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I have just one thing to say: Thank goodness for e-mail!!
Email saved my sanity while I was in Japan. While I was lucky enough to make some great friends among the other foreigners and a few Japanese, almost all of my friends in America had e-mail and that's how we kept in touch. Even though we were separated by half a planet, my friends back home were always there for me, offering their love and support almost instantaneously. If only my family could have had e-mail, too!
My friends often commented on how they enjoyed reading about my many adventures in that strange and exotic land, so I saved all of my e-mail and the letters I wrote on my computer from those three years. I'll post some of the more interesting excerpts here as I find the time, so check back every now and then to see what else has been added.
Just keep in mind that most of these are excerpts from e-mail and letters home -- not professionally written magazine articles, so they're going to lack some of that polish and shine. I'm also a bit opinionated, so some of what I write may not be particularly "objective". Deal with it. And enjoy!
- "Politeness
and the JET in Japan, or How to Pass for Genteel Even if You Don't Have
a Clue" This
article was originally written for the Iwate Handbook given to
new JETs at the Iwate prefectural orientation. It has also been published
in the JET Journal (Summer 1995, I think).
- "Internationalization
in Mizusawa"
This is the story of a fantastic internationalization event a handful
of JETs organized in their city in November 1994, with the close cooperation
of the half dozen elementary schools and the local Board of Education.
About 20 JETs and non-JET foreigners from around the prefecture came
together to help out and everyone had a fantastic time.
- "Spelunking in Sumita" This is an excerpt from an email I sent to a few friends in November 1994. The Japanese Sign Language group I studied with for two years decided to take a day-trip to a town about two hours away that had a (locally, at least) famous cave. It was my first time to hang out with this group of people outside of the weekly Tuesday night class. It was great fun and a cool experience.