This is my standard method for combating sunburn: I drape a towel over my head and put on my sunglassess. I look a bit suspicious, and I get strange stares, but hey, it works.
















Here I am delivering my address to the assembled students. I look quasi-legitimate, I think.

Speech, Speech!

On Wednesday, school officially started, and I was asked to give two speeches. One to the teachers, and another one to the whole school, at the assembly. The teacher speech was to be in a language I'm not so great at: Japanese. I wrote my speech in English, with all the proper rhetorical fluorish, then had a student translate it into Japanese for me. I augmented it with a preformed Japanese intro speech I found elsewhere. The result was quite good, and very funny. I stood in front of all the teachers, reading from a piece of paper bastardized Japanese written in very crappy Romanji (Japanese using Roman/English letters). I think I sounded like that foreigner at the dinner table who says "Very good this food. I like eat. Thanks you much." Luckily, Japanese people are good at clapping and smiling, and I felt like a champ.

Next up was the speech to the whole school, comprising well over 600 people. This one, luckily, was to be in my mother tongue. This produced the hilarious result that only a handful of truly proficient English speakers understood it. I spoke as slowly and clearly as I could without sounding foolish (to myself), but to no avail, methinks. It was delightful to be up there, giving a very nice speech, and knowing that probably only about 15 people really understood it. That really takes the pressure off, let me tell you. I could have been saying "In conclusion, you're all a bunch of assholes, and I plan to urinate in your desks," and I would have gotten approximately the same applause. It was great. Love those guys.

I taught my first class on Thursday, and it wasn't so bad, really. I was sweating bullets before the kids came because I was so scared. But, it's just not rocket science. I gave them a slideshow explaining all about the virtues of...myself. Next we played "Get To Know You Bingo." It was fun, but my logistical sensibilities needed much improvement. In the first class, every single person got bingo. It sort of takes the motivation out if every single person wins. Oye. I made many improvements for my next class the following day. I now know that if you sound as if you're talking too slow, you're not talking slowly enough. Japanese people have a very difficult time understanding native speakers of English, and as a result you must slow it down and emphasize the words you want emphasized. Japanese and English are just so different that Japanese speakers' ears are not attuned to the way I speak. It's much the same in reverse.

Big hits were photos of skyscrapers in downtown San Diego, as well as a shot of Lance Armstrong under my "hobbies" section. I had to explain that, no, that is not me. Dang. It's so tempting to lie. I also had a slide in my "Dislikes" section where I explained my true loathing for President Bush. It mostly consisted of saying "I. don't. like. him. He's bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad bad. He is a bad president." I think they got the message.

Anyway, we're about to go camping, so I better wrap this up. I hope things are good at home. take care:)

Photos are Up!

Hey guys, I have published some of my shots from Japan on Webshots, if you'd care to see. Enjoy! http://community.webshots.com/user/viewfromjapan

Japan is absolutely full of waterfalls. It's as if it rains a lot or something. I had the extreme experience of jumping off of one last weekend. At first, I was very frightened and reluctant to jump, but looking at Hong and reading her "It's okay, baby"s as silent evidence of disappointment in my virility, I undertook to redeem my manhood, conquering my fears and hurling my body off a 40 foot cliff into a pool of blue water. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. (Note: This is not the waterfall.)

A young crop of proteges, eager for knowledge about California. I did my best to set the record straight about our oft-misunderstood state.
















Look at this crystal blue water. It's unbelievable.
















This waterfall was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Japan really is as beautiful as they say it is. And then some.
















Some of my very very numerous female admirers:
















The entrance to a shrine only a couple dozen meters from my school. How cool is that?

Schweaty Balls

Japan has redefined my idea of what it means to be sweaty. I sweat
just walking around. I sweat when I cook. I sweat when I`m sitting
on the couch if I don`t point the fan right at me. I sweat after
showers (which is why I switched to cold). I sweat for like 30
minutes after riding my bike to school. Hong noticed that I sweated
even sitting in a restaurant after eating some hot soup. I`m telling
you, it`s hot here.

But now I appreciate the little things, like a breeze that I might not
previously have considered cool. Now, it is two seconds of sweet
relief.

Also, the food. Though I didn`t really do much in terms of exercise,
I used to eat a lot of food. I just love to eat. Here, the food has
been fantastic, but unless you`re prepared to finance it, you`re just
not gonna get a lot of it. It`s too expensive. I`m okay with that,
although I wish it was cheaper. My idea of full now is not being
gorged, but rather the absence of hunger. I had similiar experiences
when vacationing in Europe on a tight budget. Nick knows about this.

Last week I had my first "teaching" experience, running a little
lesson/game about California at a summer english workshop held in a
nearby town. The first one was absolutely terrible, but each time I
did it it got a little better and a little easier. By the end, I was
really enjoying myself, telling them such hard-hitting news as people
in California like to eat sashimi, udon, AND tempura. The answer was
D, "All of these."

