punchingzoo
...kicks your ass.
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M o r e s t u f f Thu 11/2/2006 12:58 AM

Okay, so a lot of questions from everyone.  So I'll start with the

simple ones.  First the weather here is freaking awesome.  A lot of

nights I can still wear shorts and a t-shirt.  I'd say its been

between maybe 65 and 80 the whole time and sunny everyday.  One day so

far it rained for maybe an hour or two.  Very refreshing though.  The

food also is very good.  There are all kinds of things I can get.

Noodles with baked tofu are good.  Although I am still having trouble

learning to slurp.  It's just something I'm not used to doing.  I got

Japanese pasta one day.  All kinds of mushrooms, miso broth, and

noodles, with like seaweed and fish flakes.  Doesn't sound that good,

but it is.  Takoyaki.   Drunk food, is very good too.  Octopus in a

dumpling.  I had sushi one day too and that was pretty good, except

the tuna.  Really good tuna is very expensive here.  Especially this

year, because Japan is finally not exceeding their tuna quota.  Also,

they have sandwiches here that are just noodles and mayonaise.  I am

not brave enough to try one yet.  Japan loves mayonaise, by the way,

so it can be a little disgusting, but I am starting to get used to it.

 Lets see, I finally got my phone.  The cheapest phone here has a

camera, an mp3 player, color screen, and all sorts of other options.

Pretty crazy, huh.  My number is 090-6604-6248.  The country code I

don't know, so good luck.  It could be 0.  That's an extra number, but

I have no idea.  It's still really expensive to make calls to the US

though.  Japanese phone service is also very weird.  I pay 2880 yen

per month.  If I call someone whose not a softbank customer (my cell

phone company) it costs 40 yen.  If I text someone it costs 3 yen.  If

I text the US its 100 yen.  If I call the US, you don't want to know.

Texting is very popular in japan though, you almost never call anyone,

just text back and forth.  So if any of you are feeling japanese, feel

free to text me and I'll get back to you.  It will be easier tahn

going to the internet cafe all the time.  Getting a phone was a little

confusing, because I had to go back the next day to pick it up.  I

also have to wait at home all day tomorrow for my bank card.  If I am

not home, they won't deliver it.  Did I mention yet that japan is a

huge beauracracy?  This means that I miss out on my nature hike again.

  Although I finally went to the beach and it was pretty gross.  Japan

is a little behind on the whole conservation, recycling, not polluting

thing.  They still burn their garbage for example.  The beach is lined

with cigarette butts and the water is pretty gross looking.  Kobe

turned into a major industrial port since world war II, so a lot of

this is very new, but things move so quick over here you can already

see the results.  Teaching is pretty cool though.  The students are

awesome for the most part and I laugh more than I've every laughed in

my life, while I'm in class.  It's a lot of fun. Although at times

things can drag a little, especially with some of the slower students,

but it's still pretty fun.  Hopefully I've met most of the students by

now because they all ask the same questions of me and respond the

same.  Where are you from? Seattle.  AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH Seata Marinas.

Ichiro.  Yes yes.  Kobe and Seata are Sista City.  Yes I know.

Another stange response I get is that people here think I'm older that

25 a lot of the time.  White people apparently look really old.  So

that is very funny to me.  Students here are all very serious and

because of that crazy good students.  If I screw up a direction and

they don't understand and do something wrong.  They will apologize to

me.  I feel so bad everytime that happens, but still laugh a little.

It's my fault not theirs, but they feel it is their duty to listen to

the teacher and do a good job.  So it is their fault.  They also

prefer to learn by rote because of the school system, so it can be

difficult to get them to do something more fun, but I am starting to

learn a lot of tricks.  I will send more later on this, but my hour is

up, so hopefully you all are doing okay.  Keep sending e-mails.  Also,

tell me whats been going on with you all lately.  I am not the only

person doing anything right.

Dan