Okayama-ken

Well I've been at work a few days now, and I have to say its pretty boring as the kids don't arrive till September. I'm teaching at two schools- Shonan High, my base school, which is 10-15mins cycle from my apartment, and Seishi High, which is about an hour on the train! I teach one week at each, alternating, though when I'm at Seishi I may end up staying at a friends house in Kurashiki proper (I'm technically in Kurashiki City, but on the outskirts by the coast in a place called Kojima). On the plus side, the teachers at Shonan are fantastic- crazy happy Miyoshi-sensei, who really is a loon, quiet and sweet Ueoka-sensei, who sits opposite me, giving daily words of advice and constantly praising my limited Japanese, and Yoden-sensei, who has turned up to work hungover three days in a row (Japanese equivalent of Dan I think!) I've also been helped a great deal by Mori-san, the secretary at the school who has taken me shopping, taught me a couple of recipes, and is one of the few teachers in at the moment who speaks good english. The English teachers are really cool too- Minobe-sensei is 24 and she's really nice- we have a lot in common and it's good to know a sensei around my age. As already mentioned, Ono-sensei is also great- we have very similar music tastes. At the moment its the (O)Bon Festival, during which spirits return to the graveyard. This means that most of the teachers are away on holiday, including all the Eigo-sensei (English teachers). Above is Koraku-en, lit up at night for O-Bon (good photo taken by me this time!)

Spare time has been rapidly filled up- I explored Kurashiki on Sunday with Megan and Carrie (Carrie's ridiculously camera shy, as you can see), and I went out for a Chinese with Megan and her supervisors family on Sunday night. It was my first time in a proper Japanese-style restaurant, and sitting with crossed legs for an hour turned out to be pretty uncomfortable! But the family were really nice- they've already 'adopted' Megan and seem to have adopted me now as well! I was meant to meet Yumiko but sadly I was out of my apartment all day- a bit of a 'judas' on my part I guess. On Monday I went back to Koraku-en, with Megan and her supervisor. As you can see the garden was lit up, and this time I could really appreciate the beauty of it- it was like being transported back in time, with no bright, modern lights and most of the Japanese women wearing amazing yukata, traditional Japanese kimono. On Wednesday I met Yumiko, who is really cool- we're gonna go out again next week, and she's invited me to cycle across the famous bridge from Hiroshima to Shikoku Island with her friends in a month or so! It's a five-hour cycle, but will be good training as I'm hoping to do the Hachi-ju-hachi (88) Temple Pilgrimage on Shikoku by bike at the end of the year.

This weekend I'm off to Himeji-jo, officially 'Japan's best castle', and on to Kobe in the evening. I might stay in Kobe till sunday and meet a friend in Kyoto, but it would also be nice to have a rest on Sunday- the next two weeks are really busy! Next week I formally 'meet' all the sensei at Shonan High, then have the JET Orientation in Okayama. The week after I start teaching at Shonan, and have to give speeches in front of all the students at both Shonan and Seishi. I have to admit I'm not used to all this activity- I've
been drinking lots of coffee, plus a crazy
Japanese energy drink that comes in glass
medicine bottles and is way stronger than Red
Bull. I'm on Skype now, so that's a completely
free way to contact me! Also come on you
Blues! Looking good with 7 out of 9 pts!