Today I went hiking with a man from my school up on the Nakasendo
("Middle Mountain Passage"), the old old road between Kyoto and Tokyo
used by the shogun and samurai. We walked through old post towns with
crazy-looking wooden buildings and sweated our brains off crossing
over the mountain. I personally crossed the border between Gifu and
Nagano prefectures, which was very exciting to me.

The landscapes here are just beautiful. Everywhere you look looks
like a painting you`ve seen at some point, with green fields, tidy
houses, and layers of mountains receding softly into the distance. It
really is beautiful. Sometimes, just driving around, I can`t believe
I live here.

There`s a million more things I could say, but I`ll save those for
another day. I hope everyone is doing well, except Nick Hertz.

Greetings from Nakatsugawa!

Hello friends,

Sorry for the long delay. I have not had much internet access. I am getting happily settled into my new little life here in Nakatsugawa.

My apartment is very large and this is a nicelittle city. I live next to a big interstate, but I have a beautiful view of green fields and Japanese houses. If you look the other way,I have a view of the back of an auto parts repair shop (I choose toignore it). It`s about a 20 minute bike ride to my school, which is up on a hill overlooking the city. The Nakasendo, an ancient pathleading to Edo (Tokyo) passes right by the high school.

My supervisor is a kind and funny man named Mr. Taniguchi, and I am essentially his adopted child right now in my utter helplessness. Just today, I neglected to pack anything but sugar do-nuts for lunchand he took pity on me and shared his lunch with me.

We have been going all over the place, checking into city hall,opening a bank account (my ATM card will have Tom and Jerry on it), buying groceries, etc. Today we took a drive into the small townsnorth of the city and to see the mountains, and it was justbreathtaking. It reminded me of the Smoky Mountains back home, with green rolling mountains covered in trees. We hiked down to see awaterfall leading into a bluish-green pool that would knock your socksoff. It`s one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Mr. Taniguchi has enlisted a veritable corps of English students tohelp orientate me while I`m here, who can also gain valuable speaking time with an authentic speaker of English. They are great fun and we have a good time driving around the city talking about what Japanese foods we like and whether or not they have had Mexican food (theanswer is no).

Last weekend I went to Gifu city, which is the capital of Gifu prefecture and has about 500,000 people. They had a gigantic festivalby the river which included a magnificent 1-hour long fireworks display. It was beautiful. Everyone was wearing their beautiful yukatas (summer kimonos) and everything was a delighful interplay between colors, sounds, and smells. Vendors had set up and were selling delicious foods of all sorts. I felt very lucky to be a partof it. It`s not something that a lot of Westerners get to see.

The food is excellent. Japan is an eater`s paradise, and I haven`t really gone without anything I might want, except perhaps burritos. I bring ham sandwiches for lunch everyday, and for dinner I make delicious curry from little $1 boxes that they sell at the 100 yen store. Pretty much all the Japanese food I have had has been top-notch, especially in the realm of desserts. The people here in this town have a definite sweet tooth, and there are excellent confectioners approximately every 15 feet. Delicious. I have had good grilled meat, good noodles, and some somewhat appetizing bento boxedlunches. I`m still getting used to the cold rice balls/seaweedcombination, but it`s not so bad, and it`s ridiculously good for you. The sake is amazing, and expensive.

Today we went walking on the Nakasendo, which was very very cool. It`s an ancient road and you could feel the history there. The best part is that it goes right by the school. On our way back, we saw the kendo club practicing (Japanese martial art involving wooden sticks). It was refreshingly violent.

More to come.

A small alley in Tokyo. Very mysterious. There are tons of these small little places around here, away from the huge lights and massive crowds.













Who's down for Freshness Burgers? Trust me, it's probably better than the alternative.

For Relaxing Times...

This place is crazy. It's been a very intense couple of
days, with a hefty mixture of all-day seminars and hefty drinking
excursions at night. And we all keep waking up at about 5:45 am
everyday. Tokyo is by far the strangest and most intriguing city I've
ever been in. It bombards the senses, but is full of quiet holes in
the wall where it seems as if only a few people even know about it.
The streets are very quiet in the morning, but there is a flurry of
activity beginning in the evening and going way into the night. And
all types of people too--salarymen, schoolchildren, everybody. Don't
they have stuff to do in the morning?

The city seems to be built on several different levels, and the whole
things fits together like an elaborate 3-D jigsaw puzzle, with whole
different layers of shopping districts tucked right underneath what
you thought was "the ground", and with subway entrances popping up
between small shops or restaurants on tiny pedestrian-only streets.

Last night, we went to an izakaya, which is like a pub, and had a
10-course meal with all you can drink alcohol. Had some sake that
would knock your socks off. Actually all the sake has been top-drawer
thus far. It doesn't even seem as if you're drinking alcohol. Now when you're driking Santory beer, you definitely know you're drinking beer (for any of those who have seen Lost in Translation, you'll understand why I said "For relaxing times, make it Santory Time" every time I refilled my glass!)

So today I'm riding the bullet train with the other people from my
prefecture, and we are going to leave the urban jungle of Tokyo for
the wilds of rural Japan, where most of us, yours truly included, will
be stationed. I'm told that it's a beautiful place, and I can't wait
to finally see where I'll be spending the next year of my life.