my apartment is super clean right now

oh my goodness! it has been quite a while since i made a decent update on kaedama! i guess that means that... it's about time!

the problem with not writing enough is that all of the stories pile up, and it's very hard to decide where to begin! well, as for work, i haven't been doing a ton of it lately. i have six schools that i'll be working at starting on monday - three junior high schools and three elementary schools. i'll have a "base" school each month, which is a junior high school where i spend most of my time. they rotate, so each month my base school will change. so far i've only been to each school once to have a short discussion with my supervising teachers. i'm a little overwhelmed right now! i always thought that i'd be working exclusively with one teacher per school, but at some of my schools i'll be working with many different teachers, especially in the elementary schools. between six schools (seven starting in january) i'm not sure how well i'll get to know each teacher. not to mention the hundreds upon hundreds of students that i'll be teaching! i must think of a groundbreaking, best-selling way to remember hundreds of names in a short period of time... can it be done?

obon in nagasaki city!

it was really pretty cool, cats and canaries! obon is a festival for the dead... with firecrackers! there were people walking down the streets from all over the city to gather at the wharf. they were carrying boats that they had made with pictures of people in the family who have died in the past year. everyone was in pretty good spirits, even though one old japanese lady told me that it was a really sad day for most of the participants. it's a day when the spirits of the deceased come back to say goodbye.

everyone was throwing firecrackers! by the end of the night, the streets were coated with the stuff. it was kind of mayhem, with people throwing them in the air and having them rain down on unsuspecting onlookers a couple of times. one even landed on me! it was loud and scary, but i survived. the cops were walking around to try and make sure people didn't do anything too ridiculous, but they were few in number, and we onlookers were many. thank goodness for earplugs.

i went to another nomikai with the teachers and principal of one of my elementary schools! this one was even more expensive, but good times! i got to eat.... WHALE!!! NOOOOOO! poor whales. i have to admit, however, that he (or she?) was particularly tasty and good to eat. here is a picture.



my friend the tasty whale is the dark mass of raw whaleness that you can see on the right. it was caught for scientific purposes perhaps, but it was not eaten for such! also, i had turban shell. it was the worst thing i've eaten in japan or my whole life. look in my photos for a picture of the little menace. he took me about three minutes to chew up! hm... stay away from them.

last thing to say for now is that LOUIS CAME TO VISIT ME YES! i was pretty excited about it. we had a good time, although he beat me to unzen. unzen is considered "hell" and is a city full of natural hot springs near a... volcano! the baths smell of sulfur, and i have yet to check them out properly. as soon as possible i will go there and hang out with a bunch of old naked men and shoot the breeze in japanese. it will most definitely make for good times.

until next time, read books every day, eat food pyramids, and stay in school!