In Brief

SUNDAY was the Nanaimo Hanami BBQ party at the Isuzugawa Park area. This is always an entertaining afternoon involving meat, beer and playing catch with a football. A nice crowd turned up after a slow start ... the first hour was just the owner, another bartender and myself. As noted before, this kicks off the barbecue season. Photos to come.

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TODAY we had school-year opening ceremony in the morning. As usual, plenty of standing and bowing and boilerplate specchifying. More interesting was the entrance ceremony for new students in the afternoon. Since high school is not complusory in Japan, it's considered an acheivement to be accepted into one. So parents (mostly moms) show up for this formal ceremony of standing and bowing and boilerplate speechifying. All day long we ALTs dispense with a normal casual wear for suits. I'm sporting a brand new red tie.

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JUNE is fast approaching, meaning I'll spend a week in Oregon for the wedding of Andrew and Ellyn. While I'd like to have a chance to see everyone, I'm afraid I'll be stuck mostly on the west side, much of that spent down the valley. My next trip to Oregon might not be for a while, since I'd really like to put some travel dollars toward new places. No friends or family have made it to Japan so far, and my second year is almost over. Anyone?