Yo!
Things have only gotten better in the last couple days at work and in general I'd say everything seems to have turned up a bit.

I suppose it really started getting interesting with the big music festival in Nagasaki on Sunday. It was a bunch of Japanese rock banks coming on in about 45 min sets and they were pretty good. It was quite a scorcher on the field, but someone brought a cooler and all was well. Got to jump around and do a little moshing, and even got lifted up and crowd surfed over a throng of Japanese people! Security didn't seem to be too fond of it, but all they did was lead me around the barrier and back into the crowd :) All in all quite a blast, still not sure why all the cool things you can do here in Japan seem to be on a work night though...

At work as well things are getting more interesting. On Monday I got to do some work, which is actually much more exciting than it sounds as I write this. But yeah, the kids had English writing assignments over the summer where they had to write 20 pages of repeated sentences and my teacher at the school had me check them over and make corrections. It wasn't the work which was fun, more that I finally have work, and that I got to see their English level a little which was neat too. I also get to interact more with teachers now that they're back and especially my two English teachers.

This was followed up by a solo visit to one of my elementary schools which went surprisingly well. Previously at all my school visits I had either Peter (neighboring ALT who's been here a while) or my supervisor with me helping to smooth things over or try to explain stuff. I found that when I have someone else to do the talking for me, I really clam up and don't try very hard to understand on my own or be understood. But all alone I got to get out of that and the communication was great! Primarily in Japanese we managed to discuss what the first couple visits will look like, taught eachother a handful of useful words, and then took a tour of the school. Next Monday I'll do the same type of visit at the other elementary school.

But it still gets better! During the day my supervisor came over to the school and helped me go through the mail and figure out what they were asking me to pay for (ugh, the crazy mail that doesn't even make sense to Japanese people!) and we set up a bunch of auto payment accounts with most of my utilities and such. I also had to pay her for my iphone finally, because on Friday I got paid! It's totally different from jobs I've had in the U.S. as I actually receive all the money I would earn in the month, before the month is even over, instead of like 3-4 weeks after I finished working that pay period. And then she told me that the car title was changed into my name, and helped me choose an insurance plan, so it is totally driveable as of today! I'm thinking it's about time for a short road trip up to Fukuoka (the big city here in Kyushu) and check it out. I even hear they have a Costco, so I wanna stock up on some of those foods I'm missing.

Then in the evening the Board of Education people took Peter, Spike and I out for a welcome dinner party. There was good food, fun conversations, and lots and lots of sake. I got to learn the very humbling styles of offering drinks to the boss peoples from Peter who has apparently been taken through the ropes on etiquette and proved a valuable teacher, and not only did my boss drink out of my cup, but he even fed me half his own dumpling with his chopsticks! The concept of all-you-can-drink is quite popular here and you can get it at almost any bar if you discuss it before hand and tell them how many people you'll bring, then they'll give you a room and as much as you want for about two hours. Again, not sure why everyone loves to get their party on after the weekend is over, they're crazy hardcore like that out here! The shot of us in this bar is actually from last week with the taiko guys, I forgot to take pictures last night.

In general all is well. I'd say it's been crazy busy and I could probably really use a down day to relax and catch up on some sleep, but it's just been too much fun to pass stuff up. I also feel that while my Japanese is coming back and improving, what's really getting better is my confidence in it. They even gave us a list of most of the important things that are said differently here as a result of the Hougen (which is basically an accent, but it usually implies that entire words change). It's kind of like you wouldn't hear somebody call someone a hoser down in the U.S., unless your my sister of course, cus she's cool like that. And there is your Japanese vocab word for the day!

Moved to Blogworld!

So while facebook works good for notes and such I think it might actually be easier to just create this blog and keep writing, let everyone visit at their leisure. I'll still probably upload most of my photos on facebook so keep checking it out there.

So! Events of the last couple weeks or so: (I know, it's been a little while)

So I've been settling in well, the house is great. While I haven't started really making it my own just yet with wall decorations and such, it is still starting to feel like home. I still need to do some housewarming hopefully with some of the other JETs but I'm still waiting on the car to be able to get people here from the station! Last night I got a ride home with a couple Takeo (somewhat nearby town) JETs and they were boggled wondering where the hell I was taking them as we drove through field after field. I'm pretty sure I'm in one of the most Inaka areas of all of us, and Saga has alot of those areas. And there's your Japanese vocab for this blogg post too! (there might even be a quiz later...) The word of the day: Inaka - the opposite of urban meaning countryside, the boonies, the stix or middle of nowhere. Since my town is mostly a farming community it's a bit like living in Iowa and there isn't much to do, with quite a older population all around as well. But they all seem quite friendly so far, despite the occasional shocked stare (especially when I'm taking my run without a shirt on).

