3.31.2004 - Last month in a nutshell

Wow, it's been a while since last update. An insane amount of things have happened while I've been out. I've been out of town. More specifically, I was out in the prefectural capital for a couple of weeks taking a language course/paid vacation. But let's backtrack a little first.

Before I left, I actually took a weekend trip to Nagasaki, where some coworkers and I headed up to an area called Unzen, known for its onsen (hot spring baths). Imagine my surprise when I found that it was snowing up there. I was surprised by how much I liked the place. We saw some local "hell springs" (boiling sulfurous mud pools) as we walked around the hotel that we stayed at. I managed to get the quintessential Japanese onsen experience, sitting in an outdoor hot spring looking out at the full moon through falling snow. It would have made a great shot, but I have a feeling other people in the bath might have had a problem with that. The next day we hit town proper and saw the old foreigners' settlement. Meh. It probably is more exciting to people who haven't seen lots of older style Westerner houses before.

After that, it was time for Matsuyama. Matsuyama is not only the capital of my prefecture, but the largest city on the island of Shikoku that I live on. That means lots of people who aren't in their 50s. The closest place for us ALTs to get our party on. My Education Office graciously gave me two weeks to go on study leave and take some Japanese language classes offered there, so my friend Will and I rented a apartment and checked out of our respective towns for a while. Although the classes turned out to be around the level a 2nd year Japanese student might take at my old university, the students were in general more knowledgable than I. Not that that hurt things, I'm going to try to go to every one of these events from now on, if just to stave off the office ennui and get some fresh air.

We even had a few guests come into the area to chill with us. Brian from good old U. of I. dropped in, along with Joey, Sarah, and Theresa at various points. This is in addition to all of the other JETs from my side of town who just dropped in for their regular dose of partying. Drinking and dancing inevitably ensued, followed later by people leaving items like pants on our floor. And partially chewed chocolate. Apparently I missed out on some fully clothed drunk showers too.

Brian and I caught a festival at Dogo Onsen (oldest hot spring in Japan) after being informed about it by a friend from class. Pretty cool stuff.

And now, to prove that I actually went to at least one class, here's some pictures. Although I'm glad that I spent a lot of time meeting international students in my class, it's too bad that I wasn't able to hang out with some of the JETs more, they were a really cool group (as of course, all of us Ehime JETs are).

And of course, Matsuyama Engrish. I managed to add a couple new t-shirts to my ultra-fashionable wardrobe (on the left and right). The "BAD BOYS" one makes me laugh everytime I see it. Oh, they bad. You don't f*ck with the BAD BOYS. Especially the one drinking tea.

At the end of my Matsuyama trip I headed out to Osaka, because what trip would be complete without one of the coolest cities in Japan? I also had to go to the American Consulate there, where I managed to kill 4 birds with one stone. I have now assured that I will not get deported (applied for a new passport), registered with my embassy, got some tax information, and got an absentee voter registration card. Despite only coming over with one other ALT, during the weekend I saw 4 other ALTs I knew and met a few new people. I met up with Brian again on Saturday, where he introduced me to a few of his cool friends, and a good night was had by all. I even met an elusive Osaka JET. And here I thought that they were mere legends, an ALT position lusted after by all but obtained by none. If only I could be so lucky. Once again, I capped the night off with a stay in a capsule hotel. I love those places. They're like cozy little dens to crawl into after spending way too much of my night awake. They also all look like morgues.

Even Nathalie and her "mum" came down for a night. I tried to show them some of the sights I knew before I collapsed from sleep deprivation.

I spent part of one day in Kobe going to see exhibits from the British museum, where I encountered the longest line in the world. Holy crap, I have never been a line that long in my life. It wrapped itself around two city blocks. The pictures show my slow descent into boredom. Oh well, the exhibits were pretty cool.

I really like the atmosphere of Kobe, the city always feels open, and not so cramped. It didn't hurt that the weather was beautiful that day. Just for your personal edification, the flame in the center photo is a memorial to lives lost in the Kobe earthquake of 1995.

After all of that, I finally get back to town yesterday morning where I run into my favorite neighbor (the only one I know) at 9 AM at the apartment for the last time; she is being transferred to Matsuyama and has just moved out. So now I'm back to 0 people who will make me delicious food and bring me things when I'm sick. And it's not just her. The beginning of April marks change in all of my schools, and my education office. Teachers at all of my schools are transferring all over the place. The good thing is that I will still see most of my teachers whereever they go, since I go to so many schools. My awesome supervisor is becoming a principal in an elementary school in Nagahama, and I will be passed off to another of my office cohorts like the proverbial torch that I am. The unintellegible, annoying human torch that I am. I also found out for the first time yesterday that all of the people in my group were vice-principals at various schools before coming here, and are in training to become principals while they work here. Oops, I guess I will be more polite in the future.

Since I spent my entire workday working on this update, the least you could do is leave me (a)

3.4.2004 - Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Tom.

Today a mystery student's English notebook has earned a place in tomsm.com history:

Names are excluded to protect the author from relentless mocking.
Purple shame mystery student, purple shame...

Ah, what a great week. For the first time since around mid-January I'm not sick. This week I'm also at some of my favorite schools. Life is good. It's been great so far, despite the fact that I've got a busted up pinky finger and three different wounds on the inside of my cheek. I managed to get uppercut by a third year student during a jump ball in a basketball game on Tuesday, and as a result chomped down on myself. It's made eating fun for the last couple of days. I also stubbed my hand in an incredibly painful way on a rebound. I'm going to use that as an excuse for how I got my ass handed to me so badly by the Minami junior high school table tennis team later on in the afternoon. Underneath those innocently smiling exteriors lie an unstoppage juggernaut of ping-pong prowess. Word on the street is that they are the strongest girl's team out of the fourteen schools that I go to, so maybe I shouldn't feel as humiliated (note to self: don't admit that I get similarly trounced in all other schools).

I also had a good weekend up in Matsuyama, meeting friends and taking a placement test for some classes that I'll be taking up there in a couple weeks. Got some clothing shopping done for myself, and did a little used car browsing with Will. I even got a little homicidal bear to hang off my cell phone. I got a good picture of Will looking all hard and Yuki looking all ditzy, and another of a pissed off namacha panda. A good time was had by all.

I finally took the picture of downtown Yawatahama that I've been trying for a while now while Yuki and I did a little sightseeing. It turns out the trick was to go on an overcast day. It also turns out that no one else on this planet probably cares what the trick was. Oh well.

I got my schedule for next year (yeah, I get each schoolday planned out for me a year in advance), and I've found that my base schools are changing. In Yawatahama I move from Atago JHS to Seiseki JHS, and in Ozu from Ozukita JHS to Ozuminami JHS. This means nothing to most people, and not much to most JETs, so I'll put it in simpler terms:

Old and Busted	New Hotness

I love Minami JHS. The kids there are almost unbelievably friendly, and it's also really easy for me to travel to and from, because of its close proximity to a bus stop. Bonus point awarded for attractive faculty. My fellow Ozu ALT cohort is also in love with the place (she's even there today. ラッキ!!). We all know they like Tom better though.

Unfortunately for me, after next Tuesday I'm done teaching for the remainder of the school year, so the next seven weeks are alloted as office time. The actual end of the school year isn't for another three weeks, so I wish that I was placed in schools, there I could at the very least amuse myself by walking around playing sports. Two of the seven weeks will be spent up in Matsuyama for some language courses, but the remainder will be wholesome office goodness. Everyone in-country can expect a drastic upswing in annoying cell phone emails from me. It's time to buy a lot of books.

Everytime you look at this page without leaving (a) , a kitten is killed somewhere in the world.

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