The first part of summer has come to an end, and I've got a little break for a few days, so I'll think I'll write about what has happened so far. First of all, as mentioned previously, it's incredibly hot here. It's incredibly humid and the intensity of the sunlight is really extreme. You've definitely got to drink to keep your fluids up and it feels like you need to change shirts every few hours. Fortunately I suppose, there were a few days where clouds and storms developed, at least cooling things off a bit, although we got hit pretty hard by lightning last week and I thought for sure the power was going to go out. Well we managed to keep the power on and thereforet the airconditioning on, but it made things a little exciting there for an hour or so.
Some big news in town in the new ALTs that are coming in this year, two Americans in fact. I went along with some people from the board of education to greet them at the airport, and then we spent the next couple of days getting everything set up. There's certainly a lot to be taken care of, and of course the new folks still had to be tired from the flight and Tokyo orientation, and I remembered what it was like when I first moved here, so I was just glad to help. Besides, it was one less day spent sitting behind a desk in the teacher's room. Anyway, I enjoyed explaining about the town, and It was a real chance for me to practice my Japanese, as I helped translate with getting a bank account and cell phone. I know it was a big difference from when I came here two years ago, I could hardly understand much at all myself, but you certainly get a lot of practice with Japanese living here in the countryside. Zach also helped the new ALT in Inukai get everything set up, hopefully they will be in good shape from here on.
It wasn't all just helping out though, I did decide to get a new cell phone for myself. It's a global-themed phone, in that it has GSM for overseas use, all of the conversion calculations built in, predicitive English text, dictionaires, some audio voice-phrases, two different clocks so you can keep track of time in different time zones simutaneously, etc. It's very slick, with a brushed aluminum cover, slim profile, textured plastic, etc. One thing that it doesn't have in one seg TV capability, but that signal doesn't reach Ono anyway, so no big deal. Since I've been with au for two years, I got a break on the price of the phone, but still it wasn't free, yet my old one was getting chewed up and it was time for it to be replaced.
This past weekend was the first of my summer trips. I'll write about that tomorrow if I get the chance.