One Hot August

i anticipate that august will be the sauna that july was. to give you an idea of just how hot it is here, allow me to do that which i do best: digress, digress.

today i was running a little bit behind to get to my classroom at himeji tsuji and had to ride m bike really fast to get to the classroom on time. between the humidity and my exertion, i arrived at the classroom drenched with sweat. and by that i really mean drenched. i was able to ring some of the sweat out into the sink. fortunately, there was an inexpensive casual clothing store around the corner so i was able to pick up a new shirt that even matched my sweaty shorts.

still not convinced? i usually start sweating after i have a lukewarm shower as i'm toweling myself off. it's hard to stay dry here!

fortunately, the classrooms all have air conditioners, as does my apartment, so artificial cold is a nice way to beat the heat. tomorrow is the last day of an eight-day stretch of teaching the summer school curriculum and i am rewarded for my hard efforts with two days off after tomorrow's lessons. i have been planning on going to hiroshima for quite some time now and given my proximity to it i could probably see it all in a day-trip. i think that it is something that i must do alone, so i haven't invited anyone to join me. it is sure to be a moving experience.

my friend and co-worker david gradie became a father yesterday at 4:12am japan time. they have named the baby hanna, which means "flower" in japanese. apparently she's a beautiful 3.3kg bundle of joy, with strong asian features and irrefutable caucasian blue eyes. it will be incredible to witness this life grow up. david is the first of my friends (my age) to have a child intentionally and it marks a special point in my life. i hope i get to be known as uncle christian. what a trip.

well, here is another installment of random photos i have taken since arriving. i will try to add a few here and there to every post. click on them for more detail and description. they are being held on a photo sharing website. enjoy.

one last thing: i was informed that until now people have not been able to post comments on my blog posts. i assure you that this has been fixed, so write a comment if it pleases you. more to come soon. hopefully the hiroshima trip will happen because that should make for quite the entry.