Archive for August, 2005
the pool
August 3rd, 2005The inside of my apartment
August 3rd, 2005I know that certain members of my family are itching to see the inside of my apartment… this is a quick shot of my living room area. To the right there’s a nice tatami room; and behind is the kitchen, the shower/bath room, and the restroom. The place is pretty nice, actually. It’s got A/C, and a bathtub. The only thing that’s a bit odd is the washing machine, which has one compartment for washing and one for spinning? I don’t really know how that’s supposed to work.
Quick shot of the lounge
an informal meeting
August 2nd, 2005Just got back from an izakaya with my boss the vice principal, and the head of the English dept. An izakaya is sort of like an Applebees back home, except a lot more drinking goes on– but a lot gets done as well. Alcohol tends to loosen people enough that they’re willing to open up a bit and make suggestions. It seems we’re on the same page as far as my role is concerned. More later.
The band plays on
August 2nd, 2005The middle school band has been practicing every day I’ve been into school, and I’m pretty sure they were playing on Saturday as well. To boot, they’re one of the best junior high bands I’ve ever heard. Right now they sound exhausted, since they’ve been playing since 7am. I’m gonna go up and visit them in a sec.
Now they’re playing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”. Um.
My new keitai
August 2nd, 2005The previous post was made from this phone I just got. Of course, the phone was free.
Click to see the inside
It has:
- a camera (of course)
- a huge screen
- a TV tuner so you can watch your favorite shows or sports game where the reception is good; it even presets the stations depending on where in the country you are
- an FM tuner, for when you can’t get a TV signal
- an electronic dictionary, Japanese to English and vice versa
- mini-SD slot so you can use it as an actual digital camera
- IR port for direct phone to phone transfers or using your phone as a remote control
- plays a bunch of digital files so you can use it as a video or audio player
…and a bunch of other stuff that I haven’t figured out yet. Good grief, even the picture quality is better.
Keitai mail posts work
August 2nd, 2005Here’s a photo from my teachers’ room.
Weekend walks
August 1st, 2005What do you do on the weekend in a small town surrounded by rice fields when you have no car and no bike? You go for a walk, of course.
Saturday, in spite of the 95% humidity, I decided to explore the town a bit. Over the course of several trips out (and back into A/C to recuperate), I found a conbini about 5 mins down the street, a library (right outside my apt), and a regular bus that runs to Sendai and Furukawa, albeit within very limited hours. And on top of this, there are TWO sake distilleries just down the street! Holy cow!
During my search for a bike shop, I came upon the local postman, who had told me earlier that I needed to fill out a special change of address form (probably so that when mail arrived for me they would actually know WHERE to deliver it to.) As it turned out, he had actually gone back to the post office and picked up the form, and had it waiting for me. Wow. So I asked him for directions to a bike shop.
A few minutes later I walked into a bike shop run by an 80 year old man with an incredibly thick regional accent. I think he was quite surprised to see me, as he kept pushing gifts upon me: first a candy, then an energy drink, and then some paper cranes. Then he showed me a photo from 1943: him in front of a fighter plane, in full uniform. Whoa.
Then on Sunday I was bored, so I walked to Miyazaki, the neighboring town that’s technically part of Kami as well. It took about 2 hours. Heh.
