Today I went Back To School – but without Rodney Dangerfield 
In case I might have just revealed how old I am getting through my Back To School reference, you can check out this website http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090685/ to learn more about this classic, albeit slightly sophomoric movie. To its credit it does make reference to Kurt Vonnegut in one scene…
There is no typhoon (still), but there was an awful lot of rain this morning. The sea is pretty choppy, and there are no tourists to put on the dolphin watching boats, so there were no dolphin trips. Instead, I went up to the school in the morning to help out again with English. This time I helped with the elementary kids. It was a blast! We learned the numbers and days of the week in English – well, I actually already knew them, but the kids learned. I then sat in on the 7th and 9th grade English classes – good stuff! Tanaka-sensei and I sang Ebony and Ivory in two part harmony for the class. Don’t ask.
The rest of the day I spent doing data related academic things at home. Very unexciting, but a necessary evil. I worked a bit on my Japanese. I am still at the pointing and grunting stage – speaking a bit like a caveman – e.g. pointing at the sky and saying “Today Rain” or “I wet”. Not exactly a candidate for the Nobel prize in poetry for the Japanese language.
Tonight they will have volleyball at the gym. It is usually pretty packed full of people and a lot of fun. I am pretty tall – by far the tallest person on the island, so everyone expects me to be a smash-master volleyball player. Unfortunately I have a 2 inch vertical jump, so my skills are woeful. Despite this, volleyball is a lot of fun. Wish me luck!
-Justin