Sun burns suck, but school rocks

Ouch! My back and shoulders are bacon. In fact I think I would make a pretty good meal right now. I was at the beach again yesterday, chilling with the boys before we all went into work today. The shitty deal is that I applies my favourite sunscreen (hawaiian tropics for the unenlightened) and reapplied 3 hours later (we were at the beach for 7 hours). The kicker is that I seem to be more severely burnt in the places where I reapplied. The sunscreen hasnt expired, according to the bottle, but I kinda dont believe that.

As far as earthquakes go, I didnt feel that big one that was up near Miyagi-ken. I am sorrounded by mountians so Nagano doesnt get a lotta earthquakes or typhoons, which is nice...but the trade off is that we live near a few active volcanos! Well if one natural disaster inst gonna get you then the other will right? However, when I was at the beach yesterday we did feel a small tremmor. It was a 4 out of 6 on the Japanese scale, but a 6 is only like an 8 on the Richtor scale...trust me it wasnt that big.

So today was my first day of school. It started off with me getting hauled into the principals office...what else is new...hahaha! He just wanted to explain the schedule to me and then introduce me at the morning staff meeting. When I say explain to me I mean spit out some japanese while I stared at the teacher translating. At this point we went into the meeting and I had to introduce myself...in Japanese! Today was the day of self introductions. After the teachers meeting there was a school assembly. I had to deliver a speech in English. That was actually great, because I knew about it a week ago. I felt bad for the teacher that had to take my typed speech and translate it on the fly after I was finished.

I was in 2 classes today. My regular load will be 5, but they wanted to give me a break. I played a gambling game, where groups had to bet on things about me. I though it was a better way than just talking about myself. Both classes were 3 year students, which is about the equivelent of grade 9 or 10...that being said they are a little less mature than students back home. They are all really cute though.

For lunch, teacher eat in their homeroom class rooms. Oh yeah, in Japan students have set classes and teacher move around. It makes WAY more sense. The halls are way less crowded. Back to lunch, we had some excuse for a salad, soup, some rice, a piece of fried salmon skin (which was great) and oh yeah my favourite (not) a big jug of milk. I ate it all, save the milk that I gave away to the first student to remember my age. I nickednamed him 'meatball' because one of the other kids called him that. He is a little dude, but he is really cute. He is my favourite in my homeroom so far.

After lunch I had 3 free periods. I studied Japanese...and fell asleep at my desk. I slamed coffee and tea to stay awake...but that only slightly worked, especially since instant coffee sucks my balls. After school I am obliged to stay for about an hour after classes end. So I sat around...then walked around. Then finally got to go home.

The 5 japanese Teachers of English I am working with are pretty cool. Most of the teacher at my school are young. Infact I think I am older than 1 or 2. They are all super excited to have a dedicated AET (assistant english teacher) there, as before there were 2 for 4 shcools, and now 4 for 4. One of them even bought an electronic translator to be able to communicate with me.

Pretty much, I am going to love it at my school...except that there are no janitors. Why hire cleaning staff when you have an army of staff and students...but that is a story for another post!

Hope all is well in Vancouver!