A Whole Bunch of Islands

Okay yeah so
Last weekend I went over to Sasebo, a nearby city, and checked out the Ninety-Nine Islands with my host family. The city itself has a big American Navy port there and a ton of Americans walking around, or at least a lot more than I have been used to recently. I've heard it also has a Nike store there, which I will have to make my way back to check out, seeing as they are supposed to have shoes in my size because of the demand from the Americans living there.

Anyway. Ninety-Nine Islands. I don't believe that there are actually 99 of them, I think in Japanese it's just a way of saying "A whole bunch". They're pretty nice, though it seems like they'd be pretty annoying to navigate because it's just a bunch of tiny islands and shallow areas lining the coastline.

I took a boatride around one of the areas of the islands with my host family and took a WHOLE BUNCH of pictures. GOOD FUN. However, it was kind of an odd day; It was alternatively sunny and snowy all day long, and kept on changing on our hour-long boatride, so while taking photos on the deck I pretty much froze several times over.

But it was good! It was definitely fun, and I wanna go again later when it gets warmer. Afterwards we saw a whole ton of people at the docks having かき, or oysters. Turns out it was the last day of the season for them, and I guess everyone was getting what they could before they were gone for the year. I'm not such a huge fan of oysters so I had none, and I already had a HUGE Sasebo burger earlier, so I was full up.

Sasebo burgers are pretty much just burgers that some dude saw and thought, "Nah, I don't think that'll give me heartburn fast enough," and proceeded to put on various other meats, vegetables and a fried egg on top. And as questionable as that sounds, it was DELICIOUS. I wanted to get another to bring home, but I didn't. So that's that. Good story.

But yes. I mentioned shoes earlier, didn't I? I believe I did. Well, the reason why I'm bringing it back up is because I am a big fan of shoes. I love to get me a new pair of sneakers. So getting into Sasebo, the only place near me that has anything in my size, I was sure to get myself some shoes. Some tasty, tasty shoes. I am talking DELICIOUS WHITE NIKES. Air Force 1 mid, which I have been meaning to get a pair of for quite a while. I am not sure yet whether or not I will keep them pure white or if I'll paint them up to my own liking. Maybe I'll just let them get dirty and then clean them up to be painted. Anyway I'll figure it out.

So anyway. Not too much else to talk about. I went to an onsen, or hot spring, this weekend as well with a couple of friends. It was ridiculously cheap, like six bucks. Or at least I think that's cheap. I'm pretty sure it's cheaper than anything else you could hit up in America. But anyway yes. Weird stuff in there. There was a sauna that you rubbed salt all over yourself that reminded me of getting a big slab of meat ready for grilling or ovening, if that word makes any sense to others.

So yes yes. I think that covers everything going on over here and all. Please enjoying pictures.

EDIT OKAY NEVERMIND for some reason blogger refuses to accept my photos
I'll figure something out
YOU WILL HAVE PHOTOS

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Chats

So hey guys. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Man where is this dude at? Why hasn't he posted in such a long dang time? Is he even alive anymore? Did he get got by one of those Vespa Mandarinia Japonica deals? That would be a bummer."

But Hey! I'm still here! Still kicking, still moving, still making it.
I haven't really been traveling or anything much, so I haven't had all too much to share with you guys. However, I've been sitting here for a while waiting for something of note to come up to talk about, and so far nothing HUGE has come about, but I figure I might as well just let you all in on what's going on.

So alright. Okay. Time to talk.
I'm gonna try something different here. Something I think might make telling this story a bit easier. From here on, I'll be writing this out like a little interview. I find it's easier to just chat about stuff rather than going into a whole writing mode and cranking out paragraphs of nonsense, so uh, here we go.

