I'm at Kita-chu (Kawanoe Kita Chugakkou, Kawanoe North Junior High School, if you wanted to know!) doing much the same sort of getting to know my fellow teachers, making and assembling materials for class, and pretending to do work. The teachers are really nice here; I spent part of the morning chatting with two math teachers who are the same age as I am.

Over the weekend I relaxed a little, went shopping (yes, I drove to the department store!) and went to the Kami Matsuri, or Paper Festival, in town. Paper is Shikokuchuo's main product, and apparently the paper companies here produce the vast majority the Japan's everyday paper. For the matsuri, a bunch of different companies and a few of the elementary schools formed troupes and performed simple dances, odori. It was very cute! I resisted getting roped into dancing, but Nate, the new Coordinator of International Relations (CIR) was not so fortunate. Nate and I went out to dinner with Masumi-sensei, an English teacher at one of my schools, to an okonomiyaki (Osakan pancakes) restaurant.

Yesterday I was at Minami-chu (the Southern Middle School, where I was on Friday) and upon arrival I was informed that all students were coming to school to attend a special lecture, and that I should prepare to introduce myself within an hour on stage in front of the entire school before the lecture. Needless to say, I was a bit thrown, but I practiced and got up there and said:

"Good Morning. My name is Emily Simpson. I am from the state of New Jersey in America. New Jersey is famous for nice beaches, blueberries, and tomatoes. My hobbies are reading, watching movies, and playing badminton. (Knitting's not that cool to middle schoolers, I've heard.) I look forward to learning English and making great memories together. Nice to meet you!"

I said much the same thing in Japanese, and then I promptly left the stage and sat down with relief to listen to a police woman lecture the class on the dangers of internet crime.

Last night I went with Erin, my predecessor, and Daniella, the previous CIR, to the house of our Japanese teacher, Kaji-san. She and her daughter prepared a wonderful meal and her adorable grandsons climbed all over us. It was a great night and I'm looking forward to my first real lesson with Kaji-san today after work.

Love to all of you out there! I'll admit I'm still quite lonely, so please feel free to email or write to me if you get a chance; I assure you that it'll be much appreciated and reciprocated as soon as possible.