Hello to everyone! Hope this email finds you all well!

I have no idea even where to begin�..so I�ll start with Mud Soccer which took place the first weekend of September (the day before the first day of school). Let me start by saying that I have never been so thoroughly exfoliated in my entire life! The weekend�s events started the Saturday evening before with some yummy food with the other team members � including octopus sashimi (raw octopus), which was surprisingly palatable! The games started at 9am sharp the next day. There were quite short due to the considerable effort needed to run through 2-foot deep mud! There were 3 teams of foreigners (2 girls, 1 boys) and about 70 Japanese � this was no small potatoes! Everyone had a wonderful time � my team was the only one to actually win a game!! The boys team tied after a shootout. If you don�t already know, Junken (otherwise known as Rock/Scissors/Paper) rules in Japan. As a result, the two team captains played Junken to decide the winner�.. the �super suds� (male foreigner team name � not chosen by us�) did not win. Tuff luck, but this is Japan! I swear, if the Japanese government was ever undecided about some major international affair, I am sure Junken would be used. In fact, I would be surprised if it has not already taken place!

After collapsing in my bed that night due to the sheer exhaustion after mud soccer, I was ready for the first day of school! It is largely a blur of ceremonies, speeches and genki (very very enthusiastic) children hanging off my extremities! Needless to say, it was a lot of fun! I spent Monday through Wednesday at the Junior High School (JHS) giving my self-introduction to first and second year students. Some of you are famous here in Mikame � at least your pictures are! They couldn�t believe that I know how to horseback ride � they thought that was soooo cool!

At the same time, every student in all of Mikame is practicing for the yearly sports festival! I have yet to experience one of these festivals but if the preparation is any indicator, it is sure to be an entertaining day! Aside from a number of sports and games, both the boys and girls do a choreographed sequence. I asked one of the male teachers about what the male students do � his literal English translation was �a muscle dance�! It was all I could do to keep a straight face and inform him that perhaps �a fitness demonstration� would convey the same message! After watching some of the �muscle dance�, I quickly learned that it was quite dangerous. After asking one of the teachers about this he agreed, saying that �at least one or two students are injured every year�!!! That would explain the 3 students sitting beside me on the sidelines with various casts and bandages!! No joke! The sports festival will take place this upcoming Saturday so I will be sure to give you an official casualty count!

On Thursday and Friday I visited two of my five shogakko (elementary schools). The kids were great! They are sooo eager and not shy at all (sometimes a problem at JHS). I had a great time but I have never been soo tired in my life! At the first school each of the 45 (yes, only 45!) students came up to me and said: �Hello! My name is _______.� It was great! At one of the other schools each of the students had made a picture of things they liked � which they told to me in English! I was very impressed � they did an awesome job! I was also at shogakko yesterday and today (Monday and Tuesday). Today, at the welcoming ceremony the students took a �Canada Quiz� answering multiple-choice questions by showing the corresponding number of fingers in the air. They did quite well � it was very nice and they did a good jog of making me feel homesick! J The Kyoto-sensei (vice principal) also gave an introduction on Canada too! The funny thing was, he knew a whole bunch about me that I had not told him! For example, my favourite colour, hobbies etc. It appears that he had been speaking with the other schools to get info on me! Unbelievable! However, I have been warned about this sort of thing � quite funny really! During one of my self-introductions there was a teacher taking pictures of me. By the afternoon, they had printed out a copy and framed it for me! How nice! It�s great! I also have a digital copy so if I can make the file small enough I�ll try to email it to everyone!

Overall, I am really enjoying teaching! The kids are great and a lot of fun! I still have many many things to get used to but it all seems doable. I hope that the teachers do not translate too much of what I say to the students � otherwise they will never learn to listen to English. I�ll keep you up to date on this front!

This past weekend was the annual JET Nametoko Gorge trip. The Gorge was about 2 hrs away from my home by car. I had a great time � it was nice to be able to do some hiking and catch up with friends that I had made at the prefectural (ie provincial) orientation. The Gorge was beautiful and you could hike all the way up a mountain stream, which had carved its way into the stone (sorry geographers, have no idea about its mineral composition�). The Gorge is also famous for it�s monkeys. They were cute to look at but unfortunately they were spoilt by to many handouts from tourists. Don�t ever leave anything unattended � they took an ice cream right out of the hands of a friend! Crazy.

The weekend after next I am planning at trip to Osaka � I can�t wait! I�ll let you know how that and the sports day go!

Take care and much love,
Emma

emma found her way @ 10:56 p.m.