Welcome!!!
Pictures:
NEW updated 1/27/04
It's been a long time hasn't it? I suppose I haven't kept it updated so much because since I'm back, I can just show most of you the pics instead of putting them online. anyway, enjoy.
Holidays This is a picture of Mitsuki and I that was taken when she visited in December. Some of you may have already seen it, since I sent some out during the holidays.
strummin the dog Here Mitsuki is petting my dog, Riley.
Art Institute 1 Mitsuki and I enjoyed a nice day at the Art Institute. She wanted her picture taken with a Picaso!
Art Institute 2 here's a pic of me next to a statue outside! It was cold and rainy.
airport This pic was our last one taken before Mitsuki had to get on the plane to leave for Japan.
3/13/03
Big Face This is an extreme closeup of my face...beware...view at your own risk!!!
The following pics are from a day of cleaning at the school. There are no janitors, so the students have to do all the cleaning.
clean race Here some 2nd year boys are getting ready to clean the floor. they do it by hand, using a small towel. It seems a little old fashioned to me...but they actually race down the hall. I guess if I were forced to clean, I'd try to make it interesting too.
Anri I stopped by a classroom to sign some yearbooks and Anri noticed I had a camera. She wanted to take a pic.
3rd year boys On my way out of school, some boys were cleaning the parking lot, so I took a quick pic from inside my car.
Emi and Emi The two Emis were busy vacuuming the carpets. I like Emi's (the one on the left) mask.
Cleaning girls In the teacher's room, some 3rd year girls had to come in and take down the drapes for washing. I was just sitting at my desk, so I took a picture.
Graduation pics
OhkiKatsuya Ohki...a side view. :)
1st years I spotted some 1st years waiting outside a graduating class' room, and they wanted me to take their picture.
3b class A group shot of the 3B class
3B girls Group shot of the 3B girls.
3rd years....chanelling the Fonz!
3rd year boys releasing a little energy after the ceremony.
Haruna and Yuka two graduating girls from 3A who always seem happy.
Yasunobu He's a nice guy.
Junki Junki is also pretty nice.
Atsunori Releasing a little anger for the camera. Maybe he thought I was going to hit him? ;)
Miki is also a nice student. always happy.
Anri and Kurumi Anri is a little wacky I think.
Old pictures
Mitsuki 1 This is a pic of Mitsuki and I at Christmas. They're big on X-mas cake here, unlike the US.
Mitsuki 2 This is a pic of me and Mitsuki up at Narita temple. It was fairly cold that day, though nothing here has yet to compare to a Chicago winter.
Big freakin' manderin orange Although its yellow, I've been assured its a mikan (manderin orange) from southern Japan. It pretty freaking big for an orange tho!
Haniwa statues Here is a row of Haniwa statues at Shibayama park.
Totem pole Ok, its not a totem pole, but thats what it reminds me of. pretty interesting I think. This is also found in Shibayama park.
Haniwa kids This is a pic I took with some of my students after the Haniwa festival. I had just gotten done filming my video for the airport, so I was happy to change out of my suit and relax.
Lion statue This is a lion statue that stands near the entrance of Narita temple.
Medicine When I got sick recently (I just had a cold and a fever of 38.8 degrees for 4 days), I went to the doctor and this is what he gave me. Three kinds of medicines to take for a week. I had to take one packet of powder, and three pills three times a day. The powder was the worst. I can still imagine the taste a week later.
Ramen from Hell This is the restaurant that Shane I and went to during our new years outing in the next prefecture. We were coming back from an onsen and stopped here for dinner. I had the Jigoku ramen (Hell ramen), but shane only had some regular stuff.
Snowed in car - Imagine my surprise when I woke up one day this winter and looked outside at my car. It hadnt snowed at all last year, so I was expecting the same this year. And while it snowed like this here in Shibayama, just 8 miles away in the next town, it didnt snow at all! Its just a little strange sometimes...
Sports Day 1 There's an annual sports day at Junior high Schools across Japan. So I took some pics of the students. My school has 3 classes per grade and so there are three teams per grade. They each wear different colored headbands. These are some third year boys (9th grade).
Sports Day 2 Here are a couple 2nd year boys.
Sports Day 3 Here, the students are getting lined up for a folk dance. Trust me, this dance is one of the worst I've seen ever. Luckily I didn't have to join like I did last year. In this dance they pair a boy with a girl. The problem is that there are more boys than girls, so when I joined I had to dance with 1st year (7th grade) boys. Oh...the painful memories...
Sports Day 4 This is class 3A. One of my favorite classes. The students are usually pretty cool.
Tokyo Game Show 1 Ah, some characters dressed up for the TGS. Note the name of the game in the background. (This is an XBox game). "True Fantasy Live Online". You'd think that with all the money Microsoft has, they'd come up with a better name than that.
Tokyo Game Show 2 A girl dressed up in pink to promote a new game.
Tokyo Game Show 3 A line of all the girl promoters for some company. This was at the end of the day, so they were all lining up to say "Thank You".
Tokyo Game Show 4 Here's another pic of a girl promoter. You may think I took a lot of pictures of girls, ...maybe you're right.
Tokyo Game Show 5 This is some fan, who dressed up in a costume. Lots of people do it. For some reason, her costume includes a can on her head?!
Fire 1 I came back home after a dinner party and 10 minutes later heard a noise. I looked outside and lo and behold...a bar, 200 meters from my house, was burning down!
Fire 2 They just put the fire out.
Fire 3 The day after.
Kotatsu This is a kotatsu. There is a heat lamp under the table and the blanket on top traps the hot air. Its pretty useful here in my cold, cold house.
Music Fest 1 These are some students singing accapella at the music festival.
Music Fest 2 Besides singing, there was also a couple skits. The teachers did a song and dance ( I would have joined, had I been able to sing in Japanese better). The dance was pretty strange.
Narita Temple And here's a pic of Narita temple. I like the temple a lot, but some of my friends think its too modern and flashy.
Fireworks dinner Before we set off fireworks, we all went to dinner. And this is the pic! :)
Group shot fireworks Group shot of us before setting off the fireworks. I had just met these people for the first time that night, except for a few girls that were in my summer class.
Woman holding fireworks One night we set off fireworks near Tokyo Disneyland. I really like how this one turned out.
Me and a bunch of girls If only I got the girls all the time eh?
Rich's funny face I'm making a funny face as I test out my new camera!
After playing pool After pool (Paul, Nancy, and I) were waiting outside for the two other girls who had gone shopping. We had to wait like an hour because they had gotten lost and couldn't get back to the pool hall.
Classmates Picture of my class for the summer. I look like a dork don't I? The people are (left to right) Me, Sharon, Cho, Catherine, Takagi Sensei, Judy, and David.
More classmates More friends I made at school. They're level of Japanese is higher than mine :( (left to right, top to bottom) Catherine, Me, Nancy, Suzy, Judy, and Paul.
Me & Suzy Picture of me and Suzy. She's from Tawain and has been studying Japanese and English for a few years already.
Dinner in Shinjuku Shane, Judy, Me, and Nancy enjoying a nice (and expensive dinner) in Tokyo! (they were at the same Japanese school as I was) Do you like my expression?
Shane and Judy Not sure what Shane is doing, but its a nice picture right?
Last day Dinner last day of class so we all went out to get something to eat. Shane even joined us as it was a Friday night!
page1 This is page one of a story some of my students wrote off a copy of Battle Chasers.
page 2This is page two of a story some of my students wrote off a copy of Battle Chasers.
Chiba Orientation So we were getting poured on til we stopped at a convienience store to buy umbrellas. Look how happy we are! :)
Sawara Me and Seth and Christy at a bar in Sawara.
Tokyo Orientation Just a pic of us in a bar.
Music Festival Yes, that's me singing in the third row on the right!
Hishiida Sho I'm being interviewed by a student at the festival
Hishiida Sho 2 Thats me dressed in samurai gear at the school festival
Hishiida Sho 3 No, I'm not asleep at lunch. It just looks that way!
Game Some sort of fan throwing game.
My House in Japan
Karaoke during a teachers trip in September
Some friends before I left
Teacher's room