Yay for Internet Service in my Apartment!

Guess what? I now have internet from the comfort of my own 9x9 apartment! In celebration, I am offering you a new selection of pictures! At the top here is Takamatsu-jo, the remains of Takamatsu Castle. Most of the castle, and the city for that matter, was destroyed during WWII. This is the Tsukimi-yagura, a watch tower.

Next on the list here is a (one of many) field about 5 minutes' drive from my apartment. Five minutes in the other direction has me at land's end. The city scenery here is a picture I took from my bedroom balcony (yes, a room with a view) on my first day here in Kanonji. I live across a river-ish body of water from the Kanonji train station and the Gem School where I work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Other days I travel to schools in Takamatsu, Yashima, Takase and Kokubunji. I really enjoy the change of scenery and driving in Japan is like a super-advanced (and slightly more dangerous) version of Mario-Kart. (The graphics are excellent.)

On to the next picture: Here we have Jessica and Kira, the two whities in the back who are fellow Gem School teachers. In front from left to right are members of the Marugame branch (where I attend church) Kenji, Haruka, Akiko and Akiye. On Sunday we got together and made American pizza (which means no corn, no nato) and there was much rejoicing.
These last three pictures are of my students -- these girls are part of a class I teach in Kokubunji. Each of them has an American name they use in English class (to make it easier on the teachers -- remembering all of their American names is hard enough, let alone difficult to pronounce (sometimes) Japanese names). So from left to right we have Sharon, Carol, Helen, Jazmine and Julia. And down at the bottom is little Nancy.

More to come...
If any of you did not get an email with my Japan address, lemme know and I'll hit you with it asap.