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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!