It seems like weblogs are quite popular in the circles in which i run nowadays. As distanced from our "normal" lives as we all are here in Japan, I suppose that they provide the surest, most economical means of staying in touch. We all flatter ourselves that people actually care to read about our everyday lives, and if we throw in a witty phrase or two, or a funny story, so much the better. I'm not sure who is actually going to read this outside of close friends and family, and perhaps the occasional stray kid who stumbles across it while looking to download music or worse, but nonetheless I think I should start at the beginning.

The problem is, the beginning was a month ago, and I've forgotten a lot of it. Better late than never, however, so I'll provide for you all a brief rundown of the all important, formulative first four weeks of my stay here in the house of the rising sun.

Week one: Flew in to Tokyo, was tired. Went to several workshops tired. Went out to sing Karaoke, pepped up a bit, spent money, and then was tired. Got on a plane, fell asleep and woke up in Toyama, tired. Met my supervisors, who are very sweet, and who realized that I was tired, so they took me to lunch, and sent me home to sleep. That's pretty much the gist of it.

Week two: We had several welcome events, hell, we're still having "welcome events." Of note were the two "beer garden" parties that were designed as ice breakers. Now, a month later, I've gotten to know the vetran JETS who have been here for a year or more, and the other day we talked about these parties, and several of them admitted that they were grumpy at the time and didn't want to meet new people. I'm glad they admitted this, because at the time I got this slightly hostile vibe from some of them. I still think that most of them pride themselves on having lived here for a year just a bit too much for their own good. Most of them rock, though, and I haven't met one who I would go out of my way to avoid, which is saying something, right?

Week three: Every day I sat behid my desk reading until my ass fell asleep. Then I went to go get some lunch and then I sat back down again. It was pretty slow at work this first month. REAL slow. I read, no joke, eight books. Seriously.

Week four to now: Things are picking up, school started, things are movin'. I taught two classes the other day, and realized just how little english these kids actually know. I know at least twice as much Japanese as they know english, and my Japanese is a crock of poo. The kids cant tell me where they live, but they can ask me if I have a "sex friend." Wonderful. Its nice to know where their priorities lay. I don't know for sure what a "sex friend" is, but I have a pretty damn good idea, and I don't want a 16 year old girl asking me about it when all I want is to go get some coffee from the vending machine so I don't fall asleep reading the newspaper. Don't get me wrong, I love talking to the whelps, but how about lets talk about movies or the weather or something? I'll even meet you halfway there in Japanese. Hell, I'll meet you all the way there. Also, stop checking your damn cell-phone during class.

Enough for today. I'll write again when I can. Keep it real.