better late than never

So I've been in Japan about three weeks so far, but it's not too late to start blogging about my experiences teaching English in the small rural mountain town of Ojiya in Niigata prefecture. It's far more convenient keeping friends and family up to date on my daily life and goings-on in the town this way, rather than constant repetitious emails and skype conversations. (Not that those aren't fun, too!) And in any case, I have already (sub)consciously been thinking of phrasing my experiences in words suitable for the blog format, perhaps because of the conditioning I gave myself on my last extended stay in Japan and my last blog.

A note about the title: Ojiya is the town that I live in. The online dictionary defines 'weaseling' as "to escape from or evade a situation or obligation" which is probably the most concise way to sum up this whole "teaching English in Japan" thing. Or as my (too-serious for his own good) brother likes to say, "You can't stay in Japan forever, you have to come home sometime!!" Good advice Joel, but for now, I'm going to take advantage of the Japanese government's admittedly fairly silly opportunity for English-speaking white people and honestly and earnestly do my best to teach this crazy language to otherwise apathetic Japanese middle and elementary school students...and in the meantime have some adventures, travel, speak Japanese, and generally, just weasel around.