The grass has gone all feathery to seed beside the road, in leaps and sprays of soft brown. The air nipped my cheeks on my bicycle ride to work this morning. Last night I put the heavy blue fleece blanket on my bed for the first time since I arrived in Uryu, and I wrapped up in my gray wool tartan scarf and hat before leaving the house today ( Read more... )

Ahoy, mateys! Today be already dawned upon that right boist'rous 'oliday, International Talk Like A Pirate Day! An' in th' true int'rest o' internationalism, I be harfway threw givin' th' wee swabbies o' Uryu Village a lesson in REAL English ( Read more... )

So apparently today is just full of tiny snippets of awesome. Two more anecdotes for y'all ( Read more... )

This charmed me so much I just felt the need to share ( Read more... )

Don't bother looking for a Bicycles: Part I in this journal just yet, if you're strange enough to have the inclination. I haven't written it, though I've been planning to for about a year and a half now. The over ten-year saga of my struggle with that mysterious breed of transportation, culminating in Tsurugashima, Japan, with my final triumph ( Read more... )

Today I was a total distraction in the workplace and a terrible influence on the Japanese work ethic, and I loved every minute of it ( Read more... )

Last night, I began the study of the ancient art of Japanese archery, kyudo. Accidentally. Or I suppose a better word would be serendipitously, since that conveys the sense of magic that I experienced on Monday evening much more vividly ( Read more... )

Some facts to get this anecdote started ( Read more... )

Well, here I am, all settled in Hokkaido (for the most part). For the last few days I've been eagerly collecting things I want to write about when I get the time: my coworkers at the Board of Education and at the middle school, the assorted dinners I've been asked to (I've only eaten at home one night), the epic saga of the Hot Water Trouble (or, ( Read more... )

I could make another dramatic post about today's events--the joy, the energy, the apprehension, the interminable speeches (more than ten at the pre-departure orientation alone), saying goodbye to my family, meeting my fellow JETs, the whole shebang. But since I'm sure you've heard it all (or something like it) before, I'd rather focus on one ( Read more... )