Rain Rain Go Away

There are many natural wonders in my part of Japan but perhaps we are experiencing one of the natural horrors this week. It has been raining constantly since Tuesday. Classes have been cancelled for fear of the trains derailing due to flooding and the possibility of students being stranded far from their homes. There was also a mudslide in Kakeya, a town close by. I hope this doesn't prevent me from breaking out of Shimane to come home. Fingers crossed!!

This picture is of downtown Matsue by the station. (ps. I must accredit Maddy with this fine photo she sent me. Way to brave the rough weather!!!)

Universal Language

This is the universal sign for impotency. Thank you Jon for an educational and enjoyable birthday. Here is to 25! I hope you never have a day of impotency but if you do, you will now know how to explain it to a Japanese person. "Gambatte, Gambatte, Oh, Zanen!" Emily you are genius!

My First Married Friends!!!

We all know it is going to happen one day, we are going to get old. There are signs along the way that show us the road to old age like forgetting people's names, wanting to play shuffleboard, and wearing our pants too high. But there are also less depressing things like your friends from College getting married!!!

But putting my own insecurities and apprehensions about aging aside, Congratulations Todd and Rebecca!! You both look so lovely! I am very, very happy for you. You were the most lovely couple I knew and now you are the loveliest married couple I know! And who is that hot guy in the picture with you? The one with the red tie. Is he available?

C.H.E.S.S.

This past weekend saw the efforts of 51 English teachers in Japan realized. We all gathered for a three day, two night camp in Mt. Sanbe to teach 61 students English for the weekend. It was a really good time. It is great to finally have met students who want to learn English and enjoy speaking it. It doesn't get any better than this! Enjoy the pictures!

Happy AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY!

As you all know being in Japan has made me more of an American than I was in the US. It is always the second question I am asked, "Where are you from." Then I get random conversations about how cool Harley Davdison Motorcycles are and Disney Land. I know, I should LOVE Harley Davidson and good ol' Mickey and Minnie but I happen to know very little about both. I just nod my head and fain interest (that is starting to become my most marketable skill. How do you phrase that in a resume, seriously!). So this July 4th I planned a BBQ, America style, for all my friends. Most of the people I hang around with are from other countries like the UK, Canada, and of course Japan, so this was a piece of Americana for them. It was nothing special, but it was fun. (But MAD PROPS to my girl Sara, who always holds it down for American, what what!). So I asked my lovely boy Todd to make some questions about American history for the BBQ so we could have a trivia game. The questions were awesome but there were Japanese people there that had no idea what was going on. They said they would do a Japanese history quiz next time and I was all for it but they got a bit squeemish when they learned I love history, too much pressure I guess. So here are a few questions for you. Can you answers these? If not, FOR SHAME, FOR SHAME, Americans! But for all the other people, get a couple right and call yourself a genius!! Enjoy, I know I did!

I heart History and the boy who made these questions for me!!

1. How many civilians were killed by British soldiers during the famous "Boston Massacre"?

2. What war was considered the "dress rehearsal" for the American Civil War?

A. War for Texan Independence B. War of 1812
C. Black-Hawk War D. Mexican-American War

3. Which two American Presidents won the Nobel Peace Prize while in office? Which President won the prize after leaving office?

A. Theodore Roosevelt & Woodrow Wilson B. Franklin Roosevelt & John F. Kennedy
C. John F. Kennedy & Bill Clinton D. Woodrow Wilson & Bill Clinton

4. Which two presidents were impeached by the House of Representatives? Which President resigned his office?

A. Ulysses S. Grant & Warren Harding B. Warren Harding & Bill Clinton
C. Andrew Johnson & Bill Clinton C. Andrew Johnson & Calvin Coolidge

5. Name three of the four American Presidents who were assassinated.

6. What date was the Declaration of Independence signed?

If you like this kind of thing I was thinking of doing a big trivia night with history so give me some positive feedback and I will make it happen!

From an American.

Give me a stick, gotta beat the men away!

Exciting News! Men in Japan do like Western women!!! Crazy, I know! So Nina and Mike (recently married ALTs) organized a big group date with their eikaiwa students and 6 lucky gaijin women. Apparently there is a big company in the town of Yasugi and these poor men from all over the country were placed in rural Shimane to work for the rest of their lives. Most of the guys are engineers, so not such bad jobs. But if you know anything about the work ethic in Japan, you will know that the company owns these men and they will work their asses off for the company. So we played games and spent the night speaking English. The guys all practiced before the actual date so it was very cute. The guy I was paired up with (next to me in the picture) Masahito was very nice. He majored in International Trading (he is only 23) but ended up working at something different. He couldn't really explain what that was, he is still working on his English. It was a good time overall. I was nervous at first but group dates like this are quite common in Japan. Go figure, the Japanese doing things in groups, strange huh!!

Tubing!

As you probably know my life in Japan is extremely hard. I work long hours for hardly any pay and my nights are filled with endless studying to learn Japanese. And if you believe any of this then you obviously have no idea who I am! So this past Saturday the foreign English speaking community embarked upon the Kawamoto Tubing and Beer Olympics Extravaganza. This was probably the best weekend I have had in Japan. We started the day by meeting at the Kawamoto train station and car-pooling to the chosen spot for getting in the water . We all filled up our intertubes and took off. I would like to give some very necessary advice about tubing. You should not pick an intertube just cause it is cute and shaped like a fish. Second, do the math, if the cute fish you bought does not fit around you waist, kind of a waste. Ok, done with the advice. (I will in no way own up to doing any of that!) The river was quite high so it was fast moving and good fun. I happened to spend my hour and a half floating down the river on my stomach therefore my back and cheeky backside got a little sunburned but it was totally worth it. Then we all retired to some cabins we hired out and barbecued food. Finally the games began! I was hesitant about participating in the beer Olympics. While I am quite obviously an athlete (next time you see me I will flex for you), I didn't know how well I would hold up while drinking alcohol. I decided to compete anyway. (You know, throwing caution to the wind) Turns out there is one girl out there who might have found her true talent in life. Some may sing, some may dance, hell some may even know math, I on the other hand am a master at flippy cup. It was amazing. But alas, not even being a flippy cup master could put the green team in first place, we ended up third. But hats off to my wonderful team! Thanks Nigel, Chrissy, Erica, and Leif!!! It was a great night! And thanks to Koren for posting this wonderful picture I stole!! :-)