(no longer) LOST IN JAPAN

Nara Overload

I have been in Nara City more times this past week than I have all year, I think. With Orientation last Thursday and Friday and then again Monday for the recording of the prefectural listening exams and then again today to be Guinea pigs in a volunteer tour guide group. But I suppose that will be it for me for a little while now.
Orientation was the same as last year. Same speeches and everything. It was nice to meet all the new ALTs though. They all seem really great... well at least most of them do... the jury is still out on a couple of people though...
Beer Garden was interesting. We got typhooned off the roof so the hotel moved us to their restaurant/cafeteria where we still got nomihodai and tabehodai sheltered frm the elements (although the typhoon never actually came... they still cancelled our roof reservations). We were loud and obnoxious. The hotel told us to behave like civilized human beings on several occasions though nobody really listened. In the end, a good time was had by all and I ate some bad fish (wink, wink, nudge, nudge...) and got quite ill... Lost my wallet too somewhere between Nara City and home. Luckily, I went to the train station the next day and spoke to the Station Master. He told me that someone had found it and it was returned to me, intact, with money and ID and everything. Man I love Japan... well at least when stuff like this happens.
The weekend was uneventful, I guess. I am officially addicted to Harry Potter... MUST FIND THE THIRD BOOK... I finshed book 1 and 2 over the weekend but I am now dying to read the next one (even though I saw the movie last week... but I digress...)
Back to school tomorrow though. Last day of summer vacation. I have to get cracking on those lesson plans... I need a self-intro lesson for my first day at Oji Technical High School next Monday. Maybe I'll be lazy and make something on PowerPoint...

posted by Samantha @ 4:40 AM