Juri, I'm so glad you're loving Japan.

I hope you're well, and having an easy time adjusting.

Hope you get internet at home soon.

Take care-write when you can!!!

Woohoo, I switched to a new browser and was finally able to successfully log in! I finally got internet connection at my apartment last week, but for some weird reason I always got a message saying I wasn't logged in even though my name was showing up at the bottom of the page.

Anyway, thanks so much for the nice messages, ladies! I really appreciate them. I missed you all too. Sorry I didn't write again sooner, but since there's nudity on the forum menu(as artistic as it may be) I was hesitant to go to LL while at school. Students often visit the teachers' office, so I'd rather not have them say "Juri san is a pervert" or anything like that.

Doing well here, but sometimes I'm rather busy with work. The students at my schools are very nice and the junior high school tries to include me in a lot of their activities. In September my town had a fall festival and the school dressed me and some of the teachers in yukata (summer kimono) and I got to pull one of the floats. It was really cool to have a professional kimono dresser put me in a kimono. I'll tell you what, though, when I had the whole outfit on, it was a little difficult to eat, breathe, and walk normally.

It's not a lot, but here's some pictures of me in the yukata (I took part in two days of the festival so I got to wear two of them), a picture of the Dutch classic I had both days of the festival, and the most recent picture of my hair. I'll have more pictures of Japan later on.
red yukata
blue yukata
the Dutch classic
my hair in a pony-braid. It's not a full-on shot, but you get an idea of how long it's gotten.

Glad you're back,missed you!!

Hi!  So glad you could stop by and give us an update.    Being dressed in kimono must have been an awsome experience for you.  Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Curlgirl64, Angel Spun, BB, Sakina--Thanks so much! I missed taking part in the discussions at LL and wondered how everyone was doing. Since my apartment is now hooked up to the web, I doubt I'll have extremely long absences again...unless I get crazy busy with work (but I don't think that will happen). I really liked getting dressed up in the yukata and the blue one was my favorite too. I wish I had been able to wear it both days, but we were told to choose another yukata on the second day of the festival.

Lisabelle wrote on Nov 8^th, 2006 at 12:30pm:

Thanks! *blush* Gah, I wish I've been catching the eye of nice young men! It'd be a lot better if they were SINGLE young men, but practically all the guys at the schools I visit are already married.  I have a crush on one of the Japanese Teachers of English I work with, except he's married. There's no way I'd encourage a guy to cheat on his wife so that puts an end to that. 

Quote:

I think that was a wrong choice of words. What I was more concerned about was them talking amongst themselves and wondering why I keep visiting a site with a painting of a naked woman. I don't think that would have made a good impression.

Hair--Yeah, it's getting longer and I think I have the longest hair in all the four schools I work at. Since I came from a place where it was normal to have really long hair, its strange to be in an environment where hardly anyone has hair past BSL. Seriously, I've only seen a handful of people with hair past their shoulders. Some of the elementary school girls have long hair, but nearly all the girls at the junior high school have pixie cuts. I'm not entirely sure why that is.

Since I'm part of an extremely small minority, my hair (which is currently an inch shy of the end of my tailbone) has received a lot of comments from people at the schools. The girls seem to like it a lot and some of them have asked if they could touch it. They were really shy when they asked, so I said sure. As for the female teachers, they were amazed when I told them I did the Dutch classic by myself, but I've had at least two say that my hair is too long. I thought that was ironic since noble women in the Heian period had hair that reached the floor. Despite their comments, after growing it for over three years, I'd have to be crazy to cut it short.

Anyway, more pics!
Here's a view of Tokyo from the 42nd floor of the hotel I was at for the new JET orientation.
Now here's a view of my town!
I took this picture this morning before I left for work. The end of the tassel is just about hip length. Man, I never thought I'd have hair this long. I have a length picture from Nov. 11, 2005, so I think I'm going to a year's comparison later this month.

Awww ... I know, married guys always seem to look best.  Of course there off bounds.  Cheer up!  There must be some single guys around!  I understand now about the pictures on this page and not letting the students see them, oh that would be a no no.  I would have loved to go to the festivals you've been to.  I was talking with hubby and we think that you probably have many shrines to Inari where you are.  I would love to visit shine or even a little Jizo rode side one would be neat!