to a new blog page...

http://emlaskowski.blogspot.com/

bookmark it!
lots of updates and pictures over the past couple months.

This Halloween was quite an interesting one, and one I will remember my whole life, I'm sure. Halloween has only recently become popular in Japan and it is just as commercialized as at home. The kids understand that Halloween is a time for candy and costumes, beyond that, there is really little comprehension of day itself. We celebrated ( Read more... )

Today, I decided to spend some time exploring Nakatsu. I drove as far as I could, in the only direction that I haven't been yet in hopes of finding the "beach." I knew the beach isn't the same type of beach that I know, sand and all.. and the water is not the Pacific, but rather the bay between Kyushu (my island) and Shikoku, the next closest ( Read more... )

First, some Background information on Beppu ( Read more... )

Today, I went to a local festival, just outside of Nakatsu. I was excited, but not really sure what to expect. I was tempted to go to observe my friends from work who were recruited to push a 200 kg rice cart through an obstacle course. Apparently, they didn't know what to expect either ( Read more... )

The climate is Japan is quite astonishing. Two things you have to keep in mind... Oita is one of the southern most areas of Japan (located at about 33 degrees north latitude- same as Texas/Arizona/Southern California) and this is obviously an island. It's important to understand that these two factors have a large influence on the climate. ( Read more... )

Today, we went for lunch at Jukucho's house. He is the owner of Keio Academy, and he and his wife were nice enough to have us over for Thai curry. Around noon, Holland, Zain, Mari and I went to lunch. Zain and Mari are also teachers at Keio. Zain is from Tennessee, and Mari is Japanese, but they met in college, in America and got married about ( Read more... )

In Japan, people rarely wear shoes.  Unless they are walking outside, it's slippers only.  This is something that I found easy to get used to, but it was not so easy for my feet.  It started out with slipper shopping.  See, I needed a pair of slippers for home, and a pair for school.  I thought it would be fun to wear them at school, but in fact, ( Read more... )

The jet lag has finally hit.  Attacked and beaten me down, is more like it.  It's been so much harder to fall asleep early, and even more difficult to wake up with a semi-clear head.  But I'm working on it.  Last night it rained so hard, I thought the roof would cave in.  It's been fairly rainy the past few days, now that I think of it.  The heat ( Read more... )

So here I am.  Finally, I have my own blog.  Although, I'm not quite sure what to write.  I suppose I'll start from the very first day.  I arrived in Japan on Tuesday, September 11th.  My flight was long and boring, but I tried to make the best of it.  I slept a lot, which was something somewhat unfamiliar to me in the days before my flight!  It ( Read more... )