Blogs from Kamijima, Ochi, Ehime, Japan, Asia - page 3

The regional competition for the junior high school English speeches was last weekend in Matsuyama, a city about two hours south of me on mainland Shikoku. If you were reading my blogs at this time last year, you will remember that I went to this same competition last year with my student Emiko who left victoriously with second place. No such luck this time, although I thought at least one of the two students whom I went with should have won second or third place. I'm not just saying this because I have a biased opinion about my students. I genuinely think that the competition results were unfair. The girl who won first prize gave a speech that was obviously the best, but, suspiciously she came from the same junior high school that the boy who ... read more

Well, year two of project Yuge Island has officially begun! The opening ceremonies have been held, the undoukai has come and gone, and I am now in the midst of the chaos that is fall semester at Japanese schools. It was a bit rough readjusting to my life here again. I had to go to school the next day after my flight back from the U.S. I was extremely jetlagged, and I had caught a cold on top of that. It took me a few days to be able to think clearly again. The heat didn’t help either. It was swelteringly hot everyday. It was around 37 degrees (upper 90s Fahrenheit) on average with unbearable humidity. I remembered this from last year, but for some reason I had thought my memories must have been exaggerated. But ... read more

Tomorrow I fly over the pacific and most of the length of the U.S., back to West “by god” Virginia! It’s only for a month vacation, of course, before I come back here to Yuge for another year of madness. And I have been thinking a lot about how I’m really relieved I’m not leaving Yuge and flying back to the U.S. for good tomorrow. Yes, of course I miss my hometown, friends and family…but I’m definitely not ready to leave the “Yugetopia” as the locals call the island here. I have many goals set for the next year I will spend here, and none of them would be possible to reach anywhere else. I want to get better at my Japanese (of course); I want to learn more shamisen; I want to learn more ... read more

url='/Videos/4209.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/4209.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Hiroshima Carps song As the rainy season continues, the days are getting hotter and more humid. But last weekend I managed to escape the island during a couple of dry days to celebrate Nick’s (English teacher on neighboring island, Ikina) birthday in Hiroshima city. We went to our favorite team, the Hiroshima Carps’, baseball game against the Tokyo Giants. Japanese baseball games are really crazy and fun. Of course, I can’t compare them to baseball games in the U.S., because I’ve never been to one in the U.S. But, another American I was with, Adam, said that baseball fans in the U.S. are nowhere near as enthusiastic and crazy as Japanese baseball fans are. I believe him because the fans here just don’t stop cheering through the whole game, and it’s not just random ... read more

url='/Videos/3573.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3573.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' clamwivesurl='/Videos/3734.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3734.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' Slainurl='/Videos/3575.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3575.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' ze beast Watch the videos to the left but only if you dont mind incessant swearing brought on by pent up inswearability in my day to day life. Sorry family. So what do I do on my island? Yes, I am hit with that troubling problem created in an effort to thrust rural Japanese into he world of the 21st centaury international culture, whether they like it or not, or having to live in basically the middle of no-where - alone. Now, that is obviously the job description and in a way what I signed up for. In a way. But it doe... read more