ジェレミー: So Jeremy! How's it going over in Japan?
Jeremy: Ah well, it's going fine. The weather has been kind of crap, but it's started clearing up now.
ジェ： Sounds good, sounds good. So what have you been up to lately?
Jer: Eh, nothing much. Just hanging with friends around Nagasaki prefecture and getting through school.
ジェ： Ah, school. How's that going for you?
Jer: Actually, right now it's pretty dang boring. Usually I got some classes up at the college that keep my attention and give me something to do, but the semester ended sometime back in January so I've just been going to the high school for the past couple of weeks. It's pretty boring.
ジェ： Ah, bummer.
Jer: Yeah dude. Plus all the dudes I knew up at the college have bounced back to their respective countries, so that was a bummer too.
ジェ： Ah, no good. So what've you been doing back at the high school? Been hitting up class over there?
Jer: Uh, yeah, sorta. I go to a couple of them but to tell you the truth, I can't really understand them much so I kinda just space out or read a book.
ジェ： Uh, isn't that kinda bad? Aren't you supposed to be learning the language and all?
Jer: Well yeah, that's what I do at the college. And then I practice it back at home and when I'm out and about.
ジェ： What about with the high school students? Shouldn't you be chit-chatting with them and all?
Jer: Well I definitely would if they didn't run away every time I approached them or if they actually went out every once in a while. I don't really get much of a chance to hang with them.
ジェ： So wait, who have you been hanging with?
Jer: Mostly teachers. English teachers. But before you say anything, yes, I still get a chance to use my Japanese when I'm out with them.
ジェ: Well alright. So then what else has been going on lately?
Jer: Uh, well last weekend or so I went off to Nagasaki to check out the lantern festival they got there which is pretty much just a copy of the Chinese lantern festival and all. It was pretty cool; there were lanterns all over the place in the city, in all shapes, sizes and colors.
ジェ： Oh cool. So what sort of stuff did they have there?
Jer: They had your normal Chinese lantern deal all around, but also a bunch of other stuff like a Pikachu, Guan Yu, some fish and a STEGOSAURUS.
ジェ： Oh nice! Do you have any pictures of them?
Jer: Yeah, well uh, about that. I sorta ain't got them right now, but as soon as they pop up, I'll load them up.
ジェ： Alright, well then, what else have you been up to lately?
Jer: Actually, not too much. One of my friends got the new Smash Bros. lately, which is pretty fun, but other than that, nothing is really going on. I found a site with some books online that I've been reading from lately, and I'm trying to get moving on photography and all that, seeing as I haven't been doing all too much over here. I've been feeling a bit cooped up around here lately and I've been getting a bit restless, so I'm just trying to put my energy into stuff instead of just stagnating and sitting around thinking about nothing.
ジェ： Ah, well at least you're trying to get stuff going for yourself.
Jer: Yeah, I've not been doing too much stuff over here and been feeling kinda bummed about it, so I figure it'd be good to just start moving so I don't end up being totally mentally static when I get back to the States.
ジェ： That's good, that's good. So anyway, what did you do today?
Jer: Well I got started on moving myself, so I went out for a little walk out back behind my house to take photos.
ジェ： Nice, nice. What's back there?
Jer: It's like this river/canyon deal with some tiny little open field areas and some woods that I haven't yet really made my way through.
ジェ： Oh yeah? Why's that?
Jer: Well on my way over there, I met some weird homeless dude who was hanging around the coals of his dead fire, and he started talking to me in his weird Nagasaki けん dialect.
ジェ： Oh, weird. What was he talking about?
Jer: I dunno, I could only understand a little bit. He kept talking about how it was dangerous to be alone in Japan or something but I kinda disregarded that because all the Japanese have a weird perspective on dangerous places, and he kept trying to give me something wrapped in newspaper from his moped thing.
ジェ： Wait, he had a moped?
Jer: Yeah, probably not a moped, just a little scooter thing. I dunno, it was a Honda deal
ジェ： So wait, why do you say he was homeless? How would a homeless dude be decked out with a scooter deal?
Jer: I dunno man, he had a whole little abode set up at the entrance to the forest with a woodpile and bedroll and all that. Plus homeless dudes back home have cars sometimes, why can't homeless dudes here have scooters?
ジェ： Alright fine. Whatever, you win. Did you get any good pictures in at least?
Jer: Yeah I think I got some alright ones. I figure I'll post some that I've played around with a bit.
ジェ： Alright, that sounds good. Well, I guess we should probably wrap this up.
Jer: Yeah I am getting kinda tired of doing this.
ジェ： Yeah, and typing up my name in Katakana every time I switch voices is getting pretty tedious.
Jer: Yeah, let's never do this again. From now on, just normal posting.

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