Aquas

Here are some pictures from Todd's birthday trip to Aquas, the aquarium in Hamada. It was a really good time. We got to see a ton of things that live under the sea. It is a little known fact that under the water fish don't stink, just wanted to let you know. Anyway, we also got to see the smallest member of the whale family, the beluga. The clever Japanese taught this whale to blow bubbles! AMAZING. Enjoy the pictures!

Here is a hammer head shark! Isn't it cool looking?!! It is so crazy that of all the tools in the world this shark wanted to look like a hammer! What was he thinking!


Can you see the bubble? That whale is a genius cause we taught him to do human things!!


This is just a crazy fish that we snapped a pictures of. Will the wonders of the sea never crease?

Here is a picture of the trainer with a whale. It was just as cool to see him hanging out with them as it was to see the actual whales.

Do you remember Ursula from the movie 'Little Mermaid"? Well I think these were some of her villainous henchmen! They were trying to hide out at the aquarium in Hamada! Pesky beasts.

Let's Take A Vote

Ok, so I have decided I am in no way, shape, or form recontracting for a third year in the JET program. Therefore I am faced with the horrendous decision of deciding what I will actually do in a year's time. I have a few options but I would like you to vote and help sway my decision one way or another. But remember if my life is a complete failure in the end I will have your votes on record and be able to blame you upon my death bed! (kidding! ...... or am I?)

Options:

1. Peace Corps (potentially going to the Ukraine where I can learn Russian and talk about everyone without them understanding me, though, I do that now in English!!)

2. Law School (who doesn't want to sell their soul?)

3. Picking up alcoholism and living under a bridge, (I should be so lucky to live under a bridge, most people only get cardboard boxes! ask Sara about that!)

4. Graduate school for Japanese (why not continually remind myself of how retarded I am for not being fluent in Japanese after two years in the country!)

5. Becoming barefoot and incidentally pregnant (descending to women's rightful place in society)

6. Moving back to the states (but this time to a cool city like Chicago, New York, Seattle because I am never again living in a rural area!)

7. Stripper (what!?! I would just be putting myself through college!!)

8. Moving to London and crashing at Kate's apartment (who wouldn't want me sleeping on their couch and eating all their food!!)

9. Investing heavily in the stock market and hoping I will make enough money never to work again!(Of course, first, I must learn about the stock market, but... details, details)

10. Astronaut (why not? It is as reasonable as the rest of the options listed above)

Making Movies in Yasugi

This weekend was one of the most exhausting but fulfilling weekends I have had in a while. Instead of boozing it up in the dark rooms of my house alone, I decided to spend the weekend making a movie in Yasugi. It was part of this project to teach people how to make movies. So about 80 people assembled in different teams to make a movie. We had only Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to get all the filming done. So the movie I was working on is called "maede in yasugi". I won't spoil the story for you because I want you to come see it when we have the premiere, but I will give you a teaser. It is about a woman waiting for her date to arrive and the person who arrives is quite a surprise. I had the honor of being the camera man which was challenging in many ways. First the language barrier and second the fact that I had never really used a high tech camera before. But the whole camera was in English so the actual operation of it was not difficult. We filmed each day from 7:30 am until 6pm and then we ate dinner and went to the onsen. On Sunday night we had a party and enjoyed yaki niku. It was a really good time.


This is Aikiko, the woman in charge of the audio for our movie. She is great! I loved hanging out with her. She taught me a ton of new words. For example:
1. onra - fart
2. yuuki ( ゆうき) - courage
3. saparri(さっぱり) - something compeletly done
4. bachiri - complete
5. ijiwaru (いじわる) - mean
6. honban (ほんばん)- the actual performance (movie stuff)
6. sukebe - word used for men who like having affairs!
7. nanpa + suru (なんぱ) - skirt chasing

I learned alot this weekend








This is Minako, the actress of our modest film. She lives in Tottori and wants to be an actress in the future so this was good practice for her. I had alot of fun hanging out with her as well.

Birthday Boy!

A Birthday Poem for Todd becasue today is his birthday!

There once was a boy named Todd
He was thought to be quite odd.

His 23rd birthday is today.
So I would like to read him this little essay.

This birthday is like no other.
For he is not in the land of his mother.

Cast upon the shores of Japan.
He feels like an unholy man.

The language is perplexing.
And the food is more than vexing.

For a steak his heart does ache.
But his search shall receive no break.

Japan it seems blows,
But, how was I to know.

In the winter his toes were frost bitten.
And in the summer his body was bug ridden

He now lives with a cat named kitty,
Who he gave the great nickname 'shitty'.

Also he lives with a goofy girl.
Who sometimes makes his anger unfurl.

For that she does apologize
But never is she wrong, you realize!

And this girl may be quite odd.
For her love of the boy named Todd.

But her love for his is second to none.
Even next to a cookie all cooked and done.

She wants no other boy you see.
For any other boy would make her want to flee.

Happy Birthday Todd!!!

I love you like no other.
More than you mother
And at least twice as much as your brother.

I hope you enjoy your time in Japan.
And it ends better than it began!

Daito School Festival

So this is Daito High School Festival. It is one of my favorite times of the school year. For one week the students don't have class, they don't have to study, and they can be creative. This year there were four teams, red, green, yellow, and blue. (I was part of the red team and they were the overall winners!) They competed for overall winner of the festival. They decorated their classrooms, held dance competitions, and competed in sports events. I loved to see the students acting natural outside of the classroom, they are almost like different students.


This is Naoko and Todd in the blue team's room.

These are two the students on the green team. They are also really good students to have in class.

These girls are some of the nicest and sweetest I teach!

This is Todd and I at the festival. He enjoyed himself immensely because he guessed the right answer in a Japanese quiz game and got a cool prize.

Kanji Of The Day: 卒中

romanji: socchuu

hiragana:そっちゅう
definition: noun (meishi) ; cerebral stroke; apoplexy

As many of you know I take a kanji test every Monday with my first grade students. This is one of the kanji for the test today. I love kanji, so many words I am just dying, or in this case, having a stroke to know!!