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Sept 13, 2004 It seems that Canada finally found a way to get rid of me. I left Canada on July 24, 2004 to spend a year teaching English and spreading Canadian culture in Japan. I consider this irrefutable proof that the Japanese will let absolutely anyone into their country. I've been placed in a city of ~40,000 called Mizunami, located in the prefecture of Gifu on Honshu, the main island of the Japanese archipelago. Don't bother trying to find it on a map, you'll be sorely disappointed. The easiest way to find it is to draw a line from Tokyo to Kyoto, and then draw a line up through that line from Nagoya. X marks the spot. I'm teaching at a high school of 610 students, 400 of whom will be taught by me. This is mildly terrifying for someone who's only teaching experiences have involved tutoring up to 3 students at a time or barking at half stunned-looking groups of beginner karate students. There will be much faking of competence in the first few weeks. As you can imagine, I'm a little conflicted about leaving home for a year in a country that speaks a totally different language, eats different foods, and whose national sport involves obese men in diapers clutching and grabbing at each other. I'm also sad to have left my family and friends. At the same time, I'm very excited to be living in a place I've developed such an interest in. I plan to use this site to post pictures and news of my (mis)adventures. I hope to update it often, though I make no promises. However, as this is my first experience with running a web page, it is likely to be pretty crappy, as this cookie-cutter format will attest. I apologize in advance for the inevitable broken links, clunky design, and general sloppiness. Please feel free to offer advice and/or mock my general stupidity on the forum of the same name as this site. Alex has been good enough to offer to re-design the site for me after he's had a look at the monstrosity I've created. So if you come here one day and find it looks totally different and a hell of a lot better, thank him for removing the eyesore.
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