1.5 Months in!

So, first, thanks to those of you that put up with my whiney culture shock ridden phone calls last week. Thankfully, I am doing much better...it appears that the first wave of culture shock has passed...for now.

This week has been pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I nearly died. No, not really. But I did have a really high fever....103.4! I'm better now though and all is well in the land of the sideways ponytail.

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently, mainly because I spend countless hours in between lessons just sitting around doing nothing. And I have come to some interesting conclusions:

First, I have decided that I am going to write a book. About what, I have no idea. But I think that I generally have some pretty interesting thoughts, and what better to do with them, then to put them in a book that nobody will ever read. This way, when I leave Japan and people ask me what I did while I was here, I can say that I wrote a book, in addition to having taught
English and gotten really lost.

Secondly, I have decided that I want to buy a Burberry umbrella. Yeah, I know that that is super hypocritical of me since I am constantly judging others for their ridiculously extravegent and superfluous purchases, at least in my head. However, lots of people have them here, and the more that I see them, the more that I want one. So, once I have a bit of money saved up, I am totally treating myself to a super gay, but not gay in Japan, Burberry umbrella.

Third, I have decided that I need to stop watching so many Sex and the City DVDs. When you catch your internal monologue starting to say things Carrie Bradshaw style, such as that "I found myself wondering...," it is time to cut yourself off cold turkey. Maybe there is some kind of patch that I can buy.

Fourth, and most importantly, I remebered what a strong person I can be and this has totally inspired me to attack this culture shock crap head on, and to make the best of this experience. Seriously, there are people so much less fortunate than me that would kill to even have the opportunity to do some of the things that I am taking for granted here. I owe it to myself to get every ounce of enjoyment and knowledge that I can out of this experience, and so I shall! No more whining. No more complaining. No more negativity. From now on, I am going to be the happiest damn gay foriegner that Minokamo, Japan has ever seen.

That's all. There have been other interesting thoughts/decisions, including a 1.5 hour attempt to develop a model in which I can implement the standards process in my classes. (you can take the guy out of campus housing, but you cant take the campus housing out of the guy haha)

However, I wont bore the one person that has maybe actually been bored enough to read all the way down this blog to this point with such nonsense.

Tomorrow, I am off for my first adventure in Nagoya. My mission: to find an English bookstore, a hot Japanease boyfriend, and an Outback Steakhouse that is rumoured to exist in Sekai. Wish me luck!

C