YUKINO!!!

I have a kitten!!! She is incredibly tiny and her name is Yukino.
Someone left a box of kittens on the steps of city hall, so I had my pick of one to save from certain death and to love unconditionally :p
She's cute, but her teeth and hella sharp and she cries like a banshee.


I went to two concerts this week as well. Sunday was MONSTER baSH in Kagawa-ken (think Edgefest, only very Japanese). It was amazing and I heard some bands I didn't know before (re. Beat Crusaders, Shonen no Kaze). I met some cool new Japanese people too, and had ample opportunities to practice my speaking. Wednesday night was the Utada Hikaru concert in Matsuyama-shi, Ehime-ken. The city is HUGE (either that, or I've just been in the countryside for too long...) and the concert was killer. Utada's voice was great, and her outfits were too Jpop cool for school. She even sang my favorite song by her, "Devil Inside". Check her out on YouTube if you haven't heard her before.

Annnnnnnd school opened this week, so I've been making the junior high and elementary circuit to present a makeshift Japanese and English introduction speach (my name is, I'm from Canada...). Classes begin on Monday, scary stuff, but I'm ready.

a quick update

Jane in Naruto posted a link a short video she took of us getting ready to dance the Awa Odori in Toukshima city
check it out

Life goes on... bug free

So the mukade are officially gone, yay for poisonous gases in my home and the wonderful job they did killing all the nasties.

and.... I READ MY FIRST WORD IN JAPANESE TODAY!!1 I was so proud. I was sitting, waiting at the bank looking at my fan, and tried to read the hiragana and discovered "arigato". 1 word down, many more to go, but finally!!! it's the first time i've been able to read anything.

In other news, I have a ton of things to do this weekend. The west end welcome party, Monster Bash in Kagawa, some serious housekeeping and prepping my suit for the welcome ceremony at Min Junior High on Monday. School starts a week from Monday.

also, I've finished Super Princess Peach twice and desperately need a new game for my DS.

photo site UP

photos will be posted HERE - > http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmpetersen/

please feel free to browse, post and inquire :p
~b

Post: number one/ichiban

So far so good!
Work is fun and interesting, although I feel a little vain designing a whole lesson around my own self introduction :p Ego BOOST! ;) I'm based out of Mino's chugaku (Junior High) and my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), Fujimato-san, is amazing. Team teaching is a go and I think we'll be quite successful at making English fun for the kids.

At the board of education, where I am when I'm not at chugaku, I work closely with my supervisor Nishioka-san. She is responsible for me, and has been a huge help in getting me set up and showing me around. She's also been helping me with my Japanese, and althouugh she denies it, she is quite capable in English.

I went to prefectural orientation in Anan at the YMCA camp on the coast. The views were breathtaking, and I got to work with some junior high and high school students to make plays, play games and go canoeing. It was a nice break from being in the country, and I was happy to finally be working with some students!

I participated in a local matsuri (summer festival) and got my picture in the newspaper (with my dancing group). Awa Odori is a yearly festival where everyone basically goes into the streets to dance or watch people dance... and drink. I got to wear a yukata (summer kimono) and ate random fried sea animals from street vendors. So cool.

My adult conversation class took me out for an enkai (Welcome party) Sunday night. It was hilarious drinking, eating and singing karaoke with them. I did Elton John, Linda Rondstadt, Ernie Ford and Puffy Ami Yumi, and a duet of an Ace of Bass song with one of my students!!! LMAO so great. They all are at different levels in their English speaking ability, so I think planning for them will be a bit of a challenge, but they are all genki about English, and that will count for quite alot.

I had a house party this past weekend with some of the Tokushima ALTs. Lots of English and drinking and good times were had... but, centipedes began to appear. Over the course of the weekend I killed 12. Some were harmless little black creepies, but 9 were the dreaded mukade, the poisonous beast in the east. My place is being fumigated as we speak.

I'm working on getting a picture site going, and figuring out how to negotiate this blog, so stay tuned and I miss you all terribly
~brian