Daisen

Living in Yonago is really nice because the scenery here is gorgeous. I am about a 5-10 minute drive from the ocean and about 25 minutes from the tallest Mountain in western Japan.

I don't know when I will get sick of looking at it, but everyday I catch myself staring at it. You can see it from any point in Yonago. The views from my school are especially amazing because they are located out in the countryside. I am itching to go climb it, but I broke a rib last weekend messing around while playing rugby. I am having trouble sleeping, laughing, coughing, sneezing and pretty much anything else that involves my core.

Last weekend I spent most of my time driving around and finding good places to chill. Kaike beach is really nice because you can swim, surf and fish. Of course I won't be fishing (boring...) I am so excited for summer! I have the next couple of days off, usually I would have planned something fun, but I just got here so I haven't had the time to plan a trip with friends. I'll keep you all posted, until next time, MataNe. (see ya) JB

Japanese Public Schools

I have started to teach in the public schools. The atmosphere here is wayyyy different from my former conversation school. People seemed to be more relaxed, well not by American standards, but by Japanese standards they are laxed. Yesterday a typhoon came through and we had a little meeting, within 5 seconds, everyone was in agreement that the rest of the day should be cancelled. Speaking of typhoons, I was driving back from Tottori city on Saturday night, and the typhoon winds were so intense that I thought I was going to get blown off of the road. When I got home, I turned on the news and saw a bunch of overturned trucks. The wind is so strong coming off of the sea and of course the best way to get back and forth from Tottori is along the coast. I only have to teach like 2-5 classes a day, usually I will teach 3. I am at 3 different schools. On Mondays I go to Aimi Elementary School, this school is really nice and they have 200 students total. I teach 3 classes in the morning and one in the afternoon. I like the elementary schools because I basically teach the whole class. I am the head teacher and I get to use Japanese and English. Plus the kids are really fun and excited to learn. The next day, I go to Aimidaini Elementary school, it is way up in the Mountains. The school looks like something you would see in a movie. There are only 12 students in the whole school! It is awesome because that makes teaching so much easier, they can't goof off. I walked into my first period and was shocked, there were 2 students! They were these 2 cute first graders, they looked terrified, I think I may be the first white person they have ever seen...haha. After a while they warmed up to me and we had a great time. Each grade only has 2-4 students. Coming to this school is the best. I know all of the kids names already and they line up to greet me when I come. The rest of the week I spend my time at Nanbu Junior High. This school is only 10-15 minutes from my apartment. I really enjoy driving through the mountains to get to school. At this school I am more of an assistant teacher. The head teacher leads the class and I interject from time to time. I am here more to interact with the students and provide them with native pronunciation. The funny thing about Japanese teachers is that they have certain Japanese ways of doing things and if I say oh, we don't do that in America they get offended. I think to myself, umm, I am here to provide proper insight into the Engrish language haha. I enjoy my time at this school too so far. All of the teachers are nice and it is a great opportunity to practice my Japanese. They seemed relieved that I can speak Japanese. The principal is a really cool dude, he taught at an international school in Saudi Arabia for 4 years, it is pretty rare to come across someone with that background here in the countryside. I had an interesting conversation with the staff here about Prom yesterday, they don't have school dances in Japan, so the concept is completely foreign to them. I showed them my prom picture and the women were going crazy. They thought it was the coolest thing..haha and they thought my date was beautiful, which was true of course. Last weekend I went back to Tottori to see some of my friends. I spent Friday night with Mike, Eric and Josh. We always have a good time when we are together, I enjoy spending time with Eric and Mike because we have the same kind of personalities. We basically just sit around and tell jokes for hours. On Saturday we went to the beach and just hung out. It was nice to see my old beach, the beach that I use to run to and surf at. At about 3pm, my friend Terusan came and picked me up, we had talked on the phone and I said I wanted to buy a wet suit for surfing. We went to this sweet little surf shop. Terusan seemed to good friends with the owner. The owner offered me free lessons, apparently he is a surf legend around here. So we made plans to go surfing in two weeks and he offered me his long board, which is nice because it is much easier to surf using that. I am a bit rusty....I didn't buy a wet suit because it was expensive......$400.... After that I went to Mike's place and crashed until about 6pm. We then went to dinner and then followed that up with a trip to the local club to meet some people and listen to Mike do a Funk DJ set. I don't really know how to dance to Funk, but wed had a good time. Other than that I haven't been doing much, I am just looking forward to 2 weeks from now. A nice long surf weekend is definitely needed. I am still in that honeymoon stage, I don't think reality will hit me until it gets cold again, the summertime here is amazing. Sleeping in tents on the beach, spear fishing, surfing, snorkeling, bbqing...I can't wait! I will keep you all posted, until next time. Buh Bye JB