Okie JET

10.10.2006

Life since then

JUST ME EXPERTISE
On Sunday, August 24th, I was invited to give a speech at the Prefectural Capital's English Salon. The entire experience was quite strange. First, I was approached back in mid-August by a random old guy who just sat down next to me and started talking. Later, I found out that he is one of the most important people that I've met yet. Aside from a list of many tons of honors and positions that he holds, he is most notably the president of the prefecture's UNESCO. I was simply asked to speak about Oklahoma. Not bad, huh? Oh, and they paid me $35 for it. The presentation was great. They loved the speech and now they all want to go visit Oklahoma...they're not just saying that to be polite, they were asking about travel arrangments. What have I done!?! Will I never learn to control this power?!! Long, dramatic story short. I tricked a bunch of Japanese into coming to chase tornadoes in Oklahoma. They're also, for some unknown reason, looking for the mystic white buffalo. Don't ask.

But after finishing that presentation, I had to prepare for another one on Friday. This one was for Hanzan High School PTA (yep, Parent Teacher's Association...I didn't translate that, it's just what they call it; even better, one of the first questions was to ask the panel if we knew what PTA was and if we had it in our countries). The panel consisted of myself, Clarissa (from California), and Adam (from the UK). I put in a little effort and soon realized that it was all for naught. All we did was field questions on our school systems in our repestive places. Come to find out, the UK and Oklahoma have more in common that do Oklahoma and California. Crazy world. They were most intrigued that our schools don't stand for cellphones in class and that we send kids out in the hallway or to the principal's office.
Afterwards, we went to the best sushi place on the planet earth. Not one ounce of exaggeration. It was incredible. And there I ate the dreaded fugub. I know what your saying, "he mispelled fugu." But no.
So you're waiting with baited breath for what the fugu is. It's blowfish. The statistic, though I think are entirely made up, say that 1 in 10 people who eat fugu die. Well, it wasn't me. But the blowfish does have an incredibly power neurotoxin if not prepared correct. But we were in quite capable hands. This guy was amazing. Needless to say, I'll be back there again.

SATURDAY NIGHT ATOP A CASTLE
It's not enough for these crazy foreigners to party, or party big, or party big in Japan. Nope, we have to party atop the only, I think, all night castle in Japan. It's quite a view. The castle is rather small, but we had a blast with about 50 people atop this thing. The party didn't stop until sunrise, though most everyone went to finish up the night at kareoke. Yes, I know, I know. Kareoke is the 11th commandment send to Moses, though he ran out room. But it's just what you do here.

LAME, LAME, BINGO!
This past weekend was a three day holiday. But I basically didn't do too much. I rode around a little bit, cleaned, and organized. But on Sunday when I went to church, I found that we had gotten beautiful new pews...but again without kneelers. I must research this adversion to kneeling, especially by a people who do it all the time. On the way back, I stopped in to get my haircut. Fun adventure. Try explaining, "just a little off the top," it just doesn't translate. So I told him whatever, and watched. It turned out good...but I've never had anyone shave the peach fuzz from my ears before. Quite a strange experience. By Monday I was quite tired of just poking around. So I decided to walk out the front door and ride. So I did. 3 and half hours later, I had been quite all over the northwestern part of the prefecture. I saw some amazing beaches, but quite difficult to get to, especially by bike. But the views were great, the weather couldn't have been better, and no wrecks. On the way back, I stopped in at a mall-like thing. It's more like a super Walmart with many little stores inside with no real seperation between them. In one of the "stores" or areas, I was looking at some clothes...now I have to pause here and say that I have felt a little homesick, especially when I think about Mexican food and Pizza Hut. So I'm looking, right? And what song comes over, on what had until them been a Japanese pop station? MMMBop, Bop, bop, bop, mmmbop, libaloau...yeah, Oklahoma's own Hansen came across. Not even kidding I sang every word to myself. I tried to hold in the laughter at the register. It was the perfect ending to that day.

If you all have any questions or want to know more about today's program or any of our fine programming, send a self addressed email to me right away. We'll answer all of your questions in the order that best suites my needs. Thank you and have a nice day...click.

1 comment(s):

Well you've been busy. Sounds like tone of fun. Take care.

By Blogger Stacy, at 2:38 PM, October 13, 2006  

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