to find are all over the place or I have to make them.  I was teaching classes without some of the cards or with crappy make-shift ones that I made last-minute…literally.  I had five classes right in a row with ten minute breaks in between.  I don’t even really remember most of the day.  It’s a blur.  I didn’t eat lunch.  Dinner was good, though.  I had left over fajitas.  Now I’m listening to Dave Matthews sing “Sister” and writing this.  Miss you sister.

My attitude sucks right now.  This needs to get a lot better real fast.  I’ll keep you posted as the week goes along.  Tomorrow is not nearly as busy, so I should have some time to recover and figure my stuff out.  Things can only improve from this point.  It’s a lot to keep track of.  Please look forward to increasingly positive reports… I sure hope so anyway.  (This will post with other(s)due to lack of internet)

One More Day Left This Week

Well, today was a little better.  I didn’t have to go to work until 11:30am and I got to leave the office right away and get a cell phone.  It was a great day for a bike ride.  The weather today was like a really nice sunny October day in MN.  Low to mid-sixties, I think.  I taught three classes by myself today.  Two of them were a bit rough because I’m still working on lesson structure.  They were table lessons.  The floor lesson that I taught was completely by myself.  It went great.  I’m still bad at lesson explanations to the parents.  Sometimes the material is hard and it’s difficult to get the students  to respond for their mothers/fathers.   I have some pretty big shoes to fill.  The teacher I’m replacing is really good.  Her students all love her.  I hope I can be fun for them too.  Tomorrow, I work from 10-7 and then WEEKEND!!!  I’ll be glad to relax a bit.  There are a bunch of plans for the weekend to say “byebye” to the teacher I’m replacing.  I’ve been invited along.  I hope I meet some new people.  

Thursday(Work Day 3)

Wow today was painfully slow.  I taught a few lessons today.  I am pretty bad at the floor lessons (little kids) still.  I do pretty well with the table lessons (older kids).  This might pose a problem, considering that most of my lessons are floor lessons.  With more practice, I know I’ll do better.  It still takes me about an hour to plan each lesson.  The teacher I’m replacing can do about three in an hour.  I’ve got a long way to go there.  The more comfortable I get with each type of lesson, the faster that will go too.  I won’t have to think so hard eventually.  Next week is really going to be crappy, though.  I’ll be running the show all by my lonesome.  I wonder how much I’ll mess up. 

For lunch today, I went with some of  the other teachers to a bagel place and got a chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bagel.  It was ok.  Not  very much chicken.  I had a coffee at lunch too.  Every time I order coffee, I think of my bro because every place here has strong, dark, and delicious coffee.  Just like the bro likes.  My co-teachers also showed me the international grocery store after lunch.  I picked up a Snickers for a snack.   There are a lot of good foods there.  They’re not very cheap, but I will probably buy a few key items, like a big bottle of olive oil.  I also found out that It’s not as expensive as I thought to ship things to me.  Especially not with fixed rate boxes.  I might have to get the fambam to send peanut butter periodically.  For dinner I made pan-seared scallops and some pork with some boring soy/pepper/salt/green peppers/garlic/bean sprouts.  It was ok.  I need to do better.  The pork here tastes funny too.  Dirty. 

I didn’t get out at all again today.  It’s get up, work, dinner, blog, sleep with random trips to the grocery store to pick up necessary items.  The biggest triumph for today is that I finally remembered to pick up dish-washing gloves to keep my hands from drying out and cotton swabs to clean out my ears.  It had been a while so I made a candle.  This blog will post with another as I’m writing it without internet connection.

First Two Days

I’ve completed two full days of work now.  I’m team-teaching with the teacher I’m replacing.  Really, I’m just observing and chiming in when I can.  I’ve taught one class without any help.  It went pretty well.  I had three students that were about 10-12…I’m not sure how old exactly.  I don’t feel entirely comfortable yet, but I’ll get there.  My fellow teachers said that it can take a while and I shouldn’t worry about it for now.  I was hoping for a higher number of older students.  I have more kid lessons than anyone.  Kids are great, but older students are a lot more fun and the lessons are much easier.  I’ll get used to the kid lessons and they’ll be fine.  Hopefully, this job will get to be much more fun as I get better at it. 