Let's see, the week of the 10th I was finally hanging out at my school and it was nice to meet all my teachers. One of them really loves hiking and camping, so we spent some time comparing topographic maps of areas in Japan he likes, he showed me pictures of the mountains he climbed and I showed him some of the flatirons and fourteeners from Colorado. Through the gaps in my Japanese I believe I came to understand that we're to go up sometime together and do some hiking, which is confusing because the verb in Japanese encompasses both rock climbing and hiking. Either way should be fun, but I think he's gonna kick my butt; this dude has calves more beastly than mine and is at least twice my age I'd have to say! But about halfway through the week it got pretty boring as most of the teachers took their time off for the Obon holiday to honor their ancestors with their families at home, so I was left alone with my vice principal. Except on Thursday when we had district orientation which was nice and informal with local JETs telling us the hot spots to hang out and the easiest ways to travel and such. They also blindfolded us and fed us random Japanese foods which was good with the one exception of the Natto they fed us. Fermented soybeans with the consistency of raw wiggling worms just didn't have the satisfaction that the squid jerky offered. But then we got to feed the returning JETs some stuff as well, of which there's a pic. There was a BBQ after with some cake throwing in the end. I tried to be an innocent and just take pictures and witness, but no, Josh hit me with a fistful. He'll get what's coming to him! We also went to a fireworks festival on Tuesday and got some fun shots of exploding rockets, and yes, I bought green glowing horns to wear.

That weekend I had my second bike incident where I was biking at night and hit a curb, going over the handlebars and scraping up my arm a bit. This also caused the front tire to go flat, but was an easy repair to have done. Then on Sunday at the local festival for my town the taiko group let me play one of their songs with them even though I had only had 3 practices. This was a blast and an honor, even playing next to the elementary school students. Josh came down from Takeo (another JET who flew in with me) and took pictures it was lots of fun and everyone was really welcoming, and the 'coach' even invited Josh and I out for drinks after which proved to be another fun, linguistically challenging, but quite hilarious adventure.

Then this past week I've been having to commute up to Saga city for my Japanese language course. This was fun and exciting at first because I could learn to use the trains better and get the lay of the land of one of the bigger cities around me. It's about the equivalent of going from Boulder to Denver, but I have to do about 20 mins of it by bike, 15 mins by train, and then once I'm there it's about another 30 mins walk from the station. So doing all that in the humid heat in my "cool business" where was not fun with the sweat factor. But I learned a good amount I think and had fun. Unfortunately my bike has decided it doesn't like me much anymore I think, as twice this last week I've approached it only to find out that the rear tire was flat. This is infuriating, especially after I already replaced it once, and caused me to get to know where other places to get repairs done in Kohoku are. I think the bike wheel or frame are doing something to the tube so I might have to get involved in more complex repairs now. On the flipside however, I hadn't heard anything about my title change for my car for quite some time, but then got an email last night telling me it's pretty much set, and that my supervisor would bring me the stuff to get it insured on Monday!! So the wheels might finally be ready to roll sometime this coming week, which is a huge relief since I have to go back to Saga twice next week for Prefectoral Orientation.

And now it's Saturday so I get to relax a bit for the day, catch up on visiting with my people back home and maybe do some reading or such. Then tomorrow I'm off on an adventure to Nagasaki I think so I can go to a big concert/summer thing. Then I'm gonna try to make it back to Fukudomi in time for Taiko, which might prove a bit of a challenge. Then this coming week I'll be at my school for half of the days and then at Saga-ken's orientation for the other half. If you got any other stuff you'd like to know, post it up either on my facebook or here. I'm happy to visit more!

And here's an attempt to upload a video of the Taiko that Josh took with my phone (this is the one that they let me play with them though you can't see me because I'm up front on one of the smaller drums, there are also some cooler ones with the big drums involved in you want to see them):