Hi all! I have my first meeting with the English teachers I'll be working with later today. My first lessons start on Monday. It feels seriously weird to be called 'sensei' and be part of a school. Of course, the strangeness factor escalates since all I can say to my students in Japanese is "good morning", "good afternoon", etc.
I'll have pictures up soon from the school's cultural festival and all kinds of interesting tidbits about it, but I have to size the pics first (they're from Steve's camera). Also, if anyone wants to be added to Steve's mailing list, please drop him a line: maganda531@gmail.com
He's putting up tons of pics online of his little biking adventures around our town and they're really interesting, so please get a hold of him and check it out! (When he's not cooking or cleaning, he's biking!)
I finally set up my laptop at work and its been very helpful for getting things done, but I don't like to stay online too long, so I'll make this post short!
I've realized something after being here for over a month... I love Japanese-style toilets! Yep, I confess, I prefer them to our Western-style porcelian seats. This is the opposite reaction of most other JETs (and Westerners at large), some of whom avoid Japanese-style toilets like the plague and swear they cannot navigate them- which is amusing to me because, well, all you do is squat, what's there to work out?? Anyway, I think Western toilets are ridiculous now. Unless you have some physical ailment that makes it difficult for you to squat, then I see no reason for them at all! It sounds funny, but I'm being serious here! Without getting too descriptive, the Japanese toilets are just better suited for doing your business. Its uhhh... how nature intended basically! *lol* And they're more common around the world as well.
Here's a hilarious little site about how to use the Japanese toilets, if anyone is curious:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AD8Y-HYS/movie.htm

So, that's my ode to Japanese toilets! :P More later!