Japanese study, the lack of travel bugs, rain...etc.

Ew, so much for forcing myself to update weekly, right? I am not entirely sure what happened last week because I had time to post and I knew I hadn't yet, I just didn't. Maybe I didn't feel like I was quite in the right state of mind. Anyway, this will be last weeks very tardy entry.

People are often asking me where in this island, Kyushu, I have traveled to since moving here. Seeing as how I've been only to Kanoya for a week with the other new ALTs and to Kagoshima for shopping trips and parties, I don't really have an awful lot to tell people. I look at the experience of other JETs and I realize that they are really traveling around- not just in Kyushu, but other places in Japan, too.

For me, though, at least at the moment I don't feel myself being particularly bit by the travel bug. I kind of think just living here is enough adventure for now. I've done the touristy thing in Japan a few times and now I just want to experience living here. I am, of course, not saying that I won't travel- I have every intention to, but I don't and probably won't as much as other people do.

If anything, I feel like I -should- be wanting to travel because everyone else does.

Either way, I am going to Tokyo next month for Christmas and New Years. I am way more excited though, about going to see people like my friends in Tokyo and my former host family than doing any sort of sightseeing. I guess what I really prefer at the moment is to be places where I have connections.

By the way, I started private Japanese lessons about two weeks ago. The teacher is really nice. I always forget when I am not taking Japanese lessons that I really truly do enjoy them. Of course, we're reviewing right now, so I get to feel really smart. (haha) Of course, since I started learning Japanese over 5 years ago, there are a lot of really basic things that I have forgotten, so really it's great to be reviewing.

Winter came. This morning it was raining really hard. Here's something I don't understand. Apparently around June-July is the rainy season, July-August is typhoon season. Okay, so, with that established, what IS all of this extra rain? Does it ever stop raining here?

I found a dead bird yesterday. I thought immediately of how in the US one should report dead birds immediately because of the threat of West Nile Virus, so I told someone in Japanese. They told someone else, who called the building owners, who had the bird removed. No idea what came of it because I don't know what the standard procedures are around here, but I feel like I did the right thing.