http://arius.blogsome.com The Chronicling of One Man's Stay in the Land of the Rising Sun Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:23:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Its been about two months since I’ve returned to the United American States. Its been a whirlwind. The first few weeks of being in Chicago was a mad rush to see as many friends as possible. Had a bit of a “Welcome me home” shindig and saw a few ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/09/26/the-japanese-conclusion/ I’VE JUST BEEN VIOLATED! United Airline’s gonna charge me almost 700 dollars if I go over my 32kg weight limit by a single kilogram! That’s for both my pieces of luggage TOGETHER! I came over here with more than that! CHRIST! AAAAAARGH. Gonna have to put ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/07/21/damn-you-united-airlines/ Holy shit. I gave my farewell speech this morning at Kawanabe high school. It went pretty well, I think I got the pronunciation pretty closely. Anyway, the day consisted of me sitting around in the office or chatting with a few kids here and there in the courtyard. Four o’ ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/07/20/hivemind-farewell/ One of my teachers asked me to prepare a kind of lecture where I would explain my feelings from my year in Japan. More specifically, she wanted me to address the things that made me feel happy, sad, and surprised or scared. The students got a kick out ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/07/18/feelings-on-japan/ A bunch of teachers were lined up, and even a few students, and they waved me goodbye forever as I left my technical high school yesterday. That frickin’ sucked. I gave a farewell speech on Monday to the student body, and then a smaller one to the teachers ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/07/12/the-adventure-soon-ends/ Hey friends ‘n readers! My lovely month of June has passed, with Britt flying back to Chicago just days ago. It was quite a change of pace, having her around. The first two weeks, while I worked, it was nice to return home to someone. Empty ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/07/05/been-a-long-time/ My girlfriend, Ms. Britt, also nicknamed Binti or Binters or Bti in some circles (not sure how to pronounce that last one) has been visiting me in Japan for about a week and a half now. As a result, I have not done any blogging. Somehow, when I ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/06/13/observed-by-binti/ This is a letter I found myself having written to my girlfriend and parents back home. Britt’s coming to visit in mere days, and one of my teachers became aware of this fact. I thought it an amusing enough letter to post here. Unfortunately, its only vaguely ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/06/01/100/ Holy Christ in a Mississippi Steamboat! I was busy making up a listening dialogue test, complete with funny little drawings of a robot and a little house, when two boys came in to talk to one of my teachers. This is a normal occurrence. Suddenly, the teacher, who is ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/05/30/japanese-yelling-is-the-scariest/ I sank into my chair, my eyes wide in fear, staring at the thumb-sized wasp that decided it would hover laps around me. It seemed to get larger and more ferocious with every passing moment… before long it would be cat-sized with a stinger that could impale my skull. I ... http://arius.blogsome.com/2006/05/25/arthropods/