I miss home.  I’ve got to find some redeeming things to do outside of work to keep me happy.  I haven’t been able to work out except for one run.  I need to step that up.  I think I’m losing weight.  My hip/knee problem seems to get worse the more rest it gets.  I hear there’s a sports park nearby.  I’m definitely going to make use of that a lot.  A fitness club membership here costs around $100 per month and they aren’t open for very many hours.  My work would really get in the way.

My apartment isn’t fully organized yet, but It’s getting closer. I’m still working on the video tour.  I’m having some file-type issues, but I might be able to fix it soon.  

I’m In

Yesterday, I went to the train station to say goodbye to all of my fellow trainees and to meet one of my managers.  She is very nice and she took me to my new apartment where I was able to meet my other manager ,a coworker, and Makensie (the teacher that I’m replacing).   The apartment is small, but it should have plenty of  room for anything I need.  I will post pictures or a video very soon.  My apartment is a 5-10 minute walk from work.  It’s nice to be close.  I’d hate to have to struggle with public transportation in order to get to work.  I also have a bike that I can use to get around.  It’s a piece of junk, but it will get me around.  A new one would only cost about $150.00, so I’ll do that if I have to.  Last night was my first night in my building.  Both of the other teachers (Tiffany and Sandy) are in my building.  They invited me over for a late Thanksgiving celebration.  We had apple and cheddar stuffed chicken breasts with cranberries, mashed potatoes, stuffing and green beans.  Today, I went shopping for some groceries and small items for the apartment and I met up with Taichi.  He brought me to get my “alien registration card” and my bank account.  We were supposed to work in getting a cell phone as well, but we ran out of time because the bank took a long time.  The other teachers convinced me that I’ll probably need a cell phone.  It will probably make it a lot easier to get a hold of the other teachers that I trained with so I can visit them.  It’s about 1:41am on Monday morning in MN.  I hope everyone is resting well.  I should be able to be more reachable from now on.  I’m probably not going to be quite as busy.  I’ll also have internet eventually, but that will take a while. 

Training Is Over!

Training is officially over.  It went really well.  I got to meet four of the kids that I will be teaching today.  They’re all really great kids.  Tonight, the trainers are taking our whole group out for dinner.  I don’t know where we’re going, but it should be a pretty crazy night.  I’ll meet my manager tomorrow, pick up my luggage, and move into my apartment.  I’m excited for that.  It will be nice to finally be in my own place and be able to have access to all of my things.  The only bummer is that all of my training buddies are going to their schools.  It will be an adjustment.  I’ve made some really great friends.  Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to visit some of them who are staying in other parts of Japan.  This will post with one or two other entries…. Sorry for not being in contact.  We’ve been working pretty hard and I haven’t found time to get over to the International Center for internet.  I definitely will tomorrow.

First Three Days of Training

With all of this training going on, it’s hard to find time for the internet.  I have to go to the International Center in order to use it and it’s only open until 9pm.  It’s usually about 7:30 when I’m ready to go to dinner and there’s not enough time left after dinner to get to there.  Tuesday was the first day of training.  It was pretty intense and tiring.   We learned mostly about our baby lessons on Tuesday.  Wednesday started with a demo. of a baby lesson that we planned.  I need a lot more practice before I feel totally comfortable.  It’s difficult to flow smoothly from one activity to another.  It’s also hard to remember all of the little things to say to get maximum involvement out of the students…or pretend students in this case.  We also have had the added frustration of having to wear surgical masks.  Somebody got diagnosed with H1N1 somewhere so we all had to wear masks and have our temperatures taken twice a day for a few days.  We get to go without masks tomorrow, but we’ll still be monitoring temps.  I think it’s a little crazy, but it’s better to go with the flow.  Today(Thursday) was a good day.  It didn’t seem as long as the others.

