19

The Three stooges at it Again.

This pic is from my most recent trip to Naha. As some of you know, the outer islanders try to meet up once a month for shenanigans. This is the result of our most recent brainstorming. We thought it would be really funny to adnore matching adidas jumpsuits and Japanese headbands. Moreover, we thought it would be funnier if we wore these to an Okinawan Metal band concert -which in and of itself was a riot. Additionally, I got the bright idea to wear white t-shirts and have Japanese strangers graffitti our t-shirts in Kanji. To this day, I have no idea what is written on that shirt. Either way it was a pretty fun -at the least memorable- night.

On another note, I have some more pics of the island that I will put up shortly. The other night I went out to see if I could take any pictures of the stars from Kita Daito. This was big no-go. On the bright side... My fruitbat sightings/encounters are up to 5; three of which have been up close and personal. If you come to visit KD and go for a night walk, be prepared for one of those big guys to pop out at eye-level and scare the living be-jesus out of you. It's happened to me 3 times out of three months. On the other hand, it is also really easy to see shooting stars out here, and I see them quite frequently.

Lastly, some new birds arrived on KD this week. I haven't seen them before and am assuming they are migratory. They are these huge, white, crane-like birds. I was able to make out from my neighbor that they come to feed on the grubs in the sugarcane after it is harvested.

18

An Abandoned Boat

Some updates:

Back in Ohio-If you all see, hear from or talk to Ben; send him some love. His mom's fiancee (sp?) died the other day in the hospital.

It looks like I will be spending this Christmas at an orphanage in India running an English camp with a few other JET's. I should be back in Naha for New Year's Eve, so if you want to meet up, don't hesitate to call, etc.

I am not sure how many more international calls I will be able to make. I went to pay my phone bill yesterday and the clerk literally screamed when she saw it. That's probably how I should have re-acted as well...

And finally, I may have just re-contracted for next year on Kita Daito! My boss randomly showed me a flurry of paperwork to that extent and had me sign the letter of intent in front of him -within five minutes of him showing it to me. So we will see, the principal has the final say on such issues, and if there are policy/budget changes for the next academic year, that could make it an entirely different ball game.

17

Ok, so I lied about being able to post new pictures, but this isn't new and I thought it should go up. These are the ruins of a huge pre-war phosphorous (sp?) factory on Kita Daito. Before the war, Kita Daito actually had a rather large population of phosphorous miners (much larger than today's population of 500), and phosphorous was thier main method of income. The history lesson is over now...

My stray has picked up a strange new habit. She follows me... everywhere. I am not kidding. If I am on foot, this cat will be bumbling behind, and if I go into any store or city office, she will just sit outside and wait for me. I think I am the first human alive that can take his cat for a walk...

Sadly, I don't think I will be able to make it home for Christmas this year, because of the financial "dire straits" of being an English teacher 3000 miles away from home and 360km away from any sort of civilization. You never realize how far you are away from home until you try to buy a plane ticket back! Either way this frees up a lot of "nenkyu" ("vacation time") so I will be able to either come home at a later date, or hang out with some JET's then!

Alright, well there is a Sumo Tournament dedicated to the God of Fire in about 20 minutes so I am about to head to that. Wish I had my camera for pics! 

16

Ok... I have to be quick. First, my camera is shot. So, there won't be any awe inspiring, amazing, grotesque, crazy pictures up until I get it fixed. I'll try to send it home this weekend...

It is very unfortunate that I don't have my camera because I am about to eat four of the largest lobsters I have ever seen with my co-workers. They were a gift from the PTA. All I could say upon seeing them, "Rook! Godzirra!!!"That got a few laughs... Chow time!