August

What a hectic month. I've now been in a Japan just a little over a year, and the work as a 2nd year JET begins. For my summer vacation I spent 2 weeks at a Japanese Language course in Hokkaido, Sapporo. It was hard work, but i also had a lot of fun, travelling and meeting new people. I had a host family called Shimizu san, Yukiko (mother) and Kenji (father). They were very kind to me, and we manged to talk about many things even with the little Japanese that i had had, and Yukiko's English.

Sapporo is such an amazing city. Even a monkey can navigate around it. The weather was so much cooler than Nagano, even on a hot day. However, last August was the hottest summer on record, and this August is Nagano is not as bad.
Anyway...When I arrived back in my prefecture, Nagano, the new JETs had arrived 2 weeks ago, and i had a workshop to attend, where i was to help out. But, it seems things were already taken care of.
As the 2nd year begins, so did my new position as the editor of the Jetsetter, our monthly magazine for the JETs in our prefecture.
Sarah and I were working really hard on our first issue. We wanted it to be awesome!!! We wanted it to be totally different to last years, especially the layout. Most of my mid-August was spent on that in Hakuba... (Nagano's ski resort... cooler weathers of Nagano)

Then it was the Orientation for new JETs... and handing out the Jetsetter... We felt happy and proud... and people seem to be pleased with it too... thank god!!!
What else in August... oooo... the Suwa Fireworks festival. That was cool.. the best fireworks display i have ever seen.... so glad i went this year, as i had missed it last year.
Now in my 2nd year, with a little more Japanese i hope that this year will be a wonderful one. I'm also planning my time here, before i leave this stimulating country.