I still don't have anything too exciting to talk about ( Read more... )

I have to write this down somewhere before I forget it ( Read more... )

Japan is very proud of it's four seasons.  Each season has it's own image/festivals/food and the central theme of Spring are the cherry blossom trees otherwise known as "sakura".  Right about now they are in full bloom and people are traveling all over the country to get a look at some of the best places.

On Friday I walked around Hikone and took my ( Read more... )

My host family came last week to visit me one last time before I go back home in August.  It was the third time I have seen them since I've been here.

The first day they were here I met them in Osaka at Universal Studios Japan (USJ).  I wasn't too keen on going because USJ is almost always packed and I've been to the Universal studios in Florida.  I ( Read more... )

Last week was my third year students' graduation ceremony.   It was filled with lots of mothers and non-heated gym coldness.  I even got to see some of the "Yankee" students, which are basically Japanese redneck kids who never ever came to school, but came to the graduation for attention.  There were two boys dressed in jump suits, one red and one ( Read more... )

I played touch rugby yesterday with some of the other JETs.  It's a pretty fun game with a lot of running and ball tossing (that doesn't sound right...).  I had fun, but am extremely sore today since it was my first time to do any sort of exercise since November.  I  had a pretty extreme geeky moment too.  I got the ball and broke free from the ( Read more... )

I hate taxes.  That is all I have to say.  I have never encountered something in my life that is so damn confusing for no reason whatsoever.  I actually have to file a 1040 this year instead of the EZ version and I haven't been enjoying it.  Not only that but working here in Japan makes it so I have to do all this other loopy stuff in order to file ( Read more... )

The Hokkaido Snow Festival (Yuki Matsuri) was awesome! Tons of amazingly huge snow sculptures and even more smaller ones. My favorite was the "arctic theme" sculpture. It had a giant ship, a giant whale, two massive sled dogs, and then a ton of other smaller arctic creatures. Other favorites were the rendition of Hikone Castle and the Disney ( Read more... )

I'm going up to Hokkaido for a few days with 5 other people to see the Sapporo Snow Festival. I'm also going to be spending a bit of time with my host family.

Stay tuned for pictures!

I had a weird day teaching. Lots of kids were trying hard to speak English today for some reason. And I'm happy that they were, but I don't usually expect it from certain kids. One in particular was the worst kid in all of my classes last semester, but this semester for whatever reason he is trying hard, and he's actually really smart ( Read more... )