I’ve been spending most of my evenings studying and hanging out with other trainees.  Shane and Colin are the two that I most frequently spend time with.  I really like those guys.  I’ll miss not having the other trainees around once Sunday rolls around and they all leave.  At least I’ll finally get to move into my apartment.

Last night I went for a run.  I just found a straight road and kept going so I didn’t get lost.  I was mostly in residential areas.  There were a few really nice looking, gated houses.  I wonder about what the people who saw me run by were thinking.  It was much needed exercise.  However, it seems like the more time I take off from exercise, the worse my hip/knee problems gets.  I think I’m going to try strengthening instead of rest for a while.  I’m losing too much of my progress with all of this resting.

This blog will probably get posted in conjunction with another because I’ve done it ahead of time and will save it for posting later.  I need to get better at finding good food.  I haven’t yet had a meal yet that’s made me feel great.  There always seems to be something missing.  I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon.

Training Starts Tomorrow

Last night was my first night out in Okayama.  I went to dinner at a place that was pretty cheap and had decent food.  I ate a chicken curry dish with cabbage salad and rice.  I had some iced green tea as well.  After, I went with some of the other trainees to Aussie Bar.  It’s owned by a real cool Australian guy.  The place was pretty dead.  As a result, we had the chance to talk a lot with the owner.  That will be a great place to go if I feel like having a chat.  The weather today was much better than yesterday.  Sunshine and what seemed like low 60s.  You can fact-check me on weather.com if you want.  I spent most of the day hanging out with Colin from CO and Shane from WI.  We started at the International Center using the internet.  I got to talk with my parents and my brother.  Then, we walked all over Okayama and did some shopping for random things.  Mostly, we were browsing.  I’m excited to be able to walk around and actually feel like I belong here/know what I am doing with myself.  I keep getting in peoples’ way because I’m walking on the right side of the sidewalk and I’m supposed to be on the left here.  I also look forward to starting my language study.  I don’t know how to behave or what to say at shops and restaurants.  I’m sure I’ll learn quickly, but It will be a relief when I finally reach some sense of understanding.  Tonight will be for studying and getting prepared for a heavy week of training.  I hope it’s not too stressful. 

I’ll keep you posted.

Here are some pictures from  Sunday(1st full day)

Walking to Okayama Castle

Okayama Castle Phillipe resting on my pillow.

I Made It!

Right now I’m sitting in the Okayama International Center using the internet.  It sucks because people smoke in here.  I just got all showered and into my clothes and now I’m going to smell.  I’ve met most of the people in my training group and they’re very nice.  For training week, I’m rooming with a guy named Mike.  He’s real nice.  He was having trouble sleeping last night and I told him to do some controlled breathing.  He said it worked and was very appreciative.  I haven’t done much yet.  We got in late last night and went to bed.  It’s been a slow morning, but it should be fun.  The milk here is delicious. 

Three More Days in the USA

It’s probably time to panic, but I’m not very good at that.  I still haven’t packed anything.  Last weekend was awesome.  Thanks to everyone who came to the party.  It was a great night.  The party went until 4am!  Today, hopefully, will be a productive day.  I hope to do most of my packing.  I’ll be posting/emailing/facebooking all of my contact info soon as well.  Have a great Tuesday. 

Party Tomorrow

Grenny just got into town and the big going-away party is tomorrow.  I’m going to buy plenty of cider and rum.  I just finished painting the ceiling in my parents’ basement and I stained and varnished their closet door.  Those were the last projects that I needed to finish.  It’s now time to focus on partying and getting all ready to leave. 

First Post

Well, I haven’t left yet.  In fact, I haven’t even started packing.  I’ve just started to feel some anxiety about my departure.  Only a few loose-ends to tie up before I go.  November 20th is the big day.  I’ve started to make some friends that I’ll be training with for the first week.  They all seem like outgoing people.   Some of us have become Facebook friends for pre-training stalking.  My goals, so far, are to learn as much Japanese as possible and to find a martial art to study.  That’s all for the first blog.  I’m not sure how this whole thing even works yet.  Hopefully I haven’t completely wasted my time typing this and you’ll be able to read it.