Catching up...

Let's see...What has happened since July 27th...

Farewell parties...
Well there have been so many, but the one to highlight is the one where I got to get all dressed up in traditional Japanese summer gear. My J-Mama took me and her son out for some DELICIOUS ginger shaved ice. Later that afternoon, she wanted to introduce me to her friend who speaks French. Long story short...we started talking about yukata and how I couldn't find a nice green one when something green flailing in the wind in the back of the house caught my eye. It was a nice green and white yukata. So they were like, "Hey try it on." We ran upstairs and got me all dressed up. I found out that it was hand-dyed and made by her late grandmother. Guess what...she told me to wear it to the dinner party. Knowing full well that I wanted to, I felt the need to decline because it was obviously and heirloom and they didn't know me from Adam. So, after about 15 minutes of Nooooo...I insist...But no...Go ahead...I can't...Sure you can...Ok fine, I walked out all dolled up in the yukata. Here's another picture after another farewell party...with my dog.

New ALTs
Two new teachers have moved into our apartment since two left. They are both from SoCal... Southern California for those who have no clue, like me. On their first day there Maggie and I tried to drag them out to the biggest fireworks display on this side of Japan but we were only successful at prying one of them away from her suitcases. It was pretty nice...as you can see Maggie and I got dressed for the occasion like the rest of the Japanese folks.

Bought car last minute...
So I decided at the start of the summer that I would either move to a new apartment or buy a car. Well, after researching just how expensive it would be to move I decided that the car would be better...especially considering my commutes to my schools. I was contacted on a Friday by a teacher who was leaving on that following Tuesday about buying his car. I bought the car for a decent price and I set out to get my license this summer since I was in the office until the start of the new term.

Tokyo Orientation...
I had a really good time as a presenter at the Orientation for this year's new teachers. They really put a lot of work into getting us here, informed, and sent out to our respective new "homes." I presented at the JETs of African Decent workshop and it went really well. My future jobs will have to involve communicating with people! I was also responsible for taking the teachers who are going to Fukuoka out on the town. I decided that an hour of all-you-can-drink/karaoke was good enough so they would be free to meet up with friends or go back to the hotel and sleep after. They all agreed and we had a good time.

Driver's License...
HAVE MERCI!!! I failed the test 5 TIMES!
#1 They drive on the left here and my silly self pulled on to the wrong side of the street! (ok, my fault!)
#2 Tire dipped of the course coming out of the Crank...a series of 90 tight turns one after another. (ok, my fault again)
#3 The instructor slams on the break on his side because I didn't yield to oncoming traffic!!! WHAT! The "oncoming traffic" was on the other side of the course...the car had not even made it to the same street I was on...Needless to say I WAS MAD!
#4 Tire bumped the curb on a turn. (Fine, I was thinking "STAY LEFT" a little too hard).
#5 This time I was too far from the curb that I had previously bumped and I didn't signal 30 meters before a turn...I signaled like 17 meters instead! (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!)
In the words of my mother, "What they have down there is a racket going on!" At $40 a pop, I'm not trying go go broke for the sake of driving. So, I've decided to sell the car. End of story!

Osaka...Capoeira...Universal Studios Japan
A teacher that I had met in Kobe then again at the beach party in Tottori decided to make a trip to Osaka after having such a good time with the Capoeira group at the beach party. Not thinking, we planned the trip on the weekend during Obon...that's the time that Japanese people return to their ancestral homes/hometowns to pay respect to their deceased family members. There was a positive and a negative to this.
-Lots of things were closed...including the capoeira studio...DOH! By the time I got there, I was able to say hey to 3 people and leave...BOO HOO!
+Lots of things were closed...Despite the fact that it was during summer vacation, thanks to the holiday the city wasn't crowded and we were able to ride pretty much everything we wanted to at Universal studios without having to wait!!! I didn't get to take all the pictures I wanted because my digital camera was in my pocket inside the E.T. ride and it fell out! Luckily it fell out just before the part where the ground drops from below us and we ride above the city/across the moon. So, it landed safely. However, I couldn't get it back until the park closed! GRRRRR! In my anger I tried to mail myself home in one of the RANDOM US Postal Service boxes.

And last but certainly not least...I explained the meaning of butt cheeks to my vice principal because he read and article about a group of Australians called Bums for Bush were planning a mass mooning of the Pres-O-Dent on his visit Down Under...hahahaha!