January
Having survived the New Year's bash at Haus Ten Bosch,
my (then) girlfriend Julie and I returned to Saga,
and then headed to Aso,
an amazing mountain area with an
active volcano. After that, we made a couple of trips
around Saga Ken.
February
The aforementioned girlfriend actually became an
ex-girlfriend in February. In addition, a trip to
Korea,
cold weather in Kyushu (with occasional bouts of snow),
sickness for a week or so after our return from Korea,
and a bout of lunacy at the end of the month which
resulted in me staying in Japan an additional year.
March
March brought spring, drives around Kyushu, and a
week in Taiwan. March also brought a very active
social calendar, and changes in the schools I
teach at.
April
Kim's friend Servane came for a week in April, perfect timing
as the Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom. I took many random
of the CIRs (Andrew and Josh) and my fellow ALTs.
I even managed to squeeze in a weekend in Aso.
Once school started again, I did some of the usual school
things like climbing a mountain with the students.
May
May started for me in Thailand, and after that
I spent about two weeks recovering from the
wonders of Thai water.
Finally returning to work, I was treated
to the wonders of ironworking at Tosu Kogyo,
and finally ended my month with a visit to the
Takori's for a barbeque and a visit to Kobe
for a conference.
June
In June, the Kobe Renewer's Conference left me with loads of
time to travel all around the Kansai region. Unfortunately,
after that was just more *expletive deleted* conferences.
I also took some photos of the apartments for the new
people to see.
July
The end of one year of JETs, the beginning of the
next. Lots of hello/goodbye pictures.
Also, photos of my Pepsiman bottle caps and an English
Camp in Takeo.
August
I headed home for a couple of weeks, which was an odd experience.
Photos from home and (a couple) from the dragonboat races.
September
My 25th birthday, pics of people, a trip to Shikoku,
the land that development forgot (thank goodness!), and
shots from Kashima Shrine and its environs.
October
October began with a weekender to Nagoya and the
Japanese Alps.
Probably the first and last time I'll see a wasabi farm.
Then lots of people shots, during the
office trip to Kumamoto Ken, the office softball game,
and Halloween.
November
Not an awful lot in November - Kim made a visit to
the paper makers near town, and got some great
shots out there. Other than that, just my trip to
Okinawa for four days.
December
Seems like I was busy during December, but
I couldn't tell you what I was doing to
save my life. Regardless, on December 24th
I departed for Cambodia and Thailand,
which I managed to survive, and came
back in time to be sick and
cold as Saga experienced as close
as this place gets to blizzard conditions.