Maybe you would like to go to Tokyo I think

Mark and I in Tokyo!

We played music on the streets

We went to Shibuya because that's what all gaijin do


We made friends in bars with funny glasses and they took us to underground hip hop clubs and shared with us their drink and song...


We made it onto Japanese TV. People taken pictures of us like we famous! Pull out da bacardi!

There were parades

There were streets with shops and you can buy things


THE END.

My Life Through the Lense of My Camera Phone

OK, so now that I have internet at home I can spend countless hours searching youtube videos and such and I figure since many of you are wondering about Japanese life and traditions I thought I would show you a little video to help you.

So now onto the good stuff. Where does the magic happen? Wow. The magic is happening everywhere. Like hereMy teacher housing. May not look like much, but inside there are more than 300 rooms.
(notice the car - one of the ones broken dawn in my yard. The other is in the back.)

So my house is a little old. Maybe not completely up to building code, but that's ok. It has a ton of personality.

My living room.

So notice the rug. It actually is an electric rug and heats up! The table is a kotatsu which means it has a heater underneath and you put your legs underneath it and throw a blanket over top to trap the heat and voila. You can keep warm during the winter. However, I'm scared to use it. I mean having a heat source that close to the center of my legs seems a little dangerous.

Next:

My Kitchen!

I know it looks very messy. Well, I've got lots of stuff and not a lot of space. So kind of hard to keep it all neat and tidy. I'm becoming an expert cook. The crappy thing is I don't have an oven! Sucks! Goodbye Digiorno. I will miss you so very much.

Music Room/Guest Bedroom/Dance in Underwear Room

I actually really like this room. It will be your bedroom when you come stay with me. The futons are actually really comfortable. There is nothing wrong that I've discovered with this room.

My Bed!

I do sleep. And this is where I do it. Unless I pass out on the floor from exhaustion...which has happened. It's comfortable enough and gets me through those long dark scary nights. There is a light on the stand which is perfect for those times when I think I hear a ghost or the pidder padder of mr. peepers.

Ok! I would show you my bathroom and shower because it is just too awesome to put on the internet. So on to the next thing. I will instead tell you what I did yesterday. I went to Shiojiri to hang out with some friends. Climbed for a bit, did a little shopping in minamimatsumoto, then went to the lake suwa fireworks festival! Awesome. Pictures:

Jonathan climbing. I swear he's like a monkey.
Lake Suwa. Camera phone just suck at capturing the real beauty of things. But it's pretty awesome place.

Street vendor. Festival food is delicious!

Streets at Lake Suwa festival.

Suwa Block ALTs gettin our picture on.

Anyways, Life is good. Drop me line.

Cheers,
Stephen

Updates and Downdates!

A Picture I took on my way home from school with my camera phone. School is about a 15 minute walk from the house.

Ok! Sorry that it has taken me so long to actually post something up. I'm kind of new to this whole blog thing and I haven't had internet at my house until last night! Also, I didn't want to post anything until I could show some pictures.

A picture I took in the Kiso Valley - Just west of Komagane over the mountains

So I'm sure you're asking lots of questions right now. Like stephen can you speak japanese now? No, definitely not. I study a couple of hours a day, but I feel like an r-tard speaking Japanese. I definitely have the fundementals down like how to order a beer and how to apologize, but don't ask me to get into a discussion with anyone. I've been trying to speak Japanese to people, but most of the time I get blank looks of confusion. I like to think they are so stunned by my attractiveness they don't know how to respond...actually I'm probably just babbling like an idiot and said something super offensive.

You're probably asking what is your house like? I will post pictures of my house later. It is like a diamond in the rough. Sure it looks crappy, no AC or heat, no insulation, leaking roof, mold on the ceiling, screens are busted, and I have 2 lovely broken cars in my yard, but it really is nice. However, I do have an extra bedroom and lots of futons and blankets if anyone ever needs a place to stay. My door is always open...literally I don't even lock it anymore.

Friends in the Kiso Valley

School? Yes. I teach at 2 high schools! I know I'm a freakin high school teacher. One is called an academic the other is called a technical or in the states we would call it a vocational high school.
It's a pretty sweet gig. The kids are pretty awesome. They do crazy things like Kancho! So my first experience at the technical school was filled with great confusion.

I was in the gym for the school assembly when I saw a teenage boy put his hands together in the shape of a gun he then ran up behind another student and proceeded to ram his fingers up into the other students butthole. KANCHO! I was perplexed. So I asked one of the Japanese teachers about it and she just shrugged and was like "they do that a lot."

Then yesterday I was in class and the kids were throwing paper at this boy. I thought at first they were being mean, but the meaness dissappeared when the throwing the paper fight turned into a giant tickle fight among 4 of the boys in the room. Again - not used to this. I was later helping another student with his worksheet when he looked at me and told me I had a pretty face. Ummm....thanks?, I said. As he said this the student behind him just got out of his chair and started scratching his back. Wow. talk about being completely different from U.S. high school. I can't even imagine the beating I would get if I tried to have a tickle fight with the other boys in class.

Well, now that I have this internet thing and kind of a camera I'll try to be more consistent with some bloggage.

Peace. One Love.
Stephen

TOKYO!!!

Yo! Just got to Tokyo after a ton of hours in the air. You know it's a long flight when you've watched Wolverine twice, Star Trek twice, and half of Push. Unfortunately I don't have a camera because my old one is kind of broken and I haven't had time to get a new one. So as soon as I'm able I'll be posting multiple pictures.

One Love,
Stephen

Gettin the blog on!

Hey! So I've decided to enter into the cyberworld where all mysteries are revealed and I can talk about anything. But for real I'm starting a blog so I can keep people updated about my life in Japan without having to send out a bajillion emails and such. But for real for real- I'm going to try and keep all of my anecdotes short and hilarious. Lets face it. You don't want to read a lot, I don't want to write a lot so I will supplement everything with pictures, song, and dance. If you really want to get in depth details of the happenings feel free to email me, but for the most part this blog is about me trying to write things that at least make me laugh.

I guess just to update everyone who hasn't been stalking me. I'm moving to Japan to teach English in a sweet town called Komagane. It's in the Nagano prefecture where the winter olympics were held a few years ago. Now you're probably thinking, "WOAH! You are going to be in a beautiful mountain town with some awesome skiing all around you! And on top of that you get to work at a great school with great teachers and kids! I'm so jealous. I want to punch myself in the stomach!" Well, you probably should punch yourself in the stomach because my life is awesome.

But before my awesome life begins I am in the process of living out all of my wildest dreams in Indiana. For instance, I've almost watched all of the seasons of the office, I've watched a lot of corn and soy grow, and made a rap song to the melody of Sesame Street.

I leave for Nashville on the 30th for a pre-departure orientation and then fly out the 1st to Narita where I'll spend a couple days in Tokyo learning about life in Japan. And then finally I'll be heading to my town where I'll be able to be an American cultural ambassador and English teacher. So in the words of the most famous Tobias Funke - LET THE GREAT EXPERIMENT BEGIN!!!!!!

One Love,
stephen