Konnichiwa!

Hurray! My baby blog has been born!

Originally my plan was to begin this blog chronicling my adventures in Hiroshima with a tour of my new apartment. But it took longer than expected to get my own Internet access and some really fun stuff has happened over the last few weeks that I'd rather tell you about now. We'll get to the nuts and bolts of my existence later.

First, I want to give you a little glimpse into my an English camp that I participated in shortly after arrival. My husband Joe and I joined a dozen other JETs at a YMCA in a rural corner of the world outside Hiroshima. We played English games, sang karaoke and just generally goofed off with a bunch of 15-year-old Japanese students from Akifuchu High School. That's not the high school where either of us teach, but it's in Hiroshima.

So this was my first experience with Japanese students. It was, without a doubt, an unforgettable experience. Just the first of many, I'm sure!

I was tremendously nervous the first time I had to speak in front of all the students, but I had to get over the stage fright quickly.

One of the super cool things about this camp was the realization that I was hanging out with people from all over the globe. At this event alone, I met other JETs from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Guam, Jamaica, Canada, and places all over the United States.

This video is one of my fondest memories of the camp. Of course, seeing my husband dancing around like a big crazy goon has something to do with it.



Then, of course, there's this fantastic performance...



Yes, Japanese girls ate this up! They kept screaming "Justin! Justin!" That's the guy on the far right - the one that actually bares a pretty close resemblance to a Backstreet Boy.

And I guess it wouldn't be fair to embarrass my husband without embarrassing myself, too. So here is a video of me singing karaoka to Dancing Queen. I have no shame.



Indulge me with just one more, now. I'm a bit proud of the video of my first group of Japanese students singing English karaoke. They sang "Every Breath You Take" pretty well, if you ask me.



So now I've had my fun fiddling around with my new video camera. Pictures are coming soon.