ha ha ha

So, my base school put out a little guide to the teachers for the new students that included photos and a brief description about goals and hobbies. First of all, I was the only one of 35 or so teachers that was smiling. Then, in the 'hobbies' bit, I had previously written something down that someone typed in...but apparently they couldn't read my writing because it said "skiing, fishing, suing." I don't even remember what I wrote but it wasn't "suing". I guess the Japanese really DO think all Americans are sue happy!

Otherwise the weather is great and it's one of those rare days where when I pull out to route 117 I can see the peaks all the way in Nagano prefecture. Today I taught two classes with Ms. Yoshizawa who likes to stand at the back of class while I run everything, which was a little frustrating, but I had fun with the kids and they thought the monkey quiz game I made was kick-butt.

I'm drowsy and have to finish planning my private lesson for tonight and then it's VACATION TIME! 10 straight days off (I had to take some vacation days to make it work like that). Tomorrow I'll hop on the train that goes near my apartment, which will take me all the way into Nagano City. Then, I'll take an express train down to the city of Nagoya where Marco lives. All in all it will be a 6 hour train trip. I'll check out Kyoto and the World Expo if I can and maybe some more sightseeing type stuff.

I don't know when I'm coming back home but I want to try to see as much of that area down there while I can. Some Japanese people never even get to see Kyoto in their lifetime so I should take advantage of it and try to get motivated enough to really spread around the area and see tons of stuff.

I'll report back maybe in a week or so with some travel stories/pics!