Life in Kameyama

So by now I`ve mostly settled in to my new place. Despite buying an alarm clock that runs way too fast (I set the clock`s time at 10:00 pm last night, and when my alarm went off at "8:00 am", the time was actually 6:30 am) I pretty much have everything I need. Except for peanut butter, and oranges that don`t cost $2 each.

My days at "work" consist mostly of me spending half the day on the computer doing stuff like this, and the other half trying to learn Japanese. By the way, for those of you who expect me to be a walking-talking Japanese-speaking guru, I have some bad news: not gonna happen. It`s friggin` hard. Besides the fact that they have 2 alphabets (each of which is about twice the size of ours) and that they have a couple thousand other characters in kanji besides that, the grammar and sentence structure is completely different. For example, I know of some people who have live here for more than 2 years, consistently study while they are here, and are hoping to pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 2. There are 4 levels (four is easiest, one is hardest, and Japanese people speak at level 1). I am hoping to pass level 4, which basically means that the elementary school kids that I`ll be teaching will have a larger vocabulary, and better grammar. But, I have decided to commit to studying the language, so as to better appreciate everything that`s going on around me. It`s kind of humbling having to bring in every piece of mail that I recieve to my office to get it translated. Also, I want to be able to read the comic books here.

I saw my first insect in the apartment the other day. It was one of those jumping-bugs. Whaddya call them? ... Grasshopper, that`s it. I let it outside. I haven`t seen any cockroaches in my place (yet), but I did kill one that was trying to get inside my neighbour`s as I happened to walk by. They make a really loud popping sound when you kill them; I think it`s the sound of their exoskeleton being crushed. Yum. Also, they`re quite large. Put two loonies next to each other. That`s a big bug.

In other news, Louis bought a digital camera. Thanks to Lisa for basically telling me everything I know about cameras. You`ll all be glad to know that I picked the camera based on its features, and not based on how shiny it was in the store. I`m quite happy with my purchase. I`ll start putting up pictures as soon as I figure out how. Luckily, I got to go to Ise shrine the day after I bought it to try it out. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and I took about 70 pictures, I`ll wait until I upload the pictures to describe the trip (don`t worry, I won`t upload every single picture).

Finally, the park next to where I live has this wicked-cool slide. Where you slide down, it has rollers (like at the beer store) so you slide down faster. It`s also really long, and multi-coloured. Very cool. It`s also situated in the middle of this really beautiful park with gorgeous scenery. I`m sure I`ll take pictures at some point.

So that`s pretty much it for exciting moving-in-and-getting-settled news. Every time I do something fun, or take a neat picture, I`ll post it here. In future episodes, look for: "Louis goes rice-picking at his boss`s house", "Louis goes sea-kayaking" and "Louis gets his ass kicked as he tries to learn judo".

sayonara for now