Dartboard

I was telling Catherine yesterday, I still feel like Oregon is where I left it—in the middle of winter. It’s hard for me to imagine that it’s summer in Oregon too. I just got a group email from a friend back home that said, “Not sure if you’re checking your email on these warm summer days, but…” and I thought, “Warm! In Oregon? …Nah!” But it is July here—and I guess it’s July in Oregon too. Weird how that happens.

Oregon summers aren’t typically very hot, but at least they are pleasant. I’d much rather spend a summer slightly cool in Oregon, then a sweaty summer in Japan. (I’ve got to remember that next year at this time.)　I hate this weather.

No AC at the high school this morning. Saving money and energy. That’s a good thing, I just wish we could be cool too.

This weekend on Fukue was a lot of fun. It was nice to get off the island and see a “big city” without spending the time or money on a ferry to Nagasaki. I’m beginning to think Fukue has everything you need. Moss Burger, Mister Donut, a HUGE Osada (discount store) and lots of friendly ALTs. Amber (ALT from Australia) took me on a walk to a park and viewpoint near her house and a beach Saturday morning, then we went out to lunch together.

Goto City.

In the afternoon I went to Rhianon’s (ALT from America) volleyball game and met Michael (ALT from Hawaii). Then I went shopping with Mike and Luis (the guys who stayed with me for the triathlon-private English teachers) for a birthday present for Rhianon.

Bought this hat for myself—too irresistible to pass up.

Found this Dieter’s Bath funny.

Sunday was Rhianon’s birthday so we had dinner and a party with everyone (6 ALTs, 3 private English teachers and 2 Japanese).

Alena (ALT from Hawaii) presents Rhianon’s birthday cake.

Sunday I went on a long bike ride with Misty (ALT from Canada, going home in August) to two beaches (Ohama and something else). It was so beautiful—the weather was overcast, but it was so humid I enjoyed the protection the clouds provided. I still got a tan on my arms and shoulders! Fukue is pretty flat so biking long distances is really easy. Rhianon let me use her very cool mountain bike so the few hills we did climb were easy as pie.

Also, it was a bit weird, but on my bike ride I got a call from some Japanese girl who thought I have been sleeping with her boyfriend. She didn’t speak any English so I had to explain to this stranger that I was not her boyfriend’s “sex friend.” She found my number in his cell phone and so we MUST be sleeping together!! It was really bizarre, but I was proud of myself because I was able to communicate about a difficult and awkward situation in Japanese over the phone and without much preparation. Wait, clarification: No preparation. This was totally out of the blue.

Misty and I had lunch at Moss Burger (my first time at this Japanese food chain—oishikatta!) and there were a ton of children there. These two elementary school girls kept walking by us and calling us “so cute” so we struck up a conversation with them and I eventually invited them to eat their fries at our table. Again, I love talking to children in Japanese. I can ask so many easy questions (What’s your favorite… anything—food, color, drink, anime? What do you want to be when you grow up? What did you do yesterday? What are you doing later today? How’s lunch? Do you have any siblings?) We can talk forever and get lots of practice at the level I’m at. They invited us to do purikura with them too, so after lunch we took our pictures together. At their request, we wrote everyone’s name in English on our stickers.

The girls—we’re talking small things here, just 7 and 10 years old—wanted to pay for the purikura themselves, but give us half of them to take home. It’s about 400 yen, so between four people would be easy to divide equally. The stickers were not so easy to divide—there were an odd number so someone was only going to get one strip of stickers instead of two. The girls really wanted Misty and I to take the bigger half the stickers, but not pay any money either. I insisted that we at least help pay for them if we were going to take home the pot. The girls refused to take our money until finally I snuck it in their hands when I handed them their stickers. It was so cute—it totally should have been the other way around. The girls jumped and squealed when I tricked them into taking the money. I’ve approached many Japanese who insist on going out of their way for me—and then footing the bill on top of it—but I didn’t expect elementary school students to already have that attitude engrained in them. Obviously they were very special kids, but it just reinforces what I already know, Japan is a wonderful place.

A great experience. Thanks Misty!!!

I’m all packed up for my trip to Sasebo and weekend in Nagasaki. I leave this afternoon with Norimura-sensei and Dawn and I are meeting up for the night. I’m going to Scott’s place in Nagasaki on the weekend. I’m going to try to drag him shopping and to as many restaurants as I can! Always top priority when I visit a city. I’ll be back on Sunday with pictures and stories!

Tchusy tchus!! (as a certain German woman once said to me)
Sierra

And the winner is…