dreamblog

blogosphere,
is this the right place to post about how vivid and strange my dreams have been recently? because they are, increasingly so. i'm not sure i enjoy it. i liked not dreaming at all, and just waking up to a world i recognized, instead of having to deal with complicated thought processes based on nothing.
i'm wearing a suit and tie because i went to my first elementary school today. it looks like i will have to make the lesson plans myself, to some extent. things dont get started on the daily for about another month, though. there was a lot of me sitting in he office practically aline, sipping hot green tea and just being treated like a wonderful oddity. everyone except the principle seemed very surprised that i could write kanji characters.
looks like i found a place to stay in tokushima city on saturday, which is great. now i dont have to worry about coming back home without any sleep. have i mentioned that i am ery excited for the 13th, which is when i will be receiving my first post-tax monthly stipend of 300,000 yen (do the math)? i have stocked up on instant ramen and soba, so i shouldnt need to buy any food for a while. i made my first quasi-home cooked meal the other day, a pack of frozen gyoza and half a bag of frozen edamame with 2 potato and beef crouqettes that the nice lady at the local butcher gave me. did i mention this already? things are going to get kind of redundant around this blog, but i cant help it.
last night was my welcome barbeque party. there was lots of community grilling of beef, chicken, and pork related items along with vegetables, potatoes and rice balls over open pits. and also lots of drunken celebratory "kanpai"s, which is japanese for cheers. it was funny to see all of the very kind, reserved coworkers of mine unwind and get very sloppy. my teacher who gave me a ride (designated driver) was playing michael jackson songs in her car, so i had "thriller" stuck in my head the entire night, which was nice. speaking of music and cars and soundtracks, the only cd the eric my predecessor left for me in the 6 cd changer of the red toyota i inhereted is Jay-Zs "the blueprint", which i have nearly memorized. the car has a tape deck ipod adapter, so i get to listen to memorable, important jams (dfa79), but the ride to my school is so short (about 3 minutes away) that i usually dont bother to use my own ipod. on longer drives though, its great.
does anyone else think what bill clinton did in north korea just now is totally insane? how great would it have been to be in charge of photoshopping those pictures of him and the dear supreme leader kim jong il? i dont have anyone to talk t about current news and politics (in english) so i have resorted to yelling at the tv. newscasters in japan bow at the camera before and after news broadcasts, just another aspect of the excessive formality abundant here in japan, so i have gotten into the habit of bowing back at the tv.
last night i was so tired at the party that i couldn't stay up to see the extra innings of the bay stars vs. the yakult swallows (who have the rare privilege of having a team name that is also a full sentence) baseball game. someone on the bay stars tied it up in the 9th with a solo home run, but it looks like the swallows won.
ok, since this is NOT a food blog, i will not blog my lunch right now, i am just going to